The ancient giants beneath the western cliffs of the valley were awakened. Eleven towering giants emerged from the cave and, upon seeing the strange phenomenon above the Demon Palace, knelt down in shock, repeatedly kowtowing towards the direction of the Bone Mountain and murmuring prayers.
Three hours later, Chen Nan's body had recovered to about 70-80%. However, at this moment, a strange change occurred. The jade ruyi on his chest suddenly burst out with a dazzling light. The holy radiance quickly enveloped the gold and black orbs in the Taiji diagram, as if it wanted to seize them.
The gold and black orbs struggled rapidly, seemingly trying to return to Chen Nan's dantian, but the holy radiance blocked their path, severing their circuits. Although they kept struggling, they were unable to break free.
Seeing that they could not return to Chen Nan's dantian, the two-colored light spheres stopped trying to force their way in and began to rotate faster along their original trajectory, attempting to disperse the holy radiance emanating from the jade ruyi.
The Tai Chi diagram became increasingly clear, gradually showing signs of materialization. The essence of heaven and earth from all directions surged forth like a raging sea, rushing wildly towards the Tai Chi diagram. The pillar of light formed by the moonlight gathering from high above also grew brighter and brighter. Finally, it seemed as if a materialized pillar of light connected the full moon to the Tai Chi diagram between heaven and earth.
If this vast spiritual energy were to surge into Chen Nan's body at the same time, he would surely be burst apart, as his body simply could not withstand so much essence.
Just then, the jade ruyi shone brightly and trembled gently, drawing all the essence of heaven and earth and the moonlight towards it. An energy vortex seemed to appear at the jade ruyi, its holy radiance forming a funnel shape, absorbing the spiritual energy surging in from all directions.
The spiritual energy flowed in continuously, and the jade ruyi, like the ocean embracing all rivers, accepted it all. This small jade pendant actually gathered the vast spiritual energy of the entire world, which was truly unimaginable.
The two-colored light spheres saw that the vast spiritual energy between heaven and earth could not overwhelm the holy radiance of the jade ruyi, and the rotation speed increased by more than double again, and the Taiji light diagram became completely materialized.
The vital energy of heaven and earth within a radius of dozens of miles trembled violently, a gale swept across the entire world, and the vital energy surged wildly towards the sky above the Demon Palace. The pillar of moonlight grew even thicker, like a jade pillar supporting the heavens, piercing through the heavens and earth, connecting from the starry sky all the way to the Taiji diagram.
Although the jade ruyi was absorbing the surging spiritual energy like a bottomless pit, a small portion of the spiritual energy was not drawn into the energy vortex and was absorbed by the Taiji diagram. Of course, this "small portion" is relative to the spiritual energy absorbed by the jade ruyi; in reality, it was a vast and incomparable flow of spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy flowed into Chen Nan's body through the Tai Chi diagram, repairing his damaged internal organs. An hour later, Chen Nan's internal injuries were completely healed, and his external injuries had long since healed without leaving a single scar.
When Chen Nan opened his eyes and saw the extraordinary phenomenon created by the two-colored light spheres and the jade ruyi, he was stunned. The shocking scene caused his brain to short-circuit for a moment, and he only came to his senses two minutes later.
Looking at the two-colored orbs of light, he muttered to himself, "These must be the two beings the nameless god and demon spoke of. They thought my furnace was constantly growing, and they must be afraid that my death would implicate them, so they stepped in to save me."
The sheer power created by the jade ruyi surprised Chen Nan the most. He never expected that such a small jade pendant could be like a bottomless pit, absorbing the vast ocean of spiritual energy. This was unbelievable to him.
While absorbing spiritual energy, the jade ruyi also seemed to want to devour the two-colored light spheres, which shocked Chen Nan greatly. Only then did he believe what the nameless god and demon had said: the jade ruyi might be a forbidden object from ancient times. Perhaps this was his hope, and he could use the jade ruyi to break the threat of the two-colored light spheres.
The spiritual energy continued to flow into Chen Nan's body. How could he let go of such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? He began to use the essence of heaven and earth and the essence of the full moon to temper his body.
The spiritual energy flowed into his body, cleansing it again and again and improving his constitution. At this moment, his metabolism accelerated rapidly, and in just a quarter of an hour he was drenched in sweat. A small amount of waste was expelled from his pores, and Chen Nan felt as refreshed and invigorated as if he had eaten a ginseng fruit.
This was a rare and miraculous encounter. Chen Nan was already critically injured, but in the end, he not only recovered physically, but also underwent a process of spiritual cleansing, which greatly changed his physique.
The process of cultivation is a process of constantly changing one's physique and releasing one's physical potential. This experience of going from life to death and then from death to life finally enabled Chen Nan to make another breakthrough, ultimately breaking through the third-order barrier and entering the fourth-order realm.
At the moment of breaking through the realm, a tremendous force surged forth from his body, a release of potential that matched the advancement in realm.
Chen Nan was overjoyed. He had finally made another breakthrough on his path to unparalleled martial arts, taking a crucial step forward.
Ultimately, tonight's fortuitous encounter merely acted as a catalyst. Even without the spiritual energy infusion, Chen Nan would have broken through the third-tier limit and entered the fourth-tier realm soon. There are no shortcuts in the cultivation process. Chen Nan had already reached the peak of the third tier. Having experienced countless life-and-death battles in recent days, he was already on the verge of breaking through to a higher realm.
It can be said that Chen Nan's cultivation level is the result of his diligent practice and experience of various life-and-death trials, without any suspicion of taking shortcuts.
An hour later, the blood-stained strips of cloth that had been stuck to Chen Nan's body completely turned to dust and dissipated into the air. The dirt on his body was also washed away by the constantly stimulating spiritual energy, and his powerful physique faintly revealed a precious light.
The fourth-level masters are different from the masters of the first three levels. The difference in strength between masters of the first three levels is not very large, but after reaching the fourth level, every slight increase in the level will increase the strength several times. It can be said that after entering the fourth level, the difference in strength between masters of different levels is huge.
A beginner-level expert in the fourth tier can easily kill several peak experts in the third tier. A mid-level expert in the fourth tier is even more terrifying; even if surrounded by a group of peak experts in the third tier, they can leave with ease. As for the peak experts in the fourth tier, they are already quasi-peerless experts. Once their cultivation reaches that level, they can subdue dragons and fight giants.
Today, Chen Nan has entered the initial stage of the fourth rank, which means that even in the entire Tianyuan Continent, he can secure a place among the top young masters.
The two colored orbs in the Tai Chi diagram could not break free from the jade ruyi's restraint for a long time, and seemed to be going crazy. Their rotation speed doubled again. Chen Nan, who was the dividing line between Yin and Yang, felt it the most. His body rotated along with the rotation of the two colored orbs.
The gathered essence of heaven and earth and the essence of the full moon grew increasingly violent, but the jade ruyi trembled slightly, as if cheering or leaping with joy. At the same time, the amount of spiritual energy entering Chen Nan's body through the Taiji diagram also increased. If he hadn't just broken through the third-order barrier and entered the fourth-order realm, Chen Nan would definitely not have been able to withstand it and would most likely have exploded and died within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
Within a radius of dozens of miles, the spiritual energy was abundant. The small valley where the Demon Palace was located was the source of the turmoil. The massive flow of spiritual energy formed an energy storm, creating a whirlwind that swept across the heavens and earth within the valley. Its terrifying power frightened the giants kneeling on the ground, causing them to hide in the cave.
Even the Demon Palace standing atop Bone Mountain was violently shaken by the surging storm of spiritual energy, which shows just how terrifying the scene was.
The entire valley was brightly lit, and the ground around White Bone Mountain underwent a miraculous change. Huge, crystal-clear jade stones burst from the ground and flew into the air, a total of sixty-four stones in all directions.
Each massive piece of jade is carved with ancient and mysterious patterns. The crystalline jade shimmers with light and exudes a spiritual aura, as if some powerful force is sealed within it.
The sixty-four jade stones were not floating haphazardly in the air, but were arranged in a regular pattern, forming a shape similar to the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), which was clearly an array.
The mysterious ancient formation, resembling a Bagua diagram, could also gather the power of heaven and earth, but it was far inferior to the Taiji diagram high in the sky. This mysterious ancient formation composed of sixty-four jade stones was forced out by the Taiji diagram in the sky. Under the forceful plunder of the Taiji diagram, the mysterious power within the sixty-four jade stones quickly broke through the seal and rushed rapidly into the sky.
Chen Nan saw all of this clearly, and he suddenly remembered what the god servant in the Demon Palace, who looked like a dried corpse, had once said to him.
Beneath the Demon Palace dwells an exceptionally powerful savage beast. The giant piled up those bones into a mountain entirely to carry out the orders left behind by the ancient god. The ancient god laid down a Nine Nether Bone Array here, gathering the power of heaven and earth and the souls of all living beings to intimidate the savage beast underground, preventing it from coming up to wreak havoc.
The Nine Nether White Bone Array uses sixty-four Yuan Condensation Stones and three hundred and sixty-five Soul Gathering Stones as array flags, which are the foundation for absorbing the power of heaven and earth. They must be dismantled one by one in order to paralyze the array.
Sixty-four Yuan-Condensing Stones are distributed in eight directions of White Bone Mountain, while three hundred and sixty-five Soul-Gathering Stones are hidden within the Demon Palace. Clearly, the sixty-four jade stones now appearing in the air are the mysterious Yuan-Condensing Stones, which were forced to emerge from the ground by the Tai Chi diagram in the air, which forcibly absorbed the spiritual energy contained within them.
Under the forceful plundering of the Taiji Diagram, the sixty-four Condensing Yuan Stones gradually dimmed, and the spiritual energy contained within them was rapidly extracted. Finally, the sixty-four Condensing Yuan Stones exploded in the air, turning into powder and dissipating into the air.
Just then, a tremendous roar that shook the heavens and the earth suddenly resounded from the top and bottom of the bone mountain. The enormous roar caused thousands of withered bones on the mountain to tumble down, leaving a vast expanse of white below...