The same familiar room, the same familiar furnishings.
Li Qingshan appeared soundlessly in the middle of the room, as though he had been there all along and had never left.
Yet the presence surrounding him, seamless and without flaw, resonating in perfect harmony with his surroundings, was utterly different from when he had left.
The realm of See the Gods, Indestructible allowed him perfect control over every trace of his own Qi and blood and every acupoint, leaving his flesh flawless, pure and without leakage.
The spiritual cultivation of Primordial Breathing allowed him to maintain a delicate, continuous communication and resonance with
the somewhat thin natural energy of the main world.
He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze calm and profound, like an ancient well without a ripple, reflecting this familiar yet unfamiliar world.
His parents were still asleep, and the sky was gradually growing light.
Li Qingshan slowly opened his eyes.
Four hours.
He had trained bitterly for two years in the Dragon and Snake World, fought grandmasters to the death, and faced gunfire,
reached See the Gods, Indestructible amid a storm, and finally drifted away.
Yet in this main world, only four hours had passed.
A powerful sense of dislocation in time and space washed over his consciousness like a tide.
The familiar sight before him swayed slightly, as though seen through a layer of warped glass.
He instinctively raised a hand, intending to pour himself a cup of tea, and extended his fingertips,
only for the gesture to naturally carry a hint of "plucking flowers and brushing willows," gentle and precise, untouched by the dust and smoke of the mortal world.
The moment he moved, he froze, then shook his head with a laugh.
"Two years of habit, carved into my bones. In the end, I've returned."
He did not get up immediately. Instead, he sat cross-legged where he was, closed his eyes, and focused his mind,
carefully feeling the surging power within his body.
His meridians were like great rivers, coursing with vast and mighty Qi and blood;
his bones gleamed with a translucent luster, faintly resembling jade;
his internal organs resonated, producing a deep and immense sound of the Dao.
This body was far stronger than it had been when he left!
It was the ultimate manifestation of reaching See the Gods, Indestructible in the Dragon and Snake World,
gaining insight into the minute acupoints within his body and perfect control over himself.
Every movement he made carried immense power.
"Stone Gate."
He looked inward, sinking his divine sense into the mysterious object that was bound to him in the unseen and carried him through the heavens.
It remained ancient and silent, turning without a sound and emanating the presence of the primordial ages.
He clearly understood that on an Earth as devoid of spiritual energy as the one in the Dragon and Snake World,
reaching See the Gods, Indestructible through his talent alone would have been a nearly impossible miracle.
The Stone Gate must have protected and aided him along the way.
"Is it more than a tool for traveling between worlds? Does it also adapt and improve me? Letting me possess the traits of the Primordial Heavenly King's bloodline?"
It had given his body an indescribable adaptability, allowing it to quickly conform to the rules of different worlds,
and the limitless potential to reach the pinnacle of any power system.
"Traits similar to Yuan Chu's origin?"
he murmured, attributing this to a part of the Stone Gate's mighty power.
With his thoughts settled, he turned his attention to the world around him.
It was unlike the Dragon and Snake Earth he had experienced before, which was utterly devoid of spiritual energy.
Though the spiritual Qi of this main world was likewise extremely thin, and it had entered the Dharma-ending age,
a faint trace of "vitality" remained.
The air was no longer utterly dead and still.
The essence of heaven and earth was barely perceptible, wispy as threads,
too faint for ordinary cultivators to detect at all, yet it truly existed.
The spiritual power of Primordial Breathing within him, which had reached the supreme realm of Embryonic Breathing,
was now like a sleeping dragon awakened by a faint breath.
"The Dharma-ending age, but it's still far better than a place without spiritual energy."
Now that he had returned and attained this realm, he needed to consolidate it and advance further.
Yet the instant he immersed his mind,
a sudden change erupted!
His body was like a traveler who had trekked through the desert for countless years and suddenly caught the scent of water from an oasis.
An extreme "thirst," born from the instinct of life itself, exploded forth!
Without any conscious guidance from him, his body became an incomparably greedy black hole!
"Hum!"
A terrifying, invisible suction burst outward with him at its center!
Inside the room, the gentle breeze first stopped, then turned into a strange vortex.
The pages of the books on the desk fluttered without wind, flipping wildly,
only to fall still the next moment, as though pressed down by an invisible hand, becoming brittle and dull.
A potted spider plant hanging by the windowsill wilted slightly at a speed visible to the naked eye, its leaves losing their luster,
as though the finest trace of its vitality had been drawn away.
The suction penetrated the walls, spreading throughout the apartment building and even farther!
Within several hundred meters, the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, already so thin that modern instruments could scarcely detect it, was plundered in an instant!
It was not just spiritual Qi.
The minute energy of the earth veins buried deep underground,
the energy of cosmic rays permeating the air,
the residual essence shed by the sun, moon and stars,
every particle of energy that could be absorbed and used
was forcibly stripped away and drawn in by him!
Streams of energy, invisible to the naked eye but clearly perceptible to Li Qingshan's powerful divine sense,
surged madly toward him from every direction, pouring into his body like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.
In an instant, all fell still.
It was not that there was no sound, but that sound itself seemed affected by this terrifying power of devouring, becoming muffled and distorted.
It was a domineering spectacle, one that verged on "plundering all directions"!
But compared to what the realm of Primordial Breathing required, this bit of external energy was no more than a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood.
The Dharma-ending age lived up to its name.
Li Qingshan's mind remained as still as an ancient well; he had long anticipated this.
"If what lies outside is insufficient, then seek it within!"
With a thought, he completely released his suppression of himself.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
His strong, powerful heartbeat thundered within him like a divine being beating a drum!
The body of See the Gods, Indestructible he had attained in the Dragon and Snake World now became his mightiest foundation and furnace.
The vast life essence and Qi and blood energy deposited in every particle of his body, suppressed for so long,
were now completely ignited and detonated!
It was as though a tiny universe had been opened within him at the dawn of chaos!
Energy arose of its own accord, vast and boundless, surging out from the 480 million pores across his body,
and from every acupoint deity revealed by See the Gods, Indestructible!
His Qi and blood surged and roared like mercury, transforming into crimson dragons that pounded through his limbs and bones!
His sinews and bones rang in unison, rosy light shone from his organs, and the sound of the Dao rumbled forth.
It was the strange sound of energy tides coursing through his body
and scraping against the void, mysterious and terrifying.
The thin energy plundered from outside and the vast Qi and blood he had detonated within himself
merged together at this moment, becoming an unstoppable torrent
that launched its fiercest assault on the unseen barrier that had obstructed him for so long!
"Crack!"
A nearly imperceptible sound of breaking rang out from the depths of his soul.
The barrier burst open!
Li Qingshan's body underwent an earthshaking transformation.
His skin became clear and translucent, like the finest glass and jade,
with a chaotic light faintly flickering and flowing beneath it, mysterious and extraordinary.
His bones hummed, growing denser and tougher,
and glimmered with a faint, jade-colored luster.
His internal organs were washed by the vast energy,
radiating vigorous life, as though rosy light lay hidden within them.
His life force index soared at an unprecedented rate,
breaking through one limit after another,
until it reached a level that would be considered a myth in the Dharma-ending age!
His black hair cascaded like a waterfall, every strand lustrous.
His whole being radiated an extreme "youthful vitality,"
but within that vitality lay terrifying power, enough to split mountains and sunder peaks, to strike fear into ghosts and gods.
This leap in his level of life brought with it the restructuring and sublimation of his flesh!
Success!
The instant he broke through, wondrous phenomena arose of their own accord.
His control over energy reached an unprecedented microscopic level.
The thin spiritual Qi forcibly plundered from his surroundings, not yet fully absorbed,
mixed with his surging Qi and blood energy and, at the slightest movement of his mind, slowly gathered at his fingertip.
At last, it formed a single bead of liquid energy, the size of a grain of rice yet weighing as much as a thousand jun!
In a Dharma-ending place like this, such a bead was incomparably precious and difficult to produce.
At the same time, his already powerful divine sense surged!
With a thought, a jade paperweight resting in the corner of his bookshelf silently crumbled into fine powder.
It was not projected force Qi, nor a strike of fist intent,
but pure mental power interfering with physical reality!
It carried the precise penetration of the Dragon and Snake martial will,
and the vast, surging might brought by the Galaxy World!
However, because the external supply of energy was truly insufficient,
all the immense phenomena brought about by the breakthrough were ultimately, through his powerful will,
forcibly compressed and drawn back into his body.
There was no pillar of light shooting into the sky, no vortex of spiritual Qi spanning a hundred li.
Only within three feet of him did the void twist slightly and the light grow dim,
as though an absolute domain had formed, one that nothing could breach.
At last, every phenomenon was drawn inward, and all fell silent.
He sat quietly where he was, still dressed in black, seemingly no different from usual, utterly ordinary.
But if a highly skilled cultivator had been there, their hair would surely have stood on end
as they sensed the terrifying pressure beneath that ordinary exterior, like a primordial behemoth lying dormant.
He slowly opened his eyes, and deep within them,
chaos seemed to open, divine light flashing like lightning before vanishing,
so sharp it seemed ready to pierce the eternal silence of this Dharma-ending age.
After sixteen years seeking the Dao, amid the tide of this Dharma-ending age, he had finally achieved his first measure of success.
Outside the window, the pale light of dawn had fully emerged.
The room was utterly silent; only that slightly wilted spider plant
silently told of the breathtaking plunder and transformation that had just taken place.
Li Qingshan drew a deep breath. The faint vitality in the air had been almost completely squeezed dry by him and was recovering slowly.
He felt the power within him, countless times stronger than when he had left, yet seamless and contained, and his gaze grew deeper.
The road ahead seemed a little clearer.