Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 158 A Powerful Enemy in the Starry Sky
Of course, although Liang Yu used both his clones and his deceased self to make it seem like this matter had a great impact, in reality, the number of people ultimately selected would not be too large.

After all, the number of geniuses who can catch Liang Yuzhi's eye is extremely small. Although he intends to lower his standards a bit, the difference won't be too great.

Therefore, Liang Yu ultimately didn't choose many candidates. After all, his standard was that they had the potential to prove themselves.

The so-called potential for enlightenment can actually be divided into two categories. One category is people like Chuan Ying, Ning Fei, Di Que, and Gai Jiuyou, who are destined to achieve enlightenment as long as they live in a different era. They are true geniuses on par with the young emperors, and even if they compete with most emperors of the same generation, they will not be at a disadvantage.

Despite encountering countless geniuses from various eras throughout Ye Fan's journey, seemingly a gathering of heroes where everyone is a peerless genius, in reality, most of them are inferior to these four divine beings.

After all, in the Heavenly Emperor's Calendar, some prodigies did not continue to remain self-enclosed, nor did they choose to cling to Ye Fan's coattails; instead, they chose to emerge into the world and prove their Dao.

Among these people are Tai Chu, Huang Xu Dao, the White-Haired Sword God, and others unknown. Tai Chu has clearly attained enlightenment, and several other prodigies have also successfully achieved enlightenment like him. However, a considerable number of them failed, ultimately returning to dust.

Therefore, not all the prodigies Ye Fan encountered from various eras could compare to these four divine beings. Of course, those like Zhang Bairen and the Emperor, who corresponded to the Primordial Beginning, naturally belonged to this level.

Emperor Xiang Yufei has always had a subtle comparison with Gai Jiuyou, and he also had a brilliant record against the Golden Crow Emperor, so he should also be at this level.

Among those of Ye Fan's generation, Yao Guang, Yin Tiande, and Shen Zun are the three strongest, and they should also be able to reach this level.

Throughout Liang Yu's life, the only people he encountered at this level were Ying Shenxiao and Sansheng Zhizun. Judging from their performance, if they hadn't met Liang Yu, they would indeed have been qualified to achieve enlightenment.

Of course, without Liang Yu, Ying Shenxiao would most likely have been consumed by inner demons due to the past of the Kunlun clan, ultimately being killed by someone else. In the original timeline, Ying Shenxiao failed to attain enlightenment for this reason, which is why no one in later generations knew about it.

However, this means that without Liang Yu, Ying Shenxiao would be unable to overcome his inner demons and attain enlightenment; but with Liang Yu, even if he overcomes his inner demons, he still wouldn't have the opportunity to attain enlightenment. This puts him in a dilemma.

Fortunately, he is still alive and has joined Liang Yu's plan. In the future, he not only has the hope of attaining enlightenment, but also the hope of becoming an immortal. He can still make it through the trials.

The next one, the Three-Life Supreme, was even more unfortunate. He had almost completed his Emperor Tribulation, but was possessed by the Carefree Heavenly Venerable. However, this also shows that he was indeed at the level where he could truly attain enlightenment.

The second category of potential for enlightenment is much broader, encompassing anyone with a chance of achieving it. But what constitutes a high success rate? The first category, assuming no interference, is practically 100%, while this category has a much wider range. After all, one in ten isn't entirely hopeless, and nine in ten doesn't guarantee success. Both categories offer the potential for enlightenment, but there will still be significant differences in their outcomes.

For example, Wang Teng, who has the potential to become an emperor, would also have a chance to prove himself if he hadn't met Ye Fan or been corrupted by the remnant will of the Supreme Being of the Undying Mountain. As for how great that chance would be, we'll have to wait and see how things develop.

In short, it can be said that those who ultimately reach the level of alternative enlightenment can be considered as having the potential to attain enlightenment.

Liang Yu's minimum standard for selecting people is this second type of qualification for enlightenment, and even then, the hope of enlightenment cannot be too slim.

Perhaps it's because the mythological era is about to end, but this generation of prodigies is flourishing, making it a golden age.

Among those chosen by Liang Yu were prodigies from the Kunlun clan, nurtured by Ying Shenxiao and possessing the blood of the Kunlun immortals; powerful dragons emerging from the ancient star of ten thousand dragons; the supreme royal blood of the Golden Crow clan; peerless prodigies from the Six-Eared Macaque clan; invincible warriors from the Golden-Winged Roc clan; and the supreme beast among beasts from the White Tiger clan. There were those with the Divine Emperor Body, forged through the ancient scripture of transformation; those with the Myriad Laws Profound Body, fused with countless supernatural powers using the Myriad Laws Heavenly Technique; those with the Supreme Immortal Body, whose physical power was fully developed after obtaining the Supreme Immortal Scripture of the Moral Celestial Venerable; those with the astonishingly talented Brahma Battle Body, who created their own scriptures even at the Saint Realm; those with the Primordial Demon Body, who cultivated unparalleled demonic arts and slaughtered countless beings wherever they went; and those with mortal bodies who unexpectedly underwent a transformation through the elixir of immortality and cultivated multiple ancient scriptures.

Of course, there are also three prodigies who emerged from the ancient star of the primordial era: the Demon Ape King, a pure-blooded Tongbei ape; Chongxu, a primordial Dao embryo; and Yuanxiang King, who proved the Dao through strength.

Guided by Liang Yu, the Demon Ape King found the ancestral star of his clan, thus making further progress; Chongxu, on the other hand, was caught in a great formation and needed to undergo trials and tribulations, constantly break through his limits, and finally find his own path to escape.

Finally, there was Yuanxiang King.

Of all these prodigies, Liang Yu had the highest hopes for Yuan Xiangwang. If he could continue to refine his path of proving the Dao through force, he would have a good chance of becoming one of the Four Great Divine Beings, destined to attain the Dao.

However, he was unlucky and encountered Wuji early, resulting in a defeat for him. If he cannot overcome this, his potential will likely be greatly affected.

Therefore, Liang Yu specially arranged a grand dream array for him, in which he would experience a hundred lifetimes of tribulations, rebuild his immortal Dao heart, and thus completely break through this psychological barrier.

After that, he arranged a celestial pool to help him further complete his transformation and become a complete dragon-elephant demon god body.

After everything was completed, Liang Yu turned his attention back to the Yin-Yang Immortal Pool. This immortal pool was, in a sense, a manifestation of Liang Yu's Dao Fruit.

Now, the Yin and Yang within the Immortal Pool have begun to merge into one, emitting a faint chaotic aura, which means that Liang Yu's goal—the return of all laws to oneness and the birth of chaos—has begun to show results.

Once he succeeds, the Two Elements Immortal Pools will transform into the Chaos Immortal Pools, and he will also transform into a Chaos Body.

At this moment, Liang Yu felt the array patterns he had set up in Lei Ze being activated. He looked in that direction and discovered that it was actually an avatar of the Underworld Lord.

Liang Yu did not stop him, and even took the initiative to separate the great formation so that he could enter it.

Looking at the Thunderous Embryo that was already developing, Duan De couldn't help but say, "Damn it, Heavenly Venerable! I'm finally going to succeed!"

The previous Underworld Lord had not had the opportunity to study this embryonic form, but now he finally had the chance. This formation, born from death, was the most complete rebirth, which moved him deeply.

Perhaps the results of this research will be enough to make each of his subsequent transformations a complete rebirth, instead of the corpse energy that was present in this life.

In the original timeline, it is highly likely that the Underworld Lord came to the Primordial Ancient Star while refining the Myriad Origin Cauldron with the Emperor Lord, and saw the remaining arrangements of the Boundless Heavenly Lord, thus perfecting his own Dao Fruit.

Therefore, in every subsequent life, he liked to mention the Amitabha Buddha.

(End of this chapter)