Chapter 761: World Fragment

The perfection of mortal Renjian Yanhuo was an unexpected boon, though joy came with worry. After plundering the primordial spirit of a Yu Jing, all that resulted was the ignition of spiritual fire in mortal Renjian Yanhuo, thus achieving a preliminary completeness of heaven and earth.

But if counted precisely, mortal Renjian Yanhuo still had a long way to go before true perfection. Half of the chaos qi's envelopment remained incomplete, and the sky still bore many black-red patches of decay—signs of the Western Jin's decline under northern and southern assaults by Zhao Guo and the Liao tribes, which also affected Xiang Little Wei Yuan.

Yet the decline of the state's fortune was precisely what Xiang Little Wei Yuan intended. Since the Xu family refused to cede two commanderies, Xiang Little Wei Yuan could not openly attack, so he allowed Zhao people to enter and directly ravage the two commanderies, granting Li Cheng fame and battlefield merit while Xiang Little Wei Yuan gained men.

As for the remaining three commanderies in the southwest, all were already in Xiang Little Wei Yuan's grasp; as the food shortage persisted, refugees now flowed forth continuously, and all that remained was to see when Xiang Little Wei Yuan would tighten the noose.

After waiting for Han Li and Jun Jun Weizhi to complete their Tribulation Crossing, Xiang Little Wei Yuan left mortal Renjian Yanhuo and headed to the rear mountain of Ding'an City to inspect the newly constructed Tortoise-Snake Immortal Refining Diagram.

From afar, the small valley appeared ordinary; had Xiang Little Wei Yuan not used his Domain Lord's authority, he could not have sensed its hidden mystery. But as he flew closer, the scenery shifted, revealing a grand array one hundred zhang in diameter.

The array followed the mountain's contours, forming an irregular oval, with a three-zhang-square white jade pool at its central core, beside which lay a massive black stone snake coiled around a white jade spiritual tortoise.

Along the pool's edge stretched a ground paved with green jade, upon which lay rows of corpses covered in white cloth.

The valley's array was semi-naturally formed, sustained by the spiritual energy of giant trees and surrounding spirit groves—highly sophisticated, invisible to anyone unaware of its secrets.

When Xiang Little Wei Yuan arrived, only one Fa Xiang and several Kaihui Daoji warriors sat in meditation—his own warriors, assigned to guard the site. The Tortoise-Snake Immortal Refining Diagram was too vital and too sensitive; if leaked, Xiang Little Wei Yuan would likely suffer irreparable damage to his reputation. Thus, beyond Behind Bao Yun and a handful of closest confidants, no one knew of its existence.

On the Qing jade's Heaven-Sealing Spirit Array now lay eight complete Liao Fa Xiang bodies—these physical forms had been preserved all along.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan lifted the white cloth, seized a naked corpse, and placed it into the white jade pool. As the corpse entered, the tortoise and snake statues immediately emitted invisible vapors, and the body slowly melted like ice. An hour later, the corpse vanished, leaving only a layer of clear water at the pool's bottom.

The water was pure, devoid of any impurity.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan placed corpse after corpse into the pool; after a day and night, all had dissolved into water, filling the pool to a depth of a foot.

When the white jade pool held water, it generated one wisp of chaos qi every half-day, yet the water level barely diminished. Xiang Little Wei Yuan calculated: eight Liao Fa Xiang bodies would likely increase the chaos qi's coverage by ten percent, saving nearly a century of cultivation. Yet the process would still take several years.

Finally, Xiang Little Wei Yuan summoned the Fa body of the Left Left Xianwang's youngest son and placed it into the white jade pool. As the Fa body entered the water, the pool boiled; the corpse emitted a hoarse, incomprehensible roar and sat upright, attempting to flee!

Xiang Little Wei Yuan had not anticipated the corpse still harbored an immortal thought—akin to the hidden mechanism left by Huang Yun Master Fenhai Zhenjun, yet far more refined. This corpse had remained in Xiang Little Wei Yuan's possession for a full year, moved across several locations, yet the mechanism never triggered, hiding perfectly—until today, when he prepared to refine it with the Immortal Refining Diagram, it activated and tried to escape.

But in the Qingming, how could Xiang Little Wei Yuan let it flee? He immediately summoned the power of his Peerless Dao Domain, sealing and pinning it firmly within the pool.

The tortoise and snake seemed to awaken, drawing in surrounding heavenly and earthly yuan qi, transforming it into invisible corrosive vapors that spewed onto the corpse. The voice first raged, then threatened, then pleaded desperately—but Xiang Little Wei Yuan ignored it all, hearing nothing it said.

This was no joke; if he answered, even slightly, karmic ties might form, and he might be ensnared without knowing when. Xiang Little Wei Yuan had no intention of risking it—he would take the benefits first.

Finally, amid vicious curses and hysterical screams, the immortal thought was utterly dissolved into nothingness; the corpse collapsed again and began to melt.

A wisp of chaos qi formed and merged into mortal Renjian Yanhuo.

As the qi entered his body, Xiang Little Wei Yuan suddenly felt drunk—waves of dizziness overwhelmed him, and he collapsed to the ground. Instantly, the sea within mortal Renjian Yanhuo surged, raising waves dozens of zhang high; the earth trembled, cracks split the ground, and many buildings in the central city collapsed. The immortal plants did not panic; instead, they cheered and danced.

At the very heart of mortal Renjian Yanhuo, the spiritual flame grew larger still, stabilized, and began burning steadily.

With the spiritual flame stabilized, the trembling of mortal Renjian Yanhuo gradually subsided. Its inhabitants did not understand why, yet all felt lighter in body and inexplicably joyful. The entire realm rejoiced; mortals, whatever they did, moved with three-tenths greater speed.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan was shaken—such a massive change meant the wisp of qi gained from refining the Left Left Xianwang's youngest son could not possibly be ordinary chaos qi. But mortal Renjian Yanhuo had consumed it too quickly; he had not even had time to fully sense it before it was eaten and digested.

Now it was clear: this youngest son of the Left Left Xianwang was no ordinary immortal offspring. His Fa body had enabled Feng Feng Chutang's Fa Xiang to transcend further, even advancing beyond the immortal phase; his physical form had been refined into something unknown, propelling mortal Renjian Yanhuo forward by a small step.

Mortal Renjian Yanhuo was no ordinary Fa Xiang; whatever could move it forward even slightly, if applied to a normal Fa Xiang, might propel it straight to Yu Jing.

Clearly, the Left Left Xianwang had invested heavily in this son—no wonder he had been so enraged after his death, waging war against the northern mountain sects for over a year without relenting.

After finishing the Tortoise-Snake Immortal Refining Diagram, Xiang Little Wei Yuan returned to mortal Renjian Yanhuo to prepare a new offensive within the World Fragment. This World Fragment was extraordinarily rich—its resentful spirit primordial spirits and the Dao Lu Xuan qi it produced were priceless treasures. But what Xiang Little Wei Yuan valued most was the lingering memories these resentful spirits held of their original world beyond the heavens.

The resentful spirit hidden in the supermarket was clearly a poor student; his memories contained only the kind of things a poor student would notice—the library was empty, most books mere decorations.

But as that fellow had said, if there was a top student, there must be a bottom one—he was merely the bottom one. Looked at the other way, if there was a bottom one, there must be a top one. Xiang Little Wei Yuan did not need the top student to become a resentful spirit; even one among the top ten would suffice.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan did not rush. Instead, he gathered Kaihui Daoji cultivators among the mortals and began mass-producing specially crafted lamps that burned fortune. These lamps emitted light that repelled monsters; once lit, ordinary monsters would not dare approach.

Han Li and Jun Jun Weizhi's advancement to Fa Xiang meant another layer of heaven's shackles had been broken, causing a surge in Kaihui Daoji cultivators within mortal Renjian Yanhuo —people broke through daily, soon exceeding a thousand. Newly promoted Kaihui Daoji were all conscripted by Xiang Little Wei Yuan to craft fortune lamps; then, with five hundred lamps already made, Xiang Little Wei Yuan entered the World Fragment.

Within the World Fragment, six Fa Xiang and a hundred Kaihui Daoji remained on guard. Xiang Little Wei Yuan had originally commanded hundreds of Kaihui Daoji warriors, but after two months of bloody battle, fewer than a hundred remained.

Of the current guards, half were Xiang Little Wei Yuan's warriors, half were mortal Renjian Yanhuo cultivators. After two months of battle, every one of these cultivators had seen dramatic leaps in both cultivation and mental fortitude; their Kaihui Daoji foundations had transformed. Among dozens, one-third had become Tianji, the rest were powerful earth-rank Kaihui Daoji—none remained at human-rank.

Xiang Little Wei Yuan ordered the newly arrived Kaihui Daoji cultivators to lay a road leading straight to the forwardmost fortress. Every ten zhang along the path, a flagpole was erected, bearing a fortune green lamp. Soon, a path illuminated by lanterns stretched endlessly into darkness, finally reaching the supermarket.

The entire path glowed with light; shadows emerged from the darkness on both sides but dared not enter the illuminated zone, divided cleanly by the ribbon of light.

(End of Chapter)