Born with immortal seed

Chapter 767

"The future? If we can't get past this hurdle, what future is there? We don't even know if there will be a black market tomorrow!"

Madam Mu flicked her sleeves and coldly rebuked him.

The power displayed by the Sword Lord of Time startled her, and she truly realized that her backing was not as effective as she had imagined.

The people below didn't understand the situation and still viewed things with old eyes, thinking that the black market could maneuver between various forces.

She could clearly sense that since the war between humans and demons, the development of the black market had been hampered, and many forces were no longer as respectful as before.

A prime example is the underground market in the Central Region, which was shut down by the Moral Sect.

Personnel were detained and goods were confiscated.

In the past, we always turned a blind eye to it.

Unless there is any outrageous behavior, they will not pay attention to them.

The direct cause of the change was not the changes in the black market itself, but the big shot behind it.

The black market has a long history, but it was only in the hands of the Eight Desolate Sword Lord that it was truly integrated into a kind of alliance.

This Sword Master came from the Five Phoenix Sword Sect. Before he formed his core, he was unremarkable and didn't even qualify to be taught the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Sword Technique.

He later changed his name and joined the black market, starting by making black gloves for others, and committed countless murders.

He accumulated his first batch of cultivation resources through tribulations and comprehended his own path amidst the carnage.

The later the episodes went, the more amazing the performance became.

Without receiving substantial support from the Five Phoenix Sword Sect, he advanced to the Nascent Soul Realm on his own.

He returned to the sect and was once again taught the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Sword Technique, from which he soared to great heights.

To become the most dazzling swordsman of that era.

No one dares to mention their past scandals again.

Furthermore, it integrated the black market, transforming it from a collection of unrelated, independent entities into a loose alliance.

Of course, in public, the Eight Desolate Sword Lord has never admitted to being the master of the black market.

But among high-level cultivators, it's an open secret.

Since the Eight Desolate Sword Lord transformed into a god, the development of the black market has accelerated, with all underground markets closely revolving around him.

Lady Mu was able to control the black market and climb from a lowly dual cultivation vessel to the late Nascent Soul stage by relying on this behemoth's name, the Eight Desolate Sword Lord.

The Eight Desolate Sword Lord was nowhere to be seen during the great war between the two races, but the Nebula Twin Saints, who were contemporaries of him, appeared and died on the battlefield.

No one said it outright, but those involved could sense from subtle details that the respect shown to her by various factions had clearly decreased.

This is not only reflected in the black market, but even the reputation of the Five Phoenix Sword Sect has significantly declined, making it no longer comparable to the Azure Lotus Sword Sect.

As it is the Central Region, the bottom line among cultivators is much higher than that of the other four regions.

Seeking refuge from the world to survive is human nature, and no one can criticize that.

But at the critical moment when the ancestral continent was sinking and the human race was facing extinction, some risked their lives to turn the tide, while others chose to hide and flee.

Don't blame people's hearts or minds for the results you've given.

The status of the Daode Sect is not only due to its own strength, but also to its accumulated merits and prestige.

Countless patriarchs, like the Heavenly Punishment Peak Master, sacrificed themselves in the great battle to eliminate demons and defend the righteous path against the demon race.

In the past, those people were all immortal beings, capable of ascending to the upper realm.

Considering that the Sword Lord of Time had just eliminated the Ancient Demon Asura and was at the height of his power, the background of the Black Market might not be useful to him.

Several hours later, the black market urgently retrieved the files and found the necessary information in some old archives that had been stuffed into some unknown box.

After all, it's not a sect with a well-established lineage. As a loose alliance, it's understandable that these less important storage jade slips would be covered in dust and have been eaten away by insects.

Fortunately, it did not affect the construction of the jade slip, and the information inside could still be read correctly.

As the servants sorted through the jade slips and compared them with the current information, Madam Mu's expression grew increasingly grim.

The raiders who attacked Qingfeng Sect's territory came from five families. Most of them are already dead, and those who are still alive are probably very old and have long since withdrawn from the underworld.

Two people were confirmed to be alive, and they have now become Nascent Soul True Monarchs. Their relationship with the black market has also changed from being hired to being a partner.

"I will send people to find all the surviving Tribulation Cultivators first, tie up their entire families, write me a letter, and send them to Rotten Axe Mountain... The two Nascent Soul Tribulation Cultivators are special cases, and I will decide what to do after discussing with the major managers of the black market."

Madam Mu held her forehead with her hand, suddenly feeling a headache.

She was parachuted into the black market, more like a representative of the Eight Desolate Sword Lord, yet she herself lacked the strength to subdue the entire organization.

In the past, when things were going smoothly for her, everyone was willing to give her face.

The situation is different now, and commanding the subordinates is not as smooth.

To capture the two Nascent Soul cultivators and the forces they represent, the black market would need to mobilize more than half of its permanent forces.

She lacks both decisiveness and charisma.

……

Rotten Axe Mountain.

"One more pill, that's a good name... Master Lan, right? Yu Ziliang recommended you to me, saying that you are the top non-sect alchemist, with an extremely high success rate in alchemy and a much higher yield than others, hence the name."

Bai Zichen leaned lazily against the wall, having changed into a loose, casual outfit, which gave him an air of otherworldly refinement, making him seem unlike a sharp-minded sword cultivator.

"I am unworthy of the title of Master Swordsman, but I have achieved some success in alchemy. If you, Swordsman, can grant me this opportunity, I will do my utmost and will not let you down."

Standing below the hall was a middle-aged man dressed as a Confucian scholar, with a free and easy demeanor yet full of confidence. He was none other than Lan Tianming, a well-known alchemist introduced by Yu Ziliang of the Moral Sect.

This person is at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and his alchemy skills at the peak of the fourth rank are among the best in the entire cultivation world.

Especially considering his status as a rogue cultivator, with no one providing him with alchemy resources and not enjoying almost unlimited opportunities for alchemy during his growth, his achievements are all the more remarkable.

It is precisely for this reason that he cherishes the medicinal herbs extremely, squeezing out every last drop of their potency from each batch of pills.

Each time he produced pills, he produced one more than his peers, and over time, he earned this nickname.

Bai Zichen entrusted the Daode Sect and Taiping Sect to collect various elixirs and medicines for prolonging life, and large quantities of finished products and spiritual materials were gathered on Rotten Axe Mountain.

It makes one wonder if he was afraid that he would leave the Asura Ancient Demon there and run away halfway.

While he was fighting the ancient demons outside, those two sects, in addition to their own treasures, collected countless herbs through other means.

Before the end, his few casual exchanges with the Buddha Baolun cost him nearly a hundred years of his lifespan.

A dignified Nascent Soul cultivator has only 1,500 years left to live.

If they encounter a Nascent Soul True Monarch who knows how to nourish his body and prolong his life, their fates will not differ too much.

Therefore, the issue of lifespan became a major concern for him, and he had to resolve it as soon as possible.

Besides finished pills, there's no intention to waste those longevity-promoting elixirs; the plan is to recruit two alchemists to train them independently.

The main reason is that he possesses the spiritual object known as the Annual Ring Flower, which can only play a role in refining longevity elixirs.

The alchemists of the Qingfeng Sect's Pill Hall were notoriously incapable of successfully refining even fourth-grade pills, let alone fifth-grade ones; they often had to run several batches before succeeding once.

It concerns my lifespan, so I can't trust them to squander it.

Each person can only take a limited number of longevity pills. In order to avoid the problem of pill resistance later on, we must make the most of the medicinal power of each pill.

Lan Tianming and he hit it off immediately. One wanted the alchemy master to help him refine pills, while the other wanted to use the resources of the Sword Lord of Time to break through to the fifth level.

Once someone becomes a fifth-tier alchemist, their status in the cultivation world changes dramatically.

Because they can refine pills that are worthy of the attention of Nascent Soul cultivators, they can often sit and discuss with Nascent Soul cultivators, though their rank is slightly lower.

To reach that level, Lan Tianming believes the most important thing is a spark of inspiration amidst the monotony and repetition.

In each different attempt, whether successful or not, one can gain something, however small.

This is his understanding as a genius alchemist; others may not share it.

Individual effort alone cannot support a massive amount of alchemy practice, not even for Nascent Soul cultivators.

Lan Tianming is quite famous in the alchemist circle, but the most important thing in refining high-level pills is connections and trust. Few people would entrust the most crucial pills to a stranger to refine.

After all, according to the current rules, if an alchemist fails to refine an alchemy, the spiritual materials used will not be returned, and the alchemist will even be charged the spirit stones for their hard work.

Even if the alchemy is successfully completed by chance, the quality and efficacy of the elixir cannot be guaranteed.

Therefore, in most cases, people still prefer to find fellow alchemists or buy finished pills from large merchants.

Lan Tianming's main task was to refine pills for a few familiar fellow cultivators, but the number of pills he could refine and start using remained stagnant.

"I have plenty of materials for you to use. If you need anything, just tell my disciple and I'll get it as quickly as possible... Once you get the hang of it, tell me and I'll give you fifth-grade herbs to try refining fifth-grade elixirs. If you succeed, I'll reward you handsomely, and I might even help you overcome your cultivation difficulties."

Using annual ring flowers as the main ingredient in longevity elixirs can double the medicinal efficacy.

Bai Zichen planned to use this one elixir to make up for most of the lost lifespan.

That's why he took the time to meet with him; this person is a very important person in his plans for the future.

"Thank you for your trust, Sword Master... I have no way to repay you, please just look at my future performance."

Lan Tianming suppressed his excitement, bowed respectfully, and followed Ma Ruoxi as she withdrew.

In addition to being in charge of refining the life-extending pills for the Sword Lord of Time, Bai Zichen will also transfer a few people from the Pill Hall from the mountain gate to follow behind as servants and help out.

It would be best if we could learn something from this, so that even a dignified Nascent Soul level sect would find it extremely difficult to refine a few fourth-order pills.

……

"It's better to return to the cave for freedom. It seems that I will be like other Nascent Soul cultivators from now on, hiding in the cave and unable to move freely."

When Bai Zichen returned to Shaohua Cave, all the restraints and discomfort he had been experiencing disappeared.

The laws of heaven and earth clearly tell you that Nascent Soul cultivators should stay obediently in their grotto-heavens and not show themselves unless necessary.

To act against the will of Heaven in the human realm is to act against the will of Heaven.

"Fighting the Ancient Demon first, and then the Treasure Wheel Buddha, can be considered as passing two major tests after my transformation into a Nascent Soul cultivator. If I had to nitpick, I would say that I still lack some conventional methods. When faced with an enemy like the Ancient Demon, who is close to the sixth level of body tempering, I was somewhat helpless."

Bai Zichen returned to the small island in the middle of the lake and began to review the situation, examining the gains and losses.

That's definitely nitpicking. An opponent like the Asura Ancient Demon is one of the few that has appeared in the cultivation world in tens of thousands of years. He's an exceptional case among exceptional cases.

No matter how you cultivate, a body cultivator who progresses through normal training can never possess such a physical physique.

However, his goal is not just to set his sights on the mortal realm. Sooner or later, he will ascend to the upper realm and compete with the geniuses of various races and the powerful figures of the hundred realms in the Immortal Realm.

Setting higher expectations will help you adapt more quickly in the future and prevent feelings of disappointment.

"Don't be fooled by the variety of my fighting methods. The only supernatural abilities that can truly be considered as fighting beyond one's level are the Azure Emperor Longevity Sword, the Star River Sword Formation, the Dao Life Sword... and the Taiyin Purification and Turbidity Slash, which can barely be considered half of them."

Bai Zichen counted them one by one on his fingers.

The Azure Emperor's Longevity Sword is in harmony with his own Great Dao, so it is undoubtedly the most important and has a longer-term development potential.

As the Great Path of Time continues to advance, the Azure Emperor's Longevity Sword has also been enhanced, and now it has even gained a new variation of combining three swords into one.

Therefore, it can be inferred that if the number of swords increases again in the future, five, seven or even more Azure Emperor Longevity Swords can be nurtured at the same time, and they can theoretically be merged.

The sword light at that time will surely be even more terrifying.

Don't worry, once you reach the Refinement of Emptiness and Integration of Body realms, your opponent will be able to withstand the River of Time.

The Star River Sword Formation and Dao Sheng Yi Jian are rooted in their own swordsmanship.

The more flying swords you have, the better; the higher your swordsmanship level, the stronger you become in both areas.

Moreover, with the Supreme Pure Micro Sword Box in hand, the lower limit is guaranteed, and the phrase "invincible among those of the same level" is absolutely true in the Void Refinement Realm.

Going further up, there may be inherent limitations.

The Star River Sword Formation was created by the Star River Sword Lord in the mortal realm. Even with its lofty ideals and the addition of the Supreme Pure and Subtle Sword Box, which made the power of the sword formation exceed the founder's imagination, it still had its limits.

Unless Bai Zichen can drastically modify the Star River Sword Formation after reaching the Earthly Immortal Realm, he will gradually feel his strength waning.

There was never this feeling before. As long as the sword formation was set up, no matter how many enemies were trapped in the formation, they could be slowly worn down and suppressed.

The various divine skills and wondrous techniques in the Immortal Realm are a million times greater than those in the Lower Realm, after all, it is a collection of the wisdom gained from the clash of countless geniuses from the Lower Realm and countless races.

More importantly, there are powerful beings at the Fusion Realm and even Great Ascension True Immortals above them.

A single word of advice from them is worth more than a thousand years of dedicated study.

"The Dao Gives Birth to One Sword" is Bai Zichen's personal understanding of how one sword can generate all laws, and it is the strongest sword he has ever created.

Compared to the Star River Sword Formation, it is more direct and straightforward, yet offers more possibilities.

Because this sword technique is very simple and brutal, as long as the flying sword's grade is up to par, it can always be used as a killing move.

As for the Taiyin Qingzhuo Slash, it must have something extraordinary about it to be the supreme divine power of the Moon Demon Clan.

In Bai Zichen's hands, it can only be rated as half of a transcendent divine ability because there are currently divine abilities that are stronger and more useful than it.

However, once you go to the Immortal Realm, the situation might be reversed.

Perhaps it can never achieve such stunning feats, like transforming into a god and reversing the flow of energy to reach the Void Realm, but it is not difficult to dominate its peers.

Good and evil collide, purity and turbidity intertwine, splitting and devouring each other from two tiny points of power, expanding in a chain reaction into a world-destroying force that is never outdated no matter what realm it is used in.

What needs to be strengthened is the control over the details of the Taiyin Qingzhuo Slash, so as to prevent the outside world from easily disrupting the balance between the two extreme forces.

(End of this chapter)