The master of Spirit Ruins Grotto-Heaven came in person. After giving the elders and disciples a round of instructions, he took a deep look at the cave abode where Dharma Master Sanzang was cultivating, then turned into a streak of azure light and left without hesitation.
The Western Desert was far too distant from the Eastern Wasteland. As the leader of a mere Cave-Heaven Paradise, he could neither curry favor with the Bodhisattva and Buddha lineages of the Western Desert nor bring himself to lower his status and befriend Dharma Master Sanzang.
It was better to avoid him altogether.
The reason he had rushed over was mainly because he feared the elders and disciples of the Cave-Heaven Paradise might do something foolish and drag Spirit Ruins Grotto-Heaven down with them.
Jiang Ming, meanwhile, did not wish to remain at Spirit Ruins Grotto-Heaven for too long. He stayed another day, gave Han Yishui's disciples some guidance in cultivation, then drank and tasted tea with Han Yishui and Han Bugua as they chatted happily.
As for the other elders of Spirit Ruins Grotto-Heaven, he ignored them outright. In particular, when a Supreme Elder named Wu Qingfeng came to pay him a visit, Jiang Ming simply ignored him.
Sorry, not seeing you was for your own good.
On the third day, Jiang Ming bid them farewell directly, saying that he was heading into the Primordial Ruins to train. He said it openly and honestly, as though he had no concern that someone might learn of his whereabouts and seek to harm him.
After leaving Spirit Ruins Grotto-Heaven, Jiang Ming summoned his Life-Bound Sword and took to the air with the Sword Flight Technique. With a flash, a crimson rainbow streaked away. Han Yishui, who had originally harbored some ill intentions, was left dumbfounded. He could not catch up at all. At that speed, even the grotto-heaven master himself might not have been able to catch Jiang Ming.
Naturally.
A Life-Bound Sword at the level of a mid-grade Spirit Artifact, combined with the Sword Flight Technique, was faster even than ordinary Dao Palace Realm cultivators, let alone cultivators of the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm.
The Sword Flight Technique was especially suited for long-distance travel.
He had made all the "friends" he needed to make.
He had even added a few blessings for his two friends, as well as the "nephews" who had come to seek his guidance, lest they die too quickly.
This time, when he entered the Primordial Ruins, he had to reach the Tenth Qi Refining Stage at the very least.
It would be even better if he could further improve his Life-Bound Sword.
Only then could he go kill that Lightning Bird, seize the Lightning Grass, and gather the Three Yin Cold Lotus.
Besides, he admitted that he could not quite stop worrying about his little cotton-padded jacket and his father. He only wanted to take a distant look at them.
Three months later!
Within the Primordial Ruins, inside an underground stalactite cave.
Jiang Ming sat cross-legged atop a large bluestone slab carved out with his sword. He wore a long azure robe artifact, one he had refined anew after entering the Primordial Ruins. It fit as though it had been tailored for him, accentuating his tall, slender figure.
As he sat there, he was as straight as a green pine. His gentle and refined features had gained a hint of cold severity, his lines and contours becoming more distinct. He carried an unhurried, confident bearing, while a sharp killing intent flickered faintly around him.
Three months of training.
Jiang Ming's cultivation results were as follows: Boom! Violet-gold divine radiance burst from his dantian and swirled around his body, rising into a seven-foot divine glow. His cultivation aura had astonishingly entered the Tenth Qi Refining Stage.
Not bad. At this cultivation speed, he was already three times faster than in his previous life.
In his previous life, Jiang Ming had been a genius of his world, known as Shushan's number one prodigy. In less than a century, he had raised Shushan's combat power to its very pinnacle.
Moreover, Jiang Ming's Shrouding Method remained at the Sea of Bitterness Realm.
Originally, Jiang Ming had thought that with his talent, he would soon be unable to continue cultivating and could only wait for the Dao Scripture.
What he had not expected was that cultivating the techniques of Chinese Paladin was instead like the Ancient Sages mentioned in the Shrouding the Heavens novel he had read in the life before last. By cultivating only one secret realm, such as the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm, one could still attain terrifying combat power no weaker than Saint-level experts who cultivated multiple secret realms.
Ancient cultivators who focused solely on the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm could even develop Sea of Bitterness phenomena.
For example, Divine King Body Ji Haoyue, Ye Fan's elder brother-in-law, had cultivated the Sea of Bitterness phenomenon, Sea-Rising Bright Moon.
Then there was the Peacock King, a Great Ability at the level of a Holy Master in his era, who had cultivated the Sea of Bitterness phenomenon, Stars Shining on the Azure Sky.
And Old Immortal Xingxiu, Nangong Zheng—the being of boundless dharma power, enduring for a thousand autumns and ten thousand years, who had carried Ruthless's discarded shell out from the Bronze Immortal Hall—had cultivated the ancient phenomenon Jianmu Stabilizing Mountains and Rivers.
Jiang Ming felt that the cultivation method he had inherited from Chinese Paladin 1 was likewise a method for developing the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm. He had an intuition that perhaps he would be able to cultivate some strange mutated phenomenon in the future.
Throughout history, those with the Heavenly Tyrant Body generally only needed to study the Nine Divine Forms of the Tyrant Body. Who could have had an opportunity like Jiang Ming's, obtaining a cultivation method whose many transformations were completed within the Sea of Bitterness?
Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul.
The changes in the first four major realms all took place almost entirely within the dantian—in other words, within the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm of Shrouding the Heavens.
This was ruthlessly opening up the mysteries of the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm, digging and digging. If he kept digging like this, he really might excavate a mutated phenomenon, an entirely new phenomenon belonging to the Tyrant Body.
The phenomena of the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body suppressed most phenomena under heaven and earth.
However, one thing was certain: the phenomena of the Chaos Body could not possibly be suppressed by the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body.
Then if the Heavenly Tyrant Body, which contended against the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, suddenly produced an unknown and entirely new phenomenon, could the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body's phenomena suppress it?
As the two methods were cultivated together, they inevitably complemented each other's strengths. This caused his Sea of Bitterness to become more mysterious the more he opened it up, accompanied by some indescribably strange occurrences.
For instance, over the past few days, Jiang Ming had been struck on the forehead by lightning that appeared out of nowhere. There was not much lightning, only one bolt each time, but it left stars swimming before his eyes, smoke rising from his hair, and his clothes reduced to char.
Jiang Ming had no choice but to take some time to refine several extra sets of clothing and store them away, just in case.
Boom—
Well, speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.
In broad daylight, with the earth above him separating them, Jiang Ming was struck by lightning again.
"Damn it."
Jiang Ming cursed instinctively. It really hurt.
He had only just broken through and had not even had time to properly admire his own magnificence before his hair turned into a bird's nest and his clothes were blasted away in an instant.
These hastily made, low-grade artifact robes were simply trash before lightning.
Rumble!
The lightning had not ended. Clearly, this time there was more than one bolt.
Crackle, crackle.
Silver lightning snakes, as thick as an adult's thumb, crawled over Jiang Ming's body.
Jiang Ming's body convulsed involuntarily where he stood, his expression twisting into a complete mess. It was not his fault; he simply could not control his facial expressions at all.
After twitching for a while, the lightning that had entered his body was finally drained of its essence by his Life-Bound Sword and consumed completely. By now, his Life-Bound Sword had transformed into an Upper-Grade Spirit Artifact.
Opportunities did not come often. Perhaps he had killed too few people recently, and his luck had worsened.
Or perhaps it was because he had been struck by lightning too often.
"Starlight Technique."
Jiang Ming discovered that the healing secret art recorded in the Yaoguang Scripture was quite good. After all, it was a Quasi-Emperor Method. As golden holy light emerged around him, his scorched skin, injured internal organs, and even his hair recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Boom—
Then another silver bolt as thick as a bowl descended, knocking Jiang Ming stumbling. The bluestone beneath his feet shattered into pieces when he accidentally stepped down too hard. Even the foundation in the middle of the stalactite cave collapsed beneath his foot.
Rumble, rumble—
The stalactite cave collapsed.
Jiang Ming hurriedly used the Seventy-Two Transformations, turning into a First-Generation Pangolin, and escaped the stalactite cave with Earth Escape.
Boom!
The lightning continued to fall. Clearly, this lightning was different from the previous few times. It seemed to be getting serious.
"Tsk, tsk—
This Daoist has searched the Primordial Ruins for half a month and still hasn't found the Demon Emperor's Tomb.
Well, this Daoist has truly had his eyes opened. I actually saw a pangolin being chased down and struck by lightning? Could it be some old demon undergoing tribulation? It doesn't seem like it. Strange, strange, truly strange!"
This burly fat man wore a luxurious violet robe artifact. Sneaky and suspicious, he walked beneath the sky while muttering to himself, seemingly searching for something among the towering mountains and ridges. When a golden pangolin nearly three meters long burrowed out of the earth and was struck by lightning again and again, it finally caught his attention.