Chapter 1 The Beginning

On the desolate northern plains, many powerful individuals witnessed the sudden formation of the colossal snowstorm tornado.

Some didn't take it seriously, simply regarding it as another manifestation of the extreme, harsh weather of the far north.

They had seen stranger, more bizarre, and terrifying celestial phenomena in this cold and unforgiving land, and had long since become hardened to them.

Most were more concerned with how to mitigate the impact if the tornado spread to their clan's habitat, or whether to relocate their tribe to a more habitable place.

Survival and procreation were eternal topics in this cruel land.

But some, perceiving something unique in the subtle details, braved the wind and snow to approach the convergence point of the blizzard.

They stood outside the terrifying tornado formed by the blizzard, watching the awe-inspiring power of nature, their expressions gradually shifting from initial curiosity to a hint of joy.

"A massive amount of natural energy is gathering and dissipating. There must be treasure hidden within this snowstorm!" a stout cultivator in a bearskin coat shouted.

He didn't seem to care that such frankness might attract rivals.

Or perhaps... he simply wasn't aware of the problem.

Not everyone enjoys scheming and intrigue, and not everyone is good at it.

Nature creates all things to nourish humanity, and thus, there are all kinds of people in the world.

"Yes! There's definitely treasure hidden within, but this kind of commotion isn't natural. Someone is refining a treasure or forcibly birthing some kind of innate spiritual treasure."

"Either way, the person inside is definitely difficult to deal with." A woman who looked even more robust and powerful than most men said, taking out a horn and blowing it. Two moose seemingly made of wind and snow pulled a transparent snow carriage into existence beside her.

The robust woman plopped down onto the snow carriage. The transparent carriage seemed to groan and creak, making one worry it might fall apart.

But the snow carriage ultimately withstood the weight and began to gradually merge with the surrounding colors of wind and snow.

The strong, burly woman waved her hand.

"Then allow me to scout ahead for you!"

The wind and snow moose pulled the snow carriage, quickly disappearing into the blizzard, directly joining the raging tornado, and riding the storm towards its core.

A slightly thin man grabbed the tail of the snow carriage at the crucial moment, following it into the blizzard.

"Auntie Hu is as cunning as ever. I knew she had a snow spirit carriage, but I didn't guard against her." A cultivator familiar with the robust woman said with annoyance.

"Just a clever trick. Since there's treasure, then let's compete with our abilities."

"It's just a blizzard. It's not like I haven't shattered them before." A man wielding a simple dao inhaled deeply. The rolling snow and wind actually reversed direction, gathering towards him.

His originally somewhat short stature instantly expanded and enlarged.

Then, he forcefully slashed out with the simple dao in his hand.

The gleaming blade light stunned half the sky in an instant.

A deep crack spread and tore from where the man stood towards the depths of the blizzard.

Following the path he cleaved open, the man quickly passed through. Several other figures followed behind him, taking advantage of his efforts.

Although the power of nature is vast and abundant, in most cases, the energy it unleashes is too scattered and not concentrated enough.

For cultivators who have achieved some degree of success, tearing through the superficial layer of what looks like an extremely dangerous and violent snowstorm tornado is not a particularly difficult task.

But what they are about to experience is just the beginning.

The combination of natural power and human manipulation is what is truly terrifying.

These people want to break into Ye Chuxiao's treasure refining site. It's absolutely impossible for them to escape without losing a few layers of skin.

Inside the ice-covered grotto, Ye Chuxiao was not idly waiting.

Spiritual treasures born from nature, like ice lotuses, offer a rare opportunity when they fully mature.

It's just that this kind of opportunity is useless to most mediocre people.

Human cultivation, from the ancient barbaric era, has been a process of learning from nature, from all things in the heavens and earth.

Then, on the basis of learning, adding one's own understanding and insights, performing multiple sublimations.

The formation, gathering, and evolution of the spirituality, charm, and function of innate spiritual treasures – if these can be grasped, learned, and imitated in an instant, in some ways, such gains even surpass the spiritual treasure itself.

Humans are creatures adept at using tools, but the creation of tools stems from human cognition and wisdom.

Ye Chuxiao's original aptitude could only be considered slightly above average at best, but after several enhancements from Dao Rhyme, it had long surpassed the category of ordinary geniuses.

Now, observing the formation of the ice lotus, first, his most proficient saber techniques experienced a breakthrough in perception and understanding.

He had his own feelings and thoughts about the 'Wood' and 'Snow' styles of the Saber Lord's Nine Styles.

In addition, Ye Chuxiao was inspired to create half a set of the Ice Lotus Saber Technique and two nameless saber stances.

In terms of power, of course, it was not as good as the Saber Lord's Nine Styles, let alone the Longevity Saber.

But this was a beginning.

It was a product of Ye Chuxiao's personal wisdom, a preparation for stepping into the Realm of Wisdom in the future.

In addition to saber techniques, Ye Chuxiao also had many inspirations in talisman techniques, formation techniques, and sword control techniques, but they were relatively more scattered and had not yet been specifically organized.

"According to the records in some ancient books, innate spiritual treasures will emit spiritual radiance the moment they are completely formed."

"The cultivators guarding the spiritual treasure have a chance to directly comprehend the innate divine ability of this spiritual treasure. I wonder if I will have that luck." Ye Chuxiao continued to push the massive earth energy, merging it into the formation, injecting a huge amount of pure energy into the ice lotus.

At a speed visible to the naked eye, the layers of petals of the ice lotus began to open one after another.

Every time a petal opened, Ye Chuxiao would feel a surge of emotion.

It was like a selfless and fearless teacher was showing him the most authentic self without reservation.

The Ice Lotus Saber Technique took shape in Ye Chuxiao's mind.

Then it shattered and returned to the framework of the Saber Lord's Nine Styles.

Then, from the framework of the Saber Lord's Nine Styles, it extracted a more blurred shadow, bearing the traces of the Saber Lord's Nine Styles, but also possessing its own purity and aloofness.

This was not a loss of self, but rather a process of gradual replacement, a coup d'état.

There are no two completely similar flowers in the world, and naturally, there is no martial art or unique skill that can be methodically cultivated to the true peak by two people.

All unique skills are created by humans.

Naturally, they all bear the marks labeled by the people who created them.

But all powerful techniques have their commonality, which is full 'inclusiveness'.

The Saber Lord's Saber Lord Nine Styles are the peak that only belongs to him.

But if Ye Chuxiao can completely transform the Saber Lord's Nine Styles into his own, completely imprint his own mark on it, and completely transform it into his own, then he will also have his peak.

As for innovation and transcendence… that is a matter for the more distant future. Ye Chuxiao would not presumptuously consider it at this time.

When the lotus opened seven petals, countless thoughts surged in Ye Chuxiao's heart, and he used his knowledge to verify them, crushing them one by one.

Seemingly a useless process of self-denial, but the 'self' is precisely tempered and forged in the continuous denial and rebirth.

Is the 'self' that has not been verified, broken, and kneaded really 'me'?

Or is it a cognitive puppet that has not been tested, and has been instilled, influenced, and guided by the thoughts of others?

In the midst of noise, being able to calmly and independently think, to judge what one's own existence is, and to discard most of the constraints that one does not understand or agree with, is the beginning of the gathering of the 'true self'.

A person's life is calculated from the moment they become an embryo in their mother's womb.

But 'me' is not.

Rumble!

The Three Yang Flame Array that Ye Chuxiao had set up began to show its power.

In this bitter and fiercely cold place, Ye Chuxiao wanted to go against the grain and set up a powerful flame array. This seemed to be fighting against the heavens and earth, a thankless task.

But from another point of view, isn't this also a kind of cooperation with the heavens and earth?

Between heaven and earth, isolated yang does not produce, and isolated yin does not grow.

In such a bitter and fiercely cold place, yin and cold energy is the mainstream, and warmth is a luxury.

But Ye Chuxiao used the Three Yang Flame Array, overlapping several layers, forming a linked effect.

One layer is resistance, two layers are pulling, and three or more layers are building a new balance in a fixed space.

The ice and cold of the sky and the earth and the flames flowing in the middle air form a structure of mutual generation of yin and yang, and mutual rotation.

Cultivators who rashly broke into this interlocking grand formation all suffered greatly.

They were not only fighting against Ye Chuxiao's formation, but also against the power of heaven and earth that had already been affected and constrained.

"What a powerful formation, what a subtle construction!"

"Anyone with such formation skills must be a Southerner!" A Liao shaman with a messy beard said outside the formation.

"This is the Northern Land, our Liao people's territory. It is absolutely impossible for Southerners to take away our treasures!"

"Great Shaman! You understand formations! How should we break the formation?" The man wielding the simple dao asked.

The shaman said, "This formation only uses flame and cold as opposition, constructing the two extremes of yin and yang. It is both extremely simple and extremely difficult. Because the simpler the formation, the more difficult it is to break."

"Great Shaman! Speak in a way that I can understand." The man said impatiently.

"Simply put, it's like a beautiful girl with many suitors. As long as you defeat all your competitors, you can win her over. But if this beauty has no suitors, is just very strong herself, and doesn't like you, then it's difficult for you to think of a way." The shaman said.

"Then is there really no way?"

"Where is this girl? I want to try!" The man wielding the simple dao said with longing.

The shaman sighed, "I'm just making an analogy, do you understand? There isn't really such a girl. I'm using the girl to describe the formation."

"Ah... forget it! There's no point in talking to you barbarians. Just remember, after you go in, try your best to cut off those flames and make them disappear completely!"

"An artificial balance is ultimately water without a source. As long as you break the balance, the cold air between heaven and earth will naturally extinguish this formation."

"Alright! After I break this damn formation, Great Shaman, remember to introduce me to the girl you mentioned." The man said, adjusted his ear-covering hat, then slashed out with his dao, and charged into the grand formation that was already a polar region of ice and fire.

The shaking of the formation also attracted Ye Chuxiao's attention.

While learning the information released when the ice lotus bloomed, Ye Chuxiao's mind wandered for a moment.

"Someone has seen through the flaws in my formation!"

"It's also normal. After all, this isn't really an absolute formation. It's just a product of my temporary combination of the environment to buy time."

"But if you think it's that simple, then you're underestimating me, Ye Chuxiao!" Ye Chuxiao formed a hand seal. The jade talismans that had been buried long ago exploded from the ground.

After the jade talismans shattered, they produced some lightning that rushed from the ground to the sky.

This lightning, which violated the laws of nature and struck towards the mid-air from the ground, played a catalytic chemical role in this yin-yang generating formation.

In the fog where cold and heat alternated, these thunderbolts were like ropes that overturned the laws of nature.

In the eyes of those who entered the formation, everything they saw and perceived underwent a reversal.

The heat turned into frost, and the wind and snow turned into flames.

The Great Shaman stood outside the formation, looking at the sudden surge of fog and some of the traces exposed on the outer circle of the formation, his expression greatly changed.

"This is terrible!"

"What a cunning Southerner! He actually had an ambush, using reversed lightning to reverse the yin and yang." The Great Shaman tried to send a message to those in the formation, but the signal was blocked and could not accurately transmit information.

And the people in the formation, still under the reminder of the man wielding the simple dao, were desperately cutting down the so-called 'flames'.

When the yin and yang were reversed, the fire in their eyes was actually the frost and cold born from heaven and earth.

The flames in the formation set up by Ye Chuxiao were indeed water without a source, and would eventually run out.

But the frost and cold born from heaven and earth were endless.

Time passed little by little.

Soon it was time for night to fall.

When the world began to turn pitch black.

The structure in the formation changed again.

The killing intent became more obvious. The hidden ice and fire confrontations, the cracks caused by the collisions, often severely injured those who accidentally bumped into them.

And in the grotto where Ye Chuxiao was located, half of the ice lotus had already bloomed.

It was just that the further it went, the more difficult it became.

In the first half of the blooming, what Ye Chuxiao consumed could be regarded as the accumulation of the ice lotus itself.

But the second half of the blooming required Ye Chuxiao himself to push it forward.

The formations arranged in the cave changed again.

The three Yuan Yang Thunderfire Pellets actually began to actively melt a part of themselves.

Their melting, combined with the surface formations, formed a strong geothermal fire that penetrated into the depths of the ice layer.

In the depths of the ice layer, a lot of ice that had been frozen for thousands or tens of thousands of years began to crack.

At the moment they cracked, the breaths that were compressed, frozen, and frozen in the ice also surged up, collected by Ye Chuxiao, and all injected into the ice lotus, causing the ice lotus to bloom even more beautifully and smoothly.