Just now, it hadn't even clearly heard what Li Yan had said about "when things have settled down in the future," let alone understood the meaning behind his words. The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant naturally didn't know that they were now in a different world, and that Li Yan, like itself, was adrift and without a home.
It was only when Li Yan felt that something was wrong and was about to take back the skull that the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant suddenly extended its long trunk to block the skull that was rapidly floating towards Li Yan.
Seeing this, Li Yan didn't forcefully take it back, but his brows furrowed. It was often said that cultivators would become emotionless. Although he himself had not become like that yet, it was fine to occasionally indulge in sentimentality over an object. But a cultivator must be able to control their emotions.
Even if he didn't state this directly, in the past, a single hint would have been enough for the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant to understand. Otherwise, if it were to sink into this state, an inner demon would slowly grow in its heart. At that time, no one would be able to save it, and its path of cultivation would be considered ruined.
Seeing Li Yan withdraw his hand and just quietly look at it, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant quickly suppressed the emotions in its heart. It took a long deep breath.
"Master, I can forge a physical body!"
Then, its eyes once again looked at the crystalline skull that its trunk was gently blocking.
Li Yan had thought that the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had not yet detached itself from its emotions and wanted to keep this skull fragment now. But he was greatly surprised by the words it spoke. He was completely unprepared. Even with his composure, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Wh-what did you just say?"
"Master, I can forge a physical body, with this!" The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant took a deep breath and gently touched the crystalline skull again with its long trunk. But every time it touched, the purple light patterns on the crystalline skull would begin to flicker, as if a heat wave was about to gush out again.
"With this... small, broken piece of skull, you can?" Li Yan was sure he hadn't misheard, but he still wanted to confirm again in his doubt.
He had long thought about how to help the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant forge a physical body and had consulted many texts on the matter. In the end, he had found three possible answers.
One, of course, was Body Seizure: find another Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant and then possess it.
The second was a strange fruit between heaven and earth called the "Heaven-Stealing Reincarnation Fruit." Eating one could regenerate severed limbs and reforge the physical body.
The third, it was said, was that when one's cultivation reached the Great Ascension stage, one would have the great divine ability to change heaven and earth, and could reforge a physical body from just a wisp of a soul.
Among these three situations, for an ordinary cultivator whose soul was still intact, they would basically choose the first method, and could only choose the first. Although it was not easy, if one's own soul was powerful, or with someone's help, Body Seizure was still quite simple.
But for the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, this was undoubtedly as difficult as ascending to heaven. No one knew where the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant race could still be found in this world, at least no one Li Yan knew did. Finding another Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant would depend on chance, and it had to be one whose soul was not as powerful as the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's. That was even more difficult. Even if there were one, such a weak Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, given the rarity of its race, would definitely be a closely guarded object of the clan. Li Yan didn't know what level he would have to cultivate to in order to hunt and take one away. The hope seemed extremely slim to Li Yan.
If there was still a sliver of hope with Body Seizure, the latter two methods had almost completely shattered all hope for cultivators.
That "Heaven-Stealing Reincarnation Fruit," Li Yan had checked many jade slip texts and only knew that this treasure might exist in the Immortal Spirit Realm and the True Immortal Realm. The reason he said "might" was because it was just a legend. The texts couldn't even clearly describe what the "Heaven-Stealing Reincarnation Fruit" looked like. To Li Yan, this kind of thing seemed like a deception. It was probably just a spiritual sustenance for some helpless cultivators after all their hopes were shattered. The "Heaven-Stealing Reincarnation Fruit" might even have been fabricated out of thin air. In any case, he was skeptical about it.
As for the third method, Li Yan thought it might be possible. The Great Ascension stage was already the highest known realm in cultivation. That was a true immortal, capable of turning stone into gold and creating spaces. Although they couldn't steal the heavens and switch the sun, bringing the dead back to life should be possible.
But cultivators all knew that cultivation was divided into Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Void Refining, Body Integration, Tribulation Transcendence, and Great Ascension. Where had Li Yan himself cultivated to? Just Foundation Establishment. The distance to Great Ascension couldn't be described as just a hundred thousand li; it was the difference between heaven and earth. Let alone whether he could cultivate to the Great Ascension stage, it was another matter whether the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant could even wait that long.
This made Li Yan think of his true master—Dong Fuyi. He had already cultivated to the Body Integration stage two million years ago. He didn't know what realm he was at now; perhaps he had already reached the Great Ascension stage. But this was just a thought, a kind of hope.
The further one went in cultivation, the harder it was to break through. It could take a hundred years, a thousand years, or even ten thousand years to break through a small realm. What's more, where was Dong Fuyi now? Was he still alive? Li Yan knew nothing. Back then, it was just a wisp of his Divine Sense that had led him through the gates of the immortal world, and then all contact was lost. This break could very well mean they would never have the chance to meet again for all eternity.
For all these reasons, Li Yan knew how difficult it would be for the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant to reforge its physical body. But he would not give up. It was just that in his mind, he had expected this matter to take a long time, a time so long he couldn't imagine.
And now, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had suddenly told him that it could forge a physical body. This made Li Yan feel it was unbelievable. The most crucial thing was that all of this had come so suddenly and easily. Something that was almost impossible, Li Yan had almost just walked into a random place... illusory, unreal, fake... For a moment, even with Li Yan's calmness, he felt that everything was too absurd.
"Yes, with this broken piece of skull, I can forge a physical body! The Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant race inherits the legacy of the Fire God lineage. Although we don't have the talent of rebirth from a drop of blood, we also have a bloodline inheritance similar to the Phoenix races' rebirth from fire. It's just that the conditions are more stringent. First, the flesh and bones that carry the soul can be incomplete, but they must be at least two great realms higher. Only then can the vessel completely withstand the art of burning the soul to refine the fire. Secondly, the more complete the vessel the soul uses, the less likely it is to succeed, because that would not be reforging a body, but Body Seizure. If the original soul of this vessel has also long since disappeared, it wouldn't even count as Body Seizure. In addition, the more incomplete the vessel used, the less likely it is to succeed, because there is too little of the vessel to draw upon, and the power that can be absorbed from burning the soul to refine the fire will be less. These are the two extremes; both too much or too little of the vessel will have an effect!"
As it said this, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's eyes carefully examined the piece of skull. The skull was about half the size of Li Yan's torso. Logically, that was already very large, but compared to a Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, it was only a very small part of the body, even for one still in its growth period.
Hearing this, Li Yan also slowly came to his senses. He thought for a moment. "You don't seem to have mentioned that your race has such a method for forging a body."
"Master, you never asked. I had also believed that as long as a kinsman appeared within ten thousand li, I would be able to sense it. This has nothing to do with Divine Sense; it's a bloodline sense. So with Master's current Divine Sense strength, you wouldn't have discovered it before me. Therefore, I was thinking of telling you when I sensed something. But I never thought I would be asleep for so long. This time, it can be considered a blessing from the heavens."
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant turned its head to look at Li Yan again, its eyes filled with gratitude. In fact, there was another reason why it hadn't mentioned the method of reforging a body. The Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant race was an Ancient Ferocious Beast. The reason they were called ferocious beasts was that besides being fierce themselves, it often meant they were the overlords of a region, which also created their proud and lofty character. This was also why the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant called the Snow Mosquito race "rascals." Regardless of whether the Snow Mosquito King had a noble bloodline inheritance, it was still of mixed blood. In its eyes, there was no greater insult to strike at someone.
So, even though the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had been subdued by Li Yan, the pride of its bloodline still existed. Although it was bound to Li Yan by a bloodline sacrifice and had to obey him in many things, it wanted to forge a physical body on its own one day through its own talent. This was very important to it; it was its pride, something it would have achieved without any external help.
Of course, if Li Yan had asked about this, it would have told him. But Li Yan had thought that as a formation spirit, especially one that had been sealed since birth, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's knowledge of cultivation would naturally be limited, relying entirely on instinct and talent. So, in the end, this matter had become a very troubling problem for Li Yan.
"This..."
Li Yan opened his mouth and found that it was indeed so. It seemed he had never really discussed the matter of forging a body with the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant. He had been the one making all the plans.
"According to what you just said, the body used can't be too large, nor can it be too incomplete. So this piece of skull is just the right size?"
"I don't know. Perhaps it's too small, that's also possible. But its grade is definitely enough to bear my 'Burning the Soul to Refine the Fire'..."
"Burning the Soul to Refine the Fire, you want to melt this piece of skull?" Li Yan said with a frown. He had just heard this term but hadn't had time to ask. He was very curious about this innate divine ability of the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant.
"No. Actually, this is the truly stringent condition for the body forging I mentioned. To be precise, it is to place my soul body within this skull, 'use the Hun soul as oil, the Po soul as the wick, and the skull as the base,' to refine my own Hun and Po souls and merge them into this skull, making it a shell. This is also the main reason why the vessel must be two great realms higher than the soul being refined. If it's too fragile, it will melt upon fusion, and I would perish directly. It is actually just a shell, to protect and nurture my soul."
"Use the Hun soul as oil, the Po soul as the wick, and the skull as the base! You want to ignite your own soul... This... I don't quite understand this technique of yours. I just want to ask you, what is the success rate, and how long will it take?"
"I... I don't know how long it will take, let alone what the success rate is. But when the innate skill 'Burning the Soul to Refine the Fire' appeared in my mind, I was very scared. There's a feeling that I might die the instant I cast it."
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant hesitated for a moment, a trace of fear flashing in its eyes.
Li Yan fell silent. Just from the name of this innate skill, he could imagine the pain involved. Among cultivators, there was an extremely cruel punishment, and it was also a major reason why cultivators were most unwilling to be captured—"Extracting the soul and refining the spirit." That kind of pain was an extreme agony that came from the depths of the soul, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times more miserable than physical pain, unimaginable.
A cultivator in that situation could only scream miserably and constantly beg the other party to kill them immediately. A pain that could make a person prefer death was cruel beyond measure.