209: Chaotic and Fearless Dao Heart

Lin Yuan's pupils constricted! He instantly fell into an absolute disadvantage! Every block, every dodge, would be sealed off by the predictive attacks of the other eight spears! Deep, bone-deep wounds were constantly being added to his body!

"Slash!" Lin Yuan growled, his eyes bloodshot. He no longer tried to defend against everything, but instead fixed his gaze on one of the "Mirror of Cowardice" whose movements were slightly hesitant and whose eyes hid a trace of cowering! Ignoring the spear thrusting towards his ribs, he poured all his strength into the spear in his hand, and with a posture of mutual destruction, he fiercely pierced the heart of that mirror image! Squelch! The mirror image shattered! Lin Yuan's ribs were also pierced, the sharp pain piercing his heart! But the pressure eased slightly!

"Break!" He captured a tiny flaw that appeared in three mirror images in tandem due to the death of the "Cowardly Mirror," and rolling on the ground, he grabbed the shattered mirror fragments and threw them with all his remaining strength! Thud, thud, thud! Three sharp mirror fragments were accurately embedded in the throats of the three mirror images! Three more mirrors were slashed!

But the attacks of the remaining five mirror images were already like maggots on a bone! Lin Yuan was forced into a corner of the Mirror Realm, covered in blood, the wound on his severed arm splitting open, his vision beginning to blur, his life like a candle in the wind. Five cold "selves" held spears, carrying the will to end everything, slowly approaching.

"Is it going to end like this? No!" The desperate situation of impending death instead provoked the wildest roar from the depths of Lin Yuan's Soul! At the very moment his consciousness was about to sink, his scattered gaze swept across the distorted, shared shadow behind the five mirror images—the outline of that shadow was unexpectedly the deepest crack that had once been on the seed of martial dao! That was the last trace of fear of Chaos backlash and Dao assimilation deep in his subconscious!

"So... what was hindering me... was always myself! It was this... fear in my heart!" Realization struck like lightning through the darkness!

"My Dao Heart is mine alone! Why fear backlash! Why fear assimilation! Fearless! Fearless! Fearless!!!"

Lin Yuan used the last of his life's strength to let out a shout originating from his Soul's Origin! He didn't block the incoming spears, but instead turned his remaining will into a burning flame, transforming it into an invisible sharp sword—that was the last trace of true intent remaining in his mortal state! He fiercely stabbed towards the shared shadow of fear behind those five mirror images!

Puff!

A silent shattering! That shadow of fear burst like a bubble!

Crack! Crack! Crack... The movements of the five mirror images thrusting their spears froze simultaneously. Their bodies, like struck glass, were instantly covered in cobweb-like cracks and shattered with a bang! The entire blood-colored Mirror Realm also began to collapse!

Gestation: 100%! The seed of martial dao has reached Perfection!

At the end of the Mirror Realm's collapse was not the top of the pagoda, but a vast and boundless, brilliant starry sky. Starlight poured down like mercury, pure and cold. A young man dressed in coarse hemp clothes, with an ordinary face but eyes as deep as black holes, stood quietly in the center of the sea of stars, treading upon an illusory, flowing silver river. It was the youthful shadow of the Lord of a Divine Realm!

He had no sword in his hand; he simply made a casual gesture, and a withered tree branch from the Void Realm fell into his palm.

"Take three of my moves, and your Dao Heart shall be formed." The voice was calm, yet it contained the sound of the Great Dao.

First Move: Kindling. The youth made a light stroke with the withered branch. A tiny spark drifted down from the tip of the branch. The spark grew as it met the wind, instantly transforming into a prairie fire that filled the sky and burned towards Lin Yuan! This fire did not burn external objects, but only scorched mortal flesh and blood, burning his sinews and bones, and tempering his will!

Lin Yuan was instantly swallowed by the boundless sea of fire! His skin and flesh were charred black, and his sinews and bones let out groans from being scorched! The heart-piercing and bone-eroding pain submerged everything! He gritted his teeth, a beast-like low growl coming from his throat. He didn't try to extinguish the inextinguishable sparks, but instead condensed all his will, deathly guarding that one point of indestructible spiritual light in his Sea of Consciousness! Letting the sparks burn his body, he endured it with his fleshly body! He even rolled in the sea of fire, using his body to smother the sparks piece by piece! His skin cracked and charred, and the blood that seeped out was instantly evaporated! Extinguishing fire with blood, tempering the heart with pain! The sparks gradually died out. Lin Yuan was charred black all over, like withered wood, but his eyes were even purer. At his Sea of Consciousness, the seed of martial dao of Perfection emitted a warm and resilient radiance!

Second Move: Mountain Suppression. The youth pointed down with the withered branch. That withered branch suddenly expanded, transforming into the phantom image of an Ancient Divine Mountain, towering and majestic, wreathed in Chaos Qi, carrying the will to suppress all eternity as it crashed down! The air solidified, and space wailed!

Boom!

The phantom image of the divine mountain suppressed Lin Yuan's shoulders and back! His body, which had just undergone the tempering of the sparks and was charred and about to crack, let out a groan of being overburdened! His bones made a dense cracking sound like popping beans! His knees bent sharply, almost being forced to kneel on the ground! Blood seeped from his seven orifices!

"Hold... on!" Lin Yuan's eyes were nearly bursting, a hoarse roar coming from his throat. His spine was like a Dragon, straightening inch by inch! He poured all the pain, all the will, and all the unyielding spirit tempered from the Myriad Battles into this broken mortal frame! Using his shoulders and back as a fulcrum and his feet as a Foundation, like a divine pine rooted in the earth, he forcefully withstood the suppression of this Ancient Divine Mountain! The mountain's weight was heavy, but it instead ground away the hidden injuries and Impurities left by the Kindling tempering in his body bit by bit under the extreme pressure! His body was reborn in destruction, becoming pure and resilient under the heavy pressure! His spine remained unyielding, propping up the heavens and suppressing the earth!

Third Move: Seeking the Dao. A trace of imperceptible approval flashed in the eyes of the youth's phantom. He no longer made a move, but simply raised his finger and pointed lightly towards Lin Yuan's forehead. This finger contained no killing intent, but pointed directly at the Origin of the Dao Heart, intending to question the Dao of his heart!

Just at the moment the youth's fingertip was about to touch Lin Yuan's forehead—

Buzz!

A point of warm green light, not suppressed by the Law of the Myriad Battles Pagoda, suddenly lit up from the deepest part of Lin Yuan's Sea of Consciousness! Immediately after, a phantom image of the chaos green lotus, swaying and glowing, although appearing illusory yet naturally endowed with dao rhyme, manifested itself, protecting the front of Lin Yuan's forehead! The phantom image of the green lotus swayed gently, shedding paths of clear light, silently neutralizing the power of the youth's fingertip that contained the questioning of the Great Dao.

The movements of the youth's phantom appeared to pause for the first time. In his eyes, as deep as the Universe, was reflected the phantom image of the chaos green lotus protecting its master, as well as Lin Yuan's face, which, though battered and broken, had eyes as steady as a rock under the reflection of the clear light.

"With a mortal body, to trigger the manifestation of a Chaos Supreme Treasure's phantom image to protect the Dao..." The youth's phantom voice carried a trace of unprecedented fluctuation, "This heart... shall be the Chaos Fearless Dao Heart!"

As the voice fell, the youth's phantom, along with the vast sea of stars, slowly dissipated like a bubble.

Boom—!

The vast and sea-like, purest Battle Soul Origin and Heart Tempering Power accumulated by the Myriad Battles Pagoda poured frantically into Lin Yuan's body like a hundred rivers returning to the sea!

In the Sea of Consciousness, that perfect and flawless seed of martial dao, whose stability had reached 100%, let out a roar like the beginning of Chaos under the ultimate infusion of this power!