After solemnly thanking the two of them, Xu Yunfan left Chenghua Mountain.
Pu Du and Dong Ming watched Xu Yunfan’s enthusiastic, departing figure and couldn’t help but exchange a look.
True Monarch Pu Du said languidly, "Junior Sister, how long did it take you to smelt the myriad scriptures and forge your own Dao?"
Dong Ming replied softly, "Using the characteristics of my Nine Abyss Profound Evil Cave Enlightenment Dao Fruit as a foundation, it took me nearly six thousand years to smelt the myriad scriptures, separate the wheat from the chaff, and forge my own Dao."
At this, Dong Ming’s expression turned slightly bitter.
"My aptitude is lacking, and my comprehension can’t keep pace."
This was the root cause of her failure to break through to the Mid-Stage Golden Core Realm.
True Monarch Pu Du sighed. "Every step forward from now on requires one to use themself as fuel. I wonder how long it’ll take our young Junior Brother to achieve it."
True Monarch Dong Ming chuckled, her face showing she was ready to enjoy the show.
"He became a Golden Core True Monarch within a single lifetime. His path has been far too smooth; it’ll be good for him to suffer a setback or two."
Primordial Sect Disciples always delighted in seeing others suffer silently; their happiness was built upon the misery of others.
True Monarch Pu Du silently glanced at the gloating Dong Ming, took a sip of his tea, and then suddenly spoke.
"Junior Sister, how much time do you have left? The limit for the Golden Core Initial Realm is nine lifetimes. If you can’t advance further, I’m afraid it will be exceedingly difficult to regain your status after Reincarnation."
True Monarch Dong Ming’s expression froze. Her face clouded over, and she didn’t speak for a long time.
A smile spread across True Monarch Pu Du’s face, and he felt immensely pleased.
"..."
-----------------
Back within the familiar embrace of the Purple Gold Thunderbolt surrounding the Divine Sky Palace, Xu Yunfan’s state of mind was completely transformed.
His previous confusion was swept away, replaced by an unprecedented tranquility and a trace of eager excitement.
He sat cross-legged upon the Cloud Platform, his gaze sweeping over the long list of Cultivation Technique entries on his Attribute Panel, many of which had already reached the Perfection or a high Realm.
’Skills: Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture - Perfection, Celestial-Eroding Netherworld Talisman - Perfection, Green Dragon Thunder Pearl Locking Tribulation and Calming Fortune Technique - Perfection, Turtle Breath Concealing God Technique - Perfection, Ten Thousand Tribulations Divine Sky Hidden Secret Technique - Initiate, Profound Capital Eight Sceneries Celestial Refining Creation Cloud Scripture - Perfection, Array Dao - Perfection...’
There was also the Minor Circulation within his Dantian, where the three powers of thunder, fire, and yin cycled ceaselessly, and his Divine Sky Golden Core, which was coiled with ninety-nine Purple Gold Thunder Dragons and contained a vast, mighty power.
’I will smelt the myriad scriptures, forge them in a single crucible, and create a Scripture that is mine and mine alone, Xu Yunfan’s Scripture!’
Purple Gold Thunder Light gleamed in his eyes as a grand ambition that had been building within him surged forth—the ambition to establish his own sect and prove his own Great Dao.
’Since I was able to master the Ten Thousand Tribulations Divine Sky Hidden Secret Technique, merging my own scriptures shouldn’t be a problem.’
’I have to try it on my own first.’
’I’ll start by sorting through the fundamental True Intent of the *Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture*.’
He slowly closed his eyes, his Heart and Spirit sinking completely into his Dantian Grotto Heaven. He began to sort through all the Cultivation Techniques and Daoist Techniques he had mastered, attempting to capture the profound Laws contained within the circulation of the three powers of thunder, fire, and yin.
Divine Sky Mountain, deep within the Divine Sky Palace.
The Purple Gold Thunderbolt on the Cloud Platform flickered intermittently, as if breathing.
Xu Yunfan had been sitting cross-legged for a full seven days. His aura was deep and condensed, but his brow was tightly furrowed.
Over these seven days, he had been sorting through his techniques in deep seclusion. Countless scriptures, classics, Exotic Arts, and Secret Techniques scrolled through his mind. He tried to fuse them, but they remained a tangled mess, and he could not find the core principle to unify them all.
He didn’t even know where to begin.
The tyrannical Thunderbolt of the *Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture*, the cryptic causality of the *Celestial-Eroding Netherworld Talisman*, the chains of Destiny from the *Green Dragon Thunder Pearl Locking Tribulation and Calming Fortune Technique*, the power of creation from the *Profound Capital Eight Sceneries Celestial Refining Creation Cloud Scripture*...
...not to mention the various Buddhist Sect scriptures and unorthodox Exotic Arts he had collected over the years.
A massive torrent of information surged through his Heart and Spirit. Each technique embodied different Laws, but they all repelled one another, making them impossible to harmonize.
*HUUU...*
Xu Yunfan slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of Dirt Qi laced with tiny arcs of lightning. His face showed deep frustration and a trace of self-mockery.
"It’s too jumbled, too chaotic... Smelting the myriad scriptures to forge my own path? Easier said than done."
He muttered under his breath, feeling as if he were facing a colossal, heaven-piercing tower built from a chaotic pile of countless runic pages, unable to find even a starting point to climb.
Xu Yunfan had attempted countless simulations, using his Divine Sky Dao Fruit as the core and trying to integrate the other Laws into it, but he always fell short by the slimmest of margins.
His Thunder Fire Dao Fruit bobbed within his Dantian; his Red Sun Dao Fruit was scorching, his Divine Sky Dao Fruit was violent, and his Taiyin Nether Dragon Dao Fruit was profound. The three powers were supposed to cycle through Yin and Yang, but at this moment they were like three wild horses that had thrown off their reins, each going its own way, making it impossible to form a perfect Inner Cycle Minor Circulation.
It was already a feat to keep the three from exploding. Without the aid of the Attribute Panel, any outsider subjected to these three Dao Fruits would likely be killed instantly.
Trying to create a scripture on his own to command them was proving to be incredibly difficult.
"It seems my own comprehension isn’t enough."
Xu Yunfan sighed, and a flicker of resolve flashed in his eyes.
"System, help me break this impasse!"
The moment the thought arose, the Attribute Panel flared with brilliant light.
The flow of data on the panel instantly accelerated a thousandfold. As he frantically combined, dismantled, and reassembled countless Runes and lines in his mind, a flood of data prompts would appear to correct his errors.
With the Ten Thousand Tribulations Divine Sky Hidden Secret Technique as his foundation, Xu Yunfan was extremely proficient. He created what were essentially invisible frameworks and began to forcibly sort and categorize the massive stream of information from his Cultivation Techniques.
His Divine Sky Golden Core vibrated slightly in his Dantian. The ninety-nine Purple Gold Thunder Dragons seemed invigorated, roaring one after another as they helped suppress the restless Magical Power within his body.
Xu Yunfan closed his eyes again, his Heart and Spirit sinking into the torrent of inferences guided by the panel.
His experience with the Ten Thousand Tribulations Divine Sky Secret Technique was used as a foundational algorithm. It constantly tried to extract and analyze the core Laws from his various scriptures and Secret Techniques, then match and fuse them with the Divine Sky Dao Fruit’s characteristics of Thunderbolt Destruction and Profound Vault Undying.
The process was incredibly complex, like searching for a single viable trajectory among billions of stars.
Even with a super-powered cheat like the Attribute Panel, it would still require an immense amount of time and mental effort to verify every possible path.
’A hundred years... I’ll need to be fully invested for at least a century...’
And that was with his experience from the Ten Thousand Tribulations Divine Sky Secret Technique as a foundation.
Without the framework for Causal Inference and Locking Tribulation and Calming Fate that this Secret Technique provided, he might not have even found the entrance after a millennium.
At one moment, while he was immersed in this vast project, a clear causal connection bearing an air of finality suddenly stabbed into his Divine Thought.
Xu Yunfan’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the grand hall and into the distance. He then raised his hand. As lightning danced at his fingertips, he activated the Ten Thousand Tribulations Divine Sky Hidden Secret Technique. The Causal Line connected to him instantly unfurled, and he traced it back along the crack that had just appeared.
The scene materialized clearly in his Heart and Spirit, and he instantly understood.
-----------------
「Northern Continent, Nine Peaks Mountain, on the Pressure Platform.」
Hidden in the shadows, Ye Yan’s eyes glinted with greed and do-or-die madness. His gaze was fixed on the Thousand Mountains and Ten Thousand Peaks Dao Foundation within Chu Chengnan’s body—a Dao Foundation as massive as a mountain range, tempered by the trials of a hundred peaks.