I Alone Reign Supreme

Inside the inn.

Li Qingyue sat cross-legged on the bed, steadily composing herself and calming her heart.

After the midday banquet, the clash had kept everyone from heading straight to the Primordial Ancient Mine.

The Ten Great Families of the Northern Plains, in particular, had almost abandoned any thought of going together.

The Sacred Body had displayed his full might, leaving everyone wary.

Even many members of the Seven Great Holy Land of the Eastern Wasteland and the Three Great Families had departed for various reasons.

They could hardly contend with a Sacred Body so overbearing and so intent on pleasing a woman.

In three days, I'll enter the Ancient Tomb!

I have to use this time to grow stronger!

At the very least, I need the strength to protect myself.

At that thought, Li Qingyue willed the Clay Pot in her hand to open.

Pieces of source stone, some the size of fists and others as large as heads, poured out.

Within moments, they had piled into a small mountain before her, filling over half the room.

Dense source stone essence surged outward.

Since source stone was called stone, it naturally differed little from ordinary rock.

Even its weight was much the same.

That was why gambling on stones existed. Otherwise, weight alone would reveal whether a rock contained source stone.

Gambling on stones would then become a joke.

One cubic unit of source stone weighed roughly thirty-three hundred jin.

The nearly thirty thousand jin inside the Clay Pot amounted to eight or nine cubic units, so its volume was naturally considerable.

Buzz!

Sensing the vast, radiant essence spreading outward, Li Qingyue immediately activated Kunpeng Devouring.

An enormous vortex centered on her body instantly filled the room.

Even so, source stone essence continued to leak out.

Though her devouring power was formidable, it could only affect the area a little over ten feet around her.

After all, once the true qi within her body spread outside, it too would dissipate into the world.

This fundamentally limited her devouring power.

Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang, separated from Li Qingyue by only a wall, noticed the disturbance almost immediately.

Remembering the injuries Li Qingyue had once suffered, both rushed into her room without the slightest hesitation.

Their expressions changed in unison at the sight of her absorbing essence.

Li Qingyue was only a mortal who had not even opened her Bitter Sea. This much essence could shatter her flesh and bones.

Even an ordinary cultivator who had opened their Bitter Sea would not dare absorb essence like this.

It would be self-mutilation-suicide.

Only someone with a special constitution like the Sacred Body, whose blood surged with the strength of dragons and elephants and whose flesh and bones rivaled divine gold and divine iron, could withstand such a terrifying onslaught of essence.

"This is bad!"

Yan Wushuang cried out and instinctively moved closer, only for Yang Wuzheng to stop him at once.

"Don't rush. With us here, we can intervene immediately if anything goes wrong!"

Yang Wuzheng understood Li Qingyue's determination to become stronger. They could stop her once, but never a second time.

Better to let her try before their eyes, where they could at least watch over her.

He walked a circuit around the room.

His steps were unhurried, yet every one left behind a footprint shimmering with divine light.

These were Dao Patterns imprinted with divine power, engraved upon the air and the ground.

Almost instantly, they sealed this place off from the outside world.

Even the source stone essence was contained to the greatest possible extent.

The tiny traces that escaped could no longer attract much attention.

Only after completing all this did the two stand anxiously by the door, their eyes fixed nervously on Li Qingyue.

My strength!

As source stone essence entered her body, Li Qingyue clearly felt her constitution, which had broken through its strength limit once, frantically devouring the essence.

Her strength soared wildly.

What I need is to condense Dao Patterns-the Five Elements Mountain Dao Patterns!

The increase in strength is only a side benefit!

In an instant, Li Qingyue shook herself free of the sensation of surging strength and guided the essence into her first vortex, which had already liquefied.

She began engraving the Dao Patterns little by little.

She had simulated the Five Elements Mountain once before, and the paths along which its divine power circulated were practically branded into her mind.

Even so, Li Qingyue simulated it once more, fearing an unforeseen mishap.

Of her remaining 1,800 survival points, another thousand vanished instantly.

At that moment, Li Qingyue seemed to merge into the Five Elements Mountain again.

She sensed the circulation paths of its divine power with absolute clarity.

Dao Patterns... condense!

Her concentration reached an unprecedented peak. Her body became the mountain, her consciousness the brush, and the source stone essence the ink.

Once again, she etched the traces of Dao Patterns into the first vortex within her Dantian.

"Dao resonance?"

At this sight, Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang were both stunned.

Neither had expected Li Qingyue to enter a state of enlightenment again.

"Hiss... what kind of comprehension is this? It's simply terrifying!"

Yan Wushuang spoke in shock, unable to imagine that the fierce girl who occasionally loved to smile possessed such terrifying talent.

One instance of enlightenment might be coincidence, but entering that state again was not so easily dismissed.

If she were not a waste body utterly devoid of cultivation aptitude, this comprehension alone might have allowed her to contend with the Holy Sons of the great Holy Lands.

Enlightenment was the exclusive province of the Four Extremes Realm.

Only after entering the Four Extremes Realm, transforming both body and primordial spirit, and undergoing the tempering of heavenly tribulation...

Could one possibly attain enlightenment without being dissolved into the Dao.

Yet now, with nothing more than a mortal body and mortal consciousness, Li Qingyue had entered enlightenment once again.

Once again, she overturned everything the two thought they knew about her.

"What extraordinary comprehension! When heaven and earth close a door on her, they always leave a window!"

Yang Wuzheng murmured softly as well.

Time passed.

Nearly nine cubic units-twenty-seven or twenty-eight thousand jin-of source stone were steadily absorbed by that frail body.

Yet Li Qingyue showed no sign of anything amiss.

Her blood had not grown stronger, and her body seemed unchanged.

She only became more crystalline, like a goddess seated in meditation, radiance flowing around her as she became one with the Dao resonance.

"Twenty-eight or twenty-nine thousand jin of source stone... even an ordinary Sea of Bitterness Realm cultivator would struggle to absorb it all!"

The sight left the two increasingly astounded.

Li Qingyue did not seem like a mortal at all.

Meanwhile, with her consciousness immersed in her Dantian, Li Qingyue watched the traces of Dao Patterns being engraved little by little into her first vortex.

Excitement finally rose in her heart.

It worked!

As the final stroke was completed, her body trembled slightly.

She looked toward the first vortex in her Dantian in disbelief.

A phantom mountain range of five colors floated within it.

Wait... what's that?

Li Qingyue's expression shifted in surprise. Upon the phantom mountain range, the character for "one" flickered in and out of view.

That character was truly wondrous.

It changed constantly, becoming the character for "wood" one moment and "metal" the next.

It was as though all five elements flowed through that character, undergoing countless transformations while always remaining one.

As though that one was the source of everything.

Boom!

As true qi and source stone essence poured in, the phantom Five Elements Mountain trembled slightly and dispersed.

A character that underwent countless transformations yet always remained one appeared at the vortex's center and began spinning rapidly.

Crack, crack, crack...

As the character spun, the entire vortex seemed to be absorbed into it.

Gradually, the phantoms of five worlds manifested.

They spun rapidly like a wheel.

Its devouring power intensified wildly, as though a Kunpeng capable of swallowing heaven and devouring earth were being nurtured within that character.

She could feel source stone essence and the essence of heaven and earth pouring into it like a mighty river.

The phantoms of the five worlds grew ever clearer.

Is this the Five Elements World?

Looking at those phantoms, Li Qingyue shuddered and suddenly recalled the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist Yan Wushuang had used.

With one punch, worlds opened and reincarnation unfolded.

It possessed the might to cleave heaven and earth apart.

And this single character possessed such divine might as well.

Its foundation is that peculiar character.

It's the character that's evolving the Five Elements World!

Remembering that she had comprehended these Five Elements Dao Patterns through the Buddha Emperor's legacy, she instantly understood something of their meaning.

Emperor script? Dao characters created by a Great Emperor!

Only characters created from a Great Emperor's understanding of the Dao could possess the power to evolve worlds!

But... I simulated this myself!

It must remain under my control!

At that thought, Li Qingyue first felt joy, then alarm.

A Great Emperor's power spanned heaven and earth, and each Great Emperor understood the Dao differently.

The insights into the Great Dao they left behind, and the emperor script those insights formed, would naturally differ as well.

Though the emperor script she had comprehended through a Great Emperor's legacy was powerful...

Somewhere beyond perception, it would inevitably remain under the Buddha Emperor's control, because it belonged to someone else's understanding of the Dao.

It was someone else's Dao!

Li Qingyue clearly remembered a saying: those who learn from me live; those who resemble me die.

Besides, the Buddha Emperor was Amitabha Buddha.

He had not died, but remained dormant within the faith of countless living beings in the Western Desert.

She had no wish to be converted by the Buddha Emperor and become a nun.

It has to be mine!

At that moment, Li Qingyue's will concentrated with unprecedented intensity.

Everything she had encountered during this time suddenly surfaced in her mind.

Yan Wushuang's Mountains and Rivers Seal, Human King Seal, and the fist intent of his Six Paths of Reincarnation Fist appeared in her mind at once.

Throughout heaven and earth, I alone reign supreme!

Even a Great Emperor must submit!

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