The visible shadow gradually covered [Sky-shrouding]'s vision, making him feel dizzy. A phantom sensation of stepping on empty air even transmitted from beneath his feet.
He was very strong right now, extremely powerful.
Great Perfection of the Golden Core, a Dao Sovereign, and having the empowerment of [Tribulation]. He was exactly at the instant a candle was just lit, releasing a brightness sufficient to illuminate the Light Sea.
But this was the peak.
Merely because this brightness was burning his life every hour and every minute. And as time flowed, he would only grow dimmer and dimmer, until finally extinguishing.
'Why.'
[Sky-shrouding] pursed his lips. The instant this question arose in his heart, he had already thought of the answer: "Because... the [Paramita] is full?"
Six Dao Lords!
When the Primordial Saint forged the [Paramita] back then, there were only six Dao Lords. Therefore, the [Paramita] was prepared for six Dao Lords from the very beginning.
After Sisui died, the World Honored One took his place.
'The ascension of the [Paramita] does not allow the appearance of a seventh Dao Lord. Is it because that would make the [Paramita] heavier and the difficulty of ascension higher?'
In this instant, endless thoughts surfaced in the depths of [Sky-shrouding]'s eyes. Inspirations in his heart came one after another. While facing death directly and walking along the edge of the abyss, his Light of Wisdom obtained its most brilliant combustion. Many former doubts were answered one by one at this moment.
Precisely because of this, he didn't despair.
Even though he stood above the abyss, falling bit by bit with time, perhaps getting forever lost in the dark void in the next second, he didn't waver in the slightest.
'I still have a chance!'
The baseline of the Light Sea was that all things in creation possessed a glimmer of survival.
In this grand scheme, there were still variables!
Meanwhile, above the [Paramita], the tiny figure who had walked down to the fifth tier didn't pay any more attention to [Sky-shrouding]. Instead, he looked up at the endless dark void.
In an instant, heaven and earth roared and shook.
Beneath the [Paramita], under the silent tacit understanding of the Dao Lords, the [Five Elements] seal was thoroughly unsealed. Boundless iridescent colors all condensed and converged at this moment.
And then, ascended!
The Five Elements surged mightily; Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth each responded. At the same time, the Mortal World's Immortal Pivot also began to disintegrate with a boom, revealing the towering physical body of the Ancestral Dragon that had been suppressed.
"Primordial Saint!!!"
In the Netherworld, Lu Yang once again heard the Ancestral Dragon's angry roar full of hatred. Comprehension dawned in his heart: 'Right, the Primordial Saint didn't completely enslave the Ancestral Dragon's consciousness either.'
'Is it a method similar to a split personality?'
Lu Yang speculated in his heart:
'The part that submitted was released from the seal, while the part that stubbornly resisted all along remained inside the seal... That's right, only this makes sense, otherwise it would be too outrageous.'
Meanwhile, the drastic changes on the [Paramita] continued. The Dao Lords uncontrollably displayed their auras. Spiritual Power, Dao Arts, Fortune, Destiny, Inevitable Fate, Karma—six Great Daos interacted with each other, together holding up the [Paramita], and ascending towards an even higher place along with the [Five Elements]!
Even more than that.
As the Immortal Nexus seal was undone, the Ancestral Dragon's body also disintegrated amidst angry roars, transforming into thousands of streaks of light, merging together into the divine mountain transformed from the [Paramita].
On the other side, the phenomena of [Tribulation] devoured by the Ancestral Dragon also swarmed over.
As for [Variable], that went without saying. The matter of transforming as a deity and ascending was in itself the greatest [Variable]. How could the Great Dao not respond?
The Primordial Saint calmly observed all this.
"Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, the Five Heavenly Destinies, the Three Foundations—the ten Supreme Great Daos of the Light Sea are exactly the cornerstone pushing the [Paramita] forward to a higher realm."
"Of course, because of Sisui, this ascension isn't considered perfect."
"It lacks the Dharma Body and Yin-Yang."
"However, using the Ancestral Dragon's physical body is enough to temporarily replace the Dharma Body Dao. As for Yin-Yang, using Karma to replace it shouldn't be too far off, I suppose."
—This was a lie.
In fact, there was a massive difference between the two. A Great Dao was a Great Dao. Especially for things like Yin-Yang and the Dharma Body, their uniqueness destined them to be irreplaceable.
Therefore, the Primordial Saint could be certain that the result of this ascension would inevitably be a failure. The [Paramita] couldn't possibly reach the Deity Tranformation realm in his mind. This was also an act of having no alternative, because he had to kill Sisui. But having killed Sisui, he had to endure this flaw. It was a manifestation of [Variable].
'But this is enough.'
'Even if Karma and the Ancestral Dragon's physical body cannot possibly replace Yin-Yang and the Dharma Body, there will always be a supplementary effect, allowing the [Paramita] to infinitely approach that realm.'
As long as it approached, that was enough.
Otherwise, why did he shape the [Paramita] into the appearance of a mountain and even divide it into so many tiers? Because from the very beginning, it was a ladder!
This was the fourth function of the [Paramita] that Lu Yang hadn't discovered.
'As long as the [Paramita] can approach Deity Transformation, acting as a ladder, it can help me approach that realm even further. With good luck, I might just step over.'
Of course, there was also the possibility of not being to do it.
But that didn't matter either. He stood at the highest point of the [Paramita]. No matter where the [Paramita] flew, he would inevitably be the first to arrive.
'If this is still not enough, and there is still a certain distance, then I will directly shatter the [Paramita], turning the [Paramita] and all the Dao Lords into my stepping stones for an ultimate sublimation... According to my deductions, this way there is at least a sixty percent probability of stepping past that hurdle and truly treading into the Deity Transformatiion Realm...'
Yes, he had deceived the other Dao Lords again.
Taking the [Paramita] and all the Dao Lords to ascend together wasn't a lie. He just made a small concealment, not explaining the whole truth.
At this moment, the Primordial Saint's gaze was incredibly brilliant.
He didn't look at the Mortal World, didn't look at the Netherworld. Even all the Dao Lords seemed to have been cast to the back of his mind, entirely not worth the slightest bit of his attention.
His eyes stared fixedly higher above himself.
His slender, fair palm slowly reached out.
Like a young child reaching out to the sky, wanting to pluck the stars. Pure and passionate; it was exactly this kind of obsession that ignited the Light Sea.
Until a loud sound heard.
"Boom!"
The ascent of the [Paramita] abruptly stopped.
And in the Primordial Saint's eyes, the star that had gradually fallen into his palm and was about to be grasped by him also rapidly retreated, becoming untouchable once again.
"...Pity."
Retracting his palm, the tiny figure standing on the fifth tier of the [Paramita] slowly turned around, lowering his eyes and looking down at the group of Nascent Soul Dao Lords below.
His voice remained calm.
Although disappointed, he wasn't furious, as if everything was still within his control. His heavy gaze quickly locked onto the location where the sound came from.
The [Five Elements] seal.
"Almost forgot, there's still you, Heaven-Mending."
What met his eyes was that the [Five Elements] which should have been pushing the [Paramita] to continue ascending, had exhausted all of its profound concepts at this moment.
"...Hoo."
Seeing this scene, the Primordial Saint also couldn't help but let out an exclamation of amazement: "The [Five Elements] only has an empty shell left, and you actually hollowed it out? How did you do it?"
Regarding Heaven-Mending's whereabouts, he truly didn't know at first.
Even up to now, he hadn't seen Heaven-Mending's figure in the [Five Elements]. But this didn't prevent him from making a judgment based on the World Honored One's actions.
When the World Honored One altered cause and changed effect to send the [Nascent Soul Pill] onto the [Paramita] out of thin air, he had already understood that the problem lay with the [Five Elements], and Heaven-Mending should be within it. But in his view, that was merely a minor skin disease. Surprising, yes, but it fundamentally couldn't affect the grand scheme.
Because Heaven-Mending's cultivation was too low.
Before entering the [Five Elements] seal, he was merely at the Immortal Bridge Realm. Even if he harvested from the [Five Elements] to elevate his own stature, he could at most advance to the Heaven Treading Realm.
Compared to a Dao Lord, it wasn't worth mentioning.
With such low cultivation, even if he could harvest from the [Five Elements] and extract mighty power, how much could he extract? A drop in the bucket; it would barely have any major impact.
Let alone he only had tens of thousands of years to harvest, even if he was given another several hundred thousand years, or even millions of years, he couldn't possibly hollow out the [Five Elements].
This was the Primordial Saint's judgment.
However, now, the facts told him— he was wrong.
Heaven-Mending had truly hollowed out the [Five Elements], to the point that the most important part of the fuel for the [Paramita]'s ascension vanished into thin air, no longer existing!
This wasn't something he could achieve.
Someone helped him, sharing the vast majority of the [Five Elements]' mighty power for him.
Who?
In a flash of lightning, the Primordial Saint had already drawn a conclusion: "It's the people who participated in the [Five Elements] seal. Amazing, to actually deceive my sight."
He shifted his gaze, admiration showing in the depths of his eyes.
And on the fourth tier of the [Paramita], a sword light that had been suppressed for a long time, and also silent for a long time, was boldly unsheathed. The sword edge seemed as if it wanted to cleave open the [Paramita]!