Fall

"This was an open and aboveboard scheme."

After seeing Gui Changshou off, Long Shanying sighed softly to Longshan Lie.

"Then couldn't we just not raise the tribe's rank?"

Longshan Lie said indifferently.

But the moment he turned around, Long Shanying smacked him hard across the head.

The old clan chief flew into a rage and snapped,

"When did this old man ever say that this scheme was a bad thing?"

"Wealth, Companions, Dharma, Place are all cultivation resources."

"The provisions provided by the Wei River Water Mansion are also what we need."

"This can be called a win-win situation."

As for who benefited more, that was a matter of different opinions.

"According to Fellow Daoist Changshou's advice, the twelve Black Water Guard divisions are recruiting Dao soldiers. Your brain may be a little dull, but few can compare to your brute strength."

"Tomorrow, go register for the Black Water Guard assessment."

"Earn some Military Merit for our tribe as well."

Longshan Lie's eyes lit up at those words, and he was eager to give it a try.

"Then I'll go try tomorrow."

Long Shanying waved a hand, signaling for him to gather every living being in the tribe.

"Sound the bells and drums, let them shake the high hills; pray for blessings and auspiciousness, let them be heard by the heavens."

"Supreme Saint Divine Lord above, we of the humble and insignificant Longshan Clan have been fortunate enough to receive Your Lordship's mercy and be accepted as vassals."

"From this day forth, we shall act with caution and offer prayers every day."

"We humbly pray that Your Lordship's divine abilities reach fruition and that You soon attain the Great Dao."

Upon the stone table, the Golden Book and Jade Scroll glowed with a faint spiritual radiance.

As the living beings of the Longshan Clan bowed in devout worship,

an invisible stream of fortune rose from the Longshan Clan and descended into the Water Mansion.

This scene did not occur only within the Longshan Clan.

It took place among every subordinate tribe throughout the Wei River region.

"Roar~"

A dragon's roar jolted Zhou Yuan awake from cultivation.

The Daoist, clad in a black robe with broad sleeves and wearing a jade crown, slowly opened his eyes. He calculated with his fingers and instantly understood the cause and effect.

"With the system established, a faction has taken shape."

Once a faction was established, fortune would naturally arise.

Although the fortune accumulated now could not compare to that of certain major tribes and great powers,

"the Wei River Water Mansion has only just begun."

"Who could say what it might become after ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, or a million years?"

Zhou Yuan's divine eyes flickered.

He had great confidence in the Wei River Water Mansion—or rather, in himself.

As his cultivation grew ever deeper, the Water Mansion would naturally rise along with the tide.

In turn, the resources and fortune brought by the Water Mansion's development would become provisions for his cultivation, allowing him to advance more calmly upon the path of the Dao.

When the times favored one, even Heaven and Earth lent their strength; when fortune departed, even heroes could not act freely. In the Primordial Great World, this was no joke.

Fortune and merit were hard currency in the Primordial Great World.

Even lofty Primordial Saints could not avoid fighting over fortune and merit.

"In theory, if I could seize the entire Primordial Great World and claim all fortune, I could directly assume the rightful position of Master of Heaven and Earth, King of All Spirits, becoming one whose every word compelled all laws to obey. I might even become an existence capable of influencing the Will of the Heavenly Dao."

Such a realm had already surpassed that of a Primordial Saint.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yuan quietly shook his head.

Who knew how much plotting and struggle would still be needed to reach such a point?

It was far too early to think about that now. After all, he was merely a Grand Unity Great Sage, not even qualified to sit at the table.

Zhou Yuan drew upon fortune to cultivate and immediately felt his thoughts become more active, while the spiritual opportunities around him grew clearer.

"This is the benefit of fortune."

He already had the Myriad Dao Book aiding his cultivation, and now, with fortune assisting him as well, his progress advanced by leaps and bounds.

Within the Water Mansion, Zhou Yuan sat cross-legged. Destruction and creation flickered around him, while peals of thunder rang out like World Creation.

"The Five Elements generate and restrain one another."

"Black Water Divine Thunder evolves into Wood God Thunder."

With a thought from Zhou Yuan,

the Black Water Divine Thunder flickering through the void abruptly changed.

All things sprouted, and the four seasons became spring.

Boom!

As a thunderclap exploded,

vigorous vitality unexpectedly emerged from the unseen.

Yet within that vitality lay the Great Dao of destruction.

This was Wood God Thunder!

"My true body was originally Ren Water Spirit Bamboo. Though it is water-aspected, its essence conceals wood."

"Now, borrowing this opportunity of flourishing fortune, I have finally refined another divine thunder."

Joy appeared on Zhou Yuan's face.

Two of the Innate Five Elements Divine Thunders had now been achieved.

He was no longer far from a supreme Greater Divine Ability!

"Tension and relaxation are both part of the path of cultivation."

After considering it, Zhou Yuan stopped cultivating. Instead, he struck the Jade Chime, summoned his subordinates, and began expounding the Dao.

In the Primordial Great World, years went uncounted, and a century passed in the blink of an eye.

During this century, Zhou Yuan no longer cultivated.

Instead, he gave special instruction to those in the Water Mansion.

He answered, one by one, the cultivation problems encountered by his subordinate cultivators.

This was called transmitting the Dao, imparting knowledge, and resolving doubts.

For cultivators such as Madam Jiuzhen and Old Man Qingrong, who had lingered in the Heavenly Being Divine Demon Realm for countless years, their accumulated foundations had long been sufficient. They only needed one final push to elevate a thread of immortal golden nature within their internal grotto-heavens.

What they lacked was merely a final spark of inspiration.

A true transmission required but a single sentence; a false one filled ten thousand volumes.

The cultivation techniques practiced by Old Man Qingrong and the others had originally been deduced by Zhou Yuan through the Myriad Dao Book, based on their individual characteristics and the Great Dao with which they were compatible.

With Zhou Yuan's patient guidance, those peak Heavenly Being Divine Demon Realm cultivators in the Water Mansion broke through one after another and attained True One.

From then on, a thread of their true spirits would remain immortal. So long as they did not encounter external calamity, they could endure alongside the world.

Now, including Guizhenzi, the Water Mansion possessed seventeen Divine Demon Cultivators of the True One Realm.

Seventeen Divine Demon Cultivators of the True One Realm attacked together, and several waters surrounding the Wei River submitted to the Water Mansion.

For a time, the name of the Wei River Water Lord resounded throughout the upper reaches of the Huai River basin.

On this day, Zhou Yuan was cultivating quietly within the hall.

Suddenly, a burst of rumbling spread through Heaven and Earth.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Zhou Yuan frowned and looked toward the sky.

The Azure Sky, which had just been clear for thousands of miles with white clouds drifting leisurely, suddenly darkened.

Thunder serpents danced, and lightning flashed.

Dark clouds gathered. In but an instant, bloody rain began to fall from the heavens.

In a daze, the Five Elements Great Dao seemed to be wailing.

It was as if a mournful song had begun to play throughout Heaven and Earth.

"This is..."

Zhou Yuan abruptly rose to his feet, his face showing both hesitation and delight.

"The Five Elements have lost their Dao, and Heaven and Earth mourn together."

"An Innate Dao Lord has fallen."

And with the Five Elements falling...

"In the end, those two from Phoenix Perch Mountain still won."

The Dao Lords of the Five Directions Imperial Dynasty were likely doomed.

Zhou Yuan's eyes flickered as he instantly arrived beside the Innate Water Eye beneath the Water Mansion.

Beneath the Innate Origin Embryo where the Yellow Middle Plum stood, a floating bead of weak water was being suppressed. The black pearl flickered with profound nether radiance.

It was precisely the Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Profound Nether Weak Water Bead, that the Eighteenth Prince of the Tianshui Imperial Dynasty had used to destroy the soul of the previous Wei River God Lord.

Since Pangu's World Creation, when Heaven became clear and Earth became turbid, Innate Divine Beings had descended into the world, while Innate Spiritual Treasures and Innate Spiritual Roots had also been nurtured.

Innate Spiritual Treasures contained Innate Undying Spirit Light and were formed from Great Dao Laws. They could assist cultivators in comprehending the Dao and could also mobilize the laws and Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, unleashing immense power.

"Innate Spiritual Treasures correspond to the number of the Great Dao, with a maximum of forty-nine Innate Restrictions."

"Low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures possess one to twelve Innate Restrictions, while Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures possess thirteen to twenty-four Innate Restrictions."

"High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures possess twenty-five to thirty-six Innate Restrictions. The Heavenly Machine Chessboard, for example, possesses thirty-six Innate Restrictions and is a top-tier existence even among High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures."

As for Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, they possessed thirty-seven to forty-eight restrictions.

Innate Supreme Treasures such as the Myriad Dao Book possessed forty-nine Innate Restrictions.

Zhou Yuan swept his divine sense over the Profound Nether Weak Water Bead.

This treasure possessed twenty-two Innate Restrictions and was one of the water-element Innate Spiritual Treasures.

It could unleash Profound Nether Final Divine Light and release Innate Weak Water, capable of corroding the Dao body and contaminating the primordial spirit.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Zhou Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

"How could this be?"

"The heavenly signs just showed Water Element Losing Its Position. Clearly, an Innate Dao Lord who cultivated the Great Dao of Water Element has fallen."

"And at this very moment, the Water Element Dao Lord who lost the battle in the high heavens was clearly the Dao Lord Tianshui."

Yet the divine-sense imprint upon the Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Profound Nether Weak Water Bead, had weakened to the extreme but had clearly not completely dissipated.

Zhou Yuan's thoughts raced as he looked toward the formation beside him, his gaze filled with shock and delight.

At the center of the formation, the Eighteenth Prince from the Tianshui Imperial Dynasty remained unconscious.