A few more days passed. Deep within the frozen tundra of the Western Extremes, beneath an ancient mountain buried under ice and snow… The mountain stirred. It…came alive. But unfortunately, even a living mountain was still a mountain. It couldn’t move. And yet, in the very next heartbeat, something extraordinary, something no living soul witnessed, took place. The mountain’s form began to change. Its mass compressed, condensed, ground down upon itself, twisting and shifting like living flesh… Until finally, it took the shape of a young man. He had an unremarkable face, but an aura vast as the heavens themselves. The youth stood naked at the bottom of a massive crater carved into the icy tundra, snow swirling silently around him. The crater was over a thousand meters deep. At first, his gaze was hazy, unfocused. But then, with a few light, effortless leaps, the boy scaled the vertical walls and climbed out of the abyss. The young man stood silently on the edge of the icy crater, snowflakes melting against his bare skin. His breath was calm, unhurried, each exhale curling into mist before the freezing wind carried it away. Li Yuan had returned. His gaze, once clouded, gradually cleared, sharp and steady like the edge of a blade emerging from its sheath. He flexed his fingers slightly, testing the unfamiliar strength coursing through him. The mountain was gone; its immense mass had been ground down, refined, and reshaped into this new body. Every thread of vitality, every drop of primal energy, had been reborn within him. For a long moment, he simply listened. To the howl of the polar winds, the creak of glaciers shifting in the distance, and the faint, rhythmic thrum of his own heart—steady and powerful, resonating like the strike of a war drum. He had never felt so alive. And yet, beneath that vitality, there was something deeper. An overwhelming stillness, as if a vast ocean slept within him, its waves waiting for the right moment to rise and drown the world. Li Yuan tilted his head upward, gazing at the endless white sky, then took a single step forward. The snow beneath his feet cracked softly, and the frost-laden earth trembled faintly in response. Somewhere, deep inside, he could feel the faint stirrings of the withered flame, the ancestral seal that had rebuilt him from nothingness, its 3,888 petals quietly turning, slowly feeding his new existence. This was no longer the body of a mortal. This was a vessel sculpted by Heaven and Earth itself. Li Yuan closed his eyes, steadying his breath, letting his awareness sink into this reborn form. Then, without hesitation, he leapt forward. The world blurred into streaks of white and shadow. Snow swirled violently in his wake, and the air cracked faintly under the pressure of his movement. Within mere moments, his figure vanished entirely into the boundless frozen expanse. Far away, beneath the same heavens, storms were already gathering. And soon, the world would remember the name Li Yuan. If everything had gone according to plan, he should’ve been able to master the withered flame, slip quietly into the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain, and start searching for the higher rank cultivation techniques he needed. But he failed. He hadn’t been able to leave this continent. He hadn’t been able to step into that higher world. So be it. There was no such thing as a flawless plan. No matter how carefully he prepared, Heaven would always keep a few dice to roll. Sometimes, he would win; sometimes, he’d lose. And honestly, getting this far at all…was already more luck than most would ever have. After standing there for a while, Li Yuan finally turned back and reappeared within the Clear Mind Hall inside the imperial palace. He changed into fresh robes, opened the heavy door of his secluded chamber, and strolled along the spring path outside, stretching his arms lazily. Word of his emergence spread quickly. The worried Empress, who had endured a year of rumors, unrest, and sleepless nights, soon came rushing to him. When she saw the Emperor she hadn’t laid eyes on for nearly a year, her eyes turned red instantly. She turned her head away, lips pressed tight, wanting to scold him…but in the end, not a single word came out. Li Yuan gave a small smile and said, “I went into seclusion and lost track of time.” The Empress shot him a sidelong glance, her voice half-scolding, half-trembling. “Outside, they’re saying the Demon Empress poisoned the Son of Heaven and seized power for herself.” Li Yuan laughed softly. “That’s easy to fix. The weather’s good today. Accompany me out of the palace. Let them all see me with their own eyes. That’ll silence every rumor.” She blinked at him, stunned for a moment, and then…she just stared. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Nothing.” She lowered her gaze, hesitated, then suddenly said, “Is it because…I’m not close enough to you that I can’t know what you’re really doing?” Li Yuan scratched his head awkwardly. Of course he couldn’t tell her the whole truth, about his real identity, his true appearance, or the tangled web that had him also playing the role of her brother-in-law, Ximen Gucheng. That wasn’t something he could reveal. Not now. So instead, he stepped closer. Heat rolled off him like a summer storm. Placing his hands gently on her shoulders, he lowered his voice and said softly, “Sister-in-law, all I want is to see the world with my own eyes, not through the lies of others. I went out to temper myself, to understand what’s really out there.” The word hit Xie Wei like a thunderclap. Her body trembled, her breath caught in her throat, and a rush of heat flooded through her, softening her knees instantly until she nearly melted into his arms. Trying desperately to hide the storm inside her, she steadied her voice, though it quivered faintly. “Then…why did you try to assassinate the Emperor?” Li Yuan replied matter-of-factly, “Because he harassed Yu’er. And besides, you didn’t like him either. So…I killed him.” The Empress stared at him, torn between disbelief and an almost absurd urge to laugh. She wanted to accuse him, Liar. After all, that night had been chaos incarnate—layers of guards, an impenetrable siege, everything perfectly sealed from the outside. The assassination could only have come from within. Without an elaborate plan, she couldn’t believe it was possible. And yet…looking at him now, she hesitated. Because maybe, just maybe, this absurd explanation wasn’t impossible. And besides, she couldn’t afford to dig deeper. Not now. This man wasn’t just tied to her, but to Xie Yu as well. If she chose to corner him here and now…the consequences for the Xie Clan could be catastrophic. So instead, Xie Wei suddenly said, in a calm, almost detached tone, “Let Yu’er give you a child.” Li Yuan’s brows rose slightly, but he answered lightly, “I’ll… try.” It wasn’t reluctance. He didn’t oppose the idea of having children. But deep down, he wasn’t sure it was even possible for him anymore. After all…what was he now? A man? A mountain reborn? Something else entirely? He didn’t know. Perhaps the answers lay ahead, hidden within the next stages of the Heaven Soul cultivation technique. The third rank manuals, once he found them, might finally tell him what he had become, and whether he could still procreate. Xie Wei couldn’t help but smile faintly when she saw how naturally he agreed. Her hand tightened around his as she leaned closer and whispered softly, “Once you and Yu’er have a child…you two can live as you wish. Go wherever you want. Stay in the palace if you like. No one will question it. “His Majesty has been gravely ill for so long. If word spreads that he passed away in seclusion, no one will find it strange. But…but if what you truly want…is me…” She hesitated, lowering her gaze, her voice trembling. “That…we…we cannot.” Her words drifted into silence, fragile and unspoken things caught between them. The Emperor’s imperial palanquin rolled out of the palace gates, escorted by 3,000 imperial guards. The curtains of the palanquin were lifted high, so that all could see the Emperor seated inside with the Empress by his side. The Emperor looked frail, coughing lightly from time to time, while the Empress leaned close, her face etched with concern. To anyone watching, it was a perfectly crafted scene, the ailing Son of Heaven, cared for by his devoted consort. Gemhill County, Hidden River Province. Near Yan Yu’s temple, a little black crow flapped its wings in delight. It had just seen Li Yuan’s soul within the tiny sparrow regain its brightness, and let out an excited cheer before cawing, “Papa! Do you want the next stages of the Heaven Soul cultivation technique? I already asked the old man and got them for you!” “...” Li Yuan was dumbfounded. His heart warmed instantly. This little girl…always thinking ahead for me. He hadn’t even opened his mouth yet, and she’d already handled everything. How could there be a warmer little bundle of joy than this? Controlling the tiny sparrow, Li Yuan gently pecked the crow’s feathers in thanks, then gave a small nod. The little crow puffed up proudly and began reciting the s of the Heaven Soul cultivation technique to him, chattering endlessly. While the crow recited, the massive old locust tree nearby stretched out over a dozen root-tentacles, tracing diagrams onto the ground to illustrate the technique. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩 Li Yuan listened quietly. The second minor realm of the Heaven Soul cultivation technique was called Myriad Forms, Flesh and Blood Gate. Once mastered, it would allow the reborn body to fully transform into a proper human form. And beyond that, unlock strange, extraordinary abilities, such as manifesting three heads and six arms, or even nine heads and eighteen arms. The reason Li Yuan had been able to take on a human form so easily was thanks to the Mortal World Transformation skill tied to his ancestral seal. Otherwise, he would have remained trapped in the form of a mountain, unable to move, forced to wait silently until reaching this next stage before regaining a body. And this realm’s cultivation technique focused on one thing, harnessing Yin and Yang, making the rigid, newly-forged body flow like liquid once again. But this wasn’t just the flow of flesh and blood. It was the circulation of Yin energy, the reshaping of the soul itself. In other words, this process used the adjustment of flesh and Yin energy to resculpt the soul, ultimately creating something called the Immortal form. Li Yuan realized that although he could freely shift between the form of a mountain and that of a human, these changes were purely physical. His soul remained unchanged. But to break through this second stage, he would need to condense an Immortal form, a spiritual manifestation beyond the limits of flesh. The concept reminded him of things he’d seen back on Earth, before his transmigration—like Buddhist Dharmic Manifestations, where someone stood in one place while an enormous, radiant figure rose behind them, towering into the sky. Or in a more casual example, it would be the equivalent of a Stand in an anime like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The theory was simple. Even if the body died and reincarnated, the Immortal form would remain intact. That was why legends spoke of Immortal reincarnations and sages reborn across lifetimes. And only those who reached such a realm could truly begin to escape the bindings of the Underworld. Still, Li Yuan suspected the Immortal form wasn’t quite as omnipotent as the legends suggested. It was likely just the beginning of a much longer journey. Especially since beyond this, there were still realms like Earth Immortal, Water Immortal, and Wind Immortal waiting ahead. Li Yuan had always taken cultivation with absolute seriousness. As long as there was a way to train, he could happily become a complete hermit, shutting out the world without a second thought. While Sheng'er patiently explained the details of the next stage, he was already itching to return and dive straight into practice. According to her, breaking through Myriad Forms, Flesh and Blood Gate required two things—an immense surge of pure Yang energy and the precise, delicate circulation of Yin energy through it. Only by achieving perfect balance between the two could he succeed. It reminded him of something from his past life, the old wuxia tales where martial arts masters circulated true qi through their meridians, guiding it along the Lesser Heavenly Cycle. Except here, the principle was reversed. It wasn’t qi flowing through the body, but Yin flowing within Yang, an intricate dance between the spiritual and physical. How to circulate it, how to breathe, how to channel external resources, all of it mattered. One mistake, and everything would collapse. Li Yuan listened intently, his full focus locked on Sheng'er’s words.