"Not good!"
Xie Zhaolin's heart shook violently. She instantly gathered all her Primordial Soul to build a defense, but the silver light was far too fast. In the blink of an eye it tore through three layers of barriers and plunged straight into her dantian!
Boom!
A thunderous roar erupted inside. The once-stable qi cyclone was instantly shattered, and the silver energy rampaged through her dantian, tossing her entire qi sea into chaos!
Her face went deathly pale, blood spilling from her lips. It felt like an invisible hand was ruthlessly twisting her organs, and the searing pain made her vision swim. At that desperate moment, a ruthless glint flashed in her eyes.
"If I can't separate them, then I'll refine them together!"
She bit down hard, shattering the tip of her tongue, and spat a mouthful of blood essence before her. Her hands blurred through complex seals as the Xuanyin Foundation Technique roared to life at full force. Baleful qi surged like a storm, crashing down on the silver energy.
Inside her dantian, the two forces clashed violently. Every collision sent tremors through her body. Strange lines appeared across her skin. The left side of her body darkened with the azure-black hue of Xuanyin qi, while the right shimmered with glowing silver.
"Merge for me!"
With a fierce cry, she slammed her palms together.
The silver light and baleful qi were forced into contact under immense pressure, hissing sharply as they resisted. The agony made her vision blur. She nearly blacked out, but she gritted her teeth and forced herself to endure. Then, at the very brink of collapse, the silver energy suddenly changed. It stopped its rampage and began rotating in an orderly spiral, forming a silver vortex. What stunned her most was that it was actively purifying her baleful qi!
"This is… purification?"
She looked inward and saw that wherever the vortex spun, the raging baleful qi grew docile. Even more astonishing, at the vortex's core, pure spiritual power began to pool!
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
This body was born without a spiritual root. By all reason she shouldn't be able to store any spiritual power. But now, the silver energy had carved out a brand new space within her dantian to hold it!
"Heaven really is helping me!"
She changed her approach, no longer forcing suppression. Instead, she guided the energies toward coexistence. Slowly, her dantian shifted into an unprecedented state.
It split into two halves!
On one side churned the pitch-black Xuanyin baleful qi. On the other swirled the silver vortex of spiritual power. Though separate, the two remained mysteriously connected, balancing one another perfectly.
"This is…!"
Shock and joy battled in her chest as she stared inward at the transformation.
The moment perfect balance was reached, her dantian fell still. The black qi and silver light revolved in harmony, not interfering, yet both steady and firm. She could feel it—her qi and the newfound spiritual power had formed a symbiotic bond.
Boom!
A muffled explosion thundered in her dantian. Her chaotic qi sea suddenly collapsed, then surged outward in expansion. A crystalline spirit platform rose at the center of her dantian. Xuanyin qi and silver spiritual power occupied opposite halves, separated by a clear, sharp boundary line.
She had built her foundation!
Xie Zhaolin's eyes flew open. Her left iris was as dark as ink, while her right gleamed silver. The anomaly soon faded, her gaze returning to normal. She exhaled heavily, tasting the immense strength flowing through her.
"Finally… I'm back at Foundation Establishment."
Raising her hand, she flicked her fingers. A wisp of black baleful qi curled like mist, then with a thought, it dispersed into motes of silver light instead.
The two forces coexisted seamlessly within her, even switching on command. More than that, when she ran both at once, a strange field formed around her body. It carried the corrosive nature of Xuanyin qi along with the purifying force of silver energy, merging into something far greater than either alone.
"So this is the power of fusion…" she whispered.
The risk had been immense, but the gains far surpassed anything she'd imagined. Not only had she built her foundation, her dantian had mutated into a form no one could have foreseen.
"I never expected such a surprise!"
She lifted her hand again. The silver dantian's power condensed into her fingertip, spilling out as scattered silver sparks. No one would believe this pure spiritual light came from the body of a demon cultivator.
Emotion surged in her heart. She'd thought her life was cut off from the path of spiritual cultivation forever, yet the silver dantian had filled that void. Even better, this dantian could absorb surrounding spiritual qi on its own, albeit slower than a true spiritual root. Still, it was enough for her to wield basic spells.
"With this…" Her lips curled into a smile. "The days of being shackled back in Qingyang City are over."
She recalled how she'd been forced to act with constant caution, suppressing herself in fear of exposure. Now she had a perfect disguise. She could unleash baleful qi in battle, and present spiritual power in public. In this world, such a dual identity was one of a kind.
And with access to spiritual power, many techniques she'd once been forced to abandon were finally within her reach again!
Memories of the Hehuan Sect's treasured techniques flitted through her mind. Those forbidden arts, left behind because of her limitations, could now resurface.
She rose to her feet, stretching her stiff limbs. Two full days had passed during the breakthrough, but thanks to the bees and puppets guarding her, no one had disturbed her.
After gathering her things, she looked once more at the spring. The fragment she'd returned floated quietly at the bottom, pulsing with a faint, stable aura. Perhaps in a few centuries, another yinsha core would grow here.
The queen bee fluttered onto her shoulder, antennae quivering as if to celebrate her success.
She stroked its carapace, and a trace of energy rippled beneath her touch. To her surprise, the queen bee now carried faint silver power as well, having absorbed plenty during her refinement.
"So you've gotten stronger too…" she smiled softly, studying her companion.
Fine silver lines traced the bee's shell, its compound eyes glowing brighter. When its wings beat, silver light shimmered faintly. It had reached the peak of a second-rank beast. She glanced at the swarm. Sure enough, every worker bee carried a silver sheen. A few larger ones were nearing peak first-rank themselves.
These mutated bees might become her greatest allies on the road ahead.
Her lips curved as she released her Primordial Soul outward, probing the tunnel.
The yin souls still lingered. Though no longer frenzied, they circled patiently outside the cave mouth, waiting.
They had intelligence now. They knew their prey was inside, and they intended to outlast her.
"I can't force my way through…" she thought grimly.
Even with Foundation Establishment, a swarm of high-rank yin souls was still deadly.
She needed a flawless plan.