Mirror Dream Tree-V.4.159. Saint King Weapon
Lou Yuan sits alone on a mountain peak, starfire drifting through the night sky as he comprehends the Law of Star.
Starlight pours down like a silent river, sinking into his body and the Dao sea.
His rapid progress comes from the supreme inheritance of Ziyou Supreme, the Star Dao Scripture.
He does not merely recite it.
He dissects it, dismantles it, and rebuilds it into something that belongs only to him.
From the scripture, he extracts order.
From the heavens, he extracts motion.
From himself, he extracts intent.
All three merge.
Thus, his Dao takes form—the Four Sacred Beasts Star Formation Dao.
Azure Dragon.
White Tiger.
Vermilion Bird.
Black Tortoise.
Four stellar formations rotate within his Dao sea, each anchored by the Law of Star yet expressing a different truth.
His Dao reaches the blooming state.
But flowering refuses to arrive.
Every time one formation deepens, the balance collapses.
When the Suzaku formation sharpens, the White Tiger lags.
When the Black Tortoise thickens, the Azure Dragon weakens.
Strength in one destabilises the whole.
His comprehension fractures.
The flow breaks.
Lou Yuan exhales slowly, opening his eyes.
This path demands the simultaneous elevation of all four formations, yet each formation is itself a complete Dao.
Advancing one means restraining three.
The realisation weighs on him.
Then clarity strikes.
A solution forms instantly.
Separate the Dao.
Choose one formation as the core and demote the other three to auxiliaries.
His cultivation would accelerate.
His Dao would stabilise.
But his strength would narrow.
Lou Yuan hesitates.
He does not like this answer.
A whisper rises from the depths of his soul.
“You should choose one formation Dao,” the Demon voice murmurs.
“Otherwise, you will be slowed forever.”
Lou Yuan replies calmly, “I know.”
“But choosing one will weaken me.”
“Cultivation realm defines combat power,” the Demon says.
“The race to Supreme has already begun.”
“If you hesitate, someone will reach Supreme before you even touch Quasi-Supreme.”
Lou Yuan falls silent.
His thoughts drift—
To Yu Feng,
to the man who now calls himself Merin.
He cannot afford to fall behind.
At last, he turns inward and examines the four paths.
Basalt Formation Dao—unyielding defence.
Suzaku Formation Dao—absolute speed.
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White Tiger Formation Dao—overwhelming attack.
Qinglong Formation Dao—perfect balance.
He deliberates for a long time.
Then he chooses.
Qinglong.
The Azure Dragon formation rises to the centre of his Dao sea as the other three slowly dim.
The Qinglong Formation Dao unfolds fully.
It is composed of many laws, layered and interwoven:
Law of Water.
Law of Rain.
Law of Wood.
Law of Life.
Law of Transformation.
Law of Star.
Law of Gravity.
Law of Strength.
Among them, hierarchy emerges naturally.
Law of Star.
Law of Life.
Law of Strength.
These three become the major pillars.
Without any one of them, the Qinglong Dao collapses in rank.
The remaining laws settle as minor supports.
If the Law of Transformation weakens, his strength remains intact.
If the Law of Rain fades, balance holds.
But if Star dims—
If Life fractures—
If Strength declines—
The Dao itself slides downward.
Lou Yuan accepts this structure.
The Qinglong formation stabilises.
Starlight condenses, spiralling around his body like a living constellation.
His Dao stops trembling.
The blooming stage sharpens, thickens, and begins its final transformation.
Above the mountain peak, the stars shift slightly, as if acknowledging his choice.
Lou Yuan steadies his breath and draws the Law of Star inward, letting it become the energy source of his Dao.
Starlight pours into his Dao sea, not blazing, but flowing endlessly like a celestial river.
He refines it until every strand of star power obeys his intent and cycles without loss.
Next, the Law of Life unfolds.
Verdant radiance spreads through the starflow, shaping flesh, pulse, and regeneration.
Life becomes the body of the Qinglong Dao, giving the stars form and continuity instead of cold brilliance.
Then the Law of Strength descends.
Invisible pressure condenses, forging a skeletal frame that binds energy and life together.
Strength becomes structure, preventing collapse, allowing growth without fracture.
The core stabilises.
Around this triad, the minor laws awaken.
The Law of Water and the Law of Rain flow outward, forming meridians that smoothly circulate star-energy.
The Law of Wood spreads like veins, reinforcing growth and recovery.
The Law of Gravity anchors everything, preventing the Dao from dispersing into the heavens.
The Law of Transformation settles as flexible scales, allowing adaptation without changing the Dao’s essence.
Each minor law becomes a scale, a claw, a breath, never dominant, never absent.
Behind Lou Yuan, the shadows of the Four Sacred Beasts rise together.
Basalt coils in silence, heavy and unyielding.
White Tiger crouches, sharp and restrained.
Suzaku burns briefly, wings folded.
Qinglong emerges last.
The Azure Dragon forms from stars and life, its frame forged of pure strength, its scales shimmering with layered laws.
At first, it is small, barely larger than a thought.
Slowly, steadily, it grows.
With every rotation of star-energy, the Qinglong Dao expands, pushing the other three formations outward.
They do not vanish.
They orbit.
The Qinglong becomes the core, the axis, the ruling formation.
The others become satellites, lending echoes of defence, speed, and attack without destabilising the whole.
Lou Yuan’s Dao sea calms.
The blooming state sharpens to its limit.
Petals of comprehension fall away.
At the centre, the Qinglong coils silently, vast and alive, its eyes made of starlight.
The flowering state draws near.
Then his state of comprehension shatters as a voice calls his name.
“Lou Yuan.”
The stellar phenomenon around him fades, the Qinglong dissolving back into silence as he opens his eyes and rises to his feet.
He looks up and sees Shui Yinlan flying toward the mountain peak.
She lands beside him and speaks without preamble.
“Sorry to disturb you, but Great Elder Yuanzhen is calling for you. He said it’s an emergency.”
A faint frown appears on Lou Yuan’s face as questions surface in his mind.
He rises into the air, flying toward the town, Shui Yinlan matching his pace at his side.
As they fly, he asks, “Do you know the reason?”
She shakes her head.
“I don’t know, but it’s serious. It’s related to Yu Feng.”
She pauses, then corrects herself.
“Related to Merin.”
Minutes later, they enter the council chamber.
Minutes after that, they leave again, urgency written plainly on both their faces.
—
Merin sits within the sixth layer of Furnace Hell.
Six-colored flames roar around him, each hue carrying a different law, and even his spirit feels the burn.
He finds a suitable spot and sits cross-legged, releasing his Dao Weapon.
Hours pass.
The weapon's outer shell begins to soften.
Then it melts.
Inside, the weapon’s will cries out in pain.
Merin remains calm.
He withdraws the Dao Weapon back into his dantian and immediately nourishes it with Saint Essence, stabilising the injured will.
Only then does he take out Saint King–grade materials.
He feeds them to the flames.
Days pass as the materials are slowly heated, purified, and stripped of excess law.
When the preparation is complete, Merin releases the Dao Weapon again.
He re-refines it, integrating the new materials layer by layer, reinforcing its structure, widening its channels, and strengthening its core.
When he finishes, the aura of the weapon surges.
It reaches the Saint King level.
His Dao Weapon now surpasses him in cultivation.
Merin draws it back into his dantian and nourishes it continuously with Saint Essence.
Months pass.
When the nourishment completes, he does not rise immediately.
Because the Dao Weapon begins to change him.
From within his dantian, it releases subtle ripples that spread through his body and essence.
His Saint Essence aligns more closely with his Dao.
His flesh, bones, and spirit slowly transform.
Without active cultivation, he is already advancing toward the Saint King realm.
If he cultivates alongside this process, the speed would multiply.
Merin opens his eyes.
“I need to refine it into a Quasi-Supreme Weapon,” he murmurs.
“It will be much faster.”
Once the weapon reaches Quasi-Supreme, his own breakthrough will follow naturally.
No bottleneck.
No delay.
He rises to his feet.
The six-colored flames part as he steps forward.
Merin heads toward the tunnel leading to the seventh layer of Furnace Hell.
—
On the ground layer of Furnace Hell, Lou Yuan stands beside Shui Yinlan as waves of heat distort the horizon.
She looks around, frowning.
“How are we supposed to find him here?”
Furnace Hell stretches endlessly in all directions.
Ten layers.
Each one vast as a world.
She continues, frustration creeping into her voice.
“It would take years to search every layer.”
Lou Yuan remains silent, eyes narrowed in thought.
Then the Demon voice rises in his mind.
“Publish a task to the Karma Clan.”
“They will find Merin quickly.”
Lou Yuan exhales slowly.
Without the Karma Clan, searching Furnace Hell is blind wandering.
With them, destiny itself will point the way.
He makes his decision.
“We’re going to the Karma Clan,” he says.
He rises into the air, heading toward the cloud city above Furnace Hell.
Shui Yinlan follows close behind, her expression tense as the sea of flames recedes beneath them.
V.4.159. Saint King Weapon
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