Myriad Daos of the Heaven

After nearly a month of cultivation, Jiang Jichen’s Body Refining cultivation had reached the Late Stage of the Innate Fifth Realm.

Absorbing the Ancient Spiritual Power also brought immense benefits to his spirit cultivation, allowing Jiang Jichen to smoothly break through to the Innate Sixth Layer Initial Stage, and his strength increased once more.

In truth, no one could hope to replicate the speed of Jiang Jichen’s Cultivation progress.

After all, it was unlikely anyone else in the world practiced Spirit-Body Dual Cultivation. Even if they did, none would cultivate in such a self-destructive manner as he did, risking his life each time. Such desperate cultivation naturally led to swift advancement.

These last dozen or so steps would be difficult, but Jiang Jichen would not give up. He was eager to find out what lay within the Ancient Cave.

It took roughly an hour to take a single step, and each step covered only half a meter.

One day later, Jiang Jichen’s Body Refining Realm cultivation advanced once more, reaching the Perfect Innate Fifth Realm Body Refining Realm. Moreover, after being tormented by the Restriction Residual Force for so long, his body had finally adapted to the power here.

Now he could walk freely within the Valley of Restriction, completely unaffected. Of course, this also meant the Restriction Residual Force here could no longer be used to temper his body.

He stepped into the Ancient Cave!

It was a ruined cave that had existed for countless ages, and everything inside had decayed.

The Ancient Cave was not large and was completely empty, allowing him to take it all in with a single glance.

However, in the center of the cave sat a single, cross-legged skeleton. The Power of Time had left mottled traces on its bones, and it looked as if it could crumble into dust and scatter on the wind at any moment.

The moment Jiang Jichen’s finger gently touched the skeleton, it turned to a cloud of dust and dissipated into the air.

Only a tattered old beast hide remained, floating in mid-air.

’What is this? It’s actually remained intact for ten thousand years!’

Jiang Jichen was astonished. He couldn’t understand how everything else in the Ancient Cave had decayed, leaving only this tattered beast hide.

He reached out and took it, only to find that the tattered hide was inscribed only with some mysterious markings, no text.

But upon seeing these mysterious markings, Jiang Jichen was utterly shocked.

’A Time Sealing Technique! No wonder it’s been preserved for millennia!’

The so-called Time Sealing Technique involved imprinting mysterious ancient runes onto an object to seal it against time, preserving it from decay forever.

Jiang Jichen wondered what could possibly be recorded on this tattered hide to warrant the use of a Time Sealing Technique.

The Time Sealing Technique was a long-lost Magic Technique. Even in ancient times, not just anyone could use it, as it required sacrificing one’s own lifespan. Therefore, only for something of utmost importance would anyone be willing to use a Sealing Skill that consumed their life force.

Jiang Jichen stopped pondering. If he wanted answers, he just needed to release the ancient time seal.

Applying the time seal was difficult, but undoing it was incredibly easy—all it required was an injection of Spiritual Power.

Jiang Jichen carefully injected his Spiritual Power. The tattered hide gradually began to glow, and a scene appeared in his mind.

In the vision, an old man whose life was nearing its end sat in the center of the Ancient Cave. A tattered beast hide lay before him. His hands moved in a blur, continuously channeling mysterious ancient runes and imprinting them onto the hide.

The old man’s life was already at its end, and by using the Time Sealing Technique, he exhausted the very last of his remaining lifespan.

’To use the last of his life to seal this hide... it must be incredibly important!’

Jiang Jichen thought to himself as he watched quietly.

Even he didn’t know the Time Sealing Technique, so this was a perfect opportunity to observe and learn it.

Jiang Jichen discovered his Divine Soul was in a wondrous state. He only needed to see the technique once for its methods to be deeply etched into his mind, never to be forgotten. Even if he couldn’t master it now, he knew that as long as he replayed it in his mind and sought to comprehend it, the day would eventually come when he could.

After the tattered hide was sealed, the old man had exhausted the last of his lifespan. His life was about to end.

At that moment, the old man spoke what must have been his last words. "I am the first ancestor of the Hua Family. For angering the Human Emperor, I was permanently banished to this Exile Land. A bloodline seal was placed within me, and I was suppressed by the world itself. My Cultivation gradually declined, my lifespan dwindled, and now my end is near. I spent my entire life searching for the Undying Pill Formulas, hoping to refine an Immortal Spirit Pill to break the bloodline seal within me. In the end, however, I found my Cultivation had fallen too far and my lifespan was too short to find the Spirit Medicines on the formula, let alone refine the pill. Thus, I have used what little life I had left to preserve this Pill Formula, so that a successor may one day claim it!"

The vision ended there. Then, an ancient Pill Formula flooded into Jiang Jichen’s mind.

’The Undying Pill Formula!’

Jiang Jichen was inwardly stunned when he saw the formula’s name.

This was a heaven-defying Pill Formula, long lost to time. It was nearly impossible to find even in the ancient era. From what he knew, this might have been one of the Supreme Pill Formulas that existed even before the ancient era, something that would be considered priceless in any age.

Reversed Spirit Flower, White Turtle Longevity Grass, Phoenix Blood, Seventh Grade Purple Lotus...

Seeing the ingredients listed in the Pill Formula, Jiang Jichen was left speechless.

’No wonder it can create an Undying Pill,’ he thought. ’Just look at these ingredients—they’re all heaven-defying.’

Jiang Jichen suppressed his excitement and continued reading. The detailed refinement method for the Undying Pill was incomparably complex and exceedingly profound.

Finally, he read the description of the Undying Pill’s effects.

The Undying Pill could defy the heavens and change one’s fate. It could reforge the physical body. Once consumed, it could purge all restrictions and seals from within the body.

Jiang Jichen thought, ’With effects like these, doesn’t this mean I can break through my second set of shackles and continue my path beyond the Innate Body Refining Realm?’

He never expected to have such good fortune. Just like that, he had found the Pill Formula to continue his path beyond the Innate Body Refining Realm. All that was left was to find the incredible ingredients.

Each of these ingredients was heaven-defyingly precious, but Jiang Jichen wasn’t worried. He believed that as long as they existed, he would be able to find them.

Once Jiang Jichen finished reading the Undying Pill Formula, the tattered beast hide in his hand suddenly turned to ash and ceased to exist.

In the end, the Ancient Cave was completely empty once more. Jiang Jichen had obtained what was there to be obtained. He had already been here for a month, and it was time to leave. He figured the Ancient Ruined City Teleportation Array would be activating soon.

Meanwhile, Fenggu Town was bustling with excitement.

People from Heavenly Hunting Mountain, Profound Ancient Lake, and Fenggu City itself were all competing for slots to enter the Ancient Ruined City.

Not only that, but experts from various nations across the Southern Continent had also arrived in Fenggu Town, turning the once-peaceful town into a gathering place for powerful masters.

In one day, the Ancient Ruined City Teleportation Array would activate, and all of these people would enter the Ancient Ruined City.

However, entry into the Sealed Ancient Land was limited. There were only one hundred slots in total, which would be determined by a combat tournament.

Right now, that very tournament was underway in Fenggu Town.

Hua Xiaoling was there too, standing behind the Hua Family Patriarch. But her mind was unsettled; she was worried about Jiang Jichen, who was still in the Hua Family’s forbidden land.

She had waited for Jiang Jichen for more than ten days, but the competition for entry into the Ancient Ruined City had already begun, so she had no choice but to come here first with the Hua Family Patriarch.