The Sky Measuring Ruler slammed squarely into the crown of Qiongqi's head, with a muffled thunderclap.
The crack of its skull was clearly audible. Qiongqi's massive body shuddered violently, the ferocity in its golden vertical pupils instantly fading as it crashed to the ground, lifeless.
The moment its life force was extinguished, merit suddenly descended from the Ninth Heaven, thread by thread, pure beyond compare. As if drawn by some force, it flowed straight into Donghua and Taizhen.
It was Heaven's response, bestowing merit for vanquishing the vicious beast!
Donghua wasn't surprised to gain merit. Instead, he turned toward the area beyond the great array with a grave expression.
Had I guessed wrong, or...
His original plan had been to find the sensed Jade Disk of Creation Fragment and leave with Taizhen at once. But the moment he saw this Qiongqi, Donghua changed his plan.
Slaying vicious beasts brought merit. In the Primordial Wilderness of today, there were few remaining opportunities to gain merit so safely.
More importantly, after the Beast Tribulation, there was no way a vicious beast stronger than the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm could appear here.
Having calculated this, Donghua and Taizhen had kept their true cultivation levels hidden all along. They had pretended to be locked in a prolonged stalemate and let Qiongqi escape, intending to use it as bait to draw out every other lurking vicious beast and wipe them all out in one fell swoop!
Of course, Donghua never fought a battle he wasn't sure he could win. Under normal circumstances, he would never have taken such a risk. But after learning what the Willow Branch could do, he had gained enough confidence.
This was the contingency Donghua had set aside for this plan.
Looking at Taizhen, Donghua said, "It looks like we'll have to stay here for a while."
Since they had already entered the great array, they naturally had to claim the spirit treasure within it.
More importantly, at this moment, the enemy was hidden while they were exposed. The question was who could hold their nerve longer.
Fortunately, they were protected by this Innate Great Array. The vicious beasts, spurned by Heaven and Earth, would never dare enter. They could take this opportunity to properly digest what they had gained.
The bait was laid, the net was cast. Now they only had to wait for the willing to take it.
The two stepped into the heart of the great array, and the sight before them gave their Dao Hearts a jolt.
A clear pool lay still within, its surface as smooth as a mirror.
At its center, the Twelve-petal Pure World White Lotus bloomed serenely. Its petals were flawless and luminous, exhaling a gentle radiance that illuminated the entire space with crystal clarity.
Around the main lotus, several three-, six-, and nine-petal white lotuses quietly clustered together. Though their ranks were lower, they too shimmered with pure Dao resonance.
The pool water gleamed with an unusual light, gold, silver, and purple swirling together. It was the rare Three Light Divine Water of the Primordial Wilderness.
This water contained the essence of the Heaven, Earth, sun, moon, and stars. Separated, each of its three lights possessed a fearsome power.
Sunlight Divine Water was golden and could dissolve flesh, sinew, and bone. Moonlight Divine Water was silver and could corrode the Nascent Soul and spirit. Starlight Divine Water was purple and could consume the true spirit and consciousness.
Yet when the three were combined, they became the greatest healing medicine in the Primordial Wilderness. It could dispel all poisons, heal all wounds, restore flesh to bare bones, and bring the dead back to life. It was immensely precious—and here, there was so much of it.
During the Great Tribulation of Opening the Sky, the Thirty-Six-Grade Chaos Green Lotus shattered, and its remnants scattered across the Primordial Wilderness.
Each of its five seeds found its own opportunity. One, having matured, became the Twenty-Four-Grade Creation Green Lotus. It was rejected by Heaven and Earth and would later split into three, earning the Three Pure Ones their fame. The remaining four, still immature, became four Twelve-Grade Lotus Platforms, each with its own mysteries.
The World-Destroying Black Lotus once belonged to Demon Ancestor Luohu. It had displayed its might during the Dao-Demon War, then vanished without a trace.
After the lecture, Dao Ancestor Hongjun bestowed the Merit Golden Lotus upon Jieyin to suppress the fortune of the Western Sect.
The Karma Fire Red Lotus took root in the Blood Sea, where it lived alongside Ancestor Minghe.
And this final lotus, the Pure World White Lotus, had quietly grown in this far-northern land of baleful energy. Now it had fallen into Donghua's hands, as if fate had ordained it.
All four of these Twelve-Grade Lotus Platforms were Top-grade Innate Spirit Treasures with forty-eight restrictions, ranking among the mightiest treasures beneath supreme treasures.
They could not only suppress fortune but also wield peerless powers of their own.
Besides possessing the same formidable defensive power as the other lotus platforms, the Pure World White Lotus contained the purest cleansing power in Heaven and Earth. It naturally countered all impure things, including inner demons, baleful energy, and evil spirits.
Donghua gazed at the white lotus blooming quietly in the pool, felt the pure Dao resonance it gave off, then looked toward the baleful energy roiling outside the array.
"This treasure and this place are a perfect match."
After confirming there were no other spirit treasures here, the two each took a three-petal white lotus and immediately began cultivating in seclusion, organizing what they had gained on this journey.
Donghua settled on the eastern side, and Taizhen on the western side. Using the Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform at the center, each of them set up their own wards.
As soon as he sat down, Donghua eagerly took out the newly acquired Jade Disk of Creation Fragment. If Qiongqi hadn't attacked, he would have already been unable to resist investigating its secrets.
He slowly extended his divine sense into the fragment. In an instant, countless inscriptions of the Great Dao flooded into his sea of consciousness like a river of stars.
As his divine sense delved deeper, the laws recorded in the Jade Disc appeared at once: the Space Law and the Pure Yang Law!
"Heaven is helping me!"
Even Donghua, whose Dao Heart was steadfast, couldn't help but feel his heart surge.
Donghua bore the Pure Yang Origin, so cultivating the Pure Yang Great Dao was his destined path. Now that he had obtained this Jade Disk of Creation Fragment, it was as if he had found his path to enlightenment.
Suppressing the urge to immediately study the Pure Yang Law, Donghua first took out the Bronze Ancient Door he had obtained from Illusory Daoist.
This spirit treasure was ancient and mysterious, its surface covered in obscure Daoist markings. He intended to refine it first.
As his magic power flowed into it, the Bronze Ancient Door glimmered with a dim green light, and Donghua began refining its restrictions.
Only after refining one restriction did Donghua understand the treasure's mysteries. It was actually a Postnatal Supreme Treasure, capable of transferring damage, and it contained a small world within.
After finishing the refinement of the Postnatal Supreme Treasure, Donghua calmed his mind and began studying the inheritance Illusory Daoist had given him.
As Innate Divine Beings born bearing the fortune of Heaven and Earth, Donghua and the others had inherited the Great Dao from the moment of their birth. Their horizons were extraordinarily broad.
For a cultivation method to be passed down with such solemnity by a being like Illusory Daoist, who had even declared it extraordinary, its origins had to be astonishing. There was a strong chance it came from a Hunyuan Golden Immortal.
He sank his divine sense into the scripture. At first, it seemed profound and obscure.
But when Donghua used his divine sense as a guide and reconsidered the cultivation method alongside his own comprehension of the laws, its words began to rearrange and transform.
"What is this...?"
Donghua's Dao Heart trembled. The faint sound of the Great Dao rang out deep within his Nascent Soul, and boundless radiance burst forth, illuminating his Violet Palace.
Countless innate Daoist characters shone brilliantly, like the rising sun, filling his entire Violet Palace with light.
Countless golden seal-script characters soared like dragons and serpents, weaving through one another. Guided by the resonance of the Dao, they rearranged themselves, each character seeming to bear the Principles of Heaven and Earth.
At the same time, four maxims imbued with peerless Dao resonance, like four pillars propping up the sky, crashed into Donghua's Nascent Soul. Every word weighed as heavily as a thousand jun and shone with an eternal light that pointed the way forward.
Break the shackles, repay karma, borrow merit, and the Origin can be attained.
Donghua's Dao Heart cleared, as if clouds had parted to reveal the sun, allowing him to glimpse the truth of the Origin.
"This is the Method to Attain the Origin!"
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