Chapter 887: Chapter 610: The Three Steps Before Great Power (Requesting Monthly Tickets and Subscriptions)
Soon after, Lu Chenzhou put the Eighth Rank Technique he created on the Candle Dragon Store for everyone to exchange.
["Rotten Heart Sutra"]
[Quality: Ordinary Eighth Rank]
[Usage Fee: 500,000 Mid-grade Primordial Stones]
"Is it really this cheap?"
Yaochi Immortal glanced over and asked with a smile.
"If it’s too expensive, nobody can afford it. It’s just an Eighth Rank Technique." Lu Chenzhou didn’t care.
"So generous, I like it." Yaochi Immortal was about to exchange for it, but Lu Chenzhou stopped her.
He said, "While we’re traveling, I’ll explain it to you. No need to waste money."
Yaochi Immortal wasn’t shy about it at all.
"Hey, sure thing."
Looks like she’ll be able to get a lot of benefits from Land Army Master in the future. The prospects are bright!
...
"Self-created Eighth Rank Technique?"
Hui Kong Abbot’s old eyes widened. He had just advanced to the Peak of Seventh Realm recently and was also researching Eighth Rank Spiritual Cultivation Methods—never thought Land Army Master would suddenly overtake him. Could the Army Master be about to Breakthrough Eighth?
"Fast, too fast."
The abbot continued studying his own methods. He had his own ideas and didn’t want to be influenced by others.
...
"Eh, Eighth Rank Technique? Support!" Wang Changming didn’t even think, and exchanged directly. "I can’t fall too far behind as a master, either. I’ll push for Seventh Rank Middle Stage before my disciple Breaks through Eighth. Now I finally know how Ji Xuantong felt back then."
...
Mystic Sky Realm.
Emperor Shitian had already finished reading.
He nodded repeatedly, agreeing with some of the theories. As the current Tianxia cultivator with the greatest achievement in spiritual cultivation, many of his views coincided perfectly with those Lu Chenzhou displayed in the Rotten Heart Sutra.
"The Great Dream Dao is indeed formidable, worthy of being ranked alongside my Formless Dao. If I get the chance, I’ll have to ask for some guidance."
"Great Dream, Formless, Causality, Nirvana, together with their counterparts, Nightmare, Heart Demon, Destiny, Silent Annihilation... The Heart Emperor once said, if one can fully master the four positive and negative heart cultivation laws, maybe there’ll be hope to subdue the Three Demons by means of a Nine Realms body."
"Just cultivating one law took me half a lifetime. I can hardly imagine what kind of person could master the Eight Great Laws and subdue the Three Demons."
...
"Eighth Rank, impressive."
Eternal Immortal couldn’t help but exclaim. Normally, most who create their own Eighth Rank Techniques are those who’ve spent hundreds of years at the Peak of Seventh Realm, like him. Lu Chenzhou had only just reached the peak, yet could comprehend an Eighth Rank Technique. This level of comprehension was already beyond Eternal Immortal’s imagination.
"Sixth Rank Dao + Ordinary Eighth Rank Technique is the first step toward Great Power; Seventh Rank Dao + Quasi Great Power Skill, the second step; Eighth Rank Dao + Quasi Great Power Skill, the third step... Once these three steps are taken, the only thing left before Great Power is the Ninth Rank Dao."
Why is there such a vast gap between Eighth Realms? It’s because the span of the Dao Domain is too great. Before this, it was one realm, one rank, but in the Eighth Realm, there are three ranks of Dao to cross. This shows how difficult Great Power is. Since ancient times, excluding the Innate powerful True Spirits, there have only been some twenty postnatal Great Powers from cultivation.
As the earliest of the Eighth Realm, Eternal Immortal understood well—the three steps of the Eighth Realm are enough to stop ninety percent of people before Great Power. He thought his own talent, perseverance, and fortune were all at the top level of a realm, yet after a full sixty years since his breakthrough to Eighth, he was still on the first step, a fair distance from the second. More than half of the Eight Realm experts of the Three Thousand Worlds are also on the first step.
Why does he favor the Dragon King?
Because, although this guy Broke through Eighth later than he did, right after the Dragon King’s breakthrough, he advanced even further on the first step, approaching the second.
So he told the Dragon King not to worry about the bigger picture of Tianxia Civilization, and to pursue the Ninth Realm with all his heart and soul.
Once the Dragon King achieves Great Power, then all the current predicaments facing Tianxia will be solved.
Be it the Divine Alliance’s deep foundation or the demigods sealed in the Three Thousand Realms, Tianxia would have enough strength to resist. Even if all the gods awoke completely, the Dragon King could use his Internal World to take the Tianxia Civilization and wage guerrilla warfare across the Great Universe.
This is the Wandering Tianxia Plan!
Now, Eternal Immortal is looking forward to it.
"Who among you will Breakthrough Nine first? Originally I thought Dragon King had the edge, since he started earlier, but Chenzhou’s momentum now is fiercer than the Dragon King’s."
...
"Heh, this really makes money."
Lu Chenzhou looked at the purchase records—eight experts had bought his Heart Sutra, mostly Po Suo Heart Cultivators and Buddhist bigwigs, netting him four million.
Only Wang Changming did it out of family support.
This way, together with the Primordial Stones mined earlier in Kun Gu Realm, Lu Chenzhou paid off the interest-free loan he had borrowed from the Elder Council. Now he was debt-free and at ease.
[Rotten Heart Sutra: Perfect]
[Great Dream Divine Seed (Eleventh Rank)]
[Effect 1: Greatly enhances Martial Arts Comprehension of Spirit Martial Arts]
[Effect 2: Greatly enhances Heart Realm cultivation]
[Effect 3: Greatly enhances Great Dream Dao cultivation]
"After the Divine Seed reached Eleventh Rank, the effects are also the utmost in simplicity—no more distinction between so-called Buddhist and Daoist, just between spiritual and physical. The three traits of the Great Dream Divine Seed are all the most practical."
He looked over at Divine Skills again.
[Butterfly Dream Circulation]
[Quality: Middle Grade·Twenty-seven Patterns]
[Level: Top Level (Seventh Realm)]
[Introduction: ...]
"After the Eighth Rank Technique, the Divine Skill quality transformed from[Low Grade·Twenty-seven Patterns] to Middle Grade. The number of Divine Patterns didn’t change, but since I’m still at Peak of Seventh Realm, the level is Top Level at Seventh Rank. With this transformation, Butterfly Dream Circulation’s range increased from a thousand miles to three thousand miles, and the solidity of the dream and the lethality of the transforming blue butterflies have both undergone a qualitative leap—even your typical Eighth Realm, once caught, would have to struggle to escape. If I run into that Daoist’s[Illusion Realm]again, I’ll cast[Dream Realm]immediately. Pit my Dream Realm against his illusion, and I’ll be able to get away with ease."
...
Several months later.
Mystic Sky Realm.
Star Dome Sea.
Brilliant radiance tore through the void, diving in headfirst. After several days of travel, Lu Chenzhou and Yaochi Immortal arrived at the location where Tianxia’s army was previously stationed, as per the intel.
"Military Leader, you’re here!"
"Greetings, Military Leader!"
"Senior Yaochi Immortal is here too."
The morale of the Tianxia soldiers soared.
"Hahaha, Military Leader, you’re here." The Alcohol King came to greet him, his left arm empty, a fierce gale-generated Qi swirling around his wound, preventing the flesh from healing.
Lu Chenzhou frowned.
"What happened? You’re hurt?"
The Alcohol King laughed:
"It’s nothing, I was wounded by the Gale Great Commander Yin Jiujiao, lost an arm. The Divine Alliance has been attacking hard lately, with eight battles breaking out in half a year."
"What about casualties?"
"We didn’t lose any of Seventh Realm; the enemy, however, lost a Realm King—ambushed and killed by Bai Feng, Prince Northern Guardian, and Heart Dream Emperor together. As for Six Realms, both sides took losses. The Divine Race sent only their elite this time, and the military combat skills they practice are top-notch. The Gale Clan are speed specialists, Stone Clan have defense, the Thunder Fire Clans are in charge of fierce attacks. Their cooperation is a huge headache."
After understanding the details—
Lu Chenzhou said, "We need to strengthen our study of battle formations, use the cycle and countering of the Five Elements to look for a solution."
"Mm, our Array Masters are working on it."
Finally, Lu Chenzhou said, "Alcohol King, let me try healing your severed arm. As a fighter, how can you fight missing a limb?"
The Alcohol King was helpless.
"It’s no use, Military Leader. Yin Jiujiao wielded a powerful Eighth Rank[Chasing Wind Bow], a treasure made with a Divine Race bloodline secret technique, containing a trace of extremely powerful[Gale Dao Rule]. It continuously generates gales, preventing my wound from healing. Even Senior Emperor Shitian was helpless."
Yaochi Immortal’s expression grew grave.
"The Power of Dao Rule, troublesome indeed."
Dao Rules and Law Dao are essentially the same by nature—the difference is, mortals master Laws. The Divine master Dao Rules.
Dao Rule is the foundation of Divine Power.
Only the Divine can resist the Divine, so even Emperor Shitian couldn’t heal the Alcohol King’s wound.
"Senior Emperor Shitian said that to heal my injury would require at least a Seventh Rank cultivator of Life or Wind Dao, who’d have to spend a long time with Greater Dao Power to slowly erase the Dao Rule."
The Alcohol King had given up hope.
"Oh? That so?"
Lu Chenzhou waved his hand, capturing the Alcohol King. He placed his large palm on his shoulder. In his mind, the Martial Arts Tree awoke like a kitten smelling fish, greedily sucking up that strand of Gale Dao Rule.
Boom!
In a flash, a gigantic beast with twenty-four wings—part man, part bird, part great fish—awoke, trying to barge into Lu Chenzhou’s Spiritual World. But the instant it touched his spiritual Circular Light, it simply dissipated.
"Within this strand of Gale Dao Rule, there’s also a remnant imprint of Wind God·Yin Yinhu."
Wind God·Yin Yinhu.
One of the forty-nine gods of the Divine Court—not a Great God, considered a vicious god to humanity.
Of course, there’s more than one Wind God in the Divine Court. There’s also a stronger one, called[Fei Lian], whose strength is second only to the nine Great Gods.
Likewise, with Fire Gods.
There’s Zhu Tian, who has a good relationship with humanity, and Bi Fang, who brings disaster and scorched earth.
Since its founding, the Divine Court has always been divided. The Golden Crow Emperor is powerful, but lacks absolute control over his divine subordinates—relying on the Dao Palace, the Divine are undying; even if slain in the Human World, they can be reborn in the Dao Palace.
Everything changed when the stars descended.
The Divine could be killed, and would truly die.
The Martial Arts Tree stopped growing.
[Wind and Thunder Dao: Fifth Rank (1%)→Fifth Rank (9%)]
Lu Chenzhou mused inwardly.
No wonder Dao Rule Power is high quality—it’s almost as good as a Void Ancient Tablet.
On the other side, Alcohol King gazed in shock at his regrown flesh, his voice trembling slightly.
"Military Leader, did you reach Seventh Rank Dao?"
"I just happened to have a restraining method. Anyone else need healing? Call them all over."
The Martial Arts Tree had just gotten its appetizer.
Alcohol King shook his head, still fearful:
"The Chasing Wind Bow is too powerful. I was just lucky to survive—another Seventh Realm alien ally, taken right through the heart, died in an instant. The Four Great Commanders are terrifying—not just wielding Eighth Rank treasures, but their Dao Understanding is infinitely close to Sixth Rank."
The Four Great Commanders have become a nightmare in the hearts of Tianxia’s powerhouses over the years. Each one is almost Eighth Realm; ordinary Seventh Realms can’t last a single exchange with them.
...
Soon after—
Lu Chenzhou finally met the Po Suo legend, Emperor Shitian: dressed in rags, sitting cross-legged in the void, a purple Thunder Drum circling around him endlessly.
"Military Leader, are you ready?"
"Just waiting to murder until rivers flow with blood."