Primordial Harem System

Chapter 343 Dead Path

Shen Yuan's steadiness, grounded by his extensive experiences taming chaotic powers, kept each phase meticulously under control.

[Be careful, Yuan'er. Spatial Qi has the potential to slip out of your dantian if you overcompress it.]

He chuckled under his breath. "Don't worry, Lan'er. I can handle this much easily. Besides, I can't let a little distortion keep me from leveling this dantian up to match the others."

Hours passed—or was it minutes in the secluded dimension of his concentration?

Step by step, Shen Yuan guided the Void Transversing Art upward, layer by layer, until the swirling energy at his sixth dantian rivaled the roiling power in his other apex-level dantians.

The final compression cycles transformed each slip of Qi into an interwoven pattern of miniature subspace filaments.

A faint silver swirl emerged on the spiritual plane, resembling a cosmic vortex hidden in a starry night.

As the dantian neared the apex of Origin Core Creation, it automatically sought synergy with his lightning, wind, radiant, and flame energies.

Shen Yuan suppressed any forceful merging—he needed them all balanced yet distinct. Instead, he let them acknowledge each other's presence, forging a sort of truce between the diverse elemental powers.

At last, the hush of compression ended. Shen Yuan exhaled a long breath, feeling a subtle ripple of satisfaction in the air.

"Fucking finally."

Space rippled around him with each of his moves, a clear sign of his growing mastery over the spatial element.

He smiled—another piece in his multi-dantian puzzle reached its desired level.

He opened his eyes, scanning inward with his spiritual sense. Now all six chosen dantians—second, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh—glowed with a matching brilliance at the ninth level of Origin Core Creation.

None overshadowed the others; all were in a state of perfect equilibrium.

A moment of reflective stillness settled over him.

For an ordinary cultivator, raising even a single core to the cusp of the Extreme Origin Cores Realm demanded decades of focus.

She paused, as though measuring how much to say.

[I won't reveal the specifics, Yuan'er. I won't even name it. You'd only be tempted by the idea, and I'd rather you not chase a method that's wholly unsustainable. Not even Pre-Natal Chaotic Lifeforms dared approach that path fully, from what I know.]

Shen Yuan's lips twitched into a faint smirk. "You're being deliberately vague, huh. So there's some secret in the cosmos even you'd caution me never to pursue?"

[I'm sure you can guess why.]

A sigh escaped her, laced with exasperation and protectiveness.

[You have a habit of chasing what others call impossible. This time, I'd prefer not to fan those flames.]

He considered pushing further—part of him itched for more knowledge, more challenges to conquer. Yet he saw something in her caution that gave him pause. "All right," he relented, rubbing the back of his neck. "I won't pry. Not now, anyway."

A slender thread of relief threaded through her next words.

[Thank you. Sometimes restraint is the wisest approach, especially when you're already forging a novel path of your own.]

A soft ripple of Qi danced between Shen Yuan's fingertips. "So, if cultivating all elements at once isn't that 'dead path'—someone actually accomplished it, you say? Reached the so-called peak with every element in their arsenal?"

Her response was immediate.

[Yes. One individual from ancient, near-mythical records. A true anomaly who defied normal logic—but their success remained an outlier, not the typical blueprint. And it did not involve that hush-hush route I warned you about.]

Shen Yuan inhaled, letting the idea spark his imagination: an unknown predecessor wielding every element, surpassing known bounds of mortal and immortal alike. "So the possibility of my method being viable still stands—no matter how slim or unrecorded."

[In principle, yes. In reality... well, you're already living proof that the improbable can thrive.]

Shen Yuan's smirk returned, more confident than before. "Sounds good to me. There's at least a precedent for success, so I'm not the first fool to try uniting multiple elements. That's enough hope."

[A fool, but possibly a successful one, yes.]

She chuckled faintly.

[But you understand now why I said some things are better left unknown? This truly 'dead path'—the undisclosed one—wouldn't help you. It'd only lead you astray. And no, it has nothing to do with how many or which elements you cultivate.]