Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

The battle on the ship quickly escalated, with flesh and blood flying everywhere, and shouts and killing shaking the heavens.

The towering Blood Thieves crazily pursued, yet Zhao Sheng moved as if his feet were greased, incredibly agile as he darted around the deck in chaos.

Despite the commotion, his reactions were astonishing. Spells and magic artifacts clashed and exploded in the sky, with battles raging all over the deck.

However, like a fish swimming through water, Zhao Sheng weaved through the gaps with ease, occasionally throwing a few water balls and water arrows to hinder the enemy's pursuit, looking quite composed amidst the swirling chaos.

After a moment, and narrowly avoiding being speared by a blade spear, the towering Blood Thief stomped his feet in fury and banged his sword on his large shield with a clang, bellowing, "Hey, you little brat, stop running if you've got the guts!"

Zhao Sheng stood at the edge of the ship, scanning his surroundings. Half the area was yellow, and a glaring red light shone off the bodies of others, while the two Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared almost black and purple.

Every time his gaze swept over them, Zhao Sheng's heart pounded like a drum, rapid and intense, giving rise to an overwhelming sense of danger, as if death could come at any moment.

He knew all of this was the work of Danger Perception at play.

This Yellow Level talent functioned instinctively based on his actual combat strength, categorizing danger levels into five colors: green, white, yellow, red, and black.

Green and white indicated safety, yellow meant one's life could be at risk, and red and above signified a high possibility of life-threatening danger that should be avoided at all costs.

The final color, black, meant death, indicating that if the enemy took action, one would undoubtedly die.

At this moment, the East Dome had greatly reduced its sailing speed, and the pirate ship behind was nearly catching up, so much so that the bloodthirsty, grinning faces on the bow of the pursuing ship could be seen clearly.

Looking at the deck again, two Foundation Establishment cultivators were locked in a stalemate; it was clear that East Dome was at a disadvantage, with three or four sailors lying in pools of blood, including one of the Zhao family members.

"Can't wait any longer!" Zhao Sheng thought to himself.

Just then, the towering Blood Thief caught up, "Little brat, I'd like to see where you'll run to now!"

Zhao Sheng lifted his head and gave him a slight smile, "Goodbye, big fool!"

With that, he leaped, stretching his body to easily clear the ship's rail and freely fall towards the sea.

"Damn!"

The towering Blood Thief was startled; the little brat dared to jump into the sea. Could it be he was tired of living?

This was the Outer Star Sea, after all, where there were no islands for thousands of miles and the average depth of the water was over a thousand fathoms, teeming with countless sea beasts.

Without a passing ship to rescue him in time, this brat would either die or face an ugly death, certainly not surviving more than a month.

Zhao Sheng crashed into the sea with a loud splash.

The moment his body touched the water, it was like he was back home, as the closed pores all over his body opened automatically and quickly secreted an extremely slippery mucus.

Meanwhile, his pair of black pupils were quickly tinged by the blue halo at their edges. With each blink, the black pupils instantly transformed into a pair of radiant turquoise eyes, like a pair of dazzling sapphires.

Zhao Sheng became like a true fish, no, he was even more flexible than ordinary fish, more free in the vast ocean.

Without making much effort, his body swayed slightly, and he shot far off, swiftly diving toward the deeper seabed.

The water was incredibly clear. As he descended, Zhao Sheng saw many curious and strange fish, shrimp, and sea beasts leisurely swimming, hunting, and curiously approaching to circle around him.

Watching these vivid and lively scenes, Zhao Sheng felt an indescribable sense of relaxation and pleasure from the bottom of his heart.

It was as if... he belonged to this sea!

Feeling the continuous fresh oxygen seeping into his pores and then into his lungs, Zhao Sheng exclaimed in amazement, "No wonder… Is this the magical nature of the Ancient Spirit Clan?"

No, breathing underwater was just the beginning of the magic.

He descended rapidly, and in no time, he dove past twelve hundred fathoms, successfully reaching the seabed.

At such depths, the water pressure was extremely heavy, something ordinary bodies couldn't withstand, and even normal cultivators had to use pressure-resistant spells to cope with the pressure here.

Yet Zhao Sheng was different; his body underwent a peculiar change and instinctively adapted to the high-pressure environment.

Furthermore, at a depth of a thousand fathoms, light could not penetrate the water to the seabed, making it incredibly dark with almost no visibility.

However, with just his bare eyes, Zhao Sheng could see clearly within ten fathoms.

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Seeing this situation, Zhao Sheng was unexpectedly overjoyed.

At that moment, a question suddenly occurred to him,

Before reincarnation, he had improved his Spirit Root talent and drawn the Spiritual Clan Bloodline. And from birth, Zhao Dingtian's body had been different from ordinary people.

So the question was,

Did he reincarnate directly through the Hundred Lifetimes Book by body seizing, or did he not body seize at all, and was it merely a mystery of the womb?

At this time, Zhao Sheng was also a little uncertain. If he had not existed, would there still be a person named Zhao Dingtian in this world's timeline?

This question was like the "chicken or the egg" paradox, the answer might forever remain elusive.

With this eternal conundrum in mind, Zhao Sheng carved out a niche—no, he established a temporary cave under the sea and hid inside to start his closed-door cultivation.

Taking advantage of the pirate ship raid, Zhao Sheng seized the opportunity to break away from the Zhao family so he didn't have to awkwardly explain why his cultivation improved so rapidly.

The first step of closed-door cultivation was to switch cultivation techniques.

Wave Stepping Technique not only sounded low-grade, it truly was garbage.

Without a word, he immediately replaced it with the Golden Core Level Cultivation Method, "Mystic Primordial Heavy Water Technique".

Due to his previous life's experience, Zhao Sheng only took two days to successfully switch the operation route of the cultivation technique and rebuild a new Spirit Power Vortex.

Compared to Four Spirit Roots, the cultivation speed with three spirit roots had increased at least by a quarter.

Zhao Sheng absolutely loved this soaring sensation and wanted to continue the arduous cultivation nonstop until he advanced to Foundation Establishment.

However, the incredibly tight reality didn't permit him to do so.

After rummaging through his Storage Bag, Zhao Sheng had only one thought, "Tragic! This is just too tragic!"

In his possession, he had only a total of nineteen low-grade Spirit Stones, half a bottle containing eight Water Spirit Pills, and a bunch of shoddy demon bones and skins. He had only one magic artifact, and it was the most rubbish common Water Dividing Needle.

This kind of wealth wasn't even comparable to a Loose Cultivator!

...

Half a month later, inside the temporary cave, Zhao Sheng ceased the operation of his cultivation technique, and the Core Spiritual Power Vortex in his Dantian receded accordingly.

Just then, with a series of crackling sounds, the last Spirit Stone in his hand suddenly turned into a pile of dust.

Zhao Sheng frowned at the sight, and with a thought, he summoned his personal data panel:

Name: Zhao Dingtian (Zhao Sheng)

Life Span: 15/149

Realm: Qi Refining Third Layer

Profession: Second Order Talisman Master

Constitution: Water, Metal, Fire Three Spirit Roots, Spiritual Clan Bloodline (Remnant) Stay updated with empire

Talent: Bullet Time, Danger Perception, Absolute Rationality

[Skills]

Cultivation Technique: Mystic Primordial Heavy Water Technique (Skilled)

Spells: Water Condensation Skill, Water Arrow Technique, Refraction Technique

Talisman Making: Water Arrow Talisman, Water Shield Talisman, Invisibility Talisman...Blood Melting Talisman (Grey), Concentrating God Talisman (Grey), Illusion Shadow Escape Talisman (Grey)... and one hundred seventy-six other kinds

Looking at his personal data, Zhao Sheng relaxed his brow, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

He had advanced to the Qi Refining Third Layer!

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