Chapter 111 The Divine Control Technique is Completed, Resources are Accumulated

[You laboriously prop up your upper body, your gaze sweeping across this "Peak of the Divine Statue" situated a thousand feet in the air.]

[This place is not the hidden paradise you imagined; aside from the still-silent Void Realm, there is nothing else.]

[The only additional thing...]

[...is a half-person-tall black stone tablet standing right in the center of the statue's crown.]

[This stone tablet is completely different from the Legacy stone tablets you saw in the first five stages, which emitted a faint blue glow.]

[It is pitch black like ink, its surface devoid of any luster.]

[Like a common stone found anywhere, it has fallen into complete silence.]

[You walk over slowly and reach out to touch the ancient, profound patterns on the surface of the tablet.]

["Buzz—"]

[Although the stone tablet appears to have lost its spirituality, a soft flow of information surges into your mind through your fingertips as you touch it.]

[A technique named the "Profound Water Si Heaven God-Governing Method" slowly emerges.]

[A technique named the "Profound Water Si Heaven God-Governing Method" slowly emerges.]

["God-Governing Method..."]

[Your eyes narrow slightly.]

[The content of this technique is ninety percent similar to the "Profound Water Si Heaven Prayer God Method" you learned earlier at the foot of the statue.]

[The only difference lies in the core operational logic: the previous "Prayer" centered on the mark on your forehead, acting more like borrowing power.]

[It was a request from an inferior to a superior.]

[But the current "Governing" centers on yourself.]

[You command and wield that Divine Might from a higher posture!]

[This is like changing from "borrowing money" to "taking money."]

[Executing the "God-Governing Method," you are like performing a "zero-dollar purchase" on the Origin of the "Han Ming."]

[However, with the master of the Grotto-Heaven backing you, the "Han Ming" cannot even sense it.]

[Although you are using the power and status of the Han Ming, the initiative is in your hands.]

[What makes you even more wary is that in this stone tablet representing the orthodox Legacy of the Grotto-Heaven...]

[...there is absolutely no record of that "aqua-blue mark" on your forehead.]

["It seems this mark really is some private goods that old bastard 'Han Ming' secretly added in."]

[A cold smile curls on your lips, but your eyes instantly turn icy.]

[This discovery makes you instantly overturn all your previous judgments.]

[From this single deception, it can be concluded that nothing the 'Han Ming' just said is reliable!]

[What "descendant of an old friend," what "Abyssal Covenant," even the crushing danger you just experienced...]

[...might all have been arranged by him to force you into relying on this mark.]

[The truly critical thing is this mark on your forehead.]

[This is the only thing you can currently confirm that the 'Han Ming' wants to achieve.]

[However, you still haven't figured out his specific goal.]

[What exactly does this god want to do?]

[It's very likely that all the rhetoric he threw out earlier about Li Qingshan and Karma was meant to distract you.]

[To make you accept this mark and use a divine art once without any defenses amidst panic and gratitude.]

["This old bastard set a trap for me from the very beginning when I touched the statue."]

[A chill runs through your heart.]

[But there's nothing you can do; you have no means of counterattack and can only keep responding to his moves.]

[At this moment, after confirming the Legacy of the stone tablet, you've verified this.]

[If you hadn't followed the 'Han Ming's' lead and hadn't used this mark, would his plan have failed?]

[There is no way to know that possibility in this simulation.]

[Because you have already used it, and certain costs have already been incurred.]

["Truly impossible to guard against..."]

[You subconsciously reach out and touch the burning mark on your forehead, your eyes somewhat gloomy.]

[After all, you can't even guess the 'Han Ming's' true intentions, and this is still His home turf.]

[You give a helpless smile and exhale a breath of turbid air.]

["No way out, I just have to accept it."]

["I'll take it one step at a time."]

[You think that at worst, you'll just die.]

[Anyway, you were psychologically prepared for death before entering this Grotto-Heaven.]

[Every day now is a bonus.]

["Let's see who can outplay whom in the end."]

[Without hesitation, you do not invoke the mark.]

[You directly circulate the "God-Governing Method" and inject a wisp of Divine Thought into the stone tablet.]

["Boom!"]

[The stone tablet trembles violently upon sensing the tamed Divine Might within your body.]

[Immediately afterward, a dazzling pillar of teleportation light soars into the sky, enveloping you.]

[Stage Six, cleared!]

[...]

[The years that follow seem to have the fast-forward button pressed.]

[Time has no meaning in the Grotto-Heaven, and your strength is soaring at a terrifying speed.]

[With the enhancement of the "God-Governing Method" and "Acting Shepherd Divine Might," the crushing pressure that once left you helpless has become your best helper.]

[Grotto-Heaven Year 6 - Year 8:]

[Starting from the sixth stage, there are no more sub-levels; each major stage has only one trial.]

[You overcome major stages 6 through 10 with unstoppable momentum.]

[Every time you pass a stage, you bring back new Legacy insights to feed back into the camp.]

[The Mutual Aid Society becomes increasingly prosperous through the efforts of Chen Liang and the "Water-Avoiding" squad.]

[Zhou Hua uses his former legal knowledge to formulate a comprehensive "Grotto-Heaven Survival Covenant."]

[Li Li organizes a more professional patrol team to maintain order in the camp.]

[Chen Chen completely relinquishes power, handing over all his burdens to his nephew Chen Liang.]

[Living a retired life, he no longer concerns himself with management; his greatest daily pleasure is taking his fishing rod to the lakeside.]

[He also tells the new generation born in the Grotto-Heaven, who have never seen the outside world, about the prosperity of the Federation and boasts about his past days.]

[It is in this year that a highly symbolic event occurs in the camp.]

[The first batch of children born within the Grotto-Heaven have grown to an age where they can help adults with work.]

[Under Chen Liang's leadership, they begin to learn how to weave fishing nets and sort herbs.]

[These children have never seen the true sun, nor have they ever stepped into the outside world.]

[In their understanding, the giant stone statue standing in the center of the camp—spontaneously carved by the older generation of Martial Artists in your image...]

[...to them, you are a living myth.]

[They grew up listening to your stories, and many of the children's names were even personally given by you.]

[You are their faith; you are the sun in their hearts.]

[Whenever they pass the stone statue or see that figure occasionally appearing on the watchtower...]

[...their eyes reveal a pure, devout light.]

[Year 10:]

[You encounter the "Mirror Heart Demon Tribulation" of the 12th stage.]

[This time, the expression revealed by the divine statue is one of "extreme struggle and rage."]

[It symbolizes the indignation and fury of the Han Ming during the early period of His imprisonment; that fire of rage can even ignite your Divine Thought.]

[In the illusion, you see the tragic scene of the Han Ming being captured by that sky-covering hand.]

[At the same time, you comprehend the highly aggressive divine art "Raging Sea Wild Waves."]

[During this period, the camp was not all smooth sailing either.]

[While hunting in the deep waters of Lake No. 3, Zhao Li tried to save a reckless youngster.]

[He had a leg bitten off by a lurking "Iron-Armored Crocodile."]

[Although you rushed back in time and used the "Cangming Spirit Healing Art" to pull him back from the brink of death...]

[...he became a cripple from then on and could only retire to the second line, becoming the camp's lame instructor.]

[Year 15 - Year 20:]

[You have advanced to the 24th stage.]

[Although your Martial Arts Realm is stuck at the Peak of Origin Opening, your comprehension of the "Cangming Intent" has long reached Perfection.]

[To solve the problem of insufficient Origin Qi supply, you began accumulating "sweet dew" from the 6th year of the Grotto-Heaven.]

[You were not anxious during this period because you have been gathering strength.]

[By now, you have cultivated the "Coiled Dragon Post Stance" to the highest Realm.]

[Spirit Concentration!]

[The spirit does not scatter, and the intent guards the self.]

[The strength-training fist technique "Eight Extremes Fist" has also been practiced by you to the profound Realm of Internal Strength.]

[Strength shifts with intent, and power originates from the heart.]

[At this moment, your traditional martial arts foundation is no inferior to an average Grandmaster.]

[If it weren't for the massive amount of dimensional secret treasures in the Grotto-Heaven helping you improve your Aptitude, it might have taken you a very long time to reach such a Realm.]

[In martial arts, your understanding of "Physical Techniques" is already enough to support you for a long time.]

[Now, all you lack is an increase in your Martial Arts Realm.]

[On this point, after your years of preparation, a Breakthrough is finally at hand.]

[It wasn't until a late night in the 17th year of the Grotto-Heaven calendar that you stepped into that secluded cultivation chamber located in the deepest part of the camp, personally supervised and built by Chen Liang.]

[In the center of the chamber is a circular pool about thirty feet in diameter.]

[But what this pool contains is not ordinary water, but a pool of liquid emitting a brilliant golden light!]

[This is what you spent a full seventeen years accumulating, drop by drop, from the "sweet dew" obtained daily by every member of the Mutual Aid Society.]

[To prevent this precious energy from dissipating, you did not hesitate to expend a massive amount of mental effort and time.]

[Using your own Spiritual Form Origin, you bypassed the mark on your forehead to perform a secret technique.]

[You inscribed exactly thirty-six variant Restrictions of the "Cangming Spirit Guarding Art" around the chamber.]

[You constructed an absolutely sealed "Origin Qi preservation environment."]

["This pool of energy—never mind one Soaring Realm..."]

["Even five or ten Soaring Realms could be forcibly piled out of it."]

[Looking at this golden ocean before you, a flash of determination crosses your eyes.]

[Your "Cangming Intent" has long been perfected, and your martial will has been polished as solid as a rock.]

[Everything is ready; all that's missing is this final step.]

[You shed your clothes and step into the pool.]