The Silent Cloud Shrine, nestled deep within its illusionary valley, became the crucible for Lin Feng's newly formed power structure. He, Su Wanying, and Xia Qingwu immediately began the grueling process of refinement, while Yin Xiu maintained the perimeter. They were Origin Kings, but fragile ones, and their future depended entirely on stabilizing their unstable power.
Lin Feng's challenge was the most complex. His Six-Law Crucible was a formidable powerhouse, but the five Elemental Cores were merely stabilized by the neutral Void Law, not fully integrated. He needed to spend weeks pushing each element to its absolute limit, understanding its fundamental nature, and then forcing it to exist in harmony with the other five. This was not about increasing his realm, but perfecting the depth of his Origin Domain.
He sat cross-legged, the Essence of Transcendent Insight hovering above his head, guiding his mind. He would spend hours focusing only on his Void-Wood core, feeling the life force, growth, and resilience of the Wood Law, learning how to accelerate growth or heal with a mere thought. Then, without a break, he would switch to the destructive chaos of Void-Fire, a mental whiplash that constantly threatened to shatter his focus.
He had to move beyond mere usage to true mastery. The goal wasn't just to shoot a Metal Spike or a Water Stream; it was to create a simultaneous Void-Metal Spike wrapped in Void-Water for maximum destructive corrosion, a technique that required perfect, instantaneous balance.
"You are clenching your Domain, Feng," Wanying observed one day, her voice clear and melodic, as she watched him struggle with a complex Void-Earth defense. "The Void is the absence of Law. It should embrace the laws, not suffocate them. Try letting the Earth simply be within the Void."
Lin Feng followed her guidance, allowing his Void Domain to loosen its grip. Immediately, the Void-Earth felt heavier, more stable, and less draining on his Qi. He realized Wanying's ancient, innate understanding of Primordial Law—a Law that predated the common Mortal Star Field elements—was the key to his own mastery.
Wanying's problem was the opposite of Lin Feng's: her Primordial Ice Law was too dominant, threatening to freeze her own spiritual core. Her Ice Empress bloodline was powerful, but she was still a First Level Origin King trying to command a Heavenly Law.
She needed warmth and control. Lin Feng and Xia Qingwu became her anchors.
Xia Qingwu, leveraging her deep knowledge of fire alchemy and the counter-nature of Phoenix Fire, established a specific Confinement Array around Wanying. This array constantly cycled her pure, searing fire, allowing Wanying to practice taming the ice by continuously countering the heat.
"You must make the heat your servant, not your enemy," Xia Qingwu instructed, pushing her own Fire Qi to its limit to stabilize the array. "If the ice cannot maintain its form under fire, you have no control. That Fire is your mirror, Wanying."
Lin Feng, however, provided the emotional anchor. He spent long hours in meditation with Wanying, their hands linked. His Void Qi flowed constantly into her, not to counter the ice, but to act as a neutralizing buffer, absorbing the excess cold and stabilizing her core.
The intimacy of this shared cultivation forged an unbreakable, silent understanding between the two. Wanying's silver eyes, once despairing, now glowed with fierce, controlled confidence. She was taming the ice and finding her identity beyond the cage of the Dynasty.
Xia Qingwu, ever practical, spent her time in the external courtyard. Her ambition was to turn her Blazing Phoenix Array from a simple disruption tool into a mobile, tactical weapon.
Using blueprints and ancient texts secured by Yin Xiu, she spent weeks refining rare minerals and elemental catalysts to create custom-tailored Rune-Seals. She integrated these Rune-Seals into her robes and wrist guards, enabling her to instantly deploy complex fire formations without hours of preparation. She was turning her body into a walking armory.
Her true goal was to create a Three-Part Phoenix Bomb—a non-elemental bomb disguised as fire, designed specifically to disrupt the high-level Origin Domain of an Emperor-rank cultivator. This required precision, high-grade alchemy, and immense patience.
She worked furiously, often muttering complex formulas and scientific measurements, her focus singular: to secure her future and protect the man who challenged the Dynasty for the sake of love.
Yin Xiu, meanwhile, was the group's external lifeline. She maintained the illusionary barrier of the Shrine, ensuring no Dynasty patrols stumbled upon them. She spent her days in her Shadow Thief form, using her Essence of Transcendent Insight to slowly stabilize her own Spirit Beast/Human transformation, ensuring her future ascension.
Her main duty was maintaining contact with her network, preparing a safe house in the next region they would visit, and gathering rare Origin-grade materials required for Lin Feng's and Wanying's continuous stabilization.
One evening, she returned with a worried expression, transforming back into her human form.
"Luo Han is still hunting us," Yin Xiu reported, her golden eyes serious. "He's enraged by the loss of his artifact and his humiliation. He has used a high-grade tracking spell rooted in the Imperial Seal I stole, but I've managed to hide our Qi signature for now. He is closing the net on the entire Sunderwind Wastes."
The pressure was mounting, but the internal stability of the group was growing stronger by the day. They had another few weeks of intense, silent cultivation before the next encounter.
Author Note: Guys 2 Chapter's Daily, after first chapter is uploaded, the second one comes out 2 hours after that!
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