The moment Xiang Yu focused his complete attention on the flame hovering before him, his consciousness slipped away without warning. He found himself floating in an endless void, a place of absolute nothingness. The mark of the void flame appeared on his forehead, glowing softly. Though it didn't illuminate the darkness around him, it somehow granted him sight within this lightless expanse.
"Am I inside the Abyssal Void Flame itself?" he wondered, surveying the empty space. The thought didn't particularly surprise him—after all, the flame contained "void" in its name. It seemed natural that such an extraordinary treasure might possess its own dimensional space.
As his vision adjusted, Xiang Yu noticed something unexpected taking form before him. A peculiar creature floated in the distance—something resembling a slime, but entirely covered in dark, wispy fur that rippled like smoke. The sight made him pause.
"Could this be the true form of the void flame?" he questioned silently. But how could a natural treasure be a living creature? He wondered.
Cautiously, Xiang Yu attempted to interact with the entity, reaching toward it with his consciousness. The creature remained completely unresponsive, as if unaware of his presence. After several attempts, he concluded it wasn't truly alive—at least not in any conventional sense.
Drawing on the blacksmithing text he'd studied, Xiang Yu recalled information about artifact spirits—sentient consciousnesses that sometimes formed within powerful treasures after prolonged exposure to spiritual energy. While uncommon for natural treasures like spirit flames to develop such entities, it wasn't entirely impossible.
"It's probably not fully formed yet," he reasoned, studying the motionless creature. "I wonder what might happen if it ever completes its development..."
He felt a growing pressure around him, as if the void itself was beginning to reject his presence. Understanding his time was limited, Xiang Yu refocused on his original purpose. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the absolute darkness that permeated this space.
To his surprise, grasping the dark element proved remarkably simple here—this realm seemed composed entirely of pure darkness energy in its most concentrated form. Within seconds, he'd absorbed enough to comprehend its fundamental nature.
Not wanting to risk remaining any longer in this unsettling nothingness, Xiang Yu swiftly withdrew his consciousness, returning to his physical body with a slight jolt.
Back in the cavern, he immediately tested his newly acquired understanding, channeling energy into his palm through the Dark Palm Technique he'd created. His hand took on a subtle shade of gray—merely a hint of the darkness element. Still, he had succeeded.
"With practice, I could probably execute a fully-realized darkness attack," he thought, watching the shadowy energy swirl around his fingers. But his enthusiasm died down as he realized that doing that would probably get him labeled as a demonic cultivator.
Despite darkness being a legitimate element like any other, its association with demonic cultivators made displaying such techniques politically dangerous. People with darker tendencies naturally gravitated toward this element, giving it an unfortunate reputation.
"Best to not use this in public," he decided. With the dark element successfully acquired, Xiang Yu turned his thoughts toward his next challenge—somehow obtaining its opposite, the light element.
...
Xiang Yu gazed at the dark energy swirling around his palm. He took several deep breaths, steadying his racing heart and preparing himself for what would come next. The divine ability had already rendered him unconscious once—he needed to be mentally prepared for the strain that would inevitably follow.
"It's now or never," he thought, steeling his resolve.
With careful concentration, he activated the Yin-Yang Harmony divine ability. Unlike normal techniques that required complex energy manipulation, this ability operated on a fundamental principle—extreme opposites in perfect balance. All he needed was to focus intensely on the properties that defined darkness, then allow the divine ability to manifest their perfect inverse.
The process felt surprisingly intuitive, yet he maintained absolute focus, unwilling to risk even the slightest error. He methodically identified each characteristic of the darkness element: its absorption of light, its tendency to conceal, its nature of consuming rather than producing energy. One by one, the divine ability began inverting these properties.
The transformation began slowly—almost imperceptibly at first. The deep shadow encompassing his hand lightened by the faintest degree, like the first hint of dawn breaking through night's dominion. Gradually, the darkness changed from absorbing the surrounding light to reflecting it, the surface of his palm taking on a subtle gleam.
The metamorphosis accelerated. His hand now glowed with a faint luminescence, as if illuminated from within. The darkness wasn't merely reflecting light—it was generating it. The transformation reached its climax as brilliant radiance erupted from his palm, flooding the entire cavern with blinding white light of incomparable purity.
"I did it," Xiang Yu thought triumphantly, witnessing the perfect manifestation of the light element.
His moment of victory was brief however. "Oh shit..." was all he managed to think before consciousness fled entirely, his body crumpling to the cavern floor.
When awareness finally returned, Xiang Yu noticed that it was almost lunchtime. This time, he'd been unconscious for several hours longer than before, but it was understandable as he was creating an entirely new element rather than merely enhancing an existing one.
He raised his hands before his face, channeling a small measure of energy into each palm. The left darkened with shadowy energy while the right illuminated with gentle radiance. A smile of satisfaction spread across his face despite his lingering fatigue.
He had finally acquired all ten elements: Fire, water, wood, earth, metal, lightning, ice, wind, dark, and light.
He applied his knowledge of the Fire Tempering Scripture template to create a tempering scripture for his two newest elements. Since he had already done this for the other elements, it didn't take long.
Ten complete element tempering scriptures now rested within his mind. The temptation to merge them immediately was nearly overwhelming, but Xiang Yu decided not to do so at the moment. Such a fusion might bring unexpected outcomes, what if it took too much time? What if he passed out?
He decided to first prepare lunch for the others before he attempted the fusion so they didn't come looking for him.
Changing into fresh clothes, Xiang Yu performed a quick check on the boar still swimming in the spirit spring. The animal showed no visible changes, remaining ordinary despite its prolonged exposure to spiritual energy. With a slight shrug, he tossed some medicinal herbs into the water for the creature to eat.
"Perhaps these will accelerate the process," he thought, though he didn't have high hopes.
The pavilion kitchen felt unusually quiet as he began preparing lunch. His junior sister and martial aunt had been quite busy as of late and it was a little lonely without them around. Though he'd never openly admit it, he missed Li Yao's energetic presence.
But he didn't let it get to him as such was the path of cultivators. Everyone has their own destiny. Hers was to lead, as for his... He smiled faintly. "Mine is to stay home and cultivate diligently."
Elder Guo joined him for the meal. It was quite rare for just the two of them to converse without the others, Xiang Yu thought. The elder seemed unusually emotional that day, causing him to talk more with Xiang Yu.
Over steaming dishes of spirit-infused food, Elder Guo shared stories Xiang Yu had never heard about his master—tales of his early years, his relationship with the late Sect Master and the traitorous Elder Mei. The narrative had all the elements of a protagonist's journey: betrayal, loss, and now the chance at redemption.
His master also took this chance to expand Xiang Yu's knowledge on cultivation. Xiang Yu's knowledge of cultivation was rudimentary at best so he listened intently to the elder's explanation. The progression from Qi Gathering through Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Golden Core, all the way to the legendary Nascent Soul realm.
After the talks, they parted ways, Xiang Yu returned to the spirit vein, as for his master, he told him that he was going to attempt building his foundation.
After the meal, Xiang Yu felt refreshed and ready to discover what would emerge from merging the ten elemental tempering scriptures. He hoped it wasn't another divine ability, although it would be powerful, it was practically useless considering the cost.
To ensure his safety, he immersed himself in the spirit spring, knowing it would accelerate his recovery if anything went wrong during the process.
Settling comfortably in the spring, he mentally selected all ten tempering scriptures—fire, water, wood, earth, metal, lightning, ice, wind, dark, and light—and pressed the fusion button within his system interface. The moment he initiated the fusion, an intense sensation washed over his entire body. He couldn't discern whether it was scorching heat or biting cold; the contradictory sensations blended together as his body began to transform.
The feeling was somewhat similar to when he had acquired the Transcendent Dao Physique, though this process wasn't as excruciating. Pain still rippled through him, but it remained within tolerable limits. The peculiar sensation continued for nearly an hour, with waves of discomfort rising and falling unpredictably until finally subsiding.
When the transformation completed, Xiang Yu immediately summoned his system interface to examine the results. As always, the system didn't disappoint:
[Physique: Transcendent Dao Body: Level 1 (110/1,000,000); Chaos Body: Level 1 (10/10,000)]
His eyes widened in surprise. He had gained another physique. Though this was unexpected, he still thought that it was better than acquiring another divine ability. In his estimation, a physique offered greater versatility and permanent benefits compared to a single ability.
Information about this new acquisition flowed directly into his mind, revealing its nature and capabilities. The Chaos Body ranked among the top ten of the three thousand dao physiques. While Xiang Yu wasn't familiar with this classification system, he instinctively understood its significance. For the Chaos Body to rank within the top ten indicated its extraordinary value.
According to the knowledge that materialized in his thoughts, the Chaos Body allowed its possessor to control various energies and refine their physical form with them, eventually conferring immunity to all energies along with numerous other benefits. At his current rudimentary level, the Chaos Body merely enhanced his energy recovery rate, boosted his physical strength, and—Xiang Yu blinked twice to ensure he wasn't misreading—granted immunity to elemental damage from the five primary elements.
This last benefit stunned him. Most cultivators relied heavily on the five primary elements; being immune to their effects represented a tremendous advantage. He reminded himself that this didn't equate to invincibility. The immunity only negated the elemental properties—he wouldn't burn when struck by fire, but would still suffer physical damage if that fire carried kinetic force or enhanced a weapon.
Nevertheless, the implications were significant. If he advanced this physique further to include immunity to lightning—an element that relied primarily on its electrical properties to inflict damage—his defensive capabilities would become truly formidable.
A question suddenly nagged at him: why did the Chaos Body seem even more impressive than the Transcendent Dao Body? The Chaos Body ranked among the top ten of the three thousand dao bodies, but he recalled no such distinction mentioned for the Transcendent Dao Physique when he first acquired it.
Was the Transcendent Dao Physique not classified among the dao bodies? Or perhaps it simply didn't rank in the top ten? This seemed implausible given that the experience requirement for the Transcendent Dao Body was nearly a hundred times greater than that of the Chaos Body.
Upon further reflection, Xiang Yu noticed that the Transcendent Dao Physique already incorporated some features of the Chaos Body, such as the ability to refine various energy types, along with additional capabilities beyond that. Then understanding dawned on him—the Transcendent Dao Physique transcended the dao itself, placing it outside the classification of the three thousand dao bodies entirely. It likely incorporated aspects from numerous dao bodies, making it truly exceptional.
He had indeed struck cultivation gold with his original physique. But this realization prompted another thought: if the Transcendent Dao Body eventually encompassed all features of other dao bodies, wouldn't he have eventually unlocked the Chaos Body's capabilities anyway? It seemed wasteful to possess two physiques with overlapping functions. Maybe a divine ability would have been more beneficial after all.
Resigning himself to his current circumstances, Xiang Yu decided to view this development positively—he had simply gained early access to abilities he would have eventually acquired.
"Wait! I just remembered something," Xiang Yu thought suddenly, calling up his status screen again. A smile spread across his face as he discovered an additional change. "Scratch that, it's actually more impressive than I thought."
[Spiritual Root: Medium-Grade Omni-Element (10/2000)]
...
The Azure Cloud Sword Sect was situated in a modest region within the eastern continent of a small mortal world. Despite the region's limited size, it wasn't the only power present. Three sects dominated this territory: the Azure Cloud Sword Sect, the Iron Spirit Mountain, and the Lotus Jade Palace. These three forces maintained a delicate balance of power, keeping each other in check through an unspoken agreement.
Though they projected an image of harmony, the reality was far more tenuous. The confined region had insufficient resources to sustain all three sects comfortably, yet expanding beyond their current boundaries wasn't an option. The surrounding territories were controlled by even more formidable powers that none of the three sects dared to challenge.
When word spread that one of the sects had suffered a significant setback and weakened considerably, the other sects immediately sensed opportunity. After years of stagnation, they finally saw a chance to expand their influence and secure additional resources.
At Iron Spirit Mountain, Sect Master Zhao Tiangang sat imposingly upon his seat. Standing nearly seven feet tall with a massive frame rippling with well-defined muscles, he deliberately remained shirtless, claiming clothes "suffocated" his impressive physique. His broad face twisted into a malevolent smile as he addressed the messenger before him.
"The Azure Cloud Sword Sect has been reinforcing their defenses?" he inquired, his deep voice resonating through the hall.
When the messenger confirmed with a nervous nod, the sect master erupted into thunderous laughter that shook the very foundations of the hall. The poor messenger visibly trembled, fearing the ceiling might collapse from the vibrations.
"They're really struggling to hide their weakness. Don't they know that the more you try to hide it, the more obvious it is" Zhao Tiangang declared between booming laughs. After composing himself slightly, he continued, "What was the other information?"
"The new sect master's inauguration," the messenger replied, his voice barely audible in comparison to his master's.
"A new sect master? It's not even been three days!" Zhao exclaimed, his eyes widening with amusement. After a moment of contemplation, his expression turned calculating. "I'll also go and see this so-called new sect master."
Meanwhile, at the Lotus Jade Palace, a striking woman reclined in a luxurious bathhouse, steam rising around her elegant form. A messenger bird flew through an open window, and she gracefully caught it mid-flight without disturbing the tranquil water. She removed the small scroll tied to its leg before releasing the bird back to the skies.
As her eyes scanned the contents of the message, a cold smile formed on her perfect lips. "Guo Shantian! When you rejected me back then, did you think this would happen to you?" she said, her voice dripping with both satisfaction and lingering bitterness.
She rose from the bath, water cascading down her flawless skin as she reached for her silken robes. "On account of our previous relationship, I might allow you to wash my feet when I take over your little sect," she declared to the empty room, her laughter echoing off the marble walls.
...