Chapter 1498: New Uses of Mo Sha

“Life and death are one, merging with the Dao to find truth. Detached from worldly things, my elixir is perfected.”

Li Buren carefully reflected on the content of the "Elixir Refining Scripture of the Medicine King" and now understood why his first attempt at alchemy had failed.

“My objective was too strong. It didn't align with the spirit of detachment...”

Li Buren shook his head with a wry smile.

“Indeed, I was a bit too utilitarian.”

“The so-called Dao Elixir is merely the icing on the cake. It's better to have it, but if not, there's no real impact.”

For Li Buren, whether the Dao Elixir was successfully refined was not the key. What was important was the entire process of refining the Dao Elixir.

After witnessing the grandeur of the true Great Dao at the Place of Inheritance, Li Buren clearly realized that relying solely on his own power to slowly comprehend the three thousand Great Daos of this world would be an extremely long and inefficient endeavor. He might not even fully comprehend them or weave a true Myriad-Form Dao Net until the end of the mortal realm. Therefore, he needed a shortcut.

Besides directly absorbing the Great Master's and Inheritor's insights into the Great Dao, the Elixir Refining Scripture of the Medicine King, passed down by Sun Piaomiao, was also an effective supreme method. The Great Dao manifests as all things in the world, and through the process of Dao refining, all things can be slowly refined back into the state of "Dao." It resembled the function of Primordial Chaos. However, the Dao after refinement was not the primordial chaotic state resulting from Primordial Chaos's influence. Instead, it was as if it had been screened and organized, becoming clear and comprehensible. In short, it was the difference between being able to "see and understand."

Even if the Dao Elixir didn't form, the process of the Great Dao's condensation was enough for Li Buren to meticulously observe these Dao principles.

Seven days later, Li Buren reopened his furnace to refine elixirs again. Although anomalies still frequently occurred, most of the creatures on the Primordial Continent, having survived the previous incident, were no longer afraid. The five Heavenly Emperors and thirteen Heavenly Scars who could benefit worked even harder. Li Buren directed from afar, and as the flames danced, the Dao Elixir began to take shape.

Compared to the previous defective product, this true Dao Elixir, besides being enveloped in a hazy purple aura, was even more peculiar: it seemed to have developed nascent sentience. Facing Li Buren, who was about to consume it, the Dao Elixir not only showed no fear but even harbored a sense of eager anticipation.

“The Dao Elixir, in essence, is the condensation of countless Dao principles. It won't disappear simply because I consume it,” Li Buren mused. “Instead, it will merge with my understanding of the Great Dao from now on...”

A sudden realization dawned on Li Buren, and the Dao Elixir, which he had brought to his lips, suddenly stopped. His long-cultivated caution ultimately led Li Buren to abandon the plan of consuming the Dao Elixir, even though it was just a clone.

“I'll bestow it upon you all.” He casually tossed it out again, which caused a frantic scramble among the Heavenly Emperors and Heavenly Scars. For these creations, consuming a single Dao Elixir was truly worth millions of years of arduous cultivation, perhaps even more. This was because on this Primordial Continent, all responsibilities and authorities had been rigidly demarcated by Li Buren. Even a Heavenly Emperor could only observe Dao principles within limited areas. However, the Dao Elixir bestowed by Li Buren could disregard such rule divisions.

“True power is like this,” Li Buren thought. “Breaking rules, ignoring rules, and even... creating rules.”

As Dao Elixirs were continuously refined, numerous insights accumulated in Li Buren's heart. Combined with what he learned at the Place of Inheritance, his progress was astonishingly rapid.

After the nineteenth Dao Elixir, Li Buren stopped bestowing them upon the creatures of the Primordial Immortal Realm. Instead, he began collecting and accumulating them himself. The accumulation of Dao Elixirs was an incredibly strong temptation for any living being, thousands or even tens of thousands of times greater than when cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm encountered the Essence of Heaven and Earth. Yet, Li Buren's mind remained as still as water from beginning to end.

As the saying goes, mastery leads to new insights. Beyond refining Dao Elixirs with ease and grace, Li Buren also developed some unique ideas. “Since Inkkill can appear in the form of the Essence of Heaven and Earth,” he pondered, “it should theoretically also be able to be integrated into a Dao Elixir.”

With a thought, during another refining process, Li Buren began to invoke the power of the Inkkill Immortal Essence. However, Inkkill itself could, like Dao Annihilation, erode Dao principles to a certain extent. The integration of Inkkill's power actually led to the failure of this alchemy attempt. Nevertheless, Li Buren saw hope for success. This was because the Dao Elixir did not dissipate the moment the Inkkill power integrated; instead, it lasted for a period before disintegrating.

“This indicates that the proportion was simply incorrect. Adjustments are needed.”

After half a year of persistent attempts, Li Buren finally succeeded in refining the first Inkkill Dao Elixir. Its appearance was still enveloped in a sacred purple aura. In fact, the purple aura was more than twice as dense as that of a normal Dao Elixir. What was truly astonishing was that patterns resembling mountains and seas naturally emerged on the surface of this Inkkill Dao Elixir, which added several layers of mystique to the Dao Elixir.

Li Buren stared intently for a long time, still unable to determine if this mountain-and-sea phenomenon was coincidental. Thus, he refined another elixir. The result was the same.

“Interesting,” Li Buren muttered, tossing this “poisonous elixir” out of his Dao Palace.

As no Dao Elixirs had appeared for a long time, this seemingly extraordinary elixir sparked fierce competition among the creatures of the Primordial Immortal Realm. The brutality was even greater than all previous struggles combined. Finally, a fortunate Earth Spirit, one of the first beings born when the Primordial Immortal Realm was established, acquired the elixir. Overwhelmed with excitement, it consumed the Dao Elixir. Amidst countless swirling purple auras, the Earth Spirit uncontrollably ascended. It soared straight up towards Li Buren's Dao Palace, completely vanishing from the sight of all beings and eliciting countless exclamations of awe and envy.

Meanwhile, Li Buren watched the Earth Spirit, which had completely "purplified" and seemingly lost its own consciousness, and stroked his chin.

“This is...”

“Dao transformation?”

The Earth Spirit's life form had dissipated, leaving only its shape. Yet, there was no "Dao of Earth Spirits" in the world. Therefore, the scene before Li Buren was exceedingly strange. The Earth Spirit should have consumed and digested the Dao Elixir, but now, it was conversely engulfed by the Dao Elixir. Furthermore, Li Buren discovered that there was no Inkkill power within this Dao-transformed Earth Spirit. During the process of Dao transformation, the already sparse Inkkill power was consumed.

“So, this is another use for the power of the Inkkill Immortal Essence?”

A single experiment was not enough to fully understand how this mysterious transformation occurred. Li Buren then proceeded to refine fifteen more Inkkill Dao Elixirs. As one strange purple sculpture after another appeared around him, Li Buren gradually understood the reason. This time, he skipped the process of refining the Dao Elixir entirely. With a mere thought, the power of Inkkill soared forth, descending to target enemies. What should have been a characteristic of near "annihilation," where beings struck by Inkkill vanished without a trace, now resulted in "Dao transformation." It revealed the initial appearance of the beings when they were first created.