The Wick Lights Up (Please Vote)

Above the firmament, sun and moon shone together, their radiance interwoven.

One sun, one moon; one yang, one yin—moving side by side without conflict.

Across the vast sky stretching ten thousand miles, they formed a breathtaking halo of pale azure and gilded white.

The blazing sun's golden rays and the moonlight's refreshing clarity blanketed the entire martial training ground.

Lu Li's eyes flickered and surged, yet he did not dare stop the stance work in his hands for even a moment. The slightest relaxation would bring even fiercer pain crashing through his entire body.

The agony was like someone viciously tearing apart his muscles piece by piece, shredding them into fragments, and like an electric current scouring him beneath immense pressure without pause.

His head felt as though it would split apart, as if seared by raging flames.

Even so, the already perfected Form-Intent Secret Stance showed not a trace of flourish in his hands. It was simple and monotonous, yet it carried an air of complete, rounded unity.

His fists were round, his force was round, his heart was full, and his momentum was full.

After one round, he began another.

He continued to sink his shoulders and drop his elbows, while his waist and spine remained steady without collapsing. His entire skeletal frame seemed locked into a single crossbeam. With every movement and closure, his breathing was deep, stable, and even... Primordial Unity Force slowly sank, and his waist and stance plunged like an abyss.

His fist stance gradually became such that all phenomena turned toward the man, and all phenomena followed the stance.

Hardness did not flaunt itself in his chest; softness did not crumble and scatter.

Lu Li gazed straight ahead, his mind clear and empty. Embrace the origin, sink the mountain, open and close, follow the current, return to balance, return to the aperture.

His thoughts gradually became like a boulder as he slowly guided the violent Magnetic Essence streams to scour his Primordial Unity Force inch by inch. The impure force within him was lightly washed away thread by thread!

"Bzzzz!"

All stagnant qi dispersed, and every clogging impurity was crushed to dust.

The Fifth Layer of Primordial Unity Force had reached complete perfection, but Lu Li did not stop in the slightest. Enduring the agony, he continued his deep, self-forgetting cultivation.

After an unknown amount of time, golden light glittered within his Sea of Consciousness. With a thought from him—

[Wick]: 1

A trace of astonishment appeared in Lu Li's eyes. The wick, which should have needed another seven days to reach perfection, had actually lit up early!

He opened his eyes and looked up at the full moon in the heavens in slight surprise. Could it be that the full moon overhead had accelerated the wick's early completion?

Without the slightest hesitation.

"Celebratory Cloud, enlightenment!"

He entered that span of clear, empty time. His mental state swiftly grew vigorous and powerful, his thoughts and wisdom became extraordinary, and his memory became astonishing.

This was no longer a barren, deathly silent wasteland.

Instead, it was the same scene as the martial training ground. The only difference was that he was the sole person left here, standing alone upon the Essence-Sinking Platform, while the agony in his body was simulated as well.

Standing within this domain, his mind became even more settled!

With a thought, the Magnetic Essence streams suddenly became ten times more violent. The pain felt real, yet it caused no actual harm to his mind.

Since he had not prepared at all and had not applied Vermilion Sand Powder or Tiger Hide Powder to his skin membrane, he could not undergo Skin Tempering right now.

Yet he did not panic at all. Since that was the case, he would first raise Primordial Unity Force to the ninth layer—and perhaps even attempt the Extreme Realm of the tenth layer!

He assumed his fist stance and began tempering Primordial Unity Force further.

In that clear, empty state of heightened perception, the sixth layer of Primordial Unity Force was forcibly torn apart, scoured, and emptied.

The simulated pain began to seep into his bones and marrow. In pursuit of realism, he even allowed the pain to penetrate his soul.

Under such extreme pain, he felt as though every inch of the meridians throughout his body had snapped apart. His Dantian became utterly hollow as well. In that instant, he was weak to the utmost degree, as though all his cultivation had been abolished.

Even under his heightened perception, Lu Li's eyes remained clear. Maintaining absolute calm, he began examining himself.

Countless exceedingly fine Magnetic Essence streams burrowed into every tiny meridian and every inch of skin and flesh throughout his "body."

He broke apart the perfectly unified Primordial Unity Force into hundreds of millions of fine threads of qi force, crisscrossing and weaving them throughout his entire body.

Meanwhile, every form of fist stance in his hands reached completion. After an unknown length of time, his Form-Intent Secret Stance began to take on a different flavor.

His hands came together loosely, round and seamless, without a single leak.

His arms opened and closed.

When they opened, they drew in Magnetic Essence streams to cleanse his entire body.

When they closed, all Primordial Unity Force returned to hide within his Dantian without a single trace leaking out.

Between opening and closing, balance arose naturally, fitting together with perfect harmony.

Just then, a thought stirred in his mind.

"Form-Intent Stance: Ultimate Skill": Beginner (1/3000)

The Form-Intent Secret Stance had broken through its limit!

The stance work, having broken its limit to become an ultimate skill, flowed along with his fist momentum, neither stiff nor sluggish.

His moves no longer merely drifted upon the surface.

With every fist Lu Li struck, his meridians followed the momentum, the momentum lay still while his heart moved, and his heart harmonized with his entire body.

The hundreds of millions of fine strands of Primordial Unity Force throughout his body all followed his will. They changed with the momentum, followed his will, and became utterly natural!

Lu Li's eyes lightly closed as his feet rooted firmly in the stance. His shoulders sank, and his waist and stance became one.

Unlike the fifth layer of Primordial Unity Force, the sixth layer now carried a gray gleam. Gray light circulated throughout his body, and every trace of impure force within him was completely refined away.

Upon reaching this layer, even his qi and blood became thick as mercury, known as "qi and blood like quicksilver."

Within this span of clear, empty time, Lu Li could not sense the passage of time.

The Form-Intent Ultimate Stake, after breaking its limit, cultivated Primordial Unity Force more than twice as fast.

Just as his fist momentum slightly withdrew and his force rebounded—

[Realm]: Fifth-Level Skin Tempering (Seventh Layer of Primordial Unity Force)

The qi within his body surged, yet his fist momentum never deviated in the slightest.

The seventh layer of Primordial Unity Force endlessly circulated within his body.

If his Skin Tempering had reached the seventh time as well, he could have easily attempted Gate-Breaking and successfully stepped into the Two Gates as a Flesh Refining martial artist.

Clearly, his goal was the dual Extreme Realm of Primordial Unity Force and Skin Tempering.

The seventh layer of Primordial Unity Force cultivated "inner nourishment."

At this layer, even the way he breathed underwent a qualitative change. Every breath became incomparably long. Put simply, holding his breath for two hours was no challenge for him now.

At the same time, his Primordial Unity Force gained explosive force of its own. When exerting strength, he needed no buildup; in an instant, he could unleash a brief, sharp burst of power.

When he exerted force, his tendons and bones would cry out in unison with a crisp "crack," like a whip splitting the air.

Lu Li's state of enlightenment continued.

Within this special state.

He had already raised the violent Magnetic Essence streams to twenty times their normal intensity.

He felt that the pain had reached his body's limit. If it increased by even a fraction more, he would descend into madness even in this state of heightened perception.

The gains brought by such extreme pain were astonishing.

"Form-Intent Stance: Ultimate Skill": Minor Accomplishment (1/3200)

He had cultivated the Form-Intent Ultimate Stake to Minor Accomplishment!

In this state, he felt neither sorrow nor joy.

When he moved, the Magnetic Essence streams within ten feet of him flowed with him.

When he stilled, the space within ten feet of him stilled with him.

With the Form-Intent Ultimate Stake at Minor Accomplishment, cultivating Primordial Unity Force became more than three times faster.

At this speed, he entered the eighth layer of Primordial Unity Force!

At this point, ten thousand forces leaked not in the slightest, and he could discern the gaps within the infinitesimal.

If the seventh layer of Primordial Unity Force lay in the skin and flesh, in the meridians, and in deliberate activation—

Then the eighth layer of Primordial Unity Force was "force within the void."

Primordial Unity Force could briefly leave the body when unleashed.

At the same time, his breathing became even longer. At this point, Primordial Unity Force could better be called "Primordial Unity One Breath." Through breathing and circulation, it could heal his injuries.

Ordinary poisons and knockout drugs that entered his body would be forcibly expelled by this breath of Primordial Unity One Breath.

When martial artists whose Primordial Unity Force was weaker than his attacked him, it was like a clay ox entering the sea. The moment their Primordial Unity Force entered his body, it vanished without a sound.

When the eighth layer of Primordial Unity Force coursed through his body, he could even hear a deep, rumbling "boom," like muffled thunder!

By the time the wick burned out, a year had passed in no more than an instant.

Lu Li opened his eyes. His gaze carried a lucid spiritual air, his eyes were deep, and his breathing was exceedingly fine. His eyes were steady and his heart calm; his clothes lay smooth, his hair was not disordered, and his entire body exuded quiet peace.

With a thought, he entered his Sea of Consciousness.

[Realm]: Fifth-Level Skin Tempering (Ninth Layer of Primordial Unity Force)

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