Igniting the Will Divine Fire

Qi Tian's consciousness descended into his sea of consciousness to inspect the internal state.

The distinct boundaries between the golden mist and the blood-colored mist remained largely unchanged, though the liquefaction rate of the golden liquid within the golden mist area had increased slightly.

He then turned his gaze toward the Life Crystal Core, carefully recalling the information regarding the innate secret technique, Indestructible Golden Body.

When the bloodlines of ten thousand Gold Soul Clan members resonated previously, this new innate ability had suddenly appeared in his sea of consciousness. He knew how to execute the technique, but understood none of its underlying mysteries.

The Golden Body form was incredibly simple to execute; the process was etched into the consciousness of every Gold Soul Clan member like a carving, requiring only a single thought to trigger the transformation, as natural as breathing.

Qi Tian activated the innate ability once more, transforming into his Golden Buddha Form. His strength and consciousness were amplified threefold—a fact known to all Gold Soul Clan members, including Qi Tian.

However, as Qi Tian sensed things carefully now, he discovered subtle changes. Beyond the amplification of strength and consciousness, his clarity regarding the world around him had also increased significantly.

To verify his intuition, he manifested the golden energy covering his body and felt his level of control over the world within that radius; sure enough, his mastery had also increased threefold.

Qi Tian then calmed his mind, carefully sensing the fluctuations of the golden energy, and faintly perceived a strange vibration!

It was a vibration originating from the essence of the vast universe!

However, this strange vibration seemed to be veiled by layer upon layer of gauze, making it very difficult for Qi Tian to perceive.

He had only managed to sense it because his perception was tripled while in the Golden Buddha Form; the moment he exited the form, the strange vibration vanished instantly.

Over the next few days, Qi Tian devoted himself entirely to contemplating this strange vibration. During this time, he gradually increased the density of his golden energy and improved his control over the surrounding space.

With these discoveries, Qi Tian understood the direction for his future growth, no longer feeling like he was fumbling in the dark.

He ceased his contemplation and turned his consciousness to the other aspect of the innate secret technique: Indestructible.

According to the information transmitted to his consciousness, Indestructible was a secret technique for enhancing willpower and soul strength. It did not act directly upon the soul and will, but rather provided a method for cultivation and tempering.

"Ignite the Will Divine Fire?"

Qi Tian whispered to himself, then followed the execution process—which felt as if it were carved into his memory—and began to meditate.

As his consciousness slowly converged, a faint glimmer of light appeared above the head of the Lotus Throne Buddha-Demon Statue within his sea of consciousness.

Qi Tian felt this glimmer; it flickered like a candle in the wind, but as he focused his will, the light grew increasingly bright.

One minute... ten minutes... one hour...

Whoosh.

Under the focus of Qi Tian's will, the glimmer suddenly materialized into a small flame.

"So warm."

Qi Tian felt the heat radiating from the faint flame. If the golden mist in his consciousness space made his physical body feel comfortable and his mind clear, then this Will Divine Fire made him feel as though his soul had found a harbor, providing a sense of belonging to his once-ethereal will for the first time.

"The Will Divine Fire is ignited; the next step is to burn the will..."

Qi Tian controlled the Life Crystal Core that housed his soul, slowly moving it toward the faint Will Divine Fire.

He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the extreme agony of the soul being scorched, as described by the innate technique.

BOOM!

As the Life Crystal Core was placed upon the Will Divine Fire, an unimaginably terrible pain instantly radiated from it, as if some monster were trying to claw its way out of his soul.

It was the fear, anxiety, confusion, and other negative consciousness he had accumulated during his previous life as an ordinary human.

Qi Tian had always assumed that as he aged and grew in his past life, the memories and emotions that had once caused him distress had simply vanished.

But at this moment, he realized that all those negative emotions had merely been hidden deep within his heart, diluted by the life he lived as an adult and suppressed by the immense pressures of society.

Qi Tian felt the negative emotions in his soul being burned away bit by bit. Those feelings that had once distressed him washed over his memories again and again, forcing him to relive those sensations.

"These are just the troubles of the weak and the fears of the ignorant—get out of me now!"

Qi Tian endured the pain in his soul during this process. As his will was tempered, it also grew, becoming stronger with every passing moment.

During this time, his consciousness found respite in the gaps between the pain. To distract himself from the terrible agony of the soul-scorching, he tried to find something to do.

Contemplating the strange vibrations of the world was impossible, so he chose to engage in some physical activity. After much thought, he decided to vent his power in the most primitive way possible.

He flew out of the Gold Soul Clan Sacred Hall at high speed, traveling to the other side of the planet, far from the continent, and plunged into the bottomless ocean.

Standing deep beneath the sea, floating within an abyssal trench, Qi Tian's involuntary release of terrifying energy—driven by the pain of his soul being scorched—caused the massive fish sleeping in the crevices to flee in terror.

Thud.

Qi Tian threw a punch with all his might against the cliff wall of the trench. The massive vibration traveled hundreds of kilometers, triggering small-scale underwater turbulence.

This punch, which used no energy and exerted no control over the world, relying entirely on raw physical strength, gave Qi Tian a sense of relief. The pain of his soul being scorched seemed to ease slightly.

Seeing that this worked, Qi Tian continued to throw punches to expend his physical strength, gradually transitioning into palm strikes, whip kicks, and headbutts...

He did whatever felt natural and comfortable, and to his surprise, he began to experience a strange sensation.

"Punching like this seems to mobilize the muscles better... no, that doesn't feel right. It should be like this."

"Damn, that headbutt rattled my brain a bit, but it feels so good. I hope I haven't awakened something weird."

"Take my Great Heaven Creation Palm—no, wait, that's the Tathagata Palm."

As Qi Tian moved, he unknowingly sank into a special state of epiphany, repeatedly experimenting with the attack methods he deemed "correct."

"Add energy, then punch like this... off, it's off, change it to this..."

"Hah... that's the feeling. That's right, perfectly right."

As Qi Tian attacked again and again, he subconsciously stopped limiting himself to physical force, incorporating his internal energy and eventually even augmenting his strikes with the golden energy covering his body.

Under the repeated impact of his fists and palms combined with the release of energy, the underwater turbulence transformed into ten-thousand-meter-high waves, one cresting over the other, like an impending apocalyptic disaster.