C676 Tempering the Earth Soul

On their return journey, Yu Yuan and Xie Binn were traveling together. Xie Binn's mood had soured after losing the Ice Thunder Mark; his face was set in a grim expression as he silently grappled with his frustration.

Shortly after departing from Treasure Lake, Yu Yuan, wary of drawing too much attention, stowed the Evil Cauldron. It wasn't long before a golden carriage streaked across the sky towards them. Chen Langzhi of the Chen family stood atop the carriage, smiling warmly as he beckoned to the pair.

Taken aback, Yu Yuan and Xie Binn exchanged a glance before deciding to board the golden carriage. The carriage swiftly turned and sped off toward Luan Bird City.

Chen Langzhi offered a respectful nod to Xie Binn before turning to Yu Yuan with a curious inquiry, "Did you encounter Qi Yunhong?"

Yu Yuan, taken aback, replied, "How did you know?"

"We sensed the Illusion Pearl leaving Luan Bird City with you not long ago," Chen Langzhi explained. "Given Old Xie's restored strength and possession of the Ice Thunder Mark, I assumed he wouldn't fear Qi Yunhong. I merely came to check on you without any intention of intervening."

He paused before adding, "It seems you're both unharmed."

As a scion of the Chen family, Chen Langzhi was privy to all events within Luan Bird City. He was well aware that Yu Yuan had guided Xie Binn to the Blue Sky Shrine to rent a cultivation room, where they extracted the Yang God Fragment from the Ice Thunder Mark and used the Evil Cauldron to reconstitute Xie Binn's Heavenly Soul.

Yu Yuan, under the alias "Chen Xi," had visited the Dao House of the Clouds Sect with Lau Ying, and later, Lee Yu became Xie Binn's disciple. What Chen Langzhi didn't realize was that Ann Ziqing had been covertly ensnared by the Illusion Pearl. In an attempt to rescue Ann Ziqing, Yu Yuan and Xie Binn had unwittingly entered the Illusion Pearl, which transported them out of Luan Bird City to Treasure Lake.

Unbeknownst to him, it was Ann Ziqing who had orchestrated the entire scheme. At Treasure Lake, Ann Jieshan had emerged, ambushing and slaying four members of an alien race to seize the Clouds Sect's prized Ice Thunder Mark, along with the Blazing Soul Electricity that enveloped the lake.

"The Crimson Desert is in a dire state; many lives have been lost," Chen Langzhi said, shifting the conversation. "The Dark Ash Dust has erupted, obscuring the view for those outside, making it impossible to discern what's happening within. Few of those who've ventured in recently have made it back out. What's more alarming is that the dust is spreading, threatening to reach Luan Bird City."

Xie Bin's thoughts were preoccupied with the lost Ice Thunder Mark and how to recover it. The plight of the Crimson Desert was no longer his primary concern. He said to Yu Yuan, "I'll be leaving Luan Bird City soon to return to the Minor Cloud Sect on the Heavenly Source Continent. Lee Yu and a few others will accompany me."

"You?" Yu Yuan expressed his surprise.

"I'll be quick to reforge my Yang God. The sect still has some resources, and the remnants of the lightning pool there will aid in my cultivation," Xie Bin resolved, intent on breaking through his current limits and reclaiming the Ice Thunder Mark.

Half an hour later, Chen Langzhi arrived in the city, driving a golden carriage. Once the carriage came to a halt, he looked earnestly at Yu Yuan and offered, "Would you like me to escort you to the space teleportation array outside the city? It might be safer for you to return to the Absence Relic."

"No, I'll stay in Luan Bird City a bit longer," Yu Yuan declined, shaking his head.

"In that case, Luan Bird City should be safe for the time being; the Dark Ash Dust isn't likely to spread quickly. And for added safety, I'd advise you to stay within the Blue Sky Shrine," Chen Langzhi suggested. "The shrine's defenses are linked with the city's, and the Illusion Pearl won't be able to whisk you away unnoticed."

"Understood," Yu Yuan acknowledged with a nod.

Xie Bin observed the exchange without surprise. His knowledge of Yu Yuan, gleaned from the Evil Cauldron, included the fact that Yu Yuan had once saved Chen Qingyan. It seemed natural to him that the Chen family would take a special interest in Yu Yuan for that reason.

Later on, Yu Yuan and Xie Bin went their separate ways. Xie Bin returned to the Clouds Sect to settle some affairs before leading Lee Yu and the others out of Luan Bird City. They would travel via the space teleportation array to the Heavenly Source Continent.

Yu Yuan heeded Chen Langzhi's counsel and secured a cultivation chamber within the Blue Sky Shrine to diligently refine his spiritual consciousness around the clock.

He immersed himself in cultivation, forgoing both sleep and sustenance.

Days into his intense practice, strands of spiritual consciousness began to saturate the Earth Soul within his Consciousness Little World, leaving him feeling disoriented and foggy-minded.

Snapping to awareness, he ceased the condensation of his spiritual consciousness, his brow furrowed in deep contemplation.

Was he facing a cultivation bottleneck?

He meticulously reviewed the spiritual arts he had practiced. The Glorious Heavenly Wheel served as his foundational cultivation technique, while the Soul Forging Technique could enhance the Heavenly Soul, aiding in the eventual formation of the Yang God. The Demonic Body Forging Technique, on the other hand, was meant to fortify the physique.

Yet, upon reaching the Penetrating Stage, he realized he lacked a true method for consolidating spiritual consciousness and refining the Earth Soul.

His routine had been to scrutinize himself with his spiritual consciousness and incrementally refine it with the aid of the Soul Accumulating Pill, neglecting specific efforts to temper the Earth Soul.

In the Penetrating Stage, refining the spiritual consciousness was only part of the equation; painstakingly tempering the Earth Soul was equally crucial.

The Earth Soul was destined to evolve into the Yin God. Without proper refinement and a solid foundation, stepping into the Yin God Stage could prove problematic, possibly preventing the Yin God's emergence.

"I lack a secret art specifically designed for cultivating the Yin God," he realized.

Rising from his seated meditation, Yu Yuan pondered his next move. He needed to seek out a distinctive secret art that could nurture the Earth Soul into the Yin God.

Otherwise, he risked hitting another bottleneck, continuing in a state of confusion.

Each sect boasted unique techniques for refining the Earth Soul and its subsequent transformation into the Yin God.

Yet, Yu Yuan's affiliation with the Medicine God Sect, which excelled in alchemy rather than cultivation, meant their repository of spiritual spells and secret arts were amassed from other sects and not inherently their own.

In his past life, having not even breached the threshold of cultivation, Yu Yuan had overlooked the secret arts for purifying the Earth Soul.

"With the Evil Cauldron now in my possession, I am the de facto successor of the Evil Sect, and there's no need to seek external aid. The Evil Sect may be renowned for its formidable physical prowess, but assuredly, they too possess a spiritual spell for refining the Earth Soul and its ascension into the Yin God."

With a mere thought, he called forth the Evil Cauldron and engaged in conversation with the Artifact Soul in the cultivation room, sharing his purpose.

As the Evil Sect's most treasured artifact, the Artifact Soul was imbued with consciousness and was intimately familiar with all the sect's Devil Dao Spiritual Spells.

True to form, once the Evil Cauldron expanded, it enveloped Yu Yuan within its confines.

Within the cauldron's miniature universe, Yu Yuan observed the Demonic Marks writhing on its inner walls. They shifted before his eyes, eventually morphing into tiny characters.

He attuned his Spiritual Sense to these minuscule characters and swiftly deciphered a Devil Spell for refining the Earth Soul—the Great Yin Soul Arts!

As he contemplated the Demonic Marks with his Spiritual Sense, pinpoints of light began to surface within the Earth Soul, the repository of his memories.

Over three hundred tiny characters were successively etched deep into his consciousness.

"Ghosting Arts!"

The Artifact Soul of the Evil Cauldron watched as the Demonic Marks undulated, manifesting a spell, and murmured, "For some reason, my memory is missing the origins of this spell. It appears that it didn't originate from the Evil Sect but was instead inscribed into the cauldron."

"Ah! You, as the Artifact Soul, are unaware of the spell's provenance?" Yu Yuan exclaimed in surprise. "How can this be?"

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