BOOK 2: CHAPTER 446: LONE LAMP SHINES, SETTING THE BAIT TO FISH FOR DRAGONS

Vol 2 Chapter 446: Lone Lamp Shines, Setting the Bait to Fish for Dragons

Despite his dissatisfaction, Zheng Fa struck hard not just to vent his anger. Since he couldn’t quietly advance, he decided to seize the momentum to establish his authority. Establishing authority was necessary to cope with the current situation in Xuanwei. Ever since the Reincarnation Cycle appeared, Xuanwei had become turbulent beneath the surface. Zheng Fa had no clear idea how many external Dao Fruits existed out there. Regardless of their nature—good or evil—these Dao Fruits inevitably sought resources and fought for territory, shaking the established Xuanwei great powers.

As one of the five sects within Xuanwei’s six factions—no, five factions—Jiushan Sect found itself in a relatively awkward position. It held a grand name and occupied considerable land, but it was comparatively the weakest, a soft target easily preyed upon. In such a situation, demonstrating some strength would reduce trouble.

Silver light flickered in Zheng Fa’s eyes as he gazed into the distance. Through his Void-Piercing Spirit Eye, many hidden details in the spatial realm were laid bare. At least four places concealed Dao Fruit cultivators.

...

“In fact, my willingness to reveal some cards comes from our strength development over the past few years.” In the Jiushan Realm, the Heavenly Emperor Body explained to Senior Sister Zhang and the others.

“You mean the Heavenly River Method and the Fang Immortal Formation?” Senior Sister Zhang’s expression shifted to sudden realization.

The Heavenly Emperor Body smiled and nodded. Since acquiring the Myriad Immortal Formation and promoting the Heavenly River Method, Jiushan Sect’s strongest combat power was no longer just Zheng Fa, or rather, no longer solely Zheng Fa. This was the unique composition of Jiushan Sect’s strength, differing completely from other Xuanwei sects. In the past, even the exceptional Heavenly River Sect’s rise and fall depended entirely on the Heavenly River Venerable himself. Once the Heavenly River Venerable vanished, the sect descended into internal chaos. Over several eras, all Xuanwei sects followed roughly the same pattern: a peerless genius emerges, the sect rises, and no matter how many years of inheritance pass, the strongest cultivator remains that original genius. The Heavenly River Venerable was such a case, as was the Dao Venerable. Yaochi and Leiyin Temple were no different. Jiushan Sect was the same before.

Therefore, in the eyes of Xuanwei cultivators, Zheng Fa—the genius leading Jiushan Sect’s rise—naturally represented Jiushan Sect’s supreme combat power. As long as Zheng Fa was dealt with, the rest of Jiushan Sect was negligible. Only Jiushan’s upper echelon knew that things were changing! The two great legions, especially the Heavenly River Army, were Jiushan Sect’s biggest trump cards. Simply put, Zheng Fa used to hide his strength, but now what he concealed were the Shenxiao Heavenly River and the two legions.

Uncle Pang also understood this. His expression was odd, mixed with disdain and relief: “This pit Zheng Fa dug—I wonder who will jump into it.”

Zheng Fa had named this strategy the Onion Strategy—layer after layer, peeling until the enemy cries. The key to this strategy was that the strength Zheng Fa revealed was solid! Solid enough to make everyone believe he was the next Heavenly River Venerable, solid enough to make everyone unable to imagine that Jiushan Sect still had stronger means. Defeating these powerful illusions was the best proof of Zheng Fa’s strength.

His one strike killing an Ancient Immortal illusion was just the beginning. The other seventy-one illusions, after being stunned for a moment, made a choice no one expected: they linked their qi energy, protected each other, and surrounded Zheng Fa, layering themselves to form a Heaven-and-Earth Net. In other words, these Golden Immortals who had stood proudly in the sky for several eras actually joined forces!

Although they rarely fought together, their rich combat experience made their cooperation extremely tacit, their momentum united like a storm. The wild wind swept the clouds, the raging waves struck the shore, birds scattered across the ground, and beasts wailed. Heaven, earth, and all living things seemed unsettled by this momentum. Even Zheng Fa found it hard to maintain composure. These illusions’ spiritual intelligence far exceeded his expectations, as if they still possessed consciousness. On the other hand, their resentment was far greater than he had imagined—so much that they didn’t care about shame.

In the distance, the Cangming Dragon King was stunned. Zheng Fa’s strength exceeded his imagination. The Dragon Ancestor’s shameless... flexibility also exceeded his expectations. A group of Golden Immortals who roamed the heavens joining forces—even if only at the True Spirit Realm—this scene was beyond his wildest dreams, a nightmare to wake from. No wonder Xuanwei was said to be the beginning of the Square Realm. Such a grand spectacle could never be seen in the Dragon Abyss Realm’s backwater. The Cangming Dragon King was even looking forward to an intense magical duel.

“Dragon Lord, your insight is truly exceptional.” If earlier he had praised Zheng Fa with some schadenfreude, now there was genuine sincerity in his words. Ordinary people couldn’t create such a stir.

Lord Shuyu Dragon was too busy to respond, instead staring at Zheng Fa, trying to find him some chance of victory—but after thinking hard, she found neither a chance nor even a trace of hope.

Just as her worries deepened, a jade-colored radiance swept across thousands of miles, gentle and dazzling. The source was a jade. The Creation Jade flew out from Zheng Fa’s Mud Pellet Palace, its spiritual light illuminating all directions. The jade unfolded, facing the four True Spirit illusions. The Creation Child sat atop it, her little face full of seriousness.

“A life treasure?” The Cangming Dragon King murmured curiously. “Dragon Lord, do you know what function this life treasure has?”

The Dragon Lord gently shook her head. She had little direct dealings with Zheng Fa. Moreover, the Creation Jade was not a treasure used for magical duels, and Zheng Fa rarely deployed it before. Few outside cultivators even knew of it.

“This treasure’s light looks somewhat mysterious but seems to lack much offensive power?” Lord Shuyu Dragon also looked puzzled.

But what followed made them not only puzzled but utterly baffled: Zheng Fa stared at the Creation Jade, silver light flickering in his eyes. His figure flashed and transformed into Rainbow Light, appearing in a spot within the void. He stretched out his right hand, his sleeve fluttering. A golden flame dragon flowed from his sleeve, fierce and overwhelming, lunging toward... empty air?

The Cangming Dragon King and the others were dumbfounded—was this an illusion or had they been tricked? Just as they thought this move would miss, a figure suddenly appeared before the golden flame, using its own body to successfully block Zheng Fa’s wasted spiritual power. The Cangming Dragon King felt his head about to explode.

He had seen and participated in many magical duels but had never witnessed something so strange: Zheng Fa turned into Rainbow Light, darting around wildly, fiercely dueling the air. Those powerful illusions were even more absurd: though Zheng Fa was striking at empty space, there were always brave ones who risked their lives to take the hits. One side fought with closed eyes;

the other rushed to their death. The acting was so terrible it would be shameful on a stage.

In just half a stick of incense time, five or six of these powerful illusions had actually perished.

“What kind of formidable illusion is this?” The Cangming Dragon Lord understood clearly—it wasn’t that these Golden Immortals were acting, but rather... they seemed unable to control themselves, like puppets on strings, moving exactly where Zheng Fa wanted. Even Lord Shuyu Dragon looked shocked. 𐍂ἈꞐỗBƐs̩

After careful observation, she shook her head: “It’s not an illusion. The expressions on those powerful figures’ faces don’t look like they’ve lost their minds.”

The Cangming Dragon King, having calmed down, agreed: this group of mighty figures was clearly conscious yet helplessly queued to their deaths. It seemed Zheng Fa had already predicted every step they took!

“What a profound magical duel intuition.” This was far more terrifying than illusions. The Cangming Dragon King watched these great powers utterly perish under Zheng Fa’s hands, feeling a chill down his spine.

...

Of course, it wasn’t illusion, nor exactly magical duel intuition. Zheng Fa, after closing himself off for so long, first refined the Creation Jade, enhancing it further. As he had told Tang Lingwu and the others, his requirement for the Creation Child was to be able to simulate the Yellow Court Scripture, reviewing disciples’ submitted techniques for flaws and malice. But the Creation Child’s function went far beyond that.

In Zheng Fa’s view, within the jade-colored radiance of the Creation Jade was... the future! Every enemy’s next move, every spell they would use, played out before his eyes moments in advance! The principle was simple: the Creation Jade gathered environmental parameters through its light, including various spiritual talismans in the void, modeled and simulated the future, providing an estimate.

It wasn’t 100% accurate, but with the profound foundation of the Yellow Court Scripture fused with three methods, it was about 70-80% reliable. The longer the duel lasted, the more information the Creation Jade collected, making the future more “real.” A rough analogy was that this was similar to autonomous driving technology.

Zheng Fa was very self-aware. He had little experience or talent in magical duels. But with the future Xuanwei conflict intensifying, magical duels were inevitable. Hard work was impossible, so he created a kind of cheat.

To some extent, this cheat was most useful to Zheng Fa because he was fast! With the power of the Heavenly Energies present, the Creation Child’s simulated future was actually only the next second—no, the next instant. Other cultivators, even if they knew the future, couldn’t seize that instant. In reality, the other cultivators made moves first, allowing the Creation Jade to simulate the outcome. In other words, the opponent was always the first to act. But with the Rainbow Transformation Method, Zheng Fa could strike first despite reacting later.

From others’ perspective, it looked like those powerful illusions had lost their minds and sought death. On the other hand, the Creation Child’s simulation wasn’t perfect, and the Rainbow Transformation Method gave Zheng Fa a certain margin for error.

The fierce magical duel the Cangming Dragon King had anticipated was a bust. The only suspense left was... whether Zheng Fa would get tired. Watching the illusions dissipate one by one in the void, the Cangming Dragon King grew weary. The fight was one-sided, and watching too much was boring.

Within half an hour, more than twenty of the once formidable illusions had perished—almost half. The remaining illusions seemed tired too. They hovered in the air, watching Zheng Fa without moving, creating an awkward atmosphere. They seemed conflicted: not fighting meant their resentment couldn’t be resolved and death was unbearable;

fighting meant taking blows and even worse death.

Zheng Fa stopped moving, slowly recovering his spiritual power and divine consciousness. Though brave just now, each strike had been full power, consuming a lot.

After a moment of silence, the Golden Immortals exchanged looks and scattered. They leaped into the sky, their spiritual talismans scattering like meteors. Before dissipating, many saluted Zheng Fa from afar.

Lord Shuyu Dragon chuckled lightly: “Jiushan’s true methods and the Dragon Ancestor’s secret techniques—are they like fireflies and the sun and moon?”

Looking at the Dragon Ancestor saluting Zheng Fa in the sky, the Cangming Dragon King opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word. He stared at Zheng Fa standing in the void and, though knowing this person was probably his greatest enemy in the Cangming Dragon Palace, a phrase inexplicably rose in his heart:

A lone lamp shines through eternal darkness, one law compresses ten thousand realms.

The Cangming Dragon King glanced at Lord Shuyu Dragon beside him, realizing he might never win over the other.

...

Watching these Golden Immortals turn into meteors again, Zheng Fa let out a soft breath. He had taken a shortcut—his accumulation only made him invincible at the Great Ascension stage. If he fought at the Scattered Immortal realm, he naturally couldn’t be so adept.

However, the duel also proved one thing: before Dao Fruit, the Yellow Court Scripture was already peerless! Even if other disciples lacked the Rainbow Transformation Method and couldn’t achieve Zheng Fa’s feats, this method alone was nearly unbeatable in one-on-one combat. The Yang Spirit Method, Dharmakaya Method, and Heavenly River Method combined granted cultivators power far beyond peers. Otherwise, how could Zheng Fa knock out a Heavenly Energy illusion with a single punch?

Standing in the void, familiar divine consciousness fluctuations came from the stars. After these illusions dissipated, the Heart Demon Tribulation approached!

It seemed he didn’t even have time to return to Jiushan Realm before Zheng Fa directly faced the Heart Demon Tribulation under countless eyes. Sitting cross-legged in the void, his complexion shifting pale and green, deeply trapped in illusion.

Lord Shuyu Dragon turned to stare at the Cangming Dragon King, raising her spiritual power, her gaze wary. She had guessed some of the Cangming Dragon King’s intentions before. Seeing Zheng Fa’s displayed strength now, she felt even more confident in betting on him, naturally wary of Cangming Dragon King’s interference.

What surprised her was that the Cangming Dragon King behaved honestly, merely observing Zheng Fa crossing the Heart Demon Tribulation. Not only him, but other hidden Dao Fruit cultivators didn’t even reveal shadows.

A group silently watched Zheng Fa’s brow furrow and relax, his breath rising and falling as he struggled through the Heart Demon.

After a long while, Zheng Fa slowly opened his eyes. He looked around, his gaze resting on the Cangming Dragon King’s direction, with three words clearly written in his eyes: “Come on!”

The Jiushan Realm’s gate slowly opened beneath his feet.

The Cangming Dragon King cursed inwardly. He knew exactly which fool would cross this tribulation! That dog traitor was actually planning to use the Heart Demon Tribulation to trap him inside Jiushan Realm! Local cultivators really had dark hearts.

Zheng Fa was a little disappointed. This time crossing the tribulation was rushed, and this bait was hastily prepared—too rough. On the other hand, his earlier performance was somewhat outrageous, making these people more cautious.

He truly wanted to bait the Cangming Dragon King. This man was ambitious about the Maritime Region and harbored ill will toward Jiushan Sect. He was also an ancient dragon, extremely difficult to deal with in the sea, even impossible to catch. If he could trick him into Jiushan Realm, it would be much easier to handle.

Additionally, those illusions were only True Spirit cultivators. To fully establish authority, they lacked sufficient weight. The Cangming Dragon King’s strength was just right.

Unexpectedly, this man was so timid, it was as if those Heart Demons had left early from work. Thinking this, he looked deeply at the Cangming Dragon King again. This lost labor fee would be charged to the Dragon King’s account.

No, it wasn’t just the Dragon King who owed him...

Zheng Fa looked up at the sky, urging silently: “Where is my innate divine ability?”