Chapter 168: Analyzing Divine Patterns, Levels of the Dao

Chapter 168 -160: Analyzing Divine Patterns, Levels of the Dao

“As expected, the fortuitous encounter Yu came across was deep within the Wilderness Mountain Range.”

In the Qin Residence of Cyan Peak County, Qin Tianfeng watched Qin Yu disappear into the horizon atop the Thunder Roc. Qin Yu hadn’t left secretly; he had bid them farewell before departing.

Qin Yu had a secret!

And a massive one at that. Others assumed the War Beasts that appeared outside Bishui City were secretly cultivated by the Qin family, thinking Cyan Peak County was the so-called Qin Family Hidden Lineage. However, only the true upper echelon of the Qin family knew this wasn’t the case at all. They were simply lucky enough to stumble upon a heaven-defying genius rising from a branch family. How could a genius of this caliber suddenly emerge in such a remote place—one without even a single Qi and Blood Realm cultivator—and not harbor some deep secret?

Perhaps he had inherited the legacy of a fallen senior, or perhaps he possessed some heaven-defying treasure. If Celestial Wind Ancestor were fifty years younger—or even just ten years younger—he might have entertained certain thoughts. But right now, with his life flickering out like a dying candle, he only hoped Qin Yu would grow as strong as possible, allowing him to witness the Qin family’s glory within his remaining lifetime.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Qin Tianfeng glanced down at the ground beneath his feet. When his Divine Sense had spread out earlier, he had discovered certain things hidden deep underground. He then looked toward where Qin Hu and Ouyang Xue were, muttering something to himself before rolling over to sleep.

For him at this stage, Cultivation no longer held any meaning. He was better off getting a good night’s rest. To think such a small Cyan Peak County possessed such an absurdly exaggerated defense system!

High up in the sky, Qin Yu sat calmly cross-legged on the back of a Qi Sea Realm Thunder Roc, yet the entire situation within Cyan Peak County was clearly reflected in his eyes. One should not harbor the intent to harm, but one must always maintain their guard against others!

This was only his first time meeting the Qin family ancestor. Despite their shared bloodline, how could he truly be completely defenseless? A dying man’s words were often kind, but it was equally possible for a dying man to grow increasingly deranged. The soul of a Purple Mansion Realm Cultivator was strong enough to even seize a body for rebirth!

At this very moment, deep beneath the Qin Residence, an Insect Nest lay hidden, shrouded by an Array. Nearly half of the Insect Swarm’s Qi Sea Realm combat power was concealed within it.

When Qin Yu broke through to the Qi Sea Realm and the Insect Nest was upgraded to Tier Three, the Tier Three Insect Nest’s processing power became more than ten times greater than it was at Tier Two! The overall strength of the Insect Swarm was undergoing an earth-shattering transformation.

Aside from the breeding of units, their grasp of the Daoist Soldier Array and Law Insights had skyrocketed in an instant. The Beta-level Formation, the Poison Shadow Mysterious Array, which was previously incomprehensible, had now been thoroughly mastered. Once this Grand Array was set up, even a Primordial Mansion Realm Cultivator would find it far from easy to break. The Daoist Soldier Array formed by dozens of Qi Sea Realm combat units also wielded absolutely astonishing power.

Fortunately, none of the things he wished to avoid had come to pass.

Deep within the Wilderness Mountain Range, Snake Valley.

Several Thunder Rocs descended from the clouds, escorting and guarding Qin Yu in a tight cluster. The clouds and mist around Snake Valley churned violently. The originally simplistic Green Wood Mysterious Array had undergone multiple upgrades and had long since evolved into a complex compound Array. After the Insect Swarm broke through to Tier Three, the surrounding Array had directly upgraded to a variation of the Poison Shadow Mysterious Array.

The Poison Shadow Mysterious Array was one of the foundational mountain-guarding Arrays of the Five Poison Sect. It was inherently a compound formation combining trapping, defense, and illusion. Within the Array, spatial perception would become disjointed, leading to a loss of direction where reality and illusion were difficult to distinguish. The controller could use poisonous mist to erode and interfere with Divine Sense, causing intruders to experience hallucinations while paralyzing and weakening them.

The poisonous miasma could also condense Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi into phantom manifestations of the five poisons. These phantoms would launch covert ambushes, coordinating seamlessly with the venomous creatures cultivated by the Five Poison Sect to blend the virtual with the real, truths with lies. It could vastly drain an intruder’s mental and physical strength.

Such an Array was a perfect fit for the Insect Swarm. By setting up the Grand Array in coordination with the Fungal Mat, Needle-spine Crawlers, and Spore Crawlers, and further supplementing it with lurking Thorn Snakes, Poison Burst Insects, Rapid Insects, and other units, its might was absolutely staggering.

It was capable of drastically enhancing both the defense power and concealment of the Insect Nest Base.

Piercing through the clouds and mist, Qin Yu descended directly before the massive Tier Three Insect Nest.

SPLASH—

During his descent, Qin Yu’s gaze was instantly drawn to an ultra-large egg resting in front of the nest.

In just a single day, this Leviathan Egg had grown from nothing into a colossal structure a full hundred meters in diameter. Furthermore, tens of thousands of tubes of varying sizes were connected to its surface. Through these tubes, resources gathered by the Insect Swarm were continuously pumped into it.

Breeding a Leviathan required a baseline of 1,000,000 Energy points, but the actual incubation process demanded far more than just Energy. Even when breeding a cockroach, metal resources like Profound Iron and Purple Copper had to be incorporated to bolster its defense power. There was naturally no need to mention a Leviathan—an ultra-large Insect Race mothership with a diameter spanning a thousand meters.

Under the precise calculations of the Insect Nest, nearly all the mineral resources the Insect Swarm had discovered in the Wilderness Mountain Range were put to use, providing comprehensive enhancements to the Leviathan.

When it came to the breeding units of the Insect Swarm, aside from a few Special Units, they rarely had any strict resource requirements. Their versatility was exceptionally strong. However, this didn’t mean they didn’t need resources at all; rather, the Insect Nest would source materials locally, utilizing whatever was available.

Adaptive evolution!

This was the defining trait of the Insect Swarm. Take this incubating Leviathan, for instance. Just at the onset of its breeding, it had already consumed over a thousand tons of Profound Iron Ore to fortify its internal skeletal structure and its surface defense. Some minerals were utilized to reinforce its Energy Circuits—or rather, the flow of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, among other things.

The actual consumption far exceeded a million points of Energy. For the sake of breeding this Leviathan, the entire Insect Swarm had mobilized, doing everything possible to ensure it emerged as powerful as it could be.

Hovering in mid-air, the Space Ring on Qin Yu’s hand emitted a faint glimmer. A massive cascade of Primordial Stones scattered from the sky, piling up into a small mountain on the ground.

The 100,000 Primordial Stones given by the Celestial Wind Ancestor, along with those rewarded by the Governor, were all tossed out. In addition, precious Materials such as Thousand-Year Cold Iron, Crimson Flame Copper Essence, and Void Nether Ore were unceremoniously dumped as well.

Hordes of Worker Insects scurried over from every direction. They transported these Primordial Stones into the Insect Nest and Decomposition Chambers, while a portion of the stones was directly distributed to various sectors of Snake Valley to serve as Energy nodes for the Array.

After being analyzed, these precious resources awarded by the Court would also be injected into the breeding process as much as possible, all to make this Leviathan even more fearsome.

“Prioritize supplying the Leviathan’s incubation, and accelerate the breeding of the first batch of three Mountain-Splitting Thunder Beasts and the Tunneling Worms.”

Qin Yu’s thoughts echoed throughout the Insect Swarm network.

Beside the Leviathan, three smaller Thunder Beast Eggs were already nearing completion. Having absorbed the bloodline of the Mountain-Splitting Demon King, this batch of Thunder Beasts could manipulate Earth Attribute Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Their defense power would see a massive boost, and they would also possess the foundational abilities of the Mountain-Splitting Demon King, such as Earth Escape, Earth Spike, and Rock Armor.

In a secluded corner of Snake Valley, a massive egg belonging to the Tunneling Worms was similarly undergoing incubation.

Only after all these tasks were settled did Qin Yu walk toward the mountainside on one end, stepping into his exclusive Cultivation Room.

The Cultivation Room had clearly been upgraded as well; its interior was significantly more spacious, and its surfaces were inscribed with Special Energy Patterns typically found only in Arrays. Taking off the Wind and Thunder Armor he had been wearing, Qin Yu closed his eyes. Immediately, an abundance of emerald-green liquid surged forth to envelop him, and countless dense, fine tentacles linked themselves to his body.

“Initiate maximum priority analysis. Target: the unknown Energy Patterns appearing on the surface of my body and within my meridians.

“Allocate all processing power to cross-reference against the Runes, Arrays, and Law branding data in the database. Analyze their structural composition, Energy flow patterns, potential functions, and risks.”

Qin Yu’s voice rang out through the Insect Nest network. Then, coordinating with the Insect Nest’s scanning process, he actively guided a wisp of Primordial Power to flow across the Divine Patterns on his body, causing them to light up brilliantly.

When he broke through to the Qi Sea Realm, it had triggered a Heaven and Earth Phenomenon. Ultimately, this phenomenon had transformed into Divine Patterns branded onto his flesh. As long as he actively activated these patterns, both his clarity in sensing the Laws between Heaven and Earth and his ability to control them would be substantially enhanced.

This was a heaven-sent fortuitous encounter!

Why had Li Xuanting looked at him in a new light, and why did Qin Tianfeng believe he could join almost any top-tier Sect he desired? Because of the Laws! Through the Secret Techniques gathered by the Insect Swarm and the clarifications provided by Qin Tianfeng, Qin Yu had gained a much clearer understanding of the path of Cultivation.

To break through to the Qi Sea Realm, one needed to comprehend the Unity of Heaven and Man. Only then could one open the Bridge of Heaven and Earth and manipulate the Primordial Qi between Heaven and Earth.

And to break through to the Primordial Mansion Realm, one needed to comprehend the True Intent of the Dao! This so-called True Intent of the Dao entailed grasping the profound mysteries of Heaven and Earth and gradually unearthing the Dao within them. For instance, since Qin Yu practiced the Wind and Thunder Dao, if he could comprehend just a sliver of the True Intent of Wind and Thunder, he could break through to the Primordial Mansion Realm.

Continuing his comprehension along this path… Once a vast amount of the True Intent of the Dao had accumulated and his understanding of the Dao deepened significantly, it might eventually trigger a qualitative change. At that point, he would truly fuse with the Dao into a single entity, able to mobilize the surrounding Dao with a mere thought to manifest a Domain.

When that happened, he would be able to break through to the Myriad Phenomena Realm!

As for what lay beyond that, neither the Secret Techniques collected by the Insect Swarm nor Qin Tianfeng offered much clarity, providing only mere speculation. However, he generally knew that this next level involved a much deeper grasp of Law Insights, delving into their very origins to comprehend the Law Origin. Doing so might just allow one to break through to the Primordial Spirit Realm.

The Body Forging Realm and Qi and Blood Realm merely involved tempering the muscles and bones while strengthening the internal organs. At these stages, a person could only be called a Martial Artist.

However, upon reaching the realm of the Unity of Heaven and Man and breaking through to the Qi Sea Realm, one could finally be called a Cultivator, capable of controlling Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi to soar through the skies and burrow into the earth!

The path of Cultivation was inherently a process of understanding the profound mysteries of Heaven and Earth and acquiring Law Insights. The Unity of Heaven and Man, the True Intent of the Dao, the Dao Domain, and the Law Origin were the definitive classifications of Law Levels.

With the advantage of his Celestial-Gifted Divine Patterns, Qin Yu’s edge in Law Insights was visibly far superior to that of ordinary people; his clarity even outstripped that of the Flood Dragon King!

The Flood Dragon King, after all, was a Primordial Mansion Realm Cultivator of the Dragon Race. This was true Talent! This was precisely the reason why he could easily join any top-tier Sect and be hailed as a peerless genius.

With such Talent, breaking through to the Primordial Mansion Realm would be as easy as flipping his hand. His probability of reaching the Myriad Phenomena Realm was extraordinarily high, and he even harbored a sliver of hope to attain the Primordial Spirit Realm, thereby enjoying a lifespan of ten thousand years! What Sect wouldn’t desire a genius like him?

Of course, becoming a top-tier powerhouse required more than just innate Talent; Cultivation Techniques, resources, willpower, and other various aspects were all indispensable.

The most crucial reason Qin Yu had returned to the Insect Nest was that he intended to leverage the power of the Tier Three Insect Nest to analyze the Celestial-Gifted Divine Patterns within his body. These markings inherently contained a profoundly abstruse “Dao”!

BUZZ!

As the Divine Patterns faintly lit up, Qin Yu instantly felt that his clarity in sensing the Wind and Thunder Laws between Heaven and Earth had magnified by more than tenfold. Following that came the Laws of Water, Earth, and Fire, and even Metal, Wood, and the rest…

When he broke through, the Heaven and Earth Phenomenon had manifested as a surging Blood Sea filled with the roaring of thousands upon thousands of the Insect Swarm. Each distinct unit of the Insect Race had a different alignment regarding Law Insights.

Wind and Thunder were merely the ones he was most adept at. His sensitivity toward the free-flowing Wind and Thunder Primordial Qi between Heaven and Earth was equally astute; with a mere thought, he could invoke it, even shaping it into Wind and Thunder Wings upon his back to cause his flight speed to skyrocket.

Closing his eyes, Qin Yu meticulously sensed the ripples of the Laws between Heaven and Earth.

“Commence analysis and recording of the Divine Patterns within my body!”