Chapter 112: Completion of the Yin-Yang Dao Pill's Cultivation; Tempering the Self to Hone the Edge

Three days later, Longxiang Wang awoke from his coma caused by heavy injuries.

Out of "gratitude and a desire to repay kindness," he naturally followed the example of his younger brother Junyuan and pledged his service to Fang Longye.

After sorting out the various affairs of the dojo, he categorized and processed the numerous spoils, and bestowed rewards upon the demon subordinates under his command.

Afterwards, Fang Longye went into seclusion to devote himself to cultivation, digesting the good fortune he had obtained on this trip.

A secret chamber.

He had specifically used the Pot Heaven Divine Ability to expand the space.

It was vast and empty, simple and plain.

Light descended from the dome, thinning into strands, condensing into beads, and illuminating the surroundings; beside the Cloud Couch stood a wooden side table, upon which rested a Bronze Crane-Beak Tripod Furnace, with sandalwood incense curling upwards.

Fang Longye sat cross-legged on the couch, surrounded by sinking smoke and condensing clouds, with dazzling halos of light; his entire figure appeared as if viewing flowers through mist, hazy and indistinct.

A long time passed.

The strange phenomena faded away; he sat quietly, light settling between his brows, calmly contemplating his next course of action.

Since entering seclusion, he had first absorbed a vast amount of Five Elements essence from a large quantity of Five Elements-type treasures, continuing to increase the Five Qi in the Chest, which was already quite dense.

The profound principles of the Five Elements generation and restriction contained within the Five Elements Great Escape continuously refined and tempered the dense and rich Five Qi in his chest.

It could be said that he had truly cultivated the Five Qi in the Chest to the extreme under this realm.

To make further progress, other than breaking through to Golden Immortal, the only way was to Reverse Innate the Five Qi in the Chest.

Of course, this did not mean that he had become invincible within the True Immortal Realm.

There was still quite a lot of homework he needed to do.

Thinking of Gu Huojin, who had made him feel a crisis of death, he did not know if this mysterious member of the Human Race was an alias for some big shot.

But if it were truly as he claimed, that he was merely a fledgling junior, then this indicated that he was still clearly a significant distance away from the true peak level of True Immortal.

Do not think that just because he could easily kill and capture that group of True Immortal demon kings, he was already invincible among True Immortals.

However, the reality is like drinking water; one knows for oneself whether it is cold or warm.

If one were to divide the True Immortal realm into levels, at least several grades could be distinguished.

Those who have just entered True Immortal, who have not even yet nurtured the Five Qi in the Chest, are considered the lowest level of True Immortal.

After cultivation and enlightenment, when the Five Qi in the Chest are nurtured, they are considered the second level of True Immortal.

Then, when the Five Qi in the Chest grow stronger, and finally the Five Elements gather, merging into one, with the order and reverse following one's heart, and being exceptionally thick, that is the third level of True Immortal.

If, while the Five Qi in the Chest have already reached a certain standard, the essence, Qi, and spirit are further tempered, and the primordial spirit, Dharma power, blood, and so on are all refined to remove the dross and keep the essence, one enters the category of the fourth level of True Immortal.

If, on this foundation, one has also mastered a few powerful divine abilities, or possesses one or two powerful Spirit Treasures, and is able to contend with ordinary Golden Immortals, one belongs to the fifth level of True Immortal.

Even among True Immortals of this level alone, the differences between individuals are as vast as heaven and earth.

For example, Fang Longye and those old demon True Immortals he killed who were able to battle Golden Immortals, such as the previous Chiyang Wang and that Yunque Wang, actually all belonged to this level.

Moving further up, the sixth level of True Immortal is when a cultivator's Five Qi in the Chest, blood essence, Dharma power, and primordial spirit have all reached a so-called perfection within the True Immortal realm, with no further room for advancement. Some have even broken through a bottleneck, where becoming a Golden Immortal or not is merely a matter of a single thought.

The previous Yuhong Wang and Gu Huojin were likely True Immortals of this level.

And there is one final level, which is the one Fang Longye has been pursuing: the peerless True Immortal who has Reversed Innate the Five Qi in the Chest.

"Chi—" Fang Longye chuckled, stirring the surrounding cloud Qi and clear light, shaking his head with a smile.

"Does this count as the small success, great success, half-step peak, peak, small perfection, half-step perfection, perfection, and half-step great perfection of my past life?"

Fang Longye shook his head and scoffed while summoning the Wanfu Ruyi Gourd containing the Yin-Yang Dao Pill.

These levels were not officially stipulated; they were merely divisions he had made himself.

How could true cultivation be purely compared? Otherwise, everyone would just reveal their cultivation progress, compare them, and the weaker party would just surrender directly.

Why would there be any need for a fight to the death? Spirit Treasures, divine abilities, Bloodline, attributes, environment, and so on and so forth... there are too many factors that can influence strength! Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many examples of "the weak defeating the strong"! It is just that, compared to figures like Yuhong Wang and Gu Huojin, he indeed has not reached the end of True Immortal cultivation.

This is also to be expected.

In terms of years of cultivation, he is far behind them, not even amounting to a fraction of the time they have existed.

In terms of cultivation resources, he would not think that by relying on a Golden Finger, he could compare to the cultivation received by figures like Yuhong Wang and Gu Huojin.

Do not look at how he is favored by many great beings and seems to have a deep background.

But in the end, he is a free-range existence; in terms of resources, he naturally cannot compare to the direct descendants of great beings like Yuhong Wang and the others.

What kind of life do they lead, and what kind of life does he lead? Up until now, he has just been wearing the hat of having a deep background! However, he is not one to belittle himself.

People are different from one another.

Some are born with everything.

Golden Immortals as slaves, Taiyi as maids. Bathing in Innate Spiritual Liquid, yet still complaining that the grade is too low. Numerous Innate Spiritual Treasures as objects for the first-birthday divination, left for them to choose at will.

Taking a bite of an Innate Spiritual Fruit that ordinary people find hard to obtain, then throwing it away—the highlight is simply being extravagant.

Some are born facing dire straits.

Father nowhere to be seen, mother without a trace. Lonely and helpless, struggling to survive. Having finally entered cultivation, for the sake of a single spirit herb, they must calculate in every way, fighting to the death. Obtaining a single Dharma Artifact is enough to make them happy for half a year.

And then, they still have to be commented on by some great being—"shallow foundation, unworthy of being taught."

He may not compare to the former, but compared to the latter, he is already much better off.

Not to mention anything else, of these True Immortal demon kings who died at his hands, which one of them did not experience hardships and cultivate for a long time?

Yet what of it? Even Qingli and Jinghuan, who became his maids, are nothing when compared to these True Immortal demon kings in terms of years of cultivation.

And now, both of them have steadily landed at the fourth level of True Immortal and are still increasing day by day, bursting toward the fifth level.

It is no exaggeration to say that for the two of them to have such rapid progress now, who would dare say it is not thanks to him, Fang Longye?

Fang Longye cast aside these thoughts, took the Red Jade Gourd in front of him, and poured out a Yin-Yang Dao Pill.

It was the size of a dragon's eye, plump and full, golden in color, with seven-colored halos intersecting.

As soon as it was in his hand, the pill fragrance was pungent, making one's whole body tremble, as if placed in a sea of flowers, with the skin of his body soaked in the fragrance.

A short while later, it resonated with heaven and earth, giving birth to black and white Yin-Yang Dao Qi, with patterns growing all around, spreading out and evolving into myriad phenomena.

With Yin and Yang as the core, it evolves the Three Talents, Four Symbols, Five Elements, Six Harmonies, Seven Stars, Eight Trigrams, and so on; it is vast and boundless, containing everything.

As if sensing its own fate, this Yin-Yang Dao Pill leaps incessantly in his hand, emitting a clear and profound sound, mournful and poignant, clanging with a weeping resonance.

"Hmph!" Fang Longye pays it no mind, opens his mouth to swallow it into his belly, and exerts force to circulate it, transforming it into majestic Creation Spiritual Essence and layers of Dao Rhyme.

The mysterious Creation Spiritual Essence surges into the interior of his physical body, like spring rain that moistens things silently, washing away all vanity.

Within his bloodline, which had already undergone an extraordinary transformation, elegant chapters emerge, and Daoyuan appear one after another.

They are merely bits of Dragon Clan inheritance information, somewhat scattered and intermittent, but they are of great benefit to him.

A Great Divine Ability that had never been awakened—Deep Abyss Submergence and Earth Contraction—is subsequently "lit up."

Deep Abyss Submergence and Earth Contraction allows one to come and go freely in the deep sea without obstruction. It can contract Earth Veins, making the ends of the earth and corners of the sea appear right before one's eyes.

The branch divine abilities that develop downward are Deep Abyss Entering the Sea and Earth Contraction into Inches.

In terms of traveling, further up, there are spatial divine abilities like Flying Body Tracing.

Brilliant divine radiance swirls within his body, with waves of profound sounds; within the Purple Mansion, the abundant Dao Rhyme and creation, like continuous fine rain, sprinkle upon his primordial spirit. It is inexplicably clear and pure.

The primordial spirit, which originally disperses into Qi, cracks with fissures in a strange posture, resembling dragon scales.

Then, under the Dao sound that gradually grows impassioned in the Purple Mansion, like the booming of a Golden Bell, it twists and sways.

Like dragon scales peeling off, or as if shedding clothes, the primordial spirit drops downward and shrinks rapidly.

Fragments resembling dragon scales scatter all over the floor of the Purple Mansion.

Then the primordial spirit recovers, becoming even more brilliant, like a newborn natural divine spirit, pure in texture, without the slightest flaw.

Dao Rhyme permeates, with patterns interwoven inside, resembling the imprints of the Great Dao. The fragments scattered all over the ground gradually fade, turning into a wisp of green smoke that flies out of the body and dissipates.

"Truly a great creation!"

Fang Longye's eyes light up, filled with joy amidst the brilliance.

With one Dao Pill in his belly, his Dharma power surges like the boundless Abyssal Sea, his physical body undergoes a transformation beyond imagination, his primordial spirit is forged to be powerful and clear, and his Dao cultivation advances, surpassing an ordinary Golden Immortal.

Except for not breaking through to Golden Immortal and condensing his own True Spirit, everything is indistinguishable from an ordinary Golden Immortal.

If it were not for laying an supreme foundation in the True Immortal Realm and pursuing the reversal of the Five Qi in the Chest to the innate state, he could achieve the position of Golden Immortal with a single thought right now.

"No wonder so many people pursue the Dao of alchemy!" Indeed, it is extraordinary and can be called a path to the heavens.

Feeling the latent medicinal power accumulating in his body, Fang Longye moves his mind to transform it into resources, increasing the might of the Yin-Yang Furnace and the Yin-Yang Grinding Disk within him.

Dao Patterns flicker, and the two divine abilities become increasingly miraculous, appearing almost substantial, swirling with thick Dao Rhyme, with waves of profound sounds ringing incessantly in his ears.

Fang Longye takes out three more Yin-Yang Dao Pills, swallows them in one gulp, and directly stores these three immortal pills into the Yin-Yang Furnace.

The Yin-Yang Dao fire burns and refines them, turning them into immeasurable divine radiance, strengthening the Yin-Yang Furnace and the Yin-Yang Grinding Disk.

The Yin and Yang Two Qis within his body emit waves of dragon roars, plunging into the space between the grinding disk and the furnace like divine dragons.

While swallowing and breathing in divine radiance to grow stronger, they accept the forging of the two divine abilities.

Over these years, Fang Longye has obtained no small number of acquired spiritual objects, and he has never stopped practicing the "Great Vehicle Yin-Yang Dragon Transformation Scripture."

Yet, after refining spiritual objects, he has never produced divine abilities or techniques like the Five-Colored Treasure Tree or the Yin and Yang Two Qis. It is not that these spiritual objects are inferior to the previous Yin-Yang Stone and Five-Colored Pine Seeds.

It is that these spiritual objects basically belong to the category of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and he has intentionally added all the feedback obtained from refining spiritual objects to these two divine abilities: the Yin and Yang Two Qis and the Five-Colored Treasure Tree.

Troops should be elite, not numerous.

Similarly, for the two major categories of divine abilities, Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, he does not need so many tricks.

One set of Yin and Yang Two Qis, one Five-Colored Treasure Tree, is enough!

With such constant refinement and pursuit of excellence, he believes that one day—

A single point of Yin and Yang Two Qis can evolve all Yin and Yang divine abilities.

A single Five-Colored Treasure Tree can contain all Five Elements divine abilities.

And even going a step further, achieving what is in the Immortal World, where one divine ability is the complete embodiment of a Great Dao.

Having refined three more Yin-Yang Dao Pills in this way, Fang Longye finally stops.

Not only because of drug resistance, but also because of the inability to absorb supplements when weak.

The inability to absorb supplements when weak applies not only to the physical body but also to the principles one upholds.

Just like how, even now, deep within his primordial spirit, there still lies the Dao Rhyme brought by that lecture from the great Hongyun, which has yet to be absorbed.

The Great Dao he cultivates is like a small tree; it cannot accept too much nourishment at once.

Everything has a gradual process.

Of course, there is another reason: as a True Immortal, he cannot carry that much power.

The realm of Dao cultivation is like a container; it is the key to carrying principles and Dharma power.

The improvement of the realm is the process of constantly changing oneself from a wooden bowl to a wooden bucket, then to a water vat, and finally to rivers, lakes, and seas, and the endless ocean.

Originally, according to the natural process, having swallowed so many Yin-Yang Dao Pills, he should have achieved Golden Immortal long ago.

Even though most of the creation was used by him to enhance his divine abilities, a little bit of overflow would have been enough to push him to Golden Immortal.

But for the sake of the foundation he envisioned, he still suppressed it, naturally reaching the limit.

"However, it is not without a way."

In Fang Longye's eyes, there is an icy clarity, and also a hint of ruthlessness.

He takes out the Zhanlong Sword from before.

The thin blade is like a cicada's wing, embroidered with strange patterns, and between the patterns are spots of blood; it stands quietly, naturally possessing a ferocity and killing intent that fills the surroundings.

A sword hum suddenly rises!

Like moonlight falling on cold frost, or snow congealing on branches, it is clear and cold; the sound enters the ears, simple and direct, containing a ferocity that is drawn but not released.

Sensing Fang Longye's Aura, it immediately erupts with world-shaking might. A great, fierce, and malevolent Aura circles and lingers, locking onto him, congealing without dispersing.

Fang Longye's vision is a sea of blood-red; the sword patterns are like Phoenix Clan feathers, crisscrossing, permeating the surroundings, and covering the entire Sumeru Space.

Looking at this fierce sword that has formed a restraining attribute against the Dragon Clan due to having slaughtered too many of them.

Fang Longye muttered to himself: "Since I have reached the limit at the current stage, I must naturally break through the bottleneck to strive for that extraordinary portion."

A man-made pond is a lake, and Dongting Lake is also a lake; the gap between the two is more than ten million times over.

Breaking that impossibility means transforming oneself from a small pond into a great lake, carrying more power with the same realm and cultivation.

This is also the reason why, at the same realm, the strength between people is as different as heaven and earth.

To Reverse Innate and achieve the status of an innate creature or even a Xiantian Shengsheng follows the same principle, it is just much harder.

As for how to break this bottleneck and restriction to achieve this impossibility, it is naturally to temper oneself with all one's might.

"Moreover," Fang Longye looked at the Zhanlong Sword in his hand, which had slaughtered an unknown number of the Dragon Clan.

Feeling his condition become incomparably weak under the restraint of this sword, a flash of ferocity crossed his eyes.

"I absolutely will not allow myself to have such a major weakness!"

Fang Longye gritted his teeth, swallowed several Yin-Yang Dao Pills, and took this baleful sword, stained with the blood of dragons, into his body! "Ah!"

Gouging the heart and peeling the skin, pulling tendons and crushing bones, a thousand cuts and ten thousand scrapes... all kinds of agony were not enough to describe the pain brought by this sword.

His primordial spirit was destroyed, his Dharma power was scattered, and his flesh and blood were devoured.

As soon as the Zhanlong Sword entered his body, the blood-colored blade displayed its immense power specifically targeting the Dragon Clan.

Wing-like patterns emerged, and thousands of sword lights burst forth; each ray of sword light was like a Taiji fish, shaking its head and wagging its tail, swimming back and forth, drifting uncertainly.

Yet at times they combined together, cutting across everything and annihilating all vitality.

Fortunately, the Yin-Yang Dao Pills released a vast amount of Creation Spiritual Essence, restoring Fang Longye's injuries.

For a time, it fell into a strange balance, and under this balance, Fang Longye was gradually increasing his own resistance.

Tempering himself.

Today's chapter~ I am incredibly busy at the end of this month, and work has exhausted me to death. As for the 4,000 words owed over these past two days, I will see if I can make them up by tomorrow or the day after!

(End of this chapter)