Chapter 26 - Condensing a True Shadow Seed!

Bing Xian sat in complete silence within his small mountaintop cabin, the soft drum of a beating heart could be heard within. His breathing obscure and esoteric, and the sensation of a cold, isolation crept through the air.

He had been sitting here nonstop for the past 3 days trying to condense a [True Shadow Seed] within his Dantian. A small bead of sweat gathered on his brow.

'.... almost there....'.

The aura outside the cabin was tainted and dim. The profound concepts of darkness were being congealed by Bing Xian, and a small seed of darkness, the same size as a fingernail, was gathering within his body.

The [True Shadow Seed] allowed Bing Xian to undergo [Blackening]. A process which flooded the body with a higher tier of true essence, dark attributed true essence. Once it entered the body, it would dilute the rest of the true essence, and raise its quality, allowing for a cultivator to fight another with a cultivation exceeding their own!

This process had never been practiced by a human before. Despite not being a transcendent divine might, the [Holy Shadow Blackening Art] was a cultivation technique that would make a plethora of Holy Lands and Ancient Sects within the Divine Realm go green with greed.

In fact there was a reference to an actual Transcendent Divine Might within the pages of the [Holy Shadow Blackening Art], but the true name of the technique was never revealed.

It did however say that this particular Transcendent Divine Might was capable of condensing a myriad of elements within the body, not just limited to one, like the [Holy Shadow Blackening Art].

'It also said it was easier to condense as well....'.

A crooked smile appeared on Bing Xian's face, before a wave of dark attributed true essence exploded out of his body, destroying the wood cabin he was cultivating in, and sending a visible burst of true essence off the top of the mountain.

"Since its Lord Bing we have nothing to worry about!".

They all went back to their daily lives, all of them quickly forgetting the event ever happened. Wang Xue on the other hand, decided to trek up Bing Xian's mountain, slightly worried for her teachers safety.

The fifteen year old girl had become almost completely dependent on Bing Xian, in her heart, and her mind. Ever since that small child came to Green Valley Town, she had her whole world turned upside down, and her fate had been reversed.

'If Sir Bing hadn't been their that day, I would've been just another one of Zhu Yan's playthings....'.

Her already refined resolved strengthened every time Bing Xian went to instruct her on the [Divine Blackening Art], and she was close to condensing her own [False Shadow Seed], an added effect of cultivating the [Divine Blackening Art].

It worked in the same way that the [True Shadow Seed] did, however on a much lesser scale. It boosted the cultivators offensive power by a fair amount, and did allow for a [Blackening] to occur, but not to the same effect as Bing Xian's.

It would like be comparing a random beast with divine blood to one without. At the same level, the beast with the trace of divine blood would be far superior in strength, speed, stamina, agility and endurance than the one without.

The divine blood in this metaphor being the purity of true essence.

Of course Wang Xue didn't know that the two were practicing two different cultivation techniques, and wouldn't notice the difference thanks to one being just a mere imitation of the other.

"Sir Bing!... Sir Bing where are you!?".

The fifteen year old girl shouted to the black mist covered mountaintop, feeling that her cultivation slightly increased, just by breathing in the dark attributed true essence in the atmosphere.

'That's strange. I've been up this mountain before and never noticed a change in true essence in the air.... it must be Sir Bing's doing!'.

She nodded and smiled inwardly at the deduction, and waited a few minutes as the black mist was slowly being drawn into a center point.

It was a slow process to begin with, but after a few minutes, tendrils of dark attributed true essence condensed and shot themselves towards Bing Xian's body, covering his body more and more by the second with layers and layers of darkness.

Wang Xue couldn't see his face and watched on with awe as Bing Xian condensed his [True Shadow Seed].

A small drip of blood leaked out of Bing Xian's nose.

'..... fuċk this fuċkɨnġ hurts!....'.

Xiao An was communicating with Bing Xian through their connection as his Second Spirit Ring, the former trying to show Bing Xian how to defuse and condense the true essence.

Bing Xian nodded as he grit his teeth and kept circulating the dark attributed true essence, just like the [Holy Shadow Blackening Art] told him to do.

Time passed and slowly the sun began to set and the moon rose up to chase after it.

Bing Xian circulated the true essence hundreds, if not thousands of times by now. After the one hundred times, some of the dark attributed true essence leaked out and seeped into his skin. After two hundred times it was absorbed flesh. Five hundred times his organs. A thousand times his muscles. Two thousand times his bones.

And after ten thousand times his marrow.

When a human was born they are all born with an innate affinity to certain Laws and Concepts. That affinity may be almost non-existent or as strong as a God level Beast, but they do possess an innate affinity.

There are processes which can change or give a cultivator another affinity, usually through imbuing Laws and Profound Concepts into their own bones, making that comprehension and understanding fixed and permanent.

The other way was through a Baptism.

Similar to engraving Laws and Concepts into the bones, true essence seeps into the body and isn't refined to further one's cultivation, but instead alters the body so that the true essence can flow through the body, like water down a stream.

The body is changed then the attributed true essence flows through it, initially blocked and fȯrċɨbŀƴ pushing through the channels and meridians within the body, before the body adapts and changes to suit this new flow of power.

For Bing Xian, who didn't possess an affinity to darkness concepts and laws, this Baptism was a godsend.

He smirked through the pain.

'At least I know why this is a top tier cultivation method!'.

The feeling of having his internal passages cleared and free for dark attributed true essence was a painful and disgusting feeling, but after it was done, he didn't feel cold or afraid of the darkness anymore.

He felt at home.

Being cradled in the darkness while continuing to circulate the [Holy Shadow Blackening Art] was like being pulled into his mothers embrace. And the shadows slowly gathered within Bing Xian's Dantian, a small fingernail sized black crystal.

It slowly rotated with his Dantian, and the faint image of a humongous Holy Shadow Beast could be seen within the [True Shadow Seed], it's massive body larger than even the [Immortal Midnight Crane]'s!

All of the black mist faded, and only Wang Xue's amazed eyes could be seen as she gazed down at the figure at the center of it all, her inspired face slowly turning into one of confusion as she looked at the shirtless boy in front of her.

Said boy turned to look at her and said,