A Cultivation Method to Defy Heaven and Alter Fate

The cave was pitch-black, the passage so narrow that one could only squeeze through by turning sideways. Lin Qingzhou swallowed hard, bracing his courage to venture deeper.

The cave was deep and dark, the stone walls damp and radiating a chill. A faint glimmer emanated from a corner; he walked over slowly, bent down, and picked up a black manual that looked ancient.

As his fingertips brushed the mottled texture of the cover, four vigorous, powerful characters caught his eye.

Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he hurriedly flipped through a few pages. When he grasped the function of this technique, his breathing suddenly grew ragged.

The rules of this technique were simple: as long as someone was willing to sacrifice themselves wholeheartedly for the practitioner, they could serve as a furnace, offering up their own martial soul and Innate Soul Power to allow the recipient to gain or elevate their own talent.

His chest heaved violently, and Lin Qingzhou's cheeks flushed uncontrollably. His fingers gripped the rough stone wall so tightly that his heartbeat sounded exceptionally clear in the deathly silence of the secret realm.

Still feeling uneasy, he flipped through the manual again and spotted a signature in the corner of the somewhat tattered first page.

"Feng Qingyun."

"This Seat, Feng Qingyun, failed to ascend to godhood and left behind this book of defying the heavens and changing fate. May those who find it tread carefully."

"Looking back, I had no Innate Soul Power when I accidentally obtained this book. My beloved sacrificed herself to protect me."

"Ha, how laughable. Those people from Shrek branded me an Evil Soul Master, even after I became the strongest on the continent."

"I only wanted to slaughter an entire empire to resurrect her. Why did those Shrek scum have to stop me!"

"Heh, perhaps this is retribution. In the end, I did not succeed. Even with one foot already in the divine realm, I ultimately..."

"Lan Ling'er, I am coming."

After finishing the first page, which read like a diary, Lin Qingzhou fell silent. It seemed this was a book left behind by an Evil Soul Master.

"But if his account is true, the value of this technique is unimaginable."

At this thought, his breathing grew heavier, his gaze gradually unfocused as he sank into deep contemplation.

In this technique, he saw his only hope of awakening a martial soul.

Born on the Douluo Continent, he was born without a martial soul. On the surface, he appeared to have accepted this fact, but deep down, he had never let go of his longing to possess one.

Only by using this technique to defy fate could he truly gain a foothold in this world where martial souls were supreme.

Yet, as beautiful as the ideal was, reality was harsh.

With no parents, no family, and no close friends in this world, Lin Qingzhou could not find a single person who met the conditions for the sacrifice.

He took a deep breath, clutched the manual tightly to his chest, suppressed all his panic and hesitation, and turned back, pondering how to leave this secret realm.

"What on earth should I do..."

By evening, Lin Qingzhou sat at his desk, his face full of melancholy, his brows knitted tightly.

Lin Qingzhou could not verify the authenticity of the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art, but he had indeed checked up on that Evil Soul Master.

In the history of the Sun Moon Federation, there really was a person named Feng Qingyun. The story and the self-account in the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art matched almost perfectly, albeit from different perspectives.

The authenticity of this technique was high, and the potential gains were immense.

He craved power, not just because he was on the Douluo Continent, but because he could clearly feel that the number of times he was dragged into that battlefield every night to be repeatedly killed and tortured was increasing. He was reaching his limit.

In the face of this only hope, a thought had crossed Lin Qingzhou's mind: buy a child about to awaken their martial soul from the black market.

Black markets existed in this world; even Na'er had nearly been abducted in the original story, so the idea wasn't far-fetched.

Yet, this thought made him hesitate for a long time. If he really did it, how would he be any different from those heartless Evil Soul Masters?

But at the time, he truly didn't know how much longer he could hold on. Being dragged into a living hell every night and enduring inhuman torture, he didn't know when his mind would completely collapse.

Thinking of this, his eyes instantly dimmed. His right hand, hidden under the table, clenched into a fist. When he looked up again, the peace of the past was gone, replaced by a hint of ruthlessness.

"To hell with morality! I transmigrated here for no reason, I can't become a soul master, and I have to suffer this torture every night!"

"This is my only chance. I absolutely cannot miss it!"

He no longer wanted to pretend to be a good person; he just wanted to try this method as soon as possible to see if it could solve his problems once and for all.

Furthermore, he still had some savings. Although he didn't know the exact prices on the black market, it should be enough to buy a child.

But the problem followed immediately.

Although his soul was that of an adult, his current body was only a six-year-old child.

Moreover, he was a stranger in a strange land with no connections, not even knowing where the black market was. To implement this plan, he would have to wait until he was an adult.

Besides, on the Douluo Continent, those who could awaken a martial soul and become soul masters were few and far between.

Especially the orphans sold to the black market—ninety-nine percent of them were ordinary people without soul power.

In Lin Qingzhou's eyes, the soul master system of the Douluo Continent was a rigid class barrier, no different from a caste system.

If parents were soul masters, their children were highly likely to inherit soul power. Through intermarriage between soul masters, the aptitude of their descendants was purified generation after generation, forming fixed hereditary patterns.

Occasionally, a talented soul master genius would emerge from the slums, but the probability was pitifully small.

Spending money to buy a child was, frankly, a gamble—a gamble that the child would have soul power and good aptitude.

Lin Qingzhou let out a long sigh. Although this technique gave him a glimmer of hope, he wasn't blinded by it. He knew clearly that with his current abilities, he couldn't pull this off and had to find another way.

He would either have to slowly gather information to find a way into the black market, or he would have to change his approach.

His fingers tapped the tabletop unconsciously as he fell into deep thought, remaining silent for a long while.

Suddenly, as if he had just realized something, his eyes lit up.

"Na'er!"

Wasn't Na'er the most suitable candidate? He could keep Na'er by his side right now, and while Di Tian and the others hadn't found her yet, he could slowly coax her until she was willing to offer herself as a sacrifice.

That was the pure bloodline of the Silver Dragon King; if he could truly obtain her sacrifice, Lin Qingzhou didn't even dare to imagine the outcome—it would be an absolute leap to the heavens.

At this thought, his body began to tremble uncontrollably, his breathing growing increasingly rapid until the pen he was clutching fell onto the table with a "clatter."