The Dao Yi Divine Water truly lived up to its reputation. Yang Kai stowed it away with a pleased grin, then consulted Zhu Jiuyin on the refinement method before returning to his sealed chamber to continue his seclusion.
Within the chamber, Yang Kai sat cross-legged and activated the grand formation to ward off any disturbances. Only then did he carefully produce the jade bottle containing the Dao Yi Divine Water and uncap it.
The bottle held only a meager amount — less than half full, perhaps a few dozen drops at most. It seemed the previous bearer under Zhu Jiuyin had consumed a fair portion. Still, even a single drop of Dao Yi Divine Water was exceedingly rare; a few dozen drops were more than enough for his purposes.
Calming his mind and focusing his spirit, Yang Kai surged his divine sense into the bottle and enveloped a single drop, drawing it out.
Encased within the jade bottle, the divine water had been unremarkable in appearance, but the moment it was exposed to the open air, it released an extraordinarily peculiar fragrance. Yang Kai's nostrils flared involuntarily, and his gaze grew faintly glazed. He murmured to himself, "Smells so good… It must taste absolutely delicious…"
As he spoke, his divine sense was already guiding the drop of Dao Yi Divine Water toward his mouth.
But the next instant, Yang Kai jolted violently, snapping back to his senses. He clamped his mouth shut and redirected the drop toward the space between his brows instead.
This divine water was not meant to be ingested — it had to be refined through his Dao Seal, much like assimilating the powers of Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements. Swallowing it outright would accomplish nothing whatsoever.
Zhu Jiuyin had warned him that the refinement process would come with certain disturbances. He hadn't taken it seriously at the time. Only now did he realize he had been somewhat careless.
Fortunately, his reflexes had been swift enough, or he would have wasted an entire drop.
Strangely enough, although the Dao Yi Divine Water was a tangible substance, it vanished completely the moment it was pressed into the space between his brows. In the next instant, Yang Kai felt a faint coolness spread across his Dao Seal, as though something had infiltrated it.
He quickly immersed his consciousness to inspect.
Upon examination, he found his Dao Seal shrouded in a misty, luminous sheen. The Dao Yi Divine Water was steadily seeping into the seal, and a peculiar force radiated outward, being absorbed by his Dao Seal in turn. As time passed, Yang Kai could indeed feel his Dao Seal growing somewhat more solid.
The Dao Seal was the manifestation of every cultivator's personal Grand Dao. All of a cultivator's power was concentrated within it. A cultivator's foundation directly determined the sturdiness of their Dao Seal — a strong foundation meant a more robust seal, while a poor one resulted in one that was loose and fragile.
Though no one had ever formally graded Dao Seals, in practice they could be ranked into tiers of varying quality.
Yang Kai's Dao was the Grand Dao of Space. His mastery of the Dao of Space ran exceedingly deep, which was why he had been able to shake off the pursuit of numerous Low-Rank and Mid-Rank Open Heaven cultivators after seizing the Golden Crow's corpse.
The Dao of Space was one of the Three Thousand Grand Daos — and among the most profound at that. Having condensed his Dao Seal through the Dao of Space, Yang Kai's seal was naturally far beyond what ordinary cultivators could achieve. This was one of the foundations that allowed him to condense power of Seventh-Grade or higher.
The other foundation was the wood element power condensed from the essence of the Tree of Timelessness — a matter of fortuitous circumstance.
That said, despite its quality, his Dao Seal still had enormous room for improvement. Fortunately, he had not yet stepped into the Open Heaven Realm. Once he had, the seal would be set permanently, and even obtaining the Dao Yi Divine Water would do him no good.
The miraculous Dao Yi Divine Water permeated his Dao Seal, initially bringing a thread of cool sensation, but almost immediately giving way to a warm, soothing comfort. Yang Kai dared not slacken and devoted himself fully to the refinement.
However, refining the Dao Yi Divine Water proved genuinely difficult. That single small drop took an entire month of dedicated effort before it was fully assimilated.
Comparing his Dao Seal before and after, Yang Kai furrowed his brow slightly — the improvement didn't seem all that significant, roughly ten percent at most.
But upon reflection, his Dao Seal had already been exceptional to begin with. With such a high starting point, the degree of improvement the Dao Yi Divine Water could provide was naturally limited. For someone else's Dao Seal, the results would likely be far more dramatic.
If a single drop yielded a ten-percent improvement, wouldn't ten drops double its strength?
Without pausing, he released another tendril of divine sense to envelop a second drop and continued refining. The jade bottle held at least several dozen drops — an opportunity too rare to squander. Yang Kai naturally intended to push his Dao Seal to its absolute peak.
One drop after another was refined and assimilated. His Dao Seal grew ever more unyielding, firm as bedrock. However, as time wore on, the benefits from each successive drop gradually diminished.
Another year passed, and Yang Kai opened his eyes, exhaling a long breath of turbid qi.
Over the course of that year, he had consumed more than a dozen drops of Dao Yi Divine Water, raising his Dao Seal to its absolute limit. Further refinement would be pointless — it would only be wasteful.
He put away the jade bottle and turned his scrutiny inward, quite satisfied with the results.
Now, even if a Ninth-Grade material were placed before him, he was confident he could refine it with ease, with no worry that his Dao Seal couldn't bear the strain.
This period of seclusion had brought him tremendous benefits. With his Dao Seal fortified, not only could he condense higher-grade power, but henceforth in battle, even if he encountered techniques that targeted one's Dao Seal, he need not fear them overmuch.
He emerged from seclusion once more to meet with Zhu Jiuyin.