Chapter 36

"Spiritual Soul · Green Dragon Crescent Slash!"

Lu Fang gripped the air with both hands and slashed toward He Zixuan; a crescent-shaped blade qi surged forth, obliterating all resistance.

He Zixuan saw only a flash of white light and barely moved to dodge.

His "Grand Confucian Ink Treasure" spontaneously emerged to block the blade qi, but the immense impact hurled him backward until he slammed into the shadow wall and stopped.

One strike, and he was defeated!

Had it not been for He Zixuan’s Grand Confucian Ink Treasure, that blow would have killed him.

"You’ve lost!"

Lu Fang took a breath of book-scent to recover.

Green Dragon Crescent Slash differs from Dirge of Fallen Flowers—it is pure, unadulterated offensive transcendent power, and because he often consumes book-scent, his physique is strong and his momentum abundant.

Moreover, Dirge of Fallen Flowers suppresses the opponent’s entire capability by one-quarter of their realm’s upper limit.

And enhances Lu Fang’s own entire capability by one-quarter.

Defeating He Zixuan in one strike was expected.

Facing the stronger Xiao Yunru, Lu Fang still had confidence he could fight—within two rank tiers, the stronger the opponent, the greater the boost from Dirge of Fallen Flowers.

Not to mention Lu Fang could enter the Lesser Upper Realm, where, free from Heavenly Dao restrictions, he could consume book-scent to elevate his realm.

Most importantly, the ink-colored flower had bloomed another branch—enhancing Green Dragon Crescent Slash…

"I lost?"

He Zixuan’s face fell.

Was he even meant to live? Losing to Xiao Yunru, the top first-place septuple-third-rank, was bad enough—but now he’d lost to Lu Fang, an octuple-first-rank?

This was more than his overinflated self-regard could accept.

Aside from He Zixuan, everyone at the housewarming banquet was delighted; after drinking heartily, they all returned to their quarters.

Lu Fang swayed his head, walking alone toward his bedroom.

Osmanthus wine was much like the fruit wines of his past life—low in alcohol. He drank a few extra cups out of joy, then a few more of Li Yu’s "Bodhi Fruit Wine," which, surprisingly, left him dizzy.

"Third Senior Brother?"

Lu Fang pushed open the door and saw Wang Fu standing with his back turned, bowing respectfully.

"You must go to the Lesser Upper Realm?"

Wang Fu turned, his expression solemn.

Lu Fang bowed: "Third Senior Brother, I must enter the Lesser Upper Realm to seize enough destiny. Whether for the borders of Da Zhou or for my own cultivation, I must go."

Increasing one’s personal destiny also raises the nation’s destiny.

So his words were not wrong.

"How could the Heavenly Dao impose such restrictions on you!"

Wang Fu sighed deeply and tossed Lu Fang a small bag woven from golden bamboo.

"This is a storage treasure-bag, capable of holding items the size of a house. Inside are the 'Destiny Stones' I specially refined—using these stones, you can rapidly absorb unclaimed destiny from the Lesser Upper Realm."

"Simply activate your Grand Righteous Qi to draw destiny into your body from the Destiny Stones."

"There is also a Grand Confucian Ink Treasure · Scroll, which can save your life in a critical moment. You must return alive!"

His voice still echoed in the room, but Wang Fu was already gone.

"Thank you, Third Senior Brother."

Lu Fang bowed again.

…

Ink Brush Manuscript Realm.

Lu Fang stood before the entrance to the Grand Void Illusion, where three ink-colored flower buds, born of the Grand Void Illusion, enhanced his Spirit Soul: Yan Chixia, Dirge of Fallen Flowers, and Green Dragon Crescent Slash.

Ink-colored Flower · Strengthened Soul Strike.

This flower, nourished by book-scent, allows the Ink Brush Manuscript Realm’s master, Lu Fang, to "charge" his Spirit Soul · Green Dragon Crescent Slash by fusing multiple souls into one, up to ten souls’ worth.

"Tenfold power!"

Lu Fang chuckled softly. After a moment’s thought, he decided to use ten strands of book-scent to nourish Strengthened Soul Strike.

Even without soul fusion, it was already this strong—if he fused ten souls and Yan Chixia bought him enough time, his Green Dragon Crescent Slash could strike with tenfold force.

At this point, even those one realm above him would struggle to match him.

He currently had sixteen strands of book-scent; even after using ten, he still had six left, more than enough—and book-scent continued to grow.

He acted at once.

Lu Fang drew out ten strands of book-scent and nourished the ink-colored flower. As all strands flowed into the bud, petals unfolded one by one until the flower fully bloomed.

Almost instantly, the bloomed flower floated upward.

Whoosh! The flower sank into Lu Fang’s third eye.

From that moment, his Green Dragon Crescent Slash, as an offensive transcendent power, was upgraded. After testing, he found that with his current stamina and momentum, he could only charge and fuse five souls at once.

On the other side, after the ink-colored flower drifted away, a new bud sprouted on the same branch—again enhancing Green Dragon Crescent Slash.

Ink-colored Flower · Strengthened Momentum Strike.

This flower, nourished by book-scent, allows the Ink Brush Manuscript Realm’s master, Lu Fang, to consume book-scent in advance to raise his stamina and momentum limits—up to one rank above his current tier—to unleash a Strengthened Momentum Strike.

Hmm…

No wonder the Heavenly Dao of this world restricted the Ink Brush Manuscript Realm.

This was too extreme.

Too bad book-scent grew so slowly—if he could nourish all three ink flowers, Lu Fang could walk freely across the septuple realm of the Lesser Upper Realm.

"Everyone, work harder to gather book-scent!"

Lu Fang smiled and stepped into the Grand Void Illusion; in an instant, he became a consciousness and arrived at Grand Void Mountain.

One thought!

He appeared on the first level of Grand Void Mountain.

Before him were countless people—good heavens, preliminary estimates showed thousands had already condensed book-scent!

No wonder book-scent had surged so rapidly.

On the first level of Grand Void Mountain, Lu Fang spotted a familiar face.

Chen Ji stood atop a stone, writing the annotations to the "Good Enough Song" from Dream of the Red Chamber with his hand as a brush. Among the thousands, his book-scent ranked among the top tier—already as thick as a little finger.

On Grand Void Mountain, as long as your "momentum" is strong enough, you can do things others cannot.

For instance, many had blurred their faces so their features could not be seen.

Others had conjured inkstones, brushes, and writing desks…

What disappointed Lu Fang was that everyone remained on the first level—so far, the book-scent these thousands had gathered was insufficient to form ladders for climbing to the second level.

Suddenly, a burly man stood atop the highest stone; from his attire, he was clearly a Zhenbei soldier.

Everyone who came here wore their nightclothes from sleep.

Thus, one could still discern some people’s identities by their clothing.

The man who stepped forward was Guan Heng. He shouted at the top of his lungs: "Everyone, quiet down and listen to me!"

All eyes turned to Guan Heng.

Lu Fang was deeply curious—he wanted to hear what this man had to say.

Guan Heng, undaunted by the attention, made a slashing motion with his hand and said:

"I gained the transcendent power, Spirit Soul · Green Dragon Crescent Slash, from reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Listen to me—there is a shortcut to obtaining transcendent power."

The crowd erupted in uproar.

Transcendent power was notoriously difficult to obtain—this was universally accepted in Da Zhou.

Now someone claimed there was a shortcut—either he was ignorant, or he was merely seeking attention.