Zhao Ping'an Is Born

A month later, at eight months into the pregnancy, Zhao Ping'an began attempting cultivation.

A fetus's meridians were indeed extremely fragile. Even the slightest circulation of True Essence caused damage. Fortunately, he had completely comprehended the initial section of the Dao Scripture, preventing any irreparable harm.

However, just as Zhao Ping'an had guessed, a fetus's meridians were indeed easy to open.

Moreover, since the fetus had not yet been born and still possessed an innate body, any damage to his meridians could be repaired through the maternal body.

Through the umbilical cord, Zhao Ping'an drew upon his mother Jiang Shuyue's True Essence, refined it into thread-like strands, then steadily and resolutely opened his meridians bit by bit.

He first opened the Twelve Standard Meridians, followed by the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, then the other meridians, and finally the most miraculous Taiyin Meridian and Taiyang Meridian.

In only half a month, Zhao Ping'an opened all one hundred and eight meridians throughout his body!

He achieved Innate Full Meridian Transparency!

Zhao Ping'an then cultivated the second volume of the Dao Scripture, preparing to open his Essence Sea.

However, he soon discovered that the True Essence supplied by his mother Jiang Shuyue was not pure enough to open his Essence Sea.

The Ancient Sacred Body's Essence Sea is incredibly difficult to open. Mother's Xun Wind True Essence is merely mid-to-upper grade. I need to refine her True Essence into Dao Scripture True Essence!

Thus, he circulated the Dao Scripture and refined Jiang Shuyue's True Essence into Dao Scripture True Essence that was dozens, even hundreds, of times purer.

Jiang Shuyue sensed the True Essence throughout her body circulating on its own, continuously flowing into the fetus before flowing back out as incomparably pure True Essence. Not only was she not alarmed, she was filled with joy instead.

"Child, are you cultivating?" She gently stroked her swollen belly and whispered with incomparable tenderness, "You truly are an extraordinary child. Mother is so looking forward to your birth."

At nine months and nine days, Zhao Ping'an nervously yet expectantly added his bloodline potential points to the Ancient Sacred Body Bloodline.

The Ancient Sacred Body Bloodline finally reached one hundred percent!

The figure of that Towering Man appeared in his mind as expected.

However, this time, the Towering Man was neither fighting bathed in blood nor cultivating. He was not even standing, but sitting upon a large bluish stone.

The backdrop was no longer an ancient, weathered landscape, but a great river where light and shadows rushed past.

The Towering Man slowly turned his head and cast his gaze toward Zhao Ping'an.

Unlike before, the image did not immediately shatter.

"A tree standing tall in the forest will surely be ravaged by the wind. The Ancient Sacred Body is a thorn in the eye and flesh in the side of every demon, devil, evil entity, and Foreign Race. Once they discover your existence, they will spare no cost to kill you!" the Towering Man said slowly. "Before you grow strong, do not expose yourself."

Zhao Ping'an was shaken beyond belief. Tongue-tied, he asked, "Y-you... are you talking to me?"

The Towering Man nodded slightly. "There is no need for surprise. I arrived in your era through the River of Time."

"How terrifying!" Zhao Ping'an could not help but exclaim. The Towering Man's divine abilities far surpassed the limits of his imagination.

This was a dead man crossing into the future and conversing face-to-face with someone from a later generation!

The Towering Man continued, "I will pass you another technique that can conceal the Ancient Sacred Body Bloodline."

As he spoke, he extended a finger and lightly tapped Zhao Ping'an's forehead. Zhao Ping'an immediately felt as if enlightenment had been poured directly into his mind, and a cultivation technique flooded into his consciousness.

The Towering Man continued, "To teach you forbearance, I will seal all your divine abilities, save for the Unblemished Adamantine Body."

Before Zhao Ping'an could react, he felt a mysterious power enter his body, as though it had shackled something.

He could not help looking up at the Towering Man in surprise. The latter withdrew his hand and continued, "Once you turn twenty, the seal will automatically be lifted."

The Towering Man rose to his feet, standing with his hands behind his back as he gazed toward the end of the River of Time, sorrow clouding his face. "Though generations of sages and worthies fought bathed in blood, and our Human Race is no longer food, sacrifice, slaves, or servants, our Human Race is still not the master of heaven and earth. Instead, because our Human Race rose from insignificance, we have drawn the vigilance of the Ten Thousand Races and become their common enemy. They cannot wait to utterly exterminate our Human Race."

"Take care of yourself. I look forward to the day when you and I meet again in the River of Time."

With that, the image dissipated.

Zhao Ping'an came back to his senses and opened the panel to inspect it.

Name: Zhao Ping'an

Age: Fetus, nine months and nine days

Cultivation: Channel Opening Realm, Great Perfection

Bloodline: Ancient Sacred Body 100%

Cultivation Techniques: "Dao Scripture" Volume Two (100,000/100,000), "Dao Scripture" Volume Three (0/1,000,000), "Dao Scripture" Volume Four (0/10,000,000), "Dao Scripture" Volume Five (0/100,000,000), "Dao Scripture" Volume Six (0/1,000,000,000), "Dao Scripture" Volume Seven (0/10,000,000,000)

Maternal Technique: "Clear Void Xun Wind Art" Second Layer (/)(Disappears after birth)

Divine Abilities: Sacred Body: Law, Heaven, and Earth (0/10,000,000)(Sealed), Unblemished Adamantine Body (0/10,000,000), Blood Rebirth (0/5,000,000)(Sealed), Heavenly Punishment Sacred Eye (0/1,000,000)(Sealed), Kuafu Sun Chasing (0/1,000,000)(Sealed), Infinite Divine Strength (0/1,000,000)(Sealed)

Spells: Mortal Transformation (0/)

Mortal Transformation: Conceals all mysteries, as though possessing an ordinary mortal body.

Martial Skills: None

Bloodline Potential Points: 0 (Automatically gains 10 points daily. Can also be obtained by drawing from the maternal body. Ends after birth.)

Proficiency: 1,770,000 (Automatically gains points daily.)

Seeing that all his divine abilities aside from the Unblemished Adamantine Body had truly been sealed, Zhao Ping'an remained calm. Lying low is fine too. The longer I lie low, the more Proficiency Points I gain, and the stronger I become.

His gaze fell upon Mortal Transformation, and with a thought, he filled its Proficiency Points.

The next instant, an epiphany regarding Mortal Transformation arose in his heart. He completely comprehended and mastered Mortal Transformation.

His gaze fell upon the Maternal Technique again. Mother has had a large amount of her True Essence drawn away by me, and her cultivation has stagnated. After I am born, I will no longer be able to assist her cultivation. It is regrettable that I could not help her advance to a higher realm.

I'll give her some more Proficiency Points. Hopefully, they will be useful.

With that thought, he tentatively added one Proficiency Point to the Second Layer of the Clear Void Xun Wind Art.

Maternal Technique: "Clear Void Xun Wind Art" Second Layer (/)(Disappears after birth)

"It really can still receive points!" Zhao Ping'an was instantly overjoyed.

Without delay, he continuously added Proficiency Points to the Second Layer of the Clear Void Xun Wind Art, stopping only after adding one million points, when he could no longer add any more.

His gaze fell upon the only divine ability that had not been sealed. To guard against any eventuality, I should fill the Unblemished Adamantine Body's Proficiency Points first. I have to fill them sooner or later anyway.

Unblemished Adamantine Body: Immunity to All Evil. Immune to all curses, ignores suppression from any aura, phenomenon, or domain, and reduces damage from spells and demonic arts by a hundredfold.

Zhao Ping'an did not know that the moment he filled the Proficiency Points for the Unblemished Adamantine Body, someone immediately suffered terrible misfortune.

Zhennan Marquis Estate, Great Peng Courtyard.

Inside a Buddhist prayer room that had been established less than seven days ago, incense offerings surrounded a golden Buddha statue as chanting and the knocking of wooden fish continued without pause.

Suddenly, the nun presiding over the ritual let out a shrill scream before collapsing to the floor.

Hearing the scream, the maid outside hurried into the prayer room to investigate, only to discover that the nun had already died with blood flowing from all seven apertures.

The maid quickly left the prayer room and ran to report to her mistress.

Not long afterward, a beautiful woman as pure and untainted as a snow lotus that had bloomed for a thousand years entered. She wore a spotless white dress and a silvery-white Dharma cloth draped behind her head, dressed half like a laywoman and half like one who had left the secular world.

This woman was Su Yingluo, Zhao Yingpeng's newly married wife, the young lady of the Qingzhou Su Clan and the sole personal lay disciple of the Pudu Mountain Buddha Lord from the sacred land of Pudu Mountain.

She walked to the nun's corpse, crouched down, and carefully examined the tragic sight of blood flowing from the nun's seven apertures. She knew it was backlash from a curse, yet could not determine what method had caused the backlash.

"Senior Sister, your skills were lacking. Rest in peace."

After speaking softly, she lightly brushed a hand across the nun's face, erasing every trace of blood. The nun's deathly expression immediately appeared peaceful and smiling, as though she had already departed for the Western Pure Land.

More than ten days passed. With roughly ten days remaining until birth, the Dao Scripture True Essence Zhao Ping'an had refined finally filled his mother Jiang Shuyue's Essence Sea.

Then, he attempted to open his Essence Sea once more.

Boom—

As though heaven and earth were being split apart, Zhao Ping'an successfully opened an Essence Sea within his body.

Under the washing of True Essence, the newly opened Essence Sea expanded at a frantic pace.

Ten Zhang!

Hundred Zhang!

Thousand Zhang!

Ten Thousand Feet!

One Hundred Thousand Zhang!

It could still expand further!

The Newly Opened Essence Sea stopped expanding. Zhao Ping'an looked inward at his Essence Sea and saw only boundless infinity. Even he could not tell how vast it truly was.

My Essence Sea should be an Innate Primordial Sea. Perhaps it possesses some additional mysterious qualities. Zhao Ping'an thought expectantly.

Another ten days passed, and Zhao Ping'an reached full term.

Ten months of pregnancy, one day of delivery.

Zhao Ping'an was smoothly born into the world.

There were no phenomena whatsoever during his birth. It was utterly ordinary.

Jiang Shuyue was drenched in sweat, even her hair soaked through. Ignoring her weakness, she held the newborn Zhao Ping'an in her arms, tears of joy covering her face. "Child, from now on, your name will be Ping'an. Mother hopes that you will forever be safe and sound."