"If there's no cultivation method, then I'll create one myself. That's what the Creation Jade Disk is for."
Thinking of the Creation Jade Disk's abilities, Jiang Yuan perked up again. Wasn't this the perfect time to test what it could do?
If there was no cultivation method, he would create one. Not enough insight, not enough wisdom? Simple—the Creation Jade Disk could add points to those.
"Deep Blue—no, Creation Jade Disk, add points for me!"
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yuan activated the Creation Jade Disk, trying to use its power to get himself out of his current predicament.
He didn't just need to create a cultivation method; he also needed its help to escape the fish's belly and regain his freedom.
As for lacking the magical power to activate the Creation Jade Disk? Simple. If his magical power wasn't enough, he could make up the difference with his blood essence and lifespan.
A living person wouldn't let himself be strangled by his own piss, would he? The Post-Heaven Realm was only comparable to the mortal realm; it didn't make one truly mortal. He still had a little magical power.
Though that little bit was negligible, it was more than enough to burn his blood essence.
And as long as he was willing to burn through his blood essence and didn't mind shaving years off his life, he could multiply his magical power more than tenfold in no time.
Of course, even multiplied more than tenfold, Jiang Yuan's meager magical power was still nothing to write home about. But to activate the Creation Jade Disk, it should be enough to awaken a little more of its power.
Don't underestimate even that small boost. Jiang Yuan wasn't trying to break through to Daluo Golden Immortal with the Creation Jade Disk; he only wanted to create the most basic cultivation method. He didn't need to fully awaken it.
So for what he needed, this boost was more than enough.
Boom!
As his blood essence burned, Jiang Yuan's lifespan dwindled. In turn, his magical power surged, flowing ceaselessly into the Creation Jade Disk.
The next moment, the Creation Jade Disk glowed. The runes on it seemed to come alive, wriggling faintly as they gave off an exceedingly subtle, profound aura.
Then Jiang Yuan entered a state of sudden enlightenment. His spiritual awareness soared, and his thoughts grew more nimble. Matters he had once been unable to understand now became clear after only a moment's reflection.
"What's that sound?"
In his state of sudden enlightenment, Jiang Yuan felt his mind grow utterly still. Then he heard sounds he normally couldn't.
One was like a heartbeat, pounding like a giant beating a drum. Another was like breathing, like bellows pumping.
At first, Jiang Yuan thought they were the sounds of his own heartbeat and breathing. But he soon realized he was wrong. They were the heartbeat and breathing of the Kun Fish that had swallowed him.
After realizing this, Jiang Yuan instinctively began adjusting his breathing until it slowly fell into rhythm with the Kun Fish's.
He had no idea how long it went on. Then, at one point, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt as if he had merged with the Kun Fish, becoming a part of it.
With a mere thought, every detail of the Kun Fish's body, down to the very last inch, appeared in vivid clarity in his mind.
At the same time, as he breathed, some of the innate spiritual energy the Kun Fish inhaled and refined flowed into his body, replenishing the vital energy depleted by burning his blood essence.
This Kun Fish was a half-immortal. The innate spiritual energy it refined was practically immortal essence, a form of Innate Vitality. For Jiang Yuan, it was the most potent tonic imaginable.
Just one breath replenished his depleted blood essence and began to raise his cultivation, making his magical power grow thicker and more abundant.
Noticing the changes in his body, Jiang Yuan didn't stop burning his blood essence. Instead, with his worries gone, he burned it even more vigorously.
Exhausting his blood essence would kill him, but bolstered by the Kun Fish's immortal essence, Jiang Yuan was burning through it more slowly than he could recover it.
So he burned it with ever-increasing enthusiasm. His magical power grew stronger and stronger, far surpassing his own cultivation level until it reached a level comparable to a Void Refining cultivator.
Jiang Yuan was only in the Post-Heaven Realm. Above it was the Pre-Heaven Realm, and above that was the Void Refinement Realm. That showed just how great a boost the Kun Fish's immortal essence had given him.
As his magical power grew stronger, the profound aura released by the Creation Jade Disk grew richer. Jiang Yuan felt his mind transcending, slowly blending with Heaven and Earth until he became one with them.
Merging with Heaven and Earth, with all things following the heart—that was the state of Unity of Heaven and Man.
At that moment, Jiang Yuan seemed to become the master of Heaven and Earth. Everything around him fell under his control, including the Kun Fish that had swallowed him.
With just a thought, he could make the Kun Fish obediently spit him out—or make its entire body explode into a pile of shredded flesh.
"Unity of Heaven and Man? That's the realm of a Heavenly Immortal. I reached it just like that?"
Jiang Yuan was utterly shaken. He had heard his elders say that a Heavenly Immortal's greatest ability was Unity of Heaven and Man.
What was Unity of Heaven and Man? It meant merging with Heaven and Earth, turning the power of creation into one's own and forming a domain unique to oneself. Within that domain, a Heavenly Immortal was a creator, nearly omnipotent.
"It really is Unity of Heaven and Man, but the domain is too small. It must be because my cultivation is too low."
After sensing it carefully for a moment, Jiang Yuan noticed the difference. His domain was tiny, extending only a hundred zhang in every direction.
He had never seen a Heavenly Immortal's domain, but he knew it couldn't be only a hundred zhang across. It should cover at least tens of thousands of li.
That was the result of his low cultivation. Even if he grasped an ability normally reserved for Heavenly Immortals, his cultivation still held him back. What he had gained was only a weakened version, less than a fraction of the original's power.
Even so, it was more than enough for Jiang Yuan. It would let him escape his current predicament.
"I should raise my cultivation to the Pre-Heaven Realm first. Who knows where this Kun Fish has taken me? If there's danger out there, escaping now would be like walking straight into a death trap."
In his state of Unity of Heaven and Man, Jiang Yuan could escape the fish's belly whenever he wished, but he didn't.
He had no idea what was happening outside. If he left now, he wouldn't have the slightest ability to deal with danger. Staying in the fish's belly, on the other hand, was not only safe but also gave him ample resources to grow stronger.
In that situation, how could Jiang Yuan leave before squeezing every last bit of value out of the Kun Fish?
"Saint Taiqing hasn't yet passed down the Qi Refining Method, so cultivation still follows the ancient Blood Refining Ancestral Return Method."
Inside the fish's belly, Jiang Yuan could clearly sense his cultivation rising. He soon reached the limit of the Post-Heaven Realm and began advancing toward the Pre-Heaven Realm.
Speaking of breakthroughs, one had to mention the current cultivation system: the Blood Refining Ancestral Return Method.
As the name suggested, this system's cultivation method focused on strengthening one's innate bloodline and gradually returning to one's ancestors.
As for which ancestor one returned to, that varied from one race to another. But all underwent a transformation toward the source of their bloodline.
It wasn't hard to see the great flaw in this cultivation system.
A cultivator's future achievements had nothing to do with their own hard work. Everything depended on whether their progenitor was powerful enough. The stronger the progenitor, the higher the cultivator's ceiling; the weaker the progenitor, the lower it was.
The descendants of a Daluo Golden Immortal remained Daluo; the descendants of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal remained Taiyi. That was the Blood Refining Ancestral Return Method: pedigree mattered more than hard work.