Stepping onto the land of the Primordial World once again, Li Yi couldn't help but sigh, feeling a little helpless. It was almost laughable: all this time since the world was created, he had hardly ever let himself enjoy a leisurely tour of the Primordial World.
The first time, he had chosen a random mountain to refine Essence Blood, erected a stone stele, then sat healing for over a million years. As soon as he had absorbed the Essence Blood, he had left. The next time, he had been on his way to the East Sea, but had been too distracted by his search for a vessel for his clone to settle down. After that, he had established his residence at Penglai and spent a million years in secluded cultivation.
Only now, a million years later, had Li Yi returned to the Primordial World to temper his swordsmanship. He decided to travel in simple attire, barefoot and with his hair loose, blending into the world in his most natural state. He would feel the land's most primal rhythms, observe the evolution of all things, and experience the countless trials of mortal life, using them to perfect his swordsmanship.
With a sharp sword on his back, simply dressed and barefoot, his hair loose, he wandered alone across the world.
Just as Li Yi set out on his journey of cultivation, the strange peace that had settled over the Primordial World for more than two million years was finally broken. The Primordial World's top powers—the Demon Domain, Fierce Beast Domain, Three Clans Alliance, Ancient Gold Sacred Dynasty, Fire Worship Sacred Dynasty, Heaven and Earth Sacred Dynasty, Limitless Sacred Dynasty, Eternal Sacred Dynasty, and Darkness Sacred Dynasty—seemed to have made a tacit agreement. In the blink of an eye, they began seizing the surrounding mid- and small-sized powers.
The Primordial World plunged into a chaotic age in which heroes tested their mettle. Shattering battles rang across the entire world without warning. At first, even many Golden Immortals dared not leave their caves, fearing they might get caught in the fighting. Eventually, they grew used to the sounds.
Once the major powers began to act, the mid- and small-sized factions with Grand Unity Golden Immortals also refused to remain idle. They bared their long-hidden fangs and unleashed their blades upon weaker forces.
For a time, the winds howled with bloodshed, rivers and mountains were stained red, and corpses littered the land. Grand Unity Golden Immortals began to fall; countless Golden Immortals perished, while Mystic Immortals and Heavenly Immortals were reduced to mere cannon fodder.
Hard times made heroes. In that age of bloodshed, countless prodigies perished, erased from history, while many other heroes climbed to the altar atop mountains of bones.
The Blood Demon of the Demon Domain, the Wolf King of the Fierce Beast Domain, Old Ancestor Lu Ya, Yin-Yang Ancestor, Qiankun Ancestor, Old Ancestor Cang Qiong, Ancestor Tun Tian, Old Ancestor Golden Body, and Old Ancestor Heavenly Snake were the era's most prominent figures. Every one of them had blood on their hands, and their fearsome reputations were unmatched.
The mid- and small-sized powers were far weaker than the top factions. To avoid being swallowed up by the major powers and protect themselves, they formed alliances. The Eastern Alliance and the Southern Alliance were the strongest among them.
After another five hundred years of turmoil, the Primordial World had been completely divided among the eleven powers. Yet this calamity had claimed twenty-one Grand Unity Golden Immortals and tens of thousands of Golden Immortals, while the number of dead Mystic Immortals and Heavenly Immortals was beyond counting.
During this time, Li Yi often slipped into the battle formations to hone his swordsmanship by hunting his enemies. Since he was only at the peak of the Mystic Immortal realm, he attracted no attention amid battle formations numbering in the millions. Besides, most people didn't know one another. Li Yi's presence was like a drop of water in the ocean, completely unremarkable.
And no one would have imagined that someone would go to the battlefield just to hone his skills. It was far too dangerous. Most Mystic Immortals and Heavenly Immortals had been forced to fight; none wanted to die, let alone serve as cannon fodder. If anyone had learned of Li Yi's actions, they would certainly have shouted that he was courting death.
In truth, throughout this thousand-year war, Li Yi had walked a tightrope between life and death. He had suffered countless injuries, both minor and severe, and had even been struck hard by weapons several times. If he hadn't relied on Sword Light Flying Wings to escape quickly, he would have had no choice but to summon his Main Body. But that would have thrown all of Li Yi's plans into disarray.
As the saying went, the greater the effort, the greater the reward. Fighting at the heart of the battle for years, under attack from every direction, he could be cut down at any moment. This forced Li Yi to wield his sword faster, more ruthlessly, more precisely, and more efficiently.
After analyzing and refining his insights, Li Yi created three more techniques based on his original three Sword Arts, bringing his total to six. The new techniques were "Sword Ruling the World," "Ten Directions Annihilation," and "Instantaneous Samsara."
But these three sword techniques were not his greatest gain. His greatest gain was comprehending a kind of power associated with death, which he called the "Power of Slaughter."
At the time, the battle formation Li Yi had joined was defeated, and the entire force fled in a panic. Li Yi had always relied on Sword Light Flying Wings to escape quickly, and he had nearly always managed to get away. After all, the enemy had no reason to send a Golden Immortal specifically to kill an insignificant soldier. But this time, he hadn't expected them to lay a formation as an ambush, hoping to wipe them all out.
The instant he fell into the formation, countless cultivators attacked. Li Yi was unprepared and, in a flash, was struck by several Magic Treasures, leaving him gravely wounded. At this critical, high-pressure moment, he instinctively unleashed a sword technique along the trajectory that would inflict the greatest damage. A mysterious power of death was drawn to him and infused into his sword, greatly increasing the technique's power. Since there were no Golden Immortals among the ambushers, Li Yi managed to fight his way out.
Afterward, Li Yi repeatedly recalled the trajectory of the sword technique and imitated it tens of millions of times, continually testing it on the battlefield. After countless hardships, he finally learned to draw this power of death at will.
This power was highly corrosive and immensely potent. The stronger the killing intent, the greater its power. That was why Li Yi called it the "Power of Slaughter."
After years of keeping his nerves taut through battles to the death, Li Yi's willpower had grown considerably. He had also converted two-thirds of his soul and divine sense. With just a little more effort, he would convert them entirely into liquid willpower. Then, once he combined his six Sword Arts with the Power of Slaughter and forged them into a sword path, he would be ready to advance to the Golden Immortal realm.
At the foot of Buzhou Mountain, a mysterious cavern was enveloped by an innate formation. Twelve drops of blood, radiating boundless pressure, continuously absorbed the baleful energy of the world's creation seeping up from beneath the earth.
Beside the twelve drops of Essence Blood sat a white figure in meditation. For over a thousand years, the Main Body had remained seated here, occasionally opening its silvery-white eyes to observe the rules inscribed on the Essence Blood, then closing them again to calculate. At some point, the same rules had begun to flicker across the Main Body's body, a sight that chilled the heart.
After the eleven powers finished dividing the territory, the Primordial World once again fell into a strange peace, as if waiting for an even more tragic calamity to come.
Li Yi set out on his journey once more, preparing to break through to the Golden Immortal realm.
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