Cyclebreaker: Rise of the Martial Emperor

Chapter 74 – Yin Stone

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Martial artists in the Qi Sea Realm cannot yet open their soul consciousness. Only when one's cultivation reaches the Innate Realm and becomes a Martial Master can they possess the power of soul perception, also known as divine sense.

If one reaches the Spirit Refining Martial Sect level, the soul can condense into a primordial spirit, making the divine sense even more powerful.

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The so-called soul possession involves infiltrating the opponent's sea of consciousness with soul power, devouring their soul, and thus taking over their body.

So when Su Jingyun's soul power surged into Luo Xiu's sea of consciousness, his consciousness was forcibly drawn into his own sea of consciousness.

Luo Xiu's soul had already merged with the Life and Death Pearl, and in the gray, misty space of his sea of consciousness, a black and white pearl hovered.

"What is this thing?"

Su Jingyun's soul power transformed into a humanoid shadow, appearing in Luo Xiu's sea of consciousness.

He saw the Life and Death Pearl within Luo Xiu's sea of consciousness, as if he could sense the mysteries of life and death's origin from it.

Su Jingyun himself was a Martial Lord expert who cultivated the power of death. Upon seeing the Life and Death Pearl, he immediately knew it was an extraordinary treasure. If he could obtain it, his future achievements would be limitless.

"Haha, the heavens have not treated me poorly, granting me such an opportunity!"

Su Jingyun laughed heartily, reaching out towards the Life and Death Pearl. He had already discovered that this Qi Sea martial artist's soul had merged with the pearl. As long as he refined this pearl, he could not only obtain the treasure but also refine the opponent's soul and possess a body.

However, at that moment, an ancient and desolate aura emanated from the Life and Death Pearl. Before Su Jingyun's hand could touch the pearl, it disintegrated inch by inch, shattering and dissipating.

Immediately after, a devouring force spread from the Life and Death Pearl, directly pulling Su Jingyun's primordial spirit over and absorbing it into the pearl.

Luo Xiu was dumbfounded, and in the next moment, his consciousness had already entered the world within the Life and Death Pearl.

Above him was an endless cosmic galaxy, with each point of light resembling a star, representing the life traces of a being in this universe.

The ancient cycle of reincarnation hung in the air, eternal and unchanging.

No matter how many successors the Life and Death Pearl experienced, only this cycle of life and death remained unchanged.

"Weak successor..."

The voice of the Spirit of Reincarnation echoed, as if reverberating in this vast cosmic starry sky.

The last time he came here, Luo Xiu received the nine Origin Law Diagrams of the Heaven's Life and Death Cycle and the cultivation method of the Swift Sword Art. The former was something every successor of the life and death origin could obtain, while the latter was a gift of origin law he received upon breaking through the Qi Sea Realm.

The Spirit of Reincarnation had said that only when his cultivation broke through the Qi Sea and reached the Innate Realm would he come here again to receive another gift of the origin law.

Yet, he had not reached the Innate Realm and had come here again.

The last time, it was because his life was threatened. This time, it was because he was nearly possessed.

"Weak successor, you should be grateful that the one trying to possess you was merely a small Martial Lord, and only a remnant of a primordial spirit at that," the voice of the Spirit of Reincarnation said without any emotional fluctuation.

"If it were a strong expert at the Martial Emperor level trying to possess you, you might already be dead, and the life and death origin cycle would have chosen a new successor."

"Protected by the life and death origin law, during your first life-threatening encounter and your first possession attempt, I can only help you once, following the will of the origin law. I hope you take care of yourself, weak successor..."

The Spirit of Reincarnation did not give Luo Xiu a chance to speak. As soon as it finished speaking, a dizzying sensation emerged, and Luo Xiu's consciousness was pulled out, returning to his body.

When Luo Xiu opened his eyes, he saw Lu Mengyao looking at him with a worried expression.

Thinking about the experience of nearly being possessed, he still felt a lingering fear.

Ultimately, it was because his strength was too weak. Without the Life and Death Pearl, he, a mere Qi Sea martial artist, would have surely been successfully possessed by Su Jingyun.

A pure soul force emanated from the Life and Death Pearl, which Luo Xiu's soul instinctively absorbed. He knew this was the soul power contained in the remnant primordial spirit of Su Jingyun.

As for the consciousness contained within Su Jingyun's primordial spirit, it was directly obliterated by the origin law within the Life and Death Pearl.

In a way, Su Jingyun was unlucky. The Spirit of Reincarnation, following the will of the origin law, would only protect the successor during the first possession attempt, and Su Jingyun happened to be the first, sealing his fate.

Moments later, after absorbing this soul power, Luo Xiu was pleasantly surprised to find that he could vaguely sense things within a range of over a hundred meters without using his eyes.

"This is... soul perception?" Luo Xiu was both surprised and delighted. As far as he knew, only Martial Masters who had reached the Innate Realm possessed this ability of soul perception.

And some weaker Innate Martial Masters didn't even have this ability.

Yet, he, a Qi Sea Realm, Sixth Layer martial artist, already possessed this capability.

Although Su Jingyun was dead, the death aura lingering in the cave ahead had not dissipated.

"You wait here."

The death aura in the valley had been completely absorbed and refined by Luo Xiu, so he planned to explore the cave.

The cave was filled with death aura, which Lu Mengyao couldn't resist, so he simply let her wait outside.

"Be careful," Lu Mengyao nodded. She didn't know what Luo Xiu had just done, but she could sense that he had done something remarkable, making her feel she understood him less and less. It seemed this fourteen-year-old boy was full of mystery.

She knew Luo Xiu must have some secret, otherwise, it was inexplicable how his cultivation and strength had improved so rapidly in less than a year.

The cave was cold and damp, and the deeper he went, the more intense and pure the death aura became.

Suddenly, Luo Xiu felt a sharp pain in his foot. Looking closely, he saw a fingernail-sized fragment. It was this fragment that had pierced his foot.

The fragment's material was special, and as he ventured further, he found over a dozen similar fragments. If these fragments were assembled, they should form an Earth-Grade War Armament.

Luo Xiu speculated that this war armament was likely the weapon Su Jingyun used in life. It was unknown what kind of opponent he encountered, not only shattering the war armament but also obliterating his physical body, leaving only a remnant primordial spirit struggling to survive.

After a while, Luo Xiu reached the deepest part of the cave, following the source of the death aura. There, he saw a black stone the size of a fist.

Beside this black stone was a tattered skeleton, with a storage ring on its left hand and some fragments of war armament or armor on the ground.

This skeleton should be the remains of Su Jingyun, the Martial Lord expert.

Luo Xiu cautiously approached, ensuring there was no danger, before reaching out to grab the black stone.

As soon as he grasped the black stone, a chilling aura surged into his body, making him feel his body suddenly become numb and stiff.

"It's actually a Yin Stone. Weak successor, your luck is not bad," the voice of the Spirit of Reincarnation suddenly appeared in Luo Xiu's mind.

The Spirit of Reincarnation usually ignored him, but its sudden voice now indicated that this Yin Stone was something extraordinary.

"The Yin Stone contains yin energy, a type of death power. Absorbing and refining it can significantly enhance your cultivation."

"Are there many types of death power?" Luo Xiu couldn't help but ask.

"That's both correct and incorrect. Pure life power or death power already belongs to the realm of laws, and beneath the laws, there are many types of power with death attributes."

"For example, within yin and yang, the yin attribute contains death energy, while the yang attribute contains life energy. Even when elevated to the level of laws, the laws of life and death still surpass the laws of yin and yang."

"The quality of this Yin Stone is average, but for you, a Qi Sea martial artist, it's more than enough."

Luo Xiu didn't fully understand what the Spirit of Reincarnation was saying, but he knew that this Yin Stone would greatly enhance his cultivation.

He immediately put away the Yin Stone, then removed the ring from Su Jingyun's skeletal left hand. Inside, there were tens of thousands of Mid-Grade Yuan Qi Stones and several hundred High-Grade Yuan Qi Stones.

Additionally, there were two jade slips that made Luo Xiu's eyes light up.

As far as he knew, jade slips were only inscribed with divine sense by experts above the Spirit Refining Martial Sect level, and one needed to reach the Innate Realm and possess soul perception to explore the contents of jade slips.

Thus, truly advanced items were usually recorded in jade slips, and anything qualified to be recorded in jade slips was said to be at least of the seventh-grade martial arts level!

Apart from the Yuan Qi Stones and the two jade slips, the storage ring contained no war armaments, pills, or formation treasures.

Since Luo Xiu could now release soul perception, he took out the two jade slips, attached his perception to them, and the information recorded within flowed into his mind.

One jade slip contained formations, with the highest level reaching the standard of a sixth-level Formation Master.

This indicated that the deceased Su Jingyun was not only a Martial Lord expert but also a sixth-level Formation Master!

The other jade slip contained a seventh-grade martial art, the Netherworld Mysterious Luo Technique.

It also included martial techniques and movement techniques that complemented the Netherworld Mysterious Luo Technique.

Luo Xiu had heard that a martial art with a complete set of cultivation methods, martial techniques, and movement techniques was considered a complete martial art.

In contrast, martial arts with separate martial techniques, movement techniques, and cultivation methods, like those of the Martial Hall and Free Spirit Sect, were not considered complete.

Luo Xiu's Heaven's Life and Death Cycle was a complete martial art, but whether it was the cultivation method, martial techniques, or movement techniques, he had to comprehend them himself from the nine Origin Law Diagrams.

After putting these items away, Luo Xiu carefully searched again and, finding no other valuable treasures, exited the cave.

With the Yin Stone stored away, the chilling aura no longer permeated the air.

Seeing Luo Xiu emerge from the cave, Lu Mengyao didn't know what had happened inside, but since Luo Xiu didn't mention it, she refrained from asking.

According to the jade slip's records, this valley was shrouded by a sixth-level trapping formation set up by Su Jingyun, with the valley's entrance as the formation gate, allowing entry but not exit.

To break this sixth-level trapping formation, there were two methods: forcefully breaking the formation or finding the location of the formation gate.

However, to forcibly break a sixth-level trapping formation, one would need at least the strength of a Martial Lord.

"We need to break the formation in this valley to leave."

After informing Lu Mengyao, Luo Xiu began studying the jade slip containing formation knowledge.

Having previously studied the basic formations obtained from Zhang Haifei, he had theoretically reached the level of a third-level Formation Master. Thus, although the formation concepts in the jade slip were complex and obscure, Luo Xiu could understand them.

During his study of formations, the first Origin Law Diagram of the Heaven's Life and Death Cycle would appear in his mind, and the strange patterns and runes seemed to come alive, arranging and combining in various ways.

Unknowingly, ten days passed, and Luo Xiu slowly opened his eyes.

In the past, he viewed the Origin Law Diagrams as incomprehensible, unable to decipher the meaning of the patterns and runes.

It wasn't until he obtained the basic formations from Zhang Haifei's ring and used the way of formations to cross-verify that he understood many things he hadn't before.

Progressing from shallow to deep, step by step, he finally gained significant insight into the first Origin Law Diagram, and his formation skills theoretically reached the level of a fifth-level Formation Master.

The reason it's theoretical is that Luo Xiu's cultivation is too low. Even with materials and formation flags, he couldn't set up a fifth-level formation or create fifth-level formation treasures.

Not to mention fifth-level, with his current cultivation, he could at most set up third-level formations.

However, with his current formation skills, leaving this trapping formation was no longer a problem.