Blast Open the Gate of Heaven and Earth, Enter the Xiantian Realm (Please Keep Reading, Please Vote Monthly)

"This was a prodigy cultivating an ancient technique."

Wang Cheng revealed a contemplative expression.

He was an Innate Grandmaster. After merely inspecting the wounds between the brows of Fang Qinghua and the other two, he had reached a conclusion.

Ancient techniques could fuse several different types of internal force, making them immensely powerful—far stronger than cultivating only one Internal Art.

The same was true after breaking through to the Xiantian Realm.

Those who cultivated techniques that fused several kinds of True Qi were stronger, capable of sweeping aside Innate Grandmasters of the same realm who cultivated only a single kind of True Qi.

Yet nowadays, no one cultivated such techniques.

There was no other reason: they consumed far too many resources.

Every kind of Xiantian True Qi required absorbing massive amounts of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy to gradually grow stronger. Fusing several kinds of True Qi required an astronomical amount of resources, something ordinary factions simply could not afford.

Thus, the mainstream path nowadays was to cultivate one kind of True Qi and Artistic Conception power.

"A prodigy cultivating an ancient technique... There is very likely an ancient sect standing behind such a person. Let the Myriad Sword Sect worry about it!"

Wang Cheng mused inwardly.

Fang Qinghua and the other two had not been dead for long. Based on the aura lingering on their corpses, he had a way to track them.

If he personally pursued the trail, there was a high chance he could find the culprit. But unless absolutely necessary, he had no desire to provoke a prodigy cultivating an ancient technique.

After all, it was not a First-rate Martial Artist of the Eagle Wolf Guard who had died.

When it came to certain conflicts in the martial world, the Eagle Wolf Guard generally sat atop the mountain and watched the tigers fight.

It was more appropriate to leave this matter for the Myriad Sword Sect to handle themselves. Whether they wished to investigate and seek revenge was the Myriad Sword Sect's own business, unrelated to the Eagle Wolf Guard.

"Men, send Fang Qinghua's corpse to the Myriad Sword Sect!"

At Wang Cheng's command, several Profound Wolf Guards immediately entered, collected Fang Qinghua's corpse, and sent it to the Myriad Sword Sect.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

Swish!

Zhou Qing opened his eyes.

He had cultivated the Thunderclap Art to perfection and integrated it into the Primordial Chaos True Art.

By this point, the Primordial Chaos True Art had integrated eight first-rate Internal Arts: the Profound Ice Heart Method, Great White Golden Gang Art, Mountain Profound Art, Hundred Herbs Evergreen Art, Howling Wind Sword Art, Crimson Sun Breathing Technique, Drip Stone Piercing Art, and Thunderclap Art.

"Let's begin!"

Zhou Qing sat cross-legged, his spiritual awareness locking onto the Gate of Heaven and Earth within his body.

Only by blasting open this Gate of Heaven and Earth before him and shattering the shackles of his flesh could he absorb the spiritual energy between Heaven and Earth, transforming from Houtian to Xiantian.

The moment he saw the Gate of Heaven and Earth, Zhou Qing immediately circulated his internal force and Power of Momentum, sending them crashing toward it like two furious dragons.

BOOM!

With a deafening blast, the Gate of Heaven and Earth trembled violently.

Then, unable to withstand that savage force, it shattered in an instant.

Blasting open the Gate of Heaven and Earth posed not the slightest difficulty for Zhou Qing. A single charge had broken it open, everything falling into place as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

Name: Zhou Qing

Realm: Xiantian Realm First Layer (Ordinary Grandmaster)

Martial Arts Mastered: Primordial Chaos True Art / Ninth Layer (Traits: Fusion, Freezing, Golden Edge, Giant Spirit, Indestructible Qi, Burning, Storm, Thunder, Lifespan Increase of Sixty Years, Internal Force Healing... omitted)

Hundred Refinements Golden Body Technique / Ninth Layer (Traits: Vajra Indestructibility, Blood Qi Furnace, 100% Rebounding Force, 50% Force Dissipation, Indestructible)

Traceless Thirteen Wave Blade Technique / Perfection (Traits: 400% Blade Speed Burst, Power Accumulation, Concealment)

Floating Crossing / Perfection (Traits: Body Like Flying Catkins, Floating Across the Void, 400% Speed Burst)

Illusion Demon Movement Technique / Perfection (Traits: Phantom, 500% Speed Burst)

Nine Character True Word Seal Fragment / Three Character True Seal (Traits: 1000% Defense Amplification, Internal Force Compression, Potential Stimulation)

Artistic Conception Mastered: Sword Intent (Not Yet Initiated)

Talent: Nine Breaths Assimilation (omitted...)

Dao Source: 0

Zhou Qing looked at the panel.

His realm had already broken through to the first layer of the Xiantian Realm. His Primordial Chaos internal force was no longer "bound," rapidly condensing, compressing, and transforming into higher-grade Xiantian True Qi.

One strand, two strands, three strands...

Before long.

The Primordial Chaos internal force filling his dantian had all transformed into Xiantian True Qi.

There were a total of ninety strands of Xiantian True Qi.

For an ordinary First-rate Martial Artist, they could only condense nine strands of Xiantian True Qi. But Zhou Qing cultivated the Primordial Chaos True Art, and the amount of Xiantian True Qi he condensed upon his initial breakthrough was ten times that of an ordinary martial artist.

Moreover, once the Gate of Heaven and Earth had been blasted open, Zhou Qing immediately sensed the difference, as though the fog before his eyes had been swept aside.

He saw things within heaven and earth that he had been unable to see before.

Those things were the spiritual energy that existed between heaven and earth.

It was merely exceedingly sparse, scattered throughout heaven and earth like fireflies.

After opening the Gate of Heaven and Earth, Zhou Qing could not only see the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, but also absorb it. As he circulated his cultivation method, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered toward him, though at an extremely slow pace.

Soon, an hour passed.

Zhou Qing had refined only a single strand of Xiantian True Qi, and all the spiritual energy within several hundred meters had already been completely absorbed by him.

"This cultivation speed is far too slow!"

Zhou Qing immediately stopped cultivating.

It took an hour to refine a single new strand of Xiantian True Qi. To fill his dantian with Xiantian True Qi, who knew how many years and months it would take.

Without the corresponding cultivation resources, most Innate Grandmasters would likely spend decades, even a century, circling endlessly within the first level of the Xiantian Realm—the True Qi Realm.

Innate Grandmasters could live to two hundred years old.

Yet the vast majority of grandmasters remained only at the first level of the Xiantian Realm.

For Zhou Qing, cultivating the Primordial Chaos True Art made accumulating Xiantian True Qi ten, even dozens of times harder than it was for ordinary Innate Grandmasters.

No wonder no one cultivated ancient techniques nowadays.

"I must obtain a Xiantian cultivation method."

Zhou Qing thought to himself.

There were only a few ways to increase the speed at which one absorbed and refined the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The first was naturally to acquire a Xiantian cultivation method.

With a Xiantian cultivation method, his speed of absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth could increase severalfold, perhaps even tenfold, compared to when he had none.

Even if both cultivated bitterly for a year, the difference between having a Xiantian cultivation method and not having one was enormous.

Besides a Xiantian cultivation method, there was also raising the level of one's spiritual will and transforming the Power of Momentum into Artistic Conception power. Artistic Conception power could interfere with reality and could also increase the speed of absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Without Artistic Conception power, an Innate Grandmaster could only absorb the Xiantian spiritual energy within a few hundred meters. With Artistic Conception power, however, their reach could extend several thousand meters, even tens of thousands of meters.

Apart from a Xiantian cultivation method and improving one's Artistic Conception power, one could find a blessed grotto-heaven with a spiritual vein to cultivate in, which would naturally greatly increase the speed of absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Or one could consume spiritual herbs, spiritual pills, and the like.

These were all cultivation resources, not things ordinary Innate Grandmasters could obtain. Blessed grotto-heavens with spiritual veins were often controlled by top-tier powers.

Zhou Qing did not currently possess any Xiantian-level cultivation method, but he did possess the Divine Intent Diagram of the Sword Dao.