Gurgle…
Deep within the scorching volcano, strange air bubbles rose from the magma, making it boil.
Kaido, in his massive fire dragon form, was completely enveloped in the searing liquid. He pushed relentlessly downward, breaking through layers of molten rock.
Not long after, a completely new underground world appeared before his eyes.
The volcano above had been a mix of scorching magma and countless hard rocks. This new place was different. It was a vast, open sea of magma, flowing as freely as seawater.
This meant Kaido had already passed through the main body of Mount Fuji. He was now beginning to approach the planet's crust.
At this depth, the temperature of the magma also rose sharply.
The intense heat caused the Armament Haki protecting Kaido's body to deplete at a rapid pace. Kaido sensed this, but he merely continued to plunge downwards without any fear.
Kaido was not a reckless person. He wasn't the kind of man who would knowingly walk into a trap he couldn't escape.
He was not part of the Straw Hat Pirates. He didn't possess their heaven-defying luck, where allies always show up at the last second and where he could always perfectly avoid any crisis. His current identity did not permit him to take such risks.
He was no longer alone. He was the Captain of the Beasts Pirates, and he carried the expectations of countless people. This identity meant he was not qualified to engage in individual, reckless acts of heroism.
His plan for this dive was very clear. He had multiple layers of power capable of resisting the searing magma.
The first layer was: His Great Flame Dragon form.
The second layer was: Armament Haki.
The third layer was: Conqueror's Haki.
And the final layer was: His own seemingly indestructible physical body.
Therefore, his idea was simple. He would continue downwards and search for Pluton. If he reached a point where even his Conqueror's Haki began to fail against the magma, he would choose to retreat.
However, to be honest, Kaido was already prepared to return with nothing.
The sea of magma around him was vast, possibly several times larger than all of Wano Country. It might be even larger the deeper he went. Even Kaido's powerful Observation Haki could not completely cover an area this massive.
Searching for Pluton in this place was truly like searching for a needle in a haystack.
But just as he plunged deeper into this magma sea, his giant figure suddenly stopped. He "looked" around, his senses fully alert.
He did not stop because he feared the magma's heat. He stopped because he sensed a peculiar, new energy flowing within the magma.
This energy felt incredibly familiar to Kaido.
It was surprisingly similar to the 'Qi' that Kaido had refined from his own energy after cultivating his "Greater and Lesser Heavenly Cycle Self-Rotation Method."
An illusion?
Kaido subconsciously had the thought, but he quickly dismissed it. At his level, his senses were so keen that such a mistaken judgment was impossible.
But this was too incredible.
The so-called 'Qi' was the primordial energy of life and all things. This energy could generally only be refined through one's own cultivation. It was the entire purpose of the first stage of his method: "Refining Essence to Transform Qi."
But now, within this expanse of magma, he could actually sense pure, raw 'Qi'.
Suddenly, Kaido, as a Transmigrator, recalled some of the settings he had read in Xianxia novels in his previous life. He remembered the distinction between "Innate" (Xiantian) and "Post-natal" (Houtian).
"Innate" meant an existence born before heaven and earth. "Post-natal" referred to existence after heaven and earth were born.
Could it be? Was this place he was currently in the very first place in this world where things were born? Was that why it possessed this energy, this power that was close to the origin of all things?
Of course, there was another explanation. This energy could be related to the Ancient Weapon Pluton, which was supposedly hidden somewhere below.
However, Kaido no longer cared why it was here.
What he cared about more now was whether his judgment was correct. There was only one way to determine if this feeling was accurate.
He had to operate the cultivation method of the "Greater and Lesser Heavenly Cycle Self-Rotation Method."
If he could refine these Qi-like energies into his body using the cultivation method, and if they produced the same effect as 'Qi', then it would prove that this energy was indeed 'Qi'. Or rather, it was the primordial power of this world.
Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated.
Thus, in the sea of magma, Kaido's giant dragon body rolled. He focused his mind and began to operate the first stage of his method: "Refining Essence to Transform Qi."
He immediately perceived a new change.
As he guided his internal cultivation, the surrounding energies in the magma also began to move.
This had never happened before.
Theoretically, the first stage of his method should have been able to refine energy from his physical body, as well as from grains, water, air, and the sun. But throughout his long period of cultivation in this world, it had only ever refined Kaido's physical body and the energy he got from food.
As for the air and the sun, perhaps due to the peculiar nature of this world, he had never sensed the existence of other energies. He had no way to refine external forces into his body.
But now, it was different.
Just as Kaido operated the cultivation method, guiding the energy within his body to circulate along the path of the Lesser Heavenly Cycle, the external energy also seemed to receive some kind of pull. It began to flow in the same manner.
As the Lesser Heavenly Cycle circulated more and more, Kaido's body seemed to transform into a black hole, slowly absorbing these energies into his body.
In just an instant, Kaido felt a sense of exhilaration he had never experienced during his previous cultivation.
It was like taking a comfortable hot bath after a day of exhausting combat. Not only was his body's fatigue rapidly dissipating, but his previously depleted strength was also quickly recovering.
This was absolutely a pleasant surprise for Kaido.
He could clearly feel it. At this moment, the power within his body was growing at two to three times the efficiency of his previous cultivation.
What Kaido lacked most right now was: time.
Even though he was a Transmigrator and possessed the "Greater and Lesser Heavenly Cycle Self-Rotation Method"—a power that did not belong to this world—it still required time. It was his path to surpassing everyone in this world and becoming the strongest.
But this cultivation still required a process.
However, the time this world gave Kaido was too short. He had only two years.
Two years, in those cultivation novels he remembered, was almost no different from the blink of an eye. Cultivators in those stories often went into seclusion for decades or even centuries.
Yet, Kaido had to become the strongest in this world within these two years.
He couldn't just be the strongest in a one-on-one fight. He had to be strong enough to face continuous battles and the various "stacked buffs" that the Straw Hat Pirates' faction always seemed to pull out of nowhere.
Although Kaido had prepared for this, the two-year time limit still brought him immense tension and pressure.
However, it was different now. He had found this perfect place for cultivation.
The tension brought by his lack of time was greatly alleviated.
In fact, he had only just reached the entrance of this sea of magma, and his cultivation efficiency had already doubled or tripled. If he went deeper, perhaps the energy below would be even richer, and the cultivation efficiency even greater.
But for now?
Kaido was not in a hurry. He had just discovered something even more delightful.
He seemed to have broken through. The "Greater and Lesser Heavenly Cycle Self-Rotation Method" had advanced from the first stage, "Refining Essence to Transform Qi," to the second stage: "Refining Qi to Transform Spirit…"
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