The Elven Cultivator

Time flew by, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.

「Chenxi Calendar 9376, Autumn.」

Taichu City, the Ninefold Celestial Tower.

The Artifact Refining Room.

The Five Elements True Flame circulated slowly in the depths of the furnace. Five-colored flames intertwined, casting flickering shadows across the entire quiet room.

Anton sat cross-legged before the refining furnace, his eyes lightly closed. His Divine Sense, fine as silk threads, was intimately connected with the object taking shape inside the furnace.

This was the final, critical stage of refining the Profound Artifact.

All the restrictions had been inscribed. The Five Elements True Flame was performing the final tempering, pressing the restrictions deep into the artifact’s embryo and fusing them into a single, inseparable whole.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Deep within the furnace, the mass of profound-yellow light suddenly contracted, shrinking from the size of a fist to that of a pigeon’s egg, then expanding back to its original dimensions.

It pulsed, shrinking and expanding like a beating heart. Each throb triggered a violent surge of the world’s energy, causing visible ripples to spread through the air.

Anton’s eyes snapped open, a flash of Profound Light disappearing as quickly as it came.

The Five Elements True Flame receded in an instant, like a tide pulling back. It vanished from the furnace, leaving only a wisp of green smoke curling upwards.

The furnace lid flew open on its own and hovered in mid-air, revealing the object floating quietly in the furnace’s depths.

Anton beckoned with his hand.

The object rose gracefully from the furnace and drifted toward him, finally stopping to hover and rotate slowly three inches above his palm.

It was a seal.

The body of the seal was thick and square, its entirety a profound-yellow color as deep as solidified earth, yet it also exuded a faint, sky-like boundlessness.

The knob was carved into the shape of a colossal, sky-propping peak, with steep ridges and overlapping mountains that pierced the clouds.

The face of the seal was etched with the veins of mountains and rivers. The patterns were as fine as strands of hair, and every line resonated with the ultimate principles of heaven and earth, resembling the very birthmarks of the world or a celestial star chart.

The entire seal was a perfect whole, without a single trace of being chiseled or forged. It was as if it had not been ”refined” at all, but had condensed naturally from the world itself.

Holding the seal, Anton could clearly feel the dense power it contained.

It was a sense of weightiness that seemed connected to the entire world.

It felt like a mountain, shrunk down tens of millions of times, pressing down heavily in his palm.

Looking at the Profound Seal in his palm, a satisfied smile appeared on Anton’s face.

After the Eternal Tree was strengthened, he had placed the death-energy-infected Earth Element core at its base. Using the tree’s rich and pure life energy, he had washed away the death energy from the core day after day.

After a full three years, the Earth Element core was finally purified.

After that, Anton had used the Earth Element core as the primary material, supplemented by many rare resources, and began refining this Profound Artifact, which he had only successfully completed today.

The result was this profound-yellow seal.

Anton hadn’t just copied a Profound Artifact blueprint from the Taoist Jade Scroll. Instead, he had researched countless design philosophies for Earth Element Profound Artifacts. He combined this with his own years of experience and insights into Artifact Refining, deliberating, revising, and perfecting the design until he finally had this finished product.

The refining philosophy behind this Profound Artifact could be summarized as ”uphold the sky, suppress the earth.” Its main purpose was to overwhelm enemies with sheer presence.

When the seal is brought down, it’s as if the entire sky is collapsing. Crushing pressure converges from all directions, making it impossible for an enemy to resist.

At the same time, the ground beneath their feet will churn and roll back, locking the enemy firmly in place, unable to move.

Assaulted by heaven and earth, pinned from above and below, it would be like falling into primordial chaos with no escape.

For those with a low Cultivation Level, the pressure would arrive before the seal even landed, forcing them to their knees on the spot, unable to even muster the thought of resistance.

Even powerful experts would have their qi and blood thrown into turmoil by this seal. Their movements would become sluggish, as if bound by invisible chains, making every action slow and difficult.

The power of this Profound Artifact lay not in sharp, lethal single-target attacks, but in its overwhelming, irresistible suppressive force.

Compared to the ferocious Sword Pill, it focused more on ”suppression,” perfectly complementing the Sword Pill. One was hard, the other soft; one for attack, one for control.

Anton gazed at the Profound Artifact in his palm and was suddenly reminded of a legendary Magical Treasure.

”I’ll call you the Heaven-Overturning Seal.”

In the legends, the Heaven-Overturning Seal was refined by an ancient mighty figure from a piece of Buzhou Mountain. When it was brought down, it was like the collapse of a celestial pillar, annihilating all things.

Although his seal was far from reaching the level of that legendary Magical Treasure, if he continued to strengthen and advance it, perhaps one day it could reach the same heights as its namesake.

Putting away the Heaven-Overturning Seal, Anton let out a long breath.

The completion of this seal signified that his accumulated experience in refining Profound Artifacts had finally led to a qualitative breakthrough.

’With this experience, refining other Profound Artifacts in the future should be much easier.’

And it wasn’t just the Heaven-Overturning Seal.

Over the past three years, he had also successfully refined a third Law Comprehension Stele, this one for the Water Element. It was now placed on the Law Comprehension Platform in the Ninefold Celestial Tower for his clansmen to study.

The Law of Water was all-encompassing. From the balance of hard and soft in the Tide to the freezing solidification of ”Frost,” from the shifting concealment of ”Mist” to the raging torrent of a ”Flood,” the underlying principles of all could be found within it.

Including this Water Element Law Comprehension Stele, the Clan now had three types of Laws available for comprehension.

There would be more in the future.

Metal Element, Fire Element, Wind and Thunder, Yin and Yang... the completion of every Law Comprehension Stele was another brick laid for the Clan’s future.

As for the refinement of the Jia Shen Divine General, progress was not as smooth.

Refining a High Tier Daoist Soldier like the Six Ding and Six Jia Guardian Divine Generals, which could manipulate the Power of Law, was somewhat similar to refining a Law Comprehension Stele. Both required him to integrate his own insights and understanding of the Power of Law.

To put it simply, it involved solidifying and manifesting the Power of Law, integrating it into the Daoist Soldier to make it a reusable ”ability.”

In the process of refining the Six Ding and Six Jia Guardian Divine Generals, Anton needed to implant a core structure known as a ”Law Seed” into the Daoist Soldier’s body.

Once successful, the Daoist Soldier could use this Law Seed as a bridge to ”borrow” a wisp of the Power of Origin of a Law from the world.

To be more direct, the process of Anton refining the Jia Shen Divine General was not ”I inject my understanding of the Law of Severance into this Daoist Soldier.” It was ”I use my understanding of the Law of Severance as a catalyst to leverage the existing Law of Severance in the world, intercept a wisp of its Power of Origin, and seal it into this Daoist Soldier.”

This wisp of the Power of Origin was a part of the Heaven and Earth Law itself, its quality naturally superior to the Law comprehensions of a Golden Core Cultivator.

All Anton was doing was ”sealing” and ”guiding.”

Compared to refining a Law Comprehension Stele, it had this one extra step.

It was precisely because this wisp of the Power of Origin served as its core that the Jia Shen Divine General could exhibit combat power far exceeding Anton’s own Cultivation Level.

It didn’t require Anton to have a deep understanding of the Law of Severance. He only needed to be able to ”touch” this Law and ”borrow” that wisp of the Power of Origin from the world.

Therefore, even a Golden Core First Stage Cultivator could refine a Six Ding and Six Jia Guardian Divine General, as long as they could reach the threshold of a certain Law.

This was the wonder of the Six Ding and Six Jia.

However, the difficulty of refining a Law Seed was exceptionally high.

Even though Anton had experience refining Law Comprehension Steles and had mastered a Metal Element Divine Technique like the Primordial True Gang, his progress was still halting and difficult.

As he was pondering, Anton’s expression suddenly changed. He whipped his head around and looked up.

Even through the multiple layers of Arrays and restrictions, he could still clearly sense a vast aura coming from the direction of the Law Comprehension Platform.

The aura was deep and solid, carrying the weight of the earth and the vitality of plants, like an ancient tree that had slumbered for a thousand years stretching its branches in the spring.

The aura of a Law!

A flicker of understanding crossed Anton’s face, and a faint smile appeared.

With a flicker, his figure vanished from the Artifact Refining room.

...

The Ninefold Celestial Tower, Law Comprehension Platform.

This was an extremely spacious area, occupying an entire floor of the Ninefold Celestial Tower.

Dozens of doorways surrounded the central stone platform, arranged at equal intervals.

In the center of each doorway hung a palm-sized Jade Token, each engraved with different words.

”Wood Element,” ”Earth Element,” ”Water Element”... and blank Jade Tokens, quietly awaiting their turn to be filled.

At this moment, from the closed door directly east of the stone platform, a vigorous life force was faintly emanating.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

One figure after another tore through the air, landing on the central stone platform.

Second Elder Axel, Third Elder Casian, Cedric, Eleanor, Romance, Elena... all the high-ranking members of the Clan had been drawn over by the commotion.

Seeing Anton in the center of the stone platform, the Elves all bowed in greeting.

Anton gave them a slight nod, then his gaze returned to the doorway, fixed and unmoving.

Seeing this, the Elves exchanged glances and, with a silent understanding, said nothing. They waited quietly, their faces all showing an unconcealable excitement and anticipation.

About half an hour later, the aura from behind the door suddenly retracted, receding like a tide and quickly falling silent.

Not long after, the door opened, and the Great Elder walked out slowly.

The Elves present immediately noticed the change in his disposition.

If the former Leonard was like a steady and solid old oak tree, sheltering his people from the wind and rain with his dense foliage, then the man before them now was like an ancient tree that had weathered the baptism of winter and was reawakening with new life in the spring. His entire being radiated an aura of rebirth.

It was a transformation that occurred after a leap in one’s level of life, a natural charm that flowed out after the body and mind were steeped in the Power of Law.

”Congratulations on your breakthrough,” Anton offered immediately.

”It’s all thanks to the Clan Leader’s Law Comprehension Steles.” The Great Elder’s face was filled with heartfelt joy.

Taking this step not only meant a significant extension of his lifespan, but also represented the opening of a door to a much vaster world.

The Third Elder stepped forward, clapped the Great Elder firmly on the shoulder, and laughed heartily. ”Leonard, you finally broke through! This is great! Our Clan has another Legendary Combat Power!”

A rare smile also appeared on the Second Elder’s cold, hard face.

The two of them had worked alongside the Great Elder for several hundred years. They had been through the Clan’s most difficult times together, enduring those long, hopeless nights where no dawn seemed to break.

Now, seeing their old friend finally take that step, the emotion they felt was deeper than anyone else’s.

The other Elves were also beaming with joy.

Gaining another Legendary Combat Power was a tangible benefit for the Clan.

It was a great boon for everything from external deterrence to internal stability.

Besides that, the Great Elder’s successful breakthrough also proved the effectiveness of the Law Comprehension Steles.

This gave hope to Second Elder, Third Elder, and Cedric—those at the Golden Peak who were still lingering outside the threshold of the Legend rank—and strengthened their convictions.

”We should celebrate properly today.”

Romance’s suggestion was met with everyone’s approval.

Just as the group was about to leave the Law Comprehension Platform, they suddenly saw a Paper Crane flying toward them.

Eleanor quickly reached out and caught the Paper Crane.

It automatically unfolded, transforming into a flat sheet of letter paper.

Eleanor glanced down at it, and her expression immediately turned grave.

The surrounding Elves noticed her strange reaction, stopped in their tracks, and fixed their gazes on her.

”What is it?” the Third Elder asked first.

Eleanor looked up, her voice tense as she spoke:

”The allied forces have breached Darkness Fortress.”