Transcending the extreme realm allowed no room for carelessness. This attempt through Qi-State Origin-Flow was unlike using Twin Hands, which could perfectly suppress the Three Corpses God, preventing the Corpse Demon from destroying his Dao heart and will and allowing a smooth transcendence. He might end up covered in wounds, so he had to prepare as thoroughly as possible.
During this time, Chen Yao focused on studying the essence of cave heavens before they became part of the cultivation system, as well as the earliest methods of opening and cultivating this divine ability. He constantly improved their structure, searching for one that could safely become a fleshly cave heaven, along with a way to link the cave heavens into a single whole. As a result, cave heavens exploded at the village entrance every day.
"Boom!"
Another mushroom cloud rose. Three linked cave heavens that were not bound to his life exploded, and the Dao fire they spawned wrapped around him. Even the Water-Element Precious Technique could not extinguish it. In the end, he had to forcibly dissolve it with Qi-State Origin-Flow.
"Absurd. Is this Perfect World's version of genuine Samadhi True Fire? Even my soul was burning." Chen Yao climbed out of the pond, soot-covered and bedraggled, recalling the Dao fire that had ignited his essence, qi, and spirit, setting even his soul ablaze.
A few things happened during this time. A band of marauders came raiding, with a pangolin as their sacrificial spirit, and swaggered around for a while. Then they ran straight into Aman and Shi Hao, who were wandering about with a group of little brats. A Blood Spear blasted away the Bone Shears, pierced the pangolin's crown, and killed him on the spot, draining him into a dried corpse.
With his extreme-realm transcendence and cultivation of four cave heavens, Aman was far beyond what this pangolin-whose bloodline seemed extraordinary but whose cultivation had fallen-could withstand. Aman's current combat strength was considerably greater than Shi Hao's at the same point in the original story. Until Shi Hao transcended by turning his ten cave heavens into a Divine Ring, he was no match for Aman at the same cultivation level.
Seeing Aman display his tremendous might gave Shi Hao quite a jolt. With Chen Yao's friendly sponsorship in hand, he returned to the village for an intensive, high-grade medicinal bath to build his foundation. Then he forcefully broke into the cave heaven realm, opening four cave heavens in succession.
Yet Aman still easily suppressed him in their sparring matches. Whether one had transcended the extreme realm made a tremendous difference to cultivation, potential, and combat strength. The Desolate Heaven Emperor would have to wait until he completed his transcendence in his beloved cave heaven realm before he could claw back a victory.
During these days, while the Willow Deity slept and Chen Yao blew up cave heavens daily, Aman occasionally joined Shi Hao in examining the Primordial Cave Heaven Divine Ability. They studied the structure and essence of cave heavens, considering their future paths in advance.
Soon, the Willow Deity had been asleep for over nine months, and Chen Yao had finished his preparations. He had thoroughly worked out the method for opening the three great dantian cave heavens and was about to begin his extreme-realm transcendence.
Over the past six months, Chen Yao's presence meant there was no shortage of spirit medicine or sacred medicine. However, after his earlier use of supreme natural treasures to force the growth of his cave heavens-pulling up seedlings to help them grow-had destabilized his foundation, Chen Yao advised Shi Hao against using anything too high-grade to open his cave heavens. His cultivation still relied primarily on spirit medicines that lacked fragments of Dao laws and chiefly supplied essence and qi, avoiding damage to his foundation.
Those supreme experts lacked no natural treasures, yet most did not let their descendants reach the goal in a single leap to spare them the patient grind of cultivation. There was a reason for that. Using supreme natural treasures to establish a foundation or improve one's constitution was fine, but using them solely to increase cultivation was little different from eating a Heavenly God Fruit.
Chen Yao had initially thought that breaking through in stages had let him avoid the side effects. In the end, that had merely been wishful thinking.
Thus, over this period, Shi Hao opened two more cave heavens, with a third within reach. He was progressing much faster than in the original story, but he still was not satisfied.
Aman, by contrast, ran into the Great Wilderness every day to join the commotion and hunt. He absorbed vast quantities of fierce beasts' essence, qi, and spirit, along with their primordial rune-bone mysteries, nourishing his origin essence blood and continuously sublimating the nature of his blood. With this feeding back into him, he grew rapidly, opening three cave heavens in succession. He now stood at the level of seven cave heavens.
Unlike consuming high-grade natural treasures and letting their high-level Great Dao order force growth by pulling up seedlings, all outside substances were broken down and filtered through his own divine ability, removing hidden dangers. His progress was gradual, like a Heaven-Devouring Demonic Art, or a furnace nurturing a hundred scriptures. There was nothing wrong with it.
"Are you really not going to wait until the Willow Deity wakes up before trying?" Aman was a little worried that this breakthrough would be too violent and something might go wrong. After all, he had witnessed those daily explosions.
"It's fine. With so many sacred medicines beside me, a mere cave heaven breakthrough won't torment me to death." Chen Yao looked around at the spirit medicines that had sublimated into sacred medicines, adjusted his condition, and prepared to begin his breakthrough. It's not as though I'm trying to use my body as a seed!
After he sat quietly for a long time, the origin rune belonging to Qi-State Origin-Flow emerged and slowly disintegrated into lower-level runes. These continued to break down until they finally became a strand of primordial qi that seemed to have existed at the dawn of creation. It resembled an eternally unchanging innate breath, yet also shifted through countless forms as though giving birth to all things in heaven and earth.
As though rehearsed countless times, runes appeared one after another, joining with divine radiance and linking to the bone text already within his flesh. In his lower dantian, they swiftly constructed a cave heaven within his body and merged it with the primordial qi, imbuing the cave heaven with a distinct peculiarity.
Within the lower dantian cave heaven, which differed slightly from ordinary cave heavens, the body's two treasures-blood and essence-combined. These were true lead and true mercury, the body's true yang and true yin. The body's essence gathered, forming the foundation of longevity. The power of Twin Hands stabilized his flesh, keeping it from running out of control.
Once yin and yang combined in his lower dantian, a strand of true qi was born. Through a hundred and three thousand five hundred breaths, it moved at will: small enough to thread through his ears like a soft, unbroken breath, or great enough to fill his entire body and reach the soaring firmament. It circulated through his body, growing stronger, then surged into the middle dantian in his chest and abdomen.
This true qi changed in countless ways and was difficult to restrain. His five viscera thundered, and the acquired qi of the five elements became its nourishment, constantly strengthening it. Yet the five elements were unbalanced, and the central qi of spleen earth was insufficient. The true qi and five qi generated one another, and the Five Thunders roared out of control, exploding directly inside Chen Yao's chest and abdomen and nearly blasting him in two.
He opened his mouth and inhaled. A sacred medicine was broken down by Six Treasury Immortal Thief, becoming pure life essence and qi that entered his body and repaired his Dao injuries. At the same time, he circulated Heavenly Demon Tribulation, frantically repairing the continually emerging damage and reversing his decline little by little. Splitting his attention, he made bone text and divine radiance resonate, weaving a second cave heaven. With true qi as a bridge, he linked it to the first fleshly cave heaven, nurturing the qi of transformation.
He accumulated the five elements and put them to use in reverse, nurturing his true qi. Relying on the frantic replenishment from his ten external cave heavens, he received an endless stream of five-element qi. His true qi grew further, then in turn stimulated his blood essence to flourish. In this virtuous cycle, his primal essence and primal qi continually strengthened, gradually reaching a threshold. Yet the transformation of true qi remained sluggish, unable to flow smoothly at will. It lacked the governance of the consciousness spirit.
Thus, qi pierced the soaring firmament to behold the primordial spirit, the Heavenly Emperor!
Because he had tempered his soul day and night with Twin Hands' Soul-Clarity Art, the strength of his primordial spirit far surpassed that of ordinary cave heaven cultivators. Around his primordial spirit, the third cave heaven-the primordial spirit cave heaven-took shape. True qi once again became a bridge, connecting his middle and upper dantians. The qi whose transformations and circulation had been slow now gained the aid of his primordial spirit riding the clouds. In a single thought, it passed through a hundred and eight thousand instants, circulating at tremendous speed.
His essence, qi, and spirit completely merged into one, indistinguishable from each other. They were no longer like those of other cultivators, each possessing separate strengths and only roughly mingling by instinct. At that very moment, a pale blue flame appeared. Feeding on essence, qi, and spirit, it erupted directly from the primordial spirit cave heaven in his upper dantian, burning his soul, burning his essence, qi, and spirit, burning all spirituality, intent on reducing Chen Yao's soul to ashes.
"Extinguish!"
The upper, middle, and lower dantian cave heavens took shape. True qi linked his essence and spirit, circulating as though riding a somersault cloud, returning from the acquired state to primordial qi. From the void arose a single qi, piercing through the three great cave heavens of essence, qi, and spirit and merging with the innate qi already within his body. It nurtured a sacred embryo, which sought to become a yang god and fly free.
Soul fire, the thunder of the five qi, and ever-changing qi rampaged wildly through Chen Yao, threatening to send him to his grave. Only the constant supply of life essence and qi from the sacred medicines outside kept a breath of life in him. He forcibly held on, refusing to die, and used Qi-State Origin-Flow, which he had fully mastered after opening the cave heavens, to resolve the calamity little by little.
Just then, streams of clear light appeared within his flesh, drawing the qi of Qi-State Origin-Flow into his body. It no longer repaired his flesh, and his body instantly shattered. Only the clear light within remained undying, shining through the cracks in his body.
At that very moment, the ten great cave heavens outside were transformed by the primordial qi into streams of runes and order. They became the bricks and tiles of cave heavens, repairing and stabilizing the three newly born, unstable cave heavens and reining in the runaway essence, qi, and spirit. Deprived of their support, the products of the rampage dissipated one after another.
"Bang!" The clear light shuddered, and a figure as ethereal as mist and clouds emerged from within. Then the clear light gradually withdrew. Under the effects of Twin Hands and Qi-State Origin-Flow, his origin essence blood surged with boundless vitality. The primordial spirit, true qi, and blood essence hidden within it reshaped his true body, turning the phantom formed from origin qi back into substance.
The primordial spirit cave heaven, true qi cave heaven, and blood essence cave heaven were linked by innate qi and fused into a genuine whole. Primordial qi and essence, qi, and spirit transformed into one another, and together with the three great cave heavens, seized the bounty of creation from heaven and earth. Life renewed without end, and his magical power never ceased.
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