In a perfect world, you start by relying on your own strength.

Shi Geng sat upright under the willow tree at the village entrance, with the ten great grottoes around him roaring in unison, drawing divine essence from the void and sending down a sky full of rosy light. The divine light was vast and radiant, illuminating the entire stone village with a dazzling display of light.

He sat there for three whole months without moving, without drinking a drop of water or eating a grain of rice. He relied entirely on the ten cave heavens within his body to absorb the essence of heaven and earth in the void, continuously drawing in the pure essence of heaven and earth to nourish himself.

When the villagers of Shicun saw him sitting still for a long time, they became worried and went to the willow tree to inquire about the situation of the Willow God Shigen. Only when the Willow God sent a message in his mind to assure them that he was alright did the villagers' hearts finally settle down.

As the days passed slowly, the people of Stone Village gradually got used to it and were even more surprised to find that their cultivation speed had actually increased. The closer they were to Shi Gen, the more obvious this change became.

Since then, all the villagers, young and old, have gathered around the ancient willow tree at the village entrance, meditating on the stone statue.

The abundant essence emanating from the ten grotto heavens enveloped the surrounding area. Within this area, the physical body absorbed the essence with twice the efficiency, and the overall strength of Stone Village increased at a visible rate.

Days passed by like this. One day, Shi Geng, who had been sitting like a rock for a long time, suddenly opened his eyes. A vast and chaotic aura appeared in his eyes, as if the primordial world at the beginning of creation was floating in his eyes.

The dormant and accumulated immense power instantly stirred, causing all ten grottoes to tremble simultaneously. A divine light burst through the surrounding aura, soaring into the sky and stirring up the surrounding sea of ​​clouds. The dense essence lingering at the village entrance was frantically drawn in by the power of the grottoes, and a gale swirled and howled above Stone Village.

"What is Gengwa trying to do?"

The villagers of Shicun stared wide-eyed, then all looked at their clan leader, Shi Yunfeng. Of all the villagers, only Shi Yunfeng had ever set foot in the Cave Heaven Realm.

Shi Yunfeng slowly shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either. In his past years, he had only managed to create three grotto-heavens during his cultivation in the sect, and had never heard of the concept of ten grotto-heavens.

Even the sect's records only mention the legend of nine grotto-heavens. From ancient times to the present, there has never been a precedent of anyone opening up ten grotto-heavens, let alone Shi Geng's current state.

"Oh no! Look! That huge hole is going to collapse!"

Suddenly, the little one exclaimed in surprise. Everyone looked over and saw that the divine light of the cave heaven hanging around Shi Geng had dissipated. The stable cave heaven territory was crumbling inch by inch, breaking into countless fireflies, and collapsing inward with a roar.

The villagers of Shicun immediately tensed up, their expressions strained, fearing that something might have happened to Shi Geng.

"It's on fire!"

The crowd gasped in surprise as the collapsed cave suddenly burst into flames. The crimson flames, carrying immense energy, surged and burned, melting the shattered cave's territory with divine fire. The pure energy poured in like a celestial river, flowing directly into Shi Geng's body.

The remaining nine grotto-heavens were affected by this and trembled continuously, their inner energy boiling and surging as they were scorched by the flames.

The primordial divine fire burned away the remains of the cave, and the scattered essence of the cave transformed into billions of golden-red clouds, which flowed unimpeded into the limbs and bones of Shi Gen.

Immediately afterwards, the second cave trembled slightly, the runes on its outer wall cracked inch by inch, and in an instant it stepped into the past, once again being ignited and melted by the primordial divine fire, and the vast energy flowed back into the physical body.

One, two, three...

One after another, the cave heavens that were floating around Shi Geng collapsed, and the fragments of the cave heavens scattered in all directions along with the primordial essence. The raging divine fire surged wildly along the broken cave heaven walls, and the ten cave heavens hung in the air like ten great suns.

The flames were completely contained around his body, and the surging heat was locked by an invisible barrier, preventing any leakage and harming the surrounding vegetation and rocks.

This is not a real flame. It is Shi Geng using his body as a furnace to burn everything about himself. The original essence and blood deep in his flesh and bones are scorched by the flames. The massive spiritual power churning in his sea of ​​consciousness turns into wisps of green smoke and merges into the river of fire. The will rooted deep in his soul is also constantly tempered and refined in the flames.

All the accumulated resources of the cave heavens and all the cultivation gained through arduous training were ignited, transforming into a surging torrent that enveloped the body from the inside out. Shi Geng sat upright under the willow tree, his physical body like a bottomless abyss, frantically devouring the essence of the ten caves after they dissolved. Beneath his skin, his bones and muscles rumbled, and the potential hidden within his body was continuously unleashed.

"Destroying the entire grotto-heaven... this child actually intends to abandon the foundation of the grotto-heaven and forge a completely new path?"

The willow branches swayed, and the Willow God looked at Shi Gen with some surprise. At this point, He had seen through Shi Gen's ambition. This child actually wanted to destroy all the cave heavens and forge a completely new path through destruction.

The little boy stared wide-eyed at the divine fire filling the sky, his eyes filled with shock. The surrounding Stone Village people retreated, looking at the blazing phenomenon with awe.

No one could have imagined that the supreme foundation, which had taken so long to build, would be reduced to ashes by Shi Geng himself.

As the last wisp of the cave fire merged into Shi Geng's body, the raging flames suddenly subsided, and the churning energy between heaven and earth instantly returned to calm.

"May the Willow Goddess help me!"

Shi Geng gritted his teeth and roared at Liu Shen.

His physical body was on the verge of collapse, and the ten great primordial energies within his body were churning and converging, with violent power surging wildly through his limbs and bones.

His skin and flesh were torn apart inch by inch, and bloody streaks covered his entire body. Blood seeped out from the cracks, and in an instant, he was soaked in blood and became a bloody mess. It looked as if he would be torn to pieces by the violent force at any moment.

At the critical moment, a verdant willow branch seemed to break through the spatial barrier and landed on Shi Gen's head.

Strands of pure life essence flowed into Shi Geng's body through the broken flesh, and his body, which was originally on the verge of collapse, healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The constantly bleeding cracks began to scab over quickly and grow tender white flesh.

The restless and rampaging source of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens gradually calmed down under the soothing aura of the Willow God. The chaotic and colliding power of the Grotto-Heavens was wrapped by the willow branches and circulated orderly within Shi Geng's body.

Shi Geng's tense body relaxed slightly, his clenched teeth slowly loosened, and the blood dripping from his body was evaporated into red mist by the scalding blood and qi.

"Thank you, Goddess Liu."

Shi Geng's eyes suddenly flashed with divine light, and with the help of the Willow God's divine power, he began to gradually gather the surging source of the cave within his body.

The origins of the ten great grotto-heavens flowed back and forth, converging towards his dantian. He lowered his waist and sat upright, his body as stable as a rock. The chaotic and boundless power was compressed and refined layer by layer, and the great power of the grotto-heavens was constantly gathered. Finally, it condensed into an imperceptible origin point deep in his dantian, containing all the boundless power.

"burst!"

Shi Geng shouted loudly, and the light spot in his dantian that had gathered all the origins of the ten great cave heavens suddenly burst out with dazzling divine light and exploded.

A dazzling halo spread wildly from within his body, as if at the beginning of creation, when the universe was first opened and the galaxy was collapsing. A violent and boundless power swept through his body's meridians and limbs. His body, which had been repaired by the Willow God's spiritual energy, trembled violently and cracked again, oozing blood. Then, it was repaired by the life essence infused by the Willow God.

The cycle of cracking and repairing, cracking and repairing, repeated countless times, the extreme pain seemed to tear his soul apart, bringing him to the brink of mental collapse.

Finally, the storm subsided, and the violent energy was completely gathered into the dantian. The chaos in the dantian slowly sank and differentiated, and a small world belonging to Shi Geng slowly took shape within his body.

The pure and turbid energies stand separately, with the heavens covering the top and the earth sinking below. The ten grotto heavens merge into one, becoming the origin and foundation of this world, the nascent form of mountains and rivers, and the hidden flow of spiritual veins within. The world quietly sprouts, and wisps of the Daoist charm of grass and trees drift within the world, which are the remaining blessings of the Great Dao left by the Willow God.