Chapter 354: Condensing the Infant Soul

The so-called condensing of the infant soul refers to transforming the golden pill into an infant soul.
In fact, when one reaches the ultimate stage of the golden pill phase, a completely new level of power has already formed within the golden pill, which can also be regarded as a new form of life—the embryonic form of the infant soul power.
Yet, this ultimate stage is also the peak of the golden pill phase, where the golden pill inside has become extremely refined and pure. Simply put, its outer shell is super tough, making it difficult for the latent infant soul power to break through and be released.
The biggest challenge is that the method of transforming the pill requires a natural breakdown from within, just like a chick breaking out of its shell to give birth to a new life. Attempting to break the golden pill’s outer shell with external force is equivalent to committing suicide by detonating the golden pill—it will not only destroy the person but also level an area of hundreds of feet in radius.
If the first attempt at condensing the infant soul fails, the stimulated golden pill shell will instinctively evolve to become even tougher, greatly increasing the difficulty of subsequent attempts.
Thus, generally, there is only one chance to condense the infant soul. If the first attempt, which is the least difficult, fails, the success rate for future attempts is virtually zero. This is why every cultivator at the ultimate stage of the golden pill phase is extremely cautious, needing to grasp their own unique opportunity before daring to attempt it.
There are many specific methods for transforming the pill into an infant soul, and one can choose the most suitable method based on their own characteristics. Since Su Che possessed ten divine powers, he opted for the method of using these powers to transform the pill.
After entering seclusion, Su Che practiced for several days, filling his golden pill with abundant vital energy until it reached an extremely saturated state—his peak condition.
Next, he completely blocked all external sensations and delved into the deepest level of mental introspection, essentially entering his own world. Everything outside his body no longer mattered to him; even if planets were destroyed or the end of the world came, it would only signify his own demise in that world.
Divine Power Pill Transformation!
Within the misty dantian realm, Su Che used his mental power to create a vital energy talisman imbued with the soul-capturing divine power, which he swiftly inserted into the golden pill.
Then came another talisman with the demon-trapping divine power, also inserted into the golden pill. Followed by a destruction talisman, a thunderous lightning talisman, a powerful fire control talisman…
All ten divine power talismans were inserted, yet the dark golden pill showed no change. This was because, for powers that truly belonged to him, the golden pill had an extremely strong capacity to hold them, and the spiritual energy from just ten talismans was nothing compared to that.

But no matter how strong its carrying capacity, it’s not infinite. If ten thousand isn’t enough, then use one hundred thousand; if that still doesn’t work, use one million… When a certain quantity is reached, with the power of ten divine arts contained within the golden pill, it will inevitably trigger some kind of internal expansion reaction. At that point,with the help of this force, the nascent embryo power formed within the golden pill can break through its self-imposed seal and emerge. Of course, this is just the simplest and most straightforward explanation; the actual details are far more complex. Su Che estimates that it would take at least three months to complete this arduous task. It is only because Su Che possesses all ten divine arts that he can employ this method of using divine arts to break the pill. If he only has three or four divine arts, no matter how much energy and effort he invests, it won’t be possible to trigger a reaction between them. In principle, it’s the same as alchemy—only by gathering all the necessary materials can a pill or artifact be created; having just three or four of them is useless no matter how many there are. Huh, huh, huh… One after another, the divine art talismans were inserted into the golden pill, with Su Che fully focused and deeply engaged. Despite his utmost confidence and certainty, not a moment of carelessness was allowed in this process. Having prepared himself mentally to endure this monotonous task for three months, Su Che knew three months wasn’t long—after all, his master had taken eight months to complete the process of forming the embryo. To his surprise, less than fifteen minutes in, something unexpected happened. The little black creature that had been floating motionless in his dantian suddenly drifted over. This little black being seemed to be highly interested in the continuously generated divine art talismans. The lightning talisman Su Che had just created was snatched up by this little guy and sucked into its belly in an instant. “What’s going on?” Su Che was extremely astonished. “What is Little Black doing? That’s impossible! It has no intelligence, no thinking ability. Without my control, how could it act on its own?” Of course, Old Black also paid close attention to his master’s process of forming the embryo. Seeing this sudden change, it roared in the Immortal Prison, “You idiot! Why cause trouble at a time like this?” Yet at that moment, neither Su Che’s commands nor Old Black’s shouts had any effect. In the blink of an eye, Little Black swallowed another talisman that Su Che had just created. Though shocked, Su Che remained calm. After all, it was still his own dantian realm, so he could change direction as he wished and continue creating talismans to insert into the golden pill.

Once the process of condensing the spiritual talismans begins, it cannot be interrupted; any interruption means failure, with no room for leniency or excuses.
Yet, Xiao Hei circled around and blocked in front of the Golden Core, trying to devour the spiritual talismans that Su Che had refined. Su Che changed his position again, but Xiao Hei kept floating around, insisting on competing with the Golden Core for those talismans.
“Alright, alright, if you want to eat them, then I’ll give them to you.”
In that moment, Su Che didn’t have time to think of a solution and could only intensify his efforts, pouring all his focus into condensing the talismans and feeding them to both the Golden Core and Xiao Hei—under no circumstances could it be interrupted.
The sudden addition of another “mouth” put immense pressure on Su Che. What had once been a 100% success rate now became highly uncertain.
“What exactly does Xiao Hei want?”
At this moment, the idle Lao Hei could actually help his master think through the situation.
“Xiao Hei has no intelligence; at most, it has a certain degree of survival instinct… Since it’s driven by instinct, it means the spiritual talismans created by the master are highly attractive to it. Or rather, it’s like a newborn animal that instinctively knows to seek food without any teaching.”
“If it can eat, then it can grow. Could it be that Xiao Hei’s path to cultivation is to devour the master’s spiritual power?”
Lao Hei pondered carefully: “Previously, the master tried to feed it various external energies and his own vital energy, but Xiao Hei refused everything. Today, we finally found something it’s willing to consume—namely, the master’s own spiritual power! But Xiao Hei, the timing is wrong. Coming out now to eat is just causing trouble, you know? The 100% success rate has now become uncertain because of you!”
Discovering Xiao Hei’s path to growth was actually a good thing, but the timing was wrong, leaving Lao Hei both happy and worried, as well as concerned for his master.
After a while, Su Che gradually adapted to the high frequency of condensing the spiritual talismans and finally asked, “So, Lao Hei, have you figured anything out?”
“Master, can you hold on?” Lao Hei asked first out of concern.
“I can manage, barely,” Su Che replied with a wry smile. “I’m just worried that Xiao Hei might cause more trouble or even go completely crazy.”
“It probably won’t. This kid is just hungry…” Lao Hei shared his guess.
“Eating spiritual power as food?”

Su Che was greatly surprised, but due to his highly tense state of mind and mental energy at that moment, he couldn’t think as quickly as usual. It took a good while before he realized, “The power of divine arts isn’t a conventional form of energy. Growing by consuming this kind of power does indeed fit Xiao Hei’s uniqueness well.”

With this realization, Su Che was both worried and pleased, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Finding a way to help Xiao Hei grow was certainly good news, but how much should he feed it now to keep it satisfied for the time being?

If he continued to create spiritual talismans at this extreme frequency, Su Che really didn’t know if he could hold on for three months.

Huhu huhu huhu…

While communicating with Lao Hei, Su Che had to create two spiritual talismans at the same time—one to feed Xiao Hei and the other to Jin Dan. He was extremely busy, sighing inwardly: Raising two children at once isn’t easy!

Maintaining this frequency for ten full days, the adorable yet annoying Xiao Hei acted like an insatiable monster, constantly competing with Jin Dan for the spiritual talismans.

“Damn kid, you’re killing me!” Su Che had cried out like this more than once, but he had to persevere and absolutely couldn’t stop.

How much longer could he hold on? Three days? Or five?

He didn’t know the exact time, but Su Che was certain he wouldn’t last the originally planned three months. Even if he exhausted himself, he wouldn’t make it that long.

At the normal frequency, both his vital energy and mental strength could be consumed and restored simultaneously. But in this extreme state, there was only consumption—no time for recovery. It was like draining a mountain’s resources; he would soon run out of everything.

“What to do? It’s driving me crazy!”

Su Che and Lao Hei racked their brains but couldn’t come up with any solution.

Xiao Hei was in a state of unrestrained hunger, completely uncontrollable. This little guy possessed the power to create the universe. If it refused to obey, Su Che had no way of pulling it out of his dantian and sending it to the Immortal Prison.

Obviously, the only way to get it to behave again was to stop creating spiritual talismans. Without the temptation of food, it would naturally calm down. But the problem was that the process of forming the infant spirit couldn’t be interrupted—this created an irreconcilable contradiction. What could he do?

The only good thing was that after ten days, Lao Hei’s earlier guess was confirmed: Su Che’s power of divine arts could indeed replenish Xiao Hei’s energy. The tenth of what had been lost in the battle in the starry sky had now been restored.

This meant that in the future, while cultivating his true essence, Su Che could also continuously create power of divine arts to fill Xiao Hei’s energy reserves.

Su Che had already discovered that continuously refining the power of divine arts was beneficial for him as well. Especially for two great arts like the “Great Thunderbolt Technique” and the “Great Plundering Technique,” he had only grasped the basics. By constantly refining them, it could be considered a method of cultivating divine arts, allowing him to deepen his understanding and mastery of these great arts, with quite good results.
Of course, that was for later. The immediate problem was that Little Black, this gluttonous creature, was causing great difficulties and crises to Su Che’s process of refining his divine powers. Figuring out how to resolve this was the top priority.