Omnipresence (Asking for Monthly Votes)

A moment later.

After hearing Luo Dacheng recite the prime-quality Black Ridge Observation Book once, Fang Qing was beside himself with rage and kicked Luo Dacheng.

"Ah, Master, spare my life, spare my life! Where have I gone wrong? Please tell me, Master. This disciple will definitely change! Definitely!"

Luo Dacheng had been disciplined into something like a little dog. Even after being kicked, he was still thinking of how to curry favor with his master, a fawning smile appearing on his swollen face.

"What kind of damned place is this? This damned technique nearly got me killed!"

Fang Qing's nose nearly twisted with fury. "That Luo Family is utterly inhuman. Not only is the technique they sold flawed and easily restrained by the prime-quality version, but even the content after the Sixth Layer of Qi Ingestion contains omissions. Breaking through to Late Qi Ingestion is exceedingly difficult! Not to mention condensing a Dao Foundation..."

"No wonder I've been trapped at the Sixth Layer of Qi Ingestion bottleneck for so long. So it wasn't that my cultivation was insufficient... In fact, my cultivation may be quite high. It feels like I could almost use my own cultivation to fill those traps and forcibly advance to the Qi Ingestion Seventh Layer!"

He let out a long breath, then viciously kicked Luo Dacheng several more times before his mood eased somewhat. "Your Luo Family... what were all those mortals in Three-Water Hollow originally raised for? Don't tell me it was to gather Moonlit Flow..."

"Of course not. How could my family care for the few wisps of qi gathered by mortals?" Luo Dacheng repeatedly kowtowed. "My Luo Family once had an ancestor who cultivated a Dao Foundation related to divination. He possessed considerable power in physiognomy and fate-reading. He found that mortal ancestor and discovered that his descendants would flourish, with considerable fate... Thus, he disguised it as an immortal opportunity and raised them in Three-Water Hollow, for my Luo Family to feed upon their destinies! By consuming their flesh and blood, we obtained their fate numbers. Sure enough, the cultivators in my Luo Family who cultivated [Ji Water] steadily increased... But our ancestor also left an instruction: if that family broke this method, it would surely backlash against our main family, bringing the calamity of house destruction and lineage extinction. Therefore, we had to remain vigilant at all times..."

"So that was it... they were eating my family's fate? A calamity of house destruction and lineage extinction was inevitable? They calculated it quite clearly... but divine abilities cannot overcome the decree of heaven."

Fang Qing sneered inwardly and continued asking, "When the Black Blight Sect released the plague, causing the Fang Family to flee... were you the ones who sent people to clean up the loose ends?"

"Precisely."

Luo Dacheng was still somewhat puzzled as to why his master cared so much about a mere mortal lineage.

But soon, the doubts in his heart were dissolved by Fang Qing, and he became even more loyal.

"Where are the Fang Family's last descendants?"

Thinking of his old uncle, Fang Qing felt a trace of melancholy.

"A few of the older ones were directly killed and refined into pills. As for the scattered young ones... the clan thought it best to continue raising them in Three-Water Hollow, so they could provide fate numbers for the main family."

Luo Dacheng answered uneasily.

Sensing that this man was not lying, Fang Qing could not help falling silent.

"Old Uncle... no matter how one looked at it, he couldn't be considered 'young,' could he?"

"This Heavenly Water Luo Family must be destroyed. In fact... I may not even be able to wait until I establish my Dao Foundation."

Though he wished to destroy the Luo Family, Fang Qing knew the disparity between enemy and self well. He immediately asked, "Does your Heavenly Water Luo Family have any mortal enemies? Also... tell me every major event that has happened in the commandery recently!"

"Major events in the commandery? Those Rebel Army rabble have already been ordered to halt their advance. The Pu Family and the Black Blight Sect may be negotiating peace... Before that, the Zhao Family's prodigy, Zhao Wuxu, challenged Li Rulong to a sword duel. All our families know Li Rulong is as good as dead. The family sent word earlier, telling me to make a trip first and take away the blood qi that had been collected..."

Luo Dacheng explained everything in full detail. "My Luo Family's true mortal enemies were wiped out long ago. Now, in the commandery, we are merely competitors with the major Dao Foundation lineages, with mutual grudges... If the opportunity arose, the other families certainly would not mind kicking us when we were down. My Luo Family would do the same."

"Then continue acting as before. You are not to reveal even the slightest scrap of news about me... I have placed the Donkey-Demon Vajra Speech Karma Curse upon you. The moment you leak even half a word, the curse will kill you!"

Fang Qing kicked Luo Dacheng again. "Get lost!"

Luo Dacheng scrambled away in a miserable state, all the way back to the Nine Rivers Water Pavilion in Jade Heaven Market.

"Young Master Cheng?"

The beautiful married woman came forward to receive him. Seeing the handprint on his face, she looked rather astonished. "You?"

Smack!

Luo Dacheng directly slapped her. "Get lost!"

The beautiful woman immediately withdrew with her cloudlike hair disheveled. She knew that Luo Dacheng must have run into a hard case, and felt a little regretful. Why hadn't he taken that man's life?

Luo Dacheng returned to the secret chamber and sat cross-legged, but his heart could not settle no matter what.

He applied ointment, his expression strange as heaven and man battled within his heart.

His admiration and fear of his master... the unwillingness in his heart...

But in the end, beneath the terror of death, all of it turned into cowardice and the fervent inclination of a convert...

"This..."

Far away, within the cave dwelling, Fang Qing communicated with the Dao-Born Pearl through his thoughts. Seeing this scene, he could not help becoming slightly dazed. "It can actually monitor from afar? Wait... this doesn't seem to be an effect of the empowerment method? Rather... it is the Dao-Born Pearl's innate 'Omnipresence'? It can be used like this too?"

He was overjoyed.

Setting aside the Dao-Born Pearl's three major functions, "As If in the Calculation" and "Revert to Root, Return to Origin," he had originally thought "Omnipresence" merely allowed him to travel between two worlds.

Yet after Luo Dacheng left, Fang Qing casually tried it and discovered this effect!

"Is it because I hold his life and True Spirit in my grasp, so the Dao-Born Pearl regards him as my subordinate?"

"With remote monitoring, it has far more marvelous uses. It is practically like gaining another Puppet avatar. Even one with a certain degree of independent consciousness can accomplish many things... Though I hate this fellow too much. Once I've used him up, I'll kill him and replace him with another."

"Wait!"

Fang Qing suddenly thought of something, and his thoughts stirred.

The Dao-Born Pearl turned slightly. Clear and turbid qi emerged, transforming into a gateway.

In an instant, he had returned to Jade Island.

But as Fang Qing concentrated fully and sensed the Dao-Born Pearl, he could still "see" the secret chamber where Luo Dacheng was!

"Haha! This is true Omnipresence!"

He threw back his head and laughed. "From now on, I can hide over here in the Qi Refinement Way and stir up trouble... Even if a Golden Core True Lord acts over there and captures my Puppet, could they possibly calculate their way across an entire world to find me? This is a supreme wondrous method for severing karma! With 'As If in the Calculation' added on, even in this damned place of Ancient Shu, I can ride freely for a while..."

Fang Qing silently continued comprehending it. He felt that not only could he subtly influence Luo Dacheng's actions in Jade Heaven Market from Jade Island, he could even "lend out" from afar the power and divine abilities of his Great Sun Empowerment Secret Art and Horse-Head Vajra Protector Divine Art!

Of course, he was only at the Qi Ingestion level now. Even if he lent them out, it would merely make a laughingstock of himself and expose his own weakness for nothing.

"This... why does it sound a little like the Wisdom Consort method of the Great Snow Mountain masters?"

He was shocked once again.

The Great Snow Mountain's orthodoxy was strange. Dao Foundation-level masters could elevate several Wisdom Consorts. It was said that they likewise possessed powerful mana, enough to suppress Qi Ingestion Perfection cultivators, though they were still a notch inferior to Dao Foundation cultivators.

And now, Fang Qing felt that if he had already forged his Dao Foundation, he could likewise grant Luo Dacheng Dao Foundation-level mana and divine abilities!

"This is a method of 'bestowal,' and it emphasizes lending and repayment... So-called disciples and Wisdom Consorts are merely vines clinging to a great tree. Once the great tree falls, they are immediately dragged down with it!"

"But those Esoteric Sect followers over at Great Snow Mountain cannot possibly each possess a supreme treasure like mine. So... do they jointly use some treasure or divine ability of an exceedingly lofty rank as a relay? Or... is it simply the mystery of their fruition itself?"

"With the Dao-Born Pearl, I cleansed the Great Sun Empowerment Secret Art, which is equivalent to making the Great Snow Mountain technique open-source. I also have a treasure of exceedingly lofty rank to substitute for it... I could practically establish another 'Little Snow Mountain' and become the 'Lord of Little Snow Mountain'... Of course, once that person on Great Snow Mountain discovers it, it will certainly be a fight to the death! Better to keep a low profile..."

"Could this be the true meaning of that earlier divination, the hexagram of mixed fortune and misfortune?"

Land of Ancient Shu.

Rebel Army main camp.

Although Li Rulong had already been regarded by the cultivation world as a futures corpse, the mortals beneath him knew absolutely nothing.

In their eyes, Li Rulong was still Marshal Li, the man who had led them through a hundred battles and a hundred victories, pacifying rebellion and suppressing chaos!

Wherever he passed, he received gazes filled with reverence and adoration.

After Li Rulong inspected the camp once, he returned to the main tent and saw Guo Tianhong.

"Big Brother... are you truly going to duel Zhao Wuxu with swords?"

Guo Tianhong was somewhat worried.

"That's right... the sword-duel letter has been accepted. There can be no changes. It will be three days from now."

Li Rulong smiled. "After I die, bury my body at Seven Heroes Mountain... That was where the seven of us swore brotherhood. To begin there and end there is not bad either."

"Big Brother will definitely win!"

Guo Tianhong's eyes reddened at the corners. Just as she was about to say something more, the tent flap was lifted and another person entered. It was actually Luo Dacheng!

"Fellow Daoist Li, I've come to collect the blood qi!"

Without even glancing at Guo Tianhong, Luo Dacheng spoke with an ashen face.

"Hm? Why has this man changed his temperament? Could he have encountered some demoness from the Harmonious Bliss Sect while out?"

Li Rulong found it strange inwardly, but did not ask. He merely nodded, took out a blood-jade box, and handed it to Luo Dacheng.

Without uttering a word, Luo Dacheng left directly.

"Look... now that disciples from every family have taken their things and departed, it is plain they see me as a dead man..."

Li Rulong smiled at Guo Tianhong beside him, then had his younger sister withdraw. Sitting alone in the marshal's seat, he picked up a vermilion brush as though deep in thought.

"Someone came from Cliff-Top, the Pu Family has withdrawn its hand. I am a discarded chess piece, and a pledge of allegiance..."

"If I were from a Dao Foundation family, then even after repeated reversals, I would still have value and could still surrender... But I am certainly doomed. Not only must I die, I must become another's cultivation resource, a Human Pill! Truly, every last thing is put to use!"

"If I want to live, I cannot rely on the Pu Family no matter what. They may even be the very ones who want me dead! I have offended the Black Blight Sect too deeply; they are the same..."

"In the entire Land of Ancient Shu, Cloud-Touching Cliff is heaven!"

Li Rulong now truly understood what it meant to be unable to control one's own fate.

If he did not die, then his relatives, friends, and family would all have to die!

Therefore, even if he died, he had to die willingly, with a smile on his face!