Stealing Heavenly Secrets from Cover the Heavens Chapter 42

Through his perception, he detected six shallow scratches on the Wheel of Life at the bottom of the sea.

This fortune had actually rejuvenated his physical body to the state of a six-year-old.

There was no denying it—this was a tremendous surprise.

What puzzled Li Zhi was why no divine patterns had emerged during his process of opening the Bitter Sea.

Moreover, the size of his Bitter Sea was severely over the norm.

Was this a Bitter Sea that a cultivator who had just opened it could possess?

Though he didn't know how large others' Bitter Seas were when they first opened them, they certainly wouldn't exceed the size of a palm.

Yet his newly opened Bitter Sea had reached the size of a football field.

Was this still a Bitter Sea that a cultivator in the Sea of Wheels Realm could have?

Still, doubts aside, Li Zhi wasn't overly worried, because his body felt no discomfort whatsoever.

Soon, he attributed this exaggerated effect to the Ginseng Fruit, which contained nearly half the potency of an Immortality Elixir.

A complete Ginseng Fruit could allow a Great Emperor-level powerhouse to live another lifetime.

Though whether a Great Emperor living another life was due to the accumulated medicinal power of an Immortality Elixir fruit was debatable, the Life Force within a single Immortality Elixir fruit was undoubtedly vast—far greater than the Life Essence contained in an equal volume of Divine Source.

After completing the opening of his Bitter Sea, Li Zhi didn't stop cultivating.

Instead, while the insights from the Mysterious Method were still fresh, he began attempting to cultivate the true Wheel and Sea Scroll of the Primordial Longevity Art.

Silently circulating the Mysterious Method of the Wheel and Sea Scroll of the Primordial Longevity Art, Li Zhi quickly got the cultivation method started.

But after just one cycle, he stopped.

Whether it was because his Bitter Sea was too vast or for some other reason, after running the method, he felt no sense of progress whatsoever.

Taking out the Eternal Blue Gold Scriptures, Li Zhi infused the divine power he had just cultivated into the book.

Instantly, a profound Chanting Sound echoed in his ears.

It didn't fade until sunrise.

A gleam of enlightened light shone from Li Zhi's eyes.

His understanding of the Primordial Longevity Art had deepened by another three points.

At the same time, he learned a cultivation method called the Longevity Locking Body Art. This method wasn't recorded in the Scriptures but appeared in his mind through insight.

It seemed that the predecessors had deliberately made this method invisible to the naked eye, and only by holding this Eternal Blue Gold Scriptures and activating it with spiritual power could one have a certain chance of comprehending it.

Li Zhi also understood why the predecessors had handled it so secretly.

This Longevity Locking Body Art could be considered one of the fundamental secret arts of the Primordial Longevity Art.

Once cultivated, it could lock all of one's own essence, ensuring no leakage of one's vitality.

When the method reached great mastery, it could even seal off all Five Great Secret Realms, cutting off their connection to the outside world.

This would make the cultivator appear no different from a mortal to outsiders.

Locking Life Essence was only the first layer of the method; locking a cultivator's Spiritual Power was the second layer. At the highest level, it could even seal the Dao one cultivated entirely within the body.

Thus, the Five Great Secret Realms would achieve an extreme internal cycle, without relying on a single shred of essence or the myriad Daos from the outside world.

When Li Zhi realized this secret art, he couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath—wasn't this the true essence of the Secret Realm Method?

It turned out that the predecessors hadn't been slacking; someone had long understood the true meaning of seeking within oneself through the Secret Realm Method. But theory was one thing; whether it could be done was another.

No wonder the Primordial Longevity Art, created by Longevity Daoist, dared to claim that cultivating it could grant a lifespan comparable to a Great Emperor of an era.

Without a second thought, Li Zhi immediately began cultivating the Longevity Locking Body Art.

His Bitter Sea was far too vast; if discovered, he would surely be captured and studied like Little Bai.

By the time the sun reached noon, Li Zhi had finally reached the initial stage of the Longevity Locking Body Art.

When circulating the method, he could lock all his essence within his body, and even his Bitter Sea seemed to reseal itself. From the outside, it appeared pitch black, with no trace of Life Essence visible.

After achieving the initial stage, Li Zhi stopped cultivating the method.

Instead, he began trying to infuse divine power into two treasures: the Luoyang Shovel and the Snakeskin Bag.

Sure enough, once the divine power entered, they reacted. The Luoyang Shovel became sharper, with faint light blades appearing on its blade tip. The Snakeskin Bag was even more miraculous—it could expand and shrink, and even store items, as if its true form was a Cosmic Bag treasure artifact.

As for what level of Treasure artifact they were, Li Zhi couldn't yet give a clear judgment.

Next, he infused a stream of divine power into the Hundred Herbs Diagram, but it showed no reaction.

It seemed his divine power was too thin to support the revival of this Quasi-Emperor Divine Weapon.

After that, Li Zhi stored the three treasures, the Eternal Blue Gold Scriptures, and his backpack into his Sea of Wheels.

He used the essence within his Sea of Wheels to continuously nourish the three treasures, striving to leave his imprint on them as soon as possible.

Stepping out of the tiger's den, Li Zhi looked at his ill-fitting clothes and then fixed his gaze on the Saber-Toothed Tiger he had killed.

Taking out the Luoyang Shovel, he skinned and gutted the tiger, tailoring a beast-hide garment from its skin.

Donning the Tiger skin skirt added a touch of wild beauty to his refined temperament.

As for the tiger meat, it wasn't wasted—they had a barbecue right there and ate it all.

When the sun slanted westward, Seeing this, Li Zhi rubbed his round belly and headed toward the distant mountain forest.

Though he wasn't short on Cultivation Methods, Li Zhi was severely lacking in common knowledge about the cultivation world.

It was time to join a sect and systematically learn that knowledge.

Moreover, now that he had reverted to a six-year-old child, it subtly increased his chances of being accepted by those sects.

After crossing a mountain peak, the surrounding trees gradually thinned out.

A relatively open area appeared before Li Zhi, the flat, hard ground looking as if it had been repeatedly trampled by something.

Not far away, there was a massive black lake, its surface dark and glossy, reflecting some sunlight and seemingly showing a kind of iridescent black.

Just a few glances told Li Zhi that the black lake water was filled with a powerful corrosive force—not a good place.

But if one could withstand the corrosion of that black water, it might be an excellent spot for body tempering.

Near the lake, a huge boulder lay horizontally, and behind it, faint breathing seemed to come and go.

Seeing this, Li Zhi took out the Luoyang Shovel and quietly crept over.

After jumping onto the boulder, he saw an Exotic Beast, entirely pitch-black, three meters long and one and a half meters tall, resembling a water buffalo but with nine sharp horns on its head and five eyes on its face, cocooning itself and shedding its skin.

At that moment, the beast's old, dark hide was covered in cracks, as if its transformation was nearly complete.

Seeing this, Li Zhi didn't hesitate. Taking advantage of the beast's weakness, he raised the Luoyang Shovel and, standing on the boulder, stabbed it fiercely into the beast's body.

"Moo—ugh!"

The beast, less than one and a half meters tall, was instantly pierced through the spine by the sharp Luoyang Shovel, letting out an enraged roar.

But because its spine was broken, it couldn't muster any strength.

Li Zhi, however, was no longer what he used to be. His strength and Reaction Speed were no weaker than the beast's. He swung the Luoyang Shovel again, channeling divine power into the artifact, unleashing its peerless sharpness.

A semicircular Sharp blade flew from the shovel's head, directly severing the head of the beast, which was in its vulnerable stage.

It was instantly decapitated.

Then, Li Zhi peeled off the old hide and stored the beast's newborn body and its head, with nine spikes and five eyes, into the Snakeskin Bag.

A beast that could live on the edge of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Zone and cultivate to the point of shedding its skin must have extraordinary flesh and blood.

It might fetch a good price outside. As a newcomer, earning money was still very necessary.

After that, Li Zhi cheerfully left with his spoils, plunging into the distant Barren Ancient Forest.

As for what else might be in the Blackwater Lake, he had no interest in Investigating it for now.

If the foul water turned out to be highly toxic, he'd be in deep trouble.

Not long after Li Zhi left, Ye Fan's group finally emerged from the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Zone and reached the edge of the Barren Ancient Forest.

They immediately spotted the still-warm campfire Li Zhi had left after his barbecue, along with some tiger bones beside it and a pile of leftover scraps from his Tiger skin skirt not far away.

Seeing this, Pang Bo exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that Boss Li had a barbecue here?"

Ye Fan looked around and said, "Very likely."

"There's a cave over there, and it seems there are two cubs that were beaten to death." Just then, Zhou Yi also noticed the tiger den under the Rock Wall not far away.

After the group walked over, they found a pile of charred things in the den.

And two torn-off pant legs.

Someone recognized the style of the pant legs and said, "Li Zhi must have rested here."

But Ye Fan, Zhou Yi, Wang Ziwen, and the others focused their attention on the pile of clearly carbonized, burnt clothes.

What kind of force could have turned the clothes Li Zhi was wearing into this state?

It seemed as if they had been set on fire.

"Ye Fan, don't you think something's off?" Zhou Yi asked.

Ye Fan frowned and nodded. "Yeah, something's not right."