Zhou Yuan opened the furnace door. A four-meter-long Breaking Mountain Blade floated quietly within. Its blade was streaked with silver and violet, while the secret patterns on its surface flowed slowly like the paths of stars. Occasionally, a hint of earthy yellow or silver flashed across it. The auras of the two laws were perfectly fused, yet clearly distinct.
He reached out and gripped the hilt, channeling a trace of origin power. The blade immediately trembled as the heaviness of the Earth Origin Law and the sharpness of the Space Origin Law erupted at once, forming an invisible storm within the forging chamber. Zhou Yuan nodded in satisfaction, a weary yet excited smile appearing on his face. "It seems I've mastered the essence of forging fourth-rank weapons."
Successfully forging a fourth-rank Breaking Mountain Blade in one attempt meant Zhou Yuan had found a stable path to high-end wealth. Yet when he considered that cultivating the Second Layer of the Nine-Turn Mysterious Technique required resources worth tens of trillions of Universe Coins, he could not help frowning. At his current pace, the profit from one Breaking Mountain Blade was around a hundred million Universe Coins. To save up tens of trillions, he would need to forge tens of thousands of them. At his current speed, that would take at least several centuries.
"The road ahead is long." Zhou Yuan looked at the Breaking Mountain Blade in his hand and muttered softly. Still, he was not in a hurry. The Universe-level Powerhouse Battle was still more than a thousand years away, enough time to earn the resources needed for the Second Layer of the Nine-Turn Mysterious Technique.
Time flew by, and 327 years quietly passed amid the cycle of forging and cultivation.
At that moment, Zhou Yuan stood before a mountain of empty nutrient solution containers piled inside his spatial ring, a trace of relief flashing through his eyes. Over the past three centuries, he had forged more than seventy thousand fourth-rank Breaking Mountain Blades. The wealth he had accumulated was enough to support his attempt at the Second Layer of the Nine-Turn Mysterious Technique.
He spent more than five trillion Universe Coins to order a full 500 tons of D-rank recovery nutrient solution from the core warehouse of the Purple Chen Universe Nation. The energy contained in D-rank nutrient solution was a thousand times that of the C-rank nutrient solution he had previously bought, and its price was also more than a thousand times higher. It was generally used by Domain Lords for rapid recovery.
Cultivating the Second Layer of the Nine-Turn Mysterious Technique was far more difficult than the first. Each main secret pattern consisted of nine interlocking smaller secret patterns. There were 10,081 such composite secret patterns in total, forming an even more complex three-dimensional law network.
Zhou Yuan did not dare be careless. He activated the castle's spiritual-force shielding array to its maximum beforehand, then entered the small World Ring he had purchased to cultivate, ensuring that no external force could interfere with him.
"Beibei, activate the nutrient chamber." Zhou Yuan's voice carried a trace of solemnity. In the center of the cultivation room stood a massive nutrient chamber a thousand meters long, already filled with pale-blue D-rank nutrient solution. More than a hundred energy conduits were connected to the chamber, capable of monitoring his vital signs in real time and replenishing his consumption.
Zhou Yuan put away his origin power battle suit and stepped into the nutrient solution, lying down within it as his body returned to a height of twenty meters. His consciousness gradually sank into his sea of consciousness, and he began comprehending the Second Layer of the Nine-Turn Mysterious Technique deduced by the Hunyuan Dao Seed.
Just like with the first layer, the first step of cultivation was to use spiritual force to draw the secret-pattern structure in the sea of consciousness. This time, however, the patterns were far more complicated. Every main secret pattern required him to first outline nine interconnected smaller secret patterns. The angles and spacing between them, as well as the thickness of their energy channels, all had to be precise to the extreme. The slightest deviation would cause the entire secret-pattern network to collapse.
"Let's begin." Zhou Yuan took a deep breath and focused his consciousness to the limit. His soul force became countless invisible brushes as it began sketching the outline of the first composite secret pattern in his sea of consciousness.
Perhaps because his more than three centuries of forging had given him increasingly deft control over his spiritual force, the nine smaller secret patterns of the first composite pattern came together exceptionally smoothly, completed in one go without the slightest pause. Encouraged by this promising start, Zhou Yuan's confidence surged. His soul force continued to move, and one profound composite secret pattern after another gradually took shape in his sea of consciousness.
However, the path of cultivation was never smooth. When he reached the 7,397th composite secret pattern, a faint fluctuation suddenly appeared in Zhou Yuan's soul force, causing a deviation in one of the smaller secret-pattern lines.
The next second, the entire completed secret-pattern structure collapsed instantly like a row of dominoes, turning into specks of light that dissipated within his sea of consciousness.
"Did I fail?" Zhou Yuan opened his eyes and gently exhaled. There was not the slightest trace of discouragement on his face. Cultivation had never been something achieved in a single leap, especially not a heaven-defying secret art like the Second Layer of the Nine-Turn Mysterious Technique.
In the days that followed, Zhou Yuan entered an almost crazed state of cultivation. He repeatedly used his spiritual force to attempt drawing the secret-pattern structure. Whenever he failed, he started over. Once more than half of his spiritual force was depleted, the D-rank nutrient solution in the nutrient chamber would rapidly convert into spiritual force to replenish him, allowing him to remain in peak condition continuously.
The secret-pattern structure in his sea of consciousness formed again and again, only to collapse again and again. Yet Zhou Yuan's spiritual force was constantly refined and strengthened through each failure, and his understanding of the secret patterns grew ever deeper.
Finally, after seven full days of unrelenting attempts, the instant the nine smaller secret patterns of the final composite secret pattern formed perfectly in his sea of consciousness, the entire secret-pattern structure stabilized at once. A three-dimensional structure composed of 10,081 composite secret patterns floated in the center of his sea of consciousness, slowly rotating and emitting a faint seven-colored mystical glow.
"Success!" Zhou Yuan's heart surged with excitement, but he did not relax, because this was only the first step.
Next, he had to use the origin power within his body to connect the 10,081 composite secret patterns one by one in the order mapped out by his spiritual force. This step was even harder than drawing the secret patterns. It required extremely fine control over origin power, and the slightest carelessness would render all his previous efforts useless.
Zhou Yuan carefully mobilized the origin power within his body, guiding it like a slender thread slowly toward the secret-pattern structure in his sea of consciousness. The first composite secret pattern was connected successfully. Then the second, the third... When he reached more than two thousand composite secret patterns, a slight deviation appeared in his control of origin power, and the entire secret-pattern structure collapsed once more.
Failure did not discourage Zhou Yuan. Instead, it made him even calmer. He tried again and again, continuously adjusting the output and precision of his origin power while accumulating experience through failure. Meanwhile, the D-rank nutrient solution in the nutrient chamber continuously replenished his depleted origin power, so he no longer had to suffer the same fate as during his first cultivation, when his spiritual force and origin power had been drained dry and left him unconscious.
Time quietly passed amid the dull cultivation. In the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by. On this day, when the final wisp of origin power successfully connected to the 10,081st composite secret pattern, the entire secret-pattern structure suddenly erupted with dazzling earthy-yellow light. All 10,081 composite secret patterns lit up simultaneously, like 10,081 stars shining brilliantly in his sea of consciousness.
"It connected successfully!" A flash of wild joy appeared in Zhou Yuan's eyes.
The final step that followed was the easiest for Zhou Yuan. With a thought, his spiritual force and origin power instantly resonated. The secret-pattern structure in his sea of consciousness began to rotate slowly, each composite secret pattern operating according to some profound law, as though it were a flawless miniature of the entire universe.
As the secret-pattern structure operated, a strange force spread from his sea of consciousness and instantly coursed through Zhou Yuan's entire body. The origin power and spiritual force within him were forcibly stirred by that power, rapidly circulating through his body along the route guided by the secret-pattern structure. Zhou Yuan even lost autonomous control over his body.