Chapter 476: Sacred Essence

Chen Yu crouched in the shadows, his tiny eyes fixed unblinkingly on Yano, who was surrounded by radiant light in the void.

He was pondering a very interesting question.

Yano was probably the first knight in all of Zeyarila to ascend to Legendary rank by comprehending the Great Dao. There had never been such a precedent before.

In Xu Xuan Heaven, the Golden Core was the crystallization of a cultivator's practice, requiring spiritual roots, a dantian, and a cultivation method — all three were indispensable.

But the people of Zeyarila had no spiritual roots or dantian, and they lacked even the perception of the concept of "spiritual energy" itself.

Yet somehow, Yano had managed to comprehend the Great Dao through the Fake Core and become a Dao cultivator.

What intrigued him was that since Yano had no dantian, where exactly was the Golden Core supposed to condense?

Just as he was pondering these questions, the answer surfaced on its own.

He sensed the spiritual energy surging within Yano's body. Instead of flowing into the Fake Core as anticipated, it reversed direction and rushed toward a deeper, more profound place.

That place was the soul.

Yano hadn't condensed a Golden Core at all. Instead, the spiritual energy had become mysteriously entangled with his soul.

No, more accurately, it was the Stone-Heart that had undergone a transformation.

The Stone-Heart, which had previously only been faintly perceptible — like a second heart within him — was now thundering violently in the depths of his soul.

On the Sea Island, Viola also sensed this dramatic change.

She couldn't help but turn toward the massive figure beside her and ask uncertainly, "Ancestor Hailam, is this the transformation of the Stone-Heart?"

Hailam gazed at the figure enveloped in light and slowly shook his head.

"It is not."

Viola was stunned.

Hailam remarked in a deep, resonant voice, "What he has passed is not merely a trial."

The Stone Descendants exchanged bewildered glances, surprise written across their faces.

They couldn't perceive what was happening within the light as clearly as Hailam could, but the ancestor's words were enough to make them realize that the transformation taking place within this knight far exceeded their understanding.

Hopkins didn't give them more time to process this shock.

He knew very well what a breakthrough in the Stone-Heart meant.

The Stone Descendants' immunity to mental control was already a headache for him. Once Yano became a Legendary, he would have to face two Legends at once.

He couldn't wait any longer.

He raised his staff and a string of incantations spilled from his lips.

The octopus writhed in the void, its tentacles lashing out at Yano simultaneously like enraged giant serpents.

Bathed in light, Yano suddenly lunged, slamming directly into the incoming tentacles.

A dull, thunderous boom echoed, followed by the octopus letting out a low, pained shriek as its tentacles were shattered on impact. Severed limbs and ink sprayed across the void.

At the same time, Yano faced Hopkins directly, and countless phantom images materialized behind him.

These phantoms were like transparent painted screens, replaying the experiences of his entire life.

He fought vampires in the Dark Realm, sparks flying as sword blades clashed with fangs.

He charged side by side with Stone Descendants atop a lizard mount, a spear piercing through the veil of night in the darkness.

He fell again and again in the training ground, only to grit his teeth and stand back up, sweat dripping from his jaw, yet never once considering giving up.

These images surfaced one after another, then transformed into streams of light that poured back into Yano's body all at once.

In that moment, everything accumulated over the long years seemed to converge into a complete person.

"ROAR!"

Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed through the void — majestic and ancient, like the rumbling of an earthquake from deep within the earth's crust.

And in the void beneath Yano, the silhouette of a Giant Dragon began to gradually take shape.

This illusory dragon raised its head and suddenly charged toward Hopkins.

Hopkins hastily leaped off the octopus's back.

The octopus had no time to dodge before the dragon slammed into it head-on, its massive body crashing heavily onto the Sea Island, sending a towering plume of rubble and dust into the air.

As the light gradually faded, the dragon beneath Yano finally revealed its full form.

It was an ashen dragon. Its petrified scales were a pale gray-white, its back covered in thick bony plates, its wings underdeveloped, and the tip of its tail ending in a scythe-like fork.

Its blue eyes gleamed in the light like two radiant jewels as it looked down upon Hopkins.

Reputation Title: Awakened Knight

Acquisition Conditions:

A knight who unexpectedly comes into contact with a mysterious force, causing divinity to manifest into a perceptible form. The knight must confront this divinity with their own will and conviction, continuously struggling against it until they thoroughly tame it, ultimately awakening their Sacred Essence.

Title Effects:

1. Fame Imprint: The name "Awakened Knight" is celebrated throughout the Kingdom and the knightly class, regarded as a paragon of faith or an undeniable deterrent.
2. Mastery of Divinity: The subconscious and will achieve eternal unity. Actions are absolutely loyal to personal conviction. Combat instincts are significantly enhanced, allowing for quicker judgment and reactions in battle. Additionally, immunity to low-level mental control and charm effects.
3. Potential Realization: All latent potential — combat talent, tactical acumen, leadership ability, and more — directly reaches theoretical limits without requiring lengthy accumulation over time.
4. No Coronation Needed: If the knight already possesses the qualifications to step into Legendary rank, they can complete the transformation immediately without undergoing tedious trials.
5. Divine Mount: The tamed divine power transforms into a tangible mount, sharing a telepathic bond with the knight. They fight together, sharing some abilities and perceptions.

Notes:

When a knight's will conquers the body's instinct, they become a miracle walking among mortals.

The Awakened Knight does not beg the gods for power but digs inward. From then on, the mount is an extension of their will, and the sword's edge is the projection of their conviction.

Reputation Title: Stone-Heart

Acquisition Conditions:

A Stone Descendant must endure dire straits, achieve self-realization in the abyss of despair, and condense the "Stone-Heart" with the purest unyielding will.

Title Effects:

1. Fame Imprint: The name "Stone-Heart" is celebrated among the Stone Descendant race and all petrified beings, regarded as the embodiment of the highest honor and the totem of unyielding will.
2. Will as an Impenetrable Fortress: Immunity to all control-type spells and mental coercion effects (including charm, immobilization, paralysis, fear, etc.). The soul is as steadfast as solid rock.
3. Petrified Body: Gains powerful exemption from all spell damage and possesses extremely high physical resistance (reduces most non-Legendary physical attacks) while maintaining complete freedom of movement.
4. Immortal Stone Soul: The soul is permanently petrified. The rate of aging is permanently slowed. The soul can manifest physically, indistinguishable from the flesh body, and its appearance can be shaped at will (requires a certain level of cognitive foundation).

Notes:

When a Stone Descendant stops praying in dire straits and chooses instead to root themselves inward, the Stone-Heart quietly takes shape.

This is not abandoning life, but forging life into something more unbreakable, so that determination never fades.

From the shadows, Chen Yu's tiny eyes gleamed slightly.

Well, well. A single breakthrough, and he directly obtained two titles at once.

What surprised him was that after Yano's divinity was tamed, it manifested as an ashen dragon. This was clearly the passive effect of the Divine Mount being influenced by the Stone-Heart.

After all, the Divine Mount was also a part of Yano's soul. After this part of the soul was petrified, just like Hailam, it could also manifest in a different form.

In other words, Yano could enjoy the soul-manifestation effect of the Stone-Heart without having to abandon his physical body.

And thanks to the effect of "Potential Realization," even though Yano had just stepped into Legendary rank, he gave off the feeling of a veteran who had honed his skills at that level for years.

Potential Realization allowed all his latent potential — combat talent, tactical acumen, leadership ability, and so on — to directly reach theoretical limits without needing a long time to accumulate.

Yano's own potential was level 14, so the moment he broke through, he directly skipped level 13 and reached level 14.

This was the unreasonable nature of the Great Dao.

He discovered that he didn't even need to name this Great Dao. It had already received a fitting name within the title — Sacred Essence.

The Awakened Knight conquers instinct, and everything they do truly comes from the heart. Calling it Sacred Essence was quite reasonable.

By comparison, the Stone-Heart title seemed a bit more mundane at first glance, but thinking about it carefully, its effects were pretty terrifying too.

The Stone-Heart's extremely high spell damage exemption combined with its incredibly high physical resistance rendered the vast majority of mages utterly helpless against Yano.

Not to mention his complete immunity to control-type spells, making him a mobile city wall on any battlefield.

More critically, petrification had shifted from an active skill to a passive one.

The petrification of the soul greatly slowed aging, making Legendary Stone Descendants true long-lived beings in every sense. Perhaps their lifespans were even longer than those of the Elves.

At the same time, strictly speaking, Legendary Stone Descendants possessed a total of two lives.

The death of the flesh body was not the end for a Legendary Stone Descendant. The soul could still petrify into a physical form and continue to exist, and it was even harder to deal with.

The only weakness was that once a petrified soul was injured, it was not easy to recover.

Hopkins stood in the void, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Yano and Hailam.

He knew very well what the weakness of a Legendary Stone Descendant was. Although they could exempt most spell damage, their defense against physical damage was not as effective.

But now he was facing two Legends, and Legendary Stone Descendants had two lives. Once their physical bodies died, their souls could still petrify into physical forms and continue fighting.

A premonition suddenly surged within him — he was going to be killed by his own creations.

He couldn't accept this fact.

An indescribable rage burned in his chest, causing him to gasp for air in a loss of composure.

He clutched his chest and muttered in a low voice, "No... no, you're all just slaves, just slaves!"

As the words fell, he quickly raised his staff and cast a spell.

The octopus that had been smashed into the Sea Island received the summon, struggled to crawl out, and charged madly toward Yano.

The ashen dragon let out a roar and slammed into it.

The two colossal beings tangled together.

The octopus's tentacles wrapped around the ashen dragon's body, squeezing with all its might, trying to crush its gray-white scales.

The ashen dragon roared again, lowered its head to bite down on a tentacle, and tore open wound after wound across the octopus's body with its claws. Ink splattered through the void like a black rainstorm.

The giant octopus also went berserk, contracting every inch of its muscle. The more it was severed, the tighter it coiled, as if trying to drag this ashen dragon into the abyss along with itself.

The ashen dragon finally grew impatient. It opened its massive maw and spewed petrification mist.

The mist spread across the octopus's body, and its tentacles began visibly solidifying. Petrification patches spread, rapidly covering the entire octopus.

Its struggling movements grew slower and slower, stiffer and stiffer, until it finally stopped completely, frozen in place as a colossal stone statue.

The ashen dragon violently whipped its head, and the petrified octopus shattered in the void, crumbling into stone shards and dust that fell into the darkness, completely dissipated.

It let out a roar, declaring its victory, then beat its wings and carried Yano to land in front of Hopkins.

Yano simply sat atop the dragon's back, looking at this once-arrogant Legendary Mage, and raised the knight's sword in his hand.

"You lost."

Hopkins stared at the rubble that had been the octopus, taking a long moment before snapping back to his senses.

He struggled to maintain his composure, desperately clinging to the last shreds of dignity, and slowly spoke: "It was I who created you. It was I who gave you life..."

"No." Yano cut him off.

He slowly opened his eyes, calmly gazing at Hopkins. "What you wanted were slaves, not us."

"I..."

Before he could finish, the knight's sword in Yano's hand flew out, transforming into a streak of light that pierced through his chest.

Hopkins only felt a sharp pain shoot through his body. He instinctively looked down and saw that after his chest was run through by the blade, only a bloody, mangled cavity remained.

His vision began to grow increasingly blurry. He slowly raised his head again, his lips trembling slightly, and finally whispered softly, "Perhaps... I should be proud of my alchemy."

With that, he slowly closed his eyes. All his ambitions, all his thoughts of manipulating fate, faded away with his life in that moment.

Yano recalled the knight's sword, glanced at the blade to confirm it was clean, and only then sheathed it at his waist.

He sat atop the ashen dragon and let out a soft breath.

"I'm sorry, but this is not your accomplishment."

He patted the ashen dragon's scales. The dragon slowly lowered its head, then dissolved into fine motes of light that merged back into his body.

The sea breeze blew in from the distance, ruffling his hair. He turned to look at the crowd on the shore.

All the Stone Descendants were watching him.

In those gazes were reverence and awe. As they looked at him, it was like they were gazing upon a figure who had stepped straight out of an epic.

Hailam spoke first, his voice deep and sonorous: "You... are the new Stone-Heart."

Viola stared blankly at Yano, then at Hailam.

Coming back to her senses, she lowered her sword, stepped forward, and bowed in the most ancient greeting of the Stone Descendants.

"Viola Belmont, greets the Stone-Heart."

"We greet the Stone-Heart."

Behind her, hundreds of Stone Descendants bent in salute as well, offering their respect to this Stone Descendant knight who had come from the Mainland.

Yano stood in place, looking at this sea of people, and accepted the salute with composure.

Being revered by his people — this was the most fortunate glory a knight could hope for.

At that moment, the crowd parted, and Nilly squeezed her way out, waving at him. "Nephew, not bad at all! You didn't embarrass your auntie."

Yano looked down at her, let out a relieved sigh, and waved back at her. Then his gaze fell upon the small emerald figure perched on her shoulder.

"Boss, I did it. I didn't let you down."

Chen Yu wobbled his gel body, acknowledging his approval.