Clouds gathered and parted; flowers fell and bloomed. In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed, and high autumn arrived.
In the valley, ancient trees towered skyward. Autumn winds came from the north, dyeing the layered forest gold. Clusters of leaves danced in the wind like beacon fires strung along the cliffs.
A clear stream wound through the mountains, its crystalline murmur mingling with the sigh of the pines, now near, now far, as though an immortal guest were playing a zither and singing.
At dusk, slanting sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell upon rocks and grass. Amid the delicate autumn flowers, a young man sat alone. His aura rose and fell unevenly, and faint ripples of magical power spread outward, startling nearby mountain birds into flight through showers of golden leaves.
That young man was Huang Tian.
He had cultivated quietly in this nameless valley for over a month, consuming nearly half the spirit pills and plants he had obtained from Qingliu and Xiangrong of the Sacred Origin Sect. At last, his magical power had reached the threshold of Violet Palace Middle Stage.
To break through, however, he needed to pass not only the barrier of magical power, but the Divine Ability Trial.
He had to derive another divine ability and cultivate it to perfection before he could advance.
For most Ancient Method cultivators, deriving a divine ability from nothing was difficult indeed. For Huang Tian, it was merely a matter of choosing one.
After many years in this world, he had already adapted his various divine abilities to its rules. All that remained was to choose which one to incorporate into his foundation as his second ability.
He had long since decided. His first divine ability, his Immortal Foundation, was Embracing the Great