Inside the Unorthodox Alliance, Lu Yang frowned deeply.
[Sea of Bitterness]... An endless sea of concepts, simply a super treasure trove. And yet, I can't swallow such a treasure trove!
Clearly, as long as he continuously absorbed the water of the [Sea of Bitterness], the grotto-heaven could grow rapidly, and he could even achieve the balance of the Five Elements without needing other dao fruits.
But he just couldn't do it, because there was too much water in the [Sea of Bitterness], and it was too mixed. He simply couldn't swallow it whole.
This feeling made Lu Yang a bit crazy.
A treasure mountain was right in front of him, yet he had to return empty-handed, at most salvaging some dispensable scraps. How could he accept this?
"No way!"
Lu Yang's eyes reddened. Not taking advantage when benefits presented themselves—would that still be befitting of a Saint Sect perfected lord? Today, even if he had to gnaw it down, he would bite off a huge chunk from the [Sea of Bitternes]!
"Let me think..."
Lu Yang frowned slightly, falling into deep thought. After seeing the [Sea of Bitterness], his understanding of dao fruits and future cultivation had become extremely profound.
What is the essence of a dao fruit?
Weaving specific concepts together to form a self-sufficient internal circulation system. This system ultimately presents itself as a dao fruit!
And the difference between unorthodox dao fruits, ordinary dao fruits, and even Supreme dao fruits also lies here. The more powerful the dao fruit, the more complex the weaving of its concepts... Why are unorthodox dao fruits is garbage—with a stature naturally lower than orthodox ones? It's because unorthodox ones emerged through natural evolution!
Naturally evolved things are too simple.
In comparison, whether it's the Immortal Nexus or the Celestial Court, their orthodox dao fruits and even supreme dao fruits involve the mighty power of Dao Lords and are meticulously crafted.
The logic is simple.
Tale the same steel—one piece is processed by humans, tempered and forged into a precious sword; the other is purely natural and unprocessed. How can the two be mentioned in the same breath?
From this perspective, dao fruits cannot absorb the water of the [Sea of Bitterness] anymore, because they have already formed a unique system. The water of the [Sea of Bitterness] encompasses myriad phenomena, which are all impurities to the dao fruit. Absorbing it has no benefit... Unless someone can filter out the impurities for them.
Thinking of this, Lu Yang suddenly saw the light:
That's why perfected lords are needed!
Dao fruits and perfected lords are essentially in a symbiotic relationship. When a perfected lord sees the [Sea of Bitterness], they can help improve the dao fruit, and the dao fruit grants the perfected lord stature...
Strictly speaking, the perfected lord is still in the weaker position.
Even more inclined to be a laborer. After all, theoretically, the dao fruit can change its holder at any time, while the perfected lord will fall from their own stature upon leaving the dao fruit.
Until—
Until the appearance of the grotto-heaven! Lu Yang's eyes shone brightly:
In the Immortal Nexus, although perfected lords with grotto-heavens still cannot completely control the dao fruit, they can forcibly occupy the attained dao fruit through the grotto-heaven.
For example, [Heavenly Fire]. Lu Yang's current behavior of hiding his identity and staying behind the scenes should not have been liked by it.
However, the current Lu Yang didn't need to care about its likes and dislikes at all. As long as he put his big [Heavenly Pillar Profound Governance Grotto-Heaven] in, he could make it obedient.
The method of the grotto-heaven is simply epoch-making!
Why could unorthodox perfected lords be stripped of their dao fruits, and those immortal lords of the Celestial Court also be stripped of their dao fruits? In the final analysis, it's because they don't have grotto-heavens.
But in the Immortal Nexus, even the Dao Court cannot forcibly strip a person's dao fruit. The Three Excellencies are constrained by the Dao Court because their grotto-heavens are shared, having problems at the root. Emperor Jiayou, whose grotto-heaven is private, has never worried about losing the mighty power of a perfected lord after stepping down.
Who created this cultivation method?
So far, Lu Yang had seen quite a few world realms, but the grotto-heaven method remained unique to the Immortal Nexus. Only the perfected lords of the Immortal Nexus were the freest!
As for Golden Cores in other places...
Look at those immortal lords of the Celestial Court— they was restricted by asset, and dying suddenly upon bankruptcy... In the Immortal Nexus, they would be laughed out if called themself perfected lords.
Right...
Thinking of this, Lu Yang suddenly moved his gaze slightly, looking at [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon].
He had figured out the essence of dao fruits, but only limited to dao fruits under normal circumstances. Then what about void attainment dao fruits?
What differences would there be?
With this thought, Lu Yang suddenly spoke:
"Fellow Daoist Vanquishing-Demon, have you seen the [Sea of Bitterness]?"
As soon as these words were spoken, [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon], who originally seemed to have realized something, instantly sobered up, then shook his head. "I never seen it... Perhaps I am relatively special."
"My Sword Dao Fruit is not in the [Sea of Bitterness]."
Not in the [Sea of Bitterness]?
Hearing this, Lu Yang instantly became interested and smiled. "In that case, why don't I take you to the [Sea of Bitterness] to see what changes will occur?"
[Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon] readily agreed.
In the next second, Lu Yang once again condensed his divine sense to look towards the [Sea of Bitterness]. The [Sea of Bitterness] immediately reacted, and surging seawater emerged again.
"...Go!"
Lu Yang held the [Tribulation Wave] steady, slashed into the air to sever the emerging seawater, and simultaneously took a step into the boundless [Sea of Bitterness] with [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon].
Instantly, a strong sense of oppression swept over Lu Yang's whole body. The boundless [Sea of Bitterness] seemed to have detected a foreign object, squeezing towards him, making him uncontrollably feel suffocated, as if falling into the ocean alone and only able to drift with the tide.
However, Lu Yang didn't care, but looked at [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon].
"How is it? Fellow Daoist..."
His voice came to an abrupt halt.
Because he shockingly saw that when the water of the [Sea of Bitterness] fell around [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon], it was actually swallowed whole by him in one breath!
"Fellow Daoist, be careful!"
Lu Yang hurriedly warned, "The concepts in the water of this [Sea of Bitterness] are mixed. Absorbing rashly is harmful instead. You must select what suits yourself..."
Lu Yang's voice became lower and lower because he discovered that during the process of devouring the seawater, not only did [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon] show no signs of backlash, but his aura was constantly rising. The [No-Kill Sword] at his waist trembled violently, and sharp Sword Dao concepts gathered continuously around him—
"Clang clang!"
Finally, accompanied by the ring of a sword, Lu Yang only felt a needle-like stinging pain all over his body. [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon] suddenly opened his eyes.
At this moment, Lu Yang's protection was not needed.
All the swarming water of the [Sea of Bitterness] spontaneously separated around [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon], as if an invisible sword qi surrounded him.
Lu Yang was instantly dumbfounded.
Holy shit!
Dao fruit profound wonder!?
He saw clearly that the Sword Dao Fruit, which he had nurtured for so long, was still only at the unorthodox level—having concepts but lacking substance—still lagging behind compared to Orthodox dao fruits.
He even once suspected that this was a fake void attainment, essentially unorthodox.
However, in the hands of [Perfected One Vanquishing-Demon], after absorbing the water of the [Sea of Bitterness] for just this short while, it directly transformed and gave birth to a dao fruit profound wonder!
Is this the value of the Sword Dao?
No, that's wrong... This is the value of the void attainment dao fruit!
Lu Yang's eyes brightened: If other dao fruits require human help to remove impurities, then the void attainment dao fruit comes with its own filter!
Because every concept of a void attainment dao fruit was personally woven by the person attaining the Dao, completely imprinted within the dao fruit. Therefore, when [Sea of Bitterness] water entered the void attainment dao fruit, it would naturally separate, automatically removing all impurities and only absorbing beneficial portions.
This is the value of void attainment!
Even if it is no different from unorthodox when it first appears, as long as one sees the [Sea of Bitterness] and receives nourishment from the [Sea of Bitterness], it can grow rapidly!
(End of Chapter)