Having destroyed his inner demon, Lu Yun’s mind transcended once more and his mastery over his combat arts and techniques took a significant leap forward, especially his nascent spirit observation method.

He’d already used it to create a combat art out of his insights into the twenty-four facets of the world. It was powerful, but lacking in substance as he couldn’t manifest the real facets with his current strength.

Thus far, he couldn’t observe the entire world of immortals!

However, Mount Exalted was different. Lu Yun had once gazed upon that immense presence with his own eyes and comprehended its profound mysteries. The mountain he manifested now was infinitely close to the real deal in appearance and might.

“So it’s not about creating something out of nothing, I need to see something first before I can manifest it.

“Observation means not only taking note of appearance, but more so its presence, strength, and behavior to grasp its essence, turning what is seen to what is real.

“The method reaches great perfection when the nascent spirit becomes one with the sighted object and turns it into reality!”

As Lu Yun’s thoughts further sharpened into focus, Mount Exalted grew even more powerful and defined as it slammed into the immortals below. All of their combat arts, immortal swords, and treasures crumbled as easily as papier-mâché beneath its pressure.

“Is it a combat art, or a treasure?” someone shouted in despair.

“It’s Mount Exalted from Exalted Major, but wasn’t it destroyed...?”

Kaboom!

The great mountain rammed dozens of immortals underground, breaking bones and snapping tendons before vanishing into thin air.

Horrified, the other immortals couldn’t believe that Lu Yun had managed to break through a perimeter of a hundred and some void-ascended immortals and even gravely injure many of them in the process!

“A combat art! It’s an unknown combat art that manifested Mount Exalted!” an immortal from the Zi Clan cried out. “I sense no ripples of inner energy, so he’s only using his nascent spirit! He’s gathered the power of the land with his nascent spirit to manifest Mount Exalted… How is this possible?!”

“Power of the land?” Inspiration struck Lu Yun from the man’s disbelieving exclamation. “Nascent spirits are connected to the heavens and communicate with the world to access its power, which allows me to manifest the might and presence of Mount Exalted. Manifesting reality relies on heaven and earth still, rather than creating something out of thin air.”

The spontaneous enlightenment further perfected his method.

Boom!

A three-hundred-meter tall Mount Exalted appeared over Lu Yun’s head, attracting a vast surge of heavenly power to amplify its might. It was ten times greater than the mountain from earlier!

“Indeed two heads are better than one! Combat arts are born of the collective wisdom of all sentient beings. Keeping what you know to yourself and shutting yourself in will only lead to decline and destruction!” Lu Yun’s mind grew increasingly clear and a weight seemed to lift from his chest, marking the end of the last traces of the inner demon and its influence.

Dejection was a natural development upon seeing his own combat arts and cultivation methods turned against him. Thus, an inner demon had developed over time and appeared at this critical moment to test him.

Although his strong dao heart had survived the interrogation, a trace of frustration had yet lingered from being attacked with his own creations. But then a line from his enemy had lit a spark in the darkness and sent him down the right path for his nascent spirit observation method, helping it reach true completion and scattering the last of his frustrations.

Dao heart now clear from any intrusive thoughts, his faith was thus reinforced.

The Mount Exalted I manifested has a great connection to the facets that I projected earlier… The real Mount Exalted existed within the world of immortals, and though it seemed like I was reducing its size by projecting it with my method, I in fact increased its strength by several times over!

If I start with the twenty-four facets when manifesting the famed mountains and rivers in the world, I can achieve greater power with less effort. The facet observation method can be the basis of all observation methods!

What a pity that Mount Exalted has been destroyed. It’ll be impossible for later generations to project it. His mind spun quickly as the different thoughts flashed through it.

“Hmph, I’ll show some mercy this time since you helped destroy my inner demon and gave me some new ideas. I won’t be so kind next time I run into you.” With a huff, Lu Yun spun on his heel and left.

Boom!

Upon his departure, the mountain over his head exploded with a bang. Horrifying shockwaves of power spread in all directions.

Thud!

The mass of immortals sagged to the ground and panted heavily.

“Terrible, absolutely terrible. What was that just now, the real Mount Exalted?” The silver sea snake sprawled on the ground, flicking its tongue with gusto to overcome its shock.

“The first mountain was clearly created by a combat art, but the second one that exploded might very well have been the actual Mount Exalted!”

“But it’s already been destroyed...”

……

Lu Yun was hardly concerned about letting his would-be attackers go. Their utter rout had left mental scars, and they would never scrounge up the courage to fight Lu Yun again. Right now, his priority was the Immortal Subjugation Seal.

The seal had belonged to the immortal emperor in the Primordial Era, and had kept the world of immortals, immortal dao, and all immortals under control. Just that treasure alone had enabled the immortal emperor to rule over the world even without the Dao Tree.

With the emperor’s tomb broken into, the light of the Immortal Subjugation Seal shone with an increasingly brilliant edge. Immortals who’d escaped from the world of the Dao Tree had shifted their attention from tree to seal.

Just like the other tombs in the central world, a giant fissure cracked the tomb of the immortal emperor and permitted light to leak out. Bodies littered the ground around the tomb, copious amounts of blood dying the land red. The battle here had been even more vicious than in the world of the Dao Tree.

Meanwhile, the twenty-eight altars outside continuously activated and teleported yet more immortals into the tomb.

……

North Sea, Nephrite Major.

Boom!

An ocean of concentrated lightning receded to reveal a giant beast rampaging within the clouds. It was a giant turtle ten thousand kilometers long, and it bore a pattern resembling the eight trigrams on its shell.

“A tribulation four times more powerful than regular ones, but only one tribulation beast?” Lin Yu and Lin Xuan stood shoulder to shoulder beneath the tribulation clouds. They’d easily passed the lightning phase of the tribulation with Lu Yun’s lightning rods; however, only one tribulation beast had emerged after the storm of lightning.

“Aouuu!!” The giant turtle roared and rushed toward Lin Yu and Lin Xuan.

“Kill it!” The brothers were fearless and set up layers of killing formations with simple waves of their hands to churn the beast into mincemeat. Its death didn’t bring about the expected tribulation essence, but two connate-grade treasures instead!

“Their tribulations brought about connate-grade treasures?!” Onlookers gasped with surprise, then threw themselves forward in a greedy frenzy. With the retreat of the heavenly tribulation, the immortals charged at the brothers with abandon.