Innate Immortal Seed

Chapter 327: Chapter 325: A Sword Drawn in the Sky, A Nascent Soul Falls

A century of nurturing, all for a single strike.

It had been almost fifty years since Bai Zichen mastered the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword and selected the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword.

Thanks to the Spring and Autumn Cicada Exuviae, one of the Cultivation Realm’s Five Great Strange Insects, he had drastically shortened the time needed to nurture the sword. He had mastered this Supreme Divine Power several years ago.

Meanwhile, the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword, which had rested the longest within the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box, had long since recovered from its Sword Embryo state to become a special Tier Three Flying Sword.

The Flying Sword’s might was only at the Tier Three level, but its spiritual nature and essence far surpassed that.

The only thing he had yet to do was refine the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword into his Lifebound Flying Sword, but this had little bearing on his ability to use the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword.

With a single swing, the world changed color. A seemingly slow and endless Sword Light appeared and arrived in the same instant.

An endless river appeared high in the sky, accompanying the Sword Light.

Its origins were unknown, its destination a mystery.

It was like an Illusion Realm, yet it also felt real, affecting the very fabric of the world.

’Qing Emperor Longevity Sword... the withering and flourishing of ages, the River of Time...’

With every moment, from gripping the hilt to swinging the blade, Bai Zichen carefully savored the changes, trying to grasp some fragment of its profound truths.

Only by using the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword as a medium could he borrow the Power of Time and summon the River of Time itself.

This didn’t mean he had actually achieved such a profound mastery of the Path of Time.

True Monarch Jiulian had sensed a Mid-Stage Core Formation Cultivator approaching long ago, but he hadn’t given it a second thought.

Any Core Formation True Man who entered his Nascent Soul Realm without a Tier Four-level technique wouldn’t last a single breath.

It wouldn’t take long before they were completely transformed into a Wood Puppet, stripped of all awareness.

This Sword Light was formed from a coalescence of faint Thunder Radiance; in terms of sheer power, it was only at the level of a standard Tier Three Flying Sword.

True Monarch Jiulian couldn’t even be bothered to look at it twice. A single Wood Puppet or a couple of green lotus petals could have blocked it easily.

But in the next instant, a look of incredulous horror appeared on his face.

In his nearly one-thousand-year life as a Cultivator, he had never witnessed something so bizarre. It made him question if his fundamental understanding of Cultivation had been turned on its head.

’The Power of Time!’

The River of Time had manifested the instant the Sword Light was unleashed, but it was only now, a moment later, registering in True Monarch Jiulian’s Divine Sense.

A single glance had created a temporal distortion in his perception.

He spat a mouthful of Essence Blood onto the Jade Ruler in his hand. His Lifebound Magical Treasure multiplied into over a hundred copies, forming the pattern of the Eight Trigrams and Sixty-Four Symbols as it moved to envelop the Sword Light.

Simultaneously, all the remaining green lotuses in front of him merged into a single flower. It bloomed and withered in an instant, leaving behind a golden lotus seed.

From this golden lotus seed leaped a Golden Divine General with three heads and six arms, holding a Dharma Wheel, a sacred vase, Dual Swords, and a Double Shield.

It stood a thousand feet tall, shielding True Monarch Jiulian within its form.

This Golden Divine General was one of True Monarch Jiulian’s trump cards. Summoning it caused all his protective green lotuses to vanish, and cultivating them anew would be a long and arduous process.

He also infused it with his own understanding of Great Dao True Intent, hoping to block this seemingly ordinary, yet utterly astonishing, sword strike.

’One Ge Cang was bad enough. Why is there another Sword Cultivator who has mastered the Time Path while only in the Core Formation Stage? Can it be that the Qingfeng Sect is truly favored by destiny? Is it finally their time to rise?’

True Monarch Jiulian’s resolve hardened. ’Even if I die here on Black Mountain today,’ he vowed, ’I must utterly destroy these two Core Formation True Men from the Qingfeng Sect.’

’Otherwise, if even one of them escapes, the Holy Lotus Sect will be left with a terrifying enemy.’

’The Time Path is powerful, yes, but the chasm between our Realms is too vast. I’m confident my own Great Dao True Intent can dissolve and block it.’

WHOOSH!

The Sword Light pierced directly through the layers of Jade Rulers. Upon entering the Nascent Soul Realm, it caused the entire pocket dimension to tremble violently.

Every attack from the Golden Divine General struck empty air. The Sword Light only met the slightest resistance as it finally pierced through the Divine General’s body.

But the qualitative gap between them was simply too vast. The Qing Emperor Longevity Sword struck its target.

True Monarch Jiulian stared blankly, his expression one of utter shock. When he looked down at himself, he saw that he had become ancient and decrepit. The handsome youth was now a wizened old man, unable to suppress the encroaching, putrid stench of death.

A chubby, pale Nascent Soul leaped from the crown of his head, clutching the Lifebound Jade Ruler in a panic.

It glanced around, ready to activate Void Instant Teleportation and flee.

’That sword light is too bizarre! It ignored my defenses, shattered my Great Dao True Intent, and aged my physical body to the brink of collapse.’

A profound terror bloomed in its heart, and it dared not remain a moment longer.

”AAAAH!”

Just as True Monarch Jiulian’s Nascent Soul tried to teleport, it felt an overwhelming terror descend. Its tiny face twisted in fear as it let out a scream of infinite agony.

The Nascent Soul also began to age rapidly, its form exuding an aura of death, before it finally disintegrated into motes of light that scattered to the winds.

His Lifebound Magical Treasure and True Monarch Jiulian’s physical body fell from the sky like a kite with a snapped string, utterly lifeless. His Primordial Spirit had been extinguished.

The entire Nascent Soul Realm, having lost its master and been pierced by the Power of Time, was now collapsing and disintegrating at a truly astonishing speed.

Normally, a Nascent Soul True Monarch’s Realm, while not a self-sustaining pocket dimension like the Grotto Heaven of a Divinity Transformation Cultivator, should still persist for hundreds or even thousands of years after its master’s death. It should last for several years at the very minimum.

And yet, the Nascent Soul Realm that True Monarch Jiulian had spent centuries of effort and immeasurable resources to build began to collapse the very instant he died.

In less than ten breaths, it had completely disintegrated, returning to the void.

’Qing Emperor Longevity Sword... birth, aging, sickness, death, the flow of time... So True Monarch Jiulian had less than sixty years of life left. To think I was so worried.’

Bai Zichen looked at the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword in his hand. After unleashing the century of power nurtured within for the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword, the blade now felt much lighter, almost ethereal.

The sword had struck, the enemy was dead. The River of Time receded into the distance, and a final streak of azure light shot into its waters, flying upstream.

Although the Ancient Texts described the Fish Dragon Sect’s ultimate killing technique as being powerful enough to ignore all defenses and sever one’s lifespan, he had still been worried, since he had never witnessed its power firsthand.

Moreover, he was a Core Formation Cultivator fighting against a Nascent Soul. Even the cultivation manual for the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword stated that an opponent with a Great Dao True Intent of equal standing could block the Power of Time.

Fortunately, the outcome had been perfect. Perhaps the power of the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword had exceeded his imagination...

...or perhaps it was because True Monarch Jiulian had less than a century of life remaining. Even with the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword’s power partially weakened by the Golden Divine General’s defense, it was still enough to meet the threshold for a killing blow.

’Reducing lifespan... it treats all beings as equals. Even a Nascent Soul that has fled its body cannot escape. A pity the strike can only shave off two hundred years. Against a Nascent Soul Cultivator in their prime, it would only be enough to cause a severe injury, not send them to their grave with a single blow.’

Bai Zichen took two quick, ground-shrinking steps to appear at Master Ge Cang’s side, catching him before he could fall.

”Brother Ge, you’ve released the Pink Crystal Shattering Jade Technique. How long was it active?”

”Less than eighty breaths. It’s fine, I’m not dead yet... Since you know of this Divine Technique, it seems you’ve begun cultivating the Glazed Fire Divine Body.”

Master Ge Cang had returned to his normal appearance, but he looked hollowed out, so frail that it seemed a gust of wind could blow him away.

”I shattered my Five Crystal Glaze Body to hold back a Nascent Soul True Monarch, and we came out of it alive. What regrets could I possibly have?”

Just as Bai Zichen was about to speak, he felt another powerful presence and looked toward the unfamiliar Cultivator who had just appeared.

...

’The Sword of Time!’

Shi Chengdong’s expression was complex as he stared intently at the Sword Light that filled his entire vision.

He had the distinct impression that the Sword Light was dragging the River of Time in its wake. The dense Power of Time created an illusion, making him feel as if he had returned to the most humiliating moment of his life.

The Kurong Sword Monarch of the Five Phoenix Sword Sect was hailed as one of the few in the Cultivation Realm most likely to reach the Divinity Transformation Realm.

He, like Shi Chengdong, was at the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Realm. It was this man who had come to the Celestial Principle Sect to negotiate the relocation of a Tier Four Spirit Vein.

That day, not a single word of negotiation was spoken.

The Kurong Sword Monarch had merely gestured with his hand, and a five-fingered Sword Light had trapped Shi Chengdong in a Time Sword Cage. He struggled for hours before finally breaking free.

When he looked up, he saw the Kurong Sword Monarch, his eyes half-closed as if he were dozing.

From that moment on, Shi Chengdong was stripped of all his illusions. He made the decision to leave the Central Domain that very day.

He finally understood why, despite them both being Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivators, the Cultivation Realm’s assessment of their respective strengths was so vastly different.

The Kurong Sword Monarch’s mastery of the Power of Time was simply breathtaking. Shi Chengdong knew that if the man had wished it, killing him would have taken no more than a single sword strike.

The Sword of Time before him, though its sheer power was leagues below, seemed qualitatively not much different from the Kurong Sword Monarch’s. That was why, for a moment, he had been lost in that illusion.

Watching True Monarch Jiulian perish under the Sword of Time, utterly powerless as his body died and his dao vanished, Shi Chengdong felt no shock at all.

’A Sword Light like that, carrying the True Intent of the River of Time... It would have been strange if it *couldn’t* kill a flawed Early-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator.’

In Shi Chengdong’s eyes, True Monarch Jiulian simply had no way to counter the Power of Time.

This was to be expected; in the entire Northern Domain, there were no Cultivators who walked the Time Path.

Everyone knew the Power of Time was mysterious, unfathomable, and incomparably mighty, but no one truly understood its principles.

Even in the Central Domain, before the Kurong Sword Monarch burst onto the scene, no one believed the Time Path could be mastered by a Nascent Soul Cultivator. Many assumed the descriptions in the Ancient Texts were just fabricated nonsense.

It was a power that transcended nearly every other Great Dao True Intent. Facing it with no understanding of how to defend oneself meant certain death.

Shi Chengdong reckoned that even if he had been the one facing that attack, he might not have fared much better.

He had seen it clearly. The River of Time locked onto its target. Even if you could teleport thousands of miles in an instant, your past self, your future self...

...and the countless versions of you within the River of Time would all be struck by that Sword Light. It was unavoidable. The only option was to meet it head-on with your own Great Dao True Intent.

Your only chance of survival was to gamble: first, that your understanding of your Great Dao True Intent could nullify a portion of the Power of Time, and second, that your remaining lifespan was long enough to withstand what was left of the Sword of Time’s attack.

He’d have a fifty percent chance of survival, at best. And that was only because the wielder of the sword was merely a Mid-Stage Core Formation Cultivator.

”True Monarch Shi, what happened? Why has it gone quiet?”

The thunder of Combat had ceased. Seeing the change in Shi Chengdong’s expression, Qu Yang asked anxiously, ”Did my Ancestor win?”

”Fellow Daoist Jiulian has fallen. I will take you to pay your respects.”

Experience told Shi Chengdong that the Qingfeng Sect Sword Cultivator could not possibly unleash the Sword of Time a second time, yet he had still hesitated for a long while before answering.