Testing the Waters and Breaking Through to Dao Palace

"Don't be polite, just accept these for now and cultivate in peace at the Yanxia Cave Heaven..."

Taiyi gently stroked her lovely hair and said with a smile, "Didn't you want to go back? This is destined to not be an easy path, and you won't get anywhere without striving to grow strong!"

It was not that he grudged giving away more Source.

Rather, for Lin Jia at her current stage, this chunk of Source was already enough for her upcoming cultivation.

Gifting her too much Source all at once might instead bring disaster.

"Okay..."

Lin Jia started slightly.

Then, she nodded with a smile.

Her smile was brilliant, and she did not refuse his kind intent.

Soon, under Lin Jia's reluctant and lingering gaze,

Taiyi transformed into a divine rainbow, streaking toward the distant horizon.

"Clang!"

Suddenly,

a bell chime echoed through the Yanxia Cave Heaven.

This was something that only rang three times in succession when major events occurred.

Even if it had just chimed once, it still signified that a matter of no small importance had happened.

It seemed that following the incident over a year ago when the Desolate Ancient Jiang Family came knocking to demand an explanation, and Taiyi's previous visit as the successor of the Yaoguang Holy Land's secluded faction, yet another major event had transpired.

Streaks of divine rainbows flew toward the central grand hall; unexpectedly, they were those elders who usually remained in closed-door solitary cultivation and rarely stirred outside.

"Did something happen?"

Gazing at this scene, Lin Jia's gaze grew stern.

She instinctively gripped the red sandalwood box tightly, wondering if it had anything to do with Taiyi.

Given his traditionally overbearing temperament, if he ran into anyone who failed to know what was good for them, there was no telling what kind of astonishing stunt he might actually pull.

Yet, she already understood his strength, as well as his status as the closed-door disciple of the Yaoguang Holy Land's Supreme Elder, so she did not feel overly worried.

Therefore, she had no intention whatsoever of meddling.

She returned to her wooden cabin, closed the door, and wholeheartedly studied the Sage Scripture.

What Jin Tailang had said earlier was correct: wanting to return was by no means an easy task.

She needed to raise her own strength as quickly as possible.

After leaving the Yanxia Cave Heaven,

in the days that followed, Taiyi traveled alone through the Great Wilderness.

He rose with the dawn and rested at dusk, traveling by day and cultivating in concealment by night.

At the same time, he would occasionally engage in mortal combat with those ferocious Savage Beasts to temper his own body.

Naturally, for those ferocious beasts whose strength far exceeded his own, he gave them a wide berth and did not rashly provoke them.

Aside from comprehending the Sun True Scripture, he frequently studied scriptures such as the Yaoguang Holy Land's Primordial Origin Scripture, and even began diligently practicing those secret techniques he was already capable of wielding, reaping massive gains.

Moreover, three months later, he accidentally encountered a massive ancient volcano.

He decisively refined a massive amount of fire energy, recasting the divine bell woven from a multitude of divine marks.

"Clang... screech..." For half a month straight, he utilized the potent and scorching Fire Essence to continuously forge and recast the divine bell, which was to serve as the rough blank of his Path-Proving Weapon.

He even carved upon it every single one of those ancient depictions he remembered seeing etched upon the bronze coffin from the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin—depictions concerning the sacrificial rites of the Ancient Ancestors, various Fierce Beast totems, and all manner of archaic figures.

Not only familiar divine beast totems like the True Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Vermilion Bird, but also the ferocious Nine-Headed Divine Bird spreading its wings in high flight, and a gigantic Fierce Beast covered all over in foot-long hard spines roaring toward the heavens...

Some were desolate ancient Fierce Beasts recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, such as the Taotie, Qiongqi, and Taowu, possessing massive forms and hideous visages, rendered so lifelike that they inspired awe in anyone who beheld them.

At last, through countless rounds of repeated refinement and forging,

although that divine bell was forged purely from divine marks and had not yet truly begun incorporating any divine materials or immortal materials, it nevertheless grew plain and unadorned, increasingly extraordinary and indestructible, and possessed a natural Dao rhythm.

Two-odd months had passed since he left the Yanxia Cave Heaven, during which he traveled by day and cultivated by night.

Because he continuously settled and consolidated his being, his accumulation had already grown profound enough; leveraging the Source left behind by Danyangzi, he underwent yet another series of transformations, reaching the Other Shore perfection.

"It is finally complete!"

On this day,

above a scorching volcano,

Taiyi rose to his full height, his mind and spirit plunging into his own Bitter Sea.

Within the boundless, fiercely blazing golden Bitter Sea, the brilliantly radiant Life Spring bubbled and surged, brimming with vibrant vitality.

A divine bell, suffused with an archaic aura and glowing with brilliant light, bobbed up and down within the divine spring, chiming melodiously.

Meanwhile, the multicolored divine bridge spanned the firmament, piercing through layers of mist to reach the very end of the Other Shore.

Above it, white mists drifted, where grand Dao palaces could faintly be discerned sitting in repose, shrouded in endless mystery.

"Is that the Dao Palace?"

Standing at the terminus of the Other Shore,

he gazed up at the vague palaces suspended in the air above.

Taiyi's gaze was profound and steady; his Sun Sacred Body concurrently possessed the traits of the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body.

Prior to the Four Extremes Secret Realm, he only needed to possess sufficient Source to break through barriers with the force of a splitting bamboo.

Even though he placed extreme importance on his foundation and deliberately suppressed himself from start to finish, unwilling to break through too rapidly,

he had still managed to complete nine transformations in a mere short span of time thanks to the savage beast true blood and rare precious medicines left behind by Danyangzi, cultivating all the way to the Other Shore perfection.

"Boom-"

Right at that moment,

a nameless crisis

made Taiyi's hairs stand on end, and he shifted sideways like lightning.

With narrow margin and no harm done, he dodged the sudden ambush.

"Crack..." The earth was struck by a swift bolt of lightning, causing the mountain face to fracture and collapse downward.

"Hm? A Lightning Bird?" His gaze sharpened.

Unexpectedly, two lightning birds with massive forms, wingspans measuring no less than several zhang, and ferocious expressions were swooping directly to pounce upon him.

Drenched in lightning from head to toe, they carried boundless killing intent.

They pressed the attack relentlessly.

"Screech..." The two lightning birds beat their wings high in the air, parting their sharp, slender beaks.

Streaks of dazzling thunderbolts lashed out one after another,

striking with unbelievable swiftness as they homed in on him.

"Boom... boom..."

They caused the earth to shatter, blasted to a charred, blackened ruin as flying rocks scattered in all directions.

Yet, Taiyi's whole body was supremely divine, ringed by eighty-nine seventy-one holy lights that rendered him Unaffected by Ten Thousand Arts.

He completely blocked the incoming thunderous radiance.

"Whoosh-"

The next moment,

accompanied by a fierce gale,

a lightning bird moved swift as electricity, instantly lunging to the kill.

With talons resembling forged steel,

it clawed straight toward Taiyi's head,

enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Chapter 20: Testing the Waters and Breaking Through to Dao Palace

"Bang!"

Taiyi's expression remained calm.

His right hand directly formed a fist imprint.

He threw it out without showing the slightest weakness, colliding with those gleaming, cold talons.

He had not expected that the moment he ventured into this region, he would be abruptly ambushed by two lightning birds of astonishing strength.

An ordinary Dao Palace powerhouse would definitely not be their match and would be directly torn to shreds.

Had he not reached the Other Shore perfection recently and seen his strength advance by leaps and bounds,

he feared he truly would have run into major trouble.

"Screech..."

How tyrannical was the physique of the unprecedented Sun Sacred Body? Was it something a mere lightning bird could compare to?

A plume of feathers fluttered down as the lightning bird shrieked incessantly, blasted straight away with bloody, convulsing talons.

Instead of retreating, however, it was provoked into a frenzy, opening its beak to spit out a terrifying bolt of lightning that struck toward Taiyi.

"Boom..." The terrifying lightning collided with the holy light.

The radiance was brilliant and dazzling to the extreme.

The other lightning bird instantly swooped in for the kill from the opposite flank,

only to be met by that blinding holy light.