Chapter 681: Shadow Demon First Penetrates the Nether, Invitation to Witness the Dharma Heaven (Combined Chapter)

The nine-colored misty aura flashed once, and already they were outside the bamboo-tower courtyard.

"The divine patterns are all gathered!"

The Mirage Infant looked travel-worn, but thinking of how Li Yuan had promised to help her refine magic power, she suddenly felt that the past few months of running about amounted to nothing.

"You've worked hard."

Li Yuan walked to the front of the courtyard, reached out to take the white-skin gourd and the Nine-Smoke Gauze, and at a glance saw that the gourd held one hundred and seventy-four divine patterns, at least two of each kind.

"Master, I watched over them well, not the slightest damage!"

The white-skin gourd claimed credit.

"A reward."

Li Yuan flicked a wisp of Kun Peng magic power into the air; the latter swallowed it in one gulp and suddenly cried out in surprise: "Master, your magic power is so pure—it seems to carry the aura of a high-grade one!"

"You are sharp, aren't you."

Li Yuan smiled and hung the little gourd at his waist; the Nine-Smoke Gauze naturally transformed into wisps of mist that sank beneath his magic robe, drawing on the magic power within his body to nurture itself.

After the Nine-Smoke Gauze had manifested its nine layers of artifact prohibitions, the magic power needed for daily nurturing had increased somewhat, but for the him of now, it was still but a drop in the bucket.

"You said before…"

Looking at Li Yuan, whose appearance had not changed yet who faintly bore some inexpressible bearing, the Mirage Infant felt a little ill at ease—concern had muddled her thoughts.

"Come find me after your bath."

Li Yuan glanced at Li Yi; the latter had already gone to prepare a medicinal bath to wash the dust from the little mother dragon:

"I said I'd help you refine magic power—would I go back on my word?"

"Many thanks."

Only then did the Mirage Infant happily agree and follow Li Yi away.

Li Yuan, meanwhile, returned to the third-floor balcony and moved all the divine patterns stored in the white-skin gourd into the Divine Realm, matching them one by one—there were no errors or omissions.

"The little mother dragon handles things more and more reliably, no worse than Liu Zheng and Wang Wang Peiyao—then again, she is quite old after all, just looks young."

Li Yuan nodded inwardly, yet could not help thinking of old friends.

From Gao Liu County to Mount Hengshan, he had for a time grown accustomed to the two of them handling miscellaneous affairs as his assistants; after arriving at Mount Mount Dongxuan, he had felt rather unaccustomed.

"The Calamity of the Sun…"

Li Yuan silently calculated.

Over three years into joining the sect, he had initially expanded his social circle; besides Fayin Fayin Tongzi, he had also tentatively entered the small circles of Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen and Qi Yun.

However, moving a star was no easy matter—especially since the Great Fortune Star was still within the shroud of the Eight Directions Temple—and having only just made their acquaintance with no exchange of interests, he truly found it hard to broach the subject.

"Fayin Fayin Tongzi cannot leave the mountain without the Master's command; Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen might not refuse, but most likely I'll have to make a trip to the demon-refining place she mentioned; as for Senior Brother Qi Yun, his Fa Tian has only just been achieved, his tribulation not yet settled…"

Li Yuan shook his head inwardly, feeling the timing was not yet right; to speak rashly might not accomplish anything and could instead affect the friendship.

As he deliberated, footsteps sounded; the bathed Mirage Infant came in happily.

"Sit."

Li Yuan took out a meditation cushion; the Mirage Infant struggled to sit cross-legged—she was in a child's form, her limbs rather short, and even sitting cross-legged was somewhat of an effort.

"Tell me about your doubts regarding refining magic power, and the process of your past attempts—the more detailed, the better."

Li Yuan asked gently.

"Mm."

The Mirage Infant took a deep breath and began to recount her understanding of refining magic power, the difficulties she had encountered, and gave a thorough narration of the entire process of her many past failures.

Li Yuan listened quietly, nodding in encouragement from time to time, while in his heart he analyzed and evaluated.

"The Mirage Dragon clan does have some heritage; their understanding of refining magic power runs quite deep… no real errors."

"The foundation is a bit unsteady, but having fallen from He Yi Jing this time has actually consolidated it… the foundation for refining magic power is there."

"Less than third-tier talent is a bit low, but it doesn't hinder refining magic power…"

……

Before the Mirage Infant had finished speaking, Li Yuan had already analyzed her thoroughly in his heart.

"You already possess the conditions for refining magic power; you have an eighty or ninety percent chance of success."

Li Yuan gave his assessment.

"Ah?"

The Mirage Infant, who had been feeling somewhat anxious, could not help but cheer at the words, yet was still a little uncertain: "R-really, can I really succeed?"

"Refining magic power was never that hard to begin with."

Li Yuan nodded: "The reason you failed those previous times is that the fundamental method you learned was 'Gong'-grade; Mirage Dragon magic power should be Zhong Pin Fa."

"And your talent is a bit lacking."

Li Yuan's assessment was very objective, and very direct:

"You are of the Mirage Dragon King's bloodline; your clan should not lack treasures and methods to alter talent—if only you had refined one or two back in the day, you would have succeeded long ago."

In his estimation, the little mother dragon's past failures in refining magic power were due on one hand to her low talent, and on the other to her flighty temperament, unable to keep her composure.

But after suffering the tribulation, her temperament had steadied considerably and her foundation had been much consolidated; she herself already had a great chance of succeeding.

"Talent…"

The Mirage Infant's little face scrunched up bitterly, though in her heart she could not help grumbling.

It was true she was of the Mirage Blood royal line, but her father was a prolific breeder—dozens of siblings, how could there be so many treasures for altering talent to go around?

As for methods…

"There are indeed quite a few methods for altering talent, but altering talent is hardly that easy…"

The Mirage Infant trailed off mid-sentence; she suddenly recalled that the person before her had altered his own talent many times.

"Fortunately, nothing is really missing."

Li Yuan did not say much more.

He naturally understood the difficulty of altering one's innate talent; without the Soldiering Register, what right would he have had to transform ten thousand forms in a mere twenty years?

One had to know that a martial artist of middling or inferior bone-root might not, in twenty years, be able to bring even a single White Ape Cloak Hammer to mastery.

But the Mirage Dragon clan was different — this little she-dragon had entered the Dao at birth, and her lifespan far exceeded that of the human race; if a few decades would not suffice, then a few hundred years certainly would.

"Then…"

The Mirage Infant's eyes brimmed with anticipation.

"I'll teach you to condense the Divine Prohibition."

Li Yuan raised a hand; in an instant, a sky-blue mist engulfed the two of them, and in the next breath, the light and shadow shifted sharply, bringing the little she-dragon into his divine realm.

"What a vast divine realm!"

On Xuanteng Isle, the Mirage Infant looked this way and that, seeing towering great trees, a broad island, and an endless Wang Yang — far, far larger than her own divine realm by countless times.

'Laozu Sect once said that the size of one's divine realm is tied to one's innate talent and foundation — this, this is just too vast…'

A sudden surge of awe, even a touch of dread, rose in the Mirage Infant's heart.

Had she not, by chance, met Li Yuan many years ago, what qualification would she have had to ask such a world-shocking prodigy to guide her in refining her art?

"Mount Mount Dongxuan has various methods for condensing the Divine Prohibition, but sect rules forbid me from passing them on to you. What I am about to employ is a Prohibition-Condensing Art from another dimension — watch closely."

Li Yuan gave a soft cough, calling her back to attention.

"A Prohibition-Condensing Art from another dimension? This…"

The Mirage Infant wanted to say, 'Haven't you not even practiced it yet?' but opened her mouth and swallowed the words back.

"Though my comprehension is shallow, guiding you presents no problem."

Li Yuan saw her thoughts but offered no further explanation; he merely moved his mind and, with a single grasp, summoned up the ancient scroll of 'Ying Mo Shen Gong' along with the Yuan Ying Pure Yang Tree.

Hum—

In the next instant, a deep, dark light welled up in Li Yuan's eyes.

In a flash, he felt his five senses vanish, as if plunging into a boundless abyss; apart from the heavy darkness, he could see nothing at all.

In a daze, he drifted through the darkness for countless years; at one moment, he caught a glimpse of a sliver of light and surged madly toward it, until finally he walked out from the shadows.

Birth, ignorance, perceiving the world, cultivating Ying Mo Shen Gong…

In an instant, Li Yuan seemed to have lived through the long life of a man named 'Chang Yin,' until that man exhausted his lifelong cultivation and condensed a Pure Yang Treasure Tree.

"Ying Mo Shen Gong."

Returning to himself from the daze, Li Yuan felt that the light and shadow around him — bright and dim — had become incomparably intimate, as if he need only think it to wander freely between illumination and extinction.

This was the fifth-realm Ying Mo Shen Gong, the lifelong cultivation of that elder of the Yuan Ying race named Chang Yin!

"Watch carefully."

Steadying himself, Li Yuan raised his hand and beckoned; a divine pattern hidden beneath the tree's shadow transformed into a streak of flowing light and sank into his palm.

"Y-you're not going to prepare?"

The Mirage Infant felt he was being far too casual — this was a Gong Fa from another dimension that even he had not mastered!

"I'll only teach you once!"

Li Yuan glanced at her; aided by the Pure Yang Treasure Tree, he could not help but look at the shadow beneath her feet, feeling that he need only a thought to first devour her shadow and thereby extinguish her body and spirit.

Ying Mo Shen Gong was the supreme Mo Gong of Yuan Ying Fa Jie!

This divine art, when practiced by the people of Yuan Ying Fa Jie, required first refining one's flesh, blood, and spirit entirely into a shadow that seemed both illusory and real — it was savagely cruel.

When fighting others, one need only pounce to devour their body and spirit, refining them too into a demonic shadow.

Chang Yin, the master of the Pure Yang Treasure Tree, before his death, had refined eighty thousand demonic shadows; one pounce from him could devour every living being on a single life-star!

"Oh, oh."

The Mirage Infant focused intently, watching every subtle movement of Li Yuan, not daring to miss a single detail.

Li Yuan slowed his pace, unhurriedly condensing the Divine Prohibition; to make it easier for her to learn, he did not even employ magic power, relying solely on spiritual force to blend the divine patterns and evolve the Divine Prohibition.

"Th-this really is a Gong Fa he hasn't practiced?"

The Mirage Infant grew more and more astonished the more she watched.

She felt that Li Yuan's movements, though casual, flowed like clouds and water; no matter how complex the combinations of divine patterns, each was condensed and completed in a single attempt — smooth beyond belief.

"Hum—"

After a long while, Li Yuan finished condensing the last wisp of Divine Prohibition; he spread his five fingers, and a wisp of shadow shifted ceaselessly in his palm, obedient to his every whim.

"How much did you remember?"

"I-I remembered all of it."

The Mirage Infant hastened to reply.

"Condensing the Divine Prohibition is not difficult; one need only understand the properties of divine patterns, then use the properties of different divine patterns to balance the Divine Prohibition and unleash the power of the patterns."

Li Yuan explained it to her in detail once more; limited by the fact that the Mirage Dragon clan's fundamental arts could not be transmitted to outsiders, otherwise he would certainly have given this little she-dragon a copy of an 'Idiot's Guide to Condensing Prohibitions.'

"Thank you."

The Mirage Infant was in excellent spirits, feeling that the successful refinement of her art was within reach.

"Don't rush; take it slow."

Watching the little she-dragon leave the bamboo tower, Li Yuan finally spread his palm; that wisp of shadow, which had gathered together all manner of divine patterns, had already surged forth from his palm. The people of Yuan Ying Fa Jie, in refining this art, had to refine their flesh and blood because they were born of shadow themselves; cultivators of the outside world, however, had to refine their own shadows.

This step was very difficult; had Li Yuan not possessed the Soldiering Register and seen that this ancient scroll of Ying Mo Shen Gong could be paired with the Yuan Ying Pure Yang Tree, he would never have learned this Gong Fa.

But with the augmentation of the fifth-realm Ying Mo Shen Gong, it was naturally different.

"Hah!"

Li Yuan tossed down this clump of shadow, watching it fall into his own shadow.

"Sizzle—"

Like cold water splashed into a hot oil pan, Li Yuan only felt a faint sting in his spirit, as though some invisible thing were gnawing at his soul, causing him to frown involuntarily.

Cultivators from other realms who wish to practice this art have one and only one method: refine a semi-finished Shadow Demon, let it devour their own shadow, and then seize back control.

During this process, the cultivator must not resist, or the semi-finished Shadow Demon will shatter immediately.

Just as now, Li Yuan frowned, still having to suppress the instinctive counter-reactions of his Daoist robe, the Nine-Smoke Veil, and the Kun Peng Spirit Form.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle~"

Under Li Yuan's gaze, his shadow writhed violently, as though two invisible strange beasts were madly devouring each other.

At the same time, his qi and blood, vitality, and magic power were all continuously draining away; even the Kun Peng Spirit Form suppressed within his divine realm let out a wail, as though something were gnawing at it.

"Too slow."

Li Yuan's pain tolerance had long been maxed out; he only felt the devouring speed of this semi-finished Shadow Demon was worrying, yet he could not actively release anything, fearing he would burst it.

Thus, enduring, he waited a full half shichen or more before feeling a blackness before his eyes, and the already intense pain instantly multiplied countless times.

It was as though his soul had been split in two!

"Pure Yang Treasure Tree!"

Almost simultaneously, Li Yuan, who had waited long for this, moved his mind; in his heart-sea a half-bright, half-dim treasure tree rose up, and with this treasure tree, he suppressed the newly born Shadow Demon.

He wanted to refine a second avatar, yet did not wish to truly damage his own soul.

"Hum~"

Li Yuan's spirit returned to the Mud Pill.

The divine realm looked, at first glance, no different from before, but upon closer inspection one could sense that the shadows within the divine realm had grown much deeper and heavier.

Tree shadows, furnace shadows, island shadows, the shadow of the spirit form, the shadow of Wang Wang Yangdahai…

It was as though within the shadows there also existed a divine realm!

"Whoosh!"

Li Yuan looked toward the Mysterious Vine Tree; the tree-shadow writhed and grew limbs and a torso, and as it slowly stepped out, the light and shadow on its body shifted, countless sets of clothing changing ceaselessly, just like its ever-changing features.

In less than a moment, the light and shadow on that shadow-body stabilized into a set of black Daoist robes, and after countless shifts, the features became a bronze ghost mask very familiar to Li Yuan!

At first glance, it looked exactly like Han Han Chuijun!

"This Ying Mo Shen Gong truly counts as a second Primordial Spirit art, and its grade is not low."

Li Yuan sensed the refined Shadow Demon body and found that the cultivators of Yuan Ying Fa Jie had never truly explored the potential of this Mo Gong!

This Mo Gong was priced very low — the price was set by Yuan Han, for no other reason than that this Mo Gong only reached five levels at most, unable to carry one into the sixth realm.

Because the cultivators of Yuan Ying Fa Jie were beings born from shadows; the extreme of yin cannot give birth to yang.

But as a second Primordial Spirit art, it was different: so long as his main body refined the Dharma Heaven, the Shadow Demon born depending on him would naturally also be able to ascend to the sixth realm.

"This body is born from my shadow; even if slain, it can be reborn from my shadow, and if someone attempts a Ge Kong Zhou killing, it can automatically resist…"

"Paired with the Mysterious Vine Tree, it truly counts as a second life!"

Li Yuan was quite satisfied. After thinking for a moment, he took out that Yuan Ying Pure Yang Tree and handed it to the Shadow Demon body; the latter, after taking it, walked toward the Mysterious Vine Tree.

Before long, the shadow of the Mysterious Vine Tree writhed violently again, and after a long while, branches utterly different from the Mysterious Vine Tree actually grew within the tree-shadow!

"Does this count as the Mysterious Vine Tree also having refined a second avatar?"

Li Yuan sensed it: the Yuan Ying Pure Yang Tree had initially merged into the shadow of the Mysterious Vine Tree, and as the latter continued to grow, the former would inevitably continue to grow as well.

Of course, for now the grade of the Mysterious Vine Tree was far inferior to the Pure Yang Tree — after all, though the latter was severely damaged, it was nurtured by a Yi Zun Wu Jing cultivator over an entire lifetime of cultivation.

"The future is promising!"

In the bamboo tower, Li Yuan summoned the Shadow Demon body.

Though the newly born Shadow Demon body was only at the first realm and possessed no magic power or spells, as his reflection, its potential was enormous.

The second Primordial Spirit could cultivate spells and magic power different from the main body!

"Hoo~"

Li Yuan raised his hand and released a wisp of Qing Di Fa magic power; the Shadow Demon body's frame shuddered, and Yu Yu Xuanji had already merged it into its body, wielding it without hindrance, as though it had refined it itself.

"The Shadow Demon body can accept Qing Di Fa magic power without loss, but once used up it's gone — unless it also cultivates the Qing Di Longevity Scripture, the magic power cannot be regenerated…"

Li Yuan was not surprised; nearly all second Primordial Spirit arts were like this, and the Shadow Demon body was no exception.

"The Shadow Demon body and the Yuan Ying Pure Yang Tree share the same root and origin; using it as a seed to cultivate the Qing Di Longevity Scripture poses no problem — of course, Ying Mo Shen Gong advances faster."

Ying Mo Shen Gong possessed all the traits of demonic-path Gong Fa: perilous, brutal, and extremely fast in advancement.

Li Yuan tried sending his spirit-mind to inhabit it, and felt it responsive as his own arm, just like his own body — only that the various spells were stored within the Mud Pill and could not be freely activated.

"Now that the Shadow Demon body is complete, places inconvenient to explore before can be tried — for instance, Xing Xing Tongyou Long Corridor, or again, the dream-entry of that Dream-Governing Register…"

His spirit-mind returned to the main body, and Li Yuan was in excellent spirits:

"But before that, I must first give the Shadow Demon body the power to protect itself…"

For this, he had long planned: the greatest benefit of using a Mo Gong for the second Primordial Spirit was its extremely fast advancement.

"Devour and one can Ke Po Jing; paired with demon-refining methods, it might advance faster than my own!"

……

Qi-Gathering Platform.

Water vapor and azure light intertwined like clouds and mist; within the mist, twelve White Bone Human Demons stood in formation, scanning their surroundings, highly alert.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged, Xing Gong and refining the Fa, while on each of his shoulders stood a small gourd swaying gently.

"Woo~"

At a certain instant, an imperceptible ripple spread through the void.

"Slash!"

The two small gourds reacted extremely fast, shouted sharply, released gourd sword-qi that crossed through the air like scissors, and the incoming demon was instantly cut in two.

"Hoo!"

Almost simultaneously, a wisp of dark shadow pounced onto that demon's body; with just one pounce, the demon's remains vanished without a trace.

"Already breaking into the second realm?"

Raising a hand to catch that wisp of dark shadow, Li Yuan's eyes lit up slightly, and he immediately sent out a stream of Qing Di Fa magic power into the dark shadow.

"Whoosh!"

The next instant, the dark shadow swelled, covering the entire Qi-Gathering Platform in the blink of an eye, twisting violently—now and then taking the form of various demons, now and then transforming into all manner of human figures.

The White Bone Demon seemed unaware, but the two little gourds were so startled they nearly tumbled over, for within that twisting they had glimpsed their own shadows.

"Huff!"

A moment later, the shadow that had blanketed the entire Dashan flowed back like rippling water and sank beneath Li Yuan, who had already advanced into the second realm!

"Tian Mo Fa Jie really is a cultivation treasureland—at most a few more days, and the cultivation of Ying Mo Shen will be able to catch up to me."

Li Yuan felt that his choice to cultivate Ying Mo Shen Gong had truly been the right one.

Mo Gong advances quickly to begin with; add to that an ample supply of provisions and the blessing of the Pure Yang Treasure Tree, and Ying Mo Shen needed no effort from him at all before the sixth realm, with no bottleneck to speak of.

What limited its advancement was, instead, his own realm.

"Er Yuan Shen Fa still has its shortcomings—if only there were no restriction against surpassing the main body, who knows, couldn't a single breath push Ying Mo Shen all the way to Dao Wu Jing?"

Li Yuan was somewhat unsatisfied, as if the taste had not quite been savored to the end.

The Second Primordial Spirit cannot surpass the main body—this is not a limitation of Ying Mo Shen, but a limitation of Suo You De Fa.

Ying Mo Shen's greatest weakness is its inability to give birth to spiritual intelligence, but for him this was not a weakness at all; he didn't even need to worry about the Second Primordial Spirit's realm exceeding his own.

But alas…

"It's enough as it is."

Li Yuan stretched out a hand, and a stream of dark, heavy magic power surged from his fingertip:

"The quality of this magic power is extremely low—the lowest of the low grade…"

This was the first stream of Ying Mo Fa magic power refined by Ying Mo Shen; the divine patterns within were jumbled and disordered—this was magic power of the very lowest grade.

"But Ying Mo Shen precisely needs this kind of chaotic magic power—can utter chaos itself not also be a kind of order? That Yuan Ying Fa Jie cultivator who created Ying Mo Shen Gong is not to be underestimated…"

Letting out a long breath, Li Yuan ended today's Xing Gong and Fa Li De Pin; with a shift of his mind, he had already entered the Soldier-Space.

Preparing to explore that Xing Xing Tongyou corridor, which had been open for nearly twenty years now.

……

At the edge of the gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai—already quite spacious and empty after many expansions—stood a massive archway.

【Xing Xing Tongyou Corridor】

【Number of traversals available: 1】

【Grade of Gui Land accessible: First Heaven】

"First Heaven is the outermost layer of You Jing."

Gazing at the archway before him, Li Yuan deeply felt his own prudence; the surface You Jing did not mean safety—there were also Si Wu Jing Gui Lands within, of extremely high value and equally extreme danger.

He had thoroughly searched the Grand Void Myriad Images for intelligence on exploring You Jing; almost every day, there were You Jing explorers within You Jing and Gui Lands, and among them were no few Si Wu Jing cultivators.

But even with such danger, cultivators seeking You Jing and exploring Gui Lands still came in an endless stream, because the gains were enormous!

"Gui Lands contain all the magic treasures, Dao Soldiers, and Spirit Puppets left behind by cultivators in their lifetimes; and of even greater value are the 'Gu Gu Shentong Seeds' left behind by cultivators."

Information about Gui Lands welled up in Li Yuan's mind.

A Gu Gu Shentong Seed does not necessarily contain a Gu Gu Shentong, but its value is far higher than that of a Divine Pattern Seed, because the former will at least contain part of a spell and the corresponding divine patterns!

The orb he had previously picked up in You Jing was the lowest grade of Gu Gu Shentong Seed; refining it had instantly completed a spell for him, and that was before he had even refined any magic power.

"Ying Mo Shen."

At a thought from Li Yuan, a wisp of dark shadow rose from beneath his feet, and in the blink of an eye had transformed into Ying Mo Shen—clad in a black robe, wearing a ghost-face mask.

"The most suitable thing for exploring You Jing and Gui Lands is still an avatar."

Li Yuan split off a portion of his mind to inhabit Ying Mo Shen, took up the prepared Yun Xiang Ding, and slowly walked into the dark corridor that stretched beyond the reach of his gaze.

As for himself, he sat upon the Human Tribulation Platform and tossed out a die, while simultaneously listening to the various Listening Sounds that had never ceased.

"This long?"

Light and shadow welled up in Li Yuan's eyes—that was Ying Mo Shen's perspective; under the illumination of scattered incense-light, the Xing Xing Tongyou Corridor seemed to have no end.

"Eh?"

Just as Li Yuan was about to speed up, his mind stirred; he opened his eyes and discovered it was the Tongshi Orb trembling.

Qi Yun had calmed the unrest of the Fa Tian and invited him to observe the Fa Tian together.

(End of this chapter)