Continuous Breakthroughs! (Seeking Votes!)

Zhou Hao sat kneeling on the ground, eyes tightly shut in devotion, his hands held out before him as if cradling the void—one palm for the Taiyin, the other for the Sun.

Two miniature stars hovered in the air, continuously channeling the power of the Taiyin and the Sun into Zhou Hao's body.

Every cell within him seemed to have been starving for eons, drinking in the energy with frantic hunger. Zhou Hao's tendons, bones, muscles, and even his internal organs were undergoing a constant, radical transformation.

When the two Divine Patterns finally coalesced upon his back, marking the successful completion of the first level of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map...

A sudden, violent anomaly erupted!

Zhou Hao felt a terrifying, predatory suction force surge from the Cloud Seal patterns etched into his left arm.

The intensity of this devouring force was so immense that it felt as if it were intent on draining every ounce of power from his body.

What is happening? Zhou Hao opened his eyes to look at his left arm.

The nine intertwined Cloud Seal patterns appeared to have come alive; they twisted and writhed, knotting together as if struggling to tear themselves free from his skin.

Could it be as Master once speculated? That once I began my cultivation and started absorbing the essence of the stars, these patterns would truly be triggered? A thought struck Zhou Hao.

Having just completed the first level, the two Divine Patterns of Taiyin and Sun on his back were tempering his mortal frame, evolving his body toward that of a God or Devil.

Yet, in Zhou Hao's perception, the very cells that had just been saturated with the power of the Taiyin and the Sun were now being drained of their mysterious energy by the Cloud Seal patterns on his arm.

If this continued, he feared that in less than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, his life force would be utterly extinguished.

Before, it only consumed slowly. Today, it intends to drain me dry in one go!

There was no other way.

To avoid being drained to death, Zhou Hao had to increase the life energy within his body.

And the only way he could think to generate more life energy was to continue cultivating.

Whoosh!

The countless starlight that had dissipated once more emerged, swirling around Zhou Hao's body like a vortex, while the two miniature stars of Taiyin and the Sun reappeared.

"Still cultivating?"

Xiangcao, who was about to enter the cavern, suddenly paused. "It's already been eight days."

Even according to the records of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, while those with the most legendary aptitude could condense the two Divine Patterns on their backs in one go during their first session, there was no precedent for continuing to cultivate immediately afterward.

It wasn't as if one could simply draw in infinite power from the Taiyin and the Sun and expect the body to absorb it without limit.

It was like eating; if one were already stuffed to the brim and hadn't yet digested the first meal, they wouldn't be able to swallow another table of food, no matter how delicious it might be.

"Legendary aptitude really is something else." Xiangcao felt a twinge of envy, assuming Zhou Hao simply possessed a unique constitution.

But she could not know the agony Zhou Hao, shrouded in thick starlight, was currently enduring.

Torrents of powerful Taiyin and Solar energy poured from the miniature stars formed by the two supreme celestial bodies, instantly flooding every part of Zhou Hao's body and pouring into the withered cells that had just been drained by the Cloud Seal patterns.

The withered cells would be filled with divine power, only to be instantly sucked dry again...

Loss followed by infusion, infusion followed by loss... In this relentless cycle, the cells within Zhou Hao were forced to accelerate their division and metamorphosis.

This was a hundred, a thousand times faster than the rate of transformation for a normal practitioner of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map.

Logically, such a violent and rapid metamorphosis should have caused Zhou Hao's mortal body to collapse under the strain. However, as the Cloud Seal patterns consumed his energy, they also released minute traces of a mysterious power, one even higher in quality than the energy of the supreme stars.

This mysterious power was pale cyan in color. Under its influence, although Zhou Hao's body suffered from tremors, bleeding, and bone-rattling agony, it at least did not collapse.

But the pain of his cells accelerating their transformation a thousandfold was something he had to endure alone.

"Pain..." Zhou Hao's face was contorted, his veins bulging, his lips bitten to shreds.

Every inch of his body felt as if it were being incinerated by countless raging fires.

Just as Zhou Hao began to think he would be reduced to ash, the intensely frigid power of the Taiyin returned.

Suddenly, it felt as if ice-cold chisels were inside his body, intent on carving through every one of his cells all over again.

This cannot go on! Even if my body doesn't collapse, if my soul shatters, it's all over.

Having already cultivated his divine sense, Zhou Hao was barely able to maintain a sliver of clarity amidst the alternating torture of extreme heat and cold.

Yet he knew deep down that if this pain exceeded the limits of his soul, even if his body remained intact and eventually evolved into a true God-Devil form, he would be nothing more than a walking corpse.

Without a soul, it would be no different from death.

...Visualization technique, yes! The visualization technique!

Zhou Hao split his focus, leaving only a small portion of his consciousness to follow the cultivation method, sensing the two stars and drawing down their power.

The rest of his mind attempted to visualize the Supreme Clarity Moral Heavenly Venerable Diagram, just as he had done in his previous training.

But it was not so simple!

To practice the visualization, one needed to enter a state of stillness, then visualize the gods within the body in the sea of consciousness, and finally evolve them into the Supreme Clarity Moral Heavenly Venerable.

But as he endured such boundless agony, even entering a state of stillness felt like a pipe dream.

"Ah!!!!"

Zhou Hao wanted to scream in agony, but his lips, now a mangled, bloodied mess, could not even part.

The second level of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, which would take even those of legendary aptitude several years to perfect, was completed by Zhou Hao in a mere half-day.

The transformation of his body continued, and the boundless agony he endured grew ever more intense.

"Ah!"

Zhou Hao gritted his teeth, standing up shakily. He slowly raised his arms level in front of him, bent his knees into a slow crouch, and assumed the opening stance of the Innate Taiji Fist.

Grasp Sparrow's Tail... Left Single Whip... Raise Hand... White Crane Spreads Its Wings...

Zhou Hao executed the forms of the Innate Taiji Fist, one move after another.

Under the dual torment of ice and fire, though his movements were as slow as those of a dying old man, Zhou Hao could no longer afford to care.

He remembered when he first began training under True Person Daoyi as a child; because he could never find stillness, his master would call him by his childhood name and have him practice the forms.

"Changsheng, remember this. Let your heart follow your fists, and your intent guide your heart. Once your heart and intent are in harmony, your spirit will naturally become clear..."

Whoosh... Whoosh...

"Liveliness in the waist, spiritual mechanism at the crown, divine power in the back, flow in the qi..."

Zhou Hao practiced the forms of the Innate Taiji Fist over and over. His spiritual platform gradually cleared, and his spirit seemed to merge with the heavens and the earth.

Within his sea of consciousness, the Supreme Clarity Moral Heavenly Venerable, with white hair and beard and holding a feather fan, finally manifested. Zhou Hao felt countless rays of light emanate from his sea of consciousness, enveloping his entire body.

The boundless pain caused by his body's frantic transformation was soothed by these countless rays of light, and it no longer felt quite so agonizing.

Whoosh... Whoosh...

As Zhou Hao entered a meditative state while visualizing the Supreme Clarity Moral Heavenly Venerable Diagram, the forms of the Innate Taiji Fist reached the move known as 'Cloud Hands'.

He rotated his hands continuously, and the two miniature stars—the Lunar True Water and Solar True Fire—followed the motion of his hands, rotating before him like the alternation of yin and yang, the rising of the sun and the setting of the moon.

Boom...

The power of the Lunar and Solar forces descending from the two supreme stars doubled once more. Within the cave, wisps of flame condensed out of thin air, and the faint sound of flowing water could be heard.

"The third level of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map!?"

Outside the cave, Xiangcao was so shocked by this sight that she forgot to breathe.

"How long has it even been? He finished cultivating the second level and immediately started on the third?!"

The version of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map they had obtained from Motai Jie only contained the cultivation techniques for the first volume, which consisted of nine levels.

The first three levels were for the Postnatal realm.

The middle three levels were for Innate Beings.

The final three levels were for the Purple Mansion realm.

The third level was the peak of the Postnatal realm. At this stage, the Lunar and Solar forces drawn in could manipulate the power of heaven and earth to form water and fire.

When the power descending from the two supreme stars became actual wisps of Lunar True Water and Solar True Fire, the water and fire would nurture the body, truly stripping away the mortal shell, forming an Innate God and Devil Body, and allowing the practitioner to step into the realm of Innate Beings.

"At the speed Zhou Hao cultivated the second level, wouldn't he finish the third level in at most a day? He's a monster," Xiangcao exclaimed.

"But he'll stop at the third level at most. To step into the fourth level, the bottleneck isn't just about having good talent or drawing in enough Lunar and Solar power to break through."

As the premier method for God and Devil body refinement, the difficulty of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map was indisputably the highest.

In particular, the bottleneck to becoming an Innate Being required one to comprehend the 'convergence of yin and yang, the blending of water and fire' to induce the two supreme stars to descend with Lunar True Water and Solar True Fire.

For countless years, this bottleneck had stopped countless geniuses and monsters, preventing them from ever stepping into the Innate realm.

"If only he could achieve the Innate Being realm in one go," Xiangcao thought to herself. "Then even if the Innate Beings of the Black Hand Tribe came after us, they wouldn't be Zhou Hao's match."

Among all cultivators, the God and Devil body refinement path crushed the Qi refinement path at the same stage.

And cultivating the Chiming Nine Heavens Map was universally recognized as being able to crush other God and Devil body refinement paths at the same stage!

They had learned from Ren Liang that the Black Hand Tribe was founded by their leader, Motai Xiao. Compared to other hegemonic tribes, their foundation was shallow, and they only had nine Innate Beings.

The strongest, Motai Xiao, was an Innate peak-stage Qi refinement expert.

The other eight Innate Beings were either disciples trained by Motai Xiao or elders supported by cultivation resources.

If Zhou Hao truly broke through, the threat of the Black Hand Tribe would be of no consequence.

A Golden Winged Eagle soared through the high-altitude clouds. Through the hazy mist, two figures could be vaguely seen sitting cross-legged on its back.

"Commander Yuan, since the Iron Ox Tribe did not enter the territory of the Liu Clan, they must have fled toward Jade Dragon City," a young man said, carefully offering a fawning smile.

His features were delicate, even handsome, but the sycophancy in his eyes when he spoke ruined his entire demeanor.

"Go and see," said the burly figure sitting in front of the young man. "Do not enter Jade Dragon City."

The burly figure spoke one word at a time, as if he were unaccustomed to speech, having only just learned how.

"Yes, yes, yes," the young man nodded vigorously. "We will just follow the direction and search; if we cannot find them, we will return."

Seeing that the burly figure did not speak again, and that the Golden Winged Eagle beneath them had turned toward Jade Dragon City, the young man breathed a sigh of relief.

I wonder what benefits my master gave the Fire Worship Sect to invite this god of slaughter.

The young man was Ye Feng, the eldest disciple of Motai Xiao. His strength was second only to Motai Xiao in the Black Hand Tribe, and he was an expert in the late stage of the Innate Being realm.

They had come out this time to find the culprits who had killed Motai Jie and the great demon Black Wind, and to bring them back to Motai City to be tortured to death, so as to intimidate all parties.

Following the tracks left by the Wild Oxen of the Iron Ox Tribe, they had first scouted the Liu Clan's territory, even provoking an innate expert from the Liu Clan to come out and question them.

Yet, the god of slaughter before him didn't utter a single word, simply swatting the opponent to death with one palm.

Recalling the ferocity of this god of slaughter, Ye Feng became even more cautious and respectful, not daring to offend him in the slightest.

One had to know, this was a peak innate God and Devil body-refining powerhouse; even his master, Motai Xiao, was far from being a match.

"That trash Motai Jie, wasting so many resources and still failing to reach the innate realm—dying is exactly what he deserved."

Thinking of Motai Jie, who had died at the Iron Ox Tribe, Ye Feng's eyes were filled with nothing but disdain.

"I have been with Master the longest and possess the greatest strength; perhaps in the future, I might even be adopted as his foster son, and then..."

Just as Ye Feng was daydreaming, he saw thick smoke billowing into the sky from a mountain range at the edge of the wilderness ahead.

"Hm? What happened over there?"