395 Rainbow Mountain
The Divine Dragon Sector.
Like the Divine Phoenix Sector and the Divine Hydra Sector, the Divine Dragon Sector was ruled by one of the four Divine Clans; the Divine Dragon Clan. Also much like the previous two Divine Clans, the Divine Dragon Sector's headquarters was located on a Solar Planet, which was called Planet Dragon.
On the way to Planet Dragon, Yaan made a stop at one of the Primordial Treasures that had fallen from the Spirit Plane into this sector. This treasure was called Rainbow Mountain, named as such due to the layers of lights which perpetually shrouded the mountain's various levels of elevation. There were nine layers to this mountain, each of which shone with a different colour of light. At the bottom of the mountain was black, followed by red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and finally, white.
It was said that cultivating within each of the mountain's layers would provide any cultivator with incredible benefits, such as increased perceptiveness of certain daos, but also profound spiritual pressure which increased as one ascended the mountain. Supposedly, even divinities would struggle to remain within the highest layer of this mountain for more than a few minutes! This sort of pressure could be used to cultivate certain techniques, or even further refine their Divine Power!
Despite being a mountain, this was actually the Primordial Treasure that was most coveted by those who had their eyes fixated on the Four Divine Star System. The reason for this was simple…
Despite being a mountain that was renowned throughout the world, it was only as large as a typical 'mountain' from the mortal world. Each layer measured exactly one third of a mile from bottom to top, so across the nine layers from the base to the peak of the mountain, it was only three miles in height.
Compared to most other Primordial Treasures, Rainbow Mountain was most definitely the most feasible to take away. Of course, despite its relatively small size, it was incredibly heavy, and the immense spiritual pressure released by the mountain made it exceedingly difficult to grasp hold of and move. Even so, if a few divinities gathered together, they might just be able to take this mountain away from the Four Divine Star System…
That is, if they had several undisturbed hours to do so…which they did not.
Although a lot had happened between the start of the Four Divine Star System conquest and now, in reality, less than an hour had passed by. And so, Yaan wasn't surprised to find the Primordial Sage and her subordinate, Land Deity, in combat against four highly aggressive opponents.
It was clear why Land Deity, this brown-robed old man with half a foot in the grave, had been assigned to this sector. Rainbow Mountain was the only treasure worth attracting a divinity's attention in this sector, so it was no surprise that there would be opposing Deities laying in wait nearby. Land Deity had a big advantage in all regions of land; wherever he could step foot on the ground, he was able to exert his Divine Spell, Land Domination.
The battle between the six divinities was the strangest that Yaan had witnessed to date, causing him and the others behind him to simply step back and watch on in interest for some time.
Whenever any manner of life stepped onto Rainbow Mountain, they would be severely suppressed, their cultivation being crippled almost entirely. Even divinities could only barely manage to exert the strength usually possessed by Foundation Step cultivators, and each time they used any sort of power, it would leave them exhausted and in dire need of rest.
In fact, on Rainbow Mountain, depending on the layer you were positioned within, certain daos simply could not be displayed, making all spells which utilised those daos completely useless! To begin with, only Divine Rank methods could even be showcased on this mountain, but even then, the battling divinities found to their dismay that none of their abilities worked, no matter which layer they entered!
Most Divine Spells and other Divine methods would naturally utilise a core dao, but there would always be several other supplementary daos integrated into their operation. Because of this, if any of those supplementary daos were suppressed by the mountain, the spell simply could not be used!
Land Deity's advantage came from his specialisation with the earth dao, and all of the derivatives of the earth dao. These daos, and all spells and other methods incorporating these daos, could be utilised all throughout the mountain, in each of the nine layers. Land Deity's Divine Power was also based upon the dao of land, and he had cultivated for his whole life as a Qi refiner, even developing Earth Variation Qi during his early stages of cultivation.
Because of all this, the various divinities were somewhat helpless as they fought across the mountain. They could not fly, and the spiritual pressure heavily suppressed their strength and movement speed, making the feel like mortals. Were it not for their Divine Treasures, they would really be completely helpless against Land Deity, who experienced less suppression and was still able to use his Divine Spell, despite it being crippled to the level of a normal Foundation Step cultivator's spell.
When Yaan saw that all four of the opposing divinities were wielding their own Divine Treasures, he narrowed his eyes and quickly identified the small group.
'The four Merchant Lords of the World Merchant Alliance…these four typically only operate in the Neutral Star System, but it seems that this mountain is enticing enough to them that they were willing to abandon their posts in their group and homeland, risking the Divine Court completely taking over the Neutral Star System…'
From this alone, Yaan could see that there was more to this mountain than the Sage had told him. The World Merchant Alliance cared about one thing and one thing only – business.
They never fought for territory, simply establishing small branches of their group throughout the entire Neutral Star System. They used the territories of other groups to operate and conduct business, because they had an amicable relationship with pretty much everyone throughout the Neutral Star System.
The reason for the World Merchant Alliance leading the resistance against the Divine Court's invasion of the Neutral Star System, was not because they were defending their 'territory' – they hardly had any actual territorial lands after all. No, their reason for fighting, was simply to preserve the Neutral Star System's status quo, thus protecting the economy and their ongoing business and profits.
Since they were all here, taking the risk of losing the Neutral Star System in their absence, it could only mean that they had discovered a way to utilise this Rainbow Mountain to reap massive financial benefits!
Yaan's lips curled upwards as he saw yet another excellent opportunity.
Right now, the two sides were in a stalemate. Land Deity had a big advantage over the others on this mountain, but they were able to use certain methods and the abilities of their treasures, so long as they stayed within a certain band of the mountain. This wasn't ideal of course, and they were unable to attack Land Deity from a distance – not only were their powers severely suppressed to the extent that their range struggled to even reach a few hundred feet, but as soon as their techniques entered a new light of the mountain with different suppressive laws, it would immediately be crushed and made useless.
Land Deity was shining in this place, and he had the Primordial Sage by his side…unfortunately, this was just a single one of the Primordial Sage's bodies, and one that she hadn't given much power. She was of little help in this situation aside from feeding Land Deity with constant information regarding their opponents' movements and tactics. In this situation, Land Deity and the Sage were in something of a stalemate against their four foes. With the numbers stacked against them like this, it didn't look like the situation would change any time soon.
They were all unable to see the arrival of Yaan and the others, because Rainbow Mountain suppressed their senses and made it impossible to see anything more than a blur of the outside world. Yaan noticed that the Primordial Sage had concealed another body of hers outside of the mountain…she probably hoped to assist her other body and Land Deity by giving them a better view of the bigger picture, but based on how much they were still struggling, Yaan guessed that she must be having difficulty communicating with her body within the mountain.
If communicating with those on the mountain from the outside was not possible, then attacking the mountain from outside was even less feasible.
For now, Yaan observed the situation with Reveal Truth whilst using Conceal Truth to hide himself and the others from the Sage.
That's right, his cultivation body could now use his two Dao Spells! The effect was weaker than when used by his dao body, but this was still a big leap in progress.
Yaan first realised that his cultivation body could actually use his Dao Spells to some extent back on Planet Hydra, when he activated Reveal Truth without even thinking about it, only realising afterwards what he had done. As it turned out, it seemed that his cultivation body – and most likely his dao body – both contained potential that he was yet to realise. He had previously believed that after splitting himself into these two bodies, they would each be limited in the methods that they could use, but he now understood that his assumption was incorrect.
In reality, there was no reason that his cultivation body couldn't use his Dao Spells, and even his true domain! The only true disadvantage of his cultivation body was that it could not perceive or comprehend dao, but it should still be able to use the dao-based methods devised by his original self, and it would most likely be able to utilise any new methods created by his dao body in the future!
Actually, the 'Reveal Truth' and 'Conceal Truth' that Yaan had used with his cultivation body, could not quite be called true Dao Spells, since they used Divine Essence to support their activation. They were clearly based upon his dao, but because of the need for Divine Essence, they could be considered Quasi-Divine Spells!
His 'pseudo-domain' was also more like a sort of Quasi-Divine Spell. Thinking about this, Yaan started to understand the direction that his cultivation body should develop…
It wasn't a coincidence that he was making such rapid progress - there were two factors that facilitated his rapid growth.
Firstly, there was his experience and gains from the Boundless Dao Library, which were continually being digested and integrated into his power and comprehension as he proceeded along his path.
Secondly, the act of attempting to transform his Dao Spells into Divine Spells seemed to create a mysterious connection between his Dao Soul and his Divine Power, forming a superior symbiosis between the two and sharing attributes from one to the other.
Before long, Yaan felt certain that not only would his cultivation body gain full control over his Dao Spells and true Absolute Domain, but his cultivation body would transform these powers into more suitable Divine abilities. In turn, his dao body would experience its own gains and insights.
Yaan returned his focus to the battle on Rainbow Mountain.
Since they were in a stalemate, there was no rush to charge in; it would be better to let both parties fight it out so that he could continue deducing more about this strange Primordial Treasure and the laws within its range of influence. By waiting until the opportune moment, he could also let those fellows tire themselves out.
Once it reached the point wherein both sides had found their optimal layers upon the mountain, and stubbornly stayed there, refusing to move or even continue attacking due to the apparent futility in this fight which had made no progress at all, Yaan finally acted.
"Stay here and watch. It will be easier to bring them over to our side if I crush them all myself." Yaan transmitted to the others, before taking a single step, vanishing from his position, and reappearing at the base of Rainbow Mountain.
He had actually attempted to enter the 2nd Layer of the mountain, the layer of red light, not because this would give him any sort of advantage, but because he wanted to test a theory. After finding himself instead standing at the border of the very base of the mountain, half-entered into the black layer, Yaan wasn't surprised, since this confirmed his guess.
'So it's really impossible to barge in from the outside, even for an Empyrean. I'm not even sure how I ended up down here, yet here I am regardless. I really shouldn't underestimate the natural wonders of this world…'
Without wasting any time, Yaan entered the mountain.
