Chapter 733: Enlightenment (I)
A muffled roar rose from the depths of the demonic lake, echoing through the endless dark void like rolling thunder. A ten-meter-tall man with wings on his back and magnificent golden scales covering his entire body floated amid the violent law energy. A vast aura radiated from him.
Five thick golden shackles coiled around him, lending him an even more domineering air. He resembled a terrifying and unrivaled god of war. As his divine patterns grew more complete, his physical body underwent a corresponding transformation. Lin Zheyu's true martial cultivation form had grown roughly another two meters taller.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, shooting out two piercing beams of golden light. After finishing his cultivation, Lin Zheyu did not immediately withdraw his momentum qi as usual. Instead, it continued to soar. Vast blood qi spread outward and condensed into a long golden dragon that coiled around his enormous body.
Buffeted by the surging blood qi, the five thick golden shackles began to sway, producing crisp metallic clangs.
Blood qi thundered within his body as his golden-scaled frame swelled yet again. Even the scales covering him could not conceal the fierce contours of Lin Zheyu's muscles, which seemed sculpted by the hands of gods and demons. He lightly clenched his fists, feeling the vast power coursing through his body. He had never felt so powerful before. The strength contained within his body had reached an astonishing extreme.
"Break!" Lin Zheyu's eyes flashed like lightning as his momentum qi surged to its peak.
His voice exploded like a thunderclap, and the long dragon of blood qi coiled around him unleashed a heaven-shaking roar.
The metallic clanging grew louder and louder. As though sensing a mortal threat, the five thick golden shackles abruptly tightened. A powerful sealing force spread from them, seeking to suppress the power within Lin Zheyu.
Lin Zheyu felt the profound sealing force coursing through his body and snorted coldly. "Hmph! You still think you can hold me at this point? Break!"
The power within him stagnated for an instant, compressed to its utmost limit by the sealing force of the Heavenly Dao shackles. Yet under Lin Zheyu's control, vast energy continued to pour endlessly from the three great divine repositories. Reinforced by the unceasing energy from his divine repositories, the energy compressed to its limit by the Heavenly Dao shackles finally reached its breaking point. An unprecedentedly violent force was quietly taking shape.
Suddenly, a sharp crack rang out. A hairline fracture appeared in the sealing force of the Heavenly Dao shackles, then widened until the force shattered completely.
A terrifying force capable of destroying heaven and earth erupted and slammed into the weakest point of the third shackle. The thick golden shackle rang with a resounding clang and unleashed a vast sealing force in one final, desperate struggle. Yet before that terrifying power, its resistance was utterly insignificant.
The cracking grew increasingly rapid. Countless fractures spread across the third Heavenly Dao shackle at an astonishing speed, so quickly that even the restorative power released by the other shackles could not mend them in time.
At last, the third shackle could endure no longer and shattered completely, transforming into countless fundamental rule patterns imbued with mysterious and powerful Dao resonance. As the shackle broke apart, these patterns of Dao resonance merged into Lin Zheyu's flesh and blood.
A look of delight flashed across Lin Zheyu's face. Suddenly, his face flushed crimson, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His aura also weakened at a visible rate. He had severely overexerted himself to break free of the third shackle in a single push. However, once the shackle shattered, the Great Dao patterns contained within it merged into his flesh and blood.
Lin Zheyu's condition gradually began to recover. A profound sensation washed over him, and he could feel his body undergoing a wondrous transformation. At the same time, many fragments of the shattered shackle merged into the fundamental patterns dispersed throughout his body that formed his divine patterns.
As the shattered fragments merged with them, an indescribably profound sensation arose, and waves of insight flooded Lin Zheyu's mind. A trace of joy appeared on his face. His figure vanished from the spot, leaving the Primordial Chaos Pool drifting amid the violent law energy.
After entering the inner void of the Primordial Chaos Pool, Lin Zheyu sat cross-legged in the emptiness. He closed his eyes and calmed his mind. The Heavenly Eye within his sea of consciousness suddenly opened, and vast golden energy surged into it, activating it to its utmost limit. This profound sensation was exceedingly rare. He had not experienced it when he broke free of the first and second shackles. It was truly wondrous. Unfortunately, it lasted for less than fifteen minutes from beginning to end.
Lin Zheyu let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes, a hint of lingering reluctance in his gaze.
"That was far too brief. If I had a few more days to comprehend it, perfecting the divine patterns would be no challenge at all," Lin Zheyu murmured.
He examined the divine patterns within his body. The integration of the shackle fragments had caused subtle, nearly imperceptible changes in them. Yet Lin Zheyu could sense that these minute changes had made the divine patterns more complete and exquisitely intricate. Anticipation suddenly stirred within him. He looked forward to seeing how they would change once he broke free of the remaining four shackles.
[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]
[Name: Lin Zheyu]
[Origin Force: 36]
[Skills: Seven Absolute Sabers (Seventh Stage: 100%), Martial Dao True Scripture (Fourth Stage: 100%), Heaven-Deceiving Art (Second Stage: 100%), Ten-Thousand-Miles Divine Travel Art (Third Stage: 100%), Martial Divine Pattern Secret Manual (Second Stage: 100%)]
Lin Zheyu examined the data in his mind. After roughly two months, he had nearly exhausted his Origin Force once again, leaving only 36 units. However, the progress he had made was equally astonishing. He had cultivated the second stage of the Martial Divine Pattern Secret Manual to Perfection and completed a comprehensive, large-scale round of adjustments and improvements.
At the same time, he had made minor adjustments to his other cultivation techniques so they would better suit the improved divine patterns. Among them, the Martial Dao True Scripture, which served as the foundation of his martial cultivation, had been far more difficult to modify.
To accomplish this, Lin Zheyu had created a fourth stage and used it to complete the necessary improvements to the cultivation technique. Roughly one-third of the Origin Force he had expended had gone into the fourth stage of the Martial Dao True Scripture.
Lin Zheyu murmured, "I think I know how to continue improving the divine patterns... Their next major evolution and transformation should come when I break free of the seventh shackle..."
Although the state he had entered when the shackle shattered was fleeting, it had allowed Lin Zheyu to touch upon a trace of the unfathomably profound Dao Origin. Unfortunately, the sensation had vanished before he could study it closely. But if he could experience it a few more times, he was confident that he could comprehend what he sought.
Lin Zheyu thought, It's time to leave... I wonder whether that deep-sea exotic beast outside the space-time node has left yet.
𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
His previous accumulation had once again been completely exhausted. This time, there truly was not a single drop left. Continuing his seclusion here would no longer benefit him. His figure flickered as he returned outside. With a thought, he commanded, Use 1 unit of Origin Force to cultivate the Golden Ocean Secret Manual.