Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 267 - 255: Mountains and Rivers Realm (1/3)

Chapter 267: Chapter 255: Mountains and Rivers Realm (1/3)

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Gu Heqian’s cave residence was built with extravagant luxury, the ceiling adorned with pearls the size of chicken eggs, emitting a soft glow that gave the place an incredibly comfortable feeling, preventing this vast space from feeling the slightest bit gloomy.

A pale silver fruit hovered in midair; Zhou Heng made a motion with one hand, swoosh, and the fruit was instantly split in two by spiritual power, evenly divided into halves.

Zhou Heng and Black Donkey both made a move, unleashing their spiritual power to grab a half of the fruit each.

"Zhou, I want that piece!" the Black Donkey claimed, pulling one half of the fruit towards itself but then immediately bulged its eyes, coveting the piece in Zhou Heng’s possession.

"Suit yourself!" Zhou Heng nonchalantly altered the direction of his spiritual power to grab the other half of the spirit fruit.

"... I’ve changed my mind, I still want the original piece!" Black Donkey’s eyes swiveled.

"Cunning donkey, both pieces of the fruit are exactly the same size; stop trying to take advantage!" Zhou Heng sighed, this greedy donkey really had no boundaries.

"Humph, do you think this donkey would do such a thing?"

"You’re exactly that kind of donkey!"

Each had grabbed a half of the fruit; Black Donkey opened its mouth and swallowed it whole, then with eager eyes fixed on Zhou Heng’s hand, it said, "I didn’t even taste what flavor it is, Zhou, let this donkey have a lick!"

"Scram!" Zhou Heng kicked the Black Donkey flying and quickly swallowed the fruit flesh to prevent the shameless donkey from lingering.

No sooner had the fruit entered his stomach than it turned into a stream of ice-cold liquid, arriving directly at his stomach and then explosively dispersing, morphing into countless particles spread throughout his body.

This was a treasure of heaven and earth!

A mature Phoenix Rising Fruit needed a hundred thousand years to ripen, which no Martial Path Outstanding Person or Demon Beast Overlord could possibly wait for—it was all a matter of chance, purely a question of luck.

Unfortunately, they encountered Zhou Heng and Black Donkey, two who had absolutely no conscience about wasting heaven-endowed treasures, not thinking about benefiting future generations at all, natural to enjoy good things themselves.

Although it lacked the final ten thousand years to fully mature, having been nourished by heaven and earth for ninety thousand years, it naturally harbored immense energy and cosmic revelations.

Boom!

Indescribable insights emerged in Zhou Heng’s mind, visions of cosmic evolution; mountains crumbling, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, meteor falls—all these were memories of the cosmos absorbed by the Phoenix Rising Fruit and then projected out.

The cultivation of a martial artist involved forming a complete Inner World, a personal universe, mimicking the transformations of heaven and earth, thereby cultivating deities within the Inner World and ascending to immortality!

Therefore, the endless vicissitudes of heaven and earth were precious insights for everyone!

Alas, these insights were of no consequence to Zhou Heng, who possessed the Sky-soaring Nine Forms; it was like reciting nursery rhymes in front of a learned scholar, an utter waste of effort!

What was valuable was the immense energy contained in the Phoenix Rising Grass fruit!

Ninety thousand years of accumulation!

Zhou Heng sat cross-legged, with spiritual power overflowing in his Inner World, and his cultivation level was climbing higher and higher.

The spirit fruit was indeed a spirit fruit; although it lacked the nourishment of the last ten thousand years and might not exert even half of its effect, and even though he only had half of it, it was already enough for Zhou Heng, who was just at the Open Heaven Realm.

The wonder of this Heaven-Earth Spirit Fruit lay in the fact that the energy it created was the purest and most natural, hardly needing Refinement, directly accumulating in the Dantian Space.

Peak of the Second Layer Heaven in Open Heaven Realm!

Zhou Heng’s body trembled slightly, performing the Sky-soaring Nine Forms while his Inner World was being expanded once again, with rumbling sounds emanating from within him. His body surged with golden radiance, which then turned to purple flames, and blue flowing water.

In less than three hours, his eyes snapped open, divine light flashed by and then immediately retreated within, and he closed his eyes again.

Third Layer Heaven in Open Heaven Realm!

And the power of the Phoenix Rising Grass fruit was far from exhausted, with a continuous stream of energy still transforming into his own spiritual power and cultivation level.

What a supreme spirit fruit!

If he could get his hands on seventeen or eighteen of these, he would be able to rush to the Nascent Soul Realm in one go!

Time passed, stars shifted.

Medium Period of Third Layer Heaven, Advanced Period, Peak!

Zhou Heng abruptly stopped; he had encountered a bottleneck and could not enhance his spiritual power or cultivation level unless he made a breakthrough.

He was ready to break through to the Mountains and Rivers Realm!

His entire mind was immersed in the Dantian Space. A breakthrough in a Great Realm required insight, a mental transformation, a change in Divine Sense. Only with a breakthrough in the understanding of the cosmic way could it be accomplished.

For Zhou Heng, this was exceedingly straightforward.

First gather spiritual energy, then perform Initial Separation of Chaos, followed by Land Cleaving, and Open Heaven, thus forming a rudimentary world. At this point, the entire Inner World would be initially established, and what followed was perfecting this world.

Shaping the Mountains and Rivers!

Zhou Heng’s mind traversed aeons of desolation. In the Sky-soaring Nine Forms, he even witnessed the genesis, development, and destruction of the entire universe. So what was creating a single planet in comparison?

He became as cold as iron, lifeless, with his Divine Sense, including his Life Force, all concentrated in the Dantian World.

Boom, rumble!

His inner world was undergoing earth-shattering changes.

On the desolate land, mountains rose abruptly from the ground, valleys were instantly formed, creating long rivers, plateaus, basins, lakes, rivers, continuously evolving.

Accompanying this process was the extensive expansion of his entire Dantian world, by tenfold, twentyfold, fiftyfold!

Generally speaking, from Open Heaven to Mountains and Rivers Realm, a martial artist’s Dantian space could expand by two hundred times—beyond this point, each additional doubling of expansion was tremendously terrifying.

Anyone who reached the heights of the Mountains and Rivers Realm could be called a genius, but even among geniuses, there were disparities as vast as the heavens and the earth.

According to Zhao Duotian, his Dantian space expanded by precisely two hundred and fifty-three times from Open Heaven to Mountains and Rivers Realm! And he speculated that Ying Cheng’en was likely around two hundred and forty times; there was a little difference with each breakthrough, hence even though they were both at the peak of the Third Layer Heaven of the Spirit Sea Realm, Zhao Duotian was confident his strength was a cut above Ying Cheng’en’s!

As for Zhou Heng, his Dantian space had increased by a full three hundred times!

Considering his Dantian space was initially one hundred and sixty times larger than that of a typical Heaven-Opening Realm, how difficult was it to expand it by another three hundred times?

But Zhou Heng did it!

Sky-soaring Nine Forms, Open Heaven Land Cleaving—he could slash out a world of his own!

Mountains and Rivers Realm!

Bang!

Spiritual energy from heaven and earth surged in frantically, like parched horses drinking from a spring, entering his body and stabilizing his realm.

His inner world had a vast sky and a rugged terrain with uneven hills and dales, towering mountains, and vast rivers and lakes. Although lacking a hint of green, this was much more varied than the original flat world.

Even the wasteland possessed a vigor of rebirth from breaking out of a cocoon.

Once the Spirit Sea was formed, deities could be created at the core of the earth, thereby bringing forth the first creature in his entire inner world.

Half an hour later, the spiritual power finally stopped its frenzied flow, and Zhou Heng opened his eyes, gently shaking his right arm; boom, there was the utmost powerful force of mountains collapsing and earth splitting.

His spiritual power cultivation level had finally advanced to the Mountains and Rivers Realm!

Compared to this, his physical strength suddenly seemed almost negligible!

Originally, Zhou Heng estimated that his physical strength could account for one-tenth of the ratio, but with each of his major breakthroughs, the extent to which his Dantian expanded far exceeded that of normal people, thus the proportion of brute strength naturally became increasingly smaller.

Indeed, the strength that was easily obtained was absolutely not strong!

The progression of spiritual realm was too slow, but physical strength could be improved relatively simply, as long as there was a vast amount of metal to refine! This process required no comprehension of the profound ways of heaven and earth; even the most dull-witted could cultivate their physical strength and power to the level of the Divinity Transformation Realm!

If such people could sweep through all creation, would anyone still bother cultivating spiritual power?

Zhou Heng silently adapted to the strength of the Mountains and Rivers Realm, gaining some special insights.

He felt an inexplicable connection with the entire land, as if the inner world’s earth was resonating with him. The Azure Dragon, Crimson Gold, and Purple Flame bloodlines were activated simultaneously, creating various changes in his body.

"Eh, Zhou, I feel like I’ve seen your flame bloodline somewhere before, but it doesn’t quite match!" Black Donkey walked over, wiggling its buttocks, exuding an immensely powerful aura.

Spirit Sea Realm!

Zhou Heng’s eyes widened as he said, "Donkey, your cultivation speed is even faster than mine!"

"Of course, I was originally at the peak of the Third Layer Heaven of the Spirit Sea Realm. If it weren’t for that strange stele sucking away my lifelong cultivation, how could I have fallen in with a stinky kid like you!" Black Donkey said with a lofty air.

Zhou Heng rather believed it, after all, breaking through a great realm required comprehension, and not everyone had the Sky-soaring Nine Forms!

If Black Donkey was originally from the Spirit Sea Realm, then its breakthrough meant merely accumulating strength, bypassing the most troublesome process of comprehending the vast Dao, naturally speeding up the process.

"By the way, do you have any idea about the origins of that stele?"

"If I did, I would definitely take a hot piss on that damn stele and its creator for daring to scam the Donkey Master this way!" Black Donkey exploded in fury, "My Dantian space was sucked in until it collapsed. If I didn’t have some life-saving tricks left, I’d have been sucked dry!"

Thinking about it, being drained from the Spirit Sea Realm all the way to the Body Refinement Realm would drive anyone mad!

Without a shred of sympathy, Zhou Heng laughed, "It must be karma catching up to you for all the bad things you’ve done, you wretched donkey!"

"Woof, I’m gonna bite you to death!"

"Scoundrel donkey, let go! Let go! You’re not a dog, why do you always try to bite like one!"

"I can if I want! Woof! Woof! Woof!"

...

After exchanging a few moves, man and donkey adjusted to their newly acquired power.

Spirit Sea Realm was indeed that powerful. Although Black Donkey had only just broken through and Zhou Heng’s spiritual level had also reached the Mountains and Rivers Realm, with a Dantian space that was two hundred and forty times greater than that of a typical practitioner at that realm, his strength was nevertheless infinitely inferior to Black Donkey’s!

From the Mountains and Rivers Realm to the Spirit Sea Realm, one could normally expand their Dantian space by five hundred times, which meant at least a five hundredfold increase in power!

Therefore, even an ordinary person from the Spirit Sea Realm could overpower Zhou Heng in terms of strength.

Of course, if Zhou Heng reached the peak of Mountains and Rivers Realm, with his against-the-heavens combat power, he could still fight against a peak expert from the First Layer Heaven of the Spirit Sea Realm.

(To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote, recommend, and support the author on Qidian (qidian.com). Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)