Breakthrough

That night, Su Fan, standing at the edge of life and death, might have activated the Dao Seed by accident.

As for whether the Demonic Cultivation Dao Seed would bring him any other negative effects, Su Fan honestly had no idea.

When all was said and done, he truly didn't trust the techniques created by those mental patients of the demonic path.

He had barely transmigrated when he was struck by lightning, nearly dying from the pain.

Anyone would have been left with some psychological trauma after that.

Now, his body was already undergoing transformation by the Demonic Cultivation Dao Seed.

What else could he do besides accept it?

Continuing to study the "Demonic Saint Body Art," Su Fan's scalp went numb.

If one didn't look, one wouldn't know. But once one did, one would be utterly shocked.

This cultivation art was far too abnormal—simply inhuman.

At the start, one had to endure a lightning strike, with fewer than one in a hundred surviving.

Those who lived would achieve the Lightning Dao Body.

But that was only the beginning.

The Lightning Dao Body was merely the foundation of the entire cultivation art, preparing the body for the next round of tempering.

The three realms that followed each required one to take a walk through the gates of hell.

One had to use all kinds of extreme cultivation methods, such as the Yang Extreme Earth Fiend, Bone Corroding Yin Wind, and Nine Nether Profound Water, to temper the body again and again.

Every round of tempering was a gamble with one's life.

The cultivation art only contained the first half. Who knew how abnormal the final five realms would be?

Even if someone beat him to death, Su Fan would never practice the next three stages of the "Demonic Saint Body Art."

He wasn't a masochist.

Fortunately, his body had already achieved the "Lightning Dao Body."

With such an excellent physical foundation, there were plenty of things he could practice. Why insist on courting death?

Although he had no intention of continuing, Su Fan still read through the first stage of the cultivation art in its entirety.

Unexpectedly, it brought him a pleasant surprise.

Once he fully cultivated the first stage of the "Demonic Saint Body Art," he would possess two divine abilities.

The "Lightning Eye Dharma Eye" could not only see through falsehoods, illusions, restrictions, concealment, and other arts, but also restrain all Evil Spirits and ghosts. It could even attack an opponent's soul.

The "Lightning Ghost Step," meanwhile, could achieve short-range teleportation. One would move like phantom lightning and appear as elusive as a ghost.

Divine abilities were different from spells. Anyone could learn spells, while divine abilities could only be innately possessed by those with special Dao Bodies and Dharma Bodies.

Once he completely mastered them, his combat power would increase geometrically.

If anyone tried to use a secret art against him again, the "Lightning Eye Dharma Eye" would see through it at a glance.

The "Lightning Ghost Step" was even more heaven-defying.

He was a body cultivator. If he approached an opponent by surprise during a fight, his chances of victory would be far too great.

Especially after his body had been transformed by the Lightning Dao Seed, all its abilities would surely become even stronger.

Once he got close, even a Qi Refining Mid-stage Cultivator wouldn't be able to withstand his Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes.

If he later raised both divine abilities to the "Subtle" level, just thinking about it made him excited.

Unable to wait, Su Fan could no longer suppress his excitement and wished he could learn these two divine abilities immediately.

But after reading the explanations of the two divine abilities, he was instantly dumbfounded.

Cultivating these two divine abilities also required a threshold.

He had to be in a state where heavenly lightning had entered his body before he could even begin cultivating them—in other words, he had to be struck by lightning again.

"Fuck..."

Su Fan was furious and smashed the book hard onto the heated brick bed.

"There isn't a single normal person in the demonic sect. They're all fucking mental patients..."

He wasn't learning them. Whoever wanted to learn them could go ahead.

Anyway, he didn't want to be struck by lightning again.

Practice the sword. Practice the sword.

Su Fan really wanted to kill the person who had created this cultivation art with one slash.

It was simply infuriating.

He could see it but couldn't have it. Wasn't that maddening?

Su Fan hacked away in the courtyard again and again like a madman.

He only wanted to vent all the pent-up frustration in his heart in one furious burst.

Only after he was utterly exhausted did he collapse onto the ground and stare up at the sky.

Forget it, forget it. They were only two spells.

It wasn't until dusk that he climbed to his feet and returned to the heated brick bed inside the house.

Sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion, he began cultivating the Primordial Chaos Technique.

After circulating the technique through nine cycles once more, Su Fan was just about to end his cultivation.

[Primordial Chaos Technique +1]

A line of information suddenly popped up before his eyes, and Su Fan froze.

"It moved..."

Suppressing his excitement, he continued circulating the technique.

"Crack..."

He had no idea how much time passed before a sound seemed to ring beside his ear.

His entire body was as though wrapped in a mother's womb. Every pore opened, and the surrounding spiritual energy continuously poured into his body.

Only after completing another nine cycles did Su Fan open his eyes.

He hurriedly opened the panel, his eyes fixed on the progress of his realm.

[Name] Su Fan

[Remaining Lifespan] 36/91 years

[Realm] Qi Refining Third Layer: 1/100

[ cultivation arts]

1. Primordial Chaos Technique (First Order): 23/100.

2. Body Tempering Art (Second Order): 45/200

3. Demonic Saint Body Art (First Order): 100/100

[Spells]

1. Qi Gazing Art (Great Accomplishment): 297/400

2. Light Body Art (Subtle): 2/800

3. Spirit Concealment Art (Great Accomplishment): 245/400

4. Xingyi Quan (Beginner): 10/100

5. Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes (Minor Accomplishment): 16/200

[Skills] None

[Divine Abilities] None

"I finally broke through..."

The bottleneck that had trapped him for more than a decade had finally been overcome.

What was lost in the east was gained in the west.

Breaking through to the Qi Refining Third Layer caused the gloom that had originally weighed on his heart to vanish completely, like clouds parting and mist dispersing.

No matter how powerful the two divine abilities were, compared with breaking through his bottleneck, they were nothing.

The cultivation realm was the foundation of the Great Dao.

"Wait..."

His spiritual energy had nearly doubled. He had never heard of anyone else's spiritual energy increasing so much after a breakthrough.

Could it be...

Were all these changes caused by the Lightning Dao Seed transforming his body?

The more Su Fan thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

These past few days, he had always felt that something about his body was different, but he couldn't put his finger on what had changed.

After breaking through to the Qi Refining Third Layer, Su Fan decided to begin his path of talisman crafting.

During this period, he had been training in the basics of talisman crafting, with fairly good results.

It was time to give it a try.

Before breaking through, Su Fan truly hadn't been very confident.

That evening, he adjusted his condition and sat before the heated brick-bed table.

Talisman Paper, a Talisman Brush, and Talisman Ink were arranged on the table.

The Talisman Brush was six inches long and glossy all over. Its bristles were milky white, made from the fine fur of a White-tailed Spirit Fox.

The Talisman Ink was a bright-red powder that dissolved upon contact with water. It had been refined by mixing the blood of demon beasts with cinnabar ore powder.

Talisman Making Tools were specially refined objects containing spirituality. No worldly item could replace them.

Ancient cultivators observed Heaven and Earth, looked down upon the laws, and comprehended the countless wonders of lightning, wind, and rain, ultimately copying them into written forms.

The art of talisman crafting was varied and ever-changing. Spirit talismans, talisman arrays, restrictions, magic formations, Array Diagrams—all belonged to it.

With one's thoughts as the brush, True Essence as the ink, and the void of Heaven and Earth as the paper, one could create at will and bring things into being with a thought.

When a talisman was completed, Heaven and Earth wept, and ghosts and gods were shocked.

The talisman Su Fan was making today was the relatively simple low-grade "Muting Talisman."

He had no idea how many times he had practiced over the past few days. He had long since become extremely skilled.

Holding his breath and concentrating, he completely cast aside every distracting thought in his mind.

While drawing the talisman, he also had to focus his thoughts and silently recite the incantation.

Using the brush as an extension of his touch, Su Fan completely infused the incantation, his thoughts, and his mental power into the talisman runes.

Holding the brush and sweeping it across the paper, he dotted, flicked, hooked, stroked, and spun. A dense and intricate pattern gradually appeared on the Talisman Paper.

"Bang!"

Just as the talisman was about to be completed, the Talisman Paper on the heated brick-bed table suddenly exploded.

"It failed..."

Su Fan shook his head and gave a bitter laugh.

He had thought he was practicing quite well, but who could have known that this talisman would explode before he had even drawn half of it?

He didn't continue drawing. Instead, he picked up the talisman manual and analyzed the reason for his failure just now.

Then he continued trying, but the next several talismans all exploded.

Su Fan grew somewhat agitated. He knew that at a time like this, he needed to rest.

He went into the courtyard and gazed up at the starry sky.

His emotions had been rather restless lately.

Could it be that his internal fire was rising?

No. It should be some side effect of the Lightning Dao Seed transforming his body.

Su Fan spread his legs slightly, assumed a fist stance, and began practicing Xingyi Quan.

His breathing was deep and steady. He circulated his spiritual energy with the changes in his movements while visualizing the forms of demon beasts in his mind.

Bear Collision, Tiger Collapse, Flood Dragon Whip, Bull Ram, Ape Chop, Falcon Sweep, Elephant Stomp—the movements were slow, but he put all his strength into every one.

Before long, Su Fan was already drenched in sweat.

At that moment, his chest suddenly grew scorching hot. With a thunderous burst, countless streams of heat exploded outward and spread throughout his body.

"What is this..."

Even though he was already exhausted, he knew that he absolutely could not stop now.

He began performing the fist technique again and again.

At that moment, Su Fan had completely forgotten his fatigue.

His body was scorching hot, like a blazing red furnace, while steaming mist spread throughout the small courtyard.

The forms of several demon beasts in his mind also grew increasingly clear.

"Ao Wu..."

Su Fan seemed to hear an angry roar explode heavily beside his ear.

A gigantic Azure Bear, more than thirty meters tall, was vividly outlined in his mind.

"Bear Mountain Lean..."

The Azure Bear twisted its sturdy waist and slammed its side into the great mountain ahead.

"Boom!"

The earth shook and the mountains trembled, while the sound thundered across the four directions.

As one vivid ancient demon beast after another took shape in his mind, he began performing Xingyi Quan with all his strength, following the beasts' movements.

Su Fan had completely immersed himself in it and could not extricate himself.

It was as if he had been transported to the endless wilderness of ancient times, personally observing ancient demon beasts in battle.

At that moment, within Su Fan's body, threads of violet lightning seeped from the Lightning Dao Seed and circulated repeatedly along his meridians.

Wherever the violet lightning passed, it tempered his soul, organs, flesh, skin, bones, tendons, and blood marrow.

Whether meridians, bones, tendons, flesh, or internal organs, everything was continuously tempered and transformed, like parched land finally receiving sweet rain.

The fresh blood, purer and denser after the transformation, surged freely and exuberantly through his vessels.