The familiar darkness clouded Lu Yang's thoughts.
Just as he was using the Void Attainment to attain the [Heavenly Destiny Reckoning], the Dao Fruit itself surprisingly formed a connection in the unseen realm, and then his vision was tainted by darkness.
'This place is...'
Lu Yang looked around. The profound wonders of the Eight Trigrams subconsciously appeared in his hand, colliding and beginning to calculate. He quickly understood where he had arrived.
The Ancestral Dragon Seal!
To be precise, it was the passageway Heaven-Mending had used to smuggle himself in back then. One end of the darkness was the [Pomegranate Wood], and the other end was where the Ancestral Dragon Seal was located.
Since it was his second time here, Lu Yang could be considered to know the way well. Moreover, the current him was vastly different from before. With the empowerment of the First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak's Light of Wisdom, he found the direction to the Ancestral Dragon Seal without much effort. The path was entirely unobstructed, and he soon pierced through the darkness.
Quickly, a scene entered his line of sight.
Unlike last time where he could only see a tiny bit, this time, Lu Yang, possessing boundless Light of Wisdom, could finally see the full picture of the seal before him clearly.
The [Five Elements].
A towering heavenly pillar reflecting the five colors of cyan, yellow, red, white, and black. Carrying an eternally unchanging concept, it stood forever amidst a boundless sea of chaos.
And above the heavenly pillar was the [Paramita].
It was still so lofty and ethereal, making it difficult to look directly at its appearance. But the more the [Paramita] was like this, the more one could appreciate just how exaggerated the Ancestral Dragon's [Five Elements] truly was.
It was holding up the Paramita.
'No, it's not just it. There's also the sea of chaos it resides in... Is that the [Sea of Bitterness]? The Mortal World is the main body supporting the [Paramita].'
Despite this, even if the [Five Elements] only accounted for a small portion, it was still incredibly exaggerated. For a single Great Dao to reach this extent, Lu Yang simply couldn't imagine it.
Thinking of this, Lu Yang pushed his eyesight to the limit. The Light of Wisdom in his eyes practically burned. Boundless Great Dao talismanic characters exerted all their strength to look at that towering [Five Elements] Great Dao. It wasn't until his head throbbed with splitting pain and his soul felt as if it were tearing apart that he finally saw some clues within the boiling concepts.
There were six seals.
Each seal had its own distinct characteristics. Five of them individually suppressed the Five Elements, while the final one hovered above, encompassing the entirety of the [Five Elements].
'Those are... the Dao Lords' seals!'
At this moment, Lu Yang only felt his head grow slightly heavy as Forbidden Knowledge swarmed in. 'I was right! The Ancestral Dragon was jointly suppressed by all the Dao Lords back then!'
The Primordial Saint, Sword Lord, Cang Hao, Spiritual Power, Dao Arts, and Dharma Body.
The Grotto-Heaven Method and the Three Foundations joined forces. Six Dao Lords collectively suppressed the Ancestral Dragon, turning its physical body and Great Dao entirely into the foundation stones of the [Paramita]!
'Unimaginable. Even Sisui made a move?'
This person should have been a good person on par with the First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak. To actually make a move against the Ancestral Dragon as well... what exactly did the Ancestral Dragon do?
Or was he deceived by the Primordial Saint?
After all, not long after the Ancestral Dragon was suppressed, the Three Foundations and the Grotto-Heaven Method had a falling out, and Sisui even died because of it. What exactly was the reason for their falling out?
Lu Yang took a deep breath and continued to observe.
Soon, he saw the auras on the seals clearly and identified their respective masters—and then his expression became increasingly bizarre.
Because the six seals were distributed like this:
Sword Lord's seal suppressed the [Metal of the Five Elements].
Cang Hao's seal suppressed the [Water of the Five Elements].
The Spiritual Power Dao Lord's seal suppressed the [Wood of the Five Elements].
The Dao Arts Dao Lord's seal suppressed the [Fire of the Five Elements].
Sisui's seal suppressed the [Earth of the Five Elements].
Finally, it was the Primordial Saint's seal. [Inevitable Fate] suppressed everything, making the fact that the [Ancestral Dragon is sealed] an established outcome, no longer allowing it to be changed.
'The Dao Lords' seals are actually not going smoothly.'
In Lu Yang's eyes, the Light of Wisdom reflected a scene. The seemingly stable [Five Elements] was actually colliding with the six seals suppressing it every single minute and second.
Therefore—
'The Dao Lords sealed the Five Elements, so they need to accept the corresponding price and bear the backlash from the [Five Elements]. This backlash also varies from person to person.'
For example, the Spiritual Power Dao Lord.
He sealed the [Wood of the Five Elements], and the Ancestral Dragon used it to devour a portion of the [Tribulation] concept. Therefore, He who suppressed it would inevitably suffer a tribulation because of it.
'Of course, it's impossible for there to be no countermeasures against this kind of price.'
'The Spiritual Power Dao Lord transferred it out. He personally doesn't bear the slightest bit; he shifted it all onto his subordinate Dao Lineage, the cultivators of the Spiritual Power Dao!'
'That's why the Spiritual Power Dao cultivators are so weak!'
One must know, the Dao Arts Dao Lord could find a way to forge the Mysterious Wall, allowing the Dao Arts cultivators to maintain their peak state. Could the Spiritual Power Dao Lord really do nothing?
'It's not that he can't, it's that he doesn't want to!'
Lu Yang was suddenly enlightened.
The Spiritual Power Dao Perfected Lords being trapped in stone statues, the high realm cultivators suffering heavy casualties and dying out, and even being hunted down after turning into death spirits—this in itself was a symbol of [Tribulation]!
By the same logic—
'The Dao Arts Dao Lord also used a similar method. It's just that his luck was a bit better. What he suppressed was the [Fire of the Five Elements], which corresponds to [Inevitable Fate].'
Therefore, although the Dao Arts path preserved their lives and wasn't as unlucky as the Spiritual Power Dao—trapped in stone statues and tortured day and night—they also couldn't leave the Mysterious Wall and enter the Mortal World. To them, everything in the Mortal World was an inevitable fate; they could only drift outside the world, unable to make any interference.
Of course, the unlucky ones were the lower-realm cultivators.
The Dao Lords, on the other hand, didn't care.
'But... the Dharma Body Dao didn't have such good luck.'
What Sisui suppressed was the [Earth of the Five Elements], which corresponds to a Variable—in other words, variables were most likely to appear on him, and they would be massive variables.
'And what variable could be greater than the death of a Dao Lord?'
'The World Honored One changed cause and altered effect, intervening in the great battle... The price of Sisui suppressing the [Earth of the Five Elements] ultimately responded on him, leading to his fall!'
From this perspective, Sisui actually perished together with the Ancestral Dragon.
Or rather, the Primordial Saint used the price of Sisui suppressing the [Five Elements] to artificially create a fatal flaw, and then ultimately used it to kill Sisui!
'What's even more fatal is that Sisui could not withdraw his seal.'
'Because the core of the seal was the sixth [Inevitable Fate] seal laid down by the Primordial Saint Ancestor. This made it impossible for the Dao Lords to voluntarily withdraw their seals.'
Thinking of this, Lu Yang couldn't help but sigh with emotion—
"The Primordial Saint Ancestor's heart is truly ruthless!"
The entire conspiracy could be described as a series of interlocking schemes.
From this, it could be seen that starting from the stage of suppressing the Ancestral Dragon and forging the [Paramita], the Primordial Saint Ancestor had already prepared to have a falling out with the Three Foundations!
The seal was both to suppress the Ancestral Dragon and to weaken the Three Foundations.
The proof lay in the remaining two Dao Lords.
Sword Lord and Cang Hao.
One suppressed the [Metal of the Five Elements], corresponding to [Destiny], and the other suppressed the [Water of the Five Elements], corresponding to [Fortune]. They were both exactly their own domains!
'The Ancestral Dragon's [Five Elements] only swallowed a portion of the concepts. It's impossible to use this to cause a backlash against Sword Lord and Cang Hao, who command the corresponding Great Daos.'
Therefore, Sword Lord and Cang Hao paid almost no price whatsoever.
As one side waned, the other waxed. In the end, the defeat of the Three Foundations was completely understandable. Rather, the fact that they could fight for so long showed just how capable Sisui was.
However, an even more terrifying point was:
'The Primordial Saint Ancestor laid out this plan, yet the other Dao Lords actually didn't see through the conspiracy within the seal... This is actually a manifestation of higher Dao comprehension!'
The Primordial Saint Ancestor's Dao comprehension was higher than the other Dao Lords!
At least in regards to the [Five Elements], the Primordial Saint Ancestor's attainments and understanding of the Ancestral Dragon were higher. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to set up such a conspiracy.
Lu Yang's heart was filled with a chilling cold, as if he had plunged into an ice cave.
He had to admit, the more he understood the details of that great Dao Lord battle back then, the more he realized the brilliance of the Primordial Saint Ancestor's methods and the terror of his calculations.
Meanwhile, his line of sight was still zooming in.
The next second, Lu Yang's gaze condensed, landing on the seal of the [Five Elements]. The seal belonging to the Dharma Body was currently more than half shattered.
It hadn't dissipated only because of the suppression from [Inevitable Fate].
Looking over, it was like a hole had been opened on the [Five Elements] Great Dao. Only by passing through the fissure in this seal could one make contact with the [Five Elements].
And then, Lu Yang froze.
'That is...'
As far as his eyes could see, Lu Yang unexpectedly saw a black-and-white Great Dao, perfectly straight, thrusting directly into the fissure of the shattered Dharma Body seal.
As the light flickered, he saw the Great Dao continuously pouring spirituality into the [Five Elements] through the fissure in the seal, while at the same time frantically drawing in the surrounding radiance of the Five Elements to replenish itself. In a daze, Lu Yang even seemed to glimpse a figure within it, its movements resembling an ancient tree with gnarled roots…
"Boom!"
In the blink of an eye, the darkness shattered.
Lu Yang abruptly opened his eyes. The aura throughout his entire body was almost uncontrollably about to erupt, but in the next second, it was calmed down by a gentle, warm breeze.
Only then did he see that, unbeknownst to him, a youth had already appeared before him.
"What happened?"
Looking at [Pill Cauldron], whose face was still filled with lingering fear, a look of curiosity surfaced in Dao Tianqi's eyes.
What could he have sensed from the Ancestral Dragon to act like this?
Could it be that the Ancestral Dragon has hope of escaping?
Or does the Ancestral Dragon also have a back-up plan and wants to use [Pill Cauldron's] hands?
The next second, under his questioning gaze, Lu Yang spoke in a somewhat hesitant tone: "May I ask Senior... can a Great Dao also be harvested to replenish oneself?"
"...Ah?"
Dao Tianqi's expression instantly stiffened.