Hours of cultivation turned into days, which turned into weeks until an entire month had passed since Yan Zaizen's discipleship. During this time, his focus had been on cultivating the Immortal Herculean Method to the first level, to develop a nascent herculean physique. Each attempt that ended in failure left him in a state of weakness. Fortunately, his Unyielding Flame of Life kept him full of lifeforce. It was like a lifeline that enabled him to continuously practice. As long as it lived, so did he!
Yan Zaizen had no idea that all of his failures should have lead to near immediate death. The bodily foundation he possessed lacked the ability to attempt wrestling away the body's limitations and removing them. It simply wasn't sufficient, thereby causing his lifeforce and body incredible levels of stress. This should lead to death, ten times out of ten.
However, Yan Zaizen was the exception!
His Unyielding Flame of Life conceptual law forcefully stabilized and brought him back from the edge of death each and every time. As it did so, his body was constantly being refined and strengthened by the flame, while his own understanding into the flame deepened greatly. When he initially conceived it, like all laws, it started out at the nascent level with initial success; however, now the Unyielding Flame of life reached the major success stage!
This caused a qualitative change in its capabilities, and it flickered about far less, its stability is a sign of its progression.
At the moment, his eyes shone with a distinctive light of vibrancy. His originally scrawny body started to fill out as the vital energies started to become refined, and one could sense an aura of exuberant lifeforce from it.
He sat in the lotus position with his eyes closed, his breathing in a unique rhythm coinciding with the powerful and resounding beats of his heart. Each beat caused the cultivation room to slightly tremble. Yan Zaizen felt ensured that today was the day. The white flame danced near his chest, as if using his heartbeat as music, and one could see ripples like waves appearing on the surface of his skin.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His eyes opened sharply. "Exceed the heavens, shatter the skies!!!" He roared. Now, despite the soundproofing of the room, even Lin Feilin and Shin Xuanji were disturbed by slight reverberating sounds from their rooms. However, they simply took it as a sign of an earthquake and promptly ignored it. Little did they know, in the room next to them, their ninth junior brother was doing something that has never been accomplished in the past one hundred thousand years by a human cultivator, since the last era!
"BECOME A HERCULEAN! EXCEED THE HEAVENS!" His voice thundered. The world outside the mountain stirred, and the clouds grew restless while congregating above the mountain they resided in. The surrounding beasts looked towards the sky, their eyes filled with trepidation. One could see many rank five and under beasts retreating away from the mountain like a disaster was going to occur.
Despite this, there was no heavenly lightning coming for tribulate those who defy it. Instead, the sky produced a single mote of golden light. In comparison to heavenly tribulation lightning, this was a thousand times worse!
Heavenly Annihilating Light!!!
There was no tribulation set up by the heavens to enable you to exceed them, no, the point of the heavens were to act as regulators and controllers. Only things that are within the heavenly law, but at the top, produces heavenly tribulation lightning to see if that specific cultivator can overcome and prove their worth. However, if something goes against natural law that may exceed it, the heavens don't give you a chance, they annihilate!
Decisively.
Without mercy.
This mote of light was the fully concentrated force of the heavens, and it descended from the skies. As it traveled, the world seemed frozen in time, but in truth, it simply moved far too fast! It approached the cultivation room Yan Zaizen trained in, passing through the mountain like it wasn't even there. It was like he was frozen. His eyes were filled with blood-lines, his mouth wide open in a roar, and his body emitted vibrant signs of lifeforce.
However, that didn't stop it from descending.
It hovered over his glabella. It seemed like it was going beyond slow. Entering his glabella, then towards his soul form - that squiggly thin line. The intention? To ensure it wipes out this existence! As it reached the soul, it entered as if it was always meant to be there. It emitted light, with the intention of detonation. If detonated, anything within a hundred thousand li of land would simply vanish - including Yan Zaizen.
As it charged up for detonation, a resplendent black light exploded outwards from the depth of Yan Zaizen's soul. It surrounded the heavenly might as such a speed it seemed that the heavenly might itself was frozen in time. If that soul that attempted to invade Yan Zaizen's from before were to witness this, he'd realize it was the same black light that shone before taking his everything!
The heavenly light started to vigorously tremble.
Did it seem...scared?
A portion of the light seemed to be drawn into the resplendent black light, but it seemed the light was having none of it.
It exploded out with power, repelling the black light before ascending to the skies at an even faster speed than it came. It even left a portion of itself with the black light.
The heavenly annihilation light...ran?
As it returned to the skies, the world returned to normal, and the clouds dispersed. No one in the Eight knew of what had just happened, something that hasn't happened since time immemorial! The black light grabbed what remained of the light, and brought it towards Yan Zaizen's glabella, which produced a black swirling symbol that seemed to consume all things, including natural light, which promptly distributed it accordingly, before disappearing as quickly as it came.
As for Yan Zaizen - who didn't notice any of this - he thundered outwards, his heart's rhythm permanently changed, despite it not being as loud, it was far more powerful with each pump and filled with vital energies. His flesh and muscles flashed with a slight golden glow, but it quickly subsided. His bones were whiter than snow. His lungs exuded powerful gusts of air and sucked them in. The limitations of his body were removed, and his physique changed to become a Herculean!
"I did it!" His eyes gleamed with excitement.
Nascent Herculean Physique, Initial Success!
He clenched his fists and felt the vital energies surging through it. His blood felt like powerful streams traveling to and fro his heart. He could feel the power held in his muscles, the density of his bones, and heightened physical functions of his body. "According to the Method, the Initial Success stage is the minimum equivalent to a Peak Qi Revolving Cultivator!"
At minimum!!!
From this day forward, he was trash no more. His path and fate were going to be decided by himself.
Little did he know, this small declaration would later lead him to produce incredible legends.
He turned his attention to the white flame near his chest, staying there like an even fateful and vigilant guardian. As long as you live, I live. To his surprise, the white flame was completely stable and danced brilliantly about. "What? This...perfection?" He couldn't help but take a second look. Indeed! The white flame had reached the peak of its stability. In one month, his conceptual law - a world law - had reached the Perfection stage of the Nascent-level from its initial conception.
"Hahahaha! Who says I'm trash now?!" He couldn't help but loudly laugh in satisfaction. It wasn't just that, even his soul was enhanced, also reaching the Perfection stage of the Nascent-level! It seems fortune often comes pairs. He still didn't know the full significance of this cultivation level, but his spiritual sense has been enhanced by nearly three times! That's a qualitative change.
A knock on the door broke Yan Zaizen out of his satisfaction. A soft masculine voice echoed in his room, "Master is returning, Ninth Brother Zai. Please ready yourself and exit." The voice belonged to Shin Xuanji.
Master?
Han Genji!
That dirty old man was back.
Taking a deep breath, he readied himself and exited his room. It was time for his questions to be answered.
"Greetings, Master!"