Chapter 635: Extraction

Standing at the edge of the dry well, Zhang Nuo could not help but frown even more deeply. It was no wonder that Garuda had occupied this place for such a long time while the Yin and Yang Qi remained; he likely had not figured out a way to extract this Spiritual Qi, which had formed when the heavens and earth were first created.

He reached out toward the dry well, but a gentle cyan light instantly manifested around the rim of the well, blocking Zhang Nuo's hand and pushing it back.

It seemed that the Mysterious Rune engraved on the well platform served only a defensive purpose and possessed no offensive power. Just as he was pondering how to obtain the Yin and Yang Qi, suddenly, from the depths of the well, two streams of Qi—one black and one white—entwined with each other and surged toward the wellhead.

Zhang Nuo's pupils contracted sharply. This was the first time he had seen the appearance of the Yin and Yang Qi; the two seemed to be one, yet they existed independently, relying on each other while still being distinguishable.

His heart pounded wildly. The Yin and Yang Qi were within reach, yet he could not obtain them. Just as the Yin and Yang Qi reached the wellhead, the Mysterious Rune on the well rim emitted a burst of cyan light, suppressing the surging Yin and Yang Qi back to the bottom of the well.

He tried attacking the well rim with a Magic Treasure a few times, but to Zhang Nuo's surprise, these green jade stones were incredibly sturdy; even after using a Mysterious Heaven Spirit Treasure, there was still not a single scratch.

He lowered his head slightly, and with a flicker of his figure, Xuan Jin emerged from his body and landed on the ground, transforming into human form.

"Xuan Jin, I'm afraid I need your help this time. The Restriction here is too powerful; even if I use brute force, I cannot open it in a short time. Moreover, even if I did open it, it would be impossible to collect all the Yin and Yang Qi at once. If it drags on too long, it might lead to complications!"

"Don't worry, Master! I will go down and take a look!"

A metallic luster flashed in his eyes as Xuan Jin said confidently. This unique ability to ignore all Restrictions allowed him to easily enter the interior of the dry well.

"You must be careful! Although this Yin and Yang Qi is just a type of Spiritual Qi, its power is unexpectedly great. If you find it impossible, you must not force it!"

Fearing that Xuan Jin might suffer some injury, Zhang Nuo reminded him.

"Understood!"

After speaking, Xuan Jin's figure flashed and he submerged beneath the ground. After about the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, Xuan Jin emerged again, but his expression was much uglier.

"Master, this Yin and Yang Qi is so powerful! I only touched it slightly before I was rebounded. I tried several times but did not succeed!"

Xuan Jin's words made Zhang Nuo's heart turn cold. Xuan Jin possessed at least forty percent of his cultivation arts, yet he could not even make contact with the Yin and Yang Qi!

Zhang Nuo leaned silently against the well rim, his expression shifting uncertainly. He remained speechless for a long time. He went through all the Magic Treasures on his person in his mind, and finally, with a sudden flip of his hand, he took out the Four Spirits Square Cauldron.

"Use this to try and see if you can collect a bit of the Yin and Yang Qi!"

This was a last resort. Since Xuan Jin could not rely on his physical body, he had to use an external object. This small, pale blue tripod was not weak in power; if even it could not collect the Yin and Yang Qi, he would only be able to try the Green Wood Gourd. However, Jiemie Heshang was inside the Green Wood Gourd, and Zhang Nuo did not want to release him right now.

Xuan Jin nodded slightly, took the Four Spirits Square Cauldron from Zhang Nuo's hand, and then, with a light intake of breath, the Small Tripod entered his body. Xuan Jin then submerged into the ground once more.

This time, it took relatively longer. After half a day, Xuan Jin finally appeared. When he presented the Small Tripod to Zhang Nuo, the Four Spirits Square Cauldron was trembling, and a humming sound echoed incessantly from within the tripod.

Zhang Nuo's Divine Sense scanned into the tripod, and he saw two black and white streams of Qi, almost invisible to the naked eye, crashing against the body of the tripod.

"I could only collect this much; I was afraid the Small Tripod wouldn't be able to withstand the impact of the Yin and Yang Qi!"

Looking at the slight amount of black and white Qi in the tripod, the hope Zhang Nuo had been holding onto finally appeared.

"This little bit is fine. Let me try to refine it first."

Letting Xuan Jin return to his body, Zhang Nuo sat where he was, then beckoned with one hand toward the Four Spirits Square Cauldron, and the tripod immediately returned to his body. With his eyes slightly closed, an internal inspection revealed the Small Tripod sinking toward his dantian.

The Magic Treasures and the phantom images of the Four Great True Spirit Sacred Beasts in his dantian became somewhat restless the moment they sensed the power within the Four Spirits Square Cauldron.

However, the Five-Colored Divine Sea in his dantian was exceptionally excited; surging Spirit Power constantly crashed toward the Small Tripod, as if wanting to obtain the power within.

The other Magic Treasures were all afraid of the Yin and Yang Qi, but only the Five-Colored Divine Sea was not. This point greatly surprised Zhang Nuo, but he had no time to study this now. He hurriedly circulated the final layer of the Immovable Underworld Art and drew out a tiny bit of white Qi from the Yin and Yang Qi inside the Four Spirits Square Cauldron.

For the first time, Zhang Nuo did not dare to draw out too much, but even this small amount caused his entire body to shake. He felt as if the meridians in his body were being slashed by ten thousand steel blades simultaneously. His physical body had long since reached a formidable realm, but it still could not withstand the attack of the Yin and Yang Qi.

After a great deal of effort, he finally refined one strand of white Qi, but to Zhang Nuo's great surprise, the white Qi he had just refined into his body disappeared! It had merely transformed into a strand of ordinary, pure Spirit Power!

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Nuo recalled his refining process and felt there were no flaws. How could it turn out like this? After thinking for a long time without a result, he tried refining a bit of black Qi, but the result was the same as the white Qi; as soon as it entered his body, it directly transformed into Spirit Power.

After seeing this bizarre phenomenon, Zhang Nuo decisively stopped refining and sat in place, struggling to think of the reason. Several days later, a bright light suddenly flashed in his eyes, and a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.

Zhang Nuo first checked his cultivation arts and found no errors, then he carefully recalled the records regarding Yin and Yang Qi he had read in ancient texts, and finally found the reason for his previous failure.

The Yin and Yang Qi rely on each other but also repel each other; their existence is very mysterious. If one part is taken out and refined alone, it loses the support of the other half and turns into ordinary Spirit Power.

This was very likely the reason for the two previous failures. Therefore, to refine the Yin and Yang Qi, one must refine the black Qi and white Qi simultaneously, and the quantities of both must reach a balance.

Zhang Nuo took a deep breath. Not to mention anything else, just keeping the quantities of the two in balance was very difficult. The Yin and Yang Qi existed in gaseous form, and this scale was very hard to grasp. Once he slipped up, he would lose both the white Qi and the black Qi.

To verify his idea, Zhang Nuo glanced into the Four Spirits Square Cauldron. Sure enough, when he had refined the white Qi and black Qi separately, a total of four portions had been lost from the tripod. This meant that when he separated the white Qi, the excess black Qi transformed into ordinary Spirit Power, and conversely, when he separated the black Qi, the white Qi did the same.

Having understood this point, Zhang Nuo tried extracting the black Qi and white Qi from the Four Spirits Square Cauldron simultaneously. After comparing them, it took several full days to balance the ratio of the two, while also needing to control the amount of Yin and Yang Qi to ensure his body could accept the impact.

With the Immovable Underworld Art in operation, Zhang Nuo refined the balanced Yin and Yang Qi into his body. This time it took a full two months, and when he opened his eyes again, a smile finally appeared on his face.

Although the amount of successfully refined Yin and Yang Qi was only a tiny bit, this was already no small progress. Zhang Nuo immediately tried to draw the remaining Yin and Yang Qi from the Small Tripod into his body and stored it in the Five-Colored Divine Sea.

Feeling that there would be no changes within a hundred years, he had Xuan Jin take the Small Tripod and extract the Yin and Yang Qi from the dry well bit by bit. Because only a very small amount could be extracted each time, this work took a full five years to complete.

When the Yin and Yang Qi in the dry well had been completely extracted, it was as if the heavens had turned upside down in Zhang Nuo's Divine Sea. The massive impact caused golden light to burst forth from the surface of his body incessantly.

"It seems I must find a place to go into seclusion for a period of time; otherwise, if I cannot control so much Yin and Yang Qi in my body, I will certainly be killed by it!"

Zhang Nuo looked at the last tripod of Yin and Yang Qi held in Xuan Jin's hands and said with an ugly expression.

"But Master, this is the Nei Hai of the Demon Thunder Sea. Aside from this island, there is nowhere else to land. Where can we go?"

Looking around, Xuan Jin said in a difficult position!

"No matter where, I must begin cultivating immediately!"

As he spoke, Zhang Nuo flicked his sleeves, a ray of light rolled out, and he brought Xuan Jin back into his body. He transformed into a rainbow and fled toward the distance!

Several months after Zhang Nuo left this island, two cultivators at the Refining Void Stage rode their escape lights and landed on the island.

The newcomers were an old man and a youth. The old man looked to be over seventy, his face shrouded in a layer of faint Demonic Qi; it seemed he had reached the pinnacle of cultivating some kind of Demonic Arts.

As for the youth, he wore a blue robe and had a very delicate face, but he wore an eye patch over his left eye, as if that eye could not be used for some reason.

After the two landed, they glanced around and simultaneously revealed expressions of shock.

"Fellow Daoist Guo, it seems we arrived a step too late; a great battle has already occurred here!"

The blue-robed youth used his one eye to look at everything around him and said in a deep voice.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, do not worry. The Restriction around that Yin and Yang Qi is extremely sturdy; even if they found this place, I'm afraid they wouldn't have been able to do anything at all!"

The old man said dismissively, and then his figure walked toward the dry well. But when he arrived at the edge of the well and looked down into the bottom, his expression turned to one of great alarm!