“Jiao Xiuyuan used materials from the Ruomu tree to create his clones?”
Feeling a stir in his heart, Li Fan held the withered branch of the Ruomu tree in his hand and carefully attuned to it.
After a long time, he seemed to understand but shook his head slightly.
“Similar, but different. It’s as if they share the same origin, yet there are distinct differences.”
“Furthermore, with the Daoist Xiumu’s deep disdain for cultivators, it’s unlikely he would cooperate with Jiao Xiuyuan.”
“So, this must be…”
A scene suddenly flashed in Li Fan’s mind: the Ruomu tree being besieged by cultivators, its trunk splitting open, and numerous branches falling from the sky.
“Perhaps those branches that separated back then fell into the Xuanhuang Realm and experienced entirely new fates.”
The resilience of plant life is always astonishing. Even ordinary trees can regenerate broken branches.
“Still, whether Jiao Xiuyuan truly evolved from a fallen branch of the Ruomu tree or simply found its remnants to craft his clones, it’s hard to determine for now.”
With a thought, Li Fan made the withered Ruomu branch in his hand sprout a new bud.
In an instant, the bud grew into a tender young branch.
At its tip, as if bearing fruit, hung a small golden spherical object.
Li Fan’s eyelids twitched.
This “golden fruit” was, of course, the golden core that the Daoist Xiumu had promised to gift him.
However, the method of storage was quite peculiar.
Reaching out, Li Fan tried to pluck the golden core.
A faint resistance emanated from the “fruit.”
Li Fan exerted more force, and the golden core was successfully plucked.
Due to the recoil, the new branch flung backward violently and swayed in the air before abruptly retracting into the withered Ruomu branch.
Before Li Fan could think further, the branch extended again, producing yet another golden core.
Looking at the seemingly sentient Ruomu branch before him, Li Fan grew somber.
He refrained from acting rashly and, like harvesting fruit, plucked core after core until they were all collected.
The process took nearly the time of one incense stick to burn.
A total of 372 golden cores.
After relinquishing all its cores, the Ruomu branch fulfilled its purpose.
It disintegrated into ashes, scattering into the wind.
During the “harvesting” process, although Li Fan appeared to store the golden cores in his spatial ring, he had secretly begun absorbing them using the [Truth] ability.
As he had guessed, single-law golden cores increased the anchor’s charge progress by only 0.25%, while dual-law golden cores increased it by 0.5%.
However, triple-law golden cores represented a qualitative leap, each contributing 2% progress.
Among the 372 cores, triple-law cores were rare, while single-law and dual-law cores constituted the majority.
There were no cores with four or more laws.
Thus, after unlocking the fifth anchor point, only 16 carefully selected golden cores remained.
Li Fan’s selection wasn’t based solely on the number of laws in the golden core but rather their rarity.
Common five-elemental laws were inferior to those he had personally comprehended and were therefore deemed unnecessary to preserve.
Meanwhile, some laws pertained to fields Li Fan knew little about, making them valuable for someone newly advanced to the Nascent Soul stage like himself.
The Nascent Soul stage revolves around cultivating and refining one’s Cave-Heaven Law Domain.
The more complete this law domain, the stronger the Nascent Soul cultivator’s combat capabilities.
When the domain aligns nearly perfectly with the external Xuanhuang Realm, one can begin to anticipate the Soul Transformation stage.
Li Fan didn’t know all the details yet, but he had a vague idea of the process.
The so-called “extracting the marrow of heaven and earth to obtain its essence” refers to…
Heaven’s marrow functions similarly to human bone marrow.
Human marrow’s primary role is blood production, while heaven’s marrow produces laws.
The laws of heaven and earth, like blood in the human body, are foundational to the world’s stability.
Without blood, the body dies; without laws, the world collapses.
By disguising one’s cave-heaven as part of the Xuanhuang Realm, one can trick heaven’s marrow into bestowing its laws, thus appropriating strands of the world’s natural order.
However, just as human marrow also supports immunity and defense mechanisms, heaven’s marrow possesses certain countermeasures.
Thus, during the “extraction of heaven’s marrow”, cultivators must be cautious of the world’s backlash.
Only one law can be extracted at a time, and greed must be avoided.
If sacrificing heaven’s soul is the bold and open method of claiming laws, then extracting heaven’s marrow is the covert and cunning method employed when one’s strength is insufficient.
This process strengthens oneself while weakening heaven, narrowing the gap between the two.
It also prepares for the eventual Dao Integration process.
Standing at the Nascent Soul stage, Li Fan replayed the “extraction of heaven’s marrow” process in his mind, gaining deeper insights compared to when he was at the Golden Core stage.
“Truly a heavenly genius, the method of Immortal Ancestor is brilliant.”
“From mimicking heaven’s wonders and observing its laws, a mere mortal with no aptitude for cultivation is gradually integrated into the system of heaven and earth.”
“Then, by stealing heaven’s essence and marrow, one diminishes the gap between oneself and the cosmos.”
“Eventually, one sacrifices heaven’s soul to wrest power from it.”
“Finally, by defying the laws of heaven, one replaces it and attains eternal life.”
“Step by step, clear and methodical…”
“Truly ingenious and nearly impossible to guard against. No wonder even the might of heaven was brought low by these new cultivators, forced to retaliate.”
Li Fan sighed again.
As he revisited this cultivation path, a sudden realization struck him—it resembled something deeply familiar in his memories.
Yet, as he tried to dwell on it, the fleeting inspiration vanished entirely.
Even using the Dao Deviation Stone failed to recover the thought.
A feeling of loss welled up within him.
“How strange…”
Li Fan narrowed his eyes and fell into deep contemplation.
He was almost certain that this sudden insight would not have dissipated so quickly under normal circumstances.
Some force must have interfered, causing the inspiration to vanish.
“Just like what I experienced in Senior Sister Zhao’s illusion realm,” he thought.
“In that realm, whenever I tried to cultivate, the walls of the confinement room would emit distracting and mocking noises, hindering my recovery.”
“The restrictions of the Xuanhuang Realm are even subtler and harder to detect.”
“Immortal Ancestor… Is this your doing?”
Li Fan raised his head to the heavens, his expression inscrutable.