Inside the wooden hut on Non-Phase Peak, Wang Lu found that, on the living room table, Faceless One had once again been sealed into an orb by Wang Wu.
For the sake of being too honest, Faceless One was sealed very strongly this time. The grey orb was flickering with metallic luster, seemingly cast by the tough and durable meteoric metal. Moreover, outside the orb, Wang Wu personally left behind her 119th layer of Non-Phase Sword Qi seal, which was practically an indestructible jail for Faceless One.
Fortunately, although Faceless One was tightly sealed, he still retained the ability to communicate with the outside world. While Wang Wu went to Stellar Peak to appeal for her penalty of one-year stipend deduction, Wang Lu looked for Faceless One to ask him for help.
"Oh? Did you finally decide to believe in Holy Light?"
Faceless One appeared excited, but Wang Lu's reaction was even more to his liking.
"I'll give you a chance. In the next few days, I will do a close door training to breakthrough Jindan Stage. At the appointed time, let's repeat our dialogue in the King's Treasure House in the Western Continent."
Inside the King's Treasure House, Wang Lu and Faceless One had a complicated feeling towards each other that was not easy to express succinctly. However, speaking about dialogue, there was only one real dialogue between the two—when in his dying breath Faceless One made one desperate strike, he was still suppressed by Wang Lu with his Non-Phase Immortal Heart.
That dialogue was more dangerous than many of Wang Lu's life and death battles. Because, facing the temptation of Faceless One, one slight mistake and Wang Lu would've agreed. Faceless One's offers were really tempting. In terms of rationality, even now, Wang Lu should be able to obtain more practical benefit by agreeing to his condition. And regarding that problem, it was just in the form of a slight inconvenience. However, in this world, how could everything be clearly understood?
And Wang Lu's request was precisely for the sake of understanding, so he ignored these trivial matters. In the face of a major issue, it was not easy to resist the outside temptation and follow his own heart. However, following his own heart was precisely one of the keys in Wang Lu's next step to breakthrough Jindan Stage.
After Wang Lu's last dialogue with Faceless One, his mind became refined, as if he had undergone a good baptism—the cultivation base of his Non-Phase Immortal Heart vigorously forged ahead. Therefore, finding Faceless One was exactly to use his persuasive ability to persuade himself to temper his own mind.
"Okay, but you must understand clearly about the consequences."
From within the grey orb, Faceless One's voice came with a faint smile, but how could Wang Lu not perceive the coldness within it.
Right now, I'm your Non-Phase family dog, so looking at Wang Wu's face, I naturally can't do anything against you. But now, in order to advance to Jindan Stage, you don't hesitate to borrow the taboo force. Thus, you should bear the consequences if you have any problems later. Let go of your immortal heart and let me bewitch you. If by doing this you get a boost, and you successfully reach Jindan, then all is well. But if not… and you're tempted by me to enter the sea of holy light, even Wang Wu can't blame me.
But, could Wang Lu be tempted to enter the sea of holy light? Faceless One expressed his sufficient confidence with a touch of laughter. In his view, Wang Lu was now a holy embryo and already considered as a half-believer.
However, for this dangerous move, Wang Lu also had his own confidence.
"Hah! Want to get me pregnant? Then just give it a try! Even Wang Wu can't do it, much less you…"
"Damn it… I feel like this is a bit like those infertile who have already abandoned themselves to despair."
—
In the following three days, Wang Lu, under the guidance of Reward Giver Elder Liu Xian, took a closed-door meditation in Misty Peak's Golden Clay Hall.
After three days, Wang Lu finally ended his long preparation as the first ray of morning sun entered the Golden Clay Hall. At this point, his primordial spirit was full, and his sword bones were straight. Inside his jade mansion, the void core and the distant sunlight echoed with each other, flashing with golden light. Obviously, the accumulation had reached its limit, and breakthrough was imperative.
Wang Lu, at this time, had already set his feet solidly on the peak Xudan Stage. His core composition was now ninety percent golden core. However, compared to the genuine golden core, although the power of this peak Xudan Stage was extremely strong, the core appeared mixed and its magical power was not pure.
What Wang Lu must do next was to fully invest in this golden core, separating the golden core from the void core, to achieve an unprecedented purity.
This process of turning void into real not only had been repeatedly instructed earnestly in the past three days, several other Elders had also shown their own experience. If there was no restriction from the Reward Giver Elder, those Jindan Stage senior disciples would've rushed to tell him their experience and cheer on him.
Wang Lu, the lead disciple of Spirit Sword Sect whose reputation was at its peak, was officially going to break through Jindan Stage. This was a major event in which the influence was not limited to Spirit Sword Sect.
However, for Wang Lu, what happened next was doomed to be different than what people expect.
According to the method taught by his Master, Wang Lu would circulate the 50th layer of Non-Phase magical power and then return it into the void core. At the same time, his primordial spirit would come out from the purple mansion and sink down into the void core in the jade mansion… Much of this process was borrowed from Qiong Hua's trinity. However, here, Non-Phase immortal heart did not blend in, but just slowly spread and wrapped the void core inside.
But for Wang Lu, he only saw a blur. From golden clay hall, he entered a mysterious place.
Looking ahead, the distance was endlessly chaotic. Through the hazy chaotic fog, he sometimes could see a fleeting scene. However, no matter how he tried to look at it, those images remained blurred. Wang Lu knew that his future was not yet certain, so everything was still possible.
Under his feet, there were thousands of branched roads. Each inch of land contained different possibility. It was just that, in these millions of crossroads, only two roads were above board, pointing straight towards the Main Path. One of them was rich in color, broad, and practical, which symbolized the Non-Phase Method that Wang Lu cultivated, with defense and survival as the primary goals, and it seemed to be the most promising one.
However, at the same time, Wang Lu's gaze was drawn to another road.
It was straight, unimpeded, indomitable, and from under the foot, it went straight to pierce the skies. And not far from that road, a fierce old man was silently watching him.
Wang Lu cupped his fist across his chest. "Greetings, Senior Sword Demon."
"Humph."
Standing on this road was the Sword Demon Zhong Shengming who taught Wang Lu the Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword in the ancient sword tomb. At this time, when they met again, Sword Demon's face looked unhappy and his hands were behind his back. Disdain and regret were concealed within his gaze.
"... Ignorant and stubborn!"
Wang Lu gave an apologetic smile and said, "I have failed to meet senior's expectation, I am deeply ashamed."
The sword demon said, "I'm not surprised that you have today's choice. Since you started more than a year ago, your Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword Qi has no advancement at all. With your talent, it is impossible for you to encounter a bottleneck. The only explanation is that you have given up this road! In the end, you still can't give up that cowardly turtle method!
Wang Lu said, "I am indeed reluctant to give it up. Senior has imparted me the Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword Qi, which is comparable to an immortal level method. If it can successfully be cultivated, it could indeed achieve immortality. But, Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword is the sword of Sword Demon, not the sword of Wang Lu."
Sword Demon sneered. "Yes, no matter how good other people's main path is, it is still not your own, so it's impossible for it to be one hundred percent compatible with you. Moreover, you have an exceptional aptitude, so it is expected of you to tread your own path—if this is ten thousand years ago! After the age of chaos, the geniuses in Nine Regions are no longer abundant like shining stars! At present, even those artificial spirit roots have begun to spread; it seems to me a new age of chaos is close at hand! Unless you stand aloof from soaring to immortality, otherwise, the effect of the environment on you is unavoidable. So what if you have void spirit root? What path can you comprehend in such a filthy world? If not cultivating the supreme main path of Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword, don't tell me you still want to cling to that Non-Phase Method?"
In regard to this, Wang Lu just revealed a calm smile. "Senior, in fairness, if I only relied solely on Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword Qi, can I survive the three days of slaughter from the Kill Immortal sword while at the same time achieve the pseudo core?"
Sword Demon gawked for a moment and remained silent.
Even in the past, the Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword Qi was the most aggressive sword art, but it still could not overcome the wide gap between Xudan and Jindan and stand against Kill Immortal sword… this point was indeed only possible with his Non-Phase Method.
"So we can see that Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword is not omnipotent. Let alone the real senior Sword Demon is already long gone, so who is it that stands before me now?"
Upon hearing this, Sword Demon's countenance finally changed slightly.
Wang Lu said, "Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword is indeed worthy to be a supreme sword path, and Senior is indeed worthy to be that ancient Sword Demon… If I continue to cultivate this Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword, it's either I can't obtain the path in my whole life, or… my sword path actually changed. In this, Senior would obtain the opportunity to reincarnate, isn't it?"
Sword Demon said, "Not reincarnation, my three immortal souls and seven mortal forms have already shattered, even Deities1 can't bring me back from death. Right now, I'm just a projection in your mind, so you don't have to worry about me. As for the side effect of cultivating this sword path, no matter what, it won't go as far as suddenly creating a primordial spirit to take over your body, but your personality will indeed be more and more closer to me… But, compared with soaring to immortality, what's a little bit of personality change?"
It was just that, these words lacked conviction behind them, and before Sword Demon could finish it, it's figure had gradually turned blurry. This meant that Wang Lu had already given up on the path of Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword.
Although this immortal level method was indeed good, if the side effects were so big, it was not worth to cultivate. Let alone after leaving the ancient sword tomb, Wang Lu gradually realized the trouble in cultivating Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword—because Sword Demon as the creator of this primal chaos method was not present, if he had a problem in cultivating it, there would be nobody that he could consult! Moreover, this primal chaos method walked on a crooked path, so there were many tricks and secrets that were set by Sword Demon himself. Thus, it would be quite difficult to make it adapt to him.
In contrast, although Non-Phase Method outwardly appeared subpar, at the crucial time, it could display its function, while the immortal level method could only stare. More importantly, this was a tailor-made method for him. During cultivation, regardless of any problem that he might encounter, people could give him advice.
This was one advantage that could never be matched by the Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword...
However, to really give up this immortal level divine sword, no matter how decisive Wang Lu was, he could not help but hesitate. And while he was hesitating, a familiar sound came to him.
"In the end, the best way is to combine the two—in fact, when you left the ancient sword tomb, you have already begun to walk on this path. It's just that, as your cultivation base gradually goes deeper, you found that the path of integration is getting more difficult. So you temporarily halted the Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword and just wholeheartedly cultivated Non-Phase Method."
With that, the pale figure of Faceless One appeared in the middle of the road that led to the primal chaos.
"But now, I can give you the opportunity to merge the two."
Upon hearing this, Wang Lu could not help but smile, because he had already guessed the next sentence.
"Come to the Holy Light."
...In Daoism - Da Luo Jinxian