Chapter 58

In the hidden corner, the array isolated the inside and outside.

Lin Xuan sat cross-legged, like a long drought meeting sweet rain, greedily absorbing the elixir power and the thin spiritual energy around him. This seal battle consumed far more than ever before, the Chaos Golden Core was dim, the nascent infant shadow was blurred, and the spiritual sense was like being emptied, with bursts of stinging pain coming.

But he was firm in will, guarding the spiritual platform, the "Nine Transformations Chaos Scripture" operated slowly, guiding energy to repair his riddled body and soul.

One day, two days...

When Lin Xuan opened his eyes again, the divine light in his eyes was restrained, and his aura, although not fully restored to its peak, was much more stable and heavy. The most serious loss had been made up, and the rest needed slow nourishment.

He sank his mind into his dantian for the first time. The Chaos Golden Core resumed rotation, just slightly slower, and the Chaos nascent infant shadow was still illusory, but a fraction more solid than before. Experiencing such extreme squeezing and demonic energy baptism, his foundation was instead polished more solidly, and his understanding of Chaos power was deepened by a point.

"Misfortune and fortune depend on each other, the ancients do not deceive me." Lin Xuan sighed lightly.

Then, he took out the Youming Soul-Suppressing Token (fragment) that made a great contribution with great care.

The token was still full of cracks and cold to the touch. But unlike the dead and dim state before, at this moment, the token seemed to have a faint "heartbeat" within, and a kind of indescribable spirituality was flowing slowly. The complex rune that was originally blurred on the surface was now incomparably clear, radiating deep ghost light; looking closely, the rune seemed to be composed of countless smaller, constantly born and dying sealing Dao patterns.

He tried to probe his spiritual sense in again. This time, although there were still obstacles, it was no longer repelled, but instead received some fragmented, yet much clearer information fragments.

These information fragments confirmed his previous speculation.

At its peak, this token was named "Youming Soul-Suppressing Token," not an evil magic treasure like the Youming Sect, but an orthodox divine artifact refined by a mighty figure in the ancient period, gathering heaven and earth righteousness and Youming laws, specifically used to suppress and purify the most evil and vicious things in the world! Its core efficacy was "Soul-Suppressing" and "Demon-Sealing"!

What it suppressed was not an ordinary demon, but the "Xu Yuan Demon Consciousness" formed by countless negative emotions and Chaos energy that tried to erode the origin of this world in a catastrophe in the ancient period! The Five Elements Demon-Sealing Land was one of the main battlefields of the seal.

Endless years passed, the seal loosened, and the Youming Soul-Suppressing Token also collapsed and shattered in that great battle, falling in all directions. What the Youming Sect obtained was just a replica or fragment that contained part of its power but was polluted and twisted by demonic energy, and they developed their evil sect techniques based on this. And this fragment in Lin Xuan's hand was a relatively core piece, retaining the orthodox authority of "Soul-Suppressing and Demon-Sealing."

"So that's it..." Lin Xuan suddenly realized. No wonder the Soul-Suppressing Token would repel the Youming Sect's power and be full of hostility toward that demon (Xu Yuan Demon Consciousness). It was the nemesis of these evil spirits!

"It's just that this fragment has lost a lot of power and is separated from the main body; wanting to fully repair it is as difficult as ascending to heaven." Lin Xuan rubbed the cracks on the token, feeling its origin was severely damaged. However, having the correct cognition and direction was better than blind groping.

He carefully put away the token and cast his gaze toward the system panel. This adventure didn't yield many slacking points, but because he recycled some Youming Sect miscellaneous items and accumulated before, the system energy was fully restored.

【Current system energy: 100%】

And what surprised him most was that a new prompt was flashing on the panel:

【Ding! Detected that the host successfully participated in and led the resolution of a world-level potential crisis (preventing Xu Yuan Demon Consciousness from breaking the seal), obtained a large amount of hidden permission experience! System meets upgrade conditions!】

【Whether to upgrade the system immediately? Upgrade estimated time: 12 hours. During the upgrade, basic functions (storage, scanning, disguise) are available, mall, enhancement, task modules will be temporarily closed.】

"System upgrade?!" Lin Xuan's heart shook, and then ecstasy surged! This was the first upgrade since he got the system! What kind of changes would it bring?

"Upgrade immediately!" He confirmed without hesitation.

【Command confirmed! System upgrade started... Countdown: 11:59:59...】

An invisible fluctuation spread from his body, as if a certain silent core was activated, and began a deep-level transformation.

Suppressing the expectation in his heart, Lin Xuan began to count other gains.

First was the Soul-Condensing Futon obtained from the Five Elements Loose Cultivator's cave. He took it out, sat on it, and a cool and pure soul power slowly seeped into his consciousness sea, nourishing his exhausted soul, with significant effects. It was estimated that after fully absorbing it, his spiritual sense strength could increase by about fifteen percent, far exceeding expectations.

Secondly, the three Five Elements essences (Essence of Geng Metal, Soul of Profound Water, Marrow of Wutu). These were precious materials for refining top-tier magic treasures or practicing great divine abilities, worth a fortune. He didn't need them for now, but they could be used as bargaining chips to exchange for important resources in the future, or... wait for the system upgrade to see if there are new uses.

Finally, the broken spear left by the ancient spirit general.

The spear body was full of rust and cracks, the spear head had long since disappeared, leaving only half a spear shaft. But holding it in his hand, he could feel a tragic will of unyielding and guarding the world remaining on it. This was not a magic treasure, but more like a spiritual symbol.

Lin Xuan was silent for a moment, bowed slightly to the broken spear. These ancient spirits fought to the last strand of residual soul to guard this world, worthy of respect. He solemnly put away the broken spear; perhaps in the future, he could find a suitable home for it.

After dealing with these, his gaze cast toward the system upgrade countdown again. Nearly twelve hours left.

He decided to use this time to absorb the soul power in the Soul-Condensing Futon while restoring his spiritual sense, and at the same time, contemplate the information about the Youming Soul-Suppressing Token and Xu Yuan Demon Consciousness he just obtained, and also sort out his next path.

Late-stage Golden Core was consolidated, and the Chaos nascent infant was condensed. The next step was to condense the true Nascent Soul and step into the threshold of high-level cultivators.

However, the cultivation of the "Nine Transformations Chaos Scripture" was different, and condensing the Nascent Soul was by no means easy. He needed massive resources, a deeper understanding of the Chaos path, and perhaps... a special opportunity.

"Tianyuan Mystical Realm is rich in resources, perhaps I can find the opportunity to condense the Chaos Nascent Soul here." Lin Xuan pondered. Five Elements essence was one direction, but Chaos includes everything, by no means can it be summarized by Five Elements.

He thought of that "Eye of Earth Vein Intersection," thought of the chaotic Five Elements power... Chaos, in a sense, isn't it the combination of order and disorder, birth and annihilation?

A vague idea gradually took shape in his mind.

Time passed quickly in cultivation and realization.

The moment the system upgrade countdown returned to zero—

【Ding! System upgrade complete! Current version: 2.0】

【New function modules are as follows:】

1. Law Analysis: Can consume energy to perform preliminary analysis on law fragments, Dao marks, origin auras, etc., encountered, providing realization directions and fusion suggestions. (Note: Analyzing higher-level laws consumes huge amounts of energy.)

2. Myriad Things Furnace: Opened system subsidiary space "Furnace," can input various materials with different attributes, even mutually exclusive ones, consume slacking points and energy, and have a certain probability of smelting new materials/energy crystals that are higher-level or have special attributes. (Success rate is related to material quality, compatibility, and input resources.)

3. Luck Concealment (Primary): Can be actively activated, significantly reducing one's own presence for a certain period of time, shielding part of heaven's secret calculation and cause-and-effect tracing. Cooldown time is long.

4. Mall & Enhancement Module Optimization: Unlock more high-level item exchange permissions, enhancement function efficiency improved.

Lin Xuan carefully read the new function descriptions, and the light in his eyes became brighter and brighter!

Law Analysis! This was simply sending charcoal in snow for him to contemplate the Chaos path and understand the sealing laws of the Youming Soul-Suppressing Token!

Myriad Things Furnace! This meant he could try to synthesize more precious things from the materials with different attributes he had on hand that he didn't use! For example, those three Five Elements essences...

Luck Concealment! This was simply a supreme tool for being steady... ah no, for acting steadily! Combined with his concealment divine ability, the effect is doubled!

This system upgrade was undoubtedly a qualitative leap! Greatly enhanced his foundation and potential!

"Great!" Lin Xuan couldn't hide his excitement. He immediately tried to activate Luck Concealment.

An imperceptible fluctuation covered his whole body, and he felt that the connection between himself and the heaven and earth outside became much thinner, as if he had become an outsider. The effect was significant!

He nodded with satisfaction, and then cast his gaze toward the Myriad Things Furnace. With a thought, a phantom of a furnace, inside which Chaos airflow seemed to rotate, appeared in his perception.

He didn't hesitate to put the three Five Elements essences (Essence of Geng Metal, Soul of Profound Water, Marrow of Wutu) into it.

【Please input smelting resources (slacking points/system energy): _____】

Lin Xuan thought about it and input some slacking points and 10% system energy. He wanted to see the effect first.

【Resource input confirmed! Smelting started... Estimated time: 1 hour.】

After doing all this, Lin Xuan stood up and removed the array.

The outside world was still dim, but in his eyes, the road ahead was much clearer.

The system upgrade was complete, trump cards were enhanced, and it was time to continue exploring this Mystical Realm and find the opportunity to condense the Chaos Nascent Soul.

And his first target was that place he passed by before, with violent and chaotic energy—the Eye of Earth Vein Intersection!

He wanted to use the environment there to verify his speculation and temper the Chaos nascent infant!

With a flash of his figure, he turned into a blurred shadow again, blending into the deep background of the Mystical Realm.

(End of Chapter 58)