Destiny is ashes

Chapter 1087 Western Extremity Punishment and Calamity: The True Form of the Five Punishments
Golden-Winged Roc, Minghe Guang, and others were brought back directly from the Ancestral Dragon Palace by the Haotian Mirror.

After transforming into the ancestral dragon scales in the Zhaolin Realm and sealing the supreme heavenly demon once again, the geniuses of each family were taken away by their respective sect patriarchs. After Minghe Guang and others bid farewell to Duan Chenguang and others, they were originally about to be taken back to the Mingjing Sect by Haotian Mirror, but instead, a person and a bird came to their door.

The first one, naturally, is the Golden-Winged Roc that has transformed into a little girl with golden hair and blue eyes.

The second one is Yu Feng.

The Golden-Winged Roc was simple; it wanted to follow An Jing wholeheartedly, so it instinctively followed Ming and Guang's group, who were closest to An Jing's aura. In this confused state, it was packed up by the Haotian Mirror and taken back to the Northern Xuan Sacrifice Continent.

Yu Feng's situation was more complicated. He should have returned to his sect, but considering his special identity as the 'Heavenly King of the Great Wilderness Blood' from his previous life, as well as the intricate connections between Anjing and the Great Wilderness, he thought it over and over again and chose to confess everything to Haotian Mirror.

The Mingjing Sect naturally wouldn't turn away 'the owner of the Heavenly Dao Divine Power' who carries such important information, and 'the person of destiny' who clearly has a causal connection with the Great Wilderness Realm, so they brought them back as well.

Now, Yu Feng was taken away by Chen Yinzi and Ye Po Zhenjun to be entertained and to inquire about some matters, while Ming Heguang also brought the Golden-Winged Roc back to Mingguang Peak and handed it over to Gu Yeqi to handle.

Night Soul True Lord spoke highly of the Great Roc: "Its bloodline is incomparably pure, making it a true pure-blooded ancestral divine beast. Looking throughout Huai Xu, it is probably impossible to find one more 'pure' than it. Whether as a guardian of the mountain or a research subject, its value is immeasurable."

"The sect is in dire need of rebuilding right now, and we are short of manpower. It would be great to have another divine beast at the peak of the Divine Realm to serve as an offering."

Gu Yeqi naturally wouldn't refuse. She looked at Dapeng as she transformed back into a well-behaved little girl and felt quite fond of her. She reached out and ruffled her golden hair, saying, "From now on, you'll stay with me and help build the Mingjing Sect. We'll make further arrangements when Anjing returns."

"Yes!" The Golden-Winged Roc nodded swiftly.

"Where did that kid Miao Yunying go? Why am I the only one working?"

After finishing these matters, Minghe Guang felt even more exhausted. Although he felt that his destiny was about to advance, he was too lazy to care now and would deal with it tomorrow.

Looking around, Ming and Guang wanted to ask Zhou Jin to have a drink together, but found that the other party was standing there in a daze, with an incredulous expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Minghe Guang asked curiously.

Zhou Jin suddenly raised his head, the astonishment on his face not yet completely gone. He looked at Ming Heguang, his tone filled with disbelief: "Maybe...maybe we can only drink later, Brother Heguang, something really big has happened on my end!"

"See you!"

"Huh?" Ming and Guang were stunned. Before they could react, Zhou Jin had disappeared.

It's not just him.

At the same time, in Zhonghengdao Continent, in the East Sea Little Dragon Court of Yanhua.

You Ruhui was methodically directing the sea creatures and dragons to clean up and prepare, summarize Anjing's teachings, and prepare to compile a scripture in the future. But in the next instant, her expression changed, as if she sensed something.

"What happened again?"

She hurriedly handed over command to Quan Wuzhong and Wang Xuantong beside her, and then her figure also became blurry and disappeared from the spot.

In the northern Xuan Sacrifice Continent, deep within the Youli Sea.

Xuan Mingyu was still discussing the follow-up plans with the Prince of Zhong when he suddenly froze, his figure flashing as he vanished into thin air, leaving only the Prince of Zhong stroking his chin and looking at the sky with a strange expression.

In the center of the Heavenly Sea in Zhongheng Daozhou, inside the Ancestral Dragon Palace that has returned to the mortal world.

Jin Yanhua, along with the other four dragon gods, stood respectfully before the now-calm ancestral dragon scale, listening to the ancestral teachings that seemed to come from the darkness.

But in the next instant, her figure also became illusory, and she vanished into thin air before the astonished eyes of the dragon gods.

what happened?
a moment ago.

In this era, in the past, in times of prosperity, and in times of decline, the four dragon gods of the four seasons, along with the newly manifested Jin Yanhua, are gently touching that ancient scale with their dragon claws or palms.

They are asking questions and seeking solutions.

Jin Shiqin: [To fight for one's bloodline, to entrust everything to one's descendants, is a correct and reasonable idea, but it also brings a series of struggles and conflicts. What needs to be done today must be done today, but my blood will spread into the future, and I will become ancient, letting them rise and fall as they will. This is the power of blood, as if this never-ending, immortal blood is our very essence; we dragons are slaves to blood—tell me, is blood right or wrong? Is it right to fight and struggle for blood?]

Gu Shiheng: [Holy Venerable One, my thoughts are becoming increasingly rigid. I believe in a stable bloodline, lasting for ten thousand years. Do you think my thoughts are wrong? Shouldn't this be the normal way of thinking? Must we remain in chaos and uncertainty, with everything uncertain? What is truly right and proper? I am perplexed by this. I befriend the young, only to find that they too will eventually grow old. Everything is a cycle, but what is the meaning of this cycle?]

Wang Shiming: [Holy Lord, since all known paths lead nowhere to 'Harmony with the Dao,' is it reasonable to resort to methods once considered taboo to seek a final outcome? I don't believe I'm wrong. After all, all things will eventually perish. If a true Harmonizer of the Dao is born in the future, all those who died today can be resurrected. I'm simply pursuing an end, an ending that will completely bring this slowly decaying era to a close—either a swift victory or a swift death.]

Xing Shihuan: [Your Majesty, the Dragon Clan stands above your glory, becoming the King of All Spirits, yet in doing so, they have become worms groveling beneath your shadow, gnawing away at the past prosperity. I wish to seek a new path to prosperity, such as establishing the 'Sword Dragon' lineage, to find a new way for the Dragon Clan, but I do not know whether this is the right thing to do. Is this rebirth, or a betrayal of our foundation? I need an answer.]

Now Yan Hua had no problem, he simply stated one sentence: "Holy Venerable One, I no longer want to be defined by 'dragon'. I want to forge a completely new path, an independent path that belongs to me."

This is the internal conflict within the dragon race.

These very thoughts are the root cause of the internal strife in the Dragon Clan's Blood Sea Calamity, as well as the depravity of demons.

They are waiting for an answer, a verdict.

However, there was only one response from that scale.

You are all right.

The four dragon gods were all taken aback.

The important thing is to take responsibility for your choices.

The will of the Ancestral Dragon flows endlessly: "We dragons are a race that can see the past, present, and future; that can perceive prosperity, decline, and balance. We are the cause and effect that hovers in endless spacetime, rivers that transcend the light of time, ever-changing clouds and wind, light and mist… We are only fixed as 'dragons' because we 'chose the form we desired.'"

The Azure Dragon of creation, the Candle Dragon that ignited the light, the Ying Dragon that fought... all the dragon's external aspects, all its dreams, all its beliefs, bloodline and form are not the key.

The key is 'inheritance'.

It is 'acknowledgment' and 'accountability'.

Because we can see the future, we 'acknowledge' that this is the future we will walk. Then, we throw ourselves into time, believing this is our own path, without hesitation or doubt, rejecting all external judgments, and doing what we want to do. Ultimately, whether it's the pain of regret or the joy of triumph, they are all marks etched on our 'scales'.

Only by integrating into the world can one become the world. This is the original "method of merging with the Dao" of my dragon race—to become the "Dao" itself, permeating everything in the world.

At this point, the First Emperor sighed softly: "In the end, in this world, those who most resemble dragons are neither you nor anyone else."

[It is indeed Anjing!]

At that moment, Jin Yanhua disappeared.

Don't panic.

Faced with the dragon gods' confusion, the eyes within the ancestral dragon's scales shimmered with a bluish-purple light, and its voice carried a hint of amusement: "It is 'Endless Heaven'... It doesn't matter if you don't remember; it's a good thing."

A massive change is about to begin; the world will begin to connect; war will break out once more.

【My children…】 【Be your unique selves】

now.

Even in the far reaches of the sky, An Jing sensed a tremendous change.

"Version upgrade? Not again?"

However, this did not stop An Jing from preparing to exchange for some good things.

Just as he expected, after he had finished dealing with the karma at the Dragon Clan's treasure vault, he could come to Jinyuantian to deal with it again.

This time, however, he doesn't plan to exchange for any rare or precious materials.

Although many high-level natural treasures are very expensive nowadays due to the corruption of demonic energy and the restrictions imposed on martial artists by the Huai Xu Realm, and are very cost-effective to exchange in the Jin Yuan Tian, ​​the most cost-effective thing is still the cultivation technique.

An Jing plans to directly exchange for the [Black Emperor Law].

The so-called Black Emperor's Law is actually called the "Mysterious Light Purifies the World and Subdues Demons: The Mysterious Chapter of the Netherworld".

The Five Emperors' Methods correspond to the five major paths of 'weapon', 'alchemy', 'method', 'talisman', and 'array' respectively.

An Jing's main cultivation method is the Tai Bai Hao Ling Divine Restriction. The profound mysteries within it are still inexhaustible to this day. In fact, it can be said that if An Jing had not developed his own understanding of the Tai Bai Hao Ling Divine Restriction and taken another step on the shoulders of his predecessors, he would not have been able to comprehend even the 'Eternal Battle Body'.

However, now, all of An Jing's cultivation methods are essentially governed by his two fundamental Daos—one is the internal 'Cave Heaven Method' and the other is the external 'Eternal Battle Body'. What remains is simply filling in the details.

Naturally, this detail is best addressed using the other Five Emperors Methods.

Among the other possibilities shown by Zu Long, An Jing, who has mastered the Five Emperors' Law, is the strongest among all An Jings. His combat power at the same level is probably second only to An Jing who has mastered the Five Emperors' Law and the Four Immortal Arts.

As for why he only exchanged for the Black Emperor's Law, it's because the other three Emperor's Laws are available in the Tianyuan Realm. An Jing planned that after leaving Jinyuan Heaven, he would take the Haotian Mirror Ancestor to the Tianyuan Realm to demand his reward for killing the Holy Demon Projection.

In the farthest heavens, exchanging the complete Black Emperor's Law, like other seventh-order Dao scriptures, yields a million merits.

However, this complete set of exchanges, apart from the fundamental principles, fundamental techniques, the true meaning of the Great Dao, and the experience and insights of predecessors, also includes the matching Dao soldier crafting, true talisman condensation, great array diagrams, a complete system of pills, specialized training methods, killing methods, nurturing methods, and methods for breaking tribulations, changing fate, meditation, and crossing the mind... a whole complete system in all its forms.

It can be said that if An Jing can really exchange for the complete set of Black Emperor Techniques, then he will have essentially obtained the complete foundation of a cultivation method that leads directly to the Dao Integration stage, something that even top-tier sects don't have much of.

Anjing's achievements of over 500,000 are really not enough.

Fortunately, Anjing doesn't need it.

What sets true geniuses apart from ordinary geniuses is this: ordinary geniuses need a complete system of training to become fully developed, while true geniuses only need the core principles and techniques, and at most, the true meaning of the Great Dao.

Although this is the most expensive part, it only costs 300,000 merit points in total.

An Jing is the type of person who buys whatever he wants without ever returning it or regretting it. When he goes to a shopping mall, he just walks straight in and out without even browsing. He's the same way when he exchanges things in Jin Yuan Tian; once he's decided on something, he'll pay for it.

In fact, he has already paid the penalty—the penalty balance has been reduced by 300,000.

But in the next instant, as if time had reversed, this achievement was reversed again!
【etc】

Jin Yuantian has issued a stop order: [Please do not redeem items you already own.]

"You can do that?"

At this moment, not only An Jing, but even Fu Xie was greatly shocked: "So Jin Yuantian can give a refund?"

This is probably the only time in the countless experiences of those who have ventured far into the sky that they have bought something and then received a refund.

An Jing wasn't surprised. Huai Xu Jin Yuan Tian, ​​who had received the projection information from the Great Immortal Huai Xu, was clearly more intelligent than the other Jin Yuan Tians. He asked curiously, "How come I already possess it?"

【Imperial Book of Heavenly Laws, Mysterious Imperial Rule, Return to the Origin Secret Manual】

Jin Yuantiandao: [Within this inheritance, the core 'Imperial Book of Heavenly Laws' is the 'Mysterious Chapter' in 'Mysterious Light and Dark Spirit Mysterious Chapter'. This scripture is rooted in the Black Emperor's Law, transforming the meaning of purifying the world and subduing demons into the meaning of 'the Emperor suppresses heaven and earth, and subdues all spirits'. It uses the power of purifying the world to suppress the heavenly demons for its own use. It is a masterpiece that was completely mastered by refining the Black Emperor's Law in reverse with it as its core.]

In addition, this method also contains a part of the "Heavenly Origin Beginning Protects the World Mysterious Spirit Orthodox Method", but it is incomplete and has been altered. After analysis, it should originate from the "Taiyi Edict Imperial Decree Conferring Gods Grand Ritual".

The "Taiyi Edict" in this method originates from the "One Beginning Orthodox Method" in the Heavenly Origin Profound Spirit Orthodox Method, and is the central mechanism of the great array built around it.

"Hmm. That's true. As the core inheritance of the Daoist Court, the Five Emperors' Law has naturally spawned many branches and sects. In fact, it can be said that there are very few in the entire Huai Xu that are not derived from the Five Emperors' Law."

An Jing laughed: "I was wondering how the mark of Xuan Tianji could withstand several of my sword strikes. It turns out he also cultivated multiple Five Emperors Techniques... If I hadn't known, I might have really been tricked by him."

"But now, it's His turn to suffer."

【Yes】

Jin Yuantian replied: "The fundamental true method of the Mingjing Sect that you cultivate, the 'True Scripture of Seeing Emptiness and Seeing Myself: The Tranquil and Wonderful Way,' actually has the shadow of a Five Emperors Method, namely the 'Heavenly Origin Profound Spirit Orthodox Method' and the 'Flame Fusion True Spirit Original Seal.'"

Of course, this does not mean that this method of cultivation is a derivative of the Five Emperors' Method, but rather the origin of inspiration—the fundamental great supernatural power of the Flame Fusion True Spirit Seal, 'Illuminating the True Self and Emperor Image in the World,' does have similarities to 'Myself in the Mirror,' just as you comprehended 'Eternal Battle Body' from 'Tai Bai's Disaster-Slaying and Evil-Breaking Undying Body,' but the Eternal Battle Body is far stronger than 'Myself in the Mirror,' and it is formed by your fusion of various methods.

Similarly, the fundamental divine power of the Xuan Guang Ming Ling Xuan Zhang, 'Heavenly Profound Light that Breaks Through All Evils,' was also used by the Imperial Book of Returning to Origin Secret Scripture to suppress the demonic thoughts contained within all phenomena and cultivation techniques... Although the method of application was incorrect, the core essence and cultivation method were correct.

[If it were anyone else, I wouldn't refuse their exchange, because their abilities are insufficient to comprehend the original Daoist essence and divine meaning from the 'subsequent classics'.]

But if it were you, things would be different. Using 300,000 merit points to exchange for something you already possess would be a waste.

"But isn't it a waste not to use one's achievements?"

An Jing stroked his chin, and in his mind's eye, he exchanged a glance with Fu Xie, feeling something was amiss.

—After absorbing the projection of the Great Immortal Huaixu, why does Jinyuantian like to point fingers so much?

While it's not all bad—it certainly saved Anjing a lot of work—does this mean that the Great Immortal Huaixu is this kind of person?

That's true. They were once the Heavenly Emperor and the Dao Ancestor. They were addicted to teaching, enjoying instructing all beings; that's what people with a teaching fetish are like.

Since that's the case, An Jing simply asked directly, "Then what do you recommend I exchange for?"

[Your foundation is complete, and your immortal career is finished. All you need are the details of the Daoist essence of the 'Cave Heaven Method,' which is the Five Emperors Method, and a killing technique based on the 'Eternal Battle Body.']

Jin Yuantian stated directly: "Your current techniques are entirely arbitrary, created whenever you feel like it. While they are indeed first-rate, they still require time and refinement to reach the pinnacle. I believe there is a cultivation method that can indeed elevate your killing techniques to a higher level."

[The True Form of the Five Punishments and Calamities of the Western Extremities]

(End of this chapter)