I Shall Be Everlasting In the World of Immortals

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Chapter 385: Demon Calamity and Fourth-Rank Transformation

While in secluded cultivation, Lan Changʼan sensed the advancement of the Profound Water Turtle, just as he had anticipated.

Back then, after absorbing the vast amounts of innate turbid qi left behind by the decay of the Xuantian Relic, the Profound Water Turtle’s bloodline had transformed, reaching a level at least comparable to heaven-grade. Though it was still a third-rank Profound Turtle, its lifespan was nearly on par with Lan Changʼan’s.

Ordinary demonic beasts had lifespans similar to humans, but legendary species, such as True Dragons, Phoenixes, Qilins, and Xuanwu(Profound Turtle), possessed incomparably long lifespans. The corresponding True Spirit bloodline descendants with bloodlines of or above earth grade lived far longer than common demonic beasts.

Lan Changʼan took out a jade box, unlocking its seals to reveal a blood-red dragon-scaled fruit inside.

”This fourth-rank Blood Dragon Fruit is a rare body-refining sacred fruit in the cultivation world. Even if it cannot push me into the fourth rank of body refinement, it will still strengthen my physique and vitality.”

The fruit’s value approached that of a Tianying Fruit.

Immediately, a surge of pure blood energy filled the secluded chamber, making the air thick with life essence.

During his Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation three years ago, his physical body had already been slightly tempered by divine lightning.

At the time, he had briefly sensed his body-refinement bottleneck loosening, but after the tribulation, that sensation disappeared.

This fourth-rank Blood Dragon Fruit was compensation from Jing Wufeng after he came out of the Ancient Nether Hall.

Originally, Lan Changʼan had planned to gather more rare body-refining materials and refine a breakthrough-type sacred body-refining pill in the future.

However, in this era, the cultivation world was unsuitable for body refinement. Materials above fourth rank were nearly extinct, and collecting enough for a complete breakthrough formula was a near-impossible task.

Even if he managed to refine a fourth-rank breakthrough pill, there was no guarantee he could step into fourth-rank body refinement.

Beyond talent and fortuitous encounters, there was also the shackles of the environment of heaven and earth.

Since the ancient era, fifth-rank body refiners had completely vanished, it was widely believed that fourth-rank body refinement was the absolute limit in the human realm. Thus, advancing further was far more difficult than forming a Nascent Soul.

Rather than waiting endlessly, Lan Changʼan chose to consume the Blood Dragon Fruit immediately.

Even if the chance of a breakthrough was very low, it would still greatly enhance his physical strength.

A few days later…

Lan Changʼan failed to advance to fourth-rank body refinement.

However, his physique and blood vitality increased significantly, and his bottleneck loosened further, allowing him to reach a quasi-fourth-rank level in body refinement.

His attempt at physical refinement was merely a small episode during his secluded cultivation.

The majority of his time was devoted to enhancing divine secret techniques.

With the insights from his fourth life, along with memories from multiple Nascent Soul experts, many divine abilities became much easier to cultivate.

For instance, Illusory Wood Doppelgänger, a divine ability that perfectly aligned with his Evergreen Technique.

All three Nascent Soul memories he had inherited contained variations of similar movement and clone techniques.

Now, cultivating Illusory Wood Doppelgänger felt natural and effortless, he easily reached the minor accomplishment stage.

In essence, apart from preserving his core identity, Lan Changʼan was akin to an old Nascent Soul monster reincarnated and cultivating anew.

This was vastly different from Hu Ang, whose rebirth was a flawed fusion of a remnant soul, a mere half-baked attempt at rebuilding strength.

...

During Lan Changʼan’s seclusion, another three years quietly passed.

That day, Yunxia Sect welcomed a new late-stage Core Formation cultivator, known as Immortal Colorful Moon.

Compared to when Lan Changʼan first arrived at Yunxia Sect, the sect’s destiny had visibly flourished, displaying a sense of prosperity and renewal.

With the constant influx of fresh talent, the sect’s vitality far exceeded the era when True Monarch Yunlan was in power.

Some sect cultivators privately discussed how True Monarch Purple Mist was a more effective leader than her senior brother Yunlan, and managed the sect with greater skill and wisdom.

To celebrate, Immortal Colorful Moon hosted a small gathering.

As a courtesy, Xiao Qingshan delivered a congratulatory gift on behalf of Lan Changʼan, as Immortal Colorful Moon had sent a generous gift during the Nascent Soul Ceremony.

During the gathering, some cultivators began discussing recent unusual demon activity.

”In the past six months, the Administrative Hall has issued two more demon-subjugation missions… This is rather strange.”

”It’s not just us, other forces in the Great Yu Kingdom have also noticed sporadic appearances of demonic beasts. Fortunately, most are below the third rank and pose little threat.”

”Such abnormal signs… Could it be that another demonic unrest is about to sweep across the Central Region?”

To Xiao Qingshan, the demon calamity was a foreign concept, when the last demon calamity struck, even his mother had not yet been born.

However, among the high-ranking sect elders, this issue had already drawn concern.

At present, the few mid-to-low-tier demonic beasts that had surfaced weren’t enough to warrant their direct involvement.

Sect Master Xuefeng spoke in a low voice:

”This time, the signs of demonic resurgence have appeared much earlier than usual. According to divination masters, within at most ten years, a full-scale demon calamity will break out, and the Central Region will be the first to suffer.”

Immortal Colorful Moon sighed softly:

”The demon calamity won’t affect the top echelons of the cultivation world much… but who knows how many ordinary cultivators will perish?”

...

After the small gathering, Xiao Qingshan returned to Yunlan Peak and compiled recent external intelligence into a jade slip for True Monarch Xiang to review after leaving seclusion.

However, the demon calamity had no immediate impact on Lord Earthrock.

Since the Profound Water Turtle had advanced to late-stage third rank, it had begun dedicated cultivation in recent years.

At the same time, it continued to secretly monitor Hu Ang’s every move.

Inside the underground cultivation grounds, another green-armored puppet sat motionless, entering a state of deep meditation, completely detached from the outside world.

With both his master and the puppet in seclusion, Lord Earthrock had to take on greater responsibilities.

Since Lan Changʼan was not undergoing life-and-death seclusion, his spiritual sense occasionally extended outward to keep an eye on external affairs.

”If the demon calamity erupts within the next ten years, it may actually be a valuable opportunity…”

Lan Changʼan murmured to himself.

His thoughts turned to the demonic creatures he had encountered while traveling, though they had been controlled by ghost cultivators, in hindsight it seemed far from coincidental.

Historically, residual demonic beasts and demonic energy had scattered throughout the Great Yuan and Central Region after past demon calamity events.

It was said that the Central Region’s demon calamities were closely linked to the Ancient Nether Hall.

Normally, the demon calamity occurred roughly sixty years after each opening of the Ancient Nether Hall.

However, the last Ancient Nether Hall event had been far from ordinary, it had drawn an unprecedented number of participants, and the treasures and opportunities inside had exceeded all prior events…

...

Five years later.

The number of demons in the Central Region of the Great Yuan had increased dramatically, with third-rank great demons appearing from time to time, wreaking havoc across the cultivation world.

In the forbidden zone of the Central Region, demonic energy surged wildly, causing many mindless demonic creatures to prematurely break free and rampage.

Within Yunxia Sect, one-third of all sect missions were now related to demon eradication.

This year, Lan Changʼan finally emerged from his ten-year seclusion.

Over the past ten years, Lan Changʼan’s mana had only increased slightly, but his combat prowess had improved significantly.

Time was limited, so he had prioritized training in lethal divine abilities, particularly the Withering Extinction Divine Light while supplementing it with a few easier-to-master secret techniques.

He chose Withering Extinction Divine Light because it aligned with wood-attribute cultivation techniques, particularly the Evergreen Technique, and was extremely lethal to living beings.

This divine light was designed to eradicate vitality, it was highly destructive to all life forms, including flesh-based creatures, plants, and organic matter.

It was said that any land struck by Withering Extinction Divine Light would remain barren for a hundred years.

If it struck a cultivator, it would cause their life essence to rapidly decay.

At the early Nascent Soul stage, Lan Changʼan had only cultivated the divine light to minor completion, yet it was already fearsome, any Core Formation cultivator hit directly would instantly wither into a pile of dry bones.

Even Nascent Soul cultivators who came into contact with the light would suffer vital energy depletion, temporarily weakening their combat strength.

At major completion, typically reached by mid-to-late Nascent Soul cultivators, its power would grow even greater, it could directly drain a target’s lifespan.

To cultivate this divine ability, Lan Changʼan had expended a vast amount of blood essence and vitality.

To accelerate his progress, he had sacrificed three years of his lifespan.

Even this was only possible because his body refinement had reached quasi-fourth-rank, his blood essence quality was far superior to that of ordinary early Nascent Soul cultivators.

If another Nascent Soul cultivator at his level had tried to cultivate this divine ability, they would have had to sacrifice at least ten years of their lifespan.

In battle, if he burned his blood essence and lifespan, he could temporarily boost the power of Withering Extinction Divine Light, making it highly lethal to any opponent below mid-Nascent Soul level.

With this deadly divine ability, Lan Changʼan’s offensive capabilities had significantly advanced.

Of course, no divine ability was flawless.

Withering Extinction Divine Light had its weaknesses:

For one, limited penetration power against magical defenses, it could pierce protective shields, but heavy defensive magical treasures, particularly metal-attribute treasures, were effective at blocking it.

This was due to elemental counterplay, wood-type divine abilities were naturally countered by metal-type techniques.

And secondly, It dealt little damage to inanimate targets, such as puppets and zombies. Puppets and undead creatures lacked life force, so Withering Extinction Divine Light had no real effect on them.

However, Lan Changʼan, as a puppet master, was completely unbothered by this. He had an army of puppets and spirit pets, if needed, he could use different tactics against enemies immune to his divine light.

There was also a common limitation among all divine abilities:

They must hit the target to be effective.

If the enemy was too fast, had higher cultivation, or could counter it with defensive techniques, then even the most powerful ability was useless.

But this was not an issue for Lan Changʼan, he had numerous combat strategies. His puppets, spirit pets, talismans, and magical treasures could restrain and suppress enemies, allowing him to strike with his divine abilities at the perfect moment.

With this layered strategy, Withering Extinction Divine Light became even more terrifying.

...

Apart from cultivating divine abilities, Lan Changʼan also took time to refine and upgrade his primary magical treasures.

The Dragonwood Staff fused with dragon bones and refined dragon blood, enhancing its power and spiritual quality.

The Barbed Arrow was upgraded using a rare fourth-rank material, Purple Nether Ore.

This material was extremely scarce, obtained from Ancient Nether Hall’s profits, it was a rare soul-path treasure material, enhancing the arrow’s quality and spiritual damage potential.

Back when crafting the Exotic Spirit Peacock, Lan Changʼan had been reluctant to use Purple Nether Ore, opting for two other fourth-rank materials instead.

The shaft of the Barbed Arrow was crafted from the precious Soul-Nurturing Wood of the cultivation world, after over a hundred years of nurturing under Lan Changʼan, its spiritual quality had surpassed ordinary mid fourth-rank wood material.

In theory, such rare spirit wood could continue growing indefinitely, reaching fifth-rank, sixth-rank, or even higher, provided the right environmental conditions existed.

Just like a cultivator’s life-bound treasure, as long as the cultivator’s realm advanced, more powerful materials were fused into it, and the treasure was nurtured and refined continuously, It could theoretically grow limitlessly, eventually becoming a supreme immortal treasure.

...

”After ten years of seclusion, I am now 391 years old, and only ten years remain until the demon-sealing agreement with Jing Wufeng.”

Lan Changʼan calculated the time.

All those years ago, he had made a promise to Jing Wufeng to assist him in sealing a dangerous rift of demonic energy in the forbidden zone of the Central Region within a cycle of sixty years.

Had it not been for Jing Wufeng’s assistance, Lan Changʼan would never have killed the Stoneheart Dragon, and Lord Earthrock might not have successfully ascended to fourth-rank Demon King.

Now, with demonic qi pouring out of the Central Region forbidden zone, he wondered whether the original agreement had been affected.

Shortly after emerging from seclusion, Purple Mist Fairy personally visited Yunlan Peak to update Lan Changʼan on the events of the past decade.

One of the topics was news about Jing Wufeng.

Jiang Ziyan said,

”Three years ago, True Monarch Jing Tian reappeared in the Central Region, drawing the attention of multiple Nascent Soul old monsters.”

”Two years ago, in a chaotic battle, True Monarch Jing Tian fought against a mid-Nascent Soul powerhouse without defeat, and in the process, he killed an early Nascent Soul cultivator, even their Nascent Soul spirit body could not escape…”

As she spoke, a trace of fear flickered in Jiang Ziyan’s eyes.

Jing Tian’s mana and divine abilities had broken the conventional rule that Nascent Soul cultivators rarely perished in battle.

Hearing this, Lan Changʼan couldn’t help but feel envious.

Jing Wufeng must have mastered a special space-related divine ability, one capable of restricting a Nascent Soul spirit body’s escape.

This was precisely what Lan Changʼan lacked, either a divine ability or a specialized treasure to prevent an enemy’s Nascent Soul from fleeing.

If Lan Changʼan wanted to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator, he would have to rely on strategy, ensuring a swift and overwhelming assault to damage the enemy’s Nascent Soul before they could escape.

Jiang Ziyan then subtly tested Lan Changʼan’s knowledge:

”Dalong, do you think True Monarch Jing Tian has truly grasped a pseudo-spiritual treasure? Otherwise, why would he attract such a massive disturbance?”

Though Jing Tian had only visited Yunxia Sect once, Jiang Ziyan had a strong suspicion that his connection to Xiang Dalong was not simple.

Lan Changʼan merely shook his head.

”Hard to say.”

In truth, he had his own theories.

He suspected that Netherwater True Monarch had been stirring up trouble from the shadows.

The other Nascent Soul old monsters who had targeted Jing Wufeng either did so because of past grudges from the Ancient Nether Hall or out of greed for pseudo-spiritual treasure and other opportunities.

As for Netherwater, she seemed to have misunderstandings about Jing Wufeng and was obsessed with seizing control of the vast profits related to the Tinghai Pavilion.

”This True Monarch Jing Tian should be a person of fortune, barely appearing and already becoming the focal point of the entire Central Region.”

”Well, with Fellow Daoist Jing drawing all the fire, I can continue growing comfortably in the shadows.”

Lan Changʼan silently gave Jing Wufeng a mental thumbs-up.

...

Two days later, after Purple Mist Fairy left Yunlan Peak, a thought struck Lan Changʼan.

He quickly searched through the letters he had received over the last ten years.

With the demon sealing pact approaching, Jing Wufeng’s return to the Central Region meant he should have contacted him by now.

Soon enough, Lan Changʼan’s spiritual sense detected a unique third-rank jade shell among the various gifts he had received.

At first glance, it appeared to be a simple congratulatory gift, but upon closer inspection, it bore a familiar Heaven character restriction.

Following their previously agreed-upon method, Lan Changʼan broke the seal on the jade shell.

Hummm!

A blue water-light screen rippled outward, forming the image of True Monarch Jing Tian, his expression carefree and unrestrained.

”Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Xiang, on stepping into Nascent Soul. With your breakthrough, our chances of success in the sealing demon mission have increased yet again.”

Jing Tian stood with his hands behind his back, speaking as if talking to himself.

”The upcoming demon calamity in the Central Region is actually beneficial for our sealing mission. The disruption will help us locate the precise leakage points of demonic qi, making it easier to repair the seal.”

”Originally, I planned to contact you as soon as I returned to the Central Region, but unfortunately, I was immediately targeted by a group of tricky fellows.”

”Besides that old freak Jin Kun, there was also that inexplicable hag, Netherwater True Monarch…”

Jing Tian explained his delayed contact, stating that he had been avoiding unwanted attention to prevent dragging Lan Changʼan and Yunxia Sect into trouble.

Hearing this, Lan Changʼan’s impression of Jing Tian improved.

”Perhaps he could become a trustworthy friend, like Old Zhang…”

Jing Tian continued,

”For now, I’ll be heading to the Central Region’s forbidden zone to pinpoint the major leakage points of demonic qi. The chaos in those areas will actually help me shake off unwanted pursuers.”

”Once the demon calamity nears its end, Fellow Daoist Xiang, you can meet me at the forbidden zone, and we shall fulfill our demon-sealing agreement.”

At that moment, Jing Tian’s image began to fade, but just before disappearing, he added one last message:

”Oh, right! Near the Eastern Sea, there’s a fourth-rank Void Whale with traces of a True Spirit bloodline. This beast possesses innate spatial abilities and is rumored to have hoarded a considerable amount of spatial treasure ore.”

”I can’t take it down alone. If you’re interested, Fellow Daoist Xiang, we can join forces and make a trip to the sea.”

This seemingly offhand remark struck a chord in Lan Changʼan’s mind.

He recalled that Jing Wufeng was highly proficient in spatial formations, he had once set up the fourth-rank Illusory Void Thousand-Kill Formation to trap and slay the Corrupted Stoneheart Dragon.

This meant he was at least a quasi-fourth-rank formation master.

Lan Changʼan also lacked the spatial materials needed to repair the spatial teleportation array left behind by the Tinghai Pavilion.

True Monarch Shazhai had been a fourth-rank formation master, but unfortunately, after devouring his Nascent Soul, Lan Changʼan had only unlocked one-tenth of his fifth life’s memories, far from enough to transform it into a real-life experience.

Otherwise, Lan Changʼan would have been able to directly become a fourth-rank formation master rather than staying stuck at the third rank.

That being said, Shazhai had left behind repair plans for the teleportation array, the only issue was the lack of spatial materials.

If Lan Changʼan could obtain those materials in the future, he could consult Jing Wufeng and possibly complete the repairs to the Tinghai Pavilion array more smoothly.

...

After coming out of seclusion, the first place Lan Changʼan visited was the Underground Palace.

Surprisingly, he wasn’t visiting Lord Earthrock.

Nor was he there to check on the recently advanced late-third-rank Profound Water Turtle.

Instead, Lan Changʼan descended deeper into the underground palace, stepping into a sealed chamber isolated by multiple restrictions.

Inside the chamber, a green-armored puppet, which had been meditating in silence for years, slowly opened its eyes.

The green ghostly flames in its eye sockets had faded slightly, losing some of their eerie, sinister aura, replaced by a subtle glimmer of intelligence.

”Fellow Daoist Lan, youʼve arrived.”

Lan Changʼan and the puppet’s gaze locked.

In that instant, he unleashed the spiritual pressure of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, yet to his astonishment, the green-armored puppet responded with an identical aura, neither side yielding in intensity.

Lan Changʼan’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

In a flash, his figure blurred and disappeared from where he stood.

Boom!

A colossal golden-patterned palm, empowered by his quasi-fourth-rank physique, thundered down toward the green-armored puppet like a collapsing mountain.

Yet, with unshakable calm, the puppet merely raised its iron-green palm, effortlessly neutralizing the earth-shattering force.

Its seated form remained completely still, not even a slight tremor.

In fact, a gentle counterforce pushed Lan Changʼan backward, preventing him from suffering any backlash from his own attack.

”Excellent! Such precise control… As expected of a true fourth-rank puppet.”

Lan Changʼan carefully examined the green-armored puppet but noticed no visible changes in its body.

Its physical structure had always been a complete fourth-rank puppet.

The real transformation had occurred within its puppet spirit.

Now, the puppet spirit exuded a presence akin to a Nascent Soul cultivator’s spiritual sense.

Its control over its immense physical power was far superior to before, allowing it to engage in complex, high-speed battles autonomously.

However, despite its high intelligence, this puppet was not truly a living being.

The puppet spirit resembled a divine soul, yet it was not actually a divine soul or a Nascent Soul.

The concept reminded Lan Changʼan of artificial intelligence from his past life, except this was a far more advanced and mystical version.

Moreover, unlike his past lifeʼs AI, his puppet spirit could function independently.

This meant he didn’t need to drain his own spiritual sense to control it, allowing it to carry out missions autonomously or operate separately from him.

Lan Changʼan asked,

”Old Wei, can you fight a Nascent Soul cultivator on your own?”

Puppet Master Wei responded with calm confidence:

”If it’s that female Nascent Soul of Yunxia Sect, I have a high chance of winning.”

This casual remark was slightly outdated, Puppet Master Wei was unaware that Purple Mist Fairy had recently obtained the top-grade magical treasure Wind Cloud Fan.

Combined with her peak early-Nascent Soul cultivation, her current combat strength wasnʼt what it used to be.

”Good, good! The timing and circumstances couldnʼt be better! This True Monarchʼs debt-clearing plan can now be carried out with confidence.”

Lan Changʼan chuckled softly, a sharp glint hidden in his eyes.