Cultivation

Time flew like a shuttle, and three years passed in the blink of an eye. Li Wangxian was finally about to begin cultivating in earnest.

Over those three years, Father Li had personally sealed Li Wangxian's Bitter Sea.

After all, connected as he was to the essence of heaven and earth, he was effectively cultivating automatically at every moment. Without restraint, he would probably have already perfected the Sea of Bitterness realm and been ready to break into the Dao Palace realm.

That naturally would not do. Without understanding the scriptures' principles, cultivation forcibly accelerated by the essence of heaven and earth would be far too insubstantial. It would only harm his future cultivation, not help it.

Once his Bitter Sea was sealed, the Yin and Yang Immortal Seed automatically absorbed the essence pouring in from heaven and earth into the Dao Seed, then transformed it into divine essence that nourished Li Wangxian, its master, turning it into his boundless potential.

This left Father Li, who had originally planned to personally regulate his son's essence every day, utterly dumbfounded. With such miraculous qualities, just what kind of physique did his son possess?

Three years had passed, yet Li Wangxian's physique remained a mystery. Even now, they had not discovered the Yin and Yang Immortal Seed's existence. They knew only that Yin and Yang Qi swirled within his Bitter Sea, nourishing him.

That was only natural, though. A peerless Immortal Seed like this was something even a True Immortal would rarely encounter, and it naturally had its own wondrous properties.

Would I get beaten if I said I had an ordinary mortal physique?

But I really do have an ordinary mortal physique! Even after three years of nourishment from cheats like the Immortal Seed, with my flesh and primordial spirit transforming several times and my origin power rivaling divine physiques and the like, none of that changes the fact that I have an ordinary mortal physique!

Li Wangxian indulged in this humblebrag inwardly, while his face remained composed and wise. After all, the persona he had maintained since childhood was that of a clever child with a steady temperament!

His demeanor made the elders standing nearby nod to themselves.

As expected of their Sun God Sect's Immortal Sprout, their divine embryo. Not only was his aptitude extraordinary, but he could remain so calm and collected as he formally embarked on cultivation. His disposition was exceptional too.

Father Li inwardly gave his boy a thumbs-up as well, thinking that he was indeed a chip off the old block. Then he took out two scriptures, the Lesser Yang Scripture and the Sun Remnant Scripture, and handed them to his son.

Li Wangxian accepted the scriptures, his little face as unruffled as an ancient well. He had known that the Sun Scripture was long lost ever since he realized this was the world of Shrouding the Heavens.

The Lesser Yang Scripture had been created long ago, before the Sun God Sect declined, by a powerful ancestor who sought to forge his own path. Naturally, he had failed, but the scripture was still extraordinary, reaching the level of a Saint.

Thus, the Sun Church's principal cultivation method was now the Lesser Yang Scripture. It was deeply ironic: a sect called the Sun Church actually cultivated the Lesser Yang Scripture.

Certain forbidden zones, certain races, and even certain great human sects of the Ziwei Star Domain deserved no small share of the credit for reducing the Sun God Sect to this state. Li Wangxian had already recorded this karmic debt.

As for the Sun Remnant Scripture, after the true scripture was lost, generations of elders had poured their hearts and blood into reconstructing it, drawing upon the few passages still circulating within the sect and filling the gaps with fragmentary chapters and scattered lines from its ancient books.

Even then, the elders had not dared fill in too much. Only the Sea of Bitterness and Dao Palace sections were relatively complete, since more of them had been preserved and less had been lost. Less than half remained of the Four Extremes and Dragon Transformation volumes, and even that half consisted largely of conjecture offered as reference. They dared not claim certainty, for fear of leading later generations astray.

Not so much as a scrap remained of the Immortal Platform volume.

In truth, Li Wangxian was surprised that even this remnant scripture existed. He had thought the Sun Scripture would have been lost in its entirety, with nothing left at all!

But on reflection, although the Underworld had slaughtered countless members of the Sun God Sect in the distant past, causing its decline,

the fact that the Sun Church had continued its legacy for so many years meant there had still been survivors back then. Their cultivation might not have been high-perhaps only at the Dao Palace realm, or even the Sea of Bitterness realm-but these two volumes had stumbled their way down through the generations. Though only seventy or eighty percent complete, they had survived nonetheless.

Was this what they meant by even a rotten boat still having a few good nails?

Over these three years, Li Wangxian had already learned much of the principles within these two scriptures from the elders. Although he had refrained from truly cultivating to establish a solid foundation and accumulate his reserves, he had not squandered those three years.

With the elders taking turns to instruct him painstakingly, he had already gained a deep understanding of cultivation. They had broken down the scriptures' principles, kneaded them into digestible pieces, and delivered them into his mind.

With everything ready, Li Wangxian first began earnestly comprehending the Lesser Yang Scripture. In an instant, he felt as though he had become one with the Great Dao. Heaven and earth resonated with his every movement. With such a display, probably no one would believe him if he said he was not a Dao Embryo.

At the same time, the power of the Yin and Yang Immortal Seed was activated, drawing vast quantities of the Dao resonance and spiritual currents pervading heaven and earth into his body.

In a flash of inspiration, he sensed the existence of his Wheel of Life and Bitter Sea. The wellspring of divine power there was boiling.

Li Wangxian silently recited the ancient scripture: The Great Dao is like an abyss, the progenitor of all things; yin and yang revolve...

He began silently circulating the Mystic Art recorded in the Lesser Yang Scripture, striking at his Bitter Sea.

After an unknown length of time, his body suddenly blazed with light. Roars like a tsunami came from his abdomen, where the Wheel of Life lay. Cultivation began with the human body's Wheel of Life.

All things had a place where their first beginnings arose, and the human body likewise contained such a place. It was the root of vitality, holding the essence of the entire body, known as the source wheel of life, or simply the Wheel of Life. Ordinary people used it to beget children, while cultivators used it to bring forth their cultivated selves. It was a cultivator's foundation.

The Bitter Sea was the sea of endless tribulations that concealed the Wheel of Life.

The Bitter Sea overlapped with the Wheel of Life-or, more precisely, submerged it. The Wheel of Life could be called a cultivator's foundation. If one reached the legendary realm and kept the Wheel of Life crystalline, without scars or marks, forever as it had been at birth, there might be a slender hope of becoming an immortal.

But time was not the only thing that wore down the Wheel of Life. The Bitter Sea also gnawed away at it little by little. It covered the Wheel of Life, one above and one below, existing in overlapping layers. Every year, it left another mark on the Wheel of Life, until the wheel was covered in scars and collapsed completely. That was the moment when a person's lifespan ran dry and they returned to death.

Everything fundamental to a cultivator resided in the Wheel of Life, so one purpose of cultivation was to cross the Bitter Sea in its entirety.

Thus, cultivators first had to open up their Bitter Sea and gradually expand it. Only then could they seek out the Wheel of Life, because the two overlapped.

Then they released endless life essence, letting it coil above the Bitter Sea and flow throughout the body, nourishing flesh, organs, and bones, strengthening the physical body and taking the first step beyond mortality. This was the first stage of the Sea of Bitterness realm-the Bitter Sea.

This was also the first step in cultivation.

As Li Wangxian cultivated, endless immortal radiance surged from his Bitter Sea, blazing and dazzling, brilliant as a rainbow. Yin and Yang Qi surged around him in waves as the Yin and Yang Immortal Seed breathed in and out Dao resonance and spiritual currents. Where the two energies intertwined, wisps of chaos qi actually flickered.

Above the roiling black Bitter Sea, yin and yang energies circled and flowed. Gradually, they began to evolve into strands of mysterious energy that defied description, as though returning to the time before heaven and earth had opened, when all was chaos.

He savored it carefully, and a profound, elusive sensation rose in his heart. His mind felt utterly clear and unburdened. Wisps of immortal radiance spilled from his Bitter Sea and flowed into every limb and bone, filling his body with comfort as they nourished his flesh, organs, and bones. At that moment, he seemed to possess inexhaustible strength.

Is this cultivation? What a wondrous feeling.

Li Wangxian was deeply astonished. His body was united with the Dao, and in that moment he sensed the vigorous vitality of heaven and earth mingling their energies to give birth to all things. He also experienced the lifeless desolation of a barren universe and a withering starry sky.

In cultivation, one lost track of the passing years. More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye before Li Wangxian gradually awakened from his state of Dao comprehension.

By then, astonishing changes had occurred within his black Bitter Sea. At its very center, colorful mist steamed upward, winding around countless divine patterns. It was as though a volcano was awakening beneath the Bitter Sea. Bubbles surged like a spring, and radiant light continually burst through the surface.

Li Wangxian understood this and felt no confusion.

Cultivators at the Bitter Sea stage had to undergo several processes. At first, only a small amount of life essence lingered above the Bitter Sea. As it accumulated day after day, the essence increased and condensed into divine patterns, which stretched above the Bitter Sea like chains of divine iron.

As the Bitter Sea continued to expand and cultivation deepened, bubbles would rise, forming rosy clouds when they burst. Eventually, bubbles surged beneath the Bitter Sea like a spring, like a volcano awakening, while luminous clouds rose and spread in dazzling splendor.

When the "volcano" beneath the Bitter Sea fully awakened one day, those brilliant clouds would gradually turn liquid. At that point, one could attempt to break into the Life Spring realm. If successful, a Divine Spring would bubble from the "crater."

Cultivators at the Bitter Sea stage had to undergo all three processes before they could break into the Life Spring realm. Today, Li Wangxian had undergone the second. The center of his black Bitter Sea was nearly boiling, with energy surging like a spring. Clouds steamed and rosy light billowed there, like an awakening volcano erupting continuously in extraordinary brilliance.

"If I hadn't awakened in time and held it back a little, I would have charged straight into the Life Spring realm, perhaps even the Divine Bridge Realm."

Li Wangxian murmured to himself. His voice was quiet, but Father Li, Mother Li, and the elders around him were all cultivators with some measure of attainment. How could they fail to hear him? For a moment, surprise and delight appeared on every face.