Li Yuande skillfully refined all his spiritual power into true essence.

Using strands of true essence like threads, he began weaving the primordial dan as though embroidering cloth.

“This is the embroidering dan method,” someone exclaimed. “I’ve heard elders in my family mention it!”

“Though slow and arduous to control the true essence, this method boasts a high success rate.”

The crowd watched as the primordial dan in Li Yuande’s Qi Palace took shape. When seventy percent complete, it suddenly trembled violently.

“The true essence is destabilizing!”

“Stay calm. Elder Yuande will manage it.”

As predicted, just before the dan shattered, Li Yuande plucked one strand of true essence and tugged gently. The primordial dan dissolved back into swirling true essence, averting disaster.

To laymen, this seemed clever. To the Condensing Essence cultivators present, it bordered on divine skill. They exchanged glances, shock evident in their eyes.

“Utter preparedness,” the West Concubine remarked—the perfect description.

Long before forming the dan, Li Yuande had memorized every detail of its creation.

*Thank the heavens the Dao Stone didn’t go to Solitary Moon Mountain,* she thought privately. *They’d have bred a monstrosity.*

After embroidering, Li Yuande demonstrated melting, merging, and filling—three dan creation methods. Most cultivators master one such method to approach Condensing Essence. Yet he displayed them all like reciting family lore.

His brilliance left veteran Condensing Essence cultivators humbled and awed.

Having shown four methods, Li Yuande gathered his true essence anew. The four guardian cultivators leaned forward, anticipating his next technique.

From his cloud perch, Xuan Zhou gazed downward, regret coloring his admiration.

“Such talent… Had the Lanyue Sect not intervened, he’d have been the dynasty’s rising star—”

A flicker of light below snapped his focus. His face paled.

“Li Yuande! Stop this!”

“Halt! That’s a wicked method!”

Shouts erupted as the crowd realized his intent—to demonstrate the oldest, deadliest dan creation technique.

The Condensing Dan Technique!

This method was passed down by ancient cultivators, requiring extreme talent and insight from the practitioner, far beyond ordinary people’s grasp.

Its core principle involved forcibly compressing true essence through the most brutal means.

The Condensing Dan Technique’s advantage lay in harnessing the violent nature of rampaging true essence during dan creation, significantly boosting power after achieving Condensing Essence to effortlessly defeat stronger opponents.

However, due to its incomplete records, the actual dan-forming process became exceptionally dangerous.

Previous methods like embroidering dan, melting dan, merging dan, and filling dan offered at least thirty percent success rates when mastered.

Yet the Condensing Dan Technique succeeded in less than one out of a hundred attempts, earning its reputation as wicked methods!

Any failure would instantly detonate the primordial dan with no chance of recovery – an explosion matching the suicidal strike of a late-stage Condensing Essence cultivator.

An entire family had once been wiped out when their elder failed this technique.

Now Li Yuande dared to attempt this perilous technique on the Viewing Platform itself!

“Why so tense, Fellow Daoists? I’m merely a dying Gathering Qi cultivator.”

Li Yuande maintained conversation while performing the technique.

The four exchanged uneasy glances, debating whether to intervene.

That explosive power equalled a late-stage Condensing Essence cultivator’s death strike – whoever interfered risked immediate death.

“Great terror indeed resides between Life and Death. Your fear is natural.”

Li Yuande declared suddenly: “But I, Li Yuande, know no fear!”

As he spoke, his hands accelerated the technique, forcing the four to retreat dozens of feet while activating the Viewing Platform’s defensive formation.

“What’s happening?!”

“The Condensing Dan Technique!”

“That wicked dan-creation method!”

Murmurs spread through the young cultivators, though Zi He relaxed his fists, excitement visible beneath his mask.

Li Qingwan dried her tears, staring resolutely at the light-engulfed figure.

“Elder, let us two siblings witness your final moments!”

The Platform’s formation could block Spirit Communication techniques, protecting the youths.

But the four guardians stood drenched in sweat – their duty to control Li Yuande now clashing with self-preservation.

A Gathering Qi cultivator intimidating four late-stage Condensing Essence experts? Such scenes were rare even in Zhuhu Dynasty’s history.

Technically, Li Yuande violated no rules – some had succeeded with wicked methods before.

When Xuan Zhou moved to descend, West Concubine stopped him:

“A rare sight deserves proper observation.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Beneath the clouds, Li Yuande held back the raging true essence through sheer willpower. The Condensing Dan Technique kept working, forming the primordial dan’s rough shape under flickering beams of light.

He suddenly felt someone watching from above.

“Relax. I keep my promises.”

Li Yuande whispered.

He’d sworn to the dynasty to demonstrate the technique without finishing dan creation, avoiding conflict between Tiger-Chasing and Lanyue Sect.

As Li Yuande worked, nearby Condensing Essence cultivators endured crushing mental strain. This tension lasted fifteen minutes until—

*Crunch.*

Li Yuande crushed his nearly complete primordial dan.

BOOM!

A violent wave of power erupted. The four cultivators barely shielded themselves using secret defenses. Young observers on the Viewing Platform gaped at the unbelievable sight.

Yang Lingrui stared at the fading light, tears rolling down his face. To end one’s life in such spectacular brilliance—Li Yuande truly lived up to being the Li Family’s genius and Elder!

When the dust cleared, the lotus platform lay destroyed. Li Yuande’s body had vanished, leaving only a glowing blue figure.

“How dare you become a ghost?!”

“Die!”

Two attackers hurled techniques first. Now a spirit, Li Yuande exploited the agreement’s loophole—dead men can’t break treaties.

“So this is the Condensing Essence stage?”

Blue light flashed from Li Yuande’s hands, shattering their spells. Decades of preparation through Condensing Dan Technique had catapulted him straight to mid Fourth Level of Condensing Essence. His combat strength dwarfed his actual rank.

*Whoosh.*

He materialized before a cultivator.

“You’re weak.”

THUD!

His palm strike sent the man crashing down, blood spraying. The remaining three lunged.

“You too.”

BOOM!

Feral true essence erupted from Li Yuande, tearing through their techniques and flinging them backward.

Thud—

After receiving West Concubine’s approval, Xuan Zhou landed and clamped his palm onto Li Yuande’s ghostly form.

“Yuande, isn’t using ghost arts within the palace crossing the line?” Xuan Zhou growled.

Li Yuande gave a faint smile. “Who’s Yuande?”

Whoosh—

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The young cultivators on the Viewing Platform saw violent true essence collisions erupt between the two individuals, creating rapid, ear-piercing detonations.

Battle aftershocks rattled the entire platform.

The youngest cultivators trembled until their knees threatened to buckle.

After several inconclusive exchanges, a jade hairpin descended from auspicious clouds to pierce Li Yuande’s chest.

His azure spirit-body fractured like thin ice, crumbling into nothingness.

Li Yuande turned toward the Viewing Platform. His lips shaped silent words before he dissolved completely.

West Concubine caught the returning hairpin between her fingers. Her eyebrows lifted slightly as she inspected it.

Xuan Zhou hurried to ask, “Your Highness? Is something amiss?”

After examining the hairpin, West Concubine replied flatly, “His ‘will’ escaped.”

“Escaped?!”

Xuan Zhou paled. That will contained a century’s worth of cultivation insights. Given Li Yuande’s displayed talents, whoever absorbed it would inevitably reach Condensing Essence.

“He looked at the Viewing Platform before dying—it must’ve gone to the Li Family’s remaining girl! Let me fetch her.”

“Unnecessary. A rootless will chooses its own bearer. Should a prince claim it, would you dare seize it?”

“I… wouldn’t presume.”

West Concubine rose, drifting toward the cloud’s edge. “Let fate decide. Wasn’t today’s performance excellent enough?”

Xuan Zhou forced a nod. “Truly excellent—the finest I’ve witnessed.”

He meant it. Decades prior, another had demonstrated Gathering Qi to Condensing Essence here, but that clumsy display left observers bewildered. Li Yuande’s performance however, enlightened even Condensing Essence experts while remaining crystal-clear to Gathering Qi juniors.

“Exactly.”

West Concubine’s mood lifted visibly. “Wasn’t this spectacle precisely what we wanted? Mission accomplished.”

Her lingering gloom from the western expedition finally eased after today’s events.

“To the palace.”

“By your command!”

The pink clouds’ Departure signaled the ceremony’s end.

Dazed youths lingered below. Some nursed vague dissatisfaction, others a hollow ache in their chests.

Among them, Yang Lingrui pressed a hand to his sternum.

Words resonated through his mind and soul:

“Friend. Keep it safe.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep