Self-Created Technique, *Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture*

More than a month had passed since the awakening of his past-life wisdom.

Yuan Ming sat cross-legged atop a seaside cliff, his brow slightly furrowed.

Over the past month, relying on [Great Dao Comprehension], he had optimized the basic Breathing Technique inherited through his bloodline to its utmost limit, even deriving several possible directions for its further development.

Yet he could clearly sense an invisible barrier.

Slow—far too slow.

The Primordial World paid no heed to years, but for someone who knew of the calamities to come and desperately craved power, such step-by-step accumulation was sheer torment.

The Heavenly Immortal cultivation of the Primordial Humans was no different from an ant in this vast heaven and earth.

"A clever housewife cannot cook without rice..." he sighed inwardly.

The legacy Nuwa had left behind contained more survival arts and fundamental principles, but no profound cultivation technique that pointed directly toward the Great Dao.

Without a suitable technique to draw upon, merely optimizing a basic breathing art would ultimately yield limited results.

He needed a true cultivation technique suited to himself—one capable of excavating his potential and even complementing [Great Dao Comprehension]!

Once that thought arose, it spread like wild grass.

Borrow from others?

The Human Race had only just been born. Where could he find any profound techniques to borrow from?

Seek guidance?

From whom? How could one so easily enter beneath the tutelage of great powers?

Even if he did enter, the techniques he was taught might not fully bring out the heaven-defying effects of his nine-colored Entries.

"Looks like the only path is to create one myself."

He drew a deep breath and sank his consciousness into the depths of his sea of consciousness. The nine-colored radiance of [Great Dao Comprehension] immediately shone brilliantly.

If there was no foundation, then he would forge one himself!

The first thing he recalled was the Dao De Jing from his previous life, hailed as the king of all scriptures.

Though it had been a mundane version from an age without spiritual power, its ultimate principles—"The Dao gave birth to One; One gave birth to Two; Two gave birth to Three; Three gave birth to all things"—as well as the states of "attain utmost emptiness and preserve steadfast stillness" and "act without action, yet leave nothing undone," were now endowed with entirely new Great Dao meaning under the enhancement of his nine-colored Entry.

"The Dao follows nature... Could Devouring also be part of nature's principle? The strong prey on the weak, energy flows and circulates—these are the laws of heaven and earth to begin with..."

Once the thought emerged, all manner of strange and ingenious ideas he had encountered while reading webnovels in his previous life came flooding in.

Among them, the concept behind the Heaven-Devouring Demon Technique, said to "swallow heaven and devour earth, seizing all creation," offered another extreme yet immensely powerful line of thought: demanding power from heaven, earth, and all things with unrivaled tyranny!

One advocated emptiness and tranquility, conforming to nature; the other sought to plunder all things and perfect oneself.

The two appeared utterly incompatible, even mutually contradictory.

Yet from the perspective of [Great Dao Comprehension], they were not opposites.

"Devouring can also be an embodiment of the 'Dao.' Use a heart of 'non-action' to command a method of 'action'..."

He did not attempt to forcibly fuse the two. Instead, under the command of [Great Dao Comprehension], he incorporated them as two extreme "Dao resonances" into a grander, more primordial framework.

"The Dao is the body; Devouring is the application. Use the lawless as law, and the infinite as finite..."

At that moment, Yuan Ming's thoughts transformed into invisible Dao-fire. Taking the profound principles of the Dao De Jing as a furnace and the tyrannical concept of the Heaven-Devouring Demon Technique as fuel, he began to forge a path that belonged to him alone.

Countless mysterious runes rose and vanished within his heart. They were manifestations of the Great Dao's patterns.

Countless methods of circulating power and transporting energy were deduced, simulated, and optimized. Most then burst like bubbles, leaving behind only the most refined and fitting parts.

If the great powers of the outside world had learned of this process, they would surely have turned pale in shock.

Creating a cultivation technique, especially a profound one, was something that great divine ability wielders could achieve only after countless epochs of comprehending the Heavenly Dao and repeatedly testing their insights.

The slightest misstep along the way would result in qi deviation and the complete destruction of one's Dao Foundation.

Yet for Yuan Ming, who possessed [Great Dao Comprehension], this was not a blind gamble.

Every deduction seemed to have undergone millions upon millions of practical verifications, pointing directly toward the most optimized and safest path.

He did not know how much time passed. It seemed like only an instant, yet also like tens of millions of years.

All the deductions, concepts, and Dao resonances finally gathered into form under the integration of [Great Dao Comprehension].

A phantom scripture that exuded the aura of Chaos and seemed capable of devouring all light slowly appeared within his sea of consciousness. Above it, four Great Dao characters shone brilliantly—

Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture!

This scripture possessed lofty intent, taking the Dao as its source and Devouring as its cultivation method.

It was not merely about tyrannically plundering everything. Rather, it taught, "Devour its form, comprehend its principle, and return to the Dao."

Put simply, cultivating this scripture would not only allow one to devour heaven-and-earth spiritual qi and the essence of the sun and moon; as one's cultivation deepened, one could gradually analyze and devour fragments of laws, even the myriad Daos of heaven and earth. They would ultimately nourish oneself in return, allowing one to attain a supreme Dao Fruit.

The moment the scripture took shape, Yuan Ming impatiently began attempting to circulate its first layer.

As the mental formula flowed, his entire body seemed to transform into an invisible vortex.

This time, it was no longer a gentle attraction. Instead, with an irresistible will, it madly gulped down the spiritual qi around him like a whale swallowing the sea. Its efficiency was more than hundreds or thousands of times greater than the optimized Breathing Technique from before!

Even more wondrously, he could clearly "see" the spiritual qi entering his body, being rapidly refined, merging into his limbs and bones, and nourishing his Heavenly Immortal Dao Foundation.

A barely perceptible trace of Devouring Dao resonance, yet one of an exceedingly high essence, also began to grow within his mana.

"Success..."

Yuan Ming slowly opened his eyes. A deep, shadowy gleam flashed through them before vanishing.

He examined himself inwardly. Looking at the slowly rotating vortex of mana that carried a trace of Devouring's nature, boundless ambition surged within his heart.

With this tailor-made Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture, his path of cultivation would truly enter the fast lane.

However, he immediately realized another problem.

"This disturbance... seems a little too great."

Though he had controlled it with all his might, the spiritual qi tide triggered by the Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture upon its first circulation had likely already drawn the attention of some clansmen.

He rose to his feet and looked toward the distant mountain ranges shrouded in clouds and mist.

"I need a reasonable explanation, something to divert their attention and truly benefit the clan..."

As his thoughts raced, the nine-colored radiance of [Great Dao Comprehension] flowed through his sea of consciousness once more.

Yuan Ming needed to create a cultivation technique—one that could be swiftly popularized, establish a solid foundation, and perfectly explain both his own "fortuitous encounter" and the source of his increased strength.

He once again turned his attention to the Dao De Jing, which contained inexhaustible wisdom, as well as the most fundamental laws governing the circulation of spiritual qi in the Primordial World.

"The Dao gave birth to One; One gave birth to Two; Two gave birth to Three; Three gave birth to all things... The path of cultivation can likewise be traced in reverse, returning from the forms of all things to the Dao of Chaos."

A clear framework rapidly took shape in his mind.

It did not need the lofty intent of the Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture, which pointed directly to the source. But it needed to be universal enough, with a low enough threshold that even Postnatal Realm clansmen whose spiritual light was still clouded could enter the path smoothly and ultimately point toward a great road reaching heaven.

Countless mysteries concerning the human body's meridians, energy transformation, and spiritual sublimation rapidly fused, refined, and took form under the catalysis of [Great Dao Comprehension].

He did not deliberately pursue power. Instead, he focused on "Foundation Establishment" and "returning to the root."

He divided cultivation into four clear and connected steps, each corresponding to a leap in the level of life:

The first step: Refine Essence into Qi.

Guide the Postnatal Realm Human Race to convert the essence of their food and the power of their blood and qi into their first wisp of Innate Qi, laying down a Dao Foundation.

This was "creating something from nothing," igniting the fire of life.

The second step: Refine Qi into Spirit.

Use Innate Qi to nourish the divine soul, open the sea of consciousness, understand one's heart and see one's nature, and walk from ignorance toward awakening.

The third step: Refine Spirit and Return to Void.

As the spirit grew stronger, one could sense and initially mobilize the formless energy between heaven and earth, nourishing the flesh and divine soul in return.

The fourth step: Refine Void and Merge with the Dao.

When spirit, energy, and flesh reached perfect harmony, one could attempt to unite all three and condense an indestructible spark of spiritual light. This was the "Divine Ability Seed."

And this "Divine Ability Seed" was the most exquisite and central aspect of the entire "Four-Step Breathing Method"!

This seed did not refer to any particular divine ability. Rather, it was the condensation and manifestation of the cultivator's own Dao Path.

Not only was it the core source of power for wielding all future divine abilities and spells, it was also the key to forging an Innate Dao Foundation!

Once the Divine Ability Seed was successfully condensed, the cultivator could use it as a foundation to gradually wash away Postnatal Realm turbid qi, reverse their innate endowment, and achieve the astonishing transformation of Postnatal Return to Innate.