Ning Fa flew for over a hundred miles in the golden desert. Other than the rising temperature, there were no other abnormalities or dangers. However, Ning Fa became even more vigilant.
Before long, within the limits of Ning Fa's spiritual sense, he detected the presence of Ying Zhen and Ning Daozhen's factions, who had entered earlier.
Their current state was rather peculiar. They had all abandoned flying and were walking, one step deep and one step shallow, in the desert. They all appeared to be carrying heavy loads, and their speed was very slow.
Ning Fa's eyes flickered. He knew that the trial of this spiritual realm had likely arrived.
As expected, after he flew a few more miles, he suddenly felt an indescribable force bearing down on him, causing him to fall uncontrollably onto the desert sand.
A powerful suction force emanated from the desert, as if taking a single step would cause one to sink into it.
Ning Fa used his magic power to resist, only then managing to counteract the suction force.
However, after Ning Fa walked another ten-plus feet, he immediately sensed something was wrong.
He felt his magic power draining much faster, and the faster he moved, the faster the magic power would drain.
Ning Fa finally understood why Ying Zhen and the others were walking so slowly.
Ning Fa's heart stirred, and he immediately switched to using his own formidable physical strength to resist the suction force in the desert.
However, his vital energy also began to deplete at a faster rate. But compared to the consumption of magic power, it was slightly better.
Ning Fa's heart stirred. This was an advantage for him.
After all, he cultivated both body and magic power, and both his magic power and physical strength were extremely formidable.
Furthermore, he possessed the Five Elements Thunder Body, and his magic power recovery speed was beyond the imagination of ordinary cultivators.
Compared to other cultivators, he could naturally last longer in this strange desert.
Thus, Ning Fa followed the two factions from a distance, walking for nearly another day.
By this time, the strange suction force in the desert had become even stronger. Even with Ning Fa alternating between his physical strength and magic power, he had already consumed more than half of his reserves.
The two groups ahead were clearly consuming even more. They had even stopped to rest several times midway, taking recovery elixirs for replenishment.
After walking another hundred miles or so, the desert situation changed.
It seemed that there was an invisible boundary ahead. To the left was the golden desert they were in.
To the right, however, was a vast expanse of deep black desert, exuding an indescribable sense of strangeness. Just looking at it made one feel oppressed.
Ning Daozhen and Ying Zhen's factions were clearly hesitant. They rested for a full day at the boundary, and after some probing, they cautiously stepped into the black desert.
Ning Fa, following closely behind, watched intently. He understood that the true trial of this spiritual realm was about to begin.
As expected, after the two factions had walked a few miles, their expressions suddenly changed drastically.
Because ahead of them, a black sandstorm suddenly swept towards them, blocking out the sky and the sun, exuding a terrifying oppressive force.
"It's Bay Wind! Damn it! Such a terrifying thing exists here!"
Ying Zhen's face changed drastically upon seeing this, and he cursed loudly. The Tianwu cultivators beside him also looked extremely terrified.
At this moment, Ying Zhen took a deep breath, flipped his right hand, and took out a gourd emitting a faint green light.
Ying Zhen's face showed a look of heartache, but his hands did not slow down as he quickly formed a hand seal.
The green gourd immediately grew to several feet in size. As spiritual light flashed from the gourd's mouth, it spewed out a misty fog that enveloped them.
On the other side, Ning Daozhen and the other two also had solemn expressions. Xiao Han and Dan Hongzi immediately looked at Ning Daozhen.
Ning Daozhen took a deep breath and suddenly raised his right hand. With a flash of spiritual light, a small, gray stone tablet flew above the three of them.
As a spiritual mark pattern on its surface was lit up, a gray halo emanated from it, enveloping the three of them.
The next moment, the black sandstorm swept over, engulfing the two groups.
"It's actually the legendary Bay Wind!..."
Ning Fa, who was still at the boundary, was also shocked and his heart was heavy.
He finally understood why Ning Daozhen had said earlier that to obtain the Soul Nurturing Divine Spring, one must possess innate divine abilities.
According to ancient records, Bay Wind was a very peculiar and terrifying natural disaster.
It was said that Bay Wind could only exist in nascent, or soon-to-be-destroyed, realms.
The laws of such realms were either incomplete or chaotic.
Therefore, the Bay Wind born from them would possess characteristics of chaos and devouring.
Thus, cultivators facing such Bay Wind were almost powerless to resist.
Whether it was magic power, vital energy, or soul power, all would be devoured by this Bay Wind. The only effective means of resistance was innate divine abilities.
As for what constituted innate and what constituted postnatal.
In reality, when cultivators or other beings are born, they are marked with the imprint of their current realm.
Whatever they cultivate afterward, whether it be mortal martial arts, internal energy, magic power, vital energy, or soul power, is all cultivated based on the laws of the current realm.
Of course, this does not mean that beings within a realm can control the laws. It only means they act under the laws of the realm, and are still a long way from directly facing the laws.
After all, according to legends, the power of laws was only accessible to beings at the Mahayana Realm level.
Other beings could only act under the constraints of various laws.
Only Mahayana stage cultivators have the ability to comprehend and even utilize laws, which is also the reason for their terrifying power.
Therefore, the power cultivated by living beings is all acquired through the laws of the interface, and can be called Postnatal Power. Living beings themselves can also be called postnatal beings.
If the interface is compared to a pond, then postnatal beings are like the fish in it.
The size and water quality of the pond determine how big the fish can grow.
In a Dharma-ending interface with scarce spiritual energy and incomplete laws, the limit of cultivation might be the Golden Core stage.
However, in a Great Thousand World with abundant spiritual energy and complete laws, one can cultivate all the way to tribulation transcendence and ascension.
But no matter what, as long as they are still in this pond, the growth limit of these beings is locked by the upper limit of the pond.
What then is Innate Power?
It can be seen as the power of the spring that birthed the pond, the source water that created it.
It is the foundational power that constitutes the current interface, existing independently of the current interface's rules.
If a cultivator can advance to Spirit Transformation, they will receive a gift from the Great Dao laws, obtaining a trace of the interface's origin power, which is Innate Power.
This allows them to mobilize the interface's power, such as controlling the surrounding Primordial Qi.
So, in a sense, Spirit Transformation cultivators can already be considered innate beings, albeit at the very beginning.
There are also some beings with powerful Innate Dao Bodies who possess Innate Power from the moment of their birth.
However, generally speaking, one must reach a certain realm to activate the Innate Power within their body.
For example, Ning Fa's Five Elements Thunder Body is like this; only after advancing to Nascent Soul could he begin to control Innate Power.
Furthermore, the reason the Five Elements Thunder Body is so powerful is that it can open up five Innate Thunder Sea Divine Treasuries within the cultivator's body.
Therefore, it can control much more Innate Power than normal cultivators, and this advantage becomes increasingly apparent as their realm increases.
After all, as cultivators continuously break through their cultivation realms, they receive more Innate Power as a gift from the Great Dao laws.
In the end, for example, at the Mahayana Realm, the Innate Origin Power within the body reaches a certain limit, transforming from quantitative change to qualitative change, thus qualifying them to begin comprehending the power of laws.
This is why the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll so highly regards the Five Elements Thunder Body; it is precisely because of this advantage.
Thus, the Five Elements Thunder Body can be considered a well-deserved late-stage Spiritual Body. The higher the realm, the more the cultivator's five Innate Thunder Sea Divine Treasuries grow, the more Innate Origin they can control, and naturally, the more powerful they become.
In a way, this is also an important reason why Five Elements Thunder Body cultivators have such a high probability of advancing to Mahayana.
This is because, at that point, the Innate Origin Power of Five Elements Thunder Body cultivators has accumulated to an astonishing degree, thus providing a significant boost for advancing to Mahayana.
And this Bay Wind is like the embodiment of the interface's chaotic laws, or it can be seen as an out-of-control innate being, chaotically devouring the surrounding Primordial Qi, and even postnatal beings themselves.
This is also why Innate Power can resist this Bay Wind.
Because after mastering Innate Power, one becomes an equal to this Bay Wind, and can compete with it for the surrounding Primordial Qi.
Currently, Ning Daozhen and Ying Zhen's factions are clearly using Innate Divine Abilities.
Ning Daozhen's special stone tablet Magic Treasure was likely refined using the Innate Five Elements Qi that Ning Fa previously gave him.
Ning Fa let out a sigh of relief, feeling no panic in his heart.
After all, he had opened up two Innate Thunder Sea Divine Treasuries. Although they were still in their initial stages, they should be much stronger than the two factions relying on external objects.
The key was that he had also just obtained the Innate Thunder Essence, which could be considered a mineral deposit, allowing him to absorb and refine it at any time to replenish his Innate Power when it was excessively depleted.
A cold glint flashed in Ning Fa's eyes. This might be a good opportunity to eliminate these two factions by leveraging this advantage.
With this thought, Ning Fa stepped across the boundary without hesitation.
Soon, Bay Wind rushed towards him. Ning Fa felt a pang of regret; he had originally hoped that his Spirit Transformation Talisman could bypass this Spiritual Realm, but it seemed he couldn't take a shortcut.
With this in mind, Ning Fa immediately activated the Innate Supreme Metal Thunder Sea Divine Treasury within his body. A layer of faint white lightning instantly appeared on his body, and in the next moment, he was swept into the Bay Wind.
Amidst the piercing howls, an indescribable sensation of compression and devouring washed over him.
However, as Ning Fa activated the Innate Divine Thunder, the surrounding Primordial Qi immediately converged towards him, forming a stable protective aura. The feeling of compression then greatly diminished.