Buzz!
A soft chime rang out, and the spiritual energy in the entire meditation room suddenly grew thick and viscous.
A high-grade Spirit Gathering Array had been set up!
Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy from all directions was forcibly drawn in, turning into visible white mist that roiled and gathered within the array. The concentration of spiritual energy in the room surged to more than ten times its previous level!
When he had finished, Zhao Gongming took out several thousand-year-old spirit herbs he had found while out at sea.
Though these herbs were nowhere near as precious as the Purple Rhyme Immortal Ganoderma, they were rich in pure plant essence and excellent aids for a breakthrough.
He placed the herbs before him, drew a deep breath, and slowly closed his eyes.
"Nine Revolutions Chaos Divine Art, activate!"
Rumble—!
Almost the instant the technique began to circulate, the dormant magical power within him awoke like an ancient ferocious beast, unleashing a roar that shook heaven and earth! It was no longer the light, ethereal power of the Supreme Purity Immortal Method. This was a domineering, weighty force born of chaos!
His magical power, once like a great river, had now become a roaring sea of chaos. It surged forward with an overwhelming might, launching its first assault against the invisible yet unyielding bottleneck of Mid Golden Immortal!
Thud!
A muffled boom, like a war drum being struck, sounded from within him.
Zhao Gongming's body shuddered, but the bottleneck stood firm as divine iron, not budging an inch.
His expression remained unchanged. He had expected this.
With an ordinary technique, he might have needed to grind away at it for a century or a millennium. But the Nine Revolutions Chaos Divine Art was different!
This art pursued the supreme path of overwhelming force—smashing through every obstacle by sheer power!
"Again!"
He focused his mind as one. The dense spiritual energy in the Spirit Gathering Array poured into him like water, and the herbs before him instantly became a torrent of pure medicinal power, which he absorbed in its entirety.
Bolstered by this immense external force, the Chaos Magical Power within him grew even more violent. It surged in towering waves and, with unprecedented force, slammed into the barrier once more!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Once, twice, three times...
Each impact made his cave dwelling tremble. Without its protective wards, the whole of Jin'ao Island would likely have been roused by now.
Each collision put his body under immense strain. His meridians stung, and his bones groaned.
Yet amid this furious assault and tempering, another mystery of the Nine Revolutions Chaos Divine Art began to reveal itself!
Strands of chaotic Dao essence escaped from his surging magical power. They did not strike at the bottleneck. Instead, they silently seeped into his limbs and bones, into every inch of his flesh and every one of his bones.
His body was undergoing a silent transformation!
The ancient Dao Patterns on his bones grew brighter, as if they were about to pierce through the bone and imprint themselves upon his flesh.
His blood was no longer scarlet. A faint golden hue tinged it, and it flowed with the aura of chaos. Each beat of his heart rang like the pounding of a divine drum, brimming with explosive power.
Under this tempering, the pain and pressure brought on by his assault on the bottleneck rapidly began to fade.
The strength of his body rose at an inconceivable rate, quickly surpassing the limits of an ordinary Early Golden Immortal and even... approaching the level of an ordinary Late Golden Immortal body cultivator!
"Break!"
Zhao Gongming let out a low roar. His will, magical power, and physical strength reached perfect unity in that instant!
Crack—!
A crisp sound, as if coming from the depths of his soul, rang out. At last, the seemingly unbreakable Mid Golden Immortal bottleneck developed a crack beneath this terrifying, threefold force!
Now!
Seizing the fleeting opportunity, Zhao Gongming unleashed every ounce of strength within him!
Boom!!!
The barrier shattered with a thunderous crash, like a boulder split apart by a divine axe!
A torrent of magical power, several times more vast than before, broke free like a dragon escaping its cage and roared into an entirely new realm!
His Dantian Sea of Qi expanded several times over in an instant, while his meridians grew broader and tougher.
His chaos-colored magical power surged through them without pause. Each circulation through his body brought an overwhelming sensation of commanding heaven and earth.
He had reached Mid Golden Immortal!
A vast aura burst skyward from Zhao Gongming, instantly breaking through the wards of Luofu Cave and soaring into the clouds!
Above Jin'ao Island, the winds and clouds shifted. Boundless spiritual energy converged into a colossal vortex, pouring down into Luofu Cave to stabilize his newly achieved realm.
[ Ding! The host's realm has increased. Breakthrough to Mid Golden Immortal achieved. Reward: 2000 Primordial Points! ] [ Primordial Points: 2800. ]
The system notification sounded in his mind. Zhao Gongming slowly opened his eyes, and a beam of Chaos Divine Light shot from them, tearing a fine black rift in the space before him. It lingered, refusing to heal.
He slowly raised a hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"So... this is the power of Mid Golden Immortal..."
Feeling the unprecedentedly vast magical power within him and his astonishingly resilient body, a powerful confidence rose in his heart.
Zhao Gongming was now more than ten times stronger than before his breakthrough! The power of the Twenty-Four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls would be utterly incomparable to what it had been before.
At last, he had gained enough strength to protect himself, at least to some degree, in this perilous Primordial World.
But it still wasn't enough.
During the Great Tribulation of Investiture of the Gods, everyone below the sages was an ant. Without reaching Great Luo, he would never escape the fate of being a pawn.
The road ahead was still long and treacherous.
Zhao Gongming rose to his feet and gazed through the cave at the boundless East Sea, his eyes deep and resolute.
Jin'ao Island was a fine place, but it was still a haven of comfort, like a greenhouse. No towering tree that could weather the storms could grow there.
The shadow of the Great Tribulation of Investiture of the Gods hung over him like an invisible mountain, allowing him no moment of carelessness. Only by weathering the storms of the Primordial Continent and growing through battles fought on the brink of life and death could he truly earn the right to contend with heaven and earth.
"It's time to get out and see the world," he murmured, his voice edged with determination.
After spending several days consolidating his cultivation and fully mastering his surging power, Zhao Gongming bade farewell to the few registered disciples meditating in the cave and quietly left Jin'ao Island.
He did not alert anyone, not even his Junior Sister, San Xiao. He transformed into a streak of light and headed alone for the boundless Primordial Continent.
Above the East Sea, misty waves stretched to the horizon, dotted with immortal islands and suffused with spiritual energy.
But Zhao Gongming's heart had already flown to that vast and desolate land, where danger and opportunity coexisted. His goal was clear: he would seek out opportunities to earn Primordial Points while honing himself and fully discovering the might of the Nine Revolutions Chaos Divine Art in actual combat.
As he traveled, he witnessed the grandeur and brutality of the Primordial World. There were sacred mountains with peaks reaching into the clouds, where celestial birds sang and spirit apes offered fruit! There were also vast marshes stretching for thousands of miles, choked with poisonous miasma and hiding ferocious beasts whose lifespans were beyond imagining. One misstep could mean death and the destruction of his cultivation.
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