Yet even Shuro had to admit, though elixirs took a roundabout route, it gave everyone at least a theoretical chance at true qi congelation. Of course, the purity, vitality, and potential of true qi congealed through elixirs was far inferior to that from Foundation Establishment. It could rarely make further progress.

As for Shuro himself, due to the presence of innate true fire and innate true water, he had discarded elixirism's path and was not taking the common immortal sect route either.

All the way down Eighteenth Alley to the sixth manor, the Luo family's secondary residence, Shuro suddenly halted and straightened up. His water illusion dispersed into a trickling stream as thin as a finger, crawling up the wall like ivy to circle halfway around the compound before climbing over the rear courtyard.

Lewis sat under a bare tree, hugging the Illusion Arts Compendium, brows knitted in frustration as he mumbled something - it was unclear whether he was reading with great difficulty or savoring it attentively. His dark eye circles showed he too had been up all night, wholly absorbed in the Seven Illusion Arts.

Without alerting Lewis, Shuro headed straight for the secret chamber.

"The human body holds great medicine, which can achieve the grand Way," he wrote with the chopsticks on the ground.

His writing wasn't particularly good-looking, just ordinary daily script in a classical Tera style. But once he finished those ten characters, they appeared chiseled like silver hooks from any angle, archaic yet vigorous, lacking only the vigorous curves and flourishing style that would make them remarkable, yet full of a profound and distant classical charm, even somewhat resembling the ancient seal script on the plaque at the Southern Wastes River Lord's estate.

An indescribable emotion swelled in Shuro's heart. These ten words had changed his fate. Ten days seemed to have passed by in the span of a long time yet also in the blink of an eye. After ten days, his heart was no longer confined to the palm-sized Luo family manor, but had flown beyond Caelius Capital, beyond Tera Dynasty, toward that poetic, fantastic realm of cultivation depicted in legend.

Just as the Seven Illusion Arts had opened a door for Lewis into the abstruse world of elixirism martial arts, the Nine Deaths and One Life Art was guiding Shuro onto an equally extraordinary path toward higher realms.

As Shuro constantly absorbed Jiu Chen's cultivation insights and knowledge, he increasingly grasped the profundity of the Nine Deaths and One Life Art.

The Heavenly Star Continent that Jiu Chen came from had formed from the debris of stars falling when the heavens first collapsed. Thus the nine heavenly realms were divided into two historical periods - before and after the Great Demise when the Heavenly Stars perished and the Continent hadn't yet formed, and after the Great Demise when the Continent was established. Each spanned tens of thousands of years, with completely different order and propriety, natural environments, and prevalent cultivation civilizations.

The differing cultivation civilizations inevitably led to one unavoidable issue. Whether pills, seals, tools, formations, or anything else - as long as imprinted with arcane symbols now, they could be restored or used. The only exception was cultivation arts. After testing by countless generations of exceptional talents, it was proven that pre-Demise arts were completely unusable in the current age.

In the Heavenly Star Continent, pre-Demise arts were classified as antique arts. These were passed down in ancient clans or unearthed from ancient sites, but shared one trait - contemporaries were unable to cultivate them. Yet they held considerable collectible value, mostly as priceless treasures, firstly for their research worth, and secondly for corroborating side accounts to locate pre-Demise relics.

The Nine Deaths and One Life Art seemed to break this rule. Likely from before the Great Demise, it had nevertheless broken free of historical shackles and transcended time itself to guide Shuro onto the path of cultivation.

Shuro didn't know what grade the Nine Deaths to Reborn Technique was among Foundation Establishment arts, but from its latent explosive power and potential he could sense its past magnificence. Especially its nine stages of Foundation Establishment, each transformation over life and death thresholds akin to breaking cocoons and being reborn in fire as phoenixes, evolving life in each stage - this filled Shuro with anticipation.

Compared to the trials of life and death within the Nine Deaths to Reborn Technique, Young Master John's impending tribulation seemed insignificant now.

Filled with these emotions, Shuro sat cross-legged and grasped the unmoving root mudra. Soon he entered an abstruse embryonic respiration state.

The innate true fire and innate true water congregated into a mass like a snake biting its tail, circulating and revolving above the dantian.

As if summoned, vital energy and essence hiding in every corner of Shuro's body poked out their heads, converging toward the fiery water maelstrom like birds paying court to a phoenix, or swords returning to their lord.

The fiery water maelstrom spun faster and faster, mobilizing the potential within Shuro's body.

Previously, regardless of battles or cultivation, whenever Shuro roused the maelstrom he could gather tremendous power. But never before like now, when each strand of energy summoned gave rise to marvelous sounds from within him, echoing repeatedly, vaguely narrating something.

Anyone else experiencing this would be scared out of their wits and halt cultivation, bewildered and doubtful.

Yet Shuro remained unperturbed, even increasingly anticipative.

As the fiery water maelstrom gathered more and more energy, the fantastic sounds overlapped, like the yellow bell and great tone, seemingly from the distant past before the Great Demise, vast and full of boundless profundities.

In antiquity when there was no writing, only speech and language existed, among the most primordial powers grasped by mankind.

Shuro pondered deeply, comprehending.

Abruptly, all sounds vanished and the world turned starkly barren and gloomy. Yet in the very barrenness and gloom, an exuberant vitality seemed to be silently brewing within Shuro's body.

Shuro didn't know what others felt when congealing true qi, only that he had never been so expectant in his fifteen years as today.

The fiery water maelstrom stilled its spinning, blood no longer flowed, vitality and essence settled down.

In an instant after, the innate true fire and innate true water flared brilliantly. Though not spinning, they congregated into a very marvelous gesture, one above, one below, one bearing, one embracing.

Buzz!

The yellow bell's clarion cry rang out once more, this time extraordinarily clear, unlike from a distant age but right beside his ear.

As the sound rose, an energy that made Shuro's blood boil yet was also peaceful and tranquil - in short, extremely contradictory - was born between the fire and water.

It was a qi so pure it was without scent, aura, or color, almost imperceptible unless experienced closely. Born within the fiery water vortex, like a newborn infant both curious and afraid toward the novel world, it lingered and hovered above the maelstrom instead of immediately leaving.

"Is this my true qi?" Sincere emotion welled up in Shuro.

"I wonder what grade it is."

Primordial vapor from dual cultivating essence and life - true qi was but the initial transitional stage in the vast worlds of cultivation. Yet for every cultivator it was supremely important, representing their potential. Its quality and grade determined the heights each could reach.

In Jiu Chen's memories, the cultivation worlds used a nine-tiered three-talent ranking system with a total of twenty-seven grades for appraising tools, pills, terrain, arts, even talent. Self-evidently, nine was the lowest grade and one the highest.

True qi similarly had grades. It was no coincidence that Jiu Chen could become a phenomenally brilliant demon lord thanks in part to congealing a type of grade one lower-talent true qi called the Demonic Emperor's True Qi during his Foundation Establishment. The top three grades of true qi were all called high-grade, and any sect or cultivation faction would madly vie over one appearing in the Heavenly Star Continent.

The higher the true qi's grade, the better it opened the mysterious orifices, and the higher the grade of refined primordial essence.

Identifying true qi grades required specialized appraising immortals, one of the many cultivation professions, needing unique tools and methods. Although Shuro had produced true qi and knew of many types from Jiu Chen's memories, he couldn't judge what grade his own was.

"With the Nine Deaths to Reborn Technique as my foundation, my true qi's grade surely won't be lacking," Shuro mused no further.

Above his dantian, the innate fire and water still embraced in that marvelous posture. Shuro faintly felt some mystery hidden within.

But unexpectedly, the unthinkable happened!

The innate true water and innate true fire faded like watercolor paintings, gradually dimming until both vanished entirely from Shuro's body.

What was going on?

Bewilderment covered Shuro's face, his heartbeat quickening!

Though it had only been a single day, he'd already grown accustomed to the innate fire and water. While he still didn't grasp their metaphysical profundities, this didn't prevent him from recognizing their rarity and uniqueness.

Now, despite congealing true qi, the "grand medicine" that had overturned his fate had disappeared without a trace.