Chapter 102: Preserving Truth

Within him, the indestructible spiritual light surged like a mighty river, bridging the realms of yin and yang, already taking the embryonic form of a golden core.

These past ten years, he had not been idle.

While the Faceless One absorbed the primordial essence from the other shore, he did likewise.

He had expanded his indestructible spiritual light through this source energy.

At this moment, he could condense a golden core from that indestructible light, yet he had no intention to do so.

A golden core formed solely by indestructible spiritual light was insufficient to break through his current predicament.

He intended to use the indestructible spiritual light as a foundation, as a spiritual field, to plant the Dao Tree within his body and refine it into a golden core.

Xu Zhong swallowed the indestructible light, shaping it into chains, then pulled the entire Dao Tree downward.

Gradually, its roots were swept by the spiritual light into his dantian.

The Dao Tree stretched and grew, its roots embedding deep within the dantian.

From the dantian, the roots extended outward in all directions through his flesh and blood, delving into the darkest recesses of his body.

The roots grew at an astonishing speed, so rapid it was breathtaking.

They extended further, transforming into marrow flowing freely between his bones like a raging river; the trunk became his spine, connecting all his bones; branches turned into veins permeating his body; leaves fell into his flesh and blood, becoming blood, flesh, skin, enveloping bone, transforming into every minute particle of his physical form.

In an instant, Xu Zhong felt an unprecedented power coursing through his body.

His magical force transformed into the immutable “One.”

From the “One” sprang countless spells.

In a moment, the golden core was imprinted with various spell marks.

Spells, stored within the secret imprint, could be cast instantly without hand signs or incantations.

Now, with the golden core bearing these spell imprints, spells ceased to be simple elemental transformations—they could be fused, creating true hybrid magic.

For example, combining spells of Yin thunder, magic, and others in a seamless blend.

Xu Zhong reined in his mind, concentrating deeply on the mysteries of the golden core.

The Dao Tree’s branches and roots interconnected, resembling a Reincarnation Heaven nested within itself, condensing into an immense cosmic domain—a Dao Fruit.

This was the embryonic form of a Reincarnation Heaven; as Xu Zhong grew stronger, he could pluck the Dao Tree to transform it into a true Reincarnation Heaven.

Xu Zhong gazed upon the Dao Fruit.

A verdant glow permeated it, the essence of the Dao flowing within.

The green fruit was close at hand; looking up, he could see the grand patterns of the Great Dao woven upon it, the patterns converging to conceal the fruit’s profound Dao energy.

The golden core reflected the heavens and earth, mirroring the cosmic Dao’s laws.

Once condensed, one could sense the Great Dao of heaven and earth.

Cultivation was the pursuit of the Dao.

Only by sensing the Dao’s presence could one seek and explore it.

Xu Zhong felt the Dao’s existence from the patterns,

The pure energy emanating from those patterns bathed him as if in spring breeze, lifting him into a transcendent state.

At that moment, soul and body seemed to separate; he felt his body was weightless, fragile as if it would vanish with a mere breath of wind.

Then, Xu Zhong’s soul was drawn by a force; his three souls and seven spirits became ten streams of light, entering the Dao Seed.

Within the Dao Seed lay a cosmos—mountains, rivers, lakes, cycling seasons, the flux of yin and yang, the shifting celestial phenomena.

Xu Zhong wandered within the Dao Seed, sometimes becoming the wind, sweeping through vast heavens and earth freely and unbound.

At times, he became thunder, roaring endlessly, an eternal fury regardless of day or night.

Then fire, burning all things, purifying and renewing them in blue embers...

He transformed ceaselessly—wind, rain, thunder, fire—embodying all that this world contained.

His soul roamed through space, merging; then, in the next moment, he became that very Dao Seed.

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At last, his soul merged at the highest point; a misty azure energy enveloped the boundless space, penetrating the soul.

Beneath him, thousands of lotus blossoms bloomed, lifting him upward.

Divine beams of light surged forth from the flowers, falling upon his soul.

His soul stretched out its hands to receive the divine light.

In an instant, a vast vitality erupted within his soul.

This vitality burst forth from his dantian, from every bone, flooding his nearly withered blood vessels with fresh blood; his shriveled skin regained its luster, muscles revived with vigor.

Next, his heart pounded like spring thunder resounding in his ears.

That spring thunder awakened Xu Zhong.

His soul expanded continuously, finally tearing through heaven and earth; the world before him turned pitch black, yet his soul stepped into the darkness and instantly reappeared within the dantian.

Above his soul, two divine lights emerged.

One pure energy ascended to form the Heavenly Soul.

One turbid energy descended to form the Earthly Soul.

And within them dwelled the Human Soul.

The seven spirits were seven streams of divine light circling the soul ceaselessly.

Xu Zhong clearly sensed an indescribable transformation in his soul.

It felt as if it now possessed endless life.

His heart pounded wildly, racing as if it had come alive anew.

He had formed a golden core, and had drawn the entire Dao Tree into his dantian.

At this moment, his body was unbearably heavy; he could not even move a finger.

He opened his eyes.

The portal in the void had already closed.

Around him, the abundant spiritual energy flowed like a river in the void, each drop pure innate energy.

Because so much spiritual energy had congealed here, the Faceless One, who was fully focused on refining this energy, had yet to notice any anomaly.

Xu Zhong scanned his surroundings.

Scattered throughout were fragments of Reincarnation Heavens.

As Xu Zhong pulled the Dao Tree into his body to refine it into a golden core, the so-called “Dao Fruits” sewn onto the tree began falling off one by one.

Had these Dao Fruits not fallen, Xu Zhong might have been crushed by the countless Reincarnation Heavens bursting from within.

These Reincarnation Heavens now resembled bronze mirrors, reflecting the myriad realms’ Daos, standing apart from the external world.

“I cannot move now, and the Faceless One has yet to realize the Dao Tree has been refined,” Xu Zhong thought swiftly. “Might as well seize this moment to extract the Essence-Spirit-Consciousness Samadhi and forge the Samadhi True Fire.”

Without hesitation, Xu Zhong began to project the Essence-Spirit-Consciousness Samadhi like a mirror.

Though the samadhis condensed on his shoulders and crown, those were not their roots.

Their roots lay within the dantian.

Humans possess three dantians—lower, middle, upper—and the Essence, Spirit, and Consciousness reside in these three dantians respectively.

To harvest the samadhi, all three dantians must be connected.

The lower dantian stores Qi, like rivers converging; when people speak of the dantian, they often mean the lower one.

The upper dantian is the Niwan, the seat of the soul.

The middle dantian lies above the navel and below the heart, about three inches from the navel downward and three inches from the heart upward, storing essence.

All three were connected by the golden core.

Thus, Xu Zhong began manipulating the golden core’s power to link the upper, middle, and lower dantians, uniting the Essence-Spirit-Consciousness Samadhi in one place before igniting it with True Fire.

In an instant, the Samadhi True Fire blazed fiercely.

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The fire first consumed the golden core within his body.

Though the golden core shrank and grew lighter, it became incomparably powerful.

Over the years, under the Faceless One’s nurture, it had absorbed many impurities.

Though these impurities had saved the Dao Tree and strengthened it, they had also corrupted its original nature.

Now, Xu Zhong used the Samadhi True Fire to burn the Dao Tree, purifying it of impurities and restoring its original essence.

But the Dao Tree was vast, and his True Fire small.

After prolonged burning, only a thousandth of it was purified.

The impurities burned away were injected into his Cloud-Swallowing Sword.

As the Dao Tree shrank, the sword grew larger.

Eventually, Xu Zhong stored the sword within himself, burning it alongside the Dao Tree with the Samadhi True Fire.

Gradually, a year passed.

The Dao Tree shrank slightly, the True Fire grew stronger.

During this year, he even freed his hands to cleanse the apertures on his skull, releasing the power of his soul.

Slowly, three years elapsed.

The Dao Tree had shrunk significantly, and Xu Zhong’s Samadhi True Fire had grown into a vast lake.

The fire blazed fiercely.

His Cloud-Swallowing Sword had grown to the size of a small mountain.

Xu Zhong attempted to separate the sword to refine it further.

Another three years passed.

Outside, the spiritual energy was nearly exhausted; the Faceless One’s cultivation had returned to the realm of Innate Deity.

At this point, Xu Zhong’s Samadhi True Fire had become a roaring sea of flames.

His Cloud-Swallowing Sword was forged into a Mother Sword, and the 720 smaller swords were condensed into a sword pellet.

This pellet weighed nearly ten thousand pounds, capable of crushing a man to death with a single strike.

Fortunately, his Essence-Spirit-Consciousness had grown continuously over these years, allowing him to control the sword pellet.

In these three years, he refined the Dao Tree to the point where he could manipulate it at will.

Though still heavy, he could now move his body freely.

Xu Zhong ceased the burning and refinement of the Samadhi True Fire, slowly opening his eyes.

“If not for the constant flow of innate energy these past decades, I might have already died here,” Xu Zhong sighed deeply.

The innate energy before him was nearly depleted, only a thin layer of spiritual light lingering on the Faceless One to sustain its cultivation.

Over these years, he had continually condensed indestructible spiritual light through the spell “Radiant Spirit Concealment,” feeding his Essence-Spirit-Consciousness to survive until now.

Now, his Samadhi True Fire was nearly terrifying in its purity; a single breath could melt an entire mountain instantly.

“If not for this Dao Tree, I should have already opened the Niwan,” Xu Zhong shook his head with regret.

All the filth and blockages in the apertures atop his skull had been thoroughly cleansed by the Samadhi True Fire, and he had long since reached the True Preservation realm.

He had only yet to open the Niwan.

After these reflections, he turned his thoughts to how to leave this place.

“I need to lure that person over,” he said, looking toward the Faceless One immersed in cultivation, an idea forming in his mind.