Chapter 110: Breakthrough: External Incarnation

After breaking through to the Golden Core Realm, a long-lost smile appeared on Ye Qingxuan's face.

Inside his dantian, a Golden Core slowly rotated; its surface seemed to be engraved with a double landscape scene that flowed continuously.

A closer look revealed that the landscape on Ye Qingxuan's Golden Core was very similar to the terrain of the Qingxuan Cave Heaven Dongxuan Fudi.

The reason for this appearance was what happened when Ye Qingxuan broke through to the Golden Core Realm.

The World Map, his natal magic treasure that he had been nourishing within the origin of the Qingxuan Cave Heaven Dongxuan Fudi, suddenly separated a strand of origin energy, which transformed into a sub-map that enveloped Ye Qingxuan's Golden Core.

Influenced by this sub-map, Ye Qingxuan's Golden Core seemed to undergo a transformation, beginning to automatically inhale spiritual energy and convert it into spiritual power, subtly enhancing Ye Qingxuan's cultivation base.

Although the speed at which Ye Qingxuan's Golden Core self-inhaled spiritual energy and converted it into spiritual power could not compare to the cultivation speed bonus provided by his fourth-element spiritual root,

the advantage of the Golden Core's self-cultivation was that it could operate continuously for twenty-four hours a day.

Therefore, all things considered, after Ye Qingxuan broke through to the Golden Core Realm, his current cultivation speed was already comparable to the talent of a four-element spiritual root.

After breaking through to the Golden Core Realm, Ye Qingxuan did not stop.

However, he was not continuing to cultivate to improve his cultivation base.

Instead, influenced by his obsession, he began to work tirelessly to comprehend and condense the Dao seed of the minor divine ability: Clone.

If one were to speak of cultivation talent, even with his current talent comparable to a four-element spiritual root, Ye Qingxuan could only be considered mediocre.

But Ye Qingxuan's talent in comprehension could be described as monstrous.

In just one year, a profound Dao pattern had already condensed within the internal space of Ye Qingxuan's Golden Core.

This Dao pattern was the Dao seed of the minor divine ability: Clone, which Ye Qingxuan had been attempting to condense ever since he broke through to the Golden Core Realm.

After condensing the Dao seed of the minor divine ability: Clone, Ye Qingxuan could split off two ordinary clones possessing thirty percent of his main body's cultivation base.

At the same time, he could prematurely condense an External Incarnation, which only Nascent Soul Realm cultivators could typically cultivate, possessing one hundred percent of the main body's cultivation base.

Once an ordinary clone was split off, its cultivation realm was fixed.

After the main body's cultivation base broke through, the ordinary clone could only be retracted or disintegrated before a stronger clone could be split off.

However, the External Incarnation was not subject to this restriction; it could cultivate on its own to improve its cultivation base, provided its cultivation limit did not exceed that of the main body.

Because the condensation of an External Incarnation required the integration of a portion of essence, Qi, and spirit origin, and this portion had to come from the cultivator's Nascent Soul.

Only in this way could the External Incarnation function like a semi-independent individual, cultivating and improving its base on its own.

But in the Earth Immortal inheritance Ye Qingxuan had obtained, after condensing the clone divine ability Dao seed, one could use the origin of the Qingxuan Cave Heaven Dongxuan Fudi to replace the essence, Qi, and spirit origin of one's own Nascent Soul, prematurely condensing an External Incarnation.

The only flaw was that if the External Incarnation fell, Ye Qingxuan would be unable to condense another one until he broke through to the Void Penetration Realm.

Ordinary divine ability clones were not subject to this restriction.

They could be disintegrated and re-condensed at any time, requiring only a massive supply of energy.

Moreover, clones condensed through divine abilities would not be limited by distance like other spell-based clones.

The divine ability clone allowed Ye Qingxuan to control his clones while ignoring space and distance.

After the Dao seed of the clone divine ability was successfully condensed,

influenced by a certain obsession, Ye Qingxuan began to impatiently use the secret techniques from the Earth Immortal inheritance, utilizing the origin of the Qingxuan Cave Heaven Dongxuan Fudi to condense an External Incarnation.

Three days later, Ye Qingxuan rarely left the Qingxuan Dongxuan Fudi, and his faint voice sounded softly: "Zhaoheng!"

Hearing Ye Qingxuan's summons, Ye Zhaoheng immediately flew from the foot of the mountain to a spot not far from Ye Qingxuan, bowing respectfully: "Zhaoheng is here, please give your orders, Young Master!"

Ye Qingxuan's hollow eyes scanned Ye Zhaoheng unconsciously, placing immense pressure on him.

Over these years, because Ye Qingxuan had been trapped in his obsession, he had forgotten to refine the breakthrough elixirs for the two brothers, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu, so they had remained at the peak of the Purple Mansion Realm.

Without elixirs to assist in breaking through to the Golden Core Realm, and with their spiritual power already impure, the two brothers dared not break through easily.

Furthermore, with impure spiritual power and no elixirs to aid their cultivation, the cultivation speed of the two brothers had dropped by about thirty percent compared to their original talent.

Regarding this, the two brothers harbored no resentment; they simply watched Ye Qingxuan's transformation and worried for him in secret.

As mere attendants with low cultivation, they did not know what kind of change had befallen Ye Qingxuan, so they dared not act rashly, fearing they might disturb his cultivation.

Looking at Ye Zhaoheng with hollow eyes, Ye Qingxuan took out an ink box and passed it through the air to Ye Zhaoheng, his indifferent voice sounding again: "Take this ink box out of the Xuantian Sect and drop it in an uninhabited mountain forest."

Ye Zhaoheng looked at the ink box before him; although he was puzzled, he did not ask further questions.

After carefully taking the ink box, Ye Zhaoheng replied:

"Yes, Young Master!"

Subsequently, Ye Zhaoheng left the place on his sword.

Watching Ye Zhaoheng's departing figure, Ye Qingxuan remained silent, though a glimmer of anticipation appeared in his hollow eyes.

Once Ye Zhaoheng's figure was no longer visible, Ye Qingxuan turned and returned to the Qingxuan Dongxuan Fudi, waiting quietly.

On the other side.

After showing his attendant identity token for the Qingxuan Dongxuan Fudi, Ye Zhaoheng encountered no difficulties and successfully left the Xuantian Sect via the teleportation array.

After teleporting to the capital city of Xingzhou, Ye Zhaoheng did not take another teleportation array but instead left the city.

After several days of flying, Ye Zhaoheng finally found a small, desolate mountain forest.

Although curious, Ye Zhaoheng had no intention of opening the ink box without permission.

Following Ye Qingxuan's instructions, he carefully placed the ink box in a hidden spot, then left the small forest and flew back in the direction he had come.

Not long after Ye Zhaoheng left, the ink box instantly popped open automatically.

A figure dressed in black robes, with their head covered by a black hood, emerged from the ink box. After putting the ink box away, the figure left the area at high speed.

The person in black robes was none other than Ye Qingxuan's External Incarnation.

Although Ye Zhaoheng had left the area before Ye Qingxuan, Ye Qingxuan arrived at the capital city of Xingzhou before Ye Zhaoheng.

Ye Qingxuan's External Incarnation was completely covered by black robes, but this did not draw strange looks from other cultivators.

In the cultivation world, there were plenty of cultivators in all sorts of strange attire, and everyone was accustomed to it; there was no need to make a fuss.

After passing through layers of teleportation and a considerable amount of flying,

the gaze revealed from the darkness of Ye Qingxuan's eyes finally saw that long-missed city. A familiar feeling surged into his heart, causing the flying Ye Qingxuan to pause for a moment; his hollow eyes seemed to regain a faint glimmer of brilliance.

Following the memories deep in his mind, Ye Qingxuan concealed himself and traveled smoothly to his home—a home that no longer had his parents.

Subsequently, Ye Qingxuan found his younger brother and sister, but he did not reveal himself to them.

He simply watched them quietly from the side as they had grown old and frail, and past events floated through Ye Qingxuan's mind like flowing water.

"Big Brother? Are you my Big Brother? Big Brother, I want to hear your stories about the cultivation world!"

"Big Brother, where is my gift?"

When they first met, there was the younger brother who loved to pester him to tell stories of the cultivation world; when they first met, there was the younger sister who reached out her hand before him, mischievously asking for a meeting gift.

Now, they had both grown old and frail, and their own lifespans were not far from reaching their limits.

As he watched, Ye Qingxuan's hollow gaze began to show intense emotional fluctuations, and he whispered subconsciously: "Little Brother, Little Sister, Big Brother is incompetent; I couldn't take Mom, Dad, and you all on the path of cultivation. But don't worry, sooner or later, Big Brother will find you and bring you back to experience the splendor of the Immortal Dao."

Having said this, Ye Qingxuan's figure gradually faded and left the place.

Subsequently, Ye Qingxuan used magic to learn the burial place of his parents from others.

In front of the tombstones of his father and mother, Ye Qingxuan took off his hood and stood there quietly for a long time without speaking.

Here, Ye Qingxuan found a long-lost sense of belonging.

A gentle breeze brushed across Ye Qingxuan's cheeks, making him feel as if he were once again feeling his mother's touch.

At this moment, the emotions Ye Qingxuan had suppressed for so long finally began to release; his hollow eyes regained the brilliance of the past, and the obsession in his heart slowly dissipated.

Reaching out his hand, he slowly touched his parents' tombstones, and the tears in Ye Qingxuan's eyes could no longer be suppressed as he trembled:

"Dad, Mom, I've come back to see you."

In front of his parents, Ye Qingxuan was not as strong as he had imagined himself to be.

At this moment, Ye Qingxuan felt as if his parents had not left, but were still accompanying him by his side.

Ye Qingxuan began to talk to himself, narrating his life over the past hundred years, as if he wanted to tell his parents that he was doing well so they wouldn't have to worry about him.

Once he had finished pouring out his heart, Ye Qingxuan's mind returned to an ethereal state, and the obsession in his heart gradually faded away.

He believed that his parents had only left for a while, and as long as he was still here, his parents would return sooner or later.

When that time came, he would help his parents step onto the Immortal Dao and protect them until eternity.

As a son, how could he not know that having no spiritual root and being unable to cultivate was the greatest regret of his parents' lives? Or rather, it was the regret of all those in the Di Xuan Realm who could not cultivate.

It was just that Ye Qingxuan's parents had never complained in front of him.

Putting his hood back on, Ye Qingxuan turned to leave.

But before he had even left the cemetery grounds, his path was blocked by a figure.

This figure was none other than the Ye family head, Ye Yu Hong, whom Ye Qingxuan knew very well.

At this moment, Ye Yu Hong stared coldly at Ye Qingxuan in his black robes and questioned:

"Who is the fellow Daoist? Why have you trespassed on my Ye family's territory?"

Ye Qingxuan had just broken through to the Golden Core Realm and had not yet had time to condense many divine ability Dao seeds, so his concealment ability was not strong.

When Ye Qingxuan stepped into the Ye Shixian City, he had already been detected by the formation set up by the Ye family.

It was just that by the time Ye Yu Hong rushed to the Ye Shixian City, Ye Qingxuan had already left and arrived at this cemetery.

This cemetery was only for the mortal members of the Ye family, so the formation set up there was not strong, which was why it hadn't been discovered by the Ye family immediately.

Later, it was Ye Yu Hong who discovered Ye Qingxuan's lingering aura through the obscure restrictions he had left in the residence where Ye Qingxuan's relatives lived.

That restriction had originally been set up by Ye Yu Hong to ensure timely rescue if Ye Qingxuan's relatives were attacked.

He hadn't expected to accidentally detect that the person in black robes—Ye Qingxuan's incarnation—had been there, and then, based on the lingering aura, he had tracked him here.

It could only be said that Ye Qingxuan, who had been trapped in his obsession, had acted too thoughtlessly.

Coupled with the fact that he had just broken through to the Golden Core Realm and hadn't had time to practice his various methods, he had been tracked here by Ye Yu Hong, who had caught onto his trail.

Hearing Ye Yu Hong's questioning, the person in black robes—Ye Qingxuan's incarnation—said in a hoarse voice: "I have no ill intentions; I just came here by accident and stopped by to take a look."

Having said this, Ye Qingxuan transformed into a streak of rainbow light and fled into the distance.

Now that he had regained his reason, Ye Qingxuan had no intention of communicating further with Ye Yu Hong.

If the interaction went too deep, it was very likely he would expose himself directly, which was not what Ye Qingxuan wanted to see; he was not yet prepared to expose himself.

Therefore, after giving Ye Yu Hong an explanation, Ye Qingxuan left the place directly.

Opposite him, Ye Yu Hong fell into deep thought upon hearing Ye Qingxuan's words and was just about to continue questioning when he saw Ye Qingxuan preparing to leave.

After hesitating for a moment, Ye Yu Hong ultimately suppressed the urge to strike.

After all, the other party was a Golden Core Realm cultivator; without absolute certainty, Ye Yu Hong did not want to rashly provoke a powerful enemy for the family.

However, after Ye Qingxuan left, Ye Yu Hong did not leave.

He reached out his hand to release a trace of aura invisible to the naked eye, and after casting a spell, this aura drifted in the air, gradually arriving in front of the tombstones of Ye Qingxuan's father and mother.

Seeing this, the look of doubt in Ye Yu Hong's eyes grew stronger, and as if remembering something, Ye Yu Hong said with some hesitation:

"Could it be?"

But in the next second, Ye Yu Hong denied it himself: "No, that's impossible!"

Ultimately, Ye Yu Hong buried the guess he had just had deep in his heart and turned to leave the place.

After returning to the Ye family, Ye Yu Hong immediately erased all records of what had happened that day.

After doing all this,

Ye Yu Hong came to the depths of his own cave dwelling, sat alone, and muttered:

"Could it really be you?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 111 =====