Born with immortal seed

Chapter 166 First Arrival
Even the most powerful sects at the Nascent Soul stage cannot avoid the possibility of their sects being interrupted when a Nascent Soul True Monarch is lost.

Like the Holy Lotus Sect, during its darkest period of nearly a thousand years, the sect had no Nascent Soul True Monarch in charge.

With the help of a fourth-order grand formation, inherited spiritual treasures, and the mountain-guarding spirit beast, the Holy Lotus Sect can still dominate the Liang Kingdom and avoid decline and ruin.

However, maintaining the status quo where one's call is obeyed by all, and no sect within the Liang Kingdom dares to disobey, will be quite difficult.

Moreover, with a history spanning ten thousand years, how could the Holy Lotus Sect not have enemies of equal caliber?

Take advantage of your weakness to kill you. A Nascent Soul Grandmaster without a True Monarch to guard him is like a piece of fresh meat in the wilderness, surrounded by wolves.

The market town was destroyed, the mines were seized, and the sect disciples were on edge whenever they went out, as someone could attack them at any moment.

Even those who had reached the Core Formation stage were besieged and several perished in succession.

At the most dangerous moment, Qishan was attacked and the enemy was attacked. Only by relying on the self-destruction of the demon core of the mountain-guarding spirit beast to severely damage the enemy army was the mountain barely able to hold on.

It wasn't until the Holy Lotus Sect had a new Nascent Soul True Monarch appear that it was able to regain its former glory.

Cultivation families face even greater challenges in passing down their traditions due to bloodline limitations compared to Nascent Soul sects.

The Du family of Zengguang produced three Nascent Soul True Monarchs, propelling the Du family to the pinnacle of cultivation families and establishing Zengguang Immortal City as a foundation for eternal prosperity.

If they weren't favored by heaven and earth, or blessed by the Great Dao, and if there were no other accounts of the Du family possessing the bloodline of some ancient divine beast, why would they be able to transform into a Nascent Soul so easily?

"Among Du Zhenjun's descendants, there are eleven Core Formation Realm cultivators, but none of them have the aura of Nascent Soul Transformation... However, Du Zhenjun still has at least three or four hundred years of lifespan left, enough time to cultivate his descendants!"

Jin Lu clearly had some knowledge of the Du family in Zengguang, and even knew about the current situation within the Du family.

"As expected of a cultivation family that controls the number one immortal city in the world, their strength on paper is almost on par with the Holy Lotus Sect..."

Bai Zichen nodded slightly, but Zengguang Du Clan was too far from Qingfeng Sect.

The topic of successors to Nascent Soul True Monarchs is not on the same level as theirs, and discussing it always feels detached from reality.

If it were a matter of comparing the strengths of the Core Formation cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect, he would be interested in hearing Jin Lu's analysis.

"Hehe, although True Monarch Nine Lotuses is in charge of the Holy Lotus Sect's inherited spiritual treasures, True Monarch Du is no less powerful. The Du family's Xuanming Heavy Water weighs more than a thousand pounds per drop. True Monarch Du has refined the heavy water of an entire river... He can overwhelm people with his power and is unstoppable. He once used Xuanming Heavy Water to suppress the Nascent Soul of the Great Li Kingdom, making him unable to move."

Jin Lu's small eyes lit up, and he was about to launch into a long discussion about his opinion on the relative strengths of the two Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

Seeing Bai Zichen's eyelids slightly closed and him adopting a meditative posture, they knew that he wasn't very interested in the topic, so they could only awkwardly shut up.

"By the way, I haven't thanked Junior Brother Bai for the Blood Flame Bag yet... With this spiritual artifact, one of my raised spirit insects has finally advanced to the second rank."

"That's because Senior Brother Jin's insect control skills are superb. The Blood Flame Bag was a deal that was agreed upon long ago, so there's no need to thank him."

The voices on the black banner gradually ceased, leaving only the howling wind swirling around the banner.

While controlling the flying artifact, Jin Lu poured out meatballs from the Blood Flame Bag.

Once a hundred grains are collected, they are put into a spirit beast bag.

Repeating this process, thousands of them were generated in a short time, feeding all the spirit insects in all the spirit beast bags on his body.

'After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, because my spiritual strength far surpasses that of others at the same level, I have indeed spent much less time on the Divine Forging Technique…'

High in the sky, Bai Zichen was far from being carefree enough to circulate the Fire Dragon Returning to Origin Scripture and cultivate his magical power.

If you encounter any unexpected event that causes your magical energy to be disrupted or your meridians to become disordered, it will take several months to recover, which is never worthwhile.

He examined himself and realized that there were still many areas that needed to be addressed slowly and patiently.

Unfortunately, his cultivation level has been advancing rapidly and it is foreseeable that he will not be able to stop before he forms his core.

If it were a Foundation Establishment cultivator stuck at a bottleneck with nowhere to go, they would have treasured it and devoted themselves to cultivation.

Both the Divine Forging Technique and the Enlightenment Sword Manual originated from the Inheritance Stone Tablet.

The former is a secret method for cultivating divine sense, while the latter is a vast and comprehensive collection of sword manuals; both are core inheritances of the Naihe Sect.

Bai Zichen believed that choosing either option and investing decades of time would allow him to make significant progress.

But in the same amount of time, he may have already cultivated to the third level of the Fire Dragon Returning to Origin Scripture.

Finding a spiritual artifact to protect one's sea of ​​consciousness proved difficult, so he turned his attention back to the art of forging gods.

"My own divine sense is the foundation. If I can advance my Divine Forging Technique further, and with the protection of the Soaring Dragon Mantra... as long as I don't encounter an anomaly like Senior Sister Zhou Suqing, the divine sense of a late Foundation Establishment cultivator will have no advantage over me."

Thinking of this, and knowing that the journey was long anyway, he calmed his mind and once again visualized the image of the furnace of heaven and earth.

With Bai Zichen's current divine sense, he can gather and disperse at will, and the world within his sea of ​​consciousness instantly changes, presenting a different scene.

The hammering of the furnace resounded continuously, as if it had existed since time immemorial, turning a section of the sky directly opposite it a deep red.

The entire world rose and fell, light and dark, in rhythm with the furnace.

The only two unaffected were the Five Crystal Divine Iron and the Glazed Fire Jade, which hung diagonally opposite each other in the sky.

Since the two fifth-tier spiritual materials were successfully combined and solidified in his sea of ​​consciousness, his cultivation of the Divine Forging Technique has been slightly different from before.

It seems that this world of contemplation has been influenced by the two spiritual materials, becoming more condensed and realistic.

Bai Zichen couldn't quite explain the benefits of this change, but at least there were no negative aspects.

Currently, it will take almost ten days to fully master the Divine Forging Technique.

He immediately dispelled the image of the Heaven and Earth Furnace when he felt a trace of fatigue emanating from his sea of ​​consciousness.

Then, take a few leaves of second-grade silver needle tea in your mouth. A slightly bitter taste rises from your tongue, instantly waking you up.

When you're out and about and there's no way to brew tea, you can only chew on the spirit tea directly, which is like a cow chewing on a peony.

When he had completed the third iteration of the Divine Forging Technique and was recuperating his spiritual consciousness, he heard a suppressed gasp.

"Finally, I've arrived... It's been over twenty years since I last visited, and seeing you again still fills me with overwhelming emotions!"

Jin Lu gazed at the city shrouded in mist in the distance, his eyes filled with fascination.

"so big!"

This was Bai Zichen's first reaction upon seeing Zengguang Immortal City. Amidst the swirling clouds and mist, there were countless palaces and pavilions, with a majestic complex of palaces surrounding a thousand-foot-tall tower in the center, like stars surrounding the moon.

The Sky Tower, the residence of the Nascent Soul True Lord of the Du Clan.

Further out lies a celestial city a hundred times larger than the palace complex, so vast that even flying through the air, one cannot catch a glimpse of its entirety.

After flying for almost half an hour, the black banner finally arrived at the entrance of the immortal city. Powerful spiritual light flashed on the white city wall, warning any cultivator who tried to enter the immortal city without going through the gate.

"There are twelve such city gates in Zengguang Immortal City, and countless cultivators pour into the city through them every day..."

Jin Lu, familiar with the route, led the way, and a long queue stretched for hundreds of feet at the city gate.

Bai Zichen observed the cultivators in front and behind him, and found that most of them had cultivation levels above the late stage of Qi Refining, and there were even several Foundation Establishment cultivators.

A person stood on the city gate wall, seemingly connected to the formation here, becoming the core of the formation.

Although he only has the cultivation level of the early Foundation Establishment stage, if he were to actually fight, with the help of the formation, he could probably be comparable to a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, probably someone like the gatekeeper of an immortal city.

The other person, to my left front, was adorned with jade ornaments all over his body, making a jingling sound, which was very ostentatious.

This person did not conceal his cultivation level; his magical power fluctuations were obvious, and it was easy to tell at a glance that he had the cultivation level of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

'As expected of the number one immortal city in the world, the average strength of its cultivators is much higher than that of the Myriad Beasts Pavilion...'

Soon it was Bai Zichen and his companion's turn. The compass in front of the gatekeeper seemed to reveal the cultivation level of the person in front of him, and the four guards became slightly more polite.

"How many days do you two intend to stay in the city? The auction is approaching, and residency rights must be renewed at least every ten days..."

"No need to say anything, the rules are the same every year, I understand... My junior brother and I will each stay for a month, please process our paperwork immediately."

Jin Lu, impatient to listen any longer, simply tossed over a mid-grade spirit stone.

Turning to his junior brother Bai, who was visiting Zengguang Immortal City for the first time, he explained, "Immortal City has rules. For cultivators like us who only visit occasionally and do not have the right to reside, we have to pay two spirit stones for each day we stay in Immortal City."

"I see."

Bai Zichen nodded almost imperceptibly. Judging from the flow of people, the daily income of the Immortal City from collecting temporary cultivator accommodation fees alone was unimaginable.

However, Zengguang Immortal City is equipped with a fourth-order grand formation. The daily maintenance of such a formation is astronomical, and it must be measured in high-grade spirit stones.

The city gate guards took two rings; as long as they wore them on their fingers, they could live in the immortal city for a certain period of time.

When the time comes, the ring will generate a repulsive force, forcing you to either continue paying spirit stones or leave the immortal city.

After passing through the long city gate passage, a sudden light appeared overhead, and the surroundings were filled with the sounds of people, with countless cultivators coming into view.

"The outer city of Zengguang Immortal City is divided into sixty areas. The auction house we are going to is located in the Dingchou area... Let's register our information first, then find a place to stay. Junior brother can then explore the Immortal City properly."

"Zengguang Immortal City isn't built on a fourth-order spiritual vein, so why does it feel like the spiritual energy concentration is similar to the cultivation areas of outer disciples in a sect..."

Bai Zichen sensed something was wrong after taking only a few steps. The spiritual energy emanating from the outer edge of a fourth-order spiritual vein should not be at this level.

"Cough cough... There is indeed a fourth-order spiritual vein beneath the Immortal City. But how exaggerated is the spiritual energy required by a Nascent Soul True Monarch? In order to gather a middle-grade fourth-order spiritual land, the Pearl Palace and Shell Pavilion where the Du family lived, also known as the inner city, had its spiritual energy drop from top-grade third-order to middle-grade third-order."

As Jin Lu spoke, he shook his head. In terms of the quality of spiritual lands, the Core Formation cultivators of the Du family enjoyed far less than the two patriarchs of the Qingfeng Sect.

"The Du family has too many Core Formation cultivators. Each of them has built a cave dwelling and is drawing spiritual energy... which has caused the spiritual energy in the outer city to drop to the middle grade of the second tier."

This incident severely impacted the cave rental business in the Immortal City, causing a near-devastating blow.

The cultivators who rent cave dwellings are mainly Foundation Establishment cultivators, and they are mostly aiming for third-tier spiritual lands.

The spiritual energy in the outer cave has dropped by three levels; who would still buy into it?

Finally, as a last resort, the Du family opened a portion of the Pearl Palace to various factions, allowing them to establish cave dwellings or set up outposts.

Anyway, the Du family doesn't have a large population, so they don't need so much land.

(End of this chapter)