Chapter 33: Origin Arts

Of course, this was merely a playful thought in his mind; he would never let fear of others keep him from using the Heavenly Scripture or resign himself to mediocrity.

“From now on, I should try to go out less and avoid giving the Supreme Sage sect a chance to make a move.”

Naturally, the Supreme Sage sect was unlikely to target him directly. He now had the radiant Sun God Island backing him. As long as the sect didn’t lose their sanity, they probably wouldn’t attack him.

Judging by the Supreme Sage sect’s conduct in the original story, they remained very low-key before their identities were revealed. Their main targets were wild-born talents like Ye Fan and those who exhumed corpses.

They never extended their reach to those supported by powerful forces, such as innate Dao embryos, the Jiang family’s divine bodies, the two siblings of the Ji family, or the Central Plains King’s body.

In fact, the Supreme Sage sect was even more cautious than Li Yao, always fearing their identities might be exposed. Although the Radiant Saint Son of Shaking Light clearly possessed unrivaled talent among the younger generation in the Eastern Wilderness, in the early stages he remained on par with Ji Haoyue.

“As long as I don’t confront the Supreme Sage sect head-on, I should be fine. But I must grow stronger quickly. Only by becoming powerful can I truly be free from their threat.”

No backing force could compare to the mighty power that resided within oneself. Only by growing strong could one be truly invincible.

...

“Senior Brother Zhang, now I really envy Sun God Island,” Yun Shang said with a hint of admiration.

If Li Yao’s future had once been uncertain, after this battle, any sharp observer could see that he was undoubtedly a peerless prodigy.

With such a youth, as long as he was properly nurtured and did not perish prematurely, Sun God Island would see two thousand years of prosperity ahead.

“Haha, Luoxia Mountain has the talented junior Qi Shi, so Brother Yun need not worry,” Zhang Chong said with a hearty laugh.

His mood was exceptionally good. Sun God Island had been dormant for too long. Previously, Elder Xun had held things together, but the island had fallen into an awkward state of having no successors.

With Elder Xun still alive, Sun God Island could stand firm among the twelve factions, but the old man was over two thousand years old. Even for a great being, that age left little time remaining.

Once Elder Xun passed, the island’s decline was inevitable—a concern that weighed heavily on the elders.

Under such circumstances, Li Yao’s arrival was nothing short of a ray of dawn for Sun God Island.

“It seems we must intensify Li Yao’s training. This must be reported back to Sun God Island quickly,” Zhang Chong thought to himself.

Now that Li Yao had further proven his talent, the island’s investment in him had to increase; they could no longer afford to be conservative.

...

After returning to his room, Li Yao resumed his cultivation. Even though he had broken through the Divine Bridge and gained some means of self-defense, he showed no signs of slackening.

The Divine Bridge scripture had long been deciphered, allowing him to cultivate directly from it without having to wait for subsequent verses to be unveiled as before.

Li Yao was immensely grateful for having taken the risk earlier. Had he remained in the Sacred Land, his safety would have been assured, but he would have had to wait at least half a year before being able to decipher the Divine Bridge scripture.

“You can’t always play it safe in cultivation,” he mused.

With this in mind, Li Yao took out a source stone the size of a human head and began circulating the Shaking Light Imperial Scripture.

Massive spiritual energy flowed into his body, stirring the Sea of Suffering, gradually expanding its area. The divine springs gushed forth in increasing volume.

The divine meridians also slowly extended, aiming to cross the Sea of Suffering and reach the other shore.

His cultivation advanced rapidly, at a speed unimaginable to others.

“New divine patterns have formed,” Li Yao noticed. Above the Sea of Suffering, fifteen brilliant divine patterns had condensed, floating around the Divine Furnace.

The secret realm of the Wheel Sea had four great stages. Each stage birthed divine patterns, and many cultivators forged artifacts at each stage to increase their strength.

Yet Li Yao pursued the path of “One Artifact to Overcome Ten Thousand Laws.” Naturally, these new divine patterns were for further refining the Divine Furnace.

Several hours later, Li Yao ended his cultivation, but instead of resting, he turned to artifact forging. He merged the fifteen divine patterns into the Divine Furnace, then inscribed imperial runes to deepen its foundation.

...

Day after day, Li Yao persisted in cultivation and artifact forging. In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

In these two weeks, his cultivation grew steadily. The black Sea of Suffering had expanded to the size of his palm. The divine springs had grown more abundant, and the divine meridians suspended in the air had lengthened by nearly one-fifth.

One day, Li Yao emerged from seclusion and stepped out of the cultivation chamber. The long hours of intense effort had left him somewhat tired, so he decided to pause and relax for two days.

Although the Shaking Light Workshop in the Holy City was but a branch of the Shaking Light Sacred Land, it was arguably the most prestigious among all branches. This was because it was located in the Northern Domain, the heart of the Eastern Wilderness, where all powers had invested great efforts.

This time, Li Yao planned to seek a source technique for cultivation. Fortunately, he carried ample resources and could use the Heavenly Scripture to decipher it.

...

In the Beidou Star Domain, source technique practitioners were highly sought after. A good source technique could grant cultivators access to abundant resources.

The Shaking Light Sacred Land naturally collected some source techniques, but they were mediocre at best—far inferior to the Heavenly Scripture, and even further behind those held by source technique clans.

At such a level, no matter how deeply one cultivated, these source techniques were a mere fraction of the power of the Heavenly Scripture.

Because of this, the threshold to learning these scriptures was relatively low. At Li Yao’s rank, borrowing them was effortless.

For two consecutive days, Li Yao read through all the source techniques collected within the Shaking Light Workshop.

“All these source techniques are shallow—tasteless to consume yet too precious to discard,” he muttered.

But it mattered little. With his unparalleled insight across past and present, it would be easy to use these rudimentary source techniques as a foundation to create a powerful new one.

“Heavenly Scripture, add some!” he commanded.

With ten thousand jin of source energy poured in, a burst of enlightenment illuminated his mind. Soon, a brand-new source technique was deciphered.

A scripture emerged in Li Yao’s mind. Infused with the ten thousand jin of source energy, an originally ordinary source technique had become profoundly mysterious.

Li Yao had no high-level source technique to compare it against, so he was uncertain of its true value.

But true knowledge comes from practice; if comparison was impossible, he would simply put it into use and verify its merit.

In the following days, Li Yao devoted himself to tranquil cultivation and daily contemplation of the source technique.

For a whole month, he was utterly absorbed, his spirit immersed in a wondrous state. Aside from cultivation and artifact forging, all his time was spent researching the source technique.

Because the scripture was derived from the Heavenly Scripture, Li Yao grasped its meaning with ease.

“I have comprehended the essence of this source technique. It’s time to test it in practice,” he declared.

Stepping out into the sunlight, Li Yao felt its gentleness, filled with hope.

Thanks to the Heavenly Scripture, his need for resources had reached an unimaginable scale. Now that he had embarked on the right path with source techniques, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.