However, its true form had barely coalesced when it sensed something was amiss. An intensely hot sensation appeared within its body. Recalling that it had just possessed Lu Xuan's fake body, it immediately realized it had fallen into a trap.
So, Black Mountain disintegrated its body again and then reassembled itself. After repeating this three times, the Black Mountain Demon was completely panicked. It discovered that not only had it not gotten rid of the burning sensation within its body, but it was also beginning to spread.
Black Mountain had risen to prominence through countless battles. Knowing the methods used against it were extraordinary, it made a decisive decision, instantly severing a portion of its body to try and expel the burning sensation. It succeeded, but it was too late.
He severed 30% of his own body in one fell swoop. His cultivation level plummeted instantly. He couldn't maintain his divine sense, magical power, or reaction time in an instant.
When he came to his senses, Lu Xuan had already reappeared in front of him. His right hand held a ball of crimson flame, which he pressed against his body.
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Chapter 396 Nine Netherworld Chill
The power of the True Fire of the Sun is truly timeless. Even though Lu Xuan has realized that his True Fire of the Sun may only be in its initial form, it is still an absolute nemesis for a demon like Black Mountain.
Previously, Lu Xuan used a substitution spell, hiding a wisp of Solar True Fire inside the substitution. This successfully severely injured Black Mountain. Afterwards, he unleashed a Rasengan made of Solar True Fire, which landed squarely on Black Mountain's face.
Two consecutive deadly attacks completely shattered Black Mountain's defenses. At the same time, Yan Chixia flung open his Taoist robe, revealing hundreds of talismans densely packed beneath. These talismans rose without wind, enveloping Black Mountain's body. Black Mountain tried to sever its tail to escape, but the talismans held it firmly in place.
The power of the sun's true fire reduced Black Mountain and the talisman to ashes simultaneously. In the afterglow of the flames, a shiny black bead fell down.
The people from the underworld behind him turned red-eyed when they saw the bead. Clearly, the boss, Black Mountain, had dropped something extraordinary.
Lu Xuan picked up the bead and carefully examined it. However, he didn't sense anything special. But this only made it more precious. Because something that even someone of Lu Xuan's level couldn't sense meant it had surpassed the level of a rare and precious treasure in this world.
He turned to look at the three Heavenly Palace figures behind him. They stared blankly at the bead in his hand for a while before speaking.
"This thing should be the common end of the three rivers of Naihe, Wangchuan, and Huangquan in the deepest part of the underworld. It is a wisp of cold air from the Nine Netherworld Cold Prison. However, it has been sealed inside by some special method."
"A wisp of cold air?"
"That's right, it's just a wisp of cold air. Don't underestimate this wisp of cold air. You should know that only the Great Emperor can reach the Nine Nether Cold Prison and retrieve a small amount of cold air from it. I observed that the amazing fire divine power you used earlier should be the legendary True Fire of the Sun. The cold air in the Nine Nether Cold Prison is the ultimate Yin divine power that is the opposite of the True Fire of the Sun."
However, such extremely cold and yin supernatural powers are rarely mastered, both in heaven and on earth. The Black Mountain Demon likely used the authority of the underworld to steal this wisp of cold energy, but he couldn't refine it himself and could only seal it away. Fellow Daoist, remember, never easily break the seal without absolute certainty. Otherwise, the cold energy of the Nine Netherworlds will instantly annihilate your three souls and seven spirits.”
"I see." Lu Xuan gazed thoughtfully at the black bead in his hand. This was the only thing Black Mountain dropped after his death. Its value was self-evident. Moreover, this thing was yin and yang, one corresponding to the True Fire of the Sun. This made Lu Xuan think of some other things. However, now was not a good time to study it. According to the agreement with the Underworld, he killed Black Mountain, so this spoils of war naturally belonged to him.
The reason Lu Xuan refrained from intervening until the other party requested help was precisely this: he needed a legitimate reason to act. If he intervened arbitrarily beforehand, wouldn't it be troublesome if the other party reneged on their promise later? Only in this way could he rightfully inherit all the spoils of war after defeating the Black Mountain Demon.
Of course, the distribution of these spoils does not involve the contract between Lu Xuan and the Underworld.
Black Mountain is dead. He will inevitably leave behind a vast legacy. Although the most valuable authority over the Underworld has been revoked, the hundreds of magical treasures he previously threw out are still an immense fortune. This has given the Underworld's army a much-needed boost.
However, aside from the authority over the underworld, the most valuable items had already been taken by Lu Xuan. The several heavenly palaces could only plunder other relics to ensure they didn't leave empty-handed.
The battle was over, but the matter wasn't truly finished. Lu Xuan was preparing to settle accounts with the Underworld regarding his appearance fee. The three of them were considered among the top cultivators in the mortal realm. Fighting together naturally warranted a hefty appearance fee.
First, there's Yan Chixia, whose opponent chose to give him a powerful backer. Yan Chixia's spells are mostly of this type. Spells like "Borrowing Power from Heaven and Earth" can only be used with a powerful backer. However, he's rarely used underworld spells because he lacks a powerful backer there.
Now it's all settled; he's signed some kind of contract with the higher-ups in the underworld. They'll probably be chanting something like, "Heaven and Earth are boundless, the Nine Netherworlds have borrowed my power," some kind of cliché. Looking at Yan Chixia's antics, Lu Xuan suddenly thought of someone: Constantine, the "Scumbag Constantine" from the DC comics. Now, Yan Chixia's actions seem somewhat similar to Constantine's. Signing contracts with various powerful figures, pocketing the benefits, and then when it comes time to pay up, he says, "You only have one life, who wants it?"
With a slight chuckle, Lu Xuan realized that Yan Chixia was no pushover either. He was wicked at heart and very aware of his own predicament.
Next was Hongyu. As a sword cultivator, Hongyu didn't have high requirements for various spells and magical treasures. Therefore, he ultimately chose a small bottle of spiritual liquid—the same kind that Lu Xuan had used to restore his spiritual power. That stuff was an extremely precious consumable even in the Underworld. It seemed to be a special, absolutely pure spiritual medicine extracted from living souls. It had a very high effect on healing injuries, restoring spiritual power, and assisting cultivation.
Finally, it was Lu Xuan's turn. Everyone saw that Lu Xuan delivered the final blow, so his appearance fee was undoubtedly the highest. Before the battle even began, Lu Xuan had already made his demands.
Lu Xuan will one day leave this world. And as his cultivation level increases, he discovers a huge limitation of this world: due to the existence of the Heavenly Court and the Underworld, the causal threads of this world have been completely controlled by these two major forces. Even cultivators cannot transcend this causal relationship.
Aside from him, an outsider, all his disciples and companions were entangled in this karmic cycle. This was unless their cultivation could break through the Golden Core stage and reach a new level.
However, as mentioned earlier, the Heavenly Court and the Underworld had long anticipated this possibility. Therefore, the path to cultivation was completely blocked. Unless you enter their circle, you cannot break through to the Golden Core realm. But once you enter their circle, it becomes even more impossible to escape the entanglement of cause and effect. It's a vicious cycle, almost unsolvable.
Unless someone uses supreme divine power to completely reshuffle this world, it's impossible. But with Lu Xuan's Golden Core realm cultivation, that's simply not possible. Therefore, Lu Xuan initially made a request to the Underworld: he hoped to completely sever the ties between his disciples and their partners and this world.
This wasn't easy; the underworld would only agree to sever the bonds between a maximum of two people. Lu Xuan had been hesitant all along. Now, he changed his mind.
"I need a technique to manipulate the chilling energy of the Nine Netherworlds." This was Lu Xuan's request.
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Chapter 397 The Original Law
After returning to the mortal realm, the group gathered at Lu Xuan's cave for a few days. Yan Chixia then resumed his travels. Lu Xuan, on the other hand, once again entered seclusion.
This time, however, he wasn't aiming to improve his cultivation level; he wanted to conduct an experiment.
Lu Xuan's Imaginary Space. In the Game of Thrones universe, Lu Xuan barely managed to develop a few uses for this space. It could store some things. However, Lu Xuan felt that the potential of this imaginary space was far greater than that.
During his years of cultivation, he had studied this thing several times. Unfortunately, this kind of demiplane-like existence was an extremely high-level law. With Lu Xuan's current cultivation level, it was practically impossible for him to even touch it. However, he wasn't entirely without gain.
At least he confirmed some things. That is, imaginary space is dead. Everything in this demiplane is in a state of stillness. Apart from the concept of space, time is ambiguous. This is why people get lost in it. Without the sense of time, living beings can hardly maintain their sense of self.
A lifeless world stirred something within Lu Xuan. What would happen if this world were brought to life? Would he then possess a real world of his own?
To bring a world to life is undoubtedly a pipe dream. Lu Xuan only imagined it at the time, but didn't put it into action because he had no direction whatsoever.
However, as his cultivation deepened, his understanding of certain laws governing the universe became clearer. From a Taoist perspective, all things in the universe originate from the creation of Yin and Yang. It is through the interaction of Yin and Yang that all things in the universe gradually evolve. Therefore, to bring this lifeless world to life, it is necessary to first create the characteristic of the interaction of Yin and Yang.
Lu Xuan couldn't do it before, or rather, the Yin-Yang Dao he possessed was far too weak, completely incapable of igniting a world—even if that world was just a fragmented demiplane.
But now, Lu Xuan realized he had gathered a certain condition: the True Fire of the Sun, combined with the Chill of the Nine Netherworlds. Wasn't this the extremely high-limit power of the Yin-Yang fusion?