Chapter 2146: Soul Energy Infusion

Winds Stir the Nine Provinces

The cultivation of the Three Flowers is an ancient method. Changes in the vast celestial environment have long rendered this cultivation method obsolete; one could say it's a practice that no longer aligns with the times or current trends.

Nevertheless, it's undeniable that the Three Flowers allow a cultivator to fully tap into their innate potential. This holds immense significance for achieving the Dao Realm in the future, as the amount of Dao power a cultivator can wield is directly related to their inherent foundation.

However, Lu Ye vaguely felt that the secret of the Three Flowers was not so simple.

Years ago, after returning from the Star Abyss and before heading to the Insect Emperor Realm, he had consulted Elder Tree about this very issue.

Unfortunately, even Elder Tree only knew that cultivating the Three Flowers greatly benefited cultivators, but the specific advantages remained unclear.

This was because, throughout the entire star-spanning realm, from ancient times until now, no cultivator had ever achieved all three Flowers. Even the ancient cultivators only managed to cultivate one or two of them.

Similar to the barbarians in the Ancient Barbarian Realm today.

Although the barbarians also followed the path of ancient cultivation methods, they likewise could not achieve perfection in the Three Flowers.

Lu Ye pondered carefully, realizing that neither his Body Flower nor his Qi Flower could be condensed by an ordinary person.

His successful condensation was entirely thanks to the Talent Tree. Because of the Talent Tree, both his physical body and his magical power were pure and flawless, entirely free of impurities—this was the most fundamental requirement.

For other cultivators, achieving such a requirement was exceedingly difficult.

Not to mention, condensing the Qi Flower also required elevating the Origin of Law to perfection, which in particular demanded an enormous amount of resources.

He had been stumped by this problem for quite some time back then.

From this, it was clear that the birth of the Spirit Flower would also be no easy feat. But even if the path ahead was arduous, he was determined to continue; he wanted to know what changes would occur within him once all three Flowers were gathered.

The opening of the Star Abyss Gate near the Lan Yun Realm made the entire star-spanning realm realize that the source of danger might not be limited to the few vulnerabilities where deployments had already been made, but perhaps other locations as well.

Fortunately, Elder Tree had long prepared for this. Patrol teams were dispatched and spread throughout all galaxies in the entire star-spanning realm. These patrol teams had only one mission: to repeatedly inspect a specific area and report any anomalies immediately.

Additionally, at regular intervals, they would establish directed contact with a central hub within their respective galaxy.

This way, if another unforeseen Star Abyss Gate were to open, the star-spanning realm could react swiftly.

Nearly a year and a half after the Star Abyss Gate opened in the Myriad Manifestation Sea, the first Dao Realm cultivator was born, apart from Lu Ye and the cultivators who had rushed back from the Star Abyss. She was a Stone Race member from the Five-Colored Domain.

This female Stone Race member, named Leng Bi, in terms of seniority, was even Heavy Mountain's grandmother. Her cultivation had long reached the peak of the Sun Exposure Realm. Before this, she had not been widely known, having continuously cultivated in seclusion within the Five-Colored Domain.

In fact, given her foundation, if the conditions had been suitable, it wouldn't have taken her this long at all.

However, because the Star Abyss aura was thin during the initial phase of the Star Abyss invasion, it took her a full year and a half.

This was a good start.

In the following few years, in both the Myriad Manifestation Sea and the Illusory Demise Galaxy, many more Dao Realm cultivators were successively born. A portion of these individuals remained to assist in defense and accumulate their own Dao power. Given the current situation, accumulating Dao power and refining Dao bones solely through cultivation was too slow; one had to hunt Star Abyss cultivators.

The other portion went to the Star Abyss Gate near the Lan Yun Realm. With such a division of labor, as long as they were careful enough, they made gains almost every day.

Several more years passed in a blink. In the star-spanning realm, only these few Star Abyss Gates remained open, with no activity at the others.

However, the Dao Realm cultivators responsible for guarding them dared not relax for a single day, as no one could say when a Star Abyss Gate might suddenly burst open.

Inside the Soul Nurturing Lotus, within the boundless ocean of soul energy, waves surged tempestuously. Each rolling wave was an incredibly powerful soul force impact; even a soul body at the peak of Sun Exposure might not be able to withstand it.

Not only that, but there were also fierce winds and torrential rain. The unrestrained sweep of soul energy winds was enough to instantly shatter the soul of an ordinary Sun Exposure cultivator, and the falling soul rain could easily pierce through the soul defenses of an average cultivator.

In such a terrifying environment, a monstrously shaped battleship cut through the waves.

As a wave crashed down, the battleship was engulfed, but immediately reappeared.

On the deck, Lu Ye stood firm, unmoving. Figures busily moved about, maintaining the battleship's defenses, resisting the incoming storm, and activating the battleship's offensive formations, instantly killing the ferocious beasts that suddenly emerged from the sea.

Some of these oddly shaped ferocious beasts Lu Ye had never even seen before, unable to name them at all. They were all clearly formed from condensed soul energy, practically soul beasts.

With another violent impact, the battleship's defenses shattered with a crash. Lu Ye's expression turned grave.

A gigantic wave struck, tearing the battleship apart. Lu Ye felt immense pain throughout his body, an intense sensation as if his soul were being ripped asunder. He almost lost consciousness entirely.

At this moment, the harsh environment suddenly vanished without a trace. The Sea of Souls became calm and tranquil.

When Lu Ye regained his senses, he was already on the nine-colored island. His body was enveloped in radiant light, feeling warm and comforting. The pain from his soul being torn was also rapidly diminishing.

He slowly sat up, gently shaking his head. "Still not good enough!" he murmured.

It had been more than eight years since he entered the Soul Nurturing Lotus.

In fact, two years prior, he had felt that he had refined his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art to perfection. Both his magical power and soul met the requirements, which undoubtedly meant he had reached the peak of the Sun Exposure Realm and was qualified to forge his Dao Foundation.

The environment within the Soul Nurturing Lotus was exceptionally suitable for cultivating the Soul-Suppressing Secret Art. Relentless and tireless refinement allowed him, in just a few short years, to achieve what other Sun Exposure cultivators would take hundreds or even thousands of years to accomplish.

When his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art reached perfection, he prepared to leave.

However, he never expected that the Soul Nurturing Lotus wouldn't let him go!

Not only did it not let him leave, but it also suddenly manifested a natural disaster to attack his soul body. Lu Ye had no idea what was happening, but since he was under attack, he naturally had to resist.

He immediately employed his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art to confront the natural disaster, but he was utterly defeated. Not only was his soul heavily damaged, but even his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art was battered to tatters.

Severe soul damage was no minor matter. Such injuries could not be recuperated by ordinary means. Outside, one could only slowly repair them using a large quantity of spirit pills, and to recover, it would take at least several years.

But here, under the enveloping glow of the nine-colored island, it didn't take long for Lu Ye to regain his full vitality.

He then began to repair his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art. It was only through this repair that he discovered that his perceived perfection had been nothing but an illusion.

After his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art was broken, it clearly had many flaws.

Moreover, after his soul body recovered from its severe injuries, Lu Ye felt that his soul body had become even more resilient.

This made him understand that the Soul Nurturing Lotus was not making things difficult for him, but rather indirectly helping him.

Over these past two years, Lu Ye went through a cycle of recovery and severe injury again and again. Each time, he made progress. The most direct manifestation was that under the terrifying natural disaster, he could endure for progressively longer periods, which meant the flaws in his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art were diminishing.

Furthermore, his soul body became increasingly resilient.

Such visible growth filled him with joy. He completely forgot about external matters, knowing that if he missed this opportunity, he might never again find such a cultivation environment specifically for the soul.

Once his soul body recovered, Lu Ye began repairing his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art.

Immediately, he once again piloted the battleship into the Sea of Souls. The next moment, the calm Sea of Souls became tempestuous.

Three more years passed.

Amidst a natural disaster more violent than ever before, Lu Ye stood on the battleship's deck, shouting loudly: "Attack from the left! Prepare to defend!"

"Yes!" came an immediate reply from one of the crew members.

These crew members were manifestations of the imprints left by the actual crew members from the ghost ship back then. Lu Ye had manifested them using his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art. After years of repeated destruction and re-establishment through repair, each crew member appeared incredibly lifelike, indistinguishable from a living person.

But no matter how lifelike they seemed, they were merely imprints, without their own independent thoughts.

The current responses were entirely Lu Ye's own self-dialogue. On this Soul-Suppressing Secret Art battleship, every crew member was a soul clone of his, much more perfect in various details compared to before.

Primarily, after so many years of cultivation with no one to communicate with, it had become a bit too boring. Lu Ye was merely using this method to alleviate his loneliness.

The battleship hummed. A massive pillar of light blasted forth, instantly pulverizing the attacking fierce beasts before they even drew near.

But the danger was far from over.

On the battleship, shouts and commands were issued, ramming through the boundless Sea of Souls. While confronting the natural disaster, they also fended off attacks from all directions by ferocious beasts.

He didn't know how much time had passed. Lu Ye only knew this was the longest he had ever persevered, and the number of beasts he had killed was countless.

At a certain moment, the clamorous and fierce battle suddenly quieted.

The ferocious natural disaster also dissipated.

Lu Ye was slightly startled, and then realized he had won!

In the five years since he had mistakenly believed his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art was perfected, he had fought hundreds, even thousands, of battles on this Sea of Souls. Every single time had ended in failure, until today, when he finally persevered.

So, what now that he had won?

As Lu Ye pondered this, a nine-colored radiance suddenly descended from the sky, pouring directly onto his head.

Lu Ye's body trembled. He felt that as the radiant light descended, a vast and pure soul energy surged into his soul body, allowing his spirit to grow at an astonishing speed.

"So that's it!" He suddenly had an epiphany, finally understanding why the Soul Nurturing Lotus had continuously manifested natural disasters to test him.

It wasn't merely helping him perfect his Soul-Suppressing Secret Art, but also enhancing the resilience of his soul body.

Only with a sufficiently resilient soul body could he withstand the soul energy anointing he was receiving now. If it had been five years ago, he wouldn't have been able to endure such a soul energy anointing at all. But now, he possessed that qualification.