Qin Siyang sat beside the fissure, a row of empty boxes laid out before him.
By now, he had slipped into a groggy daze.
He did not know whether he had absorbed too much essence from Large Gods or had simply had too little time to digest it, but he felt almost drunk.
In his haze, he seemed to hear Hu Chan calling him.
But he could not tell whether it was real or an illusion from the Tide-Listening Clam.
Qin Siyang paid it little mind. He just mechanically cooked the God Remains, kept putting that strange white substance into his mouth, and swallowed it quickly.
When another serving of God Remains refined by the island fire reached his stomach, he finally noticed a change.
The clump of red-and-white God Remains slid down his throat. At first, it felt no different from before, like a mouthful of hot soup slowly sinking through his chest.
But the next second, Qin Siyang's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
All the firelight within the sealed space dimmed with it.
Thump!
His heartbeat resumed.
That single beat shook the fissure beneath him, widening it by several inches.
Island fire erupted from deep within the crack, wrapped around Qin Siyang, and formed a barrier of flame.
Qin Siyang braced both hands against the ground, delight flashing in his eyes.
"Am I finally about to break through?"
This was not his first breakthrough.
But this one was different from all the others.
In past breakthroughs, his Path of Self-Verification had changed, his Foundation of Self-Enlightenment had expanded, and power had flowed back from his sea of consciousness to nourish his body.
Now, however, the first thing to change was his stomach.
The essence of the gods he had swallowed burst open in his belly. Instead of immediately