I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

He explored the abyss. For three days, his footsteps trodden on rubble and bones. Occasionally, luminous moss clung to the stone walls, emitting a faint green glow. On the fourth day, he discovered a stone door concealed by vines. The door was black, inscribed with ancient runes that glowed silver in the darkness. He used his bone blade to cleave through the vines, then the stone door. A crack appeared in the door, which he pried open with his blade, revealing a downward-sloping stone staircase. On either side of the staircase burned ever-burning lamps, their flames blue and smokeless.

At the end of the stone steps lay an underground palace. The palace wasn't large, only a hundred feet in circumference, with a skeleton sitting cross-legged in the center. The skeleton wore a black Taoist robe, which had decayed, revealing the bones beneath. The bones were golden, radiating a dense aura of a Source Emperor. As Qin Yuan approached, the pressure intensified, like a mountain pressing down on him. He gritted his teeth and walked forward step by step. Before the skeleton lay a jade scroll and a fist-sized Source Crystal. The Source Crystal was transparent, with flowing starlight within, sparkling like living things.

Qin Yuan reached for the jade slip. Suddenly, two blue flames lit up in the skeleton's eye sockets. An aged voice echoed in his mind, "Finally, someone has come."

The remnant soul within the skeleton called itself the Eternal Origin Emperor, a peak ninth-level Chaos Origin Emperor in life, who perished here after being surrounded and killed by his enemies. The remnant soul's voice was soft, like wind blowing through dry leaves. "Although your cultivation is low, your killing intent is strong enough, and your foundation is solid enough. My lifelong cultivation of 'Return of All Origins' can help you break through to the Origin Emperor level." Qin Yuan asked, "What are the conditions?" The Eternal Origin Emperor said, "Kill someone for me. Your enemy from back then is now the Supreme Elder of the Myriad Paths Origin Sect, the Daoless Origin Emperor." Qin Yuan did not hesitate. "Alright." The Eternal Origin Emperor transferred the jade slip and Origin Crystal to Qin Yuan, the remnant soul dissipated, and the blue flames extinguished.

Qin Yuan sat cross-legged, his consciousness sinking into the jade slip. The *Return of All Origins* was profound and obscure, each sentence having more than a dozen interpretations. He studied it continuously for seven days and seven nights, without sleep or rest. The words in the jade slip transformed into golden specks of light, flooding into his mind. On the seventh night, he opened his eyes; golden runes appeared on the bone blade of his left arm, flowing across its surface as if alive. His cultivation had broken through to the first level of the Chaos Origin Emperor.

Above the abyss, calamity clouds gathered. The clouds were black, thick, and low, pressing down so heavily that it was hard to breathe. Thunder rumbled within the clouds like countless silver serpents. Sensing the might of the heavens, the strange beasts in the abyss fled in all directions; some burrowed into crevices in the rocks, some leaped into underground rivers, and some lay trembling on the ground.

The first bolt of lightning struck, as thick as an arm, glowing white. Qin Yuan didn't dodge, but instead took it head-on with his bone blade. Cracks appeared on the blade, and he coughed up blood, which dripped onto the ground with a hissing sound. The second bolt was even thicker, as thick as a thigh. The cracks on the bone blade widened, and his hand trembled. The third, the fourth, the fifth bolts, each stronger than the last. Qin Yuan's entire body was charred black, the bone in his left arm cracked again, and the flesh was burnt, emitting a pungent smell. He gritted his teeth and refused to back down.

The sixth bolt of heavenly lightning transformed into a thunder dragon, baring its fangs and claws as it swooped down. The thunder dragon's body was over ten feet long, its eyes were white, and its mouth was open, revealing thunder fangs. Qin Yuan's bone blade extended, piercing the thunder dragon's head. The thunder dragon exploded, sending him flying, crashing into a stone wall that collapsed. The seventh and eighth bolts struck in quick succession, breaking Qin Yuan's bone blade in two, but he withstood the blows with his body. Blood and flesh flew everywhere; a large chunk of flesh was cleaved from his left arm, exposing the bone beneath. The bone was white and cracked.

The ninth bolt of heavenly lightning coalesced into a humanoid figure, wielding a lightning sword, and descended from the tribulation clouds. The figure was seven feet tall, its entire body composed of lightning, its face devoid of features, only a pure white light. It was the embodiment of the lightning tribulation. It approached Qin Yuan, each step leaving a charred footprint on the ground.

The Thunder Tribulation Avatar possessed the same strength and speed as Qin Yuan. It drew its sword, while Qin Yuan drew his bone blade. The two blades clashed, sparks flying. The two fought fiercely in the abyss, neither gaining the upper hand. Qin Yuan discovered that the Thunder Tribulation Avatar had no emotions, felt no pain, and felt no fatigue, while he did. His stamina was waning, his wounds were bleeding, and the bones in his left arm broke and fractured repeatedly.

He suddenly abandoned his defense. The Thunder Tribulation Avatar pierced his left shoulder with a sword, the blade going in below the shoulder blade and emerging from behind. Lightning raged in the wound, charring and smoking the flesh. Qin Yuan plunged the Bone-Breaking Blade into the Thunder Tribulation Avatar's chest. The Bone-Breaking Blade sank in, and the Thunder Tribulation Avatar's body began to disintegrate, scattering lightning into countless points of light. Qin Yuan pulled out the sword; the wound on his left shoulder was smoking, the flesh charred and emitting a burnt smell.

The final bolt of heavenly lightning struck Qin Yuan. He collapsed to the ground, his body charred black, motionless. Golden light shone down from the sky, falling upon Qin Yuan. The light was warm, like sunlight, but more intense. His wounds began to heal, the bones in his left arm regrowed, and the flesh grew back. The bone blade in his left arm also regrowed, longer and darker than before, its surface covered with even brighter golden runes. He had achieved the first level of the Origin Emperor realm.

Qin Yuan stayed in the abyss for several more days. He refined the Origin Crystal of the Eternal Origin Emperor, and his cultivation level rose again, approaching the second level of the Origin Emperor. The starlight from the Origin Crystal flowed into his meridians, and spiritual power was transformed into Origin Power, condensed a hundredfold. He tested his bone blade, and with a single swing, a ten-foot-deep trench was cleaved in the abyss's stone wall, the cut as smooth as a mirror. Golden runes flowed on the bone blade, capable of breaking through the Origin Emperor's protective Origin Power.

He left the abyss and climbed up the cliff face. Along the way, he encountered several strange beasts, but his bone blades slashed them relentlessly, leaving none standing. A shadow leopard pounced, only to be cleaved in two by a bone blade. A member of the scaled giant ape's kind charged from the side, its skull pierced by a bone blade. He climbed out of the abyss; the sunlight was blinding, and he squinted.

The spies of the Myriad Paths Origin Sect were still monitoring from a distance. They hid behind rocks on the hillside, watching through binoculars. They saw Qin Yuan emerge from the abyss, covered in wounds, but his aura was ten times stronger than before he entered. The spies turned pale, dropped their binoculars, and ran. Qin Yuan's bone blade flew out, spinning as it traversed a hundred feet, piercing the spies' back. The spies fell to the ground, sliding a foot away. Qin Yuan walked over, pulled out the bone blade, didn't even wipe it clean, and strode towards the direction of the Myriad Paths Origin Sect.

Behind him, the scout's body lay on the ground, the blue sky reflected in the pool of blood.

Qin Yuan swiftly breached twelve outposts on the outskirts of the Ten Thousand Dao Source Sect. The first outpost was at a mountain pass, where ten gatekeepers were dozing. Qin Yuan attacked from behind, his bone blade sweeping across, decapitating all ten and spraying blood onto the tent. The second outpost was halfway up the mountain, where a hundred-man squad was training, their captain shouting slogans. Qin Yuan attacked from the side, his bone blade transforming into a long whip, sweeping away over a dozen men with a single strike. Blood stained the training ground, and corpses piled up. He launched successive surprise attacks on the third through seventh outposts, catching the enemy completely off guard. Some were still eating, their bowls falling to the ground; some were still sleeping, their blankets soaked in blood; some were still patrolling, their heads chopped off before they could even see who was who.