Chapter 620 - 557: Fully Gestated, Entry to Purifying Soul Mountain

Chapter 620: Chapter 557: Fully Gestated, Entry to Purifying Soul Mountain

"This Jade Stone is called a Shadow Stone. It’s a type of man-made Spiritual Material that was rather common in ancient times."

"As far as I know, it’s created with a Memory Stone as its core, which is then scoured and refined by the Evil Qi of slaughter."

"Legend has it that through this refining process, the Memory Stone undergoes some kind of transformation. Even an ordinary Memory Stone can become comparable to a Celestial Trace Crystal Stone, capable of sealing and recording information that a normal Memory Stone cannot."

"However, the refining method for these Shadow Stones was lost in ancient times. Elders in my clan once tried to replicate them based on ancient records, but they all failed."

"They say it’s because we lack a certain spiritual material that only existed in ancient times..."

’A Shadow Stone...’

Chu Mu’s brow twitched. He looked at the flawless white stone monument again, his expression now tinged with clear surprise.

The value of Celestial Trace Crystal Stones was, of course, self-evident.

After all, in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, there were far too many profound mysteries that simply could not be recorded by ordinary means. Only Celestial Trace Crystal Stones could capture them perfectly and without flaw.

It was like mundane paper from the secular world, which was essentially useless in the Cultivation Immortal Realm. Even the lowest-tier Cultivation Techniques were often difficult to record on it.

Even Spirit Paper from the Cultivation Immortal Realm had extremely limited uses unless it was a particularly special High Tier Spirit Paper. It could only be used to record textual information. The moment it involved any deeper mysteries, it became difficult to record anything.

As for information carriers like Jade Scrolls and Memory Discs—forged from Spiritual Materials like Marking Crystals and Memory Stones that possess natural recording properties—they were ubiquitous in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, with nearly everyone owning them.

But this ubiquity was generally due to how inexpensive they were; their use was only marginally broader than that of Spirit Paper.

They were suitable for recording ordinary Cultivation Techniques and Magic Techniques. However, when it came to the mysteries of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, or even higher-level profundities like profound inheritances, ordinary Jade Scrolls and Memory Discs were simply incapable of recording them.

Even the surveillance recordings common in the Marketplaces across the Cultivation Immortal Realm would be largely useless for monitoring if they were all made from ordinary Memory Stones.

Attempting to force a recording would only capture a superficial image, lacking the true essence, which was ultimately meaningless.

And this was precisely where the value of Celestial Trace Crystal Stones lay.

One could say that the existence of Celestial Trace Crystal Stones was the core pillar supporting the heritage of the Cultivation Immortal Realm’s civilization. Without records made on Celestial Trace Crystal Stones, the vast majority of the realm’s profound and esoteric knowledge would likely be lost to time.

After all, without clear and detailed records, relying solely on oral tradition passed from master to disciple was fraught with immense uncertainty.

’And this Shadow Stone... an ordinary Memory Stone, just by being scoured and refined by the Evil Qi of slaughter, can be comparable to a Celestial Trace Crystal Stone?’

’If it’s a medium for recording information, then why couldn’t I detect any medium or any recorded information within it, despite observing it multiple times back in the square?’

Chu Mu’s brow furrowed slightly. He tentatively extended his Divine Sense. Just as he expected, the result was no different from his attempts in the square.

It was a complete fog, impossible to glean anything.

Just as Chu Mu was slowly retracting his Divine Sense, he seemed to notice something and snapped his head down to look at his sleeve.

He lifted his arm and shook his hand, causing the sleeve to slide down. A faint, crimson line had appeared on his arm, though he didn’t know when.

The thin, blood-red line squirmed and slithered as if it were alive.

As his Divine Sense connected with the stone monument, the crimson line seemed to react to some stimulus, twisting and transforming at a rapid pace.

In the span of just a few breaths, the foot-long, blood-red line on his wrist twisted and transformed into a bizarre yet vaguely familiar pattern.

’A Sand-tailed Scorpion... the Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother?’

Chu Mu’s pupils contracted as he stared intently at the scarlet pattern on his wrist.

The pattern was distinct, like a Sand-tailed Scorpion, shrunk countless times and vividly inscribed upon his wrist.

But under the scrutiny of his Divine Sense, the lifelike, scarlet Sand-tailed Scorpion was a kaleidoscope of transformations. It seemed to be an endless Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide, then it would evolve into all manner of bizarre monsters, then it would become an Asura Hell—a Corpse Mountain Blood Sea overrun with Ghosts...

Yet, when he focused his senses on it again, it all felt like an illusion. The pattern seemed like nothing more than a tattoo, with no abnormalities whatsoever.

But the problem was...

’This pattern, this crimson color... where did it come from?’

’Why didn’t I notice it?’

A chill ran down Chu Mu’s spine, and beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

’I really... didn’t notice a thing!’

’No, that’s not right!’

Chu Mu jolted with a sudden realization. Almost subconsciously, he recalled that inexplicable feeling of despair from before—a despair that should have been utterly impossible!

’So, that despair... it came from... this?’

Chu Mu stared intently at the lifelike, crimson Sand-tailed Scorpion on his wrist. His breathing grew heavy.

"Fellow Daoist, what’s wrong?"

Noticing Chu Mu’s strange behavior, Qin Zhaoxue drew closer to ask.

Chu Mu subconsciously pulled his sleeve down, but then he seemed to realize something and quickly sent a voice transmission.

A frantic voice transmission from Qin Zhaoxue arrived a moment later, and with it, the sight of something nearly identical and just as lifelike: on her wrist, a crimson line had also twisted and transformed, ultimately becoming a vivid, blood-red Sand-tailed Scorpion!

In that moment, as if sharing a single thought, they both turned to look at the flawless white stone monument before them!

This bizarre phenomenon had only appeared under the influence of the stone monument.

Before this, there had been no sign of it whatsoever.

Even Chu Mu himself had only vaguely sensed that something was amiss, but he had never noticed the existence of the crimson line.

And now, as if in response to their shared shock and suspicion...

...the flawless white stone monument rippled like the surface of a mirror at its very peak. Then, two lines of archaic script emerged.

The script seemed perfectly natural, as if it had been part of the stone monument all along.

The moment they saw the script, they were hit with a palpable sense of the immense passage of time.

The script was ancient, unlike any of the scripts commonly used in the Cultivation Immortal Realm today.

It seemed to be composed of mysterious, stroke-like patterns, with each stroke seemingly containing the supreme principles of heaven and earth.

But when they probed it with their Divine Sense, the meaning of the script appeared in their minds with perfect clarity.

Two names, and a phrase.

Chu Mu: Scorpion Eggs incubating.

Qin Zhaoxue: Scorpion Eggs incubating.

As the meaning of the script entered their minds, another piece of information appeared alongside it.

"When the Scorpion Eggs mature, you may enter Purifying Soul Mountain."

...