Chapter 148: Three Years Later, One Force Suppressing Ten Thousand Daos

Basic strength: one thousand vajra strengths.
Two times the life gene level translates to two thousand vajra strengths.
This was Jiang Ming's current power.
"It directly doubled!"
Jiang Ming had a crystal-clear grasp of his own growth in strength.
In addition to his raw strength, his tendons, bones, internal organs, skin, and flesh had all experienced massive improvements. This was an all-around enhancement.
"Beyond that..."
The next moment, Jiang Ming's body shot upward section by section, and his aura climbed ceaselessly.
As he grew taller, his torso and limbs also expanded.
When he reached two meters and two centimeters, he paused slightly before continuing to grow.
His momentum surged like turbulent waves, and his blood Qi was like a dragon.
The violent aura forced Chen Bei, standing nearby, to take several steps back. Looking at Jiang Ming, who had grown into a small giant, Chen Bei could not conceal his shock: "The seventh revolution of body refinement allows the body to become malleable, freely increasing or decreasing in size. Yet whether expanding or shrinking, it normally requires years of accumulated grinding to achieve step by step. Some take decades to reach the peak of this realm, while others remain trapped at this threshold for their entire lives."
"He didn't encounter the slightest barrier!"
"This..."
"Ah, that makes sense. When he was at the sixth revolution, his physical potential was completely excavated. Now that he has stepped into the seventh revolution, he can go straight to the peak."
"Holy crap, I am so envious!"
"Even with my peerless talent, which can be called heaven-defying in the path of the flesh, reaching the peak of the seventh revolution would probably require several years of hard work."
"As for the eighth revolution? That's even harder!"
"Looking across the entire Federation, how many people practicing body refinement have reached the seventh or eighth revolution?"
"This guy makes me jealous enough to go crazy!"
"Damn, he's seven meters tall now!"
"And he's still not stopping!"
"Eight meters!"
"Nine meters!"
"Holy cow, nine meters is the limit. Transforming into a giant triples one's strength instantly."
"This guy is truly defying the heavens!"
"He just broke through and he's already hit the peak of the seventh revolution!"
"Damn it, there is no justice!"
Chen Bei muttered incessantly.
It was precisely because of the immense difficulty of cultivating the seventh revolution that he was so shocked.
For an ordinary genius, even if they had the fortune to enter the seventh revolution, it would probably be difficult to expand their body to a height of nine meters in a lifetime.
Activating the body to that extent was simply too difficult.
It required the skin, flesh, internal organs, tendons, bones, blood, and marrow to all improve simultaneously, which was extremely incredible.
One could only rely on bit-by-bit polishing; achieving success without the accumulation of time was utterly impossible.
"The size-manipulation realm is both a state and comparable to a divine ability!"
Feeling his surging power, Jiang Ming waved his arm, stirring up gusts of wind and thunder.
He shifted his gaze to look at Chen Bei, as if looking at a tiny doll.
"What kind of look is that!" Chen Bei said, deeply indignant. With a movement of his feet, he rose into the air, hovering mid-air. "Hey, hey, hey, Brother Jiang, whether you transform into a giant or shrink, it consumes blood Qi and cannot be maintained for long. You'd better watch out!"
"I know!" Jiang Ming looked at Chen Bei with a strange expression. "Standing down there just now, you were really small!"
Chen Bei was left speechless.
Jiang Ming's body quickly shrank until it was around sixty centimeters tall, mere one-third of his original height.
He looked like a child.
No, he had completely turned into a child.
This was the limit of shrinking.
However, his strength did not plummet; it remained at his previous level.
"The path of body refinement is truly wondrous!" Jiang Ming sighed with emotion after recovering his normal size. "The seventh revolution grants size manipulation, and the eighth revolution allows severed limbs to regenerate."
"Every single revolution is a different heaven." Chen Bei descended. "The difficulty of the seventh revolution is harder than ascending to the blue sky, and the difficulty of the eighth revolution is even more despairing."
At this moment, Ran Xin returned, holding a small red grass that gathered a cluster of red light, with a faint fragrance drifting on the wind.
"This is Heart-Red Grass, an extremely rare spiritual herb with the miraculous effect of condensing the spirit and tempering the mind. Classmate Ran, it suits you perfectly." Chen Bei recognized it at a glance.
"Really?" Ran Xin was overjoyed. "Brother Jiang broke through, Chen Bei, your harvest was also immense, and haha, now I've gotten benefits too. The three of us are truly favored by destiny and blessed by fortune!"
"Congratulations to us all!" Jiang Ming could not help smiling either.
"You guys wait a moment. I'll refine the Heart-Red Grass and see if I can improve my strength." With that, Ran Xin sat down cross-legged and swallowed it in a few bites.
"It's a bit sweet!" she smiled, then closed her eyes.
In just a brief moment, her aura began to fluctuate—a strange, formless power diffusing outward into the surroundings.
Immediately afterward, various strange phenomena appeared around her, evolving endless mysteries.
"This is the manifestation of mental power!" Chen Bei was startled. "Her attainment in the mental path is truly transcendent and refined. The seventh realm can no longer halt her footsteps."
"The mind?" Jiang Ming pondered. "The soul is divided into three parts: first is spirit, second is will, and third is the mind. The path of the mind is the most unorthodox of unorthodox paths; without peerless, heaven-bestowed talent, entering it is simply impossible. With the mind as her core and martial arts as her auxiliary, she possesses both offense and defense. In the future, she will become the nightmare of her enemies!"
"She will indeed become a nightmare." Chen Bei agreed deeply. "Among peers, she can kill with a single glance. Even if someone manages to block it, their spirit and mind will be heavily damaged, and very few people in the world of martial arts can withstand that."
At this time, Ran Xin opened her eyes, leaped to her feet with joy written all over her face, and laughed like ringing bells. "Haha, I've reached the seventh realm! I've stepped into the seventh realm! From now on, I am the king within the seventh realm!"
Jiang Ming smiled without a word.
Chen Bei raised an eyebrow.
Seeing their expressions, Ran Xin curled her lips.
The trio set out on the road once again.
They trampled across mountains and rivers, traversed winding paths, passed through towns, and walked among white clouds.
Time slipped away silently like sand between fingers.
On this day, they arrived at a peak outside Chang'an City of the Great Tang Empire, gazing at Chang'an, known as the number one city in the world.
Inside the city stood the number one academy in the world.
The three of them stood on the mountain peak.
"Up to now, we have descended for three years—a full three years," Ran Xin sighed with emotion. "Time really flies. The sun and moon shuttle like shuttles, and the passage of time is ruthless!"
"Indeed!" Chen Bei nodded. "Yet I still haven't stepped into the eighth realm!"
"You've already reached the seventh realm peak in just three years, and you still have seven years left; you will definitely break through," Ran Xin said. "My martial arts cultivation has only just broken through to the seventh realm. As for the eighth? Who knows if I can reach it? Sigh, to single-handedly kill an eighth-realm powerhouse is difficult, difficult, difficult!"
As she spoke, she looked at Jiang Ming and said with a complex expression, "This guy is still immersed in cultivation! I'm so envious. He can cultivate while traveling. Before, he used two tasks at once, but now, even while plunging his entire mind into cultivation, he can somehow keep up with our pace."
"Peerless talent, heaven-defying comprehension, coupled with diligence and perseverance," Chen Bei said with a complicated look. "If he doesn't achieve greatness, who will?"
Raising his eyes to look at the distorted void above his head, the corners of his mouth twitched again. "His heavenly phenomenon pressure, even though it has been muted, the terrifying pressure it radiates still gives me the heavy feeling of carrying an entire world on my back. If he were to unleash his heavenly phenomenon might against me with full force, I'm afraid I would be directly suppressed."
"I've been walking on thin ice the whole time!" Ran Xin agreed wholeheartedly. "There's always a lingering, immense terror, as if the heavens and earth are collapsing and spacetime is shattering, and I could plunge into destruction at any moment. Fortunately, feeling this terrifying pressure at all times is what allowed my martial arts cultivation to improve so rapidly; otherwise, reaching the seventh realm within three years would have been utterly impossible."
She paused and asked strangely, "Tell me, how many artistic conceptions has this guy actually fused?"
"If not a hundred, there must be eighty!" Chen Bei's expression grew even more complex. "The top-tier artistic conceptions I can perceive with absolute clarity include space, world, yin and yang, five elements, life and death, light and darkness, boundlessness, creation of the heavens, wind, thunder, wood, stars, the firmament, destruction, and so on!"
"Inconceivable!"
He still found it hard to stop shaking.
If he hadn't traveled alongside Jiang Ming, beat him to death and he wouldn't have believed this fellow had comprehended so many artistic conceptions—and the most crucial part was that they had all reached perfection.
Otherwise, it would have been entirely impossible to brand the void and control the power of heaven and earth.
"He is Heaven's biological son," Ran Xin complained.
Yet at that exact moment, an aura of ultimate sharpness suddenly erupted, piercing the mind and piercing through spacetime, breaking through everything without obstruction, defying all laws and reason.
The void overhead, which had been continuously twisting, suddenly stabilized at that instant.
It was as if it had been anchored.
The heavenly anomaly also grew increasingly stable and terrifying, ultimately materializing into a solid entity and forming a world around them.
The martial arts domain appeared once more.
Only this time, it was far more real and far more terrifying.
It caused both Chen Bei and Ran Xin's bodies to stall, expressions of utter shock flashing across their faces. Under this pressure, they actually felt as though they were unable to move.
Of course, this was an illusion.
Even so, it terrified them out of their wits.
"It's done!" Jiang Ming opened his eyes, a smile blooming on his face. "Traveling across mountains and rivers, walking the five sacred mountains, as of today, I have finally perfectly and completely branded the extreme artistic conception into the void, acting like a nail that makes all the fused artistic conceptions thoroughly form a unified whole."
"Congratulations, Brother Jiang!" Chen Bei offered his congratulations.
"Congratulations, Brother Jiang!" Ran Xin echoed.
"Sigh!" Jiang Ming, however, let out a sigh.
"What? Could there be some flaw?" Ran Xin asked, puzzled.
Chen Bei also wore a curious look.
"I have temporarily reached the limit of the sixth realm of martial arts. It's just a pity that I haven't comprehended the artistic conception of reincarnation to perfection, nor have I grasped the Dao of time, the Dao of spacetime, the Dao of causality, the Dao of creation, and the Dao of chaos," Jiang Ming sighed. "This is a colossal regret!"
"Damn it!" Chen Bei could no longer hold back; he wanted to slap him across the face.
Ran Xin rolled her eyes and muttered speechlessly, "You are really asking for a beating! Brother Jiang, are you going to continue contemplating, or are you preparing to break through to the seventh realm of martial arts?"
"Let's prepare for the breakthrough next!" Jiang Ming said without hesitation. "Human greed knows no bounds. If I linger any longer, I'll just keep trying to comprehend all those other artistic conceptions, and who knows how much time I'd waste. Besides, time and tide wait for no man. The Mud Bodhisattva once said that a millennium catastrophe would arrive, and based on the time he calculated, there are only about two months left."
"I actually hope the catastrophe arrives. When that time comes, it will be the moment I truly roam freely and dominate!" Chen Bei laughed. "And Fang Qinghan—he will definitely like it even more."
"You two are rotten to the core with dark hearts, lacking even an ounce of compassion," Ran Xin huffed. "If a millennium catastrophe really happens, who knows how many ordinary people will die miserably. Sigh, why must there be slaughter? Wouldn't it be great if everyone lived in peace and harmony?"
"The greatest characteristic of intelligent life is having seven emotions and six desires. Where there are desires, there will be disputes," Jiang Ming said solemnly. "Get used to it as much as possible."
"I've been used to it for a long time, I'm just feeling a bit emotional." Ran Xin's mood dipped slightly.
The three of them fell silent.
Time passed like white horses racing past a crevice, relentless and ruthless.
Jiang Ming suddenly spoke: "Brother Chen, I'd like to test my power of manipulating heavenly might. How about being my opponent?"
"Alright!" Chen Bei nodded. "They say that compared to the sixth realm, the seventh realm is as distant as heaven and earth, and there is even a saying of 'one Dao suppressing ten thousand Daos.' The seventh realm's true intent realm can overwhelmingly suppress artistic conceptions. What I've mastered is the true intent of reincarnation, so let's see if I can use a single Dao to suppress your ten thousand Daos?"
Hum...
An intensely profound power surged out from the top of his head, merging into the void, manipulating the power of a region of heaven and earth, taking control of a heavenly domain, and pressing down toward Jiang Ming.
This was a far more unfathomable heavenly pressure.
Jiang Ming flicked a thought, and the firmament suddenly roared.
Boom, rumbling...
It was like stars falling or the heavens and earth opening up. The upper airspace distorted, directly giving birth to a void world that looked exceedingly real.
There were towering mountains, flowing rivers, plains, volcanoes, seas, and forests—indistinguishable from a real world, except that it was utterly barren.
The moment this world appeared, it shattered Chen Bei's controlled heavenly domain power with brute force and pressed downward.
Ran Xin's expression changed drastically; she flew backward in a burst of speed, landing directly at the foot of the mountain.
Even so, she still felt a heart-stopping pressure, truly feeling as though a world had descended and all living things were mere ants before it.
"Holy crap, this terrifying?" Chen Bei's expression shifted. He tried to merge his thoughts with the void to resist, but was horrified to find that he simply couldn't do it anymore.
He got the distinct feeling that this patch of void already had a master.
He could no longer harmonize his thoughts with heaven and earth or manipulate the power of the heavenly domain.
Chen Bei unleashed boundless might, but under this pressure, he felt an unbearable weight. The rocks beneath his feet fractured, and the entire mountain peak threatened to sink into the earth.
The air became viscous, and breathing grew difficult.
Chen Bei shuddered, his face turning pale.
He couldn't block it.
Hum...
A brilliant radiance blossomed from his chest, revealing an illusory world that barely blocked Jiang Ming's heavenly phenomenon pressure, though it was blatantly obvious that it wouldn't hold out for long.
"You're a beast!" Chen Bei said in shock. "Even when I unleash the Reincarnation World, it's hard to block. Your heavenly phenomenon pressure and the heavenly domain power you control are truly strong to the extreme, defying common sense and breaking iron laws. Even an eighth-realm powerhouse wouldn't be able to suppress you in this aspect, yet you're only at the sixth realm! Damn it, I have a headache!"
"I used to be able to contend with you, but now..."
"Under this heavenly domain, I am suppressed, and my strength will be drastically weakened!"
"And then..."
Chen Bei couldn't continue.
A punch?
A sword strike?
Spitting out a bolt of thunder?
"The gap is getting wider and wider!" Chen Bei couldn't help sighing. "Being born in the same era as you is my tragedy, and the tragedy of Ye Bail, Shi Lei, and the rest!"
"We all originally possessed the talent to suppress our entire generation, but in the end, a monster like you emerged."
"A pride among the proud, I have to submit!"
Chen Bei felt a sense of discouragement.
"On the path of martial arts, we have only just crossed the threshold. The road ahead is long and arduous. Who can say who will laugh last, or who will climb to the peak?" Jiang Ming reined in his aura. "Just for uttering these discouraged words, you have utterly lost!"
"Lost? Hmph!" Chen Bei twisted his neck. "If it's a fight to the death, I can drag you down with me to our mutual destruction!"
"That's more like it!" Jiang Ming laughed. "I'm already this monstrous, and you can still drag me down with you in mutual destruction—doesn't that mean you're even more of a monster?"
"Damn it, Brother Jiang, I didn't expect you to have such a silver tongue!" Chen Bei was speechless, but his spirits were revitalized nonetheless.
"You two boys, that's enough!" Ran Xin shouted. "We should get moving! Are we entering the city, or heading straight to the back mountain of the Academy?"
"Into the city, let's go take a look at the Academy first!" Jiang Ming made the decision directly.
The three of them walked toward the south gate of Chang'an City.