Chapter 31

Shang Xia's mind returned to the四方碑 (Square Stele) in his mind, attempting to find something useful on it.

However, to his disappointment, the four sides of the stele remained completely still, offering no indication of whether Shang Xia had already taken the advanced elixir or if he had successfully advanced. There was even less information about what the hint of the heavenly and earthly essence truly referred to.

It seemed that apart from martial arts techniques and the advanced elixir, there was nothing else to rely on.

What exactly was the true hint of the heavenly and earthly essence?

Was it the drop of water that fused the essences of the sun and moon?

Shang Xia indeed comprehended the principle of "polar fusion" through that drop of water and successfully opened his dantian as a result.

But that drop of water was merely a medium to reveal the mysteries of the poles to Shang Xia.

The true hint of the heavenly and earthly essence began the moment Shang Xia stepped into the place where purity and impurity converged, starting from when he understood the "balance of the poles."

From "balance of the poles" to "polar fusion," the insights brought by this hint of the heavenly and earthly essence were too numerous, causing even his newly opened dantian to struggle under the continuous transformations.

Thus, Shang Xia gained a deeper understanding of the essence in his dantian, moving from "polar fusion" to "polar transformation"!

Although the polar essence that had already fused began to separate again, how could it compare to the freedom of "polar transformation"?

However, although Shang Xia now understood the principles, how could he put this understanding into practice?

Thus, a cultural symbol from his past life's memories naturally surfaced in his mind.

Two yin-yang fish chasing each other!

Shang Xia casually picked up another drop of water from the three-foot water belt. The essences of the sun and moon within it were originally fused like chaos.

But as Shang Xia's thoughts moved, the essence in the drop of water began to surge, gradually forming two yin-yang fish chasing each other.

At the moment the pattern was formed, half of the essence transformed into solar essence and rose, while the other half transformed into lunar essence and sank.

A single drop of water, two essences, was simply and cleanly divided into two.

Shang Xia laughed heartily and flicked the drop of water into his mouth again.

The essence that flowed into his dantian was instantly activated, and a large Taiji pattern appeared in his dantian.

At this moment, whether the essence flowing into his dantian was solar or lunar, whether there was more solar essence or more lunar essence, it no longer mattered.

As long as Shang Xia wished, the two essences could transform freely in his dantian and always remain balanced.

The rising solar essence and the sinking lunar essence stabilized Shang Xia's dantian.

To some extent, with his current control over the essence in his body, he had almost created a new set of cultivation techniques for the Martial Apex Realm.

Although he had just entered the Martial Apex Realm, in reality, he had already advanced much further on the path of cultivation in this realm!

"Perhaps the Martial Apex Realm essence in my body is no longer suitable to be called 'polar essence.' 'Yin-yang essence' would be a more fitting term!"

Shang Xia felt the changes in every detail of the essence in his body. Despite the short time since his advancement, he had already discovered multiple wonders of the "yin-yang essence" in his body.

Firstly, martial cultivators who followed the path of the sun and moon, like Shang Xia, were usually categorized as "Ice-Fire Extreme Path" or "Cold-Heat Extreme Path."

Of course, the most top-tier path would be the "Ice-Fire Extreme Path," and the number of people who could achieve it would be extremely few!

But Shang Xia knew that the true "Sun-Moon Extreme Path" was far beyond the scope of the "Ice-Fire Extreme Path."

Even from the perspective of the "Ice-Fire Extreme Path," the ultimate yang represented by the sun and the ultimate yin represented by the moon fundamentally surpassed the understanding of "ice and fire" by ordinary martial cultivators.

Secondly, after advancing to the Polar Realm, ordinary martial cultivators usually had to enhance one pole first before enhancing the other.

The consequence of this approach was that it could easily lead to an imbalance between the two poles during cultivation, causing extraordinary失控 (loss of control).

Even with martial arts techniques to regulate, it only reduced the possibility of such an outcome.

In fact, martial cultivators in the Martial Apex Realm were always on the brink of losing control.

Not everyone had thought of enhancing both poles simultaneously while maintaining balance, which would greatly reduce the possibility of extraordinary loss of control.

However, doing so required a large amount of cultivation resources, and because extraordinary resources were rare, ordinary martial cultivators found it difficult to collect two resources with opposite attributes simultaneously and in equal amounts.

Usually, they would collect one resource and use it first, at least to enhance their cultivation first.

Who knew when the other resource would be collected?

It couldn't be that if one resource wasn't collected in a year, cultivation would stagnate for a year, or if it wasn't collected in three years, it would stagnate for three years, right?

What about ten years? Thirty years...

However, this cultivation method, which was a constraint for any other Polar Realm cultivator, posed no obstacle to Shang Xia!

Because the polar essence in Shang Xia's body had already transcended the most basic "balance" and even surpassed the "fusion" stage, reaching the "transformation" stage.

This meant that the polar essence, or more accurately, the "yin-yang essence" in his body, could transform freely.

In other words, Shang Xia could choose to strengthen and enhance any one pole at any time, and the other pole would also progress, while maintaining balance between the two poles.

At the same time, this also meant that Shang Xia had fundamentally eliminated the possibility of losing control in the Martial Apex Realm!

Furthermore, Shang Xia discovered that the "transformation" of the yin-yang essence in his body was not limited to the transformation between yin and yang but could also transform into other polar paths.

Or, more accurately, it could "change" or even "transform"!

As mentioned earlier, before being called the "Yin-Yang Extreme Path," the "Sun-Moon Extreme Path" was categorized as the "Ice-Fire Extreme Path" by extraordinary martial cultivators.

In other words, if Shang Xia wished, he could disguise his "Yin-Yang Extreme Path" as the "Sun-Moon Extreme Path" or even the "Ice-Fire Extreme Path."

Moreover, with the hints from the Square Stele and the guidance of Zhang Haogu, Shang Xia's "Yin-Yang Extreme Path" could easily manifest as the "Purity-Impurity Extreme Path."

This was proven feasible when Shang Xia opened his dantian.

In other words, Shang Xia could freely conceal the essence of his Martial Apex Realm, greatly reducing the possibility of his extraordinary characteristics being countered by opponents.

Feeling the changes in his body after advancing to the Martial Apex Realm, Shang Xia was completely immersed in it.

It was only when the changes around him finally snapped him out of his trance that he realized the sun in the sky had already begun to set, and the full moon had long since disappeared.

The lake water beneath his feet still rippled, but the scalding water on the right had already cooled, and the thick ice layer on the left had long since melted.

The surging essence tide had already calmed, and although the surrounding world was still filled with dense essence, it was gradually dissipating with time.

For no reason, a sense of loss welled up in Shang Xia's heart.

The sun and moon in the sky were a rare celestial phenomenon in the Two Realms Battlefield, almost unseen for years.

When it suddenly appeared, it triggered a conflict between the essence of the two worlds, directly causing the essence tide, a grand spectacle.

However, this extraordinary celestial phenomenon came and went quickly.

From the moment Shang Xia forced his way into the essence tide, to entering the place where purity and impurity converged, to taking the Purity-Impurity Powder to advance to the Martial Apex Realm, and then experiencing the changes in the yin-yang essence in his dantian, it had only taken about the time of a single incense stick burning, yet the sky had already changed from the sun and moon in the sky to the sun setting and the moon hidden.

It was unknown whether the essence tide triggered by this celestial phenomenon, centered around the small lake, would leave any treasures in the lake.

Unfortunately, after a thorough search, Shang Xia finally gave up on this idea.

In the small lake, Shang Xia did not find even a single stone containing essence.

If it weren't for his personal experience of the essence tide, he would have doubted whether the celestial phenomenon of the sun and moon in the sky had even occurred.

With each step on the water, two intertwined streams of qi burst from his feet, creating ripples on the surface.

When he reached the shore, a faint chirp came, and Shang Xia was surprised to see that the mutated rain swallow in the cage was still alive!

When Shang Xia faced the essence tide, he had assumed the mutated rain swallow would not survive.

When he reached the shore of the purity-impurity water belt, he had casually thrown the cage to the side, and at that time, the mutated rain swallow in the cage had not made any sound.

Although a living mutated rain swallow had great potential value, compared to his own cultivation advancement, Shang Xia had given up on the swallow without hesitation.

But he never expected that the mutated rain swallow had survived the essence tide.

"Ha, this is a big gain!"

Shang Xia's face lit up with joy, and he quickly picked up the cage and hung it on his left wrist again.

Walking through the fallen grass, the forest was in sight.

Although the essence tide had caused many plants to wither, the lingering essence gave them a different kind of vitality.

As Shang Xia stepped into the forest, a graceful figure suddenly appeared from the depths.

The moment she saw Shang Xia, two willow-leaf sabers flew from either side, circling around the trees and slashing towards him.

This woman hadn't left!

"You're still not done, are you!"

Shang Xia was both annoyed and frustrated to see her again.

Seeing the two sabers flying towards him, Shang Xia drew his soft sword, Yuhé, and pointed it at one of the sabers.

In the instant the saber was halted in mid-air, Yuhé bent and transformed into a flexible form, wrapping around the hilt of the other saber that was flying by.

Before the wrapped saber could break free, Shang Xia flicked Yuhé, causing the two sabers to collide in mid-air. The subtle force on them was dispersed, and both sabers fell to the ground.

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