The Birth of the Second Primal

A One-Origin Water Pearl was a heavenly earthly treasure, the most perfect vessel for a soul.

Some cultivators, when their Violet Palace was damaged, would even go so far as to engage in possession, seizing another person's body. But possession… had a major problem. The compatibility between the soul and the new body would be very poor, and the natural aptitudes of an ordinary body would also be mediocre. A cultivator seeking to possess a new body would be overjoyed if they could find a good vessel with a passable level of compatibility.

But heavenly earthly treasures like the Profound Pearl and the One-Origin Water Pearl were perfect vessels. Having never housed a soul before, the moment a soul entered, the compatibility was absolute. Their aptitudes, as 'heavenly earthly treasures', were naturally also extremely high.

"I was lucky to get this from Shaoyan Nong. If I had to search for it myself, how could I ever find a spiritual treasure like this?" As soon as he began to cultivate, Ji Ning immediately felt the benefits of the One-Origin Water Pearl. He couldn't help but sigh emotionally, "Shaoyan Nong was probably saving this for himself as well. But in the end, he prepared a wedding dowry for me."

Within the One-Origin Water Pearl, quintessence had already gathered. There was no need to slowly absorb the natural energy of heaven and earth. He only needed to refine this quintessence, and Ji Ning's cultivation level soared upward with a hua sound.

Boom!

Inside the One-Origin Water Pearl, it was as if heaven and earth were being created. A Violet Palace space was born, and a massive amount of water quintessence was rapidly converted. The Violet Palace lake also began to expand swiftly.

Stars. A bright moon. A Golden Crow.

All three extraordinary manifestations appeared… and he directly broke through to the Wanxiang level in one smooth motion.

…

"Ah, cultivating is truly invigorating." The black ox watched from the side, unable to hold back a gasp of admiration. "This speed is incredible."

"It's just like a reincarnated Immortal who has awakened their memories. His insight is sufficient, his Dao-heart is strong enough, and the One-Origin Water Pearl was already filled with a vast amount of quintessence. It wouldn't be strange at all for him to go all the way to the Primal Daoist level in one go." The yellow-furred bear said. Treasures like the One-Origin Water Pearl and the Profound Pearl contained enough quintessence within them to generally allow one to cultivate to the Primal level. It was truly a testament to the profound mystery of the creation of heaven and earth.

"He's about to break through again," the black ox suddenly said.

In merely half an hour, the One-Origin Water Pearl had gone from the Xiantian level to the peak of the Wanxiang level. Now, it was advancing towards the Primal level.

Within the One-Origin Water Pearl.

Inside the vast, limitless empty space, the Violet Palace lake was boundless. Ten thousand stars, a Moon Rabbit, and a Golden Crow hung high in the sky. The aura emanating from this space was even more powerful than that within Ji Ning's true body. This was because it had reached the absolute peak of the Wanxiang level!

"Rise!"

Ji Ning's soul hovered above the countless stars, within the void of this Violet Palace space. With a thought.

Instantly, the boundless lake of Violet Palace Ki-force began to condense hundreds of millions of motes of quintessential light. These motes frantically flew upwards, into the ten thousand stars, the Moon Rabbit, and the Golden Crow which were moving along mysterious, profound trajectories. The moment everything flew in and merged, the stars, the Moon Rabbit, and the Golden Crow, which had long since reached their limit, began to release their condensed quintessence in the form of beams of light, shooting downwards.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless beams of light, some thick and some thin, descended. The light from the countless stars was very fine, while the beams from the Golden Crow and the Moon Rabbit were clearly much thicker and larger.

All the countless beams of light converged in the very center of the Violet Palace space, beginning to form a massive object.

This massive object, formed from the Golden Crow's beams at one end, began to take the shape of a tortoise. The end struck by the Moon Rabbit's beams began to form a serpent's head. The quintessence of the countless stars began to converge into a massive body. This colossal object gradually solidified, becoming clearer and clearer. It was an extraordinary beast with a tortoise coiled together with a serpent.

A legendary existence — the Black Tortoise-Serpent!

When any living being broke through to the Primal stage, they would all form a Black Tortoise-Serpent Primal.

"Boom~~~"

In a single instant, the vast tortoise-serpent seemed to come alive. It actively began to crawl downwards, moving through the void until it directly entered the watery expanse.

Within the boundless ocean of Ki-force, an enormous tortoise-serpent, like a massive island, was slowly swimming.

"The Primal is formed. The soul descends!"

Immediately, Ji Ning's soul, which had been hovering in the void, descended. It descended into the enormous tortoise-serpent. The moment the soul entered, it felt an incomparable comfort. This tortoise-serpent body seemed to naturally possess an effect that nurtured the 'soul'. Ji Ning could even clearly sense that his own soul was rapidly growing and strengthening with a hua hua sound.

"What astonishing speed. The rate my soul is improving is even faster than when I was visualizing the Nuwa Diagram to recover." Ji Ning was filled with awe. He finally understood why many cultivators at the Wanxiang level had relatively weak souls, but once they reached the Primal Daoist level, they soon gained Divine Sense.

It was because, within the Black Tortoise-Serpent Primal, the soul's progress was indeed astonishing! It was like grass taking root in fertile soil, growing rapidly and vigorously.

"Boom~~~"

The tortoise coiled with the serpent, Yin and Yang intermingling. On the back of the tortoise, which was covered by its shell, a golden flame suddenly appeared. The flame was blazing hot, yet it did not harm the tortoise-serpent Primal in the slightest. This was the 'Primordial Fire' that every Primal Daoist possessed.

"Hua hua hua~~~" The enormous tortoise-swam contentedly through the oceanic lake of Ki-force. The eyes on both its tortoise head and serpent head were incredibly lively, showing that, now that it had a soul, it had become life-like.

The quintessence from the stars above, the Golden Crow, and the Moon Rabbit continued to pour downwards.

The tortoise-serpent gradually swelled in size.

After some more time, the stars, the Golden Crow, and the Moon Rabbit stopped transmitting quintessence downwards.

"Early Primal Daoist!" The enormous tortoise-serpent Primal spoke in a human voice. "The quintessence contained within this One-Origin Water Pearl was truly just enough. I cultivated all the way to the early Primal stage, and after consolidating for a bit, the quintessence was completely exhausted."

…

The moment he broke through to the Primal Daoist level, of course, it caused a dramatic change in the natural energy of heaven and earth within the main palace hall of the aquatic estate. The aura of the ancient and eternal Dao itself also descended.

"He broke through." The yellow-furred bear and the black ox both smiled.

Soon.

The One-Origin Water Pearl, which had been floating in mid-air, suddenly began to emit mist. Following that, it directly transformed into a Ji Ning dressed in a black Daoist robe.

"Greetings, two seniors," said the black-robed Ji Ning with a smile.

"Take a look at your true body," the yellow-furred bear said teasingly.

The black-robed Ji Ning turned his head. Ji Ning's true body also turned his head. The two of them looked at each other.

"Hahaha…" Both of them laughed.

In truth, their memories were linked. It was like one was the left hand and the other was the right hand. Looking at each other, with their thoughts completely in sync, it truly was an incredible feeling.

"Greetings, Daoist," said the black-robed Ji Ning.

"Greetings, Daoist," Ji Ning also said.

Then they both laughed. Their memories and thoughts were completely identical. Saying 'greetings, Daoist' to each other was like talking to oneself. It was just playing around.

"How does it feel?" the yellow-furred bear asked.

"Very good," the black-robed Ji Ning nodded. "The feeling of breaking through to the Primal level is quite different. My soul has merged into the Primal, feeling incredibly comfortable, and its progress is very fast."

"Mm. Generally, when one first breaks through to the Primal level, the soul's progress is greatest. As you grow accustomed to it, the progress will slow down. After a few hundred years, it might even be difficult for the soul to improve at all," the yellow-furred bear said.

The black-robed Ji Ning nodded: "Although the Black Tortoise-Serpent Primal is extremely beneficial to the soul, everything has its limits. If it were to keep skyrocketing like this, that would be terrifying!"

"Let me first test how my second Primal fares when using the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation," the black-robed Ji Ning said. With a thought, he was immediately surrounded by a dense cluster of over seven hundred flying swords. Among them were nine Coldvein Swords, along with three hundred and sixty Earth-ranked top-grade fire-attribute flying swords and three hundred and sixty Earth-ranked top-grade water-attribute flying swords.

These three hundred and sixty Earth-ranked water-attribute and fire-attribute flying swords were chosen from the massive hoard of treasures he had obtained from the Wu Jiang Immortal Estate. Ji Ning had acquired over sixteen thousand treasures in total. Flying swords were the most commonly used type of magic treasure, so it wasn't hard to find ones suitable for him.

"Lesser Thousand Sword Formation!"

The black-robed Ji Ning focused his mind and immediately began to activate it.

Previously, when Ji Ning had used the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation, he had always used the Coldvein Swords to lead seven hundred and twenty Human-ranked flying swords.

Now, all of those seven hundred and twenty Human-ranked flying swords had been replaced with Earth-ranked flying swords. The difficulty of control had instantly skyrocketed by over a hundred times, given the sheer number of swords that were replaced.

"Oh?" The black-robed Ji Ning frowned.

"How is it?" the yellow-furred bear laughed.

"I can't execute the ninth level of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation," the black-robed Ji Ning shook his head. He began to reduce the number. The eighth level? The seventh level?

Hua!

Finally, he managed to move them. Over five hundred flying swords began to undulate around him, rising and falling. He channeled his Primal-level Ki-force into them, activating them with his soul. Then, in front of his chest, an exceptionally dazzling flying sword began to condense. The flying sword was covered in a layer of flowing white light.

"The seventh level of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation," the black-robed Ji Ning shook his head. "I've broken through to the Primal level, and my Ki-force has greatly increased. However, my soul is now slightly weaker than before the soul-twins formation. But my comprehension of the 'Dao' has also improved a lot. Yet, I can only execute the seventh level."

"After all, these are all Earth-ranked magic treasures. At the very least, they are top-grade Earth-ranked flying swords. Even the seventh level… is far more powerful than the ninth level you previously executed using some Human-ranked treasures," the yellow-furred bear said.

The black-robed Ji Ning nodded in agreement.

"By the way, I just took a look at all the treasures you gathered," the yellow-furred bear said, pointing at the large piles of sorted treasures. "There are some pouches there, containing quite a few golems."

The black-robed Ji Ning nodded. "Yes, I found them in the Wu Jiang Immortal Estate. They belonged to that Fiendgod."

"I can help you rebuild these golems so that they will obey your commands," the yellow-furred bear said. "And speaking of which, aren't you holding one hundred thousand jin of Primordial Liquid? You should refine it quickly. You're only at the early Primal level, right? If you can increase your strength a bit more, your Ki-force will become increasingly pure, making it easier to control your magic treasures. You might even be able to control the eighth or even the ninth level of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation."

The black-robed Ji Ning nodded. "Mm."

There was no reason not to use it. It was better to convert this Primordial Liquid into actual personal strength!

One hundred thousand jin of Primordial Liquid?

It was more than enough for this second Primal to take another massive step forward.

"I'll have to focus on studying the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation from now on," the black-robed Ji Ning thought to himself. Although he had read many manuals and secret arts, among the Ki Refining magic treasure formations suitable for him, the 'Lesser Thousand Sword Formation' was the most suitable and the most powerful. His second Primal was a pure Ki Refiner and couldn't cultivate divine abilities, so he naturally had to focus entirely on the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation.

The second Primal was destined to become an exceptionally powerful Ki Refining Sword Immortal!