Chapter 643: Going Back (I)
Within the pitch-black demon god barrier, the roars of the yao rose and fell without end. Three kilometers from the node fissure, the demonic river flowed with a constant rush, seeping ever deeper into the earth. Lin Zheyu sank to the bottom of the demonic river, where an immense torrent of demonic qi energy poured ceaselessly into his body. A powerful yao aura radiated from him, startling the nearby yao, who scattered in all directions.
As his strength grew, the energy required for Lin Zheyu to use Yao Transformation and assume a yao form increased accordingly. Were it not for special places such as space-time nodes and demon god barriers, even after entering the demon realm, he would still need considerable time to complete the transformation.
Several days later, a humanoid yao over three meters tall, his entire body covered in magnificent scales, emerged within the demonic river.
The absorption efficiency is far too low... At this rate, once I reach the Shackles realm limit, completing the Yao Transformation could take more than half a month. I need to find a way to solve this problem. I remember there's an unorthodox technique among the demon arts called the Heaven-Devouring Demon Arts. It allows one to devour yao and refine their flesh and blood for one's own use.
If I can integrate this technique into Yao Transformation, the transformation process should become much faster. I wonder how Kong Yujing's mission is progressing, and how many experts she's managed to recruit, Lin Zheyu pondered silently.
Kong Yujing was the Evilheart Sect demonic cultivator Lin Zheyu had encountered before, and she had since pledged herself to him. He had sent her to recruit more demonic cultivators, offering to help suppress the yao will's influence in exchange for their service. More than two months had passed since then. Once matters here were settled, it would be time to check on her progress. He also intended for her to search for this technique, or at least one similar to it.
The demonic river flowed on steadily. At Lin Zheyu's thought, the golden Heavenly Eye within his sea of consciousness snapped open and carefully examined every part of his body.
"The bloodline curse on Woo Yiyan was far stronger than the others'. Even after transforming into a yao, a considerable amount of it still remains within my body," Lin Zheyu said in surprise.
Fortunately, it was not a serious problem. With another thought, an immense surge of yao energy surged through his body. The remaining bloodline curse was battered by the torrent of yao energy and was completely erased before long. Only the portion lingering within his heart remained. His heart was one of the only two human organs he had deliberately preserved, kept intact beneath the protection of an immense mass of golden energy. If even his heart were fully transformed into that of a yao, Lin Zheyu suspected he would never be able to return to his human form.
His heart pounded steadily. Under Lin Zheyu's control, immense golden energy wrapped tightly around it, sealing the remaining bloodline curse inside. The next instant, the void space behind the three great divine repositories burst open, releasing an overwhelming flood of essence, qi, and spirit energy. Centered on the heart, a dense network of blood vessels rapidly regenerated and spread outward at an astonishing speed.
Time passed slowly. Lin Zheyu gradually returned from his yao form to his human body. However, the demonic patterns covering his body had yet to be fully converted into divine patterns. Although he had completely mastered the process of transforming demonic patterns into divine patterns, carrying it out still demanded an enormous amount of time and vitality.
Lin Zheyu suddenly thrust his right hand into his chest and tore out the heart that still carried the remnants of the bloodline curse. The wound in his chest healed in the blink of an eye. Nourished by an immense surge of vitality and blood qi energy, a new heart rapidly began to regenerate in its place. Having dealt with the bloodline curse, Lin Zheyu stirred a thought, and the Primordial Chaos Pool flew out of his storage pouch and landed in his palm.
With a flick of his wrist, Lin Zheyu tossed the Primordial Chaos Pool onto the ground. At another thought, his figure blurred and vanished into the pool.
Lin Zheyu focused his thoughts. Use 1 unit of Origin Force to cultivate the Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art.
This was his first attempt to cultivate the technique outside the secret realm. He wanted to see whether using Origin Force would still make cultivation as impossibly difficult as it was in the outside world. His consciousness blurred for an instant before entering the consciousness space.
In accordance with Lin Zheyu's will, the consciousness space transformed into a perfect replica of the Shamanic Clan's secret realm. As far as he could recreate it, both the environment and the world's underlying essence were identical to the original. Yet the moment he began cultivating, he discovered it was completely useless!
A few breaths later, Lin Zheyu slowly opened his eyes, utterly speechless. He knew this world's cultivation environment was exceptionally hostile to shamanic cultivators. Otherwise, their lineage would never have vanished into the river of history. Even so, he had never imagined that cultivation would remain this difficult despite the immense supply of chaos origin qi provided by the Primordial Chaos Pool.
What the hell...
[Heavenly Rewards the Diligent]
[Name: Lin Zheyu]
[Origin Force: 898]
[Skills: Heaven-Deceiving Art (Perfection), Seven Absolute Sabers (Seventh Stage: 100%), Earth Shrinking Technique (Third Stage: 100%), Primordial Golden Body (Fourth Stage: 100%), Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art (First Stage: 0%)]
Lin Zheyu looked at the data in his consciousness. 1 unit of Origin Force had been poured into the Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art, yet it had had no effect. It remained at the first stage with exactly 0% progress.
"I'll just treat it as using Origin Force to restore my body instead." Lin Zheyu shook his head helplessly. He doubted even his master, Qiong Yun, had expected this world's environment to have deteriorated to such an extent.
"What's missing... There's no interference from this world's Heavenly Dao within the space of consciousness. With origin qi supplying the necessary energy, cultivation shouldn't be this difficult... That's it, Earth Power! I completely forgot about that..." Lin Zheyu paused as the realization struck him.
The inheritance he had received belonged to the lineage of the Central Earth Ancestral Shaman and cultivated the power of the earth. To cultivate Earth Power, chaos origin qi alone was not enough. It also required absorbing a special kind of fundamental energy from the land itself, which Lin Zheyu referred to as Earth Power!
"What a hassle..." Lin Zheyu muttered.
With a thought, he vanished from the Primordial Chaos Pool and returned to the demonic river. Waving his right hand, he put away the Primordial Chaos Pool, the formation disc, and the formation flags.
Lin Zheyu shook his head. "I won't be placing any hopes on shamanic arts for now... Even outside the demon god barrier, the Earth Power contained within the land is simply too thin to support the cultivation of the Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art."
Fortunately, he had successfully broken one of his shackles. His long-stagnant strength could now continue to improve. Every shackle broken brought a noticeable leap in power, but that did not mean the process was complete. Breaking a shackle merely transformed a martial artist's body, allowing it to surpass human limits and reach an entirely new level. It was like a carp leaping through the Dragon Gate and becoming a true dragon.
Yet even after becoming a true dragon, it was only a fledgling among its kind. It could not instantly possess the overwhelming power to stir the winds and clouds or command the rain. Lin Zheyu was in exactly that stage. Breaking a shackle allowed him to continue cultivating and growing stronger. Once he reached the necessary level of strength, he would break the next shackle, then repeat the process.
"Since this world isn't suited for cultivating shamanic arts, then I'll shatter them, grind them down, and reduce them to their most fundamental essence... Then, just as I fused the demonic patterns into myself, I'll integrate them into martial cultivation and make them a part of the martial path," Lin Zheyu murmured softly.
His mind was already brimming with ideas. Thanks to the Flamefire Token given to him by the alliance leader, Lin Zheyu had immersed himself in the Martial Alliance's Library Pavilion, absorbing every piece of martial cultivation knowledge he could find. Among those martial cultivation texts, he came across numerous techniques created by integrating fragments of incomplete shamanic arts into the martial path.
However, because their creators had never possessed a complete shamanic inheritance, those techniques were far from perfect and riddled with flaws. Although Lin Zheyu had little regard for the techniques themselves, he had to admit that their creators were truly extraordinary. Their ingenuity, bold concepts, and imaginative ideas had broadened his horizons and inspired him immensely.
Now, he possessed the complete inheritance of the Shamanic Clan, along with the vast collection of manuals and techniques left to him by Qiong Yun. He finally had the qualifications to create a technique of his own, one stronger than any before. Yes, an entirely new technique, not merely another refinement of the Primordial True Body. Advancing the Primordial True Body further required continuously extracting the essence of formations, demonic patterns, and shamanic patterns, then integrating them into itself.
Whether it was Immortal Dao formations or the Shamanic Clan's shamanic patterns, Lin Zheyu had no way to advance for the time being. At present, he had only condensed a complete natal shamanic pattern. To cultivate additional shamanic patterns, he first had to raise the Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art to a higher level. Yet, given the current state of the world, he suspected that even pouring a hundred units of Origin Force into the technique would barely make any progress.
One step at a time. One bite at a time. The body-refining techniques within the shamanic arts possess countless profound mysteries. If I can incorporate them into martial cultivation, I'll be able to create a martial cultivation technique unlike anything that has ever existed.