497: Realm Unsealed!

Lu Chen's consciousness sank into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, where a simple and ancient Sealing Rune floated. Obscure Heavenly Dao power flowed upon the rune; it was this very rune that had firmly suppressed his cultivation for five thousand years. He took a deep breath, and with a thought, he cautiously circulated his Divine Power, gently reaching out to touch the Sealing Rune.

"Buzz—"

A slight humming sound echoed in the Sea of Consciousness, and the Sealing Rune trembled slightly, subsequently cracking open a tiny fissure.

From just this single crack, a power so terrifying it was beyond imagination awakened like an ancient beast that had slumbered for eons. It surged out frantically through the fissure, instantly sweeping through Lu Chen's entire body.

Lu Chen's original true Realm was the Initial Stage God Emperor, but the moment this power surged out, the cultivation within his body skyrocketed like a racing rocket.

The Bottleneck of the Initial Stage God Emperor shattered like paper, and he stepped directly into the Middle Stage God Emperor Realm;

Before he could even react, the barrier of the Middle Stage crumbled again, and his cultivation surged all the way to the High Stage God Emperor Realm;

Immediately after, the final barrier from the High Stage to the Peak also shattered with a bang. The entire process took less than a single breath of time!

"This... this is too ridiculous!" Lu Chen opened his eyes, his gaze filled with disbelief.

He had long anticipated that he would become very strong after unsealing, but he never imagined that merely unsealing one in a hundred million of his true Realm would cause him to soar directly from the Initial Stage God Emperor to the God Emperor Peak!

He could clearly feel the power surging within his body, which was more than a hundred times stronger than when he had slain a hundred God Emperor Peak experts in the trial Small World.

The space around him distorted slightly under the pressure of this power, and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in the air gathered toward him frantically, forming a massive Spiritual Qi vortex that swept through the entire Heavenly Dao Workshop.

Warning bells rang in Lu Chen's heart. He could feel that if he continued to unseal at such a speed, the power within his body would instantly exceed the bearing limit of his Physical Body. At that time, let alone a Breakthrough in his Realm, his Physical Body would likely collapse directly, and his Divine Soul would be extinguished.

"I must slow down!" Lu Chen immediately composed himself, exerting his full effort to control the pace of the unsealing. He fixed the fissure in the Sealing Rune at its current size, no longer letting the power surge out too quickly.

Even so, that vigorous and vast power continued to gallop within his body, as if an entire Star River was spinning frantically within his Meridians. Every circulation further refined and strengthened his Physical Body, Divine Soul, and Divine Power.

The path of unsealing was far longer than Lu Chen had imagined.

He needed to gradually adapt to the ever-increasing power within his body while simultaneously polishing his Physical Body and Divine Soul to ensure that every inch of his flesh could perfectly bear this terrifying power.

Time flowed quietly within the Heavenly Dao Workshop—one day, ten days, a month, a year... Lu Chen remained in a cross-legged meditative posture, fully devoted to the process of unsealing and adaptation.

The phenomena within his body became increasingly startling. At first, it was just an energy tide like a sea of stars, but as the unsealing deepened, it gradually evolved into a complete Star Domain. Within the Star Domain, hundreds of millions of stars shone brilliantly, and Law runes flowed between them;

After several more decades, the Star Domain expanded further, evolving into a vast galaxy. Within the galaxy, nebulae churned with infinite creation;

By the Late Stage of the unsealing, Lu Chen could even feel the prototype of an entire Universe within himself, with Chaos currents gestating inside, as if a brand new world could be opened up at any moment.

It took a full hundred years for Lu Chen to completely stabilize the Seal, and the power within his body finally reached a state of relative balance.

During these hundred years, he did not deliberately Cultivate. Merely the wash of power brought by unsealing his Realm had made his God Emperor Peak Realm incredibly solid. His physical strength, Divine Soul power, and Law mastery had all reached the absolute limit of what the God Emperor Realm could achieve.

But just then, Lu Chen encountered a Bottleneck.

He could clearly feel that one of his feet had already stepped across the threshold of the God Emperor Realm, and he was only a tiny distance away from a Breakthrough. However, no matter how he circulated his power, he could not take that crucial step. That Bottleneck stood before him like a great chasm; no matter how he struck it, it remained motionless.

"Just a bit more... just a little bit more!" Lu Chen's brow furrowed, his heart filled with some anxiety.

He knew that this final step was of paramount importance. If he could successfully achieve a Breakthrough, his strength would surely undergo a qualitative leap, giving him enough confidence to face those existences that stood above him.

But the more anxious he became, the harder it was to find the opportunity for a Breakthrough. The power within his body was like a runaway horse, yet it remained unable to break through that final layer of shackles.

Just as Lu Chen was at his wits' end, the cultivation Small World he controlled—the Eternal World—suddenly emitted a crisp "ding" chime. This chime seemed to cross the barriers of time and space, entering directly into Lu Chen's Sea of Consciousness.

Lu Chen's heart stirred, and he immediately split off a wisp of Divine Thought to sink into the Eternal World.

In the next second, a look of extreme shock appeared on his face.

The World Rank of the Eternal World had actually risen from 2.1 to 2.2!

Lu Chen instantly understood. The five thousand years of trials within the Heavenly Dao Workshop corresponded to only five days in the real world, but for the Eternal World, a full five thousand years had passed.

During these five thousand years, the Eternal World had flourished, giving birth to countless Geniuses, Prodigies, protagonists, and Chosen Ones.

The Divine Realm had once selected several Chosen Ones—Xiao Jingyan, Liu Yan, Han Fei, Mo Jiantong, Shu Xiaohong, and so on—originally hoping they would drive the elevation of the World Rank. However, it was never expected that the one who ultimately raised the entire World Rank was not one of these highly anticipated Chosen Ones, but a woman with an unconventional personality who hated tedious cultivation—Dance Young Hope.

Lu Chen's Divine Thought swept through the historical threads of the Eternal World, clearly seeing Dance Young Hope's growth trajectory.

She was born into an ordinary cultivation Family and had harbored a deep-seated hatred for tedious and dull traditional cultivation methods since childhood. While other children were buried in meditation, absorbing Spiritual Qi, and tempering their Foundations, she spent her days researching all sorts of strange and eccentric things, and was regarded as an outlier who neglected her proper duties by the Family elders.

By a stroke of luck, Dance Young Hope discovered a remnant page recording ancient runes in the Family's ancient records.

The runes on the remnant page were infinitely mysterious but had no connection to traditional Cultivation Techniques. Dance Young Hope's interest was piqued immediately. She spent her days studying the remnant page and gradually grasped a brand new cultivation concept from it—using runes as a medium to Seal various powers such as Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, Yao Beast power, and plant essences into specially made Cards, and then using Card combinations to manifest power and battle others.

To realize this idea, Dance Young Hope spent several hundred years constantly experimenting and improving. She traveled across the famous mountains and great rivers of the Eternal World, collecting various rare Materials to refine Cards, and through countless experiments, she perfected the sealing techniques and activation methods for the Cards. Ultimately, she successfully created an unprecedented Card Cultivation Method.