Chapter 209: The Second Stage Secret Technique of the Life-and-Death Path

Inside the City Lord’s Residence of Huyang City.

Luo Feng drank alone in the pavilion, his brows tightly furrowed, clearly troubled.

“That fool Qingyan has finally comprehended another Chaos Realm secret technique. His accumulation has grown deeper.” Morosa walked through the City Lord’s Residence in good spirits. Regardless of anything else, Moyu Qingyan was now one step closer to the Chaos Realm.

Although the second disciple of the Blade River Sect, Xinyu, had far greater talent, no other disciple, no matter how exceptional, could compare to his own.

Morosa looked up and saw Luo Feng far away on the pavilion.

“How odd,” Morosa murmured in confusion. “Master doesn’t seem quite right…”

Whoosh.

Morosa quickly arrived at the pavilion and cautiously spoke from the corridor below the steps. “Master.”

Luo Feng glanced at Morosa. “What is it?”

“Does Master have worries?” Morosa observed carefully and asked, “Is there anything I might be able to help with?”

Morosa believed that having reached the Second Stage Divine King, he had completely surpassed his master in every way! Perhaps he could resolve whatever was troubling his master.

“You can’t help,” Luo Feng shook his head.

“Master, why don’t you tell me anyway?” Morosa asked.

Luo Feng gave a slight smile. “I’ve encountered a great terror. An uncontrollable fear has taken root in my heart! It’s severely affecting my cultivation… Do you have a way to stop me from feeling fear?”

When fully activated, the Great Destruction Heart Refining Technique could indeed crush all stray thoughts, allowing one’s mind to become pure and tranquil.

However, that came at the cost of too much mental effort, slowing Luo Feng’s thinking speed significantly, and drastically lowering his cultivation efficiency—down to less than half of what it would be in peak condition.

Bearing such a long-term negative effect, how could Luo Feng be in a good mood?

He was pondering how to solve this problem!

“Encountered a great terror? Feeling fear?” Morosa was puzzled. “What in the Origin Continent could possibly make Master afraid?”

Luo Feng smiled silently.

“Could it be something that might lead to Master’s death? Or even endanger the entire race?” Morosa probed, suspecting his master had encountered a terrifying enemy.

“There’s no danger to my life,” Luo Feng replied. “It only affects my cultivation.”

“If it won’t kill you, what’s there to be afraid of?” Morosa asked.

Luo Feng shook his head. “I can’t control my heart. Fear arises naturally.”

“Then just control your heart, and it’s fine,” Morosa looked at Luo Feng in confusion.

“Control it?”

Luo Feng was momentarily stunned.

He was a Divine King, with the willpower of an Ultimate Divine King! But even so, in the face of that giant eye in his memories, a primal fear surged from the depths of his life instinct!

“That’s right, it’s merely memory contamination. It poses less threat than will contamination. So what is there to fear?”

“Fear from the instincts of life? Then I shall control those instincts.”

“All fear originates in the heart.”

“If I control the heart, I can control instinct as well.”

Whoosh! Luo Feng vanished instantly, leaving behind a slightly bewildered Morosa on the pavilion.

“What exactly did Master encounter?” Morosa wondered, confused and unable to understand.

…

Within a space on the first floor of the Star Tower.

Luo Feng sat cross-legged, ceasing his practice of the Great Destruction Heart Refining Technique.

That enormous eye from his memory seemed to gaze at him across endless time and space, overlooking him.

Fear surfaced in his heart once again!

Even his soul trembled!

Fear, submission, dread!

“Steady… It’s just a memory from a dream. It can’t harm me. Why fear it? Don’t fear it. Face it! Face it!” Luo Feng tried again and again to convince himself.

But knowing and doing were two different things! Life’s instinct was something else entirely!

The fear continued to grow and spread. The terror from that giant eye sank ever deeper into Luo Feng’s heart.

“Face it!”

“It’s just a memory!”

Luo Feng forced himself to face it. As time passed, the fear continued to seep in, its influence deepening. In the end, Luo Feng could only once again activate the Great Destruction Heart Refining Technique, erasing all distracting thoughts to return his mind to a state of purity and clarity.

After clearing his mind, Luo Feng would then cease the Heart Refining Technique and continue to confront it directly.

“Control your heart. Control your instincts,” Luo Feng persistently confronted it head-on.

At first, he had to use the Great Destruction Heart Refining Technique once every few days to erase all mental distractions. But gradually—after tens of days, then thousands of days—as he observed the enormous eye for longer and longer periods, the terror it brought became something he gradually grew used to, and his control over his own mind only deepened.

This continued for most of one era!

“The fear I feel when facing it has become much weaker.” Even without relying on the Great Destruction Heart Refining Technique, Luo Feng could now confront that enormous eye for extended periods.

Those Divine Kings cultivating Primordial Bloodline were the same, repeatedly contending with the will of their bloodline, suppressing it! This was also a form of tempering—Divine King Yuntian had attained the will of an Ultimate Divine King through precisely this kind of tempering.

During this long era, Luo Feng’s mind also underwent transformation.

“That enormous eye… is it real, belonging to some terrifying being? Or merely something illusory from a dream?” Luo Feng couldn’t help but wonder.

“It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen, even if it only appeared in a dream.”

“Maybe I can create a secret technique based on this great terror.”

An idea for a secret technique began to form in Luo Feng’s heart.

Over the years, he had already comprehended all nine major branches of the Life-and-Death Path.

“Using the nine branches of the Life-and-Death Path, I can try to create this move.” Luo Feng continued to face the enormous eye directly, ignoring the lingering fear it induced, as he attempted to create the secret technique.

The nine branches of the Life-and-Death Path consisted of the original six he had first understood—Blood Droplet Branch, Crimson Sun Branch, Extinction Branch, Eternal Branch, Black Smoke Branch, and Wanderer Branch—followed by the subsequent comprehensions: Heavenlight Branch, Void Branch, and Reincarnation Branch.

These nine branches embodied the core essence of the Life-and-Death Path. Each branch absorbed elements from the Six Major Branches of Life and the Six Major Branches of the Origin Path of Destruction, making each one extremely powerful.

“That enormous eye… its essence should center around the Eternal Branch, Blood Droplet Branch, and Reincarnation Branch,” Luo Feng reasoned, having faced it for so long that he already had a direction in mind for the secret technique.

“Then support it with the Crimson Sun Branch, Black Smoke Branch, and Void Branch.”

“Six branches in fusion! If fused perfectly, the move should carry a hint of that eye’s presence.”

Luo Feng began to carefully ponder.

The artistic conception of this move was exceedingly high. Creating it was much more difficult than Luo Feng had anticipated.

Whenever he hit a bottleneck, Luo Feng would again confront that enormous eye, carefully studying it to understand why it instilled such terror—seeking inspiration to perfect the move.

Fully absorbed in creating the secret technique, Luo Feng had no time or interest in anything else.

Even when the Wheel Reincarnation Pavilion invited him to take action, Luo Feng temporarily declined, saying he was in seclusion and uninterested in exploring any Treasure Land.

…

“This enormous eye can no longer make me feel fear,” Luo Feng thought after over ten eras of studying the eye while developing the secret technique. No matter how directly he faced it now, it no longer frightened him.

Without fear, the eye’s usefulness to his cultivation also diminished.

“The Seven Emotions Heart Refining Technique... it can enhance my sensitivity.”

Luo Feng activated the Seven Emotions Heart Refining Technique. Under its effects, emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, thought, sadness, fear, and shock became intensely amplified. Even a trace of emotion could stir a tremendous tidal wave within the mind.

Rumble—

As soon as the technique activated, the enormous eye once again evoked a strong sense of fear in Luo Feng. The fear was overwhelming, as if it were the very first time he faced it—his very soul trembled.

“Excellent, excellent—this is exactly the feeling I need,” Luo Feng exclaimed in delight and returned to perfecting the move.

The secret technique gradually improved.

One era after another passed. Finally, in the thirty-fourth era of directly confronting the eye—

“It’s done!”

Inside the Star Tower, Luo Feng was incomparably excited.

After countless years of effort, he had finally created the secret technique. The sense of accomplishment filled him with satisfaction.

“I finally created this secret technique! It wasn’t easy! It’s far more difficult than Undying Mixed Cave Light.” Luo Feng was ecstatic. “This dream memory wasn’t a curse—it was a blessing!”

Even while maintaining the Seven Emotions Heart Refining Technique, that enormous eye could no longer make Luo Feng feel fear.

Because he had studied it too deeply.

He had come to understand it so well that all its mystery was gone—along with its terror.

After all, it was only an image from a dream memory.

“What I studied is merely an image from a dream. If it actually exists… I can’t even imagine how terrifying it must be,” Luo Feng thought.

“In truth, this secret technique is the proper Second Stage Secret Technique of the Life-and-Death Path!” Luo Feng beamed. Under the Seven Emotions Heart Refining Technique, his excitement was even stronger.

Last time, he had fully developed Undying Mixed Cave Light, which was a fusion of two Life Branches and three Destruction Branches—a total of five branches.

This time, it was a complete fusion of six branches from the nine branches of the Life-and-Death Path—a true Second Stage Secret Technique of the Life-and-Death Path. Though it hadn’t yet been tested, Luo Feng could already judge that its power far exceeded Undying Mixed Cave Light.

“After more than two hundred eras as a Divine King, I’ve finally created this move using a dream memory as inspiration.”

Luo Feng knew very well that with only his own foundation, it would have been nearly impossible to create such a move in a short time. This technique was entirely born from the direction provided by the dream memory, and even then, it took more than thirty eras to complete.

“Each of the six branches used in this secret technique is extremely powerful. When fused, could this move rival an Ultimate Stage Secret Technique?” Luo Feng wondered.

Emperor Guixu and Divine King Wuxin both possessed Ultimate Stage Secret Techniques.

Though his individual branches were strong, Emperor Guixu and Divine King Wuxin had merged all their branches into a perfect whole—achieving a qualitative leap, hence worthy of being called an Ultimate Stage Secret Technique.

“I’ll test it.”

This secret technique could be used through the body or various weapons—through blades as a terrifying blade technique, through axes as an axe technique, or through hammers as a technique of destruction.

Luo Feng extended his hand.

His right hand instantly turned dim and obscure, as if it were the very core of the universe itself! Even if the universe perished, this hand would remain intact! Containing boundless terror, Luo Feng’s massive palm, with its five fingers, struck out directly.

RUMBLE— The five fingers shone brilliantly in an instant, forcibly annihilating everything in their path. Even the unseen membrane of the Source World was shattered and torn apart, leaving a trench over ten feet long.

Beyond the membrane of the Source World, surging black airflow flowed in through the rift.

“This move shall be called… Great Annihilation Form!” Luo Feng looked upon the scene, deeply satisfied.