Though Zong Shou had reached the initial stage of the Innate Pulse realm, he could only manifest a fraction of the true power of his Six Spirits Controlling Blade Art or his swordsmanship overall.

Yet, what he currently anticipated most was the nascent sword embryo residing within his Yuan Soul.

His recent Qi refining techniques had certainly advanced with astonishing speed, but even that velocity couldn't keep pace with the cultivation of his spiritual arts.

The growth of his soul consciousness was virtually increasing daily, and even with the aid of the essence from the Thunder Roc Egg, his physical body still couldn't keep up. He seemed capable of stepping onto a new level almost every ten days. Furthermore, the strengthening of his Divine Soul would only make this 'Yuan Yi Sword' more formidable, allowing it to continue its growth.

He manipulated it momentarily with his will, coaxing the Thunder Wing Sword to gradually merge with this illusory sword of his—essentially his second Primordial Spirit.

Zong Shou then entered deep meditation, beginning to map out the True Talismans within his Sea of Souls.

In a mere instant, a talisman pattern materialized and took shape following his will, merging into the Sea of Talismans. The speed was several dozen times faster than before!

However, this phenomenon had actually begun the day prior. Zong Shou felt no shock, only confusion.

"Strange! Why is the convergence of my True Talismans so rapid? These past two days account for nearly the sum total of the previous two months! If this continues, I estimate I can manifest another True Talisman in just a few days. It's as if the potential of my Yuan Soul has completely erupted. But yesterday, besides beating up those three fellows, I don't recall doing anything else. Could it be because of the fierce battle with that Marquis Zhu Jun? Given his martial cultivation, if I couldn't surprise him into submission right at the start, I would have certainly been defeated and crushed instead. This matter is quite peculiar—"

Zong Shou shook his head inwardly and continued to focus his mind in meditation. After two hours, several dozen True Talismans were already drifting within his Sea of Souls. He wasn't far from manifesting the next True Talisman, and the unleashed potential showed no signs of waning.

Moreover, surprisingly, the strengthening of his Yin Soul was no longer in fierce opposition to the True Qi surging within his body, as it had been before.

While they were still far from true harmony, they were no longer violently repelling each other; they maintained a state of mutual non-interference. This de-escalation in the conflict between the two forces reduced his constraints, and his cultivation instantly showed signs of rapid advancement.

Zong Shou worried about rushing things, so he temporarily reined himself in. Instead, he used the 'Water' and 'Fire' True Talismans, located in the deepest part of his Sea of Souls, to begin drawing upon the twelve Heavenly Talisman seeds outside the Sea of Souls.

He could sense threads extending from the spiritual restrictions of the True Talismans, connecting with those Heavenly Talisman seeds, especially tightly between the Water and Fire characters. Step by step, they were being pulled toward the center of the vortex in his Sea of Souls.

This was the process of fusion. Once completely finished, Zong Shou’s Water and Fire spiritual arts would instantly be enhanced to the Heavenly Talisman level. Even now, the might of his spiritual arts had already increased by nearly half.

The entire process took half a day. When Zong Shou finished, it was already noon.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Chuxue, who had been sleeping in the bed, groggily waking up.

The two stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment. Chuxue seemed to finally recall what happened just before she lost consciousness. Her delicate face instantly flushed crimson, and after a sharp scream, she snatched Zong Shou's bedsheet and fled the room wildly.

Zong Shou chuckled, stood up, and stretched.

It wasn't just his Yuan Soul whose potential was being unlocked. His physical body, too, seemed to have transformed from a small stream into a mighty river, surging endlessly from its deepest recesses.

He swallowed a Blood Sun Pill, which strengthens Qi and blood and makes the physical body's elemental vigor more yang.

He also took one each of the Nine Refinements Jade Tempering Pill and the Vast Spirit Pill. The former was for tempering the physical body, while the latter temporarily increased the ability to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Zong Shou first used the fourth set of guidance techniques to fully integrate the medicinal power into his body.

Then, as the spiritual energy around him suddenly surged, he slammed his fists out—ferocious and mighty, in no way inferior to the Great Sun Bright Fist, causing the entire nine-story tower they were in to tremble. He stomped a foot, unleashing tens of thousands of pounds of sheer force. Fortunately, the entire structure was supported by twelve towering thirty-zhang-long pillars, and the floor was made of extremely solid Heavenly Nanmu wood, hard enough to serve as refined steel, so nothing broke.

This was the Rhino Demon Spiritual Armor Fist, another body-tempering martial art.

Zong Shou had learned countless body-tempering techniques. He possessed over thirty top-tier ultimate skills. However, he selected only four from them.

—Fetal Breath Spiritual Fist, Great Sun Bright Fist, Lesser Five Wheels Bright King Fist, and Rhino Demon Spiritual Armor Fist.

The four techniques connected seamlessly, perfectly encompassing the tempering of the Fetal Breath, bone marrow, Qi and blood, five organs, six viscera, and skin and flesh. All nine meridians within his body were covered!

They could be used for both internal and external cultivation, extending all the way to the Nine Heavenly Wheels. Moreover, the Great Sun Bright Fist and Rhino Demon Spiritual Armor Fist originated from the Demonic Race. As for the Fetal Breath Spiritual Fist and Lesser Five Wheels Bright King Fist, they were Buddhist ultimate skills and did not conflict with the demonic physique.

The Rhino Demon Spiritual Armor Fist, specifically, was a technique for refining skin, bones, sinews, and fascia. It was rumored that upon reaching its peak, one's entire skin could become as indestructible as the armor of a demonic rhino, rendering all Spirit Weapons below the Seventh Order useless! If one's foundational bones and flesh were even stronger, facing an Eighth Order Spirit Weapon would not be impossible!

As he executed this fist technique, the Nine Refinements Jade Tempering Pill gradually melted into his skin, causing Zong Shou’s entire body to exude an opalescent white sheen, transparent and flawless, as if he were truly made of jade.

Though this spiritual pill was only Third Order, it was a rare and esoteric body-tempering medicine, one of the secret transmissions of the Danquan Sect. It could turn a martial artist's skin jade-colored, and with continuous use, the color would eventually return to normal. After several more months, the color would cycle through nine transformations in total, strengthening the skin membrane five to tenfold depending on aptitude, making the skin as hard as steel, impervious to swords and blades—truly remarkable.

Combined with the Rhino Demon Spiritual Armor Fist now, the effect was even more pronounced. It was as if a layer of iron armor truly clothed his physical body.

Furthermore, torrents of vast spiritual energy were drawn into his body, mixing with the True Qi. Within the meridians, they surged and expanded, not only washing away the still blocked and narrow points but also continuously expanding his meridians outwards, while simultaneously compressing the True Qi within Zong Shou.

His Qi and blood were also boiling, integrating the yang energy from the Blood Sun Pill. After breaking through the Body Wheel and reaching the Earth Wheel, all his meridians were unimpeded. The most crucial task now was expanding the meridians to increase the intensity of the True Qi.

The former required gradual accumulation over days, focusing on one aspect of cultivation: refining and condensing the True Qi, and increasing the yang energy it contained, making it purer. Concurrently, one needed to forge a more formidable and vast martial intent that could better harmonize with heaven and earth, which also helped condense True Qi.

Zong Yuan was able to slay a Martial Ancestor expert while only at the peak of the Third Meridian Earth Wheel Innate Realm because he had comprehended the 'Momentum' of the Martial Dao in the Innate Realm, allowing him to temporarily erupt with power comparable to a Martial Ancestor. The reason he failed to break through sooner was also due to the flaws in his Martial Dao. Zong Shou, however, possessed the martial cultivation experience from his past life, so this aspect was not an issue. What he lacked currently was only the refinement of his True Qi.

Next was body forging. While practicing his punches within that vortex, his physical body had already been tempered to a level comparable to the peak Innate Realm. Yet, at this moment, he experienced another leap in growth. This was not only because his physical potential was still in a state of vigorous activity, but also because the effect of these elixirs was truly terrifying. The Thunder Roc Essence, while good, was far inferior to the targeted physical reinforcement provided by elixirs like those Xuan Yuan Yiren refined.

"Truly top-grade elixirs! But the enhancement of the yang energy within my bloodline surprisingly doesn't affect my Yuan Soul; I truly don't understand why such a massive change occurred so suddenly—"

A cultivator's Yuan Soul is most vulnerable to the forces of surging blood and intense yang energy, and to filth. The former naturally conflicts with the Yin Soul, while the latter can contaminate the Divine Soul. This is why the best way to deal with spiritual cultivators below the Returning Yang realm is often to splash them with things like black dog blood.

However, Zong Shou was now cultivating both spirit and martial arts, and the Qi and Soul within his body were completely unaffected.

"Forget it! This is a good thing anyway. Both my spiritual arts and True Qi are advancing incredibly fast. Since I still have a full dozen days to wait in Xuan Mountain City for the spiritual elixirs Yiren is refining, I might as well focus on diligent cultivation for a while longer. I wonder if my cultivation can reach another step by then. Every stage on the Martial Dao is arduous, but the spiritual path shows great promise—"

As the Rhino Demon Spiritual Armor Fist was pushed to its extreme, a thick layer of earth-elemental spiritual energy also covered Zong Shou.

Yet, his gaze drifted slightly. Manifesting the next True Talisman, at the current speed, would truly only take a dozen days. The number of True Talisman spiritual restrictions within his body directly influenced the strength of the Illusory Spirit Sword Forging Method. His 'Yuan Yi' Sword would definitely become several points stronger!

It was a pity that although he possessed the sword embryo, he lacked suitable sword cultivation and soul cultivation methods. Even if he wanted to create them himself, he lacked sufficient experience. It was truly agonizing; those two had caused him immense trouble. Whether it was the Sword of the Five Absolutes or the Grand Origin Spirit Sword, he genuinely wouldn't be picky—

※ ※ ※ ※

Just as Zong Shou was overwhelmed with resentment, in some unknown location across time and space, a white-robed youth sat before a chessboard. The board, intersected by nineteen vertical and horizontal lines, was filled with black and white stones. However, his opponent was absent; there was only a vast, dark pool opposite him.

Yet, every time the youth placed a piece, a strange force would emerge from the depths of the pool, remotely controlling the white pieces in the urn to land on the board. Any connoisseur of the game of Go watching this would surely realize that the gap between the black and white sides had become exceptionally vast.

A great dragon was on the verge of being slaughtered; the black side had no possibility of turning the tide. Nevertheless, the white-robed youth remained cheerfully smiling, as if completely unconcerned with winning or losing, contentedly placing his moves.

A moment later, as expected, all twenty black pieces were drawn out by the strange force in the lake and discarded to the side. The white-robed youth paid no mind, still placing a piece, showing a rather tenacious spirit.

It was the pool, however, that let out a cold laugh: "There are many humans who cannot play chess. But one like you, who is clearly a terrible player yet plays with such fervor, is truly rare. The outcome of this match is clear; what use is it to refuse defeat?"

The voice sounded feminine yet carried a metallic quality, though it was exceedingly pleasant to the ear. The white-robed youth pricked up his ears slightly, displaying an expression of enjoyment. After a moment, he shook his head: "Although the trend of my game shows defeat, if I don't continue placing pieces and finish the match, how can I know if there might be a glimmer of hope later, or if I can truly turn defeat into victory? How is that refusing defeat?" (To be continued)