Chapter 1245: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

Cultivation was by nature a dull and monotonous process. Yet, whenever a breakthrough was achieved, it was akin to drinking the sweetest of spring water, refreshing the body and soul.

It had been a long time since Fang Chen last engaged in such extended seclusion. As the years passed, the restless, unsettled mind he'd carried from his ceaseless travels began to calm once more.

He realized that the saying about balancing work and rest was true—rest did not merely ease the body's fatigue, but allowed one's mind to quiet down and reflect on gains and losses.

In revisiting them, right and wrong became clear, and so too did the path ahead.

"Anomalies, Ghost Gods, the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo, and enemies of unknown origin... all of it is like a puzzle. If I could assemble it, I would know the truth. But it feels as though one crucial piece is missing.

"Why are people important? Is it because people are the foundation? But even with existences like the Spirit God Sect in the Nine Realms, the number of mortals is endless. If it were that simple, it wouldn't be something an Anomaly would remember so clearly and mention deliberately."

As his thoughts shifted, a continuous stream of power flowed into him again, and Fang Chen felt his cultivation rise a little more.

He had been in the Realm of Three Thousand Dao for over four hundred years now, his cultivation rising from the early stage of the Fusion Realm to the late stage.

For him, the bottlenecks ordinary people faced did not exist, so long as his spiritual energy reached a certain level, he would naturally break through.

Though his progress was swift, his foundation was astonishingly solid.

His avatars, too, were advancing in tandem. Fang Bahuang and the others had, after two hundred years and the aid of high-grade spirit stones, risen from mid to late Fusion

In contrast, the newly condensed Fang Dashen had started off at the late stage of the Fusion Realm. Over the past two hundred years, he had not yet broken through, but was only a step away from the grand perfection stage.

Fang Chen paused his technique practice and glanced toward Little Sword. The little fellow had advanced once a hundred years ago, but it had devoured far too many treasures and was still digesting them. Once it finished, it would advance to the eighth rank.

His gaze shifted to Fang Tianzun, who was still refining the Icy-Wind spiritual energy in the top-grade spirit stone. Compared to the Frost Water Immortal Flame and the Azure Lightning, this refinement clearly took longer.

From this, Fang Chen inferred that refining all ninety-nine kinds of foreign spiritual energy to forge himself into a Heavenly Sovereign would take an enormous amount of time in the later stages, more than the lifespan of most cultivators.

Clearly, the Great Heavenly Sovereign Chapter was suited only for the most prodigiously gifted; otherwise, one might spend their entire life and not complete even a third of the path.

Fortunately, Fang Tianzun was an avatar forged entirely for the Great Heavenly Sovereign Chapter, so his cultivation could not be measured by common sense.

Fang Chen entered the Three Thousand Dao Palace and stood before the three statues. Spiritual energy surged in his hand, forming three long sticks of incense.

After offering the incense, he studied the statues for a long while before turning back to continue practicing his arts outside.

Now that he had gained a basic understanding of the Three Thousand Dao Art, he could not help but speculate: could these three divine beasts be incarnations of the three Dao paths?

If the Azure Lightning Divine Beast corresponded to the Azure Lightning path, what Dao paths would the Twilight Solar Divine Beast and the Yin Lunar Divine Beast correspond to?

In the ancient Daoist sects, cultivators revered these Three Divine Beasts as their ancestors, believing all Dao arts to have originated from them.

Could that belief have been true?

***

Time flowed by.

Fang Tianzun finally finished refining the Icy-Wind energy, his cultivation rising from the grand completion stage of the Fusion Realm all the way to the grand completion stage of the Dao Union Realm, matching Fang Xuanyang.

Yet Fang Tianzun had only refined three types of spirit power, with ninety-six more to go.

Fang Xuanyang, on the other hand, had reached the second stage of the Four Stage Profound Yang Body, needing only to cultivate the third and fourth stages.

Fang Chen judged that the Four Stage Profound Yang Body's upper limit was likely no more than a first or second transformation Loose Immortal.

Absorbing the energy flowback from Fang Tianzun, Fang Chen's spiritual energy surged once again, breaking past the late stage of the Fusion Realm and firmly entering Perfection.

"I should be facing my tribulation soon..." Fang Chen murmured to himself.

This time, luck was on his side, and he had not been struck by tribulation in the mid or late stages. Otherwise, he would not have been able to reach the grand completion stage.

The first tribulation had been a Demonic Calamity, the second one was a Misfortune Calamity. Each tribulation was different, and he was curious what form this one would take.

At that moment, Little Sword gave a satisfied burp, and its aura finally stabilized. The treasures it had swallowed were now fully absorbed.

As Fang Chen had predicted, it advanced steadily to the eighth rank.

From his arrival in the Realm of Three Thousand Daos until now, Fang Chen had spent nearly six centuries here.

His gains were immense.

The newly condensed avatar, Fang Dashen, had reached the grand completion stage of the Fusion Realm.

Fang Tianzun, the grand completion stage of the Dao Union Realm.

Fang Xuanyang, the grand completion stage of the Dao Union Realm.

The remaining seven, like Fang Dashen, were all at the grand completion stage of the Fusion Realm.

From years of observation, Fang Chen noted that Fang Yinbing had benefited the least. He was better suited to remaining in the Underworld, but given that ten years in the Realm of Three Thousand Daos was one day outside, the benefits here still far outweighed those of the Underworld.

Fang Chen could not help but feel a sudden emotion and smiled, shaking his head.

"The feedback from incarnations' cultivation must be the core mechanism of the Three Thousand Dao Art. With ten incarnations cultivating together, my feedback is such that even if I spent my days drinking and enjoying myself, my cultivation would still advance steadily; it's only a matter of time. If I had 100 incarnations... 1,000... I could truly sit back and enjoy the gains."

The path seemed simple, but once he started to walk down it, its difficulties became clear. In the first 200 years, he had condensed Fang Dashen. In the last 400 years, he had tried to condense more avatars but failed repeatedly.

It proved that his success in condensing nine avatars upon advancing from the Nascent Soul Realm to the Fusion Realm had been a rare opportunity.

Dividing his soul into nine parts from the start meant beginning with nine avatars! If he had started with only two or three, reaching his current state would have taken countless years.

"Return to the Dao."

The ten avatars turned into streams of light and merged into Fang Chen.

In an instant, his blood and qi surged. That was the power of the Four Stage Profound Yang Body.

Arcs of lightning flashed over his skin, representing the Azure Lightning.

A divine light stirred faintly within his gray-white pupils.

The many benefits could only be quietly savored by Fang Chen himself.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

When Little Sword happily flew into his body as well, his physique seemed sublimated. A light clench of his fist carried an almost terrifying power.

***

The Xie Clan's ancestral star was a place of meager spiritual energy, where even cultivators were rarely seen. But in these special days, Xie Clan's members flocked back in droves. The long-sealed Starry Teleportation Formation shone day and night.

"Long ago, this place was not called the Xie Clan's ancestral star," shared Du Yunxu with a smile. "But after the Xie clan gained renown across the cultivation realms, outsiders began calling it so. The natives here know nothing of that history. Each group has its own name for the land."

Xia Ji looked up at the countless meteors streaking across the sky, knowing they were actually powerful cultivators.

"Our people are now spread throughout the world," Du Yunxu said softly. "Xie Zian will be arriving soon. It's time we invited the lord."