Lin Yuan had spent nearly five hundred years comprehending this divine ability imprint, but that wasn’t entirely accurate. It was really only about four hundred ninety years, and he had not devoted his full efforts to it.
Excluding the time spent on the fusion of time and space rules and other various rules, as well as perfecting the eleventh-rank martial path and much more, only about one-fiftieth of his focus and energy had actually gone into studying this imprint.
Yet even so, it spoke volumes about how extraordinary this divine ability imprint was. With Lin Yuan’s Unrivaled Insight, even giving it just one-fiftieth of his attention still required close to five hundred years to fully understand.
“A divine ability… Tear the Sky!”
Lin Yuan gazed at the aura swirling around his five fingers.
His sixth fleshly-body divine ability, named “Tear the Sky,” was a purely offensive technique taken to the most extreme. Lin Yuan’s fifth divine ability, called “World”, was also offensive in nature but included a suppressive effect: when the external world enveloped a region, all enemies within it would be restrained.
But this “Tear the Sky” divine ability? It had only one effect—to rip apart everything, tear everything to shreds.
In terms of pure single-target killing force, the might of “Tear the Sky” surpassed that of “World”. After all, in an offensive move, even if one self-destructed the external world in a final assault, it would affect a wider range of targets. Meanwhile, “Tear the Sky” locked onto a single point or a single line, delivering an extreme kill strike so powerful that even Lin Yuan himself felt a twinge of unease.
Ever since awakening this fleshly-body divine ability, Lin Yuan had yet to use it with his full strength, fearing that its destructive power would be too great and draw the notice of the Dao Ancestor of the Immortal Way.
“If I use the main-universe standard of measurement, the upper limit of this divine ability’s power probably ranges between four hundred thousand and five hundred thousand,” Lin Yuan estimated inwardly.
To clarify, in that scaling system, an eleventh-rank lifeform at full completion is considered the base unit: 1. Once Lin Yuan had entered the eleventh rank, his upper limit of power was around ten thousand. After making rapid strides in strength, it might have reached tens of thousands. The external world’s self-detonation unleashed about three hundred thousand worth of power in a single burst.
Yet “Tear the Sky” might directly erupt at four or five hundred thousand power? The threshold for a rank-twelve ultimate being is around a million.
“That’s just too extreme,” Lin Yuan thought as he continued analyzing the true nature of “Tear the Sky.” His previous five fleshly-body divine abilities had multiple uses, but “Tear the Sky” was purely about destruction.
“It’s a pity I can only launch one ‘Tear the Sky’ strike in the short term,” Lin Yuan reflected. Naturally, it was understandable. If “Tear the Sky” allowed Lin Yuan to exceed his own power by countless multiples and if it could be used at will, he himself would be alarmed by that.
The three guardian-secret methods of the Mysterious Sovereign lineage—when fully mastered, “Mysterious Emperor’s Strike” let him maintain six times his power, and even that required a tremendous expenditure.
Meanwhile, “Tear the Sky” wasn’t just six or six hundred times an increase. Going from three hundred thousand power to four or five hundred thousand might seem like under twice as much, but the difference was unfathomably vast.
“Unfortunately, ‘Tear the Sky’ can’t combine with ‘World.’ Otherwise…” Lin Yuan sighed. Both abilities were offensive by nature and didn’t fuse into one another.
Even so, Lin Yuan was quite satisfied. After all, neither “World” nor “Tear the Sky” had a fixed level of power. Both scaled with Lin Yuan himself. “World” depended on his internal world; “Tear the Sky” depended on his life essence; both would grow in might the stronger he became.
Half a year later—
The Palace Master of Feixian Palace visited again.
“Hahaha, Master Yun Zhenzi, you called me over. Is it because you’ve finished refining those Fifty Nine-Turn Golden Pills?” The Palace Master laughed heartily. Each time Lin Yuan refined a batch of Nine-Turn Golden Pills, there had been a phenomenon in the heavens—stormy tribulation clouds. By observing the intensity of the tribulation, the Palace Master could guess the finished quality.
“They’re done,” Lin Yuan replied. He stretched out his right hand, and a turquoise gourd appeared before the Palace Master.
The Palace Master gingerly opened the gourd and poured out one gold-hued pill to inspect it.
“Excellent, excellent,” he said.
“Of all the Nine-Turn Golden Pills I’ve seen, this one is among the highest quality. You haven’t disappointed me in the least.”
He had half paid, half gifted three portions of Immortal Source precisely because he suspected Yun Zhenzi’s refining skills weren’t as shallow as they looked. Clearly, he had gambled correctly. Just this single top-grade Nine-Turn Golden Pill was enough to prove Lin Yuan’s skill stood above most alchemists.
“All fifty Nine-Turn Golden Pills are inside. Please count them,” Lin Yuan said.
Those fifty pills were stored in the turquoise gourd for the Palace Master. Over this process of refining, Lin Yuan had produced a total of one hundred thirty-two Nine-Turn Golden Pills. After handing over these fifty, he had quietly set aside eighty-two for himself.
“Hahaha! Master Yun Zhenzi, handing them all over so readily—aren’t you afraid I’ll simply walk off with them?” The Palace Master wore a broad smile. Fifty Nine-Turn Golden Pills might drive an ordinary Jade Immortal mad.
Even someone at the Azure Dragon Guildmaster’s level might risk everything for them. What’s more, these were all top quality. Really, these fifty were equivalent to seventy or eighty of normal quality.
“I trust the Palace Master of Feixian Palace,” Lin Yuan said with a slight smile. In truth, it wasn’t that he trusted the Palace Master so much as he trusted himself.
Did the Palace Master really think he could just walk out of this A-grade dwelling with that gourd? Even though the Palace Master was a top powerhouse among Jade Immortals and could command some of Cangwu Immortal City’s deadly arrays, more than enough to crush most Jade Immortals, Lin Yuan was not “most Jade Immortals.” So far, in this Immortal Realm, there were only two beings that Lin Yuan truly found concerning:
One was the Dao Ancestor of the Immortal Way.
The other was the Progenitor of the Abyss of Demons.
“Hahaha!” The Palace Master roared with laughter.
“Thank you, Master Yun Zhenzi, for your trust.”
He had no inkling that if he really tried to flee right now with the turquoise gourd, he’d be doomed. Not even the Dao Ancestor could save him. He simply assumed Yun Zhenzi was placing genuine trust in him.
“Here are the three portions of Immortal Source,” the Palace Master said, flipping a hand to retrieve a black wooden box which floated toward Lin Yuan.
“This…”
Lin Yuan felt a stir within. The moment the box appeared, he sensed a subtle aura like the origin of all things, as though he were looking at the genesis of existence.
He reached out to take the box, about to open it—
“Master Yun Zhenzi, please don’t open it yet,” the Palace Master hastened to warn him.
“Each portion of Immortal Source starts to dissipate the moment it’s exposed to the outside world. It’s best only to open the box right when you’re going to use it, or else you’ll waste a good deal.”
Immortal Source, drawn from the realm’s origin, automatically disperses once it leaves that environment. The box itself served to isolate and seal it, slowing that process as much as possible.
“I see,” Lin Yuan said, nodding. Although he possessed Yun Zhenzi’s memories, his knowledge regarding such extraordinary rarities was incomplete.
Afterward, the Palace Master requested that Lin Yuan refine a few more types of pills. Lin Yuan naturally agreed, given that he would be well compensated by Cangwu Immortal City.
“All this demand for pills in the city—it's because of the Immortal-Demon War, isn’t it?” Lin Yuan asked. In speaking with the Palace Master, he’d picked up on how seriously Cangwu Immortal City was taking the upcoming war.
Though Cangwu Immortal City belonged to the Thirty-Three Immortal Domains and had gone through who-knows-how-many Immortal-Demon Wars, no city, as far as Lin Yuan knew, had ever been conquered by the fiends.
“Yes,” the Palace Master said after a hesitant pause, lowering his voice.
“This time’s Immortal-Demon War is going to be far more brutal than usual.”
This information had not yet been made public and was known only to top authorities like him. If Lin Yuan hadn’t asked, the Palace Master wouldn’t have mentioned it. The repercussions were too huge: even under normal circumstances, the Immortal-Demon Wars strike terror into Golden Immortals and Jade Immortals alike. If this war were to be even worse, how many of them would perish?
“Even more brutal?” Lin Yuan echoed.
“Indeed. Master Yun Zhenzi, as you know, these wars all begin when the fiends in the Abyss of Demons launch an invasion, triggered by the partial awakening of the Abyss of Demons Progenitor’s consciousness. Normally, the Progenitor only ever wakes up to about ten percent, which is enough to spur an onslaught of fiends. But this time, our projections suggest the Progenitor might regain fifty or sixty percent consciousness.”
The Palace Master’s voice had turned grim.
“Fifty or sixty percent?” Lin Yuan felt the weight of that. At such a level of lucidity, the Abyss of Demons Progenitor might directly interfere with the Immortal Realm. Then the countless fiends wouldn’t be their only problem; a rank-twelve ultimate being could potentially join the fray.
That would, of course, force the Dao Ancestor of the Immortal Way to respond. A direct confrontation between two rank-twelve beings would make this Immortal-Demon War extremely perilous.
“Let’s hope we survive this war,” the Palace Master sighed and then took his leave.
“Sigh, the Immortal-Demon War…” Lin Yuan mulled it over for a while. It wouldn’t pose much of a problem to him. Worst case, he could simply hide.
“All right, let’s see what Immortal Source actually looks like,” he said to himself before vanishing on the spot.
Returning to his dedicated cultivation chamber, Lin Yuan sat cross-legged. A black wooden box floated quietly in front of him.
“What a curious sensation,” Lin Yuan thought. Even with the box sealed, he could already feel a strange pull. After observing it for a bit, he slowly lifted the lid.
Buzz…
An indescribable aura instantly began leaking out. Lin Yuan peered into the box, and his expression shifted slightly.
“This?!”
...
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