Chapter 355: Advancing to the Yuan Ying Stage
Another day passed, yet Su Che and Lao He still hadn’t come up with any good solution. Left with no choice, they could only resort to delaying things and holding on as best they could.
The so-called delaying tactic involved slowing down the process of forming spiritual talismans. Although they still managed to create two talismans at a time and feed them to Xiao Hei and the Golden Dan to prevent Xiao Hei from stealing the latter’s nourishment, the overall formation speed was greatly reduced, maintaining a precarious balance. While the process of forming the Yuan Ying wasn’t completely halted, it was extremely dangerous…
Relying on this slow pace, Su Che’s own vital energy and mental strength could recover slightly, giving him a glimmer of hope of holding on.
Of course, even if he managed to persevere, it would extend the Yuan Ying formation process by several times. The originally planned three months would definitely not suffice; it might even drag on until a year later.
“Tian Yin’s Yuan Ying formation surely doesn’t take half a year. From this perspective, I’m doomed to lose,” Su Che thought with a bitter smile. “Lao Hei, this isn’t something I deliberately wanted to happen—your little brother ‘Xiao Hei’ is to blame.”
Lao Hei was speechless, wishing he could rush into his master’s dantian, grab Xiao Hei, and give him a thorough scolding.
At the thought of “rushing into the master’s dantian,” Lao Hei had a sudden idea and shouted to the heavens, “Xian Yu, since you can exist in the master’s mind, then you can also enter his qi sea! Let’s go into the master’s dantian and catch that little scoundrel so he can’t cause more trouble, okay?”
“Is that possible?” Su Che also felt hopeful, thinking Lao Hei’s idea might solve their current problem. “Yes, if the Xian Yu Pagoda can exist in my mind, why can’t it move around inside my body and enter the dantian or qi sea?”
Before this, Su Che hadn’t considered such a possibility at all.
However, no matter how many times Lao Hei shouted, the Xian Yu Pagoda remained completely unresponsive, clearly signaling in silence: No, it can’t move!
“It’s rooted in the mind and can’t move?” Su Che guessed.
Lao Hei was displeased, muttering complaints about Xian Yu.
Speaking of which, Lao Hei, as a spirit vessel, was quite unique. He always prioritized loyalty to Su Che, placing his own identity as a spirit vessel in second place. In other words, in any situation, he would lean 100% toward Su Che rather than the Xian Yu Pagoda.
A promising idea that had just arisen was instantly rejected mercilessly, leaving both Su Che and Lao Hei deeply disappointed. They could only continue with the perilous formation speed, trying their best to ensure the process of forming the Yuan Ying wouldn’t be completely interrupted.
It continued like this for most of the day. Su Che could still hold on, but inside his dantian, Xiao Hei was not happy at all. Since Su Che fed it too slowly, out of instinct, Xiao Hei thought that the round, plump Jin Dan beside it had stolen its food. Suddenly, it turned around and charged at the Jin Dan headfirst.
“Damn it!”
Su Che’s heart skipped a beat. Thinking of Xiao Hei’s formidable strength, he realized that if it crashed into the Jin Dan like that, his own Jin Dan would surely be ruined. An external force breaking apart a Jin Dan could result in complete loss of cultivation at the very least, or even self-destruction and turning to ashes—there was definitely no good outcome.
In that split second, Su Che exerted all his mental strength, desperately trying to control Xiao Hei and stop its impulsive behavior. But it was useless; he couldn’t stop it at all.
“It’s over, it’s over… now it’s really over…”
In the Immortal Prison, Lao Hei also opened his mouth wide, his eyes filled with despair.
Yet, the master and servant witnessed a truly miraculous scene: when Xiao Hei crashed into the Jin Dan, there was no collision. Instead, it slipped through the outer shell of the Jin Dan as if using wall-penetrating magic, entering its interior.
Su Che and Lao Hei were stunned on the spot. How could that little rascal get inside the Jin Dan? Just how powerful was it?
What lay inside the Jin Dan was beyond even Su Che’s ability to see—his mental vision couldn’t penetrate that outer shell. And yet, Xiao Hei, which was clearly much larger than the Jin Dan, managed to get inside.
Su Che shuddered violently, shaking off his extreme shock. No matter what happened, the process of forming the infant core must not be interrupted. So, he continued to pour divine talismans into the Jin Dan.
“Undoubtedly, Xiao Hei thinks the Jin Dan stole its food, which is why it went in to reclaim its own food,” Su Che thought, half amused and half exasperated. “This guy is way too protective of its food—like a little wolf pup.”
“That damned kid got in and swallowed all the divine power you put in earlier. Does that mean all our efforts over the past few days are wasted?” Lao Hei was so angry he jumped up and down, shouting, “I’m furious! That little brat, I’m so pissed off…”
Su Che also felt bitter inside, but he could only keep forming talismans and continuing to inject divine power into the Jin Dan.
What else could he do now?
Whether it was gods or ghosts, he had to keep going!
The only advantage of these changes was that there was no need to form two spirit talismans at the same time. At the initial reasonable pace, Su Che could consume them as he recovered, allowing him to prolong the process of forming the infant soul until the end of his life…
Swish swish swish…
Countless divine spirit talismans were infused into the golden core. Su Che, like a puppet, mechanically continued this process. The dark golden core remained completely still, and it was unknown what Xiao Hei was doing inside.
“Is that brat still in there? Stuck and refusing to come out? Dead in there…?”
Over the days, Lao Hei muttered curses countless times—cursing Xiao Hei and then cursing the Immortal Prison. He blamed Xiao Hei for causing trouble and the Immortal Prison for standing by idly. But aside from cursing, he had no other solutions.
Until today, when Su Che’s golden core finally showed an abnormal reaction…
Vroom…
Suddenly, the golden core began to vibrate at a high frequency, emitting a clear buzzing sound, as if a green-headed fly was frantically flapping its wings.
“What’s going on? What’s Xiao Hei doing in there again?” Su Che was at his wits’ end.
The high-frequency vibrations didn’t last long. The entire golden core burst apart with a snap, nearly knocking Su Che to the ground.
Whoosh!
Xiao Hei’s figure appeared, along with a burst of extremely pure and crystalline energy.
“The power of the infant soul!”
Su Che suddenly snapped out of his daze and shouted inwardly, “The core shattered into an infant!”
In an instant, Su Che forgot everything, unleashing all his potential. His vital energy surged into his dantian, allowing him to promptly apply the correct technique to form the infant soul.
Huh…
The vital energy merged with the freed power of the infant soul, instantly transforming into more of that power. Then, the shattered shell of the golden core instantly turned into a transparent liquid, enveloping that power once again.
But this time, it wasn’t the tough golden core shell from before, which wouldn’t restrict the power of the infant soul. Instead, it was like “transparent skin,” covering the tiny infant soul with a layer of flesh.
“Form!”
Su Che’s technique to form the infant soul exerted its final effect. The previously irregular form of the power of the infant soul instantly solidified into a three-inch-tall transparent figure.
The infant soul was formed!
“It’s done!” Su Che finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn’t dare stop. He continued to practice the Fire God Technique he had cultivated.
The Yuan Ying within his body was also in a sitting position, spontaneously beginning to practice the Fire God Art with great spirituality. This was one of the powerful effects of the Yuan Ying—it could remain in a state of cultivation at any time, stopping only during battles. After practicing for a while, the attributes of fire-based true energy manifested within the Yuan Ying. What was originally completely transparent had now turned into a reddish-orange, semi-transparent form. At the beginning of its formation, the Yuan Ying was in a state of extreme hunger, needing to absorb large amounts of natural energy to transform it into sufficient true energy. Thus, whenever a cultivator successfully formed a Yuan Ying, it would cause a remarkable gathering of natural energy in the surroundings. Su Che had witnessed such an occurrence once when Xuan Zhong was forming his Yuan Ying. Today, Su Che refused to draw energy from the outside world and instead drew the purest and most refined spiritual essence directly from the underground energy veins within the Immortal Prison. Since he had such a valuable resource, why not use it? In just three hours, the fire-based true energy filled the Yuan Ying completely. To stabilize his cultivation level, Su Che continued to practice, repeating the Fire God Art over and over, before finally stopping after three days. Although he had ceased practicing, the Yuan Ying within him remained in a sitting position, continuing its cultivation on its own unless he consciously ordered it to stop. Thus, Su Che silently succeeded in forming his Yuan Ying and officially became a Yuan Ying cultivator, without causing any unusual phenomena in the world—so much so that no one in the Tian Xuan Sect was aware of it. Moreover, the entire process of cultivating the Yuan Ying took less than a month. Undoubtedly, the key factor behind this early success was that little black creature that kept causing trouble. Even now, Su Che and Lao He had no idea what exactly little black had done inside the Golden Dan that caused it to shatter prematurely. “Weren’t it always hiding inside the Golden Dan, devouring the power of divine techniques? Why would it stop on its own?” With these questions in mind, Su Che carefully examined little black’s changes and discovered that its internal energy had doubled, seemingly reaching a state of saturation. “It’s full!” Only then did Su Che and Lao He realize that little black wasn’t an endless source of energy. Like the Yuan Ying, its capacity to hold true energy was limited. It needed to keep cultivating to reach higher levels in order to hold more, purer true energy. In an instant, Su Che thought of more: “In other words, we’ve only found a way to replenish its energy, but how to raise its level remains an unsolved mystery.”
“That should be it.” Lao He couldn’t help but ponder, “The power of divine arts can supply it with energy. Then, what can make it advance?” Clearly, this question couldn’t be solved by mere speculation. Such things required chance or guidance from a wise one. After a while, Lao He saw Su Che starting to examine the changes in the power of the ten divine arts after reaching the Yuan Ying stage, so he couldn’t help but urge, “Master, you can check these things anytime after leaving seclusion. What you need to do now is leave seclusion immediately and announce to the world that Tian Xuan Tian Yu has successfully reached Yuan Ying.” Su Che smiled silently. Of course, he knew that Lao He was still worried about the bet between him and Tian Yin, fearing he might lose. “Very well, I’ll leave seclusion!” Su Che stood up.