Chương 410: Cracked Dao heart

Even though Long Feng was prepared, a suppressed shudder still rushed through his body as his fingers began to draw blood from his palms. At a glance, his Dantian was pretty much… finished. Not the world itself. The endless starry sky looked no different from before, and three distant shadows were still dancing around. But the spirit cyclone was beyond redemption. It had crumbled completely, and was now a mass of disordered energy that were barely held together by the remaining pull of the cyclone.

This mass of energy was Long Feng's cultivation in it's entirety, and they were slowly fading away. Without an organized core, everything would be truly gone within mere weeks. Long Feng's heart was filled with panic and desperation as he tried to exert even a bit of control over his energy or cultivation, but there was nothing. The only thing he could sense was the faint thread that was left of the cyclone, holding everything together.

He could control that thread, but it wasn't nearly enough to regain control over his Imperial realm cultivation.

"I really am crippled…" he smiled thinly, unable to swallow this bitter pill. There was no hope here at all, unless he would begin cultivating from the Connate realm again. He paused, catching sight of something buried in the center of the disordered energy. Taking a closer look, his pupils trembled.

"The Dao heart?" He was shocked by it's current state. The heart was covered in countless cracks, looking so fragile that a single touch could shatter it. Moreover, it's glow was gone entirely.

"This…how?" Long Feng was confused. How did the Dao heart suddenly end up in such a state?

"Wait… the head warden's true essence… I can't sense it in my Dantian." Considering that such an amount of true essence couldn't simply fade into thin air, it had to have gone somewhere. But if it was still in his Dantian, then the cyclone would be destroyed completely. Long Feng was guessing that for a tiny thread of the cyclone to be left, it meant that the true essence had merely charged through the cyclone without exploding.

"Does that mean… the Dao heart devoured the true essence?" This was the conclusion he jumped to after considering everything, and it made a bit of sense. The true essence should have blown his body apart, yet it was drawn into his Dantian before it could do so, and then it charged straight through the cyclone, leaving it in this state. The only thing in the center of the cyclone was the Dao heart.

"The head warden was a mid stage Dao master, and even though the Dao heart is amazing, absorbing his true essence is enough to nearly destroy it." The owner of the Dao heart was a mid stage Dao master, just like the head warden.

"In such a situation where two people had the same cultivation, an attack to either one's core by the other would crush it instantly. It's already a miracle that the Dao heart didn't get destroyed." He realized. But this didn't make him relieved. Instead, it brought a great threat to his life once again.

"The Dao heart is so fragile… forget about drawing true essence out of it, merely touching it with my consciousness might cause it to break apart. The result of that…" he shivered, temporarily forgetting about his sorrow. There was an enormous amount of true essence within the Dao heart, a literal ocean of it. Imagining all of that true essence being released into his Dantian at once… While the Dantian wouldn't be shaken at all, the same couldn't be said about him.

He might very well end up dead, after surviving the head warden's fist. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. He stared at the Dao heart in silence, unable to think of anything to do with it. The heart was essentially a bomb in his body, and he didn't know when it might give out and destroy itself. He closed his eyes and left the Dantian, drawing in a deep breath.

"My cultivation is gone, and starting over isn't an option right now. Once I do so, the Dao heart might explode and I won't be lucky again." He sighed.

"Luckily, I can still sense my physical strength. My body is temporarily weak, but once I recover, my true force will return. At least, I won't be completely defenseless with the strength of an early stage deity." In this situation where he found himself in a new place with his cultivation crippled, his body tempering would be an enormous support. Otherwise, he would really be completely defenseless against any threat. As for what to do about his cultivation, Long Feng didn't consider it.

There was absolutely no solution to a shattered core, not to mention his cyclone which he knew nothing about. Merely thinking of it would make him feel disheartened and even despaired. Getting rid of those thoughts, he began to plan his next actions.

"First, I must quickly recover my physical strength. With the healing pills I have, I should be able to do so in a few days." His mind instantly recalled that he was unconscious for days, and he hadn't even checked if his void ring was taken. Glancing at his finger, the ring was there. If he was dead, then the Xie Clan would have naturally taken it. But as long as he lived, then no one could force open his void ring unless it was a Dao realm master and beyond.

After ensuring that his healing pills were intact, he continued,"Later, I'll need to know exactly where I am. After that…" he paused, feeling a profound confusion as he realized that he had no idea what came after that. He was going to say breaking through to the Deity realm came next, forgetting that his cultivation was no more. What would he do? Return to the sect? That was out of the question. The head warden would simply try again, and Long Feng had no proof to show that the former actually attacked him.

"Forget it. I'll know what to do when the time comes." He cleared his mind and took out several healing pills. He even brought out several globs of the rock ape's blood as well. The rock ape was extremely large, so he managed to gather a great deal of it's normal blood. The amount of vitality it contained wouldn't be of much help to his physical strength, but it was more than enough to hasten his recovery.

He saw no need to dilute the blood in water as he used to do, so he filled a tub with the extremely thick blood. After doing that, he took off his robes and buried himself under the blood, leaving only his head above it. He glanced at the pills he arranged by the side and instinctively tried to control them using his energy, only to freeze midway and sigh bitterly. His energy had long since become a part of his life. Not having it now made everything different.

He reached out and grabbed the pills before swallowing them and fully burying himself within the tub.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye. Within the Xie Clan's Manor, Xie Duan and Old Du sat together in a large hall, and seated before them were roughly a dozen men, each possessing a cultivation between rank three and rank seven Imperial realm.

"We've spoke with the Tie clan's envoys, and they staged their demands."

"The Tie clan are much more powerful than we are, and they're demanding we hand over the ancestral tower, eighty percent of our yearly resources as well as…" Xie Duan paused and clenched his fist before continuing.

"Their third demand was to hand over fifty teenage girls from our village, including my daughter Xie Ling."

"They're going too far!" An elder exclaimed.

"Those demands are outrageous! They might as well destroy us directly!" Xie Duan nodded.

"The ancestral tower is the foundation of our clan. Our ancestors struggled and paid with their lives to barely escape the main clan with the tower. It is our only chance of ever returning to the heights our ancestors once reached. We can never willingly surrender it."

"But what do we do, Clan Chief? The Tie clan has a late stage deity and two mid stage deities. Even their early stage deities number five. We are completely unable to put up any resistance against them!" The Great elder uttered worriedly.

"I have decided to open the ancestral tower for Xie Ling to attempt the inheritance." Xie Duan calmly spoke, prompting the elders to exchange glances and begin muttering.

"Wise choice, Sect Master. But… we should rethink this decision. Lady Ling doesn't seem ready. Even though she has the closest body to the ancient constitution our ancestors once possessed, it's still nothing compared to the real deal." The Great elder replied.

"That's right, Clan Chief! We're planing on placing our entire clan's hope on a little girl? We must remember that even with the full constitution, the chances of death are as high as eighty percent!"

"Clan Chief, we might need to think of something else. It's not impossible to send someone else into the tower. Xie Qin is the strongest among the younger generation. Even if his constitution isn't as good as Xie Ling's, his chances of succeeding are actually higher!" Xie Duan allowed them all to finish speaking before he continued.

"I understand your worries, but this is our only chance. The Tie clan's chief is in seclusion, which is why our clan still exist. We have no idea when he'll emerge, so sending Ling'er to gain the inheritance is our best shot." He glanced at the elder who mentioned Xie Qin.

"You mentioned that your son has a higher cultivation, but what happens if he survives and reaches the inheritance? The amount of power he'll receive depends on his constitution, and he barely has twenty percent of what Ling'er possess. At most, he will be pushed to the deity realm. What we need right now is a peak deity and even a Dao realm master! Anything else is useless to our situation." He swept his gaze across the elders and continued, "I've already made the decision.

The ancestral tower gives opportunity for another junior to go in. We'll send Xie Qin. That way, they'll each endure half of the trials. If they both pass, Ling'er will gain the inheritance and he'll also receive a significant boost." A few elders wanted to speak, but Xie Duan's faint pressure silenced them all.

"All of the clan's resources will be focused on Xie Qin so he can reach the Imperial realm in a week. Once that's achieved, we will open the ancestral tower for them. Is that clear?" The elders nodded uniformly.

"Very well. You're all dismissed." He waved his hand and the elders and rose and exited the hall. Xie Duan massaged his forehead with a sigh while old Du sat beside him.

"Don't worry, old Xie. This will work." Xie Duan nodded.

"It would have been so much better if Ling'er had the full constitution. I would feel much more at ease."

"What constitution is this? You've never mentioned much about it to me." Old Du asked.

"Oh. You're aware of the history of our clan, so i won't dive into it. The tower was the core of the clan even back then before calamity descended. The constitution is unique to our clan, and it stays dormant till one enters the ancestral tower where it'll be awakened. It grants a direct cultivation boost to it's wielder." Xie Duan explained.

"Directly cultivation boost? How does that even work?"

"I'm not sure myself. I wasn't a genius, so I had no destiny with the tower and therefore didn't know anything about it. But… the complete constitution is a heaven rank constitution. It doesn't boost our talent or combat power. Instead, once it awakens, an Imperial will directly become a Dao realm master. A deity will reach the true spirit realm." He explained, causing Old Du's mouth to widen.

"There's something like that?" He gasped.

"I'm also shocked by the tower. Unfortunately, the complete constitution is extremely rare and even back then, it only appeared once in several hundred years. Xie Ling barely possess thirty to forty percent of the constitution, which would have been trash back then but is now the highest we have. If she awakens it in the tower, then I believe she will become a peak deity."