Sea of Light.
The originally endless [Two Polarities Birth and Destruction Profound Light] had all been swept away at this moment. The meteor shower formed after the shattering of Grotto-Heavens and spiritual platforms plummeted into the Celestial Court.
Some fell into the sea.
Some smashed into the mountains.
For a time, the already ruined Celestial Court saw lightning and fire rise in all directions, and rosy light covered the ground. Abundant spiritual qi rapidly surged out from these fragments.
Temporarily, the Celestial Court actually recovered quite a bit.
However, at the same time, the ninth tier of the Celestial Court fell into dead silence. Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue and Immortal Venerable Taiyin sank into deep silence.
After a long time, Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue reached out and grabbed, pulling a soul fragment out of the void. She gathered spiritual qi and rapidly repaired this fragment, making it whole again. Then, it was cleansed by the Netherworld and entered the cycle of reincarnation. Before long, a delicate silhouette tumbled out of the void.
"Ugh!"
As soon as the woman appeared, she couldn't help but let out a moan. Then she rolled on the ground, her human form collapsing, shockingly transforming into a clam demon.
Seeing this, Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue kicked the clam shell in annoyance.
"You can't die. Get up."
Only then did the clam demon seem to finally regain her senses. She trembled for quite a while before gathering radiant light again, withdrawing her demon form, and manifesting her human form.
It was exactly Great Sage Ming Zhu.
This was the advantage of being affiliated with a Great Perfected Lord. As long as the Great Perfected Lord didn't die, the affiliated Perfected Lord was very hard to kill. Their immortality was even stronger than a Middle Stage Golden Core.
After all, a Middle Stage Golden Core could still be sneak-attacked by a Great Perfected Lord like just now, leaving the Netherworld no time to guide their soul, ultimately resulting in their soul being scattered and annihilated. But for a Perfected Lord who chose affiliation, although their cultivation could no longer advance, even if their soul scattered, the Great Perfected Lord could re-gather it for them.
Even Lu Yang couldn't help but sigh with emotion upon seeing this.
However, compared to Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue's operation of resurrecting Great Sage Ming Zhu, what left him truly amazed was the Netherworld. That was true resurrection from the dead.
One must know, a Great Perfected Lord was already at the absolute peak of the present world.
Besides Nascent Soul Dao Lords, the stature of a Great Perfected Lord basically stood at the highest point of the present world. Even so, they couldn't just casually help people re-gather shattered souls.
Otherwise, Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue would have already resurrected Perfected Lord Hanguang Futian and Great Sage Xuan Yuan. Lu Yang guessed that her ability to resurrect Great Sage Ming Zhu was ninety percent due to the connection of Grotto-Heaven. Without this connection, even a Great Perfected Lord would find it difficult to resurrect a Middle Stage Golden Core.
But what about the Netherworld?
Forget Middle Stage Golden Cores; even for completely unrelated Great Perfected Lords, the Netherworld could re-gather their souls just by saying so. Its methods were more than just a cut above.
'To have achieved this level, yet still not be a Dao Lord...'
Thinking of this, Lu Yang felt a bit of a headache, only feeling that his burden was heavy and the road was long. The exhilaration from just now was also retracted, returning to his usual steadiness.
Don't rush, I can't get cocky.
Following that, he sensed the [Tribulation] again, only feeling that he was infinitely close to this Primordial Great Dao, but still hadn't reached the critical point.
'I'm still two steps away.'
Reach the critical point, break through the critical point. Only by completing these two steps could he receive the augmentation of the [Tribulation] and elevate [Divine Firmament Thunder] to a Supreme Dao Fruit.
The method to break through the critical point was naturally to revive the Dharma Body Dao.
However, how to reach the critical point—this actually stumped Lu Yang. I've slaughtered so many Perfected Lords, yet the [Tribulation] still hasn't acknowledged me enough?
What am I still missing?
While Lu Yang stood alone in the void, pondering secretly, on the ninth tier of the Celestial Court, Immortal Venerable Taiyin suddenly let out a long breath. Her cold, beautiful face was as calm as an ancient well without ripples.
"Good, good, good... as expected of a Sword Bastard!"
She had miscalculated!
Was it because she had stayed in the Celestial Court for too long? She had actually become numb. She never expected that Perfected Lord Gangxing Budao would choose to defect right before battle!
'This is my oversight.'
'But this is excusable. After all, I didn't know the background of this Sword Pavilion Great Perfected Lord... Yet what about you? Why didn't you speak up to stop him?'
Immortal Venerable Taiyin turned around and looked at Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue.
Meanwhile, Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue was still helping Great Sage Ming Zhu smooth out her aura and stabilize her shattered Grotto-Heaven, ensuring she wouldn't drop from the Perfected Lord realm because of this.
Seeing Immortal Venerable Taiyin looking over, she instantly tilted her head, revealing an innocent expression. This made the corner of Immortal Venerable Taiyin's eye twitch, an unnamed anger rising in her chest.
But she quickly calmed her emotions.
Because she knew it was actually very normal for Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue to target her. Rather, in this Thousand-Year Great Tribulation, she and Feixue were competitors to begin with.
"...Forget it."
Immortal Venerable Taiyin took a deep breath. She saw that after killing so many people in succession, Lu Yang's spiritual power was rapidly climbing under the influence of the [Supreme Law Fate-Deciding Dao Chapter].
He had clearly gone through a great battle, yet now, not only had he not weakened, but he had grown even stronger. His vast spiritual power almost transformed into a visible ocean, hovering right above Lu Yang's head. With the Great Perfected Lords keeping each other in check, this overpowered strength was enough to sway the outcome of this battle.
Moreover, in her view, Lu Yang was also related to her master, the first-generation Master of Heaven-Mending Peak.
At this thought, Immortal Venerable Taiyin hesitated no longer. Her slender palm slowly opened, and she formed hand seals. A golden light suddenly lit up on her fair, tender fingertips.
Whoosh...
In an instant, howling winds suddenly arose inside and outside the Celestial Court, from the top of the nine tiers to the bottom. A formless, intangible storm swept upwards from the lowest tier.
Wherever the storm passed, countless wails rang out.
Every Celestial Court cultivator had their Immortal Talismans in their accounts, liquid assets, real estate, and everything that could symbolize wealth entirely extracted.
In the Celestial Court, every cultivator had to pay taxes to Immortal Venerable Taiyin to reside here. But just now, Immortal Venerable Taiyin blatantly raised the tax to—
One hundred percent.
Endless wealth was swept away and taken by the storm, like a swinging scythe harvesting leeks. Ultimately, it all transformed into the Dharma talisman at Immortal Venerable Taiyin's fingertips:
"[Gathering the Wealth of All]."
This was the true name of the [Money] Dao Fruit. Money was merely the surface appearance; its essence was transaction, gathering the power of all living beings to exchange for what one needed.
Immortal Venerable Taiyin had cultivated bitterly for many years, yet she still hadn't pushed this Void Attainment Great Dao to the Great Perfected Lord level. Otherwise, she wouldn't have always been thinking of devouring the Dharma Body Dao. Therefore, right now, she could only use her stature as a Great Perfected Lord of the [Taiyin] Dao Fruit to forcibly elevate the Dao Fruit profound wonder of [Gathering the Wealth of All].
"This is as far as you go."
Immortal Venerable Taiyin's beautiful face was freezing cold. Her fair fingertips formed a sword gesture, and the Dharma talisman fluttered out, quickly merging into the void and vanishing without a trace.
In a daze, a massive graveyard seemed to surface behind her.
[Taiyang] hung high. The Yang qi, through the intersection of ascending, descending, floating, and sinking, gained the transformative power of Earth qi, and began to generate [Taiyin].
This was—[Blood Money].
A Dao Fruit Secret Method formed using [Gathering the Wealth of All] as the foundation and [Taiyin] as a supplement. It was the number one cursing method in the present world, unmatched throughout the light sea!
At this moment, Lu Yang felt as if he had plunged into an icy cavern.
Only Immortal Venerable Taiyin's voice remained in his ears, murmuring softly as if a lover were beside him. Like a gentle breeze, it blew into his head and flowed into his limbs and bones:
"Taiyin gathers the masses, bribing your demise."
Gathering the wealth of the entire great World Realm of the Celestial Court. This wasn't just a simple number, but the profound foundation of [Gathering the Wealth of All] operating in the Celestial Court for thousands of years.
And at this moment, this foundation was completely drained dry.
This was Immortal Venerable Taiyin's prepared killer move. Deployed when necessary, even a Great Perfected Lord might have their life bought away and fall dead on the spot!
Before the Dharma incantation finished, Lu Yang felt an intense sense of exhaustion sweep over his entire body. His spiritual power, vitality, and soul were actually all marching towards nothingness at this moment!
(End of Chapter)