Swallowing the Stars: I Have a Primordial Dao Seed

Zhou Yuan opened the furnace door, and a four-meter-long Broken Mountain Blade floated silently inside. The blade was silver and purple, and the secret patterns on its surface flowed slowly like the trajectory of stars, occasionally flashing a trace of earthy yellow or silver light. The two kinds of laws were perfectly integrated, yet clearly distinct.

He reached out and grasped the hilt, slightly channeling his primal force. The blade immediately trembled, the weight of the Earth's fundamental law and the sharpness of the spatial fundamental law exploding forth, forming an invisible storm within the weapon-forging chamber. Zhou Yuan nodded in satisfaction, a weary yet excited smile on his face: "It seems I have mastered the essence of forging fourth-tier weapons."

Successfully forging a fourth-tier Mountain-Splitting Blade meant that Zhou Yuan had found a stable channel to high-end wealth. However, when he thought about the trillions of cosmic coins needed to cultivate the second level of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique, he couldn't help but frown. At the current pace, the profit from one Mountain-Splitting Blade was about one hundred million cosmic coins. To accumulate trillions, he would have to forge tens of thousands of blades, which would take him at least several hundred years at his current speed.

"The task is arduous and the road ahead is long," Zhou Yuan muttered to himself, looking at the Broken Mountain Blade in his hand. However, he was not in a hurry. In any case, there were still more than a thousand years until the Cosmic-level Powerhouse Battle, at least enough time to earn enough resources for the second level of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique.

Time flies like an arrow; three hundred and twenty-seven years have passed quietly in the cycle of weapon forging and cultivation.

At this moment, Zhou Yuan stood amidst a mountain of empty nutrient solution containers in his spatial ring, a hint of relief flashing in his eyes. Over the past three hundred years, he had forged more than seventy thousand fourth-tier Mountain-Splitting Blades, accumulating enough wealth to support his attempt to break through to the second level of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique.

He spent nearly five trillion cosmic coins to order a full 500 tons of Grade D recovery nutrient solution from the core warehouse of the Zichen Cosmic Kingdom. Grade D nutrient solution contains a thousand times more energy than the Grade C nutrient solution he purchased before, and its price is also more than a thousand times higher. It is generally used by domain lords for rapid recovery.

The difficulty of cultivating the second level of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique far exceeds that of the first level. Each main secret rune is composed of nine nested smaller secret runes, totaling 10081 such complex secret runes, forming a more intricate three-dimensional law network.

Zhou Yuan dared not be careless. He activated the castle's mental energy shielding array to its maximum in advance and then entered the small world ring he had purchased to cultivate, ensuring that he would not be disturbed by any external forces.

"Beibei, activate the nutrient tank." Zhou Yuan's voice carried a hint of solemnity. In the center of the training room, a large nutrient tank, a kilometer long, was already filled with light blue Grade D nutrient solution. Hundreds of energy conduits were connected to the tank, which could monitor his vital signs in real time and replenish his energy consumption.

Zhou Yuan put away his Force Armor and stepped into the nutrient solution, lying down as his body returned to its 20-meter height. His consciousness gradually sank into his sea of ​​consciousness, beginning to comprehend the second level of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique, which was derived from the Primordial Dao Seed.

Just like the first level, the first step in cultivation is to use mental power to draw the structure of the secret runes in the sea of ​​consciousness. However, this time the secret runes are more complex—each main secret rune requires the outline of nine interconnected smaller secret runes to be drawn first. The angles, spacing, and thickness of the energy channels between the smaller secret runes must be extremely precise. Even a slight deviation will cause the entire secret rune network to collapse.

"Let's begin." Zhou Yuan took a deep breath, his consciousness highly focused, and his soul power, like countless invisible paintbrushes, began to draw the outline of the first complex secret pattern in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Perhaps it was because his more than three hundred years of experience in weapon crafting had given him more skillful control over his mental energy, but the first nine minor complex runes of the composite rune were completed exceptionally smoothly, in one go, without the slightest lag. Encouraged by this successful start, Zhou Yuan's confidence soared, and he continued to wield his soul power, with one profound complex rune after another gradually taking shape in his sea of ​​consciousness.

However, the path of cultivation is not always smooth sailing. When Zhou Yuan was drawing the 7,397th complex rune, his soul power suddenly fluctuated slightly, causing the lines of one of the smaller runes to deviate.

The next second, the entire formed secret pattern structure collapsed instantly like dominoes, turning into specks of light and dissipating into the sea of ​​consciousness.

"Did I fail?" Zhou Yuan opened his eyes, let out a soft breath, and showed no sign of frustration. Cultivation is never something that can be achieved overnight, especially a heaven-defying secret technique like the second level of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique.

In the days that followed, Zhou Yuan entered a near-frenzied state of cultivation. He constantly tried to trace the structure of the secret runes with his mental energy, and if he failed, he would start over. When his mental energy was depleted by more than half, the D-grade nutrient solution in the nutrient tank would quickly convert into mental energy to replenish it, allowing him to maintain his peak condition.

The secret runes in Zhou Yuan's sea of ​​consciousness took shape and collapsed time and time again. However, his mental strength was constantly refined and strengthened with each failure, and his understanding of the secret runes became more and more profound.

Finally, after seven days of relentless attempts, when the last nine smaller complex runes of the composite rune were perfectly formed in the sea of ​​consciousness, the entire rune structure instantly stabilized. A three-dimensional structure composed of 10081 complex runes floated in the center of the sea of ​​consciousness, slowly rotating and emitting a faint seven-colored mysterious light.

"Success!" Zhou Yuan felt a surge of excitement, but he did not relax, because this was only the first step.

Next, one must use the primal force within the body to connect these 10081 complex runes in the order drawn by the mental force. This step is even more difficult than drawing the runes, requiring extremely precise control over the primal force; the slightest mistake will lead to the failure of all previous efforts.

Zhou Yuan carefully mobilized the primal force within his body, like a delicate thread, slowly probing towards the secret pattern structure in his sea of ​​consciousness. The first complex secret pattern was successfully connected, the second, the third... When he connected to the more than two thousand complex secret patterns, the control of the primal force deviated slightly, and the entire secret pattern structure collapsed again.

Failure did not discourage Zhou Yuan; instead, it made him more composed. He tried again and again, constantly adjusting the output and control precision of his Force, accumulating experience from each failure. Meanwhile, the D-grade nutrient solution in the nutrient tank continuously replenished his consumed Force, preventing him from being drained of his mental and physical energy and falling into a coma as he had during his first cultivation session.

Time slipped away quietly amidst the monotonous cultivation, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had passed. On this day, when the last wisp of primal force successfully connected to the 10081st complex rune, the entire rune structure suddenly burst forth with a dazzling earthy yellow light. All 10081 complex runes lit up simultaneously, like 10081 stars, shining brightly in the sea of ​​consciousness.

"The connection was successful!" A look of wild joy flashed in Zhou Yuan's eyes.

The final step was the easiest for Zhou Yuan. With a thought, his mental power and primal force resonated instantly, and the secret runes in his sea of ​​consciousness began to slowly rotate. Each complex rune operated according to some profound law, as if it were a microcosm of the entire universe, perfect and flawless.

As the secret rune structure activated, a strange power spread from his sea of ​​consciousness, instantly permeating Zhou Yuan's entire body. His primal force and spiritual power were forcibly mobilized by this power, rapidly circulating within his body along the routes indicated by the secret rune structure. Zhou Yuan even lost control of his body.