What Xiao Li Wants to Do Most After Breaking Through the Realm

Thud—

Thud—

The rhythmic contractions of stars moving along profound and mysterious trajectories sounded like powerful heartbeats.

Before Li Mo’s eyes hovered a bronze seed, its pulsations syncing with the flickering of the celestial phenomena around it. With each vibration, the vitality emanating from the seed grew stronger. He could also sense an intangible, formless force—the root of all things—threading through the shattered fragments of the minor world, stitching them together and halting its annihilation.

Swoosh—

The millennia-accumulated might surged like a tide, and Li Mo sat calmly at its center. The cracks on his body, resembling shattered porcelain, gradually healed until they vanished without a trace.

Life and death reversed at this moment, defied by the nation’s fortune and the bronze seed.

"Haah..."

Li Mo, seated at the heart of the formation, opened his eyes. In his dazed vision, he saw her.

Her skirt was still stained with specks of blood, her eyes reflecting the starlight, shimmering with iridescence. The divine mark between her brows blended an aura of aloofness and sanctity. With a mere flick of her fingertips, she guided the vast, overwhelming power.

Though this remnant of the Great Shang’s fortune was but a fragment, it was still the accumulation of an ancient dynasty—majestic, domineering, and boundless.

To bear the weight of a nation’s fortune would have crushed an ordinary body.

Yet, under her delicate touch, the dynasty’s fortune became as pliant as silk, weaving seamlessly into his inner world, mending and merging.

"When Ying Huang descended from the Nine Heavens to reshape the world, was she as breathtaking as this?"

Li Mo knew he shouldn’t let his mind wander.

But his heart seemed to have a will of its own.

Suddenly, a cool touch graced his brow—Ying Bing’s fingertip resting there.

She didn’t speak, but her expression flickered between relief at his awakening and exasperation at his distraction.

"Break through first. There’ll be time to look later."

"Alright."

"Good."

Li Mo nodded. The rumbling within his inner world grew louder, signaling its further completion.

For ordinary cultivators, manifesting three wonders within their inner world was already a feat of unparalleled genius. Take, for example, the legendary "Supreme Purple"—divine swords, golden dragons, imperial domains—those who reached the Inner Landscape realm with such wonders could tower above even fourth-realm experts from the very start.

But for Li Mo, three wonders were far from enough.

Hum—

The celestial stars trembled, sending ripples through the resplendent night sky, unveiling countless marvels.

A celestial palace reappeared, its colossal gates separating the immortal from the mortal. Four deities, vast and unfathomable, loomed over the heavens, gazing down upon the mortal realm.

"Is this... the Upper Realm?"

"No! It’s the fourth wonder of his inner world during his breakthrough!"

"Could it be that the Upper Realm isn’t just a myth? Did Young Master Li glimpse its gates through his inheritance and manifest them as his inner landscape?"

"No wonder he was so monstrous even at the Observation Realm—he wasn’t observing things from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths at all..."

The hall buzzed with shock. The martial artists had speculated endlessly about Li Mo’s inner landscape, yet none had guessed correctly.

Words failed them.

Because even what they had just witnessed wasn’t the full picture.

The true protagonist wasn’t the gates of the Upper Realm.

"Woo—"

Amidst ink-black clouds, countless banners stood like a forest, their killing intent condensing into rain.

Above the celestial gates was a battlefield of unimaginable ferocity. The wind howled, making the banners bearing the words "Defying Heaven" snap violently.

"So this wonder depicts mortals storming the heavens?"

Elder Xu strained his bloodshot eyes, desperate to see more.

"The intent you sensed... could it be...?" Shang Qinqing turned to Qin Yuzhi.

"It’s them." Qin Yuzhi lowered her head instinctively, then murmured in curiosity, "But the gates of the Heavenly Realm don’t look like this..."

A thunderous explosion shook the starry sky as the slaughter within the ink-black clouds commenced.

The elders of the Qingyuan Sect exchanged bitter smiles. No wonder the Ascension Steps had failed to measure his talent—it was simply beyond their capacity.

They were all fourth or even fifth-realm experts, with Shangguan Wencang half-stepping into the threshold of the Law Body realm.

Yet none could comprehend the nature or origin of this inner landscape.

What unfolded before them defied their understanding of martial arts itself.

"With an inner world like this, wouldn’t he trample other fourth-realm cultivators like children?"

......

Imperial Capital.

From a towering pagoda at the southeastern corner of the royal city, the spectacle above the Qingyuan Sect was clearly visible.

"What in the world is that...?"

An old woman’s hand twitched toward a jade divination plate before she recoiled as if burned.

A lifetime of reading fate told her that taking even one step further would cost more than just a mouthful of blood.

"Young Li has truly given Us a surprise," Emperor Jingtai murmured, lost in thought.

In truth, one didn’t need to stand so high to witness the phenomenon over Qingyuan.

Even the sun had dimmed in its presence.

"Could there truly be realms beyond the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths?"

"Are immortals warring up there?"

"Will our world end up like the ruins of the Celestial City?"

Panic spread among the common folk, who lacked the discernment to recognize an inner landscape’s illusion.

Then, a sharp-eyed observer gasped:

"Doesn’t the one trampling the heavens resemble Young Master Li’s aura?"

"Is he breaking through?"

"This is the commotion of entering the fourth realm?"

"Wait, if he’s breaking through, that means he was fine all along? And here I was worrying for his safety..."

At the Wanchun Pavilion, amidst the uproar, Huang Donglai, Xiao Qin, and Murong Xiao slumped onto their chairs as if drained.

"Cough... Brother Li is... fine." Huang Donglai’s voice was hoarse, as if scorched by smoke—he’d been storytelling nonstop lately.

"Good heavens, he’s already at the fourth wonder," Murong Xiao marveled, spinning his wooden fish. "I wonder if the merits I’ve been saving up for him are all spent now."

"Hold on, it’s not over yet." Xiao Qin’s mind echoed with the stunned voice of the Thousand Forms Martial Ancestor:

"Is that still the Thousand Forms Art?"

A golden crow turning into the sun, an abyssal whale leaping across the sea, a shrieking dragon summoning storms, the roars of the ancient ape Wuzhiqi... The divine intents of the Thousand Forms Art now shone like starlight, intertwining and merging.

"This... is his complete inner landscape?"

Xiao Qin’s throat went dry. "Master... can the Thousand Forms Art really reach this level?"

"Why do you think I’m stuck in you right now?"

"...Fair point."

The Nine Heavens and Ten Earths seemed to fall silent, as countless souls were rendered speechless.

Now they understood the awe that had gripped those present at the Celestial City.

Watching through the Scroll of Mountains and Rivers was nothing compared to witnessing it firsthand.

A colossal crimson giant rose from the earth, standing amidst iron and flames, crowned by the celestial stars, its godlike form towering over the world.

Its indistinct face turned, eyes opening.

The gaze burned but didn’t scorch, firm yet gentle—like flowing fire, like the morning sun.

Those who met its eyes felt a bizarre contradiction: though its body radiated the majesty of gods and demons, its essence was that of an extraordinarily strong... mortal.