C440 Stone Explosion
Yu Yuan was deeply engrossed in his practice of the Evil Body Refining Technique, paying no mind to whether anyone else was present in the cauldron. When one diligently cultivates, channeling spiritual energy and purifying the Golden Sanctum acupoint once more, many subtle details emerge that can be easily discerned.
A young noble from the Devil Palace, skilled in the powerful dark arts, possessed extraordinary insight. He acutely sensed that Yu Yuan, an enigmatic figure from an empire on the Aetherius Continent, was in fact an eighth-level Golden Sanctum cultivator! Eighth level Golden Sanctum! He himself had only reached the seventh level of the Golden Sanctum acupoint.
In the vast expanse of the Everlands, throughout an entire era, how many could advance to the middle period of the Golden Sanctum? How many could refine their little world eight times? The revelation sent tremors through the young man's soul.
"Darn it..." he muttered, glancing around anxiously at the thick rock walls of the Crucible of Evil, his face betraying a hint of concern.
"Whoosh! Hiss! Zip!" Streams of psionic power began to escape from the massive crocodile, the wrecked warship, the bizarre Otherkin corpses, and the fissures in the rock walls.
Yu Yuan stood firm, like a boulder, channeling the Evil Body Refining Technique and drawing in a myriad of forces. The young man watched, his heart restless, his eyes darting back and forth.
"Crack!" A massive piece of the rock ceiling above crumbled as the energy streams slipped through the cracks, and with a thunderous crash, it plummeted to the ground.
The Devil Palace youth jumped in alarm, dodging the falling rock, narrowly avoiding being crushed. With the rock's descent, the true nature of the sea-bottom cavern was unveiled. The rust-streaked black refined iron, bearing the marks of ages past, exuded an aura of ancient solidity.
The rock, shattered like an eggshell, had concealed the Crucible of Evil's true form. Inside the dark cauldron, intricately carved glyphs of great complexity adorned the surface. Some glyphs resembled vibrant, mysterious flowers, others were akin to elaborate and formidable Circles of Damnation, while some appeared to encapsulate the very essence of the soul.
More of them were clearly emulating the primitive forms of the devil soul, each one marked with the dark arts. They served to absorb, refine, and command the devil soul, unleashing its immense power.
"Crack! Boom!"
The first to shatter and fall were the massive stones from the cave's dome.
As the stones plummeted, they struck the earth and shattered the rocks above, revealing parts of the Crucible of Evil beneath.
Patches of black refined iron swiftly came into view.
The Crucible of Evil, sealed for untold years and nearly fused with the seabed's rock strata, was now separated from the stone due to Yu Yuan's cultivation and the psionic power that was dissolving the bond between the rocks and the cauldron's walls. This forced the stone and cauldron apart, exposing the once-infamous Divine Artifact in its true form.
"Swish swish!"
Within Yu Yuan, who was in a state of deep cultivation, it seemed as if fine lightning was darting through the veins and blood vessels beneath his skin.
He concentrated, peering inward, and saw from the Golden Sanctum in his lower elixir field a constant flow of psionic power, mingled with his refined spiritual energy, soaring into his organs and bones.
Moreover, a vein leading directly to the middle elixir field in his chest was rapidly swelling and quivering!
Increasing streams of spiritual energy and psionic power were silently surging through his veins, deep within his bones, and from his blood, all converging into the painfully swollen acupoint.
"The late period of the Golden Sanctum emphasizes the integration of spiritual energy with the corporeal body. The circulation of spiritual energy must be as efficient and swift as possible. Additionally, in this phase, repeatedly striking the middle elixir field's Profound Gate with the Golden Sanctum's spiritual energy is crucial. Using this energy, one must condense the vitality housed within the five viscera and six bowels, as well as the corporeal body, to assault the Profound Gate!"
As he cultivated, Yu Yuan also reflected deeply on the intricacies of this stage.
He harnessed and combined the vitality that had already integrated with his organs and bones with the pure spiritual energy of the Golden Sanctum, striking and breaking through the middle elixir field's Profound Gate, providing a haven for the dispersed and turbulent vitality.
Like countless rivers flowing into the sea, they all converged on the Profound Gate's acupoints, enabling the heaven and earth of the Profound Gate to hold vitality and absorb the energy of flesh and blood.
The moment the Profound Gate opened, it signaled the Veil Breaking!
As Yu Yuan practiced the Evil Body Refining technique, devouring the various energies of this extraordinary place, he experienced a moment of enlightenment.
He suddenly realized that, in the late period of the Golden Sanctum Realm, his body had become so resilient—thanks to the sword light from the Soulforge Pool in the Moonfall Sanctuary—that the compatibility between his muscles, blood, bones, organs, and meridians had reached a level where he could manipulate them effortlessly, without the slightest obstruction!
In other words, where others in the late period of the Golden Sanctum Realm would need to slowly adapt, he had bypassed that step entirely!
Skipping this step meant that the channels leading to the middle elixir field swelled, gathering the force of vitality from his bones and organs, ready to strike at the Profound Gate!
—Veil Breaking!
"In the early period of the Golden Sanctum, I was immersed for ages. During the middle period, I endured for an equally long time. But upon entering the late period, I leapt over the usual steps and went straight for breaking through the acupoints of the Profound Gate!"
Yu Yuan was suddenly invigorated!
Thus, he focused even more intently on gathering the bizarre and unique psionic power, voraciously absorbing it.
The psionic power, which was initially harmful to the body and used for refining the flesh and bones, suddenly proved to be incredibly useful when assaulting the Profound Gate's acupoint!
This psionic power, while damaging to his corporeal body, was instrumental in helping him reach the Veil Breaking Realm!
The psionic power scattered within the Crucible of Evil, which bonded the cauldron's body to the rocks, was now being absorbed by Yu Yuan.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
More rocks plummeted from above, crashing onto the ground and shattering, revealing more refined iron and additional glyphs.
The young man from the Devil Palace, perched at the cauldron's rim, wore a mournful expression and heaved deep sighs.
"Now that the Crucible of Evil has revealed its true form, there's no point in hiding!" He slumped down, gazing at Yu Yuan who was deep in cultivation, filled with grievances. "Great, just great! Whether you break through or not is a minor issue, but I certainly can't stay hidden now. Not only that, but the commotion here is escalating, and it's only a matter of time before it draws the attention of the Tears of the Azurefiend."
He was aware that both the Blood Altar and the Tears of the Azurefiend above harbored a strong yearning for the Abyssal Leviathan and the Crucible of Evil.
Yet, the Abyssal Leviathan and the Crucible of Evil were no ordinary objects; they each had their own ways of masking their presence.
But now, the Crucible of Evil, merged with the seabed rocks, could no longer conceal itself due to Yu Yuan's practice of Evil Body Refining.
"Crack! Crack!"
Externally, the cavern, resembling a dark, ancient behemoth, also began to crumble.
The trial-takers from the Fallen Star Eyes, the Ethereal Vial, and the Nebula Gem, initially on the verge of a dispute, were instantly drawn to the commotion at the cave.
A multitude of eyes and stares suddenly fixed on the seabed cavern.
With a loud boom, a massive rock burst open on the ocean floor.
The exterior of the Crucible of Evil was thus partially exposed, revealing the black refined iron and the intricate glyphs etched upon it.
"What is that?"
Yan Lu pointed at the exposed glyph, "That's not just stone, is it? That material looks like it's been forged from various types of refined iron!"
"How could the rock reveal such a material upon splitting?" Hou Tianzhao wondered aloud.
Lu Baichan was equally astonished, "What's causing the cave to tremble like this?"
"Qi Nandou! Get a closer look!"
Hou Tianzhao's voice surged with excitement, urging the Ethereal Vial to approach.
"Isn't that risky?" Qi Nandou hesitated, "That elder from the evilkind has been vigilantly guarding the entrance. If we provoke him, none of us will escape the consequences."
"Just a little closer, just a little!" Hou Tianzhao insisted.
With no other option, Qi Nandou cautiously steered the Ethereal Vial towards the cavern.
"Lu Baichan!"
Inside the Nebula Gem, Tang Cen of the Sunlit Order called out sharply, "That cave houses a fearsome Cursed Artifact! The black iron surface, now visible after the rock burst, is engraved with a glyph!"
"And what of it?" Lu Baichan responded icily.
"The Cursed Artifact is about to emerge!"
...
