Soaring Cloud Ancient Domain.
Ice God Sect.
Inside a lavish ice palace, Zhu Xuanji opened her eyes.
The first thing she looked at was the water clock beside her.
"Only a moment passed?"
A look of shock crossed her face.
That meant the time ratio between the Square Inch Mysterious Realm and the outside world was 300 to 1?
She quickly looked down at her palm.
There, a jade slip stood out clearly.
She used her spiritual sense to scan it—and found the Asura Breathing Technique inside.
"It's real. Not an illusion."
She couldn't hold back anymore. She flopped onto the bed and rolled around in excitement.
Only after a dozen breaths did she finally calm down.
"I, Zhu Xuanji, am really going to rise."
She clenched her fist and gave a little punch into the air.
Then she got up and walked out.
"'The Slaughter Breathing Technique' needs to be cultivated through killing."
Her eyes glinted slightly.
Within the Ice God Sect, she always played the role of a sheltered girl, pure and innocent, untouched by worldly matters.
Because she was the daughter of the former sect master.
Her father had died 15 years ago.
So she had to appear harmless and meek.
Otherwise, the people in the sect would never have let her live this long.
"Young Mistress."
As soon as she opened the door, four maids were already waiting outside.
"I've been bored to death these days. Get ready—we're going to Dingkun Mountain for some fun."
Zhu Xuanji said casually.
One maid hesitated and said, "Young Mistress, Dingkun Mountain is full of demons. It's very dangerous."
"Hmph, that's why it's fun. Danger makes things exciting."
Zhu Xuanji snorted coldly. "Get everything ready now. Or else, you'll regret it."
She gave off the total vibe of a spoiled troublemaker.
Wasteland Realm.
Fengtian City.
Yang Cheng's spiritual power had finally recovered.
"Square Inch Mysterious Realm…"
He thought back to what happened earlier.
That realm was incredibly useful to him.
The Wasteland Realm's resources were limited.
That was probably one reason Great Zhou wanted to conquer Tianyuan after discovering it.
Now, the Square Inch Mysterious Realm had solved that problem for him.
From now on, he could use it to gather resources from across all realms.
He also had another huge advantage:
He had knowledge about the next 500 years.
A lot of that info would become common knowledge in the future.
But right now, it was priceless.
Using the realm's benefits and giving himself enough time—he'd eventually be able to stand against the Tang family.
Besides that, he could also begin refining the divine mountain.
He spread his palm.
With a silent thought, a stone appeared in his hand.
In the future, this would be known as "Liuli Mountain"—named by Zhu Xuanji.
She wouldn't discover how to refine it until a hundred years later.
Before that, she knew it was unusual, but didn't know how to use it.
But for Yang Cheng, who knew everything from 500 years ahead, it was an easy matter.
Refining it was simple.
Right now, the reason it couldn't be refined was that it had a hidden restriction seal.
Break that seal, and it could be refined.
A hundred years from now, Zhu Xuanji would crack the seal.
After that, the method became common knowledge, so there was no need to keep it secret.
So it wasn't a big deal that Yang Cheng knew the method now.
Right away, Yang Cheng began working to break the restriction.
In just one night, he broke through the seal.
Next was the actual refining process.
That wasn't something that could be done in one go.
The stone looked small, but it could transform into a divine mountain ten thousand zhang tall.
Refining it would definitely take time.
But Yang Cheng wasn't worried.
As long as he worked on it steadily every day, he'd succeed eventually.
The next day.
Yang Cheng went to Autumn Water Courtyard right on time.
"Tangtang, I've got a breathing technique here. Try cultivating it."
He brought out the Great Thunderous Sound Breathing Technique.
In a way, Tang Xingyu was like a cheat code for cultivation.
When Yang Cheng had cultivated the Tai Sui Breathing Technique beside her, he progressed way faster than he could alone.
At least several times faster.
If the guess he and Cheng Junyi had was right—that Tang Xingyu could awaken a special physique by cultivating top-tier breathing techniques…
Then once she started with the Great Thunderous Sound Breathing Technique, she might develop a thunder-based martial physique.
At that point, cultivating the technique together with her would boost Yang Cheng even more.
"This breathing technique…"
Cheng Junyi's expression shifted.
Just one scan with her spiritual sense and she realized how heaven-defying it was.
She quickly pulled her sense back, afraid of learning too much from it.
"Teacher, you can cultivate this too."
Yang Cheng said.
But Cheng Junyi shook her head. "I'm no genius. Being able to master one breathing technique is already enough for me. I'd rather not get distracted by others."
Then she looked at him seriously.
"Chengcheng, this is a top-tier breathing technique. Even in the Divine Realm, countless factions would fight over it. You must never leak it carelessly."
"Don't worry, Teacher. I'll only share it with people I absolutely trust."
Yang Cheng promised.
Cheng Junyi gave a small nod. "I'll guard the area so no one can spy on your cultivation."
She used her spiritual sense to seal off the Autumn Water Courtyard.
"This breathing technique is fun."
Tang Xingyu had monstrous talent. She started cultivating the Great Thunderous Sound Breathing Technique with almost no difficulty.
And then something shocking happened.
As she practiced it, mysterious changes appeared in her flesh and blood.
Deep within her body, lines of thunder dao runes started forming.
Half a day passed…
Tang Xingyu's entire body was wrapped in lightning.
"Primordial Thunder Dao Body!"
Cheng Junyi was stunned.
Tang Xingyu had actually awakened a second physique.
Her and Yang Cheng's guess was right!
Even though Tang Xingyu's Chaos Bone had been dug out, it seemed to have triggered an even more terrifying hidden ability.
As long as she cultivated a top-tier breathing technique, a corresponding physique would be born.
It was insane.
Yang Cheng's eyes lit up. He sat down cross-legged on the spot and began cultivating the Great Thunderous Sound Breathing Technique alongside Tang Xingyu.
He didn't have her freakish ability, but with the Great Divination Breathing Technique in his body, he could still cultivate multiple breathing techniques at the same time.
Cheng Junyi snapped out of it and sighed helplessly. "Another little monster."
On the surface, Yang Cheng's talent looked weaker than Tang Xingyu's—he needed her to boost his speed.
But in truth, Cheng Junyi thought Yang Cheng might be even more monstrous.
His bones seemed to have a boundless tolerance, like a sea that could accept all rivers.
No matter the breathing technique or martial path, he could learn them all, and master them easily.
If she hadn't raised Yang Cheng herself, she would never have believed anyone who told her such a person existed.
Time flew by during cultivation.
In a flash, a few years passed.
On that day—
Boom!
A thunderous roar erupted from Yang Cheng's body.
He had finally refined the divine mountain stone completely.
In an instant, a vast, overwhelming energy surged from the stone into his body.
His cultivation had already been right at the edge of Martial King.
For these few years, he could have broken through at any time. But he had suppressed it, waiting for this moment.
He wanted to smash the bottleneck with absolute dominance.
Only then would his martial foundation be unshakable.
The energy rushing out of the divine mountain stone was enough to let an ordinary warrior advance to Martial Emperor.
In just moments, his bottleneck shattered.
From Martial Master to Martial King was a huge watershed.
At this realm, the dantian undergoes expansion.
Back in his past life, when he had broken through to Martial King, his dantian had expanded from a normal person's 1.2 cun to 3 cun.
But now, under the flood of energy, his dantian instantly expanded to 10 cun—a full 1 chi.
And it didn't stop.
For half an hour, the divine mountain kept pouring energy into him.
His dantian swelled again and again.
1 chi, 3 chi, 10 chi…
Finally, Yang Cheng's dantian expanded to 18 zhang, equal to 1,800 cun.
Inside, it had formed a secondary space.
Its size was 600 times larger than his dantian in his past life.
Compared to his current self, his past self wasn't even trash.
His true qi now surged like a vast lake.
"Martial King, Fifth Layer."
Yang Cheng sensed his cultivation.
Not only had he broken through, but he had jumped straight to Fifth Layer Martial King.
It proved his choice was right.
Then his figure blurred, and he vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he stood atop a towering mountain.
The spiritual qi here was so dense it had turned into white mist.
"From today onward, this divine mountain belongs to me."
His heart surged with emotion.
The spiritual qi here was at least a hundred times richer than the Wasteland Realm.
From now on, he could let his own people enter to cultivate.
But only those he absolutely trusted could step foot here.
After leaving the mountain, Yang Cheng stored the stone away into his spatial domain.
"Time to prepare for the Qingqiu Secret Realm."
He gazed south, toward Great Zhou's Qingzhou.
He was eager for this secret realm trip.
The Qingqiu Secret Realm held countless demon beasts.
For martial artists, demon beast inner cores were priceless treasures.
They could absorb the energy within to strengthen their true qi.
But normally, a warrior couldn't directly absorb an inner core's power.
It had to be purified first, because inner cores contained too much baleful qi and impurities.
Absorbing them directly would lead to qi deviation.
The Qingqiu Secret Realm was different.
Its environment was pure, sealed for years, and the inner cores inside had little baleful qi and almost no impurities.
So the inner cores here could be absorbed directly.
In his past life, Yang Xiu and the other prodigies had soared to glory after this secret realm expedition.
From then on, others could only look up to them.
And not just Eastern Wastes warriors.
Many martial artists from other parts of the Wasteland Realm would also come.
"The Qingqiu Secret Realm only allows martial artists under 20 years old to enter. Who among them can compete with me?"
Yang Cheng's expression stayed calm.
He wasn't arrogant, but he wasn't humble either.
Above 20, countless strong cultivators existed. He would never underestimate them.
But under 20, he didn't think he had any reason to fear anyone.
Three days later, Yang Cheng had everything ready.