512: Chapter 512 Joining

"Tong Xiao is still a few months away from turning ten. Forming a core before the age of ten—is this the value of a Rank 6 top-tier Yao Beast Bloodline?"

Yao Beasts differ from the Human Race; they can begin to Cultivate from birth. As long as they have sufficient resources, they face almost no Bottlenecks before reaching their Bloodline Bottleneck.

Once they hit that Bloodline Bottleneck, continuing to Breakthrough becomes infinitely more difficult than for a Human Race Cultivator of the same rank. It gets harder the further they go—a classic case of being fast in the Early Stage and slow in the Late Stage.

However, even for the fastest ordinary Yao Beast, it wouldn't be as fast as Tong Xiao. Reaching Core Formation in ten years has likely broken the records of the Cultivation World.

Take a Rank 3 Bloodline Yao Beast as an example; even if they reach Core Formation upon reaching adulthood, it takes at least two to three hundred years. Rank 4 Yao Beasts are slightly faster, but it usually takes around a century.

"A Rank 6 top-tier Bloodline is more than a hundred times stronger than a Rank 4. This is only normal."

Tong Xiao had never lacked resources since birth. spirit fruits, Medicinal Pills, Spirit Marrow... Liu Xuan gave him as much as he could eat, and of the highest grade he could obtain.

He wasn't even this attentive to himself. Perhaps this was so-called fatherly love—always thinking of one's children whenever there's something good!

His mind sank into his Golden Core. Inside the Golden Core was another Golden Core, with a trace of the Law of Wind Dao lingering upon it.

Tong Xiao's Breakthrough to Core Formation directly pushed Liu Xuan's Late Golden Core Stage cultivation forward by a large margin, bringing him close to the Peak Golden Core Realm.

The boy hadn't practiced a Cultivation Technique for many years and hadn't achieved many Epiphanies, but he was born with control over a trace of the Law of Wind Dao, and this point was also superimposed onto Liu Xuan.

Wind is born from the movement of Qi, rises from fine dust, travels through heaven and earth, and returns to nothingness.

The essence of the Wind Dao is movement. All things move; heaven and earth do not stay still, and all things are impermanent.

The Wind Dao is an excellent auxiliary Law, capable of enhancing speed and the power of Divine Abilities and Daoist techniques.

At a profound level, one can comprehend the essence of the impermanence of all things, dispersing another's Dao rhythm, Divine Abilities, and Domain with a single thought. It is one of the higher Laws.

"Great Dao of Space, Hunyuan Great Dao, Dao of Alchemy, Dao of Artifacts, Dao of Formations, and now a trace of Wind Dao. If things continue to develop like this, won't I become a Myriad Law Immortal Venerable in the future!"

The Golden Core's magic power slowly settled. Liu Xuan's Divine Soul withdrew from the Epiphany, looking at a dark red phantom of a mirror in his Sea of Consciousness.

With a thought, the mirror turned from phantom to reality. The mirror's body was circular with an ancient, matte edge engraved with lotus branch patterns, and a dark red flame burned within the mirror.

"Buzz~"

The Karmic Fire Mirror turned into a streak of red light, instantly illuminating Liu Xuan's entire Sea of Consciousness in dark red.

In the center of the Sea of Consciousness, next to a Spirit Treasure in the shape of a book emitting a faint white immortal light, the red light condensed and manifested as a bronze mirror burning with dark red flames.

The avici karmic fire mirror. Karmic fire is also known as the fire of sin. Those who hinder the Heavenly Dao or the Human Dao are all guilty and shall suffer the pain of karmic fire burning their souls.

Simply put, the one who controls karmic fire is equivalent to controlling a wisp of the Heavenly Dao Law. Before the Karmic Fire Mirror, everyone is guilty and can be punished on behalf of Heaven; it is merely a matter of how great or small the sin is.

A Divine Soul supreme treasure. Karmic fire does not harm the Physical Body but specifically burns the Divine Soul, igniting from the core of the opponent's soul like a calamity, unavoidable and inescapable.

"This effect is a bit Heaven-Defying!!"

Bypassing physical defenses to burn the Divine Soul directly—the vast majority of Cultivators wouldn't even have the means to resist.

However, the power of the Karmic Fire Mirror's activation is determined by Liu Xuan's Divine Soul strength. As a Rank 5 Low Grade Spirit Treasure, he could not yet fully drive it.

"My Divine Soul level is roughly around the Early Nascent Soul Stage. An ordinary Nascent Soul Cultivator wouldn't be able to block a single strike from me. If they practice yin-evil, blood-fiend, or Demonic Path techniques, they would be even more suppressed by the karmic fire. A Middle Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator would probably lose a layer of skin."

Defeating an enemy across a major Realm is extremely difficult, with few precedents in the entire Cultivation World.

But could it be harder than a Golden Core Cultivator mastering two Rank 5 Spirit Treasures? Liu Xuan could no longer be viewed through common logic.

"The ten thousand soul banner and the Karmic Fire Mirror—if these two treasures are combined, one evil and one righteous, could they command all the ghost paths in the world?"

Karmic fire restrains the Divine Soul. Cultivators and Yao Beasts with physical bodies can at least endure it, but ghosts only have Divine Souls, so it is an absolute counter.

With the ten thousand soul banner and the Karmic Fire Mirror, even a Late Nascent Soul Stage Ghost Commander would be suppressed if they didn't flee in time.

The greatest weakness of ghost Cultivators is how easily they are countered. Without the enhancement of a yin fiend environment, any fire-type, yang-type, or even Five Elements spell can cause them massive damage.

But with the ten thousand soul banner and karmic fire enhancement, ordinary counter-measures become ineffective. Relying on their bizarre methods, they could even suppress most Cultivators of the same rank.

"Where can I get a Late Nascent Soul Stage Ghost Commander to serve as the main soul for the ten thousand soul banner?"

Although the casualties on the battlefield were heavy, those remnant souls were suppressed by the army fiends. Even if they luckily survived, they had already gone into hiding.

Unless Liu Xuan personally went to the battlefield to collect remnant souls immediately, he could only search and accumulate them slowly.

Of course!

There was another shortcut. Deep in the southern reaches of the Endless Demon Court, the Black Death Marsh even has Soul Transformation Ghost Kings. Capturing a Nascent Soul Ghost Commander there would certainly be no problem.

"Forget it!"

"I'll nurture them slowly! The ten thousand soul banner can collect yin fiends, and besides harming the Divine Soul, karmic fire can also refine Divine Soul Impurities. Given enough time, nurturing a Nascent Soul Ghost Commander won't be that difficult."

There are no ghost cultivation Sects in the world, so Liu Xuan has no competitors for developing a ghost cultivation force. yin fiend items are also relatively cheap and easy to collect. He could just develop slowly; there was no need to rush.

Although the ten thousand soul banner had no main soul, the number of ordinary yin souls and malevolent ghosts was constantly increasing, already exceeding a thousand.

Not only was their number increasing, but with the nourishment of the ten thousand soul banner's dense Yin Qi, their strength was also growing. It wouldn't be long before they became a powerful asset.

Success brings a refreshed spirit. The teleportation formation was also nearly finished. Liu Xuan planned to see if there were any exceptionally beautiful women among the female students of the Biyou Pool Academy.

Straightening his robes and restraining his aura, Liu Xuan flew toward the market by the pool.

Shortly after, news spread from the Liu Family Immortal Workshop: the head of the Liu Family, the Alchemist Liu Xuan, had emerged from seclusion.

Old Master Liu was kind-hearted and intended to sponsor some female academy students. Those who met the criteria could go and try their luck.

Whether successful or not, all items in the Liu Family Immortal Workshop would be 10% off for a month, and there would be an auction for a batch of thousand star flying swords.

Sponsoring female students was just a gimmick; Liu Xuan wanted to use it to increase the fame of the Liu Family Immortal Workshop.

Peach Blossom's Soul Transformation required a massive amount of Spirit Stones. Since he was free anyway, earning more Spirit Stones was always good.

Doing business at Biyou Pool was high-risk. If a major incident occurred, the shop's warehouse could be a total loss.

Thus, Liu Xuan changed the business model. Instead of opening shops directly, he would supply goods to the shops that joined the Liu Family Immortal Workshop, lowering profit margins to transfer the risk.

Except for one Vast Gathering Pavilion which belonged to the Liu Clan Merchant Alliance, the other shops were basically franchisees.

Liu Xuan personally emerged from seclusion to attract people and build a reputation for these franchisees.

Sponsoring female students and such were merely methods for generating public hype, not worth mentioning!