4183

Chapter 4183: The Catalyst Finally Succeeds

The first experiment ended in failure. When the Dao essence clashed with the power of filth, it unleashed a terrifying force that leveled vast stretches of land, destroying thousands of formations Lin Moyu had set up and impacting an area a million li wide. The scope might not seem so large within the Great Wilderness, but the destructive power was immense. If a Dao Lord had been caught in it, they would have been severely wounded if not outright killed. And that was just a tiny portion had it been more, even Eternals could not have withstood it.

Lin Moyu reflected on the reasons for the failure, replaying every detail of the two powers' contact in his mind, searching for any clue. The need for a "catalyst" was an instinctive idea, not a final answer. Fortunately, the natural formation formed by the filth pools remained undamaged, as did the array he set up to refine the filth power. Only the fusion array had been damaged, but since Lin Moyu managed the formations in distinct zones and modules, the main experimental site was far from the array's core and thus remained safe.

While Lin Moyu worked on formation arrays, the Soulless Beast continued on to the special pools as instructed its mission to purify the royal pools now complete. At this point, the Soulless Beast was extremely powerful, practically equal to the former Beast Emperors. Lin Moyu felt this was not its final stage; it could still progress further. He'd previously cordoned off the area containing the nine special pools specifically for the Soulless Beast. These pools were filled with tremendous amounts of refined Dao filth, far surpassing that of the royal pools. If successful, the nine special pools would be the Soulless Beast's stepping stones, making it part of Lin Moyu's greater plan.

Meanwhile, holes appeared in the Dao cloud ever faster and on a larger scale. Now, breaches were appearing not just in the Origin Ancestral Land, but in the World Mist, and even in the chaotic mists of the virtual world. The chaos in the rules was reaching a peak soon, the world would have to select a new rules manager.

Lin Moyu still had things to do before the world chose a new manager, things that could only be done amid the chaos of the rules. The messier, the better.

He quickly repaired the damaged formations and began the second experiment. Again, he brought Dao essence and filth power together, but this time with a slight variation: at the point where they touched, he introduced an additional force the catalyst. He used his own Immortality Dao as the catalyst. The Immortality Dao contained both the power of life and death, which could also be considered as yin and yang, or void and real. Moreover, the Immortality Dao was unusual: although housed in the realm, its essence surpassed the realm itself.

Lin Moyu reasoned that perhaps the Immortality Dao, as a catalyst, could help fuse Dao essence and filth power. The Dao essence met the power of life, and there was no conflict. Filth power met the power of death, which naturally corrodes all things even filth power was no exception and was weakened. The two different energies then made contact via the Immortality Dao.

Pop!

A soft sound, and the two energies annihilated each other. Fusion again failed. However, unlike before, there was no violent clash. Thanks to the Immortality Dao's influence, the two sides were much more harmonious.

"There's promise!" Lin Moyu thought, feeling details at a depth beyond outward appearances. As master of the Immortality Dao, he could sense the deeper flow and immediately saw where improvements were needed.

He sent Dao essence and filth power in for a third fusion attempt. Again, the Immortality Dao was the catalyst, but this time he switched things around: death power fused with Dao essence, while life power fused with filth power. Death power again corroded the Dao essence, while life power and filth power clashed, partially negating each other before fusing fully. Both powers were weakened, but became gentler in the process. They touched this time, after a few breaths and a soft sound, they annihilated each other once more.

Although better than before, Lin Moyu frowned. Despite appearances, Dao essence and filth power weren't merging at all they were just cancelling each other out. The Immortality Dao only made things less violent.

"There must be something I'm missing," Lin Moyu realized. Returning fundamental forces to their origin wasn't as simple as it seemed. The only way forward was to keep trying, learning from failures he believed he would eventually find the root cause.

He kept driving his formations, ramping up soul power to the limit, scrutinizing every transition. Fusion after fusion, failure after failure ten times, a hundred, a thousand...

Yet each result was the same.

But Lin Moyu refused to give up if anything, his eyes grew brighter with every trial. An almost imperceptible hint of a smile appeared on his face; at last, he thought he had found the cause.

Another fusion attempt.

This time, Lin Moyu moved differently. At the very instant before the two powers made contact, the force of immortality exploded, and the twin powers of life and death simultaneously surpassed their limits and underwent reversal. One feature of the Immortality Dao is its affinity for reversal at extremes, allowing it to briefly transcend itself. Seizing this principle, Lin Moyu forced both Dao essence and filth power into a state of reversal and sublimation.

Dao essence was driven to such an extreme that it transformed into filth power purer than ordinary filth. Filth power, too, was transformed into Dao essence more refined than before. Once reversed, the two were perfectly equal in both power and purity.

The Immortality Dao formed a vortex, guiding the two powers to meet at its center. This time, there was no mutual annihilation they truly fused into one.

A tiny light a half black, half white speck, no bigger than a fingernail appeared at the vortex's heart. Small as it was, it shone brilliantly, dazzling all who saw it.

An immense pressure radiated from the light. Old Yin Head and An Yuyan were filled with awe, sensing that this speck's level completely suppressed their own. Compared to what they cultivated, this surpassed them by far.

"So this is the fundamental power of heaven and earth," Old Yin Head sighed with wonder in his ancient eyes.

An Yuyan gazed dreamily at the little speck, as if it were the world's most beautiful jewel.

Lin Moyu smiled softly. "The catalyst has finally succeeded."

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