Chapter 185. The Celestial Emperor's Edict, Breakthrough in Seclusion, the Great Pill Complete

Lei Xuan brimmed with confidence. In his eyes, Ao Ze joining the attack would have been nothing more than icing on the cake. Even without it, there would be no issues whatsoever, thanks to their extensive preparations.

The three great races had gone all-out, pooling all their resources into the plan. Their elders in outer space had even provided them with trump cards. Under such circumstances, killing a native of the Milky Way Starfield was going to be easy.

Although Lei Xuan was displeased by Ao Ze's refusal, he did not dwell on it. Instead, it further confirmed his belief that dragons had always been inherently unreliable.

"Lu Yuan is extremely difficult to kill. Can we really succeed?" the Zhou Family Head asked, voicing his concerns. Before the arrival of beings from the Outer Cosmos, Lu Yuan's performance had been far too dazzling.

He was widely regarded as invincible, and people even called him the Strongest Awakened. He was so powerful that he could deal with foes beyond his stage of evolution. It was like he was as strong as the Rankers of the great clans and races in the Outer Cosmos.

"Rest assured. There won't be any problems." Lei Xuan shook his head and smiled faintly. "Our preparations run deeper than you can imagine. Of course, there are still some matters that must be handled before then.

"Some races have been far too restless since they arrived here. I've recovered about eighty percent of my strength. Now is the right time to act. More people will soon arrive here, and we must stay ahead of them."

The Zhou Family Head nodded in response. He knew Lei Xuan was right. The world had been chaotic recently. Setting aside the officials of the nations around the world, ambitious plutocrats and capitalist powers had begun attaching themselves to certain great races and clans.

By taking advantage of those opportunists, a few great clans and races managed to obtain some blessed lands for themselves. In stark contrast, the Zhou Family had yet to make a move.

Just then, another concern surfaced in his mind. "Yunqiong is still in seclusion, and it has been a while since then. Could something have gone wrong?"

"Her bloodline is extraordinarily powerful, rare even among the Ji Clan," Lei Xuan answered calmly. "That great figure gave her something that can fully awaken her bloodline. This time, her seclusion is a true metamorphosis. Once she emerges, she will be reborn."

He knew exactly what that great figure had bestowed upon Zhou Yunqiong. Even within the Ji Clan, it was considered a supreme treasure. With Zhou Yunqiong's exceptionally dense bloodline, the result was simply impossible to deduce.

Perhaps she would be even stronger than him once she emerged from her seclusion. After all, the Ji Clan were descendants of the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, and the Ziwei Starfield they resided in ranked among the top ten.

"Good, good, good." The eyes of the Zhou Family Head lit up in delight. With his daughter, the Zhou Family would undoubtedly rise. Given enough time, they could even dominate the entire Milky Way Starfield.

Considering Earth's unique conditions and environment, the Zhou Family could fully break away from the Ji Clan and become a truly independent great clan in perhaps just ten thousand years.

"Let's put these matters aside for now. It's time to execute our plans."

Lei Xuan understood the other's thoughts but chose not to comment further. This was a decision made by the Ji Clan of the Ziwei Starfield. He had no choice but to comply.

What he needed to do was create the best possible conditions before they could fully descend. That alone would count as great merit. By using certain legacies to evolve even further and combining them with his merits, he could probably end up raising his rank.

"Very well. I'll handle it now." The Zhou Family Head nodded and took his leave.

In the end, only Lei Xuan remained. He stood in place and gazed at the horizon with sharp and unwavering eyes.

***

Upon Lu Yuan and the others' return to the Mount Tai Trials Academy, most of them immediately entered seclusion. The gains from the recent expedition were simply too great, and they needed enough time to digest them.

The spiritual fruits and exotic herbs, the divine weapons, and the dragon blood pool were all immensely beneficial to their evolution.

With those resources, Zhu Qingyu, Chunyang, Ice Fairy, and Monk Huikong could make their way to the Golden Body Realm.

Elder Ji and Elder Yun were also pleased. Even so, they temporarily allocated the limited resources to the Celestial Court.

In the past, they had pursued sheer numbers among Awakened, but now, they knew that quality mattered more than quantity.

They needed truly powerful Awakened.

The Celestial Court had effectively become bound to the government of Huaxia. In the future, the citizens of Huaxia would surely benefit from the Celestial Court's existence.

Just as they had decided before, they would forge the strongest Awakened organization with Lu Yuan standing at the helm of it.

As for Lu Yuan himself, he took a small portion of the resources and invested them in the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace. Those divine weapons could all serve as nourishment for the Great Luo Sword Embryo, accelerating its evolution.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng claimed some dragon blood before heading up to Jade Emperor Peak with the Spirit Monkey. The two great beasts bickered at times, but in truth, they got along pretty well.

Lu Yuan naturally did not stop them. After all, the Golden-Winged Great Peng and the Spirit Monkey would eventually become core members of the Celestial Court.

Lu Yuan sat cross-legged in his training chamber, but he didn't immediately begin his training. Instead, he took out the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token that he had obtained from the Dragon Palace.

Just like before, there was nothing special about it on the outside.

He sliced open his palm and allowed his blood to drip onto the ancient token. A mysterious and mighty power erupted, causing the entire room to tremble as crackling sounds rang out of the token.

Fortunately, the power surge did not last long because the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token vanished into thin air.

Moments later, it reappeared beneath the Bodhi Tree, merging directly with the golden figure there. Together, they emanated a radiant light that seemed to embody the concept of eternity itself.

Hum!

An even more magnificent power erupted, and the golden figure responded to it as purple qi billowed out of it. Now, it resembled the Celestial Emperor seated high above the Nine Heavens.

The Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token manifested again. It had become just a single token. Its size remained unchanged, and the two words "Celestial Emperor" were still engraved on it. However, the mysterious runes within had become far clearer than before.

"It seems something special has been added to it," Lu Yuan muttered. Then, with a will on his end, the golden figure rose and reached out to the token, touching it gently.

Edict!

A voice that seemed to have come from ancient times echoed in his mind.

When Lu Yuan came back to his senses, he discovered something new above the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token.

A semi-transparent scroll floated there. It was empty, containing nothing at all.

The scroll was purple, decorated with ancient auspicious beasts—qilin, true dragons, true phoenixes, and pixiu. The sight was astonishing. If he had to describe it, it resembled an imperial edict used by the emperors of ancient times.

The scroll came from the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token, so could it be... the Celestial Emperor's Edict?

A strong premonition surfaced in Lu Yuan's heart. It felt as though he could write something on this scroll, connect with it, and accomplish something truly terrifying.

When he tried to do so, the golden figure's finger passed straight through the scroll. It was like the scroll did not exist at all and was a mere figment of his imagination.

I guess I need to find the third ancient token before this edict can truly manifest.

In the end, he could only reach this conclusion. The number of tokens he possessed was still insufficient to activate the true power of the Celestial Emperor's Ancient Token.

The problem was that he had no idea how many tokens existed in total. On Mount Tai, he had relied on his past life memories to obtain the first token. As for the second token, it was all due to his luck.

As for the rest, he had no leads whatsoever. These artifacts were far too special, and those lucky enough to obtain one would surely conceal it. Lu Yuan felt helpless. It seemed he could only proceed step by step.

Fine. I'd better focus on evolving and becoming even stronger first.

The pill within the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace had already been refined. This was the main reason he promptly returned to the Trials Academy.

With a slight turn of his hand, a round pill the size of a longan appeared on his palm. This pill was refined from numerous spiritual fruits and exotic herbs. He even added some dragon blood, making it an extremely potent pill.

It surpassed anything he had refined before. Even to him, it was incomparably precious. The energy contained within was something that perhaps only Lu Yuan could withstand. Anyone else with a weaker physique would explode on the spot.

Just then, he swallowed it.

Boom!

The pill dissolved the instant it entered his mouth. It transformed into a terrifying torrent of pure energy that surged through him. Under this overwhelming power, the chamber shook violently. Even the alloy walls cracked open and split.

There was no helping it. Lu Yuan had become so powerful that even his attempt to make a breakthrough could devastate his surroundings.

Left with no choice, he activated the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace and used it to suppress his raging aura. Otherwise, his residence would have been reduced to mere rubble.

Afterward, Lu Yuan steadily controlled the raging energy. His foundation was already complete and deep. He just had to digest his gains and use them to propel himself toward the next stage of evolution.

He had long decided that he would make use of everything he had to reach the next stage of evolution, the Venerable King Realm.

After that, he would cultivate the Primordial Dragon Breathing Technique. He hadn't devoted any time to it since he opened his fifteenth grotto-heaven. This was the perfect opportunity to address both issues.

Evolution would become harder the farther one progressed on the path of evolution. For ordinary people without special bloodlines or racial talents, advancing from the fourth to the fifth stage of evolution would take years, even decades. Despite the Global Awakening and Earth's special conditions, ordinary Awakened would still find it difficult to reach the higher stages of evolution.

However, Lu Yuan was different. His foundation was deep, so all he needed was enough energy to make a breakthrough.

How about slowing down and waiting until he had enough resources to make a breakthrough? Lu Yuan would only do that at the Sage Realm. Just like that, the power radiating from Lu Yuan became increasingly fiercer and immense.

Behind him, the fifteen grotto-heavens quickly became twenty. He opened five grotto-heavens in one go. Each grotto-heaven contained a true god, each identical to himself.

However, this was not the end, as the number of grotto-heavens steadily increased. Lu Yuan had been preparing for his breakthrough to the Venerable King Realm for a very long time, so his breakthrough wouldn't be that simple.

As the days went on, his aura grew even more terrifying. The number of grotto-heavens behind him had already increased to twenty-five. Golden vital qi shrouding him billowed out nonstop, transforming the training chamber into what looked like a boundless ocean of gold.

It was an overwhelming sight. Had it not been for the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace suppressing Lu Yuan's aura, everything nearby would have been annihilated.

Humanity's path of evolution was essentially a path that would lead them to godhood. Right now, Lu Yuan stood at the very forefront of that path, and he could truly be considered humanity's strongest in both strength and evolution.

And he had to be the strongest...

After all, too many crises lay ahead, and there were countless secrets waiting to be discovered. One step at a time, he would walk down the path that would lead him to the apex of evolution.

With that conviction in his heart, Lu Yuan finally opened his eyes.

Rumble!

As soon as he did, a boundless aura erupted from him.