Born with immortal seed

Chapter 445 How could we possibly run into each other like this?

"The Five Elements Qi Gathering Method involves extracting a trace of metal energy from a metal mine, refining a drop of wood sap from a thousand-year-old tree, gathering a wisp of water vapor from a spiritual spring, condensing a ball of spiritual flame from a volcano at the earth's core, and finally finding a hundred-zhang-deep cave in a spiritual mountain to gather a wisp of earth essence..."

Bai Zichen examined the jade slip repeatedly, confirming that there were no hidden handprints left on it and that it was just an ordinary jade slip before accepting it.

"It looks complicated, but in reality, as long as the sect prepares the location in advance, it can be completed in a year or two at most."

This Five Elements Qi Gathering Method is not difficult to cultivate, as long as there is a suitable place to condense the essence of the five elements.

While this might be difficult for solitary cultivators, it's not difficult for disciples of major sects to meet the requirements.

With the current resources of the Qingfeng Sect, they are capable of achieving this.

After successful cultivation, the probability of Foundation Establishment increases by 10%, which is equivalent to everyone having a Foundation Establishment spiritual item.

For those Nascent Soul level forces with tens or hundreds of thousands of disciples, Foundation Establishment Pills are never enough. Even with a sufficiently large herb garden secret realm, it is impossible to reserve all the space for the Thousand-Year Golden Crown Ganoderma.

There are also a large number of spiritual herbs that are useful to high-level cultivators, which need to be cultivated.

Auxiliary techniques like the Five Elements Qi Gathering Method are crucial for ensuring the success rate of foundation building for novice disciples.

"The cultivation world in the Central Region is still far superior to that in the Northern Region, and this can be seen from this point of view... I have never heard of any cultivation technique that can improve the success rate of breaking through major realms. Our sect's Desolate God Stealing the Sun Technique is also a legacy from the Naihe Sect."

Bai Zichen carefully put away the jade slip. The fact that the Nascent Soul cultivator from the Hundred Puppet Sect could so casually give him the Five Elements Qi Gathering Method as compensation showed that similar auxiliary techniques were not particularly rare in the Central Region.

"Regardless of the situation in the Central Region, this method will greatly alleviate the problem of the number of disciples in the sect who have reached the Qi Refining stage increasing year by year, while the supply of Foundation Establishment Pills is basically fixed and it is difficult to increase significantly... Moreover, the Five Elements Sect happens to have the Five Elements Peak, so I will make a copy of the jade slip and present it as a congratulatory gift when I visit."

According to reports from the Foundation Establishment disciples of the Qingfeng Sect stationed at the Five Elements Sect, the Five Elements Sect has not been developing well in recent years. It seems that the trip to aid Black Mountain exhausted their luck, and after returning, their original prosperous momentum came to an end.

Even with the Desolate God Stealing the Sun Technique given to them by Bai Zichen, several Core Formation Seeds failed to break through to the next realm, their cultivation levels plummeted, and some even died.

The Crimson Fire Immortals in the sect have all passed away peacefully.

The Five Elements Sect is once again facing a crisis of inheritance. Among the three Core Formation True Persons, the Earth True Person is of advanced age and high moral character, playing a stabilizing role, but he may die at any time when his lifespan is exhausted.

Master Qingmu's body is shrouded in lurking demonic fire and residual poison, making it impossible for him to make any further breakthroughs; he is essentially a cripple.

With only Blackwater True Man remaining, he was truly struggling to survive in the Southern Region.

That's why Bai Zichen, after transforming into a Nascent Soul, didn't even have time to refine and generate his own domain before heading straight for the Five Elements Sect.

After another day of travel, an endless expanse of yellow sand appeared before us.

This desert is said to be a place where everything falls, and those below the Nascent Soul stage can only walk on two feet and cannot take a single step out of the air.

Even a Nascent Soul True Monarch would have to pay a price of a thousand times their true essence to fly through it.

Unless absolutely necessary, they will not fly or travel, for fear that their true energy will be depleted halfway through their flight, leaving them vulnerable to being slaughtered.

"The Heavenly Fire Mountains separate the Northern Region from the Eastern Region, and the Landing Sand Sea separates the Central Region from the Southern Region. It's as if someone deliberately arranged things this way..."

When Bai Zichen landed, the ground a hundred feet away quickly changed from a green grassland to a white sandy field, and then to a fine brownish-yellow desert.

"Legend has it that this was caused by the battle between two powerful beings in ancient times, which caused earth-shattering changes to the entire land veins. Water sources dried up, all things withered, and spiritual plants could hardly grow... It's the same old story. All the wonders of mountains and rivers were formed because of this. Ancient cultivators were really busy. They ran around all day just to cause great destruction and leave traces so that future generations would know about their achievements."

It can cause almost permanent changes to mountains and rivers, remaining unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years, something even Nascent Soul cultivators cannot achieve.

The power of time, the self-correcting power of this world, is enough to heal all wounds.

Even if this world could briefly contain power surpassing the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator in ancient times, it would certainly have been a fleeting phenomenon.

No matter how powerful one is, it is a pipe dream to fight against the entire world single-handedly.

For such a person to descend to the mortal realm, the price they would have to pay is probably more than ten times the resources required to cultivate to the Void Refinement stage.

Therefore, even if the Ascension Platform still exists, the descending immortals are extremely rare. They still rely on imperial edicts, dream guidance, and other means to drive the sect disciples to complete their missions.

Even after their cultivation was restricted by the rules of heaven and earth, the former Void Refinement cultivators could still overwhelmingly defeat Nascent Soul cultivators with their secret techniques and supernatural powers.

Only when cultivators exert all their efforts can the extraordinary phenomenon of the natural barrier continue indefinitely, existing forever.

As Bai Zichen stepped in, the scorching yellow sand beneath his feet indeed exerted a suction force, requiring several times more effort to lift his foot each time.

One can imagine the suction force one would experience at a great height.

In the desert, a figure moved with light steps, as if taking a leisurely stroll in his own backyard.

With each step, though the stride appears small, the figure has already traveled over a hundred feet.

In just a few hours, they had completed the journey that would take an ordinary cultivator several days in the desert.

"The ability to travel a thousand miles in an instant is indeed useful. It achieves its effect purely through physical strength and is not limited by any environment... If we take it a step further, it can evolve into a void supernatural power. I wonder if we will have the opportunity to glimpse the legendary realm of being able to travel a thousand miles in an instant with a single thought."

Bai Zichen's expression shifted as he noticed a Core Formation cultivator struggling to trek thirty miles to his left.

It seemed as if his feet were sinking into quicksand, the terrifying pull preventing even a Core Formation cultivator from breaking free. He could only futilely waste his true energy to keep his body from sinking.

Without external intervention, he would be mercilessly swallowed up by quicksand once he was exhausted.

Every year, a large number of cultivators traveling between the two regions are swallowed up by the sand sea, dying mysteriously without even a cenotaph being erected for them.

Bai Zichen shifted his foot an inch and quickly arrived at the place his divine sense had detected.

A clump of sand, indistinguishable from any other in appearance, was rapidly spinning and sinking every second.

There seemed to be a huge hole, into which endless yellow sand poured in, yet it couldn't slow down the shifting sands even a step.

This person used several magical treasures, but none of them had any effect; in fact, they had the opposite effect.

The most useful thing was that the chessboard figures he threw far away grew into humanoid puppets with different decorations after landing.

Some threw out long ropes, some activated giant mechanical hands, and two others simply fell apart, spreading out on the sand and becoming two pools of spiritual material that moved forward.

Six mechanical puppets stood outside the quicksand, holding back a cultivator who had already slid into the abyss with no chance of survival.

Even without external intervention, he can save himself, but it will take an extremely long time.

"What a coincidence, it's another puppetry technique..."

Bai Zichen frowned; this person's style was exactly the same as the puppet that Yu Nie had manipulated before.

The probability of encountering two puppeteers in a short period of time is too low. It is highly likely that this person is the traitorous disciple of the sect who stole the treasure and fled far away, as mentioned by Yu Nie.

"Fellow Daoist, please lend me a hand, and I will surely repay you handsomely!"

Bai Zichen made no attempt to conceal his presence, appearing openly and boldly. Upon seeing him, the Core Formation cultivator immediately shouted.

Trapped in quicksand, his fate uncertain, he disregarded the identity of the person who had come to him and immediately cried for help.

Bai Zichen clenched his fist and pulled, causing the Core Formation cultivator to immediately leap several tens of centimeters up from the quicksand.

With the help of six mechanical puppets, they successfully averted the crisis.

"Are you a disciple of the Hundred Puppet Sect?"

Bai Zichen tried to find the sect emblem of the Hundred Puppet Sect on the other party's clothes, but after looking at them, they were just ordinary robes.

"I used to be, but now I'm just a rogue cultivator... I will never forget your great kindness, senior. Please feel free to ask if you ever need my help."

After escaping, Gu Wen was surprised to find that her helper was a Nascent Soul True Monarch, and she quickly replied respectfully.

An unfamiliar Nascent Soul True Monarch might be more dangerous than a quicksand vortex.

Especially given his special status, the items he carried were of paramount importance.

"When I came here, I met a fellow Daoist named Yu Nie. He said that they had laid a net of heaven and earth on the road to the Sand Sea in order to capture the traitor who had stolen important treasures from the sect... I wonder if young friend Gu could answer my questions: who exactly is this traitor from the Hundred Puppet Sect, and what treasures did he take away that made the Hundred Puppet Sect mobilize so much?"

Bai Zichen stared calmly at Gu Wen's face, waiting to see how she would respond.

In fact, he also got the Five Elements Qi Gathering Method from Yu Nie, so he got the better deal.

However, he had no time to get involved in other people's sect or family affairs, and he had no intention of capturing Gu Wen to exchange for a reward.

However, they showed considerable interest in the so-called treasures that the sect traitors could take away.

“Senior, this is a jade slip that records the secret method for crafting fourth-order puppets. I took it out of the sect with me… If you are interested, I can make a copy for you.”

Gu Wen spoke with a slight nervousness, and his slow backstep betrayed his state of mind.

The treasure he brought out from the Hundred Puppet Sect could not possibly be a jade slip.

Or perhaps the jade slip was just one of them, but the most valuable thing that made even the Nascent Soul True Monarch of the Hundred Puppet Sect uneasy was definitely not a secret method for refining fourth-order puppets.

"A secret technique for crafting fourth-tier puppets? That's not what Fellow Daoist Yu Nie told me..."

Bai Zichen stared intently at Gu Wen, and sure enough, as soon as he said those words, he saw his expression change repeatedly.

They assumed that the Nascent Soul True Monarch in front of them truly knew the inside story and had connections with the Hundred Puppet Sect.

'Knowing what treasures I stole from the Hundred Puppet Sect, yet not capturing me directly, it seems their relationship with the Hundred Puppet Sect isn't close. They're just another cultivator trying to profit from me. At least my life is safe…'

Gu Wen felt relieved and was about to speak when she saw two bronze sword lights fall, exuding an ancient and profound aura.

She exclaimed with delight, "Star Lord, you've arrived!"

Without hesitation, Bai Zichen raised his wrist, and the lightning sword light flew out on its own, colliding with the two bronze sword lights and being pushed far away.

Looking back, one could see a Nascent Soul cultivator wearing an ancient mask and dressed as a priest.

(End of this chapter)