The Great Desolation Divine Lord, the Path of the Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth!

With that, the elder's voice, wrapped in powerful spiritual energy, reverberated like the Yellow Bell and Great Lü through the mountains of the Great Desolation Divine Realm and across the sky screen above the Douluo Continent.

"If the path the Divine Lord walks could be summed up in a single sentence, it would be..."

"Cultivate oneself, without relying on external things!"

Boom!

Those few short words were like an invisible thunderclap, exploding directly in the minds of everyone on the Douluo Continent.

The gray-robed elder paid no attention to the reactions of the ants in the lower realm. He simply continued preaching.

"People all believe that cultivating a Supreme Dharma Body, drawing on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to condense a manifestation tens of thousands of feet tall, represents the pinnacle of power."

"But in the Divine Lord's eyes, what is borrowed remains borrowed in the end."

"The spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathers and disperses unpredictably. A Dharma Body may be enormous, but once it is shattered, the cultivator's origin suffers devastating damage. They may even perish, their cultivation extinguished."

"Thus, the Divine Lord took a heaven-defying path that none before him had walked and none after him would follow."

At this point, a brilliant light flared in the elder's eyes.

For a moment, even his voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"He did not condense a Dharma Body. Instead, he tempered his own physical body as an entire universe!"

"He transformed the meridians throughout his body into vast rivers of stars, refined his internal organs into the five elements origin, and kindled the countless apertures within him into stars filling the heavens!"

"At his level, there is absolutely no need to borrow the spiritual energy of the outside world."

"Because he himself is heaven and earth!"

"In the oldest secret canon of our Great Desolation Divine Realm, there is only one phrase that can describe this supreme divine ability..."

"Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth!"

As those words rang out, even the surrounding space seemed unable to bear their weight, breaking into violent ripples.

"What is the Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth?"

"With a single thought, the physical body can expand without limit."

"One's head reaches the starry rivers of the nine heavens, while one's feet tread the Yellow Springs of the netherworld!"

"No illusory manifestation is needed, nor any outward release of spiritual energy."

"When the Divine Lord unleashes the Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth, a single punch carries the weight of an entire universe!"

"A single swing of his sword embodies the three thousand great Dao laws!"

"This is what the Divine Lord means by cultivating oneself!"

"This is what it truly means to rely on no external things!"

At this point, whether at the gathering on Dao-Seeking Cliff or on the Douluo Continent beyond the sky screen,

all fell into a silence so complete that a falling pin could be heard.

Cultivate oneself, without relying on external things.

Those words made many who had traveled far along the path of cultivation feel as though they had taken the wrong road.

On the Douluo Continent, inside Shrek Academy.

Tang San stood rooted to the spot, feeling the world spin around him.

He lowered his head and looked at the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges hanging at his waist.

It was filled with mechanical hidden weapons he had painstakingly crafted, and all manner of deadly poisons he had plundered from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Then he looked at the four soul rings beneath his feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple.

"External things... are they all external things...?"

Tang San's lips turned pale, and the corners of his mouth twisted into a bleak smile uglier than tears.

The Tang Sect of his previous life had emphasized using hidden weapons and poisons to kill without a trace. That in itself was a reliance on external things.

And on the Douluo Continent, soul masters had to hunt soul beasts and seize their soul rings to advance.

To grow stronger, they had to seek out legendary soul bones and fuse with powers that did not belong to them.

Was that not another form of pathological dependence on external things?

"So from the very beginning, we've been walking the lowest of crooked paths."

At the thought of how far he had already traveled down this road, Tang San could not help sighing.

Not far away, Yu Xiaogang had likewise collapsed to the ground in shock, his eyes wide.

He had spent his entire life researching how to combine soul rings and help soul masters better borrow the power of soul beasts.

Yet the Divine Lord's "Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth" seemed to tell him mercilessly:

The truly powerful disdained borrowing anything at all.

The body itself was the universe; I myself was heaven and earth.

This cultivation philosophy, grand beyond measure, made Yu Xiaogang feel that his "Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul" was simply a pile of shit.

Childish and laughable.

After all, everything they cultivated would become nothing but decoration once they reached a place without soul beasts.

Yet the Divine Lord contained an entire universe of stars within his body!

Without even the slightest replenishment from outside, he could still unleash a sword strike that severed a river of stars.

They simply were not on the same level.

Meanwhile, within the sky screen's image.

At the edge of the White Jade Steps on Dao-Seeking Cliff.

Qian Renxue stood quietly, already too astonished for words.

"Cultivate oneself, without relying on external things..."

Those words echoed endlessly through her mind, as though possessing some strange magic, striking against her newly reconstructed divine soul.

She recalled the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul she had once possessed.

That had been a bloodline bestowed by the Angel God-an external thing.

She also recalled the soul rings she had absorbed on the Douluo Continent, and the Angel God Armor soul bone in Spirit Hall's Worship Hall.

Those were all external things!

Even the pride she had always held was founded on the title of "inheritor of the Angel God," conferred upon her by an external thing!

"No wonder..."

Qian Renxue closed her eyes. Two streams of clear tears slipped down her exquisite cheeks, yet a smile of release rose at the corners of her mouth.

"No wonder the water in the Marrow-Washing Pool washed away my martial soul and soul power."

"Before the Great Thousand World's Great Dao, those borrowed things are all impurities and turbid energies that obstruct cultivation!"

The instant Qian Renxue understood this crucial point,

the incomparably pure light spiritual root within her seemed like parched earth receiving a spring rain, bursting with unimaginable vitality.

And more wondrous still,

the wisp of saint-grade pill energy casually bestowed upon her earlier, above the Spirit Medicine Garden, by the Medicine Venerable from the Endless Fire Domain,

completely dissolved under the catalyst of this sudden enlightenment, racing through Qian Renxue's new meridians like a warm little snake.

Hum!

Without any warning, a layer of pure white radiance suddenly appeared over Qian Renxue's body.

At the same time, in that instant of comprehension, the previously tranquil spiritual energy of the surrounding world seemed to sense a summons. It transformed into visible vortices of spiritual energy, surging madly toward her petite body!

Spirit Movement Realm Early-stage!

Spirit Movement Realm Mid-stage!

Spirit Movement Realm Late-stage!

In the blink of an eye, Qian Renxue's cultivation soared like a rocket within just a few breaths!

Though this little bit of cultivation seemed insignificant at a gathering of tens of thousands,

it benefited her immensely.

Qian Renxue's breakthrough might not have amounted to much at the gathering in the Great Desolation Divine Realm, but it shook the Douluo Continent.

In the Worship Hall, Spirit City.

The moment Qian Daoliu saw white light rise around Qian Renxue on the sky screen and her cultivation climb steadily, his hunched body abruptly straightened.

His clouded old eyes widened instantly, and even his breathing stopped completely.

"Did... did she just break through?"

Beside him, Golden Crocodile Douluo's mouth also hung open. His beard trembled slightly, his face filled with disbelief.

"Big Brother, Xue'er... she merely stood there and listened to that old man say a few words."

"Without even meditating, without needing to absorb a soul ring, her cultivation just skyrocketed out of nowhere?!"

Golden Crocodile Douluo's voice carried a profound sense of helplessness.

On the Douluo Continent, a soul master seeking to overcome a bottleneck had to sit in meditation day after day, year after year.

At the threshold of a major realm, they even had to risk their lives searching the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest for a suitable soul beast, absorbing its soul ring through a life-and-death struggle.

Even someone as gifted as Qian Renxue, born with level-twenty innate full soul power and nurtured with countless resources poured in by Spirit Hall, had taken over a decade to reach her current realm.

But now?

Qian Renxue had gone to that Great Desolation Divine Realm merely to become a sweeping maid at the very bottom.

She had merely stood at the edge of the steps, listening from afar to a passage of teaching about the Divine Lord's principle of "cultivating oneself, without relying on external things."

It had been only a brief moment of enlightenment.

Yet within a few breaths, her cultivation had crossed what seemed a heavenly chasm, breaking through three minor realms in succession!

"So these are the true laws of the Great Dao..."

Qian Daoliu took two trembling steps forward, staring straight at his granddaughter, utterly transformed within the sky screen.

He turned his head toward the Six-Winged Angel Divine Statue at the center of the Worship Hall, the symbol of supreme glory.

Once, this statue had been the faith of his entire life, the supreme being for whose inheritance he had been willing to sacrifice his life for Qian Renxue.

But now, a different feeling arose in Qian Daoliu's heart.

"The Angel God?"

Qian Daoliu gave a bitter laugh. His voice echoed through the hall, carrying the sorrow of a hero in his twilight years.

"For generations, our Qian Family has worshipped a god, taking pride in receiving divine gifts."

"We thought that Angel God Armor, that sacred inheritance, was the greatest power in this world."

"But the Divine Lord said that what is borrowed remains borrowed in the end!"

Qian Daoliu abruptly turned, spread his arms, and called loudly to the other offerings behind him:

"Did you see that?!"

"Xue'er merely comprehended one ten-thousandth of the Divine Lord's cultivation philosophy and abandoned those so-called divine gifts."

"And her spiritual root blossomed with such astonishing vitality!"

Hearing this, Second Worship Golden Crocodile, Third Offering Azure Luan, and the others all silently lowered their heads, their hearts filled with conflicting feelings.

Indeed, she could gain enlightenment and break through even while doing some sweeping. Such a cultivation speed practically pinned the Douluo Continent's gods to the ground and scraped them back and forth across it.

"Big Brother, then from now on, our Spirit Hall..." Golden Crocodile Douluo asked tentatively.

"To hell with the Angel God!"

Qian Daoliu abruptly swept his sleeve, sending out a surge of soul power that knocked the incense burner straight off the altar.

"Starting today, tell every core elder and offering of Spirit Hall."

"Forget those bullshit legends about the Divine Realm!"

"Xue'er serving as a maid in the Great Desolation Divine Realm is a blessing our Qian Family cultivated over hundreds of lifetimes!"

"As long as she can survive within the Divine Lord's lineage, even if she only learns the most basic Breathing Technique and brings it back to the Douluo Continent,"

"our Spirit Hall will be able to break free of this lower-dimensional mire completely! Everyone will be able to cultivate themselves, and everyone will be able to rely on no external things!"

Meanwhile.

In the Far North, unimaginably far from Spirit City.

Snowstorms still raged across the sky, but the atmosphere atop the Ten-Thousand-Year Glacier had changed utterly.

Snow Empress and Ice Empress stood side by side, both their gazes fixed firmly on the image in the sky screen.

After hearing the Divine Lord's grand philosophy of "cultivating oneself and the Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth," and witnessing Qian Renxue's instantaneous breakthrough firsthand,

these two peerless ferocious beasts of the Far North could no longer remain composed.

"Sister Snow..."

An unprecedented brilliance flickered in Ice Empress's emerald-green eyes.

She gently tugged Snow Empress's sleeve, her tone filled with barely concealed excitement and adoration.

"Did you hear that just now?"

"The body itself is the universe, containing its own rivers of stars!"

"The Divine Lord has absolutely no need to seek out some innate spiritual body as a cultivation vessel for dual cultivation and essence harvesting, like that Western Heaven War Emperor."

Involuntarily, the imposing figure clad in white, who could split a river of stars spanning hundreds of millions of miles with two fingers held together, appeared in Ice Empress's mind.

"Compared to the Divine Lord, that so-called Western Heaven War Emperor is nothing but a filthy scoundrel who relies on women to raise his cultivation!"

Just half an hour earlier, Ice Empress had still been fantasizing that if the Western Heaven War Emperor could help her survive her tribulation lightning, she would not mind becoming a consort who attended his bed in the War Emperor Palace.

But now, she had long since cast that thought beyond the highest heavens in disgust.

Both were supreme titans standing at the very peak of the Great Thousand World's pyramid.

Yet the Western Heaven War Emperor's head was filled with collecting peerless beauties, practicing some Dual Cultivation Technique, and treating women as cultivation tools.

And this Great Desolation Divine Lord?

He walked an invincible, domineering path that suppressed the ages and relied on no external things!

Even when the princess of the Primordial Divine Dynasty had forcibly abducted him to serve as a cultivation vessel, he had turned the tables and swallowed that arrogant Divine Phoenix Bloodline whole.

What uninhibited vengeance and gratitude, what unparalleled dominance!

For the Soul Beast Clan, who revered the law of the jungle and held strength above all else.

A madman like the Divine Lord, who had slaughtered his way through the universe through his own sheer might alone, truly fulfilled their perfect vision of a "supreme deity."

A rare blush also rose on the Snow Empress's exquisitely beautiful face, usually as cold as frost.

She nodded slightly, deep yearning shining in her beautiful eyes.

"Bing'er is right."

"Although that War Emperor is generous, his intentions are impure. He treats women as accessories to his cultivation."

"But this Divine Lord..."

The Snow Empress drew a deep breath, as though she could still feel that trace of supreme Sword Intent spilling from the Sky Screen.

"Not only is his strength unfathomable, but he also possesses a lofty solitude and purity that transcend the Three Realms."

"What could catch the eye of someone like him would never be beauty or outward appearance, but a true heart devoted to seeking the Dao."

Hearing this, the Ice Empress could not help letting out a sweet giggle.

She cradled her delicate chin in both hands, her eyes full of little stars, like a lovestruck girl.

"Sister Snow, just how handsome do you think that Divine Lord must be?"

"Dressed all in white, able to slice open the starry sky with a casual stroke-he must be a peerlessly handsome man with sword-like brows and star-bright eyes, cold, aloof, and proud, right?"

The more the Ice Empress thought about it, the more excited she became. Even the scorpion tail behind her began swaying gently despite herself.

"If I could go to the Great Desolation Divine Realm..."

"Even if I could only serve as the Divine Lord's Sect-Protecting Divine Beast, guarding the mountain gate and catching a glimpse of him from afar each day."

"I'd still think it was ten thousand times better than being some consort in that Western Heaven War Emperor's harem!"

The Snow Empress rolled her eyes at her in exasperation, yet a trace of the same hope arose in her own heart.

Indeed.

If they could follow such a peerless Divine Lord, who relied on no external things and wielded the Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth.

Who would still care about being the ruler of the Far North on the Douluo Continent? Who would still care about those nebulous rules of the Divine Realm?

Unfortunately, they had yet to be chosen by the Sky Screen and could only daydream to themselves amid the wind and snow.

Meanwhile, in the Great Thousand World.

At the edge of the White Jade Steps on Dao-Seeking Cliff.

Qian Renxue slowly opened her eyes.

When she felt the endlessly surging, utterly pure Spiritual Energy within her, she was left somewhat dazed.

This power was even more condensed than the Soul Power she had possessed back when she was at level seventy or eighty on the Douluo Continent.

Without the enhancement of any Soul Rings, she could feel the Spiritual Energy in the air cheering and leaping for joy with nothing more than a casual clench of her hand.

"So this is the wonder of cultivating oneself..."

Qian Renxue lowered her head and looked at her hands, her eyes filled with astonishment.

Merely by listening to the elder's words and unlocking the shackles in her heart, she had gained such tremendous benefits.

Then what if she could learn more of the mysteries behind the true nature of cultivation in the Great Thousand World?