The Dantian Sea.

It is the very foundation of a cultivator's practice.

For a mortal to step onto the path of cultivation, the first step is to open their Dantian Sea. If it cannot be opened, a life of cultivation is impossible.

And Gu Xiu's Dantian Sea was where his injuries were most severe.

It was now utterly destroyed.

In the three years since his return from the Forbidden Land, Gu Xiu had tried to repair it more than once.

But alas, the damage was too great, the injuries beyond recovery. Even Guan Xuelan, a Supreme of the Great Ascension Stage, had examined him three years ago, only to declare that it was beyond saving.

But now!

With the arrival of this butterfly-like ancient tome, his Dantian Sea—once a ruined, withered husk—was being repaired, bit by bit, by this mysterious power.

And it wasn't just being repaired!

The ancient tome, like a conqueror expanding its territory, not only restored everything in its path but also rapidly enlarged the domain!

An ordinary person's Dantian Sea was about the size of a pond. The Dantian Seas of those heaven-blessed prodigies with exceptional aptitude, however, could be opened up into great rivers.

But at this moment...

Gu Xiu's Dantian Sea was expanding into a vast, boundless ocean!

And...

It showed signs of continuing to grow!

Upon waking, Gu Xiu was instantly overcome with ecstasy, but it wasn't long before the smile on his face began to stiffen.

A sense of dread even began to creep in!

Because his Dantian Sea, after expanding infinitely to a size comparable to the ocean, still hadn't stopped!

Naturally, the larger the Dantian Sea, the better.

As the foundation of cultivation, a larger Dantian Sea meant more abundant Spiritual Power, granting an overwhelming advantage over other cultivators of the same stage, whether in terms of endurance or combat.

But by the same token...

An overly large Dantian Sea also meant that the difficulty of cultivation, or rather, the requirements for advancement, would increase proportionally.

Without the support of a top-tier cultivation technique...

One's cultivation speed would become agonizingly slow!

This was easy to understand.

If an ordinary person's Dantian Sea was a cup, then the process of cultivation was like filling that cup drop by drop. Once the cup was full, one would be considered to have reached the Great Perfection stage.

Then, they could begin breaking through to the next stage.

But if the Dantian Sea was a bucket instead of a cup, and the speed at which the drops fell into it didn't increase, the time required to reach Great Perfection would naturally be much, much longer.

The only variable that could be changed was the cultivation technique.

The more advanced the technique, the faster the drops would fall, perhaps even creating an effect like opening the floodgates.

But...

Even with a top-tier technique that gathered Spiritual Power like a torrent, if the Dantian Sea was too vast, the accumulation required for each stage would still be immense!

Fortunately...

Just as his Dantian Sea expanded to the breadth of a boundless ocean, the butterfly-like ancient tome finally halted its expansion and converged toward the center.

Then, slowly, it pieced itself back together, once again taking the form of that mysterious ancient tome.

It hung suspended high above the Dantian Sea.

"Huh?"

Gu Xiu waited for a moment, a little puzzled.

"Where's the cultivation technique?"

According to the scenes Gu Xiu had witnessed in the Illusory Realm, this ancient tome was supposed to transform into a wondrous, heaven-defying cultivation technique.

Once opened, it should have been filled with detailed incantations.

But now...

The two characters for "Worthy" were still on the cover of the tome, but when he opened it, all the text within had vanished, replaced by blank pages.

What was going on?

Did the heaven-defying technique just disappear?

"Could it be that because I wrote 'Worthy' instead of 'Without Regret,' something changed?"

"But if there's no technique, why is this tome still hovering in my Dantian Sea?"

"These blank pages..."

"Are they..."

"Meant to be written on?"

An idea sparked in Gu Xiu's mind.

To access the premium content, go to [ pawread.com ].

No sooner thought than done!

Gu Xiu immediately used his consciousness to begin writing on the nameless ancient tome.

"The true men of old breathed in yin and yang, and all of creation looked up to their virtue..."

As the first characters began to appear on the nameless ancient tome, Gu Xiu's eyes lit up. He really could write a cultivation technique onto this tome!

Moreover, as the first paragraph was completed, a gentle breeze stirred within his Dantian Sea. Inspiration struck Gu Xiu, and he felt a sense of perfect clarity, which made his eyes shine even brighter.

He began to write again!

"In ancient times, they wore their hair down and their collars unbound, ruling the world with a virtue that nurtured life and did not kill..."

"The sage kings of yore looked up to the heavens for signs and down to the earth for patterns..."

This was a cultivation technique called the *Tongxuan Scripture*.

It was said to have been written by an ancient sage. It could not only be used for cultivation but also to enlighten the mind, and thus it was widely circulated.

Many people who stumbled onto the path of cultivation did so through this *Tongxuan Scripture*.

Gu Xiu had already left his sect. If he were to practice the Qingxuan Sect's techniques again, he would be tainted by karma and might even suffer a backlash from Heaven's Retribution.

Although the *Tongxuan Scripture* was inferior to the Qingxuan Sect's techniques, it would serve as a temporary measure. He could replace it later when he found a better one.

That was Gu Xiu's initial thought.

But now, as each character landed on the pages of the nameless ancient tome, an incredibly strong sense of understanding bloomed in his heart.

This *Tongxuan Scripture*, which he thought he had already understood completely, now seemed to have been grasped only at a shallow level before.

As these insights arose, Gu Xiu almost subconsciously closed his eyes. He began to sense the specks of Spiritual Power in the outside world, and then, bit by bit, he drew them into his body.

They flowed naturally along his meridians.

*Boom!*

The moment the last word of the *Tongxuan Scripture* was written, the first wisp of Spiritual Power finally completed a full cycle through his meridians and surged into his Dantian Sea.

It became his own!

Gu Xiu's eyes flew open, filled with a joyous surprise.

He could cultivate again!

In the world of cultivation, one's cultivation level was everything. The strong preying on the weak was an eternal, unchanging truth.

In the three years since his return from the Forbidden Land, Gu Xiu had experienced this truth profoundly.

More than once, he had been dejected and heartbroken by his inability to continue cultivating.

Now...

He had finally stepped back onto the path of cultivation!

Even if it was just a single wisp of Spiritual Power, not even enough to cast a simple spell, it was more than enough to make Gu Xiu's heart race with ecstasy!

"Huh?"

Amid his joy, Gu Xiu let out a soft sound of surprise. He discovered that the pages on which he had written the *Tongxuan Scripture* had suddenly detached themselves, forming a brand-new manual that floated beside the blank tome.

Three large characters were written on it.

*Tongxuan Dao Scripture*

What...

What was going on?

It was clearly the *Tongxuan Scripture*, so why had it become the *Tongxuan Dao Scripture*?

Gu Xiu opened the book and was stunned.

The contents had changed.

The *Tongxuan Dao Scripture* before him was more concise and direct than the original *Tongxuan Scripture*.

Gu Xiu tried cultivating again according to the method in the *Tongxuan Dao Scripture* and, sure enough, found that his cultivation speed, which he had found a bit slow before, had now accelerated considerably!

This was...

"The *Tongxuan Scripture* is a technique without even a rank, but now, it's at least reached the threshold of a Yellow-rank technique!"

"Could it be..."

"This blank tome can automatically upgrade the rank of cultivation techniques?"

Gu Xiu speculated.

He immediately started copying the text of the *Tongxuan Scripture* onto the blank tome again. This time, however, the characters vanished as soon as he wrote them, as if they could not be written there.

"Is it because a technique that has already been upgraded cannot be upgraded again by the nameless tome? Then I'll try a different one!"

With that thought, Gu Xiu immediately began to write another cultivation technique from memory:

"That which has life does not give life; that which transforms does not cause transformation. The un-birthed can give birth to life, the un-transformed can cause transformation..."

This was another technique similar to the *Tongxuan Scripture*, called the *Chongxu Scripture*. Like the *Tongxuan Scripture*, it was a well-known text that had been circulated long ago.

Anyone could learn it.

And this time, a change occurred as expected!

After the entire *Chongxu Scripture* was written, just like the *Tongxuan Scripture* before it, a few pages slowly materialized, forming a manual titled *Chongxu Dao Scripture*.

He opened it to read.

Just like the *Tongxuan Dao Scripture*, it had become more refined and powerful.

With his previous foundation, Gu Xiu felt a sudden sense of enlightenment after reading it through, as if he had grasped its essence completely!

And...

Just as Gu Xiu had fully comprehended the *Chongxu Dao Scripture*, he saw it slowly drift towards the *Tongxuan Dao Scripture*.

Then...

The two techniques actually merged! They ultimately combined into a completely new cultivation technique!

*Xuanxu Scripture*!

This...

It can merge techniques too?

Gu Xiu's eyes widened, his heart filled with shock.

One had to know that the creation of any cultivation technique required an extremely profound understanding of the path of cultivation.

Even after creation, it required countless trials and revisions.

The slightest mistake could lead one astray, to succumb to Qi deviation!

Merging two techniques might seem simpler, but it was actually far more difficult. It required not only an understanding of the path of cultivation but also a complete and thorough mastery of both techniques!

The difficulty was a level higher!

And now...

These two techniques had merged, just like that, with the help of the nameless tome!

"If it can merge them, does that mean if I merge all the cultivation techniques together, they will eventually become something even more powerful?"

Gu Xiu guessed.

He opened the nameless ancient tome again.

He saw that the pages, which had already been written on, had automatically restored themselves, looking as if they could be written on freely.

Gu Xiu no longer worried about running out of pages.

He immediately took out another cultivation manual called the *Huangting Scripture*, which, like the previous two, was a widely circulated technique. After Gu Xiu transcribed it, the *Huangting Scripture* also became the *Huangting Dao Scripture*.

However...

This time, the two techniques did not merge.

Gu Xiu instantly understood. "It's because I haven't comprehended the two new techniques, so they can't merge!"

Next, Gu Xiu began to read and comprehend.

He comprehended the *Huangting Dao Scripture* almost as soon as he read it, and a golden light appeared on its surface. Gu Xiu then began to comprehend the *Xuanxu Scripture*. This *Xuanxu Scripture* was a tier stronger than the previous three techniques, but their core principles were similar.

It only took Gu Xiu the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to fully comprehend it.

A golden light appeared on its surface as well.

And at the very instant this golden light appeared, the two techniques began to merge again, just as he had expected!

Before long, they had become a brand-new technique.

The *Xuantingxu Scripture*!

Gu Xiu opened it and his eyes widened in disbelief.

This technique...

Was a Xuan-rank technique!

One must know that even the *Qingxuan Art*, taught by the Qingxuan Holy Land to its Inner Disciples, was only a Xuan-rank technique.

And now, he himself possessed a technique no weaker than the *Qingxuan Art*!

More importantly...

This was created from the fusion of just three widely circulated, common techniques!

If, in the future, he continued to merge other, more powerful techniques...

What would the final result be?

And...

"If cultivation techniques can be merged, can other things like sword arts and spell arts be merged as well?" Gu Xiu wondered boldly.

Unfortunately...

He had nothing of that sort on him.

Gu Xiu had learned many sword arts in the past, but they were all from the Qingxuan Holy Land, secrets that were not to be passed on.

Now that he had signed the Abandon Sect Covenant, practicing or leaking them would bring down Heaven's Retribution upon him.

For now, he couldn't test it further.

However, Gu Xiu wasn't in a hurry. "The most pressing matter is to cultivate first. I need to at least reach the Lianqi 3rd Level!"

His gaze fell upon the Green Bamboo Rod beside him.

To use this Green Bamboo Rod, a special method was required, but that method could only be used after reaching at least the Lianqi 3rd Level.

Therefore...

His immediate priority was to first cultivate to the Lianqi 3rd Level

---

Proofreader: Peter Pan