Lu Yuan had indeed considered the circumstances under which he might meet the Son of the Barren Lands. But frankly, Lu Yuan had never imagined meeting the Son of the Barren Lands in a situation like this. Back then, he had pictured a master duel with the Son of the Barren Lands somewhere remote, a scene brimming with the aura of unparalleled experts. Instead, here they both were, captured subjects. So, when the Son of the Barren Lands emerged from the sleeve of the Kunpeng King, Lu Yuan was startled. Of course, both the Son of the Barren Lands and Lu Yuan were currently bound by feathers, with crucial areas restrained, causing their magical energy flow to be severely hampered. The Son of the Barren Lands was equally taken aback when he saw Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan managed a slight smile. "Son of the Barren Lands, I never thought we’d meet under these conditions." The Son of the Barren Lands let out a cold snort.

Led by the Kunpeng King, they traveled straight down, passing through numerous Fish Kingdoms, finally arriving at the legendary Kingdom of the Extreme Sea. This kingdom lay deep beneath the water, a labyrinth of winding paths. Ouyang Tuo inwardly acknowledged that this place was indeed incredibly secretive; even if Fang Zhuishou, the Shadowless Man ranked fifth, pursued them, he likely wouldn't find them.

Upon entering the Kingdom of the Extreme Sea, they reached a secluded spot within it—a nameless deep valley. The Kunpeng King descended. "This is it. Now it’s up to you, Ouyang Tuo." He unceremoniously tossed both the Son of the Barren Lands and Lu Yuan onto the ground. Ouyang Tuo nodded. With a flip of his hand, an altar materialized from the void. Initially the size of a palm, this altar swelled instantly with the wind until it was as large as a small house, standing ten feet tall. With a gesture into the void, he swept both the Son of the Barren Lands and Lu Yuan onto this altar.

This altar was called the Ancestral Witch Altar, one of the magical artifacts he had refined over countless years, and also one of his three most formidable implements. Ouyang Tuo stood on the altar, quite close to the Son of the Barren Lands and Lu Yuan. Ouyang Tuo was about to deploy the technique known as the Witch-Thicket Art! Witch! An epoch from many eons past. Thicket, like entanglement! To temporarily strip reason and enforce obedience. The Witch-Thicket Art was a form of shamanic sorcery designed to temporarily incapacitate rational thought! And once the Witch-Thicket Art was successfully cast, the Son of the Barren Lands and Lu Yuan would obediently surrender the Body of Civilization. This was the primary reason the Kunpeng King and Ouyang Tuo hadn't killed them earlier; both captives were bound by the Life-Tether spell. Without that spell, they would have absolutely killed them to seize the treasure, as the Body of Civilization was paramount.

"In the epochs, a Witch was born, a spirit of ancient times, its name was Wu... The power of the Witch can forge the body and temper the extreme... The wisdom of the Witch can perform the arts of ghosts and gods..." Ouyang Tuo chanted the star-incantation for the Witch-Thicket Art. This incantation required a significant amount of time; temporarily controlling experts ranked high on the Heavenly Ranking was difficult enough, and achieving it successfully with a longer casting time was truly astonishing.

The Son of the Barren Lands closed his eyes. Lu Yuan also closed his eyes. He had no intention of handing over the Body of Civilization. Shi Feixian was his junior sister, a cultivator of the Dao of the Sword, and he had to save her. Therefore, he needed to find a way to break free. But currently, all his magic power was constrained by the Kunpeng King’s feathers, rendering him utterly static, in a state of absolute stillness! What to do?

Never mind, first, increase strength. If his strength increased, there was a possibility of breaking through these feathers. To increase strength, there was only one recourse: the 'Lazy' character. If he could make the 'Lazy' character radiate light, his strength could indeed increase to levels rivaling those ranked first or second on the Heavenly Ranking, certainly not beneath the Kunpeng King, and possibly even above him. He should proceed with the ultimate cultivation. But how could he cultivate the 'Lazy' character? Involuntarily, memories of his time on Mount Hua returned, and he tried to resume the meditation he had interrupted. Lu Yuan recalled those past days and suddenly realized that perhaps cultivating the 'Lazy' character didn't require such arduous effort. The cultivation of the 'Lazy' character was unlike any other practice. He actually only needed to do one thing: do nothing at all. Precisely.

Cultivating was too tiring; wasn't laziness more comfortable? Forget it, no more cultivation. Lu Yuan became drowsy almost immediately. Seeing Lu Yuan drifting off, Ouyang Tuo mistakenly believed the Witch-Thicket Art was taking effect and rejoiced, continuing his chant. Lu Yuan felt cultivation was too tiring, and while seeking ease, he found sitting too much effort. With a soft thud, he collapsed onto Ouyang Tuo’s Ancestral Witch Altar. The altar was a bit too cold, but he couldn't be bothered to care; he would sleep first. Thinking was too exhausting. Too lazy to think, sleep.

Lu Yuan had reached the zenith of laziness. Too lazy to cultivate, too lazy to sit, preferring to lie down, too lazy even to think. Ouyang Tuo’s witch-incantation had already infiltrated Lu Yuan’s body, affecting his spiritual consciousness. Lu Yuan paid it no heed, treating it like a bothersome fly, choosing instead to continue sleeping. Lazy! The limit of laziness! What Lu Yuan was enacting now was the extreme of indolence. At this moment, his body was completely relaxed.

Seeing Lu Yuan so thoroughly at ease, a sliver of disdain flickered across the Son of the Barren Lands’ lips. This Lu Yuan was indeed trash, giving up when faced with adversity. The Son of the Barren Lands had certainly not surrendered. And under Lu Yuan's state of extreme laziness, even his New Sword World seemed close to falling completely asleep. Shi Feixian, seated cross-legged within it, was influenced and began to grow drowsy, soon succumbing to sleep. Gugu also fell asleep. The Sword Intent Monster, Little Sword, being the wildest and most primal being, initially intended to resist but quickly settled down to sleep as well. When Lu Yuan slept, the entire Minor World slept.

While deeply snoring, amidst the boundless slumber, four grand characters suddenly burst forth within the New Sword World: I sleep through a grand dream, waking once every ten million years. Upon waking, the heavens and earth transform, but does it concern me? I’ll continue to sleep. A fine poem, a truly fine poem! Huh? I can even appreciate poetry now? How did I wake up?

Lu Yuan suddenly realized he was awake. Upon waking, he saw the 'Lazy' character in his spiritual consciousness beginning to emit white light—success! It seemed his strength had advanced significantly. With a slight circulation of his magic power, he discovered it could flow slightly, much better than before. After all, his current power was definitely not inferior to the Kunpeng King's. Of course, breaking through the Kunpeng King's feathers would likely still take a considerable amount of time. What the Kunpeng King used to bind them wasn't ordinary feather; these were the Northern Darkness Feathers, notoriously difficult to deal with.

That was a good lazy nap. Since entering the Central Celestial Dynasty, heavy burdens had pressed upon him, so Lu Yuan hadn't truly rested well, constantly running about. But now, he had experienced a genuine deep sleep—a thoroughly lazy sleep. It felt far better than his rest on Mount Hua, and the fatigue accumulated since entering the Central Celestial Dynasty had been fundamentally released. Refreshed and invigorated! Now, he felt extraordinarily clear-headed!

Excluding the final hour needed to shatter the Northern Darkness Feathers, there was little else pressing. Right, Ouyang Tuo was still chanting his Witch-Thicket Art nearby; it was quite annoying. Although the 'Righteousness' character had canceled some of the effect, it was still bothersome. Fortunately, his soul was robust enough that he could likely endure for another hour. In an hour, he would be free, and then he definitely had to send Ouyang Tuo flying. What should he do with the remaining time?

Right, swordsmanship! The Iron Rules! Among the Ten Great Iron Rules, one was the Iron Rule of the Heart! This rule required comprehending the heart of all things, as well as one's own heart. He had long grasped the heart of all things but had never comprehended his own heart, so the Iron Rule of the Heart remained incomplete. Perhaps now was the time to grasp his own heart.

What was his heart? This time, understanding came almost naturally, like water flowing into a container. His heart, boiled down, was four characters: Wine, Sword, Lazy, and Righteousness. In the deepest recess of his spirit resided these four principles. And this time, in his endeavor to prove the Dao of Civilization, he had forced the four characters within his soul to radiate white light, so grasping these four principles and understanding his own heart had been straightforward. The Iron Rule of the Heart was achieved!

This was his seventh achieved Iron Rule, he believed. Since he hadn't practiced the Iron Rules for so long, it took him a moment to count. He already possessed the Iron Rules of Time, Space, Karma, Order, Yin-Yang, and Reincarnation—these six. This was now his seventh great Iron Rule. There was also the Iron Rule of Adaptation, which was tantalizingly close to completion but couldn't be finished immediately. And the Iron Rule of Strength—that one hadn't even been started. The Iron Rule of Fate? No need to even think about it; from ancient times across countless epochs, no one had achieved it. Lu Yuan didn't think he was so special.

The closer the Iron Rules approached ten, the harder they became to master. And the closer they got to ten, the more substantial the strength boost gained from mastering each new one. Lu Yuan had gone from six Iron Rules to seven, and in an instant, his strength surged upward once more. If achieving the white light from the 'Lazy' character meant he had reached the pinnacle below the Civilization Realm, possessing strength similar to the Kunpeng King, then now his power surpassed the Kunpeng King, a fact he was absolutely confident about.

However, this was an improvement in swordsmanship. No matter how exquisite his swordsmanship, it couldn't deal with the Northern Darkness Feathers. Another half hour was required to shatter them. Ouyang Tuo was still chanting his Witch-Thicket Art, believing success was imminent. The Kunpeng King waited. The Son of the Barren Lands kept his eyes tightly shut, mimicking the appearance of being under the spell, just like Lu Yuan.

Fang Zhuishou, ranked fifth on the Heavenly Ranking, and Wan Si Jimo, ranked third, were already searching for the Kunpeng King's whereabouts. These two titans were not to be trifled with, especially the third-ranked Wan Si Jimo.

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