He did not know whether it was a coincidence,
or perhaps when the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable created the new method, he truly had referenced and imitated the scene of the world's primordial genesis.
In any case, to solve the problem of cultivators lacking spirit roots and being unable to cultivate, the creation spawned by the negative emotions of the human body to forcibly absorb the energy of Heaven and Earth was also called the "Root of Heaven and Earth."
Though they shared a name, the two were obviously worlds apart.
If the [Root of Heaven and Earth] representing the genesis of creation was sacred and solemn,
then the "Root of Heaven and Earth" that plundered Heaven and Earth so everyone could cultivate seemed somewhat evil.
This could perhaps be glimpsed from the external form "it" displayed.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of writhing tentacles—those were the tendrils of the Root of Heaven and Earth.
At this moment, as if having developed self-awareness, they crept toward the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens as they ceaselessly extended,
automatically searching for the most suitable place to take root and invade.
The newborn Five Elements Grotto-Heavens seemed to sense its own peril.
The grotto-heavens trembled, and rays of colorful light erupted, seeking to repel these invading "foreign objects."
Yet...
it was useless.
The protective effect of the grotto-heavens' radiance was utterly negligible against them.
Only a trifling fraction was lost.
The remaining black tendrils drove straight in, meeting no resistance.
Like fine needles, they pierced silently into the grotto-heavens one after another.
The grotto-heavens rumbled.
An inexplicable sound emanated from within, like a cry of agony.
Yet it could not stop the continuous stream of tendrils from coiling around and wrapping them tighter and tighter.
The radiance faded, and darkness descended.
Standing aside and watching the entire scene of the grotto-heavens being devoured, Li Fan, the instigator, could not help feeling a chill rise in his heart.
"The Heavenly Venerable's new method is truly bizarre."
"It looks nothing like an orthodox path," he muttered inwardly.
Still, Li Fan was hardly one to be squeamish.
No matter how sinister it appeared, the new method was currently his only path to cultivation.
Casting extraneous thoughts aside, Li Fan stared at the grotto-heavens enveloped in writhing black.
The endless tendrils acted like his own tentacles, faithfully conveying the current condition of the grotto-heavens into his mind.
Its power was being swallowed, and its struggles grew weaker and weaker.
From those myriad tentacles flowed an extraordinarily bizarre energy.
It was a vital energy several times purer than the human body's secret treasure Li Fan had sensed while practicing the *Creation Furnace Technique*.
Vigorous life force, siphoned from the grotto-heavens, was pumped continuously into Li Fan's body.
Li Fan absorbed only a tiny trace of it, and a sensation surged in his heart:
with this incomparably pure vitality, even if he were cut into a thousand pieces and minced into paste, so long as a fragment of tissue remained, he could still use it to recreate a brand-new body.
"Rebirth from a drop of blood, immortal and indestructible..."
Originally, this divine ability from ancient legends could only be grasped by mighty cultivators, yet now it was nearly achieved through this shortcut.
"Dharma-Transmitting..." Li Fan could not help sighing in wonder once more.
Then, seeing the time was ripe, he finally made his move, embarking on the final step of forming his Nascent Soul.
The body that had only been half-intact dissolved completely,
turning into bubbling black syrup that flowed along the myriad tendrils into the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens.
In Li Fan's perception, he seemed to split into ten thousand, and the ten thousand turned into hundreds of millions.
Divided into countless existences, he still felt like a single whole.
They shared a unified goal: to usurp the magpie's nest and claim the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens entirely for himself.
It was a wondrous experience.
The "grotto-heavens," originally several tiers above the human body, now seemed to exist as an equal life form.
The once ethereal "Heaven and Earth" now seemed to have become a tangible entity that could be attacked.
As Li Fan continually invaded,
the struggles of the grotto-heavens grew weaker and weaker, until at last they faded to near silence.
***
Tianling Province.
Outside the Five Elements void.
"Hmm? Was there some movement just now?" a Golden Core cultivator on guard duty suddenly asked, looking up at the pitch-black maw above.
"Old Sun, I'd say you're hallucinating again," a lazy-looking cultivator beside him scoffed dismissively.
"I told you long ago to request leave from the higher-ups and get some proper rest. After fighting for so long and seeing so many corpses, thank the heavens you haven't gone mad. Yet you went and volunteered to take guard duty here..."
Ignoring the teasing, Old Sun simply stared fixedly at the black void, his expression solemn as if lost in thought.
After hesitating for a moment, he flew to the edge of the void to investigate closely.
"Lunatic, paranoid all day long—his brain's gone soft!" the cultivator muttered under his breath in disdain.
Stretching his arms, he looked up at Old Sun, amused and waiting for a show.
Sure enough, after patrolling for a long time, Old Sun failed to notice anything unusual.
In the end, he had no choice but to fly back down to the ground in disappointment.
"Well? What did I say? All in your head," the cultivator mocked repeatedly.
"Not even birds come to shit in this godforsaken place! How could any enemy show up? Who knows what the higher-ups were thinking, insisting on leaving a squad behind to guard it."
"They have it good, heading back to live carefree and happy. Meanwhile, we're stuck here suffering! Bah..."
Seeing no response from Old Sun, the cultivator shifted targets and droned on with his complaints.
Old Sun seemed accustomed to it and turned a deaf ear,
simply looking up toward the sky from time to time, brows tightly furrowed.
*Hmm? This Cultivator Sun has remarkably sharp spiritual senses. He nearly caught on to me.*
*Interesting.*
High above, concealed in the sky, Li Fan looked down at Old Sun with a trace of surprise in his heart.
The instant the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens descended into the void of Tianling Province, he had safely completed the devouring of the grotto-heavens without mishap,
finally breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm.
Yet before he could check the changes in himself, he had nearly been noticed by Old Sun below, who had sensed the anomaly.
Fortunately, Li Fan had reacted swiftly and masked his presence in time.
Although his cultivation was now an entire realm higher than theirs and he could subdue them with a wave of his hand,
the war had only just subsided, and the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals remained on high alert.
If any disturbance occurred here, it might stir up another storm.
It was better to keep quiet and reap the gains in secret.
Li Fan shook his head, committing Old Sun's appearance to memory, and was about to leave.
Just then, voices drifted up from below once more.
"Old Sun, have you heard? Seems Zhang Debiao struck it rich recently."
"Isn't he in charge of the post-battle cleanup?"
"All those corpses strewn across the Tianling Province battlefield—he pocketed every bit of the spoils for himself!"
Chapter 581