He thought back to that time.
Lin Tian had fused the Thirty-Six Sea-Calming Divine Pearls and the Heaven-and-Earth Ruler into his innate bloodline, then transformed the Innate Sea-Covering Formation that originally belonged to those Innate Spiritual Treasures into a divine ability of his own.
Back then, the fusion had been completed the instant the system's notification sounded, and the Innate Sea-Covering Formation had become an innate divine ability within Lin Tian's bloodline.
He could summon this divine ability at will, with the Thirty-Six Divine Leaves unfolding its formation.
But...
There were countless possible fusion combinations among the seventy-two kinds of spirit treasures.
This time, aside from the system's assistance, the most important factor was Lin Tian himself. Like climbing a mountain, he had to advance step by step, thoroughly comprehending the principles within each Fierce Beast's life-bound spirit treasure before meticulously fusing them and slowly discerning their profound mysteries.
As such, this would not be accomplished in an instant, as his previous fusion of the Innate Sea-Covering Formation had been.
In the blink of an eye, thirty thousand years passed.
During those thirty thousand years, Lin Tian brought his fusion of the seventy-two kinds of Fierce Beast spirit treasures to the third level.
At the same time, he developed the cultivation art he had previously wanted to obtain: the Hongmeng Eight-Nine Profound Art!
As he fused the spirit treasures of the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts, his understanding of their transformations grew ever clearer.
The Hongmeng Eight-Nine Profound Art could be called the forefather of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends Transformations.
It was worlds apart from the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends Transformations that Patriarch Bodhi, an incarnation of Saint Zhunti, one of the two Western Saints of later ages, taught the stone monkey Sun Wukong in the Crescent Moon Three-Star Cave on Mount Fangcun.
After all, the Hongmeng Eight-Nine Profound Art was the ancestor of all cultivation arts under heaven.
One could even say that every cultivation art evolved from the numbers eight and nine.
Considered separately, eight belonged to yin and nine to yang; together, they yielded seventy-two.
In this era of the Primordial World, every number represented an abstract value rather than a concrete quantity.
Of the numbers eight and nine, one was the highest yang number, and the other the highest yin number.
And within eight and nine...
All manner of combinations overlapped and interwove, each one a new formation, a new divine ability, a new line of thought.
Different mixtures and combinations could produce all sorts of variations.
Combinations of two, three, four, five, and so on could be developed in succession.
Every combination could undergo countless transformations, just like a formation.
They could even...
Be deduced all the way to the ultimate pinnacle of the Great Dao!
Ultimately, they could evolve into the Three Thousand Great Daos that had yet to appear in this era of the Primordial World!
During this period, Lin Tian...
Became utterly engrossed in the process of fusing the seventy-two Fierce Beast spirit treasures.
Through that fusion, he felt the wonder and grandeur of the Primordial World.
It was a marvelous experience that Lin Tian would never have dared imagine in his previous life, something that had never appeared even in his dreams.
And precisely because of that...
Apart from the first few combinations, Lin Tian took everything into his own hands thereafter, spending thirty thousand years exploring different combinations to their utmost limits.
Moreover...
He controlled his power with perfect precision. Unlike his previous fusion of the Thirty-Six Sea-Calming Divine Pearls and the Heaven-and-Earth Ruler, he would not inadvertently unleash the terrifying might of the Innate Sea-Covering Formation and instantly cleave Lone Peak in two!
During these thirty thousand years...
His methods and precision of control had improved tremendously within this space spanning tens of thousands of li.
Lin Tian could control the fusion of every divine ability without affecting anything beyond his vines, much less causing this fragile cave abode to collapse.
In the past...
Lin Tian had pursued divine abilities with ever-greater power. The more boundless their might, the more exhilarated he felt.
But...
Once he delved deeply into researching and creating various divine abilities and cultivation arts...
He discovered that the more boundless an art's power, the more exquisitely precise the control it required.
And the foundation of that control demanded a deep understanding of every cultivation art.
The deeper his understanding, the finer and more meticulous his control became.
During the fusion of the seventy-two Fierce Beast spirit treasures...
Lin Tian had only brought their fusion to the third level.
The so-called third level meant combining three spirit treasures to produce different combinations of divine abilities and the cultivation paths that arose from them.
When he tried to advance to combinations at the fourth level...
Lin Tian discovered that his own origin essence was no longer sufficient to sustain further combinations.
After all, he was still only at the middle Great Unity Golden Immortal stage.
Mental strength could be exhausted, and human effort had its limits.
For Lin Tian, who was at the middle stage of the Great Unity Golden Immortal realm, reaching this point and achieving third-level fusion...
Already represented the very limit of his limits. If he forced himself to continue combining and fusing them, he would damage his origin essence. Even the Three Lights Divine Water would not be enough to sustain such extravagant expenditure.
Thus, he stopped cultivating further within the cave abode.
That day...
Lin Tian stepped out of the cave abode.
He gently swayed his Nine Nether Vine, which had returned to its original simplicity. It no longer shone with a deep blue glow, instead resembling an ancient, unadorned vine.
Rustle!
In an instant...
A mountain identical to Mount Buzhou on the horizon appeared before Lin Tian.
This small mountain hovering before him, rising skyward like a pillar supporting heaven, was a phantom of Mount Buzhou!
This was an illusion divine ability from the Eight-Nine Profound Art.
It was a fusion of three divine abilities: Mountain-Moving, Mountain-Bearing, and Turning the Illusory into the Real!
This divine ability looked utterly unremarkable.
But if Lin Tian touched the illusory phantom of Mount Buzhou before him, he could arrive at Mount Buzhou in an instant!
The power of the Hongmeng Eight-Nine Profound Art, which he had developed to the third level, truly had endless wondrous uses!
Meanwhile...
At the very moment Lin Tian stepped out of his cave abode...
Rumble!
Rumble!
The cave abode to his right suddenly erupted with an oppressive aura, as though myriad heavenly worlds had descended upon this realm in an instant!
The Little Beast Emperor had also emerged from seclusion!
Throughout these thirty thousand years, the Little Beast Emperor had ceaselessly contemplated the formation released by the Nine Nether Vine-the Innate Sea-Covering Formation that had evolved into the Innate 108-Celestial-Circuit Star Formation.
The more the Little Beast Emperor comprehended, the clearer the innate red mark on its body became.
After thirty thousand years of contemplation, the red millstone on its body, which could originally manifest only as a phantom, had become twelve seemingly solid, blood-red millstones that could form a Post-Heavenly Earthly Branch Slaying Formation!
The twelve red millstones could turn from illusory to real, and from real to illusory.
Once unleashed, they would destroy heaven and earth, rob the sun and moon of their light, and shatter the void throughout the three realms!
Before you continue