Defeated!
It really only took one punch, clean and decisive to the extreme. In fact, if Exalted One Hao Yuan hadn't intervened in time, Zhen Gao would have been beaten to death on the spot.
At this moment, even the Great Perfected Lords wore strange expressions. As for the Spiritual Power Dao Perfected Lords present, and the Star Lords observing from afar using various formation-artifact, it went without saying—looks of sheer disbelief gradually crawled onto their faces. The lingering light of the [Tribulation Evil Profound Light] at Lu Yang's fingertips was piercing.
He really was that strong.
Everyone could tell that Lu Yang hadn't attacked at all in the beginning, simply allowing Zhen Gao to attack freely, until he threw that punch at the very last moment.
It was the first punch, and also the last punch!
If Lu Yang hadn't intentionally held back and had launched such a swift and fierce attack with his very first punch, leaving Exalted One Hao Yuan unable to react in time, wouldn't Zhen Gao have died instantly?
'Actually, he's not that weak.'
Lu Yang chuckled inwardly. The [Tribulation Evil Profound Light] inherently required the [Future Life Aspect] to absorb damage and accumulate energy by taking a beating before it could unleash its maximum power.
So he hadn't taken a beating for nothing.
The reason he let Zhen Gao attack freely was partly because he had confidence in his Dharma Body, and partly as a tactical flex. He had actually put some thought into it.
Otherwise, given Zhen Gao's miraculous ability to break down profound Dao Arts and revert them to their source of spiritual power, Lu Yang actually couldn't have defeated him in a single move. It would have taken at least three moves, during which Zhen Gao could have struggled a bit. But if that happened, the effect of establishing his dominance wouldn't be obvious enough.
At the very least, it wouldn't be enough to awe everyone.
As a result, even if he ultimately defeated Zhen Gao, other Spiritual Power Dao Perfected Lords would remain unconvinced and want to fight him, which would be far too troublesome.
How could that compare to the current situation?
No matter how many myriad methods you have, I break them all with a single punch. This directly shattered the competitive spirit of the other Perfected Lords. At the very least, no one would step forward to intentionally provoke him anymore.
Meanwhile, within the towering palace, the blood-soaked Zhen Gao also recovered his breath. He staggered to his feet, but didn't reveal any look of humiliation turning into anger. Instead, he twitched the corner of his mouth and finally said helplessly, "I have to admit he's formidable. He has true skill. Being inferior in skill leaves me with nothing to say."
The other Spiritual Power Dao Perfected Lords also nodded in agreement.
The bigger fist makes the rules; this was the ancient flair. Being willing to accept defeat after betting; this was also the ancient flair. In that golden age, most interactions were straightforward and direct like this.
"You..."
On the other side, Exalted One Hao Yuan shook his head. "If I hadn't intervened in time, and you truly beat Zhen Gao to death in public, how would you have cleaned up the mess?"
Lu Yang shook his head. "I trust you, Senior."
"Trust that I could stop you in time?"
"No." Lu Yang smiled. "I trust that you Seniors would tolerate my actions."
The underlying meaning: even if he really beat Zhen Gao to death, the Star Palace wouldn't punish him for it or withhold the Overlord-Level Dao Soldier, but would choose to tolerate it!
"He is merely a Golden Core Perfected Lord, after all."
Speaking of this, Lu Yang's tone was calm and indifferent. "At worst, once the great tribulation begins, I'll just go and kill a Middle Stage Golden Core from the Celestial Court to make up for it."
Hearing this, even Exalted One Hao Yuan was stunned.
"...You have courage."
After a moment, he shook his head. "Follow me. Your Overlord-Level Dao Soldier is already finished. You will be the vanguard for this battle."
"Thank you, Senior."
Lu Yang cupped his hands, immediately restraining his entire aura. His previous arrogance vanished; at first glance, he just looked like a somewhat handsome young man.
Soon, the two left the towering palace.
Before long, a dark sea of stars entered their vision, teeming with densely packed steel creations in operation. It was precisely Factory One, which Lu Yang had visited previously.
Led by Exalted One Hao Yuan, Lu Yang ventured all the way into the deepest part of this stellar factory. There, a burning star served as the driving force for a furnace, constantly radiating a crimson glow. Within the furnace, an artifact with an incredibly bizarre shape was gradually taking form.
It was three rings.
The rings were interconnected, constantly rotating and alternating. The central area was empty, and countless formation patterns could be seen spreading out around them.
"This is the item?"
Lu Yang's gaze landed almost immediately on the three rings. Each ring was the size of a planet, engraved with different talismanic characters.
Each talisman was as massive as a mountain.
Three rings, three segments of talismans. Through splicing and combination, they formed a sentence—yet Lu Yang couldn't understand it; this was not a common script.
"This is encrypted Dao script."
Exalted One Hao Yuan explained, "Due to the destructive nature of the oldest Forbidden Knowledge used to forge Overlord-Level Dao Soldiers, Star Soul encrypted it."
"Therefore, no one can understand the meaning of this sentence."
"Of course, even if you memorized these talismans and replicated them, it would be useless. To make it take effect, you must possess the relevant knowledge."
Lu Yang wasn't surprised by this.
Because Dao comprehension was the same way. Regarding the Dao comprehension of Dao Fruits, only by truly understanding it and comprehending the proportioning effects between the Dao Fruits could one make it function.
If one simply relied on blind luck and happened to make the right choices—knowing the "how" but not the "why"—then even if the Dao Fruit proportioning was correct, the final result would only be an error. This was the power of "knowledge." Therefore, for a Perfected Lord, there were absolutely no flukes in cultivation.
"How exactly is it used?" Lu Yang asked curiously.
"It's currently still charging."
Exalted One Hao Yuan shook his head. "To put it into a state where it can be activated at any time, we must completely drain the energy of three stars."
"This is the final star."
"Originally, we thought you would need a bit more time, so we weren't in a hurry. But even we didn't expect you to resolve matters so quickly."
Speaking of this, Exalted One Hao Yuan's expression was also a bit strange. Clearly, this time discrepancy was caused by Lu Yang defeating Zhen Gao with a single punch. According to his estimation, even if Lu Yang ultimately won, he should have been delayed for a while. By the time they arrived, it would have been just in time for the charging to complete.
So the two waited for about another hour.
Finally, as the star beneath the furnace completely lost its light, its stellar core extinguishing and shattering, the three rings within the furnace were finally filled with mighty power.
Looking closely, every talisman on the rings flowed with golden light.
Brilliant and resplendent.
"We call this Overlord-Level Dao Soldier the [Realm Sovereign]."
Exalted One Hao Yuan said with some pride, "Incidentally, besides this one, our other Overlord-Level Dao Soldier is named the [Universal Starry Sky Grand Formation]."
"The latter is even stronger than the former."
"After all, the [Realm Sovereign] was only hastily cobbled together using three Strategic-Level Dao Soldiers, while the [Universal Starry Sky Grand Formation] uses the Star Charts of all four directions as its foundation."
"However, their functions are also different. The [Universal Starry Sky Grand Formation] requires all of us to operate it together; it's a decisive weapon meant for facing off against the Immortal Nexus. The [Realm Sovereign], on the other hand, is solely operated by you... But you must be careful; its usage also has a time limit."
"How long?" Lu Yang went straight to the most important question.
"Three times."
Exalted One Hao Yuan raised three fingers. "Three Dao Fruit Sublimations. Theoretically, one usage can last for an hour, but it may be shortened due to combat."
"I understand."
Lu Yang nodded. With a wave of his hand, he shrunk the three rings of the [Realm Sovereign] and stored them away. Then, he looked at Exalted One Hao Yuan.
Exalted One Hao Yuan immediately sensed his intent: "You don't need time to familiarize yourself with it?"
Originally, the Star Palace had planned to wait a bit longer. Although they were already prepared, they had set aside time for Lu Yang to familiarize himself with the Overlord-Level Dao Soldier.
However, Lu Yang shook his head.
Are you joking? With his current overpowered strength, did he need an Overlord-Level Dao Soldier against anyone below a Great Perfected Lord? It was meant for executing the [Project: Collapse Paramita]!
"Let's set out," Lu Yang said decisively.
Hearing this, Exalted One Hao Yuan took a deep breath, unable to help his curiosity. "The thousand-year great tribulation is perilous, after all. By leading the vanguard, are you truly not worried about falling in battle, Fellow Daoist?"
Lu Yang instantly smiled.
The thousand-year great tribulation? In the eyes of others, it might truly be a great tribulation. Even Golden Core Perfected Lords would fall one after another like dumplings dropping into a boiling pot. But in his view—
"It is truly what I desire!"
(End of Chapter)