He came to the pool. It was small—about five meters square—shallow and perfectly still. It looked like water, but it wasn't; it was power distilled to the utmost, drawn from the Insect Stele and refined again and again until only essence remained. This power carried no Dao imprint and could be absorbed by anyone.
Lin Moyu knew that if he stepped in, his cultivation would soar—breaking into the Chaos Realm—Great Completion would be no problem. But the Calamity Supreme hadn't forced him; he left the choice to Lin. If Lin disliked outside power, he could pass. No matter how many times it's refined, external power will still carry someone else's mark—especially this, which came from the Stele and thus bore traces of the Jinri God-Lord. Usually that wouldn't show, but at special moments it could cause trouble.
Even so, the essence was already extremely pure—only two final steps remained in Lin's eyes.
"Let's purify it," Lin said.
Chaos Seed answered; torrents of Purifying Water poured into the pool. The water scoured away any lingering wills or imprints. Lin's keen senses caught the pool's change—something vanished. The level dropped a hair—perhaps less than one-thousandth. The pool grew clearer—the essence of the essence.
That still wasn't enough. After the Purifying Water, Lin brought out the World Jellyfish and flushed it again, dissolving everything extraneous. In terms of purity, the World Jellyfish was top-tier. Under its wash, the pool dropped further; only about eighty percent remained. It no longer looked clear but glowed faintly gold, as if it had reached an extreme. Lin faintly sensed an ancient, primal force.
"Now that's essence," he murmured.
Little Tree said, "That's Heaven-and-Earth Origin Qi, a power second only to Primordial Genesis Qi."
Chaos Seed added, "After we absorbed Primordial Genesis Qi back then, what we drew from the Chaos Ancient Wilds was exactly this Origin Qi—pure power before today's myriad Daos. In the present age, I'm afraid only Master could refine Heaven-and-Earth Origin Qi like this." (Little Tree shot him a look of disdain.)
"Since it's Origin Qi," Lin said, "let's all absorb it. You two can recover some strength."
Chaos Seed lit up. "Really? We can have it?"
Lin smiled. "I don't need much—just enough to break through. The rest is yours."
Even with Heaven-and-Earth Origin Qi in hand, Lin didn't want to take too much. He was at Chaos Realm—Small Completion, a hair from Great Completion. A small amount to step across wouldn't harm his foundations; his combat power would leap—enough. The remainder could help Little Tree and Chaos Seed recover. With the Hidden Spirit Pearl, even if they fully recovered, as long as they stayed inside his soul-world they wouldn't be noticed by Dao. He could afford to be bolder.
Lin began absorbing the Origin Qi. As it entered, it converted swiftly into his own power and seeped into his soul. He could clearly feel his realm rising—at this rate he'd break through soon.
"So effective!" He'd expected great results, but not this great. Training with Origin Qi was tens of thousands—even hundreds of thousands—of times faster than normal. A year of this could equal tens or hundreds of thousands of years of cultivating with ordinary Chaos Qi.
"This is the fine flour," he quipped—after eating this, today's Chaos Qi felt like coarse grain. No wonder Little Tree and Chaos Seed recovered so slowly: the Chaos Qi they absorbed had to be refined layer by layer, who-knows-how-many times, to meet their standard. It also explained why the top beings of the ancient era were so strong—by today's measure they were near unbeatable at their realms. Different foundations defy comparison.
It also reassured Lin that his path was right: solidify the base first. Realms could climb slowly; the foundation must be firm. Even now, he refused to rush—he refined and comprehended bit by bit, letting his aura rise steadily. He felt out the membrane between Small and Great Completion—one gentle poke would burst it. But that wasn't the best approach. He held himself at the very limit of Small Completion and kept absorbing. After a few days, when there was no more Origin Qi to take, the barrier shattered on its own. Lin hadn't moved, yet he heard the crisp sound of a realm breaking—like pearls falling into a dish. His aura didn't spike wildly; it strengthened slowly and evenly, then settled.
He had stepped into Chaos Realm—Great Completion. Seen from outside, he looked like a fresh entrant, but in truth his foundation at Great Completion was already rock-solid; he didn't need centuries to stabilize—it was complete the instant he broke through.
"Your turn. Take it slow," Lin said, sitting by the pool to feel out the changes after his breakthrough. Little Tree and Chaos Seed were careful—just as he expected. With the Hidden Spirit Pearl not fully refined yet, they kept things conservative; both valued their lives.
A tree-root lanced into the pool, and they began absorbing Origin Qi with great caution.
Lin examined himself. After advancing to Great Completion, his power was stronger, though the realm's boost wasn't as direct as the previous doubling of body and soul. His undead thralls improved, too. Their realms nudged ahead of his, roughly mid-Great-Completion; if they invoked Sublimation, they could reach upper Great Completion. As for the stronger Perfected tier, that was impossible in the Chaos without a domain—but Lin had a workaround: Primordial Genesis Qi.
With a thought, he guided Primordial Genesis Qi into the chaotic zone outside the Great Thousand World, letting the undead thralls bathe in it. Their cultivation didn't rise, but their limits broke—they could now wield Perfected-tier combat power without a domain.
He felt that without Primordial Genesis Qi, their combat ceiling would have been Great Completion. His arts were marvelous, but they couldn't ignore the Chaos's iron law: since the beginning, no domain means no Perfection. In antiquity, the greatest broke that only thanks to Primordial Genesis Qi—reaching Perfection and even surpassing it to stand alongside a Supreme. To them, "realm" was illusion; only combat power was real.
Today, the Chaos Ancient Wilds' Primordial Genesis Qi is long spent; any remnants are scant—far from enough for his thralls. Fortunately, Lin possessed another heaven and earth of his own, with effectively limitless Genesis Qi—plenty for the thralls. The catch: thralls wielding Perfected-tier power in the Chaos would draw Dao's gaze. The Hidden Spirit Pearl solved that. Once he fully refined it, he could extend its effect to each undead thrall and avert Dao's attention.
"Perfect," Lin murmured, clenching his fist. The breakthrough's payoff was excellent: as his realm rose, his thralls' battle ceiling could keep rising—toward a true limit he couldn't yet see.
He focused on hastening the Pearl's refinement—it was the priority. Once complete, his movements would be far freer; Little Tree and Chaos Seed could restore themselves without scruples; Xiaopeng's bloodline could fully awaken. The Pearl's single function was precisely why it was terrifyingly strong.
While refining the Pearl, Lin multitasked, refining the grand array as well. Little Tree and Chaos Seed kept drawing Origin Qi, restoring their strength. Everything advanced in order. A subtle aura gradually spread from Lin—a breath so faint it was easy to overlook; even if seen, the mind would dismiss it. As it shrouded him, Lin seemed to vanish from this heaven and earth.
Absorbing Origin Qi, Little Tree and Chaos Seed both started. "Master—your aura disappeared!" In their senses, Lin was gone; even the soul-world felt unreal and out of reach. They could still perceive each other; the Pearl wasn't affecting them yet.
"That's the Hidden Spirit Pearl at work," Lin said. "Keep absorbing; don't mind me."
Only a portion of the Pearl had been refined, and its effect was already astonishing.
Atop the Insect Stele, the Jin Supreme, in the midst of dealing with the Spider-God Web, glanced toward the array. "Why did his aura vanish? Strange." The array had been here forever; how could a Supreme not study it? The Calamity Supreme's craft was exquisite—hard for even a Supreme to crack—but years of scrutiny and the array's link to the Stele (his body) gave the Jin Supreme an opening. He'd seeped his power into the formation and even located its core, but could go no farther: the Calamity Supreme's will guarded it. He could still sense broad strokes—like Lin entering the core. So Lin's sudden disappearance puzzled him—Lin hadn't left the array. Moments later Lin's aura reappeared, puzzling him more. Then a surge of power swept out of the core and shooed away his embedded will like so many flies. Lin had refined the formation; it had a new master, who expelled all foreign wills.
Unembarrassed, the Jin Supreme let it go. He hadn't done wrong; if he felt no shame, the shame belonged to others. He trusted Lin wouldn't be foolish enough to confront him—so pretend nothing happened.
In only a few days, Lin had fully refined the grand array—faster than before. From within the core he glanced toward the Jin Supreme. "Supremes are cautious. Sitting here all this time, of course he'd peek. That's why the Calamity Supreme left a will at every core—among other things, to ward off other Supremes." Every step in the Calamity Supreme's plan served multiple purposes; that's how his layout endured.
Lin poured himself into refining the Hidden Spirit Pearl. Little Tree and Chaos Seed kept drinking down Origin Qi, not fast, but thorough. That pool, accumulated over countless years, took them fifty years to drain. By then they'd recovered over sixty percent. In raw combat power they were no weaker than today's top Perfected beings; at over eighty percent they'd surpass the Perfected tier and rival Quasi-Supremes. At their peaks, both had been at least the equals of Supremes. Chaos Seed's inner world had once housed nine Supremes and nine Quasi-Supremes; together, they could force an ordinary Supreme to retreat.
After fifty years, the Hidden Spirit Pearl was over halfway refined; another fifty would finish it. Its aura already blanketed Lin's soul-world and body; with a thought he could vanish from the Chaos void. Its effect now covered Little Tree and Chaos Seed as well—so even when fully restored, they needn't fear Dao's notice.
"Master, should we revive another Quasi-Supreme?" Chaos Seed asked. They'd revived Ye Yangyan before; now, with Chaos Seed's recovery, another was possible.
Lin thought, then shook his head. "No. Reviving a Quasi-Supreme doesn't help me much. Outside your inner world, they're only a shade stronger than top Perfected—and they can't go all out. Not much different from a top Perfected fighter, mostly good for posturing. I already have comparable power; no need to spend the effort. Once you're back to full, you can control those Supremes and Quasi-Supremes directly."
He rose. "The Heaven-and-Earth Origin Qi is used up. Time for us to go."