Chapter 672: Dual Divine Thrones

One attempt, two attempts... As time passed, Yan Jing's attempts exceeded a hundred.

But... he had yet to see any obvious progress.

The blending was smoother than when he had first begun. He could see several Divine Thrones slowly condensing and even showing signs of merging. However, the moment he added more, that fusion would instantly shatter.

"Huu..."

Yan Jing opened his eyes a sliver. A cluster of overflowing weird energy spilled from the narrow slits like mercury.

Within that weird energy flickered the faint gleam of blood.

Yan Jing's eyes were bleeding.

He was nearing his limit.

For ordinary entities, inheriting a single Divine Throne would drain all their strength, and failure meant eternal doom. The fact that Yan Jing still had energy left after over a hundred attempts was enough to prove his formidable power.

But even he was almost at the end of his rope.

"This isn't working... I can't keep going like this."

With a shift of his thoughts, Yan Jing immediately changed his approach.

He had originally prepared three strategies. Fusing all the Divine Thrones together was the best and most idealistic of the three.

The worst strategy was for his main body to inherit one Divine Throne, and then have his other identities each inherit one.

This way, although his main body would only hold one Divine Throne, his clones would each possess a total of two—the main body's and their own.

Judging from the current situation, the best strategy was definitely a dead end, but he hadn't yet reached the point of resorting to the worst one.

The weird energy in Yan Jing's palm surged slightly, and the state of fusion between the Divine Thrones at his fingertips shifted accordingly.

Instead of chaotically swirling together like a mishmash stew, they now maintained a set distance from one another, arranged in a straight line.

As Yan Jing recalled the fusion patterns between the Divine Thrones from a moment ago, the weird energy gently swayed.

Swoosh—

The first to step out of line was a Divine Throne resembling a speck of gray dust.

It originated from the Deity of the Earth Pathway, [Gray Dust].

It hovered quietly in his palm, waiting for the other Divine Thrones to approach.

The next to step out was a Divine Throne shaped like a water droplet.

It came from the Deity of the Ocean Pathway, [Eye of the Ocean Current].

As the two slowly drew near each other, a ring of weird energy immediately rippled between them.

Evidently, since they were not of the exact same pathway, their collision still produced some rejection.

But...

This was already an excellent outcome.

The weird energy in Yan Jing's palm surged, suppressing their rejection and forcing them together.

Hum— Hum— Hum—

After resisting a few times, the two finally showed no further signs of separation, as if they had truly fused into one.

Both the dust and the water droplet vanished, replaced by a Divine Throne that looked like a ball of mud.

Immediately after, a Divine Throne resembling a gust of wind stepped out and joined them.

It came from [Upward Kite], the Deity of the Sky Pathway.

Following another wave of fluctuations, the mud ball seemed to become much looser. It transformed from a solid sphere of mud into a highly structured orb, with currents of air swirling around its exterior and winding through its interior.

Next was the Divine Throne of the Frost Pathway.

Then came the Divine Throne of the Life Pathway.

After that was Time.

Then Space.

And finally... the Soul Pathway.

There were eight Divine Thrones in total. The integration of each new Divine Throne caused Yan Jing's consumption of weird energy to spike sharply.

Upon the addition of the final Divine Throne, the fused orb in Yan Jing's palm trembled slightly, erupting with an intensely powerful wave of weird energy.

Yan Jing furrowed his brows, knowing this was the most critical juncture.

From his palm, weird energy burst forth without restraint.

But the weird energy fluctuations simply couldn't be stopped. The addition of the soul seemed to endow the other Divine Thrones with a brand-new vitality; it was as if the weird energy in Yan Jing's palm had completely come alive, struggling desperately to break free from his control.

Even though the reserves of weird energy within Yan Jing's body were vast, they were depleting at a terrifying rate.

Just as it was finally about to bottom out, a pitch-black fruit materialized in front of him.

Yan Jing opened his mouth and took a bite, juices splattering.

The weird energy in his body was instantly replenished.

Anyone else might have run out of weird energy. But for him, he could lack anything in this world, save for weird energy—he had that in endless supply.

Hum, hum, hum—

Ripples of weird energy blossomed outward. An unknown amount of time passed, and the Fear Fruits in front of Yan Jing were replaced one after another. Finally, the Divine Throne in his palm stabilized.

What kind of Divine Throne was it? It was filled with a dreamy hue like crystal, yet it lacked physical substance. Instead, it resembled a sphere of light, gently bouncing in his palm.

Yan Jing didn't have time to admire it; he turned his attention toward condensing his second Divine Throne.

This time, Yan Jing similarly added the Divine Thrones in a sequence based on his own understanding.

First, he still used his physique as the foundation.

Then came his Bloodline.

If he stopped here, the process would be incredibly smooth.

At this moment, a Divine Throne resembling a miniature human appeared in his palm. Its facial features couldn't be seen clearly, but it was remarkably lively.

Yan Jing speculated that this was a Divine Throne related to his main body.

He had previously tried integrating the Soul Pathway into it as well, ultimately arriving at a Divine Throne that radiated an extremely formidable aura.

That miniature human was no longer static; as if possessing life, it performed various highly difficult movements at his fingertips, occasionally throwing punches and occasionally meditating.

But this time, Yan Jing wasn't planning on taking that route.

He gently manipulated a Divine Throne shaped like a Coffin and pressed it against the miniature human's glabella.

Instantly, the miniature human in his palm began to struggle violently. Its entire body shook non-stop, unwilling to come into contact with that Coffin.

But...

Ultimately, under Yan Jing's forceful insistence, the two merged together.

The miniature human lay down inside the Coffin. When the lid opened again, a bruised, purple miniature corpse was lying quietly inside.

And then...

The "corpse" opened its eyes, a trace of bewilderment showing in its gaze.

Hum—

Taking the opportunity, Yan Jing manipulated the Folly Pathway to merge into it.

A blue-black brain gently landed on the glabella of the zombie-like miniature human. Soon, the bewilderment in the small figure's eyes grew far more pronounced, making it look somewhat slow-witted and foolish.

"Good."

Yan Jing let out a long breath. At least, reaching this step in the fusion, there were no signs of impending collapse.

He was very careful with the fusion of this second Divine Throne, because it lacked the clear patterns and logic of the first. Sometimes, he could only rely on his imagination.

But now, the room for imagination was over; he could only rely on brute force.

Yan Jing manipulated the Divine Throne representing Fear, dropping it into the chest of the foolish miniature human.

Hum, hum, hum—

This time, a wave of weird energy far exceeding any of the previous ones erupted. The weird energy around Yan Jing instantly surged out, crashing like a tsunami over the miniature human, which was starting to struggle violently.

Faintly, Yan Jing saw that under the stimulation of Fear, the miniature human's eyes regained clarity a few times. It struggled incessantly amid the surging weird energy, even attempting to break free from Yan Jing's restraints.

But in the end, it was forcefully suppressed by Yan Jing.

If the miniature human coming into contact with Fear was an extremely unstable reaction on the verge of exploding, then the weird energy surrounding Yan Jing was a high-pressure reactor, locking this reaction down dead.

It could explode, but it could not fail.

Finally, the miniature human disappeared.

It was replaced by a "monster."

That monster seemed to barely maintain a humanoid shape, but the skin all over its body was completely cracked. Tentacles stretched out from the fissures, and a crack down its forehead split its head open, revealing the blue-black brain inside.

Its eyes flickered as waves of pure Bloodline aura burst forth. Its muscles were robust, visibly throbbing with the flow of blood.

"No problem."

Yan Jing opened his eyes slightly, vaguely seeing the appearance of the monster in his palm through the narrow slits.

Even though the thing looked a bit wrong, Yan Jing was highly satisfied.

This was his original vision.

Regardless of how bizarre the result was, as long as it formed into something tangible, it was fine.

"Next."

He exhaled, and the next Divine Throne leaped out.

That was also an extremely bizarre Divine Throne.

It was humanoid, but nowhere near as normal as the previous miniature human Divine Throne.

From head to toe, the humanoid entity grew hundreds of aged faces, and hundreds of hands sprouted from the sides of its body.

The different hands held various tools and artifacts.

[Old Man]

The Hundred Arts Pathway.

Looking at this Divine Throne, Yan Jing actually felt a bit hesitant.

The monster Divine Throne in his palm was already weird enough. Adding this one into the mix, heaven only knew what kind of monstrosity would appear.

But... ultimately, he still mobilized his weird energy.

The weird energy surged. Wrapped in these waves, the two entirely abnormal-looking Divine Thrones began to make contact.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Beyond Yan Jing's expectations, this fusion went much smoother than he had imagined.

Perhaps because both were humanoid, Yan Jing didn't have to expend too much weird energy before the two naturally merged together.

It still looked like that monster, except it now had hundreds of extra faces and hundreds of extra hands.

Moreover, every single hand was incredibly bizarre.

"..."

Peering through the slits of his eyelids at this weird energy, Yan Jing felt a drum beating in his heart. Although he could accept things being a bit bizarre...

Wasn't something this weird a little too wrong?

However, he quickly convinced himself.

As long as the Divine Throne hadn't collapsed, it meant its existence was justified.

Yan Jing nodded, feeling this logic made a lot of sense.

Thus, he mobilized his weird energy again. This time, he brought out a letter.

Representing traversal, it was the Messenger of the transmission pathway.

Very soon, the two blended together.

Things exceeded Yan Jing's expectations once again.

This fusion was even easier than the last.

Not long after, a new Divine Throne condensed in front of him.

Compared to before, its general appearance hadn't changed much. However, wings sprouted from the sides of the monster's temples—wings brimming with various eyeballs nestled between the feathers—and folded over to cover the top of its head. Additionally, a ring of belt-like fleshy tentacles had grown around its waist. Along these tentacles were fleshy pits, and nestled inside each pit lay a letter.

"..."

After observing it for a moment, Yan Jing nodded.

"Very reasonable."

He felt it was completely reasonable. The fact that the fusions were getting faster meant he was on the right path.

Next up was the final one.

He mobilized his weird energy, and the last Divine Throne appeared before the monster.

The final Divine Throne also looked humanoid.

Only, its body was plump, its eyes had been gouged out, and its arms were severed. Blood flowed down its chest, and its back was entirely pierced with objects resembling flywhisks.

[The Immortal]

This was the name of the Deity to whom the final Divine Throne belonged, of the Immortal Anomaly Pathway.

Yan Jing had always felt that this Divine Throne had absolutely no connection to its name, and its appearance was incomparably bizarre.

Therefore, every time he performed a fusion, he always left this Divine Throne for last.

And the facts proved that he was right.

No matter which Divine Throne it was, the moment it fused with [The Immortal], it would almost immediately trigger a collapse.

This thing was just as strange as its appearance. It even seemed to carry some sort of pollution; every time it approached another Divine Throne, it attempted to assimilate the other party for its own use.

Although this matched a certain aspect of Yan Jing's impression of the path of immortality...

It still made this Divine Throne highly incompatible with the rest.

However, this time, Yan Jing felt the probability of success was very high.

After all, compared to its counterpart, the Divine Throne currently in his palm was no worse in terms of outward appearance.

The weirder the appearance, the more broken the tricks.

Steeling his heart, Yan Jing slammed the two Divine Thrones together.

Boom!!!

It was as if two mountains had exploded in Yan Jing's palm. Even though he immediately channeled his weird energy to forcefully wrap around them both, the abnormally terrifying fluctuations still made his whole body jolt. Blood streamed down from his eyes.

Although he wasn't using any weird energy to strengthen himself right now, the fact that this backlash could force his current robust physique to shed tears of blood was enough to show the sheer ferocity of the weird energy fluctuations generated by their collision.

Yan Jing felt as if his palm were gripping an ocean caught in a massive storm. Fierce winds and torrential rain battered the surface, and the terrifying waves made this ocean tremble ceaselessly, faintly showing signs of capsizing.

Hum— Hum— Hum—

Yan Jing felt the restlessness of the two, but having reached this step, how could he let go?

"Condense for me!"

He flew into a rage. The weird energy around him skyrocketed as he directly entered the Third State of the Fear Stance. Countless Fear Fruits materialized in the air. The surging weird energy instantly pulverized his secluded cultivation room into dust, even sweeping across the surrounding Domain.

A thick pillar of weird energy surged upward, instantly piercing through the cloud layer and obliterating the space overhead.

It punched a massive hole in the sky.

Under the suppression of such powerful weird energy, the two Divine Thrones in his palm finally settled down.

They had indeed wanted to rebel, but now, having been forcefully slapped down, they could only become completely obedient.

The raging ocean in his palm also gradually calmed.

About ten minutes later, Yan Jing retracted the weird energy around him, and a brand-new Divine Throne materialized in his palm.

In terms of appearance, it still looked like that monster.

Only, there were many more flywhisks arrayed behind it, and its body was surrounded by a faint, pitch-black immortal qi.

Immortal qi...

Even the previous Divine Throne of [The Immortal] hadn't possessed such distinctly dense immortal qi around it.

Yan Jing observed it carefully, his gaze ultimately landing on the monster's slightly bulging abdomen.

Letting out a long breath, he manipulated the two Divine Thrones, slowly sinking them into his glabella.

This was the final gamble he needed to take this time.

He didn't know if there was any entity in existence that possessed dual Divine Thrones.

And he couldn't find anyone to ask.

He could only take the risk and gamble on it.

He was well-prepared. If the situation went south, he would immediately split off one Divine Throne and pass it to his other identity.

This way, although his main body wouldn't be a dual Divine Throne entity in the strict sense, the clone that could wield all of his main body's abilities would be a genuine dual Divine Throne entity.

Drip, drop...

At an identical pace, the two Divine Thrones slowly sank into Yan Jing's forehead.

The result defied Yan Jing's expectations.

This final hurdle was as simple and calm as taking a sip of water.

There seemed to be some sort of connection between the two Divine Thrones, achieving an unexpected balance. Very soon, they were completely absorbed and inherited.

An unknown amount of time later, Yan Jing opened his eyes.

Two auras of divinity materialized around him simultaneously.

[Creation]

[Mutation]

These were the two Divine Thrones belonging exclusively to him.