Steady Cultivation: Starting With the Perk “Work Hard, Rest Hard”
Chapter 136: Little Cai's Transformation
Su Yuan cupped his hands toward his surroundings before his consciousness departed from the Origin Place of the Great Dao, leaving the other cultivators staring at each other in bewilderment.
The deed accomplished, he withdrew without claiming credit, vanishing like the wind.
Cave #6.
Su Yuan emerged from his secluded cultivation chamber. Sunlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the cave dwelling. Raising his head, Su Yuan saw a small fish radiating twelve-colored brilliance swimming joyfully among the clouds. Countless star energies were being absorbed by it before transforming into streams of radiant energy that showered upon the earth below.
The maidservant Su Mei stood beneath, busily collecting the overflowing multicolored energy from Little Cai using a jade vial. The energy appeared extraordinarily potent. Without noticing, Su Mei's cultivation had already reached mid-stage Divine Transformation, granting her considerable speed.
Little Cai kept dodging Su Mei's attempts, leading her on a merry chase across the sky, clearly enjoying the game. "Ancestor, ancestor, slow down!" Su Mei pleaded helplessly. "Heehee, you can't catch me!" Little Cai laughed heartily.
Suddenly, she looked down and exclaimed excitedly, "Su Yuan! You've finally emerged from seclusion!" She dove from the sky, crashing into Su Yuan's embrace with such force that he felt his chest compress from the impact. "Your strength has increased!" he gasped, recovering his breath before sensing Little Cai's cultivation level. Shocked, he asked, "When did you reach Immortal Realm?"
Little Cai nuzzled against him before tilting her head in confusion. "I reached Immortal Realm? I don't understand. I didn't realize." Su Yuan glanced skyward, using his authority as [Seven Stars Supreme] to investigate past heavenly tribulations. He confirmed Little Cai had broken through to immortality without undergoing any heavenly tribulation or requiring his intervention.
Patting her plump little head, Su Yuan inquired curiously, "Can you take human form now?" Little Cai pouted, "No! Help me figure it out! Why can't I transform when even that silly Su Mei can?" Nearby, Su Mei smiled wryly and bowed to Su Yuan. "Greetings, Master."
"Prepare some dishes and later invite Sect Leader Gu," Su Yuan instructed. "As you command, Master," Su Mei promptly withdrew.
Su Yuan then extended his divine sense into Little Cai's body, discovering an incredibly intricate network of Dao patterns governing natural laws within her - far more complex than even his own repeatedly refined physique. "Your bloodline is extraordinary," he murmured. "How could the former Tianyuan Realm have nurtured a being like you?"
Investigating further through heavenly laws, Su Yuan uncovered Little Cai's origin as a nine-colored stone egg. Tracing back through time, he saw this egg had existed unchanged until reaching the very birth of Tianyuan Realm a hundred million years ago, when a beam of nine-colored light had descended into the newborn world. The revelation shocked Su Yuan - he'd never imagined Little Cai's background was so astonishing!
Continuing his examination, Su Yuan's divine sense arrived at Little Cai's dantian region and discovered a vast space spanning thousands of kilometers. Within raged chaotic energies of earth, metal, water and other elements, crisscrossed by terrifying lightning bolts. His divine sense rapidly depleted under the indiscriminate assaults from these rampaging forces, while Little Cai's dantian walls remained perfectly stable against the constant barrage.
"Your stomach..." Su Yuan hesitated. Little Cai patted her belly mournfully. "Su Yuan, I think my tummy's sick. I keep hearing thunder inside, and it feels ticklish but also hungry."
After confirming no other abnormalities, Su Yuan nodded understandingly. "Let me help organize the energies in your dantian." "Okay!" Little Cai obediently rolled over, exposing her belly comically. "No need for that pose," Su Yuan chuckled. "No?" She covered her eyes with fins, seemingly embarrassed.
Su Yuan extended a finger, channeling magic power into Little Cai's dantian. Upon entry, this energy began manifesting various natural laws - the five elements, wind, thunder, lightning, light, darkness, stars, and sword intent spread throughout the chaotic space. Wherever they passed, the unruly energies calmed into orderly arrangements.
Earth energy gathered at the center, forming landmass. Metal energy reinforced this foundation underground. Fire energy rose to form a sun with stellar forces, radiating light and warmth. Water encircled the land as a lake, while wind currents carried moisture aloft to form clouds that rained upon the earth under thunder's guidance, bringing verdant life to the newborn world. The once-chaotic dantian stabilized and expanded tenfold in size.
"So comfortable!" Little Cai cheered as a new energy spontaneously condensed in her dantian - a strand containing profound mysteries of multiple laws floating above the newly ordered space. "This is... Grotto-Heaven Power?" Su Yuan gasped in genuine astonishment. Grotto-Heaven Power represented a higher-order fusion of multiple laws, something cultivators normally only comprehended through existing sacred sites. Yet here it was, spontaneously emerging within Little Cai!
A powerful domain manifested around Little Cai, pressing all living beings in the cave dwelling to the ground except Su Yuan. "Control your power!" Su Yuan embraced her, using [Great Being's Demeanor] to neutralize the pressure and force the domain back into her body. "I didn't mean to," Little Cai apologized. As she reined in the energy, a brilliant flash transformed her into a five-year-old girl clad in twelve-colored robes, her flawless jade-like face alight with wonder. "Wow! I transformed!" she cheered, jumping excitedly.
Su Yuan observed the tiny figure, realizing that even as an immortal, Little Cai remained in her infancy - testament to her extraordinary lineage. Moreover, the emergence of Grotto-Heaven Power in Little Cai's dantian benefited Su Yuan as well. Strands of this energy spontaneously merged with the nine primary golden cores in his dantian, initiating marvelous transformations that made them resemble actual stars while significantly enhancing his dantian's capacity and stability - though still dwarfed by Little Cai's.
Looking skyward again, Su Yuan observed the Floating Light Sun-Moon Vessel bobbing amidst Seven Stars Sect's fortune clouds, undergoing continuous refinement. It had reached peak ninth-grade, just shy of immortal artifact status. Sensing his gaze, Xiao Li materialized her silver-white fox form midair, appearing beside Little Cai to pinch her cheeks playfully. "Stop that, Sister Li!" Little Cai protested. "Hehe, you're too cute!" Xiao Li produced ten immortal stones. "Want some?" "Yes!" Little Cai snatched and devoured the stones like soft candy, crunching through their rock-hard substance effortlessly.
Su Yuan raised an eyebrow - immortal stones rivaled eighth or ninth-grade spiritual treasures in hardness, yet she consumed them like snacks. Xiao Li turned to Su Yuan, complaining, "Master, you neglected me during seclusion! I'm the weakest now - even Su Qian became an immortal artifact!" "Where is he?" Su Yuan asked. "Mooching off Guardian Hidden Star," Xiao Li pouted. "That shameless cauldron has been freeloading resources there for years!"
Su Yuan's mouth twitched at the brazen behavior. "Why are you stuck at peak ninth-grade?" he inquired. Xiao Li explained, "I need to condense my intrinsic laws, but unlike that old relic Su Qian, I can't do it alone. There are no artifact refiners in the sect to help either. Master, upgrade me!"
Nodding, Su Yuan summoned the Floating Light Sun-Moon Vessel. His eyes flashed as the vessel became translucent, revealing its intricate network of law patterns forming an operational matrix. "This vessel's original design used sun-moon energy to create a grotto-heaven," he mused. "Since I'm not versed in solar-lunar laws, we'll reconstruct it with stellar laws instead - after all, sun and moon are stars too."
Xiao Li's eyes sparkled. "Can you really refine it, Master?" "No problem." Nine beams of starlight shot from Su Yuan's eyes into the vessel's core, imprinting new law patterns to replace the original formations. The painstaking process took half an hour before completion. As stellar laws integrated completely, derived patterns spread across the entire vessel, triggering its ascension to immortal artifact status.
A tribulation cloud gathered above, but dissipated after one stern glance from Su Yuan. A wisp of lightning descended instead, striking the vessel which then shone brilliantly, completing its metamorphosis into a true immortal artifact.