Chapter 731: Three Thousand Guests in the Great Luo Hall (Combined Chapter)

The purple-robed Daoist sat still upon the high platform, no aura manifesting outward, no immortal light or Dao resonance.

But Daoist Tianyun Daoist only glanced once before lowering his head; his peripheral vision swept across the Great Luo Hall and he saw three thousand cushions, most already occupied, and he could not help but be secretly startled.

'Aside from the senior brothers and sisters currently opening up the Returning Ruins, nearly everyone has come!'

Daoist Tianyun Daoist's heart gave a jolt.

This was not a day for his Master to preach the Dao.

"Master, for what matter have you summoned us?"

Daoist Tianyun Daoist had only wondered this in his heart when someone already spoke up to ask.

His peripheral vision swept over and he saw it was a very tall middle-aged Daoist carrying a great red gourd on his back — it was Hunhong Daoist.

Great Luo Heaven has eight characters, respectively Yuan Hun Cheng Tian, Wu Sheng Zheng Dao, one character per epoch, eight epochs for a cycle; this was a senior brother who had entered the sect two epochs before him.

"Those who could come, have all come."

The purple-robed Daoist's gaze fell upon the first row: "Lord Tianyu, you speak."

"Yes."

The one who answered was a white-haired Daoist, faint currents of Chaos aura wreathing his form — it was Lord Lord Tianyu.

He did not rise, but every cultivator in the Great Luo Hall, whether bowing their heads or with eyes closed, saw his figure reflected before them.

"The Ding Li Divine Dynasty."

Lord Lord Tianyu spoke concisely and to the point.

The Ding Li Divine Dynasty?

Many cultivators in the Great Luo Hall had long known, or had their guesses, but at this moment their hearts could not help but stir with all manner of emotions.

Among them, even the one with the shallowest years had been born before the fall of the Origin Divine Dynasty; as for people like Hunhong Daoist, they had even witnessed the rise and fall of the dynasty firsthand.

At the height of the Origin Divine Dynasty, even the Lords of the Myriad-Dimensional Heavens had half-submitted beneath it — it was, in the truest sense, the supreme hegemon that dominated all realms.

When it fell, the heavens themselves shook; who knows how many Dao Lords, and even Heavenly Lords, perished together with their Dao and divine souls.

"In the years before our Ancestral Master entered meditation, the Lords of the Heavens gathered at Great Luo Heaven and settled this matter…"

As Lord Lord Tianyu spoke, he suddenly paused and looked toward the purple-robed Daoist who had begun to laugh:

"Master, why do you laugh?"

"A stirring of the heart, recalling old matters."

The purple-robed Daoist wore a faint smile, paying no heed to the astonishment of his disciples, and began to recount:

"I still remember it was the Sixth Epoch of Origin; at that time this old Daoist was only Bian Shi Wu Jing, just having descended the mountain, and hearing that my hometown was troubled by demons and evils, I returned home to slay them…"

The Great Luo Hall fell utterly silent; the cultivators in their hearts could not help but feel somewhat surprised, not knowing why Master had suddenly begun to speak of old matters, but all listened quietly.

"It was a little monkey who tended horses, mischievous by nature but not malicious; this old Daoist took pity on its cleverness, so I subdued it but did not kill it, made it lead my horse for me, and once transmitted Dao scriptures and Gu Gu Shentong to it…"

When the purple-robed Daoist spoke to this point, the cultivators of the Great Luo Hall already understood in their hearts.

This was an old matter.

That little horse-leading monkey, after gaining Gu Gu Shentong, grew ever more unruly, and in the Sixteenth Epoch of Origin, incited by cultivators from the Returning Ruins otherworld, befriended a band of rebel cultivators and wished to overthrow the dynasty.

In the end, it was still Master who acted, subduing it; it is said he sealed it away within a stretch of ancient history.

From then on, Great Luo Heaven no longer took disciples of other races, and this gradually influenced many Myriad-Dimensional Heaven Dao Sects; to this day, not many Myriad-Dimensional Heaven Dao Sects take disciples of other races.

"…That monkey was originally a good one, but its heart was unsteady, hence it met this calamity; all disciples should take warning from it."

"This disciple will keep it firmly in mind."

The cultivators of the Great Luo Hall answered in unison.

"This matter is concluded only today."

So said the purple-robed Daoist.

The cultivators within the hall could not help but be bewildered, not knowing how such an old matter could only be concluded today.

"This matter…"

Only Lord Lord Tianyu slightly furrowed his brow; he had a premonition that this matter seemed to involve him in some way?

……

Li Yuan silently withdrew from the Zang Guan Mi Jing.

"A Five-Realm Ancestral Master, and possibly at the peak of the Five Realms…"

In the end, Li Yuan did not waste that one life; he merely paused for a moment beneath the White Bone Mountain before leaving.

Let alone a Five-Realm Ancestral Master, even a Five-Realm Fayin Fayin Tongzi, he could not possibly defeat.

"The Ancestral Master likely has some entanglement with the Origin Divine Dynasty…"

Li Yuan took out that handwritten scripture of the Divine King; the first page still had many characters he could not see clearly, but he guessed that the one preaching the Dharma was very likely the Ancestral Master.

Still, he did not dare think further, afraid the Ancestral Master might slap him across the void.

Cutting away stray thoughts, Li Yuan looked toward the last page of the book:

"Above the Nine-Scene Longhu Dadan, there is still a Ten-Scene?"

After gaining Lord Lord Tianyu's recognition, Li Yuan's authority within the Great Luo Catalogue was equivalent to a true disciple; many books he previously could not view or exchange he could now borrow.

But he had not seen any description of the 'Ten-Scene Jin Dan'.

"The Divine King who wrote this manuscript also did not condense a Ten-Scene Longhu Dadan; who does this 'he' in the book refer to? The Ancestral Master? Or…"

Li Yuan's thoughts churned, with many guesses.

He simply took out his disciple token, entered the Scripture Pavilion, borrowed a large batch of books on 'Casting the Longhu Dadan', and upon returning to read through them, still did not see any related words.

Only from a manuscript that seemed to have been left by his Master in past years did he faintly see one sentence, suggesting that after forging the Jin Dan, there was still a method to elevate the Jin Dan?

"Should I ask Master?"

Just as the thought arose in Li Yuan's heart, his mind-sea suddenly trembled; in a daze, he felt that the image of Master within his thoughts suddenly became vivid.

"Master!"

Li Yuan hurriedly rose and bowed.

"The Five Emperors' magic power is complete? Then you may indeed forge the Great Pill."

Lord Lord Tianyu's voice rang out through the sea of consciousness, and at once, under Li Yuan's perception, a finger tapped over:

"Shen Gui Mingming has been in seclusion for twenty years; you only woke when your Grandmaster summoned you. This is the Eight Wastes Prison-Suppressing 【technique】—ponder it carefully. If anything is unclear, you may seek out Master Master Fufa for guidance…"

"Hum~"

The moment Li Yuan turned his mind to it, he felt a tremendous 'Boom' in his sea of consciousness; the various scriptures came rolling like a flood, making his spirit sway, and for the moment he simply could not digest them.

"No need to rush it in a single sitting."

Lord Lord Tianyu spoke, and the sea of consciousness instantly calmed: "The Eight Wastes Prison-Suppressing is a top-tier great Gu Gu Shentong. If you achieve even a small measure of mastery before Ying Mo Shen, that already means your talent is exceptional and your cultivation diligent."

"Many thanks, Master, for transmitting the dharma."

Li Yuan hurriedly bowed.

"Mm."

Lord Lord Tianyu was about to leave when Li Yuan hurriedly asked: "Master, this disciple has a question to consult you on."

"Speak."

"May I ask, Master—is a first-grade Great Pill truly the ultimate?"

Li Yuan chose his words carefully as he asked.

"Mm?"

Lord Lord Tianyu seemed somewhat surprised, then answered: "Jin Dan also has its method of metamorphosis, but that is a Xiu Chi De Fa that can only be practiced after forging the Great Pill."

"Just go ahead and forge your pill yourself."

"This disciple understands!"

Li Yuan's heart gave a jolt—he already knew that the one mentioned in the Divine King's handwritten letter as having forged a super-grade Great Pill must be that Grandmaster of his whom he had never met.

After seeing his Master off, he sat cross-legged and began to settle the scriptures churning in his sea of consciousness.

The complete Eight Wastes Prison-Suppressing was exceedingly complex; the various scriptures were as vast as the sea—from the selection of the fierce evils, to balancing them, to using the fierce to draw forth the Dao—extremely detailed.

"Vast and profound indeed!"

After a long while, Li Yuan let out a long breath, even feeling a bit dizzy and his head swelling.

The complexity of the Eight Wastes Prison-Suppressing was no less than that of the Origin Divine Fist, and far more detailed than the latter; he only needed to proceed step by step, and he could imprison the fierce evils.

This Gu Gu Shentong was an excellent match for the Chaotic Body.

Especially since he had also cultivated the Yellow Emperor's Thick Earth Scripture, which was of tremendous benefit for imprisoning and suppressing the fierce evils.

"Heaven, Earth, Water, Thunder, Wind, Fire, Mountain, Marsh… the Eight Trigrams combined with the Eight Fierce Evils—Master has raised the grade of this Gu Gu Shentong by a whole tier!"

Li Yuan's heart was filled with awe.

With the Eight Trigrams combined with the Eight Fierce Evils, the eight evils were no longer isolated but resonated with one another; once perfected, compared with merely imprisoning the eight evils, its might was immeasurably greater.

"But the difficulty of cultivation is also greater—the corresponding fierce beasts are not easy to find."

Li Yuan swallowed a spiritual pill, then closed his eyes and began to tally his gains.

From his battle with the White-Robed Five-Dragon Immortal, he had benefited greatly; his understanding of the Five Extremes Great Scripture and the various Shen Tong Fa had all improved considerably, thanks to the immense pressure the former had exerted on him.

At this moment, he sensed something—his Ying Mo Shen had returned from the Xing Xing Tongyou corridor.

"Perfect timing."

Li Yuan opened his eyes; his Ying Mo Shen also stepped out from his shadow, took the Nine-Smoke Veil, along with the wisp of aura he had captured, and headed off to the Sword God Tomb.

This wisp of aura had been seized during his bitter fight with the Five-Dragon Immortal; it was his strongest state at present.

"With this, even if there are freaks like the Five-Dragon Immortal in the present world, the twelfth layer of the Sword Realm—I can still hold it!"

After watching his Ying Mo Shen depart, Li Yuan felt his spirit was also complete:

"With this, I can set about forging the pill!"

……

Several days later, at the Qi-Gathering Platform.

"Huu!"

"Haa!"

Li Yuan closed his eyes and entered meditation; while Xing Gong and refining dharma, he was also contemplating the various secret teachings and insights regarding pill-forging.

Jin Dan takes the imperishability of the metal nature, the meaning of perfect harmony and completion.

Its essence is the communion between human and Heaven and Earth, and also the first step of metamorphosis from the Jiu Da Shen Jing toward the Dharma Realm.

In Mount Mount Dongxuan, the secret teachings on forging the Jin Dan were countless; Li Yuan had begun reading them twenty years ago, and though he could not finish them all, he felt he had already grasped their subtleties.

"Jin Dan Nine Phenomena, Dharma Ring Nine Aspects…"

"The Mud Pill Palace has nine chambers; a cultivator may open up the Jiu Da Shen Jing, each bearing its own dharmas. The Jin Dan uses nine strands of metal nature as the guide to achieve perfection."

"The Jiu Xiang Fa Ring does not mean fusing the nine true forms, but melting all dharmas together into one ring. Once the Dharma Ring is formed, the forms metamorphose—they can manifest in the present world, they can perform all dharmas; hence they are called Dharma Aspects!"

After a long while, Li Yuan felt his contemplation was sufficient; when he opened his eyes, a third-realm ape demon had been slain by gourd sword Qi, and was promptly skinned and tendon-stripped by a group of Dao Soldiers.

"Hum~"

The Xie Tongzhi Ball trembled lightly.

Li Yuan picked it up and saw it was Feng Feng Xiuqi:

"Dao Lord, Feng Feng Qingcang wishes to undergo the Dao Tribulation, and has issued a final challenge to Fa Fa Wushe. Do you want to watch the fight?"

"Mm?"

Li Yuan looked toward the Combat Hall and found it extremely lively—two Zun Wu Jing absolute-peak experts clashing had attracted countless cultivators to spectate.

In fact, these two were extremely renowned.

Feng Feng Qingcang, the current Sect Master of the Martial Immortal Gate, the number one person on the Dou Zhan Monthly Ranking, and has held this position for many years, bearing the title of the foremost person beneath the near-gods of Tian Shi Yuan.

That Fa Fa Wushe is equally formidable; it is said he is the incarnation of a deity, and a deity is at least a Qi Jing cultivator!

"The incarnation of a Qi Jing cultivator…"

Li Yuan muttered the name "Fa Fa Wushe."

He was extremely attentive to gathering intelligence, yet he could not guess which great cultivator this incarnation belonged to.

"Still, I can go take a look, and let it serve as a way to ease my mind."

As Li Yuan's thoughts stirred, he had already entered the viewing area, only to feel the void before his eyes become as if transparent, within which was a vast starry sky, countless meteors roaring back and forth.

This Dou Zhan Platform was far superior to the kind he had fought Lin Yue on before.

He focused his gaze and looked; among the myriad falling stars, there stood a refined middle-aged man with his hands clasped behind his back, dressed in a blue robe, carrying nothing on his person, calmly gazing at the sea of stars.

"Feng Feng Qingcang!"

Li Yuan recognized this person.

Back when he had not yet left Da Yun Star, this person's reputation had already thundered in his ears; in the Eight Directions Temple, his stone tablet still stands atop the mountain to this day.

"Buzz~"

At this moment, the Visiting Friends interface trembled; Li Yuan looked and found it was Senior Brother Master Fufa.

"Have you gone into closed-door cultivation?"

"Reporting to Senior Brother, not yet."

"I heard there is a battle between Qi Jing cultivators in Tian Shi Yuan; you can go take a look."

"Senior Brother has heard of it too?"