Chapter 76 Endless Void, Survival on a Deserted Island

[The moment that cool energy rushed into your glabella, the physical world you were familiar with collapsed.]

[Boom—!]

[There was no light, no sound, no touch, and even gravity disappeared.]

[All five senses were dark, and spiritual clarity was not awakened.]

[You seemed to have fallen into a bottomless trench, or perhaps been thrown into the deepest Void Realm of the Universe.]

[Here, there was no distinction of up, down, left, or right; no sense of time passing, only eternal solitude and nothingness.]

["Is this... the heart gate?"]

[You tried to shout, but no sound came out. You tried to wave your hand, but you couldn't feel the existence of your limbs.]

[You were like a pure consciousness stripped of its physical body, floating in this endless darkness.]

[No prompts, no mission guidance.]

["Calm down..."]

[You told yourself in your heart.]

[Panic is the greatest enemy.]

[In this absolute nothingness, there was only one thing you could still perceive.]

[Your heart was still beating.]

["Thump... thump... thump..."]

[That was the most primitive rhythm of life, perhaps your only connection to this world.]

[Who knows how long passed.]

[Absolute solitude began to gnaw at your sanity like a venomous snake.]

[Your consciousness began to blur, your thoughts began to scatter, and you even began to doubt whether you were still alive, whether you still existed?]

["Don't sleep! Don't forget!"]

[At the edge of your consciousness dissipating, you suddenly woke up.]

[You immediately thought of a clumsy but effective method to anchor your own existence.]

[Counting heartbeats.]

[As a Martial Artist with strong control over your body, you clearly knew your normal resting heart rate.]

["One... two... three..."]

[You began to count silently in your heart.]

[Ten thousand... a hundred thousand... a million...]

[In this endless darkness, these monotonous numbers became your only faith.]

[Time was passing.]

[Although there was no clock, in your perception, ten, twenty, thirty years had passed.]

[At this point, your mind was already muddled; you had even forgotten who you were and why you were counting.]

[But that obsession carved into your Soul, perhaps the terrifying tenacity brought by the Hardworking and Enduring talent.]

[Perhaps it was your own obsession.]

[It made you mechanically and instinctively persist.]

["Nine hundred million... nine hundred million and one..."]

[You were like an unyielding rock, no matter how the waves of nothingness washed over you, you stubbornly guarded that flicker of spiritual light from extinguishing.]

[It seemed that the "examiner" hidden in the dark was also surprised by your tenacity.]

[Suddenly.]

[Even that last heartbeat was blocked.]

[Absolute silence descended.]

[However, you did not collapse.]

[Because that "thump-thump" sound was no longer just a physiological beat.]

[It had become an eternal rhythm in your mind, the pulse of your Soul.]

[As long as you didn't give up, that sound would never stop!]

["Thump! Thump! Thump!"]

[You roared in your heart, beating the war drum with your will, fighting against this world of nothingness.]

[Finally.]

[That consciousness seemed to give up on this meaningless consumption.]

["Boom—!"]

[Your vision suddenly brightened.]

[All senses returned at this instant.]

[The roar of the waves, the salty smell of the sea breeze, the scorching sensation of the sun...]

[They surged into all your senses like a tide.]

[You sat up abruptly, gasping for air, greedily breathing in every breath.]

[In this instant, you completed the transformation from "blind ignorance" to "divine clarity."]

[As if the long thirty years of void torment had never existed.]

["Hoo..."]

[You calmed your mind and looked around.]

[This was a golden beach.]

[In front was an endless azure sea, and behind was a lush tropical jungle.]

["This is... a deserted island?"]

[You stood up and stretched your limbs.]

[Immediately after, your expression changed.]

[Qi and blood... completely gone!]

[Your proud Ninth Stage of Qi and Blood cultivation, your Profound Water Spirit Body...]

[All had disappeared.]

[At this moment, you were just an ordinary person with a relatively healthy body.]

["Stripped of power, surviving on a deserted island?"]

[You gave a bitter smile, unable to resist making fun of yourself.]

["Is this asking me to play Bear Grylls or Ed Stafford?"]

["Starting with just underwear, all equipment relies on scavenging?"]

[No System prompts, no clear conditions for completion.]

["Bad review! There's not even a beginner's guide."]

[Despite the complaints, your actions showed no hesitation.]

[As an experienced artist, you quickly got into character.]

[You knew very well that in the wilderness, hesitation leads to defeat.]

[You quickly began to scout the environment.]

[This was a moderately sized isolated island, at least four kilometers in diameter.]

[The island's vegetation was mainly tropical evergreen broadleaf forest, along with some low shrubs.]

["First, find a water source."]

[This was the primary element for survival.]

[Fortunately, you found a small freshwater spring at the base of a rock wall in the center of the island.]

[Although the water flow was not large, it was enough to sustain life.]

["Next, shelter and food."]

[You used palm leaves and dead branches from the jungle to build a simple lean-to in a sheltered spot.]

[You also caught a few crabs and conchs in the rocky area of the beach.]

[Night fell.]

[You sat by the bonfire, gnawing on a half-cooked crab, watching the stars fill the sky.]

["This is just the beginning."]

[You didn't know how long this trial would last.]

[Perhaps a day, perhaps a year, perhaps... a lifetime.]

[But you had no fear.]

[The Martial Dao path was beneath your feet.]

[Since you couldn't Cultivate Qi and blood, then Cultivate 'force'.]

[Since there were no supernatural abilities, then temper the 'heart'.]

[You stood up and assumed a stance on the beach.]

[Coiled Dragon Post Stance!]

[Although there was no Qi and blood support, that rhythm was still there, that essence was still there.]

[Day after day, year after year.]

[You began a long period of arduous Cultivation on the island.]

[You learned to weave fishing nets from vines, and to grind stone axes from rocks.]

[You learned to catch wild boars with traditional traps, and even learned to observe celestial phenomena to predict storms.]

[Your skin was tanned bronze, your hair grew long and was cut again, and your beard turned gray and messy.]

[Ten years... twenty years... thirty years...]

[You spent a full forty years on the island.]

[In these forty years, you experienced the baptism of typhoons.]

[You experienced the despair of food shortages, and of course, you constantly experienced the loneliness of being alone.]

[But you never gave up Cultivating.]

[Every morning, you would stand on the reefs by the sea, facing the Surging Waves, and practice the Eight Extremes Fist.]

[Your movements were no longer just fierce; they now carried the inclusivity and continuity of the seawater.]

[Your fist gradually merged with this vast sea.]

[You witnessed the gentleness of the sea under the sun, and its tyranny in a storm.]

["Vast... profound..."]

[At that moment, you finally understood the true meaning of that sentence in the general outline of the Heavenly Sea Vast Waves Body Spirit Seed Origin Art.]

[This day.]

[You were already an old man with white hair and beard.]

[You sat on the beach, comfortably grilling a freshly caught lobster, watching the sunset.]

[Suddenly.]

[The space in front of you subtly twisted.]

[A faceless humanoid creature, entirely condensed from blue light, appeared out of thin air.]

[It had no facial features, but you could feel that it was watching you.]

[It looked at your simple yet lived-in camp.]

[Then it looked at your eyes, which, though aged, were still clear.]

["Although I don't know whose apostle you are..."]

[Its voice was ethereal and grand.]

["But to have endured exile, you have passed the test."]

["Your will is as resilient as a reef."]

["Your mind is as vast as the ocean."]

["You are indeed qualified to Cultivate the Heavenly Sea Vast Waves Body Spirit Seed Origin Art."]

[As soon as the words fell.]

["Boom!"]

[The entire island world instantly collapsed, transforming into countless blue light particles.]

[Your consciousness suddenly sank, as if falling from a great height.]

[When you opened your eyes again.]

[You were back in the familiar Teachers Apartment.]

[Only an instant had passed in real time.]

[But deep within your Sea of Consciousness.]

[A wisp of deep blue, profound Canglan Divine Sense, seemingly containing an entire ocean, was slowly being born.]

[The Gate of Origin Opening, the path to the heavens, opened to you!]