Chapter 2697: Dao Meaning

Lu Ye flashed into the pit, his voice reaching Eight-Tails' ears: "Help me expel all the cultivators on this floor!"

"What exactly are you going to do?" Eight-Tails asked, completely bewildered.

"Cultivate!"

"Cultivate?" Eight-Tails was even more confused. At a time like this, what was there to cultivate? And he had specifically come all the way to the tenth floor.

The time flow rate here was only ten times that of the outside world, and relatively speaking, the concentration of Star Abyss aura was also poorer than on the floors above.

Standing rooted to the spot, Eight-Tails' expression shifted. Gritting her teeth, she felt that Lu Ye might truly be the death of her this time!

If she had known this, she would have parted ways with Lu Ye long ago.

However, by this point, she had no chance to do so even if she wanted to.

As her thoughts churned, Lu Ye had already set up a simple formation to conceal his location.

Eight-Tails gritted her teeth and activated her Harmonization realm power, sweeping around to expel the Dao Melting cultivators who were still on this floor.

With her strength, accomplishing this was quite simple. The Dao Melting cultivators on this floor were not highly cultivated; upon feeling the Harmonization realm power, how could they dare to stay?

They scattered and fled in all directions; most went to lower floors, while a few moved to upper ones.

Eight-Tails busied herself for a while, but instead of returning to Lu Ye, she remained at the entrance to the ninth floor. She secretly decided that if the situation went awry, she would immediately escape into the ninth floor.

After all, those people were looking for Lu Ye. As long as Lu Ye was eliminated, she, an outsider, should not be too implicated.

Inside the pit, Lu Ye composed himself and focused.

Given his current situation, his Dao Melting cultivation was becoming insufficient, leaving him with only one path forward:

Advance to the Harmonization realm!

He had been preparing for this for many years, and his own accumulation had long reached its limit. The only reason he hadn't advanced was that he was waiting for Liao to break through.

Liao's breakthrough came at an inconvenient time, just before entering the Tower of Time.

He had been delayed for several decades in the Ancestral Abyss.

Therefore, for him, a breakthrough was possible at any time.

His original plan was to advance to the Harmonization realm after this stint in the Tower of Time. With the current pressing situation, advancing a little earlier or later made no significant difference.

The reason he fled all the way to the tenth floor was simply to buy himself more time.

The frenzy of earning Star Abyss coins during his Dao Melting stage had already concluded, so advancing now wouldn't result in too great a loss.

For cultivators, every major realm advancement along their path of cultivation represented a significant hurdle.

Emerging from the Starry Sky, merging one's cultivation to transform personal strength into Dao power, and thus entering the Dao Realm—countless geniuses across the vast starry heavens had fallen at this hurdle, for once this step was taken, there was no turning back.

Tempering the Dao Bones and engraving Dao patterns upon them to advance to the Dao Melting realm.

This hurdle didn't pose a significant threat to life, but a failure would waste many years of accumulation, and many cultivators also stopped here!

For Dao Melting cultivators to enter the Harmonization realm, the first step was to merge their nine layers of Dao patterns into one!

This was just the first step.

This single hurdle had stumped countless Dao Melting cultivators, as the Dao patterns most of them engraved on their Dao Bones were not of the same type.

Consequently, attempting to merge all nine into one was extremely difficult; even a slight error during the process could lead to utter failure.

It could be said that the more types of Dao patterns engraved, the greater the difficulty.

On the other hand, for someone like Lu Ye, whose nine layers of Dao patterns were all of the same type, the difficulty was much lower.

Therefore, in the Star Abyss, any cultivator aspiring to the Harmonization realm would not engrave more than three types of Dao patterns during their Dao Melting phase.

Generally speaking, if more than three types of Dao patterns were engraved on the Dao Bones, there would be absolutely no possibility of reaching the Harmonization realm.

Dao Melting and Harmonization were in the same lineage; if cultivators walked a difficult path in the early stages, the later path would be easier, and vice versa.

Although the merging of Lu Ye's nine layers of Dao patterns was simpler, it still took him over half a month.

The main reason was the extensive coverage of his Dao patterns. Other Dao Melting cultivators' Dao patterns were only engraved on five Dao Bones, whereas his were engraved all over his body.

This was also the primary reason he consumed so much Dao power with each advancement.

When the nine layers of Dao patterns merged into one, an boundless, sharp power suddenly erupted from within Lu Ye. Even the escaping Dao power seemed to instantly transform into blade light and sword qi, striking the surrounding walls with sizzling sounds.

If not for the sturdy walls within the Tower of Time, they would surely have collapsed.

Not only that, but even Lu Ye's own flesh and blood cracked open, sharp intent piercing through them, instantly turning him into a blood-soaked gourd.

The might of the Nine-Layer Divine Edge was already exceedingly powerful, and its combination brought an even greater increase. Such sharp intent was difficult for even Lu Ye's current physical body to withstand.

At this moment, the nine layers of Dao patterns that were previously engraved had vanished, becoming extremely condensed and transforming into an "intent."

Dao Intent!

It was formless and intangible, yet it had merged into Lu Ye's Dao power. From then on, Lu Ye's Dao power possessed the characteristic of this "intent."

That was extreme sharpness!

Every Harmonization cultivator possessed their own Dao Intent. Depending on the type of Dao patterns from which their Dao Intent evolved, the Dao Intents of Harmonization cultivators differed, providing various amplifications and improvements in different areas.

However, this amplification and improvement were consistent with the cultivators' situations during their Dao Melting phase, only more potent.

For Lu Ye, the first step of Harmonization was complete!

The main event was next.

The reason Harmonization cultivators were much more powerful than Dao Melting cultivators was simply that they could harness external forces. Wherever Star Abyss aura existed, Dao power was contained within it, and Harmonization cultivators leveraged this Dao power, allowing them to exert strength far beyond their own.

Dao Melting cultivators, however, could not; they could only utilize their own inherent strength. Naturally, there was no comparison between the two.

To harness external forces, one first needed to resonate with them. Only then could they be drawn upon at any time and place.

How to resonate?

One had to use their own body as a vessel, drawing this external force to infuse them. During this process, they would comprehend the mysteries and induce resonance.

The strength of a Harmonization cultivator depended, firstly, on their fundamental foundation, and secondly, on the proportion of external forces they could draw upon. Among these, the fundamental foundation was paramount.

The proportion of external forces that could be drawn was related to the number and quality of resonances achieved.

To advance to Harmonization, Lu Ye had consulted many Harmonization cultivators for insights as early as the Snowfield Skirmish, so he naturally knew what he should do at this moment.

With a wave of his hand, a large number of Dao Fish scattered around, shattering into dust.

The concentration of Star Abyss aura within the Tower of Time was actually quite good. Not to mention the levels above the ninetieth, even this tenth floor offered a cultivation environment almost equivalent to that inside an Earth-grade Harmonization City.

But for Lu Ye, this was far from enough.

As a large number of Dao Fish shattered, their Dao power dispersed, rapidly increasing the concentration of Dao power in the surrounding environment.

After a brief perception of his surroundings, Lu Ye felt it was sufficient. He then closed his eyes, concentrated, and formed a hand seal.

Instantly, his Baihui acupoint at the top of his head opened, and all his spirit acupoints simultaneously stirred. As a tremendous suction force emanated, dense Dao power surged into his body.

Lu Ye's face flushed, feeling his entire body swell.

At such a critical juncture, if he activated the power of his Talent Tree, he could naturally alleviate this situation and easily refine the Dao power entering his body.

However, this time was for advancement, not merely to increase his Dao power reserves.

Therefore, the power of the Talent Tree could not be activated at all.

With such abundant Dao power surging into his body instantly, even Lu Ye found it somewhat difficult to bear.

Fortunately, he wasn't solely reliant on his own strength at this moment.

When cultivators advanced to the Harmonization realm, they could rely on their Natal Dao Weapons.

This was also why Lu Ye insisted on waiting for Liao to awaken before attempting his breakthrough. Generally, Harmonization cultivators relied heavily on their Natal Dao Weapons, especially weapon cultivators.

This was determined by the cultivation path they followed.

At this moment, the Mountain Breaker Saber lay horizontally across Lu Ye's lap. Man and weapon, their Qi mechanisms were closely connected, forming a cohesive whole.

With Liao sharing the immense pressure, Lu Ye immediately felt much better, though it was still very difficult.

He made a slight adjustment, controlling the pressure to be within a range he could just barely endure, and then settled his mind.

The dense Dao power from all around flowed in through his Baihui acupoint, circulated through his entire body and the Mountain Breaker Saber, then exited through his Yongquan spirit acupoints on his feet.

It could be said that this was purely a torrent of violent Dao power surging through him.

What Lu Ye needed to do was to maintain a state of resonance between his mind, body, and external forces for the duration of this process. Only by doing so could he advance to the Harmonization realm and thereafter manipulate external forces.

He carefully perceived, as time flowed by.

The only way Harmonization cultivators could fail at this stage of advancement was if they persevered for too short a time. Theoretically, as long as they persisted long enough and their comprehension wasn't too poor, they could all successfully advance.

But the difficulty lay in having to persist for a very long time.

Under normal circumstances, even cultivators with the highest comprehension and most outstanding talent would need to continue this process for at least several days at this stage.

Lu Ye, however, suddenly gained a flash of insight after only half a day.

While his comprehension and aptitude were indeed good, they weren't enough to achieve this extent. The biggest reason was his identity as a Child of the Star Abyss!

He had even seized the blessings of two other Children of the Star Abyss.

This had given him a characteristic affinity for the Dao power within the Star Abyss aura long ago.

This affinity would become even more pronounced as he successively seized the blessings of other Children of the Star Abyss.

That was why he could so easily achieve resonance with the external forces.

While Lu Ye was advancing and breaking through, Eight-Tails at the entrance to the ninth floor suspiciously observed his direction.

Since half a day ago, she had subtly sensed that something was amiss with Lu Ye. The Star Abyss aura from all around was frantically converging towards him, as if a massive, invisible whirlpool was devouring everything in its vicinity.

She initially thought Lu Ye was merely cultivating, secretly astonished at how this person could cause such an immense disturbance during cultivation—it was truly rare.

However, on second thought, given Lu Ye's considerable strength, it was somewhat excusable for him to create a larger commotion.

No wonder he wanted her to expel all the Dao Melting cultivators from this floor; he was clearly afraid of being disturbed.