Born with immortal seed

Chapter 468 Taking stock of gains
When Yu Baichan left the Hundred Skills Sect as a Core Formation True Person, he had completely broken off all pretense of civility.

They were all preparing to leave Yunnan and go to a more southerly country to live out their lives.

The area still retains its wild and untamed character, with many insects and beasts occupying the hilltops, and it is sparsely populated.

With enough strength, it is easy to seize territory.

Unexpectedly, after only a few years in Yunnan, while being chased and fleeing, he accidentally entered a swamp and fell into a tomb, where he inherited the mantle of an ancient insect cultivator.

He learned three volumes of the Gu scripture and dozens of insect eggs.

Although most of these insect eggs lost their vitality, Yu Baichan eventually managed to cultivate three Golden Silkworm Gu.

With this, he became a famous Gu master in the Southern Region, successfully transformed into a Nascent Soul, and earned the title of the Three Great Gu Masters.

The three Golden Silkworm Gu in his hands all possessed the strength of the Core Formation stage, and were impervious to water and fire, as well as metal and stone, making them extremely difficult to kill.

There was also a group of three-tiered Azure Scale Scorpions, numbering in the hundreds, who were terrifying to behold.

The final wonder is a mysterious Gu worm that no one has ever seen; all that is known is that it has the strength of a fourth-tier being.

With his powerful army of Gu worms, Yu Baichan became one of the most prominent rogue cultivators in the Southern Region. Many sects extended olive branches, offering him the position of Supreme Elder, but he politely declined them all.

Xin Youhuang secretly bowed her head once, trying to ask Yu Baichan to come back, but received no response.

However, at least it established contact between him and Yu Baichan's nephew's lineage.

"With the passing of Elder Xin, more than half of the sect's elders have perished. If Elder Yu does not return soon, I fear the sect will be unable to continue!"

The cultivators of the Hundred Skills Sect knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly to the illusory green smoke in the air.

"With such heavy casualties, I really don't know how Xin Youhuang led the sect. Even if he dies, I don't think he would have the face to meet the ancestors of the past generations!"

Yu Baichan sneered, but at the same time his heart was stirred, and he pressed for an answer.

“Tell me in detail what happened, how you got involved with that sword cultivator from the Northern Region… I heard of his name when I was in Southern Chu. It is said that several sword cultivator sects in the Central Region are waiting for him to travel and challenge them. It is unlikely that he is just a person who doesn’t live up to his reputation.”

With Xin Youhuang's death, nearly half of the core Core Formation cultivators in the Hundred Skills Sect were lost. Yu Baichan's return to the sect at this time can be said to be perfectly timed, advantageous, and supported by the right people.

With his strength, plus the several disciples he has taken in over the years, the Hundred Crafts Sect has no power to contend with him.

The reason he was unwilling to return was that even if he did, he could only be a nominal elder, with real power still in Xin Youhuang's hands.

The current situation is different.

"What an idiot! He's been holed up in his tiny country, bullying everyone for so long, that he dares to look down on the talents of the world!"

After hearing the whole story, Yu Baichan was furious, never expecting that his former fellow disciple, who had driven him away, would act so recklessly and irrationally.

All I can say is that it's very important to go out and see more of the world. Sitting in a well and looking at the sky will unknowingly cultivate a habit of being ignorant of one's own limitations.

He wouldn't have known that there were such incredibly talented cultivators in the cultivation world if he hadn't traveled to the Central Region for a hundred years after mastering Gu techniques and broadened his horizons.

At the same early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, Yu Baichan could not withstand more than ten sword strikes from that genius swordsman of the Five Phoenix Sword Sect before feeling the aura of death.

Even his strongest trump card was almost cleaved in two by the sword light.

Fortunately, it was just a contest of magical skills. He was representing his friend's sect to determine the ownership of a large spirit stone mine based on the outcome.

After being defeated, the opponent stopped fighting and did not finish him off.

But it left a deep shadow in his heart, making him have a negative view of sword cultivators.

"Knowing that the opponent had only recently reached the Nascent Soul stage, yet was able to force three others of the same level to flee in disarray, they should have known the rumors were true; they were undoubtedly a peerless swordsman aiming for a Great True Monarch. Yet they dared to later try and take advantage of the sect that was protecting them, and even more importantly, they sent a message exposing their intentions. They don't even understand the simple principle of not compromising one's integrity. It's a miracle that the Hundred Skills Sect has survived until now!"

Yu Baichan felt extremely satisfied after launching a thorough attack on Xin Youhuang from beginning to end.

At the same time, he felt that there was no hidden danger in returning to take over the Hundred Skills Sect, and that sword cultivator from the Northern Region did not seem to be someone who would stay in the Dian Kingdom for a long time.

As long as one is sensible and improves relations with the Five Elements Sect, Xin Youhuang's life will be enough to vent their anger, and the deterrent effect will also be sufficient.

"After taking stock of the sect's losses, there's no need to worry about any petty villains coming to bully us after hearing the news... This illusory figure of mine can last for three days without taking action, which is enough to wait for the real body to return."

"I will obey my ancestor's decree!"

The disciples of Baiqiao Sect were greatly encouraged. At this critical moment, the fact that a Nascent Soul True Monarch was willing to return to the sect was a shot in the arm for their scattered confidence.

"What did you say? The entire vault is empty! What a bunch of useless trash!"

Several hours later, Yu Baichan, having received the damage list, roared in a fit of rage, and the terrifying pressure of a Nascent Soul True Monarch swept across the entire area.

Even a mere phantom descending with a secret technique caused the kneeling cultivators below to stagger and tremble.

……

"This time, taking down the Hundred Skills Sect should be enough to establish our authority. No one will have any designs on the Five Elements Sect for the next hundred years... As for after a hundred years, if I am still alive, I believe a single word will be enough to quell the chaos."

Bai Zichen left a handwritten letter at the Five Elements Sect.

He bluntly stated that if the Five Elements Sect produces a sword genius in the future, they could go to Black Mountain to seek his guidance.

Furthermore, there's no need to worry about retaliation from the major Nascent Soul sects in Yunnan.

When it comes to having someone refine the Nascent Soul Fruit into a Nascent Soul Pill, you must choose a reliable alchemist and avoid falling into someone else's trap.

Even a fourth-level alchemist would be tempted by a spiritual pill of the Nascent Soul level, and might even have ulterior motives.

I'll just give you an excuse that the alchemy failed, and you'll lose the Nascent Soul Fruit without a second thought.

No alchemist can guarantee a 100% success rate in alchemy. Even the best pills can fail to be refined, let alone a high-level pill like the Nascent Soul Pill.

Even the most reputable alchemist can't guarantee they'll never cheat you; you can only rely on their integrity and character.

This is why the training cost is huge, and from a cost-effectiveness perspective, it is not as good as hiring someone to help with alchemy. All major sects still need to train their own alchemists.

Located in the Southern Region, the Five Elements Sect has witnessed countless dirty and despicable acts and could not possibly be unaware of the dark secrets behind them.

Bai Zichen was just worried that their desire for the Nascent Soul Pill had clouded their judgment, and that they had chosen the wrong alchemist in their haste to refine the elixir.

After all, even he wasn't confident he could obtain another Nascent Soul Fruit, a spiritual treasure.

Furthermore, even if there are any more in the future, one must still consider the core cultivators of one's own sect.

For the Five Elements Sect, this could truly be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He randomly chose a desolate mountain, sorted through the spoils from the Hundred Skills Sect's secret vault, and set aside what was useful to him.

"This stone seems to be the Stone of the Spirit Eye?"

The dozens of strange items on the lowest level of the secret vault are mostly of unknown grade and purpose, but their unique textures make them extraordinary.

Bai Zichen didn't have time to examine them closely at the time, but now that he's studied them one by one, he's actually discovered a few good things.

Just like the smooth stone the size of his palm in his hand, the dark lines on it reflected a faint glimmer in the sunlight.

And there was a faint spiritual energy emanating from the stone and spreading outwards.

"That's right, it's a spiritual eye object born from heaven and earth. The Hundred Skills Sect actually has one in their collection but hasn't used it, which is a real bargain for me..."

These kinds of spiritual eyes often appear at the core of spiritual veins, in the central location where spiritual energy gathers.

Born from the essence of heaven and earth, it is a tangible and substantial product.

Just like the spiritual spring in Wanxianjian in Hejian County, it is the place with the highest concentration of spiritual energy in the entire spiritual vein.

However, despite having so many third-tier spiritual veins and even a fourth-tier spiritual vein like Flame Mountain, the Qingfeng Sect only possesses one spiritual eye.

It is evident that the formation of such wondrous objects is not entirely dependent on the rank of the spiritual vein; other factors also play a role.

The spiritual eye can be taken away and moved to a different location, increasing the speed at which spiritual energy gathers. Another function is to accelerate the evolution of the realm.

The Cave Heaven World is a small world that is not much different from the main world.

As celestial bodies rise and fall, spiritual energy is generated.

A powerful cultivator's grotto-heaven can accommodate tens of thousands of cultivators, allowing them to live normally, experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, and cultivate and grow.

These spiritual objects can be refined into the realm, accelerating the realm's evolution.

Little by little, the spiritual energy in the realm gradually became abundant.

"It's a pity that its grade isn't high. It's probably a spirit eye stone that grew from a third-order spirit vein... I'll just have to see how it works. I was originally planning to take down the spirit spring eye from the Ten Thousand Immortals Valley and test it next time I returned to the sect."

Apart from a few black stones that were completely incomprehensible, the remaining strange objects could be roughly identified.

Several of the human sculptures have no faces and are painted with eerie colors.

Even though the oil paint has faded over the long years, the colors still fill my mind with that hue after a few glances. I even hallucinate when looking at other objects, automatically replacing them with that oil paint.

It must have been a magical artifact used by shamans to curse and kill cultivators along the way, but it lost its magical power after the passage of time.

The practice of shamanism flourished in the ancient and primitive period, and there were still sporadic remnants of its transmission in ancient times.

Then, they disappeared into the long river of time.

Not knowing the purpose of these evil magical artifacts, Bai Zichen specially added two more restrictions to seal them.

There were also several animal skins, painted with lifelike insects and beasts. Although they were just pictures, they gave him an overwhelming sense of oppression.

"This is the mature form of the Golden Silkworm Gu, the Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gu, whose strength is comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator in the early stage... This is the Hundred-Eyed Heavenly Centipede, which actually has all 100 pairs of compound eyes on both sides open. Could it be that the Hundred-Eyed Heavenly Centipede, which controls a hundred kinds of divine light, really exists? What level is it?"

Each animal hide was painted with top-tier insect-like creatures, but by the end, Bai Zichen doubted whether they had ever truly existed in the cultivation world, or if they were just the creator's imagination.

"A pair of Hundred Poison Golden Silkworm Gu appeared tens of thousands of years ago, and there was also the Hundred-Eyed Heavenly Centipede with more than twenty kinds of divine light. It is indeed possible to open all 100 eyes at the same time under ideal conditions... But this fourth-order Spring and Autumn Cicada with six wings on its back is just a product of a few ancient inventors. Such a spiritual insect could not possibly exist in the cultivation world!"

As darlings of time, cicadas are spiritual insects that crawl out of the river of time, and each one has the ability to slightly influence the passage of time.

However, such extraordinary abilities are also envied by the heavens, not only are they rare, but the highest rank is only the third-grade low-level.

Its fragile insect body could not withstand the erosion of time; one more step forward and it would reach the end of its lifespan.

Therefore, the third-tier lower grade is the limit for the Spring and Autumn Cicada.

This is already a consensus in the cultivation world, and many Great True Monarchs have expressed the same view.

But on the animal hide in front of him, there appeared a fourth-order, six-winged cicada, which was thought to be a figment of imagination.

Judging from the formation of the animal hides, this theory predates its emergence by a considerable margin.

Could it be that in ancient times, a fourth-order cicada of spring and autumn truly appeared in the world, was witnessed by people, and was thus painted on animal skins?
(End of this chapter)