Chapter 880

Li Yi did not stay long in the Four Seas and Eight Zones; he soon returned to Earth.

His sense of personal crisis was still strong; since the major matters were settled, it was time for him to retreat and cultivate in earnest.

"Go to that strange place where time flows rapidly, use its time acceleration to fully nurture my Primordial Spirit Manifestation, and strive to break through to the Three Flowers Realm—only then will I possess the combat power of a Demon King."

With this thought, Li Yi rode upon a blessed cloud, slicing through the heavens.

He had defeated the Demon King before only because he was bolstered by incense power and fortune power; now that those forces were gone, his combat power had naturally reverted to its former state.

Moreover, Li Yi had now hit a bottleneck; if he did not find another path, he would be stuck at this realm for a long time, because dual cultivation meant that while he was invincible within the same realm, breakthroughs came painfully slow.

So during this period of peace, Li Yi must grow as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, he had previously discovered that strange place; otherwise, he would now have to seek opportunities across dimensional boundaries.

Soon.

Li Yi arrived at the strange place on Earth where time flowed rapidly.

Although he had once fought a Demon King-level battle there, the traces of combat had long been erased by the power of time; to his surprise, he noticed numerous warships hovering nearby.

Clearly, he was not the only evolutionist using this strange place for cultivation.

He even sensed many familiar auras.

"It seems word of this strange place has spread among evolutionists. But that's normal—after the great war, everyone wants to grow stronger as fast as possible, so cultivation time becomes invaluable."

Li Yi thought to himself.

He felt no irritation; after all, he hadn't discovered this place first—he'd learned of it from Li Yugang. In this era, it was a good thing that evolutionists could use it for cultivation.

But the power of time was dangerous; using it wisely was not easy, and misuse could cost one's life.

Li Yi walked slowly through this strange place, for since his last visit, the terrain had changed drastically; even returning, he could no longer recognize it.

This meant he had to find a new suitable place for cultivation.

"Su Mu? She's here too?"

Suddenly, Li Yi saw a floating boulder in the air not far off, upon which sat a woman.

He recognized her, but due to the barrier of time power, she had not noticed him.

And it wasn't just Su Mu—he saw several other familiar evolutionists in the distance, all of whom had participated in the last great battle, now seemingly agreeing to come here to train.

In addition, some unfamiliar people had also arrived; they were not particularly strong, but they were undoubtedly survivors from the Ten Survival Bases.

Now that Earth was rising from ruin, every evolutionist was seizing every opportunity to increase their strength, for another great war could erupt at any moment.

Li Yi did not disturb their cultivation; instead, he walked deeper into the strange place.

After some investigation and exploration, he soon found a suitable spot for cultivation, though the time power there was fierce—spending one day there equaled two years outside.

"This will do." He made no further hesitation and sat down in position.

The power of time enveloped him.

Li Yi felt his magic power, blood qi, and even lifespan steadily draining, but correspondingly, his Primordial Spirit Manifestation, nurtured by the divine treasure Crimson Lotus, grew rapidly stronger.

Drawing on past experience, he took out Demon King flesh to replenish his drained magic power and blood qi, requiring only one meal per day.

This made Li Yi realize for the first time just how extraordinary Demon King flesh truly was.

"Use this time to open more acupoints."

Li Yi focused on two tasks at once: nurturing his Primordial Spirit while attempting to open new acupoints within his body to increase the density of his magic power and divine blood.

Soon.

He entered a state of cultivation.

Time flowed swiftly.

In just one day, Li Yi's Primordial Spirit Manifestation not only fully recovered to its peak but had grown far stronger than before; simultaneously, he successfully opened his ninety-first acupoint.

After awakening, Li Yi ate a meal of Demon King flesh, drank a sip of Life Water, then closed his eyes again.

This kind of cultivation consumed enormous resources and had very low efficiency.

Thus, not every cultivator was suited to use the power of time.

At this moment,

in a distant area, an evolutionist, enveloped by the power of time, had grown emaciated from hunger and was forced to withdraw, for he clearly sensed his internal cosmic energy was depleting far faster than he could absorb it.

This meant his cultivation would not advance here—it would regress.

"I need to find a place with slower time flow."

The evolutionist realized he had been too eager; his body could not withstand such intense time power and he must seek a new location.

More clever evolutionists used rare artifacts and heavenly treasures to offset their rapid energy loss, but even they struggled to endure long, for once their resources were exhausted, they had no choice but to leave.

Only a few could endure like Li Yi under the power of time; others, lucky enough, chose locations where time flowed only ten or twenty times faster than outside—within their tolerance—and could thus sustain cultivation.

Clearly,

the power of time was not suited for everyone.

"Boom!"

Occasionally, thunder rumbled through the strange place—someone was undergoing Tribulation Crossing.

Many evolutionists practiced both evolution and immortal cultivation; once reaching Tribulation Crossing, they had to endure the thunder tribulation, and after a period of quiet cultivation afterward, they could become Mahayana cultivators.

But none of this affected Li Yi.

Only ten days had passed outside, yet he had cultivated for twenty years; during this time, he successfully opened one hundred acupoints, his magic power increased further, and his Primordial Spirit Manifestation was thoroughly nurtured.

He felt his Primordial Spirit stir, and cosmic energy from the surrounding heavens flowed into him continuously.

"Not enough. My Primordial Spirit still isn't strong enough to nurture the Three Flowers."

Li Yi thought to himself; he felt he still had great room for growth, so he chose to continue cultivating.

Another ten days passed.

Around him, Primordial Spirit light radiated, like concentric rings of light encircling his body; his Primordial Spirit Manifestation appeared as if it were a living person, nearly ready to replace his physical form.

Yet his pace of opening acupoints slowed.

"My body's strength isn't enough to endure more acupoints." Li Yi gained sudden insight—his physique was insufficient, and he had hit a bottleneck; the final acupoint he could open was the one hundred eighth, beyond which he could make no further progress.

Unless he practiced body-refining techniques or returned to the Wildlands to undergo the Divine Blood purification and shatter his limits, he could not advance further.

So from now on, Li Yi abandoned opening acupoints entirely and focused solely on nurturing his Primordial Spirit Manifestation.

If the Life Flower and Magic Flower could not bloom, then let the Primordial Spirit Flower bloom first.

No matter what, this retreat must see him enter the Three Flowers Realm.

Another ten days passed.

Li Yi had secluded himself here for a full month—equivalent to sixty years outside.

Yet even so, he had not broken through to the next realm.

This was normal; at this level, advancement was already extremely difficult. A normal cultivator might practice for a hundred years and still fail to bloom the Three Flowers—otherwise, in this End-Dharma cultivation world, Three Flowers Realm experts wouldn't be so rare.

One day, Li Yi felt something stir within him; above his head, countless Primordial Spirit lights coalesced, faintly forming the shape of a flower bud.

But this bud was enormous, like a canopy, obscuring half the sky.

After years of nurturing, it had only barely taken shape, still unopened; even as countless Primordial Spirit lights gathered, they could not fill the bud—it was like a bottomless pit, devouring all the Primordial Spirit power Li Yi had painstakingly accumulated.

Any cultivator at the Five Qi Realm would have already bloomed their Primordial Spirit Flower.

"If it weren't for the Crimson Lotus, how long would I have to endure rigorous cultivation for this? Five hundred years? A thousand?" Li Yi couldn't help but smile bitterly; for the first time, he felt that having too profound a foundation wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Although Li Yi was invincible within his own realm, if his enemy advanced quickly enough, they might still overcome the deficiency of his foundation.

"Just endure."

After all, this was the path he had chosen; even if it brought tears, he must walk it to the end.

But on the fiftieth day, Li Yi's supply of Demon King flesh was exhausted; he could only rely on Life Water to sustain his body.

Fortunately, he had ceased all other cultivation; now he did nothing but let time refine his Primordial Spirit Manifestation.

In simple terms, Li Yi only needed to sit in this place of time power—if he grew tired, he could even sleep.

He simply waited for time to pass, and all would come naturally.

During this time,

the cultivators in this strange place had changed several times; some had returned here for the third or even fourth time, for they could not endure as long as Li Yi and had to train for a while, then retreat to recuperate before returning again.

Repeating this cycle countless times, many experts emerged among the evolutionists, and a group of top geniuses successfully entered the Mahayana Realm.

"Phew!"

Su Mu exhaled a long breath of stale air, ending her third round of cultivation; she stepped out of the time power zone, felt the changes within herself, and smiled faintly—but at the cost of three damaged rare artifacts she had destroyed.

At this moment, Su Mu looked up at the sky; her spiritual tribulation was forming.

She was about to cross the tribulation.

This was the evolutionist's Spiritual Tribulation.

"Su Mu's Spiritual Tribulation has begun. Once she passes it, she'll become a Tribulation Crossing cultivator of the Spiritual Tribulation Realm; if she later enters Mahayana, she might even fight a Human Immortal." Many looked this way, filled with envy.

"She doesn't just cultivate dual paths—don't forget, she's also an evolutionist. Though a Level Nine Evolutionist is merely icing on the cake, her powerful body greatly raises the upper limit of her magic power."

A woman named Zheng Duoduo spoke.

But such breakthroughs were normal here; they occurred frequently in this strange place.