Huo Suo Giant Beast Statue, Five Years of Accumulation

Jinlan Universe Kingdom, within a secret realm of the universe.

Within this secret realm stood an incomparably vast continent, so immense that its end was nearly impossible to see, yet it floated entirely in the void.

Across this suspended continent stood enormous canyons, arranged in a scattered yet orderly fashion.

At that moment, a blood-red disc-shaped spacecraft streaked over from afar and began to slow down. A moment later, it hovered at the edge of one of the canyons.

"Whoosh!"

The hatch opened.

Lu Ming followed the accompanying escorts and flew out of the spacecraft.

"Your Highness Lu Ming, please look." A blond World Lord-level expert responsible for guiding him pointed ahead. "That is Huo Suo Canyon, where the Kingdom Lord recommended that you go. Within this canyon stands a Huo Suo Giant Beast Statue personally crafted by the Kingdom Lord."

"Huo Suo Giant Beast?" Lu Ming looked into the distance and vaguely saw an enormous, blurred silhouette within the canyon.

This was a special secret realm directly governed by the Jinlan Kingdom Lord. Those allowed to come here were generally powerful experts. Lu Ming had only gained the qualifications to cultivate here because of an order from the Jinlan Kingdom Lord.

After flying for a while, Lu Ming arrived at the canyon entrance and discovered quite a few other cultivators with powerful life auras. Many of them were World Lords, and some were even Immortal Beings.

"So this is the giant beast statue the Jinlan Kingdom Lord specifically sent me to see?" Lu Ming swept his gaze past the other cultivators and fixed it upon the incomparably massive Huo Suo Giant Beast Statue ahead.

It was an unusual giant beast statue entirely blue-green in color, stretching for more than ten thousand kilometers and somewhat resembling an ape.

The entire statue was lifelike. A suffocating aura spread from it, and faintly, it seemed as if an enraged roar could be heard beside his ears.

"Roar..."

In a daze, it was as though the statue had truly transformed into a living Huo Suo Giant Beast, roaming through the void of the universe, plucking stars and seizing moons as it pleased.

The Huo Suo Giant Beast was one of the twelve peak bloodlines among Starry Sky Giant Beasts, standing alongside the Golden Horn Beast! However, it was not a devouring-type giant beast.

It belonged to the lightning and time category of giant beasts.

It was innately cunning and brutal.

It possessed only one Innate Secret Method—Time Stasis!

Relying on its cunning, brutal nature and the Time Stasis Innate Secret Method, the Huo Suo Giant Beast possessed astonishing combat power and extraordinary escape abilities. It could stand alongside the Golden Horn Beast and Flame Star Giant Beast. It was an extremely powerful lifeform in the universe.

At that moment, beneath the enormous Huo Suo Giant Beast Statue, more than a hundred figures sat cross-legged like ants, studying and comprehending the mysteries contained within the giant beast statue.

Lu Ming likewise began carefully observing this extraordinary Huo Suo Giant Beast Statue.

"Wooo!"

"Roar!"

The ancient cries of giant beasts seemed to cross hundreds of millions of years of time and space, faintly echoing by his ears.

The moment he focused his attention on it—

His consciousness was involuntarily drawn in.

"Wooo..." His consciousness was drawn to the Law Secret Patterns flowing across the giant beast statue's two forelimbs. It was as though he saw the birth of a sea of lightning and the endless turning of the river of time. The secrets of the universe seemed to lie within.

"This is...!"

After regaining his senses, Lu Ming could not help but tremble inwardly. He finally understood why the Jinlan Kingdom Lord had specifically sent him here.

He possessed the Heart of the Wild talent. When cultivating secret techniques such as the Eight Forms of the Thunder Beast and the Time Beast Codex, he was naturally highly compatible with them.

Just now, he had entered the Heart of the Wild state in an instant. In that state, his ability to comprehend secret techniques was thousands, even hundreds of thousands of times greater than before.

"Although the Time Beast Codex records many secret techniques, the one most suitable for me at this stage is undoubtedly the Huo Suo Codex. After all, the Huo Suo Giant Beast begins with the Lightning Origin Law before delving into the Time Origin Law."

The Huo Suo Giant Beast followed the path of lightning and time, and Lu Ming's current cultivation direction happened to be those same two aspects. They could be said to be exceptionally compatible.

Lu Ming's original cultivation plan had been to gradually abandon the Eight Forms of the Thunder Beast, whose upper limit was not particularly high, and instead cultivate the more powerful Huo Suo Codex. Now that the Huo Suo Giant Beast Statue here could assist him, his cultivation efficiency would definitely increase severalfold!

"Lightning... time..."

Lu Ming continued staring at the statue before him. His mind gradually emptied, and his consciousness completely immersed itself in the giant beast statue as he devoted himself to comprehending the Lightning Origin Law and the Time Law.

At first glance, this statue did not seem particularly special. Yet once one truly focused on it, one would discover... every part of the Huo Suo Giant Beast's body, every line and texture, every simple or complex Law Secret Pattern upon it—

All were unfathomably profound.

According to Lu Ming's estimation, the Jinlan Kingdom Lord had likely expended no small amount of effort when personally crafting this statue.

Although its effect in helping cultivators comprehend Origin Laws was far inferior to the Chaos Tablets of the Initial Universe, it still greatly increased Lu Ming's speed of comprehension.

Moreover, the statue's most precious aspect was not its ability to accelerate a cultivator's comprehension of Origin Laws. Rather, it could truly display the nature of the Huo Suo Giant Beast and recreate its authentic spirit.

Whether one could grasp that spirit was the true key to mastering the Huo Suo Codex.

"Within the Huo Suo Codex is an exceptionally powerful combat secret technique called the Huo Suo True Body... I had originally planned to avoid this secret technique for the time being, but now I have the confidence to successfully take the first step!"

The more difficult a secret technique was to learn, the greater its power generally was.

For example, once Lu Ming mastered the Huo Suo True Body he longed to cultivate, his entire body could transform into a Huo Suo Giant Beast. At that time, even a casual punch or kick would contain immense might.

However, merely beginning the first level of this secret technique required a considerable understanding of the Lightning Origin Law, as well as an initial grasp of the Time Origin Law. And meeting the requirements in law comprehension alone was not enough—one also had to comprehend a trace of the Huo Suo Giant Beast's spirit.

Those requirements sounded rather similar to the Path of the Beast God, which required comprehending the Beast God's artistic conception.

In fact, the process of learning secret techniques such as the Time Beast Codex was itself a process of determining whether a cultivator was suited to cultivating the Path of the Beast God.

Although being able to master the Time Beast Codex did not mean one would definitely succeed in embarking on the Path of the Beast God, the chances were still far greater than for others.

One day, two days, three days... Time passed day by day.

According to the Jinlan Kingdom Lord, Lu Ming could remain here in one stretch until the Genius Battle ended. The time left to him was quite abundant.

"Why do the patterns on the Huo Suo Giant Beast's arms cause fluctuations in the Time Law? Hmm, the patterns on its two arms appear different, yet they can be ingeniously combined..." As he carefully observed and analyzed the statue day after day, year after year, Lu Ming not only became increasingly familiar with part of the Huo Suo Giant Beast's spirit and nature, but also gradually discovered some of the true substance contained within the statue's patterns.

Being able to discover these things proved that his comprehension of laws had indeed improved greatly compared to when he had first arrived.

After all, the so-called secret patterns had always been displayed there. What was truly difficult was whether one could understand them and discover them.

If one could understand them, that naturally meant one had already grasped the law content represented by that portion of the secret patterns.

In the blink of an eye, nearly five years had passed.

The Cycle Battle within the Jinlan Universe Kingdom had already concluded a year and a half ago. The other universe kingdoms, whether faster or slower, had also all entered their final stages.

The date of the final competition was drawing closer and closer.

At this time, Lu Ming's comprehension of the two great Origin Laws had already reached an astonishing level.