That being said, Lu Yang actually had no idea what to expect.
What exactly was the Nascent Soul Pill? Was there truly such a celestial pill in this world that could allow one to ascend on the spot and advance to a Dao Lord just by consuming it?
"Regardless, I might as well give it a try."
The Netherworld was a place he had to explore anyway, so he'd just consider it a detour. Of course, before that, he had to finish up the matter with the Old Dragon Lord.
Thinking of this, Lu Yang looked again at the opened [Heaven and Earth Precious Cauldron], which was still filled with an intense karmic aura. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly formed a hand seal and pointed. In an instant, countless illusory, blurry scenes abruptly surfaced within the originally empty interior of the precious cauldron.
[Golden Talent: Mystic Cause and Anomaly Effect]!
[Mystic Cause and Anomaly Effect: Requires extremely high karmic comprehension to activate. Extracts a specific person or object from past karmic lines, making them serve you.]
"Hmm..."
Lu Yang furrowed his brow slightly. With his current karmic comprehension, the furthest he could trace the karma on the [Heaven and Earth Precious Cauldron] was about a thousand years into the past.
At this thought, he immediately tapped his glabella lightly.
In a flash, a streak of light lit up within his Niwan Palace. Bright and dazzling, resembling a thunderbolt, it was drawn out by him and hovered above his fingertip.
The [Divine Firmament Thunder].
Immediately after, Lu Yang changed his hand seal. The originally brilliant golden lightning swiftly altered, transforming into rings of iridescent light that permeated outward and bolstered his body.
The [Master of Great Tribulations] altering the concept—[City Rampart Earth]!
After receiving the bolster of the iridescent light, Lu Yang immediately sensed his control over karma elevate by a whole tier, and the amount of karma he could trace back surged correspondingly.
However, he was still unsatisfied.
Three thousand years...
Compared to the life before his previous one, this amount of time was still too little. In the end, it wasn't a supreme Dao Fruit, nor did he have the bolster of an Overlord-Level Dao Soldier comparable to the Dao Fruit Sublimation Ritual.
But since things had reached this point, Lu Yang could only make do. He reached out and swiped. The karmic scenes surrounding the [Heaven and Earth Precious Cauldron] below immediately began to flow like a river. Yet, it was completely monotonous—only the Daoist child of the First-generation Pill Cauldron Peak Master sitting upright on the cauldron, unchanging for three thousand years.
"Looks like there's no other way."
Lu Yang shook his head. Originally, he was hoping to use [Mystic Cause and Anomaly Effect] to see if he could extract the karmic shadow of the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak from history.
Now it seemed the other party was simply from too long ago.
"Oh well, the child will do."
Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated. He grabbed with a large hand, and the child in the karmic scene instantly swayed before being pulled out of thin air by him!
"..."
The child simply stood there blankly, like a reflection in a mirror, slightly illusory. However, his stature and aura were no different from what Lu Yang remembered.
A Great Perfected Lord, the Netherworld stature, and nine Dharma Bodies!
Lu Yang had a look of astonishment on his face. A karmic shadow can actually completely replicate the person's true strength? No, it's more like an attachment... it's attached to my stature.
Simply put, if the karmic shadow extracted by [Mystic Cause and Anomaly Effect] was weaker than himself, it could perfectly replicate its cultivation and combat power. If it was stronger than himself, it would experience a proportional downgrade. At the same time, the existence of the karmic shadow itself placed a burden on him.
"Three at most."
After sensing it for a moment, Lu Yang reached a conclusion: for an Entering the Dao-level Great Perfected Lord like the child, he could pull out a maximum of three corresponding karmic shadows.
Of course, karmic shadows couldn't be pulled out arbitrarily.
It had regional limitations.
Take the child, for example. It was because he had been imprisoned here at the [Heaven and Earth Precious Cauldron] for countless years, establishing heavy karma, that Lu Yang could pull him out here.
But if they left this place, he had no karma with the outside world, so Lu Yang wouldn't be able to pull him out. By the same logic, an extracted karmic shadow couldn't leave the region where its karma was located. Therefore, although this talent provided a massive boost in battles, its restrictions were equally massive.
However, Lu Yang didn't mind.
After all, he hadn't pulled the child out expecting him to help in a fight. He mostly wanted to use him to understand some ancient secrets.
"What is your name?"
Lu Yang found a random place to sit down and looked at the child's karmic shadow. The other party's current state was similar to a Banner Spirit; he would obey Lu Yang's every word.
"Baihe," the child lowered his head and replied.
"Do you know where the First-generation Pill Cauldron Peak Master's Nascent Soul Pill is?"
"I don't know."
"What exactly is the Nascent Soul Pill? Can it truly allow someone to step onto Paramita?"
"I don't know."
"Is the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak still alive?"
"I don't know."
Good heavens, three questions and you don't know anything. Lu Yang laughed out of sheer exasperation. But he quickly furrowed his brow again. After a long silence, he asked a fourth question:
"Besides the [Cycle of Life and Death Pill], what else is in this place?"
Such a secret realm required the methods of the other three First-generation Peak Masters to open. Could it really only contain a single pill? Lu Yang felt something was off.
Where was the inheritance of the First-generation Pill Cauldron Peak Master?
However, in the next second, he saw Daoist Child Baihe shake his head and say blankly, "I do not know either. It was originally placed inside the precious cauldron, just like the celestial pill."
"But suddenly one day, it disappeared."
"...What?" Lu Yang was stunned.
Daoist Child Baihe continued, "I was quite startled at the time. I thought Master had returned, because only Master could take the inheritance away."
"What... was the inheritance?"
"It was a white jade box." Daoist Child Baihe gestured with his hands. "The box contained a profound wonder set up by Master. Any pill placed inside could be multiplied."
"One becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight."
"Aside from that, the box also contained the [Golden Liquid Returning Core Diagram] created by Master. It is said to be a Void Attainment method that uses the Dao to refine pills, and uses pills as Dao Fruits..."
Hearing this, Lu Yang felt an itch in his heart.
A pill-multiplying box and a Void Attainment method?
Dammit! How could such treasures just disappear out of thin air? This place had so many layers of locks placed on it, and it was being watched over by a Great Perfected Lord like Daoist Child Baihe.
Who could have taken them?
Either the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak is still alive and secretly took them for a layout... or it was the World Honored One! He's probably the only one who has this capability!
A moment later, Lu Yang shook his head, helplessly giving up the pursuit. He had no choice; there were simply too few clues. He could only look at Daoist Child Baihe again and change the subject: "You previously cultivated the Dharma Body Dao. Where did you get your cultivation method from? Don't tell me you created it yourself?"
"That is not the case."
Daoist Child Baihe shook his head. "My method was comprehended when Master personally took me to pay respects to the Dharma Body Dao Lord and observe the Dao Lord's true body!"
"...Holy shit?"
Lu Yang was dumbfounded. This single sentence leaked a crucial clue: the era of the four First-generation Peak Masters seemed to be much further back than he had imagined!
The era of their rise probably dates back to before the establishment of Paramita!
The Dao Lords resided in the world, and Paramita was not yet complete. Although the Dao Lords' true bodies possessed profound wonders, they weren't as exaggerated as they are today, where just looking at them would cause sudden death...
Thinking of this, Lu Yang's originally careless expression instantly became serious. "Where is the cultivation method? Bring it out for me, let me evaluate it for you."
Daoist Child Baihe: "..."
A moment later, the specific contents of the cultivation method were written out from memory by Daoist Child Baihe. Then, Lu Yang waved his hand and dismissed him, as he had lost all utility value.
Only a scripture hovering in midair was left behind.
The [True Self Fundamental Vow Scripture]!
After reading it for a moment, Lu Yang couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. "What an extreme cultivation method."
Just as the name suggested, before practicing this method, one had to establish a [Great Vow]. Afterward, they had to discard all things and matters, using the [Great Vow] to condense a completely sincere True Self.
"Discarding all things and matters" was literal. Every so often, the practitioner had to use a secret method to sever their own Dharma Body. Like a snake shedding its skin, they would sever the old body, gain a new life, and then use the [Great Vow] to integrate the severed Dharma Body into the new one.
This cycle repeated endlessly.
Daoist Child Baihe had severed himself nine times back in the day, which was why he had nine Dharma Bodies. Besides scattering them to strike enemies, they could also be integrated together to transform into the completely sincere True Self.
Unfortunately, he died later on.
Transforming into a Death Spirit left his [Great Vow] with absolutely no hope of completion. The completely sincere True Self shattered along with it, and the nine Dharma Bodies permanently lost the profound wonder of integration.
"Interesting..."
Possessing the [Precious Life Perfect Form Scripture], he naturally had little interest in the inferior [True Self Fundamental Vow Scripture]. But he could absolutely extract its essence and discard its dregs.
"The completely sincere True Self... If this method of integrating incarnations is applied to the [Floating Light Realm Sea Great Immortal Art], it might be able to take the power of this dao art to an even higher level!"
(End of Chapter)