At this moment, Ye Yu slowly opened his eyes.
"The King of the Sun Moon Kingdom… Xu Chenxuan, correct?"
"Xu Tianchen should have already explained our cooperation to you."
"From the looks of it, you have agreed."
"Yes!"
Xu Chenxuan spoke with the utmost respect and flattery.
"For our Sun Moon Kingdom to earn the favor of the honorable Lord of Creation is the highest of honors."
"I firmly believe that with the Lord of Creation's aid, our Sun Moon Kingdom will surely succeed in unifying the continent."
"And in the future, we shall also help the great Lord of Creation spread Your faith across the vast lands!"
"Good. Very good."
Ye Yu nodded faintly.
"However, I still have important matters to attend to. I cannot personally intervene to help your Sun Moon Kingdom unify the continent."
"For something so trivial, it is not worth my direct action."
"My divine attendant, Ye Su, shall assist you instead."
"Unless a god personally descends to this world—"
"His strength will remain unmatched here."
As Ye Yu finished speaking, his mirror clone, Ye Su, stepped forward. His handsome face bore a gentle smile as he bowed respectfully to Xu Chenxuan and Xu Tianchen.
"From now on, I shall trouble Your Majesty and Your Highness to look after me."
"Of course, of course!"
Xu Chenxuan was startled at first, then quickly responded.
After all, Xu Tianchen had not mentioned that Ye Yu had a divine attendant at his side.
Even Xu Tianchen himself was surprised. But considering that Ye Yu had already embarked upon the path to godhood, practically a being close to divinity—
Anything unusual about him was hardly worth questioning.
As long as this Ye Su could help their Sun Moon Kingdom unify the continent, that was enough!
Having left the mirror clone Ye Su in the Sun Moon Royal City to assist the kingdom in its conquest of the continent,
Ye Yu chose to depart, heading once more toward the Endless Sea. His goal: to find suitable hundred-thousand-year sea spirit beasts—both spiritual-type and water-attributed—for his second and third Martial Souls.
He intended to complete the ring sets for his second Martial Soul, Spirit Eyes, and his third Martial Soul, Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion—each with nine Spirit Rings.
And once all three Martial Souls were perfected,
He would seek a secluded place to merge Essence, Energy, and Spirit into one—breaking through to the final stage of the Inner Core Method, and condense the Golden Core!
Leaving the vast continent behind and returning to the Endless Sea,
Ye Yu rode upon his Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul as he searched tirelessly.
After more than half a year of searching—
He finally found a powerful sea spirit beast with five hundred thousand years of cultivation: the Three-Headed Sea Demon Serpent.
After slaying it,
Ye Yu absorbed its Spirit Ring into his Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, gaining two new Spirit Abilities.
He named them: Ice Jade Dragon Clone and Ice Jade Dragon Break.
The first ability allowed him to split into three clones.
Much like his Mirror Clone,
These three Ice Jade Dragon Clones drew strength proportional to the Spirit Power he invested into them.
However, since the source beast was different, there were limitations.
Unlike the Mirror Clone, which perfectly duplicated his form,
Each Ice Jade Dragon Clone could only copy one of Ye Yu's Martial Souls.
Thus, at best, each could only wield one-third of his overall strength.
As for Ice Jade Dragon Break—this summoned three divine ice dragons to strike a targeted area. Their might was overwhelming, and the frost they unleashed could freeze everything within a hundred li.
Ye Yu then continued searching for a suitable spiritual-type sea spirit beast.
At last, in a place known as the Demon Sea Domain, he discovered a thirty-thousand-year Soul-Devouring Jellyfish.
After killing it,
He obtained a thirty-thousand-year Spirit Bone—its skull—and absorbed its Spirit Ring.
The two Spirit Abilities he gained, he named: Soul-Devouring Tentacles and Bewildering Fog.
The first ability released countless psychic tendrils to strike enemies, each with the power to devour soul and spirit.
The second enveloped the battlefield in pitch-black fog, cutting off all five senses while clouding spiritual perception,
Trapping enemies in disorientation and dragging them into hallucinations.
With the Spirit Ring of the Soul-Devouring Jellyfish absorbed by his Spirit Eyes,
All three of Ye Yu's Martial Souls now bore nine Spirit Rings each—
Complete at last!
Moreover, he had also raised the number of Spirit Cores within his body to twelve.
Afterward, in the Endless Sea,
Ye Yu chose a deserted island as his seclusion ground.
There, he would attempt the fusion of essense, energy, and spirit into the Golden Core.
On that island,
He activated the Ice Empress Skull's ability, Heart of the Snow Goddess, maintaining an absolute state of rationality and calm.
Combined with the unity of man and heaven achieved through the Inner Core Method,
He spent each day in cultivation, comprehending how to merge the trinity into the Golden Core.
Because he had already used the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree Martial Soul's Spirit Power to condense Spirit Cores through the Inner Core Method,
He planned to use one of these Spirit Cores as the seed and framework for the Golden Core.
Gathering the ocean-like sea of Spiritual Power within his Niwan Palace,
And the surging Bloodline Essence within his body,
He guided both into his Middle Dantian, the Purple Mansion.
There, he sought to merge the three elements into one and condense the Golden Core.
Transferring the first Spirit Core—formed through the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree and Inner Core Method—from his Lower Dantian (Qi Sea) into the Middle Dantian (Purple Mansion) was simple enough.
But using this core as the framework to fuse Spiritual Power and Bloodline Essence into one trinity—that was far more difficult.
Even though Ye Yu had already researched the method of trinity fusion by materializing the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree Martial Soul—
That process had been gradual, like a stream nourishing the tree's substance.
Whereas forging the Golden Core demanded he simultaneously pour Spiritual Power and Bloodline Essence, on a massive scale, into the Spirit Core.
The difference in magnitude was worlds apart!
Fortunately, Ye Yu could repeatedly test his ideas through his Spirit Abilities.
With the Sixth Spirit Ability of Spirit Eyes—Mirror Clone—
And with the three Ice Jade Dragon Clones from the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion—
He experimented again and again, refining his approach and gaining experience.
With his accumulated foundation,
It took him less than a month to discover the true method of uniting Essence, Enegy, and Spirit.
After seeing promising results through trials in his clones,
Relying on his Extreme Life force,
And with the terrifying regeneration granted by his Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone and the External Spirit Bone, Undying Laurel Heart—
Ye Yu began his true attempt.
Using the Spirit Core as the seed,
He gradually infused it with his Spiritual Power and Bloodline Essence, step by step condensing the Golden Core.
On a secluded beach,
Ye Yu sat cross-legged, eyes shut, cultivating the Inner Core Method.
With the Ice Empress Skull's Heart of the Snow Goddess ability, he maintained supreme clarity and calm.
Entering the unity of man and heaven,
He guided his Bloodline Essence and Spiritual Power endlessly into the Purple Mansion, merging them into the Spirit Core.
As they poured in without end,
A dazzling golden radiance bloomed at the core's center.
That radiance grew stronger and stronger,
Until at last the entire Spirit Core gleamed with golden brilliance.
Within, a Golden Core Essence slowly condensed.
The Spirit Core's power was continuously absorbed by this new essence,
And its shape shifted, changing from a polyhedral crystal into a smooth, round sphere.
Time slipped away.
Finally, within Ye Yu's Purple Mansion,
The Spirit Core was no more—
Replaced by a resplendent Golden Core.
The Golden Core… was formed!