Chapter 306: Dual Cultivation of Nature and Life, the Secret of the Ability Panel

"Nature" represents combat power, represents physical strength, and also represents destructive power (the destructive power of technological creations); it is power belonging to material reality, and the term "nature-force" is often used.

And Baichuan had previously reached the limit on this path of "nature," becoming a Planet Overlord, which is to say, an existence at the Earth Immortal level—an invincible existence standing upon the earth!

From the way he played with various flesh-and-blood bodies to create wonders, one knows that this is not something ordinary people could imagine.

He had long since delved into the realm of flesh and blood to its peak within this field of "nature."

Yet a path, no matter how strong, is not lasting; no matter how strong the nature-force is, there is eventually a moment of decline, just as technological creations are ultimately external objects and also have times when they age and lose their energy source.

Therefore, only by concurrently cultivating "life" is there a chance to achieve the status of a true Planet True Immortal.

"Life" represents the essence of life, one's own foundation; it is power belonging to the realm of myriad energies, the soul, and the Spirit.

Although increasing "life" cannot bring about the direct and pure destructive power of "nature," and in the beginning, one is often beaten black and blue by the former, once it rises, its methods are so strange and varied that the former cannot compare; as long as there is preparation, one can often lead the former around in circles.

Increasing life is increasing the level of life; when the level of life is raised to a certain limit, the Heavenly Divine Ability belonging to this life level will naturally be born; this is a miraculous ability that can be inherited by descendants.

Nature inherits aptitude, life inherits Heavenly Divine Ability.

But cultivating only life will not work either, just as having cultivation without the foundation to protect the Dao often cannot be lasting.

And wanting to achieve the true Great Dao and realize eternity, a powerhouse at the True Immortal level is not something that can be reached by life alone.

Only by dual-cultivating nature and life, advancing side by side until reaching perfection—perfect nature containing perfect life—can the combination and transformation of the two truly have a chance to touch the planet-level realm.

After all, nature-force is too strong; without a corresponding life, how can one drive this massive power?

Conversely, if life-force is too strong, without a nature that can contain it, it will not be lasting; there will eventually come a time when the physical shell is burst, causing life-force to continuously leak and dissipate, or it will from time to time attract all sorts of unspeakable attacks.

After all, that ancient book recorded some vague Spirits and lives existing in another realm?

These are most fond of life-force that leaks out an alluring fragrance without the protection of a strong physical shell.

A true planet-level powerhouse is not merely the difference between the God Realm and the Mortal Realm of the world Baichuan is currently in.

The former, no matter how strong an Earth Immortal is, is merely a supreme powerhouse standing upon the earth, while the latter transcends the earth itself; the earth is merely a part of the other party.

The comparison between the two is like an ant to the vast sun; they are completely not on the same level.

That is to say, under normal circumstances, even if Baichuan possesses a powerful Ability Panel, it is not so easy to reach that realm.

After all, with a planet-like existence standing before him, can he still break the other party's defense?

If he cannot break the defense, cannot make the other party lose their ability to resist or kill them, how can he seize the other party's ability model?

Unless he stepped in dog shit and encountered one that was on the verge of death... no, perhaps if the other party were on the verge of death with no ability to resist, they could probably still kill him with a single finger or a single breath.

Perhaps only when they are truly dead, and only after all miracles have been removed, appearing before him, would he possibly be able to seize the other party's ability model.

Otherwise, even if the other party had just died, not to mention the aura erupting from them, a single drop of blood could crush the void while simultaneously crushing him to death; besides, after such existences die, they themselves will give birth to strange, unspeakable creatures due to resentment and unwillingness.

This is a true Planet True Immortal level powerhouse; they themselves are a world!

Now, he, Baichuan, has finally touched this threshold!

And next, there is even the possibility of obtaining in advance an assistant that possesses planet-level combat power!

After quietly feeling the sensations of this moment for a while, Baichuan also withdrew the aura he had been radiating, so as not to force all the living beings on the entire planet to keep kneeling.

This is the passive nature of a high-level life-form; merely by letting go of his own existence, he can impose suppression on all things from the level of the Spirit and soul.

Living beings with a life level lower than his need to muster twelve points of spirit just to resist when facing him, and the moment they feel his aura, it is as if they have undergone a judgment of their will.

Once they fail the judgment, they will lose all ability to resist before him; even those with firm wills will have their combat power weakened by several points.

Accompanying the withdrawal of his aura, the next moment Baichuan transformed into a blur and vanished from where he stood.

Now the entire planet is his domain; as long as he wishes, he can appear anywhere on this planet in a single thought.

This is not the time for him to sort out the various miraculous powers born after his breakthrough; previously, in order to break through, he shattered the last half of the Canglan Fruit, causing all the God Realm beings on the entire world to be affected and fall from the God Realm.

Some True Monarch gods who broke through in recent years are fine, as their lifespans can withstand the backlash, but those from long ago are going to suffer from exhausted lifespans and die suddenly!

Although he had mentioned it to them in advance, he imagines their situation should not be much better.

He should go and clean up the mess.

……

At the peak of a snow-capped mountain range, a vast palace complex spanning dozens of miles was built here.

The palaces were of extreme luxury, all constructed from the most precious and rare materials in the world.

And at this moment, at the very center of the entire palace complex, on that vast plaza, a dark, surging tide of "people" was moving.

Looking closely, they were all terrifying existences radiating powerful auras; any one of them appearing in the mundane world would cause a huge shock.

Among those terrifying existences were human shapes, as well as various beast shapes of different appearances, but standing at the very front were several majestic and gorgeous dragons!

Their expressions varied, but their postures were uniformly respectful; although they looked left and right from time to time, they were silent, as if waiting for some even greater existence to descend.

The next instant, their expressions changed, revealing joy and excitement—

Because, before them, a thousand-meter-long Flame-Treading Dragon appeared before them!

He had a lithe figure, his long body covered in a layer of scales radiating a miraculous metallic luster; accompanying his appearance, as he swam through the void, layers of smooth muscles full of rhythmic beauty rose and fell, giving one a sense of intoxicating shock, as if the other party were the embodiment of the "Dao"!

Large amounts of white clouds and mist continuously permeated from this severe snow-capped peak; even the cold wind, sharp as bone-piercing steel blades, could not blow them away in the slightest; the layered clouds and mist wrapped around this place, as if it had transformed into a blessed land of immortals!

Yet all these strange phenomena were merely caused spontaneously by the undying fire swaying on the other party's four claws; that raging, undying fire seemed to burn all things and ignite the gaze; he landed lightly and slowly coiled into a shape like the symbol of infinity.

Circles of rhythm that only existed in the spiritual realm continuously spread out from his body.

Everyone, every living being, was lost in a trance, their eyes gazing at this dragon with blurred fanaticism, because they seemed to see the entire world in this Flame Dragon! That principle of the Great Dao that had once been flickering in and out of sight!

This is a normal phenomenon, because since Baichuan completely inscribed the heavenly rhythm of all the operational changes of this planet, he himself has almost become the embodiment of this planet, this world!

As long as he is in this world, all surface power on the entire world will be used by him, and the living beings who cultivate this power system will treat him as the supreme truth, the Great Dao.

At this moment, in the eyes of ordinary mortals, he is "Heaven"!

"Cough..."

Seeing this, watching the crowd in a trance, Baichuan coughed lightly, which seemed to transform into thunder shaking the sky, waking everyone up.

Afterward, he did not say much more; he extended his Dragon Claw, and dots of brilliant Light Point flew up, gradually gathering to form a vague statue; the statue was faceless and formless, like a lump of blank clay, yet it gave people the mistaken feeling that "this is a statue."

The statue began to generate from the bottom, gradually becoming three-dimensional on the Dragon Claw, and as the statue gradually became three-dimensional, a scorching aura full of obscure mystery emerged, then merged into this statue and combined with it.

This profound, scorching aura is the complete rhythm of how fire operates within this world!

It includes not only ordinary fire, but also the extraordinary fires of numerous extraordinary beings—beast fire, soul fire, Spirit fire... these are merely a small fraction of it.

As this complete, profound rhythm merged into the statue, another light filled with a warm aura appeared and immediately followed suit, merging into it as well.

This represents the complete rhythm of all light in this world, including sunlight.

Following the rhythm of light, wisps of electric sparks began to emerge, and a cluster of thunderclouds appeared from Baichuan's claw...

Amidst the sounds of "Crack!", layers upon layers of snow-white chill also appeared...

Wisps of black energy seeped out, and viscous, dark shadows writhed forth...

In an instant, as various rhythms containing complete auras continuously emerged and merged into the statue.

The statue became increasingly lifelike and complete; even without a specific face, it gave the observer an aura of "this is a living thing"!

After a few breaths, the light dissipated, and an intangible, formless statue emerged.

However, one last step remained!

Baichuan stared at the statue, which existed between flesh and energy, neither a living thing nor a dead object, and his gaze began to focus.

The next moment, a black line invisible to ordinary people flashed quietly from his eyes, which were gathered from flames, and in an instant, a familiar panel appeared before him!

Of course, what appeared before him was merely his own personal panel; although this statue could be successfully scanned by him, it did not possess its own ability model, merely establishing a special connection, but Baichuan did not need this creation of his to possess its own Ability Panel.

Even though the Ability Panel was already open at this moment, he did not cast his consciousness into it, but instead directly selected the most special ability model from the many models within the panel—

A model of a Flame Dragon, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, with four claws treading on flames!

This was his ability model!

And now, what he had to do was choose to give this ability model, which belonged to him, to this creation—

This did not mean he was preparing to create another "him"—that was impossible—nor was he preparing to evolve the many abilities on his own body onto this creation; while that was not impossible, the cost required was far too great, and it would be of no benefit to him whatsoever.

From the moment he first saw the ability model representing himself appear in that gray, misty space, Baichuan had always been somewhat curious and puzzled: could his ability model merely be a display piece placed in that gray, misty space?

Did it have no other function besides selecting ability slots during evolution?

No, as the true master of this Ability Panel, he had been the most special one from the very beginning.

During that time of inscribing rhythms, after he had inscribed more than half of the rhythms and broken through to become a Heavenly Venerable, a strange feeling had appeared, flickering in and out; he seemed to be able to perceive that model belonging to himself, and it seemed that with just a little more effort, he could truly touch "him."

At first, he did not understand what that represented, but now that he had truly broken through to the Earthly Immortal Realm in "Life," the abundant "Life" force allowed him to truly break through that Membrane and touch that ability model belonging to himself within the panel—

In that instant, he understood what that ability model represented!

It was his consciousness, the consciousness that most essentially represented him as a person!

It was precisely because of the existence of "him" that, back when he was a snake, he could complete incredibly complex thinking despite lacking abilities like an intelligent brain, relying solely on a snake's cerebellum.

It was also precisely because of "him" that his own body did not change into the appearance of others due to evolving various abilities—even all the abilities of a model of some rare creature—because the deep subconscious part of his consciousness resisted him becoming like a twisted monster, becoming chaotic.

Because of "him," he, Baichuan, could evolve and change according to his own will.

As for why some ability evolutions led to changes in his own body, such as the appearance of Dragon Claws, sharp teeth, or a dragon head, this brings us to Baichuan's own will; even when he did not explicitly express it at times, or even when he himself was not conscious of it, his subconscious had actually already weighed various factors.

Only abilities that were beneficial to him and could make him move closer to the creature known as a dragon would truly appear on his body and on his consciousness—that is, that model.

Any change that affected his original dream—to become a dragon—had long since been discarded invisibly, and those that could not be discarded would present as having poor compatibility and thus could not be evolved.

Do you not see? After he truly possessed a dragon form later on, why did the appearance no longer change randomly as it did in the beginning when he evolved various abilities?

It was precisely because his consciousness was refusing!

He refused bad changes!

And would there be any incompatibility appearing later?

No, because he was no longer the ordinary little snake of the past that lacked divinity; at that time, he could not resist the influence brought by those abilities, but later, his own flesh and blood already contained various powers, and in addition, the evolution and improvement belonging to Life had also begun.

Therefore, that bit of incompatibility had long since been erased by his powerful fleshly strength.

This Ability Panel was, after all, an ability belonging to himself, not some kind of system; it manifested in the form of a panel simply because the form most familiar to his subconscious was a panel, and a panel allowed him to better understand and utilize it.

But everything was centered on him; even if the essence of this ability was currently extremely lofty, and he could not even fully grasp or utilize it, it could not change one point—he, Baichuan, was the master!

When he was weak in the past, he did not understand, but now, with the breakthrough in Life force and the elevation of his life level, he could truly touch a small part of the secrets behind the Ability Panel.

And after his breakthrough, once he could influence the essence of his own consciousness, there was not much he could do at present; he could only draw his ability model out to the outside world in the form of a panel evolution, with its appearance manifested as a phantom of divine charm.

As for the purpose...

(End of chapter)