Tang Dynasty Demon Suppression Division

After confirming that everything was correct, Li Yuan began his cultivation.

Several months later, he had mastered the nameless technique to its fullest extent and realized that only a year and a half had passed. He then temporarily withdrew from the Myriad Realms Palace and attempted to break through to a higher realm.

After he activated his cultivation technique, a massive annihilation force surged towards him from the earth's core, continuously penetrating his body.

A deafening roar began to emanate from his dantian, which transformed into a massive vortex resembling a galaxy, frantically absorbing the power of annihilation.

A few days later, he had drawn all the power from the world, yet there was still no sign of it loosening; the vortex continued to spin thirstily.

He didn't even touch that invisible barrier.

It seems that the power of annihilation alone is far from enough; the power required to break through to the Immortal Realm has been seriously underestimated.

No wonder no one has been able to break through to a higher realm for tens of thousands of years; it seems he was too naive.

He stopped, frowned, and began to think. Now, apart from the power of annihilation, the only thing he could rely on was the power of the star river from the Myriad Realms Palace.

Either of the two powers might not be enough for him to advance, so he must use both powers simultaneously to upgrade.

The power of annihilation is deathly still, while the power of the galaxy is profound and mysterious. These are two completely different power systems. If one wants to utilize them at the same time, one must find a balance point; otherwise, before one can advance, one will be overwhelmed and explode.

After a moment of silence, Li Yuan entered the sea of ​​books in the Myriad Realms Palace and turned to look for books related to star power.

This time, he spent a considerable amount of time finally finding a cultivation manual that glowed with a pale blue light.

This is a cultivation technique that focuses entirely on star power. Li Yuan temporarily put aside everything else and began to concentrate on cultivating it until he had mastered it completely.

"The problem now is that these two sets of techniques need to be perfectly integrated."

Li Yuan looked at the two volumes of ancient texts in his hands. "We need to find a way to accommodate both kinds of power at the same time."

At this moment, in the desert, the sandstorm still rages, and the sky is gray and white.

At the other end, on the stone steps in front of the stone gate, Ji Fanghua still stood stubbornly.

As night deepened, a lamp was lit in the temple. Leng Ningshuang, having recovered from her injuries after recuperation, opened the window and gazed in the direction of the temple, lost in thought for a long time.

In the vast sea of ​​books within the Myriad Realms Palace, Li Yuan had completely forgotten about time.

He laid out the ancient scrolls of demonic cultivation and the Star River Technique side by side in front of him, reading them word by word, deducing them over and over again countless times.

The ancient scroll of demonic cultivation exuded a cold and profound aura, while the Star River cultivation technique was vast and radiant. He circulated both techniques separately, carefully sensing their power.

They discovered that the power of annihilation and the power of the galaxy within their bodies flowed in separate paths, like two different rivers surging through their meridians.

But when he tried to merge the two forces, the spiritual energy was like two herds of wild horses colliding violently in his meridians, causing his blood and qi to surge and his meridians to ache.

He kept adjusting and tried several more times, but all ended in failure, and he gradually began to feel anxious.

Li Yuan gritted his teeth and tried to force the fusion, letting the two forces collide and see if they could coexist peacefully in the end.

Suddenly, a violent tremor came from deep within his meridians, his vision went black, and he fell forward.

Two forces exploded within the body, their impact surging upwards along the meridians, directly targeting the sea of ​​consciousness.

Li Yuan felt dizzy and hurriedly sat down cross-legged, forcibly separating the two forces, but the momentum was already unstoppable, and a mouthful of blood welled up in his throat, almost spitting out.

A wave of dizziness washed over Li Yuan, and he felt his consciousness being swept into a torrent. The world before him rapidly crumbled and reformed, with countless images flashing by.

He saw himself return to the Tang Dynasty.

There are bustling streets, the sound of students reading aloud, the sound of swords and spears on the frontier, and the solitary figure drinking alone under the moon.

Li Yuan felt as if he had returned to a familiar street, saw the place where he used to live, and saw Aji. He and Ahua were now married and had a lovely child.

Li Yuan saw the Divine Martial Academy, his companions who drank and laughed with him, and his comrades-in-arms waving to him from the city wall. Chu Jinghong, Shen Lian, Yu Ling'er... familiar faces flashed before his eyes.

He saw Mr. Mo, dressed in a worn gray shirt, carrying a gourd of wine, smiling at him; he saw the dashing Liu Hongyan… These faces were so vivid, they didn’t seem like illusions, as if they were right beside him.

It turns out that over the years, he has made so many old friends and formed so many bonds with them.

When he first arrived in the Tang Dynasty, he always felt like an outsider. For the first few years, he always thought that one day he would find a way back to the 21st century, and that he was just a passerby who had mistakenly entered another world and would eventually return home.

He doesn't dare to get too involved in the people and things around him.

He didn't know when it started, but he found himself no longer in a hurry to go back. He had grown accustomed to the wind and starry sky here, to the sounds of laughter around him, and to the trust he had placed in others when they fought side by side.

He gradually realized that he was no longer a passerby. Everything in this world—the anger, the sorrow, and the laughter, the bonds forged in blood and fire—had become a real part of his life, something he could no longer sever or turn back from.

Within this warm, dreamlike realm, Li's voice quietly rang out.

"Li Yuan, let me tell you a secret: this world is sick. If no one finds the secret of the Heavenly Ladder, it will continue to collapse until it is destroyed."

What?

Li Yuan was startled.

"The Tang Dynasty you see now has begun to descend into chaos. If this world is destroyed, it will become exactly like the desert beneath your feet."

Li Yuan's breath hitched.

He recalled the scene he had seen in the heart of the desert: the sky cracked open with huge fissures, the earth trembled and collapsed, rivers flowed backward, mountains shattered, and countless faces vanished in the chaos.

"No!"

"I will never let this happen!"

He heard himself shout, and in an instant, all the illusions receded like a tide.

Li Yuan reopened his eyes, and at that moment, a look of enlightenment flashed in them.

He realized that he didn't need to forcibly merge the two forces into one. True balance was to let them each perform their functions like the sun and moon, and to let them mutually support and generate each other like yin and yang, forming an everlasting cycle in the meridians.

He closed his eyes again and began to circulate his energy.

This time, he no longer forcibly merged them. Instead, he transformed the power of the galaxy into a vast sky and the power of annihilation into a tranquil earth, allowing the two to resonate with each other like heaven and earth, each following its own path, attracting and restraining each other.

The conflict in the meridians gradually subsided, and the two forces, like two surging rivers, converged in the dantian, forming a huge vortex. Instead of devouring each other, they continued to rotate and merge along a stable trajectory.

Li Yuan felt the spiritual energy within his body begin to boil in an unprecedented way, and he opened his eyes.

"It's time."

He left the sea of ​​books and returned to the place before the seal. A curtain of light, stretching to the sky, stood at the edge of his vision, its runes mottled and cracked.

He looked at the seal, took a deep breath, and focused his consciousness into his dantian, beginning to break through the final threshold.

The atmosphere between heaven and earth suddenly became heavy. The gray-white dome above the desert sensed some irreversible change and began to ripple, like an undercurrent.