Chapter 6: The Acquired Phase

The black crystal sphere, its surface smooth as a mirror, reflected Li Luo's face, upon which clear expectation and nervousness were written.

He too was eager to know exactly what his father and mother had left for him after going to such painstaking lengths.

"How should I open it?"

Li Luo forcefully suppressed the nervousness in his heart, looked the pitch-black and mysterious crystal sphere over from side to side, then tentatively pressed both palms gently against it.

Hum!

And the moment his palms touched the crystal sphere, the sphere seemed to emit a faint tremor, its originally hard, smooth surface turning as if into liquid, gradually covering Li Luo's palms.

At the same time, Li Luo faintly felt something fine as a needle prick pierce into his palms, and a little fresh blood was drawn out through that.

The black liquid gradually withdrew from his palms, while light began to radiate from within, finally weaving itself into two silhouettes above under Li Luo's astonished gaze.

Gazing at those two achingly familiar figures, Li Luo instantly felt a stinging rush to the tip of his nose.

"Dad, Mom."

The two silhouettes, one man and one woman—the man was exceptionally handsome in appearance, his frame straight as a spear, dressed all in white, devastatingly dashing; he wore a gentle smile, his bearing as steady as a deep pool or a towering mountain, giving one an indescribable sense of safety.

The woman, meanwhile, wore a purple greatcoat, her long hair pinned up, both hands casually tucked into her pockets; her features were exceedingly beautiful, dignified and elegant.

They were none other than Li Luo's parents—Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan.

"Haha, Xiao Luo, when you see this recorded image of us, you should already be seventeen, right? Most likely we aren't by your side at this time." As Li Luo stared at the two silhouettes, Li Taixuan spoke.

"Xiao Luo must have gotten even more handsome, right? Are there any girls chasing after you at the academy?" Dantai Lan at his side said with a beaming smile.

Li Luo rubbed his eyes and muttered to himself, "Your son right now, apart from being good-looking, is utterly useless. Who'd come chasing after me?"

"Xiao Luo, are you feeling sorry for yourself right now? Thinking you're useless?" Yet Li Taixuan's silhouette, as if knowing exactly what was on Li Luo's mind, laughed again.

Dantai Lan said, "Is it because of the empty phase inside you?"

Hearing this, Li Luo was instantly startled, because by the time the phase palace had appeared within him, Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan had already vanished—how could they know his situation?

"Don't be startled, Xiao Luo. Actually, the situation with your empty phase—we had already used a special secret art to make some observations before your phase palace even appeared, including the three phase palaces you possess." Dantai Lan said gently.

Li Luo opened his mouth. In that instant he thought of many things—so his parents had known of the special condition inside him even earlier than he had. Then, could their disappearance be connected to this in some way? Where exactly are you now? Are you all right? Why has there been no word in all these years?

"Xiao Luo, first I want to tell you here that a congenital empty phase is not a useless thing. On the contrary, in my view, it is the most powerful constitution in the world. You need not be discouraged by it; rather, you should rejoice in it." Li Taixuan's words struck like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, leaving Li Luo dumbstruck.

"Dad, if you want to comfort me, do you really have to go this far?" Li Luo wore an expression that plainly said go ahead and fool me. This empty phase can barely cultivate phase power, and you call it the strongest constitution? Dad, who are you trying to kid?

"You were born with an empty phase and cannot absorb and refine the energies of heaven and earth. That is indeed a problem that strikes at the root. But this problem is not truly without a solution." Li Taixuan said with a faint smile.

"Since it's an empty phase, then just find a way to fill something into it." Dantai Lan also said with a smile.

Li Luo frowned tightly. It sounded simple, but in reality it was practically impossible. Phase affinity is innate; to try to fill one in after birth was simply unheard of. He had tried similar things before, and every single attempt had failed without exception.

"Ordinary methods indeed cannot accomplish it. But ever since we learned of your congenital empty phase, we have been working toward this, searching for a way."

"And heaven rewards those who persevere. We finally found one."

When Li Taixuan said this, Li Luo could clearly hear his own heart pounding like a war drum, the beating so violent it brought a momentary dizziness to his head.

"We pored over countless ancient texts, deduced and derived, and finally found a method. This method is called the 'Minor Formless Divine Forging Art.' With this art one can forge an acquired phase, and if, during the forging, one incorporates the essence blood and soul of the person being merged, then the resulting phase can be integrated into the phase palace."

"Xiao Luo, your congenital empty phase is not necessarily a bad thing. A congenital phase is far too random, hard to control, whereas the acquired phase forged by the 'Minor Formless Divine Forging Art' can be shaped according to your will."

"If you want an elemental phase, you can forge it in that direction; if you want a ten-thousand-beasts phase, then head in that direction."

"Once, in the future, all three of your phase palaces are equipped with the three phases you carefully forge, they will generate one another, and their might will far surpass those congenital phases."

Li Luo's eyes couldn't help but light up. That made sense. There were countless phases, and for many people, once the phase palace opened, the phase affinity within it was fixed and could not be changed no matter what. In his case, although he had no congenital phase affinity, he had the advantage of great post-natal plasticity.

"Xiao Luo, the acquired phase forged by the 'Minor Formless Divine Forging Art' has another wonderful benefit." Dantai Lan added.

Though he knew what stood before him was only a recorded image, Li Luo instantly perked up. If you're going to talk benefits, then I'm wide awake.

"A normal congenital phase is, in the vast majority of cases, a single element. But the acquired phase forged by the 'Minor Formless Divine Forging Art' is different, because it contains two attributes—one primary, one secondary."

"If these two attributes can be chosen as mutually generating ones, it will undoubtedly make it doubly powerful. Although there are some rare treasures of heaven and earth that may cause a person's phase palace to give birth to some other element, those are far too minor—barely a small boost at best—and compared with your one-primary-one-secondary phase affinity, the difference is far too great."

"Awesome, awesome!"

Li Luo clapped his hands hard. Of course he understood how precious this was. If he chose fire phase as primary and added thunder phase as secondary, fire and thunder layered together would undoubtedly greatly enhance the destructive power of his phase force.

Thinking of this, even he couldn't help getting a little excited. Judging by this, his so-called empty phase really was more ingenious than a congenital phase!

"Ahem, but nothing in this world is perfect. Although this acquired phase is an excellent match for the empty phase, it does have one flaw: the acquired phase forged by it will never exceed the fourth rank at its initial grade." Li Taixuan suddenly gave a dry cough and said.

Li Luo was instantly stunned, a little hesitant. A fourth-rank phase was indeed a bit low in grade. Compared with Jiang Jiang Qinge's ninth-rank light phase, the gap was more than a little.

With such a disparity in grade, even if his acquired phase possessed both primary and secondary elements, it might not be easy to catch up.

Still, this hesitation was brief after all. After all, his situation now couldn't possibly get any worse; even a fourth-rank phase would be pretty good!

"Of course, there's no need to rush. Although the acquired phase starts low, it can be raised by post-natal methods." Dantai Lan, who doted on her son most of all, promptly enlightened him.

Li Luo was suddenly enlightened. That's right—there were still all manner of wondrous medicines and treasures in this world that had the miraculous effect of raising the grade of a phase affinity. In particular, there was a profession called a Phase Refiner, who could refine all sorts of miraculous waters and strange lights for tempering phase affinity, and they were the most beloved of countless phase masters.

However, using external objects to raise phase affinity quality did have some limits after all. Generally speaking, being able to raise a phase affinity by one or two ranks in the end was already the limit.

And if his acquired phase could only start at the extreme of fourth rank, then after all manner of enhancements it would top out at the level of the fifth and sixth ranks.

"Is Xiao Luo worried that external means of raising phase affinity have an ultimate limit?" While Li Luo was thinking, Li Taixuan's laughter rang out.

"Oh?" Seeing Li Taixuan's smile, Li Luo's brow couldn't help but lift. Could it be that even this one flaw had a chance of being made up for?

Just as Li Luo waited with a face full of expectation, Dantai Lan beside him suddenly gave a light cough, cutting off Li Taixuan, who had been about to speak. She said, a touch displeased, "You've told him everything—what am I supposed to say to Xiao Luo?"

Li Taixuan clearly froze for a beat, then hurriedly said, "Wife, I'm sorry, wife, I was wrong. You go ahead and tell our son next."

Li Luo saw this scene and couldn't help shaking his head. Dad's survival instinct really was something else—must have been beaten into him, right?

"Boy, are you laughing at your dad?"

And Li Taixuan's image, as if it knew exactly how Li Luo would react to this scene, immediately snorted, then said with great seriousness, "You're still young, you don't understand. I'm not afraid of your mother—it's just that my love for her runs too deep. I've told you many times: loving your wife is our family's first house rule. In the future, when you're with Qing'e, you must keep to the family rules too, understand?"

Li Luo, hearing this, couldn't help a cold laugh. Dad, every time you tell me this, if you didn't have a fresh fist print on your face, I really would have almost believed you.

Still, speaking of Jiang Qing'e, Li Luo sighed again. Qing'e was practically raised by Mom single-handedly, so her temperament was very similar—always itching to hit him.

What is he going to do about this in the future?

Troubled at heart, Li Luo glanced up at his father's image, and the latter, as if he too had read his thoughts, for a moment father and son shared a quiet, rueful understanding.

"Li Tai-ruan, stop wasting my time with your antics here, will you?" While the father and son were moved by each other's sorrow, Tan Tai Lan's willow brows furrowed slightly as she spoke.

Hearing this, Li Tai-ruan hurriedly nodded to show he understood.

Then Tan Tai Lan turned her gaze to Li Luo, her tone softening: "The limitation of external objects raising the Affinity Rank applies only to innate Phantoms, because no matter how refined those external objects are, they will inevitably contain some impurities; it is the accumulation of these impurities that ultimately causes the Phantom Palace to seal completely, making it nearly impossible to raise the Affinity Rank further."

"But Xiao Luo, your Empty Phantom falls outside this scope, because other people's Phantom Palaces are born with attributes, so they will reject those refining external objects, whereas your Empty Phantom has no attribute distinction; emptiness is nothingness, and nothingness also means it can contain all things."

"Therefore, your Phantom can continuously be improved by relying on external objects for refinement; although the higher the rank, the greater the difficulty, you indeed have the chance to make your acquired Phantom approach perfection."

"That is why I said, Xiao Luo, this so-called Empty Phantom is probably the most powerful Phantom in the world; what it lacks is merely the key to unlock it."

Li Luo's heart surged violently; over these past few years, this Empty Phantom within his body had caused him to endure much; at first he felt unwillingness and anger, but eventually all that unwillingness and effort turned to powerlessness, leaving him able only to accept reality.

Yet now, his father was telling him that this Empty Phantom was not a useless thing, but the strongest in the world?

At this moment, Li Luo could not help but redden his eyes.

"Xiao Luo, the first acquired Phantom, for which we previously took your essence blood and a wisp of your soul, has already been forged; it lies within this crystal ball."

"The Little Phantom Divine Forging Technique is also inside," Tan Tai Lan said.

A warm current surged through Li Luo's heart; immediately he spread his arms: "Father, Mother, thank you. Come on, I am ready. Transfer that acquired Phantom and the Little Phantom Divine Forging Technique to me, so that your son can begin this life of soaring leaps from now on."

However, at this moment, Li Tai-ruan's expression became solemn; he fell silent for several breaths, then said: "There is one last point that needs to be explained to you: integrating this acquired Phantom into your body is not as simple as you imagine."

"When the acquired Phantom is integrated, it will draw a vast amount of your essence blood; the reason we require you to activate this at the age of seventeen is that only at this age can you barely withstand the loss of such essence blood."

"However, the most important thing is that when integrating the acquired Phantom, what you lose is not only essence blood, but also lifespan."

"From the moment of integration, your lifespan will have only five years remaining; unless you can enter the Marquis Realm within those five years and evolve your life level, otherwise, after five years, your lifespan will reach its end."

"Your mother and I argued over this matter for a long time, because the price is truly too great, but Xiao Luo, you have grown up; we have decided to tell you this and let you make the choice yourself: Xiao Luo, will you choose to maintain the status quo and become a wealthy idler for the rest of your life, living in peace, or will you choose to integrate the acquired Phantom, begin to fight heaven for your life, and embark on that endless perilous path?"

"If you choose the former, simply close the crystal ball, and everything inside will self-destruct; if you choose the latter, then extend your palm into it. How to decide can only be left to you, but no matter what choice you make, Father and Mother will always support you."

The words suddenly ceased; the images of Li Tai-ruan and Tan Tai Lan stopped speaking, gazing quietly forward with gentle eyes.

And Li Luo also slowly sat down, his eyes fixed on the black crystal ball, his expression shifting between gloom and brightness.

He had previously felt that with such great potential in this Empty Phantom, how could there be no side effects; it turned out they were waiting right here.

Now, the choice he makes is simply deciding whether to be a weakling or a short-lived ghost?

(Four thousand words, conscience, please vote.)

(End of this chapter.)