A Strange Reaction

Ju Hua had practiced the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens since he was young, which was the very reason he could inherit the immortal estate left behind by Sanshou Daoist. Judging by the descriptions in Desolate Era, Sanshou Daoist was a True God, so the successor he sought was naturally one who followed the path of Gods and Demons!

Cultivating the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens requires, first and foremost, comprehension, followed by the strength of one's soul.

Only with strong comprehension can one avoid being stuck at bottlenecks, and only with a strong soul can one clearly sense the two stars—the Taiyin and the Sun—and guide their power to temper one's own body.

If one's comprehension is insufficient, it is extremely easy to get stuck at a bottleneck and never make progress again. If the soul is not strong, cultivation will be slow; if others can guide a hundred portions of the power of the Taiyin and the Sun while you can only guide one, how could your cultivation speed ever compare to theirs?

Ju Hua's comprehension had been quite excellent before; otherwise, he would not have been able to inherit the immortal estate, let alone become an Earth Immortal within three hundred years.

However, after Ju Hua cultivated the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens to the thirteenth level, he had not made any progress for a long time. Logically speaking, the thirteenth to fifteenth levels of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens were equivalent to the Primal Core level, and even if there were bottlenecks, they should only have been minor ones. Given Ju Hua's talent, he should not have been stuck, yet he was stuck nonetheless.

There were many reasons for this, but the most significant was that the former Ju Hua had been so focused on crossing the Celestial Immortal Tribulation that he had neglected this aspect. Otherwise, he would never have been trapped here.

"If the descriptions in Desolate Era are true, then I never managed to cultivate the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens to the sixteenth level until my death. In other words, I remained a Primal Core God-Demon throughout my life!" Ju Hua could not help but shake his head.

He wondered how Ji Ning, the protagonist of Desolate Era, had cultivated. It seemed as simple as eating and drinking for him to practice the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens; apart from encountering a small bottleneck at the very beginning, it had been smooth sailing thereafter.

From the fifteenth level to the sixteenth—that is, from Primal Core to Void Refinement—what a massive hurdle that was! Yet, for him, it was a breakthrough whenever he pleased.

"My Zhuanshui Clan also possesses a legacy visualization map, the Battle Map of Emperor Zhuanxu. I have visualized this map since I was a child, so my soul is far stronger than that of ordinary Earth Immortals or Loose Immortals. Now that my talent has inexplicably increased by who knows how many times, I should have no problem cultivating the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens. I will absolutely not be stuck at the Primal Core level for the rest of my life as described in Desolate Era!"

Ju Hua pondered silently for a moment, then settled his mind and began to reach out to the two stars, the Taiyin and the Sun.

Relying on a soul far more powerful than that of ordinary Earth Immortals or Loose Immortals, Ju Hua quickly sensed the two massive stars in the Three Realms: one with a surface of infinite raging flames, illuminating endless worlds, and the other with a surface of endless ice, its cold moonlight shrouding every world.

Soon—

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Vast amounts of the power of the Taiyin and the Sun converged. The two forces—one freezing, one scorching—tempered Ju Hua's body together, and strands of new divine patterns began to appear upon his skin.

Ju Hua had lost count of how many times he had undergone this same process, so he was naturally accustomed to it. The monotonous cultivation continued, and the better part of the night flashed by in an instant.

At a certain moment, a vortex suddenly appeared within Ju Hua's otherwise calm soul, and two specks of light from an unknown source were violently dragged into it.

This sudden turn of events gave Ju Hua a great fright. No longer caring about cultivation, he immediately stopped absorbing the power of the Taiyin and the Sun and turned his focus toward his own soul.

The vortex that had just appeared had already vanished. Ju Hua searched repeatedly for a long time, but could not detect anything unusual about his soul.

"Could this be the reason for my sudden change in comprehension?" This thought flashed through Ju Hua's mind. Given that it involved his soul and the situation was so bizarre, it was no wonder he would harbor such a thought!

"If my comprehension has increased because of this, then what were those specks of light? Heavenly treasures capable of increasing one's comprehension even slightly are legendary existences, let alone something that could boost my talent to this degree! And why would my soul take the initiative to devour those specks of light?"

Ju Hua had far too many questions, but there was no one to help him answer them. He pondered for a long time but could not come up with any answers.

Ultimately, Ju Hua temporarily gave up on thinking.

He decided to stick to his original plan: if this was a stroke of good fortune, he would make good use of it; if some senior expert was manipulating things from the shadows, he would simply follow their guidance. In any case, his situation could hardly get any worse than it already was!

Taking advantage of the early hour, Ju Hua practiced the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens for a while longer. When the sky turned completely bright, he stopped his cultivation, took a dark gray longsword from his storage treasure, and walked into the courtyard to practice his swordplay.

This dark gray longsword was Ju Hua's blood-refined divine weapon, named Qiuhua.

Back when he practiced both body refinement and qi refinement, he had used this sword frequently. Later, as his qi refinement strength gradually surpassed his body refinement, this sword was rarely unsheathed.

Since Ju Hua had decided to continue down the path of God-Demon body refinement, this "Qiuhua Sword" naturally had to be unsheathed once more!

Without using divine power or invoking the power of the "Dao," Ju Hua simply practiced his swordplay in the courtyard.

Ju Hua's swordplay was filled with a peculiar quality; those who understood the sword would naturally exclaim at its brilliance, and even those who did not could feel a sense of sorrow emanating from it.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ju Hua's sword grew faster and faster. Gradually, the fallen leaves in the courtyard began to move along with his blade. After a long while, when Ju Hua finally stopped, the fallen leaves on the ground had vaguely formed a massive character: "Kill."

A simple, ordinary "Kill" character, yet it seemed to contain infinite sword intent, chilling the hearts of those who looked upon it.

"The fourth style of the Great Sorrow Sword Art, the 'Hundred Kill Style,' is complete just like that!" Ju Hua sighed softly.

It was too fast—so fast that he could barely react!

The Great Sorrow Sword Art was a powerful sword technique Ju Hua had obtained from the Zhuanshui Clan's library. It was said that this technique was passed down from an extremely powerful Celestial Immortal under the command of Emperor Zhuanxu.

During a war, this Celestial Immortal had lost his beloved wife, and in his extreme grief and indignation, he had created this Great Sorrow Sword Art!

The Great Sorrow Sword Art was divided into nine styles. Legend had it that as long as one mastered all nine, one would be only a step away from fully comprehending the Great Dao of the Sword!

The fourth style, the Hundred Kill Style, could generally only be mastered by the few who had comprehended a Domain of the Sword. In fact, a considerable number of people who had comprehended a Domain of the Sword still could not master this style.

Ju Hua had comprehended a Domain of the Sword, so theoretically, he had a chance of mastering this style. However, he had only just begun to practice the technique, and he had mastered it immediately. This speed truly left Ju Hua unable to react in time.

If he had possessed this level of comprehension before, how could he have failed his tribulation!