Chapter 33: The Cultivation World is Truly Vast and Boundless
5 days has past since Lin yuan killed the elephant and he has been slowly devouring it marrow.
The rich essence contained within the marrow gradually settled into every corner of Lin Yuan’s body. He exhaled slowly, feeling his flesh, bones, and blood undergo another subtle transformation. Every heartbeat carried greater vitality than before, every breath seemed to resonate more deeply with Heaven and Earth.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"This cultivation world... it truly is boundless."
Ever since comprehending the Ten Thousand Ways Return to One Heart Sutra, his perspective had changed completely. The scripture had not explicitly described the realms beyond this world, yet every page seemed to hint at their existence. It spoke of Origin Energy as though it were the most natural thing in existence. It mentioned Primordial Spirits as merely the beginning. Even the profound Daos that countless lower-realm experts devoted their entire lives to comprehending appeared insignificant within the Sutra.
It was as though the creator of the scripture had never regarded the Nine Provinces as the true stage of cultivation.
Instead...
This lower realm was merely the first step.
Lin Yuan found himself recalling fragments of his previous life on Earth.
Back then, he had spent countless nights reading xianxia novels, losing himself in stories of wandering sword immortals, heavenly secret realms, ancient inheritances, and cultivators who ascended through one realm after another. At the time, those stories had been nothing more than fiction, an escape from reality.
Yet now, he was living within such a world.
Flying swords streaked across the heavens. Raging beasts slumbered in forbidden mountains. Cultivators overturned rivers and split mountains with a wave of the hand.
There were countless races, hidden inheritances, supreme Daos, and realms beyond realms.
The stories he had once read had not exaggerated the vastness of cultivation.
If anything...
Reality was even grander.
His current cultivation stood at the peak of Foundation Establishment. To ordinary mortals, he was already an immortal capable of traversing mountains, slaughtering demons, and living for centuries.
Even within Azure Cloud City, he could be considered an expert.
But compared to the true universe of cultivation...
He was insignificant.
A tiny speck drifting through an endless sea.
Even the Soul Transformation Realm, revered throughout the Nine Provinces as the pinnacle of existence, suddenly no longer felt so unreachable... nor did it feel so impressive.
Because beyond Soul Transformation...
There were undoubtedly greater realms.
Higher heavens.
Experts who had cultivated for hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of years.
The Nine Provinces was not the end. It was merely the beginning.
Lin Yuan’s eyes gradually became resolute.
"The stronger my comprehension becomes, the more I realize how little I truly know."
The cultivation world was simply too vast.
There was Spirit Cultivation, tempering one’s soul until it resonated with Heaven.
There was Body Cultivation, forging flesh and marrow into an indestructible vessel.
There was Dao Cultivation, comprehending the fundamental truths that governed existence itself.
There was Law Cultivation, mastering the universal principles that lay beyond ordinary Dao.
And who knew what other paths existed in the upper realms?
Perhaps there were cultivators who refined stars.
Perhaps others cultivated karma itself.
Or perhaps there were those who directly cultivated Origin Energy, returning to the very beginning of creation.
His Heart Sutra had already shown him one undeniable truth.
No path was absolute.
No Dao stood alone.
Every path possessed its own brilliance.
If he wished to stand at the true pinnacle, why should he limit himself to only one?
Others specialized.
They chose a single road and walked it until the end.
But his Dao was different.
His Heart would become the origin to which the ten thousand ways returned.
Spirit cultivation...
Body cultivation...
Dao cultivation...
Law cultivation...
Whatever path the universe had to offer, he would walk it.
Whatever truth Heaven concealed, he would uncover it.
He would leave no path unexplored, no Dao uncomprehended, no law untouched.
Only by embracing every path could he one day stand at the true summit of cultivation, where there would be no one above him and no mystery beyond his understanding.
"A terrifying gleam in your eyes, young dragon," a raspy voice broke through the profound silence of the clearing. "It is the look of a man who has peered over the edge of the well and finally seen the vastness of the sky."
Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes, pulling himself back from the depths of his thought. Standing at the edge of the crater, leaning casually against his walking stick, was the old man. The brown-furred sable rested comfortably across his shoulders, its nose twitching as it inspected the mountain of elephant bones that now surrounded Lin Yuan.
Over the past five days, the old man had come and gone, watching over the young cultivator devour the behemoth’s marrow.
"You have fully digested the marrow," the old man noted, his eyes sweeping over Lin Yuan’s bare torso.
With that, Lin Yuan had successfully absorbed the absolute kinetic essence of the two-story giant elephant.
"I have," Lin Yuan replied calmly, rising to his feet. He effortlessly crushed a stray shard of the elephant’s femur beneath his boot, the bone turning to fine dust under his newly forged weight.
"You have officially begun your journey on the path of body forging," the old man smiled, hobbling slightly closer. "But you must understand, young dragon, just as there are countless Daos in the heavens, there are countless methods to temper the flesh. By devouring the primal essence of that behemoth, you walk the Beast Route."
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow. "The Beast Route?"
"Indeed," the old man nodded, tapping his stick against the ground. "The Beast Route is one of the most ancient, barbaric, and effective methods of physical cultivation in existence. By consuming the marrow and lifeblood of powerful creatures, you do not simply gain raw energy; your body actively assimilates their unique physical feats."
The old man gestured to the elephant skeleton. "From this Beast, you have gained its unyielding kinetic mass, its terrifying brute strength, and its dense durability. If you were to consume the marrow of a Wind-Chasing Panther, your muscle fibers would adapt to grant you explosive, imperceptible speed. If you devoured the core of a Golden-Armored Tortoise, your skin would become an impenetrable fortress. To walk the Beast Route is to forge an Ancient Beast Body—a physical vessel built from the evolutionary peaks of the natural world."
Lin Yuan absorbed this information. It was a path of accumulation. The more he ate, the more physical laws his body would conquer.
"Are there other routes?" Lin Yuan asked, his curiosity piqued by the old man’s vast knowledge.
"Oh, countless," the old man chuckled, his white beard bobbing. "Some lunatics seek out the Heavenly Tribulations, willingly subjecting their flesh to the wrath of the heavens to forge a Thunder Body."
The old man paused, his eyes turning somewhat reverent. "And then there are those supreme experts whose comprehension of the universe is so profound that they merge their conceptual laws directly into their flesh. They completely align their physical form with their chosen path, shedding their mortal coils to forge a Peerless Dao Body. A man with a Heavenly Sword Dao Body has extraordinary advantages in sword cultivation."
Lin Yuan listened silently,
Thunder Body. Peerless Dao Body. Ancient Beast Body.
Ordinary cultivators would be forced to choose one, fearing that conflicting tempering methods would cause their flesh to violently detonate. But Lin Yuan possessed the Ten Thousand Ways Return to One Heart Sutra. He didn’t have to choose. He could devour the beasts, bathe in the lightning, and fuse his Dao into his body, returning all these disparate physical laws to his Dao Heart.
"You have a terrifying foundation, Lin Yuan," the old man interrupted his thoughts, lifting his walking stick and pointing it deeper into range, straight toward the peak of the mountain.
"The elephant won’t do," the old man grinned, a challenging light glinting in his eyes. "With your incredibly impressive talent, and your iron will to endure... you could fully forge a true Ancient Beast Body in a mere two weeks."
The sable on the old man’s shoulder squeaked excitedly, as if anticipating the grand hunt.
"But to do that, you cannot stay here," the old man concluded, his stick remaining pointed forward. "More potent monsters lay ahead, waiting for you to consume them."