Chapter 73 – The Prince's Secret and the Phoenix's Return, The preparation fkr the 1st Soul Core.
Heaven Dou City remained oblivious to the fact that the most dangerous man on the continent was walking its streets. Using a combination of the Seven-Tone Chaos Nirvana (Song-Binding Meditation) and the Song of Adarna to mask his presence and the Void-Motion skip to ghost through the Five Shields Alliance patrols, Lakan moved like a rumor.
He wore a simple, charcoal-grey traveler's cloak, but nothing could truly hide the metallic luster of his skin or the humming vibration of his 36 Heavenly Star Acupoints. To anyone who caught a glimpse, he seemed less like a human and more like a tear in the fabric of reality.
He reached a secluded teahouse on the edge of the Imperial District—a place where Xue Qinghe (Qian Renxue) often went to escape the suffocating politics of the court.
Renxue sat at the corner table, her disguise as the elegant, slightly frail Crown Prince perfect down to the last detail. When Lakan pulled out the chair and sat across from her, she didn't look up from her tea.
"You're bold, Holy Son," she said, her voice the smooth baritone of a prince. "The Alliance would pay a kingdom for your head."
Lakan leaned back, a narcissistic smirk playing on his lips. "They'd have to find it first. And honestly, Renxue, that princely mask is getting a bit dusty. If I didn't have the Eyes of the Origin God, I might actually believe you've grown a pair."
Renxue's tea cup paused mid-air. She looked up, her golden eyes flashing with a mix of amusement and annoyance. "I'm extending a hand to you, Lakan. Join me. My father's empire is a corpse, but under my guidance, it could be a garden. I can give you anything in this world—titles, lands, the secrets of the gods. What is it that the Sovereign truly wants?"
Lakan leaned forward, his Radiant Silver Sun pupils locking onto hers. "Anything? Well, I've always had a taste for the forbidden. How about this, I want to bed the Supreme Pope. I want to see the most famous Woman in the World unravel beneath me."
Renxue's face went from pale to a livid crimson in a heartbeat. Her soul power flared, nearly cracking the table. "You... you brazen, ungrateful brat! That is my—" She caught herself, her voice trembling with a daughter's rage. "You are asking to be your Empress's ruin! Have you no shame?"
Lakan chuckled, the sound like the chime of a silver bell. "Shame is for those who can't back up their desires. Besides," he lowered his voice, dropping a Douluo style pick-up line she had never heard, "Why would I look at the moon when the Sun is sitting right in front of me, pretending to be a Prince? Your light is so bright, Renxue, that even this disguise feels like an eclipse. And I've always been a man who prefers the dawn."
Renxue froze. The anger didn't vanish, but it was suddenly drowned out by a wave of heat that had nothing to do with her Angelic fire. She looked away, her heart hammering against her ribs. "You... your mouth is as dangerous as your fists."
"It's called Rhythm, Renxue. Everything in life has one. Even you." He stood up, tossing a gold coin on the table. "I have to go to the Well. The next time we meet, I won't be a Prince's guest. I'll be the one you can't help but follow."
•••••••••••
Lakan vanished from the city, appearing hours later at the edge of the Sunset Forest's toxic mist. He didn't need to shout. The moment his Fist Intent touched the air, the green fog parted.
Dugu Bo appeared, descending like a jade streak. The Poison Douluo looked healthier than ever, the 'KA' glyph on his chest glowing with a stabilized power. The moment he saw Lakan, he didn't even hesitate—he dropped to one knee.
"Sovereign," Dugu Bo rasped. "The valley is yours. The perimeter is a dead zone; nothing moves without my permission."
"Good work, Old Poison," Lakan said, walking past him toward the familiar swirling vortex of red and blue. "I'm here for the breakthrough. It's going to be loud. Make sure the Five Shields don't hear a thing."
Lakan stood at the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. He shed his cloak, standing naked as his Batong-Pilak skin began to resonate with the extreme temperatures. Lakan's Silver Stone body reacts to the dual extremes.
He dove.
The impact was like being hit by two tectonic plates. On his left, the Extreme Cold of the Water Dragon King's remains sought to freeze his blood into glass. On his right, the Extreme Heat of the Fire Dragon King sought to turn his marrow into ash.
"Now!" Lakan roared internally.
He activated the Seven-Tone Chaos Nirvana. His 36 Heavenly Star Acupoints opened like miniature black holes, sucking in the dual essences. Inside his spiritual sea, the Ten-Headed Phoenix (now a 700,000-year titan) shrieked. It fanned its ten heads, using the Cockscomb Phoenix sunflower essence he had previously integrated to act as a thermal anchor.
The Sarimanok manifested its Dazzling Radiance, acting as the stabilizer. The Phoenix absorbs the Heat, the Sarimanok harmonizes the Cold.
Lakan's body began to undergo a Molecular Reconstruction. His Iridescent Divine-Jade Steel bones began to glow with a deep, obsidian light. The Eyes of the Origin God flared, seeing the Code of the Dragon Kings remains. He wasn't just surviving the water; he was Shaving (Tapyas) the laws of ice and fire and weaving them into his own DNA.
*BOOM!!!*
The soul power surged.
Rank 61... 63... 66... 69!
He hit the Level 70 barrier. In the Canon, this is when a master becomes a Spirit Saint and gains the Avatar form. But for Lakan, this was the moment of the Chaos Core.
The pressure inside the Well began to spin, forming a massive underwater hurricane. Lakan reached into his storage tool and pulled out the vials he had gathered from the Phoenix Valley.
Lakan prepares to make the soul core by bringing out the vials of Phoenix Bloods.
One by one, he uncorked them in the center of the vortex:
1. Gold and Silver Blue Demon Birds: (Time and Space energy).
2. Ice Phoenix: (Ultimate Ice).
3. Radiant and Darkness Phoenix: (Holy and Destructive duality).
4. Immortal Phoenix: (Nirvana talent).
5. Ninth Heaven Rainbow Phoenix: (Multi-spectral law).
6. Crystal Phoenix: (Crystallization and Sealing Heaven and Earth)
7. Emerald Swan: (Pure Life and Healing)
The blood didn't wash away in the water. It hovered around Lakan, drawn in by his Sovereign's Grasp.
"Lower Dantian... open," Lakan commanded.
His belly began to glow with a terrifying, prismatic light. He wasn't just taking a seventh ring, he was preparing to forge the Bloodline Chaos Core—the reservoir that would allow him to simulate any ability in existence.
The water of the Yin-Yang Well began to boil and freeze simultaneously. Above the valley, the sky turned into a kaleidoscope of chaotic colors. Dugu Bo watched in terror as the entire mountain range began to hum with the Seven-Tone Chaos Nirvana.
Lakan sat at the bottom of the well, the different phoenix bloods circling him like planets around a sun. He was the Origin. He was the Sovereign. And the world was about to witness the birth of a God-vessel.