The mountains here were green as black jade, lying like silkworm eyebrows—this was Meishan.
If the main continent of Primordial Hill was a face, Meishan would be the elegant eyebrows.
Across Meishan's peaks, most areas had a spiritual energy index above 40,000.
Any single peak moved to an ancient kingdom would instantly become its prime place of offering and worship.
Starting from the first ten eras of the Wasteland Epoch, the Ancient Heaven Demon Kingdom had sent grand entourages many times to visit Meishan.
They even offered sky-high prices of several billion contribution points just to take a peak back as a spiritual mountain for worship. But every time, Meishan's venerables turned them down.
Zhao Xing and Lord Lushan passed through one region after another, slipping through several hollow underground tunnels, changing Earth-Penetrating Divine Boats multiple times until they reached the steep red slopes marking Meishan's territory.
They emerged at the surface and soared into the sky. The red color faded as they rose, and from above, they saw green, red, and gold interwoven across the land.
Meishan was rich in various species of Phoebe trees—top-notch materials for starship components. These woods were also widely used for gate seals, teleportation formations, and personal spirit-gathering arrays.
As they continued flying with Lord Lushan, they started to see many demon beasts both in the air and on the ground.
Some were adults, but most were young.
They played freely in the mountain forests. When they spotted humans, they didn't flee—instead, they would actively bow in greeting.
"Those are ancient demon beasts," Lord Lushan explained. "Some are native, others were sent by the demon kingdoms."
"If you head seven major ranges west from here, there are two top-tier Life Palaces: the Heaven Demon Palace and the Myriad Demon Palace."
"These two are used exclusively by the two ancient demon kingdoms."
Zhao Xing didn't need this introduction—he knew both palaces well.
In his previous life, he raised powerful demon beast cubs himself. Buying incubation rights at either palace cost 1 million contribution points.
That only covered 30 years of stay. After that, keeping the cub there meant paying extra fees.
Besides contribution points, they accepted Xuanling ancient coins and Five Emperor Coins, both worth astronomical sums that were ridiculously expensive.
"I heard that 150 years ago, the ruler of the Myriad Demon Kingdom tried again to buy a mountain to take home?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Yep," Lord Lushan chuckled. "That guy just can't give up. He's been scolded countless times but never stops trying."
"Last time he came loaded with gifts. Meishan's venerable received him, and when he politely brought up the idea, he got scolded right away."
"He didn't even get angry."
"Angry? The Myriad Demon King had to stand there smiling while Meishan's venerable finished chewing him out."
Zhao Xing laughed along when he heard that.
Normally, Meishan's venerables held slightly higher status than the demon kings, but not by much—their actual strength wasn't vastly different.
Yet even when a Meishan venerable cursed the demon kings directly, they could only take it.
Not just the Myriad Demon King—even the Heaven Demon King was the same.
The demon race had to keep finding new ways to curry favor with Primordial Hill.
Why?
Because the great earth's deep virtue nurtures all life. But certain places give birth to especially powerful creatures.
Primordial Hill's ancient earth veins gave a significant boost to the offspring of demon beasts.
Whether hatched from eggs, born live, or formed from transformation—if they were born in the Three Realms and Twelve Mountains of Primordial Hill and spent their early years here—
When grown, these demon beasts' talent, comprehension, and bloodline growth speed were far superior to those born elsewhere.
As far back as the Five Emperors Era, the ten great demon kingdoms already had legends about making pilgrimages to Primordial Hill.
Primordial Hill also had a tradition of periodically opening its gates to foster demon offspring. Nowadays, every few years, the ten great demon kingdoms would send young beasts or even married demon couples here to raise their next generation.
In the early development of the Wasteland Epoch, demon beasts attacked the Red Star Empire, the ancient kingdoms of the Wasteland, even the Primordial Palace and the Reincarnation Divine Palace.
But they rarely targeted the ancient engineering projects led by Primordial Hill. Even when they did, it was usually clueless young demons causing trouble.
Zhao Xing had once attracted attention from the Demon God Palace due to a karmic battle.
But the Demon God Palace never tried to harm him—only to satisfy their curiosity.
Even later, when Zhao Xing's actions at the Transmission Realm Tower caused some setbacks, no demon kingdom sent anyone after him.
This time, when the Primordial Palace dispatched Venerable Bermon, it was just minor competition—Bermon himself was also only at the twelfth order.
Why were the demon kingdoms so restrained? It wasn't because they feared the Red Star Empire or Zhao Xing's status as a prodigy of the Origin Realm.
It was because Zhao Xing was recognized as a genius of Primordial Hill—he learned from the Life Palace, trained under Meishan's venerable, and received teachings from Venerable Lan Shen himself!
Even Zhao Xing's treatises were popular in the Ancient Heaven Demon Kingdom. Groups like the Boundary Mountain Society and Star-Obscuring Society only existed because of Primordial Hill's reputation.
"Breeding demon beasts isn't easy," Lord Lushan sighed as he watched the adorable young demons below. "With cosmic laws shifting through different epochs, demon beasts with high-bloodline talent are dying younger and younger, and keeping their bloodlines strong is becoming harder and harder."
Zhao Xing nodded. Looking at the history of life's evolution—plants, animals, even newly born micro-worlds—their size and quality kept trending smaller and weaker.
As cosmic laws changed with time, moving into new extinction stages, it was harder and harder for inherently powerful races to appear. Some species even faced natural extinction.
Take the Horn Abyss Serpent Zhao Xing once encountered—there probably weren't more than 100 left in the entire Xuanling Star Domain.
Without a suitable environment, powerful species would weaken and die out.
The Three Realms and Twelve Mountains of Primordial Hill preserved earth veins from the Ancient Universe, the Primordial Universe, and the Dao-Manifest Universe. That meant Primordial Hill still had environments ideal for nurturing strong life.
Generation after generation of demon beasts came here. Over time, those with this background became known by a special name—Primordial Demons.
"The Ancient Heaven Demon Kingdom gets the most slots for raising demon beasts here, followed by the Myriad River Demon Kingdom," Lord Lushan explained. "The other eight demon kingdoms get far fewer slots, so they're naturally jealous and critical of the top two."
But the Heaven Demon and Myriad River Demon Kingdoms didn't care at all. Winning favor with Primordial Hill was the same as winning favor with Mother Earth herself—what was there to criticize?
The name "Primordial Demon" was famous and sounded fierce. For these demon beasts, they were proud of it, completely ignoring what outsiders thought. In fact, they took pride in becoming Primordial Demons.
"Look, another little one is about to transform," Lord Lushan suddenly pointed downward mid-conversation.
On a small peak below, a little gray-spotted wolf with fluffy fur leaped onto a tree trunk.
"Awoo~"
With its howl, the sky around the tree instantly darkened. The mountain peak burst with thick earth spiritual energy that gathered into clouds, and a full moon appeared within them. Soon, the gray-spotted wolf started shedding its fur and stood up on two legs.
"That's a Silver Moon Heavenly Wolf," Lord Lushan stopped to watch. "Here in Primordial Hill, all demon beasts must learn the Earth Transformation Technique to take human form."
Zhao Xing watched with interest. Earth Transformation and Hou Transformation were essentially the same—they both forced life to undergo rapid, dramatic change using the power of heaven and earth. The difference was in the source of their power: Earth Transformation drew from earth-based forces, while Hou Transformation relied on heavenly timing.
Earth Transformation was also easier and less risky, with a smoother progression curve, unlike the more dangerous Hou Transformation.
Of course, making demon beasts transform into human form through Earth Transformation was also a way for Primordial Hill's human race to instill civilization. This step deepened the Primordial Demons' sense of identity with humans.
"Awoo~"
Three more howls rang out. By the fourth, the tone began to change.
"Ah~ I finally did it! Hahaha!" The voice sounded childish but full of joy.
After transforming into a human, the Silver Moon Heavenly Wolf danced around wildly, celebrating.
"Oh ho~ Success! I did it~"
Lord Lushan couldn't help but laugh, but Zhao Xing's expression turned strange.
The little guy's face after transforming looked almost identical to Zhao Xing's—about eighty to ninety percent similar—though it lacked his mature aura.
"Senior, what's going on?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Maybe the little guy is your relative," Lord Lushan joked like a mischievous old man.
Zhao Xing's face darkened with black lines.
"Hahaha," Lord Lushan roared with laughter. "What else could it be? Your fame, Zhao Shennong, is just too big!"
"Back when Primordial Hill held ceremonies to spread your theories, the new generation of Primordial Demons basically grew up reading your works."
"Many demon beasts heard your stories so often that they saw you as a hero. So when they use Earth Transformation, your face naturally becomes their first template."
Zhao Xing was speechless. He felt extremely awkward.
'Am I going to see lots of demon beasts around Primordial Hill with my face on them?'
"Don't worry. This little one's just having fun," Lord Lushan said. "Young demon beasts imitating your appearance isn't a big deal. But if an adult did it, they'd be punished by Primordial Hill."
"You're a half-god, with high status in Primordial Hill. How could we let anyone disrespect you?"
Zhao Xing nodded. Earth Transformation had strict rules—mental image, Dao image, and divine image had to match proper authorization or a life Dao diagram. Randomly copying a half-god's form without these would be dangerous.
This little wolf had only reached the Dao Establishment Realm, so it was just using a mental image. Unless it got Zhao Xing's life Dao diagram—like how Zhao Xing trained in the Nine Marsh Gods—there was no way the wolf could reach Dao image or divine image stages.
Even if it did reach those stages, Zhao Xing would immediately sense the karmic connection once it transformed.
'Thinking about it, Old Qing's stunts in the past weren't just gutsy—they were pure technical brilliance.'
They stayed only briefly before moving on. As they advanced, there were fewer and fewer bystanders.
About two days later, they reached the main peak region.
"Meishan has seventy-two main peaks—more than my Lushan," Lord Lushan said.
"The Mountain Head Contest starts with an internal selection among the Twelve Mountains."
"Zhao Xing, things are unusual right now. The gods of the Three Realms decided to hold the Twelve Mountains Assembly early to pick a new Mountain Head."
"If you want to compete, you'll have to stand out in Meishan first before challenging elites from other mountains."
Lord Lushan and Zhao Xing emerged from underground, appearing right beneath a massive mountain gate pillar.
Mist swirled around them. Sunlight glinted through the haze, and peaks loomed like phantoms, filled with divine charm.
"I'll leave you here. You should know how to go on from here," Lord Lushan said.
"Thank you for leading the way," Zhao Xing replied, already sensing his split soul's presence.
As he merged with memories from the split soul, he naturally knew where to head next.
"No need to be so polite," Lord Lushan smiled. "But if we meet on the battlefield, don't go easy on me."
Lord Lushan was also a half-god and would surely represent Lushan in the Mountain Head Contest.
Zhao Xing cupped his hands with a smile. "I won't."
"Off I go~"
Lord Lushan's figure shrank into a wisp of green smoke, vanishing into the earth as his aura quickly faded.
"Lord Lushan's earth-escape technique is exquisite—far more refined than what I learned back in the Dao Domain Realm."
'I wonder how much my split soul learned over these three thousand years.'
Zhao Xing closed his eyes for a moment, meditating. When he opened them again, he already knew how to unlock Meishan's mountain gate barrier.
Forming hand seals, he opened a small gap in the barrier and slipped through, heading straight for Meishan's tallest peak.
This highest peak was called Qingling.
Zhao Xing traveled swiftly without any obstacles, soon arriving before the grand hall at the summit.
Disciples and spirit beasts passing by stopped to greet him with respectful bows.
"Greetings, Martial Uncle."
"Greetings, Senior Brother."
"Greetings, Martial Ancestor."
"Greetings, Palace Envoy."
Zhao Xing returned their salutes with a friendly smile.
The split soul had cultivated here for 3,000 years, changing identities multiple times.
At first, he was brought in by Emperor Hongshan, becoming a disciple under Hongshan's lineage. But back then, Emperor Hongshan only performed a routine reception—he acted like a master but wasn't officially recognized as one.
Later, after Zhao Xing wrote the Theory on Earth Changes in the Dao Revelation Era and held several Dao Assemblies, some half-gods wanted to elevate Zhao Xing's status. Lord Lushan came to teach him, also acting as a master but without formal recognition.
When the Tanxing Assembly was held, Zhao Xing's training split soul came to Meishan. But even then, Venerable Meishan only taught him without formally establishing a master-disciple bond.
It wasn't until Venerable Lan personally stepped in that Zhao Xing's first formal Dao Master was confirmed as Venerable Lan. That meant Zhao Xing was now technically the youngest junior brother of Venerable Meishan.
Of course, in Primordial Hill, seniority didn't matter that much. As the saying went, "Those who reach understanding first become teachers," so only formally recognized Dao Masters really affected one's status.
What mattered more were the various official positions in Primordial Hill—like the Earth Repository Division, Life Palace Division, Earth Communication Division, Profound Earth Division, Mountain-Sea Division, Mountain Temples, Treasury, the major Dao Institutes, the Fengyuan Dao, Xinghai Dao, and the many Earth Dao Envoys.
Primordial Hill's internal organization was massive and complex. The Twelve Mountains were like twelve ancient nations, each ruled by a Mountain Leader. These twelve Mountain Leaders answered to a single Mountain Head, who wielded the highest authority over all secular affairs of Primordial Hill.
The gods of the Primordial Realm, Ancient Origin Realm, and Dao Revelation Realm didn't interfere in mundane matters—getting entangled in mortal karma was troublesome for gods. In that way, Primordial Hill resembled the Red Star Empire and the Origin Realm, where someone like Gu Luohe held the highest power. But long ago, Gu Luohe's status had already reached the level of the gods, and he delegated many powers to figures like the Five Venom Emperor and Zuo Qiyu.
Though Zhao Xing's true body was here for the first time, his split soul had already spent over 3,000 years in Meishan. So the disciples were used to his presence—after bowing, they went right back to their tasks.
Of the many titles they called him, the most significant was "Palace Envoy," which was the official post Zhao Xing held in Meishan. To make his cultivation more convenient, Venerable Meishan promoted Zhao Xing's split soul to Palace Envoy after he completed several missions. The job involved overseeing the suppression of innate demon gods in the Earth Palaces, maintaining the earth veins' operations, and fixing weak spots.
As Zhao Xing's true body stepped into the main hall, he saw many doors leading to different areas. He opened one and entered a space full of floating boulders and flowing magma—and there he saw Venerable Meishan.
"Palace Envoy Zhao Xing, greets the Mountain Head!"
Venerable Meishan hovered above a miniature continent, surrounded by tens of thousands of earth vein avatars orbiting the glowing land. These avatars captured, received, and analyzed every fluctuation emitted from the continent. This technique was part of the Shaking Light Earth Communication Method.
But Venerable Meishan's cultivation was clearly profound—Zhao Xing noticed that most of his avatars contained intense temporal fluctuations. Just looking at them made Zhao Xing's internal biological clock feel disordered.
"Zhao Xing, you've come," said Venerable Meishan's true body, raising a hand.
The miniature continent's glow dimmed, and its entire shape changed. The edges rose like closing petals, folding up into an iceberg shape that instantly shrank down and fell into his palm. At that moment, Zhao Xing's sense of temporal distortion vanished.
"Do you recognize this treasure?" asked Venerable Meishan.
"I do," Zhao Xing nodded. "This is one of Primordial Hill's divine artifacts—Yuanji Mountain."
The divine artifact Yuanji Mountain was refined from the essence of spiritual mountains' earth veins collected from the Primordial Era through the Barren Domain Era. Each generation of Mountain Head added to it, making it ever stronger.
Venerable Meishan nodded. "Yuanji Mountain's most important function is allowing one to use it to perform the Time-Space Earth Communication Method."
"Because it contains the essence of spiritual mountains' earth veins from every era, wielding Yuanji Mountain and using the Time-Space Earth Communication Method lets you connect with countless time-spaces."
"Those spiritual mountains dug for their earth vein essence are like time anchors left by Primordial Hill's ancestors."
"Through those mountain anchors, the Earth Communication Method can receive and send messages across time."
"In theory, this divine artifact could let someone travel through time."
Time travel? Zhao Xing was surprised—so Primordial Hill had such a means?
"Of course, it's only in theory," Venerable Meishan said with a sigh. "The sect's chronicles mention that in ancient times, a Mountain Head did use it for time travel."
"But as generations kept refining it, the artifact grew stronger and stronger. Even my master can't activate that function now."
"And my own strength as Mountain Head is even more limited. Not only can't I fully comprehend it, but the influence of the Lord of Cold Food has also severed Yuanji Mountain's sensing of more than a dozen time anchors—"
Venerable Meishan sighed with self-blame. "The Cold Food God King was only an incarnation, yet so powerful. Though the Three Realms' gods didn't blame me, it remains a source of shame in my heart."
"I've decided to step down early as Mountain Head. I'll travel upstream through a time-space channel to a secret place to break through."
"Once I resign, the next Mountain Head Contest will begin."
Venerable Meishan looked at Zhao Xing with hope. "Little junior brother, when you win the Mountain Head position, make sure you fix this damage for me."
Zhao Xing looked uneasy. "I'll do my best at the assembly, but my cultivation is still shallow. I'm afraid I might disappoint you."
Venerable Meishan smiled. "Little junior brother, you haven't fused with your split soul yet—this kind of worry is normal."
"Don't worry. Once you merge with your split soul, you won't think this way anymore."
Zhao Xing indeed hadn't fused with his split soul yet. So far, he was only receiving some unimportant memories through distant sensing. The key cultivation memories, which contained Dao origins, required fully merging the split soul with his true body.
Venerable Meishan waved his hand, and a door appeared in the air. "After you came to Primordial Hill, there was nothing more I could teach you past 500 years."
"For the next 2,600 years, your split soul stayed in the Ancient Origin Realm, cultivating in your master's divine domain."
"That's why when you came back, you couldn't recall your split soul—it felt fuzzy."
"Now that you're here, go and fuse with it."
"Your master is waiting."
"Yes, senior brother," Zhao Xing replied, taking a deep breath before flying into the door.
Beyond the door was a different world. Zhao Xing felt like everything had changed. The sky looked clearer, the ground felt heavier, and although the spiritual energy wasn't much denser, all kinds of Dao origins felt several times stronger.
His coordinate panel showed he had entered the Lan River Divine Domain of the Ancient Origin Realm.
'So the Lan River Divine Officer I met in the Xuanhuang Realm's historical timeline really was Venerable Lan,' Zhao Xing thought. 'Is this the Ancient Origin Realm? I feel like just adapting to this place will make me stronger fast.'
The Ancient Origin Realm preserved much of the universe's original environment, making it perfect for Dao comprehension and cultivation. Even if you did nothing but live there and adapt, your strength would grow, and your chances of becoming a god would increase. No wonder the evil gods wanted to escape into the past—if the Ancient Origin Realm alone felt like this, they'd never want to come back from truly ancient times.
As Zhao Xing marveled, a palace rose from the gray earth. Venerable Lan stepped out of the palace with Zhao Xing's split soul, standing on the steps.
Venerable Lan wore a simple gray robe and straw sandals, his hair tied with a white jade hairpin. He looked like a plain middle-aged man with no divine aura at all—just like Zhao Xing remembered him.
"Zhao Xing, it's been a long time," Lan said with a warm smile.
"Whoosh—" Zhao Xing quickly descended, bowed, and greeted, "Disciple Zhao Xing greets Venerable."
"No need for so many formalities," Lan said, waving his hand. "The Mountain Head Contest is almost here, and you don't have much time left to prepare. Everything important has already been passed to your split soul."
"Once you fuse with it, you'll know. Go, take your split soul and fuse outside."
"Yes, thank you, Venerable." Zhao Xing stretched out his hand and retrieved the straw puppet split soul.
The fusion had to happen outside the Ancient Origin Realm because its origin environment was very different from the outside world. The split soul was already adapted, but Zhao Xing's true body wasn't yet. By fusing outside, he could better compare and comprehend.
Deep underground at the thirtieth level of Meishan, in Flowing Lake City's Southern Mountain Manor, Zhao Xing's split soul had lived in this manor whenever it was outside the Ancient Origin Realm over the past 3,000 years.
The underground area of Meishan had many levels—the first thirty were living and cultivation spaces, full of unique terrains for people to study. Levels below the thirtieth, all the way to the ninety-ninth, were prisons for demon god descendants. The very last level imprisoned true earthborn demon gods—beings born in the depths, their minds twisted by the Flowing Qi, naturally violent and destructive, and thus called demon gods.
"Boom!" As Zhao Xing began merging with his split soul, the surrounding earth veins trembled. All kinds of origins—Five Elements, Wind, Thunder, Yin-Yang—started merging with his true body's sources.
"It's starting," Zhao Xing thought, as a flood of cultivation memories surged through his mind.
Among the deepest memories were the scenes of tribulations. First appeared the ninth True Spirit Tribulation, which took place atop Qingling Peak during the 350th year after the split soul arrived.
Venerable Meishan was beside him, guarding the Dao. "Junior brother, your Primordial split soul lacks an Extreme Land cultivation method. You'll have to rely on pure mana and Earth Transformation Techniques to get through this."
"This ninth True Spirit Tribulation is the key to becoming a half-god. It's dangerous, so I'll protect you."
"Thank you, senior brother," Zhao Xing's split soul said, before actively triggering the tribulation.
Lightning-fast, the ninth tribulation began—not from the sky, but erupting from underground. Cracks split the ground underfoot, and earth vein fire roared up to engulf him.
"Whoosh—"
The split soul didn't have Extreme Land bonuses but had mastered many Earth Transformation Techniques that worked with the straw puppet body, though not as strong as an Extreme Land amplification.
As the earth fire surged, Zhao Xing's split soul cast his spell immediately.
"Boom—" Five streams of mana burst from his body, forming five earthen stones.
"Bang, bang, bang—" Each of the five stones glowed with a different color, like five spirit pearls rolling through the air.
As they spun, they crushed the void around them, twisting the paths of the erupting earth fire.
"Chirp—" The earth fire was wildly fierce, constantly burning space itself, but because Venerable Meishan was there, the destructive range stayed limited.
"Five Elements Spirit Pearl Earth Palace," Zhao Xing thought, fully feeling the secret technique his split soul used during the tribulation.
"This was one of the arts from the Life Demon God Earth Palace."
The full name was Life Demon God Earth Palace. The Life Demon God Agara had many innate abilities, and after countless years of being suppressed and studied, many secret techniques had been born from it.
The Five Elements Spirit Pearl Earth Palace was one of them.
"These five spirit pearls correspond to metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Mana drives each origin in a cycle of mutual growth, blending offense and defense."
"Once they start spinning, their power can keep stacking, absorbing every surrounding origin to fuel themselves."
"Earth Palace techniques usually depend heavily on their environment. But these five moving stones act as a mobile Earth Palace—free from environmental limits. Even in cosmic voids, they won't be affected."
The Five Elements Spirit Pearl Earth Palace had two major features: first, it could move freely; second, as it rolled, its power could stack almost without limit. Zhao Xing's split soul easily blocked the earth fire tribulation that marked his breakthrough into half-godhood.
As the cultivation memories and origins fused, a new notification appeared on Zhao Xing's panel:
[You have learned "Five Elements Spirit Pearl Earth Palace Technique"]
[Five Elements Spirit Pearl Earth Palace (Half-God Secret Art)]
But only moments later, after fully absorbing the cultivation memories, his panel changed again:
[Five Extremes Spirit Pearl Earth Palace (Perfected)]
[Note: When driven by fourth-layer Extreme Land mana, it becomes the Five Extremes Spirit Pearl Earth Palace Technique.]
[The spirit pearls themselves act as an Earth Palace. When the five origins reach their peak, divine power will be born from the pearls, allowing one to forge the Five Extremes Free Divine Body.]
"So combining it with Extreme Land makes it the Five Extremes Spirit Pearl Earth Palace Technique," Zhao Xing thought. "Once Extreme Land hits the fifth layer, this secret art will rise to the level of a true divine art."
His true body had Extreme Land cultivation but lacked Earth Transformation techniques and their insights. His split soul had no Extreme Land, but it carried the secret art's memories and comprehension. When the two merged, it was a case of one plus one being greater than two. In a flash, the secret art reached perfection at the half-god level. If Extreme Land advanced, it would upgrade to a divine-tier technique.
The memories continued fusing.
The tenth True Spirit Tribulation came next, 500 years after arriving at Primordial Hill. "Junior brother, there's nothing more I can teach you," Venerable Meishan said, standing atop Qingling Peak and looking at Zhao Xing with a touch of emotion. "Now face your tenth True Spirit Tribulation. With ten-stage true spirit, you won't be affected by the intense origins of the Ancient Origin Realm when you enter. Our master will teach you directly, but remember: every tribulation must be faced outside. You can't cross tribulations in the Ancient Origin Realm itself."
"Yes, senior brother," Zhao Xing replied.
The split soul initiated the tenth tribulation. Again, it was a physical calamity: massive thunderclouds gathered overhead, and heavenly lightning quickly formed. Because the split soul's body wasn't as tough as the true body's, he activated a powerful technique.
"Boom—" Five-colored light shot up from his feet, weaving around him like lines of Dao laws. Before the first lightning bolt struck, they formed the illusion of a massive triangular mountain, with the split soul seated cross-legged at its center.
"Crash!" The first lightning bolt slammed down, but the mountain absorbed it entirely. After a slight shudder, the mountain's form grew denser—and larger.
Seeing this, Zhao Xing couldn't help but smile. This technique was called "Stacked Boundary Mountain," but it was different from the Stacked Boundary Mountain he created himself. It was a version developed through divine-realm deductions at Primordial Hill. His original eight arts, although named after Stacked Boundary Mountain, were eight separate great divine powers that didn't merge together. This new technique, however, was a true divine-tier art.
"It grows stronger the more it's attacked—what a brilliant defense," Zhao Xing marveled. "And this is just the first form, the Boundary Mountain Dharmic Aspect. If facing a strong enemy or rapid strikes like this lightning, I'd need to use the second form—Boundary Mountain Horn Peak."
As the relentless lightning continued to build power, the split soul eventually had to unleash the second form. Mana surged from within, and a real Boundary Mountain Horn Peak appeared, fusing with the Boundary Mountain Aspect. This was a physical horn peak refined from a true Stacked Boundary Mountain. When combined with the dharmic aspect, it massively boosted defense. No matter how fierce the lightning, it couldn't harm him at all—and even added counterattack power.
Zhao Xing had set his split soul to focus only on cultivation, ignoring everything else. When the tribulation didn't quickly fade, the split soul decided to finish it fast so he could get back to training. The horn peak, now tempered into a thunderous spear, shot up with terrifying force.
"Bang!" The tribulation clouds shattered instantly.
[You have learned "Stacked Boundary Mountain Technique"]
[Stacked Boundary Mountain (Half-God Secret Art): First form—Boundary Mountain Aspect; second form—Boundary Mountain Horn Peak.]
Zhao Xing closed his eyes to reflect. Like before, once Extreme Land mana flowed, the secret art's name evolved:
[Extreme Land Stacked Boundary Mountain]
[First form: Boundary Mountain Aspect (Perfected)]
[Second form: Boundary Mountain Horn Peak (Perfected)]
Zhao Xing sensed there was an even higher level. He paused to deduce on his own, then shivered slightly, eyes lighting up. On his panel, a third realm appeared:
[Third form: Extreme Land Divine Mountain (Unproven)]
[Proof Object: None]
[Proof Location: Undecided]
[Heaven-and-Earth Dao-Proving Method: Once completed, can attempt to forge Extreme Land Divine Mountain as a godly throne. If successful, ascend to godhood as the Tribulationless Mountain God.]
"I fused with the split soul's insights, and inspiration just struck—after a little deduction, I've formed a theoretical Heaven-and-Earth Dao-Proving Method?" Zhao Xing was stunned.
Though this third realm, Extreme Land Divine Mountain, was still just theory—he hadn't trained it—he finally had a clear direction.
"Showing up on my panel… does that mean it's really feasible?" he wondered, heart racing.
He'd studied Wei Tianchen's Heaven-Patching Method and the Earth Refinement Method before—both were theoretically ways to prove the Dao through heaven and earth. But neither appeared on his panel.
"It was truly worth coming to Primordial Hill," he whispered.
The divine-realm experts at Primordial Hill had only deduced two forms, yet after fusing his split soul's comprehension, he—its creator—had found a theoretical third form for Dao-proving and godhood.
"Proof location, proof object… it looks like both must relate to a mountain," Zhao Xing thought.
The term "Tribulationless True God" was just a general name; there were Tribulationless Mountain Gods, River Gods, Star Gods, and so on. "If one becomes a divine mountain, life becomes endless and doesn't break the universe's lifespan limits—so you naturally don't face divine tribulations."
Suppressing the urge to try it immediately, Zhao Xing continued merging the split soul's cultivation insights. The memory scenes flashed again.
The eleventh True Spirit Tribulation happened 1,500 years after the split soul arrived at Primordial Hill. "Junior brother, you're coming out—don't tell me you're crossing another tribulation?" Venerable Meishan asked when he saw Zhao Xing emerge from the Ancient Origin Realm.
"Yeah," the split soul replied flatly. "Please guard me, senior brother."
"Alright… alright." Even Venerable Meishan looked shocked. Crossing a True Spirit Tribulation every 500 years was incredibly fast. The split soul's straw puppet body limited its potential, forcing it to improve secret art mastery to the extreme. If Zhao Xing's true body were there, he would've crossed long ago.
For the eleventh tribulation, Venerable Meishan didn't see a tribulation forming. He wondered if it might be a formless tribulation. But Zhao Xing remembered seeing a green river appear just half a meter in front of his split soul. It rapidly spread out like a water membrane that wrapped around his body, and the split soul began flickering in and out of reality.
"A river of time, spatial flickers… this is a time-space tribulation?!" Zhao Xing marveled at the memory. His split soul had triggered a rare time-space calamity—something almost never recorded, even in the vast Dao texts.
Most half-gods couldn't truly wield time origin; at best, they might guide a sliver of time essence in a tiny range. Even gods might not grasp it without a divine weapon or the aid of a God King to traverse the river of time.
"Did my split soul trigger a time tribulation because it had comprehended something from the imprisoned time-space demon god in the Ancient Origin Realm?" Zhao Xing wondered. He could sense everything his split soul had felt back then.
A tiny branch of the time river descended, causing the time-space tribulation. In the first stage, the straw puppet body of the split soul began rapidly aging. The puppet's material visibly wrinkled, like a person growing old, while time surged inside the split soul's soul core.
If it couldn't withstand the onslaught, the split soul would quickly wither and collapse, returning to cosmic origin. By rights, it should have been impossible for the split soul to endure. But within a few breaths, both its body and soul stabilized.
Then Zhao Xing understood what Venerable Lan had meant when he said, "Some words, some arts—you'll understand them once you merge with your split soul."
"Venerable Lan actually taught me the Time-Space Earth-Penetration Art that only a Mountain Chief can learn?" Zhao Xing was stunned. Competing for Mountain Chief wasn't about worldly power but about gaining control of a divine artifact and learning the strongest divine secret arts. The divine artifact Yuanji Mountain and the Time-Space Earth-Penetration Art were one and the same, and only one of the twelve Mountain Chiefs could master it.
"Isn't this a bit too blatant of a backdoor?" Zhao Xing felt embarrassed. It seemed he had no choice but to compete for the Mountain Chief position—otherwise, he'd leave Venerable Lan in a tough spot. No wonder Venerable Meishan had said he'd no longer feel uncertain after merging with the split soul.
"Though I can't reveal this art during the competition, it's a huge advantage." Zhao Xing focused on the memory: in the first stage, his split soul was aging rapidly, but by using the Time-Space Earth-Penetration Art, he completely halted the decay.
But the tribulation soon reached its second stage: trying to drag Zhao Xing's split soul and body out of their current time-space. He saw himself, for an instant at each moment of the tribulation, being pulled into radically different timelines—some absolute death traps, some places where gods clashed, some distant, silent futures. Of course, he wasn't truly thrown into those timelines. Using the Time-Space Earth-Penetration Art, he would snap back to his original time just before being flung away, flashing repeatedly in place.
Three years later, Zhao Xing stepped out of the Nan Mountain Manor fully fused with the split soul's memories. "Hoo—" A jet of earth fire surged up; the earth fire tribulation reappeared, but Zhao Xing just tapped it lightly with his foot, and the thirteenth True Spirit Tribulation shattered instantly.
In this way, his true body was the first among all his split souls to reach the thirteenth True Spirit level. "Now that I've fully merged with my split soul, my strength has skyrocketed—I can easily break into the thirteenth-step half-god realm," Zhao Xing thought, elated. For powerful half-gods, tribulations were mostly opportunities rather than threats.
"Senior brother Meishan will retire soon," Zhao Xing said as lines of text floated up from the ground—Venerable Meishan's messages. In eight years, the internal selection within Meishan would start. Of the seventy-two peak lords, only one would represent Meishan in the final competition with candidates from the other eleven mountains for the Mountain Chief seat.
"Eight years… will that be enough time for me to swing by the Black Heaven Barren Domain and claim my reward from the Immeasurable True God?" After merging with the split soul's memories, Zhao Xing knew the Meishan peaks inside out—none of the seventy-two peak masters posed much threat. But among the other eleven mountains, there were still plenty of monstrous powerhouses.
"Venerable Kuangchuan will be a strong opponent. If I want to kill him, I'll have to be able to beat him first," Zhao Xing mused. He decided he should take the time to collect his reward first.