Splitting body and soul is the most agonizing ordeal imaginable. When Evan Chu separated a wisp of his soul from his body, the pain nearly made him black out—it was a feeling beyond words, far worse than having his heart pierced. He’d felt it once before, back when his Immortal Infant entered the Timewheel Bracelet, and that time he’d nearly died. Now, it was the same torment all over again.
The higher your cultivation, the more excruciating it is to split your soul—because your soul itself grows stronger. Evan’s heart roared again and again inside him, but to raise his strength, no matter how much it hurt, he had to grit his teeth and endure. He knew there was still a woman he loved, waiting day and night for him to come and marry her.
By now, Evan’s lips were bitten bloody, golden blood dripping down nonstop. His fingernails dug deep into his palms, but he stopped himself through sheer force of will. Sweat had soaked his clothes, and his face was so pale he looked like he might collapse at any moment.
Feeling that separated wisp of soul, Evan managed a bitter smile. The Ninefold Golden Body Art would force him to split his soul nine times—each time harder, each time more agonizing. He truly worried whether he could withstand it all.
Slowly, he wrapped the separated soul in Immortal Essence to keep it from dissipating. Gritting his teeth, Evan followed the Earth Golden Body cultivation method and began releasing earth-element particles bit by bit. The earth-element sphere in his dantian started spinning rapidly.
Evan kept the output slow—his soul wisp was far too fragile. He had to succeed in one go; if he failed and had to split his soul again, he’d never survive it. As time passed, the pain of soul-separation gradually eased, and that wisp was slowly enveloped by earth element, growing denser and denser.
Evan sped up the flow of earth element. Once the soul wisp was fully encased in earth particles, he stopped. By now, the earth element had condensed into a gray mound—distinct from ordinary soil.
Looking at the mound, a long-lost smile appeared on Evan’s face. He started forming hand-seals, rapidly performing the Ninefold Golden Body Art’s creation method. White flashes of light shot from his fingertips into the mound again and again.
After countless repetitions, Evan was utterly spent. But now the mound had reshaped itself into a person identical to him—a figure made of earth, with facial muscles and features visible, though these were formed from earth-element particles, not real flesh.
Evan could clearly sense the soul-link between himself and the Earth Golden Body. With a single thought, he made it walk a few steps—it did exactly as commanded. He told it to stop, and it stood perfectly still.
The Earth Golden Body of the Ninefold Golden Body Art was finally complete. Now the real challenge was to raise its strength—make it stronger, more agile, and able to think for itself. Only then could it truly serve as a proper avatar.
Evan knew that to strengthen the Earth Golden Body, he’d have to guide it using his Divine Sense. Right now, its cultivation wasn’t even at the level of a regular Immortal—the road ahead was long. It couldn’t just replace him outright; there are no free lunches in this world. The Ninefold Golden Body Art was already heaven-defying enough—if the avatar appeared with equal strength to the main body right away, it would be even more monstrous, and the heavens would surely punish him.
But Evan wasn’t too worried about that. He didn’t know how much time had passed while forging the Earth Golden Body, but with a thought, he made it return to his body. When he checked with Divine Sense, he couldn’t sense where the Golden Body was at all—something he found very strange.
Back at the cultivation site, Roxanne Lin and Macy Mei had already stopped training. The two women were chatting happily, but when Evan returned, they both came to greet him. “Where did you go, Evan? You were gone for ten years! Both Macy and I hit a bottleneck in our cultivation and had to stop. What were you up to?”
Evan was stunned. He stared in disbelief and asked, “You’re saying I was gone for ten years? How is that possible? It felt like only a few dozen days to me! Could it be that time really moves that fast inside the Timewheel Bracelet?”
“Fast? Not really. Time here is the same as outside—a day has the same number of hours. But this is a special space that can bend time’s rules, so a hundred years here only counts as one year outside. It’s a great place for cultivation, but it can drive you crazy too. Spending a whole century in one place gets old fast,” Roxanne explained.
“Yeah, this place is huge. You two can wander wherever you like—the best way to raise your mental realm is by gaining insight. Once you reach that, your cultivation will naturally improve. As for me, I need to use the rest of my time to break through to the Da Luo Golden Immortal realm,” Evan said.
The two women didn’t say more and turned to leave—it’s taboo to disturb someone in the middle of cultivation, and they both understood that. Evan, meanwhile, summoned the Earth Golden Body in front of him with a thought. He didn’t feel any sensation in his body at all, as if the Earth Golden Body hadn’t come from inside him.
He began absorbing the dense Immortal Essence, splitting his focus so the Earth Golden Body could absorb as well. This went on for nearly a hundred years. During that time, Roxanne Lin, Macy Mei, and Serena Frost visited many times. Each was shocked by the existence of Evan’s Earth Golden Body—and by how terrifying his talent had become.
Of course, Evan had made sure to dress the Earth Golden Body before anyone saw it—otherwise, misunderstandings would have been inevitable, especially with Serena Frost. As time passed, the Earth Golden Body underwent a huge transformation: its originally gray, earthen form gradually turned into a normal human shape, complete with meridians and flesh-like tissue, looking exactly like Evan.
If the two stood side by side now, no one could tell them apart—just like when Macy Mei used her illusion techniques and even Evan couldn’t see through them. Still, the Earth Golden Body only had a single, obedient soul thread and couldn’t think for itself; it could only act according to Evan’s will.
After a hundred years, Evan finally broke through to the Da Luo Golden Immortal realm—thanks to the incredibly rich Immortal Essence. Goldwing and Shadow advanced to early Heavenly Immortal, while Roxanne Lin and Macy Mei reached mid and late Heavenly Immortal respectively. Every one of them had made huge progress.