Chapter 2: The Dual Path

The Tiny Realm Sphere was attached to the Tidal Stone, drifting through the starry sky.
If a cultivator at the Mahayana stage were nearby, they would surely notice that the Tidal Stone’s speed had reached that of a Mahayana cultivator—vanishing in an instant.
Ahead lay a meteor belt stretching tens of thousands of miles long. The Tidal Stone flew through it, causing those meteors to explode and scatter, yet its speed remained unchanged.
This demonstrated the hardness of the Tidal Stone.
As the Tidal Stone raced through the starry sky, the Tiny Realm Sphere followed at the same speed.
Inside the sphere, Qu Yi sat quietly by the lake—five years had passed.
During these five years, Qu Yi had been fully immersed in scanning the arrays of the Single Path, striving to complete the scanning of the remaining parts of it before moving on to study the Dual Path.
For this reason, he had also stopped focusing on familiarizing himself with material for refining artifacts.
Of course, the five powerful cultivators in the mid-stage of the Fusion form—Li Heng, Liang Qu, Shuo Bai, the Silver-Faced Howling Dog, and the Blue Dragon—also had to stay inside the Tiny Realm Sphere. However, because they were completely relaxed there, combined with the energy turbulence in the spatial rifts of Baiyin Star, their understanding of their own elemental energies improved significantly.
As for the being known only as the Artifact God, whose cultivation level was unknown, he would occasionally guide Li Heng and the others, helping them achieve a profound and intricate understanding of their own elemental energies.
Bai Man, Wu Yuan, the Golden Qilin, and the Illusory Dancing Butterfly were also practicing quietly in the Wind Listening Pavilion.
In particular, the Golden Qilin, having refined the Golden Horse Stone, had now reached the early stage of Fusion form. It had even surpassed the Illusory Dancing Butterfly in cultivation level. As a result, the Illusory Dancing Butterfly now felt admiration for the Golden Qilin and had accepted its pursuit.
Wu Yuan didn’t have any beasts in the early stage of Fusion form to devour, so it was still at the late stage of the Split Mind phase. Yet this had its advantages—after staying in this phase for two years, its understanding of the five elemental energies soared, over a hundred times faster than that of ordinary cultivators in the same stage. Naturally, upon discovering this, the Artifact God completely prevented Wu Yuan from attempting to borrow some of the Golden Qilin’s essence to consume, keeping it stuck in the late stage of Split Mind.
Bai Man underwent the greatest change. Her cultivation level had always been in the late stage of the Yuan Ying phase, but now her belly had begun to swell.
That’s right—Bai Man was pregnant!

When she realized that it would be impossible for the Miniature World Sphere to approach a planet for decades, meaning she couldn’t return to the cultivation world to explore again, Bai Man came to a decision. Since she couldn’t advance in cultivation inside the sphere, she couldn’t just seclude herself there for decades either. So, before Qu Yi decided to finish scanning the First Principle Dao, Bai Man approached him and had a conversation with him.
“Qu Yi, the Artifact God said the Miniature World Sphere will wander through space for a hundred years—is that true?”
“Yes, senior sister!”
“You can keep scanning the formation. After finishing the First Principle Dao, you’ll move on to scanning the Second Principle Dao. What about me?”
“Senior sister, you can meditate in silence or play with the Phantom Dance Butterfly.”
“You idiot! The two of us are confined to this limited space inside the sphere—how can we keep playing together for a hundred years? Besides, the Phantom Dance Butterfly still needs to accompany the Golden Qilin.”
“Oh, you’re right. Senior sister, then what should we do? It’s useless to go outside either; all we can see are stars, and that gets boring after a while.”
At that moment, Bai Man finally stopped speaking in a shy tone. Her brows arched, and she said calmly, “Qu Yi, I want to have a child with you!”
Qu Yi was stunned! If he were still an ordinary man from Linshan Village, with such a beautiful woman offering to have a child with him, he would surely have agreed right away. But ever since he entered the path of cultivation, he had been pursuing immortality, and worldly thoughts like continuing the family line had long been forgotten. Yet, upon seeing Bai Man’s determined expression, Qu Yi was moved and nodded.
“Senior sister, giving birth to a baby will cause severe damage to your cultivation level. Are you sure you want to do this?” Qu Yi asked concernfully.
“It doesn’t matter. For you, I’m willing to give anything,” Bai Man said softly as she leaned against Qu Yi’s chest.
Because of these words, Qu Yi picked up Bai Man and flew to Tingfeng Residence. Five days later, he arrived at the lake, looking valiant, and sat there for five years, focusing on his cultivation.
Now, Bai Man had been pregnant for five years, her belly as big as a watermelon, yet she still hadn’t given birth…
…
“Artifact God, come quickly! I’ve finished scanning the First Principle Dao!”
Suddenly, Qu Yi, who had been deep in thought, widened his eyes, his gaze sharp, and shouted loudly.
The Artifact God appeared, laughing nonstop as he looked at Qu Yi.
“Qu Yi, you’ve finally given me a break. Good. Now that the First Principle Dao has been scanned, my art of formations finally has an heir. Now, I’ll pass on the Second Principle Dao to you!” the Artifact God shouted.

The art of formations taught by the Artifact God is called the Core of the Formation. In the realm of cultivation, Qu Yi needed to comprehend the One-Element Dao, Two-Element Dao, Three-Element Dao, Four-Element Dao, and Five-Element Dao.
“Artifact God, there’s no need to rush so much. I just finished scanning the One-Element Dao, and you’re already stuffing more things into my soul. Why torture me like this?” Qu Yi quickly stood up and protested loudly.
“Shut up! I’m trying to teach you formations, yet you keep chattering. Be careful—I might pierce your primordial spirit,” the Artifact God pretended to be angry.
Qu Yi was stunned. The Artifact God was using this shameless tactic to scare him again, but it indeed worked.
Soon, the Artifact God pointed, and Qu Yi, who was standing still, found that many more elements had appeared in his soul.
The One-Element Dao involved studying a certain type of energy in the universe and applying it to formations. For example, raindrops represented water energy, while flames represented fire energy… Wind and rain combined represented wind and water energies, and soil represented a combination of water and earth energies…
The Two-Element Dao involved studying two types of energies and combining them for use in formations, such as wind and rain or soil.
Just now, the Artifact God had implanted all the knowledge of the Two-Element Dao into Qu Yi’s soul. Once Qu Yi finished scanning it, he would be able to master it.
By mastering the Two-Element Dao, Qu Yi’s soul would reach the peak stage of the later phase of Divine Splitting.
Qu Yi glanced briefly at the Two-Element Dao and then said with a grim expression, “Artifact God, to scan the entire Two-Element Dao, even with my powerful sixth-level spiritual perception, it will take a hundred years.”
The Artifact God gave a thumbs-up and laughed, “You’re absolutely right!”
Qu Yi listlessly lowered his hands, feeling his fate was miserable—he had to sit there without eating or drinking for another hundred years.
“Qu Yi, it only takes you a hundred years. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t be able to comprehend the Two-Element Dao even in ten thousand years. Your body is special because you practice all five elements simultaneously. Once you finish scanning the Two-Element Dao, the energies within your body will naturally combine and deduce the formation, allowing you to understand it immediately. Others, who only practice one type of cultivation, can only rely on books passed down by others to study formations, understanding them gradually. This is not only slow but also prevents them from studying most combinations of two-element energies in the universe, thus preventing them from applying them to formations,” the Artifact God said thoughtfully.

The Artifact God, through years of research across countless eras, managed to unify the numerous energy phenomena in the universe, extract their essence, and refine his own art of formations—the core of such formations. Now, due to the uniqueness of the energy within him, Qu Yi was able to comprehend this knowledge simultaneously while scanning. Such speed was truly unbelievable, which was also why the Artifact God sighed in admiration.

Upon hearing the Artifact God’s words, Qu Yi immediately felt relaxed and realized that he had indeed had a great advantage in learning the art of formations.

“Alright, Path of Duality, I’ll do my best to scan,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

At that moment, the Artifact God, with his hands behind his back and a confident stride, said calmly, “Very good. I look forward to your achievements. Oh, by the way, your wife’s belly has been swollen for five years now. You should go see her—she’s probably about to give birth.”

Hearing this, Qu Yi was stunned. Over these five years, he had been so focused on scanning formations that he had forgotten everything else, not even remembering Bai Man until now.

“Artifact God, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Qu Yi quickly left, as if teleporting.

……

Inside Tingfeng Residence, Bai Man sat alone in her room, resting one hand on the white jade table and the other on her belly.

“This little one, it’s been five years—why won’t you come out yet? I remember when I was at the Immortal Cloud Sect, Senior Brother Kang Zhen and Senior Sister Kang Xiang’s child only stayed in their belly for two years. Could it be that because they were only at the later stages of the Foundation Building phase while I’m at the later stages of the Yuan Ying phase, the pregnancy duration has to be much longer?” Bai Man mused to herself.

Suddenly, Qu Yi appeared.

“Senior Sister!” Qu Yi called out excitedly.

Bai Man was startled for a moment before rushing at him, punching him repeatedly while crying, “It’s all your fault! Because of you, my belly has been ugly for five years, and I haven’t dared to go out. Meanwhile, you just sat by the lake, ignoring everything, leaving me depressed for five years!”

Qu Yi stood up straight, smiling as he let Bai Man punch him, gently stroking her hair as he said, “Senior Sister, you’re so beautiful!”

At those words, Bai Man couldn’t continue punching, her face turning red. Suddenly, she punched Qu Yi hard on the chest before sitting back down.

Qu Yi chuckled, then crouched down beside Bai Man and pressed his ear against her belly.

“Hmm, this kid is quite active. He’s moving around inside right now. Once he comes out, I’m going to smash his bottom,” Qu Yi said, listening closely.

“Dare you!” Bai Man raised her fist again.

Qu Yi immediately stood up, then held Bai Man and sat her down, saying with a smile, “Senior sister, you’ve worked hard.”
Bai Man nodded, then leaned against Qu Yi’s chest.
After a long while…
“Senior sister, I need to focus on my cultivation again. I’ll have to trouble you with this little one in my belly,” Qu Yi said softly.
“Qu Yi, go ahead. I won’t get in your way,” Bai Man said happily, shifting slightly in his arms.