Innate Immortal Seed

Chapter 306: Chapter 304: Prospects of the Daoist Classic Cantongqi

Once mastered, the Glazed Fire Divine Body would imbue one’s skin with the true properties of Glazed Fire Jade, allowing it to absorb Spiritual Qi and mitigate damage.

Aside from the Inch and Mile Divine Technique, he could infer from Master Ge Cang’s tone that there was also a Secret Technique of mutual destruction, Jade and Stone Burn Together.

The Five Crystal Glaze Body had also been a significant help for Master Ge Cang to cultivate the Qiantian Primordial Yang Divine Thunder Net to its current level.

Without a physique even stronger than that of a Body Cultivator at Perfect Core Formation, how could he have withstood the rampaging Thunder Element Spiritual Power wreaking havoc throughout his limbs and bones?

The reason he had cultivated it to the fourth layer and didn’t plan to continue was not just because the two Tier Five Spiritual Materials, Five Crystal Divine Iron and Glazed Fire Jade, were hard to find.

More importantly, this Body Refining Technique had begun to deviate from his chosen path.

The path of the Great Dao was fundamental; Body Refining Techniques were merely a means of protection.

He was naturally very clear on which was more important.

But Bai Zichen didn’t have this problem. The path he had chosen did not conflict with the Five Crystal Glaze Body, so he could fully pursue the highest realm that even the Founding Ancestor had never reached.

’I wonder what power the Fifth Layer Realm holds. It’s not even mentioned in the Cultivation Technique... I suppose only by tracing it further back would you find that people like the Teaching Ancestor Master, True Monarch Shao Yang, ever truly reached it.’

Bai Zichen watched as his skin, which had taken on the texture of soft jade, slowly returned to normal, and the red glow around him gradually faded.

’Eight years just to get started, and sixteen more years of cultivation to reach this point. It took even me this long. For Brother Ge to have made progress in both his Cultivation and his Glazed Fire Divine Body without letting either fall behind... it’s truly terrifying.’

With his Pill Discussion Talent, as soon as he started something, he could deduce a rough estimate of the time required for the subsequent cultivation.

The Five Crystal Glaze Body was notoriously difficult to begin, which was why such a powerful Body Refining Technique was not well-known, a hidden pearl.

Among all the Core Formation True Men in the history of the Qingfeng Sect, aside from the Founding Ancestor and Master Ge Cang, not a single one had cultivated it to the fourth layer.

Of course, Bai Zichen was now about to become the third.

For a Core Formation True Man, spending over twenty years cultivating a Divine Technique or Secret Technique was very common.

This was especially true for a powerful Body Refining Technique like the Glazed Fire Divine Body, which, once mastered, could allow a Core Formation True Man to leap into the ranks of Liang Country’s top-tier Core Formation True Men based on physical strength alone.

Only in Bai Zichen’s eyes would such a duration be considered lengthy, making him want to find a way to shorten the process even further.

’It’s a shame the Secret Hall is out of Body Refining Elixirs like the Five-Eyed Blood Bodhi; otherwise, I could have saved a lot of effort... Another method would be to slay a Tier Three Demon Beast with a powerful body and abundant vital energy, then use its flesh and blood to refine a Great Medicine.’

But for it to be effective on the Glazed Fire Divine Body, he feared that even a Flood Dragon like the one that had occupied Feiyue Lake back then would not be enough.

Only the complete body of a Tier Three Peak Demon Beast would meet the requirements.

In the Jade Pool, the red light receded, and the water temperature gradually returned to normal.

Earlier, while Bai Zichen was in deep meditation and cultivation, the Eye of the Spirit Spring had nearly turned into a hot spring, its gushing water hot enough to boil an egg.

This had frightened the school of Spirit Fish so much that they no longer dared to charge toward the spring’s eye, instead circling and swimming only around the periphery.

Knowing that mastering the Glazed Fire Divine Body was only a matter of time for him and presented no real difficulty in cultivation, he shifted his focus to the Daoist Classic Cantongqi.

This technique was hailed as the Qingfeng Sect’s Fundamental Great Method, yet it was not a Cultivation Technique, nor did it contain any Heaven-Defying Divine Power.

Its cultivation difficulty was comparable to the Five Crystal Glaze Body, and in the entire Qingfeng Sect, only Master Ge Cang had truly mastered it.

Due to its various restrictions, and because the effort invested was not proportional to the returns, the Sect’s Foundation Establishment Cultivators had basically given up on the Daoist Classic Cantongqi.

At most, the stubborn ones would cultivate the first layer, only to discover they truly lacked the aptitude and decisively abandon it.

If this method hadn’t been personally transmitted across generations via Divine Thought by True Monarch Shao Yang and decreed by the Founding Ancestor, it would have been impossible for it to retain its position as the Qingfeng Sect’s Fundamental Great Method.

’I’m starting to realize that any Cultivation Technique the Founding Ancestor brought from across the sea is of a Heaven-Defying Level of difficulty, regardless of its effects... I wonder if it’s due to the stylistic differences between the Cultivation Realms of the two lands, or if the Founding Ancestor’s fellow disciples all had Heaven-Defying aptitude and weren’t afraid of such restrictions.’

Perhaps because his Realm had advanced, the difficulty of cultivating it had decreased significantly now that he was revisiting it.

Bai Zichen spent half a month mastering the first layer, and another fifty days to fully comprehend the second.

Only then did he stop, finally understanding what Ancestor Yang had meant back then when he said he couldn’t offer any guidance and that it all depended on one’s own comprehension.

The third layer of the Daoist Classic Cantongqi was the first time his ability to judge cultivation time had failed him since he had come up with the Pill Discussion, ’Stop when it is time to stop, move when it is time to move.’

With the Glazed Fire Divine Body, for example, he only had to do a quick calculation to deduce that he still needed to fully commit for seven years and one month just to get started.

Or that through diligent, unceasing cultivation, following the standard progression without any external aid, he could raise his True Essence to the limit of the Mid-Stage Core Formation in eighty-four years.

But when the target was changed to the third layer of the Daoist Classic Cantongqi, this ability was completely ineffective, revealing only a blur of Chaos.

It was as if this Cultivation Technique didn’t exist within the river of time at all, making it impossible for even his unique talent to predict or deduce the outcome.

’The first three layers only serve to purify True Essence. Any random Auxiliary Cultivation Technique could achieve a similar effect... and their cultivation difficulty is nowhere near this high, showing significant results very quickly.’

Bai Zichen remembered Ancestor Yang mentioning that the first three layers of the Daoist Classic Cantongqi could only purify True Essence; it was only from the fourth layer onwards that its uniqueness began to show.

It could speed up the Refinement of a Lifebound Magical Treasure, and at its deepest level, it could even awaken the Spiritual nature of a Magical Treasure.

This was quite terrifying. One had to know that not even a Tier Four Refiner had the confidence to refine a Spiritual Treasure; at best, they could infinitely increase their success rate in refining Top-Grade Magical Treasures.

The birth of a Spiritual Treasure was a profound mystery; no one could grasp the principles behind it.

It wasn’t a guarantee that you could create a Spiritual Treasure just by having high-enough tier Spiritual Materials and finding an Artifact Refining Grandmaster.

Few items were Spiritual Treasures from the moment of their creation, especially in the current Cultivation Realm.

Most started as Top-Grade Magical Treasures and, after hundreds or even thousands of years of use, had their Spirit Light sublimate, eventually meeting the criteria of a Spiritual Treasure at some point.

Thus, they would leap across the most crucial threshold for a Treasure and gain their own spirituality.

This was also why Super Sects with longer histories and more orderly legacies possessed a greater number of Spiritual Treasures.

The difficulty of a Magical Treasure’s promotion to a Spiritual Treasure was simply unprecedented; an ordinary Cultivator could not possibly accomplish it in a single lifetime.

It required generational inheritance, with successive Cultivators who practiced the same Cultivation Technique working tirelessly, using time to catch that burst of spirituality with a near-zero probability.

It was precisely because of this effect of the Daoist Classic Cantongqi that Bai Zichen had become motivated to cultivate it.

He possessed the Nine Yang Divine Fire Mirror, which only lacked a wisp of Innate Nine Yang True Flame to return to the Tier of a Top-Grade Magical Treasure.

Moreover, it had ten thousand years of history and its own innate spirituality, making the possibility of awakening and upgrading it much easier than with other Top-Grade Magical Treasures.

More importantly, the number of Tier Four Flying Swords in the Cultivation Realm was far too low.

While there were still chances to obtain a Tier Three Flying Sword through trade, seizure, or personal refining, the paths to acquiring a Tier Four Flying Sword were much narrower.

In the Cultivation Realm, ever since the fall of the Taibai Sword Sect, there had been no record of a Tier Four Flying Sword being directly refined.

They were either obtained from various Secret Realm Ruins or were the Lifebound Flying Swords of those few Divinity Transformation Sword Cultivators, forcibly elevated from Tier Three to Tier Four Flying Swords.

Furthermore, every single Tier Four Flying Sword was renowned and regarded as a priceless treasure by the Sword Cultivation Sects.

The Moon Xuan Sword was an exception among exceptions. When the Tianhe Sword Sect set the rules for the Sword Tomb Secret Realm, they never expected someone could attract a Tier Four Flying Sword to cross realms and actively seek a master without even entering the Third Layer of the Secret Realm.

Since it had already happened, and because both True Monarch Tang Fei and Yann Yuanzai regarded Bai Zichen’s talent as that of the number one Demon Sword Cultivator since the Near Ancient times, they went with the flow and allowed the Moon Xuan Sword to accept him as its master.

Otherwise, if it had been any other Sword Cultivation Sect, having an outsider take away their Tier Four Flying Sword, it would be a wonder if they didn’t fight you to the death.

It was precisely because Bai Zichen had considered this, knowing the probability of obtaining another Tier Four Flying Sword was extremely low, that he had this idea.

Could he use the Daoist Classic Cantongqi to sublimate a Tier Three Flying Sword, fully awaken its spirituality, and raise it to Tier Four?

Through normal means, this would be equivalent to directly transforming a Top-Grade Magical Treasure into a Top-Grade Spiritual Treasure, which was certainly impossible.

He could only hope that the Daoist Classic Cantongqi might create a sliver of possibility.

He didn’t need many. If he could use this to awaken two or three Tier Four Flying Swords, it would be enough.

’But looking at it this way, whether the Daoist Classic Cantongqi can awaken a Tier Three Flying Sword is unknown, and the cultivation time is a huge problem...’

Being unable to deduce a clear timeline filled Bai Zichen with uncertainty.

In a sense, his time was more precious than that of any other Core Formation True Man.

Because no matter which direction or field he invested his time in, he would always get a return.

Other Core Formation True Men might waste a 60-year cycle for a sliver of a chance at promotion, or spend a hundred consecutive years searching for an Ancient Secret Realm at specific times.

But Bai Zichen would never pay such a heavy price. With a hundred years spent just sitting in meditation and refining nature’s spiritual energy, he could break through to the Late-Stage Core Formation Realm.

’I’ll set it aside for now. I’ll ask Brother Ge about it the next time I see him...’

When it came to progress in cultivating the Daoist Classic Cantongqi, the only person in the entire Qingfeng Sect who could offer him guidance was Master Ge Cang.

...

「On Great Python Peak, a corner of Qi Mountain.」

Although this mountain peak was a Tier Three Spirit Land, its ore vein had long been depleted, and its vegetation was barren. It had been claimed by a Core Formation True Man as a habitat for his Lifebound Spiritual Beast.

But a few years ago, the Tier Three Spirit Beast was taken back by that Elder.

An endless stream of Cultivators arrived at Great Python Peak. In the sky, colossal Floating Battleships blotted out the sun, casting a shadow that covered the entire mountain.

But these magnificent, colossal Floating Battleships were covered in a crisscrossing network of damage. Of the tens of thousands of layered Forbidden Arrays, most had already lost their function.

The lead ship was in slightly better condition; the other two Floating Battleships had huge gashes torn open in them, and their decks were still stained with unwashed blood.

Collapsed Divine Thunder Pagodas, ubiquitous Sword Marks, charred scars left by Magic, and gaping holes blasted by all sorts of Magical Treasures told the tale of the brutal battles that had occurred on the Floating Battleships.

Three years ago, five Floating Battleships, carrying over thirty thousand Cultivators of the Celestial Principle Sect and the foundation they had accumulated over tens of thousands of years, formed a mobile array and departed from their own Tier Four Spirit Vein, heading for the unfamiliar Liang Country.