Chapter 267
The power of artistic conception and qi sea surged, slowly condensing into a round ball in front of Ye Chu. The ball was pitch black, like a piece of black stone, gradually appearing and flickering before Ye Chu.
“Strange stone!” Ye Jingyun and Ji Die were stunned. They looked at the round stone condensed in front of Ye Chu, then shook their heads and sighed. “We thought Ye Chu could condense some kind of intent pattern. Who would have expected a strange stone intent pattern!”
“In the end, he is still limited by his talent! To call this round stone even a strange stone is generous. It is completely ordinary, and the intent pattern is too poor!”
“The quality of intent patterns is classified as inanimate objects, living creatures, spiritual beings, and heavenly phenomena. Strange stone monsters are the worst, followed by plants and trees, then fierce beasts, sacred beasts, and heavenly phenomena. Ye Chu’s intent pattern is at the very bottom, even worse than Tan Cai’s.”
“However, given Ye Chu’s talent, being able to condense an intent pattern at all is already quite good. We previously thought he could surpass Tan Cai, but now it seems we overestimated him.”
“…”
The two women felt some pity. Such terrifying spirit-moulding qi had merged into his body, yet Ye Chu had only condensed such a poor intent pattern.
After Ye Chu violently released both his artistic conception and qi sea power to condense the round stone intent pattern, he felt his body was about to collapse. His entire being was exhausted. Strangely, his primordial spirit and mental strength remained abundant. Only his physical body could not endure it.
Ye Chu quickly realised the reason. His physical talent was too weak. Although Black Iron had helped him open his qi sea, the time had been too short, and the opening was limited. It had not added much talent to his body. That was why condensing just one of the lowest-grade intent patterns had left him exhausted.
But Ye Chu’s primordial spirit was different. His primordial spirit did not belong to this body, and it had even fused with the previous Ye Chu’s primordial spirit. Ye Chu believed that the talent of his primordial spirit was not inferior to anyone in the world.
This resulted in abundant mental strength in his primordial spirit, yet his body was exhausted and could not continue.
Looking at the round stone intent pattern condensed in front of him, Ye Chu felt unwilling. This body was too weak. Was it going to affect his future path as well?
The surrounding spirit-moulding qi continued to pour into his body. Spiritual qi and faint true essence also merged into Ye Chu’s qi sea, but he had no strength left to condense another intent pattern.
“Since the body cannot be relied upon, is it possible to condense intent patterns using only the primordial spirit?” Ye Chu suddenly had this thought. His gaze fixed straight on the black stone in front of him.
With this idea, Ye Chu began to mobilise the power of his primordial spirit. His artistic conception was extremely agile and could change according to his will, something others found difficult to achieve.
Since he had such an advantage, Ye Chu used his artistic conception to draw in the surrounding spiritual qi. The spiritual qi around him was pulled and surged toward the round stone’s pattern.
For other primordial spirit realm cultivators, this was extremely difficult. But for Ye Chu, whose artistic conception was so agile, it was effortless. However, the spiritual qi he drew did not merge with the round stone. The round stone seemed to have reached saturation and could no longer absorb even a trace of spiritual qi or artistic conception.
This made Ye Chu frown. Since it could not merge, he would condense another intent pattern.
He used his own artistic conception to draw in the surrounding spiritual qi, then infused it with the power of his primordial spirit. In the void, a second round stone slowly took shape.
This scene caused Ji Die and Ye Jingyun to exchange a glance. Both saw the confusion in each other’s eyes. They had never seen anyone condense an intent pattern in two separate steps instead of completing it in one go.
Watching the second round stone intent pattern slowly condense in front of Ye Chu, the two women felt that Ye Chu truly could not be judged by common sense. They had just thought his cultivation would end here, yet he could still condense another intent pattern.
However, seeing the second intent pattern take shape, Ji Die and Ye Jingyun still shook their heads. The strength of intent patterns was not determined by quantity. Even if Ye Chu condensed two round stones, or even a hundred, he could not compare to a cultivator with a single plant-based intent pattern.
This was a difference in quality that quantity could never make up for.
But Ye Chu seemed unaware of this. He continued to condense round stones. His primordial spirit was extremely active, using his agile artistic conception to draw spiritual qi from the space and condense intent patterns without going through the qi sea.
Yet as soon as the second round stone appeared and Ye Chu’s mind shifted to prepare for a third one, the second round stone instantly began to scatter and disintegrate.
This startled Ye Chu. He quickly used his mind to pull and bind it, preventing it from dispersing.
With Ye Chu’s artistic conception restraining it, the stone stabilised again. But the moment Ye Chu relaxed even slightly, it began to scatter once more. This result made Ye Chu frown deeply.
“Could it really be impossible? Is one round stone intent pattern my limit?”
Ye Chu felt unwilling in his heart. His primordial spirit’s talent was terrifyingly strong, yet it was restricted by his qi sea. He could not accept this.
His primordial spirit continued to frantically absorb the spirit-moulding qi. The patterns of Black Iron scattered into Ye Chu’s primordial spirit, making his artistic conception even more agile and his mind exceptionally clear.
This sensation made Ye Chu’s heart stir. His gaze turned toward Black Iron. He slowly memorised the patterns of Black Iron. As his mind followed the movement of Black Iron’s patterns and became immersed in them, the artistic conception on the round stone also began to slowly rotate. Lines of texture gradually formed on the round stone.
With the appearance of these textures, the artistic conception and spiritual qi perfectly fused together, becoming one inseparable whole.
The radiance of Black Iron surged out from his body and shone onto the round stone. Similar patterns to Black Iron appeared on the round stone, though they flashed only briefly before vanishing.
The black stone returned to its simple and unremarkable appearance, but it no longer scattered.
Ye Chu was overjoyed. Looking at the two black stones now circling beside him, he felt his primordial spirit was brimming with energy. He once again condensed a third round stone using the same method, and it appeared before him.
Ji Die and Ye Jingyun had long been stunned in place. They had never heard of intent patterns being condensed in separate stages like this. Watching round stone after round stone continuously appear in front of Ye Chu, the two women were utterly shocked.
“How exactly is Ye Chu doing this? Normally, the first time you condense an intent pattern, whatever comes out is final, and both primordial spirit and qi sea become exhausted. How can he keep producing more intent patterns, and all identical ones? Is his physique really that strange?” Ye Jingyun asked Ji Die curiously.
Ji Die shook her head and said, “The quality is too low. Condensing too many may not be a benefit for him. It could become a burden instead. I also cannot see through his physique. Perhaps it really is different from ours.”
Ye Jingyun said nothing more. By now, seven or eight round stones had already condensed in front of Ye Chu, circling around him in a ring, and he was still condensing more.
Seeing this, Ye Jingyun shook her head helplessly. She thought that Ye Chu was still the same Ye Chu from back then. Some things could not be changed, such as his talent.