Beside the spring pool grew over a dozen small trees more than half a meter tall. Their broad, lush green leaves resembled human palms, as though several many-armed little people stood there. At the top of each tree hung a bright red fruit shaped like a cherry, yet each was as large as a chicken egg.
Lin Xian plucked a fruit and held it in his mouth, then immersed himself in the Divine Spring. The cool spring water soaked the hem of his clothes, and his fair muscles were faintly visible. He cultivated with complete focus as wisps of hazy white mist rose around him, making the youth in the spring seem transcendent and ethereal, like an immortal.
He closed his eyes and pondered, comprehending the Wheel of the Sea Scripture and combining it with his own understanding of cultivation to touch the source of the physical body.
There was endless dust between heaven and earth, and every speck of dust was a world. The physical body was the same, containing countless imperceptible doors.
The essence of cultivation was to push open one door after another and behold one's True Self.
Among them, the Sea of Bitterness in the lower dantian was an exceedingly important door, one of the human body's Five Great Secret Realms.
Creation arose within the Sea of Bitterness, while vigorous life brewed amid desolation. Only by opening a Life Spring eye and connecting it to the Life Wheel could one wield all manner of mysterious arts and divine abilities with unfathomable might. To reach the other secret realms, one had to elevate the Sea of Bitterness, cultivate divine veins, forge a heavenly bridge, temper spirit and body, and finally unite god and shell, break through one's shackles, transcend oneself, reach the Other Shore, and arrive at the end of the Sea of Bitterness.
This was the complete cultivation of the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm: Sea of Bitterness, Life Spring, Divine Bridge, and Other Shore.
In Ancient Antiquity, some Great Powers used powerful cultivation methods alongside ancient secret arts to cultivate a single secret realm and thereby reach the realm of Sages.
However, Lin Xian did not intend to cultivate this way. It was not only because the Wheel of the Sea section in his hands was merely a scripture written by an ordinary Saint of the Primordial Human Race, neither as profound as an Emperor Scripture nor as mysterious as an Immortal Scripture. More importantly, this was not his path.
His path had been decided from the very beginning. Regardless of whether his realm was stable or his foundation solid, he would charge to the peak of cultivation at the fastest possible speed, then destroy his cultivation and start over.
Between life and death, between severance and destruction, he would prove his own Immortal Path.
Within the dark, silent Sea of Bitterness, a jade-green Life Wheel rose and fell. As the Sacred Fruit in his mouth was refined, streams of pure energy poured into his body, releasing boundless life essence that coiled above the Sea of Bitterness.
In an instant, the Sea of Bitterness surged. Great waves rolled up, and amid the rising and falling tides, traces of holy white divine power emerged. Drawn by the Qi-State Origin-Flow, they flowed through his limbs and bones, washing over his flesh and skeleton, nourishing his organs, and strengthening his physical body.
Yet this was not the end. It was only the beginning.
Lin Xian possessed no special physique. Under the enhancement of the Qi-State Origin-Flow, his bones were cleansed and marrow refined, his qi abundant and spirit full. He was merely a Mortal Body with talent for cultivation, comparable to a genius from a minor sect.
Such a physique could not greatly increase his combat power, but it required very few resources. He did not need, like a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, hundreds of thousands or millions of jin of Source for every breakthrough.
Moreover, Lin Xian spared no expense and cared nothing for his foundation. He made no effort to temper his body or realm, focusing only on breaking through. His cultivation speed was unimaginably fast.
Before the Four Extremes, cultivators did not place much importance on comprehending the Dao. They focused instead on cultivating the physical body. In other words, as long as there were enough resources, theoretically even an ordinary person could charge straight into the second secret realm, the Dao Palace.
With a rush, the energy of the Sacred Fruit carried Lin Xian to the Great Perfection of the Late Sea of Bitterness, half a step into the Life Spring Realm, before stopping. It was not because the energy was insufficient, but because more divinity lay dormant within his body, waiting to be unearthed in the future. Or perhaps, in battle, it would allow him to recover a little faster than his opponents.
Lin Xian was not satisfied with this. Besides the Sacred Fruit, he also had the Divine Spring. Immersed within it, he drew in nearly inexhaustible essence, breaking through the Sea of Bitterness from above and connecting with the Life Wheel.
In an instant, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth intertwined with the essence within his body, surging violently and condensing into liquid to form a life-giving divine spring within him!
Under the direction of his will, the essence of the Divine Spring united essence, qi, and spirit into one. This was mana. So long as the source of divine power did not run dry, his mana would be inexhaustible.
At this realm, one could ride rainbows through the air, fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth. Though one could not fly far or high, nor travel to the North Sea in the morning and Cangwu at dusk like an immortal, cross vast regions, or roam the cosmos, one could fly at last. One of humanity's ultimate dreams had been fulfilled!
Just as Lin Xian was about to continue cultivating, charge into the Divine Bridge Realm, elevate his Sea of Bitterness, form divine veins of heaven and earth, and unleash his boundless potential—
An accident descended.
It was not Ruthless Great Emperor making a move. She had already forged an immortal heart, without sorrow or joy, regarding all living beings as drifting clouds and stray dogs. Unless it concerned her obsession with her elder brother, her emotions would not ripple in the slightest.
Lin Xian was merely interesting in her eyes. He was not worth the intervention of a Great Emperor.
The Great Accomplished Saint Physique was the same. His Supreme Being Dao Heart was unwavering, and he had witnessed countless reunions and partings throughout eternity. Unless someone resembled a person from his past, it would be difficult to stir his heartstrings.
The one that triggered the disturbance in the Ancient Desolate Forbidden Zone was a Desolate Slave.
The Desolate Slave was a woman with bright eyes and white teeth, a slender graceful neck, and beauty like a lotus emerging from water. Peerlessly lovely, she wore white robes that fluttered in the wind, like the Moon Palace Fairy arriving on the breeze, transcendent and unworldly.
"Huang?"
Lin Xian was jolted, cold sweat pouring down his body as he blurted it out instinctively, only to realize something immediately afterward.
This was not Huang. Ruthless Great Emperor bore Shackles upon her body. This was an ancient person from six thousand years ago, Tianxuan's last Saintess.
Why had he triggered her reaction?
In that flash of lightning, Lin Xian looked at the threads of mana emerging from his fingertips and instantly understood. Yes, it was his mana that had drawn this Tianxuan Saintess here.
The scripture he cultivated came from the cultivation method created by Sage Tianxuan.
In Tianxuan Saintess's eyes, this was the aura of a fellow disciple. Naturally, she had sensed it and come.
"But did she come on her own, or was she sent here?"
Lin Xian's heart leaped into his throat once more. Tianxuan Saintess was a Desolate Slave, and Huang stood behind her.
It would be fine if she had come by herself. But if Ruthless Great Emperor had sent her, what was he supposed to do?
Recalling Ruthless Great Emperor's ruthless methods, that merciless demonic nature that had slain all kings by herself and stood alone above the nine heavens, Lin Xian felt his heart and liver tremble.
Believe in a Great Emperor's grandeur, but never believe in a Great Emperor's mercy.
Every emperor had fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Why would Ruthless spare him? It was not as if his surname was Ye.
If he were Ruthless, how would he treat himself?
Lin Xian's mind raced. Putting himself in her position, he quickly imagined an incomparably cruel scene.
First, she would use the Spirit-Deliverance Art to convert him into a servant, making him a true insider. Then everything would naturally spill from his mouth, and all his secrets would be exposed.
If he wanted to resist, she would simply strike him with a palm, shatter his physical body, and directly search his soul.
Even if she killed the wrong person, so what? Leaving aside a Great Emperor's ability to regenerate from a drop of blood and recreate heaven and earth, who would seek an accounting from a Great Emperor over an ant?
Emperors had always been arrogant, but they were not born that way.
The Great Emperors and Heavenly Venerables of all ages had not been fools before attaining the Dao. Yet after attaining the Dao, they all became reckless brutes. There was only one reason for such consistency: no scheme could withstand the power of a Great Emperor.
A thousand words and the wisdom of prajna were less convenient than a single slap.
The Primordial Ancient Star's Saints entrusted their Primordial Spirits to the Heavenly Dao, and thus became undying and indestructible. The Great Emperors of Shrouding the Heavens entrusted their minds to the Heavenly Heart, and thus charged recklessly through heaven and earth.
Do not try to reason with a Supreme Being unless you possess comparable strength.
A Saint's Primordial Spirit was entrusted above the Heavenly Dao; a Great Emperor's mind was hung upon the Heavenly Heart.
Just charge ahead.