novelraw Chapter 608: Yuan (Part 2)
Chapter 608: Yuan (Part 2)
The beginning of all things is difficult, and the hardest step in returning the yuan of a Jiazi is to produce the first strand of yuan magic power.
Once the first strand of yuan magic power is obtained, it can lead to one, two, three, and then countless others.
With a flick of Ning Fan’s sleeve, a mountain of Dao Crystals suddenly appeared atop the peak.
He bent his palm to summon a Dao Crystal, holding it in his hand and carefully sensing the vast flow of Heaven and Earth Origin Qi within it.
To cultivators before the Return to Origin, immortal jade and Dao Crystals had only simple uses: as currency, for setting up arrays, refining tools, etc.
For cultivators after the Return to Origin, mana after returning becomes absorbing the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi within the immortal jade and Dao Crystals to restore mana, and even to enhance their cultivation levels.
One Dao Crystal is equivalent to five million immortal jade, the contained origin power is quite astonishing.
After reaching the Void Fragmentation stage, the main way to enhance cultivation is gradually no longer through consuming expensive pills, but by absorbing the origin power of Dao Crystals.
"Yuan magic power..."
Closing his eyes, Ning Fan slowly absorbed the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi within the Dao Crystal.
As the origin power was absorbed, the glittering luster of the Dao Crystal gradually dimmed, and it dried up and shattered once the origin power was completely exhausted.
Absorbing the origin power within the Dao Crystal, Ning Fan allowed the origin power to merge with the mana within his body.
Gradually, the strands of Jiazi mana within Ning Fan’s immortal veins began to transform.
Like an ocean steaming away, leaving behind countless sea salts at the bottom.
Like fog transforming into water, and water condensing into ice.
Like sand settling into soil, and soil piling up into mountains.
Like a seed taking root and sprouting, growing into a towering ancient tree, blooming and bearing fruit.
It was an inscrutable feeling, as if the thousand Jiazi of mana were disordered threads, gradually twisted into an extremely fine rope.
That rope was the yuan magic power!
But in the instant when this strand of yuan magic power was about to form, it suddenly dispersed and reverted to Jiazi mana.
Failed.
"The first strand of yuan magic power is indeed the hardest to form..."
Not showing the slightest hint of dejection, Ning Fan calmed himself, summoned another Dao Crystal, and attempted to return to origin again.
Failing time and again, trying time and time again.
As time passed, Ning Fan remained in the seventh level of the tower for another ten years.
Over ten years, he attempted to return to origin twenty thousand times, consumed twenty thousand Dao Crystals, and finally cultivated the first strand of yuan magic power.
The moment when the thousand Jiazi mana transformed into yuan magic power, Ning Fan’s demeanour changed significantly.
He still looked like a youth, but his aura carried a faint sense of ancient vicissitude.
He opened his palm, and a white mist emerged from his palm, transforming into a drop of rain.
This drop of rain was the form of one yuan of yuan magic power.
Using the Return to Origin Formula of the rain ancestors, the power naturally followed the Rain World and became rain.
Within this drop of rain was Ning Fan’s lifetime understanding of rain, and his Dao Enlightenment.
Gazing at the raindrop in his palm, Ning Fan suddenly experienced enlightenment, understanding the true meaning of Jiazi returning to origin.
Those with Jiazi mana are human.
Those with yuan magic power are Immortals.
When cultivating Jiazi mana, cultivators cultivate their mana.
When cultivating yuan magic power, cultivators not only cultivate mana, but more importantly, they cultivate their own Dao.
Mortals cultivate techniques, Immortals cultivate Dao; Dao comes from techniques, and techniques are performed within Dao...
Sighing, Ning Fan dispersed the rain in his palm, which was his first yuan magic power condensed from ten years of diligent effort.
"Rain is the Dao of the rain ancestors, but it is not my Dao. My Dao is not rain...I can certainly utilize the Return to Origin Formula of the rain ancestors to return the Jiazi, but the mana returned diverges from my Dao...Rain is not suitable."
"My Dao is the butterfly, that indomitable obsession."
"The so-called Return to Origin is to integrate Dao into mana with the power of Dao Crystals, so this is the essence of returning to origin."
With a bend of his palm, Ning Fan summoned another Dao Crystal and absorbed and refined it.
This time, he slightly modified the Return to Origin Formula of the rain ancestors, retaining the characteristic of three forces merging into one but incorporating his own Dao into it.
In the blink of an eye, another ten years passed.
After spending twenty thousand Dao Crystals, Ning Fan successfully returned to origin again, cultivating the first strand of yuan magic power.
Opening his palm, the form of the mana returned this time was a black butterfly.
Black, symbolizing his persistent thoughts!
"Still lacking a bit..."
Ning Fan once again dispersed the black butterfly, and once again started from zero, returning to origin from the beginning.
One year, two years, three years...another ten years passed, and Ning Fan cultivated yuan magic power for the third time.
Opening his palm, the form of mana cultivated this time was still a black butterfly, but with a thought from Ning Fan, the black butterfly turned into a white butterfly. Another thought, and the butterfly became half black and half white...
Black, symbolizing his persistent thoughts.
White, symbolizing his irreplaceable gentleness.
Though delving into the path of evil cultivators, he was not purely demonic. He was not purely a demoness, not purely a sword cultivator, not purely an alchemist, not someone who could be easily defined.
He was Ning Fan!
If he lost the white, then the black he became would be meaningless.
If he lost the black, he would lose the means to protect the white.
"I am who I am, one yin, one yang, neither righteous nor evil, this is my Dao."
"The first thread of yuan magic power is complete, the rest will be easy now, refine!"
Ning Fan waved his sleeve, summoning several Dao Crystals, and absorbed them simultaneously.
Day by day passed, more and more magic power transformed into yuan magic power, and the aura around Ning Fan grew increasingly profound and ancient.
Nearly 1.25 billion units of magic power finally transformed into 57,870 units of yuan magic power.
The quantity reduced, but the quality had terrifyingly improved.
Merely by returning his magic power, Ning Fan’s combat power increased by at least fifty percent.
Before him were still 170,000 to 180,000 Dao Crystals.
Now that he has succeeded in the Return to Origin, although he hasn’t reached Void Fragmentation, he can manage to absorb the power of Dao Crystals to enhance his yuan magic power.
An ordinary Return to Origin or Void Fragmentation cultivator can increase one yuan magic power by devouring ten Dao Crystals.
An ordinary First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm cultivator has magic power between 50,000 to 100,000 yuan.
Ning Fan devoured all the Dao Crystals, using the divine skills of the Divine Aperture of the Fiendgods, doubling the usual enhancement in magic power.
Forty years passed in a blur. After refining all the Dao Crystals, Ning Fan’s magic power reached 75,500 yuan.
His magic power at this point was much higher than an ordinary ancient monster in the First Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm.
Ning Fan internally examined his own condition to slightly sense his current state.
At this moment, although he hasn’t entered Void Fragmentation, within the Return to Origin Realm, no one could compare to his magic power.
Though he was still a Return to Origin Cultivator, he was stronger than average ancient monsters in the Fracture First Realm.
Ning Fan thought to himself, now, if he faced the seventh prince of the Rain Palace, Yun Jinghong, in the Fracture First Realm, even without using his ultimate divine skills, he had a high chance of winning directly.
And if he entered the Void Fragmentation Realm, he might be invincible in the Fracture First Realm as soon as he stepped in!
"Achieving Return to Origin is done, now all I lack is the Void Fragmentation. From the literal sense, it implies that cultivators must shatter the void. The term ’void’ does not refer to an external void but rather the false and unclear Dao within the cultivator’s heart; only by clearing away this confusion can one achieve Void Fragmentation."
Ning Fan thoroughly succeeded in the Return to Origin; he closed his eyes, adjusting his yuan magic power, while reflecting on the path he has traveled.
The past in Wu Country, the reminiscence in Yue Country, the slaughter in the Endless Sea... scene by scene gathered in his heart. When looking back at past events, that path he trod was his Dao.
However, on this path, there still remained unfulfilled regrets and confusion.
Starting from Wu Country, cultivating in Yue Country, walking step by step, the path he walked transformed into a circle.
Vein Opening Realm, Divine Transformation Realm, Harmonious Spirit Realm, Nascent Soul Realm, Divinity Transformation Realm, Void Refinement... step by step cultivation, each endeavor was to complete this Dao circle.
And Void Fragmentation is to break this Dao circle, to transcend above it.
As of now, Ning Fan had traversed all the realms before Void Fragmentation but had not made that circle complete.
There was still a crack on that circle, only by filling this crack could the circle be broken.
In the past, the Mu Weiliang of a past life and the paper crane in the present were once confusions in Ning Fan’s heart; however, since he found Weiliang’s three souls and seven spirits, the confusion evolved into a firm belief in reviving Weiliang.
Previously, the high and mighty figure of the Moksha Emperor was once a confusion in Ning Fan’s heart, but now as Ning Fan steps to the peak of the first step of cultivation with strength to battle the Moksha Emperor equally, that confusion is no longer a concern.
The final confusion in his heart is the failure to reunite with his parents and fulfill his filial duties.
"In one aspect, I have always been inferior to Tang Yuan... Tang Yuan is a ’human,’ yet I have not become a complete ’human.’ My Dao is not perfect, hence I cannot break it..."
"Now, with my magic power, I am fully capable of breaking through Void Fragmentation and more, but the reason I haven’t is due to the unresolved final regret in my heart."
"Once this regret is erased, the Dao circle can be complete, and Void Fragmentation will be within reach..."
On the seventh floor of the tower, Ning Fan cultivated arduously for 170 years, finally achieving Return to Origin, and has seen the path to break through Void Fragmentation.
He spent several months stabilizing the Return to Origin Realm and began to work on reaching the First Grade Rain Intent.
Ning Fan tapped his storage pouch, took out the fruit transformed from the Ancestral Bamboo Tree Spirit, and swallowed it, starting the refining process.
This one fruit could equal a thousand Tree Ancestor Fruits, completely sufficient for Ning Fan to break through to the First Grade in Rain Intent!
Rain Intent increased bit by bit, a faint azure glow of rain intent circulated around Ning Fan’s body.
From third-grade, to second-grade, and then to first-grade...
When Rain Intent broke through the First Grade, Ning Fan’s physical body suddenly dispersed, transforming into countless drizzles!
First Grade Rain Intent can even turn one’s body into rain!
Anyone capable of cultivating Rain Intent to the First Grade does not exist in the Rain Immortal World, nor in the nine worlds.
Above the four heavens, there might be some, but absolutely not many, and each person with a First Grade Rain Intent is at least an Immortal!
The light rain re-condensed into a white-robed young man, who was Ning Fan himself.
Ning Fan clenched his fist, with his current magic power and Rain Intent, if he used Heaven Prying Rain, he surely could extend his spirit sense across the whole Middle State to find his mother and resolve his final regret!
After devouring the Fruit of the Tree Spirit, Ning Fan tapped his storage pouch and successively took out the Ancestral Bamboo of Bamboo Hall and Ancestral Vine of Vine Palace.
Both items were supreme treasures of the Wood Element; if he devoured these two, Ning Fan’s Wood Element Physique of Minor Five Elements Body would certainly improve greatly.
"Silly brother, these Ancestral Bamboo and Ancestral Vine are priceless Wood Element treasures; if you devour them, your Minor Wood Element might just reach perfection." In his mind, came Luo You’s teasing voice.
"Hopefully so."
Ning Fan transformed, using the Clone Technique, morphing into a green bug, attaching to the Ancestral Bamboo and began to devour it bit by bit.
The green bug form of his clone was a secret technique he found from countless ones in the Vine Palace. Transforming into this form would greatly increase the efficiency of devouring wood-based spiritual items.
The Wood Element Physique progressed step by step, gradually approaching completion.
Completion progress, 2%, 3%, 4%...
Ning Fan’s Minor Five Elements Body advanced bit by bit, and his Body Refinement realm incrementally advanced.
The Ancient Chaos Grand Emperor’s cultivation level at the Late Reckless Devil Realm steadily advanced towards the Peak Reckless Devil Realm. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)