Chapter 852: Crimson Reef (I)

In the mirror’s world.

Thick mist dispersed, and shimmering soft light fell on the misty mountain top. Lu Jiangxian paused with Dangjiang in hand. This fabricated Immortal Official had his spiritual sense suppressed and was dazed and confused in Lu Jiangxian’s grasp.

He moved his divine sense slightly, dispersing the glow of various magical arts around him and dimming his clothes. Only then did he sit quietly under the tree and begin to reflect carefully,

Using the hidden seed in Buzi’s soul to drag him into an illusion in advance... With my current Inherent rank and the Metallic Essence, even a Golden Core Realm cultivator would be stunned for a moment. This fellow absolutely lacks the ability to see through it... There shouldn’t be any traces left...

Lu Jiangxian now possessed the ability to traverse the great void and Buzi had already revealed his ambitions. Dangjiang was no longer of any use in Buzi’s body. After all, it was a part of Maha Jinlian. Retrieving it might serve other purposes.

The only risk was Buzi’s unusual behavior. If he failed to conceal the traces and was soul-searched... Fortunately, the restriction was still in place.

He had studied the immortal texts, and the mirror itself had become more complete. This time, he had focused on reinforcing the seal, making it completely undetectable and placing it inside Buzi’s body, to prevent him from falling into the hands of any True Monarch.

After thinking it over, he found nothing amiss and pondered silently,

Although this man had once humbled himself, he was not easy to deal with. Relying solely on Inherent rank to intimidate him wouldn’t be enough to control him and might even arouse his suspicion. I could only keep him dangling with this method of extending the cultivation path.

Lu Jiangxian had no real immortal arts or techniques to give him. Sending ordinary things would only reveal the truth. Thus, he had carefully refined the Immortal Mirror’s essence-extraction and spirit-seizing methods before handing them to him. He thought,

If the Li Family cannot find a Purple Mansion Realm demonic creature, then let Buzi search for one himself. As for whether to reward him after he sacrifices it to me, that’s another matter. At worst, I just won’t respond, and he’ll only suspect the offering wasn’t grand enough.

He wasn’t worried that Buzi wouldn’t take the bait. Though this man was cunning and treacherous, his natural talent was excellent, and his desire for the Dao was unshakable. It was precisely because he was cunning and knew the taboos of all sides that Lu Jiangxian dared to let him try.

But Purple Mansion Realm demonic creatures were not so easy to kill, especially one without any backing. It was just a casual hook, after all. Lu Jiangxian quickly shifted his attention, savoring an interesting matter,

He thinks I am Yingze...

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The leap in logic wasn’t hard to understand. Lu Jiangxian himself had once doubted it, but from what he heard, Yingze had attained the Supreme Yang Fruition Attainment, which didn’t quite match.

According to Li Jiangqun’s memories, I should be the Lord of the Moonlight Origin Mansion, bearing the Supreme Yin Fruition Attainment, which also matches the current abilities of the Immortal Mirror. But whichever way I look at it, these two should not be the same person...

What was even harder to account for was the relationship between Moonlight Origin Mansion and Green Pine Temple. The Kong Family said that Yingze was from Moonlight Origin Mansion, yet he was also the master of Green Pine Temple’s Mirrored Mirage Grotto Heaven. Even the Sun Seeker Ring had been engraved with Green Pine Temple Lu Jiangxian...

He couldn’t make sense of it, so he gave up for now. He looked down at the rows of moon-white buildings below as he stood atop the peak. He lightly flicked his sleeve.

An elegant, moon-white tower rose from the mountainside in a burst of radiant light. Eighty-one jade steps unfurled one by one, winding downward. Countless jade slips poured down like mountains and seas, yet each one landed neatly in its designated cabinet.

The Dao Collection of Anhuai Heaven is all here!

He landed atop the exquisitely elegant celestial tower, which was filled with countless magnificent corridors. Countless jade slips spurted out from the mountain peak above; some streaming through windows, some from palace gates, and others from corridors, but all rushing into this white jade tower like a storm.

Lu Jiangxian murmured, “Hundreds of years of work. The Anhuai Heaven Dao Collection, brought together by families from Jiangnan and Jiangbei as well as small clans from the Eastern Sea. Altogether, there are over sixteen thousand Daoist texts and more than fifty one thousand spell arts...”

He stood in front of the white jade tower and flipped his hand over. Several colored immortal slips appeared at once.

“There are Twelve Purple Mansion Realm cultivation methods. One Li Fire, one Whole Pill, two Purple Essence, one Bright Yang, one Jade True, one Azure Manifestation, and five True Essence.”

With the exception of Bright Yang, Jade True, and Azure Manifestation, the rest all came from the Anhuai Heaven Dao Collection. The Palace of Enlightened Dao might not have held all the cultivation methods of Ning State, since some might have been moved earlier, but the sheer number was still astonishing.

Lu Jiangxian threw them into the tower, then suddenly paused, beckoning. Six of them were the Yuan Family’s Yanyang Temple Dao lineage, also an extremely ancient immortal art. Lu Jiangxian read through them carefully and gradually realized something was wrong.

Among these six, only Profound Goat was a Purple Mansion Realm technique; the rest were all Foundation Establishment Realm methods. Together, they formed the Six Dams Azure Cloud Technique Manual.

When Lu Jiangxian first obtained this technique, he didn’t understand it well and had only skimmed it. Now, after reading so many Purple Mansion Realm methods, he finally noticed the problem with this manual.

“The Six Dams Azure Cloud Technique Manual once said that once Profound Goat is cultivated to the Purple Mansion Realm, and the other four Foundation Establishment Realm techniques are completed one by one, one can attain divine powers...”

“How could that be...”

Although Lu Jiangxian had never practiced it himself, he had written a Purple Mansion Realm technique himself and understood what Purple Mansion Realm cultivation entailed. If one did not consume others, they could only refine themselves, and it would take five Purple Mansion Realm techniques! If not, why would the elementals remain trapped in the southern border!

He finally took out the technique, condensed a human figure before him using moonlight, and carefully deduced it. After a dozen seconds, he saw the flaw and muttered, “This ancient technique states... once the other five Daos condense an Immortal Foundation within the body, they can resonate with the external world and transform into divine abilities...

“But in this era of heaven collapsing and earth splitting, the heavenly Dao itself has disappeared. What is there to resonate with?! Even this one Purple Mansion Realm technique Profound Goat requires resonance. Without that portion, how difficult it would be to break through to the Purple Mansion Realm!”

Lu Jiangxian silently put away the jade slip, gradually realizing,

So the Yuan Family’s relocation from the north, flourishing for a time yet never producing a single Purple Mansion Realm cultivator, was not without reason... their decline was long predetermined... The Yuan Family might not have lacked spiritual qi to cultivate Profound Goat, but in the end, the family’s ancestor realized this flaw and switched to cultivating Water Virtue...

He returned the techniques to the white jade tower, sighed inwardly, and glanced up at the sky. The battle inside Anhuai Heaven was growing more intense. The Purple Mansion Realm cultivators who wanted to enter had already gone in, and the Great Ning Palace, which had served as the entrance, was on the verge of collapse.

Li Xuanfeng is still inside.

Li Xuanfeng had gained much in the Great Ning Palace. Not only was that screen a dharma artifact from ancient techniques, but even the mercury droplet containing Helian Changguang’s soul was no ordinary item. Even the casually taken incense burner was remarkable.

It’s a pity that the Supreme Yang Sun Essence couldn’t be taken; otherwise, it would truly have been a massive gain...

Si Yuanli’s limited vision couldn’t see it, but Lu Jiangxian’s divine sense had swept over it clearly. The mercury droplet housing Helian Changguang’s soul was clearly a Whole Pill treasure! It would be useless in the hands of an ordinary cultivator, but in the hands of one who practiced this method, it could be of endless use.

In the Anhuai Heaven Dao Collection, there is a sixth-grade Whole Pill text called the Houshu Golden Book. I could bestow this book while waiting for the Bright Yang cultivation to succeed. The Whole Pill is famous for its marvelous transformations and has great uses.

He organized the techniques, then leaped out again, stopping in the great void. As he watched the countless divine lights gradually rising in Anhuai Heaven, he examined the opportunities, thinking to himself,

That’s a Metallic Essence of the True Essence Dao...

Although these Purple Mansion Realm cultivators didn’t have immortal arts, their means with Metallic Essence would certainly not compare to his. But if they had divine powers, holding Metallic Essence would enable countless possibilities...

Metallic Essence was incredibly powerful; when Duanmu Kui failed to break through to the Golden Core Realm, the two Underworld beings that emerged from the Metallic Essence had needed the use of Dharma relics to be subdued...

Dongfang You of the Dragon Clan had also failed in his breakthrough attempt, causing the chaos of Falling Water Rising Storm in the Eastern Sea. The fallen Metallic Essence had naturally gone to the Dragon Monarch, and none of the Purple Mansion Realm cultivators dared or even cared to fight for it.

After all, there’s someone holding the Converging Water Fruition Attainment, but True Essence is different...

This True Essence Metallic Essence originally came from a True Monarch. Once it was seized, even the Purple Mansion Realm cultivators and Mahas couldn’t calculate its background. There would be no aftermath after seizing the treasure. Once one had the Metallic Essence in hand, one could reincarnate anywhere and cultivate True Essence again, gaining another five hundred years of life... They would even have hope of reaching the Golden Core Realm!

When one’s true end drew near and their Dao path was severed, even Purple Mansion Realm cultivators would risk everything to snatch the Metallic Essence, using it up before falling, and then seek rebirth...

As for the new Purple Mansion Realm cultivators like Hengxing and Zhang Yun... they were taking a cautious approach. They are more interested in fishing in troubled waters and dividing up the legacies left behind by the desperate Purple Mansion Realm cultivators...