The Creation of the Heavens and All Realms

Chapter 26: The Phenomenon of the Innate Realm

Li Feng stood there in a daze for a moment. He wasn’t surprised that Zhou Tianci could break through the Posthuman realm—no one knew Zhou Tianci’s strength better than he did. If even Zhou Tianci couldn’t break through, who else in this world could achieve the Innate realm? To be sure, Li Feng was quite renowned among the martial artists of Jiangzhou. Having dominated the region for over twenty years, he had seen countless battles and had never been defeated by anyone at the same cultivation level. Yet after his battle with Zhou Tianci, Li Feng was thoroughly convinced of his superiority. As fellow Peak Posthuman martial artists, Zhou Tianci had defeated all three of them with a single wave of his hand. In a life-or-death struggle, Zhou Tianci could have taken the lives of the three brothers in the blink of an eye. Li Feng had never even heard of such a powerful figure, let alone seen one! It wasn’t just Li Feng; Li Tie and Li Ping were equally filled with admiration for Zhou Tianci. The Li brothers had never admitted defeat, but Zhou Tianci was the exception. As a result, Zhou Tianci easily brought the three Li brothers under his banner. What Li Feng hadn’t expected was that Zhou Tianci was about to break through so quickly—and under these circumstances, no less. “Xiantian? Is the Lord about to attain the Xiantian realm?” Li Ping’s booming voice rang out. “Shut up!” Li Tie hurriedly cut him off. “Don’t make a scene!” Lei Dong also realized what was happening; he was so excited he was trembling all over. “As expected of you, Sir—you’re actually about to break through the Posterior Heaven realm and attain the Pre-Heaven realm!” Lei Dong looked at Zhou Tianci with admiration; Zhou Tianci’s stature in his eyes grew even greater. “All right, is there really any need to get this excited?” Zhou Tianci was secretly pleased to see them so stirred up. To him, his subordinates in the military were merely colleagues; they obeyed his orders solely because of the military law of the Great State of Yu. No matter how close their relationship might be, if Liu Yuntao ever gave the order to take him down, they would not hesitate to act against him. Zhou Tianci knew full well that his military subordinates could not be fully trusted, and these four men before him were his very first core team in this world. Li Ping chuckled, “Your Excellency, how could we not be excited? That’s a Xiantian cultivator! Among the hundreds of thousands of martial artists in Jiangzhou, there are only a few hundred Xiantian cultivators. In the Great State of Yu, Xiantian powerhouses are respected wherever they go; even the royal family treats them with the utmost courtesy. Xiantian powerhouses are qualified to establish martial arts clans!” “That’s right, Your Excellency,” Li Feng added with emotion. “The gap between the peak of the Post-Heaven realm and the Innate realm may seem like a fine line, but it’s actually a world of difference. Once one enters the Innate realm, it’s like a carp transforming into a dragon—from then on, one can roam the heavens and earth at will!” Zhou Tianci and Lei Dong couldn’t fathom the Li brothers’ obsession with the Innate Realm. Thirteen years ago, Li Feng had reached the peak of the Post-Heaven Realm and begun searching for an opportunity to break through to the Innate Realm. Yet in Jiangzhou, there were tens of thousands of peak Post-Heaven cultivators. Even with the help of his two brothers, Li Feng had spent thirteen years without any results—the hardships they’d endured were known only to them. “Sir, what do you plan to do after you break through? Will you remain in the military?” Li Tie asked. Zhou Tianci replied, “We’ll discuss that later. For now, breaking through is the priority.” “Sir, rest assured. We will do our utmost to protect you!” The three Li brothers exchanged glances and said as they knelt on one knee. Seeing them do this, Lei Dong also knelt down. “All right, stand up. If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have asked you to guard me during the breakthrough.” Zhou Tianci was very satisfied. He had complete confidence in Lei Dong, having once saved him and knowing him well. However, his trust in the three Li brothers was not quite as deep. Zhou Tianci’s breakthrough this time had come naturally, without the slightest danger. The reason he had shared this news with them and asked them to act as guardians was also to test their loyalty. “The Innate Realm is merely a stage of cultivation. For others, it’s a major hurdle, but to me, it’s nothing at all,” Zhou Tianci continued. “As long as you remain loyal to me and do your utmost to serve me, I will certainly help you break through to the Post-Heaven Realm and attain the Innate Realm in the future. Not only that, but I’ll lead you even further!” Zhou Tianci’s promise left the three Li brothers somewhat incredulous. They hesitated for a long moment before finally swallowing their doubts. Zhou Tianci offered no explanation; he had merely stated a fact—one that, to ordinary people, was somewhat staggering. “The opportunity has been given to you; it remains to be seen whether you can seize it,” Zhou Tianci thought to himself as he looked at the three Li brothers. After setting up camp, Zhou Tianci instructed Qi Shan to organize the defensive duties while he began his seclusion to break through to the next level. Qi Shan dared not show the slightest negligence toward Zhou Tianci’s orders and quickly made the necessary arrangements. He also reassigned the members of Li Feng’s Adventurers’ Guild—this was Zhou Tianci’s directive, as he held no regard for those men. Lei Dong and the three Li brothers stood guard outside Zhou Tianci’s tent, with the four of them covering all four sides. Seeing their imposing demeanor, Qi Shan and the other five squad leaders dared not disturb them. Over the past half-month, Zhou Tianci’s prestige within the main force had skyrocketed; everyone from ordinary soldiers to the five squad leaders feared him deeply. This prestige had been earned through bloody battles, carrying a heavy aura of bloodshed that inspired fear rather than reverence. Inside the tent, Zhou Tianci sat cross-legged as an unending stream of plant essence flowed into his body. As the Tree of Eternal Creation matured, its devouring ability grew stronger, and its efficiency in absorbing the essence of plants and trees increased as well. Under this devouring process, a vortex of spiritual energy with a diameter of nearly a zhang slowly formed around Zhou Tianci, drawing in an endless stream of spiritual energy and the essence of plants and trees. “Is this what it looks like when one breaks through to the Innate Realm?” Li Feng, standing outside the tent, watched with envy, mistaking the vortex of spiritual energy for a sign that Zhou Tianci was about to break through. As Zhou Tianci’s spiritual essence grew stronger and his cultivation deepened, his control over it became increasingly adept. No sooner had he begun his quiet meditation than his mind had already sunk into his Spirit Platform. Upon the Spirit Platform, Zhou Tianci’s spiritual essence enveloped the Tree of Eternal Creation, focusing all his efforts on perceiving the Law of Power. At the same time, his Purple Palace in the dantian continuously devoured the spiritual energy surrounding him, then condensed it into true qi. In less than a single hour, four-fifths of the spiritual energy throughout Zhou Tianci’s body had been refined! As the sky gradually darkened, torches were lit at the camp. Under Qi Shan’s direction, more than 200 people began their evening meal. However, Lei Dong and the three Li brothers remained motionless; they stood guard outside Zhou Tianci’s tent the entire time, never straying a step away. “Old Qi, do you have any idea what’s going on with the Squad Leader?” Chen Xiangrong asked Qi Shan in a low voice; this expedition into the Barbarian Wilderness had indeed brought them much closer together. Qi Shan glanced at Zhou Tianci’s tent and shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure either. The squad leader’s always been a mystery—no one can figure out what he’s thinking.” “Could he have made a breakthrough?” Chu Lei, the squad leader of the Fourth Squad, chimed in. “Impossible!” Wei Yaohua, the squad leader of the Third Squad, objected. “The squad leader is already at the peak of the Post-Heaven realm. To break through to the Pre-Heaven realm—how could that be possible?” “Why not? The Squad Leader’s strength has long surpassed the peak of the Posthuman Realm—that’s undeniable, isn’t it? If he were to break through to the Posthuman Realm, I wouldn’t find it strange at all,” Chu Lei said. Qi Shan spoke up: “It’s impossible for him to have advanced to the Innate Realm.” Qi Shan’s absolute tone piqued everyone’s curiosity, and Chen Xiangrong asked, “Why?” A reserved smile appeared on Qi Shan’s face. “As far as I know, to break through from the Post-Heaven realm to the Pre-Heaven realm, one must strengthen their Primordial Spirit. Only when the Primordial Spirit is strong enough can one look inward and thereby sense the Spirit Platform. The spiritual soul is the most mysterious—and the most dangerous—aspect of cultivation; even the slightest damage leads to physical death and the annihilation of the soul. Precisely for this reason, when advancing to the Innate Realm, everyone seeks out a secluded retreat to prevent external disturbances from damaging the spiritual soul during the breakthrough.” Qi Shan was right. Under normal circumstances, no one would dare to break through in front of outsiders—not even with a guardian present. But what he couldn’t have imagined was that Zhou Tianci’s spiritual essence had already broken through; now, all that remained was to refine his True Qi. Even external forces couldn’t interfere with him. Time ticked by, and Zhou Tianci had reached the final critical moment. Finally, the last wisp of spiritual energy in his crown chakra was replaced by True Qi, and Zhou Tianci stepped into the Xiantian realm. “Rumble, rumble…” The moment he entered the Xiantian Realm, Zhou Tianci heard a thunderous roar within his body—a sound he perceived not with his ears, but through his spiritual essence. Through his Primordial Spirit’s perception, Zhou Tianci could clearly see the changes occurring in his body from the inside out. His bone marrow, bones, blood, muscles, meridians, acupoints, and skin—every single part was undergoing a metamorphosis. “Once one enters the Xiantian Realm, one is reborn from the ground up.” Zhou Tianci recalled the extraordinary phenomena associated with the Xiantian Realm mentioned in the Tower of the God of War. To Zhou Tianci’s astonishment, his spiritual essence was growing in tandem. Originally, his spiritual essence had been three chi in length—the limit for the True Qi Realm at the early Xiantian stage. Upon entering the Xiantian realm, Zhou Tianci’s spiritual essence slowly expanded: three chi and one cun, three chi and two cun… And so, by the time his physical body had completed its metamorphosis, Zhou Tianci’s spiritual essence had actually grown to six chi—a full doubling in size! “Marvelous, marvelous! My spiritual essence had already reached the early Xiantian stage, but I never expected this breakthrough to propel it into the mid-Xiantian stage—what a pleasant surprise!” Immediately after his spiritual essence breakthrough, Zhou Tianci turned his attention to sensing the Tree of Eternal Creation. Compared to the Tree’s immense power, the strength of Zhou Tianci’s spiritual essence was still so minuscule as to be negligible; yet for him, this breakthrough had accelerated his comprehension of the Law of Power by severalfold. “*Nine Transformations Mystic Art*—I’ve managed to grasp the *Nine Transformations Mystic Art*!” Zhou Tianci shouted inwardly. Ever since he first heard of the *Nine Transformations Mystic Art*, he had been obsessed with it, but with his previous spiritual essence strength, he simply couldn’t access its contents. Now that his spiritual essence had just broken through, Zhou Tianci tried again—and finally succeeded!