536: Chapter 537 Exploring the Outer Realms!

The deep gold in the Buddha statue's eyes surged out like a tidal wave, completely submerging the entire sea of Karma.

Amidst the golden light, Great Elder Lu Chenyuan felt as if everything about him was being stripped away.

His Cultivation base, his dao attainment, his memories, and his self were dissolving bit by bit, becoming a part of that golden Buddha.

But he did not resist; he did not even struggle.

There was no fear or pain on his face, only a serenity that bordered on piety.

Even the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, his expression solemn and grave, like a lost soul who had finally found home.

In the end, his consciousness blurred completely, and he fell into darkness.

A moment later, the golden light slowly faded.

Great Elder Lu Chenyuan opened his eyes again. At first, his gaze was hollow and vacant, but then a golden light flashed through his pupils and vanished. His consciousness gradually cleared, and his eyes regained their vitality.

He twisted his neck and stretched his limbs, which were still a bit stiff, whispering to himself.

"So, after all that, it was you, you fellow!"

Great Elder Lu Chenyuan... no, to be accurate, the consciousness residing in this body at this moment was no longer him.

Lu Ming was actually somewhat speechless about this. He had been Cultivating in seclusion perfectly fine when he suddenly felt his own web of Karma being triggered.

Normally, there would be nothing to be surprised about. Ever since he attained the Nascent Soul Realm, such things happened every few days; clearly, many people were very interested in his background.

Fortunately, after he donned the identity of True Lord Qingxu, these incidents had decreased significantly, though there were still those who persisted.

But generally, those fellows didn't even have the qualifications to touch his Karma, so naturally, they wouldn't disturb Lu Ming himself.

Today, however, was different. He could clearly sense that the other party had a strong objective and was coming straight for him.

Moreover, the medium used for anchoring had a great connection to his own Karma.

This couldn't help but pique a trace of curiosity in Lu Ming.

Who was so bold as to dare to deduce the Karma of a Nascent Soul True Monarch so blatantly?

So, he simply dropped his defenses and waited quietly for the other party to deliver themselves to his doorstep.

As it turned out, he never expected that it would actually be Great Elder Lu Chenyuan, the "Crossing Disciple" he had sent to the Southern Wilderness Region, who had blundered right in!

At first, Lu Ming thought his Divine Ability had failed, allowing Great Elder Lu Chenyuan to regain his original consciousness and launch a suicide attack on him, the culprit.

However, he tried to sense the "Crossing Tribulation" brand and found it was still deeply implanted in the depths of the other party's Divine Soul, with no signs of losing control.

So he simply divined the cause and effect of the matter and ended up speechless.

"What the hell? Tianli Cult?"

How does this thing still exist?

And damn it, they actually ran off to the Southern Wilderness Region.

However, Lu Ming quickly realized the reason.

Creating the Tianli Cult in the past was purely to let Murong Jingyang recruit talent and provide subsequent reserve resources for his golden book.

But as Lu Ming's strength grew stronger and stronger, this so-called Tianli Cult naturally could no longer keep up with his pace.

Not to mention that its leader, Murong Jingyang, had already been refined into a Banner Spirit by him.

Having lost its backbone, the Tianli Cult naturally became a scattered mess.

Moreover, over these years, they had offended far too many powers, and to avoid retaliation, the members could only choose to break up into smaller groups and flee in all directions.

But most of them still died or were injured over the years.

Uh, as for how they died.

Nananana, don't ask!

Right, karma golden book?

However, some were lucky enough to escape, but they could only live like rats in the gutter, hiding here and there.

But there was another portion that accidentally left the Profound Spirit Domain and went to wreak havoc in other places.

And one of those branches had, by chance, arrived in the Southern Wilderness Region.

Following that, the subsequent events occurred.

"A centipede dies but never falls stiff."

Lu Ming only had this one evaluation.

However, it ends here.

This bunch of fellows couldn't accomplish anything but could ruin everything; it was one thing for them to go to the Southern Wilderness Region to cause trouble, but they actually brought the Karma to him.

He hadn't bothered with them before because he thought it wasn't important.

But leaving such a hidden danger outside was simply not Lu Ming's style of acting cautiously.

If someone with ulterior motives used the Tianli Cult to divine his location, just like Great Elder Lu Chenyuan did this time, that would not be pleasant.

Although he had the golden book as a firewall, it would inevitably be annoying.

It would be better to nip this hidden danger in the bud early on.

So, he saw the hand seals in his hands change.

An invisible ripple spread out from his fingertips, following those lines of Karma into the Void Realm.

Wherever the ripple passed, those Tianli Cult Cultivators scattered in various places—regardless of where they were or their level of Cultivation—all stiffened at the same instant, their eyes glazing over, their auras vanishing completely.

Before their bodies could even fall, they turned into ashes in the air, swept away by the wind, leaving nothing behind.

No bloodstains, no traces, and even the Karma of their existence was erased.

Cleanly and completely, as if they had never appeared in this world.

Lu Ming acted as if he had done an insignificant thing, withdrew his hand, and gave the matter no further thought.

He began to look around at the familiar environment and the familiar people.

This was exactly the Tianxing Immortal Sect before he left.

As for how he possessed Great Elder Lu Chenyuan's body, that had to be traced back to the "Crossing Tribulation" Divine Ability he had previously implanted into his Divine Soul.

Simply put, Great Elder Lu Chenyuan was actually a Buddha disciple he had converted, also called a "Crossing Disciple".

This Divine Ability could not only control the other party's Life and Death but could also use their Physical Body as a vessel to descend directly into the world.

This explained why Great Elder Lu Chenyuan had no will to resist earlier and allowed Lu Ming to "Possess" him.

It must be said, this method was quite useful, at least much more convenient than things like Puppet Clones.

Puppet Clones always required a wisp of consciousness to focus on and control, but besides being loyal to the Buddha Lord, the "Crossing Disciple" also had a certain degree of subjective initiative.

When not needed, they could act on their own.

Once needed, they could descend directly as an incarnated body, just like now.

"However, since I'm here, there's no rush to go back."

It was rare to return to the Southern Wilderness Region, so Lu Ming planned to stroll around and revisit his old haunts.

As for acknowledging Zhou Yang and the others, that was unnecessary.

Great Elder Lu Chenyuan's arrangements were quite good, and he didn't need to interfere; he just gave a few simple instructions and left alone.

The Southern Wilderness Region was still the same as in his memory, barren and desolate.

Lu Ming strolled through the wilderness, his pace unhurried, like an idler on a spring outing.

He first went to the location of the former Green Bamboo Market, which was the starting point of his path to Cultivation.

There, he had the Awakening of the karma golden book and killed for the first time.

But now, the Green Bamboo Market was long gone.

That beast tide back then had razed this place to the ground, and although it was rebuilt later, it was no longer what it looked like in his memory.

Those low bamboo buildings and the small street paved with bluestone slabs were all gone.

They were replaced by uniform brick and stone buildings, wide streets, and shops lined up one after another along both sides of the street.

Cultivators came and went, bargaining, no different from back then.

It was just that the people had changed, generation after generation.

Lu Ming stood at the entrance of the market, watched for a moment, and turned to leave.

He went to the ruins of Heavenly Star Immortal City again.

It was once the most prosperous city for Loose Cultivators in the Southern Wilderness Region, and it was the place where True Person Tianxing rose to power.

But now, the ruins of Heavenly Star Immortal City had been expanded into part of the Tianxing Immortal Sect.

The former city walls had been torn down, the former streets had been renovated, and the former palaces had been refurbished.

Only a few remote corners could still faintly reveal traces of the past.

Lu Ming stood before a broken wall and remained silent for a long time.

The world changes, and things are no longer the same.

Those he was familiar with had died, grown old, or left.

Those places he was familiar with had been demolished, modified, or rebuilt.

Everything he was familiar with was disappearing bit by bit.

However, for a Cultivator, this was just the norm.

There was no need to be sentimental or feel too much.

He hadn't lived long enough yet; after another few hundred or thousands of years, he might not care about these things at all.

"Fellow Daoist Tianxing, go in peace!"

Standing above the firmament, Lu Ming looked down at the ruins of Heavenly Star Immortal City and whispered to himself.

Back when he was weak, although True Person Tianxing did not actively protect him, he had still received his favor.

Now that an old acquaintance had passed away, he still felt quite a sigh.

"For a Mortal to Cultivate, it is harder than ascending to heaven; one must still use cheats!"

With those words, he turned and left.

With Lu Ming's current strength, even if he was just strolling leisurely, the Southern Wilderness Region was too small for him.

Before long, he had walked through every corner of this land.

And in the process, he had discovered quite a few interesting things.

Several ancient teleportation arrays were hidden in deep mountains and forests, the depths of deserts, and underwater caves where few people went.

At this time, the array patterns were mottled and the Spiritual Qi light was dim; clearly, they had been abandoned for many years.

However, judging from the traces, they were indeed not built by local Cultivators of the Southern Wilderness Region; it should confirm Lu Ming's guess that these were all left by Cultivators from the outside world.

And among them, there were several Immortal Cave ruins; looking at their quality, they should be at the third-tier level, and the Cultivators who Cultivated here back then were at least at the Golden Core Realm.

However, Lu Ming did not go to explore them.

These Opportunities were long since not worth mentioning to him.

Leaving them for those with predestined affinity might Cultivate a few decent Cultivators for the Southern Wilderness Region.

He withdrew his Divine Sense and prepared to leave.

But at the very moment he was about to set off, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

The places he had walked through so far were only the Southern Wilderness Region and the Profound Spirit Domain.

But both of these places were collectively referred to as a "Domain," and he had never heard of "a certain world" being used to describe this piece of heaven and earth.

But he could feel that they were actually under the same heaven and earth.

After all, the perception of the Heavenly Dao had existed from beginning to end.

Then, what about other places?

What would those places he had never stepped foot in be like?

Were they the same Immortal Dao system of Cultivation as theirs, or was it a hundred flowers blooming, each with its own differences?

Did those places also have Nascent Soul True Monarchs, or even existences at the Soul Transformation level or above?

The reason he was sure that other places existed was that when he was gathering the Karma lines of the Tianli Cult earlier, he could clearly feel it.

A portion of the Karma was simply not between the Southern Wilderness Region and the Profound Spirit Domain, but scattered everywhere.

Where were those "everywhere" places?

Lu Ming suddenly smiled.

Since he had nothing to do after coming out this time, he might as well go explore the secrets of this world.

He stepped forward and walked in a chosen direction.

It was not towards the Profound Spirit Domain, but the opposite direction.

He did not tear through the Void Realm; he just walked unhurriedly between heaven and earth, measuring the land with his footsteps, each step falling several miles away.

Just like when he first left the Southern Wilderness Region back then.

However, this walk lasted for a month.

During this period, he did indeed see many domains and even Sect forces.

Some of the Cultivation systems inherited the consistent style of Immortal Cultivation, focusing on the Qi Refining path, pursuing Spiritual Qi respiration, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation.

But some took a different approach, entering the Dao through the hundred arts of Immortal Cultivation, such as using pills as a foundation, artifacts as a basis, or arrays to enter the Dao.

All sorts of methods were everywhere.

However, all methods return to the same origin; different paths lead to the same destination. Essentially, it was still the Immortal Dao, just with different names and titles.

So Lu Ming just took a quick glance and then traveled far away.

However, as Lu Ming gradually moved away from the direction of the Profound Spirit Domain, he could feel more deeply that the Spiritual Qi in the air was becoming increasingly thin.

At first, it was just a faint change, but later it became more and more obvious.

The concentration of Spiritual Qi once dropped from the third tier to the first tier.

Further on, he could barely even feel the first tier.

"Looking at it this way, even if the Profound Spirit Domain is not the strongest domain in the entire world, it must be close to the central core."

This couldn't help but make Lu Ming breathe a sigh of relief; he was actually really afraid that some large domain stronger than the Profound Spirit Domain would suddenly pop up.

That would make him feel insecure.

It was good as it was now; although he couldn't be called invincible in the world, he had absolutely no problem protecting himself!

However, Lu Ming did not stop there.

He could feel that the Spiritual Qi, which Cultivators relied on to survive between heaven and earth, was disappearing bit by bit.

But replacing it was a kind of aura he had never felt before.

It was indescribable and unclear.

Lu Ming stopped his footsteps and closed his eyes to feel it for a moment.

He felt that this was somewhat similar to the aura of a Law.

It was very faint, so faint that it could almost be ignored, but it did exist.

Lu Ming opened his eyes, thoughtful.

Laws exist between heaven and earth, so being able to feel Laws was not strange.

What was strange was that this Law did not seem to be naturally born, but instead gave people the feeling of being formed Acquiredly.

It was like creating a Dao out of thin air that did not belong to this heaven and earth.

This was interesting.

As everyone knows, Laws are born from the gestation of heaven and earth and are formed from Innate Qi.

At least, Lu Ming had never heard of Acquiredly formed Laws.

What? You say the Hunyuan Dao is also Acquiredly formed?

Hmm, although it was very similar, in the end, it was nothing more than a polymer of Laws that Lu Ming had forcibly condensed by relying on the authority of the golden book to transfer side effects; it could not be counted as a true Acquired Law.

So the question arises: who on earth was sacred enough to be able to create a Law that did not belong to heaven and earth with a method close to proof from nothing?

This question soon had an answer.

When Lu Ming had walked for a few more days and passed by another domain, his footsteps stopped abruptly.

Here, the Spiritual Qi was almost completely cut off, but that aura of the Dao was exceptionally abundant.

Lu Ming couldn't help but feel curious and decided to go take a look.

Within his line of sight, a massive city appeared.

The city walls were not high but thick and solid, built with huge stones, with molten iron poured into the gaps, dark and heavy, emitting an aura of killing.

The stone plaque above the city gate was engraved with three large characters—Iron Blood City.

The strokes were like knives, embedded three points into the stone; every stroke and dash exuded the killing intent of golden spears and iron horses.