Clearing Three Trials in Succession (See the Author's Note)

"The Dao Domain has finally been achieved," Ji An thought to himself.

Although the Ji Clan did not record it, based on Ji An's understanding, the first level of a cultivator's improvement in skills, whether it be swordsmanship, knife skills, spear skills, or even painting or playing the zither, is the foundation! That is, becoming familiar with a skill. The second level is the realm of subtlety, which means that the mastery of the skill has approached perfection. The third level is the Unity of Heaven and Man, which means that the skill has approached the Dao and has begun to understand the will of heaven.

The fourth level involves perceiving the mysteries of Heaven and Earth and gradually discovering the Dao within them. When one gains insight, one has grasped a trace of the True Meaning of the Dao. This is the fourth level of the True Meaning of the Dao.

Most Violet Palace Cultivator cannot comprehend this.

He continued to comprehend, constantly grasping the True Meaning of the Dao. As a large amount of the True Meaning of the Dao accumulated, his understanding of the Dao deepened. Finally, one day, the accumulation of the True Meaning of the Dao reached its peak, causing a qualitative change. Only then could he truly merge with the Dao, and even with a single thought, he could draw upon the power of the Dao around him to form his own domain. This is the fifth level of the Dao Domain, which is Ji An's current realm.

This realm is generally the realm of the Primordial Spirit Daoist.

The next step is to fully master this path; this is the Sixth Layer, where one completely comprehends a Dao.

The first level is the foundation; the second level is the subtlety; the third level Unity of Heaven and Man; the fourth level True Meaning of the Dao; the fifth level Dao Domain; and the Sixth Layer is a complete Dao.

The Dao is further divided into three levels: the Minor Dao, the Grand Dao, and the Heavenly Dao.

Among them, there are 108,000 Minor Dao, 81 Grand Dao, and 9 Heavenly Dao.

Of course, due to the development of beings Houtian, there are now more Minor Dao and Grand Dao than there are now, but the Heavenly Dao remains unchanged. (There are now more skill-based Grand Dao.)

To become Heavenly Immortal, one must master a complete Minor Dao; of course, one cannot become Heavenly Immortal without mastering even one path.

"Thunderfire Path" is just a Minor Dao.

And the Dao of "Heaven and Earth" is a Grand Dao!

Now, under the pressure of life-or-death struggle, he finally broke through that barrier, elevating the Thunderfire True Meaning from the level of "True Meaning" to a higher level of "Dao Domain"!

Although it was just Minor Dao, it meant that his control, application, and power of Thunderfire and fire had undergone a qualitative leap!

The moment the thought arose, the Thunderfire Dao Domain was automatically activated!

Buzz!

Centered on Ji An, within a ten-zhang radius, the temperature suddenly soared, and fine electric snakes and leaping flames appeared out of nowhere in the air!

The Golden Armor celestial soldiers who were besieging him suddenly became sluggish as soon as they entered this area, as if they had sunk into an invisible quagmire.

Their Golden Armor sizzled as it was scorched red by the high temperature, and their aura was rapidly diminishing. The eighty-one Golden Armor heavenly soldiers, who had just been forced to exert all their strength by Ji An, were now on the verge of collapse once the domain was unleashed.

"Kill!"

Ji An felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration at that moment!

Within this Thunderfire Domain, he was like a fish in water. With each swing of the Universe Sword, he drew upon the power of Thunderfire and fire within the domain, multiplying its power. Meanwhile, the Golden Armor soldiers were as if trapped in purgatory, enduring the continuous scorching and corrosive effects of the Thunder on their bodies.

If they weren't all truly living beings, they would have been wiped out long ago.

"Pfft!" "Hiss!"

The battle instantly turned into a one-sided rout! Ji An's sword was faster, fiercer, and even more difficult to defend against!

Each attack caused the bodies of the struck Golden Armor soldiers to shatter even faster, and their strength to diminish more rapidly. The surrounding Thunderfire Domain was like a giant millstone, constantly eroding the energy cores of these undead soldiers.

"!" "Bang!" "!"--

Like a chain reaction, one after another, the Golden Armor soldiers could not withstand the continuous attacks and the erosion of the domain itself, turning into pools of lifeless golden liquid that then completely dissipated into the air.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, all eighty-one Golden Armor- Xiantian Realm were reduced to nothingness.

"Hoo." Ji An sheathed his sword and stood still. "Get out of the next level as soon as possible."

Now that he has comprehended the Thunderfire Domain Stage, he naturally wants to complete the test as soon as possible. In any case, for Ji An, the energy he just expended has not yet been recovered.

Whoosh--

The mist at both ends of the corridor slowly dissipated.

Ji An walked to the corner of the corridor, continued forward, and then walked to the corpses in the corridor, storing their storage magic items into the Mustard Stone.

Holding the Universe Sword, Ji An walked directly to the center of the corridor.

Suddenly, several hundred feet in front of and behind it, dark blue seeds appeared simultaneously, four in front and five behind.

These nine seeds appeared at the same time as the nine sets of armor and weapons.

The armor was uniformly black, and the weapons were also identical long staffs made of rock-like material.

The dark green seeds dissolved into liquid and merged into the armor, revealing nine hideous giants, each over ten feet tall, with fangs and horns. They grabbed ten-foot-tall stone clubs, their eyes filled with savagery and excitement. "It's been so long! We're finally out!"

"That delicate-skinned Human Race brat, crush him!"

"Set up the formation!"

They made strange noises, which Ji An couldn't understand, but having read the original Ji An, he knew these guys weren't saying anything nice.

As the mist rose again, the nine giants roared in unison, their armor gleaming with a dark light that intertwined and condensed into a grotesque centipede phantom in mid-air.

Dao Soldiers were a common type of soldier in the Great Xia Dynasty. For example, the Ji Clan's strongest soldier, the Red Armor Guards," was the lowest-ranking Dao Soldiers. Each Dao Soldiers's armor was covered with numerous runes, allowing them to fuse their powers together, combining their attacks and defenses.

Like the Ji Clan's Red Armor Guards, nine Red Armor Guards could even fight against a powerful being in the early stage of the Xiantian Lifeform.

The Dao Soldiers before them was at the Xiantian level. While he couldn't be said to defeat a cultivator at the Violet Palace level, he could definitely put up a fight against him.

Among the six tribes of Yan Mountain, only Snow Dragon Mountain could possess such equipment.

"Kill!" The nine giants charged forward like savage beasts in two separate groups, with a centipede phantom coiled above them, its power terrifying.

However, a cold smile curled at the corner of Ji An's lips.

"Crush you."

With a thought, the Thunderfire Domain erupted fiercely from his center!

The air instantly became scorching and distorted, fine electric snakes danced wildly, and crimson flames rose out of thin air.

The four giants charging towards them, along with the centipede phantoms above their heads, crashed headfirst into the Thunderfire Domain.

"Sizzle sizzle"

The black armor on the giants was the first to be affected, emitting a piercing sound under the terrifying heat and quickly turning red and scalding hot!

The power of Thunderfire and fire frantically eroded the Dao Soldiers on their armor. Their charging momentum suddenly slowed down, and the excitement on their faces was instantly replaced by horror and pain.

"Roar! What's going on?!" The leading giant roared in shock and anger, trying to swing the stone club in his hand, but found that his arm was entangled by the Thunder and flames in the domain, making it extremely difficult to even swing it.

The black light swirling around the stone rod fluctuated violently under the scorching heat of the Thunderfire, and the centipede phantom also emitted a silent wail, its light flickering uncertainly.

Ji An, like Thunderfire king, took a single step forward!

"Break!"

He didn't need to dodge or maneuver at all.

The Universe Sword drew upon the power of its domain, its sword light entwined with a thick lightning serpent and crimson flames, and slammed towards the core of the ferocious centipede phantom.

"Boom--!"

Thunderfire exploded!

The centipede phantom, which embodied the combined power of nine Xiantian giants, was extremely fragile under the full force of the Thunderfire Domain attack, crumbling inch by inch and instantly evaporated by the Thunderfire.

Although these nine Xiantian Dao Soldiers combined possessed the strength to reach the threshold of the Violet Palace realm, they were still too weak for Ji An, who was only at the Early Xiantian.

Even the most advanced cultivation method for refining the Godfiend Body Refining, the "Crimsonbright Nine Heavens Diagram," is only comparable to the Xiantian- stage innate level of Ordinary Godfiend body refining techniques.

However, he comprehended the "Thunderfire Domain Stage," and the Thunderfire Dao is considered a powerful Minor Dao in terms of attack, making his attacks strong even at the Violet Palace level. Even if his endurance is lacking, it is still far superior to that of this Dao Soldiers.

The backlash caused the nine giants to stagger backward, their black light fading.

Before they could regroup, Ji An moved like lightning, darting back and forth within the Thunderfire Domain. With each flash of his sword, he pierced through the Dao Soldiers of a giant.

"Pfft!" "Snap!"

The Thunderfire Sword was devastating. Without the combined defense of the Dao Soldier Armor' armor, they were as fragile as paper in the face of this Domain Stage attack.

A giant's chest was pierced by the sword's light, and another man's stone staff, which he tried to block, was cut in half by the sword, the residual force of the sword slicing off half of his shoulder!

The domain was like a giant millstone, continuously eroding their energy and vitality. In just a few breaths, the nine ugly giants who had been arrogant and domineering before were turned into charred remains one after another, then disintegrated into ashes, leaving only a few pieces of broken armor and stone clubs that had lost their spiritual light.

It wasn't that Ji An didn't want to keep these Dao Soldiers Armors; after all, their value was comparable to a decent Human Rank magic weapon, and they were priceless. However, the Thunderfire Dao was simply too violent, and he couldn't control himself.

His gaze drifted into the depths of the corridor, and without pausing, he strode forward.

This time, there weren't as many corpses in the corridor as before; there were only three corpses that hadn't completely decomposed, and some scattered magical artifacts on the ground.

Very few people can reach this third level, since not everyone can possess the strength of the Violet Palace at the Xiantian stage.

If killing the Houtian from the Xiantian is like killing a chicken, then killing the Xiantian from the Violet Palace is also like killing a chicken.

Just like the previous two times, Ji An stored all the magical treasures and storage treasures into the Mustard Stone.

Then I waited calmly.

"They've finally arrived." A hoarse voice rang out, speaking the common Human Race language spoken throughout the Great Xia Dynasty.

Ji An looked and saw a figure emerge from the swirling black mist in the distance. He had a hunched back, oily blue eyes, and his entire body was covered in black hair. He seemed to be walking slowly, but each step covered dozens of feet. "You've finally arrived. You should be able to free me now."

Wow!

The hunched figure, covered in thick black hair, spoke "liberation" in a hoarse, ancient Bactrian language.

Although he already knew what he was going to face, Ji An's pupils still contracted. He felt a strong threat from that seemingly decaying body.

"Injure me—make me bleed—and you'll pass the test—" The black-haired monster slowly raised its eyelids, its oily green eyes numb and lifeless. "Endless years—it's been too long—"

Before he could finish speaking, Ji An made his move!

"Wind Shadow Step!" With a thought flashing through his mind, Ji An's figure suddenly blurred, as if merging into space.

This was not a simple "Wind Shadow Step," but rather contained the profound mystery of spatial teleportation. With one step, the surrounding scenery seemed to be folded, and the distance between him and that hunched figure instantly disappeared!

Fast! Extremely fast, as if it had "flashed" directly from its original spot to in front of the black-haired monster!

At the same time, the "Thunderfire Domain Stage" erupted with a deafening roar!

Centered on Ji An, flames and Thunder intertwined, instantly engulfing the entire corridor space.

This restricts the black-haired monster's movements.

"Heaven-Rending Star-Burning!" The Universe Sword was unleashed, transforming into a Thunderfire Sword that Space-Splitting!

This was Ji An's ultimate strike, representing the culmination of his complete understanding of the Thunderfire Dao Domain.

This is also the latest sword move from the Thunderfire Sword.

At his level, even a complete "Thunderfire Sword" would only be on the same level as him. Others can create the "Thunderfire Sword," Ji An certainly can too.

The sword flashed straight at the black-haired monster's chest!

The hunched figure remained expressionless, but seemingly very slowly raised a large, hairy hand that resembled a withered tree trunk.

A dense, almost tangible black mist appeared in his palm, meeting the earth-shattering Thunderfire Sword.

"Clang-!"

A terrifyingly loud bang rang out!

The shockwave, carrying with it Thunderfire, and deathly energy, exploded outwards.

Ji An felt as if he had pierced an ancient, sacred mountain!

The recoil caused numbness in both arms. The Thunderfire Sword collided violently with the deathly black palm and annihilated.

Ji An was only at the Early Xiantian Realm. Even though his understanding of the Dao was extremely high, he was still no match for this black-haired monster in terms of strength.

However, a fierce glint flashed in Ji An's eyes.

With a thought, the Thunderfire Domain around him suddenly contracted, forcibly condensing all the power of Thunderfire onto the tip of his sword.

"Break!"

Sizzle!

The figure swayed for the first time, and a charred mark was clearly visible in the center of its palm.

A trickle of thick blood slowly seeped out from the scorch mark.

The black-haired monster raised its palm, and for the first time, its oily green eyes moved, no longer numb, staring at the tiny wound on its palm.

It slowly raised its head, looking at Ji An whose eyes were sharp as swords, its hoarse voice carrying a complex emotion that was hard to describe. "I've been hit... I'm bleeding... I can finally fall down..."

He immediately threw his head back and let out a frantic howl, "Awooo--

The sound was filled with relief.

After a long while, the sound ceased.

The black-haired monster looked at Ji An and said in a low, hoarse voice, "Thank you, my new master! Refine this immortal abode soon, and we will meet again."

Wow!

Then the black-haired monster vanished into thin air.

"It's finally over. If this puppet hadn't held back, I wouldn't have made it through this." Ji An thought to himself as he continued forward.

Soon after, Ji An spotted the exit.

Ji An arrived at the main hall and plopped down on a futon. Although there were many passageways, Ji An knew he couldn't enter them now, so he had no interest in looking at them.

Just as Ji An was sitting on the huge futon in thought, a Black Old Ox suddenly walked out from the corridor that was a thousand feet high on one side of the main hall.

"Congratulations on becoming the fifth master of this Water Manor."