Chapter 2: Instant Enlightenment, Immediate Success

In her view.

The marvelous cultivation method is inscribed on this Enlightenment Stele, but among those with profound insight and abundant celestial affinity, how many have there been throughout history?

Thinking of this place.

Standing amid the mist, Ziyuan Zhenren casually scanned the hundred thousand youths below, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

While the others were still trembling in awe at the miraculous changes on the Enlightenment Stele.

Li Mu, however, was already seated on the ground, unusually calm.

He slightly closed his eyes, his breath long and steady, displaying utmost composure!

Such a solitary stance, standing out from the crowd, inevitably makes one look like a crane among chickens.

This sparked a hint of curiosity in Ziyuan.

"I have only just revealed the inscription."

"Could it be that he has already grasped something, merely glimpsing the path?"

The thought just formed, Ziyuan Zhenren quickly shook his head to reject it, chuckling at himself.

"In cultivation, one must keep one's feet on the ground and guard against pride and impatience!"

"Although what is recorded on this Enlightenment Stele is merely the Ziyang Sect's most basic introductory technique."

"But to achieve instant enlightenment, immediate success?"

"Not to mention this group of average youths; even Inner Disciples of the Ziyang Sect, let alone Personal Disciples, are few who can achieve it!"

"Now look at this youth!"

"He probably hasn't even read the entire inner technique, yet has already begun cultivation."

"In this manner."

"Either he seeks to masquerade as a heavenly prodigy by this flamboyant display, hoping to attract my attention with such crude means."

"Or he is a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, completely ignorant of the great terror of cultivation and the dire crisis after going astray."

Thinking of this place.

Ziyuan Zhenren shook his head with a wry smile, then withdrew his gaze from Li Mu.

She has roamed the world for many years!

She has encountered countless specters and demons of all kinds.

Li Mu?

Perhaps he is merely one among many who hold themselves in high regard!

Compared with the reaction after reading the words that appeared on the Enlightenment Stee le, the following paragraph shows the hundred thousand Named Disciples scratching their ears and chins, instantly puzzled, cursing their own shallow insight and excessive foolishness.

"Every word a pearl of wisdom..."

Li Mu savored the subtleties of the "Eight Nine Profound Art", his pupils flashing with revelation, as if intoxicated.

In the span of a breath.

White luminescence flowed over Li Mu's body, making him appear as if draped in a thin white veil, looking extremely ethereal and misty.

The thick spiritual energy that had shrouded the vast plaza was as if being ravenously devoured by a gargantuan glutton, surging toward Li Mu, where he absorbed it all, allowing it to naturally circulate through his eight extraordinary channels and five organs and six viscera.

Li Mu could distinctly feel an inexhaustible power coursing through his entire body.

The weakness caused by two successive life‑or‑death battles was now completely swept away.

In its place came a feeling of dragon‑like vigor and tiger‑like ferocity!

Li Mu slowly clenched his ten fingers into a fist.

"Crack, crack, crack…"

Bones, muscles, tendons and marrow emitted a satisfying popping sound, as if his entire skeleton grew ever more resilient.

At the same time.

Li Mu felt every cell in his body cheering, his realm soaring at an unimaginable speed.

Before the path of cultivation, the Nascent Body Realm solidifies the foundation, a crucial period for tempering the mortal body, where Qi and blood increase very slowly.

Now.

While cultivating the "Eight Nine Profound Art", Li Mu's dantian resembled that glutton, devouring the surrounding spiritual energy like a whale swallowing cattle, his own Qi and blood surging wildly!

Fifteen... twenty‑five... sixty‑five... one hundred thirteen!

A torrent of true Qi, like raging waves, continuously tempered, refining Li Mu's eight extraordinary channels and five organs and six viscera.

Seventh‑grade Nascent Body Realm, refining marrow!

Eighth‑grade Nascent Body Realm, refining organs!

Ninth‑grade Nascent Body Realm, shedding the body!

"…"

In less than a handful of breaths, Li Mu directly completed the Nascent Body Realm that ordinary people would need years, even over a decade, to cultivate!

The surging Qi and blood, like boiling mercury, penetrated Li Mu's eight extraordinary channels step by step, nurturing a powerful true Qi!

"Boom!"

In an instant.

Li Mu instantly transformed from the Sixth‑grade Nascent Body Realm into a cultivator of the Refining Qi Realm!

And his realm continued to rise!

Just as Li Mu was still immersed in the joy of his rapidly soaring cultivation,

he did not know.

the outside world had already, because of him, plunged into a complete boil!

Just then, the hundred thousand youths in the square were still awkwardly reading the inscription on the Enlightenment Stele word by word.

Suddenly!

A gale rose!

In an instant, everyone in the square turned toward Li Mu at once!

It didn't matter if they didn't look!

But once they looked!

Above Li Mu's head, a vortex had formed, though no one knew when!

Whirl—…

As the vortex's diameter grew, the spiritual energy that had once sufficed for a hundred thousand people to partake in cultivation was now being monopolized by Li Mu alone!

Such a tide of spiritual energy, rolling like sea waves, had never before been heard of or seen.

Ziyuan Zhenren, shrouded in mist, was first startled.

She quickly recovered, her apricot eyes widening, and a rare hint of astonishment flashed on her cold celestial visage.

She murmured to herself: "Undoubtedly!"

"Absorb the Qi into the body!"

"This is precisely the symbol of cultivating this introductory core method to the entry stage!"

"But …"

"The speed and efficiency of this spiritual energy absorption are perhaps too inconceivable, aren't they?"

"This is only the first cultivation, yet one person can monopolize the spiritual energy of a hundred thousand people present!"

"Is this truly the pinnacle that our sect's introductory core method can achieve?"

"Or perhaps!"

"This hemp‑clothed youth is the once‑in‑ten‑millennia prodigy spoken of in legend!"

"He possesses the supreme wisdom root that can turn decay into marvel!"

Once this thought sprouted in Ziyuan Zhenren's mind, it took root and could not be shaken away!

Indeed!

In this world, the gap between people is as vast as a heavenly chasm!

It's like giving you a small knife; an ordinary person might only use it to slice an apple, but in the hands of a swordsman it becomes a weapon that can kill from a hundred paces!

Similarly, internal cultivation methods are the same!

Just like the hundred thousand disciples in the square, let alone attaining comprehension, even their reading is halting and stumbling.

In contrast, this hemp‑clothed youth not only instantly grasps the subtleties of this internal method.

Moreover, he can extrapolate from this foundation, turning decay into marvel!

In the end, he can achieve such exaggerated results!

As for whether this hemp‑clothed youth used some shortcut or cheated to achieve all this!

Laughing to death!

Ziyuan Zhenren pressed her heart and asked herself, even if she performed it herself, she could not achieve Li Mu's effect.

Therefore, there is absolutely no possibility of shortcut cheating!

In an instant.

As the golden inscription on the stone tablet lit up instantly, the dazzling golden light poured in all directions like a scorching sun!

Except for Ziyuan Zhenren, no one present could open their eyes!

Even those who do not believe in the occult tried to open their eyes to see.

But as soon as they opened a sliver, the dazzling golden light pierced their eyes, reddening their sockets, tears pouring like rain.

After a long while, the dazzling golden light finally faded slowly.

Only then did the crowd tentatively and carefully open their eyes.

They discovered that at the very top of the Enlightenment Stele, a brand‑new line of text had appeared at some unknown time.

【In the 3,800th year of the Qian Yuan era, Li Mu instantly attained enlightenment, succeeding in an instant!】