The Sea of Consciousness...
Inside the swirling void of his mind, Xan Li Fang witnessed a cosmic phenomenon.
"Where is this place? This is a miracle..."
He floated above an Infinite Sea of Consciousness , a boundless expanse of spiritual energy split perfectly into two halves—one brilliant Red , the other shimmering Blue , forming a massive, ethereal Yin-Yang symbol.
In the absolute center, the Gray Stone Tablet inscribed with "DAO" glowed a vibrant Yellow . Surrounding it, orbiting like celestial bodies, were the dormant essences of his true self: faint spheres of power that represented the Twelve Elements, the Seven Spirits, the Heaven and Earth, and the Life and Death cycles and another six. The overload had forced them out of their sealed state, drawing them to the Tablet.
Suddenly, the Tablet pulsed with blinding light. The Red and Blue Seas rushed together, merging into a unified, turbulent expansion of swirling energy. The Yin-Yang symbol stabilized, and the orbiting essences locked into place, becoming the foundation of his inner world. The Restriction/Prohibition Essence —the very core of his mother's final seal—had successfully absorbed the chaotic Gunsang Qi and used it to rebuild his body and awaken his true potential.
LinXu Village
Outside the Sea of Consciousness, reality was moving just as violently.
Xan lay motionless in the warm, humble home of Yao Lin , the kind sheep-herder. Snow dusted the small window of the cabin. Yao Lin, a frail woman in her fifties, sat nearby, her face etched with worry. She wore threadbare clothes, barely protection against the biting cold, yet she refused to leave the injured young man's side.
"Oh, my poor boy, the things you must have suffered," she murmured softly.
Suddenly, Xan's blood-caked body jerked.
Without warning, a terrifying, unseen force lifted him two meters into the air . His body spun gently, enveloped by a mysterious, cycling energy—one side Black (representing the Void/Death), the other White (representing Life/Heaven). It was the nascent Life and Death Essence Avatar at work, using the immense stored Qi to heal him instantly.
Yao Lin cried out, covering her mouth in shock. She stared at the impossible miracle unfolding above her bedside. The sheer spiritual pressure was too much for her fragile mortal soul; her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
At that very moment, the door burst open. A fierce gust of cold air and snow was pushed aside by a wave of powerful Qi. Cultivator Mulo , a local expert who managed the area, stood framed in the doorway, his eyes wide with disbelief.
- "This... this can't be real. Is he cultivating even in this state?" Mulo whispered, his voice trembling as he used his spiritual sense to gauge Xan's strength.
Mulo watched in disbelief as the energy around Xan intensified.
"Mortal Realm 3rd, 4th, 5th... No, wait! That's Earth Realm 4th, 7th... His level is still climbing! Heaven Realm 7th, 8th, 9th... This is the Mistic Realm ... No! This is Divine Realm, 9th Stage!"
The energy beacon around Xan exploded outward, visible miles across the desolate landscape.
A shout of terror and disbelief echoed from a nearby village.
— "Yin and yang state realm! That's a Second Step Cultivator!"
Mulo fell to his knees, utterly speechless. His mind, which had spent centuries clawing its way to the Earth Realm, could not comprehend the phenomenon. Xan Li Fang's cultivation had completed 100 million years of growth in just two days.The Divine Ascent lasted for two agonizing days, shaking the very earth beneath LinXu Village.Then, silence. The black and white energy subsided, and Xan's clean, perfectly healed body gently drifted back onto the bed. His Golden Hair and his Red and Blue Eyes seemed to glow with a new, subtle internal light.
— "Ahhh, where am I..." Xan groaned, the memory of his mother and the fall hitting him like a physical blow. He tried to sit up.
— "AAhhh! (Oops)!"He shot straight up, two meters into the air, instinctively hovering above the bed.He stared at his feet, then at the ceiling. "When did I learn to fly? Wow."