Chapter 761: Mind-Governing Flame Refinement (I)

Within the consciousness space, Lin Zheyu cultivated tirelessly without ever stopping, repeating the process over and over again. Thick golden shackles materialized and sank deep into his flesh, binding his entire body. The thickest of these shackles extended into his sea of consciousness.

Under the relentless impact of his blood qi, the massive golden shackles swayed continuously. Accompanied by crisp metallic clangs, waves of mysterious energy rippled outward from the shackles, affecting the Heart Flame burning within Lin Zheyu's soul.

At the same time, vast quantities of golden energy surged into his soul. Under the combined effects of these three forces, the energy frequency of the Heart Flame underwent a subtle change. The altered Heart Flame could not only burn away distracting thoughts and inner demons, but also eradicate the useless impurities within his soul.

Lin Zheyu had stumbled upon this particular energy frequency of the Heart Flame after numerous experiments. Using it as the theoretical foundation, he expanded upon it and developed a unique technique.

The Heart Flame Spirit-Tempering Art!

Sizzling sounds repeatedly came from his soul as wisps of murky gray soul ash emerged under the Heart Flame's tempering and dispersed throughout his sea of consciousness. As the Heart Flame tempered it, his already almost corporeal golden soul form grew increasingly pure and powerful.

Several breaths later, Lin Zheyu exhaled deeply and slowly opened his eyes. A flicker of vermilion flame flashed through their depths before vanishing.

"As expected of the Heart Flame. It can not only burn distracting thoughts and inner demons, but also directly consume the soul origin. If Xiao Yiqing hadn't held back, it would have been nearly impossible to use it as a special flame for tempering the soul..." Lin Zheyu murmured.

He had just used 1 unit of Origin Force to cultivate. Once the process ended, his soul felt weaker than ever before. In return, however, the tempering effect had been outstanding. The soul within Lin Zheyu's sea of consciousness had shrunk to less than one-tenth of its original size, but its purity and density had increased by nearly 10%. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

This was the result of using only a single unit of Origin Force! Since it was his first time cultivating the technique, its effects had been particularly pronounced and would likely diminish with subsequent uses. Even so, the result was astonishing. Merely exploiting a soul secret art used by someone else had brought him such a substantial improvement.

Lin Zheyu could scarcely imagine how powerful Xiao Yiqing's spirit and spiritual soul must be when she had mastered this secret art. Immortal cultivators primarily cultivated the soul, so just what level had her strength reached?

"Let's continue... My previous method of forcibly altering the Heart Flame's frequency was far too crude. It can still be made more precise and refined. Moreover, since it was my first attempt, my lack of proficiency and limited control over my soul greatly restricted how much I could alter the frequency. Perhaps I could do it this way..." Lin Zheyu murmured.

Within his consciousness, the wealth of experience he had just gained from cultivating with Origin Force flashed through his mind and collided with his accumulated knowledge and insights. New ideas emerged one after another. Some proved unsuccessful after testing, others required further refinement, while the most promising were retained.

Two hours later, Lin Zheyu looked at the Heart Flame Spirit-Tempering Art 1.0 within his consciousness and smiled faintly. With a thought, the immense reserves of soul power stored within the void of his spirit divine repository poured forth and merged into his soul. His weakened soul form, which had suffered a severe depletion of its origin, returned to its peak condition in an instant as the soul power replenished it.

He closed his eyes and sent out a thought: Use 1 unit of Origin Force to cultivate the Heart Flame Spirit-Tempering Art 2.0.

Lin Zheyu's mind blurred for an instant before he entered the consciousness space and once again began cultivating with tireless intensity. Time slowly passed, and in the blink of an eye, an entire day was gone. Nearly one-fifth of the violent energy stored within the Primordial Chaos Pool had been consumed. Storing this violent energy required the expenditure of the chaos origin energy contained within the Primordial Chaos Pool.

This mysterious and powerful higher energy was a finite resource that diminished with every use. To conserve it, Lin Zheyu had not stored much of the violent demonic lake energy, only enough for roughly ten days of occasional secluded cultivation using Origin Force. Perhaps because it involved the spirit and spiritual soul, cultivating the Heart Flame Spirit-Tempering Art consumed far more energy than he had anticipated.

"Phew..."

Lin Zheyu slowly opened his eyes and awakened from his cultivation.

[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]

[Name: Lin Zheyu]

[Origin Force: 416]

[Skills: Heart Flame Spirit-Tempering Art 4.18 (Perfection), Seven Absolute Sabers (Seventh Stage: 100%), Martial Dao True Scripture (Fourth Stage: 100%), Heaven-Deceiving Art (Second Stage: 100%), Ten-Thousand-Miles Divine Travel Art (Third Stage: 100%), Martial Divine Pattern Secret Manual (Second Stage: 100%)]

Lin Zheyu looked at the data within his consciousness and shook his head slightly. "With version 4.18 of the Heart Flame Spirit-Tempering Art, this technique has reached its limit."

He had expended 27 units of Origin Force and put the technique through four major upgrades and more than twenty minor refinements. This technique, created both to study the Heart Flame and temper his soul, had finally reached its limit. The wisp of Heart Flame he had received was simply too weak. When Xiao Yiqing attacked, she had never intended to burn Lin Zheyu to death with the Heart Flame. It had been little more than an expression of a powerful expert's contempt and amusement at the expense of someone weaker.

Being able to derive version 4.18 of the Heart Flame Spirit-Tempering Art from this single wisp of Heart Flame and cultivate it to Perfection was already the limit of what Lin Zheyu could accomplish using Origin Force.

Within his sea of consciousness, immense soul power poured out of the void within his divine repository and merged into his soul. His weakened soul aura rapidly strengthened and returned to its peak in an instant. Lin Zheyu extended his nearly corporeal soul arm, upon which vermilion flames were burning. Compared with its original state, his soul had undergone an enormous transformation, becoming even more crystalline and translucent.

Lin Zheyu marveled. "The purity and density of my soul have increased by nearly thirty percent. This is truly incredible..."

His soul was now so powerful that it might even be capable of directly leaving his sea of consciousness, separating from his physical body, and roaming freely through heaven and earth. However, the shackles of the Heavenly Dao prevented him from testing it. This was an ability possessed only by Nascent Soul realm experts who cultivated special soul secret arts and by mighty experts of the Deity Transformation realm.

Although the shackles of the Heavenly Dao prevented his powerful soul from displaying its true might, it still granted him formidable perception and awakened his spiritual Heavenly Eye; its strength was entirely genuine. Despite already possessing such a powerful soul, Lin Zheyu had increased its purity and density by nearly 30% with the expenditure of only a little over 20 units of Origin Force.

The results were truly astonishing. Although the golden energy within his sea of consciousness and the power of the Great Dao contained in the shackles had also contributed significantly, those two forces alone could never have achieved such remarkable results without the Heart Flame.

"It would truly be a shame to let such a powerful and unique flame simply die out. Is there any chance I could master it myself...?" Lin Zheyu murmured.

After eighteen minor revisions and four major upgrades, the Heart Flame Spirit-Tempering Art had reached its limit. This wisp of Heart Flame now had only a negligible tempering effect on his soul, so little that it was practically nonexistent. Through this cultivation, Lin Zheyu's understanding and control of the Heart Flame had also reached a sufficiently high level.

Within his sea of consciousness, Lin Zheyu's soul trembled slightly as a thick golden shackle materialized. Amid the energy ripples it released, the Heart Flame burning continuously within his soul began swaying in unison at a particular frequency.

Lin Zheyu opened his right hand, and golden energy poured into his palm. Under his control, the power of the shackle, the golden energy, and his soul power attained a delicate equilibrium.

Suddenly, the Heart Flame covering his entire soul flowed toward the center of his right palm and ultimately converged into a tiny flame. It responded to Lin Zheyu's thoughts, flickering and dancing within his palm.

This has considerable potential... Lin Zheyu thought as he watched the tiny flame condensed from the vermilion Heart Flame dance in his hand.