The Elven Cultivator

Chapter 278: Chapter 253: Essence of Heaven and Earth

For the sake of his future Dao path, and given his confidence in forming a Five Elements True Seal, the choice was obvious.

The second element for condensing a Magical Power True Seal is Magical Power itself.

After breaking through the Shell Barrier, a Cultivator can continue to strengthen their Magical Power by absorbing the world’s energy.

Magical Power is the foundation for condensing a True Seal.

Only when one’s Magical Power is strengthened to its absolute limit—when their Pill Qi is abundant, circulates freely, and can no longer grow—can they begin to form the embryo of a True Seal and integrate their comprehended Laws into it.

The final element is related to the Golden Core itself.

The Golden Core must absorb enough essence of heaven and earth to withstand the integration of Laws.

Simply put, the Golden Core is like a container.

The better the container’s quality, the more Laws it can hold, and the more stable the integration process will be.

One can only imagine the immense "quality" required of the Golden Core to simultaneously integrate five different Laws.

’Essence of heaven and earth, huh...’

Anton mused.

There are roughly two ways for a Golden Core to absorb the essence of heaven and earth.

One is to directly consume Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, using their essence to nourish the Pill Body.

However, this method has extremely high requirements for the quality of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Ordinary Spiritual Objects simply don’t meet the Golden Core’s threshold.

If the quality is too low, the benefit to the Golden Core after absorption is negligible.

This brought him to the second method.

Using multiple lower-quality Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures as ingredients, one can use Alchemy to aggregate, purify, and sublimate their effects, ultimately refining a batch of Pills that the Golden Core can absorb.

This way, one can meet the minimum standard for the Golden Core’s absorption.

And the Taoist Jade Scroll was full of similar Alchemy methods.

If Anton had to choose, however, he would prefer to consume Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures directly.

After all, to condense a Five Elements True Seal, the Golden Core needed to absorb an enormous amount of the essence of heaven and earth. Relying solely on Pills would be far too slow.

He searched his memories and recalled several "Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures" that his Golden Core could perhaps absorb directly.

For instance, the Spirit of Ten Thousand Woods from the Jade Royal Court, the Embers of the Primordial Flame from the Heart of the Mountains, and the Star Essence from the Freedom Alliance.

But these things weren’t easy to obtain.

At the very least, he hadn’t seen them on the exchange list in Ranfeng Hall.

’Speaking of which, the Dragon Souls in the Subspace are also a type of essence. I wonder if they can be absorbed?’

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Anton.

The essence of a Dragon Soul was the dissipated life force of a Giant Dragon after its death, which had settled in the depths of the Holy Dragon Mountain Range for ten thousand years before being transformed by the Subspace.

In a sense, they were also a form of the essence of heaven and earth, just in a special form.

’Perhaps the Golden Core can absorb them?’

Anton decided he would find an opportunity to test it later.

’First, I’ll strengthen my Magical Power to its limit, then integrate the Power of Law. During this process, I’ll continuously strengthen the Golden Core.’

’Also, with my current Cultivation Level, I can also try to cultivate Sword Dao Divine Techniques.’

The thought of Sword Dao Divine Techniques made Anton’s heart burn with excitement.

Every single Sword Dao Divine Technique was an extremely powerful combat method.

As long as he mastered even one, his combat power would take a quantum leap.

Of course, the difficulty of cultivating Sword Dao Divine Techniques was also notoriously high.

It not only required a profound Cultivation Level in the Sword Dao as a foundation but also a sufficiently deep understanding of Laws such as life and death, space, and Transformation.

With a plan in mind, Anton didn’t linger. He put away the nearly-destroyed Thunder Prison Pillar and transformed into a streak of sword light, departing.

Although he had immediately stopped the Array after his breakthrough, the Thunder Prison Pillar had already suffered irreversible damage.

However, the item could still be used for a while longer, albeit barely.

He could leave it for the disciples of Taichu City.

But who knew how long it would be before a second Golden Core Cultivator appeared in Taichu City.

After leaving Wulei Valley, Anton didn’t immediately return to Darkness Fortress. Instead, he headed straight for the Silver Moon Forest.

He wanted to integrate the newly acquired Heart of Ten Thousand Woods into the Eternal Tree as soon as possible.

Arriving back at the Silver Moon Forest, Anton casually sent a voice transmission to Eleanor before making a beeline for the Eternal Tree.

Beneath the towering trunk, he took the jade-like, emerald-green crystal from his Qiankun Bag and flicked it with his finger.

The Heart of Ten Thousand Woods flew from his hand, tracing a gentle arc through the air. The moment it touched the bark, it silently merged into it, leaving not even a trace behind.

The Eternal Tree shuddered violently.

A gentle, emerald-green halo surged from deep within the trunk, spreading in all directions along the patterns of the bark, enveloping the entire giant tree in a hazy glow.

The canopy began to unfurl.

The hanging aerial roots thickened and lengthened at a visible rate, extending from between the branches and swaying gently in the breeze.

Layers upon layers of leaves spread out, completely obscuring more of the sky that was previously exposed.

Under the influence of the Heart of Ten Thousand Woods, the Eternal Tree grew slowly but surely.

However, this transformation lasted for a much shorter time than the last.

After just one day, the expansion of the canopy slowed noticeably, and the rate at which new leaves grew also decreased.

By the evening of the second day, all changes had finally stopped completely.

The Eternal Tree returned to its usual stillness, only now it was taller and more luxuriant.

The edge of its canopy had extended outward by another hundred meters.

The entire Silver Moon Forest, under its cover, seemed even more deep and tranquil.

Anton spread his Divine Sense and discovered that the area of the Silver Moon Forest had visibly expanded, now completely covering the entire Thousand Rock Hills, including the entrance to the Dark Nether Realm’s rift.

The distance between the forest’s edge and Taichu City had also shortened considerably.

’The effect of this integration is clearly not as good as the last one.’

Anton withdrew his Divine Sense, pondering inwardly.

’But on second thought, it’s normal.’

As the Eternal Tree grew stronger, the benefits brought by the Heart of Ten Thousand Woods would inevitably diminish.

After all, the Heart of Ten Thousand Woods was the essence condensed from the Jade Royal Court’s World Tree.

By relying solely on the Heart of Ten Thousand Woods, even if the Silver Moon Forest’s Eternal Tree were strengthened to its limit, it could never surpass the World Tree.

The Great Derivation Cyan Profound Array, on the other hand, could theoretically strengthen the Eternal Tree to a point beyond the World Tree.

It would just take an extremely long time.

In any case, the Eternal Tree could still continue to integrate the Heart of Ten Thousand Woods for now.

Anton estimated that after integrating a few more Hearts of Ten Thousand Woods, the Silver Moon Forest should be able to connect with Taichu City.

Gathering his thoughts, Anton turned to look toward the end of the arboreal corridor.

Eleanor was standing there, watching him with a gentle smile.

Two days ago, when Eleanor heard Anton had returned, she had dropped her work and hurried over.

But upon arriving, she found Anton intently observing the Eternal Tree’s changes, so she didn’t disturb him and left quietly.

She had rushed back the moment she noticed the forest’s transformation had ended.

Seeing that slender figure in the distance, Eleanor’s heart couldn’t help but leap with joy.

She followed the news from the front lines every day. She had read the battle reports about Anton slaughtering Giant Dragons and joining forces with Valin to slay the Azure Abyss Dragon over and over again. Each time she read them, an indescribable pride would swell in her chest.

’This is our Clan Leader.’

The one leading them to glory was writing a Legend on a battlefield thousands of miles away, a Legend that had captured the attention of the entire continent.

Thanks to Anton’s soaring fame, the reputation of the Silver Moon Race was also rising.

Recently, many Elf clans had even taken the initiative to contact the Silver Moon Race to inquire about joining them.

Before, they were the ones sending envoys out to search, persuade, and recruit. Now, other clans were coming to them.

Even from thousands of miles away, their Clan Leader could still bring opportunities for the Clan to grow.

Eleanor lifted her head, her gaze falling on the side of Anton’s face.

She suddenly remembered the scene from many years ago when she first saw Anton on the training grounds.

Back then, she had seen him as a rival and secretly vowed to surpass him. Thinking back on it now, her younger self was laughably naive.

’Anton is stronger than me, stronger than everyone. It’s always been that way.’

’And all I can do is stay behind him, guard this forest for him, and handle the trivial matters he has no time for.’

After a long moment, Eleanor came back to her senses and walked quickly to Anton’s side.

"Clan Leader, did you use the Heart of Ten Thousand Woods?"

"Yes, the one I just exchanged for." Anton nodded slightly and asked casually, "Did anything happen in the Clan while I was away?"

Eleanor smiled. "Everything is well."

"That’s good." Anton nodded. "I should be heading back now."

The war in the Subspace wasn’t over yet; he couldn’t be away for too long.

There was still much to do.

Eleanor felt a slight reluctance in her heart but didn’t show it, merely nodding.

"Be careful on your way."

"You too. Make sure you rest and don’t overwork yourself."

As his voice fell, Anton had already transformed into a streak of light, soaring into the sky and speeding away from the forest.

Just in case, the Teleportation Array leading to Darkness Fortress had been set up in a canyon outside the forest. He planned to use it to return directly to the fortress.

Eleanor stood beneath the Eternal Tree, watching the dark gold streak of light disappear into the distance.

Only when the light had vanished did she raise a hand to brush back her hair, retract her gaze, and turn to walk toward the Document Hall.

...

「Outside Darkness Fortress, at the entrance to the Subspace.」

Rek’sa squinted, glancing at the glaring sun in the sky.

Behind him, his teammates emerged from the Subspace one by one.

The moment he steadied himself, a Beastman Warrior couldn’t help but complain, "Three whole months, and we didn’t even catch a glimpse of a spatial node. Another wasted trip."

"Can’t be helped," another clansman chimed in. "When are spatial nodes ever easy to find?"

"It’s been over half a year since the Subspace appeared, and the allied forces still haven’t managed to destroy a spatial node. It’s not like we’re the only ones."

Just then, a human man nearby who was preparing to enter the Subspace overheard them. A playful smile touched his lips as he interjected, "Your information is out of date. The allied forces already destroyed the first spatial node."

The Beastmen all froze, their faces showing astonishment.

"What did you say?"

"The allied forces destroyed the first spatial node?"

"When did that happen?"

Even Rek’sa’s attention was captured. He asked in a deep voice, "Who led the charge?"

The human man glanced at him and recognized him as a Five-Star Pillar. He immediately dropped his casual expression and answered crisply, "It was Lord Valin of the Heart of the Mountains."

He paused, then added, "But the Fallen Dragon Sword Saint also made a great contribution to this operation. I heard that in the end, it was he and Lord Valin working together who killed the Azure Abyss Dragon guarding the spatial node."

Rek’sa was stunned.

’The Fallen Dragon Sword Saint?’

’That Elf named Anton Silver Moon?’

’And what’s this about killing an Azure Abyss Dragon?’