Minh Nguyệt Giới, Nam Hoàng Vực, Thanh Hoàng Sơn Mạch.
Minh Nguyệt Giới is a cultivation world. It boasts countless sects and innumerable dynasties. Here, everyone takes cultivation as their glory, revering cultivation as the dominant civilization.
Nam Hoàng Vực, on the other hand, is one of the Nine Great Domains of Minh Nguyệt Giới. Its area is immeasurably vast, with boundless mountain ranges and rivers, stretching continuously for millions of miles.
Nam Hoàng Vực, due to its vast and fertile territory and abundant spiritual energy, saw cultivation sects spring up like mushrooms after rain, and dynasties were densely packed. There were at least eight hundred to a thousand large and small nations jostling each other from north to south, east to west. Not to mention, more than half of its territory remained a desolate wilderness, occupied by demon beasts and fierce beasts, fraught with dangers that no one dared to set foot in.
Thanh Hoàng Cốc is located at the southern border of Nam Hoàng Vực. Unlike the fertile and rich lands that were characteristic of Nam Hoàng Vực, Thanh Hoàng Cốc was renowned as a barren land, lacking vitality.
This place, being too remote and too desolate, saw no human presence for ten thousand miles. Furthermore, the pitifully thin spiritual energy made cultivators completely disregard it. With insufficient spiritual energy, spirit materials and medicinal herbs could not grow, the land could not nurture heavenly treasures and earthly wonders, and even fierce beasts and demon beasts paid it no mind.
It could be said that Thanh Hoàng Sơn Mạch was literally a dead land for the cultivation world. No one was willing to set foot here, simply because this mountain range could not sustain cultivators.
Yet, amidst this mountain range, considered barren, an event occurred that surprised everyone.
In the middle of the empty mountain valley, a young man, with eyes lightly closed, sat in meditative cultivation, letting the gentle breeze play with the corners of his robe, letting the warm sunlight soak into his skin, letting the scent of grass and flowers fill his nostrils.
This young man appeared exceedingly youthful, his bone age not yet twenty. He wore a gray robe, tattered and bearing the marks of years exposed to wind and frost, much like his own body. His hair was disheveled and overgrown, a sign of countless days without care.
Nevertheless,
These aspects did not diminish his handsome appearance much. His nose bridge was straight, his eyebrows firm and resolute, and his square jaw combined wonderfully with a broad, bright forehead. Surprisingly, his skin was fair and smooth, enough to make countless women envious, despite being exposed to sun and frost day after day. This was perhaps the result of being nurtured by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
However, this was not unusual. Any cultivator, as long as they didn't practice demonic arts, evil techniques, or go against the heavens, would possess a beautiful countenance. This young man's handsomeness was beyond dispute, except for his ethereal and transcendent aura, as if he were a banished immortal descended to the mortal realm.
What would truly strike fear into anyone present, be it cultivator or demon beast, was that with each steady breath he took, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth grew a little denser.
More precisely, with each breath the young man exhaled, he returned a considerable amount of spiritual energy to heaven and earth.
This was the truly terrifying point. Other cultivators absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cultivate, but he, he released spiritual energy when cultivating.
As a result, the environment around where the young man cultivated was completely transformed. With him at the center, within a radius of ten thousand *zhang*, the spiritual energy became so dense it was no less than a small blessed land. In fact, where it was densest, it could even condense into a fine mist, forming droplets on leaves and soaking the rocks.
Under this baptism, spiritual herbs and materials also began to grow rapidly, spreading and covering an entire barren wasteland. Even though they were only first-grade spiritual materials and medicinal herbs, the lowest grade of resources, this was enough to astound anyone who witnessed the stark contrast with the environment beyond the ten-thousand-*zhang* radius.
At this moment, an anomaly occurred.
As his breathing grew increasingly rapid, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged forth more and more, and the laws of heaven and earth, within a ten-*zhang* radius around the young man, became chaotic. Simultaneously, the space around him twisted, time reversed, and shattered. In that instant, order collapsed, reverting to primordial chaos. Then, chaos was rebuilt, pieced together, forming order once more. In a single moment, all things, all concepts, returned to the void, only to be reconstructed again. Even causality shattered.
All of this transpired in but a single instant. It was not intentionally controlled, nor deliberately manipulated. All phenomena that occurred were entirely beyond the foresight of any consciousness.
In a blink, these phenomena flashed into existence and vanished, as if they had never occurred, never appeared.
Only then did the young man slowly open his eyes, his face filled with joy. His bright, captivating eyes made no attempt to conceal the immense surprise and delight deep within his heart. He whispered softly:
“Two years... finally, a breakthrough.”
He quickly stood up, stretched, and moved his body, then carefully sensed the surging power within him, like a primordial beast boiling inside his body.
“Hmm. More than ten times stronger than before.”
He murmured, unable to wait to test his current strength. One could only see him extend a finger and lightly tap the void. At the spot he pointed, space rippled, and layers of waves rose, like a fallen leaf settling upon a calm surface of water.
Nothing happened.
No, that's wrong.
Ten *li* away, a hard, two-*zhang*-tall granite boulder exploded into dust in that very instant.
Without stopping, his feet moved slightly. His 1.8-meter tall figure almost instantly teleported to a spot two *li* away. His pale hand, like that of a frail scholar, reached out and gently patted a five-*zhang*-tall rock.
*Boom!*
A violent tremor shook the earth. Shockwaves blasted through space, forcing the ground to crack open. The immense force shattered the five-*zhang*-tall rock into tiny fragments. The reverberation spread through the air for over a hundred *li*, scaring birds and beasts into a frantic scatter.
“My physical body strength has also increased by more than ten times.”
The young man once again carefully sensed the colossal power surging through his body, and a satisfied smile bloomed on his face:
“The Fourth Realm... finally achieved. I truly wonder what ability I’ll awaken this time.”
In a flash, the young man vanished from his spot, returning to his previous cultivation location. His mood was a mix of excitement, anticipation, and nervousness, like a child about to tear open a birthday present.
Indeed, this young man's cultivation was very unique, completely different from that of other cultivators. What he cultivated was called the Origin Scripture, and after each breakthrough to a new realm, a powerful qualitative change would occur in the cultivator, causing them to awaken a unique physique, talent, ability, or divine power.
And at this moment, having broken through to the fourth realm, it was also when he awakened a new ability. He saw his vision suddenly change. For any object that appeared in his line of sight, he saw an additional piece of information.
Name: Body Tempering Grass
Grade: First-Grade
Age: Three years
Effect: After consumption, cultivators can increase their punching power by one hundred jin. The more consumed, the lower the effect. After consuming ten leaves, the effect is almost negligible. It can be used in combination with other spiritual materials to enhance its efficacy, and can also be used as an ingredient to refine medicinal pills, forming Body Tempering Pills.
That was all the information that suddenly appeared next to the herb, about a handspan tall, at his feet. Its leaves were blood-red, with dark purple veins running from its base to its tip.
"It's this!" The young man was so shocked his mouth hung open. He couldn't imagine awakening such a heaven-defying ability.
"Isn't this just cheating? Am I possessed by a system?"
He couldn't be blamed for thinking that way; anyone in a similar situation would have the same impression. Where did this information come from? He only knew there was Body Tempering Grass at his feet, but how could he know such details? If it wasn't a system behind him, or a massive database transmitting information to him, then where did all this come from?
And at this moment, information about his new ability appeared in his consciousness.
"Origin Eye. Possesses the ability to see through all things in the world."
The young man trembled slightly at the information he received. This ability was simply too heaven-defying.
And so, he excitedly used his new ability on everything around him.
Black Rock. Vermillion Fruit. Spirit Cleansing Grass. Pure Spirit Soil...
After a short while, the young man was surprised to discover that using this ability did not consume any of his internal energy. The only burden was a slight mental strain. However, that strain was negligible compared to his current strength.
"In that case, doesn't this mean I can use this heaven-defying ability as much as I want?"
The young man said joyfully. This couldn't help but make him think of the trope of a Son of Destiny: stumbling upon lost secret treasures while strolling through the streets, picking up incomplete ultimate treasures on the road, or obtaining profound secret manuals and immortal arts in deep forests...
The more he thought about it, the more he felt this ability was incredibly useful, and at the same time, he realized the terrifying nature of the Origin Scripture.
However, thinking about the unique nature of the Origin Scripture, he couldn't help but get a headache. Cultivating this scripture was completely different from the cultivation system of this world.
Recommended good novels for May: Reborn as the Strongest Sword God, I Have a Body Full of Passive Skills, I'm Really Not the Son of Destiny, smart protagonist, no harem, no romance.