Shrouding the Heavens: Starting by joining the Holy Land of Yao Guang

Chapter 74 The Edge of the Primordial Ancient Mine
The northern region is desolate, with red soil and reddish-brown rocks, a scene of bleakness and desolation.

The boundless land is extremely empty, without any sign of life, only a few bare rocky mountains dotting the horizon.

After destroying Qingfeng Village, Li Yao set off again. He did not ride the rainbow, but chose to measure the earth on foot. Even so, he traveled thousands of miles a day at an astonishing speed.

He had a goal for this trip, but he wasn't pursuing speed; he just wanted to enjoy the scenery along the way.

It didn't interfere with his spiritual practice, because he always traveled during the day and practiced at night.

After leaving the Holy State, oases became scarce. Over several days, he traveled at least 30,000 li and only saw one oasis.

Moreover, the oasis was only a small oasis less than a thousand miles wide, containing only a small town within a hundred miles and some villages and towns.

At night, Li Yao, as usual, cleared out a cave in the no-man's-land. He did not immediately begin his cultivation, but instead took out a map and began to look at it.

This is a very old map, and the mountains and landforms recorded on it are from ancient times.

Li Yao pointed to a spot and compared it with the oases he had passed through in the past few days, confirming that the terrain in his memory matched some places on the map.

"The ancient city of Changfeng that I passed by yesterday should be the ancient city of Changshuo before the beginning of time. If that's the case, I'm still more than 60,000 li away from the ancient Yaochi."

The Ancient Jade Pool was his first destination on this journey, and the fragments of the Western Emperor's Scripture found there were his primary objective.

The Western Emperor Scripture was created by the Western Emperor, a female emperor. The Dao Palace Scroll within it is considered by the world to be the strongest scripture among all ancient scriptures.

The Western Emperor is the ultimate master of the Innate Dao Embryo physique. It can be said that no one in history has surpassed her in the development of this physique.

The Western Emperor Scripture must contain the ultimate mystery of this constitution. To a certain extent, thoroughly understanding this scripture means understanding the mystery of the innate Dao embryo.

For others, trying to understand a constitution through a single scripture is simply wishful thinking and impossible.

But for Li Yao, this is achievable. When the Heavenly Book deduces the scriptures, it will take him into the realm of creation. In that realm, he will witness the process of the Western Emperor creating the laws, thereby gaining insight into the mysteries of the innate Dao embryo.

If Li Yao wants to transform into a Chaos Body, he must comprehend the mysteries of all body types. He will inevitably continue on the path of collecting scriptures for special body types.

The Western Emperor Scripture is the easiest scripture for him to obtain at present. With the Divine Mark Purple Gold Furnace, he doesn't even need to comprehend the most crucial scripture guide for the Western Emperor Scripture.

All that is needed is for someone to go to the Ancient Jade Pool, take out the Divine Mark Purple Gold Furnace, and capture the Daoist essence inscribed on the Western Emperor's legacy.

After planning his next steps, Li Yao put away the map and prepared to begin his cultivation.

With the Divine Treasury of the Heart fully opened, he can now begin the construction of the second Dao Palace.

Within his body, shrouded in mist, Li Yao entered the next divine treasure, as if on a path to heaven. After successfully crossing that step, the difference between immortal and mortal was immense.

The strength of the second realm of the Dao Palace is many times greater than that of the first realm, creating an insurmountable gap.

In fact, the gap between each realm is like an insurmountable chasm; otherwise, why would those who attack those above be called "going against the grain to attack immortals"?

According to common sense, it is impossible for someone below to attack someone above; the phrase "going against the grain to attack an immortal" is used to describe how difficult it is.

After establishing his second Dao Palace, Li Yao's strength will undoubtedly increase dramatically.

The sun shone brightly overhead, always hovering above Li Yao's head, illuminating the path ahead.

Soon, Li Yao sensed an incomparably sharp aura. He found the spiritual treasure of the lungs, which belongs to the metal element in the Five Elements!
The lungs are the spiritual repository, connected to the divine path of spiritual energy, covering the internal organs, and occupying the highest position. They are known as the canopy and are called the chief of the five internal organs.

The essence of heaven and earth is extremely pure, and it is the source of the divine energy of heaven and earth. Taking it as the main source, it is the most important of the five great divine treasures.

Li Yao felt a vibrant sense of life!
This divine treasure transmits essence, energy, and spirit, distributing them throughout the body and reaching the skin and hair. It warms and nourishes the five internal organs, limbs, bones, muscles, and hair, and its effects are beyond imagination!
In front of Li Yao was a fist-sized piece of golden crystal essence, the essence of which was most beneficial to the lungs.

He sat cross-legged, continuously refining the energy, drawing all the inexhaustible source energy into his body and merging it into the Huagai Divine Treasury.

All qi (vital energy) belongs to the lungs!

With each breath, one connects with all the vital energies!
This is a fundamental principle recorded in various ancient scriptures, from the Imperial Scriptures to ordinary Four Extremes and Dragon Transformation level scriptures.

"boom!"

As the mist dissipated, the lungs, like a canopy, revealed the essence of the Golden Crystal Source, which flowed into the canopy.

In an instant, Li Yao felt all the pores on his body open up, as if he were connected with heaven and earth, and his speed of mobilizing the essence of heaven and earth increased many times over.

The power within his body increased, surging like a vast ocean, and the speed at which he circulated his vital energy suddenly increased several times over.

Li Yao was overjoyed. According to this change, his cultivation speed would increase significantly, and by mobilizing the vast amount of heaven and earth's essence, his strength would experience a qualitative leap.

In the blink of an eye, several days have passed.

"boom"

Li Yao's body shimmered with light as he broke through the stone wall, rushed out of the cave, and stepped into the sky, his eyes shooting out two sharp beams of light.

His strength has increased significantly. If he were to fight the leader again now, he could defeat him in just a few moves.

“Each realm is a different world. No wonder I shocked those people so much when I used the Sea of ​​Wheels Secret Realm to defeat the Dao Palace at the third level.”

What Li Yao accomplished was absolutely unprecedented, because the gap between the Dao Palace Secret Realm and the Wheel Sea Secret Realm was simply too great.

The gap between the third and first levels of the Dao Palace is like a chasm; such a feat is truly awe-inspiring.

But in reality, Li Yao himself didn't think it was anything special. He had reached perfection in every realm, and his understanding of the scriptures and divine arts far surpassed Li Rui's.

In this situation, it is only right to retaliate against the other party.

"It's time to go to the Ancient Jade Pool..." With his cultivation breakthrough, Li Yao continued his journey, heading towards the Ancient Jade Pool.

……

Qingfeng Village.

Two middle-aged men dressed in gray suddenly appeared at the scene, looking at the ashes scattered all over the ground in silence.

“Just like the battlefield traces thousands of miles away, it was all caused by the divine radiance of the sun. Li Yao has been here before,” one of the men in gray said.

“After he left the Holy City, he headed west, but this place is in the east. He’s changing his location. This is troublesome,” another gray-clad man guessed.

The Northern Region is vast, and even though they have mobilized a considerable number of people this time, searching by manpower alone is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“He must have a treasure that conceals his aura, making it impossible to track him by his aura. Conventional methods are useless. Fortunately, we finally have a clue.” After receiving the information from Yao Guang, they began to assign people to search. Initially, they went to the Holy City and intercepted a wisp of Li Yao’s aura, hoping to use it to locate Li Yao’s position.

But they failed; the compass couldn't pinpoint Li Yao's direction, so they had to send people out to the southeast, northwest, and northeast.

After more than half a month, they finally discovered traces of the divine radiance of the sun in a place tens of thousands of miles north of the holy city.

But now there's another problem. According to the original route, Li Yao should have been heading north, but they are currently heading east.

The two of them were unsure whether Li Yao would go north or east next.

“Let’s split up and search. You go east, and I’ll go north,” one of the men in gray said.

"That's all it can do."

The two disappeared again, heading north and east respectively.

……

In the northern region, the temperature difference between day and night is significant, the moonlight is cold, and the chill is biting.

On the horizon, a figure appeared ethereal and flickering, like a celestial being.

Li Yao disappeared with each step, moving at an astonishing speed. This was already the fifth day since his breakthrough, and he had traveled tens of thousands of miles northward.

His current location is only tens of thousands of miles away from the famous Taichu Ancient Mine.

His direction was correct, and his destination was correct. The Western Emperor had great ambition. When he created Yaochi, he wanted to keep an eye on the Primordial Ancient Mine and build the Daoist temple right under the nose of the forbidden zone. His meaning was very clear: to tell the supreme beings of the forbidden zone, "I'm watching you, so you'd better behave yourselves."

This is the Western Emperor. She achieved the status of a Great Emperor through the innate Dao embryo, and her combat power is unparalleled throughout history, ranking among the top of all Great Emperors.

He is on the same level as Emperor Hengyu, Emperor Taihuang, Emperor Taiyin, and Emperor Taiyang.

Look at Emperor Hengyu's achievements. He went straight to the Primordial Ancient Mine to forge weapons, completely disregarding whether his master was willing or not. The supreme being was humiliated and came out to argue, but was killed by the madman Emperor Hengyu, who directly killed him with the newly forged Sun God Furnace.

Despite such a great humiliation, the Primordial Ancient Mine endured it, only sending Emperor Hengyu far away to the Central Plains.

No, for a great emperor, what is the distance between the Central Plains and the Eastern Wilderness? This is just a forced attempt to save face.

This shows that Emperor Hengyu's combat power is among the top of all the emperors.

It's not surprising that the Western Emperor, whose combat strength is comparable to his, has such confidence.

Moreover, the Western Emperor also has a Great Accomplished Holy Body by his side, who, in his prime, was truly a being who could challenge the Flawless Emperor.

Given this situation, what else can the Primordial Ancient Mine do but endure? Coming out to fight would definitely be a losing proposition.

After all, facing the combined strength of two Great Emperors, sending one would be suicide, sending two would also be suicide, and sending three is unrealistic; the Supreme Beings of the Forbidden Zone are not that united.

Even if they come, so what? Even if the three Supreme Beings reach the pinnacle of their cultivation, they cannot defeat two flawless Great Emperors in a short time. As time goes on, their combat power will decline, and they will still die.

Therefore, Yaochi eventually became adjacent to the Primordial Ancient Mine, and the Western Emperor could gaze at the forbidden zone from the Yaochi while sitting cross-legged in it.

Standing on the crimson earth, Li Yao gazed in the direction of the Primordial Ancient Mine. Thinking of the Western Emperor, who, though a woman, possessed an aura no less domineering than any man, and perhaps even surpassed it, he felt a surge of emotion.

"One day, I will stand tall in the heavens, I will definitely do it." Li Yao thought to himself, his motivation for cultivation growing even stronger.

After calming his racing heart, Li Yao began searching for the location of the Ancient Jade Pool.

The Great Accomplished Holy Body met an untimely end, forcing Yaochi to relocate. During the relocation, the ancient Yaochi was completely sealed away.

Today, no one knows where the so-called Yaochi site is, and no one can find it.

However, Li Yao knew that at night, the location of Yaochi would be the site of a scene of flying celestial beings, and as long as he followed this path, it wouldn't be too difficult to find.

The vast and boundless land surrounding the Primordial Ancient Mine was all mining area. Li Yao observed the mountains and terrain, constantly detouring, avoiding the mining areas of the sacred land, and entering the depths of the reddish-brown earth.

Night passed and the sun rose, but Li Yao was unable to find the scene of the fairy flying to the Jade Pool.

But that's normal. If it were that easy to find, the location of the Ancient Jade Pool would have been exposed long ago.

Because he needed to find the Ancient Jade Pool at night, Li Yao changed his routine, cultivating during the day and going out to search at night.

In a desert, Li Yao carved out a cave halfway up a mountain, then took out a portion of dragon blood and poured it into a furnace.

This place is too close to the source areas of the various holy lands, so Li Yao dares not cultivate here. However, it is fine to refine his body. The movement of refining the body is not significant, and the Dao patterns are enough to isolate the movement of cultivation.

"I need to learn about formations when I have time, otherwise it's really inconvenient," Li Yao said, shaking his head helplessly.

The dragon's blood essence was vast and contained immense power. After Li Yao took off his clothes and went inside, he immediately felt a violent power tempering his body.

He immediately activated the first level of the Starry Battle Body and began cultivating with the aid of the dragon blood. At the same time, the star power that had accumulated in his body during this period also joined in.

"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"...

Suddenly, the sound of metal clashing rang out from the cave, as if a blacksmith was swinging a sledgehammer to forge an iron blank.

With the aid of the dragon's blood, Li Yao's body was pulsating rhythmically, as if a giant hammer were striking it.

During this process, blood flowed from Li Yao's pores, and there were even some white fragments in it, which were remnants from his bones.

Just as a red-hot iron billet is struck by a sledgehammer to remove impurities, so too does body tempering. As body tempering begins, impurities in Li Yao's body are also being eliminated, and he is transforming into a piece of refined iron.

This process was extremely painful; his flesh and bones were being hammered, causing Li Yao to groan involuntarily. The intense pain was constantly stimulating his nerves.

A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. The powerful bite caused Li Yao's gums to bleed, and his entire face became contorted in a ferocious expression.

This is a necessary process to become stronger; otherwise, how can a mere mortal compete with the physique of a saint?

Yes, Li Yao is indeed overpowered. His Heavenly Book is incredibly powerful and can predict everything in the world. But after he has made those predictions, how he cultivates his skills is still up to him.

Li Yao had reached a very deep understanding of the Starry Battle Body, but he had to endure all the pain he experienced during his cultivation.

This is a kind of tempering, tempering both the body and the mind.

Only by enduring pain can you enjoy the growth it brings. In this process, as long as you persevere, your will will grow stronger over time.

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(End of this chapter)