Up in his chambers, Zilan focused his mind and in the process got rid of any useless as well as unnecessary thoughts.
He closed his eyes in contemplation. A plan was slowly forming in his head. A plan that would allow him to most efficiently reach the soul-compression stage but at the same time put him in a position where he could take advantage of, well, the many advantages the ‘Path of Blood’ cultivation method afforded him. After all, his cultivation system was born from his desire to surpass everything, to take control of his life, future and fate. To do this his system needed to be greater than all others.
‘Attempting to get closer to the Origin laws and break through is something better done away from the eyes of the onlookers.’ Thought Zilan as last time’s interruption still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
‘Using the same method again is also unlikely to yield any significant results thus in order to surpass the Tempering stage, a new course of action will have to be taken.’ He deliberated.
Enlightenment was a strange and mysterious miracle, it came when one did not actively search for it and should one fail to grab it when it actually approaches then using the same methods to achieve the same results, quite frankly, may as well be impossible. Thus, Zilan had no choice but to find a new way.
‘Last time I attempted to get closer to the Origin laws was through the Rain Storm technique. At that time, that was enough because I had suppressed my advancement however, currently in order to get back to that feeling I’ll probably need to use the Infinite Rain technique in its entirety. The only problem is that the Rain Shower and Rain Drizzle techniques that I can actually use are counterfeits of the original technique. Will that be enough?’
Thinking up to there, Zilan decided to take a break and revisit that subject after he was done with all the other preparations needed.
He slowly took out the Black core pill or more accurately what remained of it.
“This should be good enough.” Smiled Zilan.
He poured the pill particles onto the ground, calmly evaluating them before nodding his head in resolution. What Zilan was about to do was customise the pill according to his unique characteristics. However, how he was going to achieve this was the true marvel!
Most people in this plane as well as other less advanced planes of existence probably believed that only through the use of cauldrons could an Alchemist concoct the pinnacle of all creations.
To Zilan as well as other learned people of Ancient, powerful bloodlines this notion or belief was complete bullsh*t. If one were to truly ask what the best method for Alchemy was, the debates would be endless and would go on for eternity. Many had their own theories on the ‘right’ method and Zilan was no exception. The only difference was that with maturity, Zilan’s perception of Alchemy had changed as well as grown greatly. Thus, as of today, he possessed two theories. One which he developed as a child and the other something so complex and quite frankly terrifyingly dangerous that he dared not speak of it until he could get his hands on the power as well as the knowledge necessary to actually begin experimenting it.
His first theory unsurprisingly involved his favourite ‘Way’. The Art of Formations.
Zilan used to believe that formations were the best medium with which to use the power of Heaven and Earth to refine something. To some extent Zaum himself, as well as other supreme beings actually agreed with Zilan’s theory but unfortunately Zaum did not clearly state his position as to what method he endorsed/believed to be the best thus the debate continued.
To be perfectly clear, the formations he planned to use were nothing like the formations that Zilan had employed in the past as this Alchemy formation was part of a set that he had painstakingly created, all by himself. Although Zilan could not say that it was unique in the vast Universe, what he could say was that finding something similar to his set of formations would be an extremely difficult task.
………….
Drawing a few star patterns around the pill particles, followed by intersecting hexagons and pentagons, then finishing off with a myriad of intricate inscriptions, Zilan took a shocking thirty six hours of restless concentration before he ultimately completed the formation.
Next came the easy part as he simply dripped a few drops of blood onto the pill particles and then made sure his core essence and aura were absorbed by the formation.
Finally, the formation was powered and as expected in less than an hour a perfectly square reddish-blue pill was refined by his formation.
“Perfect!” He exclaimed. His eyes thoroughly examined the pill, top to bottom, left to right, a large smile plastered on his face all the while.
“Now that this is done….” He carefully put away the pill that no longer fit the moniker, ‘Black core pill’, and gazed at the unassuming ceiling, an unmistakable determination could be seen in his eyes.
“Infinite Rain…??” He whispered.
Almost immediately and entirely unexpected, scales covered Zilan’s entire body and the various inscriptions on his body began glowing with an extremely dark light. A colour so deeply black that one could describe its shade as blacker than darkness itself.
A curtain of rain began pouring above his head, he struggled to keep his eyes open but his efforts were futile. A strange phenomenon then took place. The entire space trembled and before one could even blink, Zilan’s body disappeared from the chamber. He was gone, nowhere to be seen.
A vanishing act that no one saw coming, but if someone had been in the chamber with Zilan before he teleported, they would notice a peculiar change in the recollection of the history of Spring Dragons tattooed on his chest.
It had shockingly began depicting the story in reverse with the events beginning with the birth of the Spring Dragon and ending with the entrapment of the Dragons.
What did this mean exactly? That is a question very few would be able to answer correctly.
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An – I understand this is shorter than normal however, this is a set-up chapter. I think I’ve done this a few times before, I won’t ask you to get used to it because it happens very, very rarely. Probably only at the start of every important arc will you find one.
Anyways look forward to the chapters to come, great arcs coming.
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