Chapter 2171 — Refining Essence

"What are you hesitating for? I thought humans loved the act of dual cultivation, especially men," Mu Xuelian said, relaying Shiva's words. More chapters in t.me/+9n1w1vacSaZhYzAy

"This isn't ordinary dual cultivation-and I already have partners," Yuan said with a slight frown. "I won't cultivate with someone I just met, let alone against her will."

"I don't understand."

"In case you forgot, that body doesn't belong to you but to Mu Xuelian."

"It... It is not against my will," Mu Xuelian suddenly said.

"What?" Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"Lord Shiva's will is my will. If Lord Shiva commands me to cultivate with you, then I shall," Mu Xuelian said.

Yuan frowned. "Is that what Shiva told you to say?"

She shook her head. "No, these are my own words. The White Hell Barbarian Tribe exists only because of Lord Shiva. Her will is our will."

Yuan's gaze hardened. "Then you don't understand what it means to have a will of your own. If it isn't something you truly desire without external influence, you can't call it your will. What you're describing is simply obedience. You're no different from a servant following orders. Anyway, I am not going to cultivate with you just to strengthen my Eternal Essence."

Mu Xuelian's eyes suddenly shifted, a familiar symbol emerging within them and shining with profound radiance. "Then how else are you going to strengthen your Eternal Essence? Are you going to tell me to wait for you to chip away the seal slowly?" Shiva asked.

Yuan smiled and said, "You said that 'essence' exists in everything, correct?"

"That is correct. From the very air you breathe to the dirt beneath your feet-everything contains essence."

"Then I can simply refine those essences. Why does it have to be dual cultivation?"

Shiva fell silent for a moment before she suddenly burst out laughing. "If you are thinking about refining nature's essence, you can forget about it. Your Heaven Refining Physique is merely a fake-a replica of our Eternal Constitution. You may be able to refine essence, but that is limited to only the essence of other living beings. Only those with a true Eternal Constitution can refine nature's essence! In other words, only an Eternal such as myself can do it!"

"My physique is a fake? And what makes you so certain of that?" Yuan questioned.

Shiva's lips curled into a sneer. "Because it's impossible. How could a mere human carry such a physique? Even if you had somehow obtained a genuine Eternal Constitution, your soul remains human. And a human soul will never have the capacity to refine the essence of nature itself."

"We won't know until we try." Yuan sat down and closed his eyes.

"How are you going to try when you don't even know how to sense essence?" Shiva remarked.

Yuan ignored her. A few moments later, he smiled and said, "I can sense 'essence'."

"What?" Shiva's eyebrows twitched upon hearing his words; her gaze filled with disbelief. "He can sense essence in such a short time when he'd only just learned of its existence? I guess he didn't obtain the Heaven Refining Physique for no reason..."

As a cultivator, he was most familiar with spiritual energy, so he decided to absorb it first. Yet unlike before, where he would refine the spiritual energy and store it inside his Dantian, Yuan did not stop there. He continued breaking it down, refining it past all limits, until the spiritual energy itself was erased from existence.

At the moment of his success, the cavern's spiritual energy dropped by nearly half. Yet the essence he managed to refine was so minuscule it was practically nonexistent.

'He managed to refine nature's essence?!' Shiva's eyes widened at the unbelievable sight before her. 'Does this mean he actually possesses a true Eternal Constitution?! That's impossible!'

After his initial success, Yuan turned his attention to the pebble in front of him. Although refining spiritual energy into essence was simple since he knew how to absorb spiritual energy, he wasn't sure how to 'absorb' the pebble before him. After pondering for a moment, Yuan had this thought-'If I cannot absorb it because of its solid form, I just need to break it down to the point where I can absorb it!'

Yuan reached for the pebble before him, channeling Eternal Essence through his hand. With a light squeeze, the stone crumbled-shattering further and further until it dissolved into particles so fine they vanished, as though it had evaporated from existence. He then attempted to absorb the 'essence' that was left behind.

"It worked!" Yuan exclaimed, a bright smile spreading across his face.

He looked at Shiva with a boastful smile and said, "So, what were you saying just now?"

"..." Shiva remained silent as she stared at him, a deep frown etched across her face. Her gaze on him carried a dangerous edge-like killing intent that was there, yet not.

"What? Too speechless to even speak?" Yuan chuckled.

She finally responded, "What is your relationship with Shura?"

"Why are you asking me this now?" Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"You've just proven that you possess a true Eternal Constitution. But that should be impossible... unless an Eternal willingly bestowed their own upon you!" Shiva explained. She continued, "Since you mentioned Shura, I can only assume he gave you his Eternal Constitution. But that would also mean he gave up his body for you."

"..." After a moment of silence, Yuan responded, "I don't know."

"You don't know? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Shiva frowned.

"Exactly what it sounds. I don't know because I don't remember. I recently reincarnated, so my memories are still in shambles. I remember meeting Shura and him bestowing me a 'gift' in a past life, but I do not recall anything else," he admitted.

'He doesn't seem to be lying...' Shiva thought inwardly.

Yuan then asked, "If Shura gave me his physique, does that mean he's somewhere out there with just his 'essence' like you currently are?"

She silently nodded. (More chapters in Buyers club for TMT)