Chapter 285: Profound Yin and Everlasting Yang (1/2)

It seemed like a straightforward enough task, but Zac groaned inwardly when he saw it. The burst of information he had received included all the information he needed regarding the two treasures, and Zac knew this quest would be a pain in the ass.

Neither of the treasures were readily available. The Profound Yin Orchid was a top tier E-Grade flower that gave an enormous boost to the Ice-attributed cultivation manual that the Disciples of the Profound Yin Sect in the area used. It was so integral to them that they even named their Sect after it, and the gardens containing the flowers were strictly guarded deep inside the core of their sect.

The Profound Yin sect was nothing special in the multiverse, but its ancestor was a high-level E-Grade cultivator. All its elders were between the Low and Mid-grade E-Rank as well, and their force was not something Zac could handle even if he went all out.

Interestingly enough the Profound Yin sect was exclusively a female sect, and any association with males was strictly prohibited. There was no way for Zac to simply walk up to the sect in order to trade with them as he would be attacked on sight. Not that they would ever sell their core resource anyway.

The situation with the Rubies of Everlasting Yang was pretty much the same. They only slowly grew inside a volcano sitting atop a Nexus Vein, and it was strictly controlled by Everlasting Yang Sect. The sect was the exact opposite of the Profound Yin, and only fire-attributed males could join the sect.

The two sects were actually located quite close to each other, and not surprisingly there was non-stop contention between the two forces. Since both the sects were of roughly the same strength neither was able to root out the other, and it seemed like the elders of both the sects used the conflict as a whetstone to hone their disciples.

The mission was a replication of a feat that the Lord of Cycles accomplished when he was roughly the same level as Zac himself. In fact, Yrial was a lot weaker in terms of total attributes and power when he stole the two treasures in short succession.

The memories that Zac received while he fell into the dreamscape even went so far as to give him a few partial memories of how Yrial managed to snatch the two treasures, and the method Yrial used was the reason Zac was so vexed. A test of beauty and brawn was an apt description.

He had actually openly infiltrated the Profound Yin sect. He had utilized his ambiguous looks by ambushing a Profound Yin Disciple who was out hunting beasts in the woods, and then stolen her disciple’s uniform. With that in hand, he simply waltzed into the gates looking like a woman. He even used an early version of his beatification field to gain access to the garden from the presiding elder.

Getting the ruby was a lot simpler. Yrial had walked up to the Everlasting Yang sect, proclaiming that he had beaten a core disciple of the Profound Yin sect in a duel, showing the orchid as proof. From there he taunted the disciples of the Profound Yang sect until one of their own core disciples stepped forward, putting a ruby as the wager.

The core disciple was stronger than Yrial in reality, but the Lord of Cycles once again used his beatification field to confuse the poor disciple, and then Yrial ruthlessly attacked him while his emotions were in turmoil.

It was not much later that his trickery had been exposed, and he was summarily hunted by both the sects for a good while. Zac’s imparted memories stopped there though, and he didn’t know how the story ended. However, since Yrial had become a C-Grade powerhouse in the end he had clearly gotten away.

Zac understood why Yrial had taken the risk. He had already started walking on the path of fire and ice, the two concepts that would allow him to reach the peak C Grade in the end. But he was a poor rogue cultivator, and getting his hands on those two treasures was his idea to push both his Daos forward.

Both of them helped a cultivator foster a constitution that was especially suited for the cultivation of their respective element. Zac guessed that Yrial later combined the two to create the foundation of a real fire-and-ice constitution.

The problem for Zac was that there was no way for him to replicate Yrial’s feat. At least not in the same way. There was no way he would be able to pass as a woman, even with the help of [Thousand Faces]. There were limits to the skill, and not possible to change enough to pass off as a woman, except perhaps from a great distance.

He believed he could replicate the second half of the mission though, though he would be able to defeat the core disciple without the use of trickery. He had accompanied Brazla enough to know how to enrage a few cultivators, but he knew that they wouldn’t offer up a Ruby for the wager unless he could put up one of the orchids.

A large part of the reason they were ready to duel Yrial was that they desperately wanted to succeed where the Profound Yin failed in a game of one-upmanship. If they could show the world that they had one of the prized possessions of their rival sects it would no doubt make their enemies lose a lot of face.

Finding another treasure to wager instead was out of the question as well. The time limit was pretty restrictive, and he would only have time to visit the sects one by one with little room for leeway. Since time was of the essence Zac would simply take it step by step.

That in of itself was a problem to Zac, who was already running late for his real-life obligations. He was supposed to go to Westfort today, but he might be stuck inside this place for another few days. However, Zac suddenly had an idea as he sat down and started to ponder upon his Daos.

But no matter what he did or which Dao he pondered upon, everything was just a haze in his mind. It was like he had lost one of his senses, where the truths of the world were completely blocked to him or even missing. Zac wasn't worried though, but quite satisfied with the results.

Being unable to improve one’s Dao could be indicative of time dilation. Since the Dao of Time was a thing, creating spaces that had a different flow of time was quite possible. However, no matter whether you sped up time or slowed it down it was essentially impossible to improve inside those time chambers.