Chapter 622: Innate Spiritual Root (Part 2)

Moreover, Innate Spiritual Roots inherently contain a sliver of origin from the Creation of Heaven and Earth. If one could truly take human form, it would become a flawless, perfect body. Without meridians or a Qi Sea, it could directly absorb nature’s spiritual energy without any need for Refinement.

If it was truly as Qu Yang said, one could easily reach the Nascent Soul Realm with the help of the Jiuhua Snow Lotus, with better results than any Nascent Infant Elixir or Tribulation Crossing Secret Treasure.

It might even be possible to advance to higher Realms.

But all of this was predicated on the Ten Thousand Years Snow Lotus genuinely considering his interests and being willing to share its origin.

And not on it treating Qu Yang as a mere tool, a puppet that could be discarded at any moment.

Innate Spiritual Roots generally only appeared in Ancient Times, when the world was newly formed and chaos had yet to separate into order. Only then could such a Spirit Plant, one that had stolen the origin of an entire world, possibly emerge.

Later on, their reappearance became almost impossible.

To say nothing of the difficulty of their birth, Cultivators had come to realize the immense benefits these Spirit Plants offered. They would either “kill the chicken to get the egg” by harvesting them during their growth stage to refine Spirit Medicines, or they would take the main body after it matured into an Innate Spiritual Root, a supreme material for refining an Outer Body Incarnation.

Even Divinity Transformation Great Powers would be tempted. While their main bodies could not move about freely, an Outer Body Incarnation refined from an Innate Spiritual Root had no such restriction.

In the history of the Cultivation Realm, the most famous Innate Spiritual Root was undoubtedly a Gourd Vine. After ten thousand years, eighty-one Thunder Tribulations, and a fortuitous encounter at the convergence point where two Earth Veins merged and collided, this Gourd Vine took the final step.

All of its Spiritual Power ultimately nurtured a single Eight-Treasure Gourd, which matured three hundred years later and became a Gourd Child upon falling to the ground.

The Gourd Vine, which had withered and shrunk into a thin thread, became his Lifebound Magical Treasure.

The Gourd Child was born in the Nascent Soul Realm and reached Nascent Soul Perfection within a century. However, word got out, and rumors spread that eating his flesh could grant eternal youth and prolong life.

This attracted frenzied pursuit from Divinity Transformation Demon Cultivators, and even Righteous Dao Divinity Transformation experts acted secretly, attempting to get a piece of the action.

It was the Divinity Transformation Ancestor of the Moral Sect of that era who extended a helping hand, aiding the Gourd Child in his escape. Another century later, the Gourd Child successfully achieved Divinity Transformation.

At the same time, he displayed astonishing strength, forcing those Divinity Transformation cultivators with ulterior motives to abandon their plans and give him a wide berth.

After another three hundred years, free of disaster and tribulation, he successfully achieved Ascension.

This was the only Innate Spiritual Root to have attained the Great Dao after the chaotic Ancient Times.

As for the others, they either died prematurely, suffered the three tribulations of heaven, earth, and man, or reached Tier Five but were far inferior to the Gourd Child of Ancient Times.

They ultimately died of old age in some unknown corner of the Cultivation Realm. After all, an Innate Spiritual Root was a treasure through and through. If one wished to be undisturbed after death, it was best not to be exposed to the sight of Cultivators from the very beginning.

Otherwise, they would move heaven and earth, use Divination and Divine Calculation, and exhaust every means to find you.

“Nonsense! I am the recognized number one Nascent Soul Seed of Liang Country! You’re just some lucky Core Formation cultivator from the Qingfeng Sect. How can you even compare to me!”

Qu Yang roared incoherently as two more dazed Core Formation True Men, one after the other, used a Heavenly Demon Dissolving Escape Technique and shot into the sky in an instant.

SWISH! SWISH!

Ten rays of lightning, as fine as silk threads, appeared simultaneously, piercing through the two Core Formation True Men who were rushing forward to self-destruct their Golden Cores.

Forehead, heart, Dantian, limbs…

Mists of blood erupted from all their vital points, and their remains scattered across the ground before they could even think of self-destructing their Golden Cores.

‘This Qii Mountain will be my domain soon. I can’t let Qu Yang destroy it as he pleases.’

Seeing this former chosen one of heaven become so muddled and confused, Bai Zichen just wanted to end it quickly.

‘My interest in that Snow Lotus is growing. If it’s really a Quasi-Innate Spiritual Root, I won’t have to worry about my future Outer Body Incarnation.’

He swung his sword again. It was just an ordinary Sword Light, without Sword Light Division or Refining Sword into Silk.

Yet it carried the aura of the Creation of Heaven and Earth. No, it wasn’t just an aura—everything the Sword Light touched began to crack.

This even included the magnificent halls and Qii Mountain’s peak itself.

“To have your life ended by a blade of pure Sword Intent should be enough for you to boast about in the Underworld!”

Over these years, Bai Zichen had never slacked in his study of the Sword Dao.

No matter how profound or lofty the prospects of other Cultivation Techniques and Divine Powers, the Sword Dao remained his foundation.

Especially after learning the Cave Profound Godslaying Sword Scripture, his progress in the Sword Dao could be described as advancing a thousand miles a day. He was even making breakthroughs with the two Sword Intents he had obtained from the jade wall in the Tianhe Sword Sect.

This current sword strike was precisely Bai Zichen’s comprehension and evolution of the Heaven-Opening Sword Intent.

Winning through sheer force, achieving supreme beauty through great simplicity, it possessed the aura of remaking heaven and earth.

The remaining Forbidden formations in the Holy Lotus Sect exploded one after another. A single, disheveled, and foul-smelling Cultivator rushed out. He reached out and manifested a giant Snow Lotus.

The air temperature instantly dropped by dozens of degrees. Even the majestic Sword Light nearly froze solid, with Ice Crystals already starting to form on it.

But for every ten feet the Sword Light fell, its power grew stronger. Before it even struck the Immortal Reception Platform, its strength had multiplied by an unknown factor.

CLANG!

With a deafening ring, the Snow Lotus petals, far tougher than metal or stone, were sliced deep into by the world-creating Sword Qi.

The Snow Lotus let out a pained cry, similar to that of an injured Human Race Cultivator, as blood-red veins appeared on its snow-white petals.

With the main body injured, the puppet’s body fared even worse. One of Qu Yang’s arms fell off.

The instant it left his body, it turned into a piece of wood, without a single drop of blood.

“Why? I just want to pursue my Cultivation in peace! Why won’t you give me that chance!”

‘Qu Yang’s’ mind had already been seized; the one speaking was now the Ten Thousand Years Snow Lotus.

“You forced my hand! I’ll use my ten thousand years of accumulation to make Qii Mountain my tomb, and we’ll all go to the Yellow Springs together!”

Atop Qii Mountain Peak, Spiritual Qi swept in uncontrollably, coalescing into a gigantic, emerald Flying Sword.

Simultaneously, innumerable ice needles and ten thousand snow lotuses abruptly appeared on the peak.

Each ice needle was equivalent to a Tier Three Magic spell. They locked onto Bai Zichen, forming a long dragon of Ice Crystals that sought to engulf him.

Meanwhile, the ten thousand snow lotuses began to reverse-channel Spiritual Power. The entire peak started to condense with Ice Crystals. The center of the Immortal Reception Platform, which was already a Tier Four Top Grade Spirit Land, began to manifest materialized Spiritual Qi for the first time under the Ten Thousand Years Snow Lotus’s self-destructive eruption.

DRIP. A single drop of liquefied Spiritual Qi fell and was swallowed in one gulp by the ‘Qu Yang’ at the center.

His body, which had been on the verge of death, instantly recovered as if being inflated like a balloon, becoming even stronger than before.

He reached out and clenched his fist. A True Essence Giant Hand, a thousand feet long, formed and swiped forward, tearing the very space apart.

A dark spatial passage appeared, but it was quickly suppressed by the Rules of Heaven and Earth and vanished once more.

But the terrifying power unleashed by the True Essence Giant Hand sent a chill through the hearts of all the Cultivators present.

‘If I were caught by that, I’m afraid no Protective Dharma Treasure could save me.’

However, Bai Zichen’s Sword Light moved nimbly, effortlessly toying with the Snow Lotus’s True Essence Giant Hand. At the same time, another gray-white Sword Light landed in his palm.

The sky cleared, and the Great Sun hung high. The pool of the Spiritual Spring had been frozen into a pillar of ice.

As the Celestial Phenomenon changed, the temperature rose, and the warm feeling of a spring day returned.

The Cultivators on the distant, retreating Floating Battleships had previously been nearly frozen solid, their qi and blood stagnating.

Now, bathed in the sunlight—which was clearly not intense—they felt as if they had come back to life.

“A clash of the Great Dao, a dance of True Intents…”

Shi Chengdong’s expression was grim. Qu Yang’s techniques had clearly been prepared for him.

‘If I had followed the original plan and had the Celestial Principle Sect storm Qii Mountain to seize the Spirit Land while I was fighting him, I’m afraid all the disciples would have perished here.’

‘More importantly, nourished by the Tier Five Spiritual Liquid, the Ten Thousand Years Snow Lotus’s power has grown even further, already possessing the might of a Great True Monarch.’

‘If we had rashly advanced, we might really have been trapped.’

“I only knew that Bai Zichen had comprehended the Time True Intent. How has he also mastered so many other Sword Intents on top of that…? At this rate, forget being the Northern Domain’s First Sword Cultivator; he’s not far from the throne of the First Sword Cultivator in the entire world.”

Bai Zichen used the Splendid Youth Sword to manifest the Celestial Phenomenon Sword Intent, changing the solar terms to counter the Ten Thousand Years Snow Lotus’s endless chill.

The second Sword Light he had obtained from the jade wall that day could manifest the twenty-four solar terms and changes in the Celestial Phenomenon, which also had a slight connection to the Time True Intent.

Now, in his hands, it reined in the Cold Qi and ushered in the spring season, causing life to flourish.

This caused the perpetually frozen ice on the shaded side of Qii Mountain, which hadn’t melted in ten thousand years, to begin to thaw, sending streams of icy water flowing.