To speak of utter powerlessness, Zong Shou, despite having survived countless major and minor battles, had never felt so profoundly useless. His opponent was of the Supreme Realm, yet Zong Shou felt utterly disgraced.

Disorganized and without structure— When tallied closely, did he truly lack in mastered divine abilities, sword arts, or spiritual techniques? In truth, he possessed so many that his own physical body could barely contain them!

Yet, there was absolutely no method, just chaos. Observing Jue Yu, his learning was similarly broad.

But his breadth was not chaos; everything was seamlessly integrated into that Dharmakaya of the Turning Wheel. All his power formed a singular entity, tightly structured with not a single wasted element.

No wonder the man looked down upon him so intensely. “Such disorder, while not inherently harmful, prevents mutual augmentation and synergy.

Lacking a unified system is in itself the greatest flaw. Even in striving for simplicity from complexity, this is not the way.” Zong Shou pondered, his movements slowing even as he fought.

In other words, the immediate priority was not seeking new power. That was impossible for him to achieve in a short time anyway.

Rather, there was still vast potential locked within himself waiting to be tapped! He then considered how to break the Turning Wheel technique mastered by Jue Yan.

His form of the Origin and End, on the level of the Dao’s prime source, did hold a superiority over Jue Yan’s. However, the gap between them spanned countless tiers.

A hair’s breadth of difference meant a thousand miles astray. He should possess the strength to contend, but how long he could hold out remained a question.

To enter that Abyssal Gate would require finding an alternative strategy— But Zong Shou searched his thoughts carefully. After a long while, there was still no breakthrough.

Unless he could sever the force that drove the cycle of reincarnation, no matter how powerful the divine technique or method, it would merely be spun back, leaving him helpless. As he let out a quiet sigh, frustration welling up, Zong Shou felt a sudden throb in his heart.

Wait—sever? Zong Shou dimly grasped something.

A spark of unique light flashed in his eyes. Then, collecting his scattered thoughts, he divided his focus into three threads.

While primarily dedicated to refining the Instant Void Dragon Pill and the Imperial Dao Dragon Fang Sword, the majority of his mental energy began to be spent on organizing his own divine abilities. His swordsmanship needed little integration; it had always been founded upon the Primordial Unity Sword.

Whether it was the Ninety-Nine Dragon Shadow Sword, the Styx Death Knell Sword, or the secret arts of the Dao of All Beings. Zong Shou had always strived to merge them into the Primordial Unity Sword.

He had always believed that the truly peerless, invincible sword, the sword that questions the Dao, only needed to be one sword! However, the structure of his Soul Sea within his body was indeed chaotic and convoluted.

Zong Shou paused briefly in thought and decided to manifest his True Form Dharmakaya to begin integrating the four bloodline imprints into his very essence. And then there were the Great Dao True Seeds, such as Fate, Karma, Life, and Death.

These did not merely complement one another; they also contained points of inherent conflict. How to turn harm into benefit, how to order them, how to deploy them—all required meticulous integration.

Ultimately, he lacked a complete inheritance as a Spiritual Master. Previously, Zong Shou had managed the sea of his primal soul with sheer brutality, letting it run its own course.

Against ordinary cultivators, this was passable, but against an opponent like Jue Yan, countless flaws and weaknesses were exposed. “Fate, Karma.

Life, Death, Yin, Yang, Cosmos, Inhalation, Exhalation—all are the Dao, and all exist between the end and the beginning. They can merge into a single character representing the Dao.

This is not bad, but the finer details still need careful consideration to refine the structure—” In short, it was about maximizing the potential of his Great Dao divine powers. As this thought arose, Zong Shou distinctly felt a subtle change occurring in the void of his spiritual consciousness.

Furthermore, regarding the Star Dao Seeds: the more stars he incorporated, the more the stars in his inner void resembled the stellar constellations of the myriad realms. Since this was the case, consciously mimicking the celestial map was superior to merely letting these stars evolve on their own.

One must know that a natural phenomenon must have a reason! This vault of the heavens, mirroring the myriad realms, must serve some purpose.

In this domain, there were countless secret techniques created by referencing the stars. His Three Thousand Stars Fall itself originated from the Daoist Sect’s Zhou Tian Secret Stellar Fall Art.

However, achieving any of this was not the work of a single day. The workload was immense; even leveraging the power of the Book of the Cosmos, it might take three to five months to complete.

Yet, at this moment, every sliver of increased strength was valuable. Even completing just the initial steps could increase Zong Shou’s chances of victory.

Closing his eyes in deep meditation, Zong Shou once again lost track of time. Though the searing pain in his eyes remained intense, sitting beside the woman, Zong Shou felt a surprising tranquility.

He actually began to grow indifferent to the agony in his eyes. For some inexplicable reason, the moment Zong Shou began attempting to merge the four potent bloodlines with his True Form, the pain in his pupils instantly diminished by nearly half.

“As expected, this anomaly in my eyes is related to the power of the bloodline—” The fusion process was unexpectedly simple. It seemed as though he had already undergone thousands of trials, making it a natural progression.

Zong Shou’s guiding principle was nothing more than the four characters: ‘Seek Commonality, Preserve Difference.’ First, seek the sameness, merge into one. The dissimilarities and conflicts within the bloodlines would be temporarily reserved, left aside for now.

He could not afford to grasp for too much at once; this part, Zong Shou decided, he would refine later when time permitted, discarding the dross. Anything that offered no benefit to him, anything extraneous and useless, must be decisively purged, preserving only the essence.

Time passed without measure before Zong Shou awoke again. He suddenly thrust out a finger, an action utterly unremarkable on the surface.

The space before him showed no outward change. Only Zong Shou could perceive the terrifying power gathered at that fingertip.

If he had not pulled back in time, everything within several hundred li of that spot would have been reduced to absolute annihilation. This was One of the Nine-Nine Returns to One, and also One of the Great Evolutions!

This was the only method Zong Shou conceived that could truly contend with the Turning Wheel. Raising an eyebrow, Zong Shou’s eyes finally showed a trace of anticipation.

He then sensed a focused gaze fixed upon him, gentle as flowing water. Near him was only the woman beneath the tree.

Zong Shou looked over in surprise. “Is there something amiss with this junior?” “How could there be?” Lu Hanyan perhaps felt slightly embarrassed, her face flushing faintly.

Then, her expression turned sorrowful. “It is merely nostalgia evoked by the scene.

If my child had not been afflicted by illness, he would likely be over twenty years old now. A little older than you appear.” Zong Shou felt a flush of awkwardness; his appearance had been preserved too early, still resembling that of a sixteen-year-old.

He then heard Lu Hanyan sigh mournfully, “I wonder if he would recognize me as his mother if I went out? What is he like now?

If he possessed even half of your skill, little brother, I would be satisfied. No, perhaps it is better he does not cultivate.

The Lu family would never leave him alone; I only wish him a life of peace and safety. Hmm, that is also not right; if he does not cultivate, how can he attain eternal life?” Zong Shou felt a stinging in his eyes, and an inexplicable, wrenching pain seized his heart.

Judging the passage of time, he fled as if pursued, leaping up and plunging once more into the black mist. (Your support is my greatest motivation.)RV