The blood of the heavenly soldiers from that day's battle had yet to cool.
Yang Jian had already understood one thing.
Before the next wave of pursuers from the Heavenly Court arrived, he had to grow stronger!
Inside the ruined temple, the campfire burned low.
Yang Chan curled up in his arms, fast asleep, but her little hands still clutched his robe tightly, as though afraid that if she let go, her brother would disappear too.
Yang Jian lowered his gaze to her, his chest tightening slightly.
His father was gone.
His mother was imprisoned beneath Peach Mountain.
Little Chan was all he had left now.
If he fell, his sister would have no one left to lean on.
Yang Jian slowly closed his eyes and sank his awareness into his body.
Eight divine elephant particles hovered deep within his flesh, radiating immense power.
Each particle was like an ignited divine furnace, tempering his muscles and bones at every moment.
It was these eight particles that had allowed him to shatter the heavenly net that day.
But that was still nowhere near enough.
The Heavenly Court would not give up.
Those who came next would surely be stronger.
Yang Jian could clearly sense countless slumbering points of light in his limbs, his organs, and even every drop of his blood.
840 million divine elephant particles.
Only an insignificant eight had awakened so far.
If the ninth, the tenth, or even hundreds and thousands awakened at once, could he fight his way up Peach Mountain?
Could he cleave open the divine mountain that imprisoned his mother?
Could he personally ask the Jade Emperor, seated high in the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, exactly what crime the Yang family had committed?
Yang Jian's breathing gradually grew heavy.
After the heavenly soldiers had fallen that day, his flesh had drawn their lingering immortal spirit qi into his body.
Though scattered and chaotic, that power had caused the ninth slumbering particle to stir faintly.
Yang Jian had grasped the key.
Battle.
Refinement.
Growth.
If he could refine all the immortal spiritual essence left on the battlefield into his body, he would awaken the particles far faster than through arduous cultivation alone!
At that very moment.
Atop the altar, deep within the divine statue, Gu Changqing's consciousness also completed its transformation.
An icy system voice rang out in his mind.
[Ding!] [Initial fusion of the host's divine soul with the divine statue complete!] [One hundred thousand years of cultivation have been used to reshape the divine embryo and solidify the divine soul!] [Physical vessel strength increased: ordinary clay statue → low-grade acquired spiritual treasure-level divine embryo. Can now bear incense-derived divine power!] [Cultivation realm increased: early heavenly immortal!] [New feature unlocked: divine realm!] [Divine realm: the area within a ten-li radius of the divine statue constitutes the host's divine realm. Within this realm, the host can obscure ordinary attempts to peer into heavenly secrets, block most forms of investigation, and suppress targets within the domain through divine might.]
Boom!
A profound, weighty divine power spread outward from within the statue.
The once-weathered clay vessel completely shed its mundane nature.
Faint golden patterns emerged across the statue's surface, neither metal nor jade, steady as a mountain.
Gu Changqing could feel that he had finally escaped his fragile state, when wind and rain could batter him at will.
Early heavenly immortal.
Across the Primordial World, this little cultivation still amounted to nothing.
But for someone who had once been trapped inside a clay shell, it was a fundamental transformation from nothing to something.
More importantly, the divine realm had appeared.
Within a ten-li radius, heavenly secrets were concealed.
At the very least, if the Heavenly Court's ordinary immortals and gods tried to spy on this place from afar again, they would see only an utterly unremarkable ruined temple.
Gu Changqing felt somewhat reassured.
"Now I finally have a layer of skin to hide beneath."
He did not let it go to his head.
The waters of the Primordial World ran far too deep.
The Saints sat high above the nine heavens, the Dao Ancestor had merged with the Heavenly Dao, and mighty figures from the Heavenly Court, the Chan Sect, the Western Religion, and the Interception Sect were all placing their pieces in the Investiture of the Gods tribulation.
What he needed to do now was still to remain behind the scenes.
Let his disciple charge into battle outside.
While he sat back and collected ten-thousandfold returns.
Gu Changqing turned his gaze beyond the temple.
The killing aura around Yang Jian had yet to disperse, and the ninth particle within his body was trembling.
The boy had already reached the threshold of using battle to fuel further battle.
But he still needed a spark.
A glimmer of golden radiance lit the statue's eyes.
"Yang Jian."
An impassive voice rang through the ruined temple.
Yang Jian abruptly opened his eyes, immediately softened his movements, and settled Yang Chan onto the dry grass.
He turned and knelt before the altar.
"Your disciple is here!"
Gu Changqing's voice was ancient and calm.
"The Heavenly Court's running dogs will arrive before long."
"With your current strength, you cannot stop them yet."
Yang Jian's heart sank.
If even an existence like his master said so, the next wave of enemies would surely far surpass those heavenly soldiers from earlier that day.
He clenched his fists, but there was no hint of retreat in his eyes.
"Your disciple is willing to fight."
Gu Changqing said flatly, "The will to fight is not enough."
"Divine grace can be as vast as the sea, or as punishing as a prison."
"If you can withstand it, it is a blessing; if you cannot, it is your doom."
As his words fell.
A beam of dark-gold divine light burst from between the statue's brows and instantly entered Yang Jian's forehead.
Boom!
Yang Jian's mind shook violently.
A profound technique was forcibly branded into the depths of his divine soul.
Hell Furnace Technique!
This was not an offensive divine ability.
It was a technique for refinement.
Using his own blood and vital energy as fire and his divine elephant particles as the foundation, he would condense a furnace within his dantian.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth could be refined.
The spiritual essence of magical treasures could be refined.
Even the residual essence on a battlefield could be refined!
After refinement, all the impure energies would become the purest life essence, which could temper his flesh and assail the slumbering divine elephant particles.
Yang Jian's eyes instantly lit up.
This technique filled precisely the greatest gap in his abilities.
He did not lack ruthlessness.
He did not lack fighting spirit.
What he lacked was a way to refine energy quickly!
With this technique, every attempt by the Heavenly Court to surround and kill him could become an opportunity to fuel further battle through battle.
"Thank you for bestowing this technique, Master!"
Yang Jian kowtowed heavily, his forehead striking the stone slab with a dull thud.
Gu Changqing said little more.
"The immortal spirit qi lingering outside the temple will be your first kindling to ignite the furnace."
"Go."
Yang Jian raised his head, killing intent and reverence mingling in his eyes.
"Yes, Master!"
He walked over to Yang Chan and tucked the worn outer robe snugly around her.
The little girl frowned in her sleep and murmured, "Brother..."
Yang Jian paused.
He bent down, keeping his voice extremely soft.
"I'm not leaving."
"I'll be right outside."
With that, he rose and walked out of the ruined temple.
The night wind outside was icy.
Shattered armor, broken halberds, and tattered cloud banners littered the ground.
The heavenly soldiers who had swaggered as though none could challenge them that day had now left only deathly silence behind.
As Yang Jian surveyed the wreckage, a trace of conflicted emotion flickered through his eyes.
A moment later, he remembered Yang Chan's trembling hands and his mother suffering beneath Peach Mountain.
That last flicker of hesitation vanished completely.
These men had tried to drag him and little Chan to the Heavenly Court that very day.
Had he been even a little weaker, the ones lying on the ground now would have been him and his sister.
Yang Jian sat cross-legged and pressed his palm against a heavenly soldier's remains.
"Hell Furnace, condense!"
The eight divine elephant particles trembled in unison.
Dark-gold blood and vital energy flowed through his meridians into his dantian.
Hum!
The phantom of an ancient furnace slowly took shape within him.
There were no characters on its walls, only weighty patterns that seemed to bear an endless power of suppression.
The moment the furnace formed, it began drawing in the residual immortal spirit qi scattered across the battlefield.
Fine golden threads were extracted from corpses, shattered armor, and broken weapons, converging on Yang Jian's palm.
The immortal spirit qi remaining within that heavenly soldier's corpse was drained dry.
The spiritual patterns on the armor went dark inch by inch.
Moments later, it crumbled into gray-white dust along with the broken weapon.
All that power surged into Yang Jian's body.
Boom!
The dark-gold flames inside the Hell Furnace suddenly blazed higher.
Impure immortal qi, the spiritual essence of weapons and armor, and residual blood energy were burned, crushed, and purified by the flames.
Moments later, a drop of golden essence condensed at the bottom of the furnace.
That drop of essence shot through his meridians and slammed into the ninth slumbering particle!
Thud!
Yang Jian's body jolted.
The ninth particle lit up for an instant.
It had not awakened yet.
But cracks had appeared.
It worked!
An astonishing light burst from Yang Jian's eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, he reached out and pressed his hand against a second set of remains.
"Refine again!"
Boom!
The second strand of residual immortal essence was drawn out.
The flames of the Hell Furnace blazed higher.
The third corpse.
The fourth.
The tenth.
One broken immortal weapon after another lost its spiritual power; one set of heavenly soldier remains after another crumbled to dust.
The origin essence within Yang Jian grew ever more abundant.
The cracks across the ninth particle grew ever denser.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Each impact felt as though a slumbering Primordial Divine Elephant were opening its eyes in the darkness.
Sweat beaded on Yang Jian's forehead, and blood and qi surged throughout his body.
His aura climbed steadily.
The eight awakened particles trembled in response, as though calling out to their ninth companion.
Just as the ninth particle was about to ignite completely-
Rumble!
High in the nine heavens, the clouds abruptly split apart.
The muffled thunder of war drums bore down, shaking the mountain forests.
The campfire before the ruined temple went out in an instant.
Yang Jian snapped his head up.
A thousand gleaming suits of armor stood amid the clouds, packed densely together, sealing off the entire sky above the ruined temple.
The divine general at their head stood several dozen feet tall, holding the Mountain-Splitting Giant Axe, his eyes flashing like lightning.
The axe blade hung low, its cold gleam washing the mountain rocks white.
Behind him, a long golden rope coiled like a snake, radiating an aura that could bind all things.
On the other side, an ancient mirror hovered above the clouds, casting its cold light straight onto the ruined temple.
The vanguard general of the South Heaven Gate.
The Giant Spirit God had arrived!
He looked down, his gaze locking onto Yang Jian at once.
Then he saw the heavenly soldiers' remains reduced to dust on the ground, and his face immediately darkened.
"You vile spawn of the Yang family!"
The Giant Spirit God's voice rang like a great bell, rolling down from above.
"You slaughtered heavenly soldiers and refined the immortal essence of our Heavenly Court!"
"You have indeed fallen onto an evil path!"
"Yang Jian, kneel and submit to your bonds!"
A thousand heavenly soldiers raised their halberds in unison.
Boom!
Their immortal might joined into a single expanse, bearing down like a mountain.
Had this been Yang Jian before that day, this wave of immortal might alone would have been enough to still his blood and qi and force him to his knees.
But now, he merely rose slowly to his feet.
Eight divine elephant particles thundered within his body.
The flames of the Hell Furnace churned.
The ninth particle was covered in cracks, needing only one final blow.
Yang Jian raised his head and looked toward the clouds.
He felt no fear.
A trace of coldness even surfaced in his eyes.
"Admit my guilt?"
His voice was quiet, yet it reached every heavenly soldier's ears clearly.
"My crime is that I'm still not strong enough."
"That I haven't slaughtered enough of you false gods to make you never dare touch my family again!"
The Giant Spirit God flew into a rage.
"Insolence!"
He stepped forward, shattering the clouds.
Behind him, the Dragon Binding Rope blazed with dazzling golden light, while the Demon-Reflecting Mirror slowly turned, aiming directly at the space between Yang Jian's brows.
Yet Yang Jian's gaze passed beyond the Dragon Binding Rope and the Demon-Reflecting Mirror to settle on the Giant Spirit God.
Deep within his dantian, the Hell Furnace gave a low rumble.
The ninth divine elephant particle trembled violently.
That look in his eyes made it plain: he already regarded the Giant Spirit God as the first flame that would ignite his ninth particle.