"What do the World-Severing Divine Stone and Blue Flower Mana have in common?" Zhao Xing pondered.
"The World-Severing Divine Stone is a divine item, while Blue Flower Mana was born from cultivating the Heart-Sealing Method. Its origin comes from the divine power of the God of Physicians, Fan Qianrou."
"Could it be that the Primordial Seed only feeds on divine power? Or that only divine items can affect its growth rate?"
"No… Blue Flower Mana can't really be called divine power. And even the World-Severing Divine Stone was only absorbed by one percent before it stopped responding."
Zhao Xing suddenly felt a headache coming on. Even divine-level energies were too picky for this Primordial Seed—this thing was seriously hard to raise.
"Fine then, keep being picky. I doubt you'll starve."
After toiling for a long while, and exhausting two rounds of Blue Flower Mana without seeing any noticeable change in the Primordial Seed, Zhao Xing finally put aside the idea of accelerating its growth for now.
He redirected the remaining power of the World-Severing Divine Stone to speed up the evolution of the primal ocean inside his internal world.
The Primal Ocean was the core of his internal world. As a cultivator of the Self School practicing Hunyuan Realm, which focused on explosive army tactics, the bigger the Primal Ocean, the more unit types he could sustain.
"The evolution of the internal world is temporarily complete."
Zhao Xing's inner light fell upon four plant lifeforms.
First, the Black Sky Moon Tree.
Second, the Spirit-Devouring Grass.
Third, the Seven Realms True Spirit Bamboo.
Fourth, the Thousand Illusions Tree.
"Whoosh—"
Zhao Xing's consciousness appeared before the Thousand Illusions Tree.
"Emperor, congratulations on your breakthrough!" said a youth in scholar's robes emerging from the heart of the Thousand Illusions Tree, bowing with a somewhat heartfelt look.
It had entered its declining phase, its lifespan nearing its end. It was of little use to Zhao Xing now.
What would its fate be? A second spring of life—or cast aside like trash?
"Thousand Illusions, your realm is too low now. You're no longer suited to follow me on adventures," Zhao Xing said, fixing his gaze on the tree. "I'll help you break through, and then place you in the Grand Shennong Supervision Office of Great Zhou to await a fated one. Are you willing?"
The Thousand Illusions Tree was stunned for a moment, then its whole trunk began to tremble. "Thank you, Emperor, for your grace! I am willing."
Zhao Xing smiled. "Good. Then take that step."
"Yes."
Rustle— The Thousand Illusions Tree began shaking. In an instant, all its leaves withered and fell. The bark cracked wide, as if all vitality had drained away.
The Thousand Illusions Tree had reached the Life-and-Death Rule Domain Realm. To break through, it had to first walk through death to find rebirth.
Having stayed in the scholar's tomb for many years, it naturally knew how to break through. But for it, this step was incredibly risky.
Because it had already entered its decline. Usually, only in the prime stage could one hope to break through. The further one drifted from that peak, the harder such a breakthrough became.
Crack, crack, crack—
The withering effect began to spread from the outside to the core.
The rings of the Thousand Illusions Tree began to tighten as vitality shrank.
These tree rings were like lines of life and death—like strangling ropes tightening around its mind.
Under the influence of cosmic natural law, the spiritual consciousness at its core would eventually be strangled. This was the road from decay to death. Forcing a breakthrough would only speed that process.
"This is the restriction of the Law of Life. Plant lifeforms are the foundation of the Manifested Layer. Their breakthroughs are harder than those of other types."
"Even inside my internal world, I have to spend some effort to help it break through."
Zhao Xing pointed a finger, infusing the Thousand Illusions Tree with Blue Flower Mana.
Buzz—
Right at the moment before its spiritual mind would be wiped away, Zhao Xing froze the tree rings.
Then, from the internal world's Earth Veins, vast life force surged into the tree's rootstock.
Zhao Xing's understanding of the Dao of Life was on par with a Lord-tier expert. Combined with the amplification from Blue Flower Mana and his internal world, it instantly reversed the decline of the Thousand Illusions Tree, restoring it to peak condition.
Whoosh—
The Thousand Illusions Tree underwent a complete transformation in an instant. The cracked bark fell away in pieces, revealing new skin beneath. Buds sprouted from the ends of its branches.
"Thank you, Emperor!"
The spiritual consciousness of the Thousand Illusions Tree emerged from its core, kneeling on the ground.
"Your future will depend on your own fortune now."
"Rise."
With a thought from Zhao Xing, the Thousand Illusions Tree, along with the soil and roots, was uprooted and stored into a world ring. It would be placed in the Grand Shennong Supervision Office of Great Zhou, to be passed down as a treasured tree.
Whoosh—
Zhao Xing then arrived before the Black Sky Moon Tree.
"Compared to the Thousand Illusions Tree, the Black Sky Moon Tree's spiritual mind hasn't even formed yet."
In Zhao Xing's vision, within the Black Sky Moon Tree, a full moon shimmered, constantly fluctuating as if observing its surroundings.
Due to the Black Sky Moon Tree being forcibly pushed to peak condition by the Heavenly Timing Dao of the Transmission Realm Tower, its intelligence was simplistic and untrained.
The Thousand Illusions Tree, by contrast, was much older. It had listened to scholars recite scriptures and developed a mind no different from a human. It could even play tricks and once fooled Zhao Xing into letting it out.
"Whoosh—"
Zhao Xing's consciousness turned into a needle, slowly piercing into the awareness cluster of the Black Sky Moon Tree.
Almost immediately, he was met with instinctive resistance, and that wisp of consciousness was forcefully expelled in the blink of an eye.
Still, under the suppression of the Hunyuan Dao Tower, it didn't go further than that.
"After all, the Black Sky Moon Tree leans toward a support type. Though its resistance is strong, there's still a chance I can shape it," Zhao Xing thought as his mental will continued to invade.
His spiritual intent was like a syringe, transmitting large quantities of memory fragments into the Black Sky Moon Tree, much like a teacher imparting knowledge to a child, enlightening a mind in ignorance.
About one year later, the Black Sky Moon Tree's intelligence had become much more docile. It was now able to understand Zhao Xing's commands.
[Black Sky Moon Tree]
[Quality: Emperor-grade]
[State: Peak stage]
[Innate Secret Arts: Lunar Radiance, Domain of Darkness]
[Description: A mutated moon tree from the Black Sky Barren Land that absorbed fragments of lunar essence. Having reached peak stage, its strength is equivalent to a human Reincarnation Emperor. A support-type unit.]
"Little Black, cast Lunar Radiance," Zhao Xing commanded.
Buzz—
A full moon instantly rose above the moon tree, strands of milky-white brilliance cascading down. Zhao Xing took a deep breath and felt a slight increase in his soul power.
"Lunar Radiance makes my True Spirit feel relaxed. Over time, it could even raise the ceiling. And it restores soul power too… No wonder it's a support-type treasure tree."
Zhao Xing didn't absorb it for long. The Black Sky Moon Tree's intelligence had only just formed—it wasn't appropriate to overuse it yet.
After a moment of comfort, he moved to stand before the Spirit-Devouring Grass.
Boom!
As soon as he arrived, a loud explosion sounded in Zhao Xing's mind.
Next came a chuckling sound—ku ku ku—like a human laughing mockingly.
"What a brat!"
Zhao Xing's head spun. He nearly lost his footing.
If the Black Sky Moon Tree was the quiet, obedient student in class, then the Spirit-Devouring Grass was the strong and wild troublemaker.
It didn't listen at all. It even spit metaphorically at the teacher.
And the worst part? This "teacher" Zhao Xing wasn't even stronger than the brat.
Clang!
Zhao Xing activated a portion of the Hunyuan Dao Tower's power, letting it clash beside the Spirit-Devouring Grass.
Squeak squeak squeak—
The Spirit-Devouring Grass's intelligence scattered like a startled fish, darting around wildly, yet it could never escape the cage.
It instinctively activated its innate secret arts, but against the Hunyuan Dao Tower, it was all in vain.
"Will you submit or not?"
Zhao Xing once again tried to invade its mind, attempting to tame the Spirit-Devouring Grass.
Pfft—
A strand of soul power passed through the root system into its core, pressing toward the spiritual mind—but the next second, it was annihilated.
Zhao Xing's face paled slightly as he took a step back.
"No wonder it's a Legendary-grade. The difficulty in taming it is truly extraordinary."
Wildness isn't exclusive to beasts—it also applied to wild plant lifeforms like the Spirit-Devouring Grass.
After a moment of thought, Zhao Xing left behind a Primordial Avatar to sit cross-legged beside the Spirit-Devouring Grass.
He planned to rely on the suppression of the Hunyuan Dao Tower, and through the Avatar's persistent mental infiltration, gradually educate and civilize it.
As for the Seven Realms True Spirit Bamboo? That one had been gifted by the Five Venom Emperor and had been carefully raised by Zhao Xing since its youth. Its intelligence, once awakened, was already completely loyal to him.
Now that the internal world had expanded, it had absorbed a portion of the World-Severing Divine Stone's energy and entered peak stage—comparable to Reincarnation Emperor-level combat strength.
Among the first batch of native species in the internal world's first continent, there were already seven Emperor-grade plants, and over ten thousand King-grade plant lifeforms.
But they were still seedlings. Zhao Xing wasn't in a rush to examine them yet.
He had something far more important to do.
"A second breakthrough."
"This is also a breakthrough in the Earthly Advantage School technique, Ultimate Land."
Zhao Xing had always cultivated the three schools in parallel. Back in the Origin Stage, he had already accumulated the three types of origin power: Heavenly Timing, Earthly Advantage, and Self.
Now, opening the [Internal World] was merely the Self School's path reaching a breakthrough.
"The Ultimate Land technique—its first layer is guiding the Earth Veins into the body."
"The second layer is condensing the veins into a mountain, which branches into two directions: Mustard Seed Mountain and Giant God Peak. I chose Mustard Seed Mountain."
Ultimate Land—Giant God Peak focuses on strengthening the body with mana, turning the body as heavy and immovable as the land itself, ultimately aiming to become invincible and immortal.
Ultimate Land—Mustard Seed Mountain, by contrast, emphasizes refining mana to enhance the effects of spells. When mana evolves into divine power and continues to strengthen without limit, one doesn't even need to search—the presence of the legendary Ultimate Land can be sensed, and one can even control the Earth Veins on that land.
Zhao Xing had chosen the path of Mustard Seed Mountain primarily because the techniques he learned back then—such as Five Finger Mountain and Demon God Earth Palace—all required high mana and precise spell control. His physical strength, by comparison, was secondary.
For defense, he had the Pure Yang Straw Puppet and the Great Void Straw Puppet, so the need for physical resilience wasn't that pressing.
There was also personal preference—Zhao Xing didn't like body cultivation. The Giant God Peak path would eventually turn one's body into a divine mountain or even a star continent. That felt a bit… inhuman.
After cultivating Blue Flower Mana, his mana-body defense wasn't weak anyway, so there was no need to pursue the Giant God Peak route.
"The third layer of the Ultimate Land technique differs depending on the path—either the [Mustard Seed Domain] or the [Body of Five Epochs]."
For the Mustard Seed path, the third layer corresponded to the Reincarnation Realm. Cultivating the Mustard Seed Domain would allow the influence of the Ultimate Land's third layer to spread from within outward, strengthening control over cosmic terrain—sun, moon, mountains, and lands in the void.
In simpler terms, it expanded the scope and power of mountain-based techniques, Earth Repository techniques, Earth Palace techniques, and Mysterious Earth techniques within the Mustard Seed lineage.
The Body of Five Epochs was the outward-to-inward influence of the Ultimate Land technique. It was named after the five Earth Vein eras of the Primordial Aeon. The Earth Veins within the body would take on traits of those five epochs, becoming stronger and more mystical.
The Emperor of Grand Mountain followed the Giant God stream of the Ultimate Land technique.
Both streams had their own characteristics.
In the Giant God stream, one's natal Reincarnation Dao Soldier was a mountain or a spirit stone.
When actively activating Reincarnation Secret Arts, it would transform into a mountain peak or a spirit stone—this was when the Giant God stream was at its most unbreakable. At the same level, it was nearly impossible to capture or destroy.
It would then automatically begin a return to the territory of the Primordial Hill, guided by the [Primordial Earth Vein].
At the same time, the natal mountain or spirit stone was inscribed with the [Earth Passage Technique] secret patterns. These emitted powerful signals throughout the universe. Shennong of the Primordial Hill could teleport directly to these reincarnation points using the Earth Passage Technique, enabling emergency rescues of fellow disciples.
The Mustard Seed stream's reincarnation was equally miraculous.
Among the Reincarnation-level secret arts of the Primordial Hill, there was one Earth Palace technique that only the Mustard Seed stream could cultivate—called Palace of Life.
Once the [Palace of Life] was mastered, the soul would instantly return to the pre-constructed [Palace of Life] during reincarnation and complete its rebirth there.
Heaven-born and Earth-nurtured, brimming with spiritual essence—if the location was well-chosen, one's talent after reincarnation might even rise to a new level.
After mastering the Palace of Life, there was no longer a need for a natal Reincarnation Dao Soldier. This secret art fully replaced its function. It was a method that approached the Dao!
Very few within the Primordial Hill had succeeded in cultivating the Palace of Life.
"To reach the Reincarnation Realm through the Ultimate Land path, I must cultivate the third layer—Mustard Seed Domain."
Zhao Xing looked inward at his own body. Rising from his dantian, a miniature continent floated above the nebula vortex.
At the center of the continent was a slight bulge—this was the Mustard Seed Mountain.
"Mustard Seed Mountain—shatter!"
With a single thought, Zhao Xing's mana, infused with his True Spirit intent, surged toward the Mustard Seed Mountain.
To establish the Mustard Seed Domain, the mountain had to be destroyed first!
Because Zhao Xing had already reached the Reincarnation Realm through the Self School, the mana wrapped in his True Spirit easily shattered the Mustard Seed Mountain.
Whoosh—
The mountain immediately burst apart, turning into eight hundred forty million micro-particles.
"Condense!"
The True Spirit precisely fused into each particle, stabilizing them just before they were destroyed, transforming each into a miniature particle-formed mountain.
Eight hundred forty million spiritual mountains scattered throughout the mana nebula vortex, indistinguishable from one another. Upon closer look, they shone like stars.
At the very moment the Mustard Seed Domain was formed—
Whoosh—
The Nanyang Star Continent where Zhao Xing resided, along with the seventy-two medium and small star continents developed by Great Zhou around it, all began to shake.
At that moment, they resonated, spreading in a unique rhythm toward distant space.
"Hm?" In the Central Pole Hall, Emperor Ji Che was reviewing memorials. He suddenly looked up, sensing the tremor.
The shaking ceased in an instant, but Ji Che had already caught the anomaly.
"Chen Shijie!"
Within the Shennong Supervision Office, Ji Che's voice rang out.
Chen Shijie, who had been gazing at the ground in contemplation, immediately looked up and bowed.
"Your Majesty."
"I sensed a quake across all seventy-two continental rings of Great Zhou. Do you know what just happened?"
Chen Shijie was now an ordinary Reincarnation Realm cultivator, and had joined the Primordial Hill as a registered disciple under Lord Lushan.
He was also one of the deputy deans of the Six Null Institutes of the Star of Oblivion.
Among Great Zhou's current few Shennong Monitors—not counting Liu Tianning in seclusion or Yun Tiandao who had yet to officially join Great Zhou—Chen Shijie held the greatest authority, highest status, and strongest cultivation.
"I sensed it," Chen Shijie reported. "Based on my assessment, it's likely that a Shennong from the Primordial Hill has just broken through to the Reincarnation Realm somewhere on Great Zhou territory."
"The location is the Nanyang Star Continent."
Nanyang Star Continent was the private domain Ji Che had built for Zhao Xing within the Corridor of the Star of Oblivion. Currently, a group of collaborators was hosting a gathering there. It wouldn't be strange if a Primordial Hill cultivator happened to break through.
Ji Che immediately relaxed. "Prepare a congratulatory gift. Go verify who this exceptional talent is."
"Yes."
After Zhao Xing's breakthrough, the stars before his eyes sparkled and coalesced into an image.
In the southeastern region of the Xuanling Star Domain, a continent as large as a top-tier galaxy floated in the void. Above it hovered Realm Stars and small star continents.
Zhao Xing saw the familiar Valley God Star and the well-known Primordial Mountain.
He suddenly understood—after forming the Mustard Seed Domain, he had gained a vision of the Primordial Hill.
A vast, ancient stone peak suddenly entered Zhao Xing's view.
A green-robed elder sat cross-legged there. His white eyebrows nearly touched the ground.
Suddenly, the elder opened his eyes.
He brushed aside his long brows to reveal a deeply wrinkled face. With a smile, he said, "Not bad, not bad. To cultivate the Mustard Seed Domain in just seven thousand years… Truly worthy of the title 'Holy Son of the Primordial Hill'!"
Upon seeing the man, Zhao Xing respectfully bowed. "Greetings, Meishan Venerable."
Half-divine beings were usually addressed as "Venerable." Among the three realms and twelve mountains of the Primordial Hill—namely the Primordial Realm, the Primordial Aeon Realm, and the Manifestation Realm—most experts rarely involved themselves with worldly matters.
On each of the twelve mountains, one or two Demigods presided, handling various matters of the Primordial Hill.
And among them, Meishan Venerable was foremost—he was the eldest among the Demigods and the one closest to the Divine Realm.
Zhao Xing hadn't expected that after forming the Mustard Seed Domain, he would see the Primordial Hill's top authority in such a way.
"Zhao Xing, now that you've formed the Mustard Seed Domain, you must come to the Primordial Hill as soon as possible and complete the cultivation of the [Palace of Life], so you'll have no worries in the future."
"Thank you for your guidance, Venerable. I will keep it in mind," Zhao Xing replied respectfully.
Meishan Venerable casually reached down and grabbed something from the ground. A writhing black segment, like a worm, appeared in his hand.
Then, with a flick of his finger, he launched it into the void, and the vision vanished.
Buzz—
Chen Shijie, who was flying toward the Nanyang Star Continent, suddenly noticed that the Yaoguang Earth Repository Formation on Fengdu Star Continent had been activated manually.
His expression instantly changed.
He was about to turn back to investigate, but abruptly dodged to the side.
"What just flew by?!"
Chen Shijie only caught a glimpse of a dark blur shooting toward the Nanyang Star Continent.
"Damn it! Who from the Primordial Hill is breaking through without a word and now dares to trigger the Earth Repository formation? Do they think Great Zhou's rules are nothing?!"
Even though Chen Shijie was part of the Primordial Hill, his loyalty still lay with Great Zhou. Seeing someone break through without informing him, and then interfere with an Earth Repository Formation, was a direct challenge to his authority as Shennong Monitor.
"Xia Jing, Long Xiao, deploy the elite troops immediately!" Chen Shijie ordered through gritted teeth.
Whoosh—
That black segment burrowed into a hidden canyon within the Nanyang Star Continent and merged into Zhao Xing's body.
The eight hundred forty million particle-formed spiritual mountains instantly transformed and stabilized.
"Thank you, Meishan Venerable!"
Zhao Xing bowed deeply toward the direction of the Primordial Hill.
He hadn't expected the other party to casually gift him a fragment of Meishan's Earth Vein to help solidify his third-layer breakthrough.
[Name: Zhao Xing]
[Occupation: Shennong]
[Fortune: Tier Sixteen (+Two from Five Emperor Coins)]
[Realm: Reincarnation Lord]
[True Spirit: Late Lord-level]
[Domain: Mustard Seed Domain]
[Internal World: 10,000 World-Origin Units (Reincarnation Emperor standard)]
[Mana: 105 Worlds]
[Age: 11,951]
[Remaining Lifespan: 8.5 Eras]
"With the breakthrough in the Earthly Advantage Dao, my True Spirit has been refined by the eight hundred forty million particle-formed spiritual mountains and is now at late Lord-level."
"My mana capacity has increased further, from 10 Worlds to 105 Worlds, reaching the minimum threshold of Reincarnation Emperor level."
"My lifespan didn't grow much. Measured by a single life, the eras of the Rule Domain Realm and the Reincarnation Realm aren't drastically different," Zhao Xing noted to himself.
All in all, in several areas, he now rivaled the Reincarnation Emperor level. First, his mana was immensely rich.
Next was his internal world—in size, quality, and native species, it was already comparable to Reincarnation Emperor standard. If divine-level native species were included, he even surpassed most Reincarnation Emperors.
In terms of world projection, Zhao Xing wasn't afraid of facing Reincarnation Emperors head-on. Of course, his current world spells had yet to reach the level of Reincarnation secret arts—that was still a gap.
Lastly, his mana itself—
Because of his deep foundation in the Origin Stage and the development of a Reincarnation Emperor–level internal world, his mana was already on par with Reincarnation Emperors.
But mana was a combination of technique and spirit power. Without Reincarnation-level secret techniques, his spellcasting wouldn't yet reach full Reincarnation Emperor combat strength.
"If I factor in the amplification from Blue Flower Mana, I might be able to fight a Reincarnation Emperor head-on. But if my spells remain at a shallow level, and I try to clash against their profound ones, I'll still be at a disadvantage despite my solid foundation," Zhao Xing thought.
However, at that moment, he encountered another problem.
"My foundation in the Heavenly Timing School is once again being suppressed."
Inside his mana body, the energy vortex had started to show a bit of friction.
Zhao Xing opened his panel for a look.
[Heavenly Timing Techniques: Cloud Law, Extreme Star Thunder Dragon, Devouring Wind, Realm Fire, Rain Immortal, Myriad Spirit Hou Transformation. (All at Grand Divine Ability Completion)]
[Earthly Advantage Techniques: Earth Core Fissure, Demon God Earth Palace, Mysterious Earth Starburrow, Primordial Earth Repository, Yaoguang Earth Passage, Triassic Boundary Mountain. (All at Reincarnation Level 1)]
Because the Earthly Advantage School's techniques were closely linked with the cultivation method and formed a complete lineage, after cultivating the third layer of Ultimate Land—[Mustard Seed Domain]—his Earthly Advantage techniques were empowered and all advanced to Reincarnation-level secret arts.
But his Heavenly Timing techniques remained stuck at Grand Divine Ability Completion.
In the Self School, aside from world-based spells that benefited from internal world amplification, the Primordial Straw Puppet was calculated independently. The rest—like Stem Funnel Divine Ability, Heartfield Technique, Essence-Extraction Birth Technique, Life Revival—were all still at the Grand Divine Ability realm.
"The three schools' origins are once again imbalanced. The Earthly Advantage and Self Schools are now co-dominant, while the Heavenly Timing School is pushed into the corner."
"The Heavenly Timing origin offers no amplification and even interferes with the other two origins."
"No wonder most powerhouses don't practice all three schools simultaneously," Zhao Xing shook his head.
If not for the mediation of Blue Flower Mana, his Heavenly Timing techniques would probably have already dropped in effectiveness—now, only Blue Flower Mana was amplifying them.
"In the end, it's because the current universe version makes the Heavenly Timing School's techniques too weak. The Heavenly Timing origin can't be converted into Heavenly Timing mana."
The Self School's core cultivation technique, Hunyuan Realm, was the strongest of all. It could be cultivated all the way to Demigod, and theoretically even reach the Divine Realm—there were precedents for this.
Hunyuan Realm also boosted world-based spells and strengthened army units.
The Earthly Advantage School's Ultimate Land technique was similar. Once a cultivator reached the Reincarnation Realm and formed the Mustard Seed Domain, it could enhance all Grand Divine Ability–level techniques.
Both techniques empowered their school's spells—but the Heavenly Timing School had no equivalent technique at that level.
The Heavenly Timing School had no divine-level cultivation method, nor any divine-level techniques.
That's why the Self and Earthly Advantage Schools had powerful backing sects, but the Heavenly Timing School didn't.
"That's just strange. Back when I first came to the Yuanhai Ancient Kingdom, I vaguely remember hearing that this world had a Shennong Heavenly God from the Heavenly Timing School… What was their name again?" Zhao Xing tried to recall but couldn't remember.
He checked the Star Mirror. With his current access level, the conclusion was clear: no Heavenly Timing God had appeared since the end of the Five Emperor Era, and no divine-level technique existed for the school.
Fortunately, Heavenly Timing spells were often self-created. Even the Myriad Spirit Hou Transformation was customized to suit individual needs. So the impact wasn't devastating.
Still, with this in mind, Zhao Xing saw no clear path forward for cultivating all three schools equally.
"Is the path of cultivating all three schools… truly a dead end?"
"It shouldn't be."
"If I can't maintain balance between the three, why was I so determined to pursue this path in the first place?" Zhao Xing frowned, murmuring to himself.
He felt as if the Heavenly Timing School had been crippled, like a priest whose voice had been silenced—so much so that he couldn't even recall certain key details.
"If I could cultivate all three equally, I'd be able to break through a third time. My True Spirit would reach peak Lord-level. With mana, domain, and internal world in full alignment, I could firmly stand at Reincarnation Emperor-level combat strength."
But now that a link was missing, Zhao Xing felt his cultivation path was imperfect.
While he was lost in thought, a black shadow appeared above the Nanyang Star Continent.
"Hm?"
Looking up, Zhao Xing saw that at some unknown point, the protective barrier over the continent had been opened. Mist swirled, and a flying army, shrouded in clouds and surrounded by dragons, appeared in the sky.
"What the hell?"
Zhao Xing frowned as he saw Chen Shijie, Long Xiao, and Xia Jing standing atop the clouds.
"Hahaha!" Xia Jing burst into loud laughter the moment he saw Zhao Xing. "Old Chen, say something! Just give the word and I'll unleash a thousand volleys, ten thousand dragon breaths—!"
Long Xiao added jokingly, "Yeah, Old Chen, didn't you just say you'd show no mercy, no matter who it was? Even if it was someone from the Primordial Hill, or Zhao Xing's friend, you'd still uphold Great Zhou's rules, right?"
Chen Shijie's face darkened as he glared at them. "Shut up, both of you!"
But Long Xiao and Xia Jing just kept laughing and paid him no mind.
They even started telling Zhao Xing, in dramatic reenactment, how Chen Shijie had been gritting his teeth the whole way here.
"So yeah, that's how it went. This big fuss Old Chen made was just to intimidate you, Grand Shennong," Xia Jing said, barely holding back his laughter.
Zhao Xing looked at Chen Shijie's dark face, then at the hysterically laughing Xia Jing and Long Xiao—and instantly flipped his palm and suppressed both of them.
"You scoundrels! Daring to humiliate Lord Chen like that? Guards, drag them out and execute them!"
Seeing that Chen Shijie's face was still grim, Zhao Xing raised his hand, lightning sparking in his palm. "No one's moving? Then I'll do it myself!"
Long Xiao stiffened his neck and widened his eyes. "Wait, for real?!"
Xia Jing, however, remained calm and shot him a reassuring glance.
They were just giving Chen Shijie a way to save face—no one would really strike.
When Chen Shijie saw the lightning actually flying toward them, he swatted it away with a single palm. "Cut the act. Dismiss your troops already. Don't embarrass yourselves in public."
Nanyang Star Continent wasn't that big. With Zhao Xing's sudden breakthrough and Chen Shijie showing up with troops, the commotion had naturally drawn the attention of the partners who were gathered nearby.
Du Yun, Tuosen, Xu Youling, Gu Ming, Qi Tian, Yang Baihe, and others all showed up at the canyon to watch the fun.
"Zhao Xing, you broke through?" Xu Youling's cheeks were flushed, her eyes shining like she'd just spotted a treasure.
"Yes—"
Before he could finish, Xu Youling, tipsy from wine, reached out at him. "Zhao Xing, lend me a seed!"
Purple light flashed in her pupils, and Zhao Xing immediately felt a tingling in his left arm—like something was trying to sprout from within.
It was the Xuanling Seed Borrowing Technique.
Xu Youling had seen her chance and wasn't going to miss it. Nothing wrong with that. But the way she phrased it made Zhao Xing feel completely thrown off.
It sounded like she was teasing him.
"Seeds are precious. Not for lending," Zhao Xing said, shaking his shoulder slightly and instantly dissolving the Sanbao Dao Sect's Xuanling Seed Borrowing Technique.
"Hahaha!" The crowd burst into laughter.
"What are you all laughing at? Get him together!" Xu Youling rolled up her sleeves. "He just broke through, so my technique failed. If we don't act now, who knows if we'll get another shot!"
Stirred by her, the others began to get excited.
Even Du Yun couldn't help but rest his hand on his sword.
He'd lost to Zhao Xing once before. Now that they were both in the Reincarnation Realm, with their own opportunities and improvements—was it time for a rematch?
"Oho, this'll be good." Xia Jing clapped his hands, grinning as he watched Zhao Xing getting surrounded. "Alright, place your bets. If the Grand Shennong loses, the odds are one to a hundred! Anyone want in?"