Chapter 2: Metamorphosis
Two thousand years later, Shi Zhong's cultivation had reached the late stage of Daluo Jinxian. It can be said that Shi Zhong was very lucky, knowing that even in the vast universe, there were few who could advance from the peak of Jinxian to the late stage of Daluo Jinxian in just two thousand years! Only by advancing to Daluo Jinxian can one live as long as heaven and earth, but the premise is that you must survive the great calamity. Even if you can advance to Daluo Jinxian, you cannot guarantee that you will be able to live as long as heaven and earth; you can only ensure that there will be no heavenly tribulation. However, it was because of a single Daluo Jinxian's barrier that countless people were stumped. Even someone like Hong Jun, a top-tier pre-heavenly demon god, would need to spend several yuan (1 yuan = 129,600 years) to break through from Jinxian to Daluo Jinxian. Yet Shi Zhong only took two thousand years and still broke through to the late stage of Daluo Jinxian, which is truly worth pondering.
At this time, Shi Zhong woke up. He felt that his gains this time were not ordinary. This time, Shi Zhong not only advanced his cultivation to the highly sought-after Da Luo Golden Immortal cultivation, but also created a divine ability. It wasn't an earth-shattering divine ability, but in Shi Zhong's view, it was just a flying divine ability called "Treading Empty Steps". During the Tian Xian cultivation phase, only the first stage could be cultivated, with a distance of 100,000 miles per step. However, when cultivating the second stage at the Golden Immortal level, one step could reach a distance of 200,000 miles. The third stage of Da Luo Golden Immortal cultivation could reach a distance of 500,000 miles in one step.
He thought this was just an auxiliary divine ability that could be cultivated, so Shi Zhong didn't pay much attention to it. This is also why Shi Zhong had such a mindset. To know that Sun Wukong in the later generations became famous among the Golden Immortals because of his mastery of the Cloud Striding divine ability. As for Emperor Jiang Zu, who was known for his speed, he could only fly 280,000 miles away. The Golden Crow's Rainbow Transformation Technique was even more sought after by the powerful beings in the Primordial Chaos. So if Shi Zhong's divine ability were to be spread out, it's likely that many people would come to learn it.
Shi Zhong now feels that he can transform himself, and has always believed that his cultivation will quickly reach the peak of Daluo Jinxian after transformation. Shi Zhong guesses that there are not many innate demon gods who have reached Daluo Jinxian at present, only those top-level innate demon gods, the powerful and unparalleled cultivators born with fragments of the Huaying Jade Disc, have the possibility, because the Huaying Jade Butterfly fragments record the great way to cultivate to Daluo Jinxian, and even more so, such as Hong Jun and Luo Hou, who obtained the Huaying Jade Butterfly fragments that recorded the way to reach Hunyuan Daluo Jinxian, and also a few other top-level innate demon gods who obtained the Huaying Jade Butterfly fragments that recorded the great way at the time of enlightenment.
To say that the enlightenment period actually also belongs to Daluo Jinxian, it's just a special period of Daluo Jinxian. It's only when the practitioners who have cultivated to this stage of Daluo Jinxian enlighten their own way and then merge their own way with their true spirit that they can attain the Mixed Yuan Daluo Jinxian.
Actually, Shi Zhong was very lucky. If he hadn't transformed before finding Yu Jing Mountain in Hong Jun's place, then Shi Zhong would have been in danger. You see, Hong Jun had a great affinity with Yu Jing Mountain, and if it weren't for Shi Zhong's arrival, this mountain was destined to be the place where Hong Jun would become a saint. If Hong Jun had found Yu Jing Mountain before Shi Zhong transformed, then don't expect him to let Shi Zhong off. After all, someone like Shi Zhong with such talent, if he were to transform, would become another powerful cultivator with abilities similar to his own. Moreover, Shi Zhong's body also possessed the Cai Hua Butterfly that Hong Jun desired. The only way to avoid conflicting interests was to erase Shi Zhong from this world.
So don't think that just because Hong Jun is called the ancestor of Taoism in later generations, he's a good guy! If this were to be said out loud, I'm afraid not many would believe it, at least Shi Zhong wouldn't. After all, if Hong Jun was a good guy, how could he have become the final victor among so many top-notch innate demon gods? Moreover, after he became the mixed yuan Taoist golden immortal, no more top-notch innate demon gods could be seen in the vast expanse of the universe, and even mid-tier innate demon gods were decreasing in number. This makes one wonder!
Shi Zhong finally began to transform, and Shi Zhong was also delighted because he could have a body again. When Shi Zhong transformed, he first started shaping his meridians according to the principle of simplicity and his past understanding of the meridians. Shi Zhong wanted to shape two main meridians in his body, namely Tian Mai and Di Mai. At this time, Yu Jing Mountain was truly windy and cloudy, with a large amount of pre-heavenly spiritual energy rushing towards Shi Zhong. The chaotic air from the chaotic space within Shi Zhong's body also continuously erupted outward, constantly merging and shaping Shi Zhong's body, shaping his meridians.
A moment of unbearable pain for non-humans arrived, which is also what the innate demon gods must endure. Because only by enduring this inhuman suffering can they transform into a innate Taoist body. So, it's said that although the innate demon gods don't need to go through tribulations to transform, they still have to endure inhuman suffering. Therefore, heaven is fair. Moreover, whether the transformation is complete or not directly affects one's future achievements. Some top-tier superior innate demon gods can only transform after reaching the Great Luo Golden Immortal stage, such as Hong Jun, Luo Yu, Shi Zhong, San Qing, and Zhuanti.
Those mediocre innate demon gods can only transform when they reach the Jinxian cultivation, like the three thousand guests in the Purple Mansion are all mediocre innate demon gods. The lower-ranking innate demon gods also need to reach the Tianxian cultivation to transform, just like the original dozen or so disciples of Sanqing. Although this pain is heart-wrenching, for future achievements, Shi Zhong believes that the meridians he has created will not be difficult for himself.
Time is really not precious in the vast wilderness, it turned out that the place where the seven-color divine stone was originally placed on the Jade Capital Mountain became a young man of about twenty-five years old, with two bundles of hair fluttering and flying obliquely, wearing a white robe floating out of the dust, looking like a great virtuous immortal!
Yes, it was Shi Zhong, the man from last year. This time, Shi Zhong successfully transformed and advanced his cultivation to the peak of Daluo Jinxian.
Shi Zhong expanded his divine sense to explore the surroundings and found that there were still several mysterious places on Yu Jing Mountain. In a valley of Yu Jing Mountain, which was about a thousand miles in size, was filled with chaotic yuanqi. There was also a burst of treasure light, Shi Zhong could think of it with his toes, this place had spiritual treasures, and may not be weak spiritual treasures, and even more frighteningly, it might be top-grade spiritual treasures.
The law treasures are divided into: human-grade law treasures, earth-grade law treasures, heaven-grade law treasures (the law treasures below the immortal treasure are divided into one to nine levels, with the ninth level being the highest), immortal treasure, lower-grade post-heavenly spiritual treasure (twenty-one paths prohibited ~ twenty-five paths prohibited), middle-grade post-heavenly spiritual treasure (twenty-six paths prohibited ~ thirty paths prohibited), upper-grade post-heavenly spiritual treasure (thirty-one paths prohibited ~ thirty-five paths prohibited), extreme-grade post-heavenly spiritual treasure (thirty-six paths prohibited ~ forty paths prohibited), post-heavenly merit spiritual treasure, post-heavenly ultimate treasure, post-heavenly merit ultimate treasure (forty-one paths prohibited ~ fifty-five paths prohibited), lower-grade pre-heavenly spiritual treasure (twenty-six paths prohibited ~ thirty paths prohibited), middle-grade pre-heavenly spiritual treasure (thirty-one paths prohibited ~ thirty-five paths prohibited), upper-grade pre-heavenly spiritual treasure (thirty-six paths prohibited ~ forty paths prohibited), extreme-grade pre-heavenly spiritual treasure (forty-one paths prohibited ~ forty-five paths prohibited), pre-heavenly ultimate treasure (forty-six paths prohibited ~ fifty-five paths prohibited), primordial spiritual treasure (fifty-six paths prohibited ~ sixty paths prohibited), and primordial ultimate treasure (sixty-one paths prohibited ~ sixty-five paths prohibited).
Shi Zhong suddenly appeared at the entrance of the valley, and without hesitation, he walked straight into it. The chaotic yuanqi that swarmed towards him was completely ignored, as if it didn't exist. If this chaotic yuanqi were to affect anyone else, it would still have some intimidating power, but for Shi Zhong, it was simply a delivery of supplements. He continuously absorbed the swarming chaotic yuanqi into his body, and there was no reaction at all within the chaotic world inside him.
Finally, a grayish-blue sword appeared in front of him, three feet long, without any gorgeous colors, but its simple and unadorned appearance could not conceal the fact that it was an extraordinary divine sword. Although Shi Zhong still didn't know what level of spiritual treasure this sword was, he still had great expectations for it.
"This time, I've made a huge profit! A top-grade pre-heavenly treasure that's restricted to the 55th level of the Pre-Heavenly Forbidden Zone! As expected! How could the number one blessed land in the Primordial Chaos produce something unreliable? Even if it did, it would be unworthy of its title as the number one blessed land!
Shi Zhong couldn't wait to refine the sword-shaped treasure after obtaining it and obtained its heavenly information. It turned out that this sword was transformed from the axe blade of the Primordial Treasure Pangu's Axe, a top-grade pre-heavenly treasure restricted to the 55th level of the Pre-Heavenly Forbidden Zone, named Hunyuan Sword, which is the most superior treasure transformed by Pangu's Axe."
To know the treasures transformed by Pangu's axe, people only knew three of them: Pangu's banner, Hundun bell and Taiji diagram. At that time, these three treasures only had fifty-four pre-heavenly forbidden techniques. As for why no one ever knew about Hunyuan sword, it was probably because this treasure was taken by Hongjun as his own magic weapon! After all, the Hunyuan sword was unearthed in Yujing Mountain, and later on, Yujing Mountain became Hongjun's Daoist temple.
Shi Zhong had only refined the Hunyuan Sword to thirty-five prohibitions. Shi Zhong knew that his current cultivation was not enough to refine it further, so he didn't care about it anymore and just let things happen naturally. After finishing all this, Shi Zhong suddenly teleported to another place, where a pre-heavenly prohibition had formed. Fortunately, Shi Zhong saw that the pre-heavenly prohibition wasn't very strong, and with his current strength as a Mahayana Golden Immortal, he could easily break it.
What appeared before Shi Zhong's eyes was a pool of liquefied innate spiritual energy, and in the pool there was a twelve-attribute blue lotus. Shi Zhong's eyes widened when he saw this twelve-attribute blue lotus, which was one of the four great lotus flowers transformed from the primordial chaos blue lotus, and it was an extremely precious innate spiritual treasure.
