Immediately he woke up, Shi Lan noticed something strange about his cultivation base.
There were nine levels in the Mortal Realm, and each level had three stages of mastery. Starting from Body Tempering, to Meridian Opening, Qi Sensing, Qi Gathering, Qi Circulation, Dantian Formation, Qi Compression, Internal Refinement, and Mortal Perfection, before one finally faced the Spirit Awakening Tribulation.
Of course, many mortals never made it through the Spirit Awakening Tribulation because while they were tempering their bodies, they completely ignored their spirits, forgetting that the spirit had a major role to play. From the cultivation art to martial techniques, all of them had to support the tempering of the spirit; otherwise, one could end up failing the Spirit Awakening Tribulation.
Most importantly, Qi Sensing, Qi Gathering, and Qi Circulation — during these stages of the Mortal Realm — were when the tempering of the spirit was most affected. But of course, only cultivators who had passed the Spirit Realm and entered the Comprehension Realm could realize this truth.
It had, in fact, taken Shi Lan that long to realize it.
But because he knew this, it was the reason he dared to skip Body Tempering. Sensing and absorbing Qi was as easy as breathing for him. Usually, it took a tempered body to sense Qi, but Shi Lan overcame that through pure will and the nurturing of his soul. That was how he had been able to easily sense Qi and circulate it even with this inadequate body.
Or that was what he thought.
However, now that he sat here and realized that his cultivation base had instantly boosted to the peak stage of the sixth level of the Mortal Realm, his eyes widened and froze.
'This is insane!'
It was the Primordial Dark Sea.
It had been the Primordial Dark Sea all along. Shi Lan realized that he should have known.
A body that simply could not absorb ambient Qi should not be able to absorb ambient Qi. There was nothing he could do but look for a way to temper his body. Yet he had been able to accomplish everything that should have been achieved in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth levels of the Mortal Realm.
He had done them all instantly.
That too with a broken body.
Wei Shi Lan studied the sea of darkness that calmly rested where his dantian should have been. The miniature moon was gone, and instead there was an eternal sea of darkness there. The sea also seemed to have swelled a little.
The Primordial Dark Sea was affecting his body, turning it into a medium capable of easily absorbing Qi. It devoured the Qi and consumed everything, seeming to swell in size because of it.
And even though the Primordial Dark Sea was absorbing it, Wei Shi Lan could feel a pure amount of Dark Qi flowing from the Dark Sea. This Qi was sinister in nature and resembled the demonic Qi that the Blood Demon Sect cultivated.
But this was nothing as rotten as theirs. Although it felt dangerous as it circulated through his body, it was purer and denser than any Qi. Its only competition was the Divine Qi of the Heavenly Realm.
Surprisingly, this Dark Qi also affected his inborn yang Qi, purifying it even further. Shi Lan suspected that he might become a great resource to a female cultivator because of the purity of his yang Qi, easily helping them leap through stages of their cultivation.
A forced grin broke across Shi Lan's face.
This achievement was unbelievable. No cultivator would ever believe that he had broken through six levels in just one day.
Looking at his body, his muscles were tight and flowed smoothly, as though they had been forged from pure steel. His body looked refined, turning jade-like and flawless. The black eye and swollen face had completely disappeared, and his dark eyes glowed with a white light that looked sharp and profound.
His hair was longer too, jet black and flowing like silk. He felt no internal pain, everything had vanished just like that.
Inside his body, he easily circulated this dark Qi through his meridians. Even the vital pillars he had erected had been affected by this dark Qi, becoming like obsidian pillars of a sinister temple.
It was ominous, yet vast and powerful, and there was nothing vile or evil about it except its tenebrous appearance.
'Sixth level of the Mortal Realm in a day. Even with all my knowledge, I wouldn't have expected a jump like this.'
Shi Lan smiled fiercely.
'This means I was right. The Dark Sea awakened after I cultivated the divine yin Qi of one thousand goddesses. What will happen when I cultivate that of two thousand goddesses…'
Wei Shi Lan clenched his fist.
For him, this was assurance that, after cultivating the divine yin Qi, he would gain unkillable flesh, an impregnable spirit, and an immortal cultivation that could not be crippled even if Fate Emperor himself interfered.
This was not an immortality of simply gaining a few thousand years of lifespan. He would become unkillable, unaging, standing above even the River of Time and all the Realms.
Wei Shi Lan stood up from the bed and walked outside, everyone was asleep so the house was silent like a graveyard. He stood at the entrance of the homestead, staring at the pale moonlight shining down on him indifferently.
Looking at the moon filled him with memories of the time he had spent with the Moon Goddess. She was a gentle beauty, shy and deeply lonely, yet bound by responsibilities the heavens had forced upon her.
He had helped her lift that burden. The moon had vanished from the Mortal and Martial Realms, but she was happy living in his manor and being a moon only to him. Thinking about her made him remember Chang'e's face for a moment.
Wei Shi Lan sighed and shook his head.
'It couldn't be…'
He raised his gaze to the moon again.
'Have the heavens replaced you, or have they forced you back there?'
He silently stared at the vast sky, almost about to reminisce about the Sky Goddess as well. But he shook his head.
'All of you… I'm coming back to you. So hold on tight. Hold on tight for your Heaven-Defying Husband.'