Chapter Fifty: Innate Transformation

“Forget it, thinking too much about it is pointless!” Zhou Yi relaxed his mind, completely immersed himself in his world of consciousness, and focused on examining the gains from his recent breakthrough. With Song Hai guarding outside, he had nothing to worry about.

To observe the changes within himself, others would need to check each aspect one by one, but for Zhou Yi, there was no need for such trouble—after all, he possessed a golden finger.

Name: Zhou Yi
Spirit: 10
Body: 100
Qi: 20,000
Realm: Mountain Intent
Cell Count: 9,999 (Second Transformation)
Energy: 999,900
Martial Skill: Reliant Blade 99/100
Reliant Mind Method, Sixth Level (Blue Mountain Realm) 0/100

Zhou Yi squinted at the attribute panel, calculating in his heart. First was Spirit, which doubled directly from five to ten, though its exact function remained unclear to him for now, so he set it aside.

Next was Body—compared to Spirit, the increase here was much greater, jumping straight from just over thirty to one hundred, nearly tripling. To put it simply, his physical condition was now a hundred times that of an ordinary person!

A hundredfold—what kind of concept was that? Practically a little superhuman! If he could return to his previous world, there would be nothing he couldn’t do—being the world’s number one would be flawless.

Unfortunately, he was no longer in that world. Here, not to mention being the best under heaven, he wouldn’t even be considered the best among the weakest!

Next was Qi, his internal energy. Previously, it was over one hundred eighty years; now, it was two hundred years. This he understood well: during his breakthrough, he momentarily entered the state of unity with heaven and earth, his body becoming a microcosm, and the spiritual energy of the world flowed into him as if he belonged to it.

Though the time was brief, even that fleeting instant of communion with the world’s spiritual energy increased his internal strength by nearly twenty years. Zhou Yi couldn’t help but feel regret—if only it lasted a little longer, how wonderful that would have been!

But such thoughts were mere dreams. To enter that state, even for a moment, is a tremendous fortune, and wishing for more is wishful thinking!

The reason Zhou Yi managed to increase his internal strength by twenty years was precisely because he lingered in that unity with heaven and earth for a brief instant. If only he could have stayed longer—just half an hour, or even the time it takes to burn an incense stick—he would have had confidence to defeat Leng Feng afterward, turning his current dilemma into no dilemma at all!

Alas! Such states are rare and unpredictable. Zhou Yi believed their occurrence was one in a million, or even ten million—otherwise, others would have had them too.

Otherwise, those like Ru Chi and Ming Zhen, who also reached the innate realm, would not have such low internal strength. If they had entered this state, their internal energy wouldn’t be so weak, and he wouldn’t have defeated them so easily.

After internal energy came the greatest advancement of this breakthrough: the Intent.

A new item appeared on the attribute panel—Intent: Mountain.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi immediately understood that this was the greatest contributor to his breakthrough into the innate realm—Intent.

Postnatally, one overwhelms others with momentum; innately, one subdues others with force. That force is Intent. Four years of constant cutting through waves, sea, and mountains—actions became habits, habits engraved into his bones.

Mastery is the best practice!

In truth, Zhou Yi could have broken through to the innate realm long ago, for the required Intent was already embedded within him. He simply lacked the concept, mistakenly thinking Intent was something else—something he still needed to cultivate.

Thus, he delayed!

Previously, in his battle with Ming Zhen, the external unity of appearance and the world deeply shocked him. Though he ultimately won, that fighting style was like a key, opening a door for him.

Then, Leng Feng’s green aura easily trapped him; the sense of powerlessness, as if the heavens themselves opposed him, and the aura’s solidity gave him the feeling of an ant moving a mountain. This inspired him further.

These two experiences combined became a seed planted in his mind, eager to sprout. It was on the verge of breaking through, but something essential was missing.

Until just now, when the Eighteen Arhats united in formation, their internal energy transformed through martial arts into scripture, which became sound waves, gathering everyone’s strength and resonating with the world. In that instant, he understood—the seed in his mind broke through the earth.

All the power within his body moved at his command, circulating rapidly; Reliant Mind Method and Reliant Blade Technique operated at full speed, profound rhythms appeared, and all power was refined into a single whole.

Finally, it settled at his forehead—his body stirred, and with a bang, he broke through the heavenly gate and entered the outer world.

The world outside resonated with him, forming tangible substance. The spiritual energy of the world gathered, guided by his comprehension, first forming waves, then the sea, then mountains, finally settling upon the mountain—Intent solidified, resonating with the world.

At this moment, the mountain seemed to encompass the entire world. To attack it was to strike at the world itself. The Eighteen Arhats were formidable together, but how could they compare to the vastness of heaven and earth?

In the end, not only did they fail to break through the mountain’s barrier, but the mountain, united with the world, rebounded and killed them all.

Mountain Intent gathered, composing Zhou Yi’s innate true meaning. He felt it within, his consciousness immersed in the Mountain Intent.

Massive, majestic, unmoving as a mountain.

This was the sensation that flooded Zhou Yi’s mind as he sank into Mountain Intent—he was instantly awed, as if in a previous life, when he was at his weakest, standing before Mount Tai and gazing at its towering, boundless grandeur.

Compared to the mountain, humans are but ants—small, lost, and bewildered.

Before Zhou Yi could finish his sigh of awe, his mind was suddenly drawn in, merged with Mountain Intent.

In that instant, the world changed—Zhou Yi became the towering, vast mountain. All around was empty, boundless, nothing in sight.

Only when he looked down did he occasionally see small hills, tiny black dots standing between them, motionless as if eternal.

But in truth, those black dots were his former self—not unmoving but taking steps so short that, from the mountain’s perspective, they seemed still.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi understood: there were no real barriers or hardships in this world. It was merely a trick of perspective.

From the human viewpoint, the mountain seemed impossibly tall and vast; but from the mountain’s viewpoint, everything was flat, unobstructed.

Only now did Zhou Yi slowly realize that all the obstacles he faced stemmed from his own weakness. To solve these problems was simple: become stronger.

He was now like the human viewpoint; he needed to strive to adopt the mountain’s perspective, so that all problems would cease to be problems.