Transform!
The next moment, Jiang Ming arrived at an open area. Using the Seventy-Two Transformations, he directly transformed into a Golden Cauldron Furnace. It was a Supreme-grade cauldron artifact he had once seen during the Immortal Ancient Era, now recreated with some of the Divine Patterns from its unfinished state.
The Golden Cauldron Furnace was inscribed with ancient Immortal Antiquity Script. Hexagonal in shape and supported by three legs, the entire treasure cauldron gleamed gold, resplendent and massive, majestic and imposing.
Its six faces ran through it from top to bottom, gathering the qi of the Four Seas and uniting Heaven and Earth as one.
Six-cornered dragon patterns formed handles on its belly, while its very top was intricately chiseled into a hollow hexagonal shape.
Six manifestations lowered their heads, six directions faced one another, and all things were renewed.
Dao Patterns of auspicious qilin beasts flowed along the cauldron's legs, their bearing elegant and their aura vigorous.
The being who had once refined this treasure had been closest to Zhu Yan, from whom Jiang Ming had inherited the Seventy-Two Transformations.
His body became a cauldron!
He could borrow sixty percent of the cauldron artifact's power. This furnace contained dragon patterns and could use mana to evolve Dao fire containing the dragon qi of Heaven and Earth through its Dao Patterns.
For Jiang Ming, that was already enough. The spiritual herbs had long been prepared.
The entire pill-refining process was remarkably easy. He extracted the essences of the spiritual herbs and refined them together in the appropriate proportions.
Since all the spiritual herbs were inside the furnace he had transformed into, controlling them was as easy as moving his own limbs.
A mere Foundation Establishment Pill was not really necessary for his physique.
But for a ninety-nine percent chance of success.
Jiang Ming had still prepared a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Boom!
The Great Freedom Sword Art began circulating automatically. The Foundation Establishment Pills had just been refined—there were nine in total. In the end, the nine merged into one, becoming a tricolored treasure pill the size of a longan: a Three Radiance Treasure Pill. It was of perfect quality, flawless and pure, round and seamless.
Jiang Ming had already returned to his original form. Within the Sea of Bitterness in his dantian, his Life-Bound Sword hummed joyfully, like a dragon's roar and a phoenix's cry. Strands of sword qi curled around the pores across his body. Even the fine hairs within those pores became sharp and fierce, while dust was sliced into nothingness, leaving his entire body flawless and pure.
Within Jiang Ming's purple Sea of Bitterness, Divine Patterns intertwined. It seemed that the Sea of Bitterness had also undergone some changes due to the appearance of the Chinese Paladin Method. The Nine Divine Forms appeared one after another, though none had completely taken shape. They were in a vague, half-real state.
Meanwhile, the purple-gold Cinnabar Lake suspended above the purple Sea of Bitterness surged with towering waves and roared without end.
Within Jiang Ming's purple-gold Cinnabar Lake stood a blade of grass with nine leaves. Each leaf resembled a tiny sword. Though soft, they contained endless sharpness. During this process, fluctuations belonging to a phenomenon emerged.
In the Endless Starry Sky, galaxies glittered and deep space stretched without end. A small blade of grass swayed. A terrifying solar storm swept past, and a wisp of nine-colored sword intent inadvertently flew from one leaf. Ssh! In an instant, the blazing sun was cleaved in two, then ground into dust by the sword intent.
A Blade of Grass Slashes the Stars!
This was the embryonic form of a phenomenon.
A strange occurrence born from the development of his dantian Sea of Bitterness by the Great Freedom Sword Scripture, combined with his Sword Dao and the influence of the Seventy-Two Transformations' Dao Patterns.
It could be called unprecedented and unmatched in all ages.
Within his dantian Sea of Bitterness, a tricolored pill floated at the center like a Golden Core. Before its medicinal power had even been formally used, Jiang Ming was already impatient to break through.
At that moment, the Source stored in Jiang Ming's Sea of Bitterness transformed into strands of essence and flowed into his purple pill sea. At the very center of the pill sea, a nine-colored lotus bloomed and slowly rose from within. During this process, power from the purple-gold Dao lake, like raging waves, poured madly toward the nine-colored lotus and formed a vortex of spiritual qi.
No, it should have been a Nine-Colored Lotus Platform, with nine lotus petals, each a different color.
At the same time, the aura of yin, yang, the five elements, and spacetime flowed through it.
He was about to condense the Yin-Yang Five-Element Spacetime Lotus Platform from the legends of the Chinese Paladin Method. Yet his Dao platform seemed to be shaped like a lotus.
Rumble!
At the same time, Jiang Ming's purple-gold True Essence Sea boiled and roared. Passing through the Sea of Bitterness, it flowed toward his limbs, organs, and eight extraordinary meridians, like countless wild horses breaking free of their reins, like a great river rushing eastward—endless, surging, and unstoppable.
The Yin-Yang Five-Element Spacetime Lotus Platform was complete. The first step of Foundation Establishment had been accomplished. The Dao platform suppressed the pill river, and in the future, a Golden Core would be nurtured at the center of the lotus atop the Dao platform, laying a solid foundation for the next major realm.
As soon as this step was completed, it immediately drew in vast amounts of Heaven and Earth spiritual qi. Even outside, centered on Jiang Ming, the spiritual qi, starlight, and moonlight within the cave dwelling turned into tornadoes and poured into his body, flooding into his pores, meridians, and dantian.
Xiao Nannan sat there curiously watching, yet it seemed that none of it could affect her in the slightest. Multicolored radiance also appeared around her body, though she herself did not notice it at all.
"Big brother is amazing. Nannan is very well-behaved. I won't make trouble. I'll sit here quietly."
Nannan murmured to herself.
During this process, Jiang Ming's physical body underwent a cleansing and transformation. Although the Chinese Paladin Method did not specialize in body cultivation, the Foundation Establishment Stage was an evolution of one's very essence. One's origin would rise, and so would one's lifespan.
Thus, at this moment, his physical body was transforming, and his true essence was transforming as well. The original purple-gold pill sea had actually been gaseous, like clouds in the sky, which was why it floated above the dantian Sea of Bitterness.
Now, it rapidly liquefied, increasing both its overall quantity and quality.
After breaking through this step, Jiang Ming's Purple Palace Sea of Consciousness between his brows would also officially open. His previous divine sense had merely been a natural transformation brought about during cultivation. But the Foundation Establishment Stage required a complete evolution and transformation. Opening the Purple Palace Sea of Consciousness was equivalent to opening another cosmic gate within the human body and embarking on a new path of evolution.
It could even be said to resemble the gates of the universe or gates of God mentioned in his life before last, like awakening supernatural abilities.
Because divine sense truly was a supernatural ability. Moving objects through the air, seeing through walls to investigate, and more were all effortless.
The spot between his brows shone brilliantly, as though a Heavenly Eye had opened. The range of his divine sense rapidly expanded from a radius of seven thousand meters—eight thousand, nine thousand—until, with a boom, it broke through a barrier as though Heaven and Earth were splitting apart. It was as if he had pierced some mysterious shackle, or perhaps opened the Purple Palace Sea of Consciousness.
Within the Sea of Consciousness, hazy purple divine sense power formed a small lake. The maximum range of his divine sense reached ten thousand meters.
Ten thousand meters was twenty li.
Previously, he had needed to use the Innate Divine Runes and the First Generation Supreme Treasure Art of that Ancient Monk Lineage prodigy to reach a range of twenty li. That had been the enhancement of a divine ability treasure art.
Now, it was the growth and transformation of his own divine sense.
If he transformed into the Sanzang monk persona again and used Buddha's Light Illuminates All, he could at the very least reach an astonishing range of thirty li.
The feeling was like when he had studied in the county town in his previous life—once he used a divine ability, its reach could extend all the way to his hometown.
This sense of control over such a region was truly mysterious and intoxicating, making Jiang Ming feel omnipotent.
But the next moment, some memories from his previous life mocked him.
Still just a weakling.
At the same time!
The transformation of his physical body and true essence had also reached ninety percent completion.
Fortunately, he had Source to support him, as well as the cave dwelling Hua Yunfei had lent him.
Both starlight and moonlight were extremely nourishing.
Jiang Ming felt that his current physical body would not be inferior to that of a Dao Palace Realm cultivator of the Shrouding Method.
After all, logically speaking, the physical strength of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator using the Chinese Paladin Method was at most comparable to that of an Other Shore cultivator using the Shrouding Method.
The two methods emphasized entirely different aspects.
For example, his Life-Bound Sword was about to transform into a magical treasure, comparable to a treasure artifact refined by a Four Extremes Secret Realm cultivator.
In this regard, Jiang Ming's advantage was obvious.
Besides, in the Shrouding Method, he was still only a weak Sea of Bitterness cultivator.
Rumble—
At the same time, outside Star Peak, Heaven and Earth changed color as thunder rumbled. In the end, it converged into the shape of a funnel.
Crack!
Accompanied by a silver bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket, it crashed straight down. It seemed to ignore the cave dwelling's mountain rocks and barriers as it struck Jiang Ming.