Chapter 4: Aiming for the Chaos Body

Outside the Ancient Forbidden Land lay a vast, primeval forest. The elderly tour group from Earth, supporting one another, finally emerged from the forbidden zone.

Glancing back, Qin Sheng felt a wave of emotion.

"I wonder if I will ever have the chance to enter the Ancient Forbidden Land again in the future?"

Of course, not to become a desolate slave.

Qin Sheng exchanged a few words with Ye Fan and Pang Bo, left them a few things, and quietly slipped away from the group.

However, he did not go far. He waited until a streak of rainbow light flew in from the distance to collect Ye Fan and the others, and only after confirming they were safe did he depart in a different direction.

"The Lingxu Grotto-Heaven is Ye Fan's starting point. He can build his foundation for cultivation there and survive his initial years."

"But that is not my starting point."

Qin Sheng was about to advance to the Other Shore; following them to the Lingxu Grotto-Heaven would be meaningless.

In the six great Grotto-Heavens of the Yan Kingdom, the elders were only at the Divine Bridge stage, the sect leaders were at the Other Shore stage, and the foundational ancestors and supreme elders were likely only at the first or second level of the Dao Palace.

Qin Sheng possessed four times the combat power; once he broke through, his strength would not be much inferior to them.

The six great Grotto-Heavens could not provide what Qin Sheng wanted.

"I'll find a place to break through first." Qin Sheng had already made up his mind.

The Yan Kingdom was two thousand li long from north to south and three thousand li wide from east to west, with the Ancient Forbidden Land located in its center.

Countries like this were countless within the vast and boundless Southern Region of the Eastern Wasteland.

Qin Sheng randomly found a deep mountain forest, carved out a temporary cave dwelling, and began to further refine the medicinal power of the divine herb in hopes of breaking through his realm.

Meanwhile, in a small town outside the Ancient Forbidden Land, Ye Fan and the others had already met with people from the six great Grotto-Heavens.

"What? One of the people who came here with you from the Western Desert is missing? And he was a cultivator?"

Elder Ma Yun of the Yuding Grotto-Heaven frowned. After exchanging opinions with the elders of the other Grotto-Heavens, he shook his head.

"Since he is a cultivator, he likely has his own plans and does not wish to have contact with us."

"Let him be."

Following this, Ye Fan and the other cultivation prospects were divided among the six Grotto-Heavens. Ye Fan and Pang Bo both went to the Lingxu Grotto-Heaven.

His Ancient Sacred Body made people sigh with regret.

One day, two days, three days...

Seven days passed, and Qin Sheng reached the final step of his breakthrough, but he suddenly discovered that his vision had become blurred, and he could see nothing at all.

Qin Sheng did not panic, knowing this was a normal phenomenon in cultivation.

The cultivation of the Shrouding the Heavens method treats the body as a seed, constantly developing the "small universe" within the human body.

Every speck of dust, every flower, is a world.

This system posits that there are countless gates of potential within the human body, like sand and dust. Behind each gate lies a "world" containing the "True Self."

Opening these gates of potential to unearth the "True Self" is what cultivation is.

The starting point of cultivation, the most basic secret realm, is the Wheel of Life and the Bitter Sea, collectively known as the Wheel Sea.

Located below the navel, the Wheel of Life is the foundation of life, while the Bitter Sea overlaps with it, the former above and the latter below.

The Bitter Sea obscures and erodes the Wheel of Life, causing one's vitality to constantly fade and leading to aging. Every year that passes, a mark appears on the Wheel of Life, much like the rings of a tree.

The first step of the Wheel Sea secret realm is to open the Bitter Sea and release the essence of the Wheel of Life.

The second step is to dig downward into the Bitter Sea to open a channel connecting to the Wheel of Life, at which point a Divine Spring of Life will form in the Bitter Sea, releasing even greater vitality.

This is essentially the process of "crossing" the Bitter Sea.

However, the Bitter Sea is boundless and endless; it can never be fully crossed or transformed.

To gain longer lifespan and greater power, one must leave the Bitter Sea and cultivate other secret realms.

The third step of the Wheel Sea secret realm is to build a Divine Bridge leading to the "Other Shore" of the Bitter Sea. This is the foundation for leaving the Bitter Sea.

But the problem is, the Bitter Sea is endless, and the Divine Bridge stretches across the void. Where should it grow, and how long will it take to reach the "Other Shore"?

This is a major problem. If one cannot break through this fog of confusion, the best outcome is a failed breakthrough, and the worst is becoming a cripple.

This is the Disaster of Losing One's Way.

Countless geniuses throughout history have sunk into this disaster, never to escape.

But for Qin Sheng, he had confidence.

Admittedly, he was lost at this moment, but the four versions of himself in worlds like *Tianlong* were perfectly clear-headed.

"The Bitter Sea is boundless, turn back and find the shore? Ridiculous. Once you turn back, you will never reach the Other Shore."

Observing through the eyes of his selves across the worlds, he pierced through the fog of confusion. Without any hesitation, Qin Sheng took a step forward.

With this step, the Divine Bridge grew further. He crossed the Bitter Sea and arrived at its end.

Here was a pure land, no longer dead and silent, dark and still. Looking up, there seemed to be clouds, a great sun, and heavenly palaces.

At the highest point stood a massive Dao Palace.

That was the next secret realm after the Wheel Sea: the Dao Palace secret realm.

However, Qin Sheng had just ascended to the Other Shore; he was still far from the Dao Palace secret realm.

Feeling the power he now possessed, Qin Sheng was very satisfied.

"Having crossed the Bitter Sea and ascended to the Other Shore, I can start preparing to 'reduce to emptiness'!" He was in a good mood and joked to himself.

If this were the world of *Legend of the Great Sage*, it would be terrifying for someone to reach the Other Shore so easily at his age.

"After Ye Fan advances to the Other Shore, he will begin to gestate his Sacred Body visions."

Qin Sheng looked at his own Bitter Sea; there was no movement at all.

A mortal body is just a mortal body.

"Since the breakthrough was successful, it's time to implement my plan. The Yaoguang Sacred Land..."

The reason Qin Sheng did not go to the Lingxu Grotto-Heaven was that he wanted to join the Yaoguang Sacred Land directly.

He could achieve his goal through the Lingxu Grotto-Heaven, but that would cause great trouble once the origins of Ye Fan and the others were exposed in the future.

Qin Sheng wanted to join as a local of the Big Dipper, someone who had never consumed an Undying Divine Herb.

As a mortal body, he didn't have to worry about being "eaten" by Yaoguang; he wouldn't even be at the front of the line.

Moreover, Qin Sheng was aiming for the lineage of the Ruthless Empress.

Back on Earth, Qin Sheng had carefully considered how to act once he arrived at the Big Dipper.

Which faction to join? Who to rely on? Which Emperor Scripture to cultivate?

He had thought about these questions more than once.

"Yaochi only accepts women. Even if I convinced myself my psychological gender was female, I wouldn't be able to sneak in."

"The Jiang and Ji families are clans. Although they recruit outside cultivators, it's very difficult to be taught their Emperor Scriptures, and there are many restrictions. Joining them basically means being a dog."

"The Qing Emperor's lineage is the Demon Race. I'm not a human-demon hybrid like Pang Bo, so I can't cultivate the Qing Emperor Scripture. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind being a live-in son-in-law."

"The Wushi Scripture requires a specific constitution I don't have; the Dao Scripture only has the Wheel Sea chapter; the places in Central Plains are too far away, not to mention anything else."

"Trying to piece things together like Ye Fan and cultivate multiple scriptures—if a mortal body like me dared to do that, I'd be tired of living."

Qin Sheng sighed toward the sky and muttered to himself.

"Great Sun, in the end, I still need you to guide my direction!"

After much thought, Qin Sheng discovered that the notorious *Heaven-Devouring Demon Art* was actually the most suitable for him.

It is an Emperor Scripture, powerful enough with vast prospects. If perfected, its final "Dao Fruit" could be said to surpass all other scriptures.

Furthermore, the *Heaven-Devouring Demon Art* was a perfect match for Qin Sheng's golden finger.

The fixed combat power multiplier mode of the Infinite Land amplified Qin Sheng's base combat power.

That is to say, excluding factors like secret techniques, weapons, and treasures, it only amplified raw strength, speed, defense, recovery, etc.

Suppose his base combat power at the Other Shore stage was one hundred; with the four-fold multiplier, he would gain four hundred.

But if his base combat power was five hundred, the multiplier would grant him two thousand!

What a massive difference that was!

And in the *Shrouding the Heavens* world, who has higher base combat power?

Special constitutions, of course!

Can the base combat power of a mortal body compare to that of a Sacred Body?

The difference is like heaven and earth!

"In the *Shrouding the Heavens* world, the only way I can access a method to change my constitution is the *Heaven-Devouring Demon Art*. It is very important to me; I must obtain it." Qin Sheng was firm.

"Only by increasing my base can I truly unleash the effect of the combat power multiplier."

As for the claim that the mortal body is the strongest?

Tell that to Ye Fan at the Four Extremes or Dragon Transformation stages and see if he laughs.

"My goodness, if I were the richest person in the world, I could also say I'm not interested in money."

It's fine to fool others, but don't fool yourself.

In the original story, Ye Fan said that when he was in his later lives; naturally, his constitution no longer affected him.

Looking at it from another angle, Ye Tiandi, surnamed Ye, given name Fan—his constitution is called the "Mortal Body," so calling it the strongest is technically correct.

If Qin Sheng succeeds in reversing his body into a Chaos Body in the future and possesses ten or a hundred times the base combat power of a Chaos Body...

Let the Qing Emperor come!

Moreover, besides considering the combat power multiplier, Qin Sheng was indeed very suitable for cultivating this ancient scripture.

The *Heaven-Devouring Demon Art* requires devouring the origins of others to improve oneself, step by step forging a Chaos Body.

Qin Sheng doesn't need to devour the origins of others; he can just devour the origins of his deceased selves.

Devouring others leads to impure origins that don't match one's own, eventually resulting in a flawed Chaos Body.

Devouring one's own origins would never have such a problem; it would be a perfect match.

The *Indestructible Heaven Art* created by the Ruthless Empress in her second life is based on this very principle.

Shedding her "Demon Fetus" to give birth to a "Divine Fetus," achieving a flawless Chaos Body.

Qin Sheng can reach the goal in one step without having to go through this transformation. It can be said that he is even more suited for the *Heaven-Devouring Demon Art* than the Ruthless Empress herself.

What does it mean to be the heaven-chosen successor of the Ruthless Empress?

Oh, Empress who does not belong to this era, mysterious master of the Ancient Forbidden Land, immortal of the mortal world who holds onto obsession, please grant me power!

(End of chapter)