Chapter 529: Present Self (33 Today 1w)

After letting his mind wander for a while, Ren Yidao calmed down and pushed the messy business of "I have a pact with the ancient times" to the back of his mind.

Those matters could wait to be verified later; right now, he needed to be calm.

Although the dream of returning to the ancient times was sudden, it would not disrupt his original plans.

Ren Yidao had not forgotten what he was doing before; he had deduced the original Avatar Technique!

"Ten Thousand Demon Incarnation Art, the uncultivated infantry version! Although it has no extra ingredients, it's enough as long as it isn't abridged!"

After feeling smug for a while, Ren Yidao settled his heart and began to circulate it.

There was not the slightest obstruction, not a single point of confusion; everything was as natural as water flowing into a channel, easily mastered... and then, he hit a bottleneck.

Ren Yidao was not surprised by this, because it was not that his deduction was wrong, but a problem with the cultivation method itself.

"Is it time to sever the body again?" Ren Yidao opened his eyes, his gaze devoid of ripples, his heart calm and empty.

When he was previously practicing the Ten Thousand Paths Fusion Thought Art, Ren Yidao had encountered the same problem.

The final step: sever the True Self!

"The Fusion Thought Art represents the Past Method, and the Avatar Technique is the Present Method, so does that mean it will sever the Present Self?"

Last time, what he separated was his Past Life Self, stripping the version of himself that was human out of his body.

"Since it is the Present Self, then what is stripped out... will be the version of me that is a demon?"

Hesitation, naturally, did not exist.

However, how to perform the self-severing still required a bit of ceremony.

Last time, he relied on the Mei Wood Sword provided by Mei to finally succeed in severing himself.

But this time, there was no need to make it so troublesome.

At the bottom of the valley in the Wan Jian Xia of the Sword Casting Hut, he had already transformed!

Ren Yidao was already different from his past self.

He was the evolved Huhu!

He had engaged in deep exchanges with the contemporary Sword Spirit Body; the two had discussed the Dao all night and sparred, and now he knew the Dao of the Sword Spirit Body like the back of his hand!

Even every pattern on the Dao of the Sword was clear in his heart!

No one understood the Dao of the Sword better than him.

"Let me think... hmm... let's do it this way."

At this moment, although his own Sword Intent alone was enough, he still safely picked up the Sanlu Sword, which had a thirty-year trial period.

Sanlu Sword:???

What is the situation?

Why does he suddenly want to use me to commit suicide?

I don't want that kind of thing!

The Sanlu Sword was uncooperative at first; it was very resistant to hacking its current sword master, but soon, upon sensing that Ren Yidao was not seeking death, it calmed down... and was even a little excited.

Actively backlashing against the sword master was bad, but if the sword master requested it himself, it would not refuse!

In the quiet room, Ren Yidao had his Fox Tail Clone draw the Sanlu Sword and swing it directly at his main body, which was sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion!

The collision between the blade and flesh did not shatter the flesh, but instead emitted a crisp, explosive sound.

Clang!

"Ying—"

Accompanied by a fox cry resembling the wail of an infant, a white fox was stripped from Ren Yidao's main body, leaped in mid-air, and landed lightly on the ground.

Ren Yidao slowly opened his eyes and locked gazes with the Six-Tailed White Fox looking up from the ground.

The next moment, both human and fox smiled.

"Haha! I, Dao-ye, have succeeded!"

"Ying—"

Lifting his hand to pick up the Present Self white fox from the ground, Ren Yidao stroked the white fox's fur while humming smugly: "What is it, this wasn't very hard either!"

"Easy-peasy~ handled!"

After weighing "himself" for a while, Ren Yidao gradually figured out the benefits of the Present Self.

Ignoring some flashy usages and keeping only the most critical information, it was left with only one point, but this one point alone already surpassed countless cultivation methods.

In a word, the Present Self was another version of himself.

Ren Yidao had had many clones before, but those clones were merely clones and could not cultivate... but the Present Self could.

The Present Self could cultivate alongside the main body!

Although Jing Yaoyue had taken a slight detour in her cultivation and had some small accidents along the way, her line of thinking was actually correct.

The Present Self was meant to sever a completely different self and let it walk another path.

When the Present Self merged with the main body, the accumulation it had cultivated would all melt into the main body.

Two-pronged approach!

Double the cultivation speed meant double the happiness!

Ren Yidao's cultivation speed was already very fast, and now it could be doubled again.

"Not to joke, I am super fierce, it's like I'm cheating!"

Ding, double experience!

But a small cheat doesn't count as cheating; anyway, there's no anti-cheat, and I didn't change the skin, so it's not a big problem.

While thinking this, Ren Yidao summoned his Past Life Self and handed the Present Self into its hands.

"Hmm... can this be developed further? These two cultivation methods come from the same source; there's no reason there isn't a synergy."

Two people and one fox, three Ren Yidaos looked at each other, all slightly furrowing their brows.

"If I fuse the two, let's see if I can summon a new me?"

"Ying!"

Ren Yidao tried it, then decisively shook his head.

The present-day fox could not be shoved into the past-life youth; the two would not merge.

The fusion summon failed!

"But I keep feeling like there might be some issues, or perhaps I should merge both of these lives into my body."

"Ying!"

Ren Yidao pondered for a moment, then retracted both into his body.

Everything was normal when the past-life body merged, but when the present-day body also fused in, a change occurred!

"Hm? Hm!!!"

The next instant, Ren Yidao felt a terrifying power erupt within his body; human and demon, past and present, different forces began to collide using his body as a battlefield.

Merging!

Crack!

Accompanied by an explosive sound, one of Ren Yidao's ribs shattered.

"What the hell!?"

And this was merely the beginning.

The formidable physical body that Ren Yidao had tempered again at the bottom of Wan Jian Xia appeared incomparably fragile at this moment, shattering as if collapsing, his entire body emitting crisp sounds like firecrackers.

But this shattering did not signify destruction; it was for the sake of rebirth.

Every bone was shattering, then rapidly fusing, becoming even harder than before.

His flesh and blood were the same, constantly being torn apart and growing, then torn apart and growing again.

Ren Yidao's body began to swell, bursting through his Daoist robe, his head nearly touching the ceiling of the Cave Abode, forcing him to hunch over and shrink inside.

And as his physical mutation appeared, his physical strength also surged wildly; the bottleneck of the Formless realm, that layer of window paper, was also being torn away bit by bit at this moment.

Accompanied by a roar in his ears, he rapidly crossed the Great Perfection of Void Refinement, charging into the Formless realm with a savage and violent posture!

Physical body, Formless!

"Ah!!!"

Ren Yidao hissed in a low voice within the Cave Abode, his voice revealing three layers.

The brightness of a youth, the maturity of a young man, plus the infant cry of the Fox Demon; mixed together, it sounded exceptionally eerie.

Outside the Cave Abode.

Jing Yueqin, guarding outside the door, vaguely heard the sound and looked inside with some worry; she wanted to go in to help, but remembering her master's instructions, she finally gritted her teeth and stayed where she was, even taking action to seal his leaking aura more tightly.

"Little junior brother, you have really become this powerful when I wasn't paying attention."

Although that aura had only leaked for an instant, the terrifying feeling made even Jing Yueqin feel somewhat uneasy; she had almost instinctively reacted, treating him as an enemy capable of posing a threat to her.

Jing Yueqin was somewhat dazed, recalling the scene when she first met Ren Yidao.

A little fox lying lazily on top of a Divine Statue, leisurely absorbing the Incense of mortals.

At that time, he was still so weak that a single breath from her could have scared him to death.

But now, in just seventy years, he had already grown to the point where he could fight her.

He had grown up.

Sighing, Jing Yueqin smiled and shook her head gently.

No, he had actually grown up long ago.

He had long since supported this home, comforted her emotions, and even gone out to find their master for her... and he had actually found her!

The things she could not do, he had already done.

The one who hadn't grown up was actually herself...

"But, not growing up is fine too! Anyway, I have my junior brother, and now I've found our master back!"

Jing Yueqin blinked, suddenly feeling that she didn't need to worry about anything anymore.

Good.

She could just lie flat!

And at the very moment she finally saw through the vanity of the world, the Demon energy remaining on her also dissipated rapidly.

However, the Demon energy she had expelled from her body did not all disappear; instead, it remained around her, with faint signs of gathering again.

It was just that Jing Yueqin, currently immersed in a lazy state, did not notice.

And just as Ren Yidao displayed the unification of his two lives, deep within the Divine Path Sect, the enshrined Divine Dao Bell moved slightly.

It seemed to want to tremble!

To celebrate the feat created by someone!

However, before the Supreme Treasure Divine Dao Bell could ring, it was gently pressed down by a hand.

"Shh, he is at a critical moment, don't disturb him yet."

Yaoyue gestured with her hand in front of her mouth, smiling and negotiating with the Divine Dao Bell.

At her request, the Divine Dao Bell actually calmed down, but it did not fall into a deathly slumber as before; instead, it floated up and circled around Yaoyue.

"Long time no see, have you missed me?"

Yaoyue chuckled, opened her arms, and hugged the Divine Dao Bell, whispering, "Thank you, I know you have been looking after my disciples all these years."

Back then, when Yaoyue was in danger, the Divine Dao Bell had voluntarily flown into Feiyun Ravine; although it did not succeed in saving her, it gave her great help and relieved much of her pressure.

Later, it was even used by Jing Yueqin several times, helping her escape from several near-death situations.

Even when Li Lingling's Blood Star Fate erupted later on, it was the Divine Dao Bell that took the initiative to cooperate, forcibly suppressing it and buying Ren Yidao enough time.

The Divine Dao Bell hummed slightly, its body swaying gently with Yaoyue, as if it were speaking to her.

Yaoyue tilted her head to listen; although she could not understand it precisely, she could generally grasp the meaning of the Divine Dao Bell.

"Hehe, you are right."

Yaoyue nodded, her smile becoming even more radiant, "It is indeed also because the disciples are capable; even without me, they can live on strongly."

"Especially him, I truly did not expect that in just one day's time, he actually completed the Avatar Technique and even successfully cultivated it directly... hiss."

When Yaoyue and Jing Yueqin returned to Luoyue Peak, the discovery at that time almost scared her to death.

Less than a day... completed it? And successfully cultivated it?

Huh?

If it weren't for the fact that Ren Yidao is both a disciple and could be considered her benefactor, Yaoyue would really want to cut him open to study him and see exactly how his brain is grown.

"However, hmm, this is also normal, after all, he is my disciple!"

Yaoyue did not know how she convinced herself, nodded proudly, and boasted to the Divine Dao Bell, "It is all because of my excellent guidance... hmm? Why are you not reacting?"

"Hey!"

Divine Dao Bell: "..."

The mood of the Divine Path Sect's Supreme Treasure remained melancholy today.

And just as Ren Yidao was in seclusion digesting his rapidly increased strength, the outside world had still not calmed down; on the contrary, it was becoming increasingly shaken.

Five days ago, outside the Four Great Heavenly Gates, a massive ranking list appeared out of thin air at each, containing the top one hundred explorers who had broken into Zhongzhou from each Heavenly Gate.

That ranking list was not fixed; it would constantly change as the explorers delved deeper.

And on the Heaven Ranking outside the Eastern Heavenly Gate...

First place, Chu Hairen.

Second place, Mangu.

Third place, Manji.

Ninety-ninth place, Zhang Mang.

One-hundredth place, Hu Yiyi.