My dear brothers and sisters have truly moved me! Honestly, since the Evil Lord started writing, ZhiZhi has already achieved a top-six ranking in the first few days! Since Feng Ling stepped in, this is the very first time in history!
I'm thrilled, truly! I can really feel the immense power of my brothers and sisters! Gratitude piles up in my heart, but I can't seem to express it. I'm almost too embarrassed to speak. I know what my brothers and sisters truly desire—they long for the Evil Lord's explosive output, not Feng Ling's thanks.
So, I'll keep it buried in my heart. But the glory of these first two days of the month will be forever etched in my memory!
You all are powerful!
Feng Ling has nothing worthy to repay you with, save to work overtime tonight and reward my brothers and sisters with an explosion of content tomorrow! Perhaps it will be insignificant and won't truly repay the sentiment in your hearts, but I will try my best! Try my best! Exert every ounce of effort!!!
Thank you! Thank you! You make me proud to be yours!! My brothers, my sisters! Well done!
Explosion tomorrow! I’ll work myself to death to deliver!)
"Keke-kekeke, this is just..." "Awesome!" Jun Moxie took several deep breaths and, using pure ** energy, flipped several somersaults. He roared a few times to vent the wild excitement surging within him before finally stabilizing his leaping spirit and guiding it into the operation track of the Heaven-Forging Creation Art!
During moments of extreme joy or sorrow, one must vent! If one forcibly suppresses these feelings and forces oneself to stabilize the mind—to attempt to impact the meridians, for instance—it could easily backfire, turning extreme joy into sorrow!
Jun Moxie understood this principle very well. Though he was anxious to know the extent of his current condition, he didn't rush to run the Heaven-Forging Creation Art to check. Instead, he first performed the preceding frantic actions, exhausting as much of his inner excitement as possible!
After this kind of catharsis, both physically and psychologically, there arises a subtle mental suggestion: "I have already let it out." During practice, this specific type of inner demon will be significantly reduced! If one can conquer this inner demon at such a time, what else could possibly remain?
Thus, Jun Moxie's cultivation process went incredibly smoothly. As soon as he drew in spiritual energy, the Art's operation speed reached its limit. He initiated internal observation, meticulously examining his situation, and Jun Moxie’s mouth dropped open once more!
"Dmn, dmn, dmn, dmn!" A string of crude oaths burst out like machine-gun fire. Apart from this, Jun Moxie didn't know what else he should say, or what he could say. His mind was a chaotic mess, leaving only this extremely impolite word!
"Truly... d*mn it all!" Jun Moxie roared, suddenly flexing his chest a few times, mimicking the actions of a bear showing off its strength. This demonstrated the extreme extent of the young master's ecstasy!
Well, since he was inside the Hongjun Tower, no one could see him, as if no one would ever know. At this moment, Young Master Jun was completely naked, without a shred of clothing. His garments that barely covered his body had long since been shredded into fine pieces due to the previous agonizing trials."
Young Master Jun was utterly stunned!
Because he shockingly discovered that flowing within his meridians was a substance resembling tangible quicksilver, which even seemed to possess a shimmering quality. Though it appeared slender, it contained boundless, inexhaustible power!
In the first layer, the True Qi was an intangible stream of Qi; upon reaching the second level of the Creation Art, it transformed into a mist the color of the spiritual energy within the Hongjun Tower!
But now, the flow of spiritual energy had vanished, replaced by something substantial in his meridians! Undoubtedly, this was spiritual energy that had undergone transformation. Only when the spiritual energy reached a certain volume would such a change occur!
This was his profound technique having materialized! This slender silver line announced that Jun Moxie had one foot already stepping across the threshold into the third layer of the Heaven-Forging Creation Art!
Finally, another breakthrough was imminent!
Jun Moxie settled his mind again, focusing his entire will and spirit, plunging back into the Art of Transforming Profundity. He ran it again and again, the speed accelerating. The slender silver line almost emitted a sharp shoo-shoo sound within his meridians, seemingly vibrating violently, letting out a resentful hum...
One step... two steps... Finally, upon the foundational plateau of the second layer, he advanced another step! Jun Moxie felt a thin sheet of paper before him, which he could puncture with just a little effort!
At that moment, he would enter another, brand-new realm!
Jun Moxie slowly exhaled, then slowly inhaled, maintaining a tranquil state of mind. With a pace that was steady yet ever-increasing, he gradually impacted the bottleneck again and again.
He did not consider concentrating all his strength for one sudden breakthrough, because the path of "when the water is sufficient, the channel will form" (natural success) was the true way! And now, it was clearly time for that natural convergence. Seeking speed prematurely would be detrimental. Therefore, Jun Moxie was not in a hurry, nor did he dare to risk more!
Who knew if a forceful breakthrough might bring about unforeseen side effects? Or perhaps the dangers of some violent impact, just like the recent Chaos Fire incident...
It must be said that having experienced the backlash of the Chaos Fire, Jun Moxie had become significantly more cautious."
Finally, Jun Moxie clearly felt that this thin membrane was slowly bulging backward under the impact of his spiritual energy, then slowly, bit by bit, thinning out, slowly turning transparent...
At last!
Like the sound of an extremely faint sigh, the barrier of this third layer finally opened a tiny crevice, like a balloon pierced by a tiny needle—but it was breached after all!
Jun Moxie still did not rush, steadily pushing his True Qi, slowly dripping it in, gently pouring it in. The infused spiritual energy grew more and more, until—Boom!
Jun Moxie only felt a massive roar inside his mind, a world-turning upheaval. For a moment, he felt the entire Hongjun Tower spinning; the Creation Furnace before him shifted from his left to his right, then to above his head, and the steadily leaping, burning Chaos Fire moved along with it...
Jun Moxie remained utterly unmoved, stabilizing his mind once more, and resolutely stepped forward!
Finally,
A massive impact of force suddenly rushed toward him, a force so immense it far exceeded Jun Moxie's imagination! Jun Moxie felt all the meridians in his body suddenly bulge, then contract, and without any warning, a phantom stone gate suddenly appeared before him!
The phantom stone gate swayed a few times, then slowly stabilized, becoming a real doorway!
Jun Moxie stood before this door.
Feeling the torrent-like sounds of joy emanating from the spiritual energy within his body, as if it possessed its own sentience, Jun Moxie was suddenly filled with a heartfelt emotion!
He had finally reached the third level of the Heaven-Forging Creation Art!
He had finally unlocked the third level of the Exquisite Hongjun Tower!
Recalling the sensation he had just endured—a pain more severe than being simultaneously tormented by the eighteen layers of purgatory—Jun Moxie smiled faintly.
"Suffering the bitterest hardships leads one to be above others!" This saying was certainly true!
Of course, just as Jun Moxie had once judged of obsession, this kind of pain was not something everyone could bear! In fact, the vast majority couldn't endure it at all, and failure to endure meant the tragic end of complete soul dissipation, never to be reborn!
Fortunately, Jun Moxie successfully and luckily endured it! From ancient times to the present, the number of people who could pass this trial in both worlds could likely be counted on the five fingers of one hand—a source of immense pride!
The Evil Lord's tenacity and forbearance were the foundation of his arrogance and wickedness, and they were his true capital!
In a haze, a set of incantations suddenly appeared in Jun Moxie's mind:
“The Azure Sky has a path, preserving the prime years; Gaze upon the scene, where jade mansions and precious trees lie; The heart is full of the Spirit Mountain, the mind satisfied by the Immortal Lake; With nine movements of the soul, the Elixir Way may be entered,”
The third layer of the Hongjun Tower, Vast and Boundless, Manifests Heaven and Earth!
He had finally broken through! From the first layer's Illumination of the Great Derivation to the second layer's Intentional Guarding of Heaven and Earth, his profound cultivation had leaped nine ranks in one go! And this latest breakthrough propelled him from the peak of Jade Profound straight to the initial stage of Heaven Profound—a direct leap across four major ranks, making his progress astonishing, even terrifying!
Although it was only four ranks, this advancement was significantly greater than before!
As is widely known, the higher one ascends in Profound Qi cultivation, the more time it consumes, and the stages are distinctly separated by four major hurdles. The first is the "Breaking Nine" barrier, the dividing line between mortals and high-level cultivators ().
The second is the Jade Profound Gate. This gate determines a person's lifelong achievement, because beyond Jade Profound, even a minor stage might see someone with insufficient aptitude never advance again. The younger one reaches the Jade Profound realm, besides indicating extraordinary talent, it also implies a higher potential for future achievement. This is why the earlier Baili Luoyun, despite only reaching the Jade Profound realm, garnered the attention of countless masters.
The third hurdle is the upgrade from the peak of Earth Profound to Heaven Profound, which marks a massive divergence in a cultivator's actual strength. The difference in power before and after this breakthrough cannot be quantified by mere reason. Besides innate talent and countless efforts, it also requires a significant passage of time. By the progress rate of an average Heaven Profound cultivator, this single step nearly equals the entire effort taken to advance from Profound Qi Rank One to the peak of Earth Profound!
As for the fourth and final hurdle, it is the Divine Profound Gate. Any Heaven Profound cultivator who can secure an additional thirty years of lifespan will certainly ascend to the Divine Profound realm. However, most powerful Heaven Profound experts are already quite aged upon reaching this level, and securing another thirty years to reach Divine Profound often leaves them with the will but not the strength. Realms beyond Divine Profound are beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators; only geniuses blessed with immense fortune can touch them, and they are not included in these four gates.
In summary, though the suffering Young Master Jun endured was immense—it could truly be called facing death nine times and narrowly escaping—the rewards he gained were exceedingly rich. This advancement was absolutely a super leap; such progress is not only unprecedented but is likely to be unmatched by any who follow!
Jun Moxie silently recited the newly acquired incantation, and involuntarily, he thought back to the incantations from the previous two layers. He recalled that for the first layer, the incantation contained two lines: "Nine Refinements of the Soul, Never Sinking to the Yellow Springs"; for the second layer's advancement, there was a line: "Nine Turns of the Soul, the Elixir Heart Stabilizes"; and now for the third layer, just as expected, there appeared the line: "Nine Movements of the Soul, the Elixir Way may be entered,"...
All three layers' incantations contain the characters "Soul" (), and all also contain the number "Nine." Jun Moxie nodded silently, musing that there must be some deeper meaning within this.
Nine is the extreme of numbers. The Hongjun Tower has nine layers in total, and the Creation Art is divided into nine progressive layers. Now, the number nine appears in the incantation for each layer. Although he hasn't reached the higher layers yet, Jun Moxie could surmise that the incantations for the upper layers must also contain the character for nine.
Is this perhaps hinting at something?
Recalling his upgrades over the last two layers, Jun Moxie felt puzzled. He neither performed the Nine Refinements of the Soul nor the Nine Turns of the Soul, and naturally, he hadn't performed the Nine Movements of the Soul now! Yet, he truly upgraded. Why was that? (To be continued)