Standing atop the floating boulder, his body faintly shimmering with a hazy glow, Dongbo Xueying thrust forward once more with the Crimson Cloud Divine Spear. Though the strike appeared ordinary, it carried the full might of the void itself, ultimately triggering the shattering of the void’s essence at the point of convergence. Where the spear tip struck, an incredibly minuscule crack appeared. Truly befitting a weapon once wielded by the Crimson Cloud Venerable, this strike widened the fissure several times over compared to before.
Breaking the essence of the void and shattering the cage is an immensely difficult feat.
Even the ‘Primordial Void Ancestor’ of the Chaos Void failed to achieve it, and many Cosmic Deities remain incapable.
Sheer power alone is insufficient—one must also find the correct ‘direction.’
Take the art of body-splitting, for example. With the right direction, even a Chaos Realm cultivator can master it! The Crimson-Browed Mountain Lord is proof of this. Yet, without guidance, even beings like the Sacred Lord or the Stone Elder would be unable to create such a technique.
The same principle applies to ‘Shattering the Firmament’!
This is an extremely refined application of the void’s principles, utilizing the entire surrounding space to deliver a devastating strike. When the space can no longer withstand the force, it ultimately triggers a partial collapse of its very essence!
‘Shattering the Firmament’ is a tenth-level Chaos Realm technique! In fact, a simplified version of the same path is the ninth-level Chaos Realm technique ‘Void Pulverization,’ and further simplified, it becomes the eighth-level ‘Dust Scatter’…
The same logic applies.
‘Beautiful as a Painting’ is also one of the two secret techniques—a tenth-level Chaos Realm move. Its simplified form is the ninth-level ‘Worldheart Blade.’
The Twelve Forms of the Southern Cloud Sage…
In truth, they primarily follow two distinct paths, delving ever deeper. ‘Beautiful as a Painting’ and ‘Shattering the Firmament’ were originally Cosmic Deity techniques, their profundity surpassing any move Dongbo Xueying had created in his past life. Only with the perfected tenth-level Southern Cloud Saint Body could he barely execute them. These techniques could be refined even further, but that would require the power of a Cosmic Deity.
“With the right direction, even a tenth-level Chaos Realm technique can break the cage.” Through the countless microscopic fissures formed by the shattered black mist spheres, Dongbo Xueying once again ‘gazed’ outward. His ‘sight’ was actually a wisp of consciousness extending beyond to perceive.
The Heart Realm Continent was vast beyond measure.
Dongbo Xueying saw an unfathomably massive landmass, surrounded by countless orbiting stars.
Faintly, beyond the Heart Realm Continent—this Source World—he glimpsed another colossal Source World, blurred by the immense distance.
“Another Source World?” Dongbo Xueying nodded slightly. “Beyond the Chaos Void and the Heart Realm Continent, there are others.”
“However, Meta granted the peerless talents of the Chaos Void the chance to reincarnate in the Heart Realm Continent. It seems this world must be among the most profound of all Source Worlds.” Dongbo Xueying pondered silently.
Again and again, he executed ‘Shattering the Firmament,’ each time peering outward.
Though each glimpse was awe-inspiring, the sensation of touching a higher plane of existence intoxicated him. Yet he knew he remained a lifeform within the cage, barely managing to pry open the tiniest crack.
“Whoosh—”
Strands of mysterious energy seeped in from the higher world into the Source World.
Dongbo Xueying immediately activated the ‘Body-Splitting Art,’ a soul-based secret technique that swiftly drew those ethereal strands toward his soul. Guided by the art, the energy merged into his soul, sending shivers through his being. His soul was transforming—a change he instinctively recognized as beneficial.
He felt an unprecedented harmony with the void, as if he had always belonged to it.
…
The fissure was too small, and the influx of mysterious energy too meager. After just ten days of cultivation, Dongbo Xueying sensed his soul could advance no further.
“Swish.”
The white-robed Dongbo Xueying, seated cross-legged on the boulder, suddenly split as a blurred figure emerged from his body, landing beside him in an identical posture. The figure voraciously absorbed the world’s energy, solidifying until it became a golden-robed Dongbo Xueying.
“Success.” The two Dongbo Xueyings exchanged glances.
Though separate in body, their memories were identical.
However, the newly formed body was merely an ordinary vessel—lacking the Southern Cloud Saint Body and the Crimson Cloud Divine Spear, it was incapable of executing tenth-level Chaos Realm techniques.
“My soul absorbed too little of the mysterious energy, and the transformation was minimal. Under the suppression of the supreme laws, I can only split into one additional body.” Dongbo Xueying mused. Having mastered the complete Body-Splitting Art, he understood that the inability to perform it was purely due to the supreme laws. Only by absorbing the energy beyond the cage could the soul evolve.
This evolution set him apart from other lifeforms within the Source World. Without this energy, even Cosmic Deities could not split their bodies.
And as this transformation deepened, the number of possible bodies would increase.
The two bodies regarded each other.
The golden-robed one was weaker, and in Dongbo Xueying’s plans, it would not venture out for battle. Thus, he left the residual energy of the ‘Heart Realm Token’ within its soul. After all, when the soul split, the token’s energy could only reside in one body. Though the white-robed body was stronger, it would face dangers in the outside world—who knew when it might perish?
…
Time flowed without measure in cultivation.
On one hand, Dongbo Xueying delved deeper into the path of the void. Having long mastered the two secret techniques, he now studied the mysteries within the Crimson Cloud Divine Spear and refined his ‘Etherealization’—his ambition to achieve its pinnacle while still in the Chaos Realm. Exploring multiple facets of the void would undoubtedly aid his eventual ascension to Cosmic Deity.
On the other hand, he now spent over half his time cultivating the ‘Illusory Realm of the Void.’
His mastery of the Illusory Realm had already reached the Chaos Realm, and he continued to progress. With his past life’s insights, he encountered no bottlenecks, steadily advancing until he recreated ninth-level Illusory Realm techniques.
In the path of the void, he still stumbled occasionally—despite his profound past-life accumulations, he had never created a ninth-level technique.
The Illusory Realm, though slow at first, accelerated as he progressed, culminating in the seamless creation of a ninth-level illusory world. He had studied all eighteen Illusory Realm texts he possessed, enhancing his soul’s strength to three or four times that of an ordinary Chaos Realm expert—a unique advantage of soul-based paths.
And the ‘Illusory Realm of the Void’ was precisely that—a path of the soul.
“Under normal circumstances, this is the limit for the Chaos Realm,” Dongbo Xueying reflected.
“Unless I obtain a tenth-level Chaos Realm secret art or a powerful Illusory Realm treasure,” he mused.
Unlike other paths, the soul path was exceedingly rare. In the Chaos Void, Dongbo Xueying had been the first to elevate the ‘Illusory Realm of the Void’ to the Chaos Realm within the Rule-Oriented system. Even including ancient cultivators, there had never been a Cosmic Deity-level master of this art.
This path… was far more challenging to cultivate than tangible elements like water, fire, lightning, particles, or space. The Illusory Realm required constructing an entirely new world—akin to creation itself—an endeavor of immense difficulty.
Even in the more profound Heart Realm Continent, any tenth-level Chaos Realm Illusory Realm secret art was a closely guarded treasure, its value rivaling the most supreme techniques of other paths.
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