Chapter 4: Pace Zorn Is Born

A month later, the fetus reached eight months, and Pace Zorn began to cultivate. A fetus's meridians were indeed fragile. The moment True Energy circulated even a little, damage followed. Luckily, he had fully comprehended the Codex of Cosmic Truth, Preliminary Volume, or the harm might have become irreversible. Just as Pace had suspected, though, a fetus's meridians were also easier to open. And because he still had not been born and remained a Congenital Body, any damage to his meridians could be repaired through his mother. Through the umbilical cord, Pace drew on his mother Luna Juggins's True Energy. He refined it until it became threads as fine as silk, then used those strands to pierce forward, little by little, steady and unyielding, opening his meridians. He opened the Twelve Main Meridians first. Next came the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, then the rest, until he reached the most Divine Talent of them all: the Lunar Vein and the Solar Vein. The more meridians he opened, the faster he absorbed and refined Primordial Energy, and the faster his True Energy circulated, letting him draw out greater strength. For instance, the moment he opened the Lunar Vein, his speed surged tenfold. The moment he opened the Solar Vein, his power surged tenfold! In only half a month, Pace opened every meridian in his body, a total of one hundred and eight. He achieved Congenital Complete Meridian Penetration! After that, Pace cultivated the Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 2, preparing to open his Primal Sea. He quickly discovered a problem. The True Energy his mother Luna provided was not pure enough. It could not open his Primal Sea. "The Ancient Divine Constitution's Primal Sea is absurdly hard to open," he thought grimly. "Mother's Zephyr Prime Essence is only mid-to-upper grade. I need to refine her True Energy into Cosmic Codex Prime Essence!" He circulated the Codex of Cosmic Truth and refined Luna's True Energy into Cosmic Codex Prime Essence, making it more than ten times purer. Luna sensed the True Energy throughout her body circulating on its own, flowing endlessly into the fetus, then returning as astonishingly pure energy. She did not panic. Joy filled her instead. "Baby… are you cultivating?" She stroked her high, rounded belly, her voice soft enough to melt. "You really are extraordinary. I can't wait for you to be born." … At nine months and nine days, Pace, tense and thrilled, poured his Bloodline Potential Points into the Ancient Divine Constitution Bloodline. The Ancient Divine Constitution Bloodline finally reached one hundred percent! The lofty man appeared in his mind right on schedule. This time, the lofty man was not fighting through blood and fire, nor was he cultivating. He was not even standing. He sat on a massive bluestone. The background had changed too. It was no longer some ancient, weathered land, but a long river where light and shadow streamed past at terrifying speed: the River of Time. The lofty man slowly turned his head, his gaze settling on Pace. Unlike before, the scene did not shatter at once. "A tree that rises above the forest gets cut down by the wind," the lofty man said, unhurried and heavy. "The Ancient Divine Constitution is a thorn in the eye and a splinter in the flesh of every demon, fiend, and alien race. The moment they discover you, they will pay any price to strangle you in the cradle." His eyes remained fixed on Pace. "Before you grow strong, do not expose yourself." Pace went rigid with shock. He could barely form words. "Y-you… you're talking to me?" The lofty man nodded faintly. "No need to be surprised. I reached the era you live in through the River of Time." "So terrifying…" Pace breathed, stunned beyond belief. The man's Divine Skills had smashed straight through the limits of his imagination. A dead man crossing into the future, speaking face-to-face with someone yet to come. The lofty man continued, "I will pass you another technique. It can conceal the Ancient Divine Constitution Bloodline." He lifted a finger and tapped Pace lightly on the forehead. In an instant, Pace felt as if a flood of clarity poured into him. A spell surged into his mind. The lofty man rose, clasped his hands behind his back, and looked toward the far end of the River of Time. Worry clouded his face. "Though generations of sages fought through oceans of blood, and the Human Race is no longer food, sacrifice, slaves, or servants, we still are not the masters of heaven and earth. Instead, because the Human Race rose from the lowest dust, we drew the vigilance of all races. We became their common enemy. They would rejoice to see us wiped out to the last." He paused, then spoke softly, "Take care of yourself. I look forward to the day you and I meet again in the River of Time." With that, the vision dispersed. Pace came back to himself and opened the panel. A new spell had appeared. [spells: Becoming Mortal (0/10000)] 〖Becoming Mortal: Hide the wondrous, appear as a common body.〗 His focus locked onto Becoming Mortal. With a thought, he filled it with proficiency points. In the next heartbeat, enlightenment rose in his mind. He fully comprehended and mastered Becoming Mortal. Then his attention shifted to the Maternal Art. "I drew far too much of Mother's True Energy. Her cultivation has stalled," he thought, guilt pressing down like a stone. "After I'm born, I won't be able to assist her anymore. It's a shame I couldn't push her into a higher realm." "I'll add more proficiency points for her. Hopefully it helps." With that, he cautiously added a single point to the Second Tier of the Void Serene Zephyr Codex. [Maternal Art: Second Tier of the Void Serene Zephyr Codex (10001/10000)](Will disappear after birth) "I can really still add points!" Pace's heart leapt. He immediately began pouring proficiency points into the Second Tier of the Void Serene Zephyr Codex, pushing it higher and higher until it reached one million. Only then did it refuse to increase further. His gaze dropped to Divine Skills. "I have a little over seven hundred thousand proficiency points left," he calculated. "I'll give each Divine Skill one hundred thousand." One by one, he added one hundred thousand to six Divine Skills and entered enlightenment each time. Unfortunately, his proficiency points were not enough to fully comprehend them. For example, with the Divine Constitution: Heaven and Earth Phenomenon Divine Skill, he only reached one percent comprehension. He could barely use it, and even then, he could only enlarge his body to about twice its size, while his strength and defense increased tenfold. Three other Divine Skills were restricted by his cultivation and could not be used at all: Blood Rebirth, Divine Punishment Eye, and the giant's pursuit of the solar essence. Pace did not know that the moment he comprehended one percent of Unassailable Steel Body, someone immediately suffered catastrophic misfortune. 〖Unassailable Steel Body: No evil may invade. Immune to all curses. Ignore suppression from any aura, phenomenon, or domain. Damage from spells and demonic arts reduced a hundredfold.〗 Southern Marquisate, Roc Court. Inside a Goodness Chamber that had been established less than seven days, incense burned before a golden Buddha statue. Chanting and the steady knock of a wooden fish continued without pause. Suddenly, the nun presiding over the ritual let out a piercing scream and collapsed. A maid outside heard it and rushed in. She found the nun already dead, blood pouring from her seven orifices. The maid fled the Goodness Chamber at once, sprinting to report to her mistress. Not long after, a breathtakingly beautiful woman entered, pure as a snow lotus that had bloomed for a thousand years. She wore a spotless white dress, and behind her head draped a silver-white cloth that shimmered faintly. She looked half worldly, half like one who had left the secular life. She was Gemma Scurr, Parker Zorn's newly married wife. She was the eldest young lady of the Scurr family of Green State, and the only direct disciple in the secular world of the Buddha Master of Mount Salvation. Gemma walked to the corpse, crouched, and studied the nun's gruesome death. She understood at once that it was backlash from a curse, yet she could not tell what method had caused it. "Senior Sister," she murmured, voice calm and cool, "your skill was lacking. Rest." She lifted a hand and gently brushed the nun's face. All the blood vanished. The corpse's expression softened into a serene, faint smile, as if she had already gone to the Western Pure Land. Meanwhile, Pace continued adding one hundred thousand proficiency points to his remaining Divine Skills. In the end, only Boundless Divine Power could be used. The rest were still unusable because his cultivation was too low. Another ten-plus days passed. Only about ten days remained until birth. The Cosmic Codex Prime Essence Pace refined finally filled his mother Luna's Primal Sea. He tried again to open his own Primal Sea. Boom! It was like the heavens splitting and the earth being born. Pace successfully opened a Primal Sea within his body. Under the scouring rush of True Energy, the newly formed Primal Sea expanded at terrifying speed. Ten zhang! A hundred zhang! A thousand zhang! Ten thousand zhang! A hundred thousand zhang! It still could have grown larger! At last, the expansion stopped. Pace looked inward. His Primal Sea stretched boundlessly, so vast that even he could not tell its true size. "My Primal Sea should be a Congenital Primal Sea," he thought, anticipation stirring. "It might have some extra Divine Talent." Then another thought struck him. "After entering the Primal Sea Realm, I can cultivate a spell that comes with the Codex of Cosmic Truth: Primordial Aura of Protection." Pace Juggins opened the panel and found Primordial Aura of Protection under [spells]. 〖Primordial Aura of Protection [Earth Grade] (0/100,000): A protective spell derived from the Codex of Cosmic Truth. Defense scales with the caster's True Energy reserves. At its peak, it can withstand Earth Grade spells or Earth Grade Martial Techniques.〗 He added one hundred thousand proficiency points to Primordial Aura of Protection and fully comprehended it. Ten more days passed, and Pace reached full term. Before he was born, he opened the panel and took one last look. [Name: Pace Zorn] [Age: Ten-month fetus] [Cultivation: Early Primal Sea Realm] [bloodline: Ancient Divine Constitution 100%] [Cultivation Technique: Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 1 (1000/1000), Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 2 (10000/10000), Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 3 (0/100,000), Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 4 (0/1,000,000), Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 5 (0/10,000,000), Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 6 (0/100,000,000), Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 7 (0/1,000,000,000), Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 8 (0/10,000,000,000), Codex of Cosmic Truth, Volume 9 (0/100,000,000,000)] [Maternal Art: Second Tier of the Void Serene Zephyr Codex (1,000,000/10,000)](Will disappear after birth) [Divine Skills: Divine Constitution: Heaven and Earth Phenomenon (100,000/10,000,000), Unassailable Steel Body (100,000/10,000,000), Boundless Divine Power (100,000/1,000,000), Blood Rebirth (100,000/5,000,000) (Cultivation too weak, temporarily unusable), Divine Punishment Eye (10/1,000,000) (Spirit Soul too weak, temporarily unusable), the giant's pursuit of the solar essence (100,000/1,000,000) (Cultivation too weak, temporarily unusable)] [spells: Primordial Aura of Protection [Earth Grade], Becoming Mortal] [Martial Techniques: None] [Bloodline Potential Points: 0](Automatically gained 10 per day. Can also be drawn from the mother. Ends after birth.) [proficiency: 260,000](Automatically gained 10,000 per day.) Ten months of pregnancy, one day of delivery. Pace Zorn was born into the world without incident. No omens appeared. No strange phenomenon stirred. It was plain and ordinary. Luna lay drenched in sweat, even her hair soaked through. Still weak, she pulled the newborn into her arms, tears of joy spilling down her cheeks. "Child," she whispered, holding him close, "from today on, your name is Pace. May you live your whole life safe and sound."