Born with immortal seed

Chapter 414 The True Hunter

"Thank you in advance, Fellow Daoist Shen. However, I am only here to gather Qi and refine techniques, and I have no other reason to trouble you."

Bai Zichen could easily see that the other party wanted to get closer and curry favor with him, but he had only come to the Eastern Swamp to cultivate the ancient method of tribulation crossing.

The mere Core Formation cultivator of a family of immortal cultivators is someone who, in the Liang Kingdom, would have to wait in line to pay his respects.

Unless it is of great use to the Qingfeng Sect, one cannot normally see Master Bai.

Once he completes the Demon-Slaying Purple Light technique, he will leave immediately. It's impossible for him to occupy an enclave in the Great Wilderness Marsh, millions of miles away, to develop his power.

Even if a Core Formation cultivator from the sect wants to collect Purple Qi in the future, they will at least have late-stage Core Formation cultivation when they come, enough to roam freely in the Great Wilderness Marsh.

Just like the Du family, there was absolutely no need for them to occupy a place in the Great Wilderness, which would only attract attention.

"My family discovered a water palace thirty years ago, but unfortunately, two guardian spirit beasts have blocked our way and we haven't been able to make any progress... I wonder if Fellow Daoist Su would be interested in exploring the water palace together while you're gathering Qi? Any treasures we find inside will be split 50/50 between us."

Shen Moqun showed no embarrassment at being rejected; the old man smiled broadly, his face resembling a dried tangerine peel.

"After examining the layout of the Water Mansion and consulting ancient texts, I can basically determine that the Water Mansion was formed during the Middle Ages, and that the guardian spirit beast, at the Core Formation level, has been operating perfectly to this day. It is highly likely that it belongs to the True Monarch Wu Sanzang, who is proficient in both beast taming and puppetry. If this is the case, there is a high probability that his fourth-order beast taming technique and fourth-order puppetry skills are hidden within the Water Mansion!"

Through the excited old man Shen, Bai Zichen finally understood who this Wu Sanzang was.

Wu Sanzang, a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Middle Ages, is a Nascent Soul True Lord who clearly established his cave dwelling in the Great Wilderness Marsh.

He was a fourth-tier beast tamer and a fourth-tier puppeteer, renowned for these two skills during his lifetime. His cave dwelling housed a large number of spirit beasts and puppets he had created.

He had no apprentices, no disciples, and was all alone.

It is said that before his death, he combined the arts of beast taming and puppetry to create a special puppet that could both live forever and retain its intelligence even when it was without a master. He called it the guardian spirit beast of the city.

However, not long after this news spread, the Water Mansion completely disappeared. A hundred years later, after judging from the time that Wu Sanzang had passed away, many daring cultivators searched countless times but could not find his Water Mansion.

Unexpectedly, it fell into the hands of the Shen family of Beihe without anyone noticing.

"It operates on its own and possesses sentience; that's beyond the scope of a fifth-tier puppet... How could a so-called guardian spirit beast be merely equivalent to a Core Formation cultivator?"

Bai Zichen sneered inwardly. The spoils were split in half, which seemed quite fair.

But as an outsider cultivator, he couldn't possibly stay in the Great Wilderness for long. Even if he broke the Water Mansion's restrictions, in the end, the most valuable Water Mansion would still fall into the hands of the Shen family.

Furthermore, if the most important treasures in the Water Palace are two copies of the fourth-tier Immortal Cultivation Arts Inheritance, there's no need to even divide them equally; each can simply copy the jade slip.

Shen Moqun had a good idea; he wanted to use himself as a free henchman.

“Fellow Daoist Su is not a local cultivator and may not know Wu Sanzang. This senior is renowned in the Eastern Region for his expertise in beast taming and puppetry, and it is said that he has reached the peak of the fourth rank. If it weren’t for the limitations of his cultivation, he would have broken through to the fifth rank.”

Old Man Shen mistakenly thought that Bai Zichen was interested, and began to introduce the topic at length.

"I saw those guardian spirit beasts clearly; they were only at the level of a low-grade third-tier demon beast. They still looked lifelike, almost like living beings. They might be the latest research results of Wu Sanzang before his death. Apart from these two guardian spirit beasts, the other restrictions weren't very strong, and my family's strength was enough to break them..."

"It's really good."

Bai Zichen nodded, but his next words caused Shen Moqun's expression to change drastically: "However, the sect has ordered us to concentrate on gathering Qi and refining techniques, and not to be distracted by anything else. I can only disappoint you for your kind invitation, and go find someone else."

“Fellow Daoist Su, this is an opportunity not to be missed. Such an opportunity is not something you can come up with often... If you were not from the Central Region and had no entanglements with the local cultivators, I would not have come to you for help.”

Old Man Shen spoke quickly and urgently. Seeing that Bai Zichen had closed his eyes and entered a meditative state, adopting an attitude of not wanting to communicate, he had no choice but to turn his sleeves and leave helplessly.

"You can't carve a piece of rotten wood. When you're old, you'll regret not seizing the opportunities you had when you were young, and watch helplessly as the path to immortality slips away!"

"Interesting. A guardian spirit beast that can still function and retain its intelligence after tens of thousands of years—if it truly has a complete lineage, from low to high, it could open another school in the myriad arts of cultivation and become the patriarch of a school of skills..."

Bai Zichen sensed Shen Moqun leaving, turning back every few steps, until he disappeared beyond the furthest range of his divine sense.

He wasn't interested in any water palace, but if, as Old Man Shen said, Wu Sanzang had truly forged his own path and created such a way, then it was something that ordinary cultivation techniques could not compare to.

In fact, as long as there are the inheritances of the fourth-order Beast Taming Technique and the fourth-order Puppet Technique, Bai Zichen himself is not of much use, but he is a great supplement to the Qingfeng Sect, which lacks foundation, and can fill the two gaps in the sect.

The Spirit Beast Hall is currently doing more intelligence gathering than its actual work of raising spirit beasts, mainly because the entire sect only has three or four kinds of spirit beasts raised in groups.

If nothing else is done, rumors will spread throughout the sect about the disbandment of the Spirit Beast Hall.

The main reason why the Spirit Beast Hall cannot develop is that there is no tradition of beast taming.

Otherwise, given the monster resources in the Black Mountain Range, they could have captured at least seven or eight groups of second-tier monsters.

The fourth-order puppetry technique alone deserves a dedicated puppetry hall.

Puppetry is not an unpopular skill among the various arts of cultivation; in fact, there are several major sects that rely on it as their foundation.

However, the entry threshold for puppetry is relatively high, and in the entire Liang Kingdom's cultivation world, only the Holy Lotus Sect can claim to have a certain mastery of the art of puppetry.

However, only second-tier puppets could be mass-produced. Third-tier puppets were still a matter of luck, and only a handful of third-tier puppets could be produced every hundred years.

"But why did Shen Moqun choose to approach me when the Water Mansion contains such high value... Even if there are no trustworthy cultivators in the Great Wilderness Marsh to join forces with, are there really so many Core Formation cultivators in the Eastern Region who are not as reliable as an outsider like me who has just arrived?"

As I said before, Bai Zichen didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

For him, the most important and only priority right now is to refine the Demon-Slaying Purple Light and then cultivate it to the point of perfect Core Formation.

After that, he began the path of breaking through the core and transforming into a nascent soul, striving to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

The inheritance of fourth-order beast taming techniques and fourth-order puppet techniques, and even the entirely new path pioneered by Wu Sanzang, are irresistible temptations for 99% of the True Immortals in the world who have reached the Core Formation stage.

Moreover, there may be other heirloom treasures within the Water Palace.

After all, Wu Sanzang had no sons or disciples, and no one inherited his wealth. He was most likely buried in the Great Wild Marsh along with the Tongshui Mansion.

The entire fortune of a Nascent Soul True Monarch is something that is hard to resist.

"What meaning does it have for me... I have my own bright path, I can just go straight ahead and stride forward."

Bai Zichen suppressed his curiosity about the water mansion, a dark red ore appeared on his chest, and a ball of alchemical fire shot onto it, continuously burning and refining it.

Working day and night without stopping, this dark red ore was almost forged into black.

They refine spiritual energy, temper ores, and collect purple energy every Double Ninth Festival.

This cycle repeated itself for another seven years.

Perhaps it was because of his reputation that, occupying the high platform by the water's eye, no cultivator dared to bother him.

Everyone assumed that the destruction of the Mi family was the work of this Core Formation cultivator who called himself Su Wuming, which shows that he was a ruthless and decisive senior.

The cultivators from Onoze were too busy avoiding them to dare to approach.

Shen Moqun came twice more, repeating the same old story, trying to win over Bai Zichen to explore the Water Mansion together.

However, he never received a response and could only sigh and leave.

"Two people... Old Man Shen has found help?"

Bai Zichen sensed two Core Formation cultivators rapidly approaching, one of whom was none other than the familiar Old Man Shen. Soon, two streaks of light descended.

"Fellow Daoist Su, let me introduce you. This is young friend Chen Ze, who has just traveled to the Great Wild Marsh... He is so young, yet he has already reached the Core Formation stage. This old man is truly ashamed."

The cultivator beside Old Man Shen had a handsome face and bright eyes, resembling a refined gentleman.

"Young friend Chen happens to have some free time and is very interested in the water palace left behind by True Monarch Wu Sanzang, and is willing to join in the exploration. I've come here specifically to inquire whether Fellow Daoist Su would be willing to join?"

"No need, I'm at a crucial stage in my cultivation and can't get away."

Bai Zichen's gaze swept over Chen Ze, lingering on the young cultivator in white for a few moments, as if deep in thought.

"Hmph, what are you pretending to be an expert for? I bet you're just afraid of making a fool of yourself in front of the town's spirit beast, so you're making up all sorts of excuses to refuse!"

Chen Ze, with an arrogant expression, strode forward. With a clang, his long sword was drawn from its sheath, and the sword light stirred up a water dragon, causing the entire area of ​​water to drop several feet.

"Brother Shen, I heard that you are also a sword cultivator. Then let me see your swordsmanship!"

"No, no, no! We were just having a peaceful conversation, how could we start fighting!"

Old Man Shen looked anxious and waved his hands to dissuade him.

"Knowing I've been languishing, you came all this way to cheer me up?"

Bai Zichen pointed his finger, and a beam of crimson light, accompanied by a roar, severed the water dragon in two.

The Great Sun Furnace Sword is considered to be the best among third-tier flying swords, regardless of its power or side effects.

He suppressed his cultivation to the early stage of Core Formation and did not reveal his sword qi and thunderous sound realm. Despite being restrained, he managed to fight his opponent to a standstill.

He suddenly became interested and put in a lot of effort in swordsmanship.

Each sword strike was faster than the last, as swift as lightning, powerful and heavy, giving the opponent no chance to breathe.

At the same time, its fierceness was not without variation, leaving Chen Ze exhausted in the wide-ranging inspection route.

If this person hadn't cultivated extraordinary techniques, resembling a humanoid demon beast, whose strength and true essence far surpassed those of other cultivators of the same level.

The key to this is that the sword light can also draw in water vapor, creating rolling blue waves.

It's unclear whether it's due to the extraordinary nature of the flying sword or the unique nature of the cultivation technique.

Once the swords were drawn a hundred times, even the most powerful techniques couldn't withstand the power of the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box. The damage from a single third-tier flying sword was negligible.

Seizing an opportunity for the opponent to transfer his true essence, he cleaved the water dragon into thousands of splashes with a single sword strike. The crimson light surged forward, forcing Chen Ze back a hundred feet, his face turning deathly pale.

"Fellow Daoist Su, please stop fighting. Young Friend Chen is young and impetuous; you don't need to take it to heart..."

Old Man Shen rushed forward, bowed and apologized, pulled back the still indignant Chen Ze, and quickly retreated.

“Interesting, very interesting... The real hunter often appears in the form of the prey.”

Bai Zichen watched the two figures disappear into the distance, chuckled to himself, sheathed the Great Sun Furnace Sword, and continued his cultivation.

(End of this chapter)