Opening the Ancestral Aperture Between the Brows, Glimpsing the Gate of Heaven and Earth

"Profound Ice Heart Method."

Zhou Qing took the manual and saw the four large characters written on its cover.

He immediately opened the manual and examined its contents.

Whether the manual was genuine or fake, he would know after reading through it once.

If it was genuine, it would naturally appear on the panel. If it was fake, Zhou Qing would naturally let the other party learn the consequences of deceiving him.

"A first-rate Internal Art cannot be mastered overnight. Hero, you may stay within the villa and contemplate it at your leisure," Shen Qingyue said.

"There is no need for such trouble. I have my own means of discerning whether it is genuine."

Zhou Qing shook his head and swiftly flipped through the manual in his hands.

Seeing this, Shen Qingyue said no more. She merely stood quietly to one side, watching Zhou Qing leaf through the manual.

Zhou Qing turned the pages extremely quickly, yet examined every page with great care.

Profound Ice Heart Method / Not Initiated

Before long, he had finished reading the manual. Seeing the Profound Ice Heart Method appear on the panel, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"Miss Shen, this manual is genuine." Zhou Qing tucked the manual into his robe, then cupped his fists toward Shen Qingyue. "I have important matters to attend to, so I will not disturb you further, Miss Shen."

"Hero, wait." At that moment, the gray-robed elder behind Shen Qingyue called out to Zhou Qing. In a deep voice, he said, "Hero, you were capable of slaying Blood Hand Butcher Li Baichuan, so your strength is clearly exceptional. Would you be interested in joining the Canghai Sect as a guest elder?"

"Not interested!"

Without even thinking, Zhou Qing directly refused.

As his words fell, his figure flashed. He executed the lightness skill Floating Crossing and sped away, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Watching Zhou Qing's departing figure, a trace of regret flashed across the gray-robed elder's face. He shook his head and sighed. "What a pity. This man was able to kill Blood Hand Butcher Li Baichuan. He absolutely has the strength to ascend the Human Ranking. If he could join our sect, he would surely become a great asset."

"Master, this man refuses to show his true face, and he possesses the strength to kill a fiend like Li Baichuan. I fear he is no easy person to deal with," Shen Qingyue said softly, her willow brows slightly furrowed.

"That is true." The gray-robed elder nodded. "His identity is unknown. If he is a major criminal wanted by the imperial court, inviting him to become a guest elder of our sect would only bring trouble."

"Whoever he is, he has nothing to do with us now." Shen Qingyue ended the subject and said to a servant beside her, "Blood Hand Butcher Li Baichuan is dead. Notify those at the foot of the mountain that the auction will continue."

"Yes!"

The servant accepted the order and immediately headed down the mountain.

Elsewhere.

After leaving Cold Moon Villa, Zhou Qing opened the panel.

"Upgrade the Profound Ice Heart Method!"

Zhou Qing silently recited in his heart.

After spending five days traveling to Cold Moon Villa, he had accumulated five Dao Source Points. He now poured them into the Profound Ice Heart Method, raising its realm.

Buzz—

In an instant, scenes of tirelessly cultivating the Profound Ice Heart Method day and night, along with the corresponding insights, flooded into his mind.

After cultivating bitterly for one year, you had cultivated the Profound Ice Heart Method to the sixth layer. After another half-year of bitter cultivation, the internal force of the Profound Ice Heart Method gradually accumulated and deepened until it reached completion. You began opening the ancestral aperture between your brows, strengthening the power of your mind.

In the second year of bitter cultivation, you mastered Freezing Momentum. In the third year, the Profound Ice Heart Method broke through to the eighth layer, and Freezing Momentum reached minor accomplishment. In the fourth year, the Profound Ice Heart Method broke through to the ninth layer, and Freezing Momentum reached major accomplishment.

In the fifth year of bitter cultivation, the Profound Ice Heart Method reached completion at the ninth layer, while Freezing Momentum reached the realm of completion.

You faintly saw the Gate of Heaven and Earth between the acquired and the innate, but that Gate of Heaven and Earth was like an impassable heavenly chasm, beyond reach. You shut yourself away and built a cart behind closed doors, agonizing over it again and again, yet in the end failed to find the method, unable to glimpse the way through its gate.

Profound Ice Heart Method / Ninth Layer (Traits: Freezing, Power of Momentum Complete)

After five years of bitter cultivation, Zhou Qing had directly cultivated the Profound Ice Heart Method to completion at the ninth layer. Within the sea of qi in his dantian, the internal force cultivated from the Profound Ice Heart Method condensed into nine layers of mist, occupying the center of his dantian.

The internal forces of the Golden Gang Art and the Spring Return Technique had been squeezed to the edges of his dantian.

Having cultivated the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Technique to completion, his dantian had expanded. Thus, it could contain several different types of internal force without causing conflict.

"So that is the Gate of Heaven and Earth!"

Zhou Qing's mental will had grown more than tenfold stronger than before. He could faintly "see" a gate standing between heaven and earth.

This gate was the Gate of Heaven and Earth.

The Gate of Heaven and Earth connected two different worlds.

On one side was the acquired; on the other was the innate.

As long as one broke through the Gate of Heaven and Earth, one could draw in the spiritual qi of heaven and earth and advance to the Xiantian Realm.

Yet although Zhou Qing could see the existence of the Gate of Heaven and Earth, he could not touch it, much less break through it.

This Gate of Heaven and Earth was not truly a gate standing between heaven and earth. In truth, it was a shackle and restraint of the physical body.

Only by breaking this shackle could one absorb the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.

He understood this in his heart.

Crossing this step was by no means easy.

Ninety-nine percent of Peak First-rate Martial Artists in the world were trapped at this step.

"How can I advance to Xiantian?"

A thoughtful expression appeared on Zhou Qing's face.

Although he cultivated both internal and external paths, with both body refinement and internal force having reached the peak of first-rate, he was still utterly in the dark about how to advance to Xiantian.

The Profound Ice Heart Method contained no record of it either.

After all, the Profound Ice Heart Method was merely a first-rate Internal Art. None of Cold Moon Villa's ancestors had reached the Xiantian Realm, so naturally they did not know how to advance to Xiantian.

The Xiantian Realm was far too distant for ordinary factions.

Even among those sects with long inheritances, only a scant few could set foot in this realm. Such sects certainly knew how to step into Xiantian.

As for the method of stepping into Xiantian, those factions would certainly never spread it outside. Such a method was likely ten times, perhaps a hundred times, more precious than a first-rate cultivation art.

Unless one was a core successor of those sects, not even a guest elder could possibly obtain the method to step into Xiantian.

"The Eagle Wolf Guard certainly knows how to step into Xiantian."

Zhou Qing pondered.

As the military pillar of the Great Xuan Dynasty, the Eagle Wolf Guard possessed deep foundations and inheritances. They certainly held the secret to advancing to Xiantian.

First, he would learn how to step into Xiantian.

Then, he would find a way to obtain the method for stepping into Xiantian.

With that thought, Zhou Qing no longer hurried to flee.

Although Blood Hand Butcher Li Baichuan, who had appeared at Cold Moon Villa, had already been slain by him, the Eagle Wolf Guard could not possibly pretend ignorance after receiving the news. They would certainly come from the Prefecture City. Moreover, among the jianghu travelers, wealthy merchants, and local gentry who had not left at the foot of the mountain, some had already guessed at his identity.

If the Eagle Wolf Guard learned of clues concerning him, even if they were merely everyone's speculation without solid proof, they would still pursue him to confirm his identity. They would not let such an opportunity pass.

There was no Innate Grandmaster stationed at the Eagle Wolf Guard office in the Prefecture City. The Red Wolf Commander was merely a Peak First-rate Martial Artist, at most someone like him who cultivated both internal and external paths.

Therefore, even if the Red Wolf Commander of Taining Prefecture came in person, Zhou Qing had nothing to fear. He strolled leisurely through the forest, waiting for the Eagle Wolf Guard to track him down.