Chapter 315 - 50: Seven-Star in a Row, Revealing the True Form

Chapter 315: Chapter 50: Seven-Star in a Row, Revealing the True Form

"That’s good," Yuan Lan said with a nod. "Time is short. There’s less than a month until the day of the Seven-Star in a Row, and my Heart Spirit has grown restless. I keep feeling like something bad is about to happen."

The longer one lives, the more sensitive they become to the Celestial Secrets, so Yuan Lan’s unease was by no means unfounded.

"Is it Jian Jingchuan?" Chen Ye asked bluntly.

"Perhaps," Yuan Lan replied, their tone uncertain. "The Celestial Secrets are in chaos, and I cannot see clearly. But aside from him, I can’t think of anyone else who would cause trouble for me at such a critical juncture."

"What do you need me to do?" Chen Ye asked.

"You don’t need to do anything. Just continue with your Cultivation at your own pace. I’ll take care of the rest."

"Understood." Chen Ye agreed without the slightest hesitation.

...

「Celestial Sword Manor, the forbidden grounds of the back mountain.」

A deathly silence pervaded the secret chamber, which was enveloped by layer upon layer of Restrictions.

Seated cross-legged, Jian Jingchuan had reached the most critical moment.

The space around him began to warp slightly. Countless abstruse Runes flickered in and out of existence at his side—a physical manifestation of the Heaven and Earth Laws.

Three feet above his head, a fist-sized orb of light radiating a five-colored luminescence was slowly coalescing. Faintly visible within was a miniature figure, identical to him in every feature, struggling to take form.

This was the Nascent Soul.

Once the Nascent Soul took form, he would ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm in a single leap. His lifespan would increase dramatically, Divine Techniques would manifest on their own, and he would become one of the supreme Great Powers of this world.

Jian Jingchuan unreservedly poured all of his Divine Thought Cultivation and insights into this Nascent Soul.

He could feel it. He was just one final step away from success.

’Just a bit more effort,’ he thought. ’If I can just break through this final barrier, I’ll see a whole new world!’

An unnatural flush spread across his face from the excitement.

’Longevity, power... everything is within my grasp!’

However, in the very instant his Heart Spirit was at its most turbulent, on the precipice of success, the orb of light suddenly shattered into nothingness.

"No—!"

As if struck by lightning, Jian Jingchuan violently spat out a mouthful of blood flecked with golden light.

This was his Source Essence Blood!

As he coughed up the blood, it was as if all the Life Force was drained from his once-handsome face. He aged at a rate visible to the naked eye.

His jet-black hair turned grizzled, deep wrinkles carved themselves across his smooth forehead, and his once-straight spine slumped into a hunch.

In the span of a single breath, he had transformed from a dignified middle-aged man into a decrepit elder on the brink of death.

"ARGHHH—!!!"

Failure!

His breakthrough—the culmination of centuries of bitter Cultivation, for which he had gambled everything—had ended in failure. Just like that!

Boundless despair and resentment twisted into a heart-rending roar that echoed madly throughout the secret chamber.

Jian Jingchuan slid limply to the floor, gasping for air like a fish out of water.

’It’s over.’

’It’s all over.’

His breakthrough had failed, his Dao Foundation was destroyed, and his remaining lifespan was negligible.

He could feel it with stark clarity: the flame of his life was rapidly and irreversibly sputtering out.

’At most... three years left at most.’

"Heh... heheheh..." Lying on the ground, Jian Jingchuan let out a wretched laugh, filled with self-mockery and madness.

He had schemed his entire life, been ruthless his entire life, only to end up like this.

The Path of Longevity, the status of a Nascent Soul Ancestor—it had all come to nothing.

A boundless hatred began to fester within him. At that exact moment, a peculiar fluctuation in the Heaven and Earth’s Qi Mechanism, originating from the distant south, caught his attention.

The fluctuation was strange—vast and ancient, carrying with it a sense of universal rebirth, of shackles being broken.

A flicker of confusion crossed Jian Jingchuan’s clouded, aged eyes.

He struggled to his feet, leaned against the wall, and settled into a cross-legged position.

Although his Cultivation was devastated, his experience and insight remained.

He could sense this was no natural phenomenon. Someone was manipulating the heavens, seemingly in preparation for some earth-shattering ritual.

And that direction... it was the Southern Wilderness Mountain Range!

A bone-chilling glint of cold light flashed fiercely in Jian Jingchuan’s eyes.

"Yuan Lan..."

He practically spat the name from between clenched teeth. Forcibly suppressing the roiling qi and blood in his chest, he began to rapidly form a series of complex and ancient Dharma Seals with his hands.

As the Dharma Seals took shape, the air before him began to ripple, transforming into what looked like a Water Mirror.

This was another of his ultimate Divine Techniques—Mirror Flower Water Moon.

This Divine Technique was not for combat. It was an Ancient Inference Skill he had acquired in his youth, capable of prying into the Celestial Secrets and divining the future.

However, the technique consumed an immense amount of energy and was highly susceptible to backlash from the Celestial Secrets, so he seldom used it.

But now, he couldn’t afford to care about that anymore.

He had to know what the hell that old fiend Yuan Lan was plotting!

VMMM!

Forming a sword-like gesture with his fingers, he tapped the spot between his eyebrows, forcing out a single, golden drop of Lifebound Essence Blood and flicking it into the Water Mirror.

The Water Mirror instantly sharpened, and countless blurry images flashed rapidly across its surface.

There were endless, sprawling mountain ranges; mysterious valleys wreathed in mist; roaring thunder; and torrential rain...

Jian Jingchuan’s face grew increasingly pale, but he continued to stare intently at the images in the mirror, his eyes wide, refusing to miss a single detail.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted violently!

He saw it. In the Water Mirror’s reflection, seven brilliant stars were moving along a specific trajectory, about to align into a single, straight line!