"Not enough." Chu Tian opened his eyes, his gaze falling upon the boiling waters of the Heavenly Pool beneath him.
This was where the Ancestral Phoenix had once undergone nirvana. The pool water still contained the purest Ancestral Phoenix Nirvana Divine Flame.
"Live toward death." Chu Tian released every defense around his body and actively drew the Nirvana Divine Flame from the Heavenly Pool into himself.
Crimson flames instantly engulfed his entire body. These flames did not harm external enemies; they burned only their host. Mercilessly, they incinerated everything old and impure within Chu Tian, including the deep hidden wounds left behind by countless life-and-death battles.
The pain surpassed even the agony of being shattered by a Heavenly Tribulation. Yet amid the burning flames, Chu Tian's physical body underwent its final, perfect reforging.
As the flames gradually subsided, mysterious patterns of interwoven dark gold and crimson appeared upon the surface of his formerly dark-golden skin. They were the mark of the perfect fusion between Proving the Dao with Force and the Ancestral Phoenix's Nirvana Profound Meaning.
If the previous Chu Tian had been a massive, incomparably heavy lump of crude iron, then he was now a peerless sharp blade, tempered by a thousand hammer blows and stripped of all dross to retain only its essence!
Boom! At the very instant the tempering reached its absolute limit, Chu Tian clearly sensed the vast barrier standing between the Emperor Venerable Realm and mythology. It was already within reach; with merely a thought, he could easily pierce through it.
Yet he forcibly suppressed the urge to break through.
He recalled the words of that phantom within the Primordial Chaos Palace deep in the Primordial Battlefield, as well as that pitch-black seal capable of swallowing even light. Entering the seal required complete, flawless Proving