Longevity by Grinding Skills

Deep within the Divine Hall of Frost Thunder City, a milky-white Fire of Willpower burned silently inside the Divine Sky World Refining Cauldron.

Xu Yunfan sat cross-legged before the cauldron, his aura as profound and still as an abyss.

Within his Dantian Cave Heaven, thirty-six strands of purple-gold Immortal Golden Nature coiled like swimming dragons, exuding a vast, undying aura.

Each strand of Golden Nature was pure and translucent, its surface faintly revealing the Dao Patterns of the Divine Sky Thunderbolt.

This was the result of the past half-year, during which he had harvested dozens of Divine Spirits from the Frosty North Plains, stripped the cores of their Divine Formats, and repeatedly refined them.

With thirty-six strands of Immortal Golden Nature, he could achieve Foundation Establishment Perfection and attain the Great Daoist Master Position at any moment, but Xu Yunfan felt it still wasn't enough.

At the very least, with the help of his Attribute Panel, he felt he could gather even more.

Zhang Ziyang's figure appeared beside him, his green robes stirring without a breeze.

He gazed at Xu Yunfan's Dantian, the Authority Silver Star on his brow flashing faintly as he probed. Seeing this, Xu Yunfan made no attempt to hide it.

After all, Zhang Ziyang had spent years poring over all sorts of ancient texts. He had also spent considerable time cultivating within the Banner Spirit. Combined with his high-level Authority of Investigation, he now possessed an extremely deep understanding of Heavenly Human Communication.

After a long moment, Zhang Ziyang clapped his hands and exclaimed in amazement.

"The Divine Sky Thunderbolt that destroys the Ten Thousand Laws forms the bones, while the Profound Vault Undying that bears the heavens forms the frame.

Right now, your Dao Foundation is like it was forged from Divine Gold, and the embryonic form of your Imagery is perfectly natural. All you need to do is channel and condense your Imagery, and you can immediately step into Foundation Establishment Perfection and attain the Great Daoist Master Position!"

But Xu Yunfan slowly shook his head and said thoughtfully, "Nine strands of Golden Nature are enough for Foundation Establishment Perfection. Thirty-six is already far beyond the norm. Sect Leader, I want to try..."

He pointed a finger toward his Dantian, and the Golden Nature swimming within his Grotto Heaven suddenly accelerated.

"Ninety-nine strands!"

"Ninety-nine?!"

Zhang Ziyang's expression trembled. The shock was too great for him to maintain his composure, and the words tumbled out.

"Do you think Immortal Golden Nature is like pebbles on the side of the road? For a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master, refining even three strands is an incredibly arduous task.

Even the True Monarchs of the Divine Sky Nine Heavens only used eleven strands to lay their foundations back when they were at the Foundation Establishment Realm. For you to want ninety-nine... it's simply..."

His voice died away, because he saw the Purple Gold Thunder Light swirling in the depths of Xu Yunfan's eyes.

That was a sign of the Divine Sky Profound Vault Undying Dao Body being pushed to its absolute limit.

Furthermore, a miniature Star Map formed by the All Heaven Star Spirit Banner had appeared above Xu Yunfan's head. Within it, the phantoms of the banner's eighty-one Divine Banner Spirits flickered in and out of existence. A vast amount of Wish Power was being continuously refined by the Divine Sky World Refining Cauldron, endlessly converted into pure Divine Power to nourish the Golden Nature.

Zhang Ziyang suddenly realized.

Xu Yunfan's path of cultivation had long since deviated from the conventional scope of the *Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture*.

He was no ordinary person. According to the conventions of Immortal Cultivation, Xu Yunfan was set to achieve everything in a single lifetime.

Even the World Honored One Tathagata of the Puchen Pure Land had to undergo tens of thousands of reincarnations to achieve his true station after his Daoist Cultivation had reached a certain level.

Back in his Foundation Establishment Realm, he was completely incomparable to Xu Yunfan.

Having calmed down, Zhang Ziyang's gaze swept over the dancing points of starlight on the banner's surface, then shifted to the churning white flames of Wish Power in the cauldron. He pondered in silence for a long moment.

"If you use the Star Spirit Banner as the Melting Furnace and the Divine Sky World Refining Cauldron as the fuel, forcibly commanding them with your innate talent... it might just be possible!"

Xu Yunfan asked, "Normally, wouldn't you say 'innate talent and comprehension'?"

Zhang Ziyang didn't take the bait. There was no way to respond to that.

Xu Yunfan grinned, knowing full well that Zhang Ziyang's own comprehension was simply unbelievable.

Zhang Ziyang's voice suddenly rose, filled with a hint of excited inquiry now that he thought it was a viable idea.

"If you truly use ninety-nine strands of Immortal Golden Nature as the framework to condense your own unique Imagery of the Divine Sky Thunderbolt and Profound Vault Undying, then once it fully solidifies on that foundation, it will no longer be an ordinary Dao Foundation.

That might be an indestructible symbol capable of supporting the creation of a Nascent Soul Dao Embryo—a foundation that no one in the Foundation Establishment Realm, past or present, has ever built!"

Xu Yunfan nodded, his gaze piercing through the dome of the Divine Hall and falling upon the howling blizzards of the Northern Plains.

"So, the Divine War in this world must become faster and more intense. True Monarch Qing Yuan won't give us much time."

'That man is definitely doing everything in his power to hunt me down. Giving up wouldn't be in the character of a True Monarch from the Primordial Sect.'

Soon, his half-year of patient waiting yielded the results Xu Yunfan desired.

The Frosty North Plains had completely transformed into a battlefield.

Thunder Warriors of the Baal Pantheon drove Thunder Light War Chariots that tore through the sky. Every charge unleashed cataclysmic thunderbolts, blasting Rockman's Frost Giant phalanxes into clouds of pulverized ice crystals.

In turn, the Eternal Freeze Cold Wave unleashed by the Frost Giants in their death throes could instantly freeze dozens of Thunder Warriors, solidifying them and the lightning of their mounts into twisted ice sculptures.

The clash of thunderstorms and cold waves carved bottomless canyons into the frozen tundra. The confrontation between scorching heat and extreme cold evaporated into a sun-blotting white mist, permanently altering the landscape of the ancient ice plains.

Bosse's Wind Cavalry moved like the deadliest of phantoms. Taking advantage of the chaotic energy torrents on the battlefield, they blitzed through enemy lines as if they were undefended and raided three major towns on the outskirts of the Eternal Freeze Royal Court.

Hurricanes infused with Divine Power easily tore apart walls built of Ice Crystals. As savage Wind Blades swept through, tens of thousands of the Frost Winter Pantheon's devout followers, along with the temples where they prayed, were reduced to a mixture of flesh, blood, and ice dust.

With the foundation of his faith destroyed, Rockman's Divine Power Origin fluctuated violently, even attracting the prying eyes of Divine Spirits from other Natural Pantheons.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

But this chaos was Xu Yunfan's hunting ground.

Like an invisible specter, he moved along the edges of the battlefield, concealed by the Triple Cause and Effect Secret Technique and the Star Spirit Banner.

Through Xu Yunfan's deliberate machinations, the flames of war inevitably spread to one of the centers of faith on the Aitela Continent.

Divine Spirits from the Light and Dark Pantheons joined the fray, each eager to expand their own territory of faith.

Xu Yunfan only needed to stir up trouble from the shadows, and the Divine War gradually spun completely out of control.

The three great Pantheons.

The main forces of the Natural, Light, and Dark Pantheons were locked in a meatgrinder of a battle across all of Aitira.

The light from the violent collisions and annihilations of Divine Power was like countless supernovae exploding one after another above the continent.

The earth was riddled with cracks, the sky was shattered, and the wails of the Laws were a constant, droning backdrop to the chaos.

The turmoil from this apocalyptic free-for-all among the gods even began to affect the very foundation of the Aitira World.

Far away in the Wilderness West Field, Zhang Ziyang sat cross-legged atop a desolate mountain peak.

The Authority Silver Star between his brows, condensed from his power of investigation, began to flash with an unprecedented, frantic brightness. Countless chaotic ripples—representing fallen Divine Spirits, collapsing faith, and disordered Laws—were surging through the network of Aitira's Celestial Dao, slamming into his Divine Thought like a tsunami.

He snapped his eyes open. The silver light within them pierced the void, penetrating endless spatial barriers as it shot urgently toward Xu Yunfan.

"Yunfan! The Origin of this World Heaven's Celestial Dao has reached a peak of instability! It's like a collapsing tower! I fear an outsider has provoked this Great Realm, triggering a stress response."

"True Monarch Qing Yuan?"

"It's highly likely."

Xu Yunfan took a deep breath.

At the edge of the most chaotic vortex of the battlefield, Xu Yunfan stood firm as a rock in the eye of the storm.

His body was shrouded in the dim starlight cascading down from the Star Spirit Banner, while outside, a world-destroying storm of Divine Power raged.

Time was running out.