That night, the river of stars shone brilliantly.
Shi Zhao sat cross-legged on a massive rock, her entire body radiant, her flesh giving off a precious glow.
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Even she was somewhat surprised to have finally reached this point, but upon closer thought, it was not without reason.
First, she had ample resources. She had also studied runes and Precious Techniques in the Scripture Temple, supplementing them with a method of tempering her body in starlight. Most importantly, of course, were her world-shaking wisdom and peerless talent!
All right, it was actually my Primordial Spirit nourishing my flesh. She shook her head, murmuring inwardly, rather amused by her own antics.
Cultivation was dull and tedious, and somehow she had developed a habit of talking to herself.
"The starlight is just right tonight. A fine night for a breakthrough, a fine night for advancement."
Shi Zhao began preparing to break through to the Cave Heaven Realm. This posed no difficulty for her; the only thing she needed to consider was how to break past the realm's ultimate limit afterward.
Let's set a modest goal: open ten cave heavens first. Neither joy nor sorrow stirred in her heart. Every so often, she looked up at the river of stars, utterly at peace.
She already knew all the mysteries of the Cave Heaven Realm by heart and could break through at any moment. Gradually, her spiritual perception spread through heaven and earth, her consciousness transcending her body as though merging with the Dao.
At the instant before her breakthrough, she entered the enlightenment state!
At that moment, Shi Zhao's entire being sublimated. Her mind was pure, her body crystalline, without a trace of impurity, enveloped in countless runes.
The stars glittered, their light like thin mist condensing into frost, as though draping her in a gauzy robe.
Stars formed from runes flickered one after another within her flesh and blood, like furnaces and cauldrons of the immortal Dao, refining the bounty of heaven and earth in the final preparations for her advancement.
Cave heaven was both a realm and a means of cultivation: drawing in the essence of the greater world, comprehending and bringing forth the true meaning of Dao runes, understanding this world's order and the changes in its laws, as though reenacting the creation of a small world.
This was the Cave Heaven Realm: opening an immortal passage, a pure land, or even a world within or outside the body. Through it, one could connect to the boundless void and seize the bounty of heaven and earth, causing the divine power of the runes within one's body to surge while always maintaining it at its peak.
Boom!
Suddenly, a tremendous sound rang out, as though some majestic music of the Great Dao had begun to play.
This was not a sound in the physical world. A mass of runes appeared around Shi Zhao's Primordial Spirit, densely packed and dazzling, as though cast from immortal metal and branded into her sea of consciousness.
A ray of spiritual light swept across her sea of consciousness, brilliant as a river of stars. Finally, a radiant ring appeared above her Primordial Spirit's head, resembling a gateway into the starry sky.
What is this? Is it also a cave heaven? She was astonished, yet she also felt that this was how things ought to be, as natural as water flowing into a newly formed channel.
Cave heavens generally resembled volcanoes and could be opened either outside or inside the body.
Hers had opened directly within her sea of consciousness, as though polished from crystalline diamond... Soon, she realized that this probably really was a cave heaven-a primordial spirit cave heaven!
More precisely, it was the embryonic form of a primordial spirit cave heaven.
Since Little Shi would one day be able to merge ten cave heavens into one and create a fleshly cave heaven, it was perfectly reasonable for her to stumble into making a primordial spirit cave heaven... right?
Without question, Shi Zhao had indeed broken through to the Cave Heaven Realm at this moment, completing a sublimation and transformation of life. Her strength advanced by leaps and bounds, rising far beyond what it had been.
More importantly, the Tattered Cloth deep within her sea of consciousness, which had barely ever stirred, also reacted, as though resonating with that embryonic primordial spirit cave heaven.
She separated a wisp of her Primordial Spirit and sent it into that cave heaven. The next moment, she appeared in a desolate world.
A Golden-Winged Roc soared into the firmament to battle the heavens, a Peacock spread its wings and swept out Five-Colored Divine Light, a Pixiu trod upon bloody radiance, and a True Hou roared at the bright moon. There were also a Suanni and a Bian locked in a struggle between lion and tiger.
This is... the back of the Tattered Cloth? Those Precious Technique imprints actually formed a world of their own? Shi Zhao realized that she had finally unlocked another treasure hidden within the Tattered Cloth.
The Precious Technique imprints had become the true forms of vicious beasts. She could send a portion of her Primordial Spirit inside to fight them, comprehending the true essence of the various Precious Techniques in the most primal-and most effective-way!
"No need to explore this just yet. I'll press on and open more cave heavens in one go."
Her consciousness returned, and she finally opened a normal cave heaven. It looked as though it had been hewn from rock, grayish brown, imposing and ancient. Suspended three inches above the crown of her head, it brimmed with rolling vital essence that showered down in a gorgeous rain of light like starlight.
She then opened another two cave heavens in a single effort. They hung symmetrically on either side of her body, continuously drawing power from the void and revealing purple and golden-yellow life essence respectively.
Including the embryonic primordial spirit cave heaven she had opened at the start, she had opened four cave heavens in succession, breaking through four minor stages the moment she advanced!
Yet Shi Zhao felt incomparably light in body and mind, as though she were about to attain the Dao and ascend.
She opened her eyes, and two astonishing beams shot from them. Countless tiny runes formed in their depths, as though reflecting a sky full of stars-magnificent, dreamlike, and soul-stirring.
This, too, was a gain from opening the primordial spirit cave heaven. Her spiritual power transformed once more, unlocking the dormant divine treasures of her flesh, as though it were about to condense into a spiritual heavenly eye.
If she could fully open it, it would absolutely rival the so-called Martial Dao Heavenly Eye!
Then Shi Zhao closed her captivating, starry eyes again, quietly savoring the differences of the Cave Heaven Realm and immersing herself in them. Only when the rising sun climbed in the east did she slowly awaken and stand. Facing the rosy dawn, she breathed in and out the morning radiance, thoroughly consolidating her cultivation.
The divine radiance of the three cave heavens outside her body withdrew inward, and they gradually vanished. The embryonic primordial spirit cave heaven within her also dimmed and sank into her Primordial Spirit, quietly awaiting the day it would blaze with glory.
"How did it go?" Fourth Grandfather appeared impatiently, clutching his heart as he asked.
In truth, he had already witnessed her breakthrough the night before. Three cave heavens! When had he ever seen such a sight? He simply could not resist asking her himself.
"I feel wonderful." Shi Zhao's large eyes were clear and utterly pure.
Opening three cave heavens in succession was shocking enough to astound the world, but compared with the unheard-of primordial spirit cave heaven, it hardly amounted to anything.
"Rest assured, I was the only one who saw it last night. Not a word will get out!" Fourth Grandfather immediately swore to keep his lips sealed, then asked what she planned to do next.
At this point, even as an elder and a senior cultivator, he dared not tell such a prodigy what to do. All that so-called experience was of no use; he could only follow her wishes.
Shi Zhao gazed in a certain direction, her eyes slightly distant. Only after a long while did she say softly, "I want to go to the Ancestral Land."
Fourth Grandfather's expression changed. Instinctively, he wanted to refuse, but remembering how he had personally watched her open three cave heavens in succession the previous night, he swallowed his words.
"Well... I know you're worried about Hao'er, but the Ancestral Land is hard to find... Ah, never mind. If you insist on leaving
, I can't stop you." He sighed again and again, wanting to speak but holding back, then wanting to speak once more.
"Yes, a Young Phoenix must spread her wings someday. True powerhouses all fight their way out of the Great Wilderness. But no matter what, you must wait a little longer and make more preparations..."
"Please rest assured. I won't act rashly," Shi Zhao said.
Naturally, she would not rush into the Great Wilderness in a fit of hotheadedness. Besides, she still had unfinished business at the Martial King Manor. How could she leave just like that?
"Little brother, my dear little brother, your big sister is coming to see you."
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