Chapter 68: Becoming a King in the Flesh
Once Lin Yue fell completely still, boundless vital essence began flowing from Jin Ling's skeleton. The divine lotuses that seized the fortune of heaven and earth merged into his body, drawing the spiritual essence of the entire region madly into the divine universes within him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Lin Yue's body pulsed. Within his divine universes, twelve Zhoutian Divine Meridians, three hundred and sixty-five cave heavens, seven hundred and twenty cavern acupoints, and one thousand two hundred and ninety-six divine repositories began releasing an inexhaustible torrent of divine essence.
The terrifying divine essence washed over the one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred hidden repository divine embryos like a catalyst. Countless divine embryos began surging violently, and the light of the Immortal Dao shone from within him to illuminate heaven and earth.
As though sensing the gathering energy, winds and clouds began converging over all of Fire Island. Endless thunder dragons bombarded the Fire Pool where Lin Yue stood.
Boom...
Lin Yue's entire body swelled as he stood in the molten pool, his heaven-reaching Dharma Form a staggering sight. Divine thunder intertwined and descended like dragons, bathing his flesh like a rainstorm of lightning. Yet it could not harm him in the slightest!
Under the catalysis of this ultimate concentration of energy, the divine embryos within Lin Yue slowly changed shape. One, two, three; one cluster, two clusters, three! Countless divine embryos began transforming into tiny figures bearing Lin Yue's likeness.
This was the body-tempering refinement of the final stage of the Human Immortal Martial Dao. The vital essence of the Golden Crow Heavenly Emperor's skeleton and the fortune-bestowing divine lotuses allowed the divine embryos nurtured within Lin Yue to manifest fully, each like a deity.
This was what it meant for the divine embryos within the body to evolve into gods.
One year, ten years, a hundred years.
After nearly another thousand years of catalysis, the Golden Crow skeleton had lost its vital essence and turned as black as ink. The countless golden lotuses in the molten pool had vanished, leaving only a handful.
As the one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred divine embryos within Lin Yue's divine universes continuously took on his likeness, heaven and earth seemed to sense something in the unseen depths and turn their attention here.
In the Boundary Sea, the Great Dao did not manifest, and the laws were chaotic. But that did not mean heaven and earth would ignore the emergence of a heaven-defying being! If anything, their response was even more terrifying.
For the storm grew fiercer, and thunder dragons poured down like a waterfall.
A pair of enormous eyes manifested high in the sky, encompassing all of Fire Island! They held neither joy nor sorrow, nor any emotion at all, as though born of heaven and earth. One black and one white, they represented the yin and yang of the world.
These eyes embodied the will of heaven and earth, sweeping across the eight wildernesses and carrying its message throughout the world and the Boundary Sea.
The Eye of Heaven and Earth radiated black-and-white divine light that shone down alongside the thunder dragons. Stars melted, and the void collapsed.
This black-and-white light was the ultimate yin and yang of heaven and earth. No divine ability or treasured art could stand against it. Or rather, it possessed the power to disregard all tangible things and confront only the target it sought to destroy. The light of yin and yang dissolved all treasured arts and divine inscriptions; only the flesh could withstand it head-on.
The descent of this will of heaven and earth also drew the attention of countless kings in the Boundary Sea. Within that sea where travelers lost their way, this power guided them like a beacon, shining even more brightly than World Annihilation incense.
These kings knew better than to approach and watch as they had before. They could only gaze toward it across hundreds of millions of miles of void. Ordinary kings could make out no more than a blurred figure.
They were afraid as well. If it was someone they knew, that was one thing. If it was an enemy, however, such might had brought down even the will of heaven and earth. Though they did not know why, once they became entangled in that karma, they could perish, body and Dao alike.
Yet some still hurried toward the area: the three Immortal Kings who had pursued Lin Yue into the Boundary Sea, along with Yin Sha, another Immortal King they had encountered there.
Now that Lin Yue's familiar aura had spread once more, the three raced toward him with almost all their strength. The will of heaven and earth? In the eyes of these four peerless kings, it was nothing but passing clouds.
"This power is undoubtedly the will of heaven and earth. Has some heaven-defying being emerged? To draw down the will of heaven and earth-what an extraordinary fellow."
A titan in the Boundary Sea spoke from an endless distance away.
"Who is making a breakthrough to provoke resistance from the will of heaven and earth? Someone from the Foreign Realm, or from our Immortal Domain?"
"Something is strange. This is not an Immortal King tribulation. This is someone becoming a king through the flesh. The greatest fleshly body of all ages? Whose method is this?"
Every king in the Boundary Sea who could sense this power was shaken. A cultivation system that shattered their common understanding left them aghast.
Sensing the descent of the will of heaven and earth, Lin Yue paid it no mind at all. He rose from his seated posture, stretching his body between heaven and earth. Divine strength naturally radiated from his flesh, and he even took the initiative to welcome the tempering of that will.
Towering waves surged through the Boundary Sea surrounding Fire Island. Some struck straight into the sky, sweeping down countless stars before seeking to drown Lin Yue. Yet everything was held at bay around him.
His entire body underwent its ultimate sublimation. His divine strength spread through heaven and earth like an overwhelming gravitational pull, drawing on countless stars drifting amid the waves of the Boundary Sea.
As though hearing their mother's call, these stars began rising out of the water and surging toward Lin Yue.
High above, countless dormant primordial stars also began revolving around Lin Yue, one after another.
The Human Immortal Martial Dao formed a world within the body. These stars seemed to regard Lin Yue as one of their own and came to circle him of their own accord. They merely felt that he was larger and possessed stronger gravity; otherwise, he was no different from them.
Within Lin Yue, all one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred divine embryos had fully manifested and taken on his likeness. As the will of heaven and earth descended, the Yin-Yang Dao Body within his spiritual platform began merging into his eyes.
His right eye blazed with golden light, like a golden sun radiating white-gold brilliance and searing heat. It had been imprinted after he merged with the Golden Crow essence blood. Not only did it bear the Extreme Yang sword of the Great Yin-Yang Chengli Sword Qi, which shattered all tangible things, it also possessed the divine fire power of the Golden Crow Divine Flame, capable of burning everything to ashes. Now, it also represented the sun of the world within Lin Yue, illuminating his inner cosmos.
His left eye resembled an endless sea of blood, with a black moon floating above it. The black light it released shook the heart and pierced the primordial spirit. Inheriting the Extreme Yin sword of the Great Yin-Yang Chengli Sword Qi, which annihilated all intangible things, it represented the moon shining upon heaven and earth.
As Lin Yue advanced another step, his Great Yin-Yang sword art transformed directly into an ancestral art imprinted in his bloodline. If members of the Lin Family could awaken or inherit such a secret art, they would likely be invincible within their own realm.
In the void, Lin Yue spread his arms and reached straight into the heavens above.
His heaven-reaching Dharma Form burst with dazzling golden light. Within him, the countless tiny figures that had evolved from divine embryos into gods all stood up. Immortal qi rose from their entire bodies and spread outward, suffused with the radiance of Lin Yue's flesh attaining the Dao.
"Go!"
These stars flew into the heavens like obedient children. Having been touched by the will of heaven and earth, they might well give rise to life again after countless epochs.
Sensing the divine universes within him, Lin Yue's lips curved slightly. His face had not shown a smile for a long time.
"Yin and yang enter the body; heaven and earth become accessible. Gods manifest; all within returns to truth. The flesh attains the Dao and shines upon all heavens."
At this moment, Lin Yue's Dharma Form reached the heavens, and auspicious clouds circled him. The aura of an Immortal King enveloped his entire body, blanketing the eight wildernesses and bearing down upon heaven and earth. This was fundamentally different from merely possessing a king's body. He had become a king through the flesh, forcing his way into the Immortal King domain with the supreme power of his physical body.
Seeing that the Eye of Heaven and Earth had yet to disperse, Lin Yue ignored its pressure and raised his hand for a light slap. Above the Boundary Sea, heaven and earth began evolving anew amid destruction.
The eyes formed from the will of heaven and earth were slapped apart outright, spreading across the sky with the thunderclouds like rolling waves.
This was the highest body-tempering realm of the Human Immortal Martial Dao: the flesh attaining the Dao.
A supreme Dharma Form, like the Dao descending into the mortal world!
Chapter 69: The Final Request
"Extraordinary. Truly extraordinary! You have walked the path to kingship through the flesh-the first in all the ages. And most inconceivable of all, the one who achieved such a body is a human. No matter how many times I look, it still amazes me."
By now, all of Jin Ling's shock had turned into admiration. This young man was truly too exceptional. He had walked the path to kingship through the flesh, and upon entering the king realm, he already possessed a body rivaling a titan's and divine strength surpassing one. With such might, he might well be qualified to glimpse the emperor realm.
"Senior, that view falls short. Humanity stands at the head of all living beings, born with bodies suited to the Dao. We can comprehend the ultimate principles of heaven, earth, yin, and yang, and cultivate the intangible Dao of all things. Though humans are weak at birth, we possess limitless possibilities. What creature under heaven does not strive to take human form? Whether the dragon race or even supreme beings like yourself, do you not often walk the world in human form and comprehend the Great Dao?"
"Mm...! Now that you put it that way, humans are not nearly as weak as imagined. Instead, they are a race uniquely blessed by heaven. They are human from the moment they are born, which alone surpasses the struggles of some beings over tens of millions of years. Even some sacred spirits may never attain human form. Extraordinary indeed!"
Jin Ling remained at peace, without much envy. After all, among the countless trillions of humans, how many could surpass beings like him?
"Alas... I do not have much time left."
After a moment of silence, Jin Ling sighed mournfully.
Hearing the weakness in his voice, Lin Yue also came to a realization.
"Senior!"
"I simply feel some regret that I will not see the darkness swept away."
"Without your help, Senior, I could not have become a king so quickly. If you have any unfulfilled final wishes, please tell me. I will do everything in my power to fulfill them for you."
Lin Yue was not someone who forgot kindness and betrayed gratitude, though he might not always repay a single drop of kindness with a gushing spring.
But how could the favor of helping him become a king be settled through ordinary karma? Even if the other party sought no repayment, that might not be good for him. When he cultivated his primordial spirit in the future, he might encounter an obstacle when examining his heart. He did not want to carry regrets.
"Heh, I will not make things difficult for you. For someone like you, leaving this kindness unrepaid would harm your cultivation path. How about this: if you have the chance, help look after that little girl of mine."
"Your granddaughter, Senior?"
"Haha, that is right, my granddaughter. Her name is Jin Mengyao. What do you think? A lovely name, isn't it?"
The moment he mentioned his granddaughter, the Golden Crow Clan's Heavenly Emperor seemed full of vigor, as though the weakness in his voice just now had been an act.
"Uh... it is lovely!"
"Hahaha! Lovely, isn't it? I chose it!"
"Senior, you truly have no equal under heaven when it comes to choosing names!"
Lin Yue generously obliged him with a round of praise.
"Alas... Back then, we were arrogant and conceited, styling ourselves Heavenly Emperors and even striking down the Reception Ancient Hall. Later, we drew down supreme karma, and the other side seemed intent on cutting off my entire clan. As I was about to fall in defeat, I sealed her away. So, once you are strong enough, help look after her and spare her the burden of blame. Do not let her remain sealed forever. Like everyone else, she should be able to roam freely through heaven and earth and experience all the beauty of the world. There are also some descendants in the Immortal Domain who count as our kin. For these same reasons, their paths forward have all but been cut off. Help check on them as well. Consider it my final request."
At the mention of the Immortal Domain, a chill ran through Lin Yue's heart, and he felt deeply conflicted.
He truly could not tolerate the despicable methods that Immortal King from the Immortal Domain had previously used against him.
Yet now he had received a favor from another king of the Immortal Domain, and an enormous favor at that-the kindness of helping him become a king! Matters had reversed so quickly that he felt caught off guard.
Moreover, this Heavenly Emperor of the Golden Crow Clan was not only the creator of the Ancient Method, but could even be considered one of the founders of the Immortal Domain. That made the Immortal Domain something like his child, leaving Lin Yue even more conflicted. Perhaps this was what life was: there were always things that stayed with you.
"Do not worry, and do not let it trouble you. Since the Immortal Domain has parasites, simply root them out. If I were not unable to act, I would have killed certain people long ago."
He seemed to understand Lin Yue's conflict. He had also noticed the marks left by the methods of the Immortal Domain on Lin Yue's wounds and knew that a king from there had attacked him. Now, he was telling Lin Yue not to worry about any of that.
"Very well. Rest assured, Senior. I will fulfill my promise."
"Good. Go, then!"
After Jin Ling finished speaking, his voice grew more and more distant, submerged in the River of Time.
The final divine consciousness of this Heavenly Emperor of the Golden Crow Clan vanished from heaven and earth.
"Farewell, Senior. If I do not die along the way and one day ascend to the summit, I will surely welcome you back from the end of reincarnation."
Looking at the golden skeleton, once radiant with golden light and towering divine flames, now stripped of all luster and essence and reduced to a pitch-black frame, even Lin Yue could not help sighing.
A supreme being of an entire generation had finally lost even his divine consciousness. Such was the fate of a cultivator. Yet this, too, was what it meant to be a cultivator: if one was strong enough, the birth and destruction of all things lay within a single thought. There was nothing that becoming stronger could not solve. If there was, then one simply was not strong enough.
With a beckoning gesture from Lin Yue, the heaven-reaching black skeleton vanished directly into the divine universes within his body.
Then he looked at the few remaining divine lotuses formed from Golden Crow essence blood and likewise swept them into his cave heavens with a wave of his hand.
Within his inner cosmos, one of the countless gods evolved from divine embryos slowly began absorbing the divine lotuses in that cave heaven, then transformed into a golden divine lotus itself.
The stage after body tempering in the Human Immortal Martial Dao was evolution: using the gods within the body to evolve the myriad things of all heavens. Only then could one transform one's body into all things, which also meant transforming it into all Daos, for each thing was a Dao.
Where the Dao was, there was his body; where his body stood, there the Dao existed.
Having finished everything, Lin Yue was just about to leave when four familiar auras appeared in his mind, imprinted with clarity.
Though his cultivation system differed from that of this world, and he still lacked an Immortal King-level primordial spirit, he had completed the body tempering of the Human Immortal Martial Dao, and his flesh had attained the Dao. What was the Dao? His body merged with heaven and earth, allowing him to instinctively sense changes in the world rather than remaining as passive as before.
But now, Lin Yue did not set off again, nor would he flee as he had before.
Thinking back, his home in the Nine Heavens had been breached by the Foreign Realm, and kings had surrounded him to kill him. He had cried to heaven without answer and called to earth without response. To save him, first his Martial Dao Divine Infant had detonated itself, then his Yin-Yang Dao Body had done the same-all merely to keep him alive. How tragic it had been, enough to break the heart and draw tears from anyone who heard of it.
He had scrambled for his life like a dog that had lost its home. This was no exaggeration, but a true account.
Yet the present was nothing like the past. Now that he had entered the king realm, what reason did he have to flee?
"Today, I will proclaim the might of my Human Immortal Martial Dao with the blood of Immortal Kings!"
Chapter 70: The Might of a Titan
"Come!"
Lin Yue spoke softly. He had not even withdrawn his heaven-reaching Dharma Form, simply watching as the four Immortal Kings of the Foreign Realm descended.
"Ant, where do you think you can run!"
The Immortal King Youyu had long since gone mad. His roar split the sky. He feared that Lin Yue would escape, for those Heaven-Defying Steps that surpassed the greatest speed in the world were truly formidable.
Lin Yue had already become like an inner demon coiled around his heart, impossible to dispel. Whenever he thought of how this ant from the Nine Heavens had challenged the majesty of kings like himself again and again, then escaped time after time, his mind would have twisted apart if not for his king-realm primordial spirit.
Since the war between the two realms began, hardly anyone had escaped alive when a group of kings set out to kill them. The True Dragon had not, nor had that ant with its invincible flesh. Even beings as powerful as Wuzhong and Reincarnation had failed. Only that willow tree had barely escaped.
But what of it, even if that willow tree was powerful? Had it not still been hunted into hiding? It had never been as brazenly active as Lin Yue, who seemed to emerge deliberately to provoke them and was still alive and well even now.
An ant? Once, I too struggled like an ant to cross this long river of history. Today, I can at least be said to have barely reached the shore.
Hearing the Immortal King Youyu's lofty words again, Lin Yue felt no anger. Instead, ripples stirred in his heart, leaving him deeply moved.
"Skyvault Divine Furnace, suppress him!"
The Immortal King Yan Cang did not hesitate. The Skyvault Divine Furnace descended from the heavens, divine fire roaring and flames towering. Unlike before, this boundless divine flame now carried the power of life.
Lin Yue was not the only one who had progressed.
After entering the Boundary Sea, the Immortal King Yan Cang's strength had likewise advanced by leaps and bounds, bringing him into the ranks of supreme kings. He had also taken another step along the Dao of fire.
After his previous battle with Lin Yue, he had been stirred by Lin Yue's ultimate principles of life and death and his methods of transforming yin and yang. He, too, had glimpsed life within endless destruction.
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