Origin Soul

While the incarnation was deep in thought, the Daoist boy finished his explanation. After answering a few of the incarnation's questions, the Daoist boy led him away from Jade Finger Peak, steering a magic tool across a broad river to a fiery-red stone hall perched atop a riverside cliff. Even before they drew near, a blast of scorching heat rushed toward them. This stone hall was actually built from an unusual stone containing the power of flame, reinforced with corresponding restrictions so that this fiery power could be preserved over the long term. Conjuring spiritual fire here was far easier, yielding twice the result with half the effort during artifact crafting. The two landed before the stone hall and did not barge straight inside. The Daoist boy shot out a strand of spiritual power, triggering the restriction on the hall's door. Before long, heavy thudding footsteps echoed from within. A burly man with bronzed skin strode out, his gaze sweeping over them before locking on. "Senior Brother Jin Yan!" The Daoist boy clasped his hands in salute. Jin Yan had originally worn an irritated scowl, appearing as though he had been disturbed while attending to an important matter. Upon seeing the Daoist boy, his expression softened only slightly, and he grunted, "So it's Junior Brother Yang! I heard you were taken in by Martial Uncle Huayang as a personal attendant—how do you still have time to run around everywhere?" The burly man's voice was so loud that the hall buzzed with reverberation, and his words were blunt. The Daoist boy seemed quite familiar with Jin Yan and took no offense, saying, "I've come this time to deliver an assistant to stoke your fires, Senior Brother." The burly man's eyes shifted as he finally glanced at the avatar. He chuckled, "Someone sent by you—what could he possibly be good for? I'll be lucky if he doesn't make a mess of things! I don't recall ever seeing this kid. When did he enter the sect?" "You are engrossed in artifact crafting, Senior Brother, so it's only natural you haven't seen him. But Zhang Yue is indeed a newly inducted disciple. I asked Senior Brother Lu to assign him under you." The Daoist boy beckoned the avatar forward. "He studied artifact crafting before entering the sect. You'll see once you test him, Senior Brother." "Oh?" The burly man sized up the avatar and said bluntly, "Then come inside and give it a try. I happen to have a batch of spiritual materials that need refining. Junior Brother Yang, let's make things clear beforehand. You know how heavy the burden on my shoulders is; I can't support slackers for your Yin-Yang lineage. Friendship is friendship, but if you send me someone who knows jack shit, I won't keep him..." "Naturally! If he were truly completely clueless, I wouldn't dare trouble you, Senior Brother Jin Yan," the Daoist boy said with confidence. Before coming here, he had questioned the avatar on artifact crafting and confirmed that his skills were solid. As they spoke, the burly man stepped aside from the entrance and invited the two inside. The air inside the stone hall was even more scorching. Following behind, the avatar entered a stone chamber. Seeing a large pile of purple ore laid out within, he put on a shocked expression and exclaimed, "So much purple wind copper ore!" This type of copper ore could be smelted into purple wind copper, which was ideal for forging metal-element magic tools. Jin Yan uttered a soft exclamation of surprise. "Recognizing purple wind copper ore at a single glance—it seems Junior Brother Yang wasn't lying to me. Go pick a chunk of ore and refine the purple wind copper from it. Let me see your skill in artifact crafting." "Yes!" Lowering his head, the avatar obediently stepped into the stone chamber, selected a medium-sized ore chunk, and walked over to the fire conduit in the center of the room. Under Jin Yan's guidance, he activated the restriction. ... Two hours later, the Daoist boy flew out of the stone hall with a smile on his face, his streak of light speeding straight toward Yin-Yang Peak. The avatar stood before the hall entrance, fiddling with the token in his hand. With his attainments in artifact crafting, displaying merely ten percent of his ability would have been enough to leave both of them astounded. Naturally, he would not be so rash; he had obediently refined a piece of pure purple wind copper, doing just enough to meet Jin Yan's standards. Upon seeing the purple wind copper he refined, Jin Yan indeed hesitated no further and readily agreed to keep him. Relieved as if having completed a task, the Daoist boy had eagerly returned to the mountain, exhorting the avatar to devote all his effort to condensing the Yin-Yang Armor and not disturb him unless it was urgent. "You already have a decent foundation in artifact crafting. Do you have any desire to dedicate yourself to this path in the future?" Jin Yan's voice sounded from behind, but then he shook his head. "Forget it, pretend I said nothing! You were brought into the sect by Martial Uncle Huayang—how could the Yin-Yang lineage allow me to squander your talent? I'm not looking to invite trouble. Come with me; I'll take you to meet a senior martial brother. From now on, he will allocate some spiritual materials to you each day. Once you finish your tasks, you are free to do as you please, and I won't interfere much!" "Thank you, Martial Uncle Jin!" the avatar dutifully thanked him. The two walked into the depths of the stone hall, turned a corner, and arrived before a stone chamber. Jin Yan handed him over to a disciple named Gao Yi before leaving on his own. "Since Master personally gave the instructions, Junior Brother Zhang, first refine this batch of red jade into round pendants. Once you're done refining them, I'll take you to choose a cave dwelling. Our cave dwellings are right on this cliff face, and quite a few are vacant." Gao Yi led the avatar to an adjoining meditation room, where some crimson jade stones were laid out. The quantity was modest; anyone else could finish in two hours, and the avatar would be even faster. Compared to what others were assigned, his duties were certainly far lighter—even Gao Yi looked somewhat envious. After seeing Gao Yi off and shutting the door, the avatar, constrained by his low cultivation, still took only an hour to complete the task. Yet he was in no hurry to leave. Though scorching, the stone hall had quite rich spiritual energy, so he sat cross-legged in the stone room and decided to try condensing the Yin-Yang Armor here. Condensing the Yin-Yang Armor first required the ability to sense and condense the twin qi of yin and yang from the chaotic spiritual energy of the void. This posed no challenge to the incarnation; his true body possessed Core Formation stage cultivation and was already thoroughly familiar with all manner of condensing methods. His fingers formed an incantation gesture, and the surrounding spiritual energy suddenly surged, gathering toward him. Immediately following, a funnel-shaped vortex formed out of nowhere above his head, spinning rapidly and accelerating with every moment. Right then, an unexpected change occurred—with a pop, the vortex burst apart. A streak of light shot out from the avatar's sea of qi, effortlessly suppressing the turbulent spiritual energy; it was the Heavenly Eye Butterfly secretly lending a hand. The avatar gave a wry inner smile. *The cultivation of this body is too weak. It seems achieving this in a single step is impossible; I can only take it slow...* Regulating his breathing briefly, he began activating the incantation once more, though this time his movements were much gentler. *Thud! Thud!* "Junior Brother Zhang..." A knock sounded on the stone room's door. The avatar awoke from his meditation and, hearing Gao Yi's voice, hastily ceased the incantation. Checking the time, four hours had already passed. The avatar spread open his palm. Two wisps of qi, one black and one white, rested in his hand, swimming with extraordinary agility like tiny fish. "Even with me cultivating it personally, it took four whole hours just to condense this tiny wisp. For genuine new disciples lacking talent, even getting started would be difficult, let alone cultivating this technique. It truly lives up to its name as a Daoist secret art..." The avatar murmured to himself. Suddenly, he clenched his palm, and the yin-yang qi whooshed into his body. Under his deliberate guidance, it swam swiftly upward along his meridians, entering his purple mansion in the blink of an eye.