Within the [Nourishing Life Master], Lu Yang sat cross-legged. He held the Floating Light Realm Sea in the palm of his left hand, while a cluster of raging fire burned fiercely in his right.
Suspended within the roaring flames was a perfectly round, dazzlingly bright object. Its aura was drawn in but unreleased, seemingly still in the process of accumulation and nurturing. Yet, even so, a fluctuation as vast as the ocean spread out, expanding and surging, causing the entire [Nourishing Life Master] to tremble faintly.
The trembling hum sounded just like a dragon's roar.
Every so often, the raging fire in Lu Yang's palm would begin to wane. Whenever this happened, he would look at the Floating Light Realm Sea in his left hand.
Then, he would extract an incarnation from it.
[Golden Talent: Great Self-Detonation]!
Boom.
The might of the incarnation's self-detonation served as the perfect fuel, instantly restoring the waning fire to its peak state, continuing to refine the Old Dragon Lord's precious materials within.
However, Lu Yang gradually furrowed his brow.
"Something isn't right..."
The refinement of this fourth True Treasure was completely different from the previous three. The first three were achieved almost instantly, without the slightest bottleneck from start to finish.
But for this fourth one, he had already thrown in nearly a hundred incarnations to fuel the fire with their self-detonations, perfectly melting down all the dragon materials. Yet, every time it reached the stage of taking form, it always fell short at the final hurdle. Stuck in this endless loop, the True Treasure's refinement remained incomplete for a long time.
"Is this the threshold of Void Attainment?"
Lu Yang's gaze flickered. The [Divine Firmament Thunder] was, after all, forged using a World Realm Seed as its foundation. It belonged to the category of [Pseudo Void Attainment] and was not true Void Attainment.
This kind of experience was a first for him.
In his senses, this fourth True Treasure was like a dying fetus in the womb. Although its aura had been continuously accumulating, it simply lacked the strength to break through the eggshell.
Maintaining this state for two or three days was fine.
But as time dragged on and the accumulated aura passed its absolute peak, any further delay would only cause it to slowly decline, eventually reducing it to a genuine stillborn trapped within its shell.
I have to find a way to break this deadlock.
Lu Yang frowned deeply, unable to stop himself from shaking his head. Cultivation involving Void Attainment could only rely on the cultivator themselves; there was no way to utilize his peerless talents!
Seeing that the aura accumulation of the True Treasure embryo within the fire had reached its zenith, Lu Yang had no choice but to form a hand seal. A golden light lit up at his fingertips, which he then merged into the embryo. This forced the True Treasure embryo, which had originally lost the ability to continue growing, back into the accumulation phase.
The profound wonder of [Placer Gold in Sand]—[Gaining Momentum]!
This profound wonder focused on accumulation and nurturing. It inherently possessed miraculous effects in artifact forging and alchemy. However, using it at this moment was merely treating the symptoms rather than the root cause.
"This method can raise the upper limit of accumulation."
"But the more it accumulates, the harder the eggshell becomes, making it even more difficult to break. As long as the shell remains unbroken, whatever I do is just delaying the inevitable."
Lu Yang carefully observed the changes in his palm, his eyes shining with a strange light.
"There is a certain time lag in the equilibrium between the eggshell and the internal aura. First, the aura accumulates, and only a moment later does the eggshell undergo a further upgrade."
As he spoke, a bright mirror gradually surfaced deep within Lu Yang's eyes. The mirror's light gleamed, illuminating all secrets and allowing him to observe with absolute clarity.
[Yin-Yang Insight Dao Fruit]!
This Dao Fruit Secret Method, with the [Overturned Lamp Flame] as its core, elevated the illuminating and secret-revealing concept of the [Overturned Lamp Flame] to the extreme. It finally allowed Lu Yang to discover the crucial key.
"As long as I use overwhelmingly powerful force to instantly spike the True Treasure's accumulated aura, and then seize the time gap before the eggshell can upgrade in response, I might be able to smash through the shell in one fell swoop, allowing this True Treasure to condense and take form. But to pull this off, I'm afraid I'll have to pay a price..."
In an instant, a spark of enlightenment flashed through Lu Yang's mind.
"An overwhelmingly powerful force... where will this force come from? It can only be 'Borrowed'. There is no other way, or at least, none that I've ever seen."
To 'Borrow' meant to draw upon an external entity.
For example, [Sky-shrouding]. The reason he could execute Void Attainment for [Inversion] was likely because he borrowed the mighty power of the [Great Forest Wood]. Only then was he able to take that first step.
Perfected Lord Feixue was probably in a similar boat.
Immortal Venerable Taiyin's [Gathering the Wealth of All] operated on the same principle, except she didn't borrow from a Dao Fruit, but from the myriad living beings of the Celestial Court. At most, it was just a different train of thought.
"Then what about me?"
Who should I borrow from?
"My intention is to unify the supreme Five Elements, forge five True Treasures, and then fuse them into one. If that is the case, I should borrow from something related to them."
Lu Yang analyzed calmly and sent out a sincere sensation.
Faintly, he seemed to sense an extremely weak calling. In order to resonate with it, his consciousness delved deeper and deeper, ignoring the outside world entirely.
Even as the aura of the True Treasure in his hand grew stronger and stronger, inching closer to its absolute peak, he remained completely oblivious, as if he had sunk into a state of profound tranquility.
At this moment, all things were illusory, and heaven and earth were utterly silent.
In this domain of tranquility, only his consciousness truly existed—unmoving, unwavering, free from danger and chaos, ignorant of what heaven and earth were, and oblivious to the passage of time.
Finally, a loud, drum-like boom shattered the silence. It was the sound of a beating heart. Like a sudden burst of the sun, it instantly ignited Lu Yang's consciousness. What started as a single spark turned into a raging prairie fire in the blink of an eye, amplifying that originally faint sensation to the absolute extreme.
Boom!
Lu Yang opened his eyes.
He found it.
That faint calling that resonated with him through the unseen void, the massive drum-like beat that ultimately shattered the tranquility—it was none other than the heartbeat of the Ancestral Dragon!
"The Five Elements Dao Fruits of the Immortal Nexus originate from the Ancestral Dragon!"
Yin and Yang, Five Elements, Three Foundations, Five Heavenly Destinies. The Dao Lord who commanded the Five Elements back in the day was precisely the Ancestral Dragon, who was later refined alive by the Four Dogs of the Immortal Nexus to create the Immortal Nexus itself!
Therefore, if he wanted to achieve Void Attainment through the supreme Five Elements, he naturally had to 'Borrow' from the Ancestral Dragon!
Normally speaking, this path was already a dead end.
Because under the suppression of the Four Dogs of the Immortal Nexus, the Ancestral Dragon had almost zero contact with the outside world. Without making contact, how could anyone 'Borrow' its profound wonder for Void Attainment?
However—Lu Yang was that one-in-a-million exception.
"Hahaha!"
Lu Yang burst into loud laughter.
I knew it! With my innate, peerless talents, how could a mere fourth True Treasure possibly stop me?
[Golden Talent: Ancestral Dragon's Remnant]!
[Ancestral Dragon's Remnant: Things related to the Ancestral Dragon will spontaneously gravitate toward you. Among them lie both fortuitous encounters and perilous dangers; one wrong step leads to eternal damnation.]
It was exactly because of the bolstering of this talent that Lu Yang could sense the Ancestral Dragon's heartbeat.
Afterward, by 'Borrowing' its mighty power, he was able to shatter the eggshell in one breath, break through the bottleneck, and condense the True Treasure—without a doubt, this was his fortuitous encounter.
However, fortuitous encounters were also accompanied by risks.
I have now established a connection with the Ancestral Dragon.
Ordinary people might not see it, but in the eyes of Great Perfected Lords who know of the Ancestral Dragon, or even Dao Lords, it's probably as conspicuous as a firefly in the dark night.
It was fine if they didn't look, but one look and he would definitely be exposed.
And given the Ancestral Dragon's predicament, if he were exposed, the outcome definitely wouldn't be pretty.
Of course, this harvest was well worth a little risk.
Thinking of this, Lu Yang looked at his palm.
There, a perfectly square, brilliantly glowing ruler hovered quietly. Tides of light washed over the ruler, and the concept of the [Vast Ocean Water] surged within it.
The fourth True Treasure: The Dragon-Banishment Ruler!
"It's a pity that it's still not perfect... This isn't the supreme [Vast Ocean Water], so it's missing the most crucial layer of transformation." Lu Yang turned his head and looked at the Old Dragon Lord again.
Fortunately, he already had a plan.
As long as the Old Dragon Lord cooperated, this time he wouldn't just get the supreme [Vast Ocean Water]—he even had a chance to take [Sky-shrouding]'s concept of the [Great Forest Wood]!
(End of Chapter)