Born with immortal seed

Chapter 560 Three Happinesses Come to the Door
Through the ages, three years have passed.

After welcoming its new owner, Qishan basically continued its old layout without any major changes.

Firstly, the previous master, the Holy Lotus Sect, had spent ten thousand years building the mountain gate into a very complete structure. Even though much of it was destroyed in the war, it could still function normally after some repairs.

Secondly, they lack manpower. Occupying Qishan and the twelve prefectures of Zhongzhou is already the limit for the Qingfeng Sect, and they are even weak in many places.

If it weren't for the illustrious achievements of Elder Bai in the Central Region, the spread of the news of his killing of Qu Yang, and the reputations earned by his disciples Ma Ruoxi and Li Guizhen, which intimidated the local forces with their own ulterior motives, maintaining control would not have been so smooth.

Cultivation families and independent cultivator organizations were fine; the laws and regulations issued by the upper sects had no effect on them. It was the sects that were truly panicked.

Some sects that had not been around for long changed their models, while others moved away as a whole. The departure of the Tianli Sect left a large blank area.

However, several sects remained undeterred and continued to resist, sending numerous cultivators to visit and attempt to change the Qingfeng Sect's mind.

The outcome was naturally predictable. The rules set by the founding patriarch and the personal instructions of the Nascent Soul Ancestor were so strict that no one dared to disobey.

Several Core Formation cultivators were eager to finish as soon as possible, lest they be unable to provide a perfect answer when Elder Bai suddenly asked a question.

The territory expanded several times over, but the number of disciples in the sect could not be increased overnight. After a century of war, the twelve prefectures of Zhongzhou had only just begun to rebuild their homes and settle down in the past three years.

The Transmission Hall plans to hold its first large-scale Spirit Induction Ceremony this year, recruiting two thousand disciples in the Central Plains.

The numbers look astonishing, but when allocated to each county, there are fewer than two hundred slots available.

Meanwhile, the General Affairs Hall discovered that the war had greatly increased the number of independent cultivators in Zhongzhou, and there were many basic cultivation techniques circulating in various parts of Zhongzhou, so that each type of spiritual root could find one that suited them.

The Holy Lotus Sect's cessation of disciple recruitment triggered a series of chain reactions. With no other way to join a sect, some people joined second-tier Core Formation level sects, becoming independent cultivators, and so on. This also spurred the birth of numerous cultivation families.

The original intention of the General Affairs Hall was simply to absorb a group of miscellaneous disciples to alleviate the heavy burden of Qishan's complicated general affairs before officially opening the Immortal Gate and recruiting disciples.

Once the news was released, it was discovered that the number and quality of independent cultivators in Zhongzhou had been underestimated.

The position of a mere menial disciple attracted a large number of rogue cultivators at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and even some Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The steward in charge of the matter was terrified and immediately reported it to the elders.

Long Long, Lian Liangpu, and the others who had important duties had returned to Black Mountain. Zhou Suqing, who stayed behind, was studying the fourth-order grand formation. Ma Ruoxi was in seclusion practicing the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Sword Technique. Li Guizhen was consolidating his Thunder Technique realm. Qi Yue was indulging in the beauty of nature, using the pretext of inspecting various prefectures to travel to the famous mountains and rivers of Central China.

All the general affairs fell to Lu Song.

With no one to consult and not daring to trouble Old Ancestor Bai with such a trivial matter, they could only issue a few instructions based on experience, the correctness of which was unknown.

However, the General Affairs Hall of the Qingfeng Sect already had its own set of effective procedures, and with a Core Formation Elder taking responsibility, the incident was quickly resolved.

Adhering to the principle of prioritizing age, and assuming that the difference in cultivation level is not significant, the younger one will always be ranked first.

Those over fifty years old, even those with the Great Perfection of Qi Refining cultivation, are not accepted. The General Affairs Hall recruits miscellaneous disciples to do chores, not to provide cultivation resources to help them break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

As for those Foundation Establishment cultivators, they would be considered core members even within a sect, so of course they wouldn't be let go.

After their family backgrounds were thoroughly investigated, they were brought into the sect. However, compared to the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect, who at least held the position of steward, these individuals only had the duties of managers.

There are significant limitations in exchanging various items and inheriting skills, making them less suitable than inner disciples in many ways.

This time, a total of 500 miscellaneous disciples were recruited, which greatly relieved the operational pressure on the General Affairs Hall. At least the cleaning and dust removal work of the various peaks, halls, buildings, palaces, temples and shrines no longer needs to be specially assigned to disciples.

Tian Yangsheng, dressed in a brand-new Taoist robe, carefully rolled up his sleeves to avoid getting them wet before using a carrying pole to lift the two wooden buckets.

He bent down, and the two wooden buckets swayed back and forth, making his shoulders ache.

The two wooden barrels, after simple refining and the addition of a restriction, are not even considered proper magical artifacts, but they can hold 500 catties of spring water at a time.

With his Qi Refining Level 4 cultivation, the increase in strength was limited, and carrying water three times a day was not an easy task for him, not to mention cleaning the room.

However, Tian Yangsheng was happy to live here, because he would no longer live in constant fear of death at the hands of the Jiexiu.

Every cultivator they encountered ranged from kind and approachable to arrogant and disdainful, from enthusiastically befriending to those harboring hidden hostility and adopting an attitude of not wanting to interact.

But at least one thing is certain: no cultivator dares to injure others at will; they must all abide by the sect's rules and regulations.

This well-ordered system is exactly what Tian Yangsheng (a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner) aspires to.

His cultivation level was mediocre among all the registered cultivators, basically the worst tier, but he was only fifteen years old and had a clean background, so he was exceptionally allowed to become a menial disciple.

Tian Yangsheng never expected that the senior he had met back then, who mentioned that he would soon end the chaos in Zhongzhou, would actually do just as he said.

Looking back now, that senior must have been a master from the Qingfeng Sect.

"Those cultivators were all wiped out, their heads piled up into a high mound, it was truly satisfying!"

Tian Yangsheng carried the water buckets to the top of the mountain in one breath. He leaned on the iron carrying pole and gasped for breath. Thinking of the Jie Xiu who had harmed his whole family and caused all kinds of killings, his eyes were still red with hatred that was etched into his bones.

After a long day of hard work, Tian Yangsheng collapsed onto his hard bed in his simple hut, his whole body aching.

"When I achieve success in my cultivation, I will definitely kill all the cultivators under heaven... The Qingfeng Sect is good in every way, but the menial disciples have too much work to do every day, and I have no time to meditate and cultivate. If this continues, it will be difficult to advance to the late stage of Qi Refining in ten or twenty years."

After muttering a few complaints to himself, he got up, lifted the bed sheet, took out a portrait from the plywood, and laid it flat on the bed.

The walls are covered with densely packed images of deities, but the number of images decreases as you go higher up.

At the highest point, there is only one statue left.

This scroll of paintings is ordinary, looking no different from the paintings of gods that ordinary people hang in their houses for worship, except that it is strangely filled with hundreds of gods.

Ke Tianyang always felt that the picture he had obtained by chance had an extraordinary and mysterious power, but it had not yet been awakened.

"Perhaps my cultivation level is too low to use the portrait. If I happen to meet that senior from last time, I will give him the portrait as a gift, as a way of repaying him for unintentionally avenging my family."

Tian Yangsheng muttered something to himself, rolled up the portrait again, and failed to notice the image of a deity. His eyes seemed to flash for a moment.

……

"True Lord Bai, you have finally lived up to my expectations. The Azure Dragon Spirit Rice has already sprouted ears... If there are no unforeseen circumstances, it should be able to grow into a full crop this time."

Elder Bai let out a long sigh of relief. He had failed to plant the seedlings three times in three years, which had put him under tremendous psychological pressure.

Even though Bai Zhenjun didn't say anything to blame him, the invisible burden had already left him exhausted.

As a fourth-tier spirit plant master, he was well aware of the value of fourth-tier top-grade spirit rice.

Only the spirit rice cultivated from these spirit seeds is the true Azure Dragon Spirit Rice. After several generations, the spirit seeds that can be selected will inevitably be downgraded and lose their spirituality.

Therefore, wasting even one spirit seed is a huge loss.

This unheard-of spirit rice even uses the legendary fifth-order divine soil instead of spirit fields, so its value is self-evident.

Every time the trial planting failed, Elder Bai would pull Lin Shan aside for a comprehensive and detailed review, analyzing which aspect of the work had not been done properly, leading to the premature death of the spirit rice.

Finally, during the fourth trial planting, a qualitative change occurred, and it sprouted and grew continuously.

Even Lin Shan, having successfully cultivated the Azure Dragon Spirit Rice, was blessed with a spiritual awakening, heard the voice of the earth's veins, and directly entered a state of enlightenment.

“Well done. Once this batch of spirit seeds is successfully harvested, we will begin large-scale planting... I will not break my promise to you.”

Bai Zichen nodded in satisfaction. He had felt uneasy during the consecutive failures, but the fact that he could see progress each time gave him confidence.

With the nutrients provided by the fifth-grade Breath Soil, the Azure Dragon Spirit Rice matures in just one year and is ready to be harvested.

He simply waited nearby, keeping a close eye on the changes in the spiritual rice, while simultaneously locking the Cantongqi onto the Nine Yang Divine Fire Mirror and continuing his dedicated cultivation.

Over the past three years, Bai Zichen has picked up the Great Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light, which has not yielded significant results. Although he has not made any breakthroughs, he has developed a cultivation strategy.

He lacks the Five Elements Sacred Body and cannot achieve perfect balance of the Five Elements, which is why the Great Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light is merely a shell, lacking substance.

Then we can solve this problem by temporarily possessing the Five Elements Sacred Body through other methods.

Bai Zichen himself possesses the aptitude of three spiritual roots, lacking only the elements of metal and water. He could easily find a spiritual object to replace them, thus achieving the foundation of having all five elements.

This inspiration was drawn from the water and stone spirit body of disciple Ma Ruoxi. By visualizing and referencing corresponding spiritual objects, the cultivation speed of the Heavenly Spiritual Root aptitude can be achieved.

If he finds a fifth-order gold and water elemental spirit object through similar means, can he temporarily possess these two elements of fake inferior spiritual roots?
With this in mind, he searched through all the sect's books and found a strange and bizarre method of substitution on a scroll made of human skin. It was bloody and evil, and just reading it once broadened his horizons.

After recalling it twice, I finally remembered that this human skin was a spoil of war from the sweep of the Netherworld Cave years ago. I couldn't tell which demonic cultivator it belonged to anymore, so I just packed it all together and threw it in.

The method of substitution is used by demonic cultivators who covet the outstanding aptitude of other cultivators, capturing immortal seedlings with celestial or exotic spiritual roots and nurturing them from a young age.

After they establish their foundation, they use a trick to peel off their skin and refine their marrow, extracting their spiritual roots and aptitudes, and then refining them into their own bodies.

In this way, the cultivator whose spiritual root has been taken will surely die, and even the transplant recipient faces great risk, as they may accidentally clash with their original spiritual root.

As long as you can withstand the fusion process, you can possess the spiritual root aptitude you've always dreamed of.

Bai Zichen did not intend to do that. He could have easily taken two fifth-tier spiritual objects to replace the function of the spiritual root, which would have been even more effective.

He happened to possess a fifth-tier Tai'a Divine Stone, which was extremely yang and was a type of meteorite iron ejected from the core area of ​​the Great Sun Star during its explosion.

Through the improved method of substitution, he actually gained an effect similar to that of a metal spiritual root.

He was able to absorb and refine the originally distant and unfamiliar metal-type spiritual energy, and quite efficiently at that.

This greatly excited him. If he could find another fifth-tier water-type spiritual object, he could barely imitate the Five Elements Sacred Body.

I don't expect it to be comparable to the genuine Five Elements Sacred Body. Anyway, it's just for practicing the Great Five Elements Annihilation Divine Light, and it's enough if it can last for a short period of time.

This discovery gave him hope of mastering this supernatural power and condensing it into a five-element divine sword of the fifth rank.

Of course, for now, I should devote all my attention to the Cantongqi.

The two spiritual plant masters from the Divine Tree Sect traveled a great distance and spent a long time cultivating Azure Dragon Spirit Rice for him, mainly because of Bai Zichen's promise to guide them on their cultivation path and enlighten them.

He could certainly offer a few comments or bestow a magical artifact upon me, which would be considered as correcting my mistakes.

But that deviates from his true nature and is not in line with his character.

The best solution is to upgrade the Nine Yang Divine Fire Mirror to become a fourth-tier spiritual treasure.

At that time, the Nine Yang Divine Fire Mirror will be able to capture the meridian diagram of the human body for Core Formation cultivators and point out hidden dangers, shortcomings, and errors in cultivation methods.

Only in this way can one be considered to have broken their promise.

Bai Zichen had a premonition that as long as he completed the fifth volume of the Cantongqi, the connected Nine Yang Divine Fire Mirror would be able to break through to the level of a spiritual treasure.

Even though Senior Brother Ge Cang hasn't returned and we haven't found the secret to cultivation yet, we have no choice but to persevere.

Three months later, the first batch of Qinglong Lingmi (a type of rice) was successfully planted, with a single plant bearing a large amount of Lingmi.

Elder Bai selected a few grains of rice that could serve as spiritual seeds, while the rest of the Azure Dragon Spirit Rice became rations for cultivation.

Bai Zichen did not rush to eat it. He waited for two more years until all the Azure Dragon Spirit Rice had grown and been harvested, piling up into a small mountain.

Each grain of Azure Dragon Spirit Rice is about the size of a corn cob, with wisps of azure energy moving around it, as if dragons and snakes were roaming within.

After consuming one pill, one soon felt a surge of heat in the body, with a warm current rushing out from the limbs and bones, flowing throughout the entire body.

I've rarely experienced this tingling, sore, and swollen sensation since I started practicing the Five Crystals Glazed Technique.

This body-refining technique gave him enough confidence that he had reached the limit of his level and no longer needed to invest any more effort.

The results after consuming Qinglong Lingmi actually reflect that the body has not yet reached its limit and there is still room for improvement.

After three meals a day, in addition to changes in physical condition, I finally discovered a barely perceptible improvement in my cultivation level.

"Long-term use can shorten cultivation time by 50%... You should know that my own cultivation speed is already quite amazing, and the Azure Dragon Spirit Rice can still achieve this level. It truly deserves to be called a celestial spirit rice!"

A hint of joy flashed in Bai Zichen's eyes; it seemed that his advancement to the late Nascent Soul stage was just around the corner.

However, since it is consumed daily, the amount consumed is not small, so there must be no mistakes in the planting process.

He instructed Elder Bai to put the selected spiritual seeds into a new round of planting.

On the same day, more good news came from Black Mountain: Bai Ziyu, the head of the Spirit Plant Hall, successfully broke through to the Core Formation stage for the second time.

The Qingfeng Sect has gained another Core Formation True Person, reaching double digits for the first time!

(End of this chapter)