When He Heng was knocked unconscious by that demoness, he found himself transmigrating again when he woke up. He arrived in a world almost identical to Earth, a world from a well-known novel.
When the ancient book shrouded in endless light in the depths of his mind—the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens—told him that a spark of his true spirit had been brought into the world of the novel "Dragon Snake Romance," He Heng was dumbfounded. He never imagined that he truly had the fate of a protagonist, and that transmigration indeed came with a cheat ability.
His cheat ability was this Treasure Mirror of All Heavens, which could take people through endless worlds, traverse the myriad realms, experience infinite reincarnations, and seek great opportunities across all universes. Wow, how amazing!
"Hehe, do you believe there's such a good thing?" He Heng chuckled as he looked deeply at the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens shining with ancient light, his expression a mix of smiles and skepticism.
Would pies really fall from the sky? Would there really be benefits without rhyme or reason? Go to hell, are you trying to fool a child?
He Heng became extremely suspicious about his transmigration to the Great Celestial World after his previous death, as well as this Treasure Mirror of All Heavens. This was probably a conspiracy.
However, even if it was a conspiracy, He Heng had to grit his teeth and accept it. With his current abilities, how could he possibly resist a powerful being capable of reversing life and death and traversing all heavens? It was best to honestly accept the benefits. Even if there were problems, being able to live another life was already an enormous advantage. One shouldn't ask for too much.
"Besides, I'm barefoot and not afraid of those wearing shoes. I've already died once, so why fear dying again? If they really wanted my life, no amount of thinking would help with my current abilities. As a great person once said, regarding the enemy's sugar-coated bullets, one should first eat the sugar-coating and then fire the bullets back. I don't have the ability to fire back bullets now, but I do have the skill to eat the sugar coating." This was He Heng's thinking at the time.
"Putting aside all possible hidden agendas, this Treasure Mirror of All Heavens is truly a rare treasure. Being able to take people through myriad worlds across all heavens is definitely a top-tier cheat ability."
"Buddha spoke of countless worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and Daoist traditions speak of blessed lands and grotto-heavens. In the Great Celestial World, it's said that top experts at the True Person level who comprehend the truth of the world can open up their own blessed land. This is the fundamental reason why only forces that have produced True Person level or higher experts can be called major powers—because they have their own worlds. But I've never heard of anyone who could traverse myriad worlds across all heavens. Even legendary ancient Daoists, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and other experts beyond the Pure Yang realm couldn't do it. Perhaps only beings at the level of Heavenly Venerable or Buddha might have such divine abilities. The level of the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens is simply unimaginable." Thinking of this, He Heng couldn't help but feel excited. With such a great opportunity, his dream of attaining Pure Yang was no longer just a dream. The great Dao was within reach!
Of course, although the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens was powerful, it couldn't instantly propel He Heng to the peak. At the very least, with He Heng's current abilities, he could barely unleash any of its power.
According to the information He Heng received, the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens had a total of forty-nine seals, symbolizing layers of its power. Each seal refined would allow for stronger abilities to be unleashed. He Heng had only initially refined the first seal, allowing him to traverse worlds without much supernatural power—that is, worlds without spiritual energy.
If he wanted to go to other higher-level worlds, it wasn't impossible. Based on various factors such as timing, geography, and human factors, the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens could randomly transmigrate. However, the outcome depended on luck. If it was a soul transmigration, it would be fine—at worst, he'd have to start over. But if it was a physical transmigration to an extremely dangerous world, who knows if he could survive another time.
Moreover, traversing worlds requires energy. After all, the law of conservation of energy was fundamental and unchanging. Everything had a price; there were gains and losses. He Heng's current transmigration was naturally powered by the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens itself, consuming a lot of energy. This needed to be replenished. Each transmigration required waiting for the mirror to accumulate enough power for the next journey. The more powerful the world to be traversed, the more energy needed, and the longer the recovery time. This would continue until He Heng could bear that enormous consumption himself, but that would be in the distant future.
He Heng slowly recalled the circumstances of his arrival in the world of "Dragon Snake Romance." He used to do literary research and had some involvement with web novels, so he was naturally familiar with "Dragon Snake Romance," a pioneering work in the national martial arts genre.
This world lacked spiritual energy, so internal energy couldn't be cultivated. Martial arts could only develop in terms of external skills. The limit of this path was the perfection of the external hundred vessels, breaking through emptiness, and achieving indestructibility. Beyond that, there was no path, because that was the limit of the mortal body. Any further breakthrough would require spiritual energy, which was why Wang Chao in the original work eventually said there was no path ahead.
In the Great Celestial World's martial arts cultivation, the first realm was the Hundred Vessels Realm, divided into internal and external hundred vessels. The internal hundred vessels involved cultivating internal energy, opening up all the meridians in the body, achieving embryonic breathing, and forming a kind of great perfection. In some martial arts novels, this would be called the Innate Realm. The external hundred vessels involved tempering one's tendons and bones, training the five viscera and six bowels, and using blood energy and strength to permeate one's body, achieving an indestructible level.
When both these realms were cultivated to the extreme, with both internal and external perfection, one could break through internal and external barriers, harmonize dragon and tiger, break open the mysterious gate of life and death, and reach the true great perfection of the Hundred Vessels Realm.
He Heng's true body in the Great Celestial World, due to the abundance of spiritual energy there, had long since reached the great perfection of the internal hundred vessels. However, he lacked the necessary experience in the external hundred vessels and couldn't reach the peak.
In this world, the cultivation of external hundred vessels had developed to a peak, providing sufficient resources to help He Heng breakthrough. This was the fundamental great opportunity of the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens traversing all heavens. Each world had its own characteristics. Although the martial arts cultivation in the Great Celestial World far surpassed this place, it didn't mean that the martial arts here had nothing worth learning. Absorbing the strengths of all heavens, turning them into resources, and allowing oneself to grow to the peak—this was the path He Heng had set for himself after obtaining the Treasure Mirror of All Heavens.
However, it was too early to discuss these things now. He Heng hadn't forgotten that in the Great Celestial World, his true body was still with that demoness. She wanted to use him to refine pills!
The Treasure Mirror of All Heavens allowed for soul transmigration. No matter how long he stayed here, when he returned there, it would still be just a moment. But to confront that expert at the Three Peng Realm, he still had a long way to go.
After arriving in this world, He Heng had been preparing to ambush the demoness upon his return. He now had a rough plan, but the prerequisite was that his current body could break through to the perfection of the external hundred vessels, which in this world meant breaking through emptiness and achieving indestructibility.
This was not an easy task. In "Dragon Snake Romance," among the billions of people on Earth, how many could achieve this realm? In the Great Celestial World, breaking through to the great perfection of the external hundred vessels wasn't much. As long as one had sufficient aptitude, basically everyone could achieve it. But that was due to the world's conditions, rules, and spiritual energy.
At the very least, after He Heng came to this world, he found that the bottleneck that originally seemed within reach, requiring only a year or two of effort to break through, had taken him nearly twenty years without success.
Until now, he was still stuck at the so-called "transforming energy" level, unable to form the dan. This wasn't because he had regressed over so many years, but because of the world's limitations. The difficulty of breaking through here was incomparably greater.
Of course, this difficulty also had benefits for He Heng. At the very least, being firmly stuck at this level allowed him to gain more insights into the external hundred vessels realm and solidify many foundations, which would be of great benefit to his future prospects. After all, in martial arts cultivation, the beginning was all about building a foundation. The more solid the foundation, the greater the future achievements would be.
He Heng dared to say that among all the people in the Great Celestial World, few had as deep an understanding of the external hundred vessels realm as he did. This would be of enormous benefit to him in the future, but for now, it made him very anxious.
So He Heng chose to come and battle with Tang Zichen, to see if this character with the highest mental state in "Dragon Snake Romance" could help him break through. The result proved... she couldn't!
Just as He Heng was battling her, he suddenly understood that one's own path couldn't be sought through others. His path, others couldn't help him with. He could only rely on himself!
Having realized this point, He Heng didn't continue to entangle with her and left directly. He knew how to break through now.
"Before that, let's cause some trouble for Master Tang," He Heng suddenly let out a mischievous laugh and made a phone call.
"Hello, is this Instructor Yan Yuanyi?" He Heng asked with a hint of a smile.
"He Heng, you actually called me. Has the sun risen from the west today?" On the other end of the phone was a woman, her words revealing steadiness.
"Haha, don't say it so dramatically. We've been friends for so many years after all," He Heng said nonchalantly.
"Who's friends with you? Knowing you is the most unfortunate thing in my life. If it weren't for Old He's sake, I wouldn't bother with you. Hurry up and say it, who did you kill this time, asking me to clean up after you?" The woman's attitude towards He Heng was extremely unfriendly.
"Hehe, Yan Yuanyi, is this how you see me in your heart?" He Heng said helplessly.
"Hmph, who doesn't know you, Young Master He? The son of a big shot in the Military Commission, yet you don't strive for progress and spend your days idling around," the woman mocked.
"Hey, it's fine if others see me that way, but you see me like this too? We're two of a kind!" He Heng retorted.
"Yeah, if you hadn't joined the GOD organization, I wouldn't say anything. I just don't understand why you want to join this notorious organization and associate with those lunatics. Do you know how big an impact this has? If it weren't for your old man keeping things under wraps, I would have arrested you long ago," the woman on the phone shouted.
Didn't you also cooperate with that "God" later? He Heng grumbled inwardly, but he didn't want to waste words with this woman anymore. He directly said, "I'm calling you this time for an important matter. I have news about your old rival. Want to hear it?"