Terran Guardian - Chapter 4043

Chapter 4018: Limits in Aptitude

“Pfft!”

A figure plummeted from the starry sky, Huang Liang Daoist spitting out a mouthful of blood, his entire aura utterly dejected.

“Damn it… If I were in my prime, how dare a mere Immortal Emperor ant dare to be so presumptuous!”

Huang Liang Daoist’s face was filled with resentment.

Indeed!

He was the master of the Huang Liang Divine Sect.

Several falls had left his divine soul incomplete, even his memories distorted.

Fortunately,

he eventually found the legacy of his past life, allowing his cultivation to once again reach the peak of the Immortal Emperor level.

This time, Huang Liang Daoist entered the Crimson Jade Dao Palace with the goal of restoring his strength and repairing his incomplete divine soul.

And then…

that was possession—

“Xuan Tian Sword Master… This prodigy, ranked first on the Immortal Emperor Stele, possesses unparalleled talent and must have a top-tier immortal body bloodline.

If I could possess him, I would have a chance to return to my peak, or even advance further!”

Huang Liang Daoist’s eyes burned with fervor.

He vaguely remembered that he had once attempted to possess him, but for some reason, he had failed.

Although he couldn’t recall the reason for his failure,

Huang Liang Daoren believed it was simply due to insufficient preparation and a weakened soul.

If his soul were strong enough, failure would be impossible.

Currently,

obtaining a withered Dao Soul-Nourishing Flower was, in Huang Liang Daoren’s view, enough to increase his chances of success.

However,

if he considered other Immortal Emperors as his targets, he felt he wouldn’t need to prepare so much.

Having once stepped into the Dao Venerable realm, Huang Liang Daoren wouldn’t willingly possess any Immortal Emperor casually.

In his view,

the truly qualified geniuses for his possession should at least be among the top five, or even the top three, on the Immortal Emperor Stele.

He looked down on the likes of the Nine Mountain Immortal Emperors.

After all,

most of the top ten on the Immortal Emperor Stele were already doing well to reach the Longevity Realm; beyond that, most stopped at the Saint Realm, with very few reaching the Great Saint Realm.

Huang Liang Daoist possessed a deep-seated pride and would not casually attempt to possess another’s body unless absolutely necessary.

As for the top five on the Immortal Emperor’s Stele, most of them were backed by top-tier forces.

For example, Luo Xinghe was backed by the Taiyi Immortal

Sect, and Shen Jianxin by the Chunyang Sword Sect.

These prodigies from such supreme forces undoubtedly possessed numerous life-saving trump cards.

Huang Liang Daoist was not naive enough to believe that he could possess such prodigies in his current state. If they

truly possessed some trump card given to him by an old monster, attempting to possess them would be like a lamb entering a tiger’s den, a suicide mission.

In comparison,

among all the top prodigies, only Shen Changqing lacked the backing of a top-tier force.

Moreover,

Shen Changqing’s talent and aptitude were the strongest.

Therefore,

Shen Changqing was the best target for possession.

“Throughout history, any prodigy who has reached the top of the Immortal Emperor Stele, barring an unexpected demise, has the qualifications to become an ancestor.

I previously failed to break through to the Dao Venerable realm, but with the talents of such prodigies as my foundation, I should have a chance to advance further!”

With this thought, Huang Liang Daoist swallowed a pill, briefly recovering from his injuries, and then soared into the sky towards the outer reaches of the Great Dao Heaven.

For him, the most important thing right now was refining the Great Dao Soul-Nourishing Flower; everything else was secondary.

Entering the Crimson Jade Dao Palace this time, Huang Liang Daoist sought an opportunity to restore his incomplete soul, his fundamental purpose being to prepare for possession.

As for the opportunities within the Great Dao Heaven, frankly, he wasn’t particularly concerned.

The remaining ancient Daos here, while useful to him, were nothing more than that.

A month later.

Huang Liang Daoist traversed the starry sky, leaving the Great Dao Heaven, and then found a celestial abode to cultivate in seclusion, refining the Great Dao Soul-Nourishing Flower.

This withered Great Dao Soul-Nourishing Flower, though severely depleted of power, retained less than one ten-thousandth of its peak strength.

But for him now, it was also a great tonic.

Soon,

the Great Dao Soul-Nourishing Flower was completely refined.

“My divine soul power has finally recovered to the level of the Immortal Emperor realm. If I find some more opportunities, cultivating my divine soul back to the Half-Saint realm won’t be a problem!”

Huang Liang Daoist smiled with satisfaction. With his divine soul slightly repaired, his strength increased again.

The opportunities within the Crimson Jade Dao Palace were indeed extraordinary.

He had long heard of this place.

But unfortunately,

when he was at the Immortal Emperor realm, he didn’t have the qualifications to enter the Crimson Jade Dao Palace.

Later, when he found a Crimson Jade Token, he had already reached the pinnacle of immortality.

Only now, with

his divine soul incomplete and being rebuilt,

did he have the opportunity to enter this place.

“The Crimson Jade Dao Palace can nurture one Great Dao Soul-Nourishing Flower; perhaps it has the chance to nurture a second one. It is said that in the ancient battle, many Dao Venerable realm experts perished.

Now I should enter the Great Dao Heaven again to find the second Great Dao Soul-Nourishing Flower!”

Huang Liang Daoist’s eyes flickered; he had already made a plan.

Without hesitation, he headed directly towards the Great Dao Heaven.

Similarly,

the cultivators who had joined forces to hunt him down were now to be dealt with by Huang Liang Daoist.

Mere Immortal Emperors, mere ants!

How dare they be so insolent before him—

…

“Another Tai Xu Creation Fruit!”

A hundred years later, Shen Changqing arrived in a desolate starry sky, looking at the ancient immortal tree on that continent, strong enough to support the heavens, a slight smile appearing on his face.

Tai Xu Creation Fruit!

This was a good thing.

Although its effect on his current improvement was extremely limited,

the problem was… even

a small improvement was still an improvement.

Every breakthrough in one’s aptitude and foundation represents a greater potential for future advancement.

Countless cultivators have sacrificed everything to further improve their aptitude, yet failed.

Something like the Taixu Creation Fruit, if it were in the outside world, would drive all forces mad. This is the second Taixu Creation Fruit Shen Changqing has found.

Now , he understands even more clearly just how immense the opportunities within the Crimson Jade Dao Palace are. Treasures as rare as the Taixu Creation Fruit appear one after another. There’s even the Dao Soul-Nourishing Flower, which he’d never even heard of before. However, this is merely the tip of the iceberg within the Crimson Jade Dao Palace. It’s hard to imagine just how many more opportunities it holds. Without hesitation, Shen Changqing directly refined the Taixu Creation Fruit. With the experience of the first refinement, the second was a natural progression. “The improvement this time is probably only half of what it was last time!” Shen Changqing silently sensed the changes within himself; compared to the last time, the changes were much less significant. However, he also knew that at his level, further improvement in aptitude was extremely difficult. After all, his innate immortal body was already a top-tier physique. No matter how miraculous the Taixu Creation Fruit was, it couldn’t allow someone with his aptitude to experience another qualitative leap. Nevertheless, Shen Changqing was quite satisfied with this improvement. Although the effect was only half of the previous one, its long-term benefits would be astonishing. Afterwards, Shen Changqing left this place to continue exploring the Great Dao Heaven. Over the next hundred years, he found some other treasures for nurturing the divine soul, but unfortunately, those treasures were useless to Jiu Ye. His level as a Great Dao Lord meant that ordinary treasures were destined to be ineffective. Over the next few hundred years, Shen Changqing found several more Taixu Creation Fruits. From this, he also understood one thing: the more powerful beings who had perished in a place, the more likely such top-tier natural treasures were to be born. After all, powerful beings themselves contained boundless mysteries of creation. The higher the cultivation level of an existence, the more astonishing the mysteries of creation they possess. A single drop of blood from an Immortal Emperor, falling into the microcosm, can evolve into countless forms, let alone those who have reached the pinnacle of sainthood or even the Great Saint Supreme. Such powerful beings can suppress galaxies with a single drop of blood, and create heaven and earth with a single thought. The fall of such a being is no less than a tremendous opportunity for all living beings. Of course, this is all predicated on the fact that such beings leave no resentment or bitterness after their fall; otherwise, over time, it might evolve into a forbidden zone for life. Returning to the main point , most of the rare and precious natural treasures in the world are related to the fall of powerful beings. Countless powerful beings have perished within the Crimson Jade Dao Palace, and the Great Dao Heaven, as one of the three most dangerous places, contains boundless Great Dao rules and is far from ordinary. It is understandable that such a place can nurture numerous top-tier natural treasures. The rare and precious Tai Xu Creation Fruit, Shen Changqing had found seven or eight of them over several hundred years. During this time, some cultivators attempted to seize them from him. Shen Changqing showed no mercy to these cultivators vying for his opportunities. In the struggle for the Great Dao, holding back was tantamount to cruelty. He killed any cultivator who dared to attack, regardless of their status. Since he had already offended them, there was no point in not killing them. However, after refining another Tai Xu Creation Fruit, Shen Changqing frowned slightly, only relaxing after a long while. “It seems refining nine Tai Xu Creation Fruits is my limit; there’s no need to continue!” Just now, he refined the tenth Tai Xu Creation Fruit, but there was no change whatsoever. This meant that nine was his limit. Or rather, nine was his limit. After his aptitude reached this stage, the Tai Xu Creation Fruit was no longer useful. If it were a cultivator with less aptitude, they could probably consume the tenth or eleventh Tai Xu Creation Fruit. However, for him, he could only consume nine. Any more would be a pure waste. Even so, the nine Taixu Creation Fruits truly elevated Shen Changqing’s aptitude to a new level. His comprehension became stronger than before, and he grew increasingly attuned to the immortal energy of heaven and earth. Comprehending the Great Dao’s divine abilities became much easier. Even when cultivating the Xuanhuang Undying Body, many obscure and difficult aspects now seemed to clear up, giving Shen Changqing a sense of satisfaction. Several days later, Shen Changqing left this place to continue exploring the opportunities of the Great Dao Heaven.