Long River Eternity

After finding a way to store energy, Lin Ding decided to have Liu Xianxian start practicing as well. He found a spot with a wide view, sat cross-legged, and guarded the others while formulating a plan to break through to the Heyuan realm.

Ever since he learned from Yang Nian that he and Yang An both had Chaos Bodies, Lin Ding had taken the time to ask Yang An for advice, and received a positive answer from him.

Initially, Yang An didn't tell Lin Ding the truth because he himself wasn't sure whether Lin Ding had a Chaos Body or a Five Elements Spiritual Root. It wasn't until Lin Ding displayed powerful physical strength and performed the "Destruction" technique that Yang An confirmed Lin Ding's identity.

Although Lin Ding had witnessed Yang An forcefully breaking through to the Heyuan Realm in a critical moment, the situation at the time was extremely urgent, and Yang An himself was not fully prepared, making it a risky move. Now, Lin Ding had ample time to prepare for the breakthrough, so he naturally wouldn't act blindly like Yang An. Combining the information he had gained about the Heyuan Realm in his memories, he asked Yang An for many key details about the breakthrough.

As long as he can integrate this knowledge, Lin Ding will be able to break through the Heyuan Realm. Once he succeeds, his strength will at least be able to compete with the Tianji Realm, and he will be more secure when joining the Tuotu Team to carry out missions in the future.

The core of the Heyuan Realm lies in the fusion of body, spirit, and consciousness. Understanding one's own laws leads to a breakthrough. However, while integrating essence, qi, and spirit is simple, truly comprehending the laws stops most people at the Yufeng Realm. The laws are invisible and intangible, and even Yang An could only say to Lin Ding, "It can only be understood, not expressed in words." This left Lin Ding deeply confused.

As a person of the new era, Lin Ding was unfamiliar with these concepts. Even in his recollection, he had only been exposed to the theory of the Five Elements of Heaven and Earth for a little over a month. This allowed him to comprehend the Law of Chaos, which was even more profound than the Law of Single Spiritual Roots, in such a short period of time. It was like ascending to heaven.

"I really can't figure out what you mean by 'One begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things'." Lin Ding said with a slightly annoyed look, his brows furrowed.

"Chaos gives birth to Tai Chi, Tai Chi gives birth to Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang give birth to the Five Elements, and all things in the world are within the Five Elements. If you want to understand chaos, you must first understand the Five Elements." Yang An explained patiently.

"I almost understand the principle of the mutual generation and restraint of the five elements, but how are the five elements related to yin and yang?" Lin Ding was confused.

"All things are divided into yin and yang, and yin and yang are further divided into pure yin, less yin, pure yang, and less yang. For example, wood is yang but contains yin, fire is pure yang, and earth has a balance of yin and yang. Therefore, wood gives birth to fire, but things will turn to the opposite extreme, and they will decline after reaching their peak, so fire gives birth to earth." Yang An said slowly.

"This is too complicated. I feel like I'm listening to a book from heaven!" Lin Ding said madly, feeling helpless.

"It seems that you should take some time to go back to Nanzhou City to find Lao Qin and read more books. With your limited knowledge, if you don't study systematically, you may not be able to break through the Heyuan Realm in ten years." Yang An shook his head helplessly.

"Can't you give me some guidance?" Lin Ding pleaded, with anticipation in his eyes.

"Do you want me to read you the entire text of the Book of Changes, the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, the Tao Te Ching, etc. word by word? Go and read it yourself!" Yang An refused mercilessly.

Lin Ding had no choice but to temporarily give up the idea of ​​breaking through the Heyuan Realm in the short term. He thought to himself that although Yang An seemed to have broken through the Heyuan Realm in just one month, it required a profound knowledge reserve, which was not as simple as he imagined.

Lin Ding was lost in thought, his mind racing, when Feng Hao finished his training first, successfully advancing to the middle stage of the Dao Yaoguang Realm. His left arm shone with the same golden lines as his right, like a mysterious ribbon of light, emitting a dazzling glow.

Feng Hao absorbed one-third of the energy from the Ice Toad, which was enough for an ordinary person to at least reach the peak of the Yaoguang Realm. However, this amount of energy in his body was only a small level, which shows the huge energy contained in his body.

Chu Tianxiao also finished his training shortly afterwards. He gained a small amount of energy from the remaining one-third, which allowed him to break through from the middle stage of Yaoguang Realm to the early stage of Kaiyang Realm in one fell swoop.

Chu Tianxiao stood up, feeling the changes in his body, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and a bit of self-mockery was revealed in his tone: "I didn't expect that I could break through to the Kaiyang realm in this life."

In the Nine Provinces today, aside from those special relics with slightly higher energy concentrations, the energy of the heavens and earth elsewhere is becoming increasingly diluted. Without official training or a chance encounter, reaching the Yuheng Realm through individual effort alone is already a limit, especially for someone like Chu Tianxiao whose ambitions lie elsewhere.

After hearing this, Lin Ding smiled and said, "If you join us, it won't be difficult for you to reach Kaiyang Realm, Yuheng Realm, Tianquan Realm, or even Tianji Realm."

Chu Tianxiao smiled slightly and shook his head. "Actually, I'm not too interested in improving my realm. I remember when I first left the academy, my love for photography led me to become a reporter. Shortly after entering the industry, I followed a senior to a small to medium-sized city in Beizhou. That city had just suffered a severe invasion of demonic beasts, nearly annihilating it. Even the Tutu team that was carrying out a mission nearby suffered heavy casualties."

"What's strange is that the city area was not special and there were no ruins nearby, but it suffered such heavy damage. So the newspaper sent us there to dig up valuable news." Chu Tianxiao's voice gradually became low, as if he was recalling the past.

"Could the information about that ice toad be from that time...?" Lin Ding couldn't help but ask.

Chu Tian smiled and nodded: "Indeed, the Thousand Tongue Ice Toad was one of the several Tianquan Realm monsters that invaded that time. That was the first time I witnessed the tragic aftermath of the disaster with my own eyes. The hellish scene is still vivid in my mind."

"Several?!" Lin Ding was stunned. Recalling the tragic invasion of Nanshan City by two Heavenly Power Realm monsters, a chill ran down his spine. It was unbelievable that a small or medium-sized city could attract several Heavenly Power Realm monsters.

"That's right," Chu Tianxiao continued. "According to the surviving pioneers, they arrived to see five Tianquan Realm demons wreaking havoc in the city, and there were even more than five during the invasion. I was less than twenty years old at the time, and I still remember the hellish scene: corpses littered the streets, blood flowed like rivers, and less than one percent of the original residents survived."

"From the survivors, we learned that a Tianquan Realm expert and several Yuheng Realm experts in the city were simply unable to withstand the monster beast's attack. In just a few encounters, the Tianquan Realm expert was torn to pieces, and the Yuheng Realm experts became food for the monster beast."

"Did they find out the reason for the invasion later?" Lin Ding asked doubtfully.

"No," Chu Tian smiled and shook his head. "According to the survivors, after killing the powerful, the monster captured several young girls and began a ruthless slaughter and destruction. My senior and I couldn't stand that doomsday scene, so we hurriedly interviewed a few survivors and returned to Zhongzhou City.

After returning, the tragic scene in the city lingered in my mind, leaving a profound impact on me. I couldn't understand why humans were so vulnerable to monsters. Even those who had reached the Heavenly Power Realm were still vulnerable. What was the point of becoming so powerful?

Since spiritual practice cannot truly change the current state of humanity, how should we respond? I still haven’t found the answer to this question.”

"There was another thing that impressed me during my trip to the North State, and it later confirmed my thoughts when I visited other places."

"That's the level of knowledge and living standards of the residents of these small and medium-sized urban areas. For various reasons, the facilities in these small and medium-sized urban areas are vastly different from those in Zhongzhou City or the capitals of various provinces. Many of the things I've mentioned are completely unknown to them. The various equipment developed in Zhongzhou City simply doesn't appear in these small and medium-sized urban areas, and they've never even heard of it.

Moreover, although these residents have a certain level of cultivation, they are generally at the Hidden Yuan Realm or the Clear Mind Realm. When a demon beast invades, they can't even recognize what realm it is in.

"They don't know they need to go to the ruins to cultivate; they don't know many instruments have been developed to assist in combat or cultivation; they don't know Tianshu Pavilion has two teams, one for expansion and the other for territory development; they don't know the level of cultivation of the Tianshu Pavilion's leaders; some places don't even receive the Zhongzhou Monthly Report. This huge information gap has caused these urban areas to stagnate and even fall further behind. It makes me feel like they are in a completely different world from the people living in Zhongzhou City."

"So this further strengthens your belief in being a journalist, and you want to report more news to make up for this huge information gap?" Lin Ding asked in a deep voice.

Chu Tianxiao glanced at Lin Ding in surprise, nodded, and said with a slightly helpless smile, "Yes, this is also something I feel I can do. But first, I was hit hard. In order to make up for the information gap, the things I reported might seem novel to the residents of small and medium-sized cities, but in the eyes of newspapers and the residents of Zhongzhou City, they were already commonplace and had no enthusiasm. Therefore, they were rarely published. Gradually, in order to make a living, what I once thought was within my ability became increasingly difficult, and I was forced to report news that catered to the mainstream."

"That's why I'm so eager to interview you and Feng Hao. This kind of news about reporting genius is not only popular in Zhongzhou City, but can also bring hope and inspiration to people in those underdeveloped areas."

Lin Ding stepped forward, patted Chu Tianxiao on the shoulder, and said, "Then you should join us. We can take you to many places you couldn't go before. You can personally tell people in those remote and underdeveloped areas about the disparity of this world. We are like a mobile newspaper, delivering your news to every corner of Kyushu."

When Chu Tianxiao heard Lin Ding's words, he looked at Lin Ding excitedly, his eyes showing great yearning. He nodded vigorously and responded loudly: "Okay! I agree to join you!"