Better to rely on yourself than on others

Zhou Wuji stared blankly for a long time, unable to come up with a foolproof plan.

There are ways to deal with this, but Lu Zhijing's superior position gives him too much of an advantage.

For him, not going to Heavenly Pillar Treasure Light Grotto-Heaven was not a big deal, but not being able to learn the sect's Secret Method was the biggest problem.

The Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment is clearly the most suitable match for the Secret Method of the Northern Pole Sect. Besides, his foundation in cultivation has already been established, and it's too late for him to switch to another school of thought.

He then forcibly suppressed these distracting thoughts, deciding to stop thinking about them if he couldn't think of a solution.

There's always a way out; if there isn't, just get out of the car and climb the mountain. There's no need to worry too much about things that haven't happened yet.

The most urgent task is to improve one's cultivation level as soon as possible.

If he first reaches the Fifth Rank Perfection and overpowers all the geniuses at the Jingyang Dharma Assembly, he might directly become the sect leader's True Disciple. What are people like Lu Zhijing compared to him?

Even if he doesn't become the sect leader's True Disciple, with his talent, he could easily find a powerful figure in the Heavenly Pivot Lineage to sell himself to!

His greatest advantage right now is that he doesn't have a master; the next level he can reach is Yizhen and Zhiyuan.

Neither of these two had any connections in the Upper Court, which actually made it easier for him to switch allegiances.

Zhou Wuji's spirits lifted at this thought. He had kept all the life fragments of the barbarian masters he had obtained at the edge of the Yue Ridge untouched.

I originally planned to come back and study carefully how to allocate these fates.

Or learn one or two new Law Technique, but now you don't have to think about it anymore.

Opening the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, Zhou Wuji first added a five-ounce and three-qian destiny to the Northern Dipper Tianshu Scripture.

The Northern Dipper Tianshu Scripture was originally a state of perfection, but when it was elevated to the Northern Dipper Tianshu Great Scripture, it became Transformation Realm.

The five-ounce and three-qian destiny transforms into the Origin Profound Spirit, directly elevating the Northern Dipper Tianshu Great Scripture to perfection.

This method is fundamental to his spiritual practice and is extremely important.

The Northern Dipper Tianshu Great Scripture, which reached the perfect state, allowed him to fully comprehend the Fifth Rank method of Qi Refining, achieving complete understanding without any further doubts or questions.

Upon reaching this level, his efficiency in breathing in spiritual energy and controlling True Qi increased by another 30%.

The Mind Mirror's Divine Ability power has a wider scope and can reflect more subtle levels.

Under the mirror of his Mind Mirror, he could even see the flow of every drop of his blood, the subtle changes in the operation of his internal organs, and the deep fusion of True Qi with his entire body, inside and out.

This was the first time Zhou Wuji had ever understood himself so deeply, and had such a profound understanding of the relationship between spiritual energy, True Qi, and Law Power.

Spiritual energy is the source of power, the root of a cultivator's strength.

Cultivators use Secret Method to transform spiritual energy into True Qi that is most suitable for them.

When True Qi is released through different Law Technique, it will transform into Law Power in different states.

Based on his experience from his previous life, he concluded that cultivators absorb energy, transform energy, and output energy.

However, in this process, cultivators constantly refine themselves, increase their energy ceiling, and ultimately achieve a leap in life level.

Zhou Wuji had understood this principle before, but he hadn't seen such clear details.

The completion of the Northern Dipper Tianshu Great Scripture allowed him to clearly perceive the changes in his heart aperture, the connection between his heart aperture and the nine apertures of the upper Dantian, and the connection between his heart aperture and the Yuheng Star.

The heart orifice belongs to fire, corresponding to the Yuheng Star, and the condensed star deity is also the Yuheng Star Lord.

Taking advantage of his excellent condition, Zhou Wuji activated the Big Dipper Big Dipper Star Eye and established a stable resonance circuit with the vast Big Dipper Star Domain.

With his mind opened Zhou Wuji directly communicated with the Yuheng Star and simultaneously visualized the Yuheng Star Lord.

The Northern Dipper Tianshu Great Scripture contains visualization images of various star lords. Zhou Wuji guided the star power and sensed the characteristics of the Yuheng Star power, which naturally condensed into the divine image of the Yuheng Star Lord lord in his heart.

With crimson eyebrows and eyes, and dressed in a magnificent crimson robe, the Yuheng Star Lord was like a blazing, intense flame, yet also incredibly cold, strong, and proud.

Once the divine form of the Yuheng Star Lord was completed, his heart aperture also transformed into a crimson-gold palace. The Yuheng Star Lord Lord's divine form was held high above it, and a close connection was established between it and his Divine Aperture.

With the divine image of the Yuheng Star Lord, the circulation of True Qi in the heart's orifice more than doubled and became more stable.

By using the Yuheng Star Lord's Divine Image, one can replace an ordinary altar and directly cast various high-level Law Technique.

Zhou Wuji slowly opened his eyes. As he thought about it, the azure lightning transformed from the Northern Dipper Tianshu Yangming Divine Thunder turned into a lightning snake, flowing erratically between his fingers and palms, as if it had come to life.

As he thought again, the condensed lightning silently dissipated.

With the blessing of the condensed divine image of the Yuheng Star Lord, the same Thunder Method became about 10% more powerful, further enhancing his control over Thunder Method.

Don't underestimate the Thunder Method; it may seem like a small increase, but in actual combat it can be enough to decide the outcome.

Just like that Fourth Rank barbarian martial artist, who was able to resist his Thunder Method with his own martial arts True Qi, he still used all his strength.

Now that the two sides are fighting again, he has made one-tenth of his progress in Thunder Method, which is enough to break through the barbarian warrior's protective True Qi and forcefully kill him.

The destructive power of Thunder Method strikes outside the protective True Qi is at least ten times greater than that of lightning strikes penetrating the protective True Qi and penetrating deep into the body.

The Northern Dipper Tianshu Great Scripture is of utmost importance to him; with the advancement of this method, all aspects of his life will rise accordingly.

Zhou Wuji still felt it wasn't enough. He originally wanted to keep a low profile and improve slowly, but now it seems that being too low-key isn't good either.

He still needs to demonstrate his exceptional talent and let everyone see his brilliance in order to rise to prominence more quickly.

Zhiyuan True Person Zhihua treated him very well, especially True Person Zhihua, who valued him highly.

He used to think he had to rely on True Person Zhihua, but now it seems that one must rely on oneself.

It's not that he has any opinion about True Person Zhihua, but that's just how reality is. True Person Zhihua also has her own stance, her own considerations, and her own worries.

Zhou Wuji opened the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment again, his gaze falling on the Army-Breaking Sword.

The Army-Breaking Sword is a method of cultivating both magic and martial arts, and it is also the foundation of his cultivation.

He rose to the Fifth Rank rank, and almost all of his Secret Method remained unchanged, Northern Dipper Tianshu Scripture and the Army-Breaking Sword both fell to the Transformation Realm.

Other Secret Method aren't urgent, but the Army-Breaking Sword must be upgraded.

Zhou Wuji originally wanted to wait until he entered the Heavenly Pillar Treasure Light Grotto-Heaven before upgrading the Army-Breaking Sword, but now he couldn't wait any longer.

The Heavenly Pillar Treasure Light Grotto-Heaven is so important that even he might not be able to enter it, so there's no need to think about it too much now.

Another five-ounce, three-thousand-yuan destiny was transformed into the Origin Profound Spirit and directly invested into the Army-Breaking Sword.

When the purple light dissipated, the Army-Breaking Sword had reached its perfect state.

The Army-Breaking Sword also completed the reshaping of the body simultaneously. Zhou Wuji didn't have time to look at it much and immediately converted multiple five-ounce and four-ounce Origin Mystic Essence to compensate for the huge changes brought about by the reshaping of the body.

Normally, cultivating the Army-Breaking Sword involves absorbing spiritual energy and transforming it, like polishing and reshaping a terrazzo stone little by little.

By completing this process through the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, one's consciousness can cultivate in the illusory world for twenty years, but the body cannot fully synchronize.

In this way, the rapid strengthening and reshaping of the body cannot be accomplished through spiritual energy, but instead consumes the life essence.

Fortunately, Zhou Wuji was prepared for this; he killed many black deer but kept most of them, which was enough to make up for the deficiencies in his physical reconstruction.

Once the Origin Mystic Essence had been fully transformed, Zhou Wuji felt his body filled with boundless power.

The perfected Army-Breaking Sword not only reshaped his physical body but also opened his lung acupoints, which correspond to the golden acupoints of the Army-Breaking Sword.

Zhou Wuji casually threw a punch, and a sharp whistling sound immediately filled the room.

He estimated that his full-force punch now should have a force of 5,000 jin, which was still far less than that of the Fourth Rank barbarian martial artist, but enough to be compared with that powerful Fifth Rank barbarian.

Concentrating five thousand jin of force into the fist, a single punch, even without the support of martial arts divine intent, would be enough to shatter the protective True Qi of Fifth Rank cultivator.

The strength of martial artists in close combat is unmatched by cultivators.

It is precisely because of the power of martial artists that martial artists become emperors, rather than Daoists becoming retired emperors.

Whoever has the stronger military holds the power; this is an age-old truth.

Zhou Wuji is now a very powerful Fifth Rank martial artist just by relying on the Army-Breaking Sword.

As for the cultivator level, although he has only opened the Heart Acupoint and Lung Acupoint, he is still three points stronger than the cultivator with the Purest Zhiyuan.

In the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, his True Qi also increased by 30%, reaching a total of 13,000.

The body improved by 15%, bringing the total to 800.

Zhou Wuji had dealt with several Fifth Rank martial artists. In his opinion, he had now reached the peak of Fifth Rank martial artist in terms of physical strength alone.

The increased strength from his True Qi to his body filled Zhou Wuji with confidence and fighting spirit. If Lu Zhijing really wanted to cause him trouble, he would teach that old bastard a lesson!

Zhou Wuji also knew that his strength had increased dramatically, and he had become arrogant as a result.

But he didn't care much. Once he got used to the powerful strength he had just gained, he would naturally calm down.

Let me be arrogant for a while, it'll make me happy...

The next morning, Zhou Wuji awoke from his meditation. After a day of testing, he confirmed that his cultivation speed had increased by about 30%.

Previously, daily cultivation could increase True Qi by 45 points; now it can increase True Qi by 60 points daily.

Based on this calculation, one month of normal cultivation would be enough to condense one acupoint.

Even if one cannot enter the Heavenly Pillar Treasure Light Grotto-Heaven, one can reach the Fifth Rank Perfection within four months.

Zhou Wuji looked at the six-ounce and five-qian destiny chart in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, and he hesitated.

With such a significant destiny, how should it be used?

He originally intended to wait until he completed the Fifth Rank ordination and seal-granting ceremony to see what advanced Secret Method he could cultivate.

Now it seems that the foundation he laid was deep enough that his fundamental cultivation methods did not require high-level Origin Profound Spirit.

It seems that the best option now is to use the Heavenly Puppet Technique, which will allow the Law Treasure to exert its full power.

But since there's nothing else to do right now, he's really reluctant to use up a six-and-a-half-ounce destiny.

After Zhou Wuji decided to wait and see.

After waiting for several days, Zhou Wuji still hadn't seen True Person Zhihua, and had no idea what the situation was like now.

That Yigeng suddenly arrived. "Fellow Daoist, I need to trouble you with something."

Zhou Wuji smiled and said, "You're too kind, Steward. Just let me know if you need anything."

Yigeng didn't mince words any longer and said directly, "A powerful evil spirit has appeared in White Sand Bay, causing quite a few deaths recently, and the matter has become very serious."

"I'll go take a look." Zhou Wuji was quite interested in evil things now, so this opportunity came at the perfect time.

"White Sand Bay is downstream of Jingyang, a place where all sorts of people mingle. It originally belonged to the Lesser Yin Daoist Academy, and believers came to the Upper Court seeking help there, so let's go take a look..."

Yigeng instructed, "If you encounter someone with the Lesser Yin nature, try to avoid conflict with them..."