[Heroic Realm]

His body was riddled with wounds.

His mind could snap at any moment.

The injuries he had suffered far surpassed those from the Red Fire Mine!

He couldn't even enter the God-Ghost Heaven state anymore.

All he could do was use the basic Stealing Heavenly Secrets Breathing Technique, slowly digest the Flesh Tai Sui's precious flesh in his stomach, and produce Myriad Healing Fluid to gradually heal his wounds.

After "setting" his body's operating procedures,

he finally couldn't hold the taut string in his mind any longer. He collapsed and began a deep, restorative sleep.

He slept until his body had completely recovered to its peak. The scabs fell away, new flesh filled in the wounds, and his broken bones knit back together.

Only then did the "alarm clock" wake him.

He felt his abdomen. It was already completely empty.

The Flesh Tai Sui's precious flesh, the size of a soccer ball, had been entirely consumed just to heal his injuries!

That alone showed how terrifying the calamity he had faced last night had been.

But even so,

Wu Dao felt not the slightest lingering fear, let alone regret.

In the natural world,

which predator, apart from scavengers who got to pick up the scraps, didn't give hunting everything it had?

Even a fierce tiger hunting a rabbit used all its strength!

Let alone when two tigers fought over the same prey?

The moment he held back, gave in to fear, counted on luck, or ran away, his courage and dignity would drain away like a breached floodgate.

A tiger would become a dog!

A dog would become a bug!

A bug would become an ant!

An ant was no better than a blade of grass!

Confused and aimless, he would never accomplish anything great in this life!

Whoosh~

He swept away his stray thoughts.

Wu Dao opened the Attribute Panel—

[Physique: Beast King (Limit)]

[Transcendent: Stealing Heavenly Secrets Breathing Technique (60% Potential Liberation)+

Tyrant Whale Fist, 50 years (Hundred Variations)+]

[Evolution Points: 40]

The Attribute Panel hadn't changed much.

The only thing worth noting was that his Potential Liberation progress had advanced from 58% to 60%.

That was only natural.

The essence of the Stealing Heavenly Secrets Breathing Technique was to stimulate the human body's potential when a creature was at the brink of death, forcibly stealing from Heaven the potential that had been locked away.

Last night, he had fought a life-or-death battle at his very limits.

He had practically stepped one foot through the Ghost Gate. It could hardly have been any more extreme. Then the Flesh Tai Sui's precious flesh had turned into Myriad Healing Fluid, healing him and rebuilding his body.

Stealing two percent of his potential

was entirely reasonable.

"The final five percent standing between me and the Heroic Realm."

Anticipation surfaced in Wu Dao's eyes as he took from his chest a blood-red Demon Core, about the size of an egg and resembling a red agate.

A faint red glow shimmered from it, and its fragrance filled the air.

Though it had a few cracks and had lost some energy,

Wu Dao believed that this Demon Core, which contained five hundred years of the Flesh Tai Sui's cultivation, would bring him a huge surprise!

His only regret

was that Mao Ba had escaped. Otherwise, the energy contained in the Demon Core would probably have reached an even higher level.

Still,

Wu Dao was deeply wary of Mao Ba, a disciple of an Immortal Sect.

Mao Ba had too many trump cards. It seemed he could always turn the tables when cornered.

If Wu Dao pushed him to desperation and Mao Ba used some unknown means to drag them both down with him, Wu Dao would only lose more than he gained. It wouldn't be worth it at all.

Gulp~

The increasingly rich fragrance of the Demon Core brought Wu Dao back to his senses. He swallowed hard.

He no longer hesitated.

He tossed the Demon Core into his mouth, his throat bobbing as he swallowed it whole!

Buzz~

The instant it entered his stomach,

Wu Dao felt as if he had swallowed five hundred years of wind, frost, rain, and snow, of changing seasons and passing time. A vast flood of information and memories seemed ready to explode, bursting his head open.

Fortunately,

the sensation lasted only an instant.

The Attribute Panel intervened. The Demon Core settled down and was quickly absorbed and digested.

"Evolution Points +100."

100!!

Wu Dao's expression jolted, delight filling his eyes.

Meng Qingshuang, at the peak of Divine Strength, had only given him ten Evolution Points.

But the Flesh Tai Sui—

even after the second discount, it had still provided a full 100 Evolution Points. No wonder it was a great demon whose peak state had come infinitely close to that of a cultivator undergoing a Second Rebirth!

All his efforts had paid off.

And he'd made a killing—a bumper harvest beyond his wildest dreams!

Wu Dao felt so relieved and delighted that the purest smile of joy spread across his face.

With the Flesh Tai Sui's huge contribution,

his Evolution Points had, for the first time, broken into three digits, reaching 140—enough for a major Life Evolution.

The Attribute Panel's upgrade rule was one evolution per stage, one level at a time.

The last time Wu Dao had reached 55% Potential Liberation,

the information returned by the Attribute Panel had said that reaching 65%, the Heroic Domain, required 150 Evolution Points.

That was a hefty price!

It meant that if he relied on the Attribute Panel alone,

Wu Dao would still be ten points short.

Fortunately,

Wu Dao had always lived by the principle of striving tirelessly and renewing himself without end. He never entrusted his entire future to "miracles."

Through his own efforts,

he had cut his way through every obstacle, raising his Potential Liberation from 55% to 60%.

He had already made it halfway!

Now, when he checked the plus sign next to the Stealing Heavenly Secrets Breathing Technique, the cost shown had dropped from 150 to 100.

Not quite cut in half,

but Wu Dao wasn't all that surprised. At every stage of Potential Liberation, the most crucial transformation always came with the final one percent.

When Heaven Stealers accumulated their foundations, most of it was spent breaking through that one-percent "shackle."

Still,

he now had a full 140 Evolution Points. That was more than enough to evolve into the Heroic Domain.

He didn't hesitate.

Wu Dao calmed his mind and adjusted his state. His intent became an invisible finger, which stabbed down hard on the plus sign next to the Stealing Heavenly Secrets Breathing Technique!

Buzz!

In an instant,

it was as if a little sun had exploded.

Wu Dao felt an unprecedented, surging warmth gush from deep within his body, spreading rapidly through his limbs and bones, washing over every tiny part of him. Like a giant cocoon, it wrapped around his entire body!

From microscopic cells to the body's larger tissues, his entire body—inside and out—began to evolve and transform!

He felt weightless, as if he had ascended to paradise, blissful and utterly free!

The wonder of Life Evolution always intoxicated him.

From Beast King to Heroic Realm.

His body had broken its limits for the second time!

His biological potential and level of life underwent a tremendous transformation, taking a great stride along the path of evolution!

His body's strength and mind officially crossed the threshold from "mortal" to "transcendent," granting him all kinds of unimaginable powers!

For that reason,

this transformation lasted far longer than any that had come before!

Crack~

Half an hour later,

the final shackle on his potential broke.

Inside and out, his body felt as though it had escaped a small pond and leapt into a broad river, free and unrestrained beneath the vast heavens.

He broke out of his cocoon and emerged as a butterfly. The Heroic Realm was his!

Wu Dao opened his eyes. His eyeballs, pupils, and whites were no longer distinctly black and white, nor were they fragile. They were pure black, like iron beads, reflecting the metallic sheen of something indestructible.

Whoosh~

He exhaled a hot, rolling breath.

Wu Dao began to carefully feel the changes inside and out.

First was his mind!

His brain had broken through its limit shackles twice, and its tissues had been reshaped and transformed twice.

His mental will was now beyond human!

Even the most complicated and convoluted problems yielded to him with ease.

No matter how complex the predicament, he could quickly find an answer from an angle that ordinary people could never think of, even if they racked their brains. He was practically a human computer!

The improvement in his intelligence was only one part of it.

Most importantly, his thoughts now controlled every microscopic part of his body—

Flesh and Blood Sentience!

The nerves in his brain could control more than just his limbs, his head, and other major organs of movement, or simple external actions.

He truly had mastered his body!