The fruit split like a gourd cut into two halves. Its shell was hard as a coconut husk, and the pieces fell away to either side.
An extraordinarily profound substance suddenly overflowed from within, milky-white and incomparably crystalline.
Yun Lie absorbed the milky-white substance immediately, drawing it through the narrow slit between his brows.
In an instant, points of light glimmered within his embryonic Minor Cosmos, where many of its once-illusory swords had already gained substance!
They glittered like stars, yet were as dense and fine as grains of sand.
Xu Ziqing widened his eyes. The milky-white substance had shattered into star-like specks, and as they flickered, they seemed to form a chart of the stars.
No, perhaps it was not a star chart, but a pattern representing the workings of some hidden law.
Moved by a sudden thought, Xu Ziqing tossed over the storage vessel containing the Sword Dao Fruits.
Yun Lie’s expression did not change. He reached into it, drew out another Sword Dao Fruit, and repeated the process.
Soon he split open the third Sword Dao Fruit and then the fourth, sparing none of them.
As he continually absorbed the profound substance, more starlight appeared inside his embryonic Minor Cosmos, and the traces it formed gradually became clearer.
But it was still insufficient.
So Yun Lie split open the fifth Sword Dao Fruit.
At that moment, a trace of white seemed to appear around the outermost edges of his pitch-black eyes.
His stubborn demonic impulses had finally been pried open by his will and the Sword Dao Fruits.
After this, the rest would be easier.
Xu Ziqing had been watching Yun Lie throughout and naturally noticed.
Senior Brother’s demonic impulses really are fading…
He had long sensed that although his senior brother’s behavior had not changed greatly after his demonic corruption, instinct now drove him with a strange mixture of endurance and violent restlessness.
In that state, unless Xu Ziqing indulged his every wish at every moment, Yun Lie seemed capable of some earthshaking action.
It had been deeply unsettling.
But now, as the demonic impulses gradually faded, the changes wrought in Yun Lie were fading too.
His seven emotions seemed to be freezing once more.
Xu Ziqing gradually slowed his breathing.
He only hoped that his senior brother could use the ninth tier of the Sword-Shaped Wood to forge an immortal-demonic body!
Yun Lie moved swiftly.
He had been solitary and cold since childhood, but upright and steadfast in his Dao heart.
Whenever he made a decision, it was usually after careful thought. Once decided, nothing could shake him.
That was one of a sword cultivator’s most precious qualities: a clear sword heart, willing to break rather than bend.
Xu Ziqing had picked eight Sword Dao Fruits for him. Here, Yun Lie used them all without hesitation.
Before long he had absorbed the sixth and seventh fruits.
The blackness in his eyes began fading more quickly.
After the seventh fruit dissolved into the mysterious pattern, his eyes looked no different from an ordinary person’s.
If there was any distinction, it was only that his irises were deeper and darker, like a bottomless abyss.
Or the depths of the night sky.
Just then, the effects of the countless droplets of ‘sweet rain’ became still more apparent.
Yun Lie’s plain-colored magical robes had already swelled enormously under the pressure of his sword intent. As his aura intensified further, they suddenly burst apart with a bang!
White fragments flew in every direction, but Yun Lie sat unmoving as a mountain.
His body too had changed.
Previously his robes had hidden it from Xu Ziqing.
Now, however, he could see it clearly.
Years of unbroken sword training had hardened Yun Lie’s body until his skin was like bronze and his bones like iron.
He was not especially broad or heavily built, but possessed precisely proportioned strength. Every muscle lay closely against his frame without the slightest excess.
And after so many years of tempering by Five Elements astral winds and Geng-Metal qi, his body had become indescribably powerful.
Few cultivators who devoted themselves solely to body refinement could likely rival him.
But at this moment, Yun Lie’s body looked exceedingly strange.
Within the muscles of his left half, black currents of energy coursed constantly. The right side was filled with brilliant golden power. The two occupied opposite sides, but far from minding their own business, they clashed and fought each other.
As Yun Lie’s sword intent rose, the ‘star chart’ released by the Sword Dao Fruits inside his embryonic Minor Cosmos began revolving along a mysterious path.
Its outline grew steadily clearer, as though approaching a definite shape.
And that shape seemed to have a center.
As the star chart rotated faster, the two energies in Yun Lie’s body appeared to answer it, struggling even more fiercely.
The forces beneath his muscles pushed up his skin into bulging cords. At their most violent, they looked like two swarms of living creatures biting each other in a struggle to the death.
Xu Ziqing understood that this was the conflict between the ‘immortal’ and the ‘demonic.’
The immortal power came from his senior brother’s Sword Dao attainment and the energy of the Sword Dao Fruits. The demonic power came from the impulses throughout his body and the bewitching force of the Seven Emotions Demon Mara.
If the forces exhausted each other, Yun Lie could subdue both with sword intent. If his Sword Dao prevailed instead, his true nature could reclaim mastery of his body. Either outcome would benefit him and allow an immortal-demonic body to form.
But if the demonic power won… Yun Lie would be seized by those impulses again, perhaps never able to return to his true nature, and his temperament would change enormously!
Still, Yun Lie’s Sword Dao belonged to neither righteousness nor wickedness. So long as he held firmly to his true heart, he would probably be able to control the demonic impulses.
Xu Ziqing believed unwaveringly that his senior brother would not be defeated here!
At last, Yun Lie pointed at the final Sword Dao Fruit and drew its milky-white substance into himself!
The brilliant golden energy surged immediately, spreading across the left half of his body and enveloping all the black currents.
The two energies continued wearing each other down and battling, but gradually began to merge.
The more ‘sweet rain’ fell upon him, the stronger and more aggressive the golden power became. His body grew sturdier and more refined through the struggle!
Within the embryonic Minor Cosmos, the star chart contracted until it resembled an upside-down river of stars, a gorgeous vortex. Each line of its movement was round and perfect, as natural as something created by heaven and earth itself.
An astonishing power gathered within the vortex. Each pulse seemed like the beat of a heart, as though life itself was gestating.
Xu Ziqing watched more intently than ever.
Suddenly the vortex contracted sharply!
An invisible intention appeared to race outward, threatening to shatter even the surrounding void of the embryonic Minor Cosmos.
The silent explosion took place entirely within that nascent world, yet released an almost explosive surge of force!
At the same time, the two differently colored energies in Yun Lie’s body slammed into one another!
A slight change finally touched Yun Lie’s cold expression.
Pain.
The eruption brought unbearable pain, as though his entire body were being reconstructed!
The black and gold energies suddenly broke into countless tiny particles, intermingling rapidly.
Then they began devouring one another at tremendous speed.
Almost instantly, both powers fused into one, and their color became a deep black-gold.
The power in the vortex burst outward, forming an immense apparition.
Within a few breaths, the apparition condensed into a solid form: a giant sword.
A sword-intent manifestation that had become black and gold!
It looked ancient and noble.
Within the embryonic Minor Cosmos, this black-gold giant sword was plainly a manifestation of Yun Lie’s consciousness as well as his sword intent.
It would rule over the entire embryonic Minor Cosmos!
At last Yun Lie’s body also returned to normal.
It remained powerful and masculine, but the conflicting currents had disappeared.
The ordeal had refined his flesh still further.
Yet Yun Lie did not rise. He kept his eyes closed, continued absorbing the ‘sweet rain,’ and tempered his embryonic Minor Cosmos.
Xu Ziqing could now tell that his senior brother had successfully formed an immortal-demonic body!
After a long breath, he left Yun Lie undisturbed and resumed collecting the ‘sweet rain’ in earnest.
About two hours later, Yun Lie opened his eyes again.
His long black hair floated without wind, and the faint pressure emanating from him was greater than before!
When Yun Lie opened his eyes, his embryonic Minor Cosmos became a streak of black light and entered the narrow slit between his brows.
The imposing power, once as overwhelming as a mountain collapse or ocean surge, gradually faded.
Yun Lie gathered his spiritual radiance inward, suppressing even the traces of aura that had leaked outside.
He now looked like an ordinary sword cultivator. If not for his sharp, cold bearing, one might never have guessed how terrifying he was.
Few could readily see that his Sword Dao attainment had reached such an extraordinary level!
Then Yun Lie stood, raised an arm slightly, and dressed himself in plain robes.
Xu Ziqing had been startled by his senior brother’s exposed body and had not even managed to avert his gaze before Yun Lie was dressed again. Only then did he realize his cheeks had warmed.
He quickly composed himself and rose. “Senior Brother, how are you?”
Yun Lie nodded slightly. “I’ve formed an immortal-demonic body.” He paused, then called, “Ziqing.”
Xu Ziqing’s breath caught, a thousand feelings filling his heart.
Senior Brother remembered him. That meant… Yun Lie had truly returned to himself.
Yun Lie said little. He merely glanced at the canopy where the ‘sweet rain’ still trickled, then produced a gourd-like vessel. Light flashed in his eyes, and sword intent pierced upward. With a sweep of his sleeve, the canopy seemed to be punctured, and the rain became streams pouring into the gourd.
Xu Ziqing was startled, and only then noticed that his body suddenly felt remarkably light.
The restriction upon his dantian seemed to be fading.
Before he could think more, Yun Lie had collected almost all the ‘sweet rain,’ leaving only a few occasional drops.
He turned. “Let’s go.”
Then he walked past Xu Ziqing.
His sleeve brushed against Xu Ziqing as he passed, and a trace of sadness crossed Xu Ziqing’s face.