Only when the dazzling golden light swallowed his silhouette did the heaviness in the air finally vanish. Gasps rose and fell around them—many had been holding their breath, and only now could they breathe again.
Who was he, exactly?!
That was the question on everyone's mind.
"To think such a person exists in this world!"
"He looks about our age, yet he's left us far behind. Sigh."
Some whose pride had been wounded lost the desire to strive because of Yuan Tianzong's existence. Their Dao hearts cracked slightly, and they felt that no matter how hard they worked, they couldn't even touch the hem of his garment.
"Does anyone recognize the move he just used? It was unbelievably profound!"
"Dragon shadows followed him, coiling around him as he moved. Those two steps he took through the air were astonishingly powerful. It felt like the silhouette of a tyrant ascending a flight of stairs. Did anyone else feel that?" Someone sank into thought, slowly describing the feelings stirring within him.
Many people agreed with this description.
"Exactly! I felt that too!"
"It was like an emperor ascending the throne. What martial art in the world could make people feel that way?"
The few surviving Grand Elders exchanged glances, all of them frowning in thought.
They had seen and heard much, but among the Noble Families and the handful of top Great Sects, none possessed such an overbearing style—one that swallowed the world and carried the majesty of an emperor.
Had Yuan Tianzong known what they were thinking, he probably wouldn't have been able to suppress a smile.
His Nine Dragon Ascending Emperor Step was an unknown, secret art—not just in this era, but even in the Dharma-ending era.
He had stumbled upon this martial art while traveling across the land in search of a way to break through the Grandmaster bottleneck.
At first sight, he had immediately recognized its formidable nature. His attainments in martial arts were already exceptionally high, and the contents recorded in this art far surpassed any martial techniques known at the time.
After many searches, he eventually found a few scattered clues.
Those sparse bits of information pointed to the distant era of Da Shang, and perhaps even more ancient times.
This martial art was profoundly mysterious. Even now, Yuan Tianzong had yet to fully comprehend it. But the power he had just demonstrated was already enough to awe everyone—especially since he had taken only his second step.
If he ever completed all nine steps and fully comprehended the art, even he had no idea what heights he might reach.
Amid the clamor, someone quick-witted rushed toward the Heavenly Lake.
"What's there to think about? The Grand Elders of the five great sects have fallen. This is our opportunity!"
"Anyone who isn't a member of Swordling Mountain who comes within thirty feet will be killed without exception!" Nan Chunshan of Swordling Mountain took a long look at the dazzling golden light surrounding the Golden Lotus at the center, then forcibly shook off the gloom in his heart. A sharp aura emanated from him as his voice rang out in every direction.
Jingle~ Jingle~
The pleasant sound of bells echoed through the air. Hua Yingying of Fengling Residence, whose charms had not faded with age, smiled warmly. "All the disciples of my Fengling Residence are girls. We'll just take a small patch of ground, so please don't wander into the wrong place, hehe~"
The sects whose Grand Elders were still alive smoothly secured their own territories in the Heavenly Lake.
But the five great sects, including Yin Xu Mountain, Gui Cang Valley, and Gudao Mountain, had lost their strongest fighters. Though they still had a solid foundation, their power to intimidate others had greatly diminished. Some forces now dared to challenge them and fight for the most radiant Golden Lotus sites.
"Even without our Grand Elder, we can still crush you!"
"Hmph! Then come and try!"
"Damn it, they've already started absorbing the Golden Mist!"
The already tense standoff nearly erupted at those words, then abruptly eased.
Both sides realized that fighting endlessly at a time like this would be foolish.
So, with tacit understanding, they each backed away. The early bird got the worm, and the latecomer went without; everyone used their speed to compete for one Golden Lotus after another.
Even the smallest Golden Lotus in the Heavenly Lake was large enough for one person to sit cross-legged inside.
The largest was the Golden Lotus King Yuan Tianzong had entered. It bloomed at the center of the Heavenly Lake, surrounded by a ring of bare ground separating it from the other Golden Lotuses. By eye, it was a hundred meters across, its golden light dazzling, with mysterious Dao patterns visible across nearly the entire area.
After sitting cross-legged inside one of the smallest Golden Lotuses and circulating their techniques to absorb the Golden Mist, the martial artists felt refreshed and clearheaded. They had never experienced anything like it.
In this incredible state, some suddenly saw the light. Martial arts bottlenecks and problems that had troubled them for ages became clear in an instant, leaving them shocked and overjoyed!
Heavy breathing echoed everywhere, accompanied by cries of astonishment.
"This Golden Mist is extraordinary! It can actually improve one's comprehension!"
Comprehension was the most precious and rarest kind of cultivation talent.
Treasures of nature that could improve one's physical constitution might not be common, but they weren't impossibly rare, either.
But treasures that could directly improve one's comprehension were few and far between. Every one of them was the stuff of legend.
And the Golden Mist swirling within the Golden Lotuses before them was precisely such a legendary treasure!
Once they realized the Golden Mist's astonishing effects, everyone couldn't help looking toward the most radiant Golden Lotus King at the center of the Heavenly Lake.
Even the "underage" Golden Lotus beneath them had such extraordinary effects. They could hardly imagine how astonishing the Golden Lotus King Yuan Tianzong had claimed must be.
In the radiant grounds surrounding the Golden Lotus King, Yuan Tianzong sat cross-legged.
The Golden Mist here was worlds apart from the mist outside. It could even transform on its own into all kinds of auspicious forms.
Flickering Dao patterns hung around him like clear lines of text on the pages of a book. It was as if a mysterious Daoist scripture had opened around him!
In a daze, Yuan Tianzong felt his mental power rapidly sublimating in the Golden Mist. It was as if his soul had left his body, and his perspective had become indescribably strange.
At a certain moment, Yuan Tianzong's eyes abruptly opened. Two tiny Golden Lotuses turned slowly in his pupils, while wisps of pure white phantom fire swirled within them, carrying an indescribably wondrous quality.
Soon, the pure white flames spread from his pupils to cover his entire body. Yuan Tianzong looked down and saw them dancing across his skin. At a thought, the flames gathered in his palm and swayed gently. Countless mysterious Dao patterns were contained within them, making them seem dreamlike.
He absorbed the Golden Mist at astonishing speed. The Golden Lotuses throughout the Heavenly Lake rapidly went from full bloom to withered, and the entire process was over in a very short time.
Yuan Tianzong clearly felt an extraordinary transformation taking place in his mind. It was like the sublimation and metamorphosis that had come when his body broke through the Grandmaster bottleneck.
Could mental power have cultivation stages like those of a Grandmaster?
He pondered silently. He seemed to recall seeing something about it in an ancient text—the Way of the Nascent Soul?
The Golden Lotus King beneath his feet was withering as well.
An unusual radiance shone through the holes in its seedpod.
Suddenly, Yuan Tianzong seemed to notice something. He rose slightly, strode forward, and looked down at one of the holes in the seedpod beneath him.
Each hole was as large as a basketball, and radiant light poured from within.
Only one hole was pitch-black. It seemed something was blocking the light inside.
After observing it for a moment, Yuan Tianzong used the Dragon Seizing Hand. A powerful force of suction sprang from his palm.
Pfft~
Something was dragged out by the suction and landed securely in his palm.
It was a black, square box.
The box was about the size of his palm, just right to hold in one hand.
Yuan Tianzong casually opened it. Inside lay a gray seed, completely devoid of life and seemingly long dead.
A seed had been buried beneath the Golden Lotus King?
Yuan Tianzong slowly closed the box and slipped it into his pocket. Just before the Golden Lotus King withered completely, he crossed the Heavenly Lake on foot and calmly left, watched by everyone with awe.
"He must have greatly improved his comprehension while sitting on the Golden Lotus King!"
"He was already a monster. Now he'll be even more incredible!"
"Enough. Instead of worrying about someone else, why not search the nearby area some more? There might be other opportunities left behind."
Quite a few people shared this thought.
Even Yuan Tianzong stayed in the Kunlun Mountains, waiting and searching for several days, until the phantom image of the South Heaven Gate that had appeared in the sky vanished completely on the sixth day.
By the eighth day, he still hadn't found anything.
"Looks like there are no other opportunities left in the Kunlun Mountains."
"I wonder if there were any others that someone else took away."
Muttering quietly, Yuan Tianzong finally stopped lingering and set off from Kunlun, returning to his old home in the Dharma-ending era.
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