Chapter 772: 随手抽天髓

In the crafting room within Changsheng Valley, Xu Bai oversaw Fang Zaiji as he reinforced the Medicine King True Cauldron.

"Sect Master, the quantity of rare heavenly treasures added is already sufficient. I doubt even the initial forging of the Medicine King True Cauldron used this many precious materials," Fang Zaiji remarked, a hint of distress in his voice. "It seems a bit wasteful. Are you planning to use it to withstand Changsheng Tianzun's attacks?"

Despite his reluctance, Xu Bai's firm and decisive gaze prompted him. Fang Zaiji tossed a small lump of Everlasting Calamity Fine Gold into the earth fire ahead. He struggled for over ten days, manipulating the fire, before the Fine Gold showed any sign of softening or deforming. Then, with meticulous mental control, he embedded and fused it into the surface of the Medicine King True Cauldron.

Xu Bai nodded in satisfaction. He then retrieved some black powder and handed it over. Fang Zaiji, who had just sighed in relief, was startled by what he saw in Xu Bai's hand. "How can spiritual sense not perceive this?"

Xu Bai smiled slightly. "It's meant to be undetectable by spiritual sense. Please cover the Medicine King True Cauldron with this material, Mr. Fang. If it's not enough, I have more."

"Something that can block spiritual sense perception can't be cheap," Fang Zaiji muttered, yet he complied with Xu Bai's request. The flickering earth fire cast dancing shadows across Xu Bai's face.

***

Three thousand zhang beneath the Beast Seed World, Li Fan, who had quietly returned, dug out a secret chamber. He sealed it off and then obscured it with formations. Next, he took out a metal smelting furnace and placed it on the ground before him.

"The Myriad Forms Smelting Furnace," Li Fan mused. "While it may not truly be able to smelt an Emperor One Beast, such a powerful demonic beast appearing in the Xuanhuang Realm will certainly draw out Senior Brother Zhang's Grand Vow Dharma Body. Moreover, I won't have to worry about how to control the Myriad Forms Ancestral Beast once it's smelted. In fact, the crazier it is, the better. That saves me a lot of trouble."

To create the Myriad Forms Ancestral Beast, a sufficient variety of exotic beasts was, of course, required. Conveniently, Li Fan had them. These weren't beasts traded to him by the Empire on his recent visit, but rather ones he'd acquired during his first trade with Xiao Qing in this world: the Seal of Life Treasure Box.

Li Fan pulled out a small, red, square wooden box. Though only palm-sized, it was divided into tens of thousands of individual compartments, each containing a frozen exotic beast.

"Let's start with the weaker ones," Li Fan decided. Following the method Xiao Qing had taught, he thought for a moment, then extracted dozens of palm-sized exotic beasts from the treasure box. The moment they left their frozen compartments, their consciousness began to revive. Li Fan's spiritual power pulsed slightly, and before the beasts could react, they were all killed. Their flesh instantly decomposed into the tiniest particles, yet still retained their original forms, as Li Fan dropped them into the metal furnace.

As if recognizing the entry of the exotic beast flesh, the complex beast patterns encircling the furnace slowly began to glow.

"I heard that when the Empire forged this object, they even referenced information from the Beast Taming Sect's supreme treasure, the Myriad Beast Revolving Wheel..." Li Fan pondered, "The Beast Taming Sect is hidden in the Spirit Void Realm; who knows when the Myriad Immortals Alliance will discover them."

He continued to feed exotic beasts from the Seal of Life Treasure Box into the Myriad Forms Smelting Furnace. As the number of beasts increased, Li Fan began to feel a mysterious power forming within. He couldn't help but grow more serious.

***

Ten days later, both Li Fan and his clone, Xu Bai, abruptly halted their actions. A strange, unidentifiable expression simultaneously appeared on their faces.

"Has he successfully formed his Nascent Soul?" Li Fan thought. "But why such an inconspicuous Cave Heaven?"

Just moments ago, the Holy Embryo Xu Bai, while roaming the Xuanhuang continent, had finally felt a connection. He had found the Cave Heaven most suitable for him. However, to Li Fan's surprise, this Cave Heaven was not only incomparable to his own Five Elements Grand Cave Heaven, but it was also far inferior to even ordinary single-attribute Cave Heavens. This was because the Cave Heaven was merely a square inch in size, surrounded by a dark, chaotic void. Only a barren patch of yellow earth stood within the void, providing a place to stand.

Sharing the same spiritual sense, Li Fan could clearly perceive that this Cave Heaven truly had no special characteristics. The Holy Embryo Xu Bai chose it simply because it had just recently been born.

"Interesting. This is a good opportunity to observe how Mr. Bai achieves God Transformation using the new method," Li Fan mused. "How will you choose amidst the coming changes in heaven and earth?"

While secretly preparing for a desperate gamble, Li Fan also diverted a portion of his consciousness to meticulously observe the "natural" actions of the Holy Embryo Xu Bai.

A spiritual sense projection of the Holy Embryo Xu Bai stood on the barren earth of the newly formed Cave Heaven. Far from showing disdain, his face held a hint of subtle joy. He personally conjured water, irrigating the parched land. Then, specks of green light flew from his body. Before long, green saplings began to sprout from the earth. The first trace of life emerged within the Cave Heaven. Subsequently, gentle streams formed around these plants. With life burgeoning, the Cave Heaven began to expand into the surrounding void.

Li Fan watched the unfolding changes, deep in thought. "From nothing, cultivating an entirely new Cave Heaven. It can be perfectly tailored to one's desires. This is indeed superior to relying on luck to find one externally."

"However, Cave Heavens are not like mortals. Their growth period is measured in thousands, or even tens of thousands of years. And that's under the most ideal conditions."

"I've been in the Nascent Soul stage for so long in this life, and my Five Elements Cave Heaven is still merely a雏形 (embryo). This shows how difficult Cave Heaven growth is. Are you going to wait for it to grow slowly? That would be good news for me."

This was Li Fan's initial thought, but the Holy Embryo Xu Bai's methods far exceeded his imagination, catching him off guard and increasing his sense of urgency.

After forming his Nascent Soul, the Holy Embryo Xu Bai leisurely strolled through the Xuanhuang Realm. Upon stopping in a particular state, he gently reached towards the sky. Subsequently, a profound and mysterious change seemed to occur between heaven and earth. It was as if something was extracted from thin air by the Holy Embryo Xu Bai, and then casually placed into his own Cave Heaven.

"Boom!"

Within the Cave Heaven, continuous rumbling resounded. A mountain range instantly rose from the ground. The Cave Heaven itself underwent dramatic transformations at millions of times the usual speed.

"This is..." Li Fan's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Extracting the essence of heaven? So effortless, with no need to fear backlash from heaven and earth. And..."

What startled him even more was that the Holy Embryo Xu Bai moved to the next state, observed for a moment, and then acted again. Another "heaven and earth about to be born" change was quietly extracted, without even being noticed by other cultivators. Within the Holy Embryo Xu Bai's own Cave Heaven, further anomalies unfolded.

***

One more chapter will be updated tomorrow at noon. This arc is concluding, so I need to think carefully.Please consider giving monthly tickets; double monthly tickets are available until the 7th of next month.Still 2000 for an extra chapter.