Chapter 476
The Great Freedom Demon Emperor had layered schemes, and achieving the title of Demon Emperor was already enough to catch him off guard. Yet, he turned out to be so cowardly!
To attack the Nine Mountain Realm, he not only needed to enlist the help of the Thunder Sound Temple as an ally, but he even hesitated to take the initiative. Instead, he preferred to lure Zheng Fa out of the Nine Mountain Realm...
What a coward!
With such timidity, how could he ever accomplish anything significant?
In the future, if the Demon Emperor's cultivation improved, how could he hide the oddities surrounding the two of them?
Thinking about their identities, the Underworld Immortal felt even more depressed. Here he was, facing a powerful leader, yet he was a hidden traitor. This cautious leader was so careful that he wouldn’t step on any landmines—wasn’t that tantamount to waiting for death?
"I have no choice; let’s ask the Holy Ancestor."
He closed his eyes, channeling spiritual energy into the talisman in his hand. After a while, he opened his eyes, his brow slightly furrowed, as if he still hadn’t figured it out. He murmured, "Send a message to Zheng Fa?"
...
When Zheng Fa received the message talisman, he was in the midst of testing the Qingping Sword with Xie Qingxue.
Or rather, it was Zheng Fa testing Xie Qingxue.
Yan Wushuang and Senior Sister Zhang were watching from the side.
Xie Qingxue had undergone a significant change in attitude and was very cooperative.
She was ready to assume any posture Zheng Fa desired.
Even when Zheng Fa merely shifted his gaze, without needing to say a word, Xie Qingxue would adjust her spiritual energy into the right form, allowing Zheng Fa to wield it as he pleased.
Yan Wushuang and Senior Sister Zhang exchanged glances, and at that moment, they surprisingly felt a rare resonance:
This is my junior (senior)!
Halfway through their practice, a message talisman arrived from outside the realm. Zheng Fa reached out, took the talisman, and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Is this a message from my senior sister?"
Senior Sister Zhang blinked, staring at Zheng Fa with a somewhat dangerous look—do you have other senior sisters?
After reading the message, Zheng Fa handed the talisman to her. Senior Sister Zhang took it and was momentarily stunned; it truly bore her spiritual aura.
"Impersonating me?"
"No... it's Chen Ting."
Zheng Fa thought for a moment and recalled that before Chen Ting betrayed the sect, he had contacted the sect using Senior Sister Zhang's identity.
However, Chen Ting didn’t know that the Nine Mountain Realm had largely stopped using message talismans. At least, Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang mostly communicated through the Tongjian now.
The Nine Mountain Realm had already engaged in three forum battles; he was still using carrier pigeons!
"Chen Ting? Isn’t he with the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor?" Senior Sister Zhang frowned, reading the content of the message. "The Demon Emperor Ceremony?"
"Chen Ting once allied with the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor..."
This matter was likely known only to Chen Ting and the people of the Nine Mountain Sect.
"That means this person impersonating you to send a message might not be trying to deceive me, but rather is afraid that the message talisman could be intercepted by someone."
Upon hearing this, Senior Sister Zhang nodded in agreement and said, "If that's the case, then the matter of the Demon Emperor Ceremony must be true."
"The Great Freedom Demon Ancestor wants to use the Demon Emperor Ceremony to validate the Demon Emperor's Dao Fruit." Senior Sister Zhang's brow remained furrowed. "What does that mean?"
Zheng Fa turned to Xie Qingxue, as she was the one most likely to understand the Dao Fruit.
After all, the Nine Mountain Sect was impoverished and had yet to perfect the transformation into the Divine stage.
"Xie Xianzi, I've been listening for a while. What exactly is this Dao Fruit?"
To Zheng Fa, the concept of Dao Fruit was utterly confusing.
The Qingping Sword was a Dao Fruit.
The Fusang Wood also seemed to have some connection to the Dao Fruit.
Even the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor was referred to as a Dao Fruit.
This left Zheng Fa utterly bewildered about what the Dao Fruit truly was.
Xie Qingxue pondered for a moment before not answering directly but instead asked, "What do you think?"
Zheng Fa shared his previous understanding of the Dao Fruit: "From what I gather, the Dao Fruit is both a unique technique and its audience."
Xie Qingxue nodded gently, unbothered by the dust on the ground, and sat cross-legged.
"What you said does have some merit."
After a moment of thought, Xie Qingxue slowly explained, "The Dao Fruit is, in essence, a kind of rule."
"Rule?" Upon hearing this word, Zheng Fa nodded slowly, not surprised.
What is a spell?
Having cultivated to this point, he had some thoughts—perhaps spells were changes to physical rules.
But the rules Xie Qingxue spoke of were different.
"These rules repel each other, especially within the same domain."
After hearing this, Zheng Fa felt a sense of understanding; the rules Xie Qingxue described were closer to authority.
"What you mentioned about unique techniques," Xie Qingxue continued, "some, like the 'Nine Transformations Golden Elixir Method,' are original techniques with no second method that can achieve the same effects."
"They are the fundamental great laws of the Xuanwei Five Sects... Their techniques are now the most powerful in their respective domains."
"Just like the victor between me and the Great Freedom Demon Emperor."
Xie Qingxue nodded.
This implied that the Xuanwei Five Sects had already eliminated their competitors.
"The rule is the Dao, and the cultivator is the fruit. All cultivators of the fundamental great laws will make the one who holds the Dao Fruit stronger. As long as there are people cultivating this fundamental great law, the Dao Fruit cultivator will not perish."
At this point, Senior Sister Zhang finally grasped a bit of the concept. She exclaimed, "So the techniques created by cultivators of the Dao Fruit become nourishment for the Dao Fruit cultivators?"
"This is something my Tianhe Sect only has records of, but we lack the fundamental great law, so we’re not clear on the details. However, it seems it’s not entirely so."
"What about the Qingping Sword?"
"The true Dao Fruit refers to the cultivator or the spiritual roots of heaven and earth."
"Things like the Qingping Sword are called Dao Tools. While their power is equivalent to that of a Dao Fruit, they have a fatal flaw..." Xie Qingxue looked at the Qingping Sword. "Ultimately, it is not the Dao Fruit cultivator themselves and cannot grow because of others cultivating the fundamental great law."
"Only through the cultivator's refinement can their power increase."
This made sense; Dao Tools were likely crafted by Dao Fruit cultivators, carrying their Dao Fruit but lacking growth potential.
However, the spiritual roots of heaven and earth and the Dao Fruit cultivators were different.
"So how does a Dao Fruit cultivator progress?"
"You’ve actually seen it." Xie Qingxue smiled. "The Immortal Sects, the Demon Ancestors, or the Celestial Sovereigns from your Nine Mountain Realm, aren’t they doing just that?"
Zheng Fa suddenly realized and exclaimed, "Passing down the Dao, establishing a lineage, or ascending to divinity?"
"Exactly." Xie Qingxue nodded slowly. "In the Divine Dao Era, the strong each held divine positions, each with their own followers."
"Later, the major Demon Ancestors felt that the faith of mortals was fickle, so they simply left behind bloodlines, using bloodlines as... what you referred to as the audience."
"What about the Taishang Dao?"
"Passing down the Dao... passing down the Dao is the most stable path, but cultivating a cultivator is more difficult than the other two paths."
Xie Qingxue made it clear: the Dao Fruit needs an audience, and followers count as one. However, compared to followers, bloodline descendants are more stable. Even from the fact that the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor could kill a Celestial Sovereign, using bloodline descendants as an audience is likely even more powerful.
But the Taishang Dao cultivators chose the path of passing down the Dao.
Zheng Fa still had many questions about the Dao Fruit, but Xie Qingxue was only at the Divine Transformation stage, and the Tianhe Sect seemed to have some gaps in their inheritance. There were some things she couldn’t clarify.
But at least Zheng Fa understood the crux of the issue—
"So, the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor only achieves the status of Demon Emperor after he validates his Dao Fruit?"
"Precisely." Xie Qingxue's expression grew serious. "The Dao Fruit of the Demon Emperor primarily serves as the fundamental law for the demon race, or rather, the rule."
"This, you actually have a better grasp of. Absorbing the essence of the sun and moon is the most common cultivation method for the demon race. However, he is stronger in cultivation than you, and while the outcome is uncertain, neither can truly be said to have achieved the Dao Fruit."
"But to truly validate the Dao Fruit, rituals are required."
"When the rituals are completed and recognized by heaven and earth, the Dao Fruit will have initially matured."
Upon hearing this, Senior Sister Zhang immediately looked at Zheng Fa with concern.
The Great Freedom Demon Ancestor dared to boldly hold a coronation ceremony because he truly had the strength. Even without the Dao Fruit of the Demon Emperor, he was still a Dao Fruit cultivator.
As for Zheng Fa...
Although the Fusang Wood had achieved something, it was hard to say how much strength it had truly brought him.
In simple terms, Zheng Fa's Qingyang Dao Body was still a baby Fusang Wood—high in rank but far inferior in strength to a true Dao Fruit cultivator, not to mention his endurance.
His own strength was far from enough to protect the treasures in his hands.
Including the Qingjing Bamboo, the Fusang Wood, and their cultivation techniques.
For this reason, Zheng Fa had long decided not to leave the Nine Mountain Realm.
This raised a question—was there a Demon Emperor in the world who never stepped out of the Nine Mountain Realm?
Thinking this through, the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor's reluctance to attack the Nine Mountain Realm indeed posed a dilemma for Zheng Fa and the others.
Most importantly, Zheng Fa truly had no intention of becoming a Demon Emperor!
It wasn’t that he harbored any racial prejudice; he simply had enough on his plate managing the human race in the Nine Mountain Realm. What business did he have being a Demon Emperor?
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