The first seal pact, the assessment begins!
Lin Yi stared at the drop of blood for a long time.
Although he couldn't accurately determine which kind of chaotic beast's essence blood it was, he could clearly sense that the law fluctuations contained within this drop of essence blood were extremely strong.
Even the network of laws within his Chaos Source Sea seemed to resonate slightly with this drop of essence blood.
Without a doubt, this must be the essence blood of a beast from the list of mythical creatures.
The problem is, why would Wen Qianfei give him this? Like a pillow appearing out of nowhere?
After all, he himself had just mentioned the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art> at the gathering and decided to take this path of condensing talismans with blood essence. In the blink of an eye, Wen Qianfei's congratulatory gift directly included a drop of blood essence from the Beast Ranking.
It would be a lie to say that Lin Yi wasn't tempted, but he was more confused than anything else.
He had never mentioned wanting to cultivate this technique in front of the Wen Family before; this was the first time he had done so at Wen Xu's gathering. It was such a coincidence, and Wen Qianfei's gift was clearly prepared in advance.
What's this? Wen Qianfei predicted it?
"Huh..."
Only then did Lin Yi notice a tiny pale blue dot of light floating inside the box.
He had been distracted by the blood essence, but now that the shock had subsided and doubts arose, he immediately noticed the point of light.
Lin Yi's heart stirred slightly, and he reached out his finger to gently touch the point of light.
The light melted instantly beneath his fingertips, transforming into a gentle Information Flow flowed into his consciousness.
"Lin Yi, if I'm not mistaken, the cultivation method you're choosing is the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art>. After all, you've already cultivated the <Nine Seal Cosmos Art> in the True Source Realm, so choosing the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art>, which is a direct descendant of it, is only natural."
"This drop of essence blood comes from the Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon, which ranks nineteenth on the list of exotic beasts. It was extracted from the body of an Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon at the Eternal Source Realm Completion."
Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
The Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon.
He had previously consulted "The Complete Guide to Chaos Beasts" while inspecting the goods, and had gained some understanding of various chaotic beasts.
The first to eleventh ranked beasts are all supreme chaotic beasts that can grow to the Dao Lord Realm, standing at the very top of the entire Chaos Cosmic Sea.
The twelfth to fifty-seventh are powerful exotic beasts capable of growing to the Constant Source Realm.
The 58th to 99th are those exotic beasts that are virtually invincible in the Eternal Source Realm thanks to their innate secret techniques, and they were specially selected by the Exotic Beast Ranking to be included in the list.
The Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon ranks nineteenth and is capable of reaching the Constant Source Realm Completion.
Although periodically extracting one or two drops of essence blood won't cause much damage to a chaotic beast, and even killing a beast once can yield hundreds of drops, finding an Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon and extracting its essence blood while it's still alive is still an extremely difficult task.
There was a single drop lying in the box in front of him.
Lin Yi stared at the blood essence in silence for a moment, then suppressed the turmoil in his heart and continued to read the information left by Wen Qianfei.
"This drop of essence blood was given to me by my elder brother back then. At that time, I was just like you, having recently broken through to the Eternal Source Realm. I was extremely ambitious and wanted to cultivate the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art> and condense the strongest talisman."
Wen Qianfei's voice flowed calmly deep within his consciousness.
"As a result, I failed in the very first step of creating the prototype of Hengqi."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yi was immediately startled.
Wen Qianfei also practiced this? And she failed on the very first step?
The Nine Source Eternal Pact Art consists of only three steps from beginning to end.
The first step is to use one's own Chaos Law as a mold to create the prototype of the Eternal Contract. The second step is to use the prototype of the Eternal Contract to extract the innate secret techniques from the essence blood. The third step is to condense the extracted innate secret techniques into the Chaos Origin Chaos Source Seal Pact.
Before he could think further, Wen Qianfei's message to him was still ongoing.
"Many cultivators now say that the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art> is too difficult to cultivate and has a low cost-effectiveness. In my opinion, this is just them finding a respectable excuse for their own poor talent. The real difficulty of this technique lies in only two aspects. One is the scarcity of essence blood, but that's a problem of how to obtain it, not a problem with the technique itself. Although the essence blood on the Beast Ranking is scarce, it's not extinct. As long as one is determined, it can still be found. The real difficulty lies in the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art> itself."
"The Nine Source Eternal Pact Art has blocked countless cultivators. The vast majority fail in the first step of forming the initial form of the Eternal Contract, not to mention that the second step of stripping away the innate secret technique is far more difficult than the first. As for those who can reach the final step, very few can."
"Because the essence blood of chaotic beasts is so rare, I kept it, thinking that if any of the younger generation in the family were to prove themselves, they might be able to use it. But so many years have passed, and not even one person has dared to challenge the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art>."
"So, I hope you can give it a try. If it works, this drop of essence will have its proper place."
"But there's no need to force yourself in cultivation. If you fail, there's no need to feel guilty. Although the essence blood of this Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon is a rare treasure on the list of exotic beasts, its uses are not limited to condensing talismans. You can use it as a one-time attack, add it to the refining of high-end pills, or even auction it off to exchange for other resources."
That concludes the comment section.
Lin Yi remained silent for a long while.
The blood essence of a Chaos Beast ranked high on the Beast Ranking, although only at the Eternal Source Realm Completion, according to the <Complete Guide to Chaos Beasts>, has a starting price of one million Eternal Cosmos Crystal in major auction houses. To buy it, you would need at least two million Eternal Cosmos Crystal, and it is basically impossible to find one even if it is priced.
This essence of blood was the most precious gift he had ever received.
The number of favors I owe has increased again...
Lin Yi sighed, gently closed the light blue brocade box, and stored it, along with the other boxes, into his Divine Kingdom.
He has nothing to repay for the kindness shown to him at the moment.
Right now, there's only one thing he can do.
Cultivate diligently, and then become Constant Guard.
Just like when they were first rescued by Li, they could only stay inside the Fierce Blood Assault Ship, unable to do anything but repay him little by little with their actions in the days to come.
The same applies now.
Lin Yi remained silent for a moment, then suppressed all his emotions and sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation platform.
Become stronger.
It makes them feel that they haven't made a mistake.
Lin Yi quickly went through the next steps in his mind.
There are only three thousand Epoch left until the Constant Guard' assessment.
Previously, he had broken through from the True Source Realm to the Eternal Source Realm, and it took him 1,700 Epoch just to break through this one step.
If he continues to devote his time to comprehending the Chaos Law, with his current soul comprehension and the Spiritual Enlightenment Qi, he can at most increase his comprehension of the laws from one percent to a little over two percent over three thousand Epoch.
This slight improvement won't have a significant impact on combat strength.
But the Nine Source Eternal Pact Art is different.
The Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon, ranked nineteenth on the list of exotic beasts, is of divine quality, according to the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art>. As long as the essence blood of exotic beasts ranked in the top thirty can successfully condense a seal, their quality will be divine!
The only difference is that among the divine items, there are stronger and weaker ones.
If he can successfully master the Nine Source Eternal Pact Art and condense the first Chaos Source Seal Pact within these three thousand Epoch, his combat power will directly leap to a new level.
This road is worth the gamble.
Having thought this through, Lin Yi no longer hesitated.
He first focused his mind into his Divine Kingdom, dispersing the two clones that had been meditating within the Divine Kingdom.
These two clones were formed when they were at the True Source Realm, and their combat power is completely useless at the Eternal Source Realm level.
Upon reaching the Eternal Source Realm, the eternity of the soul becomes the foundation, the Chaos Law form the bones, and the technique of creating clones also undergoes a qualitative leap.
Even cultivators who are not skilled in the ways of space and time can use the Chaos Law to simulate the power of space and time and summon clones to do work or fight.
Of course, the exact number that can be summoned and the percentage of combat power retained depends on the depth of each person's understanding of the Dao of Time and Space.
Those cultivators who are not very good at this can usually only summon one or two clones, and their combat power is only 20% to 60% of that of their Main Body.
Of course, even so, it's barely enough to do odd jobs and help out.
As the power of the Chaos Law surged and circulated within his body, two brand-new clones quickly stepped out from the ripples of spacetime and stood quietly before him.
Lin Yi assigned one of his two new clones to cultivate the two volumes of "Chaos Law Analysis," while the other was responsible for studying the several classic texts that aided in the cultivation of the Chaos Law.
The daily output of Spiritual Enlightenment Qi from the Purple Mist Space has now increased to ten thousand strands. This allows the clone to accumulate Spiritual Enlightenment Qi on its own and then burn it for a while to enjoy the Spiritual Enlightenment Qi.
As for the Main Body, it only does one thing: cultivate the Nine Source Eternal Pact Art.
After the distribution was completed, Lin Yi raised his hand and waved, and two crystals flew out from his Divine Kingdom and hovered in front of him.
One is a pale gold <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art>, and the other is a dark cyan <Complete Guide to Chaos Beasts>.
He first picked up the dark blue crystal, and with a slight force from his fingertips, the crystal shattered, releasing a torrent of Information Flow surged into the depths of his consciousness like a flood bursting its banks.
Detailed information about the one hundred chaotic beasts on the beast ranking list rapidly unfolded in his mind, including the form of each beast...
His habits, habitat, and innate secret techniques were all absorbed and digested by his soul in a very short time.
After digesting the contents of "Complete Guide to Chaos Beasts", Lin Yi's expression tightened slightly.
Now comes the real highlight.
His gaze fell on the pale gold crystal, and he reached out and crushed it with his fingers.
The entire transmission of the Nine Source Eternal Pact Art unfolded in his consciousness.
The structure of this cultivation method was far more grand and ingenious than he had imagined.
Using the Chaos Law as a mold to shape the Hengqi form, then using the Hengqi prototype to extract the innate secret techniques from the essence blood, and finally condensing the extracted innate secret techniques into the Chaos Source Seal Pact, the three steps are completed to achieve success.
The prototype of Hengqi is the most core and fundamental component of the entire exercise.
It is both a blank mold and a precision carving knife.
The purpose of the mold is to completely imprint the structure of the secret techniques when peeling them off, so as not to omit or distort them.
The carving knife serves to sculpt the imprinted law structure into a form that conforms to its own Chaos Law system when the seal is formed.
The very act of creating the prototype of the Constant Contract is an extreme test of a cultivator's control over the laws.
The second step, stripping away the innate secret technique, involves embedding the rudimentary form of the Eternal Contract into the essence blood, and using one's own Chaos Law as a guide to completely peel away the innate secret technique imprint contained within the essence blood.
The higher the quality of the essence blood, the more numerous and complex the secret imprints it contains, and the more difficult it is to remove.
If this step fails, not only will the nascent form of Hengqi crumble during the peeling process, but the essence and blood will also be consumed, rendering all previous efforts futile.
The benefit of cultivating the Nine Seal Cosmos Art lies in this step: the nine seals can be used to suppress the essence and blood, reducing the difficulty of removing the secret technique imprints from it.
As for the final step of condensing the Chaos Source Seal Pact, it involves deeply integrating the extracted secret technique imprint with one's own Chaos Source Sea, making it part of the framework of the Source Sea's laws.
Once the seal is successfully formed, each time the corresponding secret technique is activated, the seal will resonate automatically, granting the secret technique additional power amplification.
Lin Yi reviewed the entire cultivation technique from beginning to end, then closed his eyes and ignited the vast liquid lake in the Purple Mist Space.
The Spiritual Enlightenment Qi burned silently, and consciousness instantly became as clear as a mirror.
Those obscure cultivation manuals that would deter most people at the Eternal Source Realm were illuminated like textures under a magnifying glass in the face of his enhanced comprehension, with every law's direction becoming clear and detailed.
The Thirtieth Epoch, understanding complete.
Then, Lin Yi struck while the iron was hot and truly began the first step of cultivating the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art>, shaping the prototype of the Constant Contract.
Following the guidance of the cultivation manual, he drew out strands of the power of the Chaos Law from the Soul Origin, weaving them into a core framework within his body's Chaos Source Sea, capable of supporting the secret techniques of the exotic beasts.
This process demands an absurdly high level of control over the laws; it requires maintaining the stable operation of all law nodes simultaneously, as any collapse at any point will cause the entire framework to disintegrate.
Even with his current soul realm and the added boost of Spiritual Enlightenment Qi, his progress is still slow.
Time flows silently in extreme focus, and each node of the law is precisely woven into shape in consciousness at an extremely slow pace.
Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, tens of millions... countless nodes are interconnected and support each other. If any node deviates even slightly, the entire framework will collapse, and all previous efforts will be in vain.
Three hundred Epoch, five hundred Epoch, seven hundred Epoch...
When the 700th Epoch arrived, the nascent form of the Eternal Contract deep within Lin Yi's soul finally took shape.
It was a semi-transparent three-dimensional rune, with countless threads of law interwoven into an extremely complex grid structure inside. Each grid was a cavity reserved to hold the secret imprint of the alien beast.
The hardest first step has been taken.
Lin Yi took a deep breath and retrieved the drop of Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon essence blood that Wen Qianfei had previously given him from the depths of his Divine Kingdom.
With a gentle flick of his wrist, the box lid slid open silently.
The drop of azure blood essence flowed with magnificent patterns within the box, and the oppressive aura of the Eternal Source Realm Completion emanated from it.
Even from half a foot away, he could feel the intertwined and entwined innate secret technique imprint on his blood essence.
Lin Yi calmed his mind and slowly drew the nascent form of Hengqi from the Soul Origin towards his essence blood.
The moment the nascent form came into contact with the essence blood, his consciousness was overwhelmed by a violent will.
The chilling killing intent pierced his consciousness like countless ice needles, attempting to drag him into an endless abyss of annihilation.
Using the clarity and enlightenment brought about by burning Spiritual Enlightenment Qi, Lin Yi ignored the soul interference and focused his attention on the secret imprint in his essence blood.
This essence of blood is crisscrossed with hundreds of secret technique imprints.
From attack techniques to flight techniques, from strengthening defense to absorbing chaotic energy, there is even a secret method specifically designed to attract the opposite sex of the Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon. Among them, there are more than thirty kinds of attack-type talent secret techniques.
Since he could only choose one secret technique to peel away, Lin Yi naturally chose the strongest one.
The innate secret technique of the Eternal Silence Abyss Dragon is its most famous ultimate skill, and also the most powerful offensive technique.
The Light of Eternal Silence.
With each blink of an eye, everything is frozen, everything is annihilated.
Without hesitation, Lin Yi locked onto his target, and the nascent form of Hengqi directly enveloped the Light of Eternal Silence imprint within the essence blood.
The remaining will of the Eternal Source Realm Completion roared silently from the depths of his soul, but the nine Cosmic Universe Seal within his soul instantly shone brightly, suppressing it completely, and the huge roar immediately turned into a gentle whisper.
After the biggest source of interference disappeared, Lin Yi peeled away the secret imprint of that Light of Eternal Silence from his blood essence, bit by bit.
This process of stripping away lasted for five hundred Epoch.
When the last thread of the secret technique completely separated from the essence blood, the essence blood suddenly dimmed, and the stripped-off Light of Eternal Silence imprint transformed into an extremely thin Silverblue light thread, quietly hovering deep within his consciousness.
The final step is to condense the Chaos Source Seal Pact.
Lin Yi slowly brought the nascent form of the Eternal Contract closer to the separated imprint of the Light of Eternal Silence, and following the guidance of the final chapter of the <Nine Source Eternal Pact Art>, he embedded the secret imprint into the reserved cavities inside the nascent form.
He needs to maintain the stable operation of the prototype at the same time, and guide the secret imprint to precisely connect with the prototype structure.
This final step is actually not as difficult as the previous ones. Similar to the first step, it is just a tedious, precise, and extremely mentally taxing process.
Nine hundred and thirteen Epoch later, the pale golden prototype of the Eternal Contract deep within his soul had completely changed its appearance.
Its surface is imprinted with an extremely complex sapphire blue rune, with a vertical dragon eye in the center of the rune, slightly opening and closing, with a faint wisp of annihilation light flowing deep within the pupil each time it opens and closes.
This Chaos Source Seal Pact is currently rotating slowly within the Soul Origin with a mysterious rhythm. With each rotation, a very subtle fluctuation of law seeps out from the seal and spreads along the soul's meridians to every part of his body.
The Chaos Source Seal Pact is formed.
Lin Yi slowly stood up and let out a long sigh.
I finally mastered it before the assessment.
Then, he strolled leisurely out of the cultivation room and into the courtyard.
He stood by the small pond in the East Garden Annex for a while, watching the silvery-white fish swim leisurely among the water plants.
After more than two thousand one hundred Epoch of relentless cultivation, he hadn't seen the scenery of this courtyard for a very long time.
After watching silently for a while, Lin Yi walked to the wall and gently touched the light blue management intelligence rune.
"Wen Zhi, please contact Steward Wen Twenty-Nine for me."
"Please wait."
Soon, Wen Twenty-Nine's voice came from the rune. "Lord Lin Yi, what are your orders?"
"Steward Wen, I would like to borrow the Wen Family's martial arts training ground to test the power of my new technique."
The Chaos Source Seal Pact Technique has been mastered, but its true power, and whether it is as strong as recorded, can only be determined by testing it in a specialized training ground.
Upon hearing this, Wen Twenty-Nine on the other end of the communication line quickly replied, "The training grounds are ready to use at any time. The sixth training ground in the East District is currently empty; I'll arrange for someone to go there and activate the rune array. You can just go directly there."
After leaving the Eastern Courtyard, Lin Yi walked along the winding path among the crystal clusters toward the east side of the manor.
During his stay at the Wen Family, he had already familiarized himself with the layout of the various areas of the manor, and the location of the training ground in the eastern district was not difficult to find.
Passing through a natural archway formed by dark blue crystal clusters, the view ahead suddenly opened up.
It was an oval-shaped training ground surrounded by towering crystal walls. Several thousand thick energy guide pillars stood at the edge of the field, each of which was engraved with patterns of shock absorption and absorption runes.
As a family of the Constant Source Realm, the Wen Family family's internal martial arts arena is naturally extraordinary.
He could recognize seven or eight different protective measures, each of which was at least at the Eternal Source Realm level.
He had just stepped across the threshold and hadn't even had a chance to look around the training ground when he heard a whooshing sound behind him.
Two streaks of light descended from the sky and landed steadily on the platform outside the entrance to the martial arts arena.
Lin Yi turned around and saw a pale blue light and shadow falling first; it was Wen Xu.
Wen Xu was wearing a dark purple fitted brocade robe today, with extremely fine Flowing Cloud embroidered on the surface in silver thread. He looked relaxed yet noble.
Immediately following was a streak of crimson fire. Wen Qianqi's long, fiery red hair drew a half-arc in the air, and she shouted even before landing.
"Brother Lin Yi! You didn't even say a word before you came out of seclusion!"
Wen Xu strode forward, a smile on his face, "We heard you came out of seclusion and were thinking of going to find you, but then we heard you came to the martial arts arena. What, are you going to try out a new move? Do you need to keep it a secret? Do you mind if we watch from the sidelines?"
Lin Yi thought for a moment after hearing this, then smiled and said, "It needs to be kept secret. However, I don't mind if you see it."
Wen Xu paused for a moment, then his smile widened. "Wow, looks like someone special."
He turned around and ordered the training ground, "With my authority, clear all data records of this training ground session. Nothing should be recorded."
As his words fell, a deep hum came from the dome of the martial arts arena, and a pale golden law pattern spread out from the center of the dome, sweeping across the entire arena.
Wen Xu withdrew his hand and gestured to Lin Yi, "Let's go. Now no one will find out what you practiced here. We'll all keep our mouths shut."
Lin Yi nodded, and the group strode into the training ground.
After a while, the three filed out.
Wen Xu walked in front, Wen Qianqi followed behind him, and Lin Yi was the last to step out of the threshold.
Wen Xu took a few steps and then stopped.
He turned to look at Lin Yi, his expression quite complex.
"Brother Lin Yi," he opened his mouth, seemingly considering his words, but finally managed a wry smile and said, "I never expected that Third Sister would still have that essence blood all this time, and even gave it to you as a gift. The key is that you mastered it so quickly! Although I'm glad you have strong talent, being this strong makes me easily doubt that I'm a waste."
Wen Qianqi stood to the side with her arms crossed, looked Lin Yi up and down, and then said helplessly, "I was thinking of sparring with you in a while, but it seems there's no need for that now."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yi quickly waved his hand and said modestly with a smile, "Not at all, I still need to practice, I still need to practice."
After listening to this, Wen Xu pondered for a moment, then reminded him, "Although it's an understatement, what you said is actually true. The power of this attack is indeed astonishing, but the process from condensing the seal to releasing it was a bit slow."
"There's still a lag in application, and a considerable gap between release and retraction. No matter how powerful the attack is, it's useless if it can't hit the opponent; more practice is needed."
Lin Yi nodded without refuting it; what he said made sense, and he himself had also noticed the problem.
Seeing that Lin Yi was not smug because of the two people's shock, Wen Xu's smile deepened.
He went up and put his arm around Lin Yi's shoulder, laughing as he said, "But these are all minor details. With your talent, you'll naturally get used to it after a while of practice. You've already overcome the most difficult step; the rest is just a matter of patience. Come on, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's have a good drink to celebrate your completion of your seclusion."
The gathering was held at the same old place, the small hall next to the secondary crystal cluster.
Wen Qianqing, Wen Qianluo, and Wen Qianlan arrived one after another after receiving the news.
After the gathering, Lin Yi returned to the East Garden Annex and immediately resumed working on the Light of Eternal Silence.
Wen Xu is right, no matter how powerful it is, it's useless if you can't hit the target.
In the days that followed, Lin Yi would go to the training ground from time to time. Sometimes he would practice repeatedly in front of the test target by himself, and sometimes he would call Wen Xu along.
Wen Xu was happy to oblige.
In his own words, he wanted to beat Lin Yi up as many times as he could while he still could.
He was at the mid-stage of the Eternal Source Realm, and his comprehension of the laws was far superior to Lin Yi's. He also possessed a Saint-grade seal.
Although it's only at the bottom of the Saint-grade seals, it's still a Saint-grade seal, more than enough to serve as a sparring partner.
At first, Wen Xu was able to easily dodge the attack and even had the leisure to make a few comments, but he soon stopped laughing.
"You're a monster." After nearly being grazed by the Light of Eternal Silence once again, Wen Xu landed at the edge of the training ground, catching his breath, and said with a wry smile.
Lin Yi withdrew his hand and smiled. Just as he was about to say something, Wen Xu suddenly raised his hand to stop him.
"Don't move. Let me catch my breath. I, the sixth young Wen Family, a mid-stage Eternal Source Realm cultivator, was almost defeated by you, a mere beginner who just broke through two thousand Epoch ago. If word got out, wouldn't I lose all face?"
That's what he said, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face.
Days passed by like this.
Lin Yi's life became extremely regular. He spent most of his time in the cultivation room of the East Garden Annex comprehending the ultimate application of the Light of Eternal Silence, sparring with Wen Xu at the training ground every few days, and occasionally having a small get-together.
Life was peaceful and fulfilling.
Until this day.
Lin Yi just finished sparring with Wen Xu and returned to the East Garden Annex, preparing to begin his daily cultivation.
Wen Zhi's voice rang out from the cultivation room. "Wen Xu is outside the courtyard."
Normally, Wen Xu would use a communication talisman to give him a heads-up before coming to see him, and rarely would he come directly to his door.
Lin Yi had a vague idea in his mind.
He stood up, strode across the courtyard, and pushed open the gate.
Wen Xu stood outside the door, his expression much more solemn than usual.
"Brother Lin Yi," he didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point, "My elder brother contacted me."
Lin Yi's gaze sharpened.
In the entire Wen Family, there is only one person whom Wen Xu can call "elder brother": Wen Xiao.
"He asked me to take you there." Wen Xu looked at him and said slowly, "To the Silent City Constant Guard's garrison. The day of the assessment has arrived."