Chapter 82 - 81: Pain is advancement.

Chapter 82: Chapter 81: Pain is advancement.

Chen Yuan remained still for a brief moment, his eyes fixed on the final lines of information inside his mind.

There were more, but those were the methods for refining the invisible organs and further advancing along this path.

The more he read, however, the tighter his brows furrowed.

He slowly realized that the Book of the Nameless, which the system had given him, was not simply teaching him some strange technique.

Rather, the system was opening up an entirely new path for him, one that was completely different from the current cultivation method of this world.

What did that mean?

It meant that the world would forever be stuck at the Foundation Establishment Realm at its highest potential.

No wonder...

A scene flashed through his mind as he remembered the images he had witnessed earlier.

The broken heavens...

The everlasting darkness...

He murmured inwardly,

No wonder there aren’t that many Foundation Establishment cultivators in the kingdom.

The path is broken!

The realization made Chen Yuan’s expression turn serious.

The main question now was, did the Royal Family know about this? And if they did, why hadn’t they spread the news?

Or was it because they were afraid of spreading fear throughout the kingdom?

Chen Yuan shook his head and returned his gaze to the book.

[Refine the Nameless Organs.]

That was the only line that remained on the first page.

Chen Yuan slowly turned the pages with his spiritual energy, only to find that every other page was completely blank.

He searched through his memories again, recalling the information that had been given to him.

To refine the organs was to...

Destroy.

Or, more accurately, mutilate the existing organ.

Chen Yuan’s expression gradually became strange.

He read through the process once again.

Then again.

Then a third time, because he thought he must have read it incorrectly. After the fourth time, he simply stood there without moving, swallowing hard.

"Isn’t this rather cruel?"

He continued reading, his brows slowly drawing together.

The method itself was not complicated in principle, but the process was far from pleasant.

To refine the Nameless Hand, which was the first organ he wanted to refine, the Book Bearer first had to destroy the existing structure of the hand, severing its connection from the physical level all the way to the soul before rebuilding it anew.

In other words, he had to cause pain to himself in order to refine it.

...

Chen Yuan was at a loss.

Then what about the other organs?

Did he have to destroy his entire body in order to refine them one after another in the future?

And it wasn’t merely physical reconstruction.

The process went all the way down to the soul level, where he had to sever and reform the connection itself. In simpler terms, the amount of pain involved was something that a normal cultivator would have difficulty enduring.

Hell, Chen Yuan doubted that even he could handle it.

He looked down at his right hand, moving his fingers slightly as though appreciating the last sensation they would have before the pain began.

The Nameless Hand cannot be formed while it remains bound by the limitations of ordinary anatomy...

It must first be freed from those limitations, and that means destroying what already exists.

Chen Yuan rubbed his forehead, a hint of fear appearing in his eyes as he felt a bitter taste at the tip of his tongue.

"The system opened up this path for me. Does that mean there are no other paths to increase my strength?"

It made sense, to be honest. Perhaps this was the only path available to him, and it was to become a Book Bearer.

Chen Yuan did not even know what material the book was made from.

One thing he was certain of, however, was that it definitely wasn’t made from spiritual energy.

For now, he was tempted to put the book away and think about it later. But after a moment, his expression gradually became serious again.

He understood that this was not something he could simply ignore.

The old path is broken, and this is the only way I can explore a path for my family...

No... for the human race.

To advance further...

Sigh...

"Another headache to think about."

Chen Yuan rubbed his forehead again.

"Now I’ll have to figure out how to add this concept to the script. I can’t risk my next ancestor appearing... only to suddenly die because of incompatibility with the broken path..."

Chen Yuan continued looking through the information inside his mind. The more he read, the more he slowly began to understand the foundation behind the method.

The problem was not merely that the heavens had been damaged.

Rather, the entire foundation upon which cultivators had once relied had been severed.

In the past, cultivation was closely connected to the heavens and the Dao. Cultivators refined their spiritual energy, comprehended laws, resonated with the world, and gradually used that connection to advance toward higher realms.

But the world described by the Book of the Nameless no longer possessed that complete path.

The heavens were broken.

The Dao had bled.

The road beyond had been severed.

There was nothing intact left.

There were no more immortals!

There were no more immortals!

Chen Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"So the answer is..."

"...to stop relying on the heavens."

Chen Yuan slowly flipped through another piece of information inside his mind.

The Book Bearer would use their own body as the foundation, tearing apart what belonged to the old cultivation path and rebuilding it into something that no longer depended on the heavens.

The body...

The spiritual...

And the soul...

For now, Chen Yuan had already understood the core concept behind the Nameless Hand. Before he could begin refining it, however, he needed something else.

Materials.

He needed rare and unique Heaven-and-Earth materials, preferably things that possessed unusual attributes or had been shaped by some extraordinary environment.

Preferably, he needed second-grade Heaven-and-Earth materials to refine his first Nameless Organ, as many as he could get his hands on.

Chen Yuan briefly considered where he could obtain such things before deciding to ask Chen Haoran.

His figure disappeared from the inheritance cave.

A moment later, Chen Yuan reappeared above the main family grounds.

His divine sense spread across the entire area almost immediately, passing through the various courtyards and buildings as he searched for Chen Haoran. It didn’t take long before he located him.

Chen Haoran was in one of the family’s side courtyards, standing beside a long wooden table covered with several stacks of documents.

He had clearly been occupied with family affairs since returning from the burial, and although his expression remained composed, the fatigue beneath his eyes was difficult to hide.

At that moment, he was carefully reviewing a stack of records that had been brought over by one of the family members.

"These spirit stones were transferred to the eastern treasury, but the numbers don’t match the previous record..."

He frowned and flipped through another page.

"Have them check the storage records again. If the numbers are still different, then—"

Before he could finish, the air beside him suddenly distorted.

Chen Yuan appeared without warning, and Chen Haoran’s words stopped immediately. His hand remained suspended above the documents as he stared at the figure that had suddenly appeared beside him.

"A-Ancestor?"

Chen Yuan glanced at the papers scattered across the table.

"You seem busy."

Chen Haoran quickly placed the document down and straightened himself.

"I was just dealing with some of the family’s records. There were a few discrepancies in the treasury reports that needed to be checked."

Chen Yuan nodded.

"Good. I need something from you."

Chen Haoran immediately became attentive.

"Please tell me, Ancestor."

Chen Yuan paused briefly, thinking about how to phrase his request.

"I need some Heaven-and-Earth materials, second-grade ones."

Chen Haoran blinked.

"Materials?"

"Rare ones," Chen Yuan added. "The stranger, the better. Things with unusual properties, peculiar origins, or materials that have absorbed some kind of unique energy would be especially useful."

Chen Haoran thought for a moment before asking, "Are you looking for materials for an artifact?"

"Something like that."

Chen Yuan did not explain further.

Chen Haoran nodded seriously.

"I’ll check the family’s treasury."

Chen Haoran immediately returned to the matter.

He did not simply send someone to retrieve a few items from the treasury.

Since Chen Yuan had specifically requested rare and unusual second-grade Heaven-and-Earth materials, Chen Haoran decided it would be better to inspect the family’s reserves himself rather than risk overlooking something that might be useful.

He first ordered the servants responsible for the main treasury to bring out the records of all second-grade materials currently in storage.

After going through them, he had several items retrieved from the deeper sections of the treasury, including materials that had been sitting untouched for decades because no one in the family had found a suitable use for them.

That alone took some time.

Then Chen Haoran remembered that the treasury did not contain everything the family possessed.

Some of the more valuable resources had been distributed among the elders for safekeeping, while others had been placed in smaller private storage rooms because they were too dangerous, too unusual, or simply too difficult to use in ordinary cultivation.

He sent people to retrieve those as well.

He even checked the records from the Royal Family’s recent delegation.

The delegation had brought several gifts when they visited the Chen Family, and among the various cultivation resources were a few second-grade Heaven-and-Earth materials that the family had not yet found a use for.

Those were retrieved as well.

What was supposed to be a simple request for a few materials gradually became a much larger collection.

By the time Chen Haoran was satisfied that he had searched through everything relevant, several hours had already passed.

The servants carried the materials out from the treasury in batches, with each item carefully wrapped or placed inside an appropriate container.

Some required jade boxes, others needed sealing talismans, while a few had to be transported using specially prepared spiritual vessels because their natural properties could interfere with ordinary storage.

Eventually, the front courtyard of the main hall became crowded.

Several long tables had been arranged beneath the open sky, and they were gradually covered with one strange material after another.

There were crystals, ores, pieces of wood, fragments of spiritual beasts, strange stones, dried plants, pieces of metal, and several objects whose origins Chen Haoran himself could not immediately determine.

Most were second-grade.

A few had reached the peak of the second grade.

Chen Haoran stood at the center of the courtyard, personally checking the final batch as the servants placed them onto the tables.

"This should be everything."

Chen Haoran glanced toward a jade box that had been placed separately from the others.

"And those?"

One of the servants immediately answered, "Those are from the Royal Family’s recent delegation, Patriarch."

Chen Haoran nodded.

There were several items inside.

A piece of Scarlet Sun Crystal, whose surface seemed to contain a faint flame.

A small piece of Frostheart Jade, cold enough that a thin layer of frost had formed around its jade container.

And finally, a dark, irregular stone that seemed strangely difficult to focus on.

The Void-Eroding Stone.

Chen Haoran had specifically remembered this one because even the records provided by the Royal Family had been vague about its origin.

He looked over the entire collection once more.

"There really are quite a few."

He had expected perhaps a dozen suitable materials at most. Instead, there were several dozen items spread across the tables.

Chen Haoran could not help wondering what the Ancestor intended to do with all of them.

At that moment, a faint distortion appeared near the entrance of the courtyard. Chen Haoran immediately turned his head as Chen Yuan stepped out of the distortion and looked toward the tables.

His expression changed slightly.

"These..."

Chen Haoran smiled faintly.

"These are the second-grade materials we were able to find within the family. I also had the elders check their personal storage and included anything that seemed unusual. Some of the items came from the Royal Family’s recent delegation."

Chen Yuan slowly walked toward the tables, his divine sense spreading over the collection. The moment it touched the materials, his expression became increasingly interested.

There were many different natures here.

Some carried fire, some carried frost, and some others contained traces of lightning, vitality, corrosion, metal, or strange spatial fluctuations.

And among them were several materials that Chen Yuan could not immediately identify.

He stopped before the collection and looked at them carefully.

Chen Yuan’s gaze eventually settled on the dark stone inside the jade container.

The Void-Eroding Stone.

For some reason, he had a feeling that this particular material might be especially useful.

"Space attribute?"