Chapter 2023: A Reaction!

As Max read through the original complete Seven Divine Veins technique, his expression slowly grew more thoughtful.

The technique was far more complex than the one Saint Reiner had created. At their core, both methods led to the same result. Both aimed to open the Seven Divine Veins inside the body.

Both strengthened the physical foundation through Origin, Vitality, Speed, Strength, Resilience, and the two remaining veins Max had yet to unlock. Both treated the body not as a simple vessel for energy, but as a divine structure that could be refined, expanded, and pushed past ordinary limits.

But the gap between them was enormous.

Saint Reiner’s version came out clean, direct, and terrifyingly practical. It explained the process clearly. It focused on what needed doing, what resources were required, what dangers would come up, and how the body should endure each transformation.

It was the kind of technique built by someone who’d spent centuries studying an incomplete path, cutting away unnecessary confusion, fixing flaws through countless attempts, and rebuilding the method so someone else could actually cultivate it.

The original complete Seven Divine Veins technique read completely differently. It felt like a divine scripture.

Every sentence seemed to carry several layers of meaning. Every diagram held hidden changes. Even the descriptions of the veins weren’t simple instructions, but profound explanations of how the physical body connected to law, origin, soul, vitality, and the deeper structure of existence.

Some parts sounded less like a cultivation method and more like the thoughts of an ancient being who’d already reached a height where ordinary language could no longer properly describe the body.

Max could follow it, but even he had to slow down to read it. If a normal body cultivator tried studying this technique, they’d probably spend years puzzling over a single Chapter and still miss its true meaning.

That didn’t mean Saint Reiner’s version had flaws. Actually, Max felt the opposite.

Saint Reiner’s version stood out precisely because it had taken something impossibly profound and turned it into a method someone could actually cultivate directly.

The original technique had likely come from an existence at the peak of body cultivation, maybe someone so powerful that opening the Seven Divine Veins was just a natural step on their path.

Saint Reiner, on the other hand, had used research, battle experience, ancient fragments, and centuries of study to rebuild the technique from an incomplete inheritance.

One was a scripture written from the height of a god-like expert. The other was a path carved open by a mortal genius who refused to quit. Both held value. Both carried real power. They were simply different.

After a long while, Max closed the ancient book in his hand.

"But there’s still no mention of a body cultivation technique beyond the Seven Divine Veins," he muttered.

His brows furrowed slightly. He’d read the complete technique carefully from start to finish. He hadn’t skipped a single diagram, note, warning, or hidden annotation.

The text confirmed the Seven Divine Veins as an extraordinary body cultivation path, and it went deeper than Saint Reiner’s version in plenty of areas.

But it never clearly said what came after all seven veins opened. There were hints. There were vague phrases. There were lines talking about preparing the body for a higher transformation. But there was no name, no complete method, and no direct answer.

Max placed the book back into the air, and it slowly floated away, drifting back to its strange assigned spot inside the Codex Library.

He started searching more broadly. The Codex Library stretched out beyond imagination. Books, scrolls, jade slips, crystal tablets, stone slabs, research files, inheritance orbs, sealed diagrams, and fragments of ancient records floated through the pocket dimension in countless layers.

Some drifted past him like quiet birds. Some turned slowly in the distance like planets circling invisible suns. Some stayed wrapped in chains of light, refusing to open even as Max approached.

Max moved through the transparent pathways, scanning everything around him. He searched for records tied to body cultivation. He searched for anything related to divine veins, immortal physiques, primordial bodies, origin bones, bloodline vessels, law-forged flesh, and ancient body transformation.

Whenever a book or jade slip responded to his intent, he pulled it over and read through it.

Some records described rare body tempering methods. Some explained how Primordials strengthened their physiques through bloodline resonance. Some were research notes on why certain body cultivation paths collapsed after reaching the Divine King Realm. Some held battle reports about ancient experts whose bodies were strong enough to resist cosmic path attacks.

Valuable knowledge sat everywhere. Yet none of it gave him the answer he wanted.

Hours passed. Max didn’t grow impatient. He understood a place like the Codex Library wouldn’t simply hand him what he wanted just because he asked. Sarvion had already warned him.

Some knowledge here responded to authority. Some responded to bloodline. Some responded to readiness. Some stayed hidden not because no one could find them, but because finding them required the right person at the right moment.

Max kept moving deeper. The scenery around him grew stranger the farther he went. The floating shelves looked older. The light grew dimmer. The books and tablets here weren’t cleanly preserved anymore.

Plenty were damaged, cracked, burned, or incomplete. Some pages floated without covers. Some scrolls were torn in half. Some stone tablets had missing corners. Some jade slips looked so old their surfaces had lost their original color.

This part of the Codex Library felt different. It didn’t feel like a section for complete inheritances. It felt like a graveyard of forgotten knowledge.

Max slowed his pace. His five Divine Veins pulsed faintly inside his body. Origin. Vitality. Speed. Strength. Resilience. The reaction started weak, so faint that Max almost brushed it off. But after a few more steps, the pulse came again, slightly stronger than before.

Max stopped. His eyes narrowed.

The Codex Library stayed silent around him. Books floated through the air in their strange order. Ancient scrolls drifted in slow circles. Faded jade slips turned gently in the darkness. Everything looked scattered, yet everything still carried that hidden arrangement that made this place feel almost alive.

Then Max noticed something. At the far corner of this forgotten layer, near a spot where the light barely reached, a single withered page floated alone.

It looked insignificant. The page was old, yellowed, and torn at the edges. It had no cover, no protective seal, no glowing inscription, and no powerful aura. Next to the inheritance orbs, golden scrolls, and crystal tablets around it, the page looked like a useless remnant that should have turned to dust long ago.

But it kept drifting in place. It didn’t move with the other records. It floated in a small, quiet circle at the very edge of the library space, as if waiting for someone to notice it.

Max’s eyes fixed on it. The five Divine Veins inside his body trembled again. This time, the reaction came through clear.

Max moved toward the withered page. The closer he got, the stronger the response grew. His Origin Vein pulsed deep inside his body. His Vitality Vein stirred with warm life force. His Speed Vein sent a faint current through his limbs. His Strength Vein tightened his muscles slightly. His Resilience Vein turned firm, as if bracing his body for some unknown pressure.

Max reached out. The withered page drifted toward him on its own. The moment his fingers touched it, all five Divine Veins trembled at once.

Max’s expression changed. The reaction wasn’t violent, but it ran deep. It felt like the five veins had recognized something far above them, something they were connected to but hadn’t yet reached.

The sensation wasn’t like finding a technique of the same level. It felt like standing before a gate that had always existed beyond the Seven Divine Veins, hidden behind mist until this exact moment.