It's not a title given lightly.

Zhou Ziming was very dissatisfied with this upgrade.

Therefore, he chose to increase the Cultivation Technique's endurance.

However, just as the light orb entered his body...

Zhou Ziming's entire body began to twitch and convulse.

He felt as if his body, Divine Soul, and spirit were all being crushed within a millstone.

Zhou Ziming felt like he was going to die.

He seemed to see the Primordial Heavenly Venerate waving at him with a mischievous smirk.

Just as Zhou Ziming had this thought, he suddenly felt a coolness within his body.

"Hmm? Is it over?"

Zhou Ziming laughed out loud.

"Rebellious Revered Master, is this all you've got?"

But immediately afterward, that feeling of his entire body being crushed returned.

"Ah..."

Zhou Ziming couldn't help but scream in pain.

Then, he finally understood.

That coolness was meant to give him a break whenever he reached his limit, so he wouldn't actually die.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be a joke if he Cultivated himself to death?

Moreover, he endured this torture a full eighty-one times.

Zhou Ziming went numb.

"Revered Master, even if I am your Personal Disciple, there's no need for such 'cultivation.' Doesn't our Daoism emphasize following nature and progressing step by step?"

Of course, although the pain was agonizing...

Zhou Ziming felt that he was now excessively powerful.

Furthermore, his Divine Sense seemed to have reached the Late Stage of Profound Communication.

Zhou Ziming didn't know if it was just his imagination.

He now felt as if he had become somewhat immune to lightning.

Seeing the gourd still replenishing its golden light, Zhou Ziming quickly adjusted his breathing.

He had figured it out.

Calling him the "Primordial Not-Human Heavenly Venerate" was definitely not a baseless slander.

This old geezer wouldn't even spare his own Disciple.

Finally, the gourd's golden light was full again.

"Slightly increase comprehension of the Cultivation Technique."

"Slightly increase the circulation speed of the Cultivation Technique."

"Ten years of cultivation gains from the Nine Heavens Thunder Control True Art!"

Zhou Ziming chose the third option without hesitation.

The golden light entered his body.

A massive surge of lightning-attribute spiritual power instantly exploded within him.

Zhou Ziming quickly circulated his Cultivation Technique to accommodate this spiritual power.

As a large amount of spiritual power entered his Dantian...

Zhou Ziming felt his Dantian expand once more, and the dao platform within it rose even higher.

"Rumble..."

Following a muffled boom...

Zhou Ziming looked into his Dantian in a daze; the original dao platform had risen to reveal a complete palace.

Furthermore, this palace was pitch black, yet it was covered in many eerie golden patterns.

"Is this... the Middle Stage of Profound Communication?"

Zhou Ziming was overjoyed.

Moreover, with this palace, Zhou Ziming felt that the spiritual power he could mobilize was ten times greater than before.

With this dao palace, Zhou Ziming even gained a new ability.

That was, through the dao palace, he could refine Magic Treasures—to put it simply, he could enhance them.

Zhou Ziming also finally understood why he couldn't block Mu Ling's fan back then.

It turned out that her fan had been refined.

Zhou Ziming took out the cattail fan and swept his Divine Sense over it, breaking into a cold sweat.

Because this Magic Treasure had actually been enhanced five times.

However, the power of the enhancements was so high that it actually prevented Mu Ling from fully unleashing the cattail fan's power.

Even so, Mu Ling could still achieve a one-hit kill against those in the same realm.

Zhou Ziming could only feel lucky now that he had a cheat.

Otherwise, he really would have died at Mu Ling's hands.

Of course, this also explained why Mu Ling developed a Heart Demon after being struck by Zhou Ziming.

————

After reaching the Middle Stage of Profound Communication...

Zhou Ziming didn't immediately continue his advancement.

Instead, he looked at the Magic Treasure rewarded by the Sect—the twelve thunder shock pearls.

Before Zhou Ziming could react, the gourd spat out a burst of golden light, and the Magic Treasure was instantly refined.

Once the refinement was complete, Zhou Ziming immediately began trying to enhance it.

The steps to enhance a Magic Treasure were also very simple.

Bring it into the dao palace within his body.

Then, condense the spiritual power in his body to forge it.

Next, Zhou Ziming discovered that the gourd was slowly beginning to fill with golden light again.

"Holy crap, that works too?"

Zhou Ziming simply started waiting.

But then, after waiting for a full day...

Zhou Ziming finally saw the results.

"Increase the power of the lightning released by the thunder shock pearls!"

"Increase the hardness and durability of the thunder shock pearls!"

"Increase the spiritual power consumption of the thunder shock pearls!"

Zhou Ziming: "???"

He understood the others.

But what did this last one mean?

Wasn't it supposed to decrease consumption?

After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Ziming chose the third option.

Upon Zhou Ziming's choice...

The golden light instantly fell upon the thunder shock pearls.

Following that, the originally white thunder shock pearls now turned a faint blue.

"Is this a successful enhancement?"

Immediately after, Zhou Ziming gave it a try.

As Zhou Ziming outputted his spiritual power...

The thunder shock pearls also began to gradually grow in size.

The more spiritual power he outputted, the larger the volume of the thunder shock pearls became.

Once the volume reached a certain point, it could no longer grow.

Zhou Ziming finally understood.

"This is increasing the upper limit of the Magic Treasure?"

But this spiritual power consumption...

...was indeed quite massive.

With one use, nearly one-third of his spiritual power was gone.

Afterward, Zhou Ziming went wild.

Nothing was more addictive than enhancing equipment.

Zhou Ziming decided...

...that he would enhance all the Magic Treasures he currently possessed.

However, while the idea was beautiful...

...reality was cruel.

After Zhou Ziming had separately enhanced the hardness and the lightning power of the thunder shock pearls...

...when he attempted the fourth enhancement, the golden light on the dust cleansing gourd only progressed by one percent in a day.

In other words, the fourth enhancement would take over a hundred days?

In the end, out of helplessness, Zhou Ziming enhanced the ice-fire twin swords.

He instantly refined that cattail fan which had been enhanced five times.

Then, Zhou Ziming directly switched to the Nine Heavens Thunder Control True Art and began to Cultivate.

Zhou Ziming chose circulation speed and comprehension of the Cultivation Technique.

Then, he got stuck again.

On average, it took five days for the gourd's golden light to fill up.

And what it spat out were all fifty years' worth of cultivation gains.

Zhou Ziming waited for five days.

His cultivation base rose to the Middle Stage of Profound Communication.

Three months passed.

Zhou Ziming fed all the Medicinal Pills to the gourd, and only then did his cultivation base rise to the Late Stage of Profound Communication.

Then, the gourd's golden light became "constipated" again.

A progress of one percent per day.

Zhou Ziming secretly hung a portrait of the Primordial Heavenly Venerate in his Immortal Cave.

"Revered Master, don't make me look down on you. Since you're giving me cheats, can't you make them a bit more unrestrained?"

But then, Zhou Ziming was dumbfounded.

Because the smiley face on the gourd spoke.

"Rebellious Disciple, this is the limit of your body, not the limit of the cheat!"

Zhou Ziming was stunned for a moment.

"Huh? Holy crap, it's really a living Revered Master?"

The gourd's expression was speechless.

Finally, it said: "Haven't you realized that you are practicing the Nine Heavens Thunder Control True Art? Alright, don't call me if there's nothing important. Just experience it yourself. I'm going to find your two Junior Martial Uncles, those two bastards..."

After saying that, the portrait of the Primordial Heavenly Venerate burned up.

While Zhou Ziming was left bewildered in the wind.

Two Junior Martial Uncles?

Those two Heavenly Venerates?

And why does this Revered Master's way of speaking sound so much like someone from Earth!