Chapter 298: The Dharma Form of the Emperor

The movement of the Old One’s corpse was not a physical shift as mortals might imagine. Rather, it was a violent disruption on the most fundamental level of information.

In that instant, it was as if an invisible hand had plucked the foundational strings of the entire Secretive Version. And as the instigator of this forbidden symphony, Lu Yan heard it clearly—the echo that came from the deepest part of the Old One’s corpse, crossing endless ages of deathly stillness.

That echo was a torrent of pure information. It bypassed all barriers at a speed surpassing light, flooding through his divine soul and permeating every corner of his being.

Immediately afterward, an unimaginably heavy pressure descended upon him.

It was the sum of all the rules, all the history, all the accumulated mysteries and karma from the very birth of the Secretive Version up to this moment—a chaotic, boundless mass of information.

As the origin of this Secretive Version, the Old One’s corpse was the source of its creation. And in the instant Lu Yan disturbed it, all that primordial information found an outlet—collapsing into a singularity centered on his consciousness.

Lu Yan no longer felt like an individual being. He was forcibly elevated to an incomprehensible vantage point, as if he had become one with this world itself.

All the Great Dao previously hidden beneath the fog, those twisted and obscure threads of law, and even the deepest secrets left behind after the fall of the Old One—all of them were now as clear and accessible as the lines in his palm.

It wasn’t Lu Yan’s first time experiencing something like this.

In the Urban Version, he had forged an unparalleled foundation by borrowing the momentum of the Heavenly Dao and had tasted the might of a newborn Dao.

And in the Great Collapse Version, as the master of the Second Heavenly Dao, he had wielded that authority to suppress all realms, gaining a similar sense of omnipotence.

But whether it was the newborn Heavenly Dao of the Urban Version or the Second Heavenly Dao of the Great Collapse Version, both had owners. Lu Yan had merely borrowed their power temporarily.

Yet in this Secretive Version, the Old One had long since perished. The gods had schemed for countless eons merely to feast on the corpse of the Old One. But now, with Lu Yan triggering a disturbance within it, only he could bear the weight of its origin.

More importantly, the Old One’s corpse was vastly larger in scope than either of the other Heavenly Daos he had previously touched.

This sudden, all-seeing perspective, catalyzed by the disruption within the corpse, violently disrupted his otherwise smooth breakthrough in cultivation.

The path from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, by the logic of the Cultivation Version, was one of solidifying the Dao foundation and peering into the gateway of Heaven and Earth to grasp one’s innate divine ability—a stage of understanding and applying rules.

Advancing from Golden Core to Nascent Soul was a qualitative leap from comprehension to control. During this process, the soul would undergo transformation, magical power would surge, and one could manipulate the laws of Heaven and Earth more deeply. This stage laid the groundwork for the later Form Synthesis Realm, where the body fused with the world and formed the Dharma Form.

Lu Yan had already formed a perfect Great Dao Golden Core through a foundation unseen in ten thousand eras. He had also obtained the god-defying Divine Ability of Reversing Creation. His understanding of the Great Dao far surpassed normal cultivators. Even while still at the Golden Core Realm, he had already touched upon the laws typically exclusive to Nascent Soul cultivators.

His original plan was to achieve a smooth, unimpeded breakthrough by guiding in the feedback from the Dao.

But the intervention of the Old One’s corpse had shattered that plan.

Though his insights surpassed his peers, he had not yet reached the Form Synthesis Realm where body and Heaven truly merge. He could not condense and manifest his Dao and essence into a Dharma Form capable of ruling a domain.

It was a fundamental limitation of his realm.

Yet in this crisis of transformation, a path unlike any other—insane, even—was forcibly laid before him.

Since he could not surpass the chasm of essence, he would overcome it with impossible quantity!

That momentary connection with the Old One’s corpse—the origin of creation—had opened a Pandora’s box.

What he was now sensing and absorbing was not the usual step-by-step Dao comprehension. It was the entire Secretive Version—built upon the corpse of the Old One and capable of producing multiple “this world’s only ones.”

The influx of rules and information couldn’t be called “Ten Thousand Daos.” It was an infinite flood.

His once-perfect Great Dao Golden Core, under this onslaught, broke through its limits and began to evolve into something indescribable.

Dao patterns proliferated, vanished, and restructured wildly on its surface. Its interior seemed to expand and collapse simultaneously.

Lu Yan could feel his soul, his true essence, and even the vague Position he had glimpsed through the Old One’s Afterglow, all being drawn into the Golden Core.

The Golden Core was no longer a core. It had become a chaotic singularity—an embryonic universe.

Within that chaos and vast sea of information, a shape began to form. It was vague and indescribable, yet ancient and terrifying in its aura.

“Dharma Form…”

Lu Yan’s pupils contracted. Unrestrained astonishment overtook his face.

Forming a Dharma Form—this was a miracle. Only those who reached the Form Synthesis Realm—where the body merges with the Dao and commands the world’s laws—could create such a manifestation.

The Dharma Form is the embodiment of Heaven and the reflection of the Dao.

Lu Yan had long forged a peerless foundation. In terms of magical power, divine ability, and comprehension of the Dao, he was no weaker than a newly ascended Form Synthesis Dao Lord. In fact, he exceeded them when it came to abilities like Reversing Creation.

But there was always that barrier of realm, that essential divide. He hadn’t truly become one with Heaven.

Yet now, thanks to this cataclysmic surge from the Old One’s corpse, he had accidentally triggered a miracle.

Using the immense information of the Old One as bricks and his own Great Dao Golden Core as framework, he had forcibly leapt over the gap between Nascent Soul and Form Synthesis—he was now forming a Dharma Form.

If he could fully manifest this Dharma Form while breaking into the Nascent Soul Realm, he would essentially become a true Form Synthesis Dao Lord.

With his unparalleled foundation and divine powers, he might even be able to contend with beings beyond that level.

A jolt of exhilaration surged through Lu Yan—but it lasted less than a breath before being extinguished by an icy sense of dread.

His smile froze. His brows furrowed tightly. His gaze sharpened like a blade as he stared into the forming Dharma Form within his core.

Because he clearly sensed that the aura entwining the Dharma Form was the same as that from the Old One’s corpse.

Even the form itself bore traces of the Old One’s shadow.

“This is the price?”

His ability to shatter the boundary and manifest a Dharma Form early was more than 80% due to the Old One’s interference.

It was this overwhelming external force that allowed him to use quantity to compensate for quality.

“But this price is too steep. This is not the outcome I want!” Lu Yan’s face turned grim, his eyes full of wariness.

A step to heaven may seem like fortune. But if the root of that step is tied too deeply to the enigmatic corpse of the Old One, then it may not be a blessing at all.

The Old One was once a being who sought union with a mega-version’s Heavenly Dao and aimed to surpass even “this world’s only one.”

Though records say it fell with the Heavenly Dao and its corpse has been devoured by the Seven Gods for countless ages, seemingly beyond resurrection…

Who could say for certain such a being didn’t leave behind a contingency?

Even the gods who feed upon it dare not let the world evolve unchecked.

If his Dharma Form, entangled with the Old One’s cause and effect, became a vessel for its rebirth—

Just the thought sent a chill racing from Lu Yan’s feet to his skull. He had seen the tricks of Eternal Heaven Venerable, experienced the schemes of the Lord God—he had no illusions about the “only ones” of any Version.

“I absolutely cannot allow this to happen!” A decisive light blazed in his eyes.

He could feel the Old One’s aura growing deeper and deeper within his forming Dharma Form.

Without hesitation, he summoned the embryonic Divine Court and Underworld with a single thought.

Divine radiance descended from the void. Tens of thousands of golden beams pierced the Golden Core’s boundary, illuminating vague divine figures with solemn and absolute order—like a river of stars pouring in, attempting to wash away and suppress the Old One’s aura.

But what crushed Lu Yan’s heart was that—for the first time ever—his Divine Court’s law of order failed.

The system that could suppress even unique beings now collapsed silently upon contact with that faint, but immensely high-ranking, Old One’s aura—as if it had sunk into a bottomless sea.

“As expected,” Lu Yan whispered, unsurprised.

The Divine Court and Underworld held infinite potential but were still immature.

The Old One, however, had once stood at the peak of the path to transcendence. Even a fragment of its remaining aura far surpassed what Lu Yan’s current Divine Court could contend with.

His borrowed authority was not enough.

Time was running out. The Dharma Form was solidifying fast. The Old One’s contamination was deepening.

Lu Yan’s eyes hardened with resolve. He raised his hand, and the black-and-gold Human Emperor Banner flew into his grasp.

Since the founding of the Divine Court, he had been carefully nourishing this artifact—its core.

The banner was linked to the entire system’s fortune. Any damage could be catastrophic.

But now, he could no longer hesitate.

“Suppress!” Lu Yan roared.

He hurled the Heavenly Dao Merit Artifact—the Human Emperor Banner—directly into the storm within the Golden Core.

Boom!

It was as if the cosmos opened, and chaos shattered.

The banner, bearing the embryonic might of the Divine Court, entered the overcrowded Golden Core space like the projection of a complete world.

Fengdu City stood tall. The Yellow Springs flowed endlessly. The entire Underworld realm encased the forming Dharma Form.

With the Human Emperor Banner at its center, the supreme authority of the heavens wove a cage of divine order—trying to suppress and refine the unruly Old One’s aura.

Within the Golden Core, a chaotic battlefield erupted. Golden divine light and black deathly fog collided, tore, and annihilated one another.

Amid this chaos, the previously indescribable projection of the Old One began to clarify.

It became the Dharma Form seated within Fengdu.

Clad in a Twelve-Symbol imperial robe and wearing a twelve-beaded crown, the Emperor exuded regal might, seated upon the divine throne.

Below, gods knelt in solemn order.

If one looked closely, within the sun-moon-stars pattern of the robe, shadows of death lingered. Behind the beaded curtain, the Emperor’s gaze was deep as the ancient stars.

At the same time, in the outer world, the seven awakening True Gods sensed the disturbance within the Old One’s corpse.

Though not fully awake, each split a sliver of consciousness across time and space, seeking the source.

But before they could probe deeply, the chaotic aura—familiar yet fearsome—receded like the tide.

When they tried to trace the cause, the stars above shifted erratically.

The Stellar Realignment was disrupted. The timeline locked by the gods grew blurry.

Within the infinite high-dimension where the Old One’s corpse stretched, a figure of a Sovereign Emperor—woven from starlight—seemed to replace the fallen god.

He sat upon the throne, casting his gaze down upon the world.

This sudden change left the ancient wills—just now awakening—momentarily dazed and confused.

(End of Chapter)