Chapter 299: Marking the Completion, One Final Step Away

While Fang Longye was here focusing on his cultivation, Yinglong Laozu was by no means idle; instead, she was busy running about for his marriage.

Among these tasks, the first thing to do was to handle the matter of the brother-in-law, Erlang Shen, for Fang Longye.

After some preparations, she sat upon a jade carriage, raised the canopy and tassels, and was followed by eighty-one golden boys and jade girls, holding incense burners, clutching ruyi, and carrying treasure boxes...

Amidst the sound of jade chimes and floating fragrance, she set off with great fanfare, heading toward Guanjiangkou.

With blowing and beating, the momentum was not small.

Very soon, Yinglong Laozu arrived at Guanjiangkou and met this long-renowned Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun.

"Niangniang has come from ten thousand miles away, and even brought gifts; you are too polite."

Yang Jian narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the throngs of golden boys and jade girls presenting various rare treasures, yet not a hint of a smile appeared on his handsome face.

Logically speaking, when a guest comes to visit and brings gifts, especially heavy ones, one should at least offer a smile.

But Yinglong Laozu had just announced to the heavens the appointment of Fang Longye as the Young Lord of the Dragon Clan, and then she had come knocking at his door.

Although he did not yet know what business this senior, Yinglong Laozu, had for coming this time, he could guess with his toes that it must be related to Fang Longye.

It was no wonder Yang Jian kept a cold face—"It has been a long time since I have seen Zhenjun; today, we must have a good catch-up."

Yinglong Laozu naturally knew the temper and personality of this three-eyed one, so she did not mind Yang Jian's posture and simply chatted with him about everything under the sun.

The two were not strangers; although Yinglong Laozu belonged to the older generation of those with Great Divine Ability, she had dealt with this rising star, Yang Jian, several times.

Furthermore, one does not strike a person who comes with a smiling face.

As a senior, Yinglong Laozu remained unchanged in the face of his cold expression, which naturally made Yang Jian soon cast aside some of his displeasure.

The two sat together, talking and laughing.

After a while, the tea had been served three times.

In the tea cups, fragrance swirled, and the emerald tea leaves reflected a verdant green in the tea water.

Yinglong Laozu took the initiative to bring it up, saying: "Fellow Daoist, I have not come to the Three Treasures Hall without reason this time; I truly have a request."

"Oh?"

Yang Jian sat up straight, the third eye on his forehead shining brightly, its might looming over all directions.

However, his face remained gentle as he shook his head and said: "Niangniang, as a senior, you are truly too polite! Pray, speak your mind."

"Fellow Daoist should also know of the Dragon Clan Young Lord 【Yuanlong】 I recently appointed, right?"

Yinglong Laozu fiddled with the emerald tea leaves in her cup and said with a chuckle.

"Yuanlong?"

Yang Jian thought for a moment and sneered: "The one Niangniang is speaking of is that bastard Fang Longye, right?"

Yinglong Laozu's brow twitched upon hearing this, but she still nodded.

He turned his thoughts, then looked at Yinglong Laozu, and said with a half-smile: "Niangniang wouldn't be here to propose marriage on behalf of that scoundrel, would you?"

"Fellow Daoist is truly discerning."

Clang!

A Three-Pointed Double-Edged Saber shot out from the void, its chill seeping into one's very bones.

"Niangniang, let us fight first before we speak!"

Dongting Dragon Palace, Wuming Cave Heaven.

Fang Longye naturally did not know that in order to propose marriage to Yang Jian on his behalf, Yinglong Laozu had already come to blows with that three-eyed one.

At this moment, he sat upright on the ground; within his sea of consciousness and spiritual platform, a light invisible to the naked eye permeated, yet it carried a bottomless Dao Rhyme.

Where he sat, layers upon layers of cloud vapor swirled, red-gold within and purple-green without, shining brilliantly.

It continuously generated and sank, accumulating into circle after circle of water-colored ripples, causing the area for ten thousand miles around to be filled with cloud light and water vapor, surging back and forth.

Bursts of indescribable, marvelous sounds and mysterious colors followed one after another, rising and falling.

Gradually, a great light shone from behind him, revealing a projection of a world, slowly emerging.

It was precisely the manifestation of his Inner World appearing externally.

This projection of the Inner World shone upon Fang Longye's brow, where one could faintly see sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, earth, and immortal flora and spiritual plants.

There were even various corpses and remains of unimaginable size, some from the Longbo Clan, others from the Giant Ao Clan.

Although most were incomplete, with severed limbs and broken arms scattered everywhere, a very intense sense of oppression still radiated out.

It was heavy, as if it were substantial.

One could see that in the center of the world, there was a towering divine tree, extending its roots, anchoring itself into these remains and corpses, continuously absorbing the origin within to assist in the growth of the heaven and earth.

This towering divine tree had not changed much, but this heaven and earth was expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming increasingly vast.

"Now, this Xun Wood of mine can finally be considered to have the appearance of a tree that supports the heavens!"

Fang Longye opened his eyes and smiled.

Regarding the batch of remains and corpses he had obtained from that Deep Sea Secret Realm, he had only kept the most powerful remains of a Longbo giant to use for Bloodline smelting.

After all, at his current stage, his Bloodline smelting had begun to become particular; he was no longer indiscriminate, greedy for quantity and completeness.

When all is said and done, he was not Yinglong Laozu.

This was still only the Post-Heaven Stage nearing perfection.

If he were to transform into a Xiantian being, and then wanted to continue moving forward to achieve the status of Xiantian Shengsheng, there would be even more to be particular about.

Once he reached that step, it would not be just any Xiantian object that could be smelted into the body.

One would also have to be particular about the degree of compatibility.

Therefore,

Among the batch of remains and corpses, he had only selected the remains of one Longbo giant, intending to smelt it later.

This was only because the Bloodline of the Longbo giant clan was very compatible with him; as for the Giant Ao Clan, it was not worth mentioning.

As for the other remains of the Corpse, he intended to integrate them all into his Inner World, achieving an effect similar to the legendary Pangu evolving all things.

Thereby promoting the growth of the Inner World.

With the assistance of the Xun Wood that has grown up now, the speed at which these remains of the Corpse are integrated into the Inner World is quite acceptable.

Of course, this is also because these remains of the Corpse are not in their prime state, and their origins have all been lost to varying degrees.

And it is very serious.

Otherwise, whether they could be integrated into the Inner World would be hard to say. After all, these broken remains of the Corpse, one and all, were existences of the Great Luo.

And an intact Great Luo remain can be transformed into a Great Thousand World.

It can be said that being able to let the Inner World smelt them has already made him overjoyed. Originally, he thought he would be unable to do anything about these remains of the Corpse for a while~ Of course, he did not rejoice for too long.

Because soon he could no longer attend to that, and instead began to curb the feedback of power to him during the growth of the Inner World.

He had not forgotten what Yinglong Laozu said: the stronger the strength, the greater the difficulty of leaping over the Dragon Gate.

Although he does not regard leaping over the Dragon Gate as the only means to comb through his own Bloodline, he still has to try and see what the effect is~...

Temporarily suppressing the feedback from the Inner World to himself, he left it to be absorbed later.

Fang Longye was unhurried; he took out the Enlightenment Treasure of Yinglong Laozu—the "Dragon Gate"—and, following the method he had obtained, performed a series of hand seals and incantations.

This Spirit Treasure, which was only the size of a palm, immediately transformed into a size of ten thousand zhang, standing tall above the firmament, much like the legendary South Heaven Gate.

Mottled patterns spread from top to bottom, covering the entire gate, possessing a sense of ancient immortality.

Crack, crack, crack—

Only to see this gate slowly open in a leisurely posture, an ancient Aura lingering and not dissipating.

Peerless dragon might surged.

The gate opened wide, and within it, mist rose and surged like water ripples; countless phantoms were reflected within, as if there were a mysterious world inside.

"Let's see what the effect of this leaping over the Dragon Gate will be on me~"

Fang Longye did not hesitate; his body leaped up, transformed into his original form, and flew toward this Dragon Gate.

His true form, which was originally over a thousand miles long, suddenly became smaller as he approached the Dragon Gate.

The surrounding scenery also changed abruptly. On both sides were steep cliffs, smooth as mirrors. A surging great river flowed down from above, like the Heavenly River hanging upside down.

At the uppermost reaches, a stone gate, huge to the point of being unimaginable, towered into the clouds.

Clouds swirled around the stone gate, and two images of Yinglong on the stone pillars were faintly visible, their dragon eyes flashing with golden light, seemingly watching everything in the great river.

Plop! Fang Longye fell directly into the great river for no reason, having lost all his Dharma and supernatural powers.

He tried, and even his Spirit Treasure was completely restrained and could not be used.

However, he was not very panicked.

It was because he had long known that when leaping over the Dragon Gate, all Dharma, supernatural powers, and Spirit Treasures would have no effect; one could only rely on the power of one's own physical shell.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Fang Longye swam upstream, struggling toward the direction of the stone gate in the distance.

The origin of this great river water was unknown.

It was not only heavy and dense to the extreme—swimming in this water was like swimming inside stone—but it was also extremely cold, scouring his body like knife cuts and sword slashes.

One must know that his physical shell could rival some of the Taiyi, and it was solid to an unimaginable degree.

As a result, he was still in misery in this river water.

Whoosh! A spray of water slapped over, and Fang Longye only felt a vast and irresistible giant force crash into his body.

His body sank uncontrollably, and there was a faint feeling of being washed away by the water.

Bang! Not long after, his body was struck by the river water again, and he accidentally crashed into the rocks on both sides.

With a loud bang, sparks flashed, his scales felt excruciating pain, and fresh blood faintly overflowed.

Just like this, Fang Longye charged left and right in this great river, dodging the waves crashing into his face while swimming upstream toward the stone gate.

The short distance seemed like a natural chasm to him, difficult to cross.

In the end, as he approached the stone gate, the river water became more surging, with giant waves towering to the sky, one wave after another; there was simply no space to dodge.

Bang! Fang Longye faced the giant wave head-on and crashed into it; the spray shattered and scattered.

He felt as if he had crashed into the World Membrane; his head ached, and his dragon horns also throbbed with pain, seemingly about to break.

However, once one enters the Dragon Gate, there is no way to retreat.

One can only keep charging down.

Bang, bang, bang—

One after another, the towering giant waves were broken through, and the river water slapped against his body; Fang Longye only felt a ball of fire rise within his body, burning incessantly.

He knew this was not his illusion, but that there was indeed an inexplicable force tempering his body.

It was probably from this supreme treasure, the Dragon Gate.

Every inch of his tendons, bones, blood, and flesh was aching, and a ball of indescribable power was gathering and burning within his body.

It caused his Bloodline to undergo inexplicable changes.

When he approached the closest point to the stone gate, Fang Longye raised his head and let out a dragon roar, his body leaped up, and he flew toward the stone gate.

Boom!

In the sky, a giant frost-white lightning bolt streaked across, seemingly expressing the anger of heaven and earth.

Fang Longye's pupils shrank suddenly, his dragon eyes widened, and the ball of energy within his body gathered to the extreme, bursting out from the inside out.

An unspeakable pain came from his physical shell, making his nerves somewhat numb; he only felt that time had become very, very slow at this moment.

But in reality, this moment was also very, very fast.

In almost an instant, he leaped over this stone gate, broke away from this mysterious world, and returned to reality.

Fang Longye maintained his true form, looking down to observe the changes inside and outside his body.

In terms of appearance, other than his body shrinking somewhat to less than a thousand miles, there were no major changes; it was still the same as it had been in the past.

But in terms of internal feeling, it was incomparably comfortable and relaxed, as if he had finally set down a great mountain compared to before.

He only felt that his entire body was filled with strength.

Although he had not yet completely transcended the shackles brought about by smelting various spiritual objects and bloodlines, comparing the two, he could naturally feel the huge difference between before and after.

It was as if the traits previously born from smelting various spiritual essences and bloodlines were merely an accumulation, not truly fused into himself.

But now, a portion had completely fused into his own bloodline, indistinguishable from one another, just as if they had originally belonged to his bloodline.

Clearly, what Yinglong Laozu said was true.

"It's not easy!"

Fang Longye's dragon body swayed, transforming into human form as he landed where he had previously been in seclusion.

He sat cross-legged and began to sigh with emotion.

The difficulty of this Dragon Gate leap had indeed exceeded his expectations.

Fortunately, the effect was significant.

He could probably completely transcend the various shackles in his own bloodline after leaping the Dragon Gate another four or five times.

It's easy... my foot! The difficulty of this Dragon Gate leap increases exponentially with each attempt! How could it be that easy?

Otherwise, there would already be a pile of True Dragons and Yinglong in this world; how could there still be various Dragon Clan forms like flood dragons and chi dragons? Wanting to use the Dragon Gate leap to solve this problem is not that easy.

"Fortunately, I am not without other methods." Fang Longye's sword-like brows relaxed as he flipped his palm to take out a Nine-Petal Blood Lotus.

This Nine-Petal Blood Lotus, obtained from the Deep Sea Secret Realm, was only a post-celestial spiritual medicine, not entering the pre-celestial rank.

Yet it possessed extraordinary medicinal efficacy, containing the laws of the Dao of blood.

Consuming it could not only greatly enhance a person's Qi and blood, but also refine their bloodline.

Thin bloodlines become thick, impure ones become pure, and so on; as long as it is related to the bloodline, it can be promoted.

"Hmm, no rush~" Fang Longye looked at the remains of a Longbo Giant in his Inner World and put the Nine-Petal Blood Lotus away.

Take it step by step~ After smelting the Longbo Giant remains into himself, trying to leap the Dragon Gate one or two more times is the right time to use this Nine-Petal Blood Lotus.

In any case, this Pure Land Cave Heaven opened up by Yinglong Laozu had a time flow compared to the outside world that was even greater than his Inner World.

He had plenty of time to cultivate steadily.

After planning it out, he continued to cultivate step by step.

Time passed quickly; unknowingly, more than a decade had passed in the outside world, but for Fang Longye, it had been several Yuan cycles.

On this day, Fang Longye opened his eyes, shooting out astonishing light; within them, countless hexagrams were entwined, constantly changing, being born and dying, then changing again.

After a long while, he cut away the sense of vicissitudes in his heart, stood up, and stretched.

"Finally, I'm almost at the Taiyi realm!"

Fang Longye sighed with emotion.

In this Grotto-Heaven, after hundreds of thousands of years of deep cultivation, he had long since eliminated all the various shackles born from smelting various spiritual essences and bloodlines.

As for his self-imprint in the Dao Source Sea, he had branded ninety-nine percent of it, missing only a sliver.

Thinking of this, Fang Longye, standing with his hands behind his back, could not help but look up toward the mysterious void, a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

The halo behind him was like bronze tassels, hanging down clear green, manifesting his good mood.

But looking into the space-time that could not be described in words, the Dao Source Sea was vast and mighty, without shores.

Where the Great Dao resided, Yin and Yang were obscured, causality was isolated, there was no east, west, south, or north, and no universe or Five Elements.

There was only the 'Dao', most true and most great.

Even now, in such an Abyssal Sea, he was imperceptible, no different from a speck of dust. A single gust of wind or a wave could potentially annihilate him completely.

Yet in the boundless Dao Source Sea, there was a dragon shadow coiled upon a spray of foam, its horns towering, its scales vivid and lifelike.

It was exactly the same as Fang Longye's true form.

Only by observing carefully would one discover.

This lifelike dragon shadow was missing something in the position of its eyes; the eye sockets were actually empty, with no dragon eyes present.

This imprint branded in the Dao Source Sea was, shockingly, missing only the 'finishing touch'! (End of chapter)