Prologue

"That Hongjun must have tried to refine the giant tree, but he failed!"

Inside the treehouse, Hongjun disappeared from his guest seat, and only then did the mallard duck, who was so overwhelmed by Hongjun's aura that it could no longer speak, utter a sound.

"Trust only part of what he says," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"You really cultivate the Three Palaces of the Zodiac according to Hongjun's method?" the mallard asked suspiciously.

"Why not?" Zhang Xuezhou said, "Guess how many cultivators' souls can descend to lower dimensions to explore the void and travel to this giant tree!"

"What does this mean?" asked the mallard.

"He's incredibly strong, even ridiculously strong," Zhang Xuezhou said. "His Great Wilderness Creation Scripture should be considered a top-tier cultivation technique in higher-dimensional worlds, and this Zodiac Three Palaces Technique will inevitably bring revolutionary abilities!"

"Practicing unfamiliar and unknown techniques is most likely to leave hidden dangers. Could he be plotting against us?"

"He needs me alive before he can do his job," Zhang Xuezhou emphasized.

"He won't care about you anymore after he's done his job!"

Even a mallard knows this principle, so how could Zhang Xuezhou not understand it?

He achieved great success in his cultivation, but he suffered quite a few setbacks in his cultivation techniques throughout his life. Not to mention the Great Wilderness Creation Scripture, which was manipulated by Zhu Jiuyin, Zhang Xuezhou was essentially constrained in his Yin-Yang School's Realm Technique for his entire life.

Hongjun's technique must have problems; it may contain backdoors, be incomplete, or be something Zhang Xuezhou forgot when he first encountered it, potentially leading to incorrect practice.

But whatever its shortcomings, this is the upper limit of what they can currently access.

"We have no grudge against him, and we've never opposed him. As long as we can survive, why would he want to strangle us?"

Zhang Xuezhou offered a word of comfort, and the mallard duck lowered its head and remained silent.

"I've been marked by him, but you haven't. If you have the ability, use my body to do something worthwhile; perhaps that will reduce the trouble," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"You're willing to let me use your body?" the mallard asked curiously.

"Why can't we use it?" Zhang Xuezhou said, "I'm not Donghua, I can't control two bodies at once. Only by working together can we live longer!"

"You're so generous!"

"It just so happens that both of my bodies now have wings, so controlling them shouldn't be too difficult for you!"

"Are you serious?"

"Seriously!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

The mallard duck is a spiritual entity formed from chaotic Demon Power. It possesses the inherent evils of a demon, but it was castrated before it was fully developed. It was then educated by Donghua and later received instruction from him and Ren Anran, among others.

Just as wild wolf cubs are tamed into dogs by humans, mallards are currently of useful use. Not to mention that Zhang Xuezhou and mallards have a rather serious entanglement, so mallards dare not act recklessly and cause trouble.

He let the mallard control his body; doing something was better than doing nothing.

"If you had said so earlier, I wouldn't have had to suffer like that little wench!"

The mallards were quacking loudly, but Zhang Xuezhou didn't bother with them, since he wasn't in Chang'an City at the moment.

He repeatedly checked the information in the center of the treehouse, confirmed the three zodiac signs with the mallard, and repeatedly confirmed the content of Hongjun's guidance before separating from the mallard and changing direction.

"This guy has suffered a lot!"

Zhang Xuezhou shook his soul and began to return to the real world at the predetermined speed.

While relying on the mallards to share the risks, he was also wary of Hongjun's possible investigation and did not demonstrate the ability to quickly manipulate the giant tree to travel.

In the swaying motion, Zhang Xuezhou felt his consciousness being stretched into a vast dimension of time.

When a blush appeared on his eyelids, Zhang Xuezhou knew that his soul had returned to its place.

A feeling of disharmony between his soul and body welled up in his heart, and Zhang Xuezhou quickly channeled his Law Power to propel himself forward.

The name of this cultivation technique, 'Zodiac Three Palaces,' is somewhat similar to that of the Zodiac Immortal, but the zodiac is actually just a term for the trajectory of astronomical motion. The similarity in cultivation systems led to the similar naming.

The three zodiacal palaces are actually three different paths of cultivation, which is almost identical to the Medical School concept of 'upper Dantian, middle Dantian, and lower Dantian '.

Normal spiritual practice revolves around a central point, with subsequent cycles of energy circulation. This corresponds to the practice of cultivating the lower Dantian.

Hongjun guides the operation around three points. While the power of this operation is questionable and it has negative effects on the body, it does increase the speed at which external energy is absorbed.

Like a Taotie maw, it devours whatever it may be, leaving everything else for later.

Hongjun enlightened Zhang Xuezhou's soul to form the three palaces of the zodiac, and all that was needed now was a physical body to match it.

The power of the Gene Sequence lock is placed in the first zodiac sign, while the second and third zodiac signs contain the Technique Method of the Yin-Yang School.

With such a simple allocation, Zhang Xuezhou felt that meeting the physical requirements would be extremely easy.

He hadn't forgotten the content, and his cultivation was normal. As for whether the content Hongjun gave him was incomplete or contained hidden dangers, that was difficult to know.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't care too much about it. After all, the 'Three Zodiac Houses' were currently beneficial to him, and the origin of the world could also bring great benefits. He couldn't possibly think that this was a bad thing.

"You seem to be refining your cultivation techniques, preparing to merge and step into the True Self Realm?"

After hearing Ren Anran's observation, Zhang Xuezhou adjusted himself for a moment and then opened his eyes.

"Do you think my current cultivation level is suitable for fusing with the Nascent Soul stage?" Zhang Xuezhou asked doubtfully.

I thought you were ready!

Ren Anran exclaimed in surprise, then patted her head, feeling that her mind was not as sharp as before after severing her Yang Corporeal Soul.

Judging from Zhang Xuezhou's questioning tone, Zhang Xuezhou clearly did not intend to push the Realm Technique to the True Self Realm.

"Am I in a suitable state for fusion with an infant?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"I previously thought you were fusing with the Nascent Soul stage," Ren Anran said, "But now I'm unclear and can't be sure!"

"Don't doubt yourself. Even if your Yang Corporeal Soul is temporarily divided, your abilities are still top-tier," Zhang Xuezhou said. "I just acquired something called the Three Palaces of the Zodiac. Someone used my soul to modify my abilities, creating three operating centers: upper, middle, and lower. Then, I used my physical body to adjust them until my soul completely matched my body!"

The three signs of the zodiac?

Ren Anran hesitated for a few seconds, pondering the three operational centers—upper, middle, and lower—that Zhang Xuezhou had mentioned. When Zhang Xuezhou took off his clothes to show them, her eyes suddenly widened.

"I also hope to achieve a higher level of mastery through the three-in-one combination in the future!"

Turning one into three is a skill, and turning three into one is another skill.

Ren Anran kept measuring Zhang Xuezhou's body size and pondering from time to time. She felt that with the continuous contact with Zhang Xuezhou, some things that had previously troubled her finally had direction.

If it were the complete Ren Anran, she felt that once she figured it out, she would quickly move on to the deduction process.

At present, Ren Anran has maintained stability, only constantly thinking and pondering, and relying on comparison to make records.

"Manqian, your boat is small and easy to turn around. Come with me to try Xuezhou Xuezhou's Zodiac Three Palaces Technique and see if we can figure it out together. If we succeed, we can verify it and, combined with my understanding of Realm Technique in another world, it should be able to help Xuezhou advance its True Self!"

After a while, Ren Anran turned her gaze to Zhang Manqian was demonstrating her knife skills to Zhang Xuezhou not far away.

Ren Anran is physically disabled, making it difficult for her to use herself as a test subject at this time; Zhang Manqian, on the other hand, is an excellent experimental subject.

The research and practice of cultivation continued to advance, and the experiments that others pushed forward could only be conducted by themselves.

Ren Anran would not rush into anything, especially choosing someone so close to her like Zhang Manqian. Her choice of Zhang Manqian was more based on the high probability of success.

As Zhang Xuezhou said, even if Ren Anran's Yang Corporeal Soul is split, resulting in a lack of judgment and logical ability, Ren Anran is still one of the Scarlet Alliance State.

She's lost her usual speed and can no longer complete tasks in one go, but if she calms down and pushes things forward slowly, she still has a chance of success.