Cultivating To Immortality

Chapter 737: Capturing Dragons

Sheng Nian’s five fingers clasped the Demonic Cultivator’s skull, a dark red blood-glow emanating from his palm.

As the Soul-Searching Secret Art operated, the Demonic Cultivator’s previously twitching body suddenly quieted down, and blood slowly seeped from his seven orifices.

"Hehe, just as I thought."

A moment later, Sheng Nian flung the Mo Xu Cultivator away, dispelled his Devilish Qi, and muttered to himself.

The Corpse Puppet A Yuan stepped forward, picked him up, casually killed him, and went off to dispose of the body.

"Those people from the Seed Demon Path, at their age, are still playing these tricks."

Sheng Nian sat down on the stone stool with a grand posture, a glint flashing in his eyes.

Song Yan said with a hint of disdain, "Speak quickly, don’t just ramble on by yourself."

"Most of the Mo Xu Cultivators here are Cultivators from the Seed Demon Path."

"This group was originally ordered by the Seed Demon Path Elder to come to the Yi River to meet their Dao Child candidate."

"That person came here for unknown reasons and has no known whereabouts. Yet, the Elder has not given any orders for a long time, so these few have no other choice but to stay here honestly, waiting for that person to appear. They shouldn’t be leaving anytime soon."

"It is said that this person once forcefully Cultivated a Demonic Technique and suffered Qi Deviation, but due to a blessing in disguise, although his Realm improved slowly, his Demonic Technique combat power is extremely strong."

"It’s just that his mind is a bit unwell. I heard he often goes mad for no reason. And now his consciousness is in Chaos, muttering mad words all day long."

The so-called Dao Child is not a term exclusively used by Cultivators of Demonic Path Sects.

This title represents a rising star, meticulously nurtured by major Sects, Dao Lineages, or forces like Holy Lands and ancient Cultivation families.

They are entrusted with the high hopes of representing the future highest achievement of their respective forces, and their status even surpasses that of most Elders.

However, Song Yan had only seen this term in some historical ancient texts.

After all, in Chu State, even the Profound Origin Sect, which claimed to control everything, was only at the level of a seventh-grade Sect on the surface.

There was no need to speak of a Dao Child title.

Song Yan’s focus, however, wasn’t there. He asked, "Does such a large Dao Lineage, with a Dao Child candidate, actually come to a remote, small place like Chu State to seek Opportunity?"

"It’s just a candidate, there are countless such people in the Demon Ruins."

Sheng Nian seemed quite disdainful of such titles: "Perhaps it’s because their strength is insufficient to contend with those demons and monsters in the Central Region, so they came here."

"The internal disputes within the Demon Ruins are far beyond your imagination."

He sneered and continued, "Those Loose Cultivators gathered by Jiang Chen are just a mob, no need to worry about them. If there’s no result within three to five days, they will naturally scatter like birds and beasts."

"This group of Mo Xu Cultivators is currently stationed in Qingfeng Gorge, thirty li north of the Yi River, and won’t be leaving anytime soon."

"I will have to trouble Senior Song to wait a few days."

"I need to rest for a few days to recover from some injuries. Then, you and I can go out together and slay those Mo Xu Cultivators, how about it?"

Song Yan didn’t mind. This place was quite secluded, and a few days would be enough to digest and integrate the treasures in his qiankun bag.

He pondered for a moment: "What if we happen to meet that Dao Child candidate?"

"That would be even better." Sheng Nian grinned: "We can just kill him too."

"Wouldn’t it be wonderful for me to become this Dao Child candidate?"

Song Yan was stunned.

Then he nodded... This area of the Yi River is at the intersection of the sphere of influence of the Profound Origin Sect, Hanging Sword Mountain, and Sheyang Sect.

Theoretically, it doesn’t belong to any single Sect, but some Disciples of the Profound Origin Sect would naturally assume that in Chu State, as long as it’s not another Sect’s territory, it’s all Profound Origin Sect territory.

Qingzhang Mountain has relatively abundant Spiritual Qi.

Song Yan set up a temporary Immortal Cave near Sheng Nian’s hiding place.

While Sheng Nian recuperated, he guided Xiao Ju in her Cultivation and sorted through the gains from the qiankun bags.

It must be said that Xiao Ju’s Cultivation Foundation was truly too poor.

After Cultivating for so many years, she was only at Qi Refining Stage 3. Besides her own poor Spiritual Root Aptitude, the lack of a systematic Cultivation path was also a major problem.

Song Yan’s previous three Spiritual Root Aptitude was, to be fair, quite mediocre. Before severing his Spiritual Roots and planting his sword, he was only slightly slower than ordinary Cultivators due to the scarcity of Cultivation resources.

This was the difference between Sect Disciples and Loose Cultivators.

Song Yan’s Qi Condensation Chapter was issued by the Sect and had many annotations from kind Seniors, allowing him to avoid many detours.

As for Xiao Ju, she Cultivated the Qi Refining section of the "Geng Ling Scroll" which she bought with her saved Spirit Stones. Without annotations or guidance, she practically took every possible detour.

She even went further and further down many wrong paths.

Fortunately, the little girl was very receptive to advice. Whatever Song Yan instructed, she absorbed it completely without hesitation.

Thus, her Cultivation progress had already begun to accelerate.

Xiao He, on the other hand, had been quite lazy recently. Ever since she Broke Through to Late Stage 1, it was as if she was on vacation, eating and playing every day.

At this moment, she was holding a small mechanical box, dismantling it with a tinkling sound.

Song Yan had bought this casually at the Wangyou Market. He had long noticed that Snake Babe wanted it, and when he saw it while strolling, he bought it for her.

He hadn’t expected her to be so obsessed with it.

In less than half a day, Song Yan had sorted through the gains from the three qiankun bags one by one.

As item after item was taken out and categorized, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

An excited heart, trembling hands.

An unimaginable windfall!

"One thousand three hundred and twenty-seven Spirit Stones..."

Song Yan neatly stacked the last pile of Spirit Stones, unable to help but gasp.

"Killing and arson bring wealth..."

He thought about how he now painstakingly performed Alchemy for a month, and after deducting the Medicinal Pills he needed to consume, he would only earn sixty or seventy Spirit Stones.

No wonder there were so many Cultivators in the Cultivation World who took risks, specifically engaging in acts of murder and robbery.

Earning Spirit Stones one by one honestly was nowhere near as fast as directly snatching them from others.

The world was inherently a place where the strong preyed on the weak, and such exorbitant profits were indeed tempting.

He took a deep breath: "Contemplation in action, forgetfulness in stillness, without evil, without harm..."

Do not let the Heart Demon seize an Opportunity.

Among these qiankun bags, there were many spiritual items that already appeared to have been consumed quite a bit.

They should have been acquired in the previous Secret Realm, and some had already been used during this period, just not fully consumed yet.

In addition to over a thousand Spirit Stones, there were also various Spiritual Artifacts, Medicinal Pills, Talismans, and so on.

What surprised Song Yan the most was a supreme spiritual item of the Wood Element among them.

Moreover, it was a supreme spiritual item with a name and a history that he had seen in books before.

Jianmu Essence Qi.

Legend has it that Jianmu was a towering tree from ancient times.

In mortal myths and legends, it was the bridge connecting the Heaven, Earth, and Three Realms. Its branches and leaves could reach above the Immortal Realm, and its roots were buried beneath the Netherworld Hell.

And the trunk part was in the Human Realm.

Therefore, some unofficial histories also recorded that a certain Cultivator found the location of Jianmu, and by climbing up the trunk of Jianmu, arrived in the Immortal Realm.

At first glance, it sounds a bit unreliable, but even a small unofficial history is very rigorous.

It did not fabricate that this person became an Immortal after climbing to the Immortal Realm, only stating that one could reach the Immortal Realm through Jianmu.

The "Complete Account of Immortal Dao Scenery" records that in this Human Realm, some Cultivators in certain regions regard the legendary Jianmu as the Spiritual Root of the human world.

They believe that all the Spiritual Qi in the world is nurtured and emitted by Jianmu.

Therefore, as long as one finds Jianmu, one can absorb the purest Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

And it is said that this Jianmu Essence Qi is derived from that "purest Spiritual Qi."

Of course, this is just a rumor.

This Jianmu Essence Qi is indeed incredibly precious. Whether for Cultivators who Cultivate Wood Element Cultivation Techniques or for those who want to ripen precious Spirit Medicine, this is a supreme treasure.

Presumably, this item was also discovered from the Secret Realm mentioned by Sheng Nian.

"The Cultivator Seniors of ancient times were truly generous..."

"A single Immortal Cave hides so many treasures."

Song Yan couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

The time required to refine a supreme spiritual item was very short. He simply took out the Sinking Sand Profound Gold as well and refined them both on the spot.

Two unique landscapes were added to the Liangyi Realm.

A phantom of a small sapling and an boundless desert.

Most of the scenes in the Liangyi Realm were visible but intangible. Song Yan merely considered them as phantoms projected by his inner Dao Seed.

Including the Wind Thunder Supreme Spirit he initially refined, he now had six attributes of supreme spiritual items integrated into his Dao Seed: wind, thunder, fire, metal, earth, and wood.

Song Yan was not greedy; this was already enough. If he could find a Water Element Supreme Spirit before Foundation Establishment to achieve Five Elements Perfection, that would naturally be best.

If not, then he would let nature take its course.

He couldn’t waste a good Opportunity just to pursue Perfection.

Foundation Establishment is related to all aspects of a Cultivator. If one deliberately pursues so-called completeness and affects one’s state of mind and spirit, it would be undesirable.

In the red-robed Cultivator’s qiankun bag, there were also thirty to forty pieces of High Grade yun iron.

It seemed this person was indeed skilled in Artifact Refining, no wonder both of his dual blades were High Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

Two sets of High Grade Spiritual Artifacts were rare among Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators.

All these yun iron could be directly used to upgrade the Flying Sword’s grade, but it only worked for Medium Grade and Low Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

As for the other items, there were actually many valuable things, and the Spiritual Artifacts and Talismans dazzled Song Yan.

But for him, a Sword Cultivator, they were not of much use. He would sell them all for Spirit Stones when the time came.

The only thing worth mentioning was a partial Cultivation Technique from a Buddhist Sect.

"Dragon Capturing Technique Without Evil."

"Good, without evil, weak water captures dragons..."

He softly recited the opening verse, his eyebrows slightly raised.

This secret technique was quite peculiar. It could activate one’s Buddha Power in a short period, and during this time, striking down opponents would not incur Evil Qi.

Song Yan naturally couldn’t Cultivate Buddhist Cultivation Techniques, but a quick flip through made him realize the uniqueness of this method.

"Buddhist Cultivation Techniques are truly profound."

When this technique was activated, his strikes were as fierce and unstoppable as a dragon being captured, yet like weak water, untouched by Karma.

Song Yan couldn’t help but marvel.

Then he thought about it again and felt something was off. How did these people get this Buddhist secret technique?

Within Chu State, the only Buddhist Cultivation place of note was Huadu Temple.

As far as he knew, Huadu Temple hardly participated in any disputes in the Chu State Cultivation World.

And very few people would go looking for trouble with these Buddhist Cultivators.

Could it be that it was also obtained from that Secret Realm?

Without knowing the cause, he let it go.

Song Yan neatly put away all the items, then flexed his sword finger.

Three Flying Swords flew out in unison.

They landed in three different directions in the mountains here.

At the same time, six white sword shadows flowed out from the sword scabbard one by one.

The Spirit Gathering Sword Array was formed in an instant.

In a flash, on Qingzhang Mountain, countless Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi surged from all directions.

Within the Sword Array, it was instantly enveloped by dense Spiritual Qi.

Xiao Ju, who was silently Cultivating in the distance, noticed the obvious change in the nearby Spiritual Qi and opened her eyes.

Xiao Ju had already witnessed and experienced the Spirit Gathering Sword Array when she was in Wu Mountain Valley.

Now, feeling it again, she still found it incredible.

But now was not the time to waste time marveling. She quickly continued to enter meditation and Cultivate.

Song Yan seemed to be making very thorough preparations, holding a Medium Grade Spirit Stone in each hand and a Spirit Gathering Pill in his mouth.

The Sword Qi gathered by the Sword Array quickly restored his entire spiritual power to its peak state.

Sheng Nian said it would take several days to recover from his injuries, and only half a day had passed. Since he was waiting anyway, he might as well try that.

A unique scripture appeared in Song Yan’s mind.

The Great Brightness Dharma Aspect of Pure Heaven.

That is, the Cultivation Technique for the Dharma Body.

When he was at Qi Refining Stage 6, he had tried it once in Linghua Valley.

At that time, his Cultivation was too low. He estimated that the spiritual power of Level 9 Qi Refining, or even Qi Refining Perfection, would be enough to complete the first stage of "Shaping Bones with Ethereal Spirits" in one go.

Now that he had already Broken Through to Level 9 Qi Refining, he felt a little eager.

Most importantly, he was about to go trouble those Demonic Cultivators. If he could forge the skeleton in advance, he would be able to absorb Devilish Qi and integrate it into the Dharma Body.

However, Song Yan did not want to shape the bones with spiritual power as the Cultivation Technique instructed.

Instead, he wanted to use Sword Qi to complete it instead of spiritual power.

In fact, the Spirit Transformation Chapter of the Sword Sect also contained secret techniques related to the Sword Dao Dharma Body.

However, the recorded content was rather brief, vaguely revealing a sentiment of "having it is enough, no need to be too good."

Compared to the two, the Cultivation Technique given by Sheng Nian was much more complete.

Using the Sword Sect’s Sword Qi Cultivation method to shape the framework and bones of this Dharma Body should be better than using ordinary spiritual power.

With a flex of his sword finger, the Sword Qi dormant in the Zhen Dao Sword Mansion surged like a rushing river.

"Condense."

With a soft shout, strands of Sword Qi slowly began to interweave behind Song Yan, forming a spine-like skeletal phantom.

This was precisely the Foundation of the Dharma Body, the beginning of Shaping Bones with Ethereal Spirits.

At this moment, his body was undergoing astonishing changes, and the consumption rate of Sword Qi was unexpectedly fast.

It could even be compared to the consumption rate of activating the Ring Moon Sword Array.

The skeleton behind him condensed inch by inch. The Sword Qi in the mansion poured out completely. The process was just over halfway, and seven or eight tenths of the Sword Qi in his body was already gone.

"As expected, it’s still not quite enough."

This was also the reason why Song Yan had made so many preparations in advance.

The Spirit Pill in his mouth was swallowed, quickly transforming into pure spiritual power, which was entirely absorbed by the Sword Dao Seed and converted into Sword Qi.

At the same time, the Medium Grade Spirit Stones in his palms also began to slowly transmit spiritual power into his meridians.

Leisurely, it landed not far away, flapping its wings, shaking off several raven feathers, which transformed into Sword Qi and merged into the skeleton.

At a certain moment, Snake Babe stopped playing with her toy, as if sensing something, and looked towards the stone.

"Ah!"

Ju Luyi’s small mouth slightly parted, seemingly in disbelief. She stared intently at Song Yan’s back.

Under the moonlight, behind Senior Song, an eight-foot-tall translucent white bone outline had actually appeared.

Mysterious patterns faintly flowed on that eerie skeleton.

Like the remains of a giant spirit.