Time flowed.
Xu Yuan's plan proceeded as scheduled.
The Spirit Rune, from its initial prototype, was gradually refined step by step. Its patterns became increasingly complex, then progressively simplified, constantly alternating between complexity and simplicity.
Three months later.
Xu Yuan successfully perfected the Spirit Rune into the form he desired.
Over these three months, significant changes also occurred in the outside world.
Without the celestial phenomenon's opportunity, even the Abyss seemed to lack the desire to attack.
At present, the two planes appeared to have entered a relatively peaceful phase.
Previously, the allure of opportunity had enticed the Abyssal Sage King to endure losses and continue the never-ending war between the two sides.
With each new type of soul-guided weapon developed by Xu Yuan, the Abyss no longer fought without any losses.
Furthermore, with Yun Ming ascending to godhood and the Underworld being established, the Abyss creatures, upon death, now served as fuel to drive the development of the Underworld.
Now, without motivation, the Abyssal Sage King was unwilling to continue the war.
To waste his own strength merely to aid the growth of the Underworld?
Impossible.
Even the second channel that had been opened earlier was only used by him to bring Ardent Emperor back to the Abyss, after which it was sealed.
Xu Yuan's foray into the depths of the Abyss during that battle truly made the Abyssal Sage King wary.
He knew that the purpose of this second channel had been effectively neutralized by Xu Yuan's actions.
As a result, the Federation returned to a period of peace.
Of course, the Blood God Legion had not yet disbanded, in case the Abyss launched a surprise attack.
However, within a month, the Federation had essentially confirmed the Abyss's stance. The Blood God Legion existed in name only; only the original structure of the Blood God Legion remained in the Underworld, serving as its distribution network.
One city after another, one extraordinary artifact after another, still represented the sacred sites and relics for cultivation in Douluo Planet's soul master community.
Stellar power was inherently useful for soul masters of any attribute. However, previously, there were very few areas on Douluo Planet with concentrated stellar power, often monopolized by large factions and not open to the public.
The Underworld was different—it was almost entirely open. Yun Ming had never refused entry to any soul master.
Moreover, the extraordinary artifacts were under his control. Artifacts held by various cities would randomly dissipate over time, re-condensing elsewhere to be discovered by lone soul masters in the Underworld.
This also prevented the complete domination of extraordinary artifacts by powerful factions.
In just three short months, the situation in the Underworld changed repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Xu Yuan, secluded in the valley, paid no attention to the affairs of the Underworld.
He had been in seclusion for three months, evolving the Spirit Rune to meet his requirements and completing the forging of the divine metal he needed.
Whether it was Battle Armor or Mecha, everything was elevated to the divine level.
The difference was that the Battle Armor, serving as the bridge between him and his martial soul, was perfectly integrated into his body.
The Mecha, on the other hand, became the bridge between heaven, earth, and his martial soul.
The Mecha did not merge into Xu Yuan's body but instead transformed into the pillars of his inner realm. It split into nine parts—hands, legs, wings, torso, head, and weapon—supporting nine key nodes of the inner realm. Each part was further divided into forty components, collectively supporting forty more intricate operational nodes.
The Mecha, divided into three hundred and sixty parts, supported the entire inner realm.
On this foundation, through the connection between the inner realm and his physical body, he mapped these three hundred and sixty nodes to three hundred and sixty meridian points within his body.
It was precisely this system's establishment that allowed Xu Yuan's Spirit Rune to achieve the separation of consciousness while maintaining the connection between consciousness and soul essence.
Even if the martial soul were separated, it could re-fuse under this strong binding relationship.
"Little Phoenix, it's ready."
Xu Yuan woke Little Phoenix.
For these three months, Little Phoenix had been in deep sleep.
She claimed she was in seclusion adapting to the essence of destruction and life, but according to Xu Yuan's perception, she neither absorbed the power of these two essences nor the destructive and life forces derived from them.
Clearly, she was just sleeping.
"Has it been a year?" Little Phoenix opened her eyes groggily, rubbing her wings as if she had just woken up.
Xu Yuan was speechless.
"It's only been three months."
"You completed the rune you wanted in just three months?" Little Phoenix suddenly became alert.
That was fast.
"It's just that collaboration across different fields accelerated the process."
Xu Yuan didn't think it was particularly fast.
For Little Phoenix, it was just the blink of an eye.
But for him, it was countless days and nights.
His consciousness's operation in the dream space had already spanned many years.
Yes, measured in years.
Although the time acceleration in the dream space caused the laws to deviate slightly, Xu Yuan's consciousness was merely accelerated, equivalent to a dramatic increase in mental processing speed.
Additionally, his brain-type martial soul already brought his thinking speed to an extremely high level.
Thus, although it took only three months in the real world to evolve the rune in his inner realm, his consciousness in the dream space had already experienced many years refining the rune.
"Alright, then prepare your rune, and I'll send you over shortly."
Xu Yuan wasted no more time.
He sat cross-legged.
The divine-level Battle Armor and Mecha merged into the inner realm and his body, maintaining his bodily functions and daily cultivation even after his consciousness departed.
Automatic cultivation.
This was a recent discovery regarding the capabilities of divine-level Battle Armor and divine-level Mecha.
Patterns began to coalesce before him.
Spirit!
After the Spirit Rune condensed into form, Xu Yuan slowly closed his eyes.
His spiritual power fused into the Spirit Rune.
Filtered through the Spirit Rune, it returned to his body.
However, the Spirit Rune underwent noticeable changes.
Within this rune, a substantial amount of spirituality coalesced.
This spirituality resembled the kind of spiritual force born after metal underwent spirit forging.
And upon this spirituality, Xu Yuan's consciousness rested.
The Spirit Rune was incredibly lively, rotating around Little Phoenix's body.
"It looks pretty good," Little Phoenix remarked with curiosity.
Though the rune returned to Xu Yuan's body, it actually entered the inner realm, interacting with his three martial souls.
Within the inner realm, the Spirit Rune connected heaven and earth, linking to the entire inner realm.
Soon, images began to appear within the spirituality of the Spirit Rune. Quickly, the shapes of the brain, Tianyuan Brush, and Tianyuan Five Elements Spear emerged within the rune.
The characteristics of the martial souls were replicated by the spirituality within the Spirit Rune.
Satisfied, Xu Yuan finalized everything.
After re-integrating everything and confirming there were no issues, he again separated his consciousness and martial soul, emerging into the external world.
"Let's go."
"Alright."
Little Phoenix tilted her head, looking at Xu Yuan's body.
"Or, should you send your consciousness back first?"
"Why?"
"Cough, I can't do it alone, so you need to come with me to the valley in Tiandou Continent where you retrieved my egg."
---
Tiandou Continent.
Xu Yuan returned to the valley where Little Phoenix had previously resided.
"What's special about here?" Xu Yuan surveyed the surroundings.
"The entirety of Tiandou Continent was formed from my corpse, and this is where my heart lies."
Little Phoenix seemed to anticipate Xu Yuan's question and provided an explanation.
Xu Yuan's expression showed astonishment.
Though he knew this place must be special, he hadn't expected it to be this special.
The body of a Supreme God King had transformed into an entire continent.
He once again sketched out the Spirit Rune and integrated his consciousness and martial soul into it.
"I'm ready."
Little Phoenix gave a reminder, and soon, the space in the valley began to fluctuate violently.
Above the canyon, a crack revealed a passage slowly opening.
This place—the cradle of mountains and rivers, the spatial rift where Xu Tian spent ten months gestating, a place Xu Yuan had once investigated—hid such profound secrets.
Here was a passageway capable of connecting two universes!
The spatial changes here were completely different from what Xu Yuan knew of spatial channels, even vastly differing from wormholes. If one probed with spiritual power, they would only sense endless devouring force.
Deep within this rift, it was like a black hole leading to an unknown destination!
The rune containing Xu Yuan's consciousness was swallowed by the black hole. After an indeterminate period of darkness, light swiftly returned.
Holy Demon Continent.
Far on the horizon, a crack appeared, exuding a surge of dense spirituality.
A rune radiating spiritual brilliance descended.
The rune fell onto a barren plain.
Boom!
A loud explosion drew the attention of nearby demon clans.
A silver-haired, purple-eyed woman looked towards where the rune had fallen.
A hint of confusion flashed in her eyes.
"If my senses are correct, that is the aura of another world."
A completely different aura.
Because she had experienced different worlds, she was sensitive to such auras and could discern that the rune originated from outside.
Which world was this aura from?
Agares pondered for a moment and ordered the rest of the demon clan not to approach the area where the rune fell, going alone to investigate.
Where the rune fell.
The Spirit Rune emitted a faint glow.
The patterns—whether they were naturally emitted by the rune or the result of this world's laws merging with it—were unclear.
Xu Yuan's consciousness also began to spread outward, exploring everything in this world.
Upon entering this plane, Xu Yuan's consciousness observed the world from the broadest perspective.
No God Pillars.
He felt a tinge of disappointment.
The Spiritual Stove Continent—he could only associate it with one world in his memory: the world of Throne of Seal.
However, that world wasn't called Spiritual Stove Continent but Holy Demon Continent. Given the frequent changes in the Holy Demon Continent and the unique name "Spiritual Stove," Xu Yuan treated the Spiritual Stove Continent as the Holy Demon Continent.
"Did I guess wrong? Or is this a time before the God Pillars descended, or after their destruction?"
Suddenly, a powerful presence approached, and Xu Yuan manipulated the Spirit Rune to hide.
The Spirit Rune transformed into patterns, integrating into the surrounding space.
The Spirit Rune, infused with Xu Yuan's insights, wasn't just for splitting consciousness—it also contained his survival skills and basic techniques.
Looking at the figure in the sky, Xu Yuan fell into thought.
"Is this a member of the demon race?"
Though humanoid, the silver hair and purple eyes clearly indicated she wasn't ordinary.
Moreover, with Xu Yuan's profound understanding of human anatomy, he sensed that this woman's body structure differed significantly from humans.
The bloodline-like power coursing through her veins composed her entire body.
"Moon Demon Race?"
Xu Yuan recalled this term from his memory.
Was this the race?
If so, combined with the disappearance of the God Pillars, this might be the period after the final battle, when the nine-headed Chimera was destroyed, and Long Haochen led the Holy Hall Alliance to rebuild the continent's order.
The demon race hadn't completely vanished, and the decisive battle likely occurred not long ago.
"Indeed, this suspected member of the Moon Demon Race shows signs of weakening power."
Having roughly assessed the situation, Xu Yuan didn't make contact with this person from the Moon Demon Race.
After Agares left, Xu Yuan re-materialized the Spirit Rune.
He didn't move from his position.
In fact, the reason for not contacting this Moon Demon was precisely this.
"As I expected, the adaptability of the rune system is vast. Even in a new plane, it can align with the laws of this new plane and quickly match."
At this moment, most of the patterns surrounding the Spirit Rune were governed by this world's laws.
Under the influence of this world's laws, the Spirit Rune evolved.
Xu Yuan didn't allow this process to unfold unchecked.
He needed everything to evolve according to his vision, not left to chance.
After witnessing the Cosmic Will commandeering the Calamity Rune, Xu Yuan no longer trusted this kind of heaven-and-earth-assisted evolution.
Indeed, such evolution was more perfect but carried deeper risks.
"Is it really evolving into a Spiritual Stove?"
Xu Yuan manipulated the Spirit Rune, initiating changes.
The patterns composing the Spirit Rune broke apart, controlled by the spirituality carrying Xu Yuan's consciousness. These patterns merged with the surrounding laws, participating in the nurturing of the Spiritual Stove.
Using the Spirit Rune as the foundation, evolve the runes?
No.
This was the spontaneous creation of a Spiritual Stove's body, based entirely on the power of this plane.
The patterns of the Spirit Rune would integrate into the Spiritual Stove during its creation.
This outcome aligned with Xu Yuan's vision.
Thus, on this barren plain, a brand-new Spiritual Stove was born.
Perhaps this continent had never seen a Spiritual Stove like this—one with three forms, each possessing completely different abilities.
Xu Yuan named this newly created Spiritual Stove the Three-Life Spiritual Stove.
On this newly formed Spiritual Stove, three different patterns intertwined.
Terrifying spiritual energy erupted from within the Spiritual Stove.
The spiritual energy, filled with various elemental auras, intertwined within the Spiritual Stove, as if weaving an entirely new world.
"The nurturing of the Spiritual Stove went smoother than I imagined."
With Xu Yuan's cooperation, the nurturing of the Spiritual Stove took only a month in his perception.
At the moment the Spiritual Stove was completed, Xu Yuan sensed a familiar spiritual fluctuation.
"That person from the Moon Demon Race?"
Over the course of a month, Xu Yuan clearly perceived her weakening.
Her power was rapidly dissipating. In just one month, she was at least thirty percent weaker than before.
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