Cultivation of Immortality: Start by Improving Spiritual Root Qualifications

Chapter 972 Fang Jiuzun's Storage Bag, the Great Battle Begins!
The Western Desert Camp, a temporary cave dwelling.

Zhou Xun arrived at the cultivation room, waved his hand, and three beams of spiritual light landed on the ground.

The shield, the imperial seal, and a beautifully crafted storage bag were all spoils of war he acquired after killing Fang Jiuzun.

Zhou Xun was the first to pick up the shield.

Look carefully,

The token was about the size of a palm, dark purple in color, and engraved with lightning patterns. Judging from the faint pressure it exuded,

It is indeed a defensive magical artifact.
What delighted Zhou Xun even more was that this spiritual treasure was of the lightning attribute, which matched Zhou Xun's nature. This meant that...

He was able to unleash the full power of this shield.

It is far superior to his "Mysterious Tortoise Shield" magical treasure.

The only drawback is that the shield is quite damaged, and it will probably take a long time to fully restore its power.

Setting it aside, Zhou Xun picked up the jade seal again to examine it.
This item was Fang Jiuzun's natal spiritual treasure, which was also greatly damaged when Zhou Xun shattered its spiritual light.

"If it can be repaired a little, it can be sold back to the Immortal Realm and fetch a lot of treasures!"

Completed review

Zhou Xun reached for his waist, and a flash of black light transformed it into a small, foot-long banner that landed in his palm.

Then, he made a hand seal and pointed it towards the banner.
"Xiao Qing, there's something good here!"

As soon as the words were spoken, an excited shout came from inside the banner.

Then a beam of azure light flew out, landed on the ground, and transformed into a monkey over ten feet in size.

It was the soul-devouring beast, the Azure Ape!
The ape's fur was extremely glossy, emitting a faint golden light.

At this moment, he was only one step away from reaching the fifth rank.

As soon as the blue ape appeared, it showed an extremely excited expression.

"Master, have you eaten another remnant soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator?"

Previously, it had consumed a considerable amount of remnant souls of Nascent Soul cultivators, which would be a great tonic for it now.

"Of course!" he said, pointing to the two treasures in his hand and the storage bag next to him.

"Thank you, Master!"

Xiaoqing was extremely happy.

Like a cat seeing a fish, it excitedly punched its nose a few times.
Then a faint light flashed on the tip of the nose.
A bluish-green light emanated from within, enveloping the storage bag.

Bathed in this light, the illusory figure was drawn out.

They kept pulling and tugging, and then
"Whoosh-"

Fang Jiuzun's remnant soul, transformed into a phantom, was enveloped in azure light and instantly pulled into the belly of the azure ape without any resistance.

The ape patted its belly with satisfaction, then nuzzled Zhou Xun's arm affectionately with its head, indicating its great contentment!
After all, it is a divided soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator, so it is naturally extraordinary.

Then, he disposed of the other two magical treasures.

After doing this,

Zhou Xun picked up the shield and began to refine it using his divine sense.
He sat cross-legged, placed the shield in front of him, made a hand seal, and a wisp of divine consciousness slowly emerged from between his brows, wrapping around his surface like a silk thread.

The lightning shield trembled slightly, as if resisted by some spirit, but Zhou Xun's divine sense remained as steady as a rock, penetrating it little by little.

"brand!"

He let out a low shout, and his divine sense suddenly condensed, carving a golden rune at the core of the lightning shield.

In an instant, the shield burst into lightning, and fine lightning patterns appeared on its surface, with a faint, deep rumble of thunder echoing through the air.

Zhou Xun remained calm and continued to urge his divine sense, washing over the inside of the shield like a tidal wave, refining each of the restrictions within it one by one.

In just half an hour, the lightning on the shield gradually subsided, eventually transforming into a warm purple light that quietly floated in his palm.

"It's done! So this treasure is called the Thunder Element Shield!"

With a thought, Zhou Xun's Thunder Shield shone brightly, transforming into a shield about ten feet in size, which stood before him.

Its surface crackles with lightning, making it clearly extraordinary.

"Let's test the defense."

He pointed his fingers and unleashed a sharp sword light that struck the Thunder Shield with a "clang".

The sword light dissipated, but the shield remained completely still, without even a trace.

Zhou Xun nodded in surprise, and then unleashed several more sword lights, but the result was still the same.

"Their defensive capabilities are astonishing."

"Such defensive capabilities would be among the top tier even for low-grade spiritual treasures. It seems Fang Jiuzun hasn't unleashed the full power of this treasure, at most only fifty percent,"

"To have fallen into his hands is truly a waste!"

Zhou Xun had several guesses about this.

Firstly, Fang Jiuzun is a fire-attribute cultivator, which is incompatible with the Thunder Element Shield's attribute, preventing him from fully unleashing its power.

Secondly, the original owner of this treasure was the Purple Jade Heavenly Lord, while Fang Jiuzun was the murderer.
Since the magical artifact possesses a spirit, it naturally only went through the motions against Fang Jiuzun, the murderer.
The combination of these two factors resulted in Fang Jiuzun not being able to unleash even 50% of his power.

Otherwise, even if the attributes didn't match, it wouldn't have been a problem to unleash 70% of its power, and Zhou Xun wouldn't have been able to break through so easily.

"I've really struck gold!"

With a thought, his natal lightning pool flew out.

Counting on one's fingers,
Suddenly, a surge of lightning energy flew out from the Thunder Pool and, guided by Zhou Xun, poured into the Thunder Shield.

He was completely absorbed by it, and this infusion lasted for a full quarter of an hour before Zhou Xun finally stopped.

Then he looked at the Thunder Shield.

The Thunder Shield, which had previously lost its luster, began to slowly repair itself. According to Zhou Xun's estimation,
It takes about ten years to fully recover.

"If I find some rare Thunder Dao spiritual materials in the Immortal Realm in the future, this shield might one day be upgraded to a mid-grade!"

After dealing with the Thunder Shield, Zhou Xun picked up Fang Jiuzun's storage ring. As for the Falling Sun Seal, he didn't plan to refine it.

He probed the storage bag with his divine sense, and what he saw was astonishing.

ho-

The treasures inside are terrifyingly numerous!
The most numerous items were naturally the top-grade spirit stones, numbering in the thousands. Zhou Xun glanced at them and then paid no more attention.

To his surprise, he discovered spirit crystals here.
There were quite a few, over six hundred in total.

"I wonder where he found such a treasure. Logically speaking, there are no spirit stone mines in the human realm that produce spirit crystals!"

This amount, even among cultivators of the same realm in the Immortal Realm, is considered extremely wealthy.

Continue reading...

Glancing past the mountains of spirit stones and various materials, they were quickly drawn to several jade slips that exuded an ancient aura.

With a thought, a jade slip, entirely crimson and engraved with flame patterns, flew into his hand.

As his divine sense probed in, the four ancient characters "True Technique of Falling Sun" appeared in his mind, followed by a vast amount of cultivation methods.

After a cursory glance, Zhou Xun felt a slight tremor in his heart.

This cultivation method is complete, profound, and leads directly to the Great Dao. At its highest level, it can be cultivated to the late stage of the Integration Realm!

This level of inheritance, even within the Que family of the Immortal Realm whom he had come into contact with, would absolutely be the most core, closely guarded secret.

"It seems that the origins of this Luoyang Immortal Palace are indeed extraordinary."

After putting down the "True Secret of Falling Sun," he picked up another jade slip next to him.

This jade slip is made of a warm, light gold material, and its shape is completely different from the jade slips commonly seen in the human world, making it appear more ancient and elegant.

His consciousness sank into it, and a piece of information flowed out. It was actually a farewell letter.

The author calls himself "Jiuyang Daoren".

According to him, this "True Technique of Falling Sun" is not a product of the human world, but originated from the Yang family, a once glorious fusion family in the Northern Bright Immortal Domain!
Unfortunately, as time went by, the Yang family gradually declined.

When it came to his generation, the strongest person in the clan was only him, a peak Nascent Soul cultivator.

In search of an opportunity to break through to the Void Refinement realm, he once ventured into the human realm along with other powerful beings from other realms.
Unexpectedly, they fell into the trap of that True Immortal-level Soul-Eating Beast, which ultimately erased their path back to the Immortal Realm, forcing them to remain in the Human Realm.

To prevent the lineage from being severed, he had no choice but to establish the Luoyang Immortal Palace in this realm, hoping to preserve the Daoist tradition.

The jade slip also mentions that he left behind a treasure called the "Sunset Pagoda," a heirloom of the Yang family.
This treasure requires a direct descendant of the Yang family to fully unleash its power.

Zhou Xun immediately recalled the powerful crimson pagoda that the elders of Luoyang Immortal Palace had jointly summoned during the great war between humans and ghosts. It seemed that this was the same thing.

At the end of the jade slip, Daoist Jiuyang left a message: If any later person sees this slip, I hope that he will remember that we are all of the same lineage of immortals and return the "Luoyang Pagoda" to the Yang family of the Northern Bright Immortal Realm.

As a reward, the two thousand spirit crystals, one high-grade spirit crystal, and all other fifth-tier spirit materials he left in the storage bag were returned to the returner.

"High-quality spiritual crystal!"

Upon seeing this, Zhou Xun's heart skipped a beat!
This is a treasure far more valuable than ordinary spirit crystals. One high-grade spirit crystal is enough to exchange for tens of thousands of low-grade spirit crystals, and it is priceless and unavailable!

All his current wealth combined is far less than the value of this one high-grade spirit crystal!
Now, he actually has the opportunity to obtain such a treasure.

A huge surge of joy welled up inside me.
He immediately began rummaging through his storage bag.

Soon, his divine sense locked onto a jade box tightly wrapped with several golden spirit-sealing talismans.

The jade box felt cool to the touch, and the talismans affixed to it shimmered with spiritual light, possessing extremely strong sealing power.

Zhou Xun carefully peeled off the talisman.

Just as the lid of the box was opened a crack—

"Buzz!"

A surge of pure, powerful, and astonishing primordial energy, seemingly containing the very essence of heaven and earth, burst forth instantly!

The concentration of spiritual energy in the entire cultivation room suddenly increased, even triggering a slight resonance in Zhou Xun's own magical power.

Inside the box, a perfectly round crystal, about the size of a pigeon egg, with a milky white and warm luster, lay quietly on the soft brocade.

The crystal seemed to shimmer with a continuous flow of radiant light, radiating a vast and invigorating energy; its purity was remarkable.
Far surpassing any low-grade spirit crystal he had ever seen!
"It really is a high-grade spirit crystal!"

A brilliant light flashed in Zhou Xun's eyes, and even with his composure, an uncontrollable look of ecstasy appeared on his face.

He carefully closed the jade box and reattached the talisman.

Unexpectedly, killing Fang Jiuzun not only avenged his great grudge,

To be able to obtain such a treasure is truly an immense blessing!

He continued to take inventory; they were all ordinary items. After a quick glance, Zhou Xun stuffed them all into his storage ring.

……

A month passed quietly amidst intense preparations.

Inside the main hall on the western front, the atmosphere was so heavy it was almost palpable.

Liu Bai, Zhou Xun, Liu Dao Mo Jun, Nangong Yifei, and Yan Mo Tian Jun reunited once again.

Liu Bai's gaze swept over the crowd, his voice deep and clear, reaching everyone's ears:

"The expansion of the passage has reached its final stage, and it will be completely stabilized in three days at most."

One sentence made the already oppressive atmosphere in the hall even more tense.

Everyone understood what this meant—the final battle was imminent, and there was no room for maneuver.

Yama, the Heavenly Lord of Hell, slammed his hand on the armrest of his chair, the sound like a booming bell:

"In that case, there's no need to wait any longer! We should immediately activate the 'Transformation Heavenly Talisman' and summon all fellow Daoists to gather here!"

"At the same time, issue orders to all sides to mobilize all available troops from the human realm and assemble them in the Western Desert! The fate of this realm rests on this battle!"

Zhou Xun remained calm and nodded slightly: "That's exactly right."

The Six Paths Demon Lord and Consort Nangong exchanged a glance and solemnly nodded: "Seconded."

“Alright!” Liu Bai no longer hesitated. With a flick of his wrist, the golden token the size of a millstone, engraved with the trajectory of stars—the Divine Transformation Heavenly Token—once again floated in front of everyone.

Liu Bai, Zhou Xun, Yama Heavenly Lord, Six Paths Demon Lord, and Nangong Yifei simultaneously formed hand seals, and five pure and powerful Nascent Soul Transformation magic powers, like five torrents, poured into the Heavenly Talisman!
"Om-!"

The Divine Transformation Heavenly Talisman suddenly erupted with a dazzling golden halo, and the star patterns on its surface rapidly swirled. A vast and ancient wave traversed endless space and instantly spread outwards.

The innermost forbidden chamber of the Great Jin Imperial Palace.

The patriarch of the Great Jin Dynasty, Ji Wanren, sat cross-legged, gently nurturing the dragon seal that represented the nation's power and stability.

Suddenly, a dark golden talisman at his waist trembled violently, emitting a scorching heat, and Liu Bai's solemn and urgent voice rang out directly in his consciousness:

"The passage is about to be completed, and the decisive battle is imminent. Fellow Daoists, please proceed to the Western Desert immediately!"

Ji Wanren suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze flashing with a sharp light. Without the slightest hesitation, he abruptly stood up.

The dragon robe fluttered without wind; with a single step, it tore through the void, and the figure vanished from the secret chamber.

Bo Ruo Temple, a healing pool filled with the sounds of chanting.

The illusory image of the twelve-armed golden body of Yun Ku Tian Jun was slightly dimmed and was slowly receding.

Jiang Taixu and Xiong Jun, who were standing to the side, also adjusted their breathing. Suddenly, the three of them opened their eyes almost at the same time and took out the vibrating Heavenly Talisman from their pockets.

"Finally...it's coming!"

Yun Kutianjun chanted a Buddhist mantra, and his dim golden body shone with a resolute light once more. His injuries had not yet healed, but his fighting spirit was already high.

"Haha! My bones are practically rusting!" Xiong Jun suddenly stood up, his bones cracking with a series of thunderous sounds, his ferocious fighting spirit soaring into the sky.

Jiang Taixu's expression was solemn, and he remained silent, only gripping the magic weapon in his hand tightly.

Three powerful auras instantly pierced through the roof of the quiet room, transforming into long rainbows that rushed straight towards the Western Desert.

In the endless deep sea, deep within the crystal dragon palace.

The Golden Jade Heavenly Lord was discussing something with a man of equally immense power—the Golden Yuan Demon Lord. The celestial talismans at their waists lit up simultaneously.

"Summoning order!" Jin Bitianjun's beautiful eyes narrowed.

"Hmph, those demon brats, this time we'll make sure they never leave alive!"

The Golden Yuan Demon Lord snorted coldly, his demonic aura surging, with the faint sound of a dragon's roar.

The two exchanged a glance and instantly transformed into a golden ray and a turquoise beam, breaking through layers of seawater and speeding towards the sea and the Western Desert at an astonishing speed.

In just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Above the Western Desert camp, space fluctuated continuously.

The first to appear was Ji Wanren, dressed in a dragon robe and exuding immense majesty.

Immediately afterwards, Yun Ku Tianjun, whose Buddha-light shines everywhere, Jiang Taixu, whose sword energy soars to the heavens, and Xiong Jun, whose demonic energy surges to the sky, arrived almost simultaneously.

Finally, two powerful demonic energies rushed in from the horizon, landing and transforming into the figures of the Golden Jade Heavenly Lord and the Golden Yuan Demon Lord.

All the existing Nascent Soul level combat forces in the human realm have gathered at this moment in this wind-swept camp on the front line of the Western Desert!
Eleven powerful and unparalleled auras emanated naturally, intertwining and stirring up the wind and clouds, causing the heavens and earth to lose their color.

They looked at each other, their eyes conveying a silent understanding, a resolute and solemn determination to fight to the death.

Meanwhile, in various parts of the human realm, armies of cultivators, who had been preparing for many years, gathered and assembled using teleportation arrays in their respective locations.

They all converged on the Western Desert.

The final moment has arrived.

(End of this chapter)