Chapter 21: Yuanlong Dharma Image, The Incomplete Dharma Treasure [12]

Xiaocang Mountain, behind the Long River Sect.

Following Fang Longye's occupation and entrenchment, the appearance has long since changed compared to the era of Fang Xian.

The Cave Abode where the original owner, Fang Xian, resided for cultivation has now been transformed into a rock cavern, with water hanging upside down like a beaded curtain, chiming as it drips.

Passing through the water curtain and heading deep inside, the path is rugged and winding, with small grasses dotting both sides of the stone path, dark green like emeralds. Before long, the path turns, and what comes into view is an extremely spacious stone chamber.

Inside the room, the stone ceiling is cracked and craggy, embedded with a thin, long, and deep fissure; daylight comes from above, slowly passing through the deep crevice and landing in the middle of the stone chamber.

The stream stones are covered in moss, the vines and trees are misty, and green ivy hangs down from above, spreading out slowly. Around the perimeter, stone stools, a stone table, and a stone bed are arranged opposite one another.

Under the illumination of the daylight, the room is bright and clean, a Grotto-Heaven unto itself.

Fang Longye's true self sits cross-legged on the stone bed, smoke billowing from his crown, water vapor rising and transforming into a fine, sparse drizzle.

A clear light of clouds and water floats above his head, permeating left and right, faintly forming bells, drums, jade chimes, flutes, and zithers... various musical instruments playing without wind, the immortal music pleasing to the ear.

Within the cloud light, his Primordial Spirit Dharma Image constantly changes, sometimes as a dragon-headed human, sometimes as a human with a dragon tail, or otherwise in a carefree posture of a human body stepping on a Green Lotus.

It is not much different from the Yuanlong Dragon Lord illusion that the siblings Ding Yun saw earlier, only the scene is not as magnificent as in that illusion.

These are the three Dharma Images he has condensed and visualized.

"It is different; there is indeed great mystery. After the Primordial Spirit accommodates the Dharma Image, it inexplicably has an extra layer of power added compared to before." Fang Longye has now stepped into the Ascension Realm, only one step away from being a Loose Immortal.

When the Primordial Spirit disperses, it becomes Qi; when it gathers, it takes form, changing without constancy; it has no specific form to begin with, which can be called following one's heart and desires.

Yet these changes have no divine strangeness; only when changing into the visualized Dharma Image forms does he obtain a special power in the dark.

He senses it carefully, associating it with how those great beings often leave behind various Dharma Images for people to visualize. For example, the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Dharma Image or Zhong Kui Dharma Image from his past life often allow one to obtain special power to bolster oneself.

Fang Longye gradually forms a guess.

Sentient beings visualizing these immortal gods and great beings as Dharma Images also provides a certain level of assistance to these immortal gods and great beings.

For instance, Incense Vow Power? An enhancement to these great beings' own Dao principles?

He is not clear on the specifics, but he believes there is definitely mystery hidden within this.

"Those who learn from me live; those who resemble me die."

He must gradually convert this power into his own.

Thinking of this, Fang Longye, who already had some realization, becomes even more firm in his own ideas.

Originally, the Faxiang Realm only required visualizing one Dharma Image.

But Fang Longye associated this with the myths and legends of his past life, such as Pangu's eighty-one transformations in one day, and Nuwa's seventy transformations in one day.

In his view now, these were not ordinary transformation arts like the Seventy-Two Transformations, but Dharma Body changes based on the Primordial Spirit Dharma Image.

Each type of Dharma Body change has a special Dao Rhyme; for example, when his Primordial Spirit changes into the dragon-headed human Dharma Image, besides his own Dragon Clan abilities, he inexplicably gains an enhancement to his attacks, making him more adept at combat; the human body with a dragon tail enhances his comprehension of Heavenly Secrets and the Dao, as well as his insight into the creation of nature.

In his view, the enhancements brought by these Dharma Images all come from the imprints these great beings have left in the world.

These great beings have already sublimated themselves into a kind of principle, and even their images possess boundless power and mystery. Even just approaching or fitting their images can bring certain benefits.

Therefore, based on the connection to his own race, he visualized three Dharma Images.

For the dragon-headed human, he naturally learned from Pangu; in the myths and legends of his past life, Pangu had forms with a dragon head or a human face.

The human body with a dragon tail, with the upper body as a human and the lower body as a dragon, is not much different from the images of the Heavenly Emperor Fuxi and Nuwa Niang Niang in legends.

Of course, within the scope of this image, most would still make certain improvements according to themselves so that it fits the self better.

For example, whether it is the dragon-headed human or the human body with a dragon tail, there is a sharp, single horn on the top of the forehead.

What is needed is a kind of similarity that is not quite the same, rather than blindly conforming.

Even if his appearance changes drastically in the future due to Bloodline evolution, his Primordial Spirit Dharma Image will change into the corresponding image accordingly.

This is the "taking myself as the master, discarding and keeping as I wish" in cultivation.

Thus, there is the third Dharma Image, which is the combination of his appearance after removing the single horn and his Pure Lotus Divine Ability—Human Body Stepping on Green Lotus.

After practicing for a long time, he withdraws from his cultivation, the cloud light dissipates, and he opens his eyes.

"Let's call this kind of Dharma Image change the Yuanlong Dharma Image! From now on, I will call myself Yuanlong to the outside world." At this moment, Fang Longye also officially determined his Daoist name.

I hope that one day, my image can also be like the Thousand-Hand Guanyin, serving as a Dharma Image for sentient beings to visualize.

"My cultivation can be considered to have reached the current limit; next, I should consider matters related to Bloodline evolution," he mutters to himself.

He takes out the previously obtained mass of Water Vein Dragon Qi, looks at it, and puts it back into the Storage Bag.

How should he put it? The Water Vein Dragon Qi belongs to the essence of a water vein; even Qingshe, an existence above the Origin Immortal, could still use it for cultivation.

If this mass of Water Vein Dragon Qi were thrown out, combined with water vapor, it would be enough to recreate a river of over a thousand miles. Fang Longye really cannot bear to use it.

In any case, by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon for another ten years or so to temper his physical body, he will be able to successfully transform into a flood dragon.

Now, seeing that there is not a single sign of the Huluwa being born, he does not need to be too anxious yet.

Besides, it has only been five years since he saved the Ding Yun siblings. At the moment, Ding Yun, whom he has selected as the "Heavenly Mandated Empress," has just stabilized the Southwest Six Prefectures of the Zhang Kingdom. The feedback of National Fortune from supporting the Dragon Court is nowhere in sight! Now, it just depends on which aspect's means are completed first.

Thinking of this, he paces out of the stone chamber and begins his daily practice facing the sun, operating the Zhuha Sun-Swallowing Technique to swallow the essence of the sun.

Unlike the Purple Qi from the East, the sun essence entering the body is violent, as if a nuclear explosion had occurred inside his body.

"Hoo..." Fang Longye takes a deep breath and exhales a thin, long wisp of black smoke from his mouth.

After regulating his breath, he continues to swallow the sun essence to temper his physical body.

After half an hour of this, he finishes his work and returns to his abode.

He swallows a mouthful of the Taiyin Spirit Liquid he had condensed earlier to soothe the dryness and heat in his body.

"I swallowed too much sun essence this time. It seems that in the future, it is better to keep the time for swallowing sun essence to three quarters of an hour; I can even smell the scent of cooked meat on myself," Fang Longye complains to himself.

"Hmm, first recover from the hidden injuries, and after that, I should start working on refining the Dharma Treasure I envisioned."

A string of bright pearls hangs in the air, emitting a hazy, clear radiance like smoke and mist, dreamlike and illusory.

The radiance descends inch by inch, like seal script or carvings, with mist rising all around.

Fang Longye beckons, and the string of pearls immediately spins around, landing steadily in his hand.

It felt cool and moist to the touch, exuding a refreshing fragrance.

The beads were not large, each the size of a pigeon egg, twenty-four in total, held together by an invisible force; they emitted a bright, moon-like luster in his hand, occasionally clinking against each other with a crisp sound.

Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlit Night—that was the name he had chosen for this Dharma Treasure he had refined.

The thirty-one clam pearls obtained earlier had been refined into twenty-four bright pearls, each one a Dharma Treasure with three Heavenly Dipper Restrictions.

They were specialized in confusing people's minds.

This was something Fang Longye had specifically refined to complement his illusionary supernatural power, the Twelve Phases Yuan Chen Moon Wheel Method.

After all, as it stood, this was the only offensive supernatural power he had mastered.

"It's a good thing this type of Dharma Treasure doesn't require any fire-refining methods. Otherwise, I would really be in a bind."

As a water-attributed demon, before stepping into the True Immortal realm, Fang Longye would always be limited by the Five Elements mutual generation and restriction, making it difficult to cultivate any powerful fire-based supernatural powers.

When water is abundant, fire is extinguished; that is the principle.

And while there are water-refining methods in artifact refining, the smelting of materials still requires fire-refining to be completed.

Without the aid of a furnace tripod, the only Dharma Treasures he could refine himself at present were weapons and armor.

This is because weapon and armor-type Dharma Treasures can be forged beforehand through hammering, repeatedly fire-refined and water-quenched, to smelt different spiritual materials together to form a vessel embryo, and then have restrictions added onto them.

Under these circumstances, at least at the low-grade Dharma Treasure stage, ordinary flames could satisfy his needs for artifact refining.

It is different for delicate Dharma Treasures like pots, bottles, or mirrors. They often require the materials to be melted into liquid to fuse and shape, which requires powerful flames to burn and forge.

"That treasure tripod in the Cold Pool from the original story..." Fang Longye pondered in his heart.

He then put this thought aside; his current capabilities were likely not up to it.

He remembered that the furnace fire inside that pill furnace was something even the Snake and Scorpion Demons could hardly contend with; if it weren't for Shuiwa and Huawa unintentionally saving them, there would be no subsequent development of the plot.

"Better not be overly ambitious; let's first refine the Dharma Artifacts in my hands to the perfection of low-grade Dharma Treasures."

Low-grade Dharma Treasure perfection requires the refining of nine Heavenly Dipper Restrictions, which is also the limit of the Dharma Treasure grade that can be refined at the Primordial Spirit Realm; anything beyond that requires Immortal Realm cultivation.

"If it weren't for it, I really wouldn't dare believe that I could improve my artifact refining methods to this extent in such a short time." Fang Longye's mouth curled up, filled with irrepressible joy.

He took out a palm-sized Turtle Shell, its surface verdant with golden threads woven into patterns, and studied the broken and scattered restrictions inside with rapt attention.

This Turtle Shell was actually a damaged Spirit Treasure!

Over these five years, Fang Longye and his avatar had put in the effort to integrate the entire Human Race cultivation world.

Now, the original Human Race sects in this Small World had all vanished. All Human Race cultivators had been integrated into the orthodoxy Fang Longye had envisioned—the 'Yuanlong Dao'.

The harvest was naturally enormous, with countless types of spiritual materials and precious medicines, although most were not of a very high grade.

But he had ultimately managed to pick up a bargain.

That was this Turtle Shell Spirit Treasure.

It combined Heavenly Secrets divination and defense in one.

Although it was now damaged and its power was not what it once was, it happened to reveal the arrangement of the internal restrictions and the way the materials were combined.

For someone learning artifact refining, it could be said that one could draw inferences about other cases and benefit greatly. Fang Longye's artifact refining skills had progressed by leaps and bounds precisely because of this.

Although constrained by his attribute and currently unable to master fire-based supernatural powers, if given a top-tier furnace tripod, he would absolutely not lose to any artifact refiner on the path of fire.

Thank you all for your support; there are still two chapters today. For those who haven't invested, you can click on the investment button. I guarantee with my bear paw that I will absolutely not stop updating within thirty days, ensuring everyone's returns~

(End of chapter)