Chapter 430: Refinement

Sages wield boundless divine abilities.

Although Lu Ye did not reach the sage level in his previous life, in this life, he has glimpsed the path of a sage and has grasped what level of existence a sage truly is.

He saw how the Heartless Sage gave his heart to that woman. The events before the heart was given could not be deduced, for that was a sage's doing.

The Heartless Sage had long disappeared.

As a sage, even if he perished, his heart remained here—couldn't he be reborn?

Yet Lu Ye knew the Heartless Sage's thoughts.

Because Lu Ye, too, was a hopeless romantic.

At least in his previous life, he was.

This heart of his completely severed all ties of affection with the woman. From now on, this heart no longer belonged to him.

Similarly, whether the woman lived or died had nothing to do with him.

Even in death, it would not affect this heart in the slightest.

Nothing hurts more than a heart gone cold.

For one to give his heart to another, then embrace the heartless path and reach the level of a sage—it could only mean that the suffering the Heartless Sage endured in the past went through hell just like Lu Ye.

Because even after enduring all betrayals, Lu Ye still had the system by his side, but the Heartless Sage likely ended up completely alone.

Had Lu Ye not had the system, he too would likely have walked the path of heartlessness.

As the system continued its deductions, Lu Ye kept moving forward.

He pondered all this mess in his head, though not out of pity for the Heartless Sage—after all, the man had become a sage, way past needing Lu Ye's sympathy. He had his own damn problems to worry about!

The journey here had taken a long time, and the return would naturally take just as long.

"Ding! Deduction complete!"

The system pinged, dumping vast amounts of information into Lu Ye's head, which he started processing.

Refining the sage's heart was no walk in the park—even the Thief Demon Lord and the Demon Ancestor had failed to do so.

Of course, their goal had been the sage's path contained within the heart. Merely refining it into energy wasn't worth their time.

They'd need to set up a formation.

A formation to be arranged within the embryonic world.

It was called the Ten Realms Refining Formation.

"Not the Ten Heavens Refining Formation?" Lu Ye blurted out.

"Ding! First of all, I haven't recruited anyone—why should I refine myself?" the system shot back.

Lu Ye had to admit she had a point.

Holy shit! This badass formation was not something that could be thrown together casually.

For this thing packed serious power—if they actually pulled it off, even an Emperor would think twice about messing with it.

In truth, the power of a grand formation fundamentally depends on how much energy one can channel. The better the materials used to erect the formation, the greater its might; conversely, inferior materials yield a weaker formation.

Lu Ye was certainly unable to construct the complete, authentic version of the grand formation at present, so he had to improvise a scaled-down version.

Lu Ye began surveying the treasures he currently possessed.

Thanks to the Thief Demon Lord, thanks to the Endless Emperor.

The hoard was staggering.

The glittering assortment made his eyes swim. One by one, treasures were selected. Truly, these treasures were genuinely precious—many of the materials could even be used to set up the original Ten Directions World-Refining Formation.

But some materials for the original version were still missing, so he had to supplement with other materials to create the scaled-down version.

After lengthy preparation, this task didn’t require a divination system. With Lu Ye’s formation expertise, he could easily complete it, even achieving the pinnacle of what a formation could accomplish at this stage.

Now, to erect the formation!

The Nascent Soul appeared in front of the pile of treasures, opened its mouth, and devoured the treasures whole before returning to the dantian to begin its work.

The foundation of the grand formation began to take shape.

Soon, the Ten Directions World-Refining Formation was completed.

For Lu Ye, this was a mere formality.

The Nascent Soul emerged again, drawing a quick breath, its endearingly plump little face quite adorable.

Lu Ye took out the heart, and the Nascent Soul swallowed it once more.

His wariness spiked as beams of light flickered around him. Lu Ye’s aura continuously weakened, dropping lower and lower until it was nearly imperceptible.

"Begin?" the Nascent Soul asked.

Lu Ye closed his eyes, mentally cataloging every technique he could employ in his current state, then gave a sharp nod. Begin!

The heart instantly merged into the grand formation.

As beams of light flared up one after another, the heart entered the refinement process.

Lu Ye bated his breath, observing intently.

Perhaps because the grand formation wasn’t in a perfect state, or perhaps because the Saint’s heart was of a more profound grade, refining it wouldn’t be so easy.

Lu Ye remained utterly patient.

He waited while continuing his journey.

Suddenly, the Saint’s heart quivered imperceptibly—it began to melt.

At that very moment, an explosion occurred within the Star Ring above the Nascent Soul’s head.

A very faint explosion.

But this faint explosion was like a spark—soon followed by a second explosion, a third, a fourth...

Endless explosions.

Lu Ye’s countenance flickered.

Wrong!

A theory from Earth flashed through his mind.

That the birth of the universe might have been triggered by a Big Bang, and what was happening now was...

Lu Ye gasped sharply.

"System, begin deduction!"

The system seemed to grasp the severity of the situation and immediately initiated comprehensive analysis.

What was happening within Lu Ye's dantian was the birth of a universe.

Not even Providence had ever experienced such an event, yet it could analyze from the current circumstances.

The analysis results were even transmitted to Lu Ye in real-time.

Lu Ye saw explosions!

Infinite explosions!

Explosions that embodied all the beauty in the world.

Explosions are art.

He saw that when the explosions reached their peak, they would instantly consume his nascent soul, his physical body, and this very chaos.

"Deduce a solution!"

"*Ding* - analysis initiated."

Lu Ye wasn't about to wait helplessly. These explosions were caused by the chaotic surge of energy—he had to control the energy, to stabilize it.

It wasn't about preventing the explosions entirely, but ensuring they remained within safe parameters.

Otherwise, a new universe might form, but if he died in the process, it would all be meaningless.

All Lu Ye's Dao principles poured into this nascent world.

Influenced by the Sage's heart, the nascent world rapidly generated different energy types—disordered, chaotic, triggering explosions. The more explosions occurred, the more chaotic the energy became, triggering ever-larger collisions and detonations.

At the critical point, a cataclysmic explosion would occur, leaving not even a trace of Lu Ye behind.

The grand Dao began to control the energy, slowing the explosions.

But at that moment, the Sage's heart refined another strand.