Innate Immortal Seed

Chapter 324: Chapter 322: 3 Great Nascent Souls Gather at Black Mountain

The heavens and earth roiled as countless motes of spiritual energy gathered. A Heaven-Sent Dew fell from the sky as a Rainbow Bridge stretched across it.

A Nascent Soul Phenomenon enveloped the land for a hundred miles.

A Nascent Soul that looked identical to Master Suihan, only much younger, leaped into the sky. It held the Ice Phoenix Hairpin in its hands and wore a Jade Ring around its neck.

Having passed the Celestial Tribulation, it was now basking in the Heaven-Sent Dew, the phenomenon that always follows a successful transformation into a Nascent Soul.

Droplets of dew, saturated with the True Intent of the Great Dao, surged into the Nascent Soul along with swarms of nature’s spiritual energy, repairing the Primordial Qi it had expended during the Tribulation Crossing.

At the same time, it deepened the cultivator’s comprehension of the Great Dao and rapidly strengthened the True Essence within the Nascent Soul.

Ninety percent of the dew was absorbed by the Nascent Soul, with only a small amount falling to the ground.

If a Spirit Plant was touched by it, it would advance in tier and mutate.

If a Demon Beast consumed it, it would gain Spiritual Wisdom and have an easier time advancing.

Even the drops that sank into the earth would subtly improve the Spirit Land over time.

A Five-Colored Radiance then shot out from the Rainbow Bridge, shining upon the Nascent Soul. To the naked eye, Master Suihan’s Nascent Soul grew a full size larger.

That growth alone saved him at least a 60-Year Cycle of Cultivation.

While the Heaven-Sent Dew was a Nascent Soul Phenomenon that every Nascent Soul True Monarch experienced, the Rainbow Bridge appeared for only half of them at most.

To have both Nascent Soul Phenomena at once was a sign that this Nascent Soul True Monarch’s foundation was profound and far beyond ordinary.

”A Nascent Soul True Monarch!”

Zhong Li was much younger and had been personally taught by Master Suihan. Though they were nominally martial brothers, he truly saw Suihan as a teacher and elder.

Tears of joy streamed down his face as he completely forgot the tenet of his Ice Heart Mirror Cultivation Technique.

”Our Sect is on the verge of prosperity! After ten thousand years, we can finally leave this frozen wasteland!”

Dong Shuyi’s expression was ecstatic. He could feel the terrifying pressure emanating from the sky—a pressure far beyond any Core Formation True Man, unique to the Realm of a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

Nearby, by an ice pillar, Fairy Lianyu’s expression was complicated, and the scene felt somewhat surreal to her.

’I wonder how much my Six Desires Sacred Sound actually helped,’ she thought. ’And will Master Suihan—no, I should call him True Monarch Suihan now—still honor the promise he made that day?’

An abrupt tolling of a bell resounded through the heavens and earth, ringing in the ears of every cultivator within a hundred-mile radius.

Regardless of distance, there was no difference in volume; it was as if the bell were being struck right beside them.

”The Sound of the Great Dao!”

The term flashed through Fairy Lianyu’s mind. She cast aside all distracting thoughts and immersed herself completely in the tolling of the bell.

This was a reward from the Heaven and Earth Dao for a cultivator who had successfully formed a Nascent Soul. All cultivators who heard the Sound of the Great Dao could share in this gift, though the benefits each received would vary.

Everyone, including True Monarch Suihan himself, sank into a state of comprehension, meditating on the Sound of the Great Dao. The entire Ice Soul Palace fell silent.

CLANG!

A sharp, ear-piercing noise shattered the Sound of the Great Dao. Every cultivator felt dizzy and nauseous, violently ejected from their state of enlightenment.

The three Core Formation True Men suffered the most. They already had some cognitive understanding of the Great Dao True Intent and had been on the verge of touching it.

The deeper their immersion in the Sound of the Great Dao, the more severe the backlash they suffered.

A flash of black energy appeared on Fairy Lianyu’s face before her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground.

”What happened? How could the Sound of the Great Dao just stop so abruptly?”

Tears of blood streamed from Zhong Li’s eyes, and his True Essence ran rampant through his body like an untamed wild horse.

In the sky, the Nascent Soul plummeted as if struck by lightning, only managing to halt its fall just before hitting the ground.

But the features on its small face were twisted and contorted, clearly in extreme agony.

The Nascent Soul returned to his body. True Monarch Suihan flickered and appeared before the others, his voice raspy. ”The Crimson Immortal Grass has been my undoing!”

The Crimson Immortal Grass was a Spirit Grass he had consumed in his youth, which had granted him a hundred more years of life than his martial brothers.

But he never expected that after successfully crossing the tribulation and becoming a Nascent Soul True Monarch, the hidden danger of that mysterious Spirit Grass would finally erupt.

It turned out that the extra hundred years of life had to be paid back. If he had remained in the Core Formation Realm and simply passed away in meditation, it would have been fine.

But upon transforming into a Nascent Soul, the process of his life’s essence sublimating had actually deducted those hundred years.

Other Nascent Soul True Monarchs would immediately gain five hundred years of life span.

But in True Monarch Suihan’s case, he was left with only four hundred.

Losing a hundred years of life wasn’t the crucial part. The deadliest blow was that those hundred years were stripped away at the critical moment when his Nascent Soul and physical body were sublimating together.

This caused him to miss out on the full benefits of his two Nascent Soul Phenomena and the Sound of the Great Dao. Even worse, his transformation into a Nascent Soul was now imperfect, with a major flaw.

”Normally, after absorbing the Heaven-Sent Dew, I would have consolidated my Nascent Soul Realm. But the loss of life span also stole away the Great Dao’s feedback from the Nascent Soul Phenomena... Compared to other Nascent Soul True Monarchs, not only can I not refine my Nascent Soul Realm, but my ability to take action will be restricted for the next hundred years.”

True Monarch Suihan’s body had begun to revert to a younger state, but the process had suddenly stopped. As a result, one half of his face remained as it was before—old and decrepit.

The other half was smooth and radiant, full of vitality.

He would have been better off keeping his original aged appearance; this new look was far more unsettling.

”Every time I take action, I consume my Nascent Soul Power. I can’t replenish it by refining nature’s spiritual energy; I can only wait for the Nascent Soul to recover through its own Cultivation.”

”Junior Martial Uncle Suihan, is there anything we can do to help you recover faster?”

Zhong Li asked urgently. A Nascent Soul True Monarch who couldn’t act freely could only serve as a deterrent; he wouldn’t be able to help the Ice Soul Palace seize territory from the Holy Lotus Sect.

”There are two ways. The first is to use a Life-Extending Elixir to replenish the hundred years of life I lost... But Tier Three Elixirs are useless to me now, and a Tier Four Life-Extending Spirit Pill is too hard to find.”

True Monarch Suihan shook his head slightly. Although his breakthrough had been flawed, he had at least reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

’There’s no point in regret,’ he thought. ’Without the Crimson Immortal Grass, I never would have survived long enough to even attempt Shattering my Core and Transforming into a Nascent Soul. I would have died of old age long ago, just like the other Core Formation True Men of my generation.’

”The other way is to find a Spiritual Object containing Earth Spirit. Its Refinement can stabilize my Nascent Soul and speed up my recovery... I know a place that has such a Treasure. You all should begin preparations for the Nascent Soul Ceremony and the Sect Ascension Ceremony. Once I return with the Treasure, we will announce it to all the Major Sects.”

True Monarch Suihan paused for a moment as if he’d thought of something, gave a few more instructions, and then vanished.

Even with an incomplete Nascent Soul, True Monarch Suihan’s power had still increased countless times over after his Tribulation Crossing.

”Senior Martial Brother, why don’t you prepare the ceremonies while I search for Spiritual Objects containing Earth Spirit?”

”Agreed. But don’t go too far. This is a grand event for the Sect that comes once in ten thousand years.”

Dong Shuyi immediately began to gather the upper echelons of the Ice Soul Palace and assign tasks.

To rename the Ice Soul Palace to the Ice Soul Sect in their own time was the highest honor imaginable for every disciple of the Ice Soul Palace.

...

「Qii Mountain Summit.」

”Ancestor, are you really going to act?”

Qu Yang and a group of Core Formation Elders stood below in the hall, their faces tense.

True Monarch Jiulian slowly rose to his feet. As he walked, the entire palace seemed to tremble.

If another Nascent Soul True Monarch had been present, their Nascent Soul Level Divine Sense would have been able to see a massive, illusory Snow Lotus behind him, its countless roots burrowed into his back.

Every step he took came at a great cost, inflicting a heart-piercing pain sufficient to make a cultivator’s mind collapse.

’The connection to the Snow Lotus has grown even tighter. Who would have thought that in the final moments of my life, I would be trapped by a Spirit Plant, reduced to little more than its nutrient supply...’

True Monarch Jiulian, who had the appearance of a handsome young man, suddenly swung his hand like a blade, slashing behind him.

Countless illusory roots snapped, spraying sap everywhere. The Snow Lotus thrashed wildly before shrinking to the size of a fist and burrowing into the ground.

True Monarch Jiulian’s face turned deathly pale, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. It felt as if countless steel needles were piercing directly into his Primordial Spirit.

Years ago, in a risky attempt to break through a bottleneck, he had merged himself with this Tier Four Top-Grade Snow Lotus.

He had intended to use a Secret Technique to harness the immense life force within the Snow Lotus to help him break through to the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Realm.

Not only did he fail, but he had also become bound to the Snow Lotus, forced to pay the price of a rapidly draining life span every time he left Qii Mountain.

At first, one year spent in the outside world was equivalent to losing two years of his life.

Later, it became three years, then four.

Recently, he’d even had a premonition that soon, the very act of leaving Qii Mountain would instantly exhaust his life span.

And this Tier Four Top-Grade Snow Lotus would absorb him, a Nascent Soul True Monarch, as nourishment to break through and become an unprecedented Tier Five Spirit Plant.

Generally speaking, the intelligence of Spirit Plants was countless times more rudimentary than that of Demon Beasts.

Even a Tier Four Spirit Plant could, at most, make only brief, unconscious expressive movements.

Only at Tier Five did that change, allowing the essence of a plant to gain true Spiritual Wisdom.

”For the sake of the Sect, I must act... Ge Cang and Bai Zichen. Those two absolutely cannot be allowed to live!”

True Monarch Jiulian’s gaze swept over them, starting with Qu Yang, and a trace of regret flickered in his heart.

If he had a worthy successor, he wouldn’t have to sacrifice his own life to kill these two Core Formation True Men from the Qingfeng Sect before they could truly mature.

It wouldn’t take long. In a few decades, all the Core Formation True Men in the Holy Lotus Sect combined might not be able to handle even one of those two.

As for whether the Celestial Principle Sect would honor its agreement after the Qingfeng Sect was destroyed, or whether the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons would take advantage of their weakness, he no longer cared to consider it.

By doing this much for the Sect, he felt he had repaid the Holy Lotus Sect for raising him and fulfilled the last wishes of the previous True Monarch.

Severing his connection with the Snow Lotus, though it instantly reduced his strength to the level it was when he first entered the Nascent Soul Realm hundreds of years ago, also brought an indescribable feeling of release, as if he had broken free from infinite shackles.

”Qu Yang, go to the Celestial Principle Sect and deliver a message to True Monarch Shi... Tell him that what I spoke of years ago can now be fulfilled. Have him go to Black Mountain in three days to watch the final act!”

True Monarch Jiulian’s gaze fell upon Qu Yang, and he let out a deep sigh.

Regardless, Qu Yang was already the most outstanding disciple of the Holy Lotus Sect’s next generation.

With his Fire Element Celestial Spiritual Root, he could master any Magic he cultivated, grasping its core principles with ease. He was in no way inferior to the previous Saint Heirs of the Holy Lotus Sect.

Unfortunately for him, two Demon Level Core Formation True Men from the Qingfeng Sect existed at the same time.

In comparison, he seemed far too inferior, and his character flaws were laid bare.

In normal times, there would have been plenty of opportunities to slowly correct these flaws.

Now, however, he had to be forcibly pushed into the leadership position.

”I will obey the Ancestor’s decree.”

Qu Yang bowed, accepted the Jade Scroll, and flew out the door toward the Celestial Principle Sect.

True Monarch Jiulian’s decision meant he would be taking the position of the true Master of the Holy Lotus Sect ahead of schedule. But with the protective umbrella he had always known about to disappear, he felt lost and uncertain.