https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-179-Once-More-Break-Through-Mid-Stage-/13506171/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-181-Flip-the-Table-Kill-Wu-Cang-/13506173/
Chapter 180: Embrace Mountain
Chapter 180: Embrace Mountain
Atop Heaven-Mending Peak, Lv Yang stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
Behind him, Lady Ruoxiang’s graceful figure materialized. Her beautiful eyes flickered with shock and envy before she stepped closer, her voice softening.
“Congratulations on slaying the Foundation Building Mid-Stage cultivator. Immortality now lies within your grasp!”
There was no denying her envy.
Though both had reached the Foundation Building stage, she had yet to grasp even a single divine ability, let alone a Life-Bound Divine Ability—a failure that had driven her to plot desperately for reincarnation. Yet Lv Yang, who had cultivated for merely a century, had shattered every barrier to ascend to Foundation Building Mid-Stage. His youth defied belief, and his achievements stirred her admiration. Yet she was shrewd enough to keep her envy in check.
“The lady flatters me,” Lv Yang replied with a faint smile. He turned inward, sensing the shift brought by his newfound innate divine ability.
【Embrace Mountain】
Within his Dao Foundation, a towering mountain shadow took shape, balancing primal energies and anchoring his karmic merits firmly within his body.
This is an innate divine ability, Lv Yang mused, his perspective of the world transformed. Even his understanding of karmic causality, fate, and the cosmos itself had deepened.
No wonder the gap between Foundation Building Early and Mid-Stage hinged on acquiring such an ability. It was more than a powerful technique—it was a fundamental elevation in status. The boost to his Dao Foundation and the immediate enhancement of his Life-Bound Divine Ability were staggering.
Grasping unity in the center, able to differentiate sameness.
True to its name, 【Embrace Mountain】 not only amplified his power but also strengthened 【Differentiate Sameness】 within his Life-Bound Divine Ability.
As Lv Yang focused on 【Differentiate Sameness】 again, countless karmic causality threads—bright or dim, thick or fine—materialized before his eyes.
These were the threads of his fate.
Most prominent among them was a black mist, poisoning nearly half his karmic threads and eroding his merits.
“Heaven’s Punishment Qi?”
In his past life, he had been blind to this curse, nearly exposing his weaknesses before the Heaven-Mending Peak Master and inviting disaster. Now, however, he not only saw the curse but, by channeling 【Differentiate Sameness】, felt the mountain shadow in his Dao Foundation resonate. Divine light cleansed the threads, restoring their brilliance.
This was but one facet of 【Embrace Mountain】’s power. Its essence harbored dual transformations—real and illusory—both extraordinary.
The illusory aspect could suppress an opponent’s divine ability, while the real could balance primal energies and stabilize the cosmos. This was what Lv Yang valued most: its unparalleled dominance over weaker foes.
【Embrace Mountain】 in its illusory form remained unseen, yet pressed down like a mountain on an opponent’s soul. With a mere thought, Lv Yang could crush enemies, halting their cultivation progress. Each advancement would cost them hundreds or thousands of times more effort. Worse, with Lv Yang’s will, their cultivation could plummet—reducing a Refining Qi Perfection cultivator to the first stage of Refining Qi as if it were nothing.
Even Foundation Building True Men were not immune. In battle, a single 【Embrace Mountain】 could nullify an opponent’s innate divine ability, stripping its mysteries away. Three divine essences could become two, two could become one, and one could vanish entirely.
“If I’d possessed 【Embrace Mountain】 during my duel with Huan Wu of the Divine Martial Gate, he’d never have unleashed his Life-Bound Divine Ability,” Lv Yang thought, marveling at its overwhelming dominance.
Even more absurd was the ability to selectively suppress divine essences. By choosing a specific essence, he could counter True Men who relied on a single, core essence within their Life-Bound Divine Ability.
Wu Cang, for instance.
His most formidable technique, 【Celestial Furnace Flame】, merged the “Fire in Wood” essence of his Life-Bound Divine Ability with the innate 【No Southern Flight】. It had once plagued Lv Yang relentlessly.
Yet now, a single 【Embrace Mountain】 could suppress “Fire in Wood,” instantly dismantling Wu Cang’s greatest strength.
Of course, this suppression had limits. Once an essence was targeted, it couldn’t be changed hastily, and other aspects of 【Embrace Mountain】 became unavailable.
When manifested in reality, 【Embrace Mountain】 would materialize as a tangible peak, crushing the spiritual energies, karmic threads, and fortune of all within its range. It was an unparalleled technique for ensnaring foes.
“Damn it, this divine ability is all stats and mechanics.”
Opening his eyes, Lv Yang finally understood why the Citadel Earth fruit had sparked such fierce competition. Its divine abilities were pure mechanics—raw, unyielding power.
Pity his karmic burden was too heavy to wield it long.
“Though I’ll have to abandon it eventually, it still has its uses today. Time to settle old scores.”
With that thought, he raised his head. “Come out. No need to lurk in shadows.”
His voice rang out under the moonless, wind-swept night. From the darkness emerged a familiar figure in black robes—Wu Cang himself, though his former, godlike aura was gone.
“This one is Wu Cang. Greetings, Yuan Tu (Slaughter) Daoist.”
At his words, Lv Yang smiled faintly. He knew the Wu Cang he’d last encountered was merely a soul-possessed clone. Yet defeating that clone was beyond him now, leaving him no choice but to vent his past frustrations on the original.
“Yuan Tu (Slaughter), this one comes with ill intent,” Lady Ruoxiang whispered, her voice laced with concern.
Lv Yang waved her back. “I understand his purpose.”
“The True Monarch’s Handwritten Scroll is far too precious to part with,” he added.
Wu Cang’s forced smile faded. “Then you’ll have to endure some pain, Daoist.”
Lv Yang didn’t reply.
Since breaking through to Mid-Stage, he’d discerned Wu Cang’s nature: a rogue cultivator turned Holy Sect disciple through reincarnation, retaining his violent, killing-focused techniques while ignoring karmic causality. Such a man was easy to manipulate.
Who had orchestrated this?
The answer lay in karma.
A Foundation Building True Man’s karmic threads were sacred and distinct. Interfering carried risks—unlike the casual manipulation of lower cultivation stages.
In other words—
“A sudden shift in variables during karmic interference would almost certainly backfire on the instigator.”
And what greater variable than Wu Cang’s sudden death at Lv Yang’s hands?
A cruel smile tugged at Lv Yang’s lips.
Whoever had plotted against him—be it the Holy Sect’s elders or others—could never have foreseen his advancement to Foundation Building Mid-Stage.
For 【Embrace Mountain】 anchored his karmic fortune, and with the Ultimate Heaven Instrument concealing his breakthrough, his enemies would soon face a bitter reckoning.
(End of Chapter)
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