Chapter 458: Opening a Cave Heaven?

"No avatar?" Li Guan, Qin Wu, and Luo Tang were all stunned."You delved into the deepest layers of the void?" Li Guan asked."Yes," Meng Chuan nodded.

Qin Wu's illusory figure pressed on, "Meng Chuan, I've heard you say that your self-created 'Cloud Mist Dragon-Snake Movement Art' is an advancement based on the 'Heaven and Earth Roaming Dragon Blade'. Even with improvements, how could it result in absolutely no avatar?"Ancestor Ye Hong, the Roaming Dragon Venerable, manifested an external avatar even when he reached the Cavern Heaven realm completion. Meng Chuan, despite his advancement, had only just reached the early stage of the Cavern Heaven realm.

Meng Chuan explained, "Master, my Cloud Mist Dragon-Snake Movement Art is indeed based on the Heaven and Earth Roaming Dragon Blade. However, as I practiced, the differences between them grew. After breaking through to the Cavern Heaven realm, their cultivation directions became completely distinct. Ancestor Ye Hong's Heaven and Earth Roaming Dragon Blade emphasizes movement and transformation within heaven and earth, while my Cloud Mist Dragon-Snake Movement Art focuses more on stealth within the void."One prioritizes the 'Roaming Dragon aspect,' and the other the 'Nine Heavens aspect,' so their cores are different. The Cloud Mist Dragon-Snake Movement Art is more adept at void stealth.

"Skilled in different directions?" Qin Wu understood. "Show me.""Alright."Meng Chuan nodded, and his figure blurred, then vanished.

Qin Wu's and Luo Tang's illusory figures both looked at Li Guan, as Li Guan was his true body and could detect Meng Chuan's location."Remarkable, truly remarkable," Li Guan exclaimed as he sensed it. "His void stealth has reached an astonishing level. I would also need to use a Tribulation Realm secret treasure to completely penetrate that layer of void."

"Oh?" Qin Wu and Luo Tang were both somewhat surprised.Among all the Creation Venerables in the world, Bai Yaoyue, Li Guan, and Qin Wu were the strongest three. Bai Yaoyue specialized in the Lunar lineage. Li Guan cultivated the Primordial God Body, excelled in the Five Elements, and had a more refined control over the void than even True Martial King. Qin Wu's 'Sky-Rending Sword Array' could create a sword formation that locked down a section of the void, demonstrating his profound mastery of void manipulation. Both Qin Wu and Li Guan, being fellow disciples, were adept in void-related arts.

"Excellent," Qin Wu said, smiling at Meng Chuan. "Among all the Creation Venerables in the world, only Senior Brother Li Guan and I could pose a threat to you. If your void stealth advances further, I fear no one in the world would be able to threaten you.""It's merely for concealment and self-preservation," Meng Chuan chuckled. "To kill enemies, offensive techniques are still necessary. By the way, when I killed the eighteen demon kings in the demon race's formation, each of their life cores was a black box. I managed to seize sixteen of them, but two slipped away."

As Meng Chuan spoke, he waved his hand, and sixteen life-boxes piled up on the ground beside him."Life-boxes?" Li Guan asked, surprised."The insides of these boxes are already damaged," Meng Chuan said. "The life-boxes have many runes, which I don't quite understand. Master, can you tell what formation those eighteen demon kings created?"

"I recognize these as life-boxes; in the outer realms, special life forms centered around life-boxes are fairly common," Li Guan said, frowning. "But I can't decipher what formation these life-boxes created.""I can't either," Qin Wu replied, shaking his head. "Creation Venerables travel slowly through the River of Time, so their exploration of the outer realms is limited. Emperor-level beings can explore much wider areas... It's becoming increasingly difficult for our home world to produce Emperor-level beings, which has led to less exploration of the outer realms. We mainly have more knowledge of the surrounding areas. Information about slightly more distant regions is very outdated."

Meng Chuan nodded slightly.Qin Wu, Luo Tang, and Li Guan exchanged glances. Qin Wu then said, "Meng Chuan, there's something I need to remind you about.""Please speak, Master," Meng Chuan listened carefully.

"You reached the fifth level of the Soul and the Cavern Heaven realm long ago. Logically, you could become a Creation Venerable at any time," Qin Wu said. "However, the battle in the World Gap is currently at its most critical stage. If you become a Creation Venerable, you won't be able to enter the World Gap. Therefore, for the sake of this war, you cannot break through for now.""I understand, Master," Meng Chuan smiled. "Ordinary King-level Godfiends can break through before they turn 150. I cultivate the body-refining lineage, so my vitality always remains at its peak. I can break through whenever I wish. I'm not in a hurry at all."

Qin Wu continued, "Meng Chuan, I know you've created both the 'Cloud Mist Dragon-Snake Movement Art' and 'Endless Blade,' which are two distinct paths. However, to establish a Cavern Heaven, you must choose one path, and this will be the path you follow indefinitely in the future."Meng Chuan listened intently.

"Breaking through from the Boundless realm to the Cavern Heaven realm involves using powerful Soul control and Cavern Heaven realm rules to directly open up a Cavern Heaven," Qin Wu explained. "Within your dantian space, you create a Cavern Heaven, which will be the source of your future power.""The established Cavern Heaven is like a small sapling.""The Cavern Heaven will become increasingly perfected; this is the process of the sapling slowly growing.""And after that, the Cavern Heaven transforms into a 'heaven and earth,' which is the sapling growing into a 'towering tree.'"Qin Wu looked at Meng Chuan. "You must follow a single path; it cannot be changed. When you decide on the 'sapling,' you are also determining the future 'towering tree.'"

"I understand, Master," Meng Chuan replied, acknowledging he was aware of these principles.

"Your realm has now reached the point where you must choose a path at any moment, and as your master, I must remind you," Qin Wu stated solemnly. "You have two paths. The Cloud Mist Dragon-Snake Movement Art is relatively easier; you are already in the Cavern Heaven realm, and there's hope of reaching the Heaven and Earth realm in the future. As for the Endless Blade, as far as I know, it pursues the ultimate limit of speed, seeking to break the suppression of the rules of heaven and earth. That would be considered a legendary ultimate art."

Meng Chuan fell silent.He was also hesitant about this point.

"Ultimate arts are very powerful," Qin Wu warned. "A Cavern Heaven created using the Cavern Heaven realm rules of an ultimate art would undoubtedly be hundreds or even thousands of times larger than an ordinary Cavern Heaven. When the Cavern Heaven transforms into a 'heaven and earth,' the inner heaven and earth would also be hundreds or thousands of times vaster. The foundation would be incredibly robust. However, the difficulty of cultivation is also much, much higher. At least in our home world, no one has yet self-created an ultimate art. Even if you can create a 'Venerable-level' ultimate art, creating an 'Emperor-level' ultimate art would be extremely difficult.""You need to consider carefully which of the two paths to choose, for once chosen, there's no turning back," Qin Wu said. "And I must specifically remind you: since the creation of the Godfiend cultivation system, no Godfiend has ever established a Cavern Heaven using an 'ultimate art.'"

Meng Chuan's heart trembled.His master's last remark startled him.Throughout generations, human ancestors had perfected the Godfiend system. Yet, within this system, no one had ever established a Cavern Heaven using an 'ultimate art.' Although it was believed that such a Cavern Heaven would be hundreds or thousands of times larger than a typical one, unforeseen complications could arise from something that had never occurred before.

"You have plenty of time to consider it carefully," Li Guan said with a smile. "By the way, knowing you're attempting to create an ultimate art, your master has spent these past years sifting through countless archives and numerous books from Yuanchu Mountain and Canghai Sect, finding a considerable amount of information on 'ultimate arts' for you."As he spoke, he waved a hand, and a pile of books and scrolls, numbering in the hundreds, appeared beside them.Seeing this, Meng Chuan couldn't help but look at his master gratefully.

The archives and books of Yuanchu Mountain and Canghai Sect were vast, like a boundless ocean, and ultimate arts had never been created by anyone. Who would pay attention to scattered records of them? Yet Qin Wu had dedicated himself to reviewing these documents and classics, all to ensure his disciple's future cultivation path would be smooth."My avatar usually has nothing to do anyway," Qin Wu said with a chuckle."Thank you, Master," Meng Chuan said gratefully.

Meanwhile, in the Demon Realm."The Black River Formation was broken?" Starfeather Emperor, Empress Xuanyue, and Peng Emperor sat high on their thrones in the grand hall, looking in disbelief at the three returning demon kings below. Peng Emperor had expended considerable effort to create the 'Black River Formation.' The three Emperors had held great expectations for it, only to suffer an unfortunate start.

"Explain the situation in detail," Starfeather Emperor commanded."It's like this," Dragon-Poison Patriarch recounted everything.