Chapter 249.3: The Breakthrough Begins! The Limit of the Primordial Chaos Saint Body: Thirteen Forces from the Origin of Heaven and Earth! (III)

Nine... Ten... Lu Changsheng counted inwardly as his Saint Body continued absorbing the force coming from the origins of heaven and earth.

At last, ten different origin forces had filled his Primordial Chaos Saint Body. This was the limit he had originally estimated for himself, but after carefully sensing the condition of his Saint Body, he realized that his estimate had been too conservative. Even with ten origin forces surging within it, the Saint Body had not reached its limit; it could still endure more.

Since the transformation during the ascension to Earthly Saint became more powerful with every additional origin force, he saw no reason to stop while his Saint Body could still withstand the strain.

Boom!

His Saint Body absorbed another force from the origin of heaven and earth.

Eleven, twelve, thirteen...

Only after the thirteenth origin of heaven and earth had entered his Saint Body did Lu Changsheng sense that it had reached its limit. He stopped the process immediately, then turned his full attention to transforming the Saint Body with the thirteen different origins it had absorbed.

An origin of heaven and earth was part of the foundation of a world, the source from which all creation arose. To wield it meant to undergo a massive transformation; and a martial artist who could wield it could draw upon the power of heaven and earth with each movement.

The deity system—False Gods excluded—provided the clearest example. Innate deities were beings born as incarnations of Laws. Every action they took was, in essence, an expression of heaven and earth's own power.

A martial artist whose Saint Body had been remolded by the origin of heaven and earth would become something like a deity. Every movement they made would carry the weight of heaven and earth behind it. However, there was still a fundamental difference.

Deities depended entirely on the force of heaven and earth, with nothing else to draw on. For a martial artist who became an Earthly Saint, however, the origin of heaven and earth would remold the Saint Body, transforming it at its very foundation. Once that transformation was complete, the Saint Body itself would possess terrifying power, while the accompanying force of heaven and earth would merely become an additional source of strength.

That was the crucial difference. Innate deities relied upon the power of heaven and earth because that power was the basis of their existence. An Earthly Saint, by contrast, possessed immense strength within their own Saint Body. The power of heaven and earth that accompanied it was an enhancement.

Lu Changsheng finally understood now why the seals of the Divine Region prohibited Earthly Saints from entering. In theory, an Earthly Saint and a Divine King stood at roughly the same level. In actual battle, however, the difference could be enormous.

An Earthly Saint's Saint Body was already terrifyingly powerful on its own, while the accompanying force of heaven and earth only made it stronger. Against such an opponent, an ordinary Divine King would fall immediately. In fact, an Earthly Saint powerful enough could even fight several Divine Kings at once.

If Earthly Saints were permitted to enter the Divine Region freely, the Divine Kings there could easily be slaughtered in great numbers. If it ever came to that, the Divine Lord would not simply stand and watch.

Although Divine Kings would be reborn after a certain period, the deity system would not simply allow its Divine Kings to be killed again and again without retaliation. The Divine Lord would inevitably intervene, and the conflict could easily spiral back into the all-out wars between martial artists and deities like it had before.

There was no reason to risk a disaster like that, so it was better to forbid Earthly Saints from entering the Divine Region altogether.

Now that Lu Changsheng understood that, his anticipation for the completion of his Saint Body's transformation only grew stronger. After all, once his Saint Body completed its transformation, every attack he made would be accompanied by the power of the origin of heaven and earth—and it would not just be one or two types, but thirteen.

With that level of power, he might not even need to rely on the full power of his Primordial Chaos Saint Body. The accompanying force of thirteen different origins alone could be enough for him to contend with, or even defeat, other Earthly Saints.

That was the difference a solid foundation made. The stronger the foundation, the greater the benefits after a breakthrough and the farther a martial artist could advance along the Martial Dao.

A small advantage at the start could keep growing with each step that followed. Had Lu Changsheng not laid such an extraordinary foundation in the past, his Primordial Chaos Saint Body could never have endured the cleansing of thirteen different origins of heaven and earth. And if he had been unable to withstand that, his transformed Saint Body could never have been able to use the power from the origin of heaven and earth as a source of strength.

At that moment, Lu Changsheng's Saint Body was still undergoing transformation. At first, the formations within his cave residence had kept the process hidden, but as the transformation progressed, the formations began to fail.

If Lu Changsheng had only absorbed one or two origins of heaven and earth, the formations might still have held. But he had absorbed as much as thirteen, and as his Saint Body continued to transform, all thirteen forces began radiating from it at once. Worse still, because the transformation had not yet finished, Lu Changsheng could not fully control or restrain them.

One after another, the forces of heaven and earth descended and swirled around him, and under their weight the formations within his cave residence gave way entirely.

Crack!

The formations shattered. The cave residence could no longer contain what his Saint Body had become.

Crash!

The Primordial Chaos Saint Body burst through the cave residence, tearing open an enormous hole before rising into the sky above the Heavenly River Sacred Land. It exuded an oppressive aura, and its presence was terrifying to behold.

The Saint Body kept growing, one thousand zhang, two thousand, three thousand, four... The growth was gradual yet unmistakable. Lu Changsheng's Saint Body was expanding with each passing moment.

The scene shook the entire Heavenly River Sacred Land when the disciples, elders, and even Martial Saints looked up and saw the enormous saint body suspended high above them.

"What is that?"

"It's a Saint Body, a Martial Saint's Saint Body! But whose is it?"

"A Saint Body several thousand zhang tall? I've never heard of such a thing... But wait... doesn't it look like Elder Lu?"

"It is Elder Lu! His Saint Body is expanding! Could he be making another breakthrough?"

The disciples of the Heavenly River Sacred Land were knowledgeable enough to recognize a Saint Body when they saw one, and some quickly guessed that Lu Changsheng might be attempting another breakthrough.

However, that was as far as their understanding went. They knew a fair amount about Martial Saints, but Earthly Saints were far beyond their reach, so none of them could say exactly what was happening.

The Martial Saint elders, however, understood immediately. The moment they sensed the forces of heaven and earth swirling around Lu Changsheng's Primordial Chaos Saint Body, they knew he was in the process of becoming an Earthly Saint.

"Lu Changsheng forged his Saint Body and became a Martial Saint only a few years ago. And now he's about to become an Earthly Saint?"

"As hard as it is to believe, it's true. Look, he has already stirred up the origin of heaven and earth and begun remolding his Saint Body. Once the transformation completes, he'll become an Earthly Saint."

"An Earthly Saint... How long has it been since our sacred land produced one of those?"

"There's more to that. Look at the forces of heaven and earth around him."

The Martial Saint elders narrowed their eyes and carefully sensed the forces of heaven and earth surrounding Lu Changsheng's Primordial Chaos Saint Body.

One, two, three, four, five...

The more they sensed, the more their expressions changed. Even with only a quick sense, they could already distinguish five or six different forces of heaven and earth.

"The force from five or six different origins? Then Elder Lu must have comprehended at least five or six Laws and stirred the corresponding origins. How is that possible?"

"Incredible. Truly incredible!"

"It's already astonishing that his Saint Body can withstand the cleansing of so many origins of heaven and earth at once. But looking at how his Saint Body is still transforming, and the forces around it are still multiplying, it could mean he's absorbed more origins of heaven and earth."

"Maybe it'll go past ten. We have all seen Elder Lu's Primordial Chaos Saint Body with our own eyes. I would not be surprised if it could take ten types of origins and still hold."

"What astounds me is how he contemplated so many Laws to begin with. Even if the Divine Region gave him extraordinary opportunities, he wasn't even there for two years. To comprehend so many Laws in such a short time... That kind of Perception is unfathomable."

The Martial Saint elders eventually fell silent, their gazes fixed on the enormous Primordial Chaos Saint Body looming above the Heavenly River Sacred Land as its transformation continued.