Born with immortal seed

Chapter 879 The Spring and Autumn Cicada in Mythology

Although Xie Mingzong Shan Zhi had high talent, he was ultimately just a Nascent Soul cultivator who had stopped before reaching the Divine Transformation stage.

The credibility of the annotations made before his death is questionable.

We cannot arbitrarily equate the two statements simply because Bai Zichen cannot be predicted.

Otherwise, he wouldn't need the Fountain of Immortality. He could easily exchange it for a spiritual object that could serve as the main material for his external avatar.

Faces appeared one after another in the mirror, all of them Bai Zichen from the past, flashing past and receding quickly.

From my initial stage of Void Refinement to my newly ascended stage of Deity Transformation.

Bai Zichen, a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, retreated to fight a bloody battle against overseas demon races;

In the northern region, surrounded by powerful enemies, Bai Zichen, who had painstakingly achieved the Core Formation stage;

Bai Zichen, a cautious Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, travels among the various mountain ranges of Black Mountain.
Bai Zichen, still a clueless Qi Refining stage cultivator in his clan.

At this point, the retreating faces came to an abrupt halt.

None of the past life scenes that should have appeared appeared; the break was sudden and unexpected, as if a giant hand had snapped them in two.

Waves surged forth from the mirror-like surface, so thick that there was nowhere left to add ink, one wave after another.

Bai Zichen's true intent surged uncontrollably, resonating with the raging waves.

Though there was no sound of water, an illusory river appeared.

The river of time!

The Three Lives Mirror did not reveal Bai Zichen's past life, but instead directly attracted the River of Time.

"Something's not right... This river of time is strange!"

Bai Zichen's expression changed, and his heart pounded wildly.

Most people rarely have the chance to witness the long river of time in their lifetime, let alone distinguish the differences within it.

But ever since he mastered the Azure Emperor's Longevity Sword, he has immersed himself in the Great Dao of Time for a thousand years, and has seen the River of Time countless times.

Even the great supernatural powers are related to the river of time.

One glance was enough to notice something was wrong.

"The river of time that I drew upon with my own true will has no source and no end, yet it is continuously connected... This river, however, has a clear beginning and end, and is equally lofty and untouchable, but it lacks that unique feeling among all realms."

Bai Zichen stepped in without hesitation, as naturally as stepping into the stream in front of the door.

Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. If even he can't survive in the river of time, then there's no one else in the Immortal Realm.

No matter what secrets are hidden, I am confident that I will survive.

If they retreat, they will lose both the fragments of the Three Lives Mirror and the Fountain of Immortality.

Everything was pale and lifeless; this long river of time had no color, only an ancient feel, and every drop of it revealed the vicissitudes of life.

A gentle breeze caresses your face, water droplets splash, and here, a moment's thought can mean the passing of thousands or even tens of thousands of years of life.

Bai Zichen also keenly realized that although this river of time was incomplete, the true meaning of time was even more unrestrained.

Like a wild horse without its bridle, it charged wildly.

Even a cultivator at the Void Refinement stage might not be able to hold out for even a moment.

Even if they merge, they still have to constantly contend with each other using their own Great Dao, which is no easy task.

"If I'm not mistaken, this river of time is the reason why the Mirror of Three Lives can reflect past lives... My destiny of holding the power of twin dragons truly has no past life, and the Mirror of Three Lives, stimulated by the Fountain of Eternal Life, is in its most active state, directly causing the river of time to appear in the world!"

Bai Zichen was like a lone boat in a storm, tossed and turned, yet he remained steadfast.

"To extract a segment from the river of time, seal it within the Three Lives Mirror, and refine it into this treasure—what terrifying power that is..."

"Even if I advance to the Integration stage and the Great Dao of Time leaps to another level, I still won't be able to achieve this!"

An answer flashed through my mind: throughout history, only one person could do it—

God!

It is said that the Heavenly Emperor, who controls time, took a segment from the long river of time and created this rare treasure of the Heavenly Palace, leaving behind various legends.

In the story, the Three Lives Mirror and the Heavenly Emperor were never involved, and they rarely even appeared together with the Dao Court.

The time when they displayed their power and fame seems to have been before the Heavenly Emperor attained enlightenment.

Therefore, he never thought in that direction.

In retrospect, many of the rumors were inaccurate.

Or perhaps the earliest Three Lives Mirror and the later Heavenly Treasures that shook the world were not the same thing.

After walking for what seemed like an eternity, a splash of color caught my eye, creating a striking contrast with the gray world.

Cicadas! Cicadas!
The familiar chirping of cicadas rang out, the river of time parted to the sides, and a huge black shadow rushed up—it was an insect with six pairs of wings.

A twelve-winged cicada!

Its appearance was exactly the same as the illusory scene he saw on Penglai Island in the human world, fierce and menacing, and the true meaning of time carried on its wings was unimaginably pure.

It can almost be regarded as the embodiment of the Great Dao, and its every move affects the long river of time.

In the blink of an eye, the twelve-winged cicada flashed behind him, and an invisible force froze him in place.

His lifespan vanished like a burst dam, leaving him pale and utterly empty.

Clearly, this cicada from the Spring and Autumn Period far surpassed him in the path of time, easily seizing control of his lifespan.

If it were someone else, simply being infected by the aura would lead to the five signs of decay and the end of their life.

"Not a mythical fiction, but a real twelve-winged cicada!"

Bai Zichen's first reaction was not panic, but rather that the question that had been buried for hundreds of years had finally been answered.

In the Realm of Hidden Dragons, the Spring and Autumn Cicada, with its fourth rank and six wings, is already at its limit, having only appeared a handful of times.

The twelve-winged cicada of spring and autumn seems more like a fabrication, imagined by some cultivators.

If it weren't for what he saw and heard on Penglai Island, he definitely wouldn't have taken it seriously.

Upon arriving in the Immortal Realm, such spirits born according to the Great Dao of Time are equally rare, and their growth has an upper limit.

There seems to be an ironclad rule: once something reaches a certain level, it will inexplicably disappear.

Until today, a living twelve-winged cicada appeared before me, a seventh-order spirit insect!
"Sword rises!"

Bai Zichen's mind raced as he unleashed the power of the Azure Emperor's Longevity Sword, each strike imbued with the true essence of his primordial spirit.

Almost simultaneously, the scene behind them froze, with seven Azure Emperor Longevity Swords raised side by side, their ripples of power shaking even the pale world.

At times like these, no other supernatural powers or ingenious methods will be of any use.

To fight against the Spring and Autumn Cicada, one must either possess a stronger and more profound understanding of the Great Dao, or a shared understanding of the True Meaning of Time, in order to survive in dire straits.

"This twelve-winged cicada is only a seventh-tier creature, but it has been sealed in the Three Lives Mirror for too long and the treasure is damaged, so it can't unleash the strength it should have at the seventh tier... If we can hold on for this moment, there will be a turning point!"

Bai Zichen didn't turn his head, his eyes swirling wildly, and two lines of bloody tears flowed down his cheeks.

For cultivators at the Integration Stage, the state of the Twelve-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada makes no difference.

The true meaning of time and space can only be offset by using one's own Great Dao twice or ten times over.

But in his eyes, it was just a magnificent but decaying high-rise building.

A direct confrontation offers no chance of victory, but that doesn't mean there are no weaknesses; there are still points where breakthroughs can be made.

The water roared, the waves surged, and a river of time, falling from an infinite height, crashed into this world, causing the fragments of the Three Lives Mirror to shake violently.

The already incomplete gap continued to widen, and the cracks continued to spread towards the center of the mirror.

At this rate, the real river of time will destroy the world in the mirror within ten breaths at most.

"Not enough! Not enough!"

Bai Zichen began to feel resentful. Why was the Eternal Spring so effective? It truly made the Three Lives Mirror recreate the power of the Heavenly Treasure.

This ten-breath interval may well lead to the death of yet another cultivator of the Great Dao of Time from their own Great Dao.

All the supernatural powers of time seemed to be sealed away.

Whether time passes in the blink of an eye or underfoot, it cannot be propelled.

It can only be said that the world in the mirror is isolated from the real river of time, causing the great supernatural powers that rely on the river of time to become nothing but a mirage.

"Even divine powers based on the Great Dao cannot be relied upon, but I still have my five-foot-long sword to rely on!"

Only three sword lights remained, crisscrossing and moving against the current, striking out from the impossible.

These were the three sixth-order flying swords: the Misaligned Heaven Sword, the Purple Star Thunder Sword, and the Western King's Golden Mother Sword.

With each strike, the flying sword trembled violently, and the Twelve-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada closed the distance between him by one point.

The Tao gives birth, the Tao perishes; life and death intersect, and the two poles reverse.

In dire circumstances, one's swordsmanship reaches new heights, achieving even greater heights.

Hundreds or even thousands of years of secluded cultivation cannot compare to a flash of inspiration at the moment of life and death.

But it only lasted three breaths before the sword light broke and the flying sword flew backward, accompanied by a mournful cry of unwillingness.

Click!

With a cracking sound, immense pain shot through his entire body. Bai Zichen's eyes widened in fury, feeling not only the physical pain but also the pain directly affecting his primordial spirit.

The crimson immortal bone on his forehead first broke, then vaporized. The pain caused Xiao Bai's primordial spirit to contort his face and pound the ground with his hands.

The fourth breath!
The Heavenly Star Bone on both shoulders turned into a wisp of stardust, flashing by in an instant, leaving behind a fleeting moment of beauty.

The fifth breath!
The indestructible cave in its chest, the true bone, appears and disappears repeatedly, back and forth several times, as fragile as porcelain before the twelve-winged cicada of spring and autumn.

The sixth breath!
Its hands and feet glowed simultaneously, shattering the Hundred Poisons Jade Scale Bone and the Two Levels of Dazzling Bone inch by inch, and the dazzling colorful light pushed the true meaning of time outwards once more.

The seventh breath!
Heavenly Soul Finger Bone Shattered! Invisible Sword Fractured!
Eighth breath!
Buddhas filled the sky, and countless rays of light appeared. From the relics of the Buddha, a great Buddha was born, with a compassionate expression, holding a flower in one hand and clasping his hands together in the other.

The ninth breath!
A serene and desireless deity, holding a sword with a hand seal, lowers his brows and draws the sword, parting the river into two.

Not long after it was perfected, the nine immortal bones cultivated by the Nine Heavens Bone Forging Technique were all reduced to ashes before the terrifying true meaning of time of the Twelve-Winged Spring and Autumn Cicada.

It's not like the damage to the immortal bones that happened before; it can be repaired.

Instead, it was completely annihilated, its origin taken away by the Spring and Autumn Cicada, and the foundation of the Nine Heavens Bone Forging Technique no longer existed.

This means that the top-level body-tempering technique has completely disappeared from his possession!

They paid such a heavy price to finally survive ten breaths.

A clear sound of the mirror shattering filled the air, and the already small Three Lives Mirror broke into several pieces once more.

The real river of time surged into the mirror world, instantly breaking through the shackles of color, and colors other than pale appeared.

The twelve-winged cicada displayed an extremely human-like expression of terror, flapping its wings as if trying to escape the place.

It flew up countless feet, still shrouded in the long river of time.

A wave crashed in, and both the twelve-winged cicada of spring and autumn and this tributary of time vanished without a trace.

Before Bai Zichen could even catch his breath, Shaohua Cave suddenly sank, as if being crushed by a mountain of immense weight.

Deep within the cave, twelve-winged cicadas of spring and autumn and tributaries of time slowly emerge.

(End of this chapter)