I am a mortal who has achieved enlightenment through burning my secrets

Chapter 225 Return to Ruins
"Ah... finally out!"

Looking at the sun overhead and the boundless sea below, Xiao Wuji's mood unconsciously brightened up. In comparison, life in the Abyss was far too oppressive.

Fortunately, the Abyss was only a layer of space, not a complete world; otherwise, even with Mu Qing's magical power, he would have had difficulty leaving it.

"I need to find a place to go into seclusion right away!"

Having obtained the cultivation technique long ago, Xiao Wuji was eager to begin, but the vast ocean was not a suitable place for seclusion. He needed to find a safe location and acquire two protectors!
He unleashed his divine power, transforming into a rainbow of light that swiftly traversed the sea surface.

Several days later, an island shrouded in black mist appeared before Xiao Wuji. The black mist looked somewhat unusual, but Xiao Wuji had no intention of investigating it further. He simply explored it briefly and then stopped at a mountain edge that was not shrouded in black mist.

Xiao Wuji didn't care what was in the fog, because whatever it was wouldn't affect his next move.

In a few swift movements, Xiao Wuji carved out a cave dwelling and slipped inside. He then turned around and blasted the entrance to the cave dwelling shut.

Before switching to cultivation, Xiao Wuji wanted to refine a few guardian puppets for himself, and the main material was the Nether Thunder Beast he had just captured!

Flames surged within the Six Desires Furnace, trapping the two Nether Thunder Beasts at its center, unable to move, only able to let out resentful roars. Until their primordial spirits were completely refined and merged into their physical bodies.

This crafting technique originates from the art of puppetry and is an extremely cruel method. Once crafted into puppets, they will neither live nor die, nor enter the cycle of reincarnation. If no one drives them, they will be unable to move and will suffer the torment of time forever!

But only puppets made in this way are the most agile. With just a simple command, they can perform a series of complex operations, which is no different from riding spirit beasts, but they are even more fearless than spirit beasts!
After setting the refined body aside, Xiao Wuji threw dozens of metals into the furnace, along with two Golden Thunder Bamboos that he had just picked from the Yin-Yang Well of Ice and Fire!

However, that's not enough; he can't create the puppet he wants with just these things!
With a wave of his hand, two fist-sized pieces of purple-gold copper essence fell into the furnace fire.

It wasn't that he lacked harder metals, nor that he lacked more powerful demonic beast corpses. Whether it was the corpse of a saint-level God-Slaying Insect or that divine metal, both could be used to forge even more powerful puppets. However, those things often contained laws, enough to become the foundation of his inner world, and naturally, he couldn't waste them on this puppet.

The Purple Radiance Copper Essence and the corpse of the Nether Thunder Beast are enough. Combined, they are sufficient for them to slowly grow into near-immortal beings, enough for his use in the lower realm...

Decades later!

"Phew—it's finally finished!"

Looking at the interconnected array patterns beneath his feet, Xiao Wuji finally breathed a sigh of relief. He then flashed away from the abyss world and reappeared in his cave in the outside world.

To refine a small world into one's body, one must set up the Heaven Refining God Array within the small world. This array requires no materials; one only needs to inscribe array patterns on the world's barrier.

But how could an array capable of refining heaven and earth be simple? Even if it only requires imitating the array and embedding it into the world barrier, it is not something that can be easily accomplished.

Moreover, if a mistake is made, it is necessary to start all over again immediately!
Even with the help of countless subordinates, it took him nearly a hundred years to set up the great formation.

He raised his hand and summoned two golden wolf-shaped puppets. Then, he used magic to stuff Mu Qing and Madam Lan into the two puppets' bellies. He didn't want to kill these two, but he also didn't want them to disturb his seclusion.

Xiao Wuji didn't know if the two would still "love" him as before after the Six Desires Furnace was gone, so he could only prepare in advance.

Immediately afterwards, he tossed a portable cave dwelling into a corner of the main cave. Most of his few possessions, including valuable items like the Six Desires Furnace and the Infinity Stones, had been left behind in the Abyss Small World. His subordinates from the Small World had also been moved here, and the cave was now completely full.

Now, the only treasures left here are a few of his commonly used weapons and a celestial-grade sword pellet magic weapon.

This sword pellet is only at the initial stage of immortality, and compared to other sacred weapons, it is not considered precious. It only possesses a weak amount of law power, so losing it wouldn't have a significant impact on him. It is the only trump card he has left for himself. After he emerges from seclusion, he will definitely fuse this item with his sword pellet.

After thinking for a while, he handed over control of the two puppets to Flame and Snow Maiden respectively, ordering them to protect him on the outskirts of the mountain range.

Because he didn't know what kind of changes would occur after he switched cultivation methods, or whether any unusual phenomena would arise, it was best to be cautious.

"Everything is ready. From today onwards, we will enter seclusion!"

He pointed a finger at the abyss miniature world, activating the Heaven Refining Divine Array within, and then struck it into his lower dantian with a palm strike.

Chaotic flames rose from the barrier of the small world and then ignited Xiao Wuji's physical body.

There is only one way to make the world integrate with oneself, and that is—refinement!

The power of this flame originates from the small world, transformed through an array, borrowing the power of the world to refine the world itself! This flame is not violent, but rather exceptionally gentle and enduring! Yet it is precisely this gentle flame that is able to refine away the world's barriers.

Breaking through the world barrier is something many people can do; it's how cultivators from lower realms ascend. But refining the world barrier is incredibly difficult. It means you have to contend with the entire world. However, the Heaven Refining Divine Array can do it, using the power of heaven and earth to contend with the power of heaven and earth, without even needing Xiao Wuji to intervene.

This process would continuously deplete the power within the small world, but fortunately, the process was not slow to begin with. After just one day, the world barrier merged with the inner wall of his dantian, and the dantian was completely transformed into a small world!

At this moment, the dantian is the world, but the world is not the dantian, because he is currently unable to control the primordial energy within the world.

Therefore, this leads to the next step, which is also the first step in cultivation—Return to the Void!
Every world has its core, whether it be primordial energy, an embryo, the heart of the world, a elixir, or a magical artifact. It has no fixed form, but it is the foundation of this world, from which the world evolves.

To complete the Return to Nothingness, one must use the "Return to Nothingness" secret technique to cause the entire world to collapse, and at the same time, all the power after the collapse must return to the core. Then, one must use the secret technique to control the core and evolve chaos.

The more powerful a world is, the greater the power at its core, and almost all world cores possess only a vague consciousness, or rather, "instinct."

Only in very rare cases will world consciousness develop something beyond "instinct".

However, the Abyss Small World is particularly special. Its core is not just one, but has been divided into one hundred and eight! And from this, one hundred and eight emperor positions have evolved.

This is extremely rare in all the worlds, which adds considerable difficulty to his task.

With the help of a secret technique, Xiao Wuji used his mental power as a blade to easily collapse the entire abyss. Then he reversed the array left on the world's barrier and, with the aid of a secret technique, ignited a chaotic flame in the world.

The same flame, but it had lost its gentleness; the raging fire ignited all life and all matter in the world.

Trees, mountains, rivers—everything was ignited and refined. Even the legendary holy weapons, the World Stone, the blood of the Great Emperor, the corpse of the Holy Insect, and the Heavenly Silkworm Princess sealed within the Source Stone all burst into flames.

Rivers dried up little by little, land shrank little by little, space compressed little by little, and flames grew stronger little by little.

The merciless flames refined everything into the most primordial energy, which was then poured into one hundred and eight world cores, some solid and some illusory.

Soon, 107 out of the 108 planes had completed the first half of the Return to Nothingness. Only the most solid world at the top was still burning.

The power of a sacred weapon is immense, and the power of imperial blood is equally terrifying, not to mention there is also a living saint.

Fortunately, this saint was critically injured and on the verge of death, and had no ability to resist. Otherwise, she could probably shatter this abyss world with just one hand.

After countless years, just as the first layer was about to be completely refined, Xiao Wuji suddenly made an unusual move.

Under Xiao Wuji's control, each core was submerged in the chaotic fire of the first plane, ignited, and refined.

Scattered means weak, incomplete, and difficult to control, so he plans to use the power of the Chaos Fire to unite these scattered cores into one.

Everything was melted into the core of the world. In particular, the core of the first plane, after absorbing this power, not only became incredibly solid, but its volume also expanded many times over.

But at this moment, the Return to the Void is still not complete, because it is also a part of the world and must also undergo the Return to the Void!
The Chaos Fire burned within his body, incinerating and refining his flesh, which was filled with divine power. Chaos-colored flames also ignited within his Purple Mansion, and the Nascent Soul hidden within the Purple Mansion also entered his lower dantian at this moment.

The nascent soul was burned, but he did not feel any pain.

The nascent soul's round hands moved rapidly, forming complex hand seals, while its mouth chanted extremely difficult-to-pronounce Daoist incantations.

At a certain moment, the nascent soul suddenly stopped what it was doing and then instantly disintegrated into its original form as a primordial spirit.

This primordial spirit was merely a primordial spirit, containing no magical power whatsoever. It was shaped like a red ball of light and instantly disappeared into the core of the world.

This is a different kind of possession, where the target of possession has changed from living beings to the core of the world.

I truly did it; I put my heart into the heart of Heaven, and my will into the will of Heaven!
……

(End of this chapter)