Imperial God Emperor

Ye Qingyu heaved a sigh of relief when he sensed the vigorous life force and bountiful yuan qi coursing through his body.

His foundation was damaged and his yuan qi had dried up after those two fierce battles at Black Moon Immortal Palace's Falcon City representative station and at the Chaotic Windstorm, but now he was finally back to full strength. His origin power was in perfect condition and his injuries had healed completely. He no longer needed to worry about cracks appearing in his martial foundation that could potentially affect his cultivation in the future.

Ye Qingyu finally felt a sense of relief wash over him.

"Thankfully, I had the divine-level Origin liquid with me. It was a relic left behind by the Lightning Emperor back then and had also been sanctified by him. This liquid was extremely effective for repairing my foundation and was the perfect medicine since it treated the root of my problem. If it were someone else who had been as seriously injured as I was, they would definitely have had their foundations seriously damaged. Even if they had other treasures, they would have not been able to recover without decades of cultivation."

Ye Qingyu slowly stretched his body in the quiet room.

He had to get used to his body again, just like a new-born child.

Then, he casually started to execute a few simple moves.

The move he executed was a basic body-refining technique known as the [Eight Part Divine Formula] that Wen Wan had imparted to him back when he was at White Deer Academy. Based on his current cultivation and martial cultivation, each move and gesture came naturally to him and his body moved with an ethereal charm and grace. He looked as though he was moving slowly but he left phantom shadows as he moved. In an instant, it seemed like there were dozens and then hundreds of Ye Qingyu’s executing different moves.

He did this to get accustomed to his body's strength.

Ye Qingyu's physical body had been on the verge of breaking apart after those two fierce battles. As he recuperated, his body had to be reconstructed from scratch, so this was like a whole new body to him. His physical body was now immaculate and in perfect condition. He was known for his strong body-refining ability, and everyone knew that after a certain level, it would be extremely difficult to progress. That was why the cultivation of the physical body was not popular in this world.

Even though Ye Qingyu had divine martial arts and secret techniques, he still faced the same predicament.

Unexpectedly, his destroyed body proved to be a blessing in disguise. He was forced to rebuild his body from scratch and this cleansed his body of its many impurities. After his body was remolded, his skin glowed like jade and he looked just as though he had returned to his fetal primordial state. His physical body was now a lot stronger than it was before.

The [Eight Part Divine Formula] he executed was a basic body-refining technique that had been cast aside by many experts. But the most basic of martial arts techniques tended to contain the purest form of the Great Dao. This was the principle behind the proverb “less is more”.

As Ye Qingyu increased the speed of his movements, he felt as though his entire body was on fire.

A force swept through his muscles and bones like a roaring flood, then howled wildly as it charged toward all the other parts of his body, as though it was about to set his body on fire. It was warm but not scorching, and it swept through his body like an Immortal fire as it refined his body.

"Just as I expected…"

Ye Qingyu's eyes flashed with delight.

This was what he had been expecting.

Thankfully, he had [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei's] decree to protect his body this time, and all these top-level mysterious powers, including the Yellow Immortal Qi, the power of the Phoenix's nirvana, and the divine-level Origin liquid, had complemented each other. This was how Ye Qingyu managed to truly remold his physical form to be akin to a primordial fetus. This was a very precious opportunity for any expert on the martial way.

Throughout the Vast Thousand Domains, some would describe those heaven-defying geniuses as “looking just as though they had begun cultivating in their mother's womb”. Although this was what most people yearned to be able to do, no living organism would be able to actually start their cultivation while still in their mother's womb. Those ancient creatures who could live forever were no exception, for their legacy was transmitted through their blood and not because they had started cultivating before they were born.

Martial artists could only start cultivating after they were born and through the various forms and techniques they cultivated; they pursued a primordial state. However, their acquired cultivation went against the flow of nature, and thus, they could only cultivate primordial power but not draw from the true source of the primordial state. Therefore, their foundation would never be considered primordial.

Only those who had reached the Martial Emperor realm could be considered to have a primordial foundation.

If one had a primordial foundation, one could then truly transcend worldliness.

By a stroke of luck, Ye Qingyu's physical body had reached a certain level of primordial foundation and as he cultivated the simple but profound [Eight Part Divine Formula], his body could freely absorb the power that originated from the Yellow Immortal Qi, the Phoenix's nirvana and the divine-level Origin liquid. His physical strength soared rapidly like a rocket.

This phenomenon lasted for two whole hours.

Ye Qingyu's figure was shrouded by a silver, nebula-like mist, and tiny ice crystals glistened with the dazzling radiance of jade. It resembled stars faintly twinkling in the Void and made Ye Qingyu look like a giant from the beginning of time who stood on the ancient vault of the universe, towering over everything, unparalleled in the universe.

Another two hours passed.

The ice crystals and nebula that surrounded him gradually re-entered his body. His body was like a sponge that absorbed everything in his surroundings, like a sea absorbing a thousand rivers. It was as though everything in the universe could be absorbed by his body.

"This is almost as good as it gets for my physical strength… If only... Sigh, what a pity. I don't think I will be able to maintain this half-step to the primordial foundation state for long. This effect will probably only last three to five days before it would gradually disperse." Ye Qingyu opened his mouth to take a deep breath.

“Swoosh!”

He sucked in the final star light that still remained outside of his body and the entire quiet room returned to stillness.

After his body was reconstructed, it was as though Ye Qingyu's body had regained its fetal primordial state. This was the dream cultivation state of all martial artists, but it was clear that just as an infant would be tainted with worldliness after its birth and lose its Primordial Qi, Ye Qingyu's state would similarly not be able to last long. After all, he had not reached the state of transcendence and was not yet a bearer of heaven's mandate that a true martial emperor would be. Therefore, he would not be able to stop the worldliness and its impurities from tainting his body and would gradually move out of this state.

This was the will of heaven and it could not be defied.

He looked inside his body toward his dantian world and saw that his inner yuan was full of vigor and roared like the wrath of the heavens. It had made even more progress than it ever did before. In his dantian world, his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] had regained its previous appearance. It was as clear as crystal and its skin as smooth as his own. It looked like a giant version of Ye Qingyu and was even many times more realistic than before.

"This [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] really resembles me. This is the sign of the Peak Immortal Step realm."

Ye Qingyu was slightly surprised, then as realization dawned, his face broke into an elated smile.

He immediately sat cross-legged on the floor once again, meditated with his divine sense, and emptied his mind and soul as he executed the nameless breathing technique and exerted his yuan qi. He would seize this opportunity while his body was still in the fetal primordial state to attempt to break through to the Saint realm.

After multiple battles and cultivation, Ye Qingyu's mental cultivation and cultivation of the martial way had undergone a metamorphosis. This coupled with the earlier refining of his physical body led his cultivation to skyrocket from the Fifth Step Immortal Step realm all to the way to the cusp of the Peak Immortal Step realm.

Whether it be his meridians, his dantian world, or his yuan qi, they were all roaring with vigor and were in their peak condition. The waves that rose from the yuan qi ocean in his dantian world were thousands of meters high. And as they smashed against his dantian, the Void of his dantian world seemed as though it was about to be smashed into smithereens. The [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] was like a god who controlled the giant waves. He stood on the fifth step on a stairway formed by these waves and dispersed the waves within a thousand-meter radius.

With one thought from him, his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] seemed to come to life and suddenly took a giant step toward the Void in the distance.

Next, another step appeared from these giant waves in his yuan qi ocean and welled up beneath the right foot of his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger]. This step was hundreds of meters taller than the fifth step from before, and it lifted his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] up high.

Ye Qingyu felt his body jolt slightly.

A strange sensation slowly spread across his body.

He had now reached the Sixth Step Immortal Step realm.

Although he had reached six of the nine steps of the Immortal Step realm, each increase in level within the realm contained an extremely profound meaning. Ye Qingyu's mental cultivation and his yuan qi had already reached the Peak Immortal Step realm, but his cultivation level of the martial way lagged behind. Now that he had increased his cultivation by one level, he felt his entire body relax. An indescribable feeling of treading on the air like an Immortal washed through his body.

However, he did not linger to bask in this feeling.

At his mental command, after his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] steadied itself on the sixth step of the giant stairway, it lifted its left leg and stepped toward the Void ahead.

He would continue pressing on for a breakthrough. As the saying went: “when the drums first beat, the spirit is excited. A second beat causes the spirit to wane, and with a third, it is exhausted”.

Since he had managed to succeed on his first attempt, he would continue to charge ahead. If he lingered to bask in the mystery of his new level, his momentum would weaken. Ye Qingyu was well-aware that it would be a silly and self-destructive move to attempt to charge ahead after his momentum flagged, and naturally, he would not commit such an error.

“Boom!”

Another step formed by the raging waves appeared in his yuan qi ocean. The moment his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] stepped downward, it rushed upward thousands of meters to hold it steady.

This was the seventh step formed by yuan qi.

The Seventh Step Immortal Step realm.

It steadied itself, then his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] lifted its foot again.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The yuan qi ocean roared and howled as waves raged across the sky.

In less than thirty minutes, under Ye Qingyu's mental command, his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] had taken a total of four steps, and with each step, it landed steadily on the wave stairs without wavering, standing as tall and as still as a mountain. With every step it took, his [Yuan Qi True-Self Doppelganger] grew more distinct. And by the time it was on the ninth step, its body, which had been formed by waves, started to take on a physical form. It looked very solid and firm and was no longer transparent. In terms of its physical proportions, it was exactly the same as Ye Qingyu's by the time it got to the ninth step. Their only difference lay in height—it was extremely tall, at least a thousand meters tall, like a giant who reached up to the heavens.

The Ninth Step Immortal Step realm.

In other words, the Peak Immortal Step realm.

Ye Qingyu's face was devoid of emotion.

He knew that this was not enough.

His momentum had yet to flag.

He would continue to press on and charge forward to the Saint realm.