Breaking Through to the Dao Palace

Breaking Through to the Dao Palace

After a full seven days, Zhou Tong finally comprehended Emperor Venerable's Dao Palace Realm scripture.

At the same time, he gained a thorough understanding of Emperor Venerable's Dao Palace Realm.

The Dao Palace Realm consisted of the five Dao Palaces of the Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, and Kidney. The Dao Palaces stored essence without leaking it, nurtured life without decay, and formed an exceptionally powerful realm within the human body.

Five Dao Palaces, five Deities. Those who could nurture their deities would not die. With the five deities ever-present, eternal youth could be maintained. They connected to the Five Energies and linked to heaven and earth, enduring without end and existing forever in the world.

The Daoist cultivators' so-called "Five Energies in the chest" actually referred to the Dao Palace Realm. This realm was of vital importance. To achieve immortality, one had to study it deeply and evolve the Five Elements.

Within the Ten Cave Heaven Divine Rings, a huge mass of Divine Spring had been completely refined into hazy mist, which spread out and enveloped Zhou Tong entirely.

Using the Divine Spring of the Primordial Forbidden Land as a resource to advance into the Dao Palace Realm—there was probably no more extravagant method of advancement in the entire world.

Let glory remain glorious and withering remain withered, neither biased nor sorrowful nor joyful. Zhou Tong could clearly see a Heavenly Palace above his Wheel Sea. Once he charged inside, he would enter an entirely different world.

"Feathered Ascension, then ascend another layer!"

His Wheel Sea shone. Purple waves surged skyward within the Sea of Bitterness, while feather-like patterns glimmered as though transforming into an immortal light that shot straight into the Ninth Heaven.

Boom!

With that "feathered ascension," Zhou Tong abruptly entered a completely new world.

This place was Full of Life. The energy of the Five Elements instantly transformed into five dragon-like streams of divine smoke that soared toward the heavens.

However, the Purple Sun Lamp beside Zhou Tong gave a slight tremble. Its hazy radiance immediately covered the Five Energies Divine Smoke completely, preventing it from leaking out.

Zhou Tong knew that with his current foundation and physique, his breakthrough would certainly produce astonishing phenomena. Thus, he had directly used the Purple Sun Lamp to seal everything away and prevent outsiders from spying on him.

Whenever possible, he had to protect every phenomenon that arose from him. Otherwise, someone in the cultivation world might be knowledgeable enough to see through his secrets from those phenomena.

Especially the passersby of the Shrouding the Heavens World—they were absurdly well-informed. No secret lore could be concealed from them.

And now that he had advanced into the Dao Palace Realm, Zhou Tong faced a choice.

Of the five Dao Palaces—Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, and Kidney—which one should he cultivate first?

"The spleen is the foundation of Acquired Essence, the source of transformation and generation. It governs the blood of all meridians and controls the body's muscles. I should choose the Spleen Divine Treasury first." After some thought, Zhou Tong immediately decided on his first Dao Palace.

Within the Dao Palace world was nothing but mist. There was nothing at all, and he could only wait to uncover it himself. Following his instincts, he searched for his Spleen Divine Treasury.

"The spleen belongs to central earth and irrigates the four sides. Spleen qi disperses essence upward to the lungs; turbid qi returns to the heart and excess essence enters the veins; essence disperses to the liver and excess qi enters the tendons; the kidneys receive the essence of the viscera and store it."

It could be said that the spleen was the center of the human body's Five Viscera and six bowels. Everything was transformed from this Divine Treasury. Following his senses, Zhou Tong quickly broke through the mist and arrived at its side.

The Spleen Deity resembled a horse sickle and had yet to take human form, indicating that it was still in the process of being born. Cultivation of the Dao Palace Realm began from this step.

Essence and qi formed the foundation of the human body. Upon entering the Dao Palace Realm, one had to transform essence into deity and allow the Deity to be born.

"The way of all creation is that yin and yang must unite before divine brilliance appears..." Zhou Tong silently recited Emperor Venerable's ancient scripture.

Innate Essence accompanied a person from birth. It was the beginning of one's personal heaven and earth. When form was complete, spirit was born; when form perished, spirit was extinguished.

Acquired Essence, meanwhile, had to be refined and obtained, replenishing the spirit and nurturing life.

"The spleen is an earth organ, storing intent and wisdom..."

The human body corresponded to heaven, earth, and the universe. The Spleen Divine Treasury was the foundation of the human body, the basis that bore all things, and the root of the Five Elements' circulation within the body.

This Divine Treasury drove the circulation of the body's essence and qi, operating its vitality.

Within the Ten Cave Heaven Divine Rings, boundless essence and qi poured into his body. Instantly—

Boom!

The horse-sickle-shaped Divine Treasury directly dispersed the mist. Zhou Tong immediately felt utter comfort throughout his body. His pores opened, and a strange power flowed out, nourishing every inch of flesh and blood.

He had only just broken through to the Dao Palace Realm, yet Innate Essence immediately began to transform and emerge. The Spleen Divine Treasury was like the earth bearing all things, as though heaven and earth had first opened and all creation had gained a foundation.

The Dao Palace Realm had now opened!

"Dao Palace Realm, One Layer!"

Zhou Tong rose to his feet. At that moment, he felt as though he had merged with the great Dao of heaven and earth. His entire body was one with the Dao. With a single step, Dao Rhyme emerged and patterns formed...

His steps were light. With the gentlest tap, his whole body drifted into the air as though he possessed no weight at all.

"So this is the Dao Palace Realm... It truly is more profound than the previous Sea of Wheels Realm!"

His entire body turned bright yellow before gradually becoming transparent. Earth Essence cleansed away all impurities. Inside and outside the Dao Palace, everything became clear and pure, while his flesh gradually turned crystalline. Yet this phenomenon swiftly disappeared.

Zhou Tong had already cultivated to the Heavenly Cave Realm Paragon through the Chaotic Ancient Method, and had even pushed beyond that foundation to make the utmost breakthrough. Therefore, after breaking through to the Dao Palace Realm, he easily gained control over his own power.

He brought together the fingers of his right hand like a blade, threads of lightning flickering between them. With a casual slash across his arm, a bloody mark immediately appeared.

"Sure enough, only from the Dao Palace Realm onward does my Azure Heaven Hegemonic Blood truly begin to reveal itself. Purple blood has already begun to show signs of emerging." Zhou Tong looked at the bloody mark and spoke softly.

Although the wound still bled bright red, strands of purple had already appeared amid the scarlet blood.

He was only at the first layer of the Dao Palace Realm now. As his cultivation advanced, the purple in his blood would grow increasingly abundant.

Once the Dao Palace Realm reached completion, the blood in his body would basically turn purple, with only faint traces of scarlet remaining. Only upon advancing into the Four Extremities Realm would all the blood in his body completely transform into purple, and his Hegemon Body would attain minor completion.

"However, cultivation of my Azure Heaven Hegemonic Blood in the Dao Palace Realm truly consumes a massive amount of resources!" Zhou Tong then looked inside his Ten Cave Heaven Divine Rings, where the Divine Spring had diminished somewhat.

The more powerful the physique, the more terrifying the resources it consumed. When the Innate Sacred Body Dao Embryo was born, it even required the Life Essence of an entire Life Ancient Star to sustain it.

The more resources it consumed, the more solid the foundation it represented.

This was the enormous early-stage advantage of powerful physiques. Even when their cultivation was piled up with resources, their foundations were sturdier than those who painstakingly cultivated step by step.

"As expected of a physique on the same level as the Primordial Sacred Body. I fear breaking through to the Four Extremities Realm will require ten million jin of Source... No, eight million jin will be enough!" After calculating carefully, Zhou Tong felt somewhat fortunate.

Fortunately, when he cultivated on Kunlun Mountain, he had opened many of the Gates of Potential within his Sea of Wheels Realm.

Although he could not make direct use of them at the time, they could save him some resources during cultivation in the Dao Palace Realm.

Under normal circumstances, of the ten million jin of Source needed to advance from the Dao Palace Realm to the Four Extremities Realm, roughly twenty percent of the power would flow into the Sea of Wheels Realm and further expand the Wheel Sea.

But Zhou Tong's Wheel Sea had already opened those Gates of Potential, saving that twenty percent of power...

"Still, no matter what, Source is indispensable! I need to make a trip to the Northern Region!" Zhou Tong rose to his feet and immediately set off for the Northern Region.