Innate Immortal Seed

Chapter 270: Chapter 268: Emerging from Seclusion

In cultivation, time flows unmarked. Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

In the Bamboo Sea beside the White Jade Tower, Genggeng had already fallen into a deep sleep, whimpering softly.

It hugged its limbs tightly, a circle of white light appearing on its body—the external sign of its advancement.

At almost the same moment, the thousand-year-old turtle near the Lake Heart Island sank to the bottom of the lake and didn’t show itself for several days.

Zhou Suqing dove to the bottom of the lake to check and discovered that the old turtle’s back had turned completely golden. Its breathing was nearly nonexistent—or rather, it had slowed to one exhale every nearly half an hour.

It, too, had entered the final stage of its promotion as a Spirit Beast. Once it crossed this threshold, it would awaken the faint Dragon Race bloodline within its body and become a Tier Three Dragon Turtle.

From then on, it would have a long lifespan and could become the overlord of a region.

Of course, according to the agreement between the old turtle and Ancestor Yangg, if it advanced to a Tier Three Dragon Turtle, it would continue to protect the Qingfeng Sect for another five hundred years.

Zhou Suqing immediately reported this news to the Mountain Gate. If they could add another Tier Three Spirit Beast, Feiyue Lake could truly be considered impregnable.

A Tier Three Dragon Turtle would perfectly compensate for the shortcomings of her own Cultivation. Paired with the Three Thousand Six Hundred Rings Water Smoke Array, she wouldn’t have the slightest fear even if the Ghost Spirit Sect were to attack again as they had that day.

Just as the thousand-year-old turtle had captured the full attention of everyone at Feiyue Lake, the door to a Quiet Chamber in the long-silent White Jade Tower was finally pushed open.

Bai Zichen walked out slowly, his steps light and his face glowing with a faint luminescence.

He first went to check on Genggeng. Only after confirming that everything was normal and its Demon Power fluctuations were stable did he feel at ease.

’The old turtle has a profound foundation; advancing to Tier Three shouldn’t be a problem. The only question is how much of its Dragon Race bloodline it can awaken... For a Demon Beast, this kind of Great Tier advancement is one of the few opportunities they have to change their destiny.’

The old turtle at the bottom of the lake was like a dormant volcano, containing terrifying Demon Power.

The advancement of a Demon Beast was vastly different from that of a human Cultivator.

With just a single glance, Bai Zichen could tell that the old turtle was worthy of being called a king among its kind. The depth of its accumulation far exceeded that of a normal Tier Two Peak Demon Beast.

No wonder Ancestor Yangg had said it was not far from advancing when he first took it in. All these years had passed before it finally showed a reaction.

This ability to forbear and gradually build up its strength was truly a testament to the Turtle Race’s true teachings.

Becoming a Tier Three Demon Beast was already a certainty. The only variable was how much benefit it would gain from the advancement and to what extent it could awaken the sliver of Dragon Race bloodline within it.

’If I were to take out the Holy Beast True Blood right now and just let the old turtle feel it from a close distance, its Dragon Race bloodline purity would probably increase severalfold...’

Bai Zichen let out a chuckle. It was just a sudden whim; he would never actually do such a thing.

It wasn’t his Lifebound Spiritual Beast, and the Holy Beast Essence Blood was far too important. Before he reached the Nascent Soul Realm, he couldn’t possibly reveal it in public.

He didn’t watch any longer. He boarded the Seeking Truth Ship and flew straight for the Sect’s Main Mountain.

In five years of Cultivation, he had consumed and refined a total of fourteen Guangling Pills, saving him over a hundred years of arduous training.

In the last few months, if he hadn’t wanted to save a Guangling Pill, he could have already reached the Peak of Early-Stage Core Formation.

As it was, he was only about two years away from completing the early stage and officially stepping into Mid-Stage Core Formation.

Going from Early-Stage to Mid-Stage Core Formation in less than twenty years—not even someone with a Celestial Spiritual Root and a Perfect Core Formation could achieve such divine speed.

Qu Yang, the current Saint Heir of the Holy Lotus Sect, possessed a Fire Element Celestial Spiritual Root. His talent, disposition, Comprehension, and aptitude were all first-rate.

Even with the best Cultivation Resources and the entire Holy Lotus Sect backing him, it still took him over forty years after reaching Core Formation to cultivate to the Mid-Stage.

And for that, he was already seen as the future hope of the Holy Lotus Sect.

He was considered to have the Nascent Soul Form, capable of upholding the Holy Lotus Sect’s prestige after True Monarch Jiulian passed away.

However, Bai Zichen knew this was a one-time thing; once he reached Mid-Stage Core Formation, his Cultivation speed would no longer be this fast.

First, as his Realm increased, the effect of the Guangling Pill would be halved, making it seem less significant compared to the longer time required to cultivate in the Mid-Stage Core Formation.

Second, resistance to such a stunningly potent Elixir would develop more easily.

Even if he had the clout to buy more Guangling Pills from the Danxia Sect, he estimated he would hit his limit after consuming just a few more.

After that, the Elixir’s effects would plummet until they reached zero.

But as long as he had his powerful Sacred Body that ignored bottlenecks, his overall Cultivation speed wouldn’t be much slower than that of a Celestial Spiritual Root Cultivator.

Take Qu Yang, for example. It was said he was stuck at the bottleneck to Mid-Stage Core Formation for a full seven years.

And even so, he was praised as the second coming of True Monarch Jiulian, the future hope of the Holy Lotus Sect.

Bai Zichen had originally planned to cultivate all the way to Mid-Stage Core Formation in one go to give the people of his Sect a little shock, but he received a reply from Master Ge Cang and had no choice but to come out of seclusion early.

The Seeking Truth Ship flew to the Mountain Gate. He first found Wei Dao, and the two of them went to the Cloud Platform on the highest peak together.

Master Ge Cang stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the Sea of Clouds. A Thunder Bead hovered before him, rotating and emitting a heart-pounding aura.

It clearly only had the fluctuations of a Low-Grade Magical Treasure, yet as soon as the two Core Formation cultivators stepped off the Flying Ship, their gazes were drawn to it, unable to look away.

”Congratulations, Brother Ge, on successfully refining the Acquired Thunder God Pearl! You’ve taken another step on the path to the Nascent Soul Realm!”

Wei Dao’s face was filled with joy. If Master Ge Cang could form his Nascent Soul, it would be a monumental boon for both the Qingfeng Sect and for him personally.

The Qingfeng Sect would leap to the status of a Nascent Soul Sect, its power would soar, and the Cultivation Resources available to support Core Formation True Men would naturally increase.

Moreover, with Master Ge Cang’s precedent, his experience in forming a Nascent Soul would be passed down.

Wei Dao himself could also refine an Acquired Thunder God Pearl and attempt to break through to a higher Realm.

Every Core Formation True Man, unless their path was completely severed, held a sliver of hope for the Nascent Soul Realm.

”This treasure is rare, a work of miraculous craftsmanship... Perhaps because it reduces the Celestial Tribulation, it incurred Heaven’s envy, which is why it only formed as a Low-Grade Magical Treasure despite being made with Spiritual Materials worthy of a Top-Grade Magical Treasure.”

Master Ge Cang reached out and absorbed the Acquired Thunder God Pearl into his body, and the heart-pounding, oppressive feeling immediately vanished.

”Furthermore, after withstanding a Celestial Tribulation once, the Thunderfall Divine Bead is invariably destroyed, without exception. From the contents of the Inheritance Stele, one can glimpse the full picture. The Naihe Sect is truly worthy of being the strongest sect in the mysterious Bitter Cold and Desolate Land; all of its inheritances are extraordinary. Once you two junior brothers reach the Late-Stage Core Formation Realm, you can both begin preparing for the refining of the Acquired Thunder God Pearl. A few of the Spiritual Materials inside are exceptionally rare and not so easy to collect.”

A Magical Treasure that can withstand and weaken the Celestial Tribulation certainly cannot be judged by its superficial grade.

In terms of both refining difficulty and the Spiritual Materials consumed, it was comparable to a Top-Grade Magical Treasure.

The Sea of Suffering, stretching for millions of miles, made the Bitter Cold and Desolate Land seem more like a geographical term than a place that Cultivators of the Five Domains could actually reach.

If not for a powerful Cultivator claiming to be a Saint Heir of the Naihe Sect who traveled the Northern Domain tens of thousands of years ago, leaving behind many stories, the world would not have known that such a sect existed beyond the Sea of Suffering.

A Saint Heir of the Naihe Sect would appear every few centuries. They never hid their identities and were all at the Core Formation Perfection Realm.

However, in the last ten thousand years, no news of a Naihe Sect Saint Heir has spread through the Cultivation Realm. It seems that this Sect has ceased its tradition of sending its Saint Heirs to travel the Northern Domain.

”Thank you for the guidance, Brother Ge.”

Bai Zichen and Wei Dao thanked him in unison. Not a single Core Formation True Man would dare say they didn’t need a Tribulation Crossing Magical Treasure like the Acquired Thunder God Pearl.

Even though Bai Zichen had the Mysterious Holy Body and would face no bottlenecks on his way to the Nascent Soul Realm, making a Supreme Spiritual Pill like the Nascent Soul Pill completely unnecessary, the Celestial Tribulation was an external trial, a test from heaven and earth, something never encountered in any of the previous Realms.

If he made no preparations and simply believed his Sacred Body would help him pass the tribulation, he’d truly have cultivated his brain into mush.

When a bolt of Celestial Thunder struck, the heavens wouldn’t show him special mercy and make the lightning strike crooked just because he had a Sacred Body.

”Sit.”

Master Ge Cang gestured to a long table and sat on a cattail cushion. ”Junior Brother Bai, you left a message saying you had an urgent matter. What is it?”

Wei Dao also looked at him with confusion. Bai Zichen had hurriedly dragged him to the Cloud Platform on the peak, saying there was an important matter the three of them needed to discuss face-to-face.

The Qingfeng Sect could be said to be at its absolute peak since its founding.

Master Ge Cang stood at the very pinnacle of Core Formation True Men, representing the highest level of combat power beneath a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

Wei Dao and Bai Zichen were both Core Formation True Men with Perfect Core Formations and vast futures ahead of them.

Bai Zichen in particular had a Cultivation speed that surpassed even Master Ge Cang’s in his youth. At the same time, his Sword Dao Talent was outstanding, making him a peerless and deadly individual capable of killing those in higher realms.

Among the younger generation of disciples, the Sect had two Core Formation Seeds in Zhou Suqing and Qi Yue.

In the generation after that, among those who had just reached Foundation Establishment or were still True Disciples, there were several others with immense potential.

Coupled with the rapid expansion in the scale and quality of disciple recruitment, the Sect’s future prospects could only get brighter.

Their great external enemy, the Ghost Spirit Sect, was no longer a major threat and would be annihilated sooner or later.

Aside from the matter of the Burial Immortal Valley, which still caused Master Ge Cang some anxiety, everything else was but a minor ailment.

Things like a shortage of Spirit Land, a lack of resources for ordinary disciples, and unfairness in the selection process...

All of these were matters for the Sect’s upper echelon, the Sect Leader, and the Five Halls Masters to consider, far from being urgent enough to be called an emergency by a Core Formation True Man.

”On my trip, I obtained a piece of intelligence that should be about seventy or eighty percent reliable...”

Bai Zichen’s expression was grave as he summarized the contents of the Sound Transmission he received from the Demon Cultivator in the black mist at the Pill King Conference.

”Blood God True Man is not dead. He has returned to the Blood Sea Sect in the Southern Domain. Furthermore, his Cultivation has been fully restored, and he has set foot on the path to the Nascent Soul Realm... The Blood Sea Sect has a custom: every Nascent Soul True Monarch must slaughter several sects, both to display their might and to gather a Blood River as required by their Cultivation Technique. According to my informant, once Blood God True Man returns to Liang Country, our Sect is highly likely to be among his targets.”

”Is... is this news true?”

Wei Dao shot to his feet, nearly knocking over the long table. Realizing his loss of composure, he calmed himself and sat back down.

”Junior Brother Bai, it’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that this news is too shocking...”

”I also know how critical this is. This is information I traded for with three Top-Grade Demon Treasures from someone I suspect is a high-ranking member of the Blood Demon Sect... He used a Dao Heart Oath to guarantee the truth of his words. I believe at least the majority of it can be trusted; at worst, he may have deceived me on some minor details.”

Bai Zichen looked toward Master Ge Cang and asked.

”Brother Ge, in your opinion, how long does it take to go from setting foot on the path to the Nascent Soul Realm to truly becoming a Nascent Soul Cultivator?”