Artificial Heavenly Spirit Root, World Seed
Inspired by the Spirit-Seizing Great Art, Liu Yi conceived a method for refining Heavenly Spirit Roots.
Instead of seizing someone else's Spirit Root, he would refine one directly from materials, and it could be implanted in the body with ease.
If he put these things up for sale in the System Store, the entire immortal cultivation world would likely go mad over them, scrambling to buy them.
That would also greatly reduce the resistance encountered when spreading the system.
He could even draw immortal cultivators into the system's camp.
After all, the quickest way to defeat a powerful group was to break it apart from within.
Immortal cultivators of mediocre aptitude were already bound by the shackles of their talent and dreamed of changing it.
Once they learned there was a chance to change their talent, they would surely flock to it like ducks.
Even among those with good talent, some of their relatives, friends, and disciples had mediocre aptitude or no talent for cultivation at all. For their sake, they would not refuse to buy Heavenly Spirit Roots either.
The method seemed to strengthen the immortal cultivation forces, but in reality, it would divide them from within.
Once artificially refined Heavenly Spirit Roots appeared, immortal cultivation groups would inevitably split apart.
Those born with Heavenly Spirit Roots would look down on cultivators who relied on outside means to implant them.
Such discrimination would set factions against one another, leaving immortal cultivators riddled with internal conflict.
That way, they would be unable to unite against the spread of the system, and powerless to impede the development of the Dao Seed Martial Dao Cultivation System.
So as long as he could truly refine Heavenly Spirit Roots, promoting the system would involve countless fewer troubles.
Although developing a method to refine Heavenly Spirit Roots was as hard as ascending to heaven, Liu Yi believed that with his ability to deduce, he still had a chance of success.
"If I treat a Spirit Root as an organ within the body and refine it on that basis, it'll be easier," he muttered, struck by a sudden flash of inspiration.
Ordinary cultivators revered Spirit Roots as sacred gifts from heaven, yet had never thought to break with convention.
What if he used the approach for refining Law Artifacts to refine the spiritual materials of heaven and earth into a special organ compatible with a mortal body, then implanted it?
After all, a Spirit Root was essentially no more than a medium for communicating with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. As long as he could achieve resonance between their attributes, why be bound by its form?
The thought left him so excited that he could no longer restrain himself. He quickly sat cross-legged on his meditation cushion.
Following the method recorded in the Spirit-Seizing Great Art, he circulated his Divine Sense to perceive the state of the Spirit Root within his body.
In the Unseen, he sensed the Five Elements Spirit Root interwoven into a net within him. The sharpness of metal, the vitality of wood, the suppleness of water, the scorching heat of fire, and the solidity of earth formed a five-colored mass of light, lying dormant deep within his body.
He held his breath and focused, sinking his entire mind into this profound perception as he tried to comprehend the principles behind the Spirit Root's operation.
After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes and let out a heavy breath.
The mysteries of the Spirit Root far exceeded his imagination. What seemed like an intangible, elusive talent was in fact subtly aligned with the exquisite principles governing heaven and earth.
This exploration convinced him: As long as I'm given enough time to study it, I can definitely refine a Heavenly Spirit Root!
But once his excitement passed, he quickly calmed down.
Something this complex could not be rushed. It required repeated deductions and extensive experimentation; it was not something he could finish in a short time.
After weighing his options, he made up his mind. For now, the important thing is to focus on breaking through to the Dao Seed Realm first.
Three days later, he left Green Mountain Town with Little Yellow and a large number of energy storage devices, heading deep into the mountains beyond the town.
Before long, they reached the valley they had previously surveyed.
Liu Yi bent down and gently stroked Little Yellow's fluffy fur, his gaze solemn. "I need to enter seclusion here to break through to the next realm. Stand guard outside the valley."
Little Yellow barked, wagged his tail, and nodded to show he understood, then turned and ran out of the valley.
When Liu Yi saw Little Yellow disappear at the valley entrance, he swiftly formed seals with his fingertips and activated the Five Elements Defense Formation he had already laid out.
In an instant, the formation patterns lit up with five-colored light. Layer upon layer of barriers spread out like ripples, enveloping the entire valley.
He let out a long breath, walked to a level spot in the valley, and sat cross-legged on a cushion he had prepared.
His presence gradually steadied as he focused his mind on the coming breakthrough.
The Dao Seed Realm (Golden Core Realm) was the realm in which cultivators established the direction of their future Great Dao.
They had to merge a Great Dao Principle or intent they had comprehended with the True Power within their bodies, condense it into a Great Dao Seed, and continually nurture the Great Dao Seed to maturity.
In this way, they would achieve "the union of Dao and Qi."
Because he had cultivated 129,600 acupoints, he planned to condense 129,600 Dao Seeds, while others only needed to condense one.
He took a deep breath, calmed and focused his mind, and circulated his cultivation method to construct a Heaven and Earth Furnace from True Power within his Dantian.
Heaven and earth were the furnace, creation the craftsman; yin and yang were the charcoal, and the Great Dao of the World and True Power were the copper with which he forged a Dao Seed (World Seed).
He poured True Power into the Heaven and Earth Furnace, then cast the embryonic form of the Great Dao of the World he had comprehended into it.
The Heaven and Earth Furnace blazed with flames that soared into the sky, and the embryonic Great Dao of the World and True Power mingled fiercely in the intense heat.
The two intertwined and permeated each other. As the flames surged, they gradually condensed into a chaos-colored World Seed, seemingly concealing endless space and time within it and faintly containing the supreme truths of the Great Dao.
True Power surged through his Dantian like a raging tide, pouring madly into the World Seed and rapidly transforming into chaos energy.
When one percent of the True Power in his body had been consumed, the World Seed seemed to have absorbed enough energy and suddenly radiated dazzling light of the Great Dao.
Within the light, the outline of a chaos world faintly emerged.
After confirming that the World Seed had successfully condensed, Liu Yi immediately dispersed the Heaven and Earth Furnace operating in his Dantian, unable to hide the delight on his face.
"Hahaha, I, your Daoist master, have taken the first step toward completing my Great Dao."
But immediately afterward, he frowned. The energy required to condense a World Seed was truly staggering.
Fortunately, he had prepared in advance and had not condensed World Seeds in all 129,600 of his acupoints at once.
Otherwise, all the energy in his body would likely have been drained in an instant.
He gathered his thoughts, hurriedly picked up an energy storage device, and absorbed all the energy within it.
Once the energy in his body had recovered, he set about condensing the World Seed in his middle Dantian.
As time passed, World Seeds were condensed one after another.
The instant the final World Seed took shape, all 129,600 World Seeds burst forth with chaos light at once, releasing chaos-colored True Power.
The True Power surged through his meridians, linking all the World Seeds together in the blink of an eye.
A dazzling chaos light burst from his body, and a massive, chaos-colored Heaven and Earth Furnace appeared around him.
The furnace drew in and expelled heaven and earth. Spiritual Qi gathered like a tornado, while the golden rays of the blazing sun by day, the clear radiance of the moon beneath the night sky, and the power of the stars were all swallowed up by it.
Under the scorching flames of the furnace, countless streams of energy were rapidly refined into pure True Power.
This True Power circulated madly within his body. Every cycle was like the pounding of a heavy hammer, tempering his meridians, bones, and muscles again and again.
Within the Heaven and Earth Furnace, a cocoon of chaos-colored light floated in midair, now bursting with brilliant radiance, now displaying Great Dao Runes.
It was Liu Yi undergoing transformation and sublimation.
After a long while, a thunderous boom rang out like the opening of heaven and earth. The cocoon of light shattered, and waves of chaos Qi spread outward like ripples.
Liu Yi floated cross-legged in the void, Dao rhythm emanating from his entire body.
As his eyes slowly opened, the image of a chaos world appeared in them, and his gaze, bearing boundless pressure, pierced the heavens.
The Heaven and Earth Furnace, so magnificent a moment before, turned into specks of starlight in an instant and vanished without a trace.
Majestic power surged endlessly through his body like a vast river of stars.
He could not help throwing back his head and letting out a long cry. The waves of sound shook the surrounding wilderness, startling countless birds and beasts in the mountain forests.
After a long while, the cry that had resounded through the clouds gradually faded, and only then did he slowly draw in the imposing presence surrounding him.