Chapter 517

More than a censer’s worth of time passed.

Inside the meditation chamber of the cave dwelling.

Wang Yu sat cross-legged on crimson jade, eyes tightly shut, fingers forming a seal, utterly motionless as if fully immersed in deep meditation—yet his face was faintly pale, lips devoid of any color, beads of sweat the size of soybeans streaming down his forehead, indicating he was undergoing immense depletion.

He had originally refrained from immediately crafting the Guardian Soul Pattern upon acquiring the Soul Subjugation Art, first because he lacked a second-rank spirit soul at the time, and second because the process of crafting the Guardian Soul Pattern was extremely dangerous.

If one’s spiritual sense was insufficiently strong or one’s control over the spirit was inadequate, a single misstep could result in being violently reversed and consumed by the spirit soul, becoming a mindless corpse.

Moreover, the more Guardian Soul Patterns one forged, the more perilous the subsequent crafting became.

Had it not been for the upcoming Sect Grand Competition and his status as a Foundation Establishment cultivator lacking any means to defend against spiritual attacks—making him severely disadvantaged in combat—he would not have rushed to forge even one pattern; he would have waited until the Star Mind Art reached its fourth level, strengthening his mental energy further, before undertaking this.

In his spiritual sea, countless gray-white spiritual rune symbols drifted out from the Law Rune Diagram, now manifesting as semi-transparent spiritual rune chains, now as clusters of semi-transparent luminous flames.

At the center of these spiritual rune shadows, the phantom spirit of the Charging Cloud Rabbit, wrapped in white light, had, under the influence of the surrounding runes, completely transformed from the neck down into the same semi-transparent gray-white spiritual rune symbols.

Yet this gray-white rune symbol was clearly vastly different from the surrounding ones—not only much larger in volume, but upon closer inspection, it was evident that this symbol was composed of countless smaller, semi-transparent spiritual rune symbols.

These smaller rune symbols writhed like living creatures; merely glancing at them induced dizziness and vertigo, making direct gaze impossible.

When the head portion of the Charging Cloud Rabbit’s spirit also gradually dissolved and vanished, a complete gray-white spiritual rune symbol appeared within the Law Rune Diagram.

Wang Yu finally exhaled, changed his hand seal, and with a soft “puff” between his brows, a gray-white rune phantom emerged, as he opened his eyes.

Though his spiritual sense had been depleted by more than half, he had successfully forged the soul pattern through his terrifying spiritual sense—more than ten times stronger than that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.

With a flick of his sleeve, a small silver mirror flew out and hovered midair before his face, clearly reflecting the rune symbol between his brows.

Wang Yu narrowed his eyes.

This was the Guardian Soul Pattern?

Capable of protecting the spirit soul and enhancing spiritual thought?

His thoughts raced; following the activation incantation in the Soul Subjugation Art, he formed a seal with one hand—the gray-white Law Rune Diagram in his spiritual sea flickered faintly, and the rune phantom between his brows silently retracted back into his brow.

Simultaneously, within his spiritual sea, the large rune symbol reappeared in the gray-white Law Rune Diagram, trembled slightly, then radiated concentric rings of pale green light, nearly enveloping the entire spiritual sea.

He felt a coolness in his mind, then nothing else—his heart stirred with surprise, but after a moment’s thought, he swept his sleeve and retrieved the silver mirror, then changed his hand seal once more, slowly releasing his remaining spiritual sense, spreading it outward from the meditation chamber in all directions.

Though his remaining spiritual sense was scarce, enveloping the entire cave dwelling was still effortless.

Now, every corner of the cave dwelling was clearly sensed—not just the playful antics of Bai Xiao and Da Lv by the pond, but even an entire ant colony relocating in the garden could not escape his perception.

His spiritual sense had slightly increased, but the boost was negligible; the greater enhancement lay in the fine control of his spiritual sense—roughly a tenth stronger than before—and this was merely the effect of activating a single soul pattern.

After a long while, Wang Yu finally confirmed the direct enhancement effect of this soul pattern on his spiritual sense.

As for its protective effect on the spirit soul, it was currently undetectable; he suspected the true effect would only manifest when subjected to an external spiritual attack.

However, according to the Soul Subjugation Art, the other primary function of the Guardian Soul Pattern was to amplify a single spiritual thought.

Wang Yu formed another seal with one hand; the large soul rune symbol in his spiritual sea shifted once, instantly appearing beside a drifting strand of spiritual thought, blurred momentarily, then dissolved into smoke and merged into that strand.

Immediately afterward, he reached into his storage bag, pulled out a jet-black flying dagger, and sent a strand of spiritual thought to embed itself upon the blade.

The next instant, with a flick of his wrist, the dagger shot forth as a streak of dark light, circling and darting through the chamber like a graceful butterfly, astonishingly agile.

His spiritual thought had indeed been greatly strengthened.

Regardless of other factors, his control over weapon manipulation—both in power and agility—had increased by roughly a quarter compared to before.

If he could forge all six soul patterns and merge them all into a single spiritual thought, would his weapon control not instantly double?

Moreover, this Charging Cloud Rabbit spirit soul was merely an ordinary second-rank early-stage spirit soul; if replaced with the soul of a more powerful beast, wouldn’t the enhancement be even more significant?

Wang Yu’s face lit up with delight; he shifted his thoughts once more.

The streak of dark light circled once, then flew straight into the storage bag at his waist; the strand of spiritual thought returned to his spiritual sea and detached from the Guardian Soul Pattern.

The large rune symbol reappeared in the gray-white Law Rune Diagram within his spiritual sea, flickering faintly.

Wang Yu then took out another vial, swallowed two pills to restore his spiritual sense, sat in meditation for a long while, and finally murmured, “Login interface.”

Before him, familiar white light swirled, and he reappeared in the silver hall.

He intended to pull up the design blueprint for the “Flame Demon Star Armor” and verify the material list required to forge its bone armor.

But before he could gaze at the massive screen and retrieve the data, his body suddenly shuddered, his face turning pale.

“Wuuu…”

The next instant, a gray-white spiritual rune phantom spontaneously flew out from his brow, spun once in midair before him, then shot violently toward a corner of the silver hall.

Simultaneously, from a small iron chest placed in the corner of the hall, a thunderclap erupted, and the entire iron chest exploded open.

Amid crackling lightning, a silver-white pearl shot forth, vanished in a flash, and collided directly with the gray-white spiritual rune phantom.

“Boom!”

The silver pearl burst apart, and countless thin strands of electricity erupted from within, like countless electric serpents frantically drilling into the gray-white rune phantom.

The gray-white rune phantom’s surface blazed with lightning, and the countless smaller runes on its surface absorbed the surrounding silver electricity like sponges.

This scene appeared profoundly bizarre.

Wang Yu stood beside the metal chair, staring in stunned silence.