Deep in the Great Void, on a plane ordinary people could scarcely perceive, the Daoist sat cross-legged, cloaked in water and fire as he refined myriad phenomena. Within the furnace, a vision of sun and moon in Inversion took shape.
At one moment, sun and moon returned to one, and a single candle flame replaced everything. Though faint, it neither grew nor diminished, remaining ever the same.
Sensing this change, Jiang Chen opened his eyes.
"Is it done?"
With a sweep of his sleeve, he extinguished the water and fire and held that single flame in his palm.
Compared to before, the True Dragon Fire-Bearing Candle had grown more inscrutable. It hovered between existence and nonexistence, impossible to pin down.
"It hasn't fully transformed, but it's taken the first step. Compared to before, this treasure is now more attuned to soul power and requires less magic power."
After examining it closely, Jiang Chen had a fairly clear understanding.
He had now completed the initial fusion of the Soul-Calming Hall and the True Dragon Fire-Bearing Candle. But that fusion remained superficial. It had not fundamentally changed the candle's wonders; it had merely made the artifact more receptive to soul power.
"For an ordinary Celestial Phenomenon Realm cultivator, this change would be a disaster. Without a sufficiently powerful soul, they couldn't bring out the might a High-grade Dao Artifact should possess. For me, though, it's an excellent thing."
"My Yang Spirit is powerful, far beyond that of an ordinary Celestial Phenomenon Realm cultivator and approaching a Dao Embryo. The reason I can't gain an overwhelming advantage through soul power alone against those Celestial Phenomenon True Lords is partly that their souls are protected by their Dao Bodies, and partly that my soul techniques are still limited. The only one truly worth using