Leaving the vast void of the Double Star Wonders, Chen Sheng maneuvered the Five-Colored Rune Vessel towards the Northern Great Wilderness' Meteor Sea at great speed.
He first teleported to the Northern Cyan Cloud Immortal Palace through a Cross-Domain Teleportation Array, and after half a month of travel, a sea covered by black-purple waters finally appeared in his sight.
This is the Meteor Sea!
Above the sea, countless fragments of ancient meteor stars, like suspended stars, floated with some reaching several hundred miles in diameter, while others were as small as dust, drifting in the sea breeze.
The seawater shimmered in a deep black-purple, as if soaked in ink, yet deep inside, it faintly emitted a glowing white light, which was the refining starlight hidden in the water, forming peculiar bands of light, resembling a stellar river beneath the sea.
However, this starlight and meteor remnant power are not easily obtainable; cultivators must extract and purify them carefully, and any slight carelessness might lead to being backfired by the remnant power. It is by no means a tranquil place for cultivation.
"What a perfect place for bodily refinement!"
Gazing at the scene before him, Chen Sheng's eyes flashed with a hint of wonder.
He put away the small vessel and transformed into a streaming light, flying deep into the Meteor Sea. The deeper he went, the denser the meteor fragments became, the richer the starlight, and the greater the danger.
Several powerful Tier Four Demon Emperors were entrenched on large meteor fragments, watching the outsider warily; they were the original inhabitants of the Meteor Sea, treating this sea area as their territory.
Chen Sheng found a relatively secluded sea area, where the meteor fragments were of medium size, covered with a thin layer of frost.
This was the extreme cold brought by the meteors when they fell, intertwining with the scorching starlight in the sea, forming a unique Yin-Yang refining environment.
He sat cross-legged on a meteor fragment about a zhang wide, which trembled slightly, slowly transmitting its contained meteor remnant power to Chen Sheng.
Taking a deep breath, he operated the cultivation technique of the "Great Wilderness Dragon Transformation Chapter," and the aura around him suddenly changed.
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His entire body expanded, transforming into a two-hundred-zhang long red flood dragon, with dragon scales glistening brightly under the starlight, dragon claws sharp as a divine weapon, and with a single sweep of the dragon tail, raising a towering wave.
The "Great Wilderness Dragon Transformation Chapter" is divided into nine layers, with each breakthrough leading to a qualitative leap in physical strength, and the last three layers correspond to the Nascent Soul Level.
Previously, he had cultivated the technique to the Sixth Layer Perfection, being stuck at this realm for two hundred years, with his foundation already deep enough, lacking just a trigger.
The meteor remnant power in the Meteor Sea, containing the power of origin of ancient stars, could both refine the body and nourish muscles and bones, being the perfect aid to break through bottlenecks.
...
Flicking a finger, seven years passed.
Day after day, Chen Sheng purified the meteor remnant power, turning it into fuel for body refining.
On this day, the flood dragon that Chen Sheng had turned into suddenly raised its head, emitting a dragon's roar that shook heaven and earth, with waves of rumbling coming from within. The cultivation technique "Great Wilderness Dragon Transformation Chapter," which was previously stuck at the Sixth Layer Perfection, began to operate frantically like a flood gate opening.
The meteor remnant power and seawater starlight rushed into the dantian like hundreds of rivers converging into the sea, then dispersed throughout the body along the meridians, with every inch of muscle and every bone undergoing metamorphosis under the nourishment of power.
As the meteor remnant power and starlight flooded in, the flood dragon's body shone with dazzling golden light, the patterns on the scales became more complex, and the aura around it rose steadily, advancing towards a higher plane.
"Boom!"
A five-hundred-zhang long flood dragon bathed in the Meteor Sea, with the surrounding seawater churning violently, and the suspended meteor fragments trembling slightly.
When everything calmed down, the flood dragon slowly contracted, returning to human form.
Chen Sheng could clearly feel that the strength of his Dharma Body had broken through to a new realm.
The Seventh Layer of the "Great Wilderness Dragon Transformation Chapter" was now comparable to the Nascent Soul Early-stage.
Even more delightful was that as his Dharma Body advanced, his compatibility with and endurance for Void Power also improved.
Previously in the Double Star Wonders, when manipulating Void Power, he often felt hindered due to his physical body being unable to withstand it.
Now, when attempting to channel the surrounding void fluctuations, the Void Power flowed smoothly as if directed by his own arm, and he could even temporarily attach a layer of faint void shield to his body, repelling external attacks.
"Seven years of arduous cultivation were not in vain!"
Chen Sheng stood up, flexing his muscles and bones, producing crackling sounds. He no longer lingered, raising his hand to summon the Five-Colored Rune Vessel, and leaped onto it.
The Five-Colored Rune Vessel transformed into a stunning Five Elements Streaming Light, slicing through the sky of the Meteor Sea, rushing towards the Mist Concealed Stone Forest.
Months later, a region shrouded in white mist came into view—that was the Mist Concealed Stone Forest.
As Chen Sheng approached, he could feel rich spiritual qi mixed with a trace of illusion. The pervasive white mist drifted like gauze, with visibility less than a zhang, even sunlight was fractured into pieces.
The stone peaks in the forest varied in form, some like swords pointing to the sky, others like giant beasts crouching. The bodies of the peaks were inscribed with mottled ancient runes, appearing faintly amidst the white mist as if narrating an ancient secret.
Chen Sheng put away the vessel and stepped into the stone forest, with the white mist touching his body with a slight coolness, attempting to invade his Divine Sense upon close approach. He quickly operated his Spiritual Power to protect his sea of consciousness, finding a relatively flat stone peak top, and sat down cross-legged.
For the next five years, he quietly sat there, observing the rune patterns in the white mist, his Divine Sense cautiously touching the runes, sensing the mysteries contained within, gradually exploring the weak connection between the runes and void fluctuations.
Though he did not achieve a breakthrough, his understanding of the layout rules of the runes deepened, his accumulated knowledge of the Array Dao improved, and his train of thought when forming arrays became broader.
Leaving the Mist Concealed Stone Forest, Chen Sheng navigated the vessel towards the Red Flame Volcano, viewing from afar, the volcano resembled a dormant fire dragon, with thick smoke billowing from its summit, and red molten lava flowing down its sides, the air filled with a scorching aura.
He delved into the depths of the volcano, where the heart-flame burned fiercely, with the flames exhibiting a red-gold hue, turning the passing rocks into lava, their world-consuming might intimidating.
Chen Sheng took out the Five-Colored Dust Transformation Cauldron, with the cauldron's body emitting Five-Colored Spirit Light, forming a layer of shield enveloping his entire body, protecting his Heart Spirit from being scorched by the flames.
For the next two years, he sat quietly in the sea of fire, drawing the heart-flame into his body, utilizing the violent power of the flames to temper his sword momentum.
Each sword swing combined sword light and flames, with the sword momentum continuously condensing in high temperatures. As the technique "Sword Intent Derives Void" became increasingly refined, and when the sword light cut through the void, the space ripples became more stable, faintly exhibiting a touch of spontaneous charm.
...
Twenty years drifted by slowly, with the wonders of the Great Wilderness scattered like pearls across the world, each visited by Chen Sheng in turn.
He didn't stay long at each wonder, the longest being no more than seven years, the shortest merely a few months, yet gaining more or less at each, gradually comprehending several core transformations of Void Power.
At this moment, the aura around Chen Sheng was increasingly steady, with his cultivation at the peak of Nascent Soul Early-stage resembling a dam filled with water, merely lacking the final thread of understanding of Void Power to break through the bottleneck and step into the Mid-stage Nascent Soul.
On this day, the Five-Colored Rune Vessel once again sliced through the void, its body transformed from seventy-two array banners.
Five types of spirit light—blue, red, yellow, white, and black—intertwined and flowed around the exterior of the vessel like five vibrant ribbons, forming a semi-transparent shield that kept the howling astral winds and tiny space turbulence at bay.
Chen Sheng sat cross-legged at the center of the vessel, his gray-blue Daoist robe soaked in spirit light, appearing more and more lustrous. His aura remained as calm as a deep pond as he began to blood sacrifice the stone bead as usual!
His fingertip slightly moved, and a wisp of light red blood mist slowly oozed from it. The blood mist contained not only his essence blood but also entwined with a trace of faint yet condensed power of spiritual sense, like a slender red snake lazily floating toward the blue treasure bead.
However, this time, the moment the blood mist touched the bead's body, it suddenly trembled slightly, as if a creature that had been asleep for a hundred years was finally awakened.
The next second, the sapphire glow on the bead's surface suddenly surged, spreading like a tide and enveloping the entire Five-Colored Rune Vessel.
The shield outside the vessel intertwined with the bead's light, projecting a virtual sea scene in the void where waves rolled and seagulls called, as if a real ocean had been moved into the void.
Soon, the wisp of blood mist slowly merged into the bead, and the glow on its surface grew brighter, establishing a faint yet extremely clear connection, like a strand of spider silk, between Chen Sheng and the bead.
In an instant, the void around the blue treasure bead began to distort slightly. The stone shell remnants peeled away like weathering, dispersing as tiny light spots into the air, leaving behind a purely sapphire blue bead suspended in midair.
The aura radiating from the bead grew more majestic, like an awakening giant beast, causing even the Five-Colored Rune Vessel to tremble lightly. The spirit light of the shield flickered, as though it could not withstand the pressure of this aura.
"After a hundred years of blood sacrifice, it finally reveals its true form!"
Chen Sheng's eyes sparkled with uncontrollable anticipation and excitement, and he hurriedly activated the array and power of the five elements with all his might, letting this force slowly dissipate into the void.
Before long, the treasure bead finally quieted down completely, floating slowly in front of Chen Sheng, about three inches in diameter, entirely sapphire, as if condensing the entire sea's azure waves within it, occasionally with spirit light circulating inside, like undercurrents beneath the sea.
With a thought in his mind, Chen Sheng instinctively traced that faint connection with his divine sense into the bead.
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But as soon as his divine sense touched the inside of the bead, it was fiercely blocked by an overwhelming power—a restriction at the outermost layer of the bead, like a vast sea fortress forged from an ocean, so massive that its boundary couldn't be seen.
His divine sense landed on it, unable to penetrate and was even rebounded by an invisible force; if not for his quick reaction in retrieving most of his divine sense in time, it would've been torn apart by the restriction.
"What a formidable restriction!"
Chen Sheng was inwardly astonished, a trace of sweat seeping out on his forehead. As a Tier Four Array Dao Grandmaster, well-versed in arrays and restrictions, he had seen countless peculiar restrictions, but never one so overbearing, so thoroughly tight, and possessing devouring power.
The strange power contained within this restriction far surpassed his understanding of "restrictions," as if laid down by a great power of a higher realm, specifically guarding the secret within the bead.
Chen Sheng speculated in his heart, "This kind of power should be the Dao Principle only comprehended by Divinity Transformation Cultivators!"
Even though blocked by the restriction, he could still faintly sense the surging energy within the bead through that faint connection.
That energy flowed and surged within the bead like a vast ocean, as if the entire Double Star Wonders' power had been condensed into this tiny treasure bead.
"Tier Five? Tier Six?"
Chen Sheng murmured to himself, filled with doubt and shock. He had seen records of Tier Five Dao Artifacts in the major sect's literature, but the energy and restrictions contained in those treasures, though powerful, were clearly not as remarkable as this bead before him.
This treasure bead revealed just the tip of the iceberg after consuming a hundred and ten years of his blood sacrifice. Its grade and origin likely far exceeded his imagination.
He slowly withdrew his divine sense, staring fixedly at the floating blue bead in front of him, his mind awash with thoughts. This bead, although remarkable, was beyond his ability to refine the restriction and unable to exploit its true potential.
...
Several more months quietly passed during the voyage in the void, with the Five-Colored Rune Vessel still steadily traversing through the void.
The Five Elements Spiritual Light of the vessel appeared even more condensed than before, the void winds outside the shield were isolated without a sound, occasionally streaked by a few meteors, leaving fleeting light spots on the vessel's body.
Chen Sheng sat cross-legged in the center of the vessel, the blue bead floating motionlessly before him. The sapphire glow on the bead's body slowly ebbed and flowed, aligning harmoniously with his aura.
During these months, he hadn't ceased his cultivation, repeatedly probing the restrictions on the bead's periphery with his divine sense, trying to find clues for breaking it. Though each time rebounded by the powerful restriction, he gained more understanding of high-tier restrictions' operational laws.
At this moment, he was closing his eyes and concentrating, his divine sense sinking into the dantian, sensing the changes in the Void Mark on the forehead of his sword-carrying nascent soul.
Suddenly, a jade scroll hanging at his waist grew warm, with two faint spiritual lights emanating from it and forming pale blue runes before him.
Chen Sheng's heart stirred, he opened his eyes and lightly tapped the jade scroll with his fingertip. Two transmissions flowed into his sea of consciousness like water, with just two short lines of text that stirred ripples in his previously calm state of mind:
——Han Lou True Monarch has exhausted his lifespan and entered seated meditation!
——Master Profound Sword has broken through to Nascent Soul!
"Han Lou True Monarch..."
Chen Sheng softly read this name, a touch of melancholy flashing in his eyes. He was not unfamiliar with this True Monarch, a Tier Four Middle Grade Alchemy Grandmaster, undoubtedly the foremost in Yue Country's Longevity Domain.
When Chen Sheng joined the Three Elements Dao Sect to cultivate, it was this True Monarch who personally recruited him. Later, when Chen Sheng's alchemy cultivation reached quasi-Tier Four, this True Monarch shared his alchemy insights without reservation.
Han Lou True Monarch was already the oldest among the previous generation of four nascent soul true monarchs, and rumors had circulated within the sect a hundred years ago that his lifespan was nearing its end.
Everyone thought he wouldn't hold on much longer, yet to everyone's surprise, he managed to prolong his life for an extra century through his exquisite longevity skill.
"The reputation of being a Grandmaster of Longevity is indeed well-deserved."
Chen Sheng sighed softly, naturally feeling some sentiment. Cultivators, while able to defy the heavens and change fate, ultimately cannot escape the limits of their lifespan.
Even nascent soul true monarchs have a lifespan, and for Han Lou True Monarch to extend his life for a hundred years single-handedly is indeed rare in the world.
But ultimately, this day came.
His thoughts quickly shifted to the second line of the transmission:
"As for Master Profound Sword..."
A figure of a young cultivator immediately appeared in Chen Sheng's mind—Master Profound Sword entered the Three Elements Dao Sect together with Chen Xihua, and the two tied in a sword duel within the small realm.
Back when Chen Sheng was on duty at the sect, Master Profound Sword had already reached Golden Core Perfection cultivation, comprehending sword heart and sword intent, and his Vertical Sword Skill was quite profound, serving as the leader of the sword vein.
"I didn't expect this kid to actually succeed in reaching Nascent Soul."
A hint of surprise flashed in Chen Sheng's eyes. In the sect's history, most people first became Tier Four Grandmasters and then received sect resources before becoming nascent soul true monarchs.
"Looks like this kid has his own opportunities!"
Nonetheless, Master Profound Sword's breakthrough is ultimately a good thing, both for the Three Elements Dao Sect and for Chen Sheng and other nascent soul true monarchs—after all, nascent soul cultivators are the pillars of the sect, and having one more nascent soul cultivator strengthens the sect's foundation even further.
"I suppose I should make a return trip."
Chen Sheng made a decision in his heart. With Han Lou True Monarch's passing, the sect would certainly hold a funeral, and as a cultivator originating from the sect, he should return to pay his respects.
Furthermore, with Master Profound Sword having just broken through to nascent soul, it's the time to hold a grand ceremony and establish prestige, and by custom, he must return to offer congratulations as well.
Not to mention, having left the sect for many years, he also wanted to return and see the changes in the sect and family.
Chen Sheng lightly waved his hand, slowing the speed of the Five-Colored Rune Vessel gradually, turning the vessel's body, heading in the direction of the Eastern Great Wilderness.