Chapter 2150: Fifteen Paths

The Dao power slowly infused, disappearing like water absorbed into soil. As it was consumed, it gradually transformed the selected Dao bone, causing a peculiar change within it.

Gradually, a faint golden light appeared on the Dao bone. As more Dao power was consumed, the golden light intensified.

Just as Lu Ye, full of anticipation, thought everything was going smoothly this time, a sudden pain surged through his body, and a clear cracking sound traveled through his bloodstream to his ears.

The selected Dao bone had shattered!

Under the impact of the uncontrolled Dao power, the entire bone turned to dust.

Enduring the pain, Lu Ye realized he had underestimated the task.

It made sense; none of the others, like Jiuyan, had succeeded in refining Dao bones without numerous failures.

According to their compiled statistics, refining Dao bones generally had only a ten percent success rate. This was for cultivators of their caliber; those with less profound foundations undoubtedly had even lower success rates.

For instance, some cultivators in the Star Abyss might only succeed once after dozens of attempts. Therefore, cultivating the Dao realm was far from simple; every increase in Dao power came at a tremendous cost.

This failure cost Lu Ye over a hundred units of Dao power, but compared to his reserve of over six thousand, this loss was manageable.

The painful spot suddenly began to tingle. Lu Ye focused his mind to observe and immediately discovered something interesting.

The bone that had turned to dust was actually re-forming.

It wasn't regeneration of broken bone, but a re-cohesion, as if time were reversing. The bone, almost pulverized, was reassembling itself and gradually becoming whole again.

Logically, a bone shattered to this extent should regenerate a new one, and Lu Ye would normally find a way to expel the fragments. This was something cultivators in the late Constellation realm could achieve, let alone his current state.

But it was clearly not regenerating.

Lu Ye was astonished; logically, this shouldn't be happening, yet it was.

Was this a change brought about by the fierce Dao fire that had previously refined his body? Lu Ye didn't know, but he was certain that if his bones had been pulverized before today, they wouldn't have re-cohered like this.

In just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the shattered bone fully recovered. Not only was there no trace of damage, but its solidity had even increased due to the previous tempering by Dao power.

The recent failure was not entirely useless!

Lu Ye quickly realized this was a good thing for him. A Dao bone that failed to refine would become tougher, which undoubtedly meant a higher success rate for the next attempt!

He immediately began refining again.

Unfortunately, despite remaining careful, he failed at the last moment this time as well.

It wasn't until the third attempt, after expending nearly five hundred units of Dao power in total, that he finally succeeded.

Upon closer inspection, the Dao bone, gleaming with golden light from the refinement, was distinctly different from his other bones.

With a thought, Lu Ye transferred some Dao power from the Talent Tree leaves onto this Dao bone, making its golden light even brighter.

Typically, Dao power for cultivators in the Dao realm was stored within their Dao bones, unlike him, who had the Talent Tree leaves for storage.

He then transferred the Dao power from the Dao bone back to the Talent Tree, with no loss or consumption during the transfer.

Lu Ye was pleased. Now that he had a true Dao bone of his own, he wondered if he would still feel pressure when wielding ten units of Dao power.

Cultivators in the Dao Initiation realm refined a second Dao bone primarily to distribute the load when wielding Dao power, and secondarily to store more Dao power. The former was the more crucial reason; thus, the more Dao bones one possessed, the more Dao power one could wield.

Lu Ye could already effortlessly wield nine units of Dao power. If he supplemented that with this new Dao bone...

Activating ten units of Dao power, Lu Ye's face lit up with joy.

Indeed, there was no pressure. He could clearly feel that this Dao bone of his seemed to have transformed into an invisible pillar, supporting his control over Dao power, completely eliminating the burden he should have felt.

But after his initial joy, he felt a bit perplexed.

Whether it was Yin Luo, Uncle Duan, or Jiuyan and the others, all evidence suggested that in the Dao Initiation realm, nine units of Dao power were the limit, and only with the aid of a spiritual artifact could one activate ten.

So, what was going on with him?

This was only his first truly refined Dao bone. If he could successfully refine this one, could he also refine a second, a third, and even a fifth Dao bone?

If he managed to refine a fifth Dao bone, wouldn't he then possess fourteen units of Dao power?

While fourteen units of Dao power were still significantly less than what cultivators in the Dao Integration realm possessed, it was far superior to that of average Dao Initiation cultivators. With almost fifty percent more Dao power, he could effortlessly defeat ordinary cultivators wielding nine units.

This contradicted his understanding.

What was the cause of this? Was it an issue with the Talent Tree, or something that occurred when he established his Dao foundation?

Lu Ye couldn't quite figure it out, and there was no one he could ask for advice.

For now, he only knew that his path in the Dao realm seemed to be slightly different from others.

With plenty of Dao power remaining, Lu Ye continued to refine Dao bones.

After several more failures, he successfully refined a second Dao bone, effortlessly wielding eleven units of Dao power.

Then came the third, fourth, and fifth Dao bones...

Lu Ye's prediction of fourteen units of Dao power had indeed been achieved!

While stunned, Lu Ye felt mostly exhilarated. In the Dao realm, the more Dao power one could wield, the stronger one became. His fourteen units of Dao power made him practically invincible below the Dao Integration realm; even against the weakest Dao Integration cultivator, he might still have a chance to survive.

It was a pity he was currently in the starry sky; if he were in the Star Abyss, Lu Ye would have liked to find some Star Abyss cultivators with nine units of Dao power to test his skills against.

Checking his own Dao power, after refining five Dao bones, his original reserve of over six thousand units had dwindled to just over two thousand.

The refinement of Dao bones became progressively more difficult, with success rates decreasing further down the line. Jiuyan and others had experienced countless failures when attempting to advance from eight to nine units of Dao power. Had it not been for Yin Luo providing so many intact Dao bones each month, it would have been impossible for them to repeatedly advance and break through during those years.

While Lu Ye's situation wasn't as severe, the general trend was similar. However, each time his chosen Dao bone shattered, it became tougher, thereby increasing the probability of success. Thus, his success rate was relatively high compared to others. Even so, refining five Dao bones consumed three to four thousand units of Dao power.

Accumulating this Dao power was no easy feat. Lu Ye had cultivated for many years in the Azure Palace, only amassing this much. Now he had spent more than half of it. However, compared to the significant increase in his strength, this expenditure was minor, as Dao power could always be accumulated again.

With five Dao bones refined, Lu Ye did not stop but chose to refine a sixth Dao bone.

He wasn't the only one to attempt this; Jiuyan and others had tried as well, but without exception, they all failed. Limited by the nine-unit cap of the Dao Initiation realm, refining a sixth Dao bone was considered entirely impossible.

Lu Ye chose to try because he had already broken free from this nine-unit restriction, so he wanted to know if he could succeed.

The first attempt, predictably, ended in failure, costing him over a hundred units of Dao power.

The second attempt also failed.

Then came the third, fourth...

It wasn't until the eighth attempt, after expending nearly a thousand units of Dao power, that the sixth Dao bone was successfully refined!

Although he had a premonition of success before the refinement, when the result actually appeared, he remained stunned for a long time before regaining his composure.

He wielded fifteen units of Dao power, his expression calm, but his eyes brimming with excitement.

The success of the sixth Dao bone not only brought him an increase in one unit of Dao power but, more importantly, an infinitely vast future. It meant he was truly unbound by the nine-unit limit and could continue to refine even more Dao bones.

A quick self-assessment revealed he had two hundred and six bones. Did this not mean that if he successfully refined all of them, he could wield over two hundred units of Dao power?

As far as he knew, even peak Dao Integration cultivators like Yin Luo only possessed about a hundred units of Dao power. However, Dao power at the Dao Integration level was more potent than at the Dao Initiation level due to certain factors, allowing the same amount of power to exert greater offense and defense.

Yet, even so, the peak for Dao Integration was a hundred units.

Beyond a hundred units lay the Dao Harmony realm.

Amidst his excitement, a bitter thought arose: refining the sixth Dao bone alone had consumed nearly a thousand units of Dao power. The further he went, the more Dao power would be required. How immense would the total cost be to refine all the bones in his body into Dao bones?

Reflecting more carefully, Lu Ye vaguely felt that this anomaly was unrelated to the Talent Tree. If there was a root cause, it should be the result of him igniting Dao fire with the power of the Three Flowers to temper his body. Although he lacked direct evidence, that was the strong feeling he had.

Cultivating the Three Flowers was inherently extremely difficult. Igniting Dao fire with such flawless, pure, and intensely condensed foundation, and transforming one's body into a furnace for refinement, was bound to produce extraordinary results.

It was a pity, though, if this was due to the Three Flowers, then his path could not be replicated.

He had always believed that cultivating the Three Flowers was not so simple. If it merely allowed a cultivator to reach the peak of a single realm, the required conditions would be too stringent. However, if all those arduous efforts led to such a result, then all his previous investment and hard work were truly worthwhile.

With his Dao power reserve now less than two thousand, Lu Ye pondered and decided against continuing to refine Dao bones.

Currently, with fifteen units of Dao power, he could even unleash sixteen under overload. He was virtually unrivaled below the Dao Integration realm, and adding one more unit wouldn't make a significant difference.

Furthermore, the Talent Tree required a reserve of Dao power. He could initially unleash Dao realm power because the Talent Tree had sufficient reserves. When his Dao power reserve exceeded two hundred units, he could activate six units of Dao power; over four hundred, seven; six hundred corresponded to eight; and nine required eight hundred. If his reserve fell below eight hundred, he wouldn't be able to unleash the strength of nine units of Dao power.

Considering the Talent Tree avatar as well, his Dao power reserve needed to be maintained at least around two thousand units for both himself and his avatar to perform at their optimal levels. Therefore, he had to conserve the remaining Dao power.