Qin Tian stepped out of the house. A blazing Divine Rainbow enveloped him, and he slowly rose into the sky upon it.
"Is this what flying feels like?!"
It was an entirely new experience. Qin Tian stood high in the air, fierce winds whipping his clothes into a flutter. Mountains, rivers, and the earth lay beneath his feet, and a long-forgotten surge of emotion welled up in his heart.
His field of vision opened wide. Gazing into the distance, he experienced a sensation unlike anything before-free and unfettered, without a single restraint. Something seemed to strike deep within him. As he recalled everything he had endured over the past few years, tears involuntarily spilled from the corners of his eyes.
Who would willingly come here to be a Mine Slave if they had any choice!
Qin Tian soared into the heavens through his own strength and flew across the sky. He faced the wind as it brushed his cheeks, looking down upon the world where he had once lived. The vast earth lay spread before his eyes.
"Flying is the ultimate expression of freedom!"
"Is this cultivation? Is this the Life Spring Realm?" Qin Tian flew freely through the heavens, specks of light shimmering over his skin, muscles, and bones, making him resemble an exquisite work of art.
Only after an hour did he finally calm down completely and return to the desolate ground. He let the gentle breeze brush his face, his black hair drifting softly. His eyes resembled two stars, with faint traces of supreme Dao resonance descending within them as time and space evolved and collided.
Qin Tian stood silent. His powerful, piercing aura withdrew completely, and he once again became that dull, vacant-looking youth.
"Soon, soon. Just endure a little longer." A faintly savage expression surfaced on Qin Tian's face. The collision between his yearning for freedom and the reality of being a Mine Slave made his divine power boil, showing signs that he might spiral into cultivation deviation.
"Calm down. Stay calm!" Qin Tian drew a deep breath and suppressed the yearning rising in his heart.
But the harder he suppressed it, the stronger its rebound became.
The radiance of time reflected in Qin Tian's left eye. Candlelight flickered, and that single eye captured the Timeline, observing fragments of the future from beneath the river of ages.
"The chance to leave openly and honorably is almost here!" The light of time reflected in Qin Tian's eyes as he saw the "future" he wanted.
He then suppressed the rampaging divine power within him. His palm-sized Bitter Sea grew completely calm, no longer boiling or throwing up towering waves.
At the very center of the ink-dark Bitter Sea, a spring bubbled steadily. An exuberant aura of life spread outward-the wellspring of divine power was flowing.
A connection had been established with the Wheel of Life beneath the Bitter Sea, and the boundless life energy contained within it surged upward. This was the foundation of a cultivator's strength.
Ripples spread from the Life Spring toward every corner of the Bitter Sea, turning into gentle waves. Yin-Yang shifted, life and death reversed, and changes gradually appeared within the Bitter Sea. It seemed to return to its primordial state, yet also resembled some unknown evolution.
Countless wisps of vital essence drifted from the Life Spring into the air above the Bitter Sea, once again forming fifty-five "Divine Patterns."
They stood alongside the fifty-five "Divine Patterns" that had appeared when he first opened his Bitter Sea.
The four great realms-Bitter Sea, Life Spring, Divine Bridge, and Other Shore-each added fifty-five "Divine Patterns," allowing a cultivator to forge one "weapon" in each minor realm.
Ordinary cultivators followed the cultivation notes left by their predecessors, refining their "Divine Patterns" into various shapes, such as throwing knives or daggers. These could be sent out of the body to kill enemies and were more effective than "Divine Patterns" alone.
Some spent considerable time and effort refining their original "Divine Patterns" into flying swords, small shields, divine halberds, and the like. These were easier to control and considerably more powerful in combat.
For instance, the burly man he had encountered earlier had forged two weapons by the Life Spring Realm.
But anyone with lofty ambitions would forge only a single weapon. One Weapon Breaks Ten Thousand Techniques-this was the path most Great Emperors followed.
It was both a weapon for attaining the Dao and a weapon for protecting their path.
Such people were often unafraid of complexity,
and would choose to refine their Divine Patterns into weighty weapons such as "cauldrons," "bells," or "pagodas."
Naturally, the more profound and complex a "weapon" was, the harder it was to form. Such weapons contained the "Dao" and "principles" of heaven and earth.
Moreover, even if they succeeded by luck, their arduous cultivation might yield no reward in the later stages. After all, the hope of producing "traces of the Dao" was far too remote, making the losses outweigh the gains.
The Sea of Bitterness section of every Emperor Scripture recorded the method for forging a single "weapon," because the Ancient Great Emperors had once passed through this very stage. An Emperor Weapon was that single "weapon."
In other words, to obtain the strongest weapon, one had to refine only one kind of "weapon" throughout Bitter Sea, Life Spring, Divine Bridge, and Other Shore, rather than four different kinds.
This was what it meant for "a great vessel to take long to complete." Once it succeeded, One Weapon Breaks Ten Thousand Techniques-when my flower blooms, all other flowers perish.
However, such people were exceedingly rare. Take the Ji Family of Desolate Antiquity, for example: throughout the entire family, very few chose to forge a single weapon.
Even setting aside the great and little moons, ordinary descendants of these Desolate Ancient Families were strong enough to trounce ninety-nine percent of the world's independent cultivators.
Yet even so, very few descendants of these Extreme Dao Forces dared take such a risk and forge a single weapon.
Opportunity always came hand in hand with risk. The more one wanted to gain, the more likely the price would be too much to bear.
Throughout history, most people who used all four realms to temper a single "weapon" failed to complete even that one "weapon," wasting their years in vain.
Without a "weapon" of their own, they could not command objects, leaving them little different from cripples. Open rivalry and covert struggles existed within holy lands and great families as well. Even the little moon, Ji Ziyue, had once suffered an attack.
Without a "weapon," one could easily fall behind in a duel. Falling behind meant being weak, unable to hold one's head high among one's peers and losing the favor of the family elders. That led to fewer resources, pushing the forging of a "weapon" even further out of reach.
This could easily become a vicious cycle.
When he was in the Bitter Sea Realm, Qin Tian had been indecisive and at the lowest point of his life. Whether he forged a weapon or not would not change his fate.
Would one more weapon let him escape the Yaoguang Mine? Impossible!
He had also considered revealing his talent. His unique pair of Spirit Eyes would be enough to make a holy land grant an exception and remove him from the ranks of Mine Slaves.
But the moment he remembered that this was the Yaoguang Holy Land's territory, he immediately abandoned the idea.
The Yaoguang Holy Land was not merely the Yaoguang Holy Land. It was the Heaven-Swallowing Holy Land wearing Yaoguang's skin.
Ever heard of the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art!
Once he revealed that he possessed innate Spirit Eyes,
he would leave the ranks of servants and become a Yaoguang disciple on the first day.
On the second day, he would die in an attack by the Great Bandits.
Then the Yaoguang Holy Land would transport Qin Tian's corpse to the Yaoguang Holy Land, where he would become food for the Yaoguang Holy Son.
He would be a meat bun thrown to a dog-gone for good, never to return.
As for now, if Qin Tian wanted to leave the Source Mine, his current fortune would most likely allow him to escape safely despite danger springing up on every side.
But if he simply fled like this, his mind would never be at peace. After spending so many years enslaved here, if he did not repay the Yaoguang Holy Land in kind, a demonic obstacle would remain in his heart.
After pondering for a long time, Qin Tian raised his head and murmured, "I've decided. The 'weapon' I'm going to forge is a diagram!!!"
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