Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Tanzhou, Zhaoming Lake, Langao Island.

As the morning mist dissipated, orange-red sunrise spread out in the east, with layers of fish-scale-like white clouds intertwined and solidified in the sky.

The blue waves gently rippled against the stone walls on the shore. A black tortoise slowly emerged from the water, breathing in and out spiritual energy, its shell covered with a thick layer of moss.

The island of Langao is covered in dense forests, with the occasional chirping of birds and howling of monkeys, which only adds to its tranquility.

The low hills rise and fall gently, and the stone gates of the caves on the mountaintops are tightly closed, with light flowing through them.

In the bedroom, Chen Yuan and Jing Shuhan nestled together, their clothes slightly disheveled.

Jing Shuhan nestled against Chen Yuan's chest, her cheeks flushed, her eyes hazy, exuding a languid air.

Chen Yuan put his arm around her shoulder, leaned quietly against the soft couch, a smile playing on his lips.

The bedroom is fully furnished with soft couches, beaded curtains, tables, chairs, screens, incense burners, and dressing mirrors, all made of fine wood, exquisite and elegant.

Chen Yuan gently patted Jing Shuhan's shoulder and said softly, "It's time to cultivate."

Jing Shuhan frowned slightly, supported herself on Chen Yuan's firm chest with one hand, and sat up.

She looked at Chen Yuan, a pleading look in her eyes: "I wish to spend a little more time with my husband..."

Chen Yuan looked at her pitiful appearance with a smile on his lips, but remained unmoved.

"My husband is indeed heartless..."

Jing Shuhan pursed her lips, leaned back slightly, and stretched.

Beneath the almost transparent veil, her graceful figure was on full display.

Chen Yuan smiled, sat up, raised his arms, and the Void Escape Robe flew up on its own and landed on him.

Seeing this, Jing Shuhan raised her hand and grabbed the fluttering sash: "This concubine will help my husband get dressed."

She tied Chen Yuan's sash, then gently brushed away imaginary dust from his collar with her delicate hand: "Husband, may you draw my eyebrows?"

Chen Yuan smiled casually, took Jing Shuhan's hand, and the two sat down in front of the dressing table.

Chen Yuan opened the dressing case, took out the inkstone, put it into the inkstone, ground it into powder, then poured in banana leaf dew to make a green color. He then took an eyebrow pencil and drew two slender eyebrows for Jing Shuhan.

Looking into the bronze mirror, Jing Shuhan's eyes sparkled: "Please, my husband, apply lip rouge to my lips again."

Chen Yuan chuckled: "You are a Nascent Soul cultivator, eternally youthful and ageless, why would you need to apply lipstick?"

Jing Shuhan rolled her eyes at him and said reproachfully, "Does my husband even know what the pleasures of the boudoir are?"

Chen Yuan smiled and offered no further explanation. He took out lip rouge from his vanity case and applied it to her lips.

He then raised his hand and beckoned over a phoenix-tail wooden hairpin from the soft couch, using it to tie up Jing Shuhan's long black hair.

Jing Shuhan gazed at herself in the mirror. Her eyebrows were delicate and her lips were moist. Her eyes finally fell on the wooden hairpin. She smiled with satisfaction and stood up. "Thank you for your trouble, my husband."

She dressed, and the two of them left the bedroom and came to the stone hall, where the furnishings suddenly became more elegant.

Chen Yuan entered a stone chamber. The walls were simple, with only a futon on it.

He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes slightly, looked inward at himself, focused his mind on his dantian, and calmed his spirit.

Just then, a weak voice entered his ears: "Fellow Daoist, do you really not want to ascend to the Upper Realm?"

Chen Yuan's heart stirred, and he attached his divine sense to the nascent soul, opening his eyes.

Amidst the lightning and flames, the middle-aged scholar's body appeared ethereal and smoky, his expression listless, yet his eyes remained fixed on him.

Chen Yuan coldly said, "When the Demon King possessed my body and devoured Brother Zhang's nascent soul, did he ever imagine that this day would come?"

The middle-aged scholar sighed deeply, his face full of regret: "I had just escaped from my predicament at the time and acted hastily. Please forgive me, fellow Daoist."

"But apart from myself, no one else in this world knows the location of that spatial passage."

"If you, fellow Daoist, were to sever your own path to cultivation for the sake of a momentary grudge, you would be doing yourself a disservice."

Chen Yuan said, "Demon King, there's no need to struggle anymore. I have already found the way to ascend to immortality, so why would I walk into a trap?"

The middle-aged scholar was taken aback, then laughed: "Even if you deeply resent me, you don't need to joke about the path of cultivation."

"I witnessed the complete destruction of the ascension passages in this realm, and there is no way I could have missed anything."

Chen Yuan said calmly, "Although the ascension passage was destroyed by you, the spatial passage leading to the spirit realm still remains."

"As long as Chen achieves the Nascent Soul stage, he can sneak into the Spirit Realm, which is no different from ascension."

The middle-aged scholar shook his head: "Since you know the method of smuggling, you should also know that the spatial passages between the two realms are extremely chaotic, and you have no guiding light..."

He suddenly paused, glanced at the Kunpeng True Spirit, and changed his words, saying, "Even if you can discern the direction, the spatial passage is extremely unstable and may be destroyed at any time. It is far less stable than the spatial passage leading to the Burning Demon Realm, and only one in ten thousand people can successfully cross it."

"Fellow Daoist, would you rather take this risk than cooperate with me?"

Chen Yuan said, "Considering that the Demon King's primordial spirit is about to dissipate, I will not hide it from you. That spatial passage was opened by a Void Refinement cultivator who descended from the Spirit Realm."

"Both are smuggling themselves into the upper realms, so why did Chen choose to go to the Demon Realm instead of the Spirit Realm?"

The middle-aged scholar was taken aback: "Where did you find the spatial passage, fellow Daoist?"

Chen Yuan said, "I have no comment."

The middle-aged scholar frowned: "The spatial passage temporarily opened by the upper realm is extremely fragile. How could it have existed for forty thousand years..."

Chen Yuan sneered: "The spatial passage to the Demon Burning Realm can be preserved, but the spatial passage to the Spirit Realm is destined to be annihilated?"

The middle-aged scholar froze, speechless.

Chen Yuan ignored him, withdrew his divine sense, and began to circulate his cultivation technique to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The nascent soul in the dantian was also sitting cross-legged, with pure energy circulating around its body, transforming into a great sun and radiating countless rays of light.

The sea of ​​true essence began to boil, and wisps of true essence, like water vapor, rose up and surged into the meridians.

The pure true essence acted like magnets, attracting the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, flowing into Chen Yuan's body, mixing with the true essence, and constantly purifying impurities, completing one cycle after another.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth became increasingly pure, gradually merging with the true essence, and finally returning to the dantian, where the sea of ​​true essence slowly grew stronger bit by bit.

A layer of misty spiritual energy enveloped Chen Yuan, slowly spreading and filling the cultivation room, making his figure appear and disappear intermittently.

The spiritual vein beneath Langao Island is a branch of a giant spiritual vein, comparable to a large spiritual vein, and its spiritual energy is extremely rich.

Chen Yuan refined the Kunpeng True Blood, making him absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth several times faster than other cultivators of the same level. He could also gather spiritual energy around him more easily, as if he were cultivating on a giant spiritual vein.

Before we knew it, three days had passed in a flash.

The true essence circulated through thirty-six cycles, finally completing a full cycle of practice.

Chen Yuan looked inward at himself, and seeing the unchanging sea of ​​true essence, he couldn't help but sigh, waking up from his meditation with a hint of frustration in his eyes.

Simply absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth results in a very slow cultivation speed.

After three days, one can only practice once, but one's cultivation level only increases by one point, which is better than nothing.

This is because the concentration of spiritual energy on Langao Island is comparable to that of a large spiritual vein. If it were thinner, the effect would be several times worse.

It would take a cultivator at least twenty years to reach the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage.

Chen Yuan shook his head, flicked his sleeve to dispel the spiritual mist in the cultivation room, and stood up.

He couldn't stand the slow, tortoise-like pace of cultivation either, but there was nothing he could do about it.

At this point, twenty-nine years had passed since he and Jing Shuhan became Daoist partners and he returned to the Taiming Sect for secluded cultivation.

Chen Yuan refined the two level-ten demon cores into pills and consumed them. After more than twenty years of secluded cultivation, although his cultivation progressed slowly, he gradually approached the peak of the late Nascent Soul stage.

However, his true essence was too pure and profound, far surpassing that of other Nascent Soul cultivators at the same level.

To truly reach the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage, one needs at least twenty years of methodical cultivation, or to refine two bottles of late-stage Nascent Soul pills.

However, he no longer had any level 10 demon cores. He did have twelve three-thousand-year spirit herbs, but he couldn't gather enough thousand-year spirit herbs, and half of them couldn't be used to refine late-stage Nascent Soul pills.

The spiritual herbs and demon cores of the Tai Ming Sect, Shao Xuan Sect, and Xuan Yin Sect had long been handed over to him by the three Nascent Soul cultivators.

Although other sects possess thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, the amount of five elements essence they are required to pay is already an unbearable burden for them, so don't even think about getting them to hand over spiritual herbs and demon cores.

After annihilating the demon race in the Southern Continent, the four Nascent Soul cultivators announced to the ten major sects that they should contribute their Five Elements essence to prepare for Chen Yuan's breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage.

This matter is closely related to Chen Yuan. Although he did not show up, and apart from the four Nascent Soul cultivators and Wang Xuange, no one knew that these Five Elements Essence would eventually fall into his hands, he still inquired about this matter from Wang Xuange from time to time.

Faced with the imposing presence of four Nascent Soul cultivators, and learning from Sun Yuan's example, even the ten major sects, with their spiritual treasures guarding their gates, had no choice but to obediently agree and take out their sect's treasured Five Elements spiritual items to extract the Five Elements essence.

In addition, each sect instructed its elders to temporarily suspend their cultivation and extract the essence of the five elements from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, handing it over to the four Nascent Soul cultivators.

Even Ye Guihong, who deeply hated Chen Yuan and harbored resentment towards Qin Wuyai and Cangsong Daoren, who were protecting Chen Yuan, dared not refuse.

But that's still not enough. The Five Elements Spiritual Body Secret Technique requires an enormous amount of Five Elements essence. Even if the ten major sects brought out all their Five Elements spiritual items, there was still a huge shortfall.

Left with no other choice, they turned to the major sects in various states to request the Five Elements Essence, which they then transferred to the four Nascent Soul cultivators.

However, the foundation of large sects is far inferior to that of the top ten sects. Apart from offering up a limited number of five-element spiritual items and having their elders extract the essence of the five elements day and night, they can only continue to put pressure on medium-sized sects.

Five elemental spiritual objects are extremely rare. To satisfy the requirements of four Nascent Soul cultivators, the only option is for a Nascent Soul cultivator to slowly extract the essence of the five elements from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

This was also the most orthodox method for obtaining the essence of the five elements in ancient times.

However, the world has changed drastically, spiritual energy has declined, and the speed of extracting the essence of the five elements has greatly decreased, far less efficient than directly extracting it from spiritual objects of the five elements.

If the four Nascent Soul cultivators hadn't demanded such an enormous amount of Five Elements essence, and hadn't even killed a Nascent Soul demon cultivator to intimidate the cultivation world, the major sects would never have done such a thing.

But now, from high-level cultivators to those in the early stages of the Nascent Soul realm, regardless of sect leaders or elders, everyone must dedicate their precious cultivation time to extract the essence of the five elements.

The elders of the Tai Ming, Shao Xuan, and Xuan Yin sects did the same, but they spent much less time extracting the essence of the five elements. They spent more time going to various sects to collect it or traveling around to find spiritual objects of the five elements.

Even the impoverished Hanzhou and the three major sects far overseas could not remain uninvolved. However, the four Nascent Soul cultivators also knew the principle of moderation; if they simply suppressed the sects, even if they dared not resist, they would become passive and reluctant to cooperate.

If Chen Yuan fails to gather the essence of the five elements, causing him to fail in his attempt to ascend to the Nascent Soul stage and thus ruining his grand plan for ascension, it would be a great loss.

Therefore, when collecting the essence of the five elements, the three major sects also offered Demon Essence Pills as a reward.

By paying a certain amount of Five Elements Essence, one can receive a bottle of Level 8 Demon Essence Pill.

If you contribute enough of the Five Elements Essence, you can exchange it for a bottle of Level 9 Demon Essence Pill.

As a result, all the major sects became extremely enthusiastic and competed to collect spiritual items of the five elements.

Nascent Soul cultivators no longer meditate and cultivate, but instead spend all their time extracting the essence of the five elements.

Cultivation pills are so precious that almost no one would trade them.

In fact, compared with the Five Elements essence contributed by each sect, the rewards set by the three major sects are slightly inferior.

However, mid-stage Nascent Soul pills are rare and hard to come by, while the Five Elements Essence can be extracted by early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

For those Nascent Soul stage elders with higher status, this was an extremely worthwhile deal.

If the three major sects can produce pills for the late-stage Nascent Soul realm, the sect leaders will likely resort to any means necessary to collect the Five Elements essence, just to exchange for the pills.

With the combined influence of kindness and power from the four Nascent Soul cultivators, the various sects continuously contributed their Five Elements essence, which then flowed into Qin Wuyai's hands.

The person specifically in charge of this matter was Wang Xuange. Chen Yuan learned from him that the five elements of essence had been mostly gathered.

At this rate, in at most another twenty years, all the five elements of essence needed for the Five Elements Spiritual Energy Secret Technique will be gathered.

Chen Yuan only needs to raise his cultivation to the peak of the late Nascent Soul stage and break through the bottleneck in his physical body to attempt to reach the Divine Transformation stage.

Cultivation level is relatively easy to manage, but physical body is a difficult hurdle.

Chen Yuan arrived in front of a stone wall, raised his sleeve and flicked it, and a huge rock slowly fell down, revealing a skylight.

It was the dead of night, and the dark sky was dotted with countless stars.

Chen Yuan set up a barrier of divine sense, then took out the jade pendant and bathed it in starlight.

The jade pendant glowed with a bluish light. Chen Yuan looked up and saw the stars flashing all at once. Outside the skylight, countless more stars twinkled.

Starlight converged, transforming into a dazzling silver beam that descended from the sky, passed through the skylight, and landed on Chen Yuan, enveloping him within it.

A warm sensation came over him, as if Chen Yuan were immersed in a hot spring. Countless tiny streams of heat flowed into his limbs and bones, bringing a faint tingling sensation.

While it felt comfortable, there was also a slight tingling and itching sensation, as if countless ants were gently crawling inside him.

Fifty breaths later, the thick pillar of silver light became extremely thin and slowly dissipated.

The azure light on the jade pendant also subsided. Chen Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, put the jade pendant into his internal space, and with a flick of his sleeve, the boulder slowly flew up and sealed the skylight again.

He looked inward and saw that his true essence had decreased, no longer as abundant as before.

The middle-aged scholar looked dejected, but his eyes kept glancing at the sea of ​​true essence below, revealing a hint of doubt.

Chen Yuan withdrew his divine sense, clenched his fist, and felt his strength increase slightly. A smile involuntarily appeared on his lips.

He sat back down on the futon, closed his eyes, and meditated, slowly recovering the 20% of his depleted true energy.

Over the years, in his spare time from cultivation, Chen Yuan refined the 2,600-year-old Vermilion Fruit, the 3,000-year-old Purple Spirit Ginseng, two 1,000-year-old Dragon Snake Grasses, and the 1,000-year-old Kunyu Grass into elixirs, greatly enhancing his physical body.

At the same time, he never forgot to infuse his body with starlight, and every month he would draw upon the power of the stars in the heavens to temper his physical body.

Over the course of twenty-nine years, Chen Yuan underwent hundreds of starlight infusions, comparable to refining several three-thousand-year-old body-tempering pills. His physical body continued to strengthen, surpassing that of Kunyang and Ao Mei.

The two powerful level-ten demon kings, who had absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for thousands of years to nurture their demon bodies, were ultimately no match for the body-tempering elixir and the power of the celestial stars.

However, the gap between a level 10 demon king and a Nascent Soul demon cultivator is too great. Even though Chen Yuan has taken dozens of Body Tempering Pills and has the help of the power of the Zhou Tian Stars, his physical body is still quite far from that of a Nascent Soul demon cultivator.

He no longer has any Body Tempering Pills. If he only draws starlight into his body every month, it will take at least a hundred years to truly break through this bottleneck.

As a body cultivator, Chen Yuan could not hope to break through in cultivation level before his physical body broke through.

When Lu Wangquan gave him the level 10 demon core, he asked about this matter.

Over the years, Qin Wuyai, Cangsong Daoren, and Ren Laomo had all given him warnings to varying degrees.

Chen Yuan stated that it would not affect his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage, but the three of them were clearly quite doubtful about this, and they also took out several thousand-year-old body-tempering spiritual herbs to help Chen Yuan temper his physical body.

However, as Chen Yuan's physical body continued to strengthen, the effects of the pills made from the thousand-year-old body-tempering herbs were not as good as before.

Later, the three of them took out a thousand-year-old body-tempering spiritual herb. Chen Yuan accepted it all, but he did not refine it into a pill. Instead, he put it away.

Chen Yuan had long planned how to overcome this difficulty, but the time was not yet right, so he could only wait patiently.

And now, the time has finally come.

……

Two hours later, Chen Yuan's true energy was fully restored, and he got up and walked out of the cultivation room.

He scanned the area with his divine sense and saw that Jing Shuhan was still cultivating. Without disturbing her, he left the cave on his own, and with a flash of light, flew into the sky.

Chen Yuan flew all the way to Tinglan Island, southeast of the Tai Ming Sect's mountain gate, and descended with his escape light.

He arrived at Lu Wangquan's cave dwelling, clasped his hands in a respectful bow, and said, "Is Senior Lu in his residence? This junior, Chen Yuan, requests an audience."

He maintained his bowing posture and waited for a while before the stone door of the cave slowly opened, and Lu Wangquan's voice entered his ears: "Young friend, please come in."

Chen Yuan straightened up, stepped inside, and entered the stone hall.

Lu Wangquan sat in the main seat, carefully examining Chen Yuan. A hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes, but he still smiled and asked, "Young friend Chen, what brings you to see me?"

Chen Yuan bowed again and got straight to the point: "Back outside Tianji Island, I once said that I was confident in breaking through the physical bottleneck, but the time was not right."

"Now that the time has come, I have come to ask for your help, senior."

Lu Wangquan's eyes flashed: "I wonder what you need me to do, young friend?"

Chen Yuan smiled and said, "This junior wishes to ask Senior Cangsong for a treasure. I hope that Senior Cangsong can persuade him to bestow that treasure upon this junior."

Lu Wangquan frowned: "What treasure does young friend wish to ask Fellow Daoist Cangsong for?"

Chen Yuan said, "Senior, rest assured, I know my limits and dare not ask for any treasures. It is just an ancient magic sword, and it is already broken, so it is not of much value."

A hint of doubt flashed in Lu Luwangquan's eyes: "What does this magic sword have to do with your physical tempering, young friend?"

Chen Yuan hesitated for a moment, then gave a wry smile: "This junior does not wish to deceive senior. This matter involves a... fellow Daoist. This junior has already promised him that I cannot divulge this information. I hope senior will forgive me."

"However, I can guarantee that as long as Senior Cangsong bestows this magic sword upon me, my physical body will be able to break through the bottleneck."

"My cultivation level can also be raised to the peak of the late Nascent Soul stage, and there will be no more obstacles to breaking through to the Divine Transformation stage."

Lu Wangquan narrowed his eyes and stared intently at Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan looked back at him, his expression quite calm.

After a long pause, Lu Wangquan finally spoke slowly: "I promised you long ago, and I will not go back on my word."

"However, Fellow Daoist Cangsong has always been stingy, and I am not very familiar with him, so I am not very confident that I can persuade him."

"Moreover, I trust you, young friend, but I may not trust Fellow Daoist Cangsong."

"Young friend, you still need to think about how to convince him that as long as you take out that magic sword, your physical body can overcome the bottleneck."

Chen Yuan smiled slightly: "Thank you for the reminder, senior. I will ask for your help again."

"If you, senior, offer your support again, Senior Cangsong should not refuse."

Lu Wangquan nodded slightly: "Since you have a plan, I am relieved."

"Junior, take your leave."

Chen Yuan clasped his hands in a salute, turned around and walked out of Lu Wangquan's cave. With a burst of light, he flew out of Tinglan Island and arrived at Suyue Lake, where he landed.

He loudly requested an audience, and after a short while, Qin Wuyai's voice rang in his ears, inviting him into the bamboo building to speak.

Chen Yuan stepped into the bamboo forest. Ordinary cultivators would never have heard of a Nascent Soul cultivator, a being who was rarely seen, yet he could pay his respects at any time. Even Wang Xuange did not receive such treatment.

Qin Wuyai sat upright in the bamboo building. After Chen Yuan greeted him, Qin Wuyai asked him to sit down and talk.

Chen Yuan didn't stand on ceremony and sat opposite Qin Wuyai, but his posture remained upright.

Qin Wuyai looked Chen Yuan up and down, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes, which Chen Yuan keenly noticed.

But he didn't reveal it, and spoke gently: "Young friend Chen, what brings you to this old man?"

Chen Yuan cut to the chase: "This junior wishes to ask Senior Cangsong for a treasure..."

He repeated the same words he had given to Lu Wangquan, and at the end he clasped his hands in a bow: "I hope that senior will lend a helping hand. I will be eternally grateful."

Qin Wuyai asked, "The magic sword you speak of, young friend, is it the Formless Sword passed down by the founder of the Shaoxuan Sect?"

Chen Yuan said, "That's right."

A hint of doubt flashed in Qin Wuyai's eyes: "This sword is already badly damaged, and its power is only comparable to a low-level magic weapon. In the Shaoxuan Sect, it only has a symbolic meaning and is used to worship the patriarch. What use does it have for you, young friend?"

Chen Yuan said sincerely, "This matter involves another fellow Daoist. I have already promised him that I cannot spread this information. I hope you will forgive me, senior."

Qin Wuyai frowned: "Young friend, as long as you obtain that Formless Sword, your physical body can break through the bottleneck?"

Chen Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "I am at least 70% confident, but if I had two more treasures left behind by the founder of the Shao Xuan Sect, I would be 100% confident."

Qin Wuyai gave him a deep look: "Young friend, go back and cultivate first. In a few days, this matter will be resolved." (End of this chapter)