The improvement in his innate roots made his cultivation almost impossible to contain!
Originally, his innate roots had been rather poor, and he had not even been able to enter the Earth Immortal Realm. Now that his roots had improved, what had once been an incomprehensible realm of cultivation suddenly became crystal clear to him.
Deng Jiugong could clearly feel that he was about to break through to the Earth Immortal Realm.
At that moment, it was as if he had suddenly gained enlightenment.
Crack!
Just then, his cultivation broke through some kind of bottleneck, and he advanced straight into the Earth Immortal Realm.
At that moment!
Boundless Spiritual Energy surged into his body. He had truly stepped across the threshold of immortality.
"Next, I'll cultivate the Pangu Divine Art Mortal Scroll!"
Deng Jiugong murmured to himself.
The Pangu Divine Art Mortal Scroll could raise his cultivation to, at most, the Mystic Immortal Realm.
Deng Jiugong didn't understand why, despite being able to cultivate it to the Mystic Immortal Realm, the system had rated the Pangu Divine Art as merely a Mortal Scroll.
In any case, the system shouldn't hand out shoddy rewards.
Deng Jiugong immediately began cultivating.
He had already reached the Earth Immortal Realm. Cultivating this technique meant replacing his previous method, essentially converting his magical power.
As he cultivated, Deng Jiugong was astonished to discover that, despite being at the same realm, the magical power within him was rapidly increasing. His physical body, too, was growing stronger at a terrifying rate.
A terrifying hunger hit him. Before he could even convert his magical power into that of the Earth Immortal Realm, Deng Jiugong had already grown several sizes thinner.
He couldn't hold on any longer!
He was clearly running short of energy.
At that moment, the Spiritual Energy within hundreds of miles of his Marshal's Mansion rushed toward him, yet it still couldn't supply the energy Deng Jiugong needed.
"Great Dao Merit!"
With a thought, Deng Jiugong drew the Great Dao Merit awarded by the system into his body.
It was said that using merit to increase one's strength came with many drawbacks, especially Heavenly Dao Merit.
But the merit Deng Jiugong was using wasn't Heavenly Dao Merit. It was Great Dao Merit, and it had none of those drawbacks!
Deng Jiugong's hunger was so intense that only Great Dao Merit could provide him with enough energy. He couldn't afford to worry about anything else.
As the Great Dao Merit burst inside him, his energy quickly replenished, sustaining him.
The Great Dao Merit did more than supply him with energy. It also made the conversion of his cultivation technique astonishingly swift.
Hum!
After who knew how long, Deng Jiugong finally completed the conversion.
Phew!
He drew in a deep breath, still shaken.
If he hadn't replenished his energy with Great Dao Merit in time, he would have been sucked dry by now!
Once the conversion was complete, Deng Jiugong was delighted to discover that his cultivation had reached Earth Immortal Realm Perfection!
In other words, his cultivation had risen by an entire major realm!
His primordial spirit and physical body had both reached the same level.
Deng Jiugong guessed that with the Pangu Divine Art Mortal Scroll, his magical power alone was probably a hundred times greater than that of others at the same realm.
And that was only the Mortal Scroll. It didn't even account for his physical strength.
Even with cultivation only at Earth Immortal Realm Perfection, Deng Jiugong felt as if he could easily crush someone in the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
Especially now that both his primordial spirit and his physical body had reached Earth Immortal Realm Perfection.
That was right!
Though he had once been a mortal, he had possessed a primordial spirit.
At the mortal level, Refining Essence into Qi and Qi Refining to Spirit Transformation were already enough to cultivate a primordial spirit.
After that came Refining Spirit Returning to Void and Refining Void and Merging with Dao, which were methods of cultivating the primordial spirit and making it stronger.
Now, the Earth Immortal Realm meant he had stepped across the threshold of immortality.
"The Pangu Divine Art Mortal Scroll alone is already this powerful!"
Deng Jiugong couldn't help marveling.
He could hardly imagine how terrifying the Pangu Divine Art must be beyond the Mortal Scroll.
After converting the power within his body and greatly increasing his cultivation, Deng Jiugong had used up only one hundred thousand points of Great Dao Merit.
He still had eight hundred thousand points of Great Dao Merit left, enough to cultivate divine abilities.
With a wave of his hand, he took out the Dragon Subduing Tiger Subduing Jade Slip and began studying it.
Even after activating the Time Dao Disk, which gave him a hundredfold increase in time, Deng Jiugong's progress remained slow.
He even felt that he might not be able to comprehend it anytime soon.
After all, Dragon Subduing Tiger Subduing was a mighty divine ability among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Arts. Comprehending it required exceptional insight; even someone in the Grand Unity Golden Immortal Realm might not manage it. With his Earth Immortal Realm cultivation and Top-Tier Innate Root, it would be unprecedented if he could comprehend it!
Still, Deng Jiugong knew how precious it was to master a divine ability.
Fortunately, he still had Great Dao Merit!
He had to comprehend it!
Hum!
Using Great Dao Merit once more, Deng Jiugong began his study.
The Great Dao Merit almost instantly brought Deng Jiugong into a state of enlightenment!
Hum!
After who knew how long, Deng Jiugong had comprehended the Dragon Subduing Tiger Subduing divine ability to Minor Accomplishment.
The levels of a divine ability were: Entry, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Perfection!
Each breakthrough brought a tremendous increase in the divine ability's power.
In other words, with Great Dao Merit, Deng Jiugong had skipped the Entry level entirely and comprehended it straight to Minor Accomplishment.
At that moment, Deng Jiugong felt that if he used the Dragon Subduing Tiger Subduing divine ability, he could easily kill someone in the Heavenly Immortal Realm in a single blow.
What's more, because he had cultivated the Pangu Divine Art Mortal Scroll, his magical power was far stronger than that of others at the same realm, making his divine ability even more powerful.
And as his cultivation improved, the divine ability would become even more terrifying.
Divine abilities were powerful, but they took a great deal of energy to use. Cultivating this one alone had cost him five hundred thousand points of Great Dao Merit.
Even so, Deng Jiugong could probably hold his own against an immortal in the True Immortal Realm.
"Marshal, a report from the army: San Yisheng, a minister of Xiqi, has come to arrange a marriage for Tu Xingsun!"
Just then, his vanguard officer, Tailuan, came to report.
"San Yisheng?"
Deng Jiugong said slowly.
San Yisheng was one of the founding ministers of Western Zhou and one of the Four Friends of King Wen.
When Marquis of the West Ji Chang had been imprisoned by King Zhou at Youli, San Yisheng had advised Ji Fa to seek out beautiful women and rare treasures from across the land. Then, with the help of the Shang Dynasty's powerful ministers Fei Zhong and You Hun, he had persuaded King Zhou to accept the ransom and release Ji Chang. That was what had led to the present state of Great Shang.
San Yisheng had played a major part in Xiqi's rebellion!
The war between Xiqi and Great Shang had begun because Ji Chang had been rescued.
The world knew only that King Zhou was debauched and tyrannical, but not that someone had been scheming behind the scenes, fanning the flames and pushing events along.
The Investiture of the Gods Tribulation was a tribulation aimed at the Interception Sect, one meant to strengthen the Heavenly Court, and one aimed at Emperor Xin!
Emperor Xin might well become the final Human Emperor of the human race.
Back in the reign of the previous King of Shang, Di Yi had defied the Heavenly Dao and gone against the heavens. He had once raised his bow and shot at the sky, resisting divine authority, and died under Heaven's punishment.
Even after Emperor Xin took the throne, he continued to resist divine authority!
A mere mortal, a king of the mortal world, had dared to resist divine authority and defy the heavens. As a result, the Heavenly Dao had targeted him, and the Primordial World had evolved toward the outcome of Great Shang's fortune running out.
The Heavenly Dao's intent was to change the dynasty in the mortal world, replacing Shang with Zhou, so that the world would follow Heaven's will. The human race would then be completely controlled by the Heavenly Dao and ruled by divine authority.
That meant there would be no more Human Emperors. Those who came after would be called Sons of Heaven!
How tragic!
But back to the matter at hand!
San Yisheng had come to arrange a marriage between Tu Xingsun and Deng Chanyu, Deng Jiugong's daughter.
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