Red Packet Server (Web Novel)

“You two should leave for now too. No one is to enter until I leave,” said Ye Zichen to his two attendants. They nodded and started to leave, but just before they stepped outside, Ye Zichen paused to think, then added, “That includes Xue Mo.”

“Understood.” The attendants left in silence. Just to make sure, Ye Zichen placed several seals around the room. Only then did he feel confident enough to enter the Yao-Sealing Pagoda.

“Have Ji Lan come see me.” As soon as Ye ZIchen entered the pagoda, the yao living inside bowed in greeting. Ye Zichen picked someone at random to go find their leader, then entered a private room.

“You were looking for me, master?” Ji Lan walked lithely into the room.

Ye Zichen passed her a piece of paper. “Bring me all the resources on this list. Give me everything the first and second floors have in storage.”

Roughly an hour later, Ji Lan returned with a few others carrying the ingredients Ye Zichen needed to condense his dharma body. The ingredients alone filled over seventy percent of the space in the room.

“These are all the ingredients you requested, master.”

“That’s it, then. I have no other requests. Except, don’t let anyone get close to this room.”

Ji Lan respectfully bowed and led the other yao away. The instant the door closed, Ye Zichen looked at the sparkling sea of treasures and inhaled. “Let’s begin!”

Before even starting the forging process, Ye Zichen had performed countless simulations.

So when it came time to actually condense his dharma body, he didn’t hesitate much. But of course, simultaneous were always different from the real thing, so he still added his ingredients with the utmost caution.

“Add divine wood.” He carefully placed the wood where the body’s shins would go. He meticulously placed each individual ingredient. If he made even a single mistake, all his effort would go to waste. Worse, he’d ruined all his materials.

As he prayed in earnest, the divine wood fit into place perfectly, so he took out another piece and did the other leg.

“Now the heavenly god fruit.”

“And the heavenly god stone.”

He added ingredients one by one until it came time to add the ten-thousand-year black jade.

“Alright bro, the foundation is up to you! Don’t let anything go wrong! I have enough jade now, but I don’t have much divine wood left.” Ye Zichen bowed repeatedly in apparent supplication, licked his lips, and tossed in the black jade all at once.

“Something’s not right.” When he tossed the black jade in, he realized that he’d added it in the wrong place. He wanted to remove it and try again, but it was already too late.

“My heavens!” Ye Zichen had already shut his eyes. He couldn’t bear to watch; the dharma body’s structure was practically in place, but he’d slipped up adding the ten-thousand year black jade! He couldn’t help but sigh and mentally prepare himself for failure.

“Wait,” said Ye Zichen. “Why didn’t it get destroyed?”

The rudimentary devil dharma body still stood there. The only place that was different from the diagram was its back, which had sprouted several sets of wings.

The original diagram had wings too, but only two of them, a single pair.

This one had twelve sets, or six pairs!

No matter how he looked at it, this version was far more imposing than the one in the instructions.

“Have I really profited from disaster?” Ye Zichen wasn’t quite certain. Should I go on? Or should I give up and cut my losses?

He looked it up and down for a while, but saw no signs of imminent rejection or collapse.

He then looked back at the room’s limited supply of divine wood. If he wanted to start over, he wouldn’t have enough thousand-year wood. He could only supplement his supply with wood that was nearing the thousand-year mark.

This would definitely influence the dharma body’s power upon completion!

“Might as well see this through. Worst case scenario, I start over. In any event, it doesn’t look like it’s rejecting the jade. Who knows? I might have inadvertently made it stronger in the end!” Ye Zichen no longer hesitated. He tossed the last materials towards the dharma body’s head.

“Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth supreme souls.” Ye Zichen placed each soul inside the dharma body’s abdominal cavity, one for each major organ. Next, he took the heart of a demon god and placed it where the dharma body’s heart should be.

This heart was, in fact, the rarest and most expensive of his ingredients. However, for some reason, the second floor of the Yao-Sealing Pagoda had them in a bizarre abundance. This was because back when the Five Elements Great Emperor was still alive, he’d once single-handedly fought his way into the Demon Realm and slaughtered countless demon gods.

Once the heart was in place, all that remained was the final step.

Leaving marks.

Condensing a supreme dharma body required leaving divine marks. Ye Zichen had acquired exquisite divine ink, and in just a few breaths of time….

“The final step!” He gulped, then flipped open the secret tome to look at the diagram. Finally, he emblazoned the mark directly onto the dharma body’s surface without the slightest error.

Six exquisite divine inkstones resulted in three hundred divine marks. The marking process took Ye Zichen a full three days. After leaving the final mark on its surface, all three hundred instantly gathered and condensed into one.

“It’s done!” Ye Zichen watched the dharma body absorb the finished mark. He was so excited, he leaped to his feet!

He’d gone days without sleeping to condense his dharma body. Although there’d been a few small slip-ups along the way, they hadn’t impacted the final result.

This was still its rudimentary form.

For the dharma body to reveal its true power required Ye Zichen to nurture it with his blood and divine power.

Even so, the rudimentary dharma body ahead of him already seemed quite imposing.

He’d condensed his dharma body on his first try. If anyone else found out about this, they’d practically explode with fury. Everyone save for the scions of powerful clans had to save up the resources for their dharma bodies bit by bit and endure numerous failures. It didn’t just take a mountain of resources; it was a kind of psychological torture.

“To me!” Ye Zichen said in a deep voice, and the rudimentary devil dharma body started fusing with him.

Once it entered his body, Ye Zichen immediately sensed his extra incarnation. So long as he wished, he could summon it immediately.

He’d been on edge throughout the forging process. Now that it was over, exhaustion washed over him.

He pushed open the door to the private room. There were two yao standing guard outside. Ji Lan had obviously arranged for them to keep watch and serve him after he left seclusion.

“Return the rest of the ingredients to the warehouse, then tell Ji Lan I’ve gone back.”

Ye Zichen left the Yao-Sealing Pagoda and returned to his room. He spread out his spatial awareness and found that his two attendants were still meticulously standing guard. As for just how serious they were….

They really had stopped Xue Mo outside. She was currently crouched obediently in the garden drawing circles in the sand.

Ye Zichen wanted to rest, but there was no guarantee that Xue Mo would go on waiting for him. He had no choice but to suppress his exhaustion and open the door.

The instant the door swung open, Xue Mo scampered up to him and tugged him by the hand. “Let’s go already! I already found someone to open a portal. I’ve been waiting for you!”