Li Yu began taking out all of the resources he had been stockpiling for this moment. He still didn’t think he had enough but with these powerful beings next to him, he felt confident. Whatever he didn’t have, they would fill in. Khaos would harm him by telling him to advance now.

  A cascade of demonic cores spilled out onto the stone around him. They clattered and rolled. They were glowing with toxic hues of sickly green, deep purple and blood red. These were the spoils of his own battles and all the trading he did in the Northern Continent.

  The reserves he had been stockpiling for this moment. Vespera had used some of his stash to recover her strength earlier but he still possessed a veritable mountain of the things.

  Standing a respectful distance away, Gongsun Lian and her ten generals watched with sharp eyes.

  'Wait,' General Po sent his thoughts to others as his massive brow furrowed beneath his helmet. 'He intends to use raw demonic cores? Directly?'

  General Hua narrowed her eyes as well. 'The demonic energy inside those cores is chaotic, violent and deeply impure. There is a risk of severe Qi deviation and madness if they absorb that energy directly. It requires an alchemist to slowly extract the essence, purge the malice and refine it into pills. Is he going to kill himself?'

  But Li Yu didn't possess an alchemist and nor did he need one. His Myriad Rivers Returning to the Sea Art and his Koi martial spirit was an absolute engine of assimilation.

  Li Yu’s Koi martial spirit began sucking in all the Qi in the demonic cores. As that was happening the demonic cores began to tremble. Plumes of thick colored mist rose from the stones and were drawn inexorably toward his pores. The moment the chaotic demonic Qi touched his skin, it was violently crushed, purified and converted into flawless and stable spiritual energy.

  Lian’s dark eyes widened slightly. 'He is digesting it effortlessly. His cultivation art... it devours everything without prejudice. It just strips it down to its fundamental energy.' A brilliant smile threatened to break her professional facade. If her Young Master could process raw resources this efficiently, then the limits of his foundation were entirely up to how much fuel they could provide.

  "Generals," Lian commanded as her voice sliced through the quiet air. "If he can utilize raw cores, then we shall not let him want for fuel. Empty the spoils now."

  "Yes, General!"

  The ten warriors stepped forward and raised their hands. Their spatial rings flared with brilliant light. What happened next was not a mere cascade; it was a landslide of supreme wealth.

  A waterfall of high tier demonic cores flooded the ravine. These were not the cores of mere foot soldiers. These were the crystallized lifeforces of three apex Demon Lords, two Beast Kings and countless elite demonic commanders. That was just those they killed, there was even more from the vaults they looted and that too was being taken out. The sheer density of energy released into the dome caused the air to physically warp and shimmer.

  If the Night Queen hadn't been sealed outside the opaque grey dome and unable to see, she would have been absolutely stunned by the sheer volume and quantity. The wealth of five empires was casually dumped at Li Yu's feet.

  But it wasn't just cores. Rivers of natural treasures followed. Old blood ginsengs, glowing subterranean lotuses, liquid earth marrow and rare elemental ores rained down. They formed a literal mountain of resources around the boulder.

  Secretly, amidst the blinding light of the falling treasures, Lian and her generals subtly took out their hidden items. They let the world shaking items they had smuggled from their own personal stashes slip unnoticed into the pile. They perfectly obscured the auras of their personal contributions among the overwhelming chaotic energy of the demonic cores. Hoping to completely bypass any casual detection from Khaos.

  Li Yu opened his eyes and was stunned by the sheer magnitude of the wealth surrounding him. The energy in the air was so thick it was condensing into spiritual dew on his skin. He looked at Lian who offered a stiff but respectful nod.

  A wave of absolute and unshakeable confidence washed over Li Yu. With this much foundational fuel, failure was a physical impossibility. There would be no bottlenecks today. There would be no lack of Qi. He closed his eyes and began.

  He severed his awareness from the physical world and sank entirely into his inner self. He had no idea what was happening outside the dome and was completely focused on pushing his Myriad Rivers Returning to the Sea Art to its absolute limit and activating his Koi martial spirit.

  Rumble.

  The space behind Li Yu distorted. A massive and ethereal projection of his Nascent Soul manifested. It swam through the air behind him as if the very atmosphere were an ocean. Its scales radiated an ancient light. The moment it appeared, the mountain of demonic cores and treasures began to dissolve. Their raw energy was being siphoned into the Koi's gaping mouth like a whirlpool.

  The generals watched, impassive on the outside but internally reeling.

  'A Nascent Soul!' General Sha noted as his heart skipped a beat. 'To form one is incredibly rare. Most cultivators never condense one in their entire lifetimes, even those who reach the highest peaks. General Lian managed to form one, which is a testament to her peerless talent but for him to have one at his age?'

  'He truly is a prodigy,' General Po thought and was highly impressed. 'But... why is it beast shaped? Human cultivators typically manifest humanoid forms to better channel the Dao.'

  'The universe is vast,' Lian said dismissively and was completely unfazed by the shape. 'The form matters little if the vessel and the soul are strong. And he is undeniably strong.'

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  But then a deep and resonant hum echoed through the dome. A sound that felt like the crushing, lightless depths of the abyss. The air beside the Koi rippled violently. A second projection tore its way into reality.

  It was a massive and terrifying Whale Nascent Soul. Its form radiated a heavy, crushing gravity that made the very ground beneath the array groan. It opened its massive maw and began drawing in the other half of the treasure pile's energy. The pristine discipline of the Veiled Lotus generals cracked.

  General Po took a physical step back and his eyes wide beneath his visor. 'Two?! He has two Nascent Souls?!'

  General Hua’s breath caught in her throat. 'That... that defies what we know for cultivation! The soul space can only house one Nascent Soul without tearing itself apart! How is his mind not collapsing? Only a few special races in the universe can have two souls but how can he? If we didn’t already know who his parents were, I would think that his mother cheated.'

  Even Gongsun Lian felt a shiver of disbelief run down her spine. Her Young Master wasn't just a prodigy; he was an anomaly that didn’t make any sense. She was too preoccupied with her own thoughts; she didn’t even scold General Hua for her comments about Li Yu’s mother.

  Before they could fully process the shock of the twin beast souls, the space above Li Yu rippled. Khaos stepped out of the void and appeared in his human form. Lian and the generals immediately bowed with their fists cupped.

  "Now is the time," Khaos murmured. His starry eyes locked onto Li Yu's meditating form. He floated down and stood before the dissolving mountain of treasures. "I have prepared treasures for this realm. This is the first time I am going to directly interfere with his cultivation path."

  Khaos raised his hand. First, he withdrew the severed hand of the being that had attempted to assassinate Li Yu. The hand still looked like it was alive. Next, Khaos pulled out a crystal. It was the core of Demon Lord Balor.

  Khaos tossed both items into the vortex of energy swirling around Li Yu like they were nothing at all. Then Khaos reached deep into his own dimensional space. He withdrew ten distinct items.

  The moment the light of those ten items touched the air, the ambient energy inside the dome completely froze. Lian and her ten generals audibly gasped. Their disciplined composure shattered entirely.

  They stared at the ten items and their minds reeled. These were mythical, heaven defying supreme treasures. They understood now why he said not to bring anything from their own treasury to Li Yu for this breakthrough. Their items were now the powdered sugar dusting on the cake that Khaos had prepared.

  Khaos didn't say a word to explain what they were. He simply waved his hand and sent the ten secret items straight into Li Yu's chest. Inside Li Yu’s mind, the universe exploded.

  His consciousness was anchored within the Koi Sanctuary. For a long time the house-sized seed had been dormant. It had been absorbing ambient energy for what felt like an eternity. As the energy from the outside world flooded in, it was finally catalyzed by the insane wealth coming in and one of the items that Khaos gave.

  Crack.

  The house sized seed split open. A burst of pure, primordial green light illuminated the underwater realm. From the cracked shell, a massive stalk shot upward and was growing at a terrifying rate. It unfurled giant, jade colored leaves that covered acres of space. At the very apex of the plant a colossal lotus flower bloomed.

  As the petals opened, they released a wave of pure Dao resonance. The roots of the massive lotus shot aggressively into the depths of the Koi Sanctuary's waters. The moment the roots took hold, the lifeforce inside the inner world expanded massively.

  The spiritual water turned thick and was glowing with an immense vitality that felt immortal. The air above the sanctuary grew heavy with pure life energy. On the shores of an island the energy wave washed over the soil. The three Bodhi tree seeds reacted. They rapidly grew into vibrant and glowing young trees. Their leaves began shedding the soft, golden light of enlightenment across the land.

  But the transformation in the sanctuary was only the beginning. The true trial was happening to his physical vessel. Outside, Li Yu’s body began to break.

  The sheer, unfathomable volume of energy coursing through his meridians was too much for a mortal shell to handle. His skin cracked like dry porcelain. It began bleeding a blinding light instead of blood. His muscles tore themselves apart under the impossible strain. His bones shattered into fine dust.

  He was being destroyed.

  But the moment he was reduced to the brink of physical annihilation, the immense lifeforce from the newly bloomed Lotus, combined with his own life force and the mysterious properties of the ten secret items Khaos had provided, surged forward. His body was recreated.

  Bones reforged. They were denser and infinitely heavier than before. Muscles woven with destructive power layered over the bone. Skin sealed the vessel tight.

  Then, the energy surged again. The new vessel was shattered. Destroyed. And recreated anew.

  Over and over, the cycle of agonizing destruction and beautiful perfection repeated. Each iteration burned away the mortal impurities. It was elevating the very concept of his physical existence. It was a brutal and uncompromising forging process.

  Deep within his consciousness, the Koi martial spirit swam through the enlightened waters of his sanctuary. It pulsed and imparted ancient, instinctual knowledge directly into Li Yu’s mind. His Abyssal Leviathan Physique was undergoing a paradigm shift. It was evolving.

  The knowledge branded itself onto his soul: Devouring Abyssal Leviathan Physique.

  He had reached the new stage for his body refinement. It was a stage imparted directly by his martial spirit: The Divine Leviathan Awakens.

  With this evolution, his physical body fundamentally changed its relationship with reality. He was no longer just a container for Qi. His flesh, his blood and his bones began to be able to house laws more freely. Subconsciously, the new physique acted like a gravitational singularity for the Dao. It naturally attracted ambient laws from the universe to constantly temper and strengthen the body without him even needing to actively meditate. He was becoming a creature of laws.

  His Myriad Rivers Returning to the Sea Art did not change or evolve. It hummed with perfect efficiency and was acting as the flawless engine to drive this newly awakened vessel. It assimilated the mountains of cores and treasures without a single hiccup.

  As the final cycle of recreation finished, Li Yu continued to sit perfectly still on the boulder. His skin held a faint pearlescent sheen. He felt a sense of power so vast, so incredibly dense, that he felt he could crush the sky with a single thought.

  He had successfully stepped into the Divine Transformation realm. The threshold had been crossed. But the process wasn't over. One of the ten secret items Khaos had injected into his chest suddenly detonated.

  BOOM!

  It wasn't an explosion of fire or force. It was an explosion of space and concept, occurring entirely inside Li Yu's physical body. This explosion seemed to tear a hole in the fabric of his own physical existence.

  Space folded inward and expanded endlessly within a point near his heart. The raw energy, the elemental laws and the pure lifeforce rushed into the void. It began crystallizing, forming a foundation of its very own.

  Li Yu gasped as his eyes snapped open for a brief moment. They glowed with the blinding light of a newborn star. Ahead of time and defying the natural progression of cultivation by entire realms, the explosion catalyzed the impossible. It was the birth of his very own independent inner world.