Chapter 128 - Incomplete Pseudo-Domain

When Yaan woke up from yet another extended slumber, he did not feel refreshed in the least. In fact, a lingering sense of exhaustion remained in his heart, a feeling that caused him to sigh deeply and lie there for some time, staring at the ceiling in a vacant daze. It was only after remembering his current predicament that he forced himself to sit up, turning towards the white haired immortal.

The grey mist was no longer assaulting his body. For the first time since he started training for that period of six months, Yaan was able to rest.

But, this wasn’t really a rest. He doubted that he would be able to relax or rest properly until he rid himself of this immortal who insisted on both threatening him and helping him to grow stronger.

“How long did I sleep?”

“42 days.”

‘Ah…well, that’s better than last time I suppose.’

Yaan understood that he had somehow exhibited that power again, the very same power that he used to defeat the 7th pagoda trial in the inheritance’s 4th trial realm. At that time, he slept for 60 days afterwards, so even though he ended up passing out for so long this time, it did feel like an improvement.

Though, he still had no clue just what this power was.

Before he could even ask, the white haired immortal spoke.

“The power you used is called a domain.”

“Domain?” Yaan blinked, he had not heard this term before. The immortal nodded lightly.

“A complete domain is a strong immortal ability that is rare even amongst immortals. You used an incomplete pseudo-domain, it cannot truly be considered a domain, but it is impressive nonetheless. However, attempting to use this as a mortal is too dangerous, you are lucky that you merely suffered from exhaustion as the backlash. In the worst case scenario, carelessly using this power could destroy your dao soul, killing you quite thoroughly.”

Yaan nodded slowly.

He was not surprised or confused when this immortal referred to him as a mortal. To Foundation Step cultivators, mortals were those who had not stepped onto the path of cultivation. However, to immortals and divinities, Foundation Step cultivators were also merely mortals.

As for the ‘dao soul’, the Spirit Plane Lord had explained this to Yaan, though only briefly. In essence, the dao soul was the manifestation of a being’s dao heart and their dao. Any dao comprehension, either into themselves or the world around them, would form and change the dao soul, resulting in its continual growth over time. The dao soul was not a physical thing like the body, nor was it a spiritual entity like the actual soul, it was something far more ethereal than even the mind. Normally, it had no appearance nor location within a person, but it most definitely existed.

From the Immortal Ancestor’s words, Yaan was able to understand the ability somewhat, he also now realised why using this ability caused him to feel so exhausted.

Since the backlash was apparently affecting his very dao soul, it meant that this ‘domain’ was a power that made use of his dao heart, and perhaps his dao comprehension also.

When he thought about it, Yaan was sure that it was a mixture of both. This domain manifested as a sort of emotional illusion, from this, it was obvious that both his dao heart and his dao of illusion comprehension played a vital role in the formation of the domain.

“This domain…you said it’s an immortal ability?” Yaan’s eyes flashed with an indiscernible glint as he asked this.

He had always been looking for a chance to escape from the Southern Continent, to escape from the clutches of this white haired immortal, but it was simply impossible. Until now, his plan had been to follow the immortal’s wishes to satisfy him, then to develop his strength whilst also studying formations. Yaan held onto the hope that perhaps, he could comprehend the Fragment Sect’s core sect formation which monitored all of the core sect inhabitants at all times.

All of these things were basically helpless plans, Yaan only decided on doing all of this because he was too powerless in front of an immortal to actually do anything sufficient!

But if this ‘domain’ was an immortal ability…could it let him contest against immortals? Could it at the very least help him to escape from an immortal?

He couldn’t help but think this, but the Immortal Ancestor’s following words made his heart sink.

“A complete domain is formed from the worldly manifestation of a named dao heart. A pseudo-domain is formed using immortal stage dao comprehension in combination with a dao heart that has not yet attained its name. Your ability to even manifest an incomplete pseudo-domain shows that both your dao heart and illusion dao comprehension are at quite a high level, but you are far away from achieving the criteria needed for a pseudo-domain.”

Yaan smiled bitterly to himself.

‘I got ahead of myself, how could it be so easy to use an immortal ability? A named dao heart means that your dao heart itself has reached the level of immortal stage dao comprehension! That is far more difficult than merely comprehending an earthly dao to the immortal stage, but even immortal stage dao comprehension is something that most cultivators spend hundreds of years seeking, whilst most fail even after all that time…’

A named dao heart was an attainment level that even immortals spent their entire lives seeking, Yaan could forget about this for now, he only knew about this stage because the Spirit Plane Lord mentioned it in passing. As for trying to comprehend his illusion dao to the immortal stage…

Yaan had no confidence. Whilst apparently his illusion dao comprehension was powerful enough that he was able to manifest an incomplete pseudo-domain, the difference between ‘almost immortal’ and ‘truly immortal’ was too big to overcome in a short period of time without some enormous lucky encounter.

“Whilst forming a domain is impossible for you right now, and a pseudo-domain is also out of reach in the short term, comprehending this incomplete power will certainly help you to understand and temper your dao heart…” The immortal suddenly spoke, causing Yaan to stop thinking and pay attention.

“After forming your Vital Qi core, you should cultivate in Black Peak for some time.”

Yaan laughed wryly.

“First, I still need to form my Vital Qi core.”

“Indeed. Will you continue in the Grey Mist Pressure Chamber? Your gains in these months have not been small…”

Feeling slightly startled, Yaan finally remembered why he had been thrust into such a state where he was able to manifest the power of a domain in the first place; he ended up cultivating so insanely that even his dao heart became thoroughly exhausted!

Six months of training, and not once did he stop or focus on his condition.

Under the exemplary conditions of the golden elixir combined with this chamber, how much would he improve? Hopefully, his blood essence had grown stronger, and perhaps he might have developed an obsidian body constitution…

When Yaan silently meditated, exploring his internal condition using his psyche power, he was so stunned that he almost gasped.

His blood essence certainly improved, it was now at 25,000 drops! A 10,000 drop growth in a period of six months, this was far beyond Yaan’s wildest hopes!

As for his body constitutions, these were no less shocking. Whilst his organ and tendon constitutions were still at mythril rank, his flesh and bone constitutions had unknowingly evolved into the final rank, obsidian rank!

A faint black lustre covered the surface of his bones and flesh inside of his body. On the outside, Yaan looked no different, but the strength within his fleshly body was phenomenal!

His vital energy had also grown, now sitting at a staggering 46%…

Yaan turned towards the white haired immortal deeply.

This person had assisted his cultivation in a way that he could previously only dream of. No, thinking about it, the elixir given to him by Old Thief was also half responsible…

A complex feeling arose in Yaan’s heart. Old Thief robbed him, this immortal was threatening to kill him, yet both of these individuals had actually helped him to cultivate under near perfect conditions!

And yet, somehow, this made Yaan feel like a sheep being fattened up, ready to be consumed…

The fact that this immortal had previously threatened to devour him did not make this feeling any better.

Thinking all of these things, Yaan answered the immortal’s question carefully.

“The improvements are impressive, but I’d like to develop my psyche cultivation further. The Grey Mist Pressure Chamber is good for my psyche cultivation, but I should be tempering my mind via other methods if I want to bring my mind up to a sufficient level to attempt the Vital Qi core formation. Since having a stronger mind will let me endure the grey mist for longer, I might as well start doing this now.”

All of this was true, but Yaan’s true motive was to build up his understanding of formations. He never forgot his original plan to escape from the Fragment Sect, but to do that, he would first need to better his understanding of formations if he wanted to evade the detection of the Fragment Sect’s core sect formation.

In the end though, Yaan needed the Immortal Ancestor’s permission if he wanted to do this. No, it would be more accurate to say that he needed this immortal’s permission if he wanted to do anything at all…

“Then I will teach you formations.”

Outside of his expectations, the white haired immortal actually offered to teach him! Yaan blinked in surprise, but then felt joyous as he realised what sort of opportunity this was.

His original plan was to study formations by himself, gradually developing his understanding until he could build up the formations that the Spirit Plane Lord divulged to him. The schematics for these formations were firmly imprinted into his memories, but without any understanding of the art of formations, it was impossible to actually create them.

But now, an immortal was offering to teach him personally! There was a huge difference between trying to teach yourself something, and having a teacher to guide you.

Whilst it was not a problem to study alone 90% of the time, the use of a teacher would become apparent whenever you encountered a problem. Compared to trying to resolve any problems and difficulties by yourself, having someone to clearly point out the issues would not only save time, but would also better guide you in the right direction.

Like this, a new chapter on Yaan’s training began.