Dyon sighed listening to his master's explanation.
He had heard of the value of cultivating a dao heart before. Actually, the sovereign path technique that the Dragon King taught him, [Will of Heart].
The technique itself fell under the cultivation category. Essentially, by absorbing comprehension of wills that didn't match your own, you could thus strengthen your dao path, making your sovereign path firmer.
Usually, absorbing the comprehension of someone that wasn't yourself was suicide. That was because it could cause cultivation deviation. But, [Will of Heart] took advantage of this to strengthen the dao heart as though it was a muscle.
Of course, Dyon hadn't had the opportunity to practice this technique just yet because his wills had only just unlocked. Plus, the Dragon King couldn't have chosen a worse time to introduce the technique to him because at that time, he was in the middle of fighting Loki.
Long story, short, Dyon wasn't a newbie to the idea of cultivating your dao heart. It was just unfortunate that he had ruined an opportunity.
One had to understand that in order to catalyze the creation of those humanoid manifestations, Dyon had to burn the blood essence. There was no "reversing" possible. It was a shame indeed.
"However…" Dyon's Master started with a playful glint in her eye. "Every pitfall can lead to an opportunity.
"If you had simply absorbed our blood essence, you'd be capped to the level we reached in our lives. Progressing forward would be next to impossible. Although both me and your martial uncle could be considered top level geniuses, we simply died too early in our lives. We had only just managed to step into the dao formation realm before our bodies lost their life force."
Dyon's eyes brightened. "And?..."
"Have those manifestations appear." The 25th White Mother said with a smile.
Dyon nodded.
With a thought, his humanoid manifestation appeared in the skies, sending an oppressive energy over the whole of Soul Rending Peak that made everyone look up and into the skies.
Before, Dyon's manifestation had only appeared for a split second, so they had barely been able to register it. But, now? They almost couldn't withstand the impulse to kneel.
It stood arrogantly, half of its back covered in four pristine white wings emitting an aura of absolute purity, while the other half shifted to a wholly demonic aura, shining with a black metallic light.
Originally, when Dyon formed those two humanoid manifestations, they fused with his main manifestation, causing various changes.
With a thought, its white wings glowed, looking absolutely holy.
A second shadow began to form. As though it was an angel standing on a shoulder, it slowly separated from the arrogant manifestation.
It smiled down amiably, seemingly happy it could make an appearance. Usually, it was fused with Dyon's main manifestation and could only make subtle impressions on the battlefield. But, now, Dyon had finally let it free.
It looked identical to Dyon, except there were some clear differences.
It had a coat of white and golden fur that covered its body, except for its chest, torso and face that remained bare, every inch of its body was matted with this holy fur.
Unlike Dyon, its hair was long and white with shimmering golden lights. It waved in the air as though it wasn't just a mere manifestation, but a human being.
Although it didn't have wings, it didn't seem any less angelic.
At that moment, a completely contrasting aura appeared just as Dyon's black wings radiated outward with a demonic fog and a third shadow appeared.
This manifestation also looked identical to Dyon except for its own quirks.
Its hair was long and a complete jet black, all while radiating a bloody red. Its eyes matched this aura, looking as though it had been dyed with the lives of its enemies.
Instead of fur, its body was covered in sharp, black scales that seemed to pulse with a life of their own.
It, too, didn't have any wings. But, its aura wasn't any less frightening.
The 25th White Mother smiled. "These manifestations are a part of you, but you've neglected them. You understand what the highest form of manifestation is, right?"
Dyon's eyes widened with a realization.
However, before he could speak it, he coughed violently, causing his manifestations to flicker out of existence. His already pale face became even paler in that moment as he wiped the blood from his lips.
Dyon's master had on a worried expression. "You need a few more days to completely recover from your battle." She stroked Dyon's hair, comforting him. Although she was a spirit, she could project her energy outward to make it feel as though she was really there. "I didn't have time to praise you before, but I really am proud of you. You perfectly adapted to a troublesome situation and handled it without flaw. Although there are more troubles coming in the future, I believe that you will face them well.
"Though." She said seriously. "I want you to remember that being too stubborn is no good. If you have to run, run."
Dyon nodded seriously, hanging onto his master's every word.
Dyon understood what he had to do.
When he burned the blood essence to forge a manifestation for himself, it was the equivalent of giving up all of the power his master and his martial uncle had cultivated in their lives. However, that burning was the equivalent of blacksmith hammering away at a piece of ore to only leave its truest essence behind.
Even if Dyon absorbed 100% of their blood essences, it would always be a borrowed power. The disconnect would be even more fierce since Dyon was a human and not a beast.
This was a problem Dyon was facing with the Demon Sage as well. Despite the Demon Sage most definitely having been a first-grade body cultivator in his live, Dyon's use of his blood essence was only at the mere fourth grade level.
However, this sort of disconnect paled in comparison to the one he would have faced with the blood essence of two beasts. While the situation with the Demon Sage had hope to be rectified in the future, it would be almost impossible to do the same with beast blood.
This was why Dyon's master said that his mistake actually gave him a greater opportunity. Even his master was shocked by his degree of luck.
The Florence family technique seemed the most lack luster among the three ancient families, but that was only to the misinformed.
While the Mathilde family became war Gods, capable of seeing through the flaws and shattering techniques with a thought. And the Acacia family was capable of absorbing the life force and energies of their enemies. The Florence family technique actually had the ability to create talent!
By using appropriate catalysts, anyone who mastered the Florence family technique would be able to gain abilities that weren't normally their own. Dyon, who at the time, had little affinity for anything, was able to learn wills he had no business learning to incredibly high levels because of this technique.
On top of that, it could be argued that Dyon was using a pitifully small portion of the Florence family technique's potential.
What did this all mean? It meant that those two manifestations, one representative and the essence of celestial blood and the other representative of demon qilin blood had become Dyon's abilities.
What was the highest form of a manifestation? Was it not when the manifestation was mastered to such a high degree that it became a part of your body?
Exactly like how Dyon's wings etched themselves into his body, allowing them to be used even when his soul was sealed, Dyon had to master these two manifestations to the very same level.
When that happened, Dyon would not only be able to gain two new forms, but he would gain the abilities of the Celestial Deer and Demon Qilin as though he was born a beast.
This wasn't all either.
The process of burning the blood essence had left nothing but the absolute core of both of these bloodlines. This meant that the purity of bloodline Dyon had the chance to gain was identical to the most ancient Celestial Deer or Demon Qilin.
Tracing one's blood back to their ancestors was something all beasts would stake their lives to achieve. Yet, the Florence family technique actually allowed Dyon to do so! How heaven defying was that?!
