After Yun Che left, Xu Si stared at the gradually disappearing figure in the sky, confusion filling her eyes. Back then, Ma Liang had constantly pestered her—no matter how she scolded or avoided him, he would cling endlessly.
They had grown up in the same village. Their parents were close friends and had arranged a childhood engagement between them. Later, after both were accepted as disciples of the Nether God Hall, Xu Si increasingly found Ma Liang rustic and distasteful. Though there was an engagement, she kept it deeply hidden. When she tricked him into entering the Nether Battlefield, she had used it as bait—promising that if he returned alive, she would become his dual cultivation partner.
Now he had returned… yet treated her as if she were air.
This stark contrast, combined with the inexplicable chill she had felt earlier, left her mind blank.
After flying for a long time through this unfamiliar Yanfen Nation, Yun Che arrived at a continuous mountain range. According to Ma Liang’s memories, this was a famous volcanic region.
Yanfen Nation earned its name from its countless volcanoes. Without constant monitoring and sealing by cultivators, eruptions would have long since devastated the land. In its history, there had never been a massive volcanic catastrophe—thanks largely to cultivators’ control.
After surveying the area, Yun Che turned and flew toward a nearby village. It was harvest season; children played outside. Standing beyond the village, Yun Che felt a sharp ache in his heart. After a long pause, he walked in.
In an unattended farmhouse, he found wooden buckets, filled them with water, and transformed into a streak of light, departing swiftly.
Returning to the volcanic mountains, he located a natural cave. After entering, he sealed the entrance and set layered formations with scattered stones. Only then did he sit cross-legged.
His face was pale.
In the Nether Battlefield, he had suffered grievous injuries. His divine sense had fully collapsed—only a single strand of Extreme Consciousness had allowed his escape. After exiting the teleportation array, he had deliberately released that strand to mask his injuries and leave unnoticed.
Now, he closed his eyes and immersed himself in his sea of consciousness.
Yun Che’s sea of consciousness was an azure ocean. Most of it was shrouded in gray mist. Only a small area was free of fog—isolated by dark light spikes.
A three-inch blood-red sword floated within. The light spikes radiated from it. Deep cracks marred its blade.
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Elsewhere was a blank domain, where a gray stone pearl hovered. Within ten zhang of the pearl, no gray mist dared approach.
Apart from these two regions, the rest of the sea was mist.
Suddenly, the gray mist churned violently.
A red bolt of lightning burst from the azure ocean. Wherever it passed, the mist retreated.
That lightning was the strand of Extreme Consciousness.
Though Yun Che’s original divine sense had been vast, it was helpless before the world laws. But this Extreme strand had withstood the laws and escaped. Its power was self-evident.
The lightning flashed to the blood sword, entered it, and the sword emitted a resonant cry. Together, they pierced through the mist toward the stone pearl, pulling it free as well.
Yun Che opened his eyes. Two illusory lights—one pearl, one sword—emerged from his brow and floated before him.
After confirming no abnormalities, the lightning returned to the azure ocean and began quietly absorbing energy.
Yun Che could clearly sense the Extreme strand growing—slowly but steadily. Given enough time, perhaps millions of years, it might rival his former divine sense.
If that day came, even the world laws might pale before him.
He turned to the storage bags.
All magic treasures had been expended resisting the world laws. The materials remained.
From one bag, he retrieved a palm-sized black iron fragment—clearly part of armor. It was Profound Iron, a material he recognized from a past trade meeting.
His greatest weakness now was his lack of knowledge about cultivation materials. It was like standing in a treasure mountain without knowing its value.
He injected the sword’s illusion into the iron. A blood-red glow spread, releasing a sword aura. Yet he sighed bitterly—without knowledge of forging, he could only do this crude refinement.
The iron shrank slightly, molten droplets falling from its edges. Once cooled, he stored it.
Then he turned to the stone pearl—the Heavenly Nether Pearl.
A soul-linked sensation emerged. He summoned it, solidified it in his palm, and placed it into the water he had brought.
Soon after, he drank the infused water.
A surge of Nether Origin Qi filled his body.
He repeated the process with three more buckets, then entered the Heavenly Nether Pearl’s inner space.
The familiar scene greeted him.
He quickly flew to where Li Han’s Nascent Soul slept.
It had shrunk to a tenth of its former size—dim and weak. Two faint light clusters floated beside it.
Yun Che knelt and kowtowed deeply.
Then he sat cross-legged and began cultivating anew.
He had no spiritual power left. He had to restart from Qi Condensation.
Fortunately, both his original body and Ma Liang’s had cultivated before. Progress came swiftly.
Time passed.
One year outside—seven years within the Pearl.
By the third year inside, he reached the fifteenth level of Qi Condensation.
Two years later, early Foundation Establishment.
After another year, he restored his former cultivation—mid Foundation Establishment.
With Extreme divine sense, he was a natural enemy to all Foundation cultivators. Even early Core Formation opponents could be contested. At late Foundation Establishment, he was seventy percent confident in killing early Core cultivators.
If he formed a Core… below Nascent Soul, he would be unmatched.
This was the terror of the Extreme Realm.
Extreme Consciousness was like water to the fish of cultivation. Without cultivation as support, it could not sustain itself. The stronger the cultivation, the more fully its power could manifest.
After seven years, Ma Liang’s body was fully integrated.
But the cold aura around him had grown stronger—like a glacier that would never melt.
Yun Che opened his eyes.
Cold light flickered.
“Teng Huayuan… soon.”
- Xu Si once manipulated Ma Liang with promises of dual cultivation. Now that Yun Che is utterly indifferent—has karma already begun to turn?
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Yun Che chose isolation over returning to the sect. Was this wisdom—or the first step toward severing all ties?
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The Heavenly Nether Pearl once again became his foundation. How crucial will it be in his future path?
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With Extreme Consciousness growing slowly over time, is Yun Che walking toward transcendence—or toward inevitable confrontation with the world laws?