Chapter 733: Soul Path?

The giant octopus was clearly stunned. Its worldview had begun to collapse. As a cosmic transcendent life form, it naturally possessed inherited memories, but now, it suspected its own noble, inherited knowledge was far too rudimentary. It realized *it* was the true bumpkin, feeling utterly ashamed for having scoffed earlier.

"Could it be that I've entered a high-dimensional transcendent world?" it wondered. "A super dimension of some world, where countless top-tier worlds wage war, and even legendary ninth-tier world-level overlords exist? Even ninth-tier beings have fallen here?"

Yuan Qinghua watched the bewildered and utterly subdued giant octopus with satisfaction. "It seems the Creator God introduction routine by 'Akina Mountain Speed' is still quite effective and truly intimidating," he mused. He said it without an ounce of embarrassment, brimming with pride.

"Where did this country bumpkin Heaven Emperor come from, looking so smug here?" he thought. "Its only advantage is its immense size. This low-level creature hasn't even seen a real grand spectacle!"

Screenshot. Screenshot. The image showed the bewildered cosmic giant octopus, a somewhat strange alien cephalopod creature.

He couldn't resist secretly posting online: "Soul shock, taming the country bumpkin! Entering its body, then conquering its soul!"

Netizens quickly replied: "Hahahaha! This is amazing!" "Holy crap, knowledge is power! Making the big octopus so obedient!" "Indeed, knowledge is power; it left them completely bewildered!"

After posting, Yuan Qinghua paid little attention to the replies, not even bothering to look. He simply walked past the giant octopus and turned to face the experts from the Deva Path and Human Path. He clearly understood this was an opportunity. It was a chance to establish the players' prestige, gain goodwill, and also, just as he had revealed his guessed truth—the true secret of reincarnation. At the same time, he wanted to show them the consequences of messing with Emperor Qi! After all, now that they were done celebrating, they would inevitably feel worried and scared. It would be better to drag others into this mess with them, making everyone share the fear.

"Everyone, to be frank, the world outside is incredibly vast," Yuan Qinghua said, pointing at the giant octopus. "As you've seen, there are infinitely more possibilities than you can imagine."

The Grand Sages nodded solemnly. The giant octopus couldn't help but nod along. It had never imagined such terrifying high-dimensional transcendent worlds existed. Only now was Galway Union finally touching upon the truth of the universe!

"To be honest, three worlds outside are currently engaged in a terrifying war, and each of those worlds has beings close to or even beyond the ninth-tier," Yuan Qinghua revealed a horrifying truth.

The giant octopus was instantly overcome with complete terror. "Three? Three beings near the ninth-tier, warring right beside me? And I didn't even notice? This strange tree just said that if they hadn't come, a ninth-tier being might have appeared?" It would surely be affected. "But those were ninth-tier beings! According to its ancient inherited memories, such terrifying cosmic wars spread across half a galaxy, involving countless subordinate civilizations and deities. I couldn't imagine..."

Yuan Qinghua glanced at the bewildered giant octopus, cleared his throat twice, and continued, "At this moment, our world's spiritual energy is incredibly abundant. Although our combat power only reaches the Heaven Emperor level, we still need to raise the ceiling of our capabilities. Therefore, after the Buddhist and Daoist paths, I will now reveal another path: the Martial Path."

"The Martial Path focuses on forging the body, through a holistic physical approach..." Yuan Qinghua continued his explanation. The surrounding people listened, their minds greatly enlightened. Indeed, the timing was perfect. With such immense energy and the world's spiritual energy being so dense, it was truly ideal for cultivating the Martial Path.

Meanwhile, the giant octopus, listening nearby, paused in surprise, muttering inwardly: *Isn't this the most common cultivation path? These bumpkin Heaven Emperors! Each of them acts as if they've discovered a new world; it's simply laughable.* In an instant, it felt a renewed sense of condescending amusement, like one who understands true depth while others remain ignorant.

But then, a thought suddenly struck it. Listening to Yuan Qinghua's sermon, it couldn't help but ask from the side, "You didn't cultivate this before? Could it be that you were cultivating more advanced bloodline techniques?"

Yuan Qinghua froze: "....." "What does that mean?" He stopped speaking, his mind racing to avoid having his bluff called.

*I deliberately told him this to get him involved, to figure out his world's coordinates. Even if there's no civilization there, or if he has siblings, it means we can exploit it again... Playing the fox by borrowing the tiger's might, I can't let my act be exposed...*

Yuan Qinghua had no idea this was a true cosmic being. Therefore, he naturally treated it as an outsider, similar to those from a wizard world or an ancient tree planet.

At this moment, Yuan Qinghua's mind was racing: *Is it possible that everyone in this giant octopus's world cultivates the Martial Path? Is it the most common cultivation method? It's quite possible, though. It doesn't require any transcendent bloodlines, has no entry barrier. No wonder the giant octopus's cultivation speed is so slow. The Martial Path is a system that demands the most resources and time. Damn it, this giant octopus's world is different from ours! Here, transcendent bloodlines are common, everyone has them. On the contrary, additional cultivation methods that don't require bloodlines are treasured because they have no bloodline requirements, allowing people to cultivate one or two more systems. I almost didn't realize it.* Yuan Qinghua instantly understood.

But as a professional, how could he show surprise? "Truly, a country bumpkin." Yuan Qinghua spoke calmly, stating proudly, "Naturally, we previously cultivated more advanced bloodline techniques. It's only now, after mastering two major systems and having no more advanced methods to cultivate, that we've begun practicing this most basic technique."

The giant octopus was completely impressed and believed it to be true.

"However, if you have any common techniques that don't require bloodlines over there, you can tell me about them," Yuan Qinghua said nonchalantly. "Perhaps there are some minor deficiencies that we can help correct."

"Those are the most fundamental techniques, refined through countless trials; there shouldn't be any deficiencies," the giant octopus couldn't help but say.

"Hmph." Yuan Qinghua narrowed his eyes slightly. "Why would I, Yuan Qinghua, need to explain my life's actions to a country creature like you? Backward worlds are always smug. Just tell me."

The giant octopus completely dared not speak a word, nor did it suspect anything. "According to my inherited memories, the two most common and widespread original cultivation methods are the Martial Path, which focuses on the body, as you mentioned... and the Soul Path, which, like the Martial Path, forges the soul."

*Beyond the Martial Path, there's also a Soul Path?* Yuan Qinghua's eyes immediately lit up. He cleared his throat twice. "So, these are indeed the two bloodline-independent techniques I was aware of? Go ahead and transcribe these two paths—the Martial Path and the Soul Path—and I'll tell you how many ways they can be written and how many branching paths they have."

*There are branches?* The giant octopus was startled and quickly recited them. It naturally wouldn't consider why a race with more advanced innate bloodlines and their own transcendent cultivation methods would care about these two simplest and most common techniques. Only a fool would try to cultivate countless techniques simultaneously. In its view, the other party genuinely wanted to see how primitive its techniques were.

Watching the players in his online game mess around, Xu Zhi quietly observed from the shadows, secretly learning. "The Soul Path, it seems to be a type of mental cultivation? Similar to witchcraft? No, witchcraft increases spiritual power, but this is purely about forging and completely enhancing soul power. Like the Martial Path, one forges the body, and the other forges the soul."