“Very well, I will recover my injuries first,” Zhi Xuan muttered, sighing for a moment.

  Zhi Xuan dropped down, sitting cross-legged on a large, protruding rock at the edge of the jade essence pond. The rock felt cold, but the Heaven and Earth Essence emanating from the pond beneath it immediately welcomed him.

  He did not waste time with rituals; he ignored his torn robe, ignored the stabbing wound that still ached in his waist, and focused entirely on his Sea of Consciousness.

  His Divine Wheel spun, and the newly purified black jade essence flowed out of his meridians, drawing the dense jade essence from the pond. The pitch-black pond water trembled faintly, the thin spiritual mist on its surface flowing towards Zhi Xuan, as if he were a bottomless vortex.

  The recovery process that should have taken days became extremely fast. This jade essence pond was an invaluable treasure for a cultivator in the lower realm. The wound in Zhi Xuan’s waist, which had precisely injured his spiritual kidney, slowly closed. His spiritual blood, known for its tenacity and regenerative abilities, worked quickly.

  In his Sea of Consciousness, the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron rotated slightly faster, destroying remnants of foreign energy and purifying the newly absorbed essence. Zhi Xuan felt his Eclipse phase foundation, which had been slightly turbulent after the non-stop arena battles, now stabilize, becoming solid like newly forged steel.

  The jade essence pond, which looked like a black mirror under the moonlight, turned out to be much deeper than Zhi Xuan had imagined. The essence drawn from this pond was not merely pure Heaven and Earth Essence, but highly concentrated jade essence, as if it had been purified and compressed over thousands of years.

  As the dense jade essence flowed into his meridians, Zhi Xuan felt a stinging cold sensation, like ice needles piercing every inch of muscle and bone. This was a purifying pain, a necessary pain to suppress the Devil Seed that still pulsed at the bottom of his Sea of Consciousness.

  Every drop of absorbed jade essence felt like a blow from a heavenly hammer upon his own black jade essence, forcing it to become denser, purer, and colder.

  ‘Each phase, I must truly master without leaps,’ Zhi Xuan muttered in his thoughts. ‘This will make me step higher in the future.’

  He understood perfectly that hasty realm jumps were only poison in the long run. A solid foundation was the true Immortal Dao. As time passed, Zhi Xuan’s cold and suppressed aura began to emanate outward, forming an increasingly dense vortex of spiritual mist. The pond trembled more violently, the jade essence within it drying up little by little, as if drawn by the breath of a hidden dragon.

  An hour passed, the wound in Zhi Xuan’s waist had disappeared, replaced by new skin that was smooth and full of vitality. His physical energy had fully returned. However, he did not stop. He continued the absorption, focusing the dense jade essence to purify his black jade essence to reach the absolute peak of the Eclipse phase.

  His black jade essence spun, separating tiny impurities that still remained from his last fight, leaving him with a substance that felt like frozen jade in his meridians. This control went beyond recovery; this was the forging of the foundation necessary before he dared to step into the Zenith Phase.

  “Enough, monkey,” Ruo Xianxue said, her tone calculated and chillingly sharp. “You have just stepped into the Eclipse phase; there is no need to rush forging your foundation.”

  Thin, subtle threads of devilish desire stretched out from the bottom of Ruo Xianxue’s sea of consciousness. They wrapped around and tapped his Divine Wheel for a moment, an unspoken but meaningful gesture. The sensation of the touch made Zhi Xuan flinch. He opened his eyes.

  His cold sapphire eyes now emitted a faint glow. He looked at the calm flow of the pond, realizing that he had absorbed more than needed for recovery, entering the boundary of foundation forging.

  “You haven’t changed, always wanting to test your limits,” Ruo Xianxue said, the red threads retracting back into the bottom of his sea of consciousness. “Patience is key, arrogance is naive.”

  Zhi Xuan let out a long, cold sigh, allowing the now dense black jade essence to circulate slowly, feeling his foundation perfectly locked in the Eclipse phase. He smiled faintly—a rare and brief smile. Ruo Xianxue, the arrogant Ancient Devil Monument, had just given him the most fundamental Dao lesson.

  “Alright, let’s see how strong the Heavenly Destroyer Palm is.” Zhi Xuan patted his waist, the worn technique scroll immediately floated and unfolded before him, illuminated by the soothing moonlight.

  Zhi Xuan sharpened his divine sense for a moment, piercing through the waterfall into the cave fissure. There, Mei Hua was fast asleep, leaning against Xiao Die’s body, who was now adult-sized. He did not want to wake the little girl with the chaos he was about to cause. This jade essence pond was the best place to test this new and brutal offensive technique.

  He opened the Heavenly Destroyer Palm scroll, and the intricate diagrams depicting essence flow and spiritual compression were immediately imprinted in his sea of consciousness.

  This technique required a deep understanding of energy compression and release. The core was to take the Black Jade Essence, compact it to a critical point, and release it in a devastating explosion through the palm.

  The risk of exploding one's own meridians was extremely high if control was imperfect. Zhi Xuan closed his eyes again, not fully entering meditation, but focusing his entire attention on the essence circulating in his meridians. He began to imitate the diagram he saw, channeling his black jade essence into his right palm.

  Slowly, his palm began to emit a faint dark purple light, like a hidden ember. The black jade essence spun at an alarming speed, compacting and solidifying. The muscles in his right arm tensed, and his veins bulged, as if ready to burst. A sharp pain pierced through, but Zhi Xuan ignored it. This was the process of forging.

  However, Zhi Xuan, who felt his meridians almost being ripped out by the scorching heat, paused briefly and the dark purple light was immediately absorbed back. His breath was ragged and cold sweat poured over him.

  “Earth-grade technique… Huh… It’s even hard to master in a short time,” Zhi Xuan muttered with labored breaths.

  “The Heavenly Destroyer Palm, indeed, is no joke,” Zhi Xuan muttered, forcibly retracting his black jade essence. He opened his sapphire eyes. Cold sweat drenched his back, not from pain, but from the realization of how close he had been to meridian destruction.

  “You are too rash, Monkey,” Ruo Xianxue hissed from his sea of consciousness, her cold laugh now containing a slight hint of sarcasm, but not mockery. “An Earth-grade technique requires control beyond the Eclipse phase. It requires a pure understanding of the law of compression. You tried to compress your black jade essence as if it were mortal essence. That is a naive mistake.”

  Zhi Xuan let out a long, cold sigh. He nodded to himself, acknowledging the truth from the Ancient Devil Monument. His black jade essence, compacted by the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron, was far more stable and brutal than the spiritual essence of other cultivators; therefore, its compression required much higher precision.

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  “So, what was wrong?” Zhi Xuan asked in his mind, his voice calm, though his heart was still pounding fiercely. He did not waste time on frustration, only on analysis.

  “The core of the Heavenly Destroyer Palm is not compression, but controlled release,” Ruo Xianxue replied, her tone returning to flat and authoritative, as if she were teaching. “You compacted it, good. But you did not provide a release pathway. You tried to contain a storm inside an eggshell. Your power, if released, would destroy your own hand.”

  Ruo Xianxue paused briefly, then continued with a meaningful tone, “You must create a manifestation channel in your palm, an open path that allows the compressed energy to exit, not explode within your meridians. Use your will to carve a hole in the air. This is the art of the Ancient Devil you attempt to emulate; exploding the opponent, not yourself.”

  ‘Manifestation Channel?’ Zhi Xuan thought, he waved his hand and summoned his divine cauldron. The cauldron whirred and spun above his palm.

  Zhi Xuan sharpened his gaze, observing the divine cauldron spinning before him. It was an extension of his soul, yet also a weapon artifact with quality equivalent to a Heaven-grade artifact.

  Zhi Xuan tried to understand why he could control the divine cauldron but would be overwhelmed when facing an Earth-grade technique. A spark of realization emerged in his mind; technique scrolls are not merely understood, they are felt, and integrated into a harmonious soul will.

  “Soul Will…” Zhi Xuan muttered, realizing that the manifestation channel Ruo Xianxue spoke of was the soul will that balanced between him and the technique he understood. If he harmonized with the technique, the surrounding nature would follow him.

  “You understand quickly,” Ruo Xianxue’s hoarse laugh echoed in his sea of consciousness. “Correct, a will that harmonizes between you and the technique, then the surrounding nature will manifest your will. You are not imitating the technique, but nature will obey your will in manifesting the technique.”

  ‘I am not imitating the technique, but nature will obey my will in manifesting the technique.’

  Zhi Xuan repeated the sentence in his mind, letting it sink to the core of his Sea of Consciousness. The understanding felt like the strike of a great gong, instantly dispelling the fog of doubt. The Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron slowly spinning in his palm felt heavier, more real.

  Controlling the cauldron, which was an extension of the soul, was instinctive. Manifesting the Heavenly Destroyer Palm was trying to make his palm itself the Cauldron, an extension of his will, a blade of will that carved a path in empty air.

  Zhi Xuan closed his eyes again, releasing the Divine Cauldron back into his Sea of Consciousness, but his understanding remained intact. He took another long, cold breath. The dense jade essence from the pond beneath him immediately responded, flowing into his meridians.

  This time, he did not just compact his black jade essence; he included his Spiritual Will—a will forged from blood and the stability of the Eclipse phase—to carve a path in the empty air.

  The black jade essence flowed fiercely from his Divine Wheel, rushed into his right arm, and solidified in his palm. The sharp stinging pain he felt before was still there, but now the pain had a purpose; it served as a guide, not a barrier.

  In the center of his right palm, where the compressed essence pulsed, Zhi Xuan focused his spiritual will. He no longer tried to contain the essence; he carved a hole in the air, a smooth release channel, the manifestation path requested by Ruo Xianxue.

  Zhi Xuan’s palm trembled. Instead of being burned by explosive heat, it now felt cold like ancient ice about to crack. The dark purple light in his palm became smaller, more centralized, but its intensity was far more deadly.

  He opened his eyes. His sapphire eyes, usually cold, now radiated a deadly light, like a newly sharpened blade. He aimed his palm towards the stone cliff across the jade essence pond, a calm target.

  With a barely audible hiss, Zhi Xuan released his will.

  He did not push the essence out, but rather pulled the spiritual layer around it. The compressed black jade essence in his palm shot out—not as a fireball or a wave, but as an invisible blade made of intensely solid energy.

  WHUMMM!

  A dull, heavy explosion sound erupted in the silent mountain air. The shockwave did not spread in all directions, but was focused forward, producing concentrated pressure.

  On the side of the cliff, where the invisible energy blade struck, a shocking sight occurred. It was not an explosion of dust or sparks. Instead, a pitch-black palm print was carved one foot deep into the solid cliff stone.

  The dull explosion sound that hit the stone cliff was immediately followed by a heavier silence. The thin spiritual mist enveloping the jade essence pond trembled, but the pond water's ripple itself was barely disturbed, as if the released energy had been manifested and directed with absolute precision.

  Zhi Xuan, sitting cross-legged at the edge of the pond, took a long breath. His right palm felt numb and cold, but his meridians were intact. His black jade essence felt depleted, but there was no burning pain. He looked at the palm that had just manifested destruction with a calm and cold gaze.

  He shifted his gaze to the cliff across the pond. The palm print carved one foot deep into the solid stone was concrete evidence of his success. It was not scattered damage, but focused destruction—an Earth-grade technique executed with control that surpassed his current realm.

  In his Sea of Consciousness, the Ancient Devil Monument resonated, not with laughter or mockery, but with a cold snort of acknowledgment.

  “Not bad, lowly Monkey,” Ruo Xianxue hissed. Her voice, usually filled with sarcasm, now contained a rare objective tone. “You succeeded in creating the Manifestation Channel. That is the true Heavenly Destroyer Palm. You use the same efficiency in your understanding as the way you drain the blood of your enemies.”

  Zhi Xuan sighed, a thin sense of relief accompanying his breath. “Your teaching is valuable, red stone. I almost destroyed my own meridians.”

  “That is because you are still naive about the Great Dao Laws,” Ruo Xianxue countered, her voice once again filled with a hint of scorn. “The Heavenly Destroyer Palm, if practiced to perfection, should leave no print. It should obliterate the cliff, turning it into nothingness, not leave a mark like a crude carving. But for the Blood Transformation realm, this is quite satisfactory.”

  Zhi Xuan ignored the final taunt. He had grasped the essence of the Heavenly Destroyer Palm. This technique, combined with the density of his black jade essence, would be an incredibly brutal close-range killing tool.

  “Earth-grade… Damn, my essence is completely drained,” Zhi Xuan muttered, his voice hoarse and filled with a rare tone of exhaustion.

  He felt his meridians empty, as if all his Black Jade Essence had been squeezed out to the last drop for that single strike. He had successfully manifested his will, but the price was the total depletion of essence in his Blood Transformation realm.

  He took a long, cold breath. The pure mountain air immediately entered his lungs, bringing in abundant Heaven and Earth Essence. However, recovery from this state of total exhaustion would take time.

  “I will master this technique, until I can manifest it without draining all my essence,” Zhi Xuan promised himself. The resolve was unspoken, but embedded in his black jade essence, cold and absolute.

  He sat there for two full hours, floating between recovery and foundation forging. The night deepened. The stars shone brilliantly above the Southern Mountains, and the moonlight reflected off the surface of the jade essence pond, which now looked slightly calmer and shallower.

  The silence felt too lonely, until his divine sense caught an inharmonious movement at the base of the mountain slope. Zhi Xuan opened his eyes and sharpened his divine sense. His eyes briefly lit up with the Azure Holy Flame.

  “An Azure King-grade Beast,” Zhi Xuan muttered, he could feel the aura of the beast that had just stepped into the Azure King level. With a cultivation equivalent to an Organ Transformation cultivator.

  His sapphire eyes, which had just dimmed from the technical forging attempt, now radiated a cold glint. The Azure King level was equivalent to a cultivator in the Organ Transformation realm—a level that surpassed his own. It was not a threat he could ignore, especially after completely draining his essence to manifest the Heavenly Destroyer Palm.

  Zhi Xuan immediately took a long, cold breath, allowing his partially recovered black jade essence to circulate. He did not panic. This situation, instead of causing despair, injected a cold, familiar adrenaline from the Devil Bite Chain Arena.

  He rose from the rock, his movements smooth and silent. The Heavenly Destroyer Palm scroll and other technique scrolls disappeared back into his storage bag with a single thought.

  “Red stone,” Zhi Xuan hissed in his mind, his voice calm. “You are lucky. I have a show for you. A test of my newly recovered ability.”

  Ruo Xianxue responded with a hoarse laugh, a laugh that sounded like the grinding of jade sediment in his Sea of Consciousness. “A wild dog? You test your will with dog-turd, Monkey? How pathetic. But fine. I want to see how you dance without full essence.”

  Zhi Xuan ignored the sneer. He glanced briefly towards the waterfall curtain that concealed the cave. His divine sense scanned Mei Hua. The little girl was still fast asleep, embraced by the Heavenly Moth, Xiao Die, whose wings radiated a soothing rainbow light. That sight, though cold, was the perfect anchor.

  ‘This pond,’ Zhi Xuan thought, assessing his surroundings. ‘This is the main prey. That Azure King must be aiming for the dense jade essence here.’

  Zhi Xuan quickly stepped towards the edge of the cliff, moving away from the pond and the cave. If he had to fight, he had to direct the battle away from Mei Hua and his cultivation resource.