The so-called Bitter Sea differed from person to person, varying according to the innate talents and potential each individual possessed.
According to the cultivation theories of this world, the better and more perfect one's innate spiritual roots and aptitude, the easier and simpler one's path of cultivation would be, and the greater the heights one could ultimately reach.
But the Sky Covering Method, this Daoist Magic of cultivating oneself, was precisely the opposite.
The better one's innate spiritual roots and aptitude, the greater the talent and potential hidden within them, and the harder it was to open the Bitter Sea. It was like an inborn treasure chest—the more rewards it contained and the higher their value, the more difficult the lock sealing that treasure would be to open.
After studying this seal, Su Changqing gradually entered a state of cultivation and tried to break open the sealing mark. Yet he discovered that it was like solid iron; no matter what he did, he could not unseal it.
After roughly one or two hours, Su Changqing, who had made no progress, finally chipped open a tiny gap in the sealing mark. Though that gap seemed utterly insignificant, it allowed Su Changqing to see hope.
As the gap opened, spiritual energy indeed gradually spread toward it, and vital essence was slowly drawn into the opening. But upon finding that it could not reach the inside, it dispersed again.
"There's hope!"
Su Changqing's eyes lit up.
He then continued trying to dig deeper through that gap. Before long, however, he realized his pace was far too slow. At this rate, he feared that even by the year of the monkey and month of the horse, he would struggle to fully open this Bitter Sea.
"I remember that in the story, opening the Bitter