For any cultivator, having a mental state that surpasses their actual cultivation realm is a lifelong dream. Right now, Evan Chu’s state of mind is a full great realm above his cultivation, which should be cause for celebration. But at this moment, he can’t feel happy at all. The bottleneck from Golden Immortal to Da Luo Golden Immortal is a hurdle—a hurdle almost impossible to cross.
While everyone else around him kept on cultivating nonstop, Evan Chu left the training grounds. At this point, no matter how much Immortal Essence he absorbed, it was impossible to break through his realm. What he needed was a breakthrough angle—find the entry point, smash open the bottleneck, and only then could he advance smoothly from Golden Immortal to the early stage of Da Luo Golden Immortal.
Cultivation breakthroughs can’t be rushed. Some people need hundreds or even thousands of years in seclusion just to break through a single realm. The further you go, the harder it gets—the amount of Immortal Essence required only grows.
After glancing at the inner world of the Timewheel Bracelet, Evan Chu’s figure flickered and he flew to the top of a mountain. Gazing out at the lush, distant forest, he felt a sense of standing above all creation.
Finding a large boulder, Evan Chu sat down and began pondering the problems he faced. After his Immortal Infant fused into his body, a flood of inherited memories—mostly from the Primordial Dragon—merged with his own. He learned about the Dragon Clan’s most powerful secret art, Ninefold Divine-Dragon Metamorphosis, which is very similar in nature to the Ninefold Golden Body Art he has yet to cultivate. Both are heaven-defying techniques that let you split off avatars.
Now that he’s reached late Golden Immortal, Evan Chu finally meets the requirements to cultivate the Ninefold Golden Body Art. But he can’t start yet—the time is too short. Heaven-defying arts like this can swallow up years, even decades of focused effort. When he thinks back to the Xuan-grade and Earth-grade techniques he obtained before, they seem laughably weak—so weak he can’t even find the words to describe it.
Evan Chu took a deep breath, already having made up his mind. For now, he would push Fireshift to the second layer first. That way, his strength would jump up again, and breaking through Fireshift wouldn’t take long—he could do it easily.
Evan Chu took out the Glassfire Crystal, looked at the flickering fire element within, and gave a wry smile. "Back when I faced the Earthfire Wraith, all I could do was dodge and bluff my way out. If I met it now, one move would be enough to wipe it out completely. Even with all this power, I’m still just an ant in the Immortal Realm."
The heat from the Glassfire Crystal used to intimidate Evan Chu, but now he barely felt it. Running his Chaos Immortal Force, he slowly absorbed the fire element energy inside the crystal. Three days later, the Glassfire Crystal was completely drained, and the fire element particles in his body multiplied—just like when he absorbed the Native-Soil Crystal for Earthshift. He could clearly see grain-like fire element particles rapidly fusing with his original fire force.
With the breakthrough method for Earthshift already in hand, advancing Fireshift was a breeze for Evan Chu. Plus, this Glassfire Crystal was huge—the fire element energy was plentiful. This time, he spent just four days to push Fireshift straight to the second layer, and a fiery red bead appeared in his dantian.
With a single thought, a ball of flame instantly appeared in Evan Chu’s palm. He could clearly feel the heat—the flame’s color now tinged with thin streaks of black, its quality a full level higher than before. This fire was even stronger than earth‑fire, nearly on par with heavenly fire.
Spotting a two-meter-wide boulder nearby, Evan Chu hurled the flame at it. A crackling sound rang out, and in just a few breaths, the stone turned into molten lava. Evan Chu was stunned. “Such terrifying firepower—being able to instantly melt stone into magma. This’ll be a killer weapon against enemies in the future.”
After calming himself down, Evan Chu practiced the upgraded Fireshift several more times before stopping. "Once I’m stronger, I’ll need to find energy crystals for the other transformations. Luna said the Immortal Realm has them—I’ll have to figure out how to get my hands on some. If I can push all seven shifts to the second layer, even as a Golden Immortal, I should be able to go toe-to-toe with Ninth-Heaven Arch-Immortal experts."
A mountain wind swept by, leaving Evan Chu feeling at ease. But when he thought of his promise to Yvonne Xuan, the pressure in his heart grew immense. After a long while, his mind gradually settled, and he drifted into a state of empty clarity.
In his sea of consciousness, the chants for Ninefold Golden Body Art slowly surfaced. Right now, only two Golden Body methods appeared in his mind: Earth Golden Body and Fire Golden Body. This was clearly because he’d pushed both Earthshift and Fireshift to the second layer.
Sword Spirit Luna once explained that Ninefold Stellar Transformation and Ninefold Golden Body Art are two mutually reinforcing, heaven-defying martial systems. Mastering one makes it much easier to cultivate the other, but both demand a brutal price—especially Ninefold Golden Body Art, which requires splitting off strands of your own soul to forge avatars. That kind of agony isn’t something ordinary people can endure.
Evan Chu hesitated, torn between starting with Earth Golden Body or Fire Golden Body. As the name suggests, Earth Golden Body is all about defense—perfect for blocking terrifying enemy attacks while his main body counterattacks at the same time.
Fire Golden Body, on the other hand, is all about offense—its fire element attacks would be a nightmare for opponents. But Evan Chu’s current cultivation is still too weak, and Luna warned him: unless it’s a life-or-death situation, Ninefold Golden Body Art must never be revealed. Otherwise, every force in the Immortal Realm would go mad with greed.
Evan Chu decided to cultivate Earth Golden Body first. Instantly, the detailed method for Earth Golden Body appeared in his mind: first, split off a wisp of his own soul; then, wrap that soul strand in dense earth element; finally, use the Golden Body circulation method to condense it into a humanoid body. Once complete, he could control it with his Divine Sense.
When he didn’t want to use the Golden Body, one thought would draw it back into his body. When he needed it again, another thought would send it out—just like how Shadow and Goldwing could freely enter and exit his body as contracted beasts.
Evan Chu could feel just how heaven-defying the Ninefold Golden Body Art was. Just imagine—if nine Golden Bodies suddenly appeared against a terrifying enemy, what kind of storm of attacks would that be? And even if a Golden Body was destroyed, it didn’t matter. He could always split another soul strand and rebuild it, as long as his main soul wasn’t annihilated by a soul attack.
Even then, he could split his soul again and reforge a Golden Body. In other words, unless the cultivator himself died, the Golden Bodies were practically immortal and indestructible.
Evan Chu calculated the time—over three hundred years still remained in the Timewheel Bracelet’s inner world. After cultivating Earth Golden Body, he should still have time left to break through to Da Luo Golden Immortal. With his mind made up, he began following the Ninefold Golden Body Art’s instructions, steeling himself for the agony of soul splitting and stepping into an even more heaven-defying phase of his cultivation path…