2: The True Meaning of the Red Sun

A splitting headache.

This was Shen Yuanmo's first sensation upon waking. The excessive consumption of his Divine Sense caused his brain to throb with pain.

But he couldn't concern himself with that.

In the darkness, he turned his gaze once more toward the crude, animal-hide ancient book in his hand, the Crimson Sun Art.

It was this very Cultivation Technique that had exhausted the efforts of several generations of the Shen Family and had left Old Ancestor Shen Zongdao heavily injured and on the brink of death.

In the past, when he looked at this technique, he only saw ancient handwriting and obscure, difficult-to-understand content filled with contradictions and incomprehensible points.

But now...

As his Divine Sense sank into it once again, the entire world changed.

Insight into Origin.

Without him needing to deliberately activate it, this ability triggered naturally.

The twisted characters on the animal-hide book were no longer simple words in his eyes, but complex symbols representing the flow of Spiritual Qi.

Every meridian route and every method of stimulating acupoints were presented in his mind in their most intuitive and essential forms.

Wrong.

It was all wrong!

"So that's how it is..." Shen Yuanmo muttered to himself.

The energy circulation route of this Crimson Sun Art had been maliciously tampered with; it was riddled with traps and divergent paths.

[Detected 108 circulation errors in the Crimson Sun Art...]

[Detected 3 fatal flaws...]

A massive stream of information bombarded his mind.

The first fatal flaw: Forcibly reversing the Three Yang Meridians to seek explosive power. The spiritual power cultivated through this method is incredibly violent; while its power is immense in the short term, the damage to the Meridians is permanent.

No wonder all the Shen Family predecessors who practiced this method ended up with withered Meridians by middle age.

The second fatal flaw: The method of Heart Fire Spirit Refining is incorrect. It guides the Cultivator to merge heart fire with their Divine Sense, but the method is ninety percent wrong. This isn't Spirit Refining at all—it's playing with fire! Long-term cultivation leads to damaged Divine Sense at best, and Qi Deviation or the complete incineration of the Spiritual Platform at worst.

The third fatal flaw: The core method of the Foundation Establishment Chapter actually uses the Dantian as a furnace to forcibly compress spiritual power droplets.

This is simply seeking death! Old Ancestor Shen Zongdao must have suffered a nearly shattered Dantian and a heavily damaged Origin while attempting Foundation Establishment for this very reason.

This wasn't some Cultivation Technique; this was clearly a meticulously designed poisonous scripture intended to lead people to destruction!

High-ranking noble families used such methods to sever the hopes of low-level Cultivators.

Giving you hope, only to make you walk into despair through that very hope.

How sinister!

A chill rose from Shen Yuanmo's spine, followed by uncontrollable rage.

But he quickly suppressed this emotion; anger could not solve any problems.

He now held the key to breaking this deadlock.

"Deduce."

Shen Yuanmo issued the command in his heart.

The Perfect Deduction ability activated!

Buzz—

His brain seemed to transform into a high-speed machine.

Those 108 errors and 3 fatal flaws were like faulty components, instantly dismantled and analyzed by him.

Using the incomplete framework of the Crimson Sun Art as a foundation, countless correct Spiritual Qi circulation routes, meridian stimulation methods, and Divine Sense tempering techniques rapidly combined, collided, and optimized in his mind.

The consumption of this process was immense.

The headache that had just slightly eased struck again, ten times more violent than before.

His face turned pale, fine beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his body began to tremble slightly.

But he gritted his teeth, his Divine Sense locked firmly onto the deduction process in his mind.

After an unknown amount of time, the frantic deduction storm finally subsided.

A brand-new Cultivation Technique was clearly imprinted deep within his Soul.

It was done!

Shen Yuanmo could no longer hold himself up; his body went limp, and he leaned against the bookshelf, gasping for air.

Though his spirit was exhausted to the limit, his heart was burning with excitement.

After resting for a moment, Shen Yuanmo took out a Jade Slip to record the new technique and named it the Crimson Sun Glazed Scripture.

Restricted by Shen Yuanmo's current cultivation, the Crimson Sun Glazed Scripture only contained the Qi Refinement Stage portion, but for the current Shen Yuanmo, it was enough.

He immediately sat cross-legged, ignoring his physical fatigue, and began to attempt the first cycle according to the methods in the Crimson Sun Glazed Scripture.

If the previous Crimson Sun Art was like struggling along a rugged path filled with thorns and gravel,

then the current Crimson Sun Glazed Scripture was a broad and flat road to heaven!

With a single thought, the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth was submissively drawn in, surging through his nose and mouth into his entire body.

The Spiritual Qi was no longer a wild horse but a gentle stream, flowing through the Twelve Primary Meridians along a flawless route, finally merging into the Dantian's Qi Sea.

The entire process was smooth and natural, without the slightest hint of stagnation.

The efficiency of refining Spiritual Qi into magic power was more than ten times faster than the basic Family technique he had practiced before!

Moreover, the newly generated magic power was refined to an incredible degree.

If his previous magic power was like muddy water, then now, it was like clear glass.

Pure, condensed, and filled with a scorching masculine aura.

This was the true meaning of the Crimson Sun Glazed Scripture!

As the technique circulated, the Divine Sense he had consumed during the deduction was actually recovering bit by bit.

His physical fatigue was also swept away.

Too strong!

A storm of shock surged in Shen Yuanmo's heart.

He did not stop.

The Family had no time for him to waste.

He immersed himself in the pleasure of high-speed cultivation, running the Crimson Sun Glazed Scripture again and again.

The magic power within his Dantian grew and filled up at a visible rate.

"Break for me!"

Shen Yuanmo unified his heart and mind, guiding the pure Crimson Sun magic power within his body to strike against that invisible barrier.

There was no world-shaking commotion, nor any risk of Qi Deviation.

Everything followed naturally like water flowing in a channel.

An even stronger aura radiated from his body.

Eighth Level of Qi Refinement, Peak!

It was done!

In a single night, he had cultivated from the Early Stage of the Eighth Level of Qi Refinement to its Peak.

This was something simply unimaginable in the past.

Shen Yuanmo slowly opened his eyes, a glint of sharp light flashing through his pupils.

He opened his palm, and a ball of crimson magic fire rose out of thin air, its scorching heat causing the surrounding air to distort.

The power of this flame was more than three times stronger than what he could conjure before!

"Breaking through to Foundation Establishment within a year..."

"Looking at it now, perhaps it won't take that long."

He stood up and patted the dust off his clothes.

The problem with the Cultivation Technique was solved; this was the first and most critical step in breaking the deadlock.

However, new problems followed.

Cultivation required resources.

The cultivation efficiency of the Crimson Sun Glazed Scripture was so high that its consumption of Spiritual Qi was also an astronomical figure.

Relying solely on the Shen Family's damaged Rank 2 Low Grade Spiritual Vein was simply not enough to support his rapid Breakthrough.

If Shen Yuanmo wanted to break through quickly, he still needed to supplement his cultivation with a large number of Medicinal Pills that enhanced cultivation.

"Medicinal Pills? I'll go to the Third Elder and get some of the pills he refines."

Shen Yuanmo walked out of the dust-covered Scripture Pavilion.

The faint light of dawn shone on his face, adding a touch of sharpness to his originally handsome features.