The Heavens

The courtyard had been swept clean, empty and desolate, with only an elderly couple serving as gatekeepers and no other servants.

Chu Zhiyuan arrived at the study in the rear courtyard of the residence.

The books in the study remained, mostly miscellaneous records, with few touching on martial arts.

The previous owner likely did not practice martial arts.

Besides the carved window desk, against the eastern wall stood an Arhat Bed carved with cloud patterns, meant for brief rest.

Chu Zhiyuan sat cross-legged on the Arhat Bed, closed his eyes, and his Super Sensation spread out to envelop the Earthly Soil Hall, locking onto Feng Zhihao.

The lanterns in the rear courtyard of the Earthly Soil Hall had been extinguished, cold moonlight spilling down.

Feng Zhihao, bare-bodied, moved across the small Training Ground, leaving a trail of afterimages.

The cold wind stirred the steaming white vapor rising from his body.

As he moved, he continuously thrust his palm forward, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, the direction abrupt and bizarre, impossible to guard against.

Vaguely, it resembled a snake darting swiftly, its tongue hissing out.

A snake's structure differs from a human's, often enabling movements a person cannot make; when the same motion is performed by a human, it appears strange and unimaginable.

This was the power of this palm technique—uncanny speed, uncanny strangeness.

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head.

He knew Feng Zhihao was extremely frustrated.

This set of palm techniques was both fast and bizarre, impossible to defend against, yet he had been interrupted before he could even execute it, never getting a chance to display its power.

He surmised that the humiliation of being suppressed and beaten had enraged Feng Zhihao, filling him with hatred for his own incompetence, and only this kind of self-tormenting, brutal training could alleviate some of it.

Chu Zhiyuan made a silent comparison.

The Within Reach, Yet Worlds Apart Step and the Great Avalanche Sword Art pushed power to its extreme, essentially an all-or-nothing gamble, defying common martial sense.

Martial artists typically used seven-tenths of their strength, holding back three-tenths for adaptability, and only in desperate situations would they stake everything.

Others used seven-tenths of their strength; he used ten-tenths. Thus, opponents at the same level could hardly be his match.

Let alone Feng Zhihao, who was only at the Second Layer—even if he were at the Third Layer like Chu Zhiyuan, he would still be no match.

Rare were the supreme techniques in the world that could rival the Great Avalanche Sword Art and the Within Reach, Yet Worlds Apart Step, and he also had the Earthly Yuan Art to complement them.

Feng Zhihao trained again and again under the moonlight in the cold wind, until utterly exhausted, then dragged his heavy body into the warm Quiet Room.

He took down the Landscape Painting, revealing the Earth Venerable Diagram, and sat with difficulty on the bed opposite, crossing his legs, his breathing slowly calming.

After this bout of self-tormenting cultivation, his mind gained a brief tranquility, the best time to practice.

The room was warm as spring; bare-bodied, he formed a hand seal with both hands, his lips shaping a character, and Chu Zhiyuan was certain it was "Suppress."

Feng Zhihao's gaze fell on the "Suppress" character in the Earth Venerable Diagram.

Through Super Sensation, Chu Zhiyuan accurately perceived that his gaze was not only on this "Suppress" character but also on the mountain beside it.

Without Super Sensation, even if he witnessed Feng Zhihao's cultivation with his own eyes, he could not truly determine the scope of Feng Zhihao's gaze.

Feng Zhihao changed his hand seal, his lips forming the character "All," his gaze falling on the "All" character, along with the azure sky beside it.

Chu Zhiyuan observed carefully while pondering.

This was a unity of mind, mouth, and intent; this Earth Venerable Diagram was essentially a Visualization Diagram.

From Chu Qingfeng, he knew the path of imperial cultivation: the Lesser Violet Sun Technique for Foundation Establishment, the Greater Violet Sun Technique for Qi Refining, and the Violet Sun True Scripture for Spirit Refining.

Upon reaching the Grandmaster Realm, one had to cultivate the Violet Sun True Scripture, which contained the Violet Sun Visualization Diagram.

He had speculated that the diagram hanging in the Bright Martial Hall was the Violet Sun Visualization Diagram, and that when one reached the Grandmaster level, the Violet Sun Realm manifested on Chu Qingfeng would appear.

According to the cultivation sequence of the Violet Sun True Scripture, one could not start with Spirit Refining; one had to first refine essence, then refine Qi, and finally refine the spirit.

The Lesser Violet Sun Technique refined essence, the Greater Violet Sun Technique refined Qi, and the Violet Sun True Scripture refined the spirit—only then would the Visualization Diagram be introduced.

Breaking this sequence and directly starting with Spirit Refining was certainly a shortcut, accelerating cultivation progress, but it would deplete the Primordial Spirit, inevitably destabilizing the foundation and making it far more difficult to achieve Grandmaster status.

Grandmaster was already hard to attain; with this added difficulty, the path to Grandmaster was nearly severed.

To become a Grandmaster, the depleted Primordial Spirit had to be replenished; without replenishment, the spark of Grandmaster could not flash, and most people stagnated at the Grandmaster Realm.

He stood up, paced with his hands behind his back.

Could it be that this Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture was not for him to cultivate?

That Phoenix Pattern had strengthened his Spiritual Power—was it strengthening his Primordial Spirit?

In the end, he decided not to act rashly.

This involved the Grandmaster level; he absolutely could not damage his Primordial Spirit for the sake of speed.

But if he did not practice this Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture, he would not know if it was the Path of Incense and Fire.

The Path of Incense and Fire was absolutely forbidden by the Imperial Court.

Thus, the next morning, he went again to the Bright Martial Hall and consulted Chu Qingfeng about the relationship between the Primordial Spirit and Spiritual Power.

Then he went to the West Side Hall of the Bright Martial Hall to browse some martial arts manuals and notes, and afterward went to the Tongtian Pavilion to find some treatises on the Primordial Spirit.

After spending an entire day on it, he finally determined that the Phoenix Pattern could strengthen his Primordial Spirit, and the increase in Spiritual Power was also a strengthening of the Primordial Spirit.

A bright moon slanted in the sky, illuminating the myriad lights of Yujing City.

Inside the residence beside Phoenix Street, in the Quiet Room, Chu Zhiyuan formed hand seals with both hands, identical to Feng Zhihao in the backyard of the Earthly Soil Hall.

As he formed the hand seals, he silently recited those nine characters in coordination with the seals while observing the text and patterns of that diagram.

After nine rounds of seal-forming, a strange sensation arose, as if he had transformed into the Earth Venerable depicted in the diagram.

At the same time, the Earth Venerable Statue in the main hall of the Earthly Soil Hall suddenly lit up, and a ball of light shot toward him, while a smaller ball of light shot toward Feng Zhihao.

The two balls of light differed in size; the one shooting toward him was as large as a fist, while the one shooting toward Feng Zhihao was the size of a fingernail.

He guessed it was due to the difference in their Primordial Spirits or Spiritual Power.

This ball of light landed on the Laogong points of his palms, transforming into a white-tinged-yellow aura, gentle, warm, and rich.

After several repetitions, Chu Zhiyuan revealed a smile.

He didn't believe that all disciples of the Thick Earth Sect could obtain this secret transmission; the power on the Earth Venerable Statue shouldn't be that abundant—it needed to be condensed and accumulated.

Balls of light shot over one after another. When the Laogong points felt a swelling pain, the energy automatically entered the Yongquan points. Once the Yongquan points were also saturated and could take no more, he stopped his actions.

This Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture did not take the Dantian as its dwelling place, but rather the Laogong points of the palms and the Yongquan points of the feet.

The Laogong points of the palms were Imperial Heaven, and the Yongquan points of the feet were Earthly Soil.

With a flicker of his form, he appeared in the courtyard. The Qingying Sword thrust out repeatedly, and the Great Avalanche Sword Art was executed time and again.

After fifty-five thrusts, he finally exhausted his strength, yet his Meridians did not feel like they were shattering. He activated the Earthly Yuan Art and continued executing the Great Avalanche Sword Art.

After over a hundred thrusts, his Meridians ached as if they would split. The Qingying Sword returned to its sheath.

He used the Dragon Transformation Technique to guide the power of those four balls of light through his Meridians, and they recovered rapidly—the effect was immediate.

He went through this process once more: forming seals, reciting incantations, and visualizing. Balls of light shot from the Earth Venerable Statue one after another, filling his feet and hands with the warm, rich, white-tinged-yellow aura.

After executing over a hundred thrusts of the Great Avalanche Sword Art again, his Meridians were damaged.

This time, he didn't use the Dragon Transformation Technique. Instead, he directly guided the four auras into his Meridians, following the path of the Greater Circulation, nourishing them.

The Meridians recovered quickly, but compared to using the Dragon Transformation Technique to drive them, the recovery speed was about five times slower—a world of difference.

The combination of the Dragon Transformation Technique and the power of the Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture healed injuries like a miracle!

So, was this truly the power of incense offerings?

After a while, he sat cross-legged on the couch and activated the Jade Lock Golden Pass Technique.

This time, he condensed nine Dragon Binding Ropes in one go.

In the past, he wouldn't have dared to condense so many Dragon Binding Ropes, but now, with the power of the Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture, he was bolder.

A quarter of an hour later, he opened his eyes. A sharp gleam shot from them before returning to clarity.

The Fourth Jade Tower had already been breached, and his cultivation had stepped into the realm of the Fifth Layer of Innate Jade Tower.

His Meridians felt like they were about to shatter. He hurriedly used the power of the Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture to drive the Dragon Transformation Technique. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, his Meridians recovered.

This efficiency left him astonished.

Unfortunately, this power could only be used to heal Meridians, not to strengthen them like the power cultivated through the Dragon Transformation Technique.

One was for healing injuries, the other for tempering the body—two different paths.

With the power of the Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture, he dared to take risks.

So he executed the Jade Lock Golden Pass Technique again, preparing to assault the Fifth Jade Tower. When he condensed the eighth Dragon Binding Rope, a warning sign arose in his heart.

After the breakthrough, his True Qi was far stronger than before, but his Meridians could only withstand seven Dragon Binding Ropes. Even with the Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture, it wasn't enough.

Thus, he didn't continue condensing Dragon Binding Ropes. He only used seven Dragon Binding Ropes together to assault the Jade Tower.

The result was an unsurprising failure.

His Meridians ached as if on the verge of collapse again. The Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture drove the Dragon Transformation Technique, quickly restoring his Meridians.

He shook his head helplessly.

The foundation was still the Dragon Transformation Technique; he still needed to train his Meridians. And training his Meridians couldn't rely on the Imperial Heaven Earthly Soil Scripture—instead, he would have to depend on Minor Marrow Cleansing Pills and other Spiritual Medicines.

Feng Zhihao had already fallen asleep, but his brows were still tightly furrowed.

Over the past few days, Feng Zhihao's anger and resentment hadn't diminished; instead, they had grown stronger, driving him to train like his life depended on it.

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head.

This young man was too competitive. He needed to be tempered and worn down a bit.