The Legend of the Great Desolation: I Am the Fortress

"Hmm? This is..." Tian Qingzi sensed the terrifying power and was momentarily stunned.

"This treasure..."

Even the Great Mo Daojun, who was standing in the distance gazing at the battlefield and ready to make a move at any moment, was stunned.

He frowned slightly, but then his eyes widened. "This is a cosmic treasure? A mere second-step Dao Lord can actually make a cosmic treasure willingly recognize him as its master?"

The deduction yielded a result almost instantly.

But the result of this deduction was hard for Da Mo Dao Jun to believe.

"This is too amazing!" Daoist Da Mo shook his head and murmured, "It's comparable to my achievements in the art of deduction..."

In matters like this, it's very difficult for Daoist Da Mo to make a mistake in his predictions.

Moreover, even ordinary magical artifacts would find it difficult to unleash such power in an instant.

"Fellow Daoist Gui... Originally, the fact that a Second Step Dao Lord could be evenly matched with Brother Tian Qingzi was already surprising enough. But now that he has revealed his trump card, it still takes me quite a surprise." Dao Lord Da Mo sighed deeply.

It should be noted that in the endless realms, many eternal emperors may not even possess a single cosmic treasure.

And yet, a mere second-step Dao Lord who has embarked on a path defying the heavens can make a cosmic treasure willingly recognize him as its master.

These alone are enough to leave many powerful figures speechless.

With the power of the cosmic treasure and his own Dao level comparable to that of a top Dao Lord, he has already stood at the pinnacle of the many Dao Lords of Life and Death in the endless territory.

call.

Just as countless thoughts surfaced in Da Mo Daojun's mind, the cosmic treasure 'Frost Moon' was instantly stacked and worn on his hands.

Then, Lei Zhan gently reached out and grabbed with his left hand, which was covered by a silver glove.

"Hiss~~~~"

The originally solid spacetime was forcibly torn open with a huge rift.

Lei Zhan took a step forward and disappeared from the spot.

Traversing deeper dimensions of time and space, Lei Zhan instantly arrived in front of Tian Qingzi and then struck out with a palm!
Boom~~~~

The silvery-white left hand flipped out, hissing and hissing, and time and space began to tremble. In a daze, the surrounding world went dark.

"What a terrifying palm strike." Tian Qingzi, enveloped by the palm, looked on in despair. "The legend of the Cosmic Treasure has been passed down for countless years, but this is the first time I have truly witnessed its power. I never expected that it would be used to kill me this time."

Faced with this palm strike, Tian Qingzi also felt powerless.

Although Lei Zhan was still a second-step Dao Lord, he used a cosmic treasure, and the power he unleashed in an instant was completely at the level of an Eternal Emperor.

This terrifying attack was so horrifying that it even made Tian Qingzi feel as if he were being judged.

Rumble~~~
The palm, which had transformed into a hand spanning tens of thousands of miles, emanated a terrifyingly vast power, easily crushing a large amount of azure sword light. As the palm fell, it completely enveloped Tian Qingzi.

As if crushing an insignificant insect, the hand fell, shattering and obliterating everything in its path...

"Damn it! I'm completely locked on! This Dao Lord Guiyi's comprehension of the Dao is already comparable to mine, and now he's directly using a cosmic treasure. There's no way to dodge it; I can only take it head-on!"

Tian Qingzi was terrified, but faced with this incredibly terrifying and mysterious palm strike, his desire to survive still drove him to resist and fight for a sliver of hope.

"Oh!"

With a loud bang, Tian Qingzi was sent flying backward, his entire body instantly becoming tattered and broken, and the fluctuations of his aura weakened to the extreme.

"Oh? Your divine body has indeed been cultivated to the mid-grade level of Eternity." Lei Zhan looked up at Tian Qingzi, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Although he held back when using the treasure of the universe, an ordinary cultivator would be turned into a pile of mud or even a handful of dust by a single strike from it.

"Something interesting."

Lei Zhan glanced calmly at Tian Qingzi, who was rapidly repairing his divine body in the distance, and said:

"Tian Qingzi, are you willing to submit now? Even a top-tier fourth-step Dao Lord has some use. I will still give you two choices."

"Two choices?" Tian Qingzi's face was pale and weak, his expression quite unpleasant.

“Yes, two choices.” Lei Zhan said quietly: “Live or die! Become my master and become a servant-like follower, or be killed by me and turned into a handful of ashes.”

The Four-Step Dao Lords are already quite powerful, and top-tier Four-Step Dao Lords are also formidable figures in the Endless Territory.

Killing Tian Qingzi casually would be easy, but that would be too easy on him.

It should be understood that at this level of the Dao Lord of Life and Death, whether one takes him as a servant or an assistant, or uses him to exchange for Sith treasures as materials for the self-sacrifice ritual, it is all considered to make the best use of him!

Killing the other party would be the most wasteful thing to do.

"To live or to die?" Tian Qingzi's expression was very grim.

A dignified Dao Lord at the Fourth Step, a powerful being on the verge of Dao Integration, was reduced to a servant, not even a follower...

"I'll give you three breaths to consider," Lei Zhan said calmly. "After three breaths, you'll just die!"

As he spoke, the silver glove on Lei Zhan's left hand began to glow faintly.

"It seems this time things won't end well." A thousand thoughts raced through Tian Qingzi's mind as he looked at the figure in the distance, understanding the situation perfectly.

"However... as a servant following such a prodigy, the Second Step Dao Lord is already so remarkable, and even possesses a cosmic treasure."

"Once he reaches the fourth level, he will probably become the number one Dao Lord in the endless territory in this era! Even the current number one Dao Lord, the Wine Saint... is far inferior!"

Soon, in just a moment, Tian Qingzi had figured it out.

Even if it means losing one's freedom and becoming the lowest-status servant, following such a prodigy wouldn't be too bad.

As for whether the final breakthrough could achieve eternal harmony with the Dao, Tian Qingzi didn't even dare to think about it.

To achieve eternal harmony with the Tao is extremely difficult.

Even for those who follow the weakest 'path' and are at the fourth-step Dao Lord level, achieving eternal union with the Dao is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Not to mention these monstrous and heaven-defying beings, the stronger their 'path', the more remote their chances of achieving fusion with the Dao become.

Before that, Tian Qingzi probably already attempted to merge with the Dao. If he succeeded, his influence would likely be greater, and his status would be elevated.

If he fails to achieve enlightenment, then there's no need to care. After he dies, what does he care about the deluge?

“Master.” Tian Qingzi said calmly and clearly, “Tian Qingzi is willing to be a servant under your command and follow you.”

"Hmm." Lei Zhan nodded lightly. "Hand over all your treasures and swear an oath of destiny. You should know all of this."

Servants are the lowest in status. Whether it's the magical artifacts they possess or their own lives, they belong entirely to their masters.

In a moment of impulse, he ordered the servant's death, leaving him no chance to resist, and he perished instantly.

Unlike followers, servants do not require resources from their masters to cultivate followers. Everything a servant owns belongs entirely to the master.

"Yes." Tian Qingzi hesitated for a moment, but then readily and decisively agreed. After all, he had already prepared for this when he chose to become Lei Zhan's servant. Whoosh!
With a wave of his hand, Tian Qingzi filled the entire void with treasures, as if it were an ocean of treasures.

Then, piles of treasures, as large as mountains, were also piled up everywhere.

"I, Tian Qingzi, hereby swear an oath to be a servant of the Lord of the Returning One Dao..." Tian Qingzi's voice echoed in the void, and a special fluctuation spread out the moment the voice appeared.

"Hmm." Lei Zhan nodded slightly, a faint smile appearing on his face. With a wave of his hand, he took all the treasures floating in the void into his cave world.

The treasures that Tian Qingzi took out were all that had been accumulated over countless years.

He even took out the six cyan longswords that the opponent had used to fight him, as well as tens of thousands of densely packed cyan divine swords.

"These treasures are worth about 80 to 90 million cubic meters." Lei Zhan scanned them with his mental energy and roughly knew their value.

Among them, the most precious items are a set of tens of thousands of cyan divine swords, as well as some precious Dao talismans and rare treasures nurtured by chaos.

"These treasures are barely enough for me to hire a master weapon refiner to forge two natal divine weapons for me. However, if I were to unleash my three heads and six arms, I would need at least three spears to wield them..."

Eighty or ninety million cubic meters is an enormous fortune for a Dao Lord on the verge of achieving Dao Integration.

If Tian Qingzi hadn't also been a person of great fortune, who had luckily obtained a great opportunity when he ventured into Yu Xinghai, it would have been difficult for him to produce so many treasures.

"Let's save the remaining gaps and figure out a way to slowly build them up," Lei Zhan shook his head, pondering to himself.

……

"Fellow Daoist Guiyi".

"Brother Tianqingzi."

With everything settled, Daoist Da Mo flew over directly.

“Fellow Daoist Da Mo,” Lei Zhan said.

"Fellow Daoist Guiyi, you truly amaze me! Such earth-shattering changes have occurred in just over ten thousand years."

Daoist Da Mo sighed, "He embarked on the path of defying the heavens and became a second-step Daoist, even defeating Brother Tian Qingzi by a single move. Furthermore, even cosmic treasures are willing to follow him..."

"It was just a coincidence," Lei Zhan shook his head and laughed. "The matter of the cosmic treasure..."

Lei Zhan looked at Daoist Da Mo with a very solemn expression, "I hope Daoist Da Mo will keep this a secret for me. The treasure of the universe is of great importance and is my most important trump card."

"Of course. Fellow Daoist Gui, please rest assured, I, Da Mo, am willing to swear an oath of life." Daoist Da Mo nodded, for it was a great taboo for his trump card to be known by other cultivators.

After all, no matter how strong a cultivator's trump card is, once others know about it, there will always be ways to counter it, given the vastness of the land.

“A vow of life? Fine.” Lei Zhan glanced at Da Mo Dao Jun. “I’ve seen everything that happened today. I, Gui Yi, owe you a favor.”

Lei Zhan saw everything, whether it was the warning before his strength was exposed or Tian Qingzi's desperate attempt to protect him.

Although he doesn't need this protection, the sentiment behind it, as well as the secret of helping to keep the cosmic treasure, are worth befriending.

"A favor?" Daoist Da Mo was taken aback, then a smile appeared on his face. "It's just a small favor. If you ever need anything from Da Mo in the future, you can just ask."

"Yeah." Leizhan nodded.

The power of the Dao of Deduction is undeniable. Even if one is strong, it is hard to say that one day one will have to ask the Great Dao Lord for help.

After a brief conversation, Daoist Da Mo's gaze also fell upon Tian Qingzi.

He looked at Tian Qingzi, who was obediently following behind Lei Zhan, with a complicated expression. "Brother Tian Qingzi, why... did you do this?"

In this pursuit of the murderer who killed the Ugly Slave Daoist, Tian Qingzi could be said to have lost both his wife and his army.

Tian Qingzi was originally confident of victory, and he was both feigning weakness and trying to make his opponent submit...

But in the end... he was outmatched and ended up getting himself into trouble, not only handing over all the treasures but also losing his freedom.

But faced with this situation, even Daoist Da Mo himself was somewhat helpless.

"Ever since Brother Tian Qingzi used his trump card and Fellow Daoist Guiyi also used his cosmic treasure, the course of events has been completely out of my control," sighed Daoist Da Mo in his heart.

Although he also followed the path of perfectly combining multiple strongest paths, he is now only a third-step Dao Lord.

Furthermore, the art of deduction is inherently unsuitable for combat, and in such a situation, it has neither the strength nor the ability to intervene.

"There's nothing to say if you're not as skilled as others..." Tian Qingzi also revealed a bitter expression.

The victor is king, the loser is villain; this has always been the case.

At least Tian Qingzi managed to save his life. If he had died like Chou Nu Daojun of his Tianqing Sect, he would have truly lost everything.

"Tian Qingzi, you should return to my magical treasure cave first. I still have some things to discuss with Fellow Daoist Da Mo," Lei Zhan said, glancing at Tian Qingzi.

"Yes." Tian Qingzi nodded respectfully.

With a wave of his hand, Lei Zhan also disappeared from this void.

"Fellow Daoist Guiyi, what do you need to discuss?" Daoist Damo asked Lei Zhan curiously.

Do you have something to discuss with him?

His greatest skill is divination. Usually, when Dao Lords of Life and Death come to him for help, they are asking for his assistance in divination, just like Tian Qingzi.

“Da Mo.” Lei Zhan looked at Daojun Da Mo and said, “Do you know who among the Daojun of Life and Death and the Eternal Emperor in the Endless Territory is the most skilled in weapon crafting? I would like to ask a great master who is skilled in weapon crafting to help me craft my natal divine weapon.”

Those cultivators skilled in divination possess the most extensive knowledge, but Lei Zhan doesn't have much information about which powerful figures can forge natal divine weapons, and preferably those he can persuade to do so.

So, I simply asked Daoist Da Mo, who is one of the top three Daoists in the Endless Territory who can deduce the Dao of Life and Death.

"Skilled in weapon crafting? Crafting your own divine weapon?"

Daoist Da Mo frowned and pondered for a moment. Since it concerned a master craftsman, he did indeed know some secrets.

"If you want to forge a natal divine weapon in the endless realms, the best place to do so is to find those old fellows who have lived through countless chaotic eras," said Daoist Da Mo.

"Generally speaking, even a heaven-defying Dao Lord like the Myriad Gods Dao Lord can forge eternal divine weapons, but it is still not as good as the Eternal Emperors making a move."

"Yeah." Leizhan nodded.

Although those Heaven-Defying Dao Lords have a very strong understanding of the Dao, even comparable to many Eternal Emperors, it should be known that any Eternal Emperor is at this level.

Furthermore, they can attain eternal harmony with the Dao, and their own Dao, whether weak or strong, is always perfect.

"As for the Eternal Emperors who are skilled in weapon crafting..."

Daoist Da Mo smiled and said, "Among us Daoists of Life and Death, the one we have the most contact with is Emperor Qianbu."

"This Emperor Qianbu is one of the top three weapon-refining masters in the entire Dao Alliance. He has been cultivating in his cave and also likes to refine weapons to earn some Chaos Spirit Liquid from the Dao Lords."

"Oh? The Thousand Cloth Emperor of the Dao Alliance?" Lei Zhan asked thoughtfully.

...(End of chapter)