The Embryo of Golden Lightning

With the Soul Soothing Dew, Chi Qiu no longer feared damage to her divine soul. She boldly separated even more of her consciousness, sending it forth to merge with the lightning, all to achieve greater efficiency.

The agony was akin to her divine soul being ripped asunder. Yet, amidst the torment, a faint wisp of golden lightning adhered to her consciousness, now under Chi Qiu’s command.

Chi Qiu’s face was ashen, sweat beading on her brow and pouring down her temples. With trembling hands, she unstoppered the Soul Soothing Dew, then guided a wisp of true qi into the bottle, retrieving a single, thick drop of cyan elixir.

The instant the Soul Soothing Dew was uncorked, a peculiar, subtle fragrance permeated the entire secret chamber. Chi Qiu hadn’t even consumed the dewdrop, yet after only a few gentle breaths, she felt the throbbing pain in her mind significantly recede.

Su Hanxing watched Chi Qiu’s complexion steadily worsen, his heart constricting with anxiety. Yet, he was utterly at a loss for any alternative solution. Earlier, his attempts to deduce a refining method for the dragon scale using the Tianyan Art had yielded nothing, only solidifying his belief that this artifact was truly a scale from a Yinglong.

After all, Su He had once mentioned his inability to deduce anything concerning the Yinglong. Moreover, during Chi Qiu’s prior unconsciousness, Su Hanxing had attempted to locate the Yinglong Tomb using his unique secret art, a technique capable of detecting heavenly treasures. Still, his efforts had been fruitless.

Seeing Chi Qiu pause to consume the Soul Soothing Dew, Su Hanxing immediately inquired, “How is it?”

“Quite good,” Chi Qiu replied with a faint smile. In her estimation, neither physical nor spiritual torment could outweigh the sweet satisfaction that came with a surge in strength.

“If you can’t endure it, then give up,” Su Hanxing advised. “It won’t be too late to try again once you’ve advanced to the God Concealing stage.” Unable to discern if Chi Qiu was merely putting on a brave face, he could only offer an alternative path drawn from his own experiences.

Upon entering the God Concealing stage, the divine soul undergoes its most significant transformation. At this advanced stage, the divine soul can manifest into a human form.

If one were to merge with lightning while in this human form, it would be immeasurably swifter than Chi Qiu’s current method of separating her consciousness. Moreover, after reaching the God Concealing stage, the divine soul can fully integrate with the physical body, leading to substantial advancements in both defensive capabilities and mental fortitude. This integration would, in turn, make the process of merging with lightning considerably safer.

“If I retreat now, wouldn’t I be foolishly surrendering this opportunity?” Chi Qiu countered, shaking her head. “And rest assured, if I truly cannot refine this dragon scale, then it should naturally be passed to you. How could one possibly discard an opportunity that presents itself?”

She then inquired, “What kind of heavenly treasures are required to advance to the God Concealing stage?”

Previously, Chi Qiu had been stalled in the Spirit Nourishing Realm for an extended period, unable to achieve a breakthrough. It was Su Hanxing who had revealed that she required heavenly treasures aligned with her cultivation method to successfully manifest true qi. Without his guidance, Chi Qiu might have lingered for an unknown duration before ever reaching the Heart Scripture Realm.

Now, Su Hanxing’s suggestion that Chi Qiu plan her next steps after entering the God Concealing stage clearly indicated his willingness to share the profound secrets of advancement. This was precisely why Chi Qiu had posed her question.

“To enter the God Concealing stage, you need heavenly treasures capable of refining the divine soul,” Su Hanxing explained, holding nothing back. “Once the divine soul is forged into a human form and then integrated into the physical body, you will have succeeded.”

Upon hearing the phrase ‘refine the divine soul,’ Chi Qiu pointed at the golden lightning flickering incessantly on the dragon scale before her. “Does this count then?” she asked, a hopeful glint in her eyes.

Su Hanxing had initially intended to say yes, but hesitated, unsure. “This… it probably does,” he conceded, “but I’m not entirely certain.” He could only offer an ambiguous reply.

Noting Su Hanxing’s hesitation, Chi Qiu abandoned the idea of using the golden lightning to refine her divine soul and achieve a breakthrough to the God Concealing stage. Instead, she resolved to continue accumulating sufficient lightning within her consciousness, intending to penetrate the dragon scale’s interior and refine it completely.

Another hour passed in this arduous process. During that time, Chi Qiu’s divine soul suffered severe damage once again, compelling her to consume another drop of Soul Soothing Dew.

Su Hanxing forcibly suppressed the urge to drag Chi Qiu away from the scale. He resolved to intervene and forcibly stop her the moment her divine soul sustained severe damage again. He wasn’t concerned about the Soul Soothing Dew, despite its exorbitant price. Rather, injuries to the divine soul were notoriously difficult to heal, and even the dew itself only alleviated symptoms without addressing the root cause.

Furthermore, Chi Qiu’s soul had been swapped by him over half a year prior, meaning her divine soul was likely still in recovery. If she continued to push herself, there was a high risk of permanent damage, rendering any gains utterly worthless.

Another half hour elapsed. Chi Qiu opened her eyes, exhaling a long breath, and turned to Su Hanxing, who had stood guard by her side the entire time. “Thanks to your Soul Soothing Dew,” she murmured, “otherwise, I truly wouldn’t have been able to make any progress with this dragon scale.”

When Su Hanxing saw Chi Qiu open her eyes, his heart first leaped in alarm, fearing her divine soul had again been severely injured, compelling her to stop and consume the dew. However, upon hearing her words, he momentarily relaxed.

“The Soul Soothing Dew is nothing,” he stated, “it pales in comparison to the kindness you’ve shown me.”

Chi Qiu offered a faint smile. “I just made an attempt,” she explained, “and now my divine soul can penetrate the dragon scale. The crucial moment is next, and I’ll be relying entirely on you.”

Hearing Chi Qiu entrust him with this critical task, Su Hanxing immediately perked up. “Don’t worry, Little Chi,” he assured her repeatedly, “no one will disturb you before you successfully refine the dragon scale.”

Chi Qiu winked at Su Hanxing, then closed her eyes once more, preparing to begin the refinement of the dragon scale.

At this point, the divine soul Chi Qiu had released shimmered with a brilliant golden hue, streaks of lightning flashing within its depths. This consciousness was now almost indistinguishable from the golden lightning emanating from the dragon scale itself. Thus, after knocking against the incredibly hard outer layer of the golden dragon scale a few times, this wisp of divine soul successfully pierced through, entering the scale’s interior.

“This is…” The scene inside the dragon scale, however, far surpassed Chi Qiu’s wildest expectations.

The interior of the dragon scale was a dimly lit, black expanse. Within this void, only a few streaks of golden lightning surged and coiled, resembling enraged golden dragons. Beyond these, nothing else appeared to exist. Occasionally, these golden lightning bolts would sweep past the edges of the space. As they did, infinitesimal tendrils of electrical current would detach from their ‘bodies’ and stream outwards—a phenomenon Chi Qiu surmised was the source of the golden lightning that periodically flickered on the dragon scale’s exterior.

Chi Qiu carefully guided her wisp of divine soul, cautiously evading the larger, more formidable golden lightning bolts. Occasionally, she would even proactively absorb some of the smaller, less threatening currents. Her plan was to thoroughly explore the entire space before committing to any course of action.

The dragon scale itself was only about the size of two people, yet the space contained within it was astonishingly vast. Chi Qiu first guided her divine soul along the perimeter of this expansive void, then gradually began to explore towards its central region. In her perception, the internal space of the dragon scale spanned at least a hundred zhang square, making it considerably larger than the secret chamber outside.

The wisp of divine soul Chi Qiu had separated finally neared the central region of the dark space. Here, the golden lightning’s activity became exceptionally frequent, its numbers swelling considerably, making Chi Qiu’s progress increasingly arduous. Fortunately, Chi Qiu possessed excellent patience. Moreover, her divine soul had already integrated a significant amount of lightning, granting her a good resistance to its effects.

The golden lightning bolts swirling through the space also did not perceive her as an intruder. They would not actively attack unless Chi Qiu directly obstructed their path. It was precisely in the heart of this space that Chi Qiu finally discovered something other than lightning.

This was a peculiar object, resembling a large, ancient cauldron. It was entirely grey, approximately ten chi long and six chi wide, supported by three legs and adorned with two handles. Chi Qiu found its material difficult to identify; it felt neither quite like metal nor entirely like stone.

Within this grey cauldron, a single point of light emanated an incredibly profound aura. Although the surrounding lightning obscured her view, preventing her from clearly discerning what the light point was, Chi Qiu could sense that it was the core of this dark space.

Chi Qiu approached the cauldron. After some maneuvering, she finally squeezed inside. Within the cauldron, the large, surging golden lightning bolts were absent, replaced by the single golden light flickering calmly, floating up and down.

This is…

Chi Qiu boldly approached the golden light point, and at last, she could discern its profound secret. It was a golden embryo, about a chi in size, yet it wasn’t nurturing life. Instead, it was giving birth to the ceaselessly surging golden lightning from outside the cauldron.

Chi Qiu’s heart pounded with excitement. She cautiously drew closer to the embryo, observing it meticulously. The embryo gently floated within the cauldron, expanding and contracting as if breathing, absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth. However, the spiritual energy within the dragon scale had been drawn upon for so long that it was nearly depleted, causing the embryo to desperately try to absorb something, yet find nothing.

Chi Qiu cautiously extended an extremely thin wisp of true qi towards the embryo. The moment the true qi neared it, it was instantly absorbed. Simultaneously, the embryo trembled slightly, its golden light flickering for an instant, then, guided by the true qi, it moved closer to Chi Qiu.

Chi Qiu dared not let it get too close, so she slowly retreated. However, the space within the cauldron was limited, and soon Chi Qiu had nowhere left to go. She could only watch as the embryo pressed against her wisp of divine soul.

Hiss—

The intense pain Chi Qiu had anticipated in her divine soul did not materialize. The embryo merely pressed against her consciousness, desperately trying to absorb her true qi, but otherwise caused her no harm. However, this true qi remained under Chi Qiu’s control, unyielding no matter how much the embryo attempted to draw it out.

A surge of joy filled Chi Qiu’s heart. She then separated another wisp of true qi, sending it in a different direction. The embryo instantly moved towards it, absorbing the true qi.

As the embryo absorbed the true qi, faint, brilliant golden sparks of electricity began to form within its core. However, these sparks were incredibly weak, possessing no destructive power whatsoever.

Seeing this scene unfold, Chi Qiu first felt a surge of delight, then fell into deep contemplation. She hesitated for a long while before finally making up her mind.

Chi Qiu slowly retracted the wisp of her divine soul. Then, she opened her eyes and looked at Su Hanxing, who stood beside her.

“Have you succeeded?” When Chi Qiu opened her eyes, golden light flickered in her pupils due to the lightning she had absorbed within the space. Seeing this, Su Hanxing believed she had achieved great success and asked with a joyful expression.

“Not quite yet,” Chi Qiu replied, shaking her head. “Next, I intend to enter the dragon scale with my physical body. Once I’m inside, these golden lightning bolts will no longer appear, and you can take this dragon scale away in a storage artifact or a portable cave abode.”

She stood up and reached out to touch the dragon scale. The once incredibly hard scale now rippled, and Chi Qiu’s hand effortlessly passed through it.

“This is too dangerous.” Su Hanxing frowned. Previously, separating a wisp of divine soul for refinement meant that failure would only result in the loss of that wisp. Now, Chi Qiu intended to enter the dragon scale with her physical body. Although he didn’t know how she could enter, that wouldn’t stop him from trying to prevent her.

“The golden lightning’s lethality towards me has already significantly decreased,” Chi Qiu explained. “Besides, the lightning inside the dragon scale isn’t condensed by the Yinglong itself, but generated by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, making its power much weaker.”

“Do you need any magical treasures or elixirs?” Although Su Hanxing remained deeply uneasy, their time together had taught him that once Chi Qiu made up her mind, he couldn’t sway her. Therefore, he could only offer some external aid to increase her chances of success.

“I don’t need any… Oh, right, could you lend me some elixirs? Just ordinary cultivation elixirs.” Chi Qiu tilted her head in thought for a moment, then leaned towards Su Hanxing, extending her hand to ask for the elixirs.

“I have plenty of elixirs here,” Su Hanxing said, flipping his hand to produce five bottles of elixirs, which he then handed to Chi Qiu. “Since I’m lending them to you, you absolutely must come out alive to return them.”

Chi Qiu took the elixirs and nodded. “Rest assured, I value my life greatly. Once I’ve entered the dragon scale, you should take it and leave this place. Go find some opportunities for yourself as well; I’ll likely be in there for quite some time.”

Su Hanxing nodded. He took an object from his waist and showed it to Chi Qiu. “This is my portable cave abode. I’ll place you inside it then.”

A portable cave abode was a type of storage artifact, but unlike ordinary storage artifacts, it could store living beings. Although Chi Qiu, as a cultivator, could survive for a long time even in a regular storage artifact, the comfort of a portable cave abode was far superior.

“That will be perfect. Well then, I’m off.” Chi Qiu put away the elixirs and nodded. She then turned and walked towards the dragon scale. Just before taking the final step to enter the scale, she suddenly turned back, her eyes curving into a mischievous smile. “Now, our Tianyan Sect’s senior disciple can be said to be keeping a beautiful woman hidden away!”

With that, without waiting for Su Hanxing’s reply, Chi Qiu stepped into the dragon scale and vanished.