The Xuan-Yu War was an ancient tradition of the Xuan Domain.
Its origins could be traced back to the Tier Nine Cultivator, the 'Thunder Saint Venerable'.
According to legend, it was established by the Thunder Saint Venerable himself to ensure the Golden Clan maintained its fighting spirit.
In short, the Xuan-Yu War was a brutal conflict for Cultivators, but it was also a game for the Saints, held once every hundred years!
The specific rules were that the Saints themselves would not participate. Instead, they would support their own clans, and after a bloody struggle, the ultimate victor would be able to station themselves in the Xuan-Yu Blessed Land.
By leveraging the power amassed by their subordinate clans, the Saint of the victorious clan could personally enter the Xuan-Yu Blessed Land and have a chance to obtain an incredibly rare and powerful Sacred Artifact!
Because Sacred Artifacts were unique—once owned by one person, they could not be possessed by another—many veteran Tier Six Saints still used Tier Five Elemental Artifacts.
Even among Tier Seven Saints, not every one of them was guaranteed to possess a Sacred Artifact.
One can only imagine how precious Sacred Artifacts truly were!
And more often than not, the final victorious clans were always from the eight great Golden Clans—all of whom were blood descendants of the Thunder Saint Venerable.
Thus, the Xuan-Yu War was also called the Golden Hunt by the Cultivators of the other seven domains, such as Heaven and Earth, and Primordial Wilderness!
However, even within a single Golden Clan, great divisions existed.
To unify the clan and have the final say, one had to become the undisputed 'Overlord'.
And the Overlord of a clan was chosen from among the Dao Seeds.
Each Golden Clan could only have eight of these Dao Seeds. It was a title, and more importantly, a status.
The title of Dao Seed symbolized the strongest of the Tier Five Cultivators, those who were just half a step away from ascending to the Tier Six Saint Realm and transcending the mundane!
The Cangmu Banner, which Fang Yang was about to join, was the banner legion under the command of the 'Dao Seed' Changkong Sen Yue.
...
The next morning, as dawn broke and the red sun began to rise, a set of light footsteps echoed through the nearly empty street outside Fang Yang's house.
His younger cousin, Fang Xuan, had arrived!
"Brother Yang, I've decided to join the Thunder Punishment Banner. What about you? Do you want to come with me?" Fang Xuan asked, looking at Fang Yang with great expectation.
Fang Yang's expression was calm. "I don't plan on going to the Thunder Punishment Banner. I'm going to the Cangmu Banner."
If the Thunder Punishment Banner could be considered the semi-home turf of the Zhang family, then the Cangmu Banner was equivalent to the semi-home turf of the Fang family.
However, the grooming one would receive in the Cangmu Banner could hardly compare to that of the Thunder Punishment Banner.
After all, the Thunder Punishment Banner was the apple of the Sen family's eye!
Fang Xuan was a little shocked to hear this. "Brother Yang, are you really not going to the Thunder Punishment Banner? You know, a head start doesn't guarantee you'll always be ahead, but the Cangmu Banner absolutely can't compare to the Thunder Punishment Banner!"
Fang Yang smiled, not at all surprised.
To use an analogy from his past life, the Thunder Punishment Banner was like an honors or accelerated class, while the Cangmu Banner was, at best, a regular class.
The difference between the two was clear at a glance.
"The Thunder Punishment Banner isn't as good as you think, and the Cangmu Banner isn't as bad as you imagine..." Fang Yang still offered a few words of advice.
His attitude left his younger cousin, Fang Xuan, half-convinced and half-doubting.
But in the end, Fang Xuan stuck to his own opinion, though he did decide to be a bit more cautious.
Seeing this, Fang Yang said no more.
Gazing at his cousin's departing figure, Fang Yang's expression gradually returned to one of indifference.
Going to the Thunder Punishment Banner would be a calamity for him, Fang Yang, but it might be an opportunity for Fang Xuan.
Of course, deep down, Fang Yang wasn't optimistic about Fang Xuan's prospects.
'I wonder what the Thunder Punishment Banner is really like. And who exactly is it that means me harm?' A cold glint flashed in Fang Yang's eyes.
He then turned, went back inside, closed the windows and door, and sat cross-legged on the bed.
Fang Yang closed his eyes, his mind slowly sinking as the scene within his aperture appeared in his mind's eye.
Although the aperture was housed within his body, it was exceptionally profound—infinitely large, yet infinitely small.
The outside of the aperture was a membrane of light.
The white membrane felt very thin, but it solidly supported the aperture.
Within the aperture was an ocean of True Essence.
The seawater was bronze-colored, its surface as calm as a mirror, and its level was even with the aperture's walls.
The volume of the entire True Essence Sea completely filled the aperture.
The most peculiar thing was a resting Fire Eagle Illusion, floating in the very center of the True Essence Sea.
This was the bronze essence sea of a Tier One Cultivator. Every drop of seawater was True Essence.
It was Fang Yang's life force, a condensation of his essence, qi, and spirit.
Every drop of True Essence was precious, for it was the foundation of a Cultivator, the source of their power.
It was by relying on True Essence that Cultivators could refine and activate True Skills, displaying their transcendent power.
SPLASH...
At this moment, under Fang Yang's control, the Fire Eagle Illusion suddenly opened its eyes, a faint light of fire flickering within them.
It flapped its wings, churning the True Essence seawater and causing the surface layer to burn like a flame.
An indistinct ball of light began to coalesce above, vaguely taking on the initial shape of a Pill Cauldron.
This was Fang Yang condensing his natal True Skill—the Flame Skill!
As the condensation process advanced, the surface of the True Essence Sea in Fang Yang's aperture dropped rapidly.
Eleven percent, twenty-three percent, thirty-five percent.
Fang Yang consumed a full thirty-five percent of his True Essence just to make one leg of the cauldron in the ball of light a little clearer.
The difficulty of cultivating a natal True Skill was plain to see.
And this was with him having a Fire Eagle Spirit Body; if his aptitude were any worse, it would be even more arduous.
Immediately, Fang Yang flipped his hand over and tightly grasped a Yuan Stone.
To replenish True Essence, a Cultivator could either circulate a skill to recover naturally or absorb Primordial Qi from Yuan Stones to refill their True Essence Sea.
The latter was often much faster!
One stone, two stones, three stones...
In just one hour, Fang Yang had consumed a full five Yuan Stones, yet the ball of light was still indistinct, with only one of the cauldron's legs being relatively clear.
'Cultivation is not easy.' Seeing this, Fang Yang stopped and no longer tried to condense his natal True Skill, the [Flame Skill].
From start to finish, condensing the natal True Skill [Flame Skill] had taken a full hour.
If not for the support from the Yuan Stones, his aperture's essence sea would have been drained of True Essence long ago.
Even now, only thirty-five percent of his True Essence remained in the aperture's essence sea. The consumption was truly terrifying.
And the condensation of the [Flame Skill] wasn't even ten percent complete.
What was even more frustrating was that the ball of light representing the [Flame Skill] was beginning to dissipate on its own. If Fang Yang couldn't condense it successfully in one go, it would regress!
At this moment, Fang Yang could clearly sense that the ball of light would completely dissipate in about twelve hours.
And if Fang Yang tried to condense the [Flame Skill] again after those twelve hours, it would be no different from starting all over from scratch.
'Condensing a True Skill requires both a single, powerful burst of effort and a sustained battle. Otherwise, all your previous work will be for naught, washed away like water flowing east!'
As Fang Yang mulled this over, he took the Tier One Cyan Flame Spear out of his storage bag.
The path of cultivation was so difficult that, naturally, capable and ambitious people would try to find alternative methods, hoping to achieve three parts of the result with only one part of the effort.
And as it happened, his ancestor Fang Nian had created just such a clever shortcut for condensing the [Flame Skill].
It was: to use a Fire Dao Elemental Artifact to slow the dissipation of the True Skill!
However, on the day the True Skill was successfully formed, the Elemental Artifact would completely shatter and dissipate.
Therefore, the lower the tier of the Cultivator using this method, the more cost-effective it was.
FWOOSH...
Fang Yang took a deep breath, tightly gripping the Cyan Flame Spear with one hand, his aura sharp and intimidating. 'I have eight days until I join the Cangmu Banner...'