Wu Yu set a plan for himself.

There was not a single trace of spiritual qi within the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence. It was of an abysmal level, and he had already used up all the Inner Sea Essence Pills on his person. If he wanted to further elevate his cultivation level, that would be very difficult indeed.

In order to prepare for the fateful day, Wu Yu thought things over. He felt like it would be best to grind his two mystiques to higher levels while he was cooped up here.

The Swift Art was easy to master. Before too long, Wu Yu had a thorough grasp of it.

The Dragon Enslavement Heaven Imprisonment Technique, the Nine Suns Black Dragon Sword Formation, the Oblivion Beast Soul Shocking Technique, and the other Heaven Earth Void techniques were also fully worked through.

Wu Yu was left with two that required more thinking and cultivation, which were the Unshackled Doppelganger and the Eyes of Fire and Gold.

And these two mystiques were precisely the crucial abilities for Wu Yu.

That was why he had basically halted his dao enlightenment and expansion of his Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea. Instead, he devoted great quantities of time to train these two Great Dao Mystiques.

First, the Eyes of Fire and Gold.

This was slightly more arduous.

The difficulty of training the Eyes of Fire and Gold was no lower than training the Invincible Vajra Body. The stinging pain to his eyes was unbearable at times, and many a time Wu Yu wondered if he had fully blinded himself.

When he could take it no longer, and his eyes had to rest, he would close them and empty his heart to cultivate the Unshackled Doppelganger mystique. In the last few battles, his Unshackled Doppelgangers had proven to be of monumental help.

Wu Yu called forth all his doppelgangers and analyzed and controlled them gradually. After all, he would not affect Luo Pin no matter what, so he even had the doppelgangers fight each other.

This was quite a test for his mental faculties!

This was as if Wu Yu had 100 bodies, all under his control. This was exponentially more complicated than someone with 100 arms!

Even if one person had just three arms, controlling all three to do different things was difficult.

And now Wu Yu was simultaneously controlling 100 doppelgangers. He divided them into two and then used Heaven Earth Void techniques to begin an intense battle!

To anyone else, each doppelganger seemed like an individual body, improvising during battle. But each improvisation was actually a result of Wu Yu's control.

This was the marvelous and also tricky part of the Unshackled Doppelganger.

Wu Yu was currently at the fourth tier. He wanted the fifth tier. Then he could control 1,000 doppelgangers, and at a higher level of mastery. The extent to which he had to divide his consciousness was extreme, which was why challenging the fifth tier was not easy.

As for the jump from the fifth tier to the sixth, that was not actually that insurmountable. All he had to do was raise the level of the remaining 900 doppelgangers to a perfect state. A perfect state meant that they were completely in sync with Wu Yu's state of mind.

After he had elevated to become a Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea Realm, his doppelgangers were lacking in Inner Sea Essence Pills to reach his level. That was why he was hurting very badly for Inner Sea Essence Pills.

"Unshackled Doppelganger has no limit. I have to control these 100 doppelgangers until they are extensions of my body. Every finger, every blink, even their breath and the tone with which they speak - every action has to be perfectly controlled, as if each one was a real person. That is the peak of perfection, and only then can I challenge the control of 1,000 doppelgangers."

He understood that the jump from 100 to 1,000 was a huge metamorphosis, and the jump from 1000 to 10,000 was even more significant.

Unshackled Doppelganger only got more terrifying the later it developed.

Wu Yu wanted to have 1,000 perfectly controlled doppelgangers when he goes to Shushan Immortal Sect. The power of numbers, and yet each body being able to adapt to its opponent, environment, and respond differently. They could even cooperate with each other to give rise to intricate yet perfectly coordinated movements. It was as if they were like Wu Yu's hands.

The more Wu Yu cultivated this Great Dao Mystique, the more he felt like his soul and thinking were maturing.

Put simply, the brainpower and emotional energy that the Unshackled Doppelganger demanded, as well as the pain that the Eyes of Fire and Gold caused - these two Great Dao Mystiques taxed Wu Yu in different ways, which was why he could switch between them.

When the pain from cultivating his Eyes of Fire and Gold became too unbearable, he would conduct battles between his doppelgangers.

When his heart and mind were tired and his brain was absolutely exhausted, he would take up training of his Eyes of Fire and Gold.

Without question, his efforts shook the only two other people within the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence, Luo Pin and Ming Long.

But neither bothered him.

Stuck in the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence, they went on for a month without speaking. It was deathly silent, and being cooped up for a long time in such an environment was more than many could stand.

Yet he had been through many battles recently. In this peaceful place, where he would be unmolested, Wu Yu felt that things were much simpler.

Although it was grueling work to train these two mystiques, the rewards were immense! Wu Yu clearly felt himself improving at each and every moment. To him, this was the best form of immersion.

After three months, the first tier of Eyes of Fire and Gold, Abyss, was a great success!

When Wu Yu opened his eyes, he realized that his world was different.

He could see the delicate strands of spiritual qi in the air....

He could see the furthest mote of dust in the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence....

He could even see into the walls.

In the middle of the core of his black pupils, there was a strange symbol that appeared in faint gold. One could see that his eyes now possessed with a power that could shake one's soul. Perhaps no one else in the entire divine continent had such a fantastic pair of eyes.

When he returned to the main hall and saw Luo Pin, he saw through the illusion of the sea, and immediately saw that Luo Pin, within the sea, was actually a snow-white mystical dragon.

Finally, he could see it again.

He had to say that it was a perfect creation, maybe even the most perfect being in the whole world! Besides the black patch of reverse scales, the rest of the body was snow white.

This was the power of the Eyes of Fire and Gold. Even Luo Pin's true form could not escape his eyes, as one might predict.

However, Wu Yu wanted the second tier - Purgatory Chains!

That was why, after Abyss had succeeded, he did not hesitate, but immediately continued to train his Eyes of Fire and Gold. And this time, it was even harder than before.

He was still alternating between training the two Great Dao Mystiques that he had received from the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal.

"The Great Sage immortal's mystiques are so powerful. Don't immortals live forever? Why did he leave behind a legacy? And it has been around for so, so long, even longer than the Heaven Devouring Evil Lord. Could it be that he had some unfortunate encounter....

"I have received his blessings. He was the one who made me. I vow with all my heart to be someone who remembers his debts. If there is a need for me in the future, I will definitely not begrudge help him."

This was the founding principle of his life. A drop of water, given as a boon, must be repaid with a gushing fountain.

The dry and painful process was prone to drive anyone mad.

But each time Wu Yu thought of slacking off, or giving up, he would think of the time at Shushan where he had been told to scram, over and over again. He thought of the slap delivered by the Mizar Sword Immortal. He gritted his teeth and pressed on.

Luo Pin still had to thoroughly inherit the Precursor Dragon Scale. To be reborn from the brink of death and then to regain one's peak form - this was not easy. She too was having a tough time, especially since the Precursor Dragon Scale was not too docile in yielding to her control. In this period, there had been a few explosions as well, but Luo Pin had endured through them. Wu Yu could see that she too was someone of stout heart and firm resolve.

The two of them talked a lot. But occasionally, a look or smile shared gave both of them motivation. Luo Pin's gaze, warm and pliant as water, could indeed put one at ease. It seemed like all of one's worries could not escape her notice, and they talked it out in detail.

Time flew like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, a year passed!

In terms of cultivation, a year was so-so at best. Many secluded themselves for 10 years at a time.

Of course, the efficacy of the average decade-long seclusion might not be as high as Wu Yu's.

After a year, he had persisted for seven months to finally reach the second tier of the Eyes of Fire and Gold, Purgatory Chains!

In this time, there had been no sudden changes or revelations, but simply teeth-gritting cultivation and hard work, fuming his eyes and honing them further.

The second tier, Purgatory Chains, could directly burn his enemies' souls! Although Wu Yu had yet to test it out, he clearly knew how horrifying it would be - the product of a proud and accomplished mystique and seven months of his hard work.

Of course, each time he conducted battles between his Unshackled Doppelgangers, the huge mental toll further refined Wu Yu's control over his doppelgangers.

On the road to immortality, inspiration and talent were both very important. But relentless effort, perseverance, a strong intellect and will - these were even more important!

Eight months after cultivating the Unshackled Doppelganger, he finally brought it to the fifth tier. Wu Yu could bring out 1,000 doppelgangers now!

He stood outside the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence, looking down at the 1,000 Wu Yus. Each was exactly the same, and it was mind-blowing because Wu Yu could make each doppelganger have a different expression or movement. If they split up, he would have 1,000 pairs of eyes!

Within these 1,000 Wu Yus, it was very difficult to find his true body, unless his opponent also had the Eyes of Fire and Gold.

After another two months, within 10 days of the Eyes of Fire and Gold's second tier, Purgatory Chains, being completed, Wu Yu successfully raised his Unshackled Doppelganger to the sixth tier. This meant that his remaining 900 doppelgangers had also reached completion.

A year of hard work, and his two Great Dao Mystiques had shown tremendous improvement!

His Eyes of Fire and Gold were doing well, but Wu Yu lacked Inner Sea Essence Pills for his doppelgangers, to bring them to the Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea Realm, his current cultivation level. With Wu Yu's experience, the doppelgangers did not need their own. They simply had to follow the steps, and Inner Sea Essence Pills was all they needed.

This also made Wu Yu realize that he had no idea what to do with himself for the remaining year, given his paucity of resources.

These two mystiques could not be continued any further. To have trained to this extent within this period of time was already the human limit.....

In the end, it was still money....