Chương 288: Attempting to fix the foundation

Long Feng sighed gently and left the soul gourd, returning his consciousness to his body. He remained seated and began to think deeply.

"Senior Ao Zhentian is right. My current combat power may seem astonishing in the continent zone, but it won't be nearly as shocking in the Mainland. Even I doubt if I'll still have my combat power at the Imperial realm, not to mention the deity realm. I need something that'll make me stand out. But before that, I need to find a solution to this unstable energy of mine." He furrowed his brows and thought of everything he could. At the end, he shook his head.

"Everything I've thought of isn't plausible. The only thing I can think of is to fully isolate the two energies. For that, I'll need another energy that's above them both. The only other energy I have is my sword Dao energy." It would seem that this plan he had thought of before was the only path available for him. Although it was questionable whether he would even succeed or what would happen if he did, it was still better than doing nothing and leaving his cultivation to be permanently at this level.

"Master should've mentioned this matter before he left." Long Feng sighed again. Wu Kong had hinted at him to comprehend the light Dao using the Azure Dragon, but he hadn't said anything about what would happen after that. Now Long Feng had to figure out a solution by himself.

"Time to begin. I hope this works." Clearing all these thoughts away, Long Feng closed his eyes and projected his consciousness into his Dantian, to the vast starry sky where his Spirit core floated. The core was extremely beautiful, glimmering faintly with two colours. It was a sight to behold, divided equally into two parts. One half contained pure light that seemed to be as bright as the stars. The other half was the exact opposite; pure darkness that could swallow light itself.

Between them was a very thin layer of energy, almost impossible to detect. This layer of energy was formed by the strand of gray energy which had been forced out of his body during his breakthrough to the spirit realm. The aura it had emitted back then was simply mind boggling. It was also the main reason he was able to have two extreme Dao energies in his Dantian. Without this energy suppressing and separating both energies, he would have long since exploded to bits.

But at the end of the day, this energy wasn't something he could control. He didn't even know what it was. If he wanted to have full control over his energy, then he must first gain full control of his spirit core. The only two options were either to control that strand of energy, which was clearly impossible, or to replace it with something he could control. He wasn't even sure if that would work. Perhaps he wouldn't be able to replace it. But no matter what, he had to try.

Long Feng's expression was tense as he gathered his sword energy in his Dantian, condensing it in the form of a finger sized blurry sword. Taking a deep breath, he solemly pushed the sword energy towards his spirit core, raising his caution to the max. The moment anything seemed off, he would immediately stop his action and retreat before he caused irreparable damage to himself or even his cultivation. Fortunately, nothing went wrong.

The spirit core didn't react as the sword energy slowly inched closer and closer until the tip of the blurry sword touched the spirit core. The expected change didn't occur. There was still no reaction, nothing strange as the sword energy seeped into the spirit core. But Long Feng didn't dare to let his guard down. He was aware that this was the critical moment. If anything went wrong, then his spirit core itself would be implicated. That might as well be the end of his cultivation.

What made him relieved was that the layer of energy didn't interfere with the sword energy. Surprisingly, it slowly faded away as the sword energy filled it's place until it was completely gone, leaving the sword energy gathered in the center of the spirit core. Before Long Feng could sigh, the demon and light energies began to stir.

It was very sudden, and before he could react, both energies had spiralled completely out of his control and began to rampage within the spirit core, colliding against the sword energy from both sides. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The first impact left Long Feng's spirit core shaken and that caused him to pale as his chest became stuffy.

"Damn it!" Long Feng cursed as he tried his best to control the two energies, yet his efforts were for naught. It was as though the two energies didn't dare to act up when that strand of gray energy was present, but the moment it faded away, they completely ignored the sword energy and began to collide against it, trying to attack the other. This left Long Feng in a bad state. At this rate, his spirit core would most certainly shatter!

"I comprehended you two. You will both listen to me!" He roared inwardly, unleashing the full strength of his sword energy to try and suppress the two energies back. His sword energy was at the rank eight concept level while both the demon and light energies were at the seventh level. A difference of a single level wasn't enough to keep these unruly energies in check. Long Feng had underestimated how hard this was.

If his sword energy was at rank nine Dao concept level instead, then he would have had a higher chance of succeeding. The third impact left Long Feng's head buzzing and some blood flowed out of his nose.

"Damn it! Damn it!! Suppress!" Long Feng roared in his heart, beginning to feel panicked. If he couldn't do something quickly, then his spirit core would really crack and shatter, wasting a great deal of his cultivation. He couldn't allow that to happen. Heaven knew how hard it was for him to finally break through to the Spirit realm. If he let himself fall back to the Yang realm, then not mentioning whether he could attempt his breakthrough again, it was questionable whether he would succeed.

After all, the first time he succeeded was entirely due to the mysterious strand of gray energy. Without it, he would've lost his life. Who knew if the energy would reappear during a second attempt? He didn't know and he certainly didn't want to find out. His sword energy exploded with greater power, coming infinitely close to rank nine Dao concept. This was the effect of his ethereal sword heart. He didn't understand exactly what this sword heart was, but he could feel it's existence.

After the Dao tempering tower where he faced his heart demon, his Sword heart became perfected. The energy of his sword Dao was already a mere line away from rank nine Dao concept; the limit of the Dao concept stage. The sudden rise actually forced the two energies back and suppressed them forcefully, bringing a temporary halt to the crisis. But it wasn't resolved yet.

"I can't hold on for long. This won't work. I can't suppress them for long. And the strand of energy has already faded away." Long Feng slowly breathed heavily and felt the cold sweat on his forehead. He had made a mistake in his judgement. His sword energy wasn't nearly enough to keep the demon and light energies suppressed. Even if he was able to do that, then he wouldn't be able to use his sword energy anymore. The slightest imbalance could cost him everything.

Right now, he could only hold on for a few minutes at most. The two energies were already beginning to fight back fiercely against the sword energy's suppression.

"I can't think of anything. What was master thinking? Did he also not expect this situation?" From the beginning, comprehending two extreme Daos sounded like a really bad idea. It was like trying to keep fire and water together; they would never coexist. Either the fire would evaporate the water or the water would extinguish the fire. They could even destroy each other. Either way, he would lose.

"If only I could merge them together…" As he muttered that, Long Feng's heart skipped a bit and he froze. His eyes began to twinkle slowly.

"That's it! Merge! The demon and light energies obviously would never merge together. That would be suicide. But… if I can merge one of them or even both of them into the sword energy…" If that was possible and he succeeded, then he would have a unique energy.

Although he still wouldn't be able to use them simultaneously, he would be able to freely switch between the demon and light energies whenever he wanted, and he would also have an extremely unique Sword energy; he would be able to use normal sword energy, use demon sword energy and light sword energy! All of these were his thoughts, but they sounded possible. After all, it was essentially integrating the two energies into the sword energy instead of suppressing them. The sword energy would then be the leader.

But the side effect of that was that he would have to always keep the sword Dao above the other two, otherwise he would be putting his life at risk.

"What have master made me do!" Long Feng sighed. He didn't even know what he was doing. He didn't know if his plan would work. All he knew was that he was running out of time and he had to make a choice. If he succeeded, then he would effectively get rid of his chaotic energy and gain two special sword energies that were akin to using the demon sword and light sword skills permanently. The power of those sword energies could be imagined.

"Screw it all. I'll do it. I have no other choice!" Long Feng threw caution to the air and began to act on his plan. Instead of suppressing the two energies, he instead focused on fully suppressing the light energy. Then he let the demon energy impact against his sword energy freely, using that opportunity to slowly absorb it into the sword energy. He chose to begin with his demon energy because he was much more familiar with it as he had comprehended it much earlier than the light Dao.

At first, there was no effect. All his efforts went to waste as the demon energy crazily crashed into his sword energy again and again, leaving him in a a very bad shape. But he gritted his teeth and tanked everything. This was his only chance, his last hope at fixing everything. If he failed, then he would have no choice but to ask Ao Zhentian for help and reveal everything to him. This was the absolute last resort.

Long Feng wasn't willing to trust anyone with this secret, not to mention someone he met yesterday and barely knew. Human nature was completely unpredictable. Slowly, after several impacts, the sword energy seemed to be getting used to it. Shockingly, the two energies began to slowly merge as they collided even without his active control. Each collision left a strand of demon energy within the sword energy and vice versa. But the rate of merging was way too slow.

It would take a long time for the merger to complete, and under the constant impacts and rebound force, he wasn't sure his spirit core could survive several more of this brutal force. Long Feng's face hardened with determination as his eyes glimmered faintly.

"It's all or nothing now." He didn't wait for the demon energy to collide against the sword energy this time. Instead, he made a crazy decision; he controlled the sword energy to crash into the demon energy, forcing them into each other. Long Feng's mind went blank the instant the two energies collided. His head was spinning fiercely, filled with a stabbing pain while his inner organs nearly shifted. He coughed and a mouthful of blood sprayed out, staining his black robes with red.

His Dantian was pretty stable, but within his spirit core was a mess. The light energy was still being suppressed with nothing but his willpower, leaving one half of the core in order. But the other half belonging to the demon energy was extremely chaotic, filled with mixed demon and sword energies. The impact of their collision was so great that it nearly knocked Long Feng out cold. They were completely forced into each other, greatly accelerating their merging speed.

Now, it wouldn't take a few hours for the merging to end. But… Long Feng couldn't bring himself to smile or feel excited. His expression was extremely solemn and grave instead. That was because on the surface of his spirit core, a single crack has appeared, stretching across nearly half of the core!