Chapter 2216.1: Refining the Sword Pagoda, An Image of Heaven and Earth

Lu Yun deployed the Nine Forms of the Cloud Dragon and not Teleportation. The latter was his ultimate ace and would create enormous threats for himself if others saw it. He wouldn’t use it unless his back was against a wall.

After shaking off the seven, Lu Yun heaved a long sigh of relief.

“Only damaged pills and treasures resulted from the previous eruptions. Who would’ve thought that there’d be a complete immortal pill to be found!” Lu Yun’s eyebrows raised as he studied the Unselfish Hateless Pill in his hand.

Seventh rank pills such as these had been extraordinarily precious back in the world of immortals of old. If this one in particular wasn’t limited to those beneath august immortal, it would definitively surpass ninth rank immortal pills.

At the same time, Lu Yun never encountered this pill in any other world apart from the world of immortals. Plainly, it was a local speciality.

He didn’t give that too much thought since Empress Myrtlestar’s Cosmic Flag had already appeared. It wasn’t that shocking that an Unselfish Hateless Pill would come from Immortal Burial Valley.

He placed the pill—glowing with a purple haze—in front of his nose and opened the Eye of Nullification, sighing after his observations.

“It won’t be that easy to discern the recipe for this pill,” Lu Yun shook his head. It was more pressing to raise his cultivation level. Without absolute strength in this place, death was a very possible conclusion.

Since he’d already made a careful study of the pill, all he needed was some time to experiment after his return. He’d find the right recipe and process one day.

In the same vein, it wasn’t an easy task to create an immortal pill. When he refined three Shennong Life Returning Pills, he’d relied heavily on the Shennong Grass’ innate attributes. Without it, he would never craft an immortal pill.

He took a look around and located a secluded spot, taking out some spirit stones to set up a maze formation.

“I wonder if this Unselfish Hateless Pill can help my cultivation take a leap forward.” Lu Yun took a deep breath and swallowed it.

It transformed into a current of purple and gold as soon as it entered his mouth and rushed into his stomach. Vast medicinal power exploded in his body and traveled to his limbs. His form took on the hue of the pill as the nascent soul in his dantian opened its eyes. Two rays of lightning shot out from it while it formed hand seals, devouring the ponderous medicine effects.

As vast as the Unselfish Hateless Pill’s energy was, it was unusually gentle and didn’t cause any damage to his body. The nascent soul directed medicinal power to continuously meld with Hongmeng qi and enhance the qi’s strength.

The Nine Chapters of Dao operated furiously, breaking through Lu Yun’s current level of limitation.

“Reincarnation Grass…

“Root of Heaven and Earth…

“Myriad Tribulation Flower…

“Unselfish Springwater…

“The inner core of the scarlet ape divine beast…”

Five ingredients appeared in Lu Yun’s mind—immortal ingredients that were the components of the Unselfish Hateless Pill. While they weren’t part of the ten heavenly or thirty-six earthly treasures, they rivaled any of the earthly treasures.

Reincarnation Grass, Root of Heaven and Earth, and Myriad Tribulation Flower were easy enough. Lu Yun would be able to replicate their properties if given enough ingredients. But Unselfish Springwater and the inner core of the scarlet ape divine beast? There was nothing he could do about those.

Unselfish Springwater was a spring of spirit water in the world of immortals. It held the properties of cleansing the mind and purifying the heart. Erupting once every ten thousand years, it produced three hundred and sixty-five droplets at a time. Each droplet was extremely precious.

Lu Yun could not replicate the properties of the inner core of the scarlet ape divine beast either because inner cores were not spirit herbs or likewise ingredients. They formed when a divine beast absorbed the essence of heaven and earth and contained the beast’s essence and soul.

“No wonder there are so few Unselfish Hateless Pills around. Just the Unselfish Springwater and inner core of the scarlet ape alone are far more valuable than this pill,” Lu Yun chuckled ruefully.

Seeing that only three hundred and sixty-five droplets of the spring water emerged every ten thousand years, even the immortal emperor could only think wistfully about it. The inner core of the scarlet ape was no less valuable than that of a dragon’s. It was too priceless to be assessed for a marketplace.

Using these two items to refine a seventh rank immortal pill that could be taken only by those below august immortal? The immortal emperor wasn’t that wasteful.

Lu Yun gave up the notion of refining the Unselfish Hateless Pill when his thoughts traveled here and focused on the enormous medicinal power circulating within him.

……

Various secret zones opened throughout the burial place, the treasures within so startling and precious that it threw cultivators into a frenzy. However, they went hand-in-hand with danger and this burial place could easily become theirs as well. Vicious spirits, formidable restrictions, and unfathomable mysterious power continuously reaped their lives.

After seven days, every cultivator within the formation array had received word that the entrance was open. Increasing numbers of cultivators poured into the array as well. The one thousand vicious spirits standing guard had long been exterminated. There was nothing blocking the entrance anymore.

But new dangers were swift to arrive.

After one secret zone was completely plumbed, contingents of skeletal troops darted out of the air. Each of them was the equivalent of a combination cultivator and even more terrifying than the vicious spirits.

As strong as the vicious spirits were, they didn’t employ treasures. They had only their claws and teeth to rip at cultivators. The skeletal soldiers, however, wielded immortal weapons that left no room for escape for ordinary cultivators.

There were only five hundred of them, but that was sufficient to dominate most of the cultivators within the place of burial. Each time they killed someone, they swallowed their victim’s nascent soul to strengthen themselves.

……

Lu Yun finally refined most of the medicinal power within himself on the seventh day. HIs cultivation broke through to soul separation—the sixth turn of the Seeing Dao chapter!

“Combat art of heavenly dao—Split Shadow?” The young man blinked. The heavenly dao combat art he obtained this time was one that enabled the cultivator to split out a shadow with the same aura as the primary body. Bereft of any battle capabilities, it could only be used to bewilder the enemy.

“So it’s another combat art to run away…” he chuckled ruefully. This one didn’t seem to ring any bells, so he hadn’t seemed to know it before. Plainly, the heavenly dao was worried he’d die here and therefore sent him this combat art.

Split Shadow and Teleportation together were unparalleled arts for escape. He could first leave a shadow on the spot to confuse the enemy while he shifted to safety through Teleportation. The combination of both could be hailed as the Ultimate Arts of Escape.

At the same time, Lu Yun understood that if he utilized them properly, he would be able to kill those stronger than him like he was chopping through vegetables.

“My cultivation is now soul separation, it’s time to raise my strength.” Lu Yun took a deep breath and stayed in seclusion.

Soul separation meant the separation of the nascent soul and refinement of an image of heaven and earth. Far from being an abstract concept or simple manifestation of the nascent soul, this was a true refinement.

Cultivators at this stage chose a treasure to refine and make one with their nascent soul, so that their image became tangible and real. Ouyang Shengtian, for example, chose the lower dao rank spear that he wielded. Another option was to use a combat art. The true immortal that’d appeared in Dark City had used the Greedy Wolf Star combat art of the Greedy Wolf King.

The higher the level of weapon or combat art, the greater the cultivator’s potential would increase.

In the world of immortals, Lu Yun happened to refine the connate treasure Reincarnation Disk, an act which bequeathed upon him the potential to become an immortal emperor and ultimately, the High Lord of the Northern Sky.

“I could use the Cauldron of Heaven and Earth if the Hadal Bird didn’t take up residence in it. What a pity,” Lu Yun sighed. The cauldron possessed boundless potential and the Nineheavens Brahman Formation within was extremely powerful.

“I now have six combat arts of heavenly dao—Petrification, the Connate Great Dao of the Five Elements, Eye of Nullification, Size Manipulation, Teleportation, and Split Shadow. I can use the Connate Great Dao of the Five Elements as the basis for my image…”

He took a deep breath as he considered his choices. That was the greatest combat art he possessed and it was quite suited to become an image of heaven and earth. In comparison, the other five were rather useless for the task.

“Oh?” He paused when he was about to refine the Connate Great Dao of the Five Elements. “I seemed to have forgotten another heaven-defying item…”

A black sword pagoda silently hovered in his dantian, occupying the same level of importance as his nascent soul. His nascent soul was the core essence of dao as bestowed by the heavenly dao. That the sword pagoda was on the same level as it was testament to its might.

“Should I try to refine the sword pagoda? If I can’t, I can try the Builder Tree next…” Lu Yun licked his lips and formed hand seals. He somehow felt that the sword pagoda had something to do with him, that it wasn’t impossible to refine it into his nascent soul.

The gray nascent soul in his dantian abruptly disassembled into pure origin qi and surged toward the sword pagoda. The treasure seemed to be dead and didn’t resist; even the incomparably keen ray of sword qi remained motionless.

As Lu Yun’s origin qi thundered into it, the sword pagoda grew indistinct and became one with the nascent soul’s qi.

A nascent soul from the Nine Chapters of Dao was incredibly domineering. As mighty as the sword pagoda was, it was just a dead thing at the end of the day, a treasure. Lu Yun was well versed in refining treasures since he’d once claimed a connate treasure.

Whoosh!

Lu Yun’s mind trembled and he discovered a tenuous connection between his mind and the sword pagoda. His nascent soul solidified once more, this time with a shadow of a black pagoda around it.

His refinement was a success!