Chapter 712: Destiny-Defying Profound Mirror

Chapter 712: Chapter 712: Destiny-Defying Profound Mirror

That was the sign of a Golden Core Realm Cultivator beginning to manifest their Grotto Heaven Embryo—a preliminary grasp on the Power of Laws.

Those who had not yet formed a Golden Core, even if they possessed heaven-defying combat prowess, were like ants trying to shake the heavens before a true Golden Core Dao Realm. An insurmountable chasm existed in the very essence of their power.

"You’re still one step away, but your flattery is quite good."

Xu Yunfan finally raised his eyes, his calm gaze falling upon Han Shi. It was the look of a man gazing down at a speck of dust in his palm.

He slowly rose and stood with his hands clasped behind his back. The vast, star-sea-like pressure of a Golden Core True Monarch was no longer restrained, crashing down upon Han Shi like a tangible mountain.

"When the Cangming Dao Fruit self-detonated to obstruct Qingyuan and Wisdom Sun, I had already achieved my nascent Golden Core."

Xu Yunfan’s voice was calm and even.

"Gifting you this body was a chance for you to resume your path, an opportunity, not a chain. You must understand this."

He took a step forward, and all the thunder in the Divine Sky Hall seemed to bow in submission.

"If you remain obstinate and attempt to strike a stone with an egg..."

Xu Yunfan slowly raised his right hand. At his fingertip, a wisp of Purple Gold Thunder Light, subtle yet condensed to the absolute extreme, pulsed gently, letting out a soft CRACKLE.

This seemingly insignificant wisp of lightning plunged Han Shi into an icy abyss.

He felt the Formless Sword Spirit at the core of his Nirvana Sword Intent, which had just begun to coalesce between his brows, tremble violently under the gaze of that wisp of light, as if it would shatter completely at any moment.

A terror originating from the very source of his soul seized him—the absolute suppression that came from a chasm in their levels of existence.

"..."

In the face of this absolute disparity in power, all of Han Shi’s fury, indignation, and humiliation were brutally forced back down.

His face was ashen, his body rigid. His knuckles were white where his fists were clenched, yet he could no longer summon even a single shred of Sword Intent.

The feeling of power from his Innate Sword Body vanished without a trace, leaving only profound helplessness and terror.

He finally, with utter clarity, recognized that the man before him was no longer the rival from his memories, but a true Golden Core True Monarch who had reached the apex of the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm.

The power he had taken such pride in was, in the other’s eyes, truly nothing more than the struggle of an ant.

Seeing the flames of fury extinguish in Han Shi’s eyes, replaced by unconcealable fear, Xu Yunfan let the wisp of lightning on his fingertip silently fade away.

The pressure receded slightly, but the unshakable aura—as vast and distant as the heavens—still enveloped the hall.

"Tongxuan has perished in the Sea of Suffering, his Divine Soul utterly annihilated. Red Sun True Monarch is also dead. I have refined his Light-Departing Flame Red Sun Dao Fruit and achieved a dual mastery of Thunder and Fire."

Han Shi listened with a look of utter shock. He truly never expected such earth-shattering events to have transpired while his mind was clouded within the Star Spirit Banner.

After a long moment, he said in a strained voice, "You’ve killed two True Monarchs of the Wansheng Sword Sect. The Sword Sect will never let you get away with this!"

Xu Yunfan just chuckled, not bothering to elaborate.

’After all, Ancestral Master Lv Chunyang is now the Sect Leader of the Wansheng Sword Sect. He presides over the entire Southern Continent and established the Twelve Heaven-Supporting Sword Peaks. As long as he chooses not to act, the other two—Qi Xia True Monarch and Celestial Light True Monarch—would have to think twice before making a move.’

’Sword Dao Cultivators are indeed considered peerless in slaughter in this era, and that’s no exception even in the Golden Core Realm.’

’But he is Xu Yunfan. Whether it’s his True Skills or other Supreme Arts, he has cultivated them to a state of minute perfection. Even a Law Creator would pale in comparison.’

’A Sword Cultivator? What’s there to fear.’

Xu Yunfan turned to look at Han Shi.

"This body I have given you is a sword, and it is a path. How you walk it is up to you."

He paused, his tone turning cold. "But remember, your True Spirit Origin is bound to the Star Spirit Banner. Don’t do anything foolish."

Han Shi’s body trembled once more. He looked down at his new, cold, and powerful form, his expression a storm of complex emotions.

His hatred had not faded, and his fear remained, but in the face of such absolute power, he had no way to resist.

’Xu Yunfan is already a Golden Core True Monarch. And though I’m now just half a step away myself—so close that even the Cangming Gui Xu Dao Fruit has taken notice and shown its favor—’

’—without attaining the Dao Fruit, the gap between me and a true Golden Core is as wide as that between heaven and earth.’

’But how could a Dao Fruit be so easily attained?’

’Xu Yunfan’s own ordeal was a cautionary tale. To say nothing of the Celestial Dao of the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm sending down tribulations, those Golden Core True Monarchs were all masters of fighting dirty and taking advantage of others at their weakest.’

’The Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm was full of such animals—fully-geared, max-level players beating up on kids in the newbie village.’

The hall fell silent, the only movement the Purple Gold Thunderbolt flowing soundlessly between the pillars.

Xu Yunfan paid Han Shi no further mind. His Divine Thought sank back into the Star Spirit Banner, both to deduce a method for its repair and to review what he had gained from the Sea of Suffering.

He also began to consider how to refine a functional Magical Treasure that would allow a physical body to pass through the Sea of Suffering Reincarnation.

「Three years passed in a flash.」

In the Divine Sky Palace, Han Shi stood before the dais. His newly forged Innate Sword Body pulsed with a biting sharpness, but deep within his dark-gold pupils, an irresolvable gloom congealed.

He had spent three years nurturing his Sword Intent. The body—with a skeleton of Ten Thousand Years Sword Marrow Jade and meridians of North Nether Cold Iron—had become one with his Fury Killing Sword Intent. Yet, whenever he looked at the figure on the Cloud Platform, the Sword Qi surging through his meridians grew as restless as a caged beast.

He finally raised his head.

"If you insist I use this body, what is it you truly want from me?"

Xu Yunfan opened his eyes, emerging from his deductions. The Star Spirit Banner in his palm rippled with a faint, ghostly light.

"Enter the Sea of Suffering Reincarnation and retrieve the Taiyin Nether Dragon Fruit."

"The Netherworld?!"

Han Shi’s shoulders went rigid, his pupils contracting violently.

"A living being who enters the Netherworld will trigger a backlash. Are you sending me to my death?"

"If I merely wanted you dead, why would I have expended Ten Thousand Years Sword Marrow Jade to forge this body for you?"

Xu Yunfan said, "I previously witnessed someone force their way across the Sea of Suffering in their physical body. The technique they used, ’Life and Death Reincarnation, Yin and Yang Inversion,’ was quite remarkable. I have since gained some insights into it myself."

He twirled a wisp of gray, decaying energy between his fingertips. It was the remnant Magical Power of the White-haired True Monarch, which the Star Spirit Banner had brought back from the Sea of Suffering three years prior.

Over three years, Xu Yunfan had used his Attribute Panel to run ten thousand deductions, finally deconstructing and reassembling the properties of this life-and-death-reversing Magical Power, refining it into a dark Ancient Mirror.

The back of the mirror was fashioned from a Soul Nourishing Wood Heart and inlaid with seven North Nether Profound Crystals that inverted Yin and Yang. The face of the mirror was engraved with the scale pattern of a Qiu Long, which emanated a faint, cold radiance.

"Take this Destiny-Defying Profound Mirror."

Xu Yunfan tossed the Ancient Mirror to Han Shi.

"It can deceive the Laws of the Netherworld and protect your physical body during your passage."

Han Shi accepted it without a word, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the mirror.

’Xu Yunfan had already arranged everything.’

The mirror reflected his own face, as cold and hard as a sword. It also reflected the utterly calm eyes of the man on the Cloud Platform.

It was just like the day the Star Spirit Banner had imprisoned his True Spirit, igniting a soul-searing fire of hatred within him.

Xu Yunfan’s voice rang out. "Daoist Han, if you succeed this time, I will grant you your freedom."

Han Shi’s expression flickered, and a mocking sneer touched his lips.

"Using freedom as bait to lure me into a place of certain death..."

A low scoff rumbled in his throat. "Xu Yunfan, you truly haven’t changed one bit."

Xu Yunfan gazed out of the hall, hands clasped behind his back, his expression placid.

"If you obtain the Dao Fruit, I will give you the chance to be separated from the Star Banner. If you fail and perish..."

His voice suddenly turned cold.

"Then, like Wukong, you shall return to the banner and become my companion."

On the mountain peak, the Gang Wind howled. Han Shi’s black robes billowed like celestial wings.

He shot one last glance at the coiled Qiu Long phantom in the mirror, then leaped into the Reincarnation Nether Gate.

The Yin and Yang Runes on the back of the mirror flared, wrapping around him. He transformed into a streak of gray light and vanished into the soul-tearing temporal turbulence.