Immortal Path in the Palm of a Mortal's Hand

He did not rush to inject magic power, but first closed his eyes and concentrated his mind, calming his thoughts like still water.

The parting words of True Immortal Chiyun still echoed in his ears: the Great Evolution Prison Suppression Scripture was extremely dangerous; the slightest carelessness could lead to the collapse of one's sea of ​​consciousness and the annihilation of one's soul. These words, spoken by a Core Formation cultivator, carried immense weight. Before comprehending this technique, he needed to adjust his own state to its peak.

About an incense stick later, Chen Fan opened his eyes, extended his right index finger, and slowly channeled a wisp of pure magic power into the golden book.

The moment the magic touched the pages, the patterns on them suddenly lit up! The previously blurry lines seemed to come alive instantly, wandering, intertwining, and recombining along some mysterious trajectory! Chen Fan felt a surge of golden light before his eyes, and countless words and graphics, like a flood bursting its banks, surged into his sea of ​​consciousness, densely packed, almost overwhelming him!

His mind raced, and he activated his spiritual power at full force, forcibly sorting and organizing the incoming information as if peeling back layers of an onion.

A moment later, the golden light faded, and the pages returned to their original state. Meanwhile, the complete first three layers of the *Dayan Zhenyu Jing* (Great Evolution Prison Suppression Scripture) had been imprinted in Chen Fan's mind.

He closed his eyes, concentrated, and carefully comprehended the meaning.

First level: Concentration. Using secret techniques to circulate one's divine sense, one gathers, compresses, and refines the scattered power, simultaneously enhancing both the "quality" and "quantity" of one's divine sense. Upon completion of this level, the strength of one's divine sense can increase by approximately 30%.

The second level: Transformation of Thoughts. Building upon the foundation of concentration, one differentiates the divine consciousness while simultaneously maintaining multiple streams of divine thoughts running in parallel. Upon successful completion of this level, the divine consciousness can be divided into three streams, equivalent to "using three things at once," which has endless uses in alchemy, array formation, and combat.

The third level: Prison Suppression. This is the essence of the first three levels! With highly condensed divine sense, a "Prison Suppression Wall" is constructed within the sea of ​​consciousness! This wall not only resists the invasion of external demonic divine sense, but also forcibly suppresses the inner demons that arise within oneself! Once the inner demons are suppressed, they can no longer disturb the Dao heart; instead, they are constantly worn down and refined by the Prison Suppression Wall, eventually transforming into pure divine sense power that nourishes oneself!

Chen Fan studied the third level of the mental cultivation method three times, and the shock in his heart became stronger and stronger.

Suppress your inner demons and nourish yourself!

Such methods were unheard of to him! Ordinary cultivators deal with inner demons in only two ways: either by resisting them with unwavering willpower, or by using mind-clearing elixirs and secret techniques to expel them. Regardless of the method, inner demons remain a sword hanging over one's head, an enemy that must be repeatedly fought on the path of cultivation. But the *Great Evolution Prison-Suppressing Scripture* does the opposite, neither driving them away nor expelling them, but rather suppressing, devouring, and transforming them into its own power!

This technique is no longer a simple method of cultivating spiritual consciousness!

This is... a bizarre and wondrous skill that feeds on inner demons!

Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze falling on the golden book in front of him, his expression as solemn as iron.

At this moment, he was almost certain that the *Dayan Jue* created by the Great Evolution Divine Lord was inextricably linked to this *Dayan Zhenyu Jing*! The *Dayan Jue* focused on spiritual consciousness, doubling its power with each level of cultivation. Its heaven-defying effects were strikingly similar to the spiritual consciousness condensation method of the *Dayan Zhenyu Jing*. The only difference might be that the *Dayan Jue* lacked this core method of "suppressing the prison." The Great Evolution Divine Lord most likely obtained a fragment of the *Dayan Zhenyu Jing*, comprehending the profound meaning of spiritual consciousness condensation, but failed to grasp this fundamental method for suppressing inner demons and transforming demons into power. Therefore, he forged a new path and created the *Dayan Jue*.

Of course, this is merely speculation. The truth can only be known by finding the complete "Dayan Jue" and "Dayan Zhenyu Jing" to corroborate each other.

However, there is still one thing that needs to be done right now.

Chen Fan carefully put the golden book back into his storage bag, then took a dusty, worn-out spirit beast bag from his waist. This was the lowest-grade spirit beast bag, crudely made. He untied the drawstring, turned the bag upside down, and gently shook it. A dark golden insect egg, the size of a soybean, rolled into his palm.

The insect eggs are oval-shaped, with a deep, dark gold shell covered in intricate natural patterns. Under the moonlight, the patterns gleam with a cold, metallic sheen. The eggshells are intact, cool to the touch, and within them, a faint, almost imperceptible life force is slowly pulsating.

Golden-backed mantis.

A spirit insect renowned for its sturdy carapace. Upon reaching adulthood, its carapace becomes incomparably hard, capable of withstanding attacks from magical artifacts of cultivators of the same level without damage. Its forelimbs are sickle-like, exceptionally sharp, and possess astonishing bite force, making it fiercely powerful in close combat. Among the myriad spirit insects of Spirit Beast Mountain, the Golden-backed Demon Mantis, while not among the top tier, is still an extremely useful aid for cultivators at the Qi Refining stage and even the early Foundation Establishment stage.

This insect egg is the only thing of any value worth a spirit stone left to Chen Fan by his parents in this life.

While it's considered valuable, that's relative. A single Golden-backed Demon Mantis egg is worth about seventy or eighty low-grade spirit stones in the market. For a Qi Refining disciple, that's certainly a considerable fortune. However, that's all. Its parents were merely ordinary disciples of the Spirit Beast Mountain in their lifetime, saving up for many years to purchase this egg. They intended to help Chen Fan hatch and raise it after his cultivation stabilized, but unexpectedly, they both perished in the secret realm, leaving no last words.

Chen Fan has treasured this egg to this day, but it has yet to hatch.

It's not that I'm unwilling, but that I dare not.

Hatching spirit insects is extremely costly. The hatching of the eggs themselves requires a massive amount of spiritual energy to nourish them. The usual method is to place the eggs in a pile of spirit stones and let them absorb the spiritual energy to hatch on their own. The eggs of the Golden-backed Demon Mantis require at least dozens of low-grade spirit stones to hatch successfully. After hatching, the larvae require even more investment, either by feeding them with spirit stones or by maintaining them with special spirit-feeding pills, requiring at least seven or eight spirit stones per month. If one wants to cultivate them to a level where they can be used in battle, the cost increases exponentially!

In the past, he possessed nothing of value, and his monthly sect allowance amounted to only a few spirit stones, barely enough to sustain his cultivation. If he were to add another spirit insect, he would either have to cut off his own path to cultivation or let the insect starve to death. Weighing the two options, he had no choice but to seal the insect eggs in his spirit beast pouch and wait patiently for the time when his finances improved.

Now, the time has come.

Chen Fan took out a low-grade spirit stone from his storage bag and placed it on the futon in front of his lap along with the insect eggs. He carefully pressed the insect eggs onto the surface of the spirit stone and then released them. The moment the insect eggs touched the spirit stone, the patterns on their shells lit up almost imperceptibly, and an extremely weak suction force emanated from within the eggs, slowly drawing in the spiritual energy contained within the spirit stone.

It is extremely slow.

The flow of spiritual energy is so slow that it is almost imperceptible unless one concentrates intently.

Chen Fan was not in a hurry. The Golden-backed Demon Mantises naturally take time to hatch, ranging from three to five days to more than ten days, depending entirely on the vitality of the eggs themselves. After settling them in, he paid no more attention to them and devoted his mind entirely to comprehending the "Great Evolution Prison Suppression Scripture".

Changing one's cultivation method sounds simple, but it is actually dangerous and difficult.

The cultivation technique Chen Fan had previously practiced was the basic introductory technique of Spirit Beast Mountain, the "Spirit Control Technique." This technique was moderate and peaceful, with almost no risk in cultivation, but its progress was excruciatingly slow. Its core lay in cultivating the spiritual connection between the cultivator and the spirit beast, and its cultivation of the spiritual sense itself only involved the most rudimentary methods of sensing and communication.

To switch from the foundation of the "Spirit Control Technique" to the "Great Evolution Prison Suppression Scripture" is tantamount to building a towering skyscraper on flat ground. Everything must start from scratch.

Chen Fan meticulously dissected and repeatedly studied the first layer of the *Dayan Zhenyu Jing* (Great Evolution Prison Suppression Scripture). Its description of the path of spiritual consciousness operation was completely opposite to that of the *Yuling Jue* (Spirit Control Technique)! The *Yuling Jue* emphasized "external release," allowing the spiritual consciousness to leave the body and communicate with spirit beasts; while the *Dayan Zhenyu Jing* emphasized "internal restraint," confining the spiritual consciousness entirely within the sea of ​​consciousness, repeatedly condensing, compressing, and purifying it! The two approaches were diametrically opposed!

This means that he cannot practice both methods simultaneously!

Either abandon the "Spirit Control Technique" and cultivate the "Great Evolution Prison Suppression Scripture" alone.

Either stick to the "Spirit Control Technique" and abandon the "Great Evolution Prison Suppression Scripture".

There is absolutely no third way to go.

Chen Fan hesitated for only a few breaths before making his decision.