Chapter 724: Withering
The struggle between the Black-armored Demon God and Yi Yun had ensued as time passed. The Yin lake was the stage for the gamble, and the vast Divine Wilderness didn’t have a single soul in thousands of miles. The battle between an ancient Demon God, and a new-age son of Heaven was staged in such a lonesome manner.
The Black-armored Demon God was originally Yi Yun's target for a sneak attack. But now, he had become the hunter. He was patiently waiting, waiting for his prey to appear.
However, his wait was far longer than what the Black-armored Demon God expected.
Dusk, going late into the night with stars filling the sky, till the moon set in the west, and the sun rose. A day and a night had passed.
Yet, Yi Yun had never appeared.
The Black-armored Demon God was still waiting. At times, he would feel pain from his chaotic soul sea. He had not recovered from his injuries, and his life force essence was gradually weakening. However, Yi Yun, who used to appear every few hours, seemed to have disappeared.
Even so, the Black-armored Demon God was very patient. He had managed to wait for tens of millions of years, so what was this tiny wait?
He was like a black rock at the bottom of the lake, completely still and silent. In the dark bottom of the lake, only his eyes remained could be seen, emitting with a ghostly red glow.
And at this moment, above and away from the Yin lake, Yi Yun had already silently arrived at a spot less than five miles away from the Yin lake.
He was in the God Advent Tower, and the God Advent Tower was hidden in the void, not even leaving the slightest trace.
Yi Yun was similarly waiting.
He knew about the horrors of the Black-armored Demon God. In front of the ancient Demon God, he had nearly no capability to face him directly.
The Black-armored Demon God could suffer from his attacks time and time again, but for Yi Yun himself, the consequences would be disastrous if he were to be struck once by the Black-armored Demon God.
He could do things right a hundred times, but he could not make a single mistake. He had to be extremely cautious.
The three sneak attacks from before had always been chosen at the critical moment of the Black-armored Demon God's healing process.
And to determine that instant, Yi Yun had used his energy vision. He had used the Purple Crystal's ability to sense Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.
Whenever Yi Yun noticed how the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would surge towards the Black-armored Demon God's body, that was the best opportunity for him to attack.
And now, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi flow had already slowed down. The Black-armored Demon God was not recuperating.
As such, there were only two possibilities. Either the Black-armored Demon God had stopped his recuperation and had laid an ambush for him, or the Black-armored Demon God was gone.
Would the proud ancient Demon God leave his healing shrine just because of an ant harassing him?
Yi Yun found it unlikely. Then, the most likely possibility was that the Black-armored Demon God was lurking at the bottom of the lake!
With the Black-armored Demon God prepared, the odds were against Yi Yun.
Yi Yun silently retreated from the Yin lake.
He chose one of the nine Yin roots and tunneled straight into it!
Boom!
The ground shattered as Yi Yun tunneled a few miles downwards. There was a gigantic underground Yin river that had biting cold water.
With these Yin roots gathered together, it formed an extreme Yin wonderland like the Yin lake.
The God Advent Tower soaked in the Yin river, and the arrays in the pagoda radiated a forcefield. As such, if the Black-armored Demon God came to attack Yi Yun would sense it and have enough time to react.
Yi Yun flew out of the God Advent Tower. As he strolled in thin air, he looked at the rolling Yin river with a smile suffused on his lip.
A wonderland deep in the Divine Wilderness was truly extraordinary.
The Black-armored Demon God was already prepared for a slaughter and he was waiting for Yi Yun to walk into his trap. And since Yi Yun that knew he was no match for the Black-armored Demon God, he began to machinate against the nine Yin roots.
Since ancient times, there were peerless mighty figures who could refine divine rivers into enchanted treasures. Yi Yun had seen similar records in the Azure Yang Lord's codex.
"Path to the Netherworld"! "Ghost maps"!
By refining the path to the Netherworld, and refining the ghostly rivers, they could become one's ultimate treasures.
Yi Yun did not possess the ability to deprive the world of its power. But to refine these nine Yin roots, it was something that he believed he could do.
The nine Yin roots were part of the pure Yin laws. Although Yi Yun focused on pure Yang laws, the ’Great Empress Heart Sutra’ was itself a mystic codex that combined Yin and Yang as one.
Yi Yun cultivated the ’Great Empress Heart Sutra’ together with Lin Xintong, so he already had sufficient understanding of pure Yin laws.
"Black-armored Demon God, since you are recuperating in this Divine Wilderness wonderland, I'll refine these nine Yin roots of yours. I'll adopt full measures against you and see how you are going to recuperate then."
With Yi Yun stretching out his hand, a stream of frost Yin energy gathered in his hand, eventually condensing into a strange piece of dead wood.
This block of dead wood did not have any luster, and it looked like it would fall apart from decay at any moment.
This was the Death Soulwood that Yi Yun obtained from the Pure Yang Sword Palace.
This block of Death Soulwood was originally an ancient enchanted tree that had lived for so long that no one knew how old it was. Due to a Demon God dying on the tree, the demonic blood that flowed out of the Demon God splattered on the enchanted tree, corroding it, finally reducing it to this piece of dead wood.
Back when the Pure Yang Sword Palace obtained this piece of deadwood, he had given it to an Artisan God, hoping to create an enchanted treasure out of it. But he was met with a rejection with the reason being "decayed wood cannot be carved".
Although it was said that "decayed wood cannot be carved", it did not mean that it was useless, and because the special laws and concepts contained in the enchanted piece of wood were too valuable. Any carving or refinement would destroy the concepts within.
The Death Soulwood's value far exceeded the Thousand Snow Domain that Yi Yun obtained and it was simply invaluable.
It would be difficult for Yi Yun to use this treasure against enemies, but it had many spectacular uses.
Such as now...
The moment the Death Soulwood appeared, Yi Yun's aura changed.
Half a year ago, Yi Yun stayed in the Pure Yang Sword Palace to seek Dao enlightenment. He had transformed into a Dao Tree's Dao leaf himself, personally experiencing the Dao leaf's life, from its germination to growth to withering.
When Yi Yun withered from the branch stem, he had gained insights into his own Dao.
And as a gift from the Dao Tree, Yi Yun had sensed that Dao leaf, which withered alongside Yi Yun's withering.
Now, with the Death Soulwood in hand, Yi Yun slowly displayed the deepest concept that he had gained from the Pure Yang Sword Palace — Withering Concept!
Yi Yun chose the Death Soulwood not because of its great value, but because its concepts matched him the best.
Withering, ruin, decay… the flourishing and faltering of plants, the separation of people through death. Every being had the moment it would wither, nearly impossible to escape from samsara and destruction.
Yi Yun had been practicing martial arts for more than a decade. He had learned the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, gained insights in the Sword and Saber Tombs, cultivated in the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, entered the Pure Yang Sword Palace and obtained the inheritance of the God Advent Tower.
The nomological insights and cultivation techniques throughout his martial path far exceeded the standards of the Tian Yuan world. To this world's warriors, just gaining a tiny bit of insight to the cultivation techniques that Yi Yun cultivated in was enough to set them for life.
But for Yi Yun, what he cultivated was insufficient.
This was because… despite these cultivation techniques, canonical manuals, laws being absolutely amazing, they had something in common. That was… that they were all created by someone else.
If he walked down the path of others, no matter how well he did, he would at best reach the height that others had previously attained. It would be hard for him to breakthrough, and conquer himself.
Only by walking down a path that he created himself, and understanding a new Dao for himself would he be able to reach that abstruse, true peak of martial arts.