There was no doubt that the Shi Clan's Ancient Pill Formula was mysterious-and extravagantly costly.
This was only the secret formula for the Cave Heaven Realm, yet it already required so much spirit medicine.
After brewing the Treasure Medicine, the Stone Emperor left, leaving behind a Magic Sword as well. This was another Divine Artifact, refined from suanni bone.
A spear and a sword: a perfect match for the Bian Precious Technique and the Suanni Precious Technique.
Shi Zhao was now the only person in the entire palace.
Well, she was truly enjoying the treatment of a prince or princess now. Even the palace had been a gift from the Stone Emperor, bestowed with a grand wave of his hand while he was in an excellent mood.
Finally, Shi Zhao stripped off her clothes and entered the cauldron herself to temper her body.
The medicinal liquid boiled inside the Medicine Cauldron. Radiant mists rose in a shimmering haze, brilliant light gleamed, and auspicious colors gushed forth. The essence was so dense it would not disperse.
The girl sat cross-legged within it, her entire body crimson as the medicinal liquid boiled around her. At the same time, she silently recited the Primitive True Understanding and the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art, and countless insights surfaced in her mind.
Her comprehension was truly formidable, and her innate aptitude was extraordinarily high.
Finally, Shi Zhao fetched the lid and sealed the boiling cauldron, continuously tempering herself. Using the potent medicine as a catalyst, she cleansed her flesh and bones to make her breakthrough.
Of course, even the finest medicine was only an aid. In the end, she still had to rely on herself.
At that moment, she began unleashing everything!
Runes densely covered her body, dazzling beyond measure and illuminating the void. Ten cave heavens appeared, like ten bottomless black holes, frantically devouring all the medicine's power.
Ripple after ripple spread outward. The flesh throughout her body pulsed, and her bones crackled like a passage of divine music, carrying their own resonance of the Dao.
The ten cave heavens had clearly reached the Extreme Realm attainable under ordinary circumstances, making further progress all but impossible. Only her physical body received further nourishment, growing somewhat stronger.
Though the runes blazed brilliantly, densely covering her inside and out, they underwent no fundamental change.
Rumble-
The ten cave heavens roared, linking into a continuous expanse as the sounds of the Dao rang without end. Then they expanded violently-and shattered.
The next instant, another crystalline, radiant cave heaven emerged from her sea of consciousness, resonating with the ten cave heavens.
At the same time, light from the Heavens spread from her chest, forcibly holding the shattered cave heavens in place as they began to reshape.
The medicinal liquid in the divine cauldron was rapidly drying up, nearly drained away, but it still was not enough.
The vast reserves of essence, energy, and spirit Shi Zhao had accumulated also poured forth of their own accord, dividing into ten streams that entered the ten cave heavens.
"Break through the limit! Open!"
Her eyes snapped open, their brilliance outshining the river of stars overhead. Her long hair floated loose as she raised a hand and struck upward with her palm.
She was not trying to smash her way out of the cauldron. Seven great stars branded themselves into the void, reflecting the wondrous sight of the starry rivers across the heavens as they frantically drew in and released starlight and the essence of heaven and earth.
The entire night sky abruptly dimmed. The moon lost its light, and the river of stars lost its radiance. All their splendor had been seized, leaving a heart-stopping darkness filled with a demonic air that alarmed countless people.
The Stone Emperor watched quietly from afar, activating a Magic Formation to seal off that area without a word.
Buzzzzzzz!
Inside the palace, the ten cave heavens and the nascent primordial spirit cave heaven resonated together, almost giving rise to an Immortal Domain!
"Still not enough! Again!"
Shi Zhao had grown a little crazed, plunging into a state where only madness could see her through.
She dissolved the nascent primordial spirit cave heaven as well, even throwing in the innate source of the seven stars in her palm.
If anything went wrong, all that would remain of her truly would be a Supreme Bone that did not belong to her.
But having lived a second life, she had never lacked the courage to stake everything on a single attempt.
The ten great cave heavens were continually smelted, melding together over and over. At last, they truly showed signs of becoming one, but they also drained her dry. Her flesh and primordial spirit were nearly refined away in turn.
Between life and death lay great terror-and great opportunity!
At the most dangerous moment, another unforeseen change arose.
The ten cave heavens, the nascent primordial spirit cave heaven, and the seven stars in her palm coalesced, seemingly becoming a gateway. Within it appeared a phantom remarkably similar to Shi Zhao herself.
An inexplicable Sacrificial Sound rang through the void. The phantom was shrouded in roaring flames, as though sacrificing itself, feeding its essence, energy, and spirit back into her true body and bringing her back to life.
"Hahaha, it worked! I did it!" As Shi Zhao sensed the nascent flesh cave heaven opened within her, she could not contain the smile on her face.
Though there had been some twists and turns, and things differed somewhat from what she had anticipated, the result was good.
She had figured that with her world-shaking wisdom and peerless natural talent, she was bound to succeed!
Sure enough, she had finally broken through the Extreme Realm of the Cave Heaven Realm.
And this was no ordinary breakthrough of the Extreme Realm—she had utterly surpassed it!
"Huh? Why can't they merge into one?" Her expression grew rather peculiar.
She had indeed opened a flesh cave heaven within her body, but it could not merge with the nascent primordial spirit cave heaven. It could only unite with the ten cave heavens.
The primordial spirit cave heaven could also unite with the ten cave heavens, but all three could not fuse together.
What kind of nonsense was this?
Fortunately, by using the seven stars in her palm to link them, she could forcibly fuse all three.
In an instant, endless heaven and earth essence surged wildly toward her, cleansing her flesh and nourishing her primordial spirit. Finally, her entire body glowed, enveloped in divine radiance.
At that moment, Shi Zhao's primordial spirit shone with dazzling brilliance, as though it had become an immortal egg. In the next instant, her flesh frantically devoured essence, seeming instead to become a demonic embryo.
Her primordial spirit and her flesh actually displayed two extremes.
One shone resplendent as an immortal deity; the other seemed imbued with a demonic nature.
Caught between them, the reshaped ten cave heavens were far from ordinary either. Each was independently evolving a Precious Technique within itself.
Indeed, there were just enough to fill every one.
Bian, Suanni, True Hou, Azure Luan, Bifang, Golden Cicada, Undying Silkworm, the Grass Character Sword Art, Seven Stars in the Palm, and-the Sacrificial Spirit Dance taught by... the Willow Deity.
"So this really is a peerless cultivation art?" Shi Zhao's eyes widened.
Heaven knew she had never studied this thing since the Willow Deity taught it to her. How had it ended up inside a cave heaven and started evolving too?
All she could say was that anything from the Willow Deity was bound to be exceptional. When the Willow Deity had something good, she truly shared it.
Shi Zhao calmed herself. After recovering her vitality, she did not leave seclusion.
There was no further progress to be made in the Cave Heaven Realm. Remaining at this stage would not allow her to fully perfect either the nascent primordial spirit cave heaven or the nascent flesh cave heaven. It would only waste time and effort.
She had blazed a path unlike any other. Though it was still rugged, and might not lead all the way through in the future, the path was already there. All that remained was to keep forging ahead.
"I'll stay in seclusion and break through to the Spirit Transformation Realm in one push," she murmured.
Not yet known, so even
In the future, certain secret realms and treasured lands would restrict entry by cultivation realm, but Shi Zhao did not care. The truly strong should charge courageously ahead and possess an unshakable belief in their own invincibility!
Hesitating over every possible consequence was not her style either.
Besides, didn't she still have her little brother as a fallback?
When it was time to break through, she would break through. She had no interest in forcibly suppressing her cultivation.
Time passed, and Shi Zhao entered the Spirit Transformation Realm with ease. Opening a full twelve cave heavens had not made the process take any longer.
That year, she was exactly twelve years old.
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