Yamafu Military Affairs

Chapter 640 Sublimation
The Secret Treasures of Jambudvipa are unusual objects scattered among the many fruits of the Jambudvipa Fruit Tree, which significantly enhance one's abilities when traveling through Jambudvipa. Their external forms vary, but the most common is undoubtedly a solid object like the Three Souls and Seven Spirits Coin.

The Five-Colored Stone, as its name suggests, is a magical stone that is radiant with five colors inside. Its outer wall is crystal clear, and the color changes inside can be clearly seen.

As for the Five Elements Manual, its appearance is quite ordinary. It is a parchment book about the size of a palm, but over two hundred pages thick, filled with densely packed tiny characters and many hand-drawn illustrations.

Lu Wu glanced through them quickly and found that the tiny characters were basically the cultivation methods of various tribes in the Great Wilderness, along with annotations added by Emperor Shennong after personally practicing them. They were profound yet easy to understand. As long as the practitioner possessed the appropriate extraordinary power, it would not be difficult to develop similar self-enlightened skills by combining their specialization in techniques with their own understanding.

However, in any case, mastering the spells here requires a great deal of time and effort.

While the consecration of the Five-Colored Stones would completely consume this reusable and intergenerational spellbook, from the perspective of convenience and efficiency, it would undoubtedly allow for the rapid acquisition of multiple levels of the Yama's Secret Treasures, solidifying the foundation of the Lu Wu lineage and reaching or even surpassing the number of secret treasures in the Taotie lineage.

Qin Huai knew that these secret treasures obtained through the enlightenment of strange objects were difficult to compare in quality with the secret treasures of Yanfu that Taotie had obtained through life-and-death struggles and countless hardships. However, having them was better than having them, and Qin Huai was already quite satisfied.

With a thought from Lu Wu, the five-colored stone transformed into streams of brilliant light, merging into the palm-sized parchment book. It then exploded into countless colorful tiny characters, swirling around the book, with a few characters occasionally flashing in unison, forming continuous phrases and long sentences.

As soon as Lu Wu's eyes fell, he could see the "Eternal Life" flashing with blue light and the "Taiyi Fire True" radiating with blazing light. In the next instant, thousands of words came like hail. As soon as they touched his limbs and bones, they completely merged into them, like rivers flowing into the sea and swallows returning to their nests, disappearing without a trace.

In an instant, a sharp pain from being pricked and having blood drawn, along with the satisfaction of receiving an IV drip, burst forth simultaneously, strangely coexisting and stimulating the nervous system throughout his body. Before he could react, a chilling sensation that permeated his very being spread back to every corner of his body, contrary to the pain.

Feeling the agonizing, itchy sensation of countless ants gnawing at his bones, Lu Wu frowned and stared intently at the status bar. After about four or five minutes, Yan Fu finally prompted him.

"The Five Elements Manual has been completed."

What appeared before Qin Huai at this moment was no longer illusory words and tangible objects, but a cluster of rainbow-colored clouds that was half real and half illusory, gathered but not dispersed, and quietly suspended in mid-air.

[Five Elements Chart] (Enlightenment)

Category: Jambudvipa's Secret Treasures!
Based on the Five Elements Manual, compiled from 417 exquisite spiritual techniques of various races in the Great Wilderness and Sea, this strange object was created by being enlightened by the artifacts left by Nuwa and combined with the blood and flesh flowing through the world.

It can enhance inherited skills, requiring the inherited skills to be any one of the following 692 items.

Example:
Your Lu Wu meets the requirements for inheritance enhancement.

Each inherited skill can only be enhanced once.

Each enhancement will cost 2000 Yama Points and consume one or more of the 417 Spiritual Techniques from the Five Elements Manual. Once all 417 Spiritual Techniques are consumed, the item will disappear.

Qin Huai read the passage over and over again, his mind filled with only the word "outrageous." He couldn't even imagine how big a snowball he could have built up by exploiting the Yanfu incidents if he had encountered such an opportunity when he was in a low position.

"The world is vast and full of wonders."

With a sigh, Qin Huai directly chose to strengthen the basic state of the inherited [Dao Spirit].

"You will need to consume 2000 Yama Points, as well as 235 spiritual techniques from the Five Elements Manual, including [Flowing Wave Cover], [Crimson Fire Radiance], and [Silent Night]."

The Five Elements Manual contains the most intricate techniques for manipulating the true energy of the five elements, and these techniques have the highest compatibility with the [Dao Spirit]. There are over two hundred of them. As Qin Huai confirmed the enhancement, most of the rainbow-colored clouds hovering in front of his chest split off and poured into his mouth and nose. The clouds surged and split into five colors, each flowing into Lu Wu's five cloud tails, instantly making the colors many times brighter.

Numerous words flashed before Qin Huai's eyes.

[Dao Ling] Enhancement complete.

The effect is as follows:

[You can freely convert your spiritual power and use 235 spiritual techniques, including Flowing Wave Shield, Crimson Fire Radiance, and Silent Night, without cooldown or side effects.]

[You can now try to simulate sufficiently familiar extraordinary characteristics by adjusting the proportions of the five elements within your Daoist spiritual power, but the probability of failure is quite high.]

[You can now leverage the power of heaven and earth by consuming Daoist spiritual energy, thereby unleashing more powerful and frequent spiritual techniques.]

[When the Spirit Resonance Technique deals damage, it continuously reduces the enemy's corresponding resistance. When the resistance reaches zero, an instant-death check will be triggered, and the success rate depends on the difference in rank between the two.]

That wasn't all. Qin Huai used the Five Elements Manual again to strengthen it. This time, he chose to strengthen the [Emperor's Garden], which greatly reduced the amount of spiritual energy techniques consumed. There were only a few eighteen spiritual energy techniques such as [Tidal Flow], [Cangwu Fertile Field], and [Snowy Green Forest].

A portion of the rainbow and clouds formed by the Five Elements spectrum separated out again.

The enhancement effects of 【Imperial Garden】 are as follows:
The Imperial Garden can spontaneously absorb external resources to replenish the needs of Kunlun Hill.

The spiritual energy within the Imperial Garden is even richer, with fertile soil and divine water everywhere, doubling the yield of birds, beasts, fish, insects, and celestial flowers and herbs.

[You can consume energy to adjust the flow of time within the Imperial Garden, accelerating the production of birds, beasts, fish, insects, and celestial herbs (up to 18 times).]

After two enhancements, only a small portion of the spiritual techniques in the Five Elements Manual remained, while the later parts of Lu Wu's inheritance displayed a variety of phrases such as "Spirit Absorption Enhancement," "Earth Blessing Enhancement," and "Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Enhancement."

Afterwards, Qin Huai continued to strengthen Lu Wu's last inherited skill, [Nine Parts of Heaven].

However, at that moment, all the remaining rainbows before his eyes suddenly became agitated, filling his vision and surging towards the Niwan Palace where Lu Wu resided.

The enhancement effects of 【Nine Heavenly Divisions】are as follows:
[The division of celestial bodies allows for highly accurate divination using the twelve star systems: Xingji, Xuanxiao, Shiwei, Jianglou, Daliang, Shishen, Chunshou, Chunhuo, Chunwei, Shouxing, Dahuo, and Ximu. Combined with specialized numerology and corresponding secret techniques, it can yield remarkably accurate prophecies, almost like divine guidance.]

[You can expend energy to connect with celestial stars, draw stars into your destiny, and gain a status and heavenly blessing comparable to a star lord descending to earth.] Whether it was because the Five Elements Manual was too compatible with Lu Wu, or because of the extraordinary power of the Five-Colored Stone, after three enhancements, the spiritual techniques in the Five Elements Manual were completely consumed, while the words [Spirit Absorption Enhancement], [Earth Blessing Enhancement], [Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Enhancement] appeared at the end of Lu Wu's inheritance.

Qin Huai exhaled a breath of turbid air, raised his finger, and unleashed his Daoist spiritual power. The Xuan Shui Black Dragon, shrunk dozens of times, danced and swirled at his fingertip, sometimes coiling into a purple-fired red snake, sometimes leaping like a cold white dragon. As he focused his mind and controlled it, this amount of Daoist spiritual power gradually condensed into a budding flower.

But before it could bloom, the Daoist spiritual power suddenly expanded and exploded, scattering into specks of starlight that drifted throughout the personal space.

"As expected, it won't work. It seems that we need to conduct a deeper analysis and research to simulate the inherited power of other inheritances."

Coming to his senses, Qin Huai finally had time to focus his attention on Taotie, who had somehow taken out numerous bottles and jars and was now sitting cross-legged on the ground, ready to take over.

"Master, you have completed the inheritance trial of [Taowu] and are ready to receive the infusion of Taotie power at any time, becoming the sole representative of Taotie's inheritance."

"Please note! Since you have embarked on the path of returning to the true self, when the Taotie clone's rank is raised to the seventh palace, it will complete the complete sublimation of its life essence. At that time, everything that the Taotie clone possesses, such as its state, expertise, and supernatural powers, will be solidified and it will no longer be able to return to its original body at a lower level of life. Please confirm whether you wish to proceed with the inheritance now!"

"confirm."

Without any hesitation, Taotie replenished all the consumables and pushed himself to the peak condition, nodding in confirmation.

Before the words were finished, an extremely vast invisible wave gently swept across the personal space, and a point of transparent inner fire suddenly ignited, instantly burning the Taotie's entire body into a large torch.

At the same time, Taotie was lost in thought, and countless insights and experiences about inheritance and succession from the Yama Mother's Crown flashed through his mind.

"The afflictions of the human body are like a burning house, and all sentient beings suffer from birth, old age, sickness, and death, sorrow, grief, and distress. They are also blinded by ignorance and darkness, suffering from the fires of the three poisons. Furthermore, the five desires, wealth, poverty, separation from loved ones, and hatred add fuel to the fire. Sentient beings are immersed in such suffering, enjoying themselves and playing, unaware and not seeking liberation. They run around in this burning house of the human world, suffering great pain but not considering it a calamity."

"The sublimation of the essence of life is like a fire burning in the heart. As the name suggests, it is to use the terrifying essence of walking as fuel, to put the three souls and seven spirits into the fire to be tempered and constantly hammered, to sublimate all grudges, passions, life and death, interests and benefits, and to condense a bit of divinity, so as to be in harmony with the true nature of the inheritance and become the successor of the inheritance."

— Reflections on Passing Down Traditions, by Dang Kang (Xu Le) (now missing)

"Passing on the torch is a test. It tests one's understanding of the universe and nature through the key of inheritance, and one's understanding of the power that inheritance represents in this world. As for the final change in the essence of life, it is nothing more than a sublimation of self-cultivation. As long as one maintains a human heart, no matter what one looks like on the outside or inside, one is worthy of the word 'human'."

—From "The Essence of the Agent," by Lü Shang (Zhao Jianzhong)

"Interesting, interesting. Although Sifan and his gang of vermin do not rely on inheritance to advance to the seventh palace, their method of advancement is surprisingly similar to that of inheritance. However, their three souls and seven spirits are not combined with inheritance, but with the ten emotions and eight sufferings. In that case, it's no wonder that those vermin have all become mentally ill."

—From "How to More Effectively Solve the Problems of Being a Mortal," by Qiongqi (Su Ling)

"Understanding one's true nature and tempering one's will, one day divine intervention will lead to the sublimation of one's true self."

—From "Flowers Are Not Flowers, Mist Is Not Mist," by Wuwei Sanzang (Huozhen)

In their personal space decorated like a white sand beach, Qin Huai's Lu Wu main body and three clones quietly watched Taotie, whose entire being was immersed in transparent inner fire. The intense firelight reflected on their faces, making them appear to be in a state of flux.

Suddenly, a trace of crimson blood spread from the Niwan point between Taotie's eyebrows, instantly turning the heart fire bright red and emitting an extremely dense and ferocious aura.

The Taotie, sitting upright on the beach, completely stopped breathing, its skin becoming as dark as gold, as if it had turned into a lifeless bronze statue of a deity.

The golden skin on his hands slowly dissipated, revealing strong, resilient tendons like bundles of crystal fibers.

First the skin, then the fascia, flesh and blood, and finally the translucent, jade-colored bones and the five internal organs gleaming with five-colored light.
As the physical body disintegrated and turned into firewood, the blood and fire suddenly surged. The three souls and seven spirits left behind by the Taotie suddenly shrank, and the illusory image of the inheritance that roared to the sky also shrank.

Qi-cultivating martial artists, sea beasts from the ten continents, and great demons from mountains and seas.
Countless enemies, who met their end under the Taotie Spear, emerged from the nameless void and rushed headlong into the blazing blood and fire, as if seeking revenge. But their final fate was the same: they all became moths drawn to the flame, burned to ashes.

As time went on, more and more illusory images of enemies were burned to ashes, and the blood flames around Taotie grew brighter and brighter.

Finally, as the last ferocious beast, Qiongqi, killed by Taotie disappeared, the blazing blood fire slowly subsided, and in the end, it was completely absorbed by the three souls and seven spirits that had turned into a dazzling point of light.

Immediately afterwards, the illusory image of the inheritance, which had also condensed into a small dot, suddenly shone brightly and collided with that dazzling blazing light!
At that moment, the vast and boundless power of the Taotie roared down from the sky and instantly merged with the three souls and seven spirits.

The unique aura of Taotie power emanated from that tiny dot, no bigger than an infant's fingertip.

The next instant, the shimmering, iridescent dot slowly expanded and solidified, instantly giving birth to the Taotie's physical body. Not only were the Buddha's tendons and martial spirit regained, but the translucent immortal bones also completely transformed into a hazy jade color, clearly benefiting from the process of sublimation of the essence of life, finally achieving great success.

At this moment, Taotie slowly opened its eyes, its eyes still faintly carrying the savage color unique to the four ferocious beasts.

"How does it feel?"

Looking at the Taotie in front of him, which seemed unchanged but was actually completely different, Qin Huai, unable to truly experience the specific details, asked a question.

"Even the martial arts immortals and the dragons of all things are no more than I am now."

Taotie raised its palm and gently exerted force, causing a thunderous explosion to suddenly erupt.

Before the echo had faded, a Yama's prompt resounded in his ears.

"Master, you have become the sole representative of the Taotie lineage, and your rank has been promoted to the Seventh Palace!"

(End of this chapter)