"'Remnant metal'..."
Yun Zhen murmured, looking thoughtful. Only after a pause did she reply:
"That Dao lineage is rare these days. Its drawbacks are severe, and I don't even know whether anyone still cultivates it..."
"Severe drawbacks? What kind?"
Jiang Yang could not help asking.
"Mm."
Yun Zhen nodded, then answered:
"When discussing the drawbacks of remnant metal, there is one event we cannot avoid: the [Peril Gold Calamity Transformation]."
"The [Peril Gold Calamity Transformation]?"
Ying Huang repeated the name under her breath. She seemed to have heard it somewhere before, and her brows drew together slightly in thought.
Yun Zhen said softly:
"'Remnant metal' ought to be called 'peril gold.' The path of peril gold is a metal of danger and destruction, governing shattering and killing. It stands apart from All Golds, solitary and aloof, refusing to unite with other paths."
"'Remnant' signifies injury. It is precisely because the path itself was wounded, leaving peril incomplete, that it came to be called remnant metal."
"When an injury that great reverberates through a Dao lineage, no one cultivating that path can escape being marred. Impairment, decline, misfortune, deficiency, calamity, affliction—one of these will be visited upon them. Its harmful effects are so pronounced that immortal cultivators shun it."
Jiang Yang's expression grew grave. This did not sound like some minor injury, such as losing an arm or a leg. If it was a Dao lineage that even human cultivators refused to practice, its drawbacks clearly went far beyond the ordinary.
Yun Zhen continued casually:
"But because its nature is stable, it rejects other paths, and it cannot be smelted into artifacts, ancient cultivators often used whole chunks as array foundations. Spirit arrays laid with them could endure a hundred years without wearing down, a thousand years without damage. They were