The Birth of the Dream-Reality Taiji Dao Body
In the Primordial Forest, after harvesting the main-fruit of the monkey monsters and settling near the lakeshore.
Secluded inside the alchemy chamber within the Mountain Sea Pearl, he spent roughly a day in meditation. He calmed his mind and body, then ran through the entire refinement process in his head.
Once every preparation was complete, he slowly opened his eyes and immediately began the refinement.
The flames of Pure Yang Extreme Flame ignited beneath the Three Origin Ninefold Profound Fire Alchemy Furnace with a casual wave of his hand.
He avoided using the Honglian True Flame because it would be incorporated as an ingredient midway through; adding too much fire-attribute energy risked destabilizing the balance.
The primary ingredients for the Taeul Five Elements Embodiment Pill were the Five Elements Dao Fruit he had obtained while exploring the Galactic Empire, the fruit of the Cambrosiad tree that Brenar had given him as a gift, the Five Elements Gold Stone—a fragment of the Five Elements True Spirit Boulder—and his own refined blood, infused with the Taeul Five Elements essence. When counting every auxiliary material, the total reached twenty-seven different components.
Once the furnace had warmed sufficiently, he added a small amount of Taechung Profound Water to generate protective steam inside, spreading a life-giving vitality that would prevent the ingredients from burning. Then he introduced the Five Elements Dao Fruit, whose impurities had already been purged once using an ether plasma device from the Galactic Empire.
The moment it entered, a spell formula shot forth, instantly transforming the peach-like fruit into a soft, viscous liquid. Upon meeting the furnace’s heat, it began to rotate and gradually assumed a spherical shape.
He added several more auxiliary materials, drawing out the spiritual efficacy of the genius treasures while expelling unnecessary properties and any lingering impurities that had not been fully removed.
Inside the furnace, five-colored flames repeatedly flared and died away, creating a truly spectacular display.
He poured in every last drop of the Cambrosiad fruit’s juice, added more auxiliary materials to stabilize the mixture, and then—
From between his slightly parted lips emerged a single droplet of refined blood that shone with five brilliant colors.
Extracting refined blood was never comfortable, even for a cultivator of his caliber. His brow furrowed involuntarily, yet his hands remained perfectly steady as he dropped the droplet into the furnace. Immediately afterward, he poured in four more auxiliary materials.
A low, heavy explosion rang out.
The furnace trembled faintly.
The force swirling violently within the scorching interior spun the half-formed spiritual pill even faster. The characteristics of every added ingredient were being selectively fused together in precisely the required proportions.
Yet the flow of power grew increasingly fierce. It seemed as though the contents might shatter and scatter at any moment.
At that critical instant, the liquefied Five Elements Gold Stone was introduced. Right after, every auxiliary material needed to neutralize the intense toxicity inherent to metallic genius treasures was added in rapid succession.
The single mass split cleanly into exactly twelve pieces. Each began rotating while linked tail-to-head. They naturally merged with the power flowing inside the furnace, then raced along the inner walls at a constant, high speed.
All manner of spell formulas were fired at precise intervals toward the twelve spiritual pills, sinking into them without error.
Sometimes the Honglian True Flame briefly wrapped around the pills. At other times, the lightning flames of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning bloomed within the furnace. The pure-white Carefree Cloud Dragon appeared to regulate the flow of power, Taechung Profound Water scattered like misting rain, and Hard Metal Thick Earth protected the furnace’s inner walls while coating the surface of the pills in a heavy, golden sheen.
Even throughout all of this, the spell formulas never ceased. The sight of them splitting into exactly twelve streams at the furnace mouth and piercing the high-speed rotating pills was mesmerizing no matter how many times one saw it.
Yet Han Yujin felt that this entire sequence of alchemical actions was not particularly difficult. This was his first time attempting it, too.
The alchemy secret arts from the Yin-Yang Dao Body Realm offered tremendous convenience when fusing metallic materials. He could have omitted several auxiliary ingredients and still succeeded.
Of course, that was not the only reason.
His own alchemy proficiency had, at some point, reached a level where it would not be strange at all to call him an alchemy grandmaster.
The research and creation of the Foundation Establishment Pill really paid off.
More precisely, the process had allowed him to thoroughly internalize the vast amount of knowledge he had accumulated until now.
In addition, he had the assistance of the fusion-intelligence spirit Elb, granting him superior computational ability compared to other alchemists. He possessed Galactic Empire devices that provided invaluable utility in material processing. Even his body had reached a state where his senses were razor-sharp and his control absolute, as if he possessed the paired hands of the law itself. There was virtually no chance of error.
If the final product turns out well, there should be no problem replicating this in reality.
In a considerably improved mood, he continued focusing on the refinement process.
Eight days later.
Beside the furnace whose heat had cooled by half, Han Yujin floated the twelve completed spiritual pills in the air and examined them carefully.
Against a deep golden background, beautiful five-colored light traced more than one line of Dao patterns, flickering subtly as they reflected. The patterns were nearly two full lines long.
In other words, these were Dao Pattern Spiritual Pills.
Considering that the Soul-Eating Dao-Achieving Pill created by the demonic Nascent Soul cultivator he had encountered in the Galactic Empire had only possessed faint, single-line Dao patterns, his current refinement clearly surpassed it in quality.
It might be premature to claim his alchemy skill alone was superior, since that particular pill was an exceptionally difficult item to refine. Still, the result was more than satisfactory.
According to the original plan, this was the point where he should use an escape technique to check how much Karma would be consumed to bring these pills into reality, but…
No need.
Since the refinement had only taken about eight days, there was no reason to be overly cautious. Above all, his intuition felt exceptionally good right now.
Perhaps, just as he had hoped, he would succeed without any significant trial and error. It wasn’t merely luck; it was thanks to the knowledge, materials, and genius treasures he had accumulated until now.
To prepare for any possible aftereffects, he moved to the training chamber. He stored eleven of the Taeul Five Elements Embodiment Pills inside an indestructible ice box, then picked up the last one.
He gazed at it with satisfaction one final time before placing it in his mouth.
A spiritual pill that had even formed Dao patterns was naturally no ordinary object.
Before he could even chew, it melted smoothly and slid down his throat. It spread throughout his entire body at once, and its energy even reached his dantian, beginning to exert its influence.
Because he had modified the original Five Elements Embodiment Pill to suit himself, the effect manifested both extremely quickly and intensely.
It felt as though the power of Taeul Five Elements was exploding outward and seeping into every single cell. Since his body originally possessed the properties of the Dream Dragon Dao Body, a natural repulsion arose.
However, his physique was so robust that no serious damage occurred. The microscopic wounds that did appear healed instantly and instead aided in the formation of the Taeul Five Elements Dao Body.
At that moment, Han Yujin, seated in meditation with his eyes closed, began operating the Yin-Yang Dao Body Technique.
The Five Elements Earth Power—clearly existing as the representation of all material states in the world—and among them the especially unique Taeul Five Elements Earth Power, he designated as Yang.
The Dream-Reality Power—radiant yet fundamentally empty and void—and among it the most evolved essence resembling the True Dragon Dream-Reality Power, he designated as Yin.
Where there is light, there is darkness.
Where there is existence, there is non-existence.
Where there is truth, there is falsehood.
Where there is reality, there is illusion.
The primordial chaos born from the beginning void split into Yin and Yang, finally forming the Taiji—this was the starting point of the universe.
Therefore, the Dream Dragon Dao Body and the Taeul Five Elements Dao Body could sufficiently harmonize and coexist according to this principle. They could go beyond merely sharing space and achieve an ultimate order that could never be separated.
Was that not precisely one facet of the Dao?
If this could not be called the Great Dao, then what else could possibly deserve the name?
In short, his conception of the Dream-Reality Taiji Dao Body was not absurd in the slightest. It was entirely achievable.
Moreover, while traversing the boundless and easily bewildering path of immortality—much like sailing an endless ocean—it would serve as the indispensable compass he needed.
Half-immersed in a state of no-self, the other half focused on harmonizing with the changes in his Dao Body, Han Yujin digested the Taeul Five Elements Embodiment Pill with a level of concentration higher than ever before through the Yin-Yang Dao Body Technique.
Golden and violet light continuously rose around his seated form, flaring violently, swirling, surging, condensing, and flaring again in an endless cycle.
Countless spell formulas, laws, and Dao patterns rose like illusions before sinking and vanishing. It was impossible to guess what kind of mysterious transformation was occurring inside his body.
And so.
One step was taken toward the Dream-Reality Taiji Dao Body.
A Dao Body was not something that could be obtained so easily.
Moreover, Han Yujin’s current condition required not only acquiring it but also balancing it with the already overwhelmingly powerful Dream Dragon Dao Body, making the task even more difficult.
Therefore.
Only after consuming all twelve Dao Pattern Spiritual Pills at roughly half-month intervals was he able to reach his goal with a sense of stability. He had nearly fallen short.
It had taken nearly half a year.
When he opened his eyes, the Yin-Yang True Dragon Eye activated on its own before returning to normal. Since it was a divine ability created by merging the Yin-Yang Eye obtained through the Yin-Yang Dao Body Technique with the True Dragon Eye, the reaction was perfectly natural.
One could say that manifesting divine abilities had become far easier and their effects had grown stronger.
Of course, compared to the Dream-Reality Taiji Dao Body he had achieved through harmonization, that was a trivial matter.
It was still insufficient to call it a complete Dream-Reality Taiji Dao Body, but he had at least firmly established the foundation for it.
Creak…!
When he clenched his fist, the overflowing power unintentionally distorted even space-time slightly.
As expected…
Jjik!
Having sensed the aura of the pill-refining cultivation ending, Mu-yong—who had been managing the spirit fields—came dashing in like a streak of lightning and burst into the training chamber. She circled Han Yujin several times, trying to spot what had changed.
“Do you think you’ll see it just by looking?”
Jjik—! Jjijik!
“You have to test it yourself.”
Since stabilization was already complete, he immediately scooped Mu-yong into his arms and left the training chamber.
The moment he exited and stored the Mountain Sea Pearl, he shot forward at an incredible speed toward a certain destination. By the time one might think they had seen a flash of light, his figure had already become a distant speck.
The compatibility between the Taeul Five Elements Dao Body and the Five Elements Heavenly Escape Art was truly astonishing. It unfolded more naturally than breathing, and the speed had increased yet again.
Naturally, the power of various Five Elements techniques had also risen. This included supreme abilities like the Yin-Yang Five Elements Extinction Great Hand.
He appeared instantly at the location where the Honwon Stone pillar stood.
The moment he saw the transparent winged-horned serpent, he charged without hesitation and swung the Extinction Great Hand.
The winged-horned serpent, struck by a bolt from the blue, had the Honwon Stone pillar it had been coiled around snapped clean in two. It tumbled pathetically across the ground.
The delayed shockwave swept across the area, overturning everything in its path. The ground shook from the vibrations caused by the massive creature’s thrashing body.
Yet a pained roar from the winged-horned serpent overwhelmed all other noise. Before it could even properly vent its fury and counterattack, the Extinction Great Hand struck again in rapid succession, hammering its body from every direction.
The surrounding land was churned up by consecutive shockwaves. Torn pieces of the winged-horned serpent’s flesh and blood scattered wildly. The power of extinction that clung to the wounds inflicted horrific damage.
It moved so fast and ferociously that even though the winged-horned serpent excelled at spatial manipulation, it could not properly track Han Yujin’s figure. Forget counterattacking—it was desperately trying to avoid fatal injuries and cling to life.
Right then, an enormous light exploded from Han Yujin’s raised hand.
The instant the light took the shape of a sword, the slash had already been delivered.
It was the Five Elements Wilderness Slash, a high-grade and exclusive technique.
A streak of light remained as if it had split the world diagonally from upper left to lower right. From within that afterimage, a sword of darkness that had been swung alongside it silently vanished.
Immediately afterward.
The head of the Nascent Soul-level monster that had once left Han Yujin speechless was severed and flew through the air. Its violently spurting blood and convulsing torso lost strength and collapsed.
The noise of the shockwaves from the Extinction Great Hand had not even fully subsided.
Without any elaborate calculations, he had simply beaten it to his heart’s content and decapitated it. He had not summoned his main dharma treasure, nor had he used the Soul-Absorbing Five Lotus Wine Bottle.
It truly felt no different from punching a sandbag.
Jjik—! Jjik—!
Only after the lightning-fast assault ended did Mu-yong, who had finally regained her senses, let out cries of admiration. Han Yujin reflexively stroked her while laughing.
“These guys aren’t even good for testing anymore, huh?”
Jjijik! Jjik—!
“Should I call that one? You know, that arrogant elemental spirit.”
At those words—whose arrogance was debatable—Mu-yong, who had been excited, suddenly froze.