Immortal Refiner

The blood lotus’s petals enveloped his body, channeling torrents of pure energy into him.

His mana gradually increased, though the progress was minimal. By the time the blood essence in the pool was exhausted, his cultivation had advanced only slightly.

This was exactly what he had anticipated. At his current cultivation level, ordinary ancient demon corpses offered little further improvement.

Only corpses of ancient demons at the Divine Transformation stage could significantly accelerate his cultivation progress.

Adopting a ”something is better than nothing” approach, Li Qing refined the remaining nascent soul-stage ancient demon corpses from his Carefree Cosmos Pouch and added them to the blood pool to nourish himself.

Before long, the blood pool was drained again.

He carefully assessed the subtle changes in his cultivation, feeling neither disappointment nor surprise—it was all within his expectations.

”The appetizer is done. Now for the main course.”

He began dissecting a grotesque ancient demon corpse from his storage bag, piece by piece. Each fragment yielded a massive quantity of blood essence.

This was a Divine Transformation-stage ancient demon corpse, its blood essence energy surpassing even that of the fifth-tier demonic insect Li Qing had slain earlier.

The blood pool refilled to its brim, and Li Qing calmly absorbed the nourishing energy within, devouring it with insatiable hunger.

Boom!

This time, his mana advanced at an astonishingly rapid pace, far surpassing his previous progress. His cultivation level surged dramatically, advancing by leaps and bounds!

Time flowed leisurely. In the blink of an eye, over ten days had passed. Throughout this period, Li Qing remained seated at the heart of the blood lotus.

Whenever the blood pool ran dry, he would refine the ancient demon corpse from the Divine Transformation stage, extracting blood essence from it.

Through this repeated process, his strength rapidly increased, far surpassing the gains from ordinary meditation. The progress was comparable to consuming rare spirit pills and elixirs.

However, Li Qing also noticed something peculiar. As he used the blood essence extracted from the ancient demon corpse to enhance himself, the blood lotus itself had subtly grown much stronger.

Originally crimson as dawn and vibrant as fresh blood, the lotus now bore a layer of inky blackness, as if it had absorbed too much of the ancient demon’s essence blood.

Li Qing couldn’t determine whether this change was beneficial or detrimental. Since it hadn’t yet posed any immediate threat, he decided to ignore it for now, though he remained wary.

Days turned into weeks, and then months passed.

This time, Li Qing completely refined the entire corpse of an ancient demon in the divine transformation stage, extracting every last drop of blood essence.

His cultivation had finally advanced significantly from the late-stage nascent soul realm, equivalent to centuries of diligent meditation for an ordinary cultivator!

Li Qing was now close to perfecting the nascent soul realm. Even without further ancient demon corpses, he estimated that another century of dedicated cultivation would suffice to reach that level.

”I won’t rush to refine the Formless Saint Ancestor’s two halves of his dao body just yet. I need to carefully assess these changes to ensure my foundation remains stable.”

He decided to pause for a period of secluded cultivation, focusing on digesting his recent gains and solidifying his foundation as much as possible.

Meanwhile, at the summit of the spirit peak where Su Xin resided within Lingyun Sect’s mountain gate, a massive Spiritual Qi Tide suddenly formed above Water Cloud Peak, converging toward the cave abode at its peak.

Boom!

A Five-Colored Divine Light erupted, guiding the colossal Spiritual Qi Tide into the cave abode.

The Five-Colored Divine Light coalesced into a divine halo, continuously filtering the mottled impurities within the Spiritual Qi Tide, refining it into its purest form.

Su Xin had begun her breakthrough to the nascent soul realm. The cultivation manual she practiced was of considerable quality, though it couldn’t match the supreme tier of the Crimson Blaze Heaven-Burning Art, it was still exceptionally high-grade.

With the aid of five Heaven and Earth Spirit Pearls, her breakthrough proceeded remarkably smoothly.

As her aura steadily surged, Su Xin, seeking absolute stability, swallowed a Dragon Transformation Pill at the opportune moment.

Empowered by the pill, the Golden Core within her body effortlessly began transforming into the form of an infant.

The process was almost too seamless, encountering no bottlenecks or barriers whatsoever.

The moment her nascent soul formed, Su Xin immediately plunged into the heart demon tribulation—a trial akin to the prenatal confusion of a nascent soul. Only by overcoming this tribulation could she truly be considered a Nascent Soul cultivator!

Within the Lingyun Sect, many cultivators were startled.

”That’s Water Cloud Peak, Supreme Elder Su Xin’s cave abode!”

”This aura is familiar... Could Elder Su Xin have already begun her nascent soul breakthrough?”

”Hahahaha! Heaven bless Lingyun! Our sect may soon boast three Nascent Soul-level combatants!”

Su Xin’s breakthrough attempt had attracted considerable attention, with many core formation realm supreme elders emerging from seclusion to observe the process of her nascent soul realm breakthrough.

Inside his cave abode, Li Qing merely scanned the situation with his divine sense and immediately recognized that Su Xin’s breakthrough was virtually assured.

The only remaining hurdle was the heart demon tribulation. Having experienced this trial himself, he knew that external assistance was futile. Only through unwavering mental fortitude could one navigate the layers of illusory barriers and shatter their own heart demon.

Each individual’s heart demon tribulation manifests differently, and the duration of the tribulation crossing varies greatly. Some might emerge victorious in just two or three days, while others could languish for years, or even become permanently lost within their own demonic illusions.

”Her heart demon will likely be related to the Heavenly River Sect,” Li Qing mused. ”I hope everything goes smoothly.”

He shook his head and resumed solidifying his own foundation.

He flipped through cultivation manuals and scriptures recently collected by the sect, extracting their essence and comparing them to his own creation, the Dao Tribulation Limitless Sutra.

He resumed refining his self-created daoist arts, gradually solidifying the somewhat unstable foundation caused by his rapid progress.

Several months passed in the blink of an eye. This time, Li Qing reaped significant gains, advancing his daoist arts further and distilling a crucial passage of scripture.

It was an introductory verse for core formation realm cultivation, a difficult beginning that would make subsequent progress much easier.

Throughout this process, Li Qing also diligently nourished the Immortal Slaughtering Sword within his dantian using his true essence.

Though not his natal magic treasure, consistent nourishment over time would slowly enhance the sword’s power.

His ambition was great: he sought to make this Peerless Killing Sword grow in strength alongside his own cultivation.

Finally, Li Qing focused his mind and slowly opened his eyes, a clear light flashing through his pupils.

”Now, let’s see just how extraordinary this dao body of the Demon Realm Saint Ancestor truly is!”

With that, he patted his storage bag, and two halves of a bizarre, faceless corpse fell to the ground.

This was the dao body of the Formless Saint Ancestor. Li Qing slowly placed his hand on one of the halves.

(End of the Chapter)

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