Chapter 710: Gains and Losses

Chapter 710: Chapter 710: Gains and Losses

Xu Yunfan flicked his sleeve, and Purple Gold Thunder Patterns flickered faintly from within.

Purple-gold lightning flowed silently between the hall’s pillars, like solidified liquid lightning, illuminating the entire Divine Sky Main Hall as brightly as day.

Xu Yunfan sat cross-legged on the Cloud Platform at the hall’s center, his aura as deep and still as an abyssal ocean. Only the ten-foot-long Star Spirit Banner in his palm trembled slightly, emitting a nearly inaudible hum.

The once deep and vast Star Map on the banner’s surface was now covered in fine cracks. This was especially true at the banner’s center, where the molten golden sun of the Red Sun Dao Fruit and the star of Purple Gold Thunderbolt from the Divine Sky Dao Fruit converged. Here, the spiderweb-like cracks were particularly jarring, even extending onto the resilient banner pole.

Xu Yunfan’s fingertips brushed over the cracks as he carefully infused them with his purple-gold Divine Sky Magical Power, which flowed like the finest silk threads in an attempt to mend the damage.

With every infusion of Magical Power, the edges of the cracks lit up with tiny sparks, emitting a faint sizzling sound, but the speed of repair was exceptionally slow.

He frowned slightly, a flicker of distress in his eyes that was almost impossible to notice.

’Forcibly reviving a Spiritual Treasure in a deathtrap like the Sea of Suffering Reincarnation, and then using a Cross-Boundary Ability to infuse it with two Supreme Yang and Firm powers—the Red Sun Sky-Burning Fire and the Divine Sky Annihilation Thunder—ultimately damaged its very foundation.’

Xu Yunfan felt a pang of resignation.

The Red Sun Dao Fruit’s Pure Yang Fire was wild and scorching; the Divine Sky Dao Fruit’s Destruction Thunderbolt was tyrannical and ferocious. Though both were of the Yang attribute, their properties were not a perfect match. When they suddenly collided and erupted within the confined space of the Star Spirit Banner, the resulting backlash was far greater than expected, nearly tearing apart the core structure of his Lifebound Spiritual Treasure.

He closed his eyes, sinking his Divine Thought deep into the Star Spirit Banner. A stream of data from the Attribute Panel scrolled silently across his field of vision.

’[Star Banner · Lifebound Spiritual Treasure]

Status: Moderately Damaged (Thunder-Fire Backlash)’

’The required repair materials were all exceedingly rare treasures. He could probably find the Geng Metal Mother Qi and the Ten Thousand Year Thunderstruck Wood Core by relying on the Primordial Sect’s foundation or his own accumulated resources, but it would take a great deal of time.’

His Divine Thought shifted, precisely extracting and magnifying fragments of memory from the depths of the Sea of Suffering.

The White Bone Island, the churning Sea of Blood, the sprawling Skeleton Giant Dragon...

The final image settled on the Qiu Long’s massive, mountain-like head.

At the very end of the gnarled, grotesque branches on its head, a peculiar, fist-sized fruit shaped like a coiled Qiu Long hovered quietly.

The cold, clear light emanating from the Dao Fruit felt as if it could freeze the very soul. Its core properties were instantly outlined with perfect clarity through a combination of Xu Yunfan’s own senses and the Attribute Panel’s analysis.

This Dao Fruit came from the Eye of the Ruins, deep within the Sea of Suffering Reincarnation. It had been condensed and refined for ten thousand years from an accumulation of Supreme Yin Death Qi and the very Origin of the Wanderer’s Returning Ruins.

Its chill was not the ordinary cold of ice and snow, but an ultimate coldness that heralded the nirvana of life and the return of all things to ruin. It naturally exerted a powerful suppression on all Yang-attribute Magical Power and forces of Vitality.

In the environment of the Sea of Suffering, it acted like a Stabilizing Needle, capable of suppressing the violent waves of blood and the bone-gnawing yin winds.

But Supreme Yin was not the final state.

Deep within the core of this world-freezing cold, Xu Yunfan clearly perceived an extremely faint yet incomparably tenacious thread of gentle Vitality.

Like a seed dormant under frozen winter earth, it contained the profound principle of "Yang born from extreme Yin."

This thread of Vitality represented transformation and gestation. It could perfectly harmonize violent, destructive energies, enabling them to achieve a dynamic equilibrium.

This was precisely why Xu Yunfan considered it the final cornerstone for constructing his Minor Circulation.

The Divine Sky Dao Fruit’s Thunderbolt annihilates the Ten Thousand Laws; it is Supreme Yang and Firm, and incomparably violent.

The Red Sun Dao Fruit’s Light-Departing Flame could burn the heavens and boil the seas; it was Pure Yang and fiercely tyrannical.

Both had reached the apex of Yang. But solitary Yang cannot last; they urgently needed the power of Supreme Yin to harmonize the Dragon and Tiger.

The Supreme Yin power of the Taiyin Nether Dragon Fruit was the perfect buffer and catalyst. Using its "Yang born from extreme Yin" property, not only would it not weaken the might of the Thunder Fire, it would actually harmonize the Divine Sky Thunderbolt.

It would use gentle Yin power to suffuse the violent Yang Thunder, making it a perfect balance of hard and soft. Within its destruction would be a seed of creation, and its might would become more focused, condensed, and lasting.

Furthermore, it would catalyze the Red Sun True Flame. Under the pressure and stimulation of the Supreme Yin power, the Pure Yang Fire would be like red-hot iron plunged into ice water, erupting with an even purer, more ferocious intensity. And the flame’s nature would become stable and controllable.

A Minor Circulation would be formed as follows:

The Taiyin’s Supreme Yin would generate and nourish the Divine Sky; the Divine Sky would augment the Red Sun; and once the Red Sun reached a critical point, the principle of "Yin born from extreme Yang" within it would, in turn, feed back to balance the Taiyin.

A Minor Circulation energy cycle, characterized by Endless Life and mutual reinforcement, would thus be preliminarily constructed.

The Early-Stage Golden Core Realm focuses on stabilizing one’s Golden Core and comprehending Dao Principles.

The core sign of advancing to the Mid-Stage Golden Core, however, is transforming the Golden Core Grotto Heaven Embryo within one’s Dantian from illusory to real, lifting it high into the Taixu Realm so it can independently draw upon the power of the void’s chaos to nourish the cultivator’s body.

Three Dao Fruits with mutually-reinforcing attributes, forming a stable Minor Circulation, would provide an incomparably immense and balanced Primordial Power to serve as the fuel and framework for the Grotto Heaven Lifting.

Once he succeeded, Xu Yunfan could instantly cross the threshold and become a Mid-Stage Golden Core Great Cultivator on par with the likes of True Monarch Pu Du and Pure Yang True Monarch. He would truly secure his position as a titan within the Primordial Sect and the entire Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm.

"The Taiyin Nether Dragon... It really lives up to its reputation."

Xu Yunfan opened his eyes. A flash of Purple Gold Thunder Light, carrying a searing heat, flickered in their depths and was gone.

’This journey might have cost me my Wukong Avatar and damaged the Star Spirit Banner, but to be able to so clearly locate and perceive the properties of the Taiyin Dao Fruit and confirm its perfect synergy with my own path of cultivation... the price... was worth it!’

The Wukong Avatar had self-destructed in the Sea of Suffering. Though the core of its True Spirit had been protected by the Star Spirit Banner, it would take a long time of nurturing for it to reform and recover.

There was no need to rush regarding the situation in the Sea of Suffering. Xu Yunfan was certain that the White-haired True Daoist would be completely unable to defeat the Qiu Long. However, Xu Yunfan needed another powerful ally.

His gaze turned toward the depths of the Star Spirit Banner, where a True Spirit was imprisoned, condensed into a tangible Sword Aura of dark gold.

It was the sole remaining True Spirit of Clone Han Stone after he had self-detonated the Cangming Dao Fruit.

The Wansheng of Fury Killing Sword Intent contained within had been tempered by life and death, making it even purer and more defiant. It was filled with a towering hatred and fury for Xu Yunfan, its original self.

"Han Shi, it’s time for you to ’see the light of day’ again."

Xu Yunfan muttered, then gave his sleeve a sharp wave.

CLATTER—

The rare Spiritual Materials Xu Yunfan had accumulated over the years, piled at the side of the hall, flew into the air, radiating a brilliant glow. They hovered there, with three core items shining most dazzlingly of all.

Ten Thousand Years Sword Marrow Jade.

This jade was a lustrous white, like Jade Marrow, but it contained an incomparably sharp Innate Sword Qi. It was a supreme material for forging the foundation of a Sword Cultivator’s Innate Sword Vein, something a Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator could only dream of obtaining.

This material was perfectly suited to serve as the bones for the new body, and he had obtained it from Red Sun True Monarch.

Another piece was the North Nether Cold Iron. It was a piece of Ten Thousand Years Profound Iron taken from the bitterly cold lands of the far north, tempered for a hundred million years by the Nine Nether Cold Fiend. Its chilling energy was contained deep within, making it indestructible. More importantly, it could temper Sword Intent, making it purer and more focused by purging it of impurities.

It could be transformed into the flesh, blood, and sinews of the new body.