Three years had passed. In terms of appearance, Yun Ming's face had matured, now overlapping with his features from his previous life by eighty or ninety percent. As for his temperament, perhaps due to staying within the Golden Tree for so long, his originally scholarly and elegant aura had begun to shift toward something fresh and natural, like a clear stream in the wilderness, making one feel refreshed and invigorated.
Yun Ming did not know how long he had been in deep meditation, but he finally experienced that most crucial flash of inspiration in his cultivation. He changed the hand seals he was holding and shouted with a burst of energy.
"Shatter--"
The shout carried a strange rhythm that went straight into the Sky Support Space. Having been exploited for three years, the two Dragon Souls had long since become dim and lusterless, and now they were finally about to be liberated. The twin dragons let out a mournful cry, their dragon bodies shattering into rain of light, scattering completely and merging into the Golden Tree.
Yun Ming used Internal Vision to look into the Sky Support Space, watching the changes within in silence.
The small Golden Tree, having swallowed the two Dragon Souls, remained silent for only a moment before it began to sway and rustle. The strange patterns on the tree body lit up, radiating ten thousand rays of light. Rings of distorted light rippled through the Sky Support Space, causing the entire space to tremble and pulse in rhythm with the Golden Tree.
Beyond this, the main body of the Golden Tree in the outside world also began to tremble violently. The majestic power of the Golden Tree Origin surged toward Yun Ming, and Yun Ming, acting like a black hole, swallowed all the energy completely.
Gu Yuena sensed the anomaly in the Golden Tree and temporarily stopped her healing, opening her eyes. Nine colors shifted within her gaze as she looked directly at the source, catching a glimpse of some of Yun Ming's cultivation goals. Yet, even just a glimpse was enough to leave her extremely astonished.
To dare to cultivate a soul core like this, how interesting.
Even Gu Yuena, who had inherited the wisdom of the Dragon God, was incredibly curious about Yun Ming's actions at this moment.
Yun Ming sensed the surveillance from the outside and knew who it was, but he had no energy to spare. Cultivation was his top priority now, and he focused all his attention on the Sky Support Space.
Seeing that the energy within the Sky Support Space had accumulated sufficiently, Yun Ming's expression became grave to the extreme, and his hand seals changed once more.
"Condense--"
With a violent shout from Yun Ming, the Sky Support Space and the small Golden Tree began to change together.
Strange flames ignited on the small Golden Tree, wreathed in primordial energy, and a faint, ethereal spiritual fluctuation appeared within the Sky Support Space. Three years of nourishment by the Dragon Souls had long since given the Golden Tree a rich spiritual aura; whether it could finally be transformed into the Life Core of the Sky Support Space depended on this single attempt.
The spiritual fire burned brighter and brighter, soon spreading across the tree body and setting the Golden Tree completely ablaze. Judging by its increasingly violent swaying, this burning must have been quite painful, but to advance further, this was a necessary and unavoidable process!
Burning the tree to give birth to spirit was today's task, but it was not the only one. While the tree burned, the entire Sky Support Space also rotated rapidly, centered on the Golden Tree. Outside the Sky Support Space, Yun Ming's two major soul cores emerged, also rotating at a synchronized frequency with the Sky Support Space.
Over these three years, besides nurturing the tree and comprehending the laws of the world, the third soul core had also been his research target.
Yun Ming had fully digested the experience and tips left behind by the Spirit Ice Douluo regarding the cultivation of a third soul core, which were kept in the Sea God Pavilion's secret archives. Much like his situation when he first pioneered the Yin Yang Complementary Dual Soul Core for humans, the key to opening a third soul core lay in the repulsion between the cores. He could succeed because of his six Soul Spirits and his own Spiritual Power, which could be called invincible in the Human World.
In terms of Soul Spirits, Yun Ming had five. Although he had one fewer, three had evolved once following the Atlas Spear, and one had swallowed a divine soul; their overall strength definitely exceeded the six that the Spirit Ice Douluo had. In terms of Spiritual Power, he was in the Divine Origin Realm, and counting the amplification of the Spirit Ice Douluo's Martial Soul, he was at the very least in the same realm as the Spirit Ice Douluo when he cultivated his third core. Combined with the experience of his predecessors and his own experience with the Yin Yang Complementary Soul Core, it was actually simpler for Yun Ming to achieve a third soul core than it had been for the dual cores.
But was Yun Ming the kind of conservative person who would completely copy the methods of his predecessors? Not a chance. The Spirit Ice Douluo's Yin Yang Complementary third soul core was merely the foundation; innovation was inevitable.
Yun Ming possessed modern knowledge regarding the essence of the starry sea and the rising and setting of the sun and moon. Comparing Douluo Star with the sun and moon of the heavens, and the Sky Support Space with the Yin Yang Dual Soul Cores, he found them to be perfectly compatible. Thus, through his own deductions, he arrived at the current "Sun Moon Star" Trinity Soul Core Method, with the Sky Support Space core as the primary and the Sun and Moon dual cores as the secondary. What Gu Yuena had seen was merely this part of the soul cores.
The two soul cores, like the rising sun and setting moon, poured massive amounts of heaven and earth energy into the Sky Support Space, nourishing it.
Ten zhang, a hundred zhang...
Under Yun Ming's Internal Vision, the sky grew higher and the earth grew more distant. The entire Sky Support Space began to expand rapidly. As it expanded, the rule patterns of the Golden Tree spread along with it, and the connection between the two grew increasingly tight.
"Ugh--"
Fine cracks appeared on Yun Ming's skin, a mist of blood rose, and he let out a muffled groan.
The internal development of the Sky Support Space was relatively peaceful, but external struggles existed as well. Yun Ming's third soul core method had established a hierarchy, making it much gentler than the original three-core method.
Facing the expansion of the Sky Support Space, the Sun and Moon dual soul cores showed a rare ability to cooperate, suppressing the growth of the Sky Support Space together. Under this pressure, the growth rate of the Sky Support Space slowed down rapidly.
If an ordinary third soul core were facing the oppression of two "big brothers," it would be trembling in fear by now. However, the Sky Support Space was different from an ordinary soul core. Although Yun Ming cultivated it like a normal soul core, it was essentially a real space—a tangible "star." The pressure from the two soul cores could not crush it; it would only temper it, making its internal space increasingly stable.
Under the grinding pressure of the Sun and Moon soul cores, not only did the internal space of the Sky Support Space become more stable and condensed, but its outer walls also became more rounded. As the spirituality of the Golden Tree grew more abundant and its connection to the Sky Support Space tightened, the entire Sky "star" gradually began to transcend the category of inanimate objects.
Watching the increasingly stable "Sun Moon Star" trinity of soul cores within Yun Ming's body, Gu Yuena discerned the essence of his soul core method and commented in a low voice.
"Truly blessed by the heavens!"
And was he not? What normal Soul Master could create a stable, real space within their own body? There was no second person in this world who could practice this method. Gu Yuena continued to observe.
The three soul cores established a new balance quite smoothly during this grinding process. The Sky Support Space became increasingly stable, and its status as the core was fully revealed. The pressure on Yun Ming grew smaller and smaller, and the cracks on his body had already healed as before. However, the Golden Tree within the Sky "star" had been burned almost bald; the entire tree was on the verge of death, dim and lusterless, and Yun Ming's own aura became increasingly obscure and unfathomable.
Gu Yuena's eyes narrowed. She could see that this was the only and greatest hurdle Yun Ming faced today. If he passed, he would have everything; if he failed, he would have nothing.
Will you fall here? Gu Yuena thought to herself. This time, even she could not foresee the outcome.
Time ticked away, and Yun Ming's aura grew weaker and weaker, until it was nearly non-existent.
Seeing that Yun Ming still had no reaction, Gu Yuena sighed. She raised her jade hand slightly, nine-colored divine light rotating in her palm, intending to interrupt him. Although this would leave Yun Ming severely injured and damage his foundation, it would at least save his life.
After all, he was a human for whom she felt an inexplicable sense of favor; Gu Yuena did not want to watch Yun Ming die before her eyes.
Gu Yuena struck toward Yun Ming's chest with her palm. Just as she was about to make contact, the Golden Tree in the outside world suddenly moved.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: DaoistReader