In the time that followed, the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm continued to travel through the Chaotic Void with the Phantom Tower, while Ye Yunfei secluded himself within it for rest and recuperation.
"I shall try to comprehend the Flying Sword Art," Ye Yunfei said.
He retrieved the cultivation jade slip that recorded the Flying Sword Art and, using one of his Soul Bodies, began to study it.
This was, after all, a Divine-grade Flying Sword Art. Its power naturally far surpassed that of the ordinary flying sword techniques found in the world.
After the ancestor of the Eternal Fortune Merchant House obtained this Flying Sword Art, he had originally intended to cultivate it. However, before he could begin, he ended up perishing together with the ancestor of the Myriad Methods Merchant House.
Outwardly, the ancestors of the two merchant houses were sworn brothers who would live or die together. Even after being injured, they secluded themselves together to heal. Yet no one could have imagined that they each harbored sinister designs, scheming against one another, ultimately coming to blows and meeting their mutual doom.
As for the exact reasons behind this, later generations could never know.
After studying the Flying Sword Art a full hundred times over, Ye Yunfei's gaze settled on that Sword Embryo.
This Sword Embryo was something the ancestor of the Eternal Fortune Merchant House had purchased at an enormous cost.
"To cultivate this Flying Sword Art, the first step is to merge one of my own Soul Clones with this Sword Embryo, allowing the Soul Clone to become the artifact spirit of this Sword Embryo," Ye Yunfei said softly as he looked at it. "Thereafter, I would nourish the embryo using my own source bloodline, the energy of my Soul Body, the sword qi cultivated from within myself, and I can even use Heart Force energy to nourish this Sword Embryo."
According to the contents recorded within the Flying Sword Art manual, Heart Force energy could also serve as one of the energies used to nourish this Sword Embryo.
"A Divine-grade Flying Sword Art... I wonder if my current strength is sufficient to begin cultivating it yet?" Ye Yunfei wondered silently to himself.
This was the biggest question in his mind after studying the manual. It did not specify what level of realm or power a cultivator needed to have to begin practicing it.
"I shall try it," Ye Yunfei said, gently exhaling and speaking aloud after reviewing the Flying Sword Art manual in his Soul Sea one more time.
Then, Ye Yunfei began to cultivate the Flying Sword Art.
He first condensed a single Soul Clone of his own. This was an easy task for Ye Yunfei.
A Soul Clone was different from a Soul Mark. A Soul Clone was of a much higher grade than a Soul Mark. It was akin to a clone of a Soul Body. Though not a true Soul Body, its overall structure was quite similar. However, the energy it possessed was at most twenty to thirty percent, or at best thirty to forty percent, of a true Soul Body.
A Soul Mark, on the other hand, was merely a restrictive Soul Power energy formation that contained the memories of the original body. Neither in structure nor in the Soul Power energy it contained could it compare to a single Soul Clone.
Not long after, Ye Yunfei successfully condensed a Soul Clone. During this process, he had placed a large pile of Half-step Deity grade Soul Force Energy Crystals around himself, continuously absorbing their energy to replenish his Soul Power.
Once the Soul Clone was formed, Ye Yunfei began, according to the method recorded in the Flying Sword Art, to fuse this Soul Clone into the Sword Embryo.
This was a rather crucial step. If one could perfectly fuse one's own Soul Clone into the Sword Embryo, it would mean the embryo had gained an artifact spirit. From then on, the artifact spirit could control the Sword Embryo, giving it a sort of sentience.
However, Ye Yunfei soon discovered that there was a certain degree of difficulty in fusing his Soul Clone into this Sword Embryo. The reason was that the material of this Sword Embryo was of a very high grade—it was Divine-grade material.
Ye Yunfei's current realm, after all, was only that of a Heavenly Immortal. Of course, the strength of his true Soul Bodies was now equivalent to that of an Advanced Demigod, even nearing Perfected Demigod. But regardless, attempting to fuse with Divine-grade material was no small challenge.
Fortunately, the quality of Ye Yunfei's Soul Bodies was excellent, and he also possessed two Soul Bodies and three Soul Force Stars. This kind of setup was something even a Perfected Demigod could not match.
Initially, when Ye Yunfei's Soul Clone tried to merge into the Sword Embryo, a terrifying force of repulsion would immediately erupt, flinging his Soul Clone far away. The first five or six Soul Clones were directly shattered and utterly destroyed.
Each time a Soul Clone was shattered, Ye Yunfei had no choice but to re-condense it.
Later, Ye Yunfei dared not act so boldly. He cautiously controlled his Soul Clone to approach the Sword Embryo bit by bit, slowly, before attempting a gradual fusion, the entire process carried out with the utmost care.
During this time, Ye Yunfei continuously absorbed large quantities of Soul Force Energy Crystals to replenish himself.
"It seems the difficulty of cultivating this Flying Sword Art is quite significant. But that's to be expected," Hun Lao suddenly spoke up. "Trying to cultivate a Flying Sword Art using this Divine-grade Sword Embryo is definitely not an easy task. For your current strength, Divine-grade material is simply too advanced. Those Black Iron Blocks contain vast amounts of high-grade Soul Power energy. I think you could try absorbing their Soul Power energy first to improve the quality of your Soul Bodies and your Soul Power level, and then attempt to fuse with the Sword Embryo again."
"Agreed," Ye Yunfei answered immediately, after having made numerous attempts that still failed to fuse his Soul Clone into the Sword Embryo.
Thus, Ye Yunfei paused his cultivation of the Flying Sword Art and instead took out over ten Black Iron Blocks, suspending them before him.
"So heavy!" he exclaimed in surprise, reaching out to take one. His wrist sank from the weight.
After some examination, Ye Yunfei found that this Black Iron Block indeed faintly emitted Soul Power energy—extremely high-quality Soul Power energy at that.
Ye Yunfei willed it, and both his Soul Bodies simultaneously unleashed powerful forces of suction, drawing in the Soul Power energy emanating from the iron block.
"The grade of this Soul Power energy is very high!" he realized. The energy within the Black Iron Block felt ponderous, somewhat difficult to absorb. His own Soul Power energy seemed far inferior when compared to the energy contained within the block.
Next, Ye Yunfei had both Soul Bodies and all three Soul Force Stars unleash formidable forces of suction, working together to absorb the Soul Power energy from the Black Iron Block.
After a short while, the Soul Power energy within the iron block finally began to be slowly drawn out, gradually refined and absorbed by Ye Yunfei's Soul Bodies, eventually becoming his own.
"Such pure, such high-grade Soul Power energy!" Ye Yunfei marveled. After refining and absorbing the energy from the Black Iron Block, he felt extremely comfortable in both his Soul Bodies, and his Soul Power energy began to rise.
For what came next, Ye Yunfei focused wholeheartedly on refining and absorbing the Soul Power energy contained within those Black Iron Blocks.
Unconsciously, Ye Yunfei finished refining and absorbing all dozen or so Black Iron Blocks suspended before him.
His Soul Power energy had increased by a significant margin!
More importantly, Ye Yunfei discovered that after the Soul Power energy contained within these Black Iron Blocks was fused and transformed into his own Soul Power energy, both the quality of his Soul Bodies and the quality of his Soul Power energy improved simultaneously.
Absorbing other ordinary Soul Force Energy Crystals primarily increased the quantity of his Soul Power energy; the improvement in quality was not nearly as pronounced.
Furthermore, these Black Iron Blocks contained not only high-quality Soul Power energy but also very high-grade Soul Power Laws. These advanced laws were even more precious.
In the time that followed, Ye Yunfei continued to absorb Soul Power energy from these Black Iron Blocks while also comprehending the Soul Power Laws within them.
As time passed, the quality of Ye Yunfei's Soul Bodies and his overall Soul Power level steadily increased.
Time flowed on slowly, and within the Phantom Tower, over half a year had passed without anyone noticing.
"Alright, I'll pause refining and absorbing these Black Iron Blocks for now," Ye Yunfei declared to himself, looking at the pile of now-spent black slag before him. "I'll start cultivating the Flying Sword Art again."
"While cultivating the Flying Sword Art, I might as well fuse some Advanced Demigod and Perfected Demigod level treasures too," he thought for a moment and added.
Possessing two Soul Bodies and three Soul Force Stars allowed Ye Yunfei to cultivate multiple techniques and arts simultaneously. With such an advantage, he naturally would not waste it. Whenever he cultivated, Ye Yunfei always tried to practice two or more techniques at the same time.
Thus, he proceeded to cultivate both the Flying Sword Art and the Goldsky Tribe's Transmutation into Artifact Art concurrently.
Ye Yunfei took out a large pile of Advanced Demigod and Perfected Demigod level treasures and arranged them before him.
One day...
"The Southern Dipper World Cluster is just ahead," the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm suddenly sent a mental message to Ye Yunfei.
"Oh no, it seems there's a situation. One of our Golden Dragon Merchant House branch strongholds in the Southern Dipper World Cluster seems to be heavily besieged," the silkworm continued.
"It's most likely people from those two merchant houses and the Sun Moon Pavilion," Ye Yunfei said calmly, pausing his cultivation and emerging from the Phantom Tower. "Let's go take a look."
With his current strength, even if he encountered Advanced or Perfected Demigods and couldn't defeat them, he could still leave at his leisure.
During the time the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm had been traveling back to the Southern Dipper World Cluster, Ye Yunfei had been cultivating the Flying Sword Art and the Transmutation into Artifact Art inside the Phantom Tower. Though he hadn't fully mastered the Flying Sword Art yet, his Soul Power energy had seen a substantial increase.
At the same time, he had fused over a hundred Advanced Demigod treasures and more than ten Perfected Demigod level treasures. His physique quality and strength had both improved yet again.
Ye Yunfei was now confident that even if he stood completely still, Primary and Intermediate Demigods would have a hard time harming him. Direct frontal attacks from Advanced Demigods wouldn't cause significant damage either.
Even direct strikes from Perfected Demigods, should they land a hit or two, would not be life-threatening.
This filled Ye Yunfei with ample confidence!
"Let's go!" The Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm took the lead, charging into the Southern Dipper World Cluster.
The Southern Dipper World Cluster was not far from the Three Thousand Realms, and it was also considered a relatively large world cluster. The Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm had established two branch strongholds here. One was normally open to the public, conducting various businesses. The other was very well concealed, serving as a place for his true body to seclude and cultivate.
The one currently besieged was the publicly known branch stronghold.
The Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm moved with extreme speed, turning into a streak of golden light that shot into one of the worlds within the Southern Dipper World Cluster in an instant, then landed before a vast, sprawling city.
The walls of this city undulated like a giant dragon. They were golden in color, shimmering brilliantly, and carved with numerous golden dragons.
From afar, Ye Yunfei took one look and couldn't help but chuckle.
It was obvious that when the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm built this city, he had carved his own likeness onto it. Every golden dragon atop the city walls looked majestic and divine, soaring through the skies. Upon closer inspection, the head and horns of each golden dragon bore a striking resemblance to the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm.
"This Golden Dragon City is the most important branch stronghold of our Golden Dragon Merchant House, publicly declared as the headquarters," the silkworm said proudly. "What do you think? Quite lavish, right?"
"Pfft, it's just a city. What's so great about that?" Hu Miao's voice chimed in.
At this moment, dense masses of troops, brimming with killing intent, already surrounded this golden city.
"It really is people from the Myriad Methods Merchant House and the Eternal Fortune Merchant House, along with some subsidiary forces of those two houses," the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm said, surveying the people encircling Golden Dragon City. "When I was ambushed back in the Ancient Constancy World Cluster, I had already received word that Golden Dragon City was besieged. Unfortunately, at that time I was overwhelmed myself, constantly being pursued. Later, I went to the Jinhua World Cluster and learned about the information regarding the seclusion grounds of the two merchants' ancestors, so I never had time to come back and lift the siege.
"Thankfully, I arranged a large number of Formations on the city walls of Golden Dragon City. All of them were deployed using the Formation Flags you refined. Judging by the situation, their power is quite good—they haven't been breached even now."
"Who goes there!" As Ye Yunfei and the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm were speaking, a team of men and horses came charging from the distance.
Ye Yunfei thought for a moment, then willed it, and teleported out a group of people from the Phantom Tower.
They included five Demigods, over three hundred Heavenly Immortals, and over a thousand Golden Immortals.
These were the forces Ye Yunfei had brought out from the Three Thousand Realms when he heard about the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm's incident and left. There had been no need for them later, so he'd kept them inside the Phantom Tower.
"Let's kill them," Ye Yunfei said plainly, looking at the dense mass of troops surrounding Golden Dragon City in the distance.
"Kill!" Upon hearing Ye Yunfei's words, Gan Changfeng and the other four Demigod experts didn't ask any questions. With a wave of their hands, they led their subordinates—the Heavenly Immortals and Golden Immortals—in a charge.
Although Ye Yunfei's batch of subordinates was not large in number, with five Demigod experts leading the way, their overall strength was formidable.
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
The five Demigods charged at the forefront, unleashing wave after wave of ferocious attacks that swept forward. In an instant, the heavens and earth in this area began to roar tumultuously, seething with energy.
All five Demigods possessed many Half-step Deity grade treasures that Ye Yunfei had given them. Furthermore, since Ye Yunfei often helped them refine pills, their overall combat prowess was extremely strong.
All the Heavenly Immortals and Golden Immortals fought fiercely, charging forward together.
For a time, they pushed the great army surrounding the city into constant retreat.
"These brats, they know what's what now!" the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm exclaimed, watching the battle ahead with immense satisfaction. "They really thought our Golden Dragon Merchant House was easy to pick on? Those two pathetic merchant houses will soon realize they've messed with someone they shouldn't have!"
Right then...
Ye Yunfei's expression darkened, and he directly unleashed a Soul Sword.
Aaaah! A miserable scream rang out. From a patch of space not far away, a body torn to pieces was thrown out, dripping with fresh blood.
"That's an assassin from the Sun Moon Pavilion!" the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm shouted.