Chapter 578 Sun and Moon Soul Sacrifice Treasure Manual

The color of the flame also transformed, shifting from a pure golden-red to a strange, fused state.

Its core remained a blazing golden-red, but the edges of the flame and its halo were tinged with a layer of cool silver-white.

The moon’s radiance and the sun’s flame no longer fought against each other, but intertwined and coexisted like a double helix.

An even stranger change occurred outside the Star Core.

A silver-white point of light silently condensed into view. It was not bright, yet it was incredibly stable, slowly orbiting the blazing Star Core like a loyal satellite.

Sealed within the point of light was a constantly shifting, miniature Dream Realm.

The Abyssal Demonic Qi he had previously absorbed churned within, transforming into writhing, contorted mountain ranges, madly surging dark oceans, and the countless crawling, roaring embryos of dream creatures.

The moment this new equilibrium was fully established, the familiar translucent panel materialized without a sound.

[Meditation Method Fusion Successful: Sun and Moon Soul Sacrifice Treasure Manual]

[4th Floor: Sun and Moon Dual Core Growth 1%]

[New Form Unlocked (Morning Star Stage)]

Ian slowly opened his eyes. A faint light seemed to flash through the secret chamber before vanishing.

A strange sight lay deep within his pupils. In his left eye, a cool, silver-white crescent moon slowly rotated.

Deep in his right eye, a blazing golden-red sun rose and set. The sun and moon took turns rotating before finally settling into tranquility.

"Sun and Moon Soul Sacrifice Treasure Manual... Dual Core..."

He murmured the name, feeling an unprecedented fullness in his Sea of Spirit. The previous restlessness was gone.

The Silver-White Dream Core and the golden-red Sun Core resonated with each other in an endless cycle.

The Dream Core drew Energy from the Void, converting it into lunar radiance to nourish both itself and the Sun Core. The Sun Core, in turn, used its intense heat to refine everything, feeding back to make the Dream Core more stable and converting a portion of its Power into the purest Magic Power.

’Time to test this new form from the Morning Star Stage.’

Ian focused his thoughts on the nascent Silver-White Dream Core within his Sea of Spirit.

HUMMM! A peculiar sensation washed over him as his Soul drifted weightlessly out of his physical body.

He looked down to see his physical body still sitting cross-legged below, its face serene and its breathing deep and steady. But he—his consciousness—was now floating nearly a hundred meters above it.

The world around him had completely changed.

Rock was no longer a solid obstacle. In the crevices of the rock strata, tiny insects slumbered, emanating dream fragments like iridescent soap bubbles—bizarre and fleeting.

Deeper still, the outline of a massive Insect Nest manifested in his Perception as waves of consciousness.

It was a convergence of countless monotonous, mechanical points of consciousness, like pre-set programs forming a cold torrent, filled with avaricious expansion and absolute obedience.

In the depths of that torrent, within the corner of consciousness belonging to the Mother Insect, Ian detected an exceedingly faint fluctuation.

The scent of fear.

A fear of the unknown. An instinctual fear of a higher being, a higher-tier predator.

’How strange. The Mother Insect is actually afraid of the Void Nest. It seems each Mother Insect has developed its own independent consciousness.’

Ian’s Soul ascended. The thick layers of rock were like air to him as he passed straight through them, arriving on the desolate, silent surface.

Shrouded in night, a massive Nest not far away was slowly writhing, disgorging acid and drones.

Ian hovered directly above the Nest. The cold, mechanical collective consciousness grew even clearer.

At the core of the Nest, the Mother Insect’s faint flicker of fear was especially conspicuous against the backdrop of commands demanding absolute obedience.

’Dream Walking... what a marvelous Skill!’ Ian savored the experience.

He could ignore physical obstacles, perceive the dream consciousness of living beings, and exist in a dimension of near-absolute Concealment.

He kept track of the passing Time.

This state of out-of-body Soul and higher-dimensional perception lasted for a full ten minutes before he felt a faint trace of fatigue and a pull from the Dream Core, urging him to return.

This far surpassed the one-minute limit for Dream Walking in the Morning Star Stage as recorded in the Moon God’s Treasure Manual.

’Of course. This is thanks to the Star Core from the Starry Sky Festival... which has now become my Sun Core.’

The sun’s blazing refinement, which endowed it with the property of nourishing all things, had made his Soul Essence far more stable and powerful, allowing him to linger longer in the seam between the Dream Realm and reality.

Before his consciousness returned to his body, he tried to prod the dual cores in his Sea of Spirit, attempting to activate any other potential forms.

The Dream Core trembled slightly, conveying a sense of yearning, but any deeper transformation was firmly locked away.

The panel’s information appeared right on cue:

[Sun and Moon Second Form: Requires Level Five Radiant Moon to unlock. Third Form requires Level Six Bright Sun to unlock.]

Ian’s Soul returned to his body. He opened his eyes without a hint of disappointment.

The first form of the Dream Core alone, with its Dream Space and Dream Walking, was already formidable.

Stealth and reconnaissance on the dream plane gave him strategic-level scouting and first-strike capabilities.

In this Esok World, shrouded by the Insect Race, he had already become the deadliest Hunter lurking in the shadows.

Time flowed slowly as he immersed himself in deep Meditation and grew familiar with his new system of Power.

Ian had completely assimilated all the insights from the fusion and solidified his Sun and Moon Dual Core Realm. By then, about two months had passed.

He stood up. His bones and tendons let out a series of soft cracks, and his aura had grown deeper and more restrained.

’It’s time to press deeper. The core secrets of the Esok World, and clues about the Cosmic Subconscious Fragments...’

Before the thought had even faded, the edge of his powerful Perception suddenly caught an abnormal ripple.

It wasn’t the uniform, mechanical ripple of the Insect Race’s consciousness. This was more nimble, more obscure.

Summoners had found him. And there was more than one.