Conditions for Awakening Abilities, Projection, and Spread

"So the cheat I thought I had was actually because I was a descendant of ancient gods, possessed talent for cultivating magic, and was an exceptionally gifted one at that, which allowed me to awaken innate abilities..."

That innate ability was his personal space.

And when Zhou Ming's soul power naturally grew to a level corresponding to his cultivation realm, he would awaken new abilities.

"But can an innate ability awaken other abilities as well? The Heavenly Book doesn't seem to mention that..."

After opening his Heavenly Eye, Zhou Ming discovered that the Jade Tablet Heavenly Book was actually layered. Through the Heavenly Eye, he could see that each realm corresponded to one layer.

The surface could be observed with spiritual power alone. Powerful spiritual power could penetrate the surface to see the first layer, which corresponded to the first realm of magical cultivation, the Meditation Realm.

Only after opening the Heavenly Eye could he see the second layer, which recorded the second realm, the Heavenly Eye Realm!

The Heavenly Eye Realm was also divided into three minor stages: initial opening, full opening, and permanent activation.

"Hm?"

As Zhou Ming studied it, a strange sensation suddenly rose in his heart...

This was... another awakening?

No, it should have been an upgrade...

If his earlier speculation was correct, then his Heavenly Eye had initially opened, but under the effect of the power of heaven and earth, his soul power had suddenly risen by two minor realms.

It had already reached the realm of full opening.

And perhaps even beyond that. After reaching this realm, another two or three breaths passed before Zhou Ming felt the power of heaven and earth cease affecting his soul.

"Is... my talent for magical cultivation really this good?"

Even Zhou Ming was astonished.

He realized that his personal space might have been an innate ability awakened through his bloodline, rather than a cheat he had brought with him when he transmigrated.

But in truth, he still had a cheat.

Two days later.

Only after placing the notebook containing all sorts of experimental data into his personal space did Zhou Ming let out a long breath.

These past two days had kept him terribly busy.

To experiment with and test his newly awakened ability and his upgraded ability, he had not even gone fishing for two days. Only then had he managed to test both abilities.

The new ability was:

Projection: Project an item placed within the personal space into the outside world. Within a range centered on oneself and corresponding to the personal space, the projection can be controlled.

The projection possessed twenty percent of the original item's mass.

When the object was a living creature, only the creature's physical attributes could be projected; its soul, true qi, and other qualities could not be manifested.

The upgraded ability was:

Mark: Viral Spread: A creature bearing a mark would use sound as a medium to spread it to other creatures. Those infected would develop incomplete marks. As time accumulated, they would gradually become complete marks. Hearing sounds spread by marked creatures during this process would accelerate it.

This also unlocked the effect of transmitting sound through marks.

Both abilities were quite impressive.

Although a projection possessed only twenty percent of the original object's mass, it looked exactly the same on the outside. It could absolutely be used as a form of illusion.

Viral Spread needed no further explanation.

Zhou Ming's mark ability was powerful, but one major weakness was that only he himself could spread marks.

However, with this new effect, the countless marks scattered outside could spread themselves, leaving marks on people Zhou Ming could not meet and in places he could not reach.

This greatly increased the efficiency of mark propagation.

Besides these two abilities, Zhou Ming discovered two other things during his experiments.

First, his personal space had expanded.

It was now a sphere more than four hundred and fifty meters in diameter!

Compared to before, it had grown by more than ten times!

It turned out that his personal space had been growing on its own all these years because Zhou Ming's spiritual power had been increasing.

It was just that this growth had been spread across twenty years, making it seem incomparably slow.

But this time, after opening his Heavenly Eye and allowing his soul to undergo the cleansing of the power of heaven and earth, it had surged dramatically, causing the diameter of his personal space to soar as well.

To a certain extent, the diameter of his personal space could be regarded as a measure of Zhou Ming's spiritual power.

This time, it had directly risen from just over forty to more than four hundred and fifty, which meant Zhou Ming's soul power had increased by the same amount.

Second, Zhou Ming's degree of integration with his personal space.

This trait had actually been increasing continuously in the past as well, but once again, spread across twenty years, it had been far too inconspicuous.

Moreover, this trait was hidden. Unlike the size of his personal space, it could not be directly felt.

Thus, Zhou Ming had barely noticed it in the past.

But this time, also because of the cleansing of the power of heaven and earth, it had received an enormous boost, and Zhou Ming immediately sensed it.

The increased integration gave Zhou Ming the feeling that he was 'in this world, yet also in that space.'

He seemed to exist in both the world and his personal space at once.

The result was that he no longer needed to personally release Perfect Qi. As long as something was within the range of his personal space, he could release it from thin air.

The true qi within Zhou Ming's body could also be sent into his personal space for storage.

Furthermore, as his degree of integration increased, the several abilities he currently possessed seemed capable of being used in conjunction with one another.

For example, Perfect Qi could now be stored in marks beforehand.

And Projection could be released through marks.

Taking the Jade Tablet Heavenly Book from his space, Zhou Ming stroked its warm jade surface and thought, This time, I've truly made a leap in strength! But why did Yin Zhong treat me like this? Even if I am his blood descendant, perhaps even... this man has lived for so many years that he must have long since grown indifferent to emotion. He likely did not give me the Jade Tablet Heavenly Book for that reason...

Could it be that he had something he wanted Zhou Ming's help with?

Just like in the story of Water Moon Cave Heaven, where he helped Tong Xin, one of the three Tong brothers, open his Heavenly Eye and cultivate magic.

His true purpose had been to make Tong Xin his assistant.

Forget it. Since he was here, he would make the best of it.

Since the other party had given him this Heavenly Book, he would cultivate properly and strengthen himself.

Though he said so, it was out of helplessness.

If his adoptive father Pei Ju had some other intentions, Zhou Ming would still have some confidence in resisting.

But if it was Yin Zhong...

With his strength, Zhou Ming likely could not resist in the slightest.

Since he could not resist, he could only enjoy it.

No matter what, strengthening himself could never be wrong.

Besides, what Yin Zhong had said to Zhou Ming on the night before he left...

"He needs me to develop a power base?"

Then should he do it or not?

There was no question!

How could he abandon development in this area merely because the other party might be plotting something?

Would that not be like giving up eating for fear of choking?

The phrase "strength in numbers" had never been empty talk. Even when facing martial arts experts, as long as they had not reached the Grandmaster realm, they could still be surrounded and killed through sheer numbers.

Not to mention that having an organization under his command would bring all sorts of conveniences.

As he had said before, no matter what Yin Zhong was plotting, increasing his strength could never be wrong.

And the forces under his command were also part of that strength!

Schemes?

Calculations?

Zhou Ming looked at his personal space. A mark unfolded, revealing Yin Zhong's face, yet Yin Zhong remained completely unaware.

Heh, I'd like to see what this is all about!