Chapter 395 - 393: Transformed Image

Chapter 395: Chapter 393: Transformed Image

Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice was a name given to it by the Fish Dragon Sect.

It grew upon the Earth, steeped in Holy Beast Essence Blood for countless millennia, until a hundred plants finally bore fruit.

A senior True Monarch from the Fish Dragon Sect had once stumbled into a secret land, where he collected the Holy Beast Essence Blood Crystal Stone and obtained the legacy of the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword.

He had harvested all one hundred stalks of the spirit rice, his only regret being that he couldn’t take the Earth with him before he was teleported out of the secret land.

After this fortuitous encounter and successfully forging the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword, that True Monarch of the Fish Dragon Sect became as radiant as the midday sun. For the first time, he expanded the Sect’s influence beyond the Ten Thousand Stars Islands.

With his Late-Stage Nascent Soul cultivation, he was known as the number one cultivator in the Outer Sea.

Even the Demon Race deep within the Outer Sea gave the Fish Dragon Sect a wide berth.

But it was at this time that the seeds of disaster were sown.

A tall tree catches the wind. The Demon Race eventually caught wind of the Holy Beast Essence Blood.

They plotted for several thousand years, finally seizing an opportunity to annihilate the Fish Dragon Sect in one fell swoop.

This relentless drive—to pursue a goal for thousands, even tens of thousands of years without giving up—was something Human Race cultivators could hardly replicate.

It wasn’t a difference in the fundamental nature of the two races. Rather, such distant and ethereal goals could only be sustained by the will of the most powerful Great Powers. Lower-tier cultivators, seeing no immediate benefit, would never be able to maintain such long-term efforts.

On the side of the Human Race, even Divinity Transformation Great Powers could only live for three or four thousand years at most, and that was with the aid of various Life-Extending Elixirs, Longevity Secret Techniques, and Grotto Heaven Secret Realms.

Tier Five Great Demons, on the other hand, easily had lifespans of ten thousand years. Rumor had it that in the deepest parts of the Outer Sea, there were even ancient beings with special longevity bloodlines who had survived from the Middle Ancient era to the present day.

When a person dies, their light is extinguished. Once a Divinity Transformation Great Power fell, it was hard to say how long their will could be carried on without a capable successor.

Conversely, the long lifespans of the Demon Race’s top experts allowed them to avoid this problem, ensuring their will was seen through to the very end.

In total, there were a thousand catties of Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice. According to the Fish Dragon Sect’s research, this spirit rice was not merely limited to improving one’s physical body and constitution. Long-term consumption also offered significant benefits to a Nascent Soul Cultivator’s cultivation progress.

Furthermore, if a Core Formation Cultivator was unable to master the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword, they only needed to eat the Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice for all three daily meals for one month.

After that, they would be guaranteed to master this Supreme Divine Power, with no barriers remaining.

This thousand catties of Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice were all first-generation Spirit Seeds, the most effective batch. The Fish Dragon Sect used half for experimentation and sampling.

The remaining five hundred catties were all used as Spirit Seeds in an attempt to reproduce the Tier Four Spirit Rice on Hornless Dragon Island.

To this end, the Fish Dragon Sect went so far as to convert a Tier Four Spirit Land into a Spirit Field and requisitioned Spiritual Soil from all over.

After numerous attempts, every effort to plant the Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice ended in failure.

They tried changing the type of Spiritual Soil, and even had a Nascent Soul True Monarch dually cultivate to become a Tier Four Spirit Plant Master. But time and again, they wasted precious resources, and not a single stalk of Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice ever grew to maturity.

In the Jade Scroll, a Fish Dragon Sect cultivator had left a conjecture: success likely required both the close-proximity influence of Holy Beast Essence Blood and a growing environment of Earth.

’Tier Four Spirit Rice is extraordinarily significant, let alone a spirit rice like the Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice that has noticeable effects even on Nascent Soul Cultivators... According to the Fish Dragon Sect’s guess, it should be at the Tier Four Top Grade. If it were truly cultivated successfully, it could be called the number one spirit rice in this realm.’

The bag of Spirit Seeds before him was the last of the Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice seeds, what was left after thousands of years of continuous planting attempts and occasional consumption.

Even if there were more, they were surely all destroyed on the day the Fish Dragon Sect was annihilated.

Bai Zichen held the bag of Spirit Seeds, which weighed less than a catty, and after checking the Forbidden Talisman on it, he carefully put it away.

’The Fish Dragon Sect failed to cultivate it after thousands of years of research. What chance do I have?’

Earth is the most famous Divine Soil in the Cultivation Realm, bar none.

The original Earth was rumored to be a Heavenly Creation Divine Object, called the Nine Heavens and Earth, which could grow on its own and never be depleted.

Any Spirit Plant stuck into it could be brought back from the brink of death. Its hundred-year growth cycle would be shortened to just ten years, its yield would be doubled, and it possessed many other miraculous properties.

All the Earth that circulated in later ages were merely clumps of soil broken off from this original Nine Heavens and Earth.

As long as there was enough time and Spiritual Power, a palm-sized piece of Earth could grow to the size of a small hill.

Tier Four Earth was already extremely rare. In the past few centuries of auctions at Zengguang Immortal City, a piece was once sold as the grand finale item. The final price was one hundred and thirty Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

As for Tier Five Earth, it would never appear at such an auction. It would only surface during private gatherings among High-Tier Cultivators.

Bai Zichen currently didn’t have the conditions to plant the Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice and could only make long-term plans.

"The five lineages gather to discuss a great undertaking... Below Lankao Mountain, awaiting Senior Brother."

A letter written on brocade silk. Just a few lines, a little over a hundred characters, yet it revealed a tremendous amount of information.

’The five main lineages of the Fish Dragon Sect actually all escaped and preserved their legacies. They’ve even contacted each other and are preparing to meet at Lankao Mountain. I wonder what great undertaking they’re planning. Surely they can’t be thinking of fighting their way back to the Ten Thousand Stars Islands.’

Reading the message on the brocade silk, Bai Zichen felt a sense of relief.

’If Li Hansi had escaped and contacted the five main lineages of the Fish Dragon Sect to launch a joint attack, the Qingfeng Sect truly wouldn’t have been able to resist, especially if Senior Brother Ge Cang and I weren’t here. They would have been forced to retreat behind the Grand Array again.’

’But the five main lineages, at best, would only have cultivators at Li Hansi’s level of Core Formation Perfection. There’s no way a Nascent Soul True Monarch would emerge from their ranks.’

Even on Hornless Dragon Island, the sect couldn’t guarantee the birth of a new Nascent Soul Cultivator even over several centuries.

Let alone now, scattered and in exile. At best, they would have relied on the Cultivation Resources they carried with them to ensure they reached Core Formation.

With their combined strength, it would be easy to stir up chaos and cause turmoil throughout the Ten Thousand Stars Islands.

But it was still not nearly enough to overthrow the five Core Formation Sects, let alone confront the Dragon Monarch, the true enemy responsible for their sect’s annihilation.

’The so-called "great undertaking" must be referring to something else.’

’The legacy of the Red Bright Lineage needs an outstanding clansman to inherit it, to fulfill the ancestor’s wish. Putting it all in the Transmission Hall is inappropriate... The Profound Clarity Lineage doesn’t have this concern. The disciples in the sect with Water Spiritual Roots are in luck; they won’t be short on Cultivation Technique and Divine Power from now on.’

Bai Mucheng’s final wish was to select a descendant with the potential to reach Core Formation to carry on the Red Bright Lineage. He was adamant that the line not end with him.

He never mentioned anything about restoring its glory or rebuilding the Fish Dragon Sect.

Bai Zichen had sent the Foundation Establishment Scroll of the Red Bright Nirvana Technique back to the Bai Family to see if an exceptionally talented junior could emerge from their ranks.

Therefore, the legacy of the Red Bright Lineage had never been placed in the sect’s Transmission Hall, and even his few Direct Disciples had only been allowed to choose one Divine Secret Technique each.

It was just a pity that in all these years, no one particularly outstanding had appeared among the Bai Family clansmen.

They were more than capable of maintaining the family and managing its affairs, but they were far from being able to attempt Core Formation.

The branch of the Bai Family at Celestial Thunder Cliff, however, had produced several youths who reached Late-Stage Qi Refining at a young age. Furthermore, one of their elders had received a Foundation Establishment Pill from the Ancestor as a reward for cultivating Thunder Sound Bamboo. Their chances of reaching Foundation Establishment were much greater than those of the clansmen on Hanxiu Peak.

However, the young disciples of the Bai Family at Celestial Thunder Cliff had almost all chosen to join the Qingfeng Sect, making them unsuitable to inherit the Red Bright lineage.

He put away all the treasures obtained from Li Hansi, then took out the Celestial Illusion Bracelet. After a moment of thought, he dripped three drops of Essence Blood onto the bracelet.

Blood-red lines swirled on the Celestial Illusion Bracelet, only gradually fading after a full hour.

When he activated the Magical Treasure again, an additional option appeared in his mind. One was the mature man with strong, sharp features he had transformed into before. The other option was the face of a cold and unremarkable middle-aged man, the kind who would be easily overlooked in a crowd.

Bai Zichen chose the second image. His bones and flesh shifted, and soon another ’Li Hansi’ appeared in the Observatory Pavilion.

’It looks exactly like him. The appearance and temperament are convincing enough to pass for the real thing... But I don’t know his daily habits or his way of speaking. There would be too many flaws in front of an acquaintance; I’d give myself away easily.’

The Celestial Illusion Bracelet could absorb another person’s Essence Blood and transform the user’s body into that person’s appearance.

However, it could only retain one sample of Essence Blood at a time, making it far from capable of endless transformations.

One’s True Essence fluctuations and inner Divine Sense remained unchanged, making it difficult to deceive anyone familiar with the original person.

The idea had come to Bai Zichen suddenly. Thinking it might prove useful, he had extracted three drops of Essence Blood before incinerating Li Hansi’s corpse.

’If I meet the successors from the other Fish Dragon Sect lineages in the future, perhaps I can use Li Hansi’s identity to fool them a bit.’

’They probably weren’t in close contact anyway, so they might not see through the disguise.’

’Even if it fails, there’s not much to lose.’

’At Li Hansi’s age, he should have been old and frail, with failing True Essence... Yet he was like a Core Formation Cultivator in his prime, showing no weakness in battle. He even managed to sustain a self-harming secret technique like the All Heavens Demon Blood Transformation Flying Body Technique for so long.’

Although the confrontation was over in a flash, Bai Zichen didn’t get a chance to truly unleash the divine might of his ’One Sword Breaks Ten Thousand Laws’ in a satisfying battle.

Li Hansi never fought back. After a few of his Magical Treasures were shattered, he did nothing but flee. This, however, did not mean he was weak.

Any other Core Formation True Man nearing the end of their life would have had their entire Essence drained by the All Heavens Demon Blood Transformation Flying Body Technique in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, killing them instantly.

The fact that Li Hansi managed to fly for several thousand miles and only fainted from Essence depletion was a testament to the stability of his foundation.

It seemed that cultivating the Dragon Transformation Scripture not only granted one True Essence far exceeding their peers, but also had the effects of Strengthening the Foundation and Nourishing the Essence, and extending one’s lifespan.

’That would be perfect for Junior Sister Zhou. We’ll see if the Core Formation Scroll has any effect on her. If she can break through to the Mid-Stage Core Formation within thirty years, it means the gate to Nascent Soul hasn’t completely closed for her yet.’

Bai Zichen summoned Ma Ruoxi, handed her a storage bag filled with a large pile of treasures, and after giving her a few instructions, he began to cultivate in seclusion.

On the summit of Flame Mountain, both Tier Four Spirit Lands fell silent. The previous spectacle of constant strange phenomena, converging Spiritual Qi, and Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi rising like signal smoke was gone.

Ge Cang’s Refinement of his Nascent Soul Realm was a task that required slow, patient effort, as it would determine the future potential of his personal domain.

No Nascent Soul True Monarch would be careless in this process; it was perfectly normal to spend a hundred years to fully refine one’s realm.

However, since Ge Cang’s ascension to Nascent Soul had been accompanied by the phenomenon of the Grotto Heaven Gate, his refinement of the Realm would be much faster than that of other Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

He might even succeed in just a few decades.

Bai Zichen, on the other hand, was diligently cultivating the Fire Dragon Returning Essence Scripture, while simultaneously analyzing the changes brought to him by the Holy Beast Aura from different angles, attempting to trace it back to its source.

「Two years later.」

A handsome young cultivator with clear eyes and fine features, dressed in a tall hat and wide sash, sat atop a Wooden Kite as he flew openly into the Black Mountain Range.