Tears started falling from Luna's eyes again. When she heard Amphorae say 'our' husband, she couldn't hold in her emotions any longer. She didn't know when, but she must have been seeking approval from this woman that she should have been sisters with.
"It was because he had already said that you were his woman. Before any of this happened, before you acted against him, before you betrayed him, he had already made that decision in his heart.
"Despite knowing you willfully acted against him, he wasn't angered, he didn't toss you away, nor did he even ask about it. He was waiting for the day you told him yourself."
"But…" Luna choked down her words. She wanted to say that Dyon couldn't act against her, he had manipulated his emotions. He would rather die than hurt her, wasn't that right?
However, Amphorae shook her head. "Is he not still under your spell now? There's nothing here capable of undoing what you've done, yet he treated you coldly and even had the elders throw you in the cell and chain you to the wall."
Luna shuddered, a sudden realization coming over her… Did that mean?...
"Our husband isn't a man who bows to his own desires so easily. He's strong headed and stubborn. Even if you had the ability to distort his feelings, he would never bow to it!" A dignified and holy aura suddenly erupted from Amphorae, sweeping away all of the filth of the dungeon in an instant and replacing the foul smell with a soothing fragrance reminiscent of spring winds. "Even if the Gods descended from the skies. Even if the Devil cracked the earth open and tried to pull him in. Even if all the clans of the world turned on him. He would not take a single step backward!
"If you are his friend, he'll upturn the world to make sure you're safe. If you are his enemy, there's no rock, hole or safe haven in the entire cosmos that can protect you.
"There is only one Dyon Sacharro in this world. To be by his side shouldn't bring you pain, it shouldn't bring you grief, or guilt, or remorse, it should only bring you pride!"
With that, Amphorae walked away, her red-gold hair blazing as her final words hung in the air.
**
Within a cave in a hidden valley, something odd was happening. Every so often, a loud bang would be heard, followed by the sound of a person coughing up blood, before the cycle continued again and again.
It was already the dead of night and there was a mere day and a half left before the Moon Clan launched their attack on the Angel Clan, yet Dyon was still trying to peer into the secrets of the Dragon Refining Arts tome.
After spending almost three days now trying to pry its secrets apart, it seemed like every attempt Dyon made ended up with him being sent off unceremoniously.
When he tried to use his aurora flame stones to probe it: failure. When he tried to rip the page: failure. When he tried to blast the page apart with his fists: failure. After seeing that nothing was working, he began testing a whole bunch of different energy stone types to see if any might have an interesting effect.
Because of the existence of the Energy Core, the Angel Clan had access to a wide variety of energy filled stones that would be impossible to find anywhere else. These ranged from stones like the aurora flame stones, to special will carrying stones that acted as mini abyssal cores, to spatial stones lauded for their legendary ability to create the best of spatial weapons and rings. This was, of course, in addition to regular energy stones that ranged from common to enigmatic. That said, the most interesting ones included Gama stones, Absorption Stones, and Purifying Stones.
There were also a few stones that even the Angel Clan didn't understand the abilities of, so Dyon left them alone lest they be dangerous.
Gama Stones had an obvious function. They followed grades based on the regular cultivation system and were used to temper meridians. These were practically extinct in modern times and only clans powerful enough to own spiritual veins had them. Other weaker clans were forced to temper their meridians the "normal" or by individual will, way.
Absorption Stones were similar to the stones Eboni and Ode used to store saint energy to attack Ri and Madeleine during the World Tournament. However, their abilities, whether it be in terms of storage capacity, or energy quality, far outweighed that of those two girls. They were often very useful for defensive type treasures, but if used cleverly, could increase the energy density of an area more efficiently than would be possible by using mere regular energy stones – as long as the proper array was used, of course.
As for Purifying Stones, they were legendary existences even more so than the previous two. They were said to be born after being baptized by high levels of purity path wills that ranged from Holy will to Celestial will and even the weaker Light will. In addition, they combined with Life will as well, creating a stone that was almost to heavenly to use.
There were a myriad of applications for this stone, but maybe the most important was the Legendary expelling of impurities.
Within the Martial World, the goal of washing the body over with energy in increasing quality increments is to improve the quality of the body. Unfortunately, just this energy isn't enough to remove impurities. Not only does this slow cultivation speed, it's also a large part of the reason why even the strongest of cultivators have limited life spans!
However, the Purifying Stones have the ability to expel such bodily toxins. Slowly forcing them out causes the skin to be coated in a disgusting layer of pungent waste, but, it increases your strength and talent tremendously! Not to mention the fact it also increases one's beauty or handsomeness.
Dyon hadn't used the stone only because he simply didn't have the time. He had already confirmed that it was possible to cultivate here, but using the purifying stone was something that should be done over a long course of time. Although a few sessions would still make a large difference, Dyon believed that the Dragon Refining Arts was more important.
After trying all of the energy stones in almost every way he could think of, Dyon was stumped. Maybe if he wasn't still brooding over Luna, he might have had some visible signs of frustration on his face. But, this was to be expected, no? The Viserions had been in existence for millions of years and hadn't unlocked these 18 pages, how could it be so easy?
Of course, Dyon thought of the possibility of those pages only becoming accessible once one perfectly cultivated the first 9, but he wasn't willing to accept that. It was impossible to cultivate it in the little time he had, and he had no idea if his grand teacher had access to this tome in his modern time, and it was too important to his future plans to take such a risk. Although he had already grasped the essence behind how this technique was created, even Dyon wasn't cocky enough to say he could replicate it without seeing the full extent of it first.
Then, Dyon thought of something else. He remembered another special tome he had become the master of, the soul tome. In fact, the soul tome also had a habit of hiding things from him. He had no doubt that the soul tome was filled with techniques, but the only one it had ever revealed to him was [Inner World: Sanctuary]. In fact, if it hadn't been for the fact Dyon was being so arrogant to it, it might have never revealed such an amazing technique so early on in their relationship.
Thinking back to how he gained ownership of the soul tome, wasn't it because it recognized his overwhelming soul talent? On the night it became his, it was also the same night he met Jade and also the same night he manifested his soul for the first time!
So, maybe, Dyon just needed to prove his body cultivation talent to this Dragon Refining Arts tome? It was likely that the Viserions had displayed enough talent to earn the first third of the tome, so all Dyon had to do was display enough talent to earn the rest, no?
This was, of course, all just a theory. Dyon didn't even know how to go about proving his body cultivation talent, after all, since his blood essence hadn't fused with the demon sage's yet, he couldn't display his current talent, he could only display his past talent, which was piss poor. In addition, the Dragon Refining Arts was the key to fusing the two, yet he needed them to be fused to use it!
However, what he did know was that his body's talent was in no way inferior to his soul's. So, if the Soul Tome, a treasure of the 33 heavens, bowed down. If Dyon could manage to find a way to bypass this, what did a measly peak divine technique count for?
