Black Marsh Plain.
More than ten thousand cultivators were locked in chaotic battle, streams of spell light flashing endlessly across the battlefield.
Even exalted Dao Foundation cultivators fell as easily as anyone else. One moment alive, the next dead, their deaths transforming into strange phenomena that filled heaven and earth.
High above the sky.
The astral winds raged violently, yet around one particular region they softened into gentle breezes and fine rain before vanishing entirely.
Spiritual Master Lieyu and White Bone Dharma King Sangji stood together, silently observing the carnage below with utterly calm expressions.
Before long, flesh and bone covered the plains, blood flowing into pools and ponds.
A gigantic White Bone Dharma Form was swallowed and buried beneath endless black earth, from which pure white spirit mushrooms began to sprout one after another.
Seeing this scene, Fang Qing cursed inwardly.
There was no helping it. Battlefields were cruel places, and with Purple Mansion Spiritual Masters watching from above, there was no room for any suspicious tricks.
Fortunately, once both the Xituo Commandery cultivators and the Yin Corpse Sect had suffered losses exceeding half their numbers, faint ripples suddenly spread through the void as an indescribable gate slowly opened.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Streams of light descended one after another, selecting several cultivators of the [Nu Earth] Dao Foundation before drawing them into the “Buried Earth Blessed Land.”
“Mm?”
Fang Qing sensed the situation and discovered that Xu Hei had not been chosen.
Perhaps the old fellow’s potential was already exhausted, his fortune too weak? On the other hand, Meng Qing, the sole surviving Bright Son, had already entered an entirely new world.
“Haha... the Blessed Land has opened. Fellow Daoist, please.”
Spiritual Master Lieyu laughed heartily as he looked toward Dharma King Sangji.
“No rush, no rush. Those Dao Foundation cultivators cannot possibly escape the grasp of either of us.”
Having long since received Fang Qing’s instructions, Sangji appeared completely relaxed and replied at an unhurried pace.
“So this is the Buried Earth Blessed Land?”
On Taibai Island, Fang Qing fully took over Meng Qing’s body and looked toward the dim sky with a faint sigh.
“It truly is a Blessed Land. There are no sun, moon, or stars here... and the scope is far smaller than a Grotto Heaven.”
Had it been any other Spiritual Master or Dharma King, the moment their Bright Sons or Duzi entered the Blessed Land, most of their mystical connection would have been severed.
And because of the spatial isolation, even if they died, their true spirits would be unable to escape, preventing even the slightest information from leaking out.
Fang Qing, however, was entirely different. He still retained Dao Foundation strength and could instantly descend to directly control the body.
‘My true body remains safely on Taibai Island.’
‘This is actually a perfect opportunity to explore properly.’
He chuckled softly.
A White Bone Dharma Form the size of a small mountain appeared, carrying Fang Qing upon its palm as it strode across the Blessed Land.
Rumble! Rumble!
Each step of the gigantic Dharma Form left enormous footprints upon the black earth.
“This Blessed Land is indeed rather ordinary. It’s even smaller than Yanbo Blessed Land...”
As Fang Qing walked forward slowly, he suddenly sensed fluctuations from an ongoing battle. His expression sharpened immediately.
After approaching closer, he discovered that two Dao Foundation cultivators from the Yin Corpse Sect were actually fighting one another.
‘As expected of a demonic sect...’
Fang Qing felt speechless inwardly.
The two Yin Corpse Sect Dao Foundation cultivators immediately halted their battle upon noticing his arrival, both staring at him warily.
“Fellow Daoists... there are countless opportunities within this Blessed Land. Why resort to killing each other?”
Fang Qing revealed a faint smile, preparing to mediate slightly.
Then he saw the “opportunity” the two men had been fighting over beneath layers upon layers of black earth.
The darkness split apart, revealing a point of golden light.
Golden qi overflowed outward as several blazing golden flowers emerged.
The flowers resembled peonies, yet every branch and leaf appeared forged entirely from gold itself. Brilliant golden radiance spread from them while dense [Kang Metal] qi surged skyward.
“This is... ‘Golden Peony Yang Essence’? And there are three of them?”
Even Fang Qing was startled.
At once, he understood why the two Corpse Yin Sect cultivators had turned on one another.
After all, Golden Peony Yang Essence was a Purple Mansion spiritual object!
Although its value among Purple Mansion spiritual materials was considered relatively low, and it was not the sort of supreme medicine capable of assisting a perfected [Kang Metal] cultivator in breaking through, it was still something required by Purple Mansion cultivators.
For example, Bai Mu Spiritual Master had previously begged Fang Qing to obtain a single Golden Peony Yang Essence blossom to resolve the hidden problems within his cold wood constitution.
‘Golden Peony Yang Essence is formed from the essence of Kang Metal. It grows in lands of extreme yang, refined over a thousand years, overflowing with harmonious yang qi.’
Fang Qing recalled the description recorded within the Purple Mansion Spiritual Material Compendium written by Dharma King Baoguang, which Sangji had once given him.
A thought immediately surfaced in his mind.
‘Could this be the “dangerous land” True Bai Mu Spiritual Master mentioned? It cannot possibly be such a coincidence.’
‘And he claimed there was only one stalk there. Here there are three!’
‘Even if this is a trap, the bait is absurdly generous.’
‘Wait... this is clearly a [Nu Earth] Blessed Land. Why is there [Kang Metal] essence here?’
His attainments were profound enough that realization struck him almost instantly.
‘[Nu Earth] represents burial earth thick with corpse qi, the soil of interment... Could it be that a major [Kang Metal] figure’s corpse is buried within this Blessed Land?’
‘The higher a cultivator’s realm, the more precious every part of their body becomes... a single drop of blood becomes medicine, a single drop of blood becomes medicine.’
Fang Qing no longer hesitated.
He directly abandoned the exceedingly rare Purple Mansion spiritual object and had Meng Qing fly higher and higher into the sky.
Higher still.
Eventually, he reached the very limits of the Blessed Land itself.
Above him remained only the heavenly membrane formed from astral winds, the embryonic barrier separating heaven and earth.
Through the layers of drifting clouds, Meng Qing’s eyes widened instantly.
From this far broader vantage point, the distant horizon was no longer a straight line. Instead, it curved slightly, like the edge of an enormous sphere.
It was an eyeball!
The towering mountain ranges formed a gigantic bridge of the nose. The deep valleys resembled sunken eye sockets. The entire landmass unexpectedly outlined the contours of facial features.
“This is… a head?”
Fang Qing murmured to himself.
The entire continent within this Blessed Land was actually the face of that colossal head!
The rolling terrain was merely the arrangement of its features.
The basin they had traversed earlier was its tongue.
Those towering mountains were teeth, lined up like massive gate panels.
And the broad plains were the smooth forehead of the head itself. Across it flowed countless black rivers, crisscrossing into an intricate and sinister rune.
Whoooosh!
A violent gale swept through the heavens, carrying within it what sounded like the roar of some gigantic being.
The earth trembled.
The massive head abruptly opened its eyes, revealing a pair of pitch-black pupils devoid of whites, filled only with deathly stillness.
The mountain-like teeth slammed shut instantly.
The gigantic head bit down violently as its tongue curled inward.
Whether it was the Dao Foundation cultivator of the Yin Corpse Sect or Meng Qing flying high above, all vanished in an instant.
“Damn it!”
Qi Refining world, Taibai Island.
Inside his cave abode, Fang Qing cursed under his breath. The Dao-Genesis Pearl within his body spun rapidly before suddenly opening a mouth of its own.
Pfft!
A strand of incomparably sharp metal qi burst forth, slicing through the restrictions and leaving a deep scar across the cave wall before finally condensing into a chunk of pale platinum-colored metal.
“A Dao Foundation spiritual object, White Exchange Iron?”
Fang Qing rubbed his temples, his head still throbbing faintly.
The sensation resembled the backlash and Dao insight infusion he had suffered last time when directly gazing upon the divinity of [Stomach Earth].
“Still… this feels somewhat more bearable than before. Is it because my cultivation has improved? Or because that [Kang Metal] True Lord is already dead?”
“Or perhaps, there is no remaining metal nature left within the corpse?”
That was right.
Through the flood of Dao insight, Fang Qing had already learned that the gigantic head within the Buried Earth Blessed Land belonged to a fallen [Kang Metal] True Lord.
It was the corpse of a True Lord!
“I just wonder whether this was the same [Kang Metal] True Lord devoured by Bi Moon Crow. But the Golden Positions possess multiple methods of attainment. The ancient ages stretched on endlessly. Perhaps several [Kang Metal] True Lords have existed throughout history.”
He slowly exhaled, gradually digesting the Dao insight he had obtained.
Because the backlash this time had been weaker, he had endured longer and received an even greater infusion of insight.
“Unfortunately… there was no Dao title left behind.”
“When the True Lord fell, three drops of essence blood scattered outward and transformed into the three stalks of ‘Golden Peony Yang Essence’ that I saw?”
“So that flower was formed from the essence of [Kang Metal]? Truly, it is the essence of [Kang Metal]. There could be no image more fitting for ‘the essence of Kang Metal’ than the blood of a True Lord.”
“Fear! The strongest emotion lingering within that True Lord’s corpse was fear. Fear toward [Year Arbiter]!”
“[Year Arbiter] stands above True Lords! He feared the original [Kang Metal] Year Arbiter!”
Realization gradually appeared across Fang Qing’s face.
“So during the primordial antiquity, the true [Year Arbiters] were beings beyond the realm of Golden Core True Lords. Only after the primordial antiquity ended and the genuine Year Arbiters vanished did later Golden Core cultivators ascend to the Golden Positions.”
“But even so, the twelve [Year Arbiter] positions they established could not be altered by later True Lords replacing or slaying one another.”
“All my previous speculation about the primordial antiquity was wrong. The true Year Arbiters bestowed upon those twelve Golden positions the symbolism and authority of ‘governing the years themselves.’ That authority cannot be stripped away or replaced by later generations.”
“That also means… after the primordial antiquity, during the ancient ages, the true Year Arbiters either perished or disappeared entirely. The strongest beings left were merely Golden Core cultivators. That is why the legends only speak of True Lords walking the earth.”
“And among Golden Core True Lords, strength primarily depends on Dao insight and cultivation realm.”
“But if Dao insight and realm are equal, then victory depends on the relative strength of the symbolism each controls. [Year Arbiter] itself is an extremely powerful symbol. Beyond that, there are also the ‘orthodox positions’ of the major Dao lineages.”
“For example, among early Golden Core cultivators, [Stomach Earth] is stronger than [Liu Earth], [Di Earth], or [Nu Earth] because [Stomach Earth] governs the orthodox nature of earth and holds the symbolism of the ‘proper earth position.’”
“Yet [Stomach Earth] is weaker than [Lou Metal] or [Yi Fire], because those two not only possess their own orthodox position symbolism, but also carry the symbolism of [Year Arbiter]!”
“Even something like [Zui Fire], a wandering and unstable flame, can rely on the authority of the Year Arbiter symbolism to stand equal to an early Golden Core [Stomach Earth] True Lord. That is the real reason why metal and fire are so exalted in this world!”
“The momentum established by the first twelve [Year Arbiters] during the primordial antiquity has endured unchanged for tens of thousands of years. Is this the realm above True Lords?”
“Then why did they perish… or disappear?”
“Wait. Now doesn’t seem to be the time to think about that.”
Fang Qing finally snapped back to himself.
The unnamed True Lord’s corpse had infused him with an enormous amount of Dao insight. Most of it was fragmented, mixed with thoughts regarding heaven, earth, and cultivation.
But the key issue was not that.
It was the Buried Earth Blessed Land itself.
“There was a talisman attached to the True Lord’s forehead. It seemed related to [Nu Earth].”
“Was the corpse discovered and moved into the Blessed Land to be refined into a corpse puppet?”
“In the Southern Frontier, who besides the Yin Corpse Sect, or rather the being behind the sect occupying the [Nu Earth] position, could possibly possess such methods?”
“And this time, they exposed one of their hidden trump cards. Just who are they trying to scheme against?”
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