Stealing Heavenly Secrets from Shading the Heavens - Section 49

Shaking off the stray thoughts in his mind, Li Zhi began to read the scroll that Jiang Shuwen had given him with serious attention.

At the same time, In the forest two thousand li away, Jiang Shuwen and Jiang Caihong had finally finished their meditation. After taking healing pills, their injuries had fully recovered.

The battle with Nangong Wentian, though intense, had not lasted long.

It ended with Nangong Wentian fleeing in panic.

Nangong Wentian's Sea of Wheels had been injured by the Jiang Family Great Power's Eight Gods Savage Force, making it impossible for him to sustain a prolonged fight.

After ten exchanges, his internal injuries erupted, and Nangong Wentian immediately fled.

The "Longevity Sutra" he cultivated placed the greatest emphasis on the Sea of Wheels Realm, especially the Wheel of Life, which must never be harmed.

As he left, Nangong Wentian's face, which had originally looked like that of a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old youth, had aged into that of an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old young man.

It seemed only a slight maturation of his features, but to Nangong Wentian, it was a sign of damage to his Life Origin.

Otherwise, no matter how severe his external injuries, his appearance would not have aged in just a few breaths.

After finishing their meditation, Jiang Shuwen looked at his treasured artifact, the Demon Refining Pot, with a pained expression. The pot, once gleaming gold, was now covered in rust, as if its artifact origin had been damaged.

Seeing this, Jiang Caihong comforted him, "Brother Shuwen, don't be too upset. This time, we managed to encounter a child with a Longevity Immortal Body. If we bring him back, the clan might reward us handsomely—enough for you to recast your artifact."

"Forget it. Since that young brother had a way to break Nangong Wentian's seal, it means he has some life-saving trick we don't know about. He probably wasn't telling us the whole truth earlier." Jiang Shuwen shook his head, deciding not to go after Li Zhi.

Jiang Caihong said, "But that's a Longevity Immortal Body. Are we just going to let it go?"

Jiang Shuwen replied, "This battle let me touch the threshold of the Four Extremes Realm. Tomorrow morning, I plan to ask the clan elder for leave and immediately return to the clan to go into seclusion. Caihong, I have a feeling that major events are about to unfold in Yan State. If we don't leave soon, we might be in mortal danger."

Jiang Caihong frowned and asked, "Is it really that dangerous?"

Jiang Shuwen said, "It's just a feeling. The entire Southern Domain might see a bloody upheaval because of this small Yan State."

Finally, Jiang Caihong said, "Then I'll go back with you."

Li Zhi stayed at the Lingxu Inn for about ten days.

He read the scroll of cultivation basics that Jiang Shuwen had given him three times thoroughly.

He focused on learning and understanding the various precautions for cultivating the Sea of Wheels Realm.

Only after he had memorized that knowledge did Li Zhi realize how absurd it was that he had recklessly cultivated without understanding the basics.

Cultivation was indeed not as simple as having a Scripture and practicing.

It was like building an airplane—having blueprints alone wasn't enough. Without knowing the details of manufacturing, the plane might never fly.

Cultivation was similar. Having resources and a Scripture, but no experience and no guidance, relying on one's own guesswork, could easily lead one astray.

The Jiang Family Great Power's annotations on the Sea of Wheels Realm were profound yet easy to understand. Even Li Zhi, who had just stepped onto the path of cultivation without systematic learning, could grasp the content.

It also made him realize how incredibly lucky he had been to open his Bitter Sea on his own and succeed in creating such a large one.

If, at the beginning of opening the Bitter Sea, one blindly sought size, it could easily drain one's energy and damage one's own origin.

This was what was commonly called a Dao Injury.

After learning this basic fact, Li Zhi broke out in a cold sweat.

He also learned another cultivation principle: in the early stages, a larger Bitter Sea was not necessarily better.

The larger the Bitter Sea, the more Life Essence needed to be absorbed from the outside, the harder it was to awaken the Life Spring, and the more difficult it was to build the Divine Bridge to cross the Bitter Sea.

It was even possible that, due to a lack of sufficient cultivation resources, one might never reach the Other Shore with the Divine Bridge above the Bitter Sea.

After reading through those basics, Li Zhi also discovered a blind spot he had previously overlooked.

That was the fundamental difference between the Five Great Secret Realms method and other cultivation systems.

There was no situation where, after advancing a realm, one could not go back and cultivate the previous realm.

In the Secret Realm method, the various secret realms did not have a stepwise growth relationship.

A Cultivator could at any time review and fill gaps in already opened secret realms, re-cultivating areas previously neglected.

Take the Sea of Wheels Realm as an example: after completing the four steps of Bitter Sea, Life Spring, Divine Bridge, and Other Shore, one had merely fully opened the Sea of Wheels Realm. It did not mean the cultivation of the Sea of Wheels Realm was complete.

According to the Ancient Mighty One's single-secret-realm cultivation method, the Sea of Wheels Realm could undergo nine transformations at this point.

Only after experiencing nine life-and-death transformations could one say the Sea of Wheels Realm had been cultivated to perfection, completing its cultivation.

Moreover, with the Five Great Secret Realms, cultivating just one secret realm to perfection was enough to reach the Saint realm.

The Bitter Sea Li Zhi had opened, as large as a sports field, could already rival the Bitter Seas of many Cultivators in the Dragon Transformation Realm.

Using this as a foundation to awaken the Life Spring, build the Divine Bridge, reach the Other Shore, and fully open the entire Sea of Wheels Realm would be exponentially more difficult than cultivating step by step to the Dragon Transformation Realm.

In such a vast Bitter Sea, to open the Life Spring and connect to the Wheel of Life would require a massive amount of Life Essence.

By Li Zhi's estimate, just to awaken the Life Spring, he would need to absorb Life Essence equivalent to that contained in a Thousand Jin Source stone.

If he relied solely on daily meditation and qi gathering to accumulate Life Essence, it would probably take decades.

At this point, Li Zhi realized what a huge pit he had dug for himself with his earlier reckless actions.

Given the current size of his Bitter Sea, he would need to consume a hundred or even a thousand times the resources of a Cultivator at the same level just to fully open the Sea of Wheels Realm.

Of course, if he truly managed to complete the cultivation of the Sea of Wheels Realm, then his cultivation base and combat power would no longer be something ordinary Sea of Wheels Realm cultivators could match. Perhaps he could rival the strength of an Ancient Mighty One who walked the path of cultivating a single secret realm, after three to four transformations.

In other words, once Li Zhi initially cultivated his Sea of Wheels Realm, the combat power he possessed could even match cultivators in the Four Extremes Realm, or those ordinary cultivators who had just entered the Dragon Transformation Realm. This was the result of not understanding basic cultivation knowledge and cultivating recklessly.

Li Zhi couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh more than once. Originally, the Life Essence stored in his body was enough to fully open up his entire Sea of Wheels Realm, more than sufficient to complete nine physical transformations at the Other Shore level, and could even push him into the Dao Palace Realm. But now, he had used all that Life Essence to open up his Bitter Sea.

This was practically setting up obstacles on his own cultivation path. He had only just enjoyed a few years of a carefree, wealthy life. Who would have thought that less than a year after stepping into the cultivation world, he would inadvertently wipe out his substantial fortune? Was this forcing him to struggle for money all over again?

What was this all about? After understanding the truth of the matter, Li Zhi was almost on the verge of tears. Originally, he could have smoothly passed through the newbie phase and walked out of the "newbie village" as a Dao Palace Realm cultivator. Now, he had to struggle inside that "newbie village."

Even Ye Fan only needed a massive amount of Source to cultivate after breaking through to the Dao Palace Realm. But Li Zhi? He had just opened up his Bitter Sea, couldn't even fly yet, and already had to run around everywhere to earn money. A thousand jin of Source—that was a thousand jin of Source! The six Blessed Grotto-Heavens of Yan State probably didn't even have a thousand jin of Source in total stock. How was he, a mere Bitter Sea level cultivator, supposed to find a thousand jin of Source?

Soon, Li Zhi realized something wasn't quite right either. Ye Fan wasn't much better off than him; it was only after eating the two Saint Fruits in the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone that he quickly completed his Sea of Wheels Realm cultivation. But thinking about Ye Fan's experiences, Li Zhi felt a bit depressed. He didn't have Ye Fan's "terrifying talent" of being able to freely enter and leave the Barren Ancient Forbidden Zone.

It seemed he had to head to the Northern Domain as soon as possible to solve the problem of insufficient cultivation resources. Originally, he hadn't planned to go to the Northern Domain too early. At the very least, he wanted to raise his cultivation to the Dragon Transformation Realm level before moving around there, to ensure his life was adequately protected. Now, it seemed he had no choice but to go.

After paying for his lodging with Fierce Beast materials, Li Zhi left the small town and headed toward Spirit Void Grotto-Heaven. The Green Emperor's tomb in the Primordial Ruins was about to be opened; maybe he could get a share of the spoils. Otherwise, he couldn't even scrape together the travel expenses.

Taking out the Luoyang Shovel, Li Zhi gently stroked the probe rod and said to the shovel, "Brother Shovel, whether we'll be drinking wine and eating meat in the future, or sipping the northwest wind, it all depends on you now." Having come to the cultivation world, Li Zhi hadn't wanted to return to his old trade. But given the reality of the situation, there was no better option. He couldn't create something from nothing, couldn't locate dragon veins, didn't understand alchemy or pill-making, and wasn't a direct descendant being groomed by a major clan or holy land. No one would voluntarily provide him with cultivation resources.

Thinking about alchemy and pill-making, Li Zhi suddenly remembered the medicine gardens in the Hundred Herbs Diagram.