"What?"
"What did you say? Innate—you, you fused and created an Innate method?"
"You fused and created all three into Innate methods?"
Nangong Renshe and the Five Elders were so shocked they went numb. Their eyes widened, unable to believe it.
"Flying Sand Steps and Purple Cloud Technique fused together."
Liu Chengfeng copied out the secret manual and handed it to them. The Cloud Rising Sect had treated him generously, so he had no reason to keep anything from them.
The Cloud Rising Sect had taught him its finest techniques, and he would repay the sect in kind.
Nangong Renshe and the Five Elders read the manual, and once again, they were stunned numb.
"It really is Innate. No mistake—it's Innate."
Nangong Renshe cultivated the Gold Knot Heart Method, while the First Elder cultivated Flying Sand Steps and the Second Elder cultivated Purple Cloud Technique.
Couldn't they tell the difference between an Innate method and a top-grade or high-grade one?
"A genius unseen in ten thousand years—no, a genius unseen in a hundred thousand years."
"To fuse and create an Innate method in such a short time... even a genius who ascends to the heavens and becomes a god would be no more than that."
The Fourth Elder came from the imperial family. He was so shaken he could hardly put it into words. The Su Family, the imperial family of the Qiuchi Kingdom, had never produced a genius like this.
"Heaven has smiled upon our Cloud Rising Sect. Our sect is about to produce a god."
The First Elder was just as shaken, and so moved he nearly wept.
Nangong Renshe and the Five Elders had all seen plenty of the world.
They knew that practically no one could fuse and create an Innate method from a high-grade one. Those who could were all beings who ascended to the heavens and became gods.
Let alone in such a short time.
"You've worn yourself out. Rest properly and recover your blood energy first."
"The sect will prepare Blood Medicine for you right away, and get Mountain Pills ready as well, to help you cultivate the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury."
Nangong Renshe and the Five Elders treated Liu Chengfeng like a precious treasure.
"Let's take out two million to buy First Refinement Blood Medicine. No, buy Second Refinement Blood Medicine, and get Mountain Pills to go with it."
After they returned, Nangong Renshe and the Five Elders went over the sect's reserves. They still had more than four million, so they took out two million at once to buy medicine.
The Cloud Rising Sect had no alchemists capable of refining Blood Medicine of the Second Refinement or higher, so they could only buy it elsewhere.
"Second Refinement Blood Medicine is hard to find, and Mountain Pills are even harder."
"Add another million. Three million—buy as much as we can."
Nangong Renshe gritted his teeth and took all the sect's liquid funds from its treasury.
The Cloud Rising Sect had its own Spirit Vein, which could give rise to a spirit-stone lode.
But several million spirit stones was still a huge sum for the Cloud Rising Sect.
"This child is worth it. If we can afford it, give him the best Blood Medicine and Mountain Pills."
The Cloud Rising Sect spared no expense for Liu Chengfeng, scouring the area to buy Blood Medicine and Mountain Pills for him.
They hoped he would recover quickly and be left with no lingering injuries.
With the Cloud Rising Sect's Blood Medicine to help him, Liu Chengfeng soon recovered his blood energy and threw himself back into cultivation without pause.
He circulated the Gold Knot Heart Method. The Innate Heart Method's power was boundless, its blood energy surging as it washed through his muscles and bones again and again.
It ceaselessly tempered every meridian, making his muscles and bones harder and stronger.
It also filled every muscle and meridian with abundant blood energy, which seemed on the verge of condensing into essence blood.
That way, his muscles and meridians could become as hard as iron, while also healing rapidly.
The Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury trained the muscles, meridians, and internal organs.
By the fourth stage, not only would the body become a treasure mountain, its flesh as hard as copper and iron, but its ability to heal and regenerate would also rise dramatically.
Just as at the third stage, even with his bones smashed, he would still be able to fight, and his wounds would heal quickly.
The Gold Knot Heart Method was an Innate method from the Human Scroll. As Liu Chengfeng circulated it, threads of gold appeared in his muscles, intertwining with one another.
His muscles took on a golden sheen, making him look as if he were wearing a robe woven from gold.
After cultivating his body again and again, Liu Chengfeng swallowed a First Refinement Mountain Pill.
Once the Mountain Pill entered his body, it washed over hidden injuries and lingering ailments in places invisible to the naked eye, sprouting new flesh and connective tissue to heal and mend them once more.
The Blood Sea Divine Treasury used Blood Medicine to strengthen blood energy.
The Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury used Mountain Pills to heal wounds and hidden injuries, ensuring the body was left with no lingering problems and grew even stronger.
After Liu Chengfeng cultivated the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury, his body grew stronger, and his blood energy and vitality flourished. The Blood Sea Divine Treasury and the Treasure Mountain Divine Treasury complemented each other.
At the same time, his Celestial Body grew more powerful. His Sky Eye could see farther and deeper, and the range of his Heavenly Mound's perception grew wider and wider.
While cultivating, Liu Chengfeng never forgot to use his Celestial Body to sense the mountains and rivers of the Cloud Rising Sect, listening to the many sounds and exchanges between heaven and earth.
Liu Chengfeng learned every mountain, river, and stream of the Cloud Rising Sect by heart. He knew all the branches of the underground Spirit Vein, as well as every small node where its energy gathered...
As Liu Chengfeng sensed the underground Spirit Vein, the Golden Lotus Root in his Blood Sea Divine Treasury slowly unfurled its threadlike fine roots, spreading them like feelers.
He tried using his perception, and discovered that the Golden Lotus Root's tendrils could carry it into the Spirit Vein.
It was like a fish swimming in a river, gliding through the Spirit Vein. It was astonishing.
"Could this be the principle behind the Source of the Origin God?"
Liu Chengfeng's perception swam through the Spirit Vein, full of delight. It flowed along the whole length of the vein, then began swimming upstream.
The Cloud Rising Sect's Spirit Vein was a branch of the Bayu Mountain Range, which stretched across the entire Qiuchi Kingdom.
He swam upstream through the Spirit Vein for so long he lost track of time. From the branch, he reached the main vein and kept going.
At last, he headed toward the source of the Bayu Mountain Range—the Cloud Mist Marsh.
As he reached the source in the Cloud Mist Marsh, Liu Chengfeng's perception suddenly entered a bizarre domain. The entire domain was shrouded in darkness.
Through his perception, Liu Chengfeng saw a scene of utter strangeness.
The sky was dim, and torrential rain poured down as thunder roared and lightning danced wildly.
Seeing the rain and lightning, Liu Chengfeng felt a chill creep into his heart.
The torrential rain falling from the sky was actually black, as if ink were being poured down from above.
The lightning flashing through the thick layers of dark clouds was black as well.
The whole world was like a black land of death, as if he had entered hell.
The rain fell harder and harder, the lightning grew more and more frequent, and then something even more terrifying happened.
Through his perception, Liu Chengfeng saw an Ancient Domain in the depths of the mountains. It was mottled and dilapidated, with tombs stretching like a forest.
As black lightning ripped open the sky, corpse after corpse rose from the tombs.
The corpses were of all kinds. Some were human, their bodies still nurturing divine radiance; one look was enough to tell they had been powerful cultivators.
There were also corpses of strange beasts, some a hundred meters long and radiating a terrifying beastly aura.
And there were corpses of unknown creatures, from unknown races.
More terrifying still, corpse after corpse, tightly wrapped in white cloth, floated up from the cracks. No one knew what lay beneath the cloth.
Whether they floated out of cracks or crawled from tombs, all the corpses rose into the air, their feet leaving the ground as they hung suspended.
Every corpse opened its mouth wide and let out a series of rattling sounds, drinking in the black rain falling from the sky.
The more black rain their bodies absorbed, the more likely they were to draw down black lightning.
The lightning cracked and snapped as it struck their bodies. They felt no pain—instead, they seemed to enjoy it.
Laughter rang from their mouths: "Heh heh heh."
Even without being there in person, Liu Chengfeng felt his hair stand on end as he witnessed it through his perception.
He had never seen such a bizarre and terrifying world.
Liu Chengfeng's perception continued deeper and discovered an Ancient Mansion within the Ancient Domain. It stood solemn and imposing.
As his perception entered the Ancient Mansion, Liu Chengfeng saw a man seated above the main hall.
The man wore black armor, his hands hanging down and his head bowed. It was impossible to tell if he was dead or alive.
He sat there, merged with the Ancient Mansion and the Ancient Domain as if he were their ruler.
A terrifying pressure radiated from his body, enough to crush mountains, rivers, and streams.
Though this pressure could not match the Azure Emperor's invincible divine might, it could still suppress the ten directions and leave anyone aghast.
Suddenly, the Black-Armored Emperor opened his eyes, seeming to spot Liu Chengfeng's perception.
Once Liu Chengfeng's perception entered the Ancient Domain, none of the other corpses had noticed it. The Black-Armored Emperor had.
The moment the Black-Armored Emperor rose to his feet, heaven and earth seemed to tilt. His gaze instantly locked onto Liu Chengfeng's perception.
Liu Chengfeng cried out inwardly that things had gone badly. The Golden Lotus Root's tendrils contracted, and his perception retreated from the Ancient Mansion like a receding tide.
The Black-Armored Emperor came charging after him, his overwhelming force bearing down as if to seize Liu Chengfeng's perception.
His perception retreated from the Ancient Domain like a tide, but the Black-Armored Emperor pursued without letting up.
The commotion alerted every corpse in the Ancient Domain. They all turned toward Liu Chengfeng's perception and gave chase.
In an instant, a tide of corpses surged through the entire Ancient Domain. The breath of death rose like a wild, towering wave, swallowing the domain.
"Oh, mother! I'm being chased by a horde of corpses!"
Liu Chengfeng was badly frightened and desperately pulled back his perception. But the Black-Armored Emperor refused to let up, chasing him right out of the Ancient Domain.
The Black-Armored Emperor emerged from the Ancient Domain into the Cloud Mist Marsh, instantly causing panic.
The many strange beasts in the Cloud Mist Marsh—even thousand-year-old treasure beasts—fled in terror.
Even a Demonic Tree rooted underground saw the Black-Armored Emperor and spun around to flee.
Liu Chengfeng had no time to think about anything else. He frantically withdrew his perception. The Black-Armored Emperor was too terrifying; he could track Liu Chengfeng's perception.
The Black-Armored Emperor chased him all the way. Just as he was about to reach the edge of the Cloud Mist Marsh, he suddenly stopped.
When Liu Chengfeng saw that the Black-Armored Emperor wasn't following anymore, he withdrew his perception as fast as he could.
Liu Chengfeng fled in disarray. The Black-Armored Emperor remained in the Cloud Mist Marsh, no longer pursuing him, standing there and gazing at the sky.
Because a woman stood in the sky, her broad azure robes billowing in the wind.
Ye Huijian.
Ye Huijian watched the Black-Armored Emperor, and the Black-Armored Emperor stared back at Ye Huijian.
The two sides held their ground. Ye Huijian did not attack, and neither did the Black-Armored Emperor.
In the end, the Black-Armored Emperor said nothing. He simply turned and left, vanishing into the Ancient Domain.
Liu Chengfeng felt utterly drained and collapsed onto the bed.
Though he had not been in the Ancient Domain himself, under the Black-Armored Emperor's pressure, he had desperately withdrawn his perception and expended a great deal of blood energy.
"What is that thing? What kind of hellish place is that?"
Thinking of the bizarre ancient corpses in the Ancient Domain and the Black-Armored Emperor, Liu Chengfeng muttered to himself. He could be sure of one thing: the dead were coming back to life.
"You've been wandering around again."
Ye Huijian's face appeared before him as she looked down at Liu Chengfeng.
"I was just curious. I entered an Ancient Domain. There were lots of corpses, and there was a Black-Armored Emperor."
Accustomed to Ye Huijian's habit of appearing and disappearing without a trace, Liu Chengfeng calmly told her what had happened.
It seemed there were no secrets between him and Ye Huijian. No, that wasn't right—he was the one with no secrets. He knew nothing about Ye Huijian.
He only knew that she was his cheap aunt-master, and one other thing was perfectly clear to him: Ye Huijian would never hurt him.
"Hmph. Don't go wandering around again. There are places you can't spy on at your current level. If you want to take a look, hurry up and grow stronger."
Ye Huijian glared at him. She wasn't really scolding him; she was merely annoyed.
"I'm already grown. Very grown."
Liu Chengfeng wasn't polite with his cheap aunt-master. As he spoke, he glanced her way.
"You only know how to run your mouth."
Ye Huijian flicked him, then turned and left.
"What place was that?"
"The God Burial Ground, Ghost Walk Mansion. Don't go wandering around there."
Ye Huijian left him with those words, then vanished.
"God Burial Ground, Ghost Walk Mansion."
Liu Chengfeng murmured to himself. The name couldn't have been more fitting.
Before you continue