In the Central Domain's noblest ground, the Solar Palace, a chiseled man with burning golden hair faced a tall painting, stroking its surface while his eyes—as blinding as solar flames—stayed fixed on the figure in the painting: a gentle and riveting woman.
"Hello, Crown Princess. It has been 13,643 years, 11 months, 17 days, 8 hours and 39 minutes since you passed away. I'd tell you the seconds as well, but they change as I speak," Taiyang Yuan said, his voice mellow, soothing, and with none of the overbearing force expected of a solar deity.
"Crown Princess, do you resent me? All along, I knew that Hengye Yuemi wasn't you. I didn't know who she was, but I knew it wasn't you. Still, just because she had your face, I couldn't strike her down. My heart kept that truth on lockdown, until at last it broke free…and crushed my soul. Thus, I failed to take the 18th step, failed to become a True God—failed…you. Crown Princess, I let you down." Taiyang Yuan stroked the woman's cheek, his hand trembling while his lips curled into a loving smile. His fiery eyes couldn't turn red, yet tears still trickled down his cheeks,
"I was selfish. I wanted us to be immortal so I could enjoy eternity by your side. But even without cultivation, a Divine Spirit can live for over 100,000 years. If only I'd given up on the Grand Dao. If only I'd forsaken the God-Child candidacy, Hengye Yuemi wouldn't have targeted you, and you…would still be alive. Crown Princess, your husband is useless, and his heart…full of regret." The August Divinity's voice broke, and he bit his lips, restraining his wailing heart.
Unlike other Divine Spirits, Sun Spirits embraced their mortal emotions and desires, following the example set by their Divine Ancestor. This behavior came with its own price, a price that some paid more dearly than others.
"We're two weeks away. As usual, I will stay here till your death anniversary. As usual, I will light the candles, sing the songs you liked most, and renew the vows we've made. Crown Princess, all those harlots crawl over me, hoping to benefit from my status. But I…have never cared, touched, or entertained any of them. My heart was born for you…and died with you as well." Here, the August Divinity's loving smile vanished, and though his limbs trembled as before, hatred now held sway.
"Brother Wuxin, my talent can't compare to yours, but we are Gods. Eternity is our birthright, and our futures impossible to predict. I will prepare, I will wait, and on the first opportunity that I get, you, Yuemi, and the entirety of the Eternal Night Dynasty will vanish from this world. Even if I must compromise the Ancestral Task, even if I must consort with myriad evils and debase My Divine Self, I will not stop till each and every one of you burns in the flames of my fury." Taiyang Yuan grabbed his beating chest and dropped on his knees, kowtowing at the painting.
Xinzi didn't bear witness to Taiyang Yuan's story, but by using one of her proxies, Yongye did, and used the August Divinity as one of many cautionary tales to warn her son against the trappings of what she referred to as 'lesser emotions.'
…
Back in the Consummation Palace, Xinzi shut down, ignoring Xue Jingzhao to retreat into his Qi Ocean. There, feminine energies pervaded the colorful atmosphere. The seven-colored sea oozed mind-boggling quantities of Yin Qi, enough to make top Nascent Soul experts' dantians burst into smithereens—and put even Divine Transformation level dual cultivators at risk of death. But thanks to the Blissful Extinction Art that Yuemi so kindly offered him, Xinzi could pile up as much Yin Qi as he wanted to. And even without, his boundless and unmatched Qi Ocean alone gave him transcendent advantages.
But Yin Qi was far from being the only form of energy that Xinzi could count on. The Immemorial Blood Gu digested the immortal wine, not only nourishing Xinzi's Blood Energy, but also enhancing his main demonic heart's bloodline. The Evil Qi had made great stride as well, and the Reincarnation of Mahasura approached the second level.
The last bits of blood liquor vanished in the greedy gu. The boundless sea refined the Yin Qi, using it as the catalyst to condense an Inner Spiritual Cave.
To breakthrough to the mid-stage of Foundation Building practitioners had to either drain their Qi Pool, rely on foreign energy sources, or both, to build an Inner Spiritual Cave.
Both mine and cultivation treasure, the Inner Spiritual Cave not only enabled the practitioner to channel and support more Qi, but also enhanced their Qi quality and natural defenses. More importantly, it possessed its own Spiritual Vein—enabling the practitioner to produce Spirit Stones on the daily.
The weakest Inner Spiritual Caves could only produce one spirit stone per day. The strongest in Yanzhou Province capped at 250 per day. And even in the Great Desolation World's major forces, passing the 1,000 mark was a legendary feat.
Needless to say, as a practitioner's cultivation base grew, so did the quantity of spirit stones they could produce. But as the quality of the Spiritual Vein pretty much determined what Pulse the practitioner could condense, clans and sects all invested massive resources in ensuring the best result.
The seven-colored Qi Ocean's work sped up. The Immemorial Blood Gu didn't laze around either, and while the former siphoned the Yin Qi to refine the cave, the latter brought Xinzi's bloodlines and Blood Energy to the next level.
'What breakthrough is this? Foundation Building principles? No, the intensity is already comparable to…Nascent Soul." Xue Jingzhao didn't know what went on behind Xinzi's colorful shroud and dared not use her Spiritual Sense to find out. Still, with tens of thousands of years of cultivation at her back, she had no trouble recognizing a Foundation Building breakthrough—her face twisted in confusion.
According to the Central Domain's intel, the new Hengye Monarch single-handedly obliterated the Qiu clan as well as the Red-Tongued Devil that backed their war effort. His cultivation level and battle-prowess already stood at a tier that made the Taiyang clan elders shiver in dread. Worse, Taiyang Yuan and his elder council had already stated that Xinzi hadn't gone through the Divine Consecration yet. The Hengye clansmen confirmed it—meaning that cultivation wise, the true body was still in its infancy.
Jingzhao could accept that the one standing before her wasn't the true shell, but how could the cultivation gap between "true" and "decoy" shells be this large? 'Is he perhaps trying to build…a stronger Dao Foundation than his original body possesses?' She thought, and the longer she stared at this immeasurable foundation, the more her guess seemed plausible.
Awe and jealousy filled her heart. Awe because—as any hypergamous whore worth the name—she loved nothing more than powerful men. Jealousy because while others struggled to reach immortality in one life, this God-Monarch could do it in multiple bodies—and he wasn't the only one!
Upper realm deities all had several cultivation bases—enabling them to reach immortality through blood, qi or divine power. The gap between them and the mortals they despised was as vast as the distance between lower and upper realms. Jingzhao was right. In the world of immortals, fairness bowed to tyrannical might.
Streams of seven-colored steam rose up Xinzi's Qi Ocean, merging to form a magnificent cave. Under than cave's soil, colorful spiritual veins spread out, vibrating with qi reserves of such depth and potency that, even the peak-stage Supreme Clarity Jingzhao couldn't maintain her composure—trembling uncontrollably. The Reincarnation of Mahasura broke through to the second level, forcing Xinzi to numb all of Xue Jingzhao's senses so she could not detect the eruption of Evil Qi. 1
Red silk threads surged from Xinzi's pores, wrapping him in a blood cocoon as he underwent his second blood transformation, then the third—going straight from the first to the third order of Blood Energy.
Now, based on his fleshly body alone, our monk could dominate the average Nascent Soul expert. His cultivation base rose exponentially, going all the way to the peak of Foundation Building. The blood cocoon broke here, and Xinzi's main heart ascended to Blood-Shifter.
A second dark-purple arm formed beside him, now wielding a chalky-white heart: the Vetala Heart.
These breakthroughs brought with them a host of new abilities. In the Infernal Paradise, Blood-Shifters were proper Demon Nobles—standing at the same level as the Klesha, Vetala, Asura and the like. Not only did the Blood-Shifter contain and reinforce the bloodline abilities of the Silk-Shifter and Heart-Shifter, but it could also exsanguinate vulnerable opponents to drain their bloodlines and reinforce its own. Likewise, Blood-Shifters could steal the lineage of those they drained, stealing the purest form of their bloodline abilities. These innate abilities only had one drawback: Blood-Shifters could only steal one bloodline at a time, and would have to give it up if they tried to take another one.
The Vetala Heart was just as dominant, granting Xinzi control over dead souls and corpses. He could also steal vulnerable souls and curse his targets with insanity.
'Controlling hearts and inducing demonization has never been easier. Good. When I return to the East, I can speed up my plans.' Xinzi thought.
As for his Inner Spiritual Cave…
Our monk snapped his fingers, and in the blink of an eye, over 10,000 spirit stones rushed out of his dantian—piling up at his left and right. Satisfied, Xinzi opened his eyes, returning his attention to Xue Jingzhao—her loins stirred frantically.