Gradually, those threads of flame started swimming in regular patterns. Unexpectedly, they formed a whirlpool, and continuously rotated inside the qi ocean. The speed of the whirlpool’s rotations was almost like that of a hurricane. It seemed that these threads of flame had emerged from the bone pearls. Numbering one hundred and eight, the licks of flame shook within the hurricane, until they finally gathered together. One, two…seven, and then eight woven tendrils! These tendrils then slowly combined into a single bundle, becoming thick, solid, and agile.

In the end, it abruptly shot upwards, and transformed into a giant, orange-colored petal. It quietly floated in the center of the qi ocean.

Meanwhile, as the whirlpool continuously subsided, it progressively changed into a new appearance!

Gu Zuo could “see” it clearly.

The more the whirlpool solidified, the more distinct its shape became. After a careful inspection, he found that a milky-white lotus throne had burst forth from within this vast qi ocean. It was divided into thirty-six segments, and the petals and lotus seeds were equal to the number of Heavenly Spirit bone pearls. The throne was securely fixed at this qi ocean’s core. The area it covered was huge, and practically filled up the entire qi ocean.

This lotus throne looked like a candlestick holder. As for that orange flame which originally floated in the qi ocean, it drifted over and fell onto the lotus throne. In an instant, it squeezed into a lotus seed, and didn’t shift positions anymore. The petal that was closest to this lotus seed promptly turned orange, igniting a fire just like the Earthen Core Flame. This gave the milky-white lotus throne an additional bit of splendor!

Such a change stunned Gu Zuo, but he wasn’t truly dumbfounded. Instead, he subconsciously sped up the operation of his inner cultivation method. In a split second, he sensed that, after shuttling through his qi ocean, the true qi within his body overflowed once more and linked up with the qi streams of his hundred meridians. It was already several times more powerful than before!

That’s right. This wasn’t true qi — Rather, it was profound qi!

An Immortal Realm would break free from the mundane, and the metamorphosis of one’s true qi was an extremely remarkable characteristic amid these changes!

At the same time, Gu Zuo also sensed the lightness of his body. It was like he had shedded a grave disease. He glowed with an exuberant life force that was even more glittering and vibrant. After removing as many impurities as possible, compared to his past self, his physical body was even more pure, limpid, and flawless.

In summary, his psychic power had been sufficient, but his internal qi realm was a type of shackle. Now that he had reached the Immortal Realm, his physical body had gradually caught up. It was like the feeling of one’s body and soul becoming even more compatible.

It was very mysterious.

Just when Gu Zuo continued to operate his inner cultivation method to accumulate profound qi and fill his qi ocean, the surface of that wooden token by his side suddenly released a cluster of lustrous-green flames. On the other side, a dim, purple flame gushed out of the candlestick holder. Both flames trembled quickly. After that, they turned into two streaks of flaming arrows, and shot out at great speeds!

In the blink of an eye, they had already rushed into Gu Zuo’s body!

The sensations of gloomy cold and blazing heat penetrated his entire body. Wherever the flames travelled, those body parts would be inundated with a kind of energy. Every inch of his skin and flesh sizzled like it was being burned.

It was a frightening feeling…

Gu Zuo did his best to endure, despite these two flames roaming throughout his body.

All of a sudden, an enormous attractive force emerged from that thirty-six segmented lotus throne. These two flames seemed to have obtained guidance, and finally found their way. Like two birds returning to their roosts, they pressed onward, entered that qi ocean, dropped onto the lotus throne, and directly occupied two lotus seeds!

The Will-O-Wisp Yin Flame and Violet Bedrock Flame succeeded. After sinking into the seeds, two nearby petals changed colors. One was a lustrous green, and the other was a dim purple. Both of them were incomparably beautiful.

Gu Zuo subconsciously heaved a sigh of relief. On his qi ocean, there was the lotus throne’s suppression. Those Wondrous Fires were docile and obedient. Unexpectedly, the flames had already established a secure connection with him — No, it should be said that what he shared a secure connection with was that lotus throne, and the thing that established a connection with the Wondrous Fires was also that lotus throne. Originally, the lotus throne was a manifestation that grew from inside Gu Zuo’s qi ocean. It was considered an extension of himself. Deep down, he knew that this was probably caused by that inner cultivation method.

Although the formation process of this manifestation hadn’t been completely within Gu Zuo’s control, the final result was a good thing. One could even say that this allowed Gu Zuo to immediately gain a great amount of resources and capital.

He could freely collect Wondrous Fires, and manipulate them for his own use.

Slowly, all of the qi streams within Gu Zuo quieted down. The qi emissions of his entire body also stabilized. At this time, he opened his eyes, and reached out a hand to faintly grasp something. What he was looking at, what he was perceiving, seemed to be an entirely different world.

It was so different after becoming an Immortal Realm!

Crouching right in front of Gu Zuo was a young man with an extremely handsome appearance. At this moment, there was a look of worry on his face. Within his eyes, there was concern and a gentle softness.

Now that this young man saw that everything about Gu Zuo’s body had settled down, he smiled: “Congratulations, Ah Zuo. You smoothly broke through and reached the Immortal Realm.”

Gu Zuo also gave a brilliant smile: “Thank you, big brother!”

Tianheng extended a hand, and pulled Gu Zuo up. Following which, he said: “Just now, when Ah Zuo broke through, I saw the virtual image of a lotus throne. The Wondrous Fires also underwent changes…”

Once Gu Zuo heard this, he told Tianheng all about the manifestation produced by his own qi ocean as well as the destination of those three Wondrous Fires.

After he finished talking, he stretched out a finger. In a split second, it was like the fingertip had been set aflame. The wisp of a dim, purple fire flickered right above it. The depths of its color and luster were exactly the same as when it was inside the candlestick holder — No, perhaps the feeling it would give a person was even more spirited.

Tianheng looked at it with an intrigued gaze: “This thing’s a little interesting.”

Gu Zuo instinctively wanted to make his beloved happy. Hence, an orange flame leaped out from another finger. After waiting for this wisp to stabilize, a third wisp appeared. This one was a lustrous green color.

On one hand, there were three fingers that were all on fire.

The flames burned calmly. Their forms were beautiful. However, considering that the objects ignited by the Wondrous Fires were Gu Zuo’s fingers, it made one feel that this was exceedingly bizarre.

Tianheng smiled: “It seems that there were many changes.”

Gu Zuo nodded his head. Atop his ten fingers, there were three flames of different colors that were nimbly flaring to and fro. It seemed that he could already move the flames as one’s arm moved the fingers. His control over the flames was quite satisfactory.

Tianheng asked: “Can Ah Zuo attack with the Wondrous Fires?”

Gu Zuo thought about it. He clenched his hand, which caused the flames to vanish. After that, he flicked a finger. A ball of dim, purple flames immediately burst forth, and transformed into a purple thread. In the blink of an eye, it struck a giant stone that was half his height!

Only the sound of a collision echoed out. The instant that the Violet Bedrock Flame touched the stone, the outpouring of power caused that stone to shatter into pieces! What was even scarier was that, after the shattered rocks fell to the ground, they didn’t remain in their previously full and solidified states. Rather, the energy, which burnt up the interior of the rocks, became somewhat darker. Even the surface of the rocks turned desiccated and brittle.

This power was astonishing…

In the past, Gu Zuo’s psychic power attacks could also smash rocks apart, but there weren’t these kind of effects.

— After the stone was shattered, Tianheng lightly swatted out a palm of wind. Those withered rocks instantly turned to dust, and dissipated into the air!

Tianheng nodded his head, and praised: “Now, Ah Zuo has the power to defend himself.” Then, he spoke with deep concern, “How much does it use up? I assume that a Wondrous Fire attack isn’t easy to pull off.”

Gu Zuo considered it: “If I manipulate one type of Wondrous Fire, I should be able to persevere for an hour. If I use several types, the consumption rate is doubled. En, using this kind of method not only consumes profound qi, it also uses up psychic power. However, my profound qi hasn’t caught up to my psychic power. As a result, once I’ve used up my profound qi, I’ll still have psychic power left over to use spiritual skills.”

Tianheng pondered somewhat: “Since it’s like this, your Wondrous Fires should be treated as last-resort trump cards. When fighting someone, don’t rashly use them. Right now, the reason why Ah Zuo’s consumption is large is presumably because you’re not proficient yet. It’s caused by lots of wastage. It’s better to regularly use the Wondrous Fires to refine pills. You’ll become more familiar with them, and you’ll devise ways to reduce this wastage. From this, you’ll also temper your qi ocean, allowing your profound qi to recover even faster. Your realm will rapidly improve, too.”

Gu Zuo nodded in agreement: “I understand, big brother.” He hesitated before saying, “Previously, I wasn’t too clear about it, but now I know. In fact, we pharmacists can also swallow medicinal pills. It’s just that, because our constitutions are special, we can only take pills that purely replenish our qi. However, I’ll have to take a lot of pills…”

Tianheng smiled and said: “Your elder brother is also aware of this matter. Whether martial artists or pharmacists, both can assimilate ambient qi for one’s own use. Taking medicinal pills is no different. Ordinarily, martial artists don’t take many pills. This is because the pills aren’t pure. The impurities within the pills are deposited within the martial artist’s body, which is harmful. But if one takes flawless pills, there won’t be any obstructions. If that’s the case for martial artists, it’ll naturally be the same for pharmacists. The great majority of medicinal pills that Ah Zuo refines are flawless pills. Thus, you can take them for a long time without causing any damage. In any case, it’s the pure and clean energy of the world.”

Gu Zuo had this pointed out to him, and it was like he had an epiphany.

What his big brother said really made sense!

It was harmless to draw in the natural energy of the world. This was because the other types of qi were eliminated during the absorption process. In fact, when refining medicinal pills, one tempered natural energy and combined it with energies that suited oneself. So long as a person got rid of the impurities during refinement, there were no differences between a flawless pill and the world’s energy.

After this, Gu Zuo smiled with embarrassment: “Right. Later on, I’ll refine some flawless pills suited for Immortal Realms, and give them to big brother to take.”

Tianheng responded: “There are many pharmacists in the Wu Clan. Ah Zuo only needs to supply flawless pills for our own uses, and a couple more to act as rewards. The refinement of the remaining medicinal pills can be handed over to the Wu Clan. The pharmacists of the monkey race and the Wu Clan are Ah Zuo’s helpers. I’ll leave it to Ah Zuo to assign them. From now on, you don’t need to toil away anymore. Just focus on improving yourself.”

Gu Zuo’s heart warmed slightly: “Many thanks, big brother. I understand!”

Tianheng’s expression softened. He didn’t say anything else.

Meanwhile, Gu Zuo held his breath: “…I have many prescriptions here. If big brother finds the Wu Clan trustworthy in the future, I can take out some prescriptions to act as rewards for the pharmacists.”

Tianheng’s tone was quite gentle: “Many thanks, Ah Zuo. If I didn’t have Ah Zuo by my side, things certainly wouldn’t have gone as smoothly for this elder brother.”

This time around, it was Gu Zuo’s turn to stammer. He was speechless.

For a moment, the atmosphere became warm and comfortable.

Suddenly, Gu Zuo thought of something. He hurriedly looked at Tianheng: “Big brother, I’ve broken through, but what about you?”

When he opened his eyes, Tianheng was already in front of him. It was clear that Tianheng had been guarding him. His big brother’s chance to break through had already arrived at an earlier time. He didn’t know if this would negatively effect his big brother.

Tianheng understood Gu Zuo’s meaning, and shook his head while smiling: “It’s no problem. Ah Zuo woke up on time. I’ll be going to the blood pond to make a breakthrough there.”

Gu Zuo sighed in relief. After that, he gave a clear and bright smile: “In that case, I’ll keep watch over big brother this time.”

Tianheng had a smile on his face as he nodded his head. Following which, Tianheng stood up, pulled Gu Zuo’s forearm, and led him down the summit.

Not too far away, there was a cave abode.

This cave abode was hidden from view within a forest. After walking inside, one would promptly smell the faint stench of blood as it assailed the senses. And carried within this bloody stench was a rich, sweet scent. It should’ve been the numerous blood essences that were blended into the blood pond. This smell was emitted after a successful refinement.

Speaking of which, this blood pond was actually considered a type of medicinal decoction. It was just that blood essence was the main ingredient.

Once Gu Zuo entered the cave abode, he was incessantly differentiating these refined medicinal ingredients in his mind. He detected that an absurdly huge number of ingredients had been mixed together. The prescription was also extremely complicated… Among the numerous ranks of prescriptions he had obtained, he also possessed this type of medicinal decoction. Previously, when he helped Senior Sect Brother Huang Ji to stimulate his blood vessels, Gu Zuo used one such type of decoction. However, because the types and quantities of added blood essences and other medicinal ingredients were all different, he wasn’t certain about the specific prescription.

Later on, if they ever had a need for it, they would have to look for him to adjust the prescription. Moreover, the matter of capturing wild beasts and extracting their blood essences required a careful strategy — After all, they wouldn’t be able to capture even higher ranked wild beasts. As such, if they wanted to refine higher ranked blood decoctions, it would be impossible.

For the time being, they still had to rely on the sect’s blood ponds.

After thinking about these things, Gu Zuo had already gotten a full view of the blood pond.

It was ten meters wide. The bloody liquid inside was concentrated, but the color and luster was bright and vivid. Although the feelings it gave a person were a little strange, there wasn’t the slightest hint of malevolence.

In other words, the qi emissions within the blood pond were pure. It was the purest essence of blood. After absorbing it, what one obtained was the purest energy. There weren’t any impurities such as grievances or hatred.

It seemed that the person who refined this blood pond was an expert.

Gu Zuo set aside his worries. He also had even more confidence in his big brother’s breakthrough.

After Tianheng gestured slightly to Gu Zuo, he started taking off his clothes.

Gu Zuo: “…”

Both of them were men. He felt that there wasn’t any need for him to panic like a virginal maiden every time this happened, but the crucial point was that his gaze couldn’t help trailing… Ahem, upwards.

After that, he would always chastise himself.

Just like now.

Gu Zuo silently retreated three steps: “Big brother, I’ll keep you safe.”

The edge of Tianheng’s lips curled into a smiling expression. He turned around, and sat cross-legged directly in front of Gu Zuo: “Okay.”

Following this, the blood pond began to boil.

In a split second, the countless qi emissions that surrounded Tianheng began to surge. His long hair billowed in the nonexistent wind. It was as if numerous streams of energy were twisting around his body at this moment. A faint blood fog slowly rose up, engulfing his entire body. His features became indistinct.

Gu Zuo watched carefully, and could see that the blood fog was actually being drawn out of the blood pond by the qi energy. The blood fog seeped into the acupoints all over his big brother’s body, and passed through his four limbs and hundred meridians as it circulated within.

The power of this blood pond was being absorbed by Tianheng!

Gu Zuo knew that there were six sets of bone pearls inside his big brother’s body. Among them, three sets had already accumulated many different powers. The first was the power of the sun, the second was the power of blood poison, and the third was the power of blood essence.

Although all three types of powers were extremely important, two of them were related to blood. When breaking through, one would naturally make use of the blood pond to achieve even better results.

In fact, it was really just as Gu Zuo thought.

The present Tianheng was continuously absorbing the bloody qi inside the blood pond, and could sense that the set of bone pearls that were filled with the power of blood poison was greedily drawing it in. The set’s color and luster was a reddish-black, and the hue was becoming even fuller. As time passed, the blood-red color was turning increasingly magnificent, and the black color was gradually brightening. As for the other set of originally blood-red bone pearls, which held the power of blood essence, it was incrementally absorbing thread after overflowing thread of the purest bloody qi. Likewise, the hue of these bone pearls was slowly turning fuller.

Tianheng was able to detect that, between the power of blood essence and the power of blood poison, the former was absorbing the purest blood energy. This contained the blood essence of wild beasts, which passed down the hidden mysteries of generations of beasts. Meanwhile, what the power of blood poison accepted was the filth and all of the negative energy inside the blood. After mixing with the poison, this brought about a terrifying corrosive power… The wild beasts’ bloodlust, resentment, and everything negative that hadn’t been previously eliminated were unexpectedly absorbed and refined by this set of bone pearls. In the future, who knew what kind of appearance it would finally take?

However, Tianheng also perceived that no matter how strange the numerous powers within his body, these powers could easily be prompted and controlled by him. The more powers he absorbed, the stronger he would become — Maybe this was a special trait of the Tiandu Body?

It was said that the powers of every Tiandu Body would be different. As for his powers… Although he never once grasped a clear understanding of them, he faintly sensed that what he subconsciously wanted to obtain was such an evolution.

— He wanted to become the strongest Tiandu Body!

In Tianheng’s mind, this train of thought flashed by in an instant. The forces within his body had already spontaneously started to operate. Perhaps it was because the inner cultivation method he created was incredibly well-suited to himself. The speed he plundered the ambient qi was especially fast, too. With the addition of the brimming energy within the blood pond, his bone pearls unwittingly released clear and melodious chirruping!

Outside of the blood pond, Gu Zuo saw that his family’s big brother was breaking through, and suddenly made a sound of surprise.

He heard many whistling noises. It was like streams of wind passing through a stone cave. This was…produced by his big brother’s bone pearls?

After that, he watched with even more focus.

He had never witnessed a true breakthrough of the Tiandu Body. Who knew what would happen? Compared to the similarly special constitution of Hu Chang’an’s Myriad Leaking Body, what differences would there be?

He was curious, but he was also somewhat concerned.

This inner cultivation method was created by his big brother. He only hoped that Tianheng succeeded —

No. He believed that his big brother would definitely succeed!

Immediately following this, Gu Zuo discovered that something had appeared behind his big brother. It was…a black hole?

He suddenly blanked.

To say nothing of Tianheng. His attention was completely concentrated on operating his inner cultivation method. He was experiencing how all of the bone pearls within his body grew restless. Within his dantian, it was painfully swollen. There was a feeling that an incredible change would occur at any time.

He was clear that this was an imminent sign of a breakthrough. He had also researched the situation that would occur when a peak Xiantian broke through to the Immortal Realm. Merely, his own constitution was special, and he had six sets of bone pearls. He never heard about any precedents of what happened when breaking through like this. Thus, he could only rely on himself to grasp this moment.

Hence, Tianheng settled his heart and mind. He would take action the moment this special change occurred.

The next instant, he only felt the pain of the acupoints throughout his whole body tearing apart. Suddenly, among those six sets of bone pearls, the seventy-two Earthly Fiend bone pearls of the main set had struggled free from their acupoints, and had directly smashed into his dantian!

If it was said that his dantian was originally a blackened abyss where nothing could be clearly seen, then these bone pearls were the bright lights that were sewn within this curtain of the night. In a flash, that abyss was pierced through and embedded with light. Furthermore, thanks to the unfathomable radiance that these bone pearls emitted, the surrounding darkness was engulfed bit by bit. The entire abyss was being torn asunder!

By tearing apart that wasteland, it was like they were making way for a boundless ocean.

However, the stabler the foundations of a martial artist, the harder it was to establish their qi ocean. If the bone pearls weren’t strong enough, they wouldn’t be able to tear open the dantian and stabilize the qi ocean. If that happened, then their breakthrough would fail.

Of course, Tianheng’s bone pearls were quite strong, but his dantian was even stronger. Its accumulations were even greater since he had been suppressing himself for several years. His dantian was incredibly vigorous. It couldn’t be compared to that of ordinary prodigies!

Thus, when the main seventy-two Earthly Fiend bone pearls entered his dantian, they could only barely settle in place to poke a few holes. However, they weren’t strong enough to rip open the entire dantian.

Yet, the reason why Tianheng accumulated excessively was due to the six sets of bone pearls. As such, opening the dantian wouldn’t happen with only one set.

The next moment, the other five sets of bone pearls moved in unison. Seventy-two bone pearls were extracted from each set. Like the petals of a flower, they instantly congregated around the first set of bone pearls!

At this time, if someone could see Tianheng’s dantian, they would discover that his main bone pearls were arranged in the center of his dantian in the celestial configuration of the Earthly Fiend constellation. As for the other five sets, they orbited the main bone pearls. Likewise, they were arranged in the configuration of the Earthly Fiend stars.

His entire dantian had suddenly turned into a piece of the night sky. And stars filled this sky like how chess pieces were strewn across a board. These points of light pierced through the deep darkness. It possessed an indescribable beauty.

Beyond the blood pond.

Gu Zuo watched the scene in front of him with a stunned expression.

He got over the emergence of this black hole behind his big brother, but when a shower of stars started flickering and flashing around inside that black hole… Just what was going on?

The qi emissions surrounding Tianheng were still surging.

Tianheng found that his six sets of bone pearls were working together to open his dantian. With single-hearted devotion, he operated his inner cultivation method, and continued to gather his strength.

At the same time, after the Earthly Fiend bone pearls settled at his dantian, those thirty-six Heavenly Spirit bone pearls started to issue scorching energies!

All of a sudden, the main Heavenly Spirit bone pearls shot out at great speeds, and went straight toward his dantian.

At this moment, the Heavenly Spirit and Earthly Fiend bone pearls combined, and rays of dazzling light bloomed. After they combined, the bone pearls broke open, and these stars seemed to turn into star dust. In a split second, a whirlpool filled with star dust formed in the center. It began to spin with great difficulty.

The surrounding five sets of Earthly Fiend bone pearls closely followed in the footsteps of the main bone pearls, and started to connect with their own thirty-six bone pearls that fell from the “sky”. They also rapidly combined, broke open, and turned into star dust. As the main bone pearls transformed into a whirlpool, the others likewise produced their own star dust whirlpools.

In this way, as many as six whirlpools took shape within his dantian. They churned endlessly. It was for the purpose of drawing all of the darkness within themselves, and completely opening the dantian.

In the end, it was a success.

Along with the continuous whirling of the six sets of bone pearls, each whirlpool constantly expanded. Out of the abyss-like darkness of the dantian, six deep whirlpools gradually formed. The outer five whirlpools revolved around the main whirlpool in the center according to a strict pattern. In addition, during this orbiting process, the star dust was persistently absorbed. In the end, this repeatedly strengthened the whirlpools, allowing them to each form a vast ocean!

An unknown amount of time passed. Tianheng’s six sets of bone pearls acted simultaneously. At last, they successfully opened the dantian, and produced boundless qi oceans!

Each qi ocean was several times larger than that of an ordinary martial artist. There were hardly any differences between the volumes of the six qi oceans. The outer five were almost exactly the same, and only the whirlpool in the middle was just a little bit wider.

Soon after, the qi oceans boiled.

Tianheng basically didn’t have any time to study the recently-generated qi oceans when he found that a certain qi ocean on the periphery had unexpectedly turned a reddish-gold color.

Yes. The bone pearls that originally absorbed the power of the sun had turned into this qi ocean. Naturally, this qi ocean, which was brimming with solar energy, had become reddish-gold.

Bright, brilliant, and glorious — Its magnificence was unparalleled.

Immediately following this, another qi ocean turned reddish-black. Between the two colors, red was the primary color, and black was secondary. It unleashed wave after wave of poisonous fumes, but even more numerous were the streams of sinful and filthy qi. All of it wanted to erupt outwards. It was extremely terrifying.

But when all was said and done, these resentments never overflowed. Instead, whenever it struggled, it would be sucked back into the qi ocean. It had no choice but to remain in place.

Finally, an another colorless whirlpool was suddenly sprayed with bloodstains. Those blood splatters transformed into dozens of blood pearls, which quietly floated on top of that qi ocean.

This qi ocean was clearly transformed from the bone pearls that were filled with the power of blood essence. However, when these bone pearls were inside their acupoints, they were dyed a blood-red color. After turning into a qi ocean, the entire ocean didn’t change color. Rather, it was just the blood pearls floating on the qi ocean’s surface. It seemed quite strange.

Even Tianheng was somewhat puzzled at this moment.

He observed carefully.

Soon, Tianheng realized that each blood pearl appeared to contain the virtual image of a wild beast.

There was a crocodile, a lizard, a roc, a falcon, a tiger, a wolf, a leopard, a lion… All of them were ferocious beasts and vicious birds.

Although these fierce animals were only virtual images, they were vivid and lifelike. They were no different from the numerous wild beasts that Tianheng previously captured. Among them, there were several unfamiliar ones. The qi emissions they released were much more terrifying than the auras of the ones Tianheng had captured. They should’ve been the owners of the blood essences kept within this blood pond.

Tianheng suddenly understood.

What this set of bone pearls assimilated was the blood essence that contained a wild beast’s mysteries. It was the quintessence of the blood, which should’ve inherited everything about that wild beast. Therefore, it was manifested like this.

In that case, how should these blood pearls be used…

A hint of fervency flashed through Tianheng’s heart.

Since it was his power, it couldn’t break free from his control!

In a split second, Tianheng’s thoughts directly entered that qi ocean, and promptly touched one of the blood pearls!

After that, throughout his body, he felt as his bones produced cracking sounds and his flesh pulled and shifted. It was like he had sank into an endless agony.

Outside the blood pond, Gu Zuo rubbed his eyes in astonishment.

H-he, he hadn’t seen wrongly!

At first, everything was going well. At most, Tianheng manifested the image of a black hole behind him. There were stars in that black hole, and the stars underwent changes. Afterwards, one black hole turned into six black holes.

Gu Zuo remembered that his family’s big brother had six sets of bone pearls, and guessed that they might’ve transformed into six qi oceans. However, after one black hole was lit reddish-gold, another turned reddish-black, and the last was decorated with blood-red stars, he didn’t expect one of the blood-red stars to suddenly drop out of that black hole and envelop his big brother’s body. At once, his big brother shapeshifted!

That’s right! It was true! He changed shape!

Gu Zuo could only watch as his big brother’s arms abruptly bent, and the surfaces of his body sprouted feathers. Even that incomparably handsome visage was suddenly stained with animalistic ferocity — However, it also bore another type of malevolent beauty.

T-this was a transformation into a bird!

— Just as he thought this, Gu Zuo was already wearing a helpless expression.

He absolutely didn’t expect that there could be this kind of change during his big brother’s breakthrough…

Tianheng’s transformation was very thorough.

From the changes to his skeleton to the growth of a pair of wings to the burst of feathers across his whole body, he had already turned into an extremely robust, male falcon in the span of a few seconds — Gu Zuo recognized that this species of wild falcon was classified as a low spirit-ranked wild bird. It was incredibly violent, and when confronting an enemy, its feathers could become sharp blades. Every time it took action, the flesh of the martial artist who confronted it would be peeled away slice by slice. It was like the death of a thousand cuts!

In Gu Zuo’s heart, he couldn’t relate such a vicious bird to his big brother… Yet, for some reason, his big brother had undergone this transformation at this time!

Could it be that this was some kind of ability of his big brother?

For a moment, Gu Zuo was stumped.

He was only worried that his big brother wouldn’t be able to change back.

Of course, Tianheng was able to do so.

Following this, he carried out several shocking performances.

For example, after turning into a wild falcon and flapping his wings, he changed into a fierce tiger. Soon after, it was a male lion, an enormous bear, a lone wolf… He could also turn into a rhinoceros, an eagle, and an elephant…

To put it shortly, he transformed into a dozen or so species of wild beasts and birds in a brief period of time. This caused Gu Zuo’s initial shock and worry to become exuberant interest, before finally turning into exasperation. His frame of mind was also quite complicated.

Gu Zuo was a bit speechless.

Ah, he thought that his big brother’s ability had a bit of that… “Behold, my seventy-two transformations” type of feeling.

Fortunately, after Tianheng went through a round of transformations, those blood-red stars didn’t descend anymore. Subsequently, his body’s qi emissions increased sharply, and those six black holes behind him seemed to become even more stable.

Gu Zuo took a step back, and sat on the ground to continue watching.

No matter what was said, this breakthrough wasn’t over yet. He still needed to guard his big brother.

Now, let’s talk about Tianheng —

After he touched those blood pearls one after another, he felt the changes to his bones and flesh. He sensed that, every time a blood pearl was shattered, he could transform himself into the same shape as the wild beast’s virtual image within that blood pearl. There weren’t any differences in strength.

In a split second, Tianheng felt a wave of joy.

Shapeshifting into a wild beast was an extremely useful ability. And he didn’t only gain the shape and appearance of the wild beasts. Even the numerous things passed down through the blood of those wild beasts were similarly perceived and comprehended by him!

Merely, because his realm was too low, he wasn’t able to fully understand those wild beasts. However, so long as he shapeshifted more in the future, his strength would increase. Then, he would be able to ascertain everything about these wild beasts!

Previously, when Tianheng tried the second and third blood pearls, he was able to successfully shapeshift. Indeed, he confirmed his thoughts with each transformation.

However, after he shapeshifted a little more than ten times, he abruptly discovered that his own strength was continuously dwindling. He suddenly realized that the energy consumption during his transformations was very high. Currently, he was in the middle of an important juncture of his breakthrough, so he couldn’t make anymore rash attempts. After figuring out these marvels, he would need to wait until his breakthrough ended to properly experience them again.

Thus, Tianheng promptly retracted his consciousness, and ceased interacting with those blood pearls.

At this moment, he observed the insides of his own dantian. After the efforts just a while ago, he found that his dantian had been officially opened. There were as many as six qi oceans that had been established. Within these qi oceans, an unending stream of ambient qi flowed in. Profound qi accumulated bit by bit before overflowing. This provided him a dozen times more strength. From inside out, he was granted even more formidable power!

One could say that Tianheng, who supported six qi oceans, was equivalent to six all-star prodigies who supported one qi ocean each. Even if several prodigies of equal or slightly higher realms surrounded and attacked him together, he had nothing to fear!

Ba-thump!

Ba-thump! Ba-thump!

The sound of a rhythmically beating heart echoed out from within his dantian.

Tianheng’s attention immediately fell onto the reddish-gold and reddish-black qi oceans.

After that, his mood became somewhat subtle.

He previously investigated. For each and every outstanding martial artist — Regardless of whether they possessed a special constitution or an unusual body cultivation method — When breaking through from peak Xiantian to the Immortal Realm, the instant they generated a qi ocean, their qi ocean would produce a manifestation.

And when this manifestation was born, it was just like…

Remembering the way Gu Zuo talked about giving birth to an egg, Tianheng couldn’t help losing his train of thought as he looked for his own qi ocean manifestation. He felt that something wasn’t quite right with that wording no matter how he considered it.

However, in the end, Tianheng had a steady will. He quickly brushed off this irrelevant thought, and focused his attention on the specifics of that qi ocean manifestation.

For outstanding martial artists, their manifestations were generated within their main qi ocean — This was because they usually only had one qi ocean. As for Tianheng, he had six qi oceans, but his main qi ocean didn’t have any responses. On the contrary, it was those two colored qi oceans that showed signs of producing a manifestation.

In the reddish-gold qi ocean, there was a faint, indiscernible shape. In the reddish-black qi ocean, the qi waves churned like a mass of bloody light was constantly fermenting.

Tianheng used his full strength to mobilize his profound qi, and injected it into those two qi oceans.

It was a pity that the reddish-gold qi ocean still didn’t react. However, within the reddish-black qi ocean, the bloody light flourished like it was going to burst forth.

T

/N: For a refresher on the mathematics behind the bone pearls, check the translator’s note at the end of Chapter 46.

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