In the Mortal Plane, there were only six possible Cultivation Realms, and all forms of life fought daily for resources, seeking to reach higher levels. This competition gave rise to clans and cities, with cultivator clans ruling areas where Qi was denser than the surroundings.
For an ordinary member of a clan, achieving the first three realms - Qi Condensation, Viscera Training, and Muscle Transformation - in their lifetime was a possible task. However, only true geniuses were able to reach the realm of Muscle Transformation before the age of 18, which allowed them to go to the capital.
There, the genius members of the great clans had access to abundant resources and could cultivate themselves faster and more efficiently. Some even reached the fifth realm, known as Meridian Transformation, although this advancement required hundreds of years of dedication. Upon returning to their homes, these cultivators became the patriarchs of the clan, playing leadership roles and guiding future generations.
Naturally, the Lian of now could achieve that easily. It's just that he had no interest in any of that. At the moment, he was bathing in moonlight inside his room. His meridians crackled as a sticky and dark liquid dripped from his skin. He was doing it to open all his acupoints.
In the process, he realized that his soul was very powerful in the Mortal Plane, allowing him to use it in various different ways. However, the soul's core was damaged. It resembled a glass shattered into a thousand pieces, carefully glued back together. It could still reflect the environment around it, but the cracks impaired the overall view.
The damage to his soul could be restored with Qi, but the mortal world had incomplete laws and low density. It would take thousands of years to recover even a fraction. Because of that, he couldn't train offensive soul divine skills before going to the Divine Plane, where he could recover from these damages.
Lian cleaned himself up and gathered Qi from the surroundings once again. Cultivation in the mortal world involved absorbing Qi into his body and carefully separating the universal laws that corresponded to his realm.
For someone who had already reached the Divine Origin Realm, the universal laws were like an open book. There were no obstacles or lack of understanding in his cultivation. He could live in a desert with extremely scarce Qi for the rest of his life and still easily reach the sixth realm, also known as the highest realm of the Mortal Plane, the "Core Formation."
In his previous life as Zeke, he was one of the four most powerful overlords in his Universe, but that didn't help him protect those who were important to him. So now, Lian needed to tread a different path.
First, he needed to reach the top again. Then he would repay blood with blood. He wouldn't allow those various powers to exist anymore. He would have to destroy everything in order to rebuild. Because there is no change without transformation, whether in personal life or in the Universe we live in.
A single order should be established to unite humanity. After all, when someone has everything, that's when they can realize their true selves. Power concentrated in the hands of a few awakens greed and thirst for more. In the end, another Divine Emperor might invade this Universe. Lian knew they couldn't always rely on luck.
"I won't let the people I love die again, not without being able to fight. My main body technique was the Infernal Heart Demon Diagram. It required carving 1,000 Divine tattoos on my body and enduring a thousand years of infernal torment. Each year, my body and mind were baptized, granting pure Yin power. Upon completing this technique, I would be able to control lightning and fire, as well as possess astonishing physical strength. My body would be agile and light, and all my senses would be heightened. Severed limbs could regenerate quickly."
"Hum?" Suddenly, the Qi in Lian's body changes direction, starting to flow toward his organs. "Here we are!" He is now officially in the Viscera Training Realm. His organs are being tempered to become stronger, soon capable of summoning Qi snakes in his breath.
The first rays of sunlight appeared on the horizon a few hours later. In Lian's room, Qi overflowed from his organs and began to temper his muscles. Now he had already entered the Muscle Transformation Realm. In this realm, cultivators experience an explosive increase in strength and physical speed. Yes, Lian only took a single night to go from the Qi Condensation Realm to the Muscle Transformation Realm!
Lian wasn't feeling the least bit impressed with what he did, though. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked at Riria, who had her eyes tightly closed, still in a trance. A layer of pure natural Qi could be felt around her. "She didn't disappoint me. She'll probably stay in a trance until the day of the fight. She should easily reach the third stage if she follows the Divine Arts I gave her. Sigh... the blood of a High Elf truly should not be underestimated."
Lian then removed his upper garment and turned forward, using a blade to cut the palm of his hand. The blood dripped before him. Closing his eyes, Lian concentrated, and the bleeding stopped right after.
Following that, he started reciting a mantra while the spilled blood in front of him began to change color. In a few seconds, it acquired a deep black hue-like pitch and started to move, gradually transforming into a mysterious rune.
The rune floated and adhered to Lian's bare chest, forming a tattoo. The first tattoo of the Infernal Heart Demon Diagram was complete just like that. Black lines appeared in Lian's eyes, and his aura underwent a significant transformation, becoming bloodthirsty and aggressive.
Suddenly, within his body, a small point shined, revealing a space that had always been present but never perceived by him before. That immediately caught Lian's attention. The Yin Qi that entered his body due to the tattoo was then sucked and purified inside that location. Lian understood very well how his skill worked. He had trained in it for 1,000 years, after all. Not even an Overlord in the Divine Origin Realm, who mastered Yin Qi, could purify the tattoo in this way.
In a matter of seconds, the tattoo on his body disappeared. Lian quickly directed his gaze toward the point that had previously shone brightly. Then, he realized something, and his mind was drawn inward. There, he found an empty space. It was only a few meters in size and resembled a spatial ring, but at its edges, a subtle aura could be felt.
It was a familiar Qi, similar to the Qi within the rustic ring he had found during the battle against the Divine Emperor from another Universe. Lian was obviously stunned as a result. "How was this possible? I gave this ring to Lyn myself. She was supposed to have the ring."
For a cultivator in the Divine Origin Realm, 25,000 years represented just a little over half of their life. Lyn, being a mortal, was nurtured by Zeke with countless divine pills. She had surpassed the limits of a being from a mortal planet and reached the Spirit Fusion Realm. Normally, someone from this realm would live for about 5,000 years.
However, Zeke always gifted her with clothes and jewelry from the world of the gods, specially selected and tailored to nourish her with vital Qi. Naturally, her body would absorb part of that Qi, and she could happily live alongside him until they died together. Lian now harbored a small hope that Lyn was still alive, but there were indications that something had happened to her as well. After all, how did the ring come to him?
He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He knew that there was no point in trying to guess, as he would only discover the truth by searching for her in the future. His thoughts turned to the space within his body, intrigued by the possibilities that mysterious places could offer.
Observing closely, Lian noticed something small floating in the center of the space. It seemed to be a seed, but it radiated divine energy. A subtle Yin Qi could still be felt within it, being purified or, rather, devoured. Lian had never encountered anything similar in his readings or the stories he had heard. His mind worked quickly, arriving at an intriguing conclusion. "My body has been altered by something; obviously, this thing. There must be some connection to the power that saved this continent and this seed." A memory surfaced in his mind.
At the moment of his reincarnation, the woman who is now his mother stated that her son was already dead. Back when he died, a pure green light enveloped him, and his vision plunged into darkness along with his consciousness. He could now see the link between these two events. "The power that saved the continent did all this. Then, it incarnated me in that already-dead fetus and placed this inside the body, now my body."
"So far, this divine seed has not manifested itself. It seems that it doesn't want to harm me for now. I will discover what it is in due time." There are many doubts and few concrete pieces of information. Lian decided to put that on hold and focus on becoming stronger for now.
However, he soon noticed a problem. He couldn't cultivate the Infernal Heart Demon Diagram due to the presence of the divine seed! His greatest asset and attacking power came from his divine ability, "Heavenly Yin Judgment."
It was entirely created by him, combining the technique "Heaven Splitting Lightning Art" that came from his mortal world with the "Scarlet Annihilation Art" learned in the Divine world. The Yin Qi provided by the Tattoos was essential for executing his technique. Yet, it was being eaten by the seed.
Since it was not possible, Lian shifted his attention to another divine ability he specialized in, the "Myriad Corrosive Poison." To master this technique, he would need to absorb over ten thousand types of exotic poisons and fuse them into divine poisonous runes. This would make his body extremely resistant to poisons and allow him to strategically use poison during battles. However, Lian knew that he wouldn't find ten thousand powerful poisons just on this small continent.
He began to rummage through his memories, recalling all the skills available in his sect. However, almost all of them were impossible to train at the moment. His only option would be to use his knowledge of forging, formations, and alchemy to strengthen himself.
Lian made his final decision, checked Riria's condition once again, and stood up to leave his house.