The other Golden Dragon and the remaining Divine Phoenix saw that the leaders of both their own side and the enemy's side had backed down. How could they possibly keep up any Primordial Unity Golden Immortal airs?
They, too, transformed into human form and descended to the ground.
They stood on either side of the golden-armored man, bowed nervously, and didn't even dare breathe too loudly.
Just a moment ago, they had been sworn enemies, fighting to the death over their races' fortunes.
But in the face of Lu Changsheng, a walking nuclear weapon, they had instantly reached an unprecedented consensus: staying alive came first!
Meanwhile,
Lu Changsheng was bent over, intently stitching up the Earth Vein. When he heard the three Primordial Unity Golden Immortals address him as "Senior," his hands paused slightly, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but lift.
"Feels good!"
"So this is the joy of waving someone else's tiger skin as a banner?"
"No wonder the protagonists in those novels from my previous life loved showing off. There's something addictive about scaring powerful beings from a whole major realm above you into submission."
But he knew that the greatest taboo when pretending to be an expert was getting carried away. The more you said, the more likely you were to give yourself away. He had to maintain that air of inscrutability and distance, as if all living beings were mere ants.
Lu Changsheng didn't look up.
He remained focused on controlling that thread of Great Dao Merit, joining together the last shattered section of the Earth Vein's laws without the slightest gap.
"Bzzz—"
As the Earth Vein was reconnected,
a rift opened in the firmament once more. A mass of Mysterious Yellow Qi of Heavenly Dao Merit, even richer than before, drifted down and slowly merged into Lu Changsheng's body.
At the sight,
the three Primordial Unity Golden Immortals standing a thousand zhang away nearly bulged their eyes out of their sockets.
Heavenly Dao Merit!
And it had been bestowed personally by the Heavenly Dao!
During a Tribulation of Measure, the world was filled with killing intent. Gaining even a trace of merit was harder than ascending to heaven.
Yet this unfathomable Senior had merely kneaded some mud and patched up an ordinary, tiny Earth Vein. The Heavenly Dao had actually hurried to send him such a huge mass of merit?
"Th-this Senior... what is his true origin?"
"The Heavenly Dao itself favors him so much that he receives merit for something as trivial as repairing an Earth Vein. Could he... be the legendary innate fiend who embodies the laws of heaven and earth?"
The three great powers exchanged glances, each seeing immense shock in the others' eyes.
In their view, Lu Changsheng's ability to ignore the karma of the Tribulation of Measure and casually earn Heavenly Dao Merit was even more terrifying than that Purple Heaven Divine Lightning from before.
"The Earth Vein is finally patched up."
Lu Changsheng withdrew his hand and dusted off his palms, though there wasn't a speck of dirt on them.
He turned around, his deep gaze slowly sweeping across the three Primordial Unity Golden Immortals, who were still bent over in a bow.
"You are all innate beings. Cultivating to this point was no easy feat."
Lu Changsheng's voice was calm and indifferent, carrying the detachment of one who had seen the vicissitudes of the world.
"This Tribulation of Measure is simply one part of the Heavenly Dao's cycle. Karma circles back, and karmic burdens entangle us all. No one can escape."
"I don't care how you slaughter one another elsewhere, or how many immortal mountains and blessed lands you shatter. I can't be bothered to manage it."
At this, Lu Changsheng's voice paused slightly.
A clear glow from the Mysterious Yellow Shield flowed faintly around him, radiating a weighty pressure like a mountain.
"But since I am here today, repairing the road,"
"then this land within a ten-thousand-li radius is my domain."
"Until I finish repairing this Earth Vein, if anyone dares release even a trace of magical power here, or damage so much as an inch of land..."
Lu Changsheng glanced up at the sky. The Eye of Heavenly Punishment had already vanished, but its world-destroying might still lingered in the void.
"Then you can explain yourself to the Heavenly Dao."
His words were domineering and left absolutely no room for negotiation.
Under normal circumstances, if a True Immortal dared speak to a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal like that, they would have been slapped into a puddle of flesh long ago.
But the Divine Phoenix's fate was right there for all to see.
So to the three great powers, Lu Changsheng's naked threat sounded like the most merciful act of leniency.
"Senior's teaching is engraved in our hearts!"
Led by the golden-armored man, all three dropped to one knee in unison and paid their respects.
"We would never dare disturb Senior's cultivation again. We'll leave at once and never set foot within this ten-thousand-li radius!"
With that, the three felt as if they had been pardoned.
They didn't even dare drive their Escape Light at full speed, afraid that too much fluctuation in their magical power might disturb the Earth Vein.
They could only skim close to the ground, turning into three faint streaks of light as they fled in disgrace from the ruins they now regarded as forbidden ground.
Watching the three arrogant great powers disappear beyond the horizon,
Lu Changsheng stood where he was and waited a full stick of incense, making sure they had truly gone far away and weren't lurking nearby to spy on him.
"Phew—"
He let out a long breath, and his previously straight back instantly slumped.
"That was too nerve-racking. Pretending to be an expert isn't a job just anyone can do. It takes even more out of me than fighting four Mystic Immortals to the death."
Lu Changsheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling weak all over.
But he quickly composed himself.
The danger had passed. Next came the harvest!
Lu Changsheng turned around, his golden eyes fixed intently on a spot less than fifty zhang away.
There, inside the enormous crater that had been smashed into the ground,
the Golden Dragon, a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal gravely wounded and on the brink of death, lay feebly upon the scorched earth.
The Golden Dragon had taken the Divine Phoenix's attack head-on. More than half its body had been burned to charcoal by the Southern Bright Separation Fire. Its scales had fallen off, and its bones and sinews were all broken.
Its once boundless Primordial Unity Golden Immortal essence had nearly dispersed completely, like a candle guttering in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.
It didn't even have the strength to transform into human form. It could only gasp weakly, each breath accompanied by a gush of dragon blood from its mouth.
It had witnessed the entire process of Lu Changsheng turning away the three Primordial Unity Golden Immortals.
Now, seeing Lu Changsheng's eyes glittering with greed fixed upon it, the Golden Dragon felt a despair beyond words well up in its heart.
"Se... Senior..."
The Golden Dragon let out a feeble cry, its voice so hoarse it sounded like two rough stones grinding together.
"I know my time has come... I only beg Senior for mercy. Please don't rip out my soul and refine it... I'm willing to offer up all the treasures I carry. I only ask that Senior let my true spirit reincarnate..."
In the Primordial Land, it was common to lose a battle and perish.
But to great powers like them, the most terrifying thing wasn't death. It was having their primordial spirit ripped out by an enemy after death, refined day and night, and denied rebirth for all eternity.
The Golden Dragon knew it wouldn't survive. It only hoped that the savings of a lifetime might buy it a chance to cultivate anew in its next life.
Hearing the Golden Dragon's plea,
Lu Changsheng's greedy expression vanished at once, replaced by an air of compassion for all living beings.
He walked to the edge of the crater and looked down at the miserable Golden Dragon.
Rip out its soul and refine it?
What kind of nonsense was that!
How could someone like Lu Changsheng, a practitioner of the Dao of Cowardice, ever dabble in demonic methods that damaged one's virtue and incurred karma?
What he wanted was clean, legitimate income!
Before you continue