Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

For the next three days, Chen Yuan and Jing Shuhan left the Tai Ming Sect's mountain gate and lived on a beautiful deserted island in Zhaoming Lake, rising with the sun and resting with the sunset.

The two did not meditate or cultivate; they seemed to have become two ordinary people, spending their days leisurely wandering in the mountains and forests, watching the sunrise and sunset, and the boundless blue waves.

Three days later, the two returned to the Tai Ming Sect's mountain gate. At the exact hour of Chen (7-9 AM), Chen Yuan arrived at Su Yue Lake and descended in his escape light.

Four Nascent Soul cultivators were already waiting there. Qin Wuyai led Chen Yuan to the second floor of the bamboo building.

Unlike the first floor of the bamboo house, this place has been set up with an array.

Chen Yuan walked up the stairs, passing through a transparent array as thin as a cicada's wing, and his figure was immediately engulfed by thick white mist.

The spiritual energy here is so dense it's almost tangible, permeating everywhere and obscuring people's figures, making them difficult to see clearly.

Chen Yuan took a deep breath. His cultivation level, which had reached a dead end, did not increase, but he felt dizzy for a moment.

This is a sign of spiritual intoxication caused by an excessive concentration of spiritual energy impacting the meridians.

This usually only occurs when drinking spirit wine.

Chen Yuan's cultivation has reached the peak of the late Nascent Soul stage, and his true essence is exceptionally pure and abundant. Looking across the human realm, there is no spirit wine that can make him drunk again.

However, the spiritual energy here was so dense, much stronger than that of Tongtian Valley, that Chen Yuan mistakenly thought he was in a giant spiritual vein and even felt slightly intoxicated.

This is different from taking pills, as the spiritual energy in pills is far purer and more abundant than that in spirit wine.

However, after being refined using special methods, it is extremely gentle and enters the meridians directly, making it very easy to absorb. Instead, it does not cause any signs of spiritual intoxication.

Qin Wuyai flipped his hand and took out an array plate, handing it to Chen Yuan and instructing him, "This is the array plate of the Suyue Lake Spirit Gathering Array. Young friend, please remember to activate it only when you have condensed the Five Elements Spiritual Body and are breaking through the bottleneck of the Nascent Soul stage."

"At that time, the great formation will automatically draw 30% of the spiritual energy from the giant spiritual vein to help you, young friend."

"However, if the formation is activated in advance, the spiritual energy will be too concentrated, and you will not be able to withstand it, so you will definitely fail to break through."

Chen Yuan took the array plate: "This junior understands."

Qin Wuyai then handed the five glass beads containing the essence of the five elements to Chen Yuan, and turned to walk down to the second floor.

Chen Yuan dispersed his divine sense and watched Qin Wuyai, Lu Wangquan, Cangsong Daoren, and Ren Laomo leave the island in the middle of the lake.

He flipped his hand and took out a set of array flags, then threw them out, scattering them.

With such abundant spiritual energy here, there's no need to use spirit stones to activate the array; an array screen rises instantly.

This formation has no protective function, but it can block divine sense.

Chen Yuan then set up another barrier of divine sense, so that if the four Nascent Soul cultivators tried to spy with their divine sense, they would definitely be detected by him.

He took out a futon, sat cross-legged, and silently regulated his breathing.

Three hours later, Chen Yuan opened his eyes, a sharp glint in them.

He had adjusted himself to his peak condition, flipped his hand and took out five glass beads, raised his hand to form a hand seal, and pointed it at the white glass bead.

The Five Elements are divided into pre-natal and post-natal. The pre-natal Five Elements are metal, water, wood, fire, and earth, while the post-natal Five Elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, with metal being the first among them.

The Five Elements Spiritual Body Secret Technique requires first refining the essence of Geng metal.

A flash of white light appeared on the glass bead, and Chen Yuan slowly extracted a wisp of pure white Geng metal essence, instantly turning the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into a chilling atmosphere.

It seemed as if countless tiny flying swords were crisscrossing all around, with the faint sound of sharp metal clashing.

Chen Yuan, whose physical body was comparable to that of a Nascent Soul demon cultivator, also faintly sensed a sharpness, but it could not pierce his skin.

He changed his hand seals, drawing the wisp of Geng metal essence into his palm, and his true essence surged outwards, slowly dissipating it.

An hour later, Chen Yuan had consumed some of his true essence.

The sharpness within this wisp of Geng metal essence was completely worn away, leaving only a trace of pure metal elemental essence, which Chen Yuan incorporated into his meridians.

As the essence of Geng metal circulated through his meridians, Chen Yuan could still feel a faint sense of sharpness.

However, he was a body cultivator with resilient meridians, so he could easily withstand it.

When an ordinary cultivator uses the Five Elements Spiritual Body Secret Technique, they still need to protect their meridians with elixirs and spiritual objects.

Three days later, this wisp of Geng metal energy circulated through Chen Yuan's meridians for thirty-six cycles, completely merging with Chen Yuan's true essence, entering his dantian, and hovering around Chen Yuan's nascent soul.

The Great Ocean of True Essence suddenly became restless, and the three illusory true spirits opened their eyes.

The middle-aged scholar, bound in a sea of ​​thunder and fire, had his primordial spirit extremely illusory after eighty-five years of wear and tear. His lower body had almost disappeared, and the white demon core within his body was faintly visible.

Upon seeing this wisp of Geng metal essence, his listless expression suddenly turned serious, and he stared intently at Chen Yuan's nascent soul.

Chen Yuan took a deep breath, and the essence of Geng metal entered his body. He began to use the Five Elements Spiritual Body Secret Technique, and his steps toward breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage could no longer be stopped.

He raised his hand and touched the white glass bead, then drew out a wisp of Geng metal essence, his true energy surging outwards and slowly dissipating.

This time it was much faster, taking only half an hour to completely wear down its sharpness.

Chen Yuan spent another two days refining the Geng metal essence and sending it into his dantian.

He then continued to refine the Geng metal essence until the twentieth strand, which he could absorb into his body in a quarter of an hour, and then he could completely refine it in an hour.

But this speed had reached its limit, and from then on, it could not be increased even slightly.

Five months later, Chen Yuan refined all the thousand strands of Gengjin essence and incorporated them into his dantian, condensing them into a three-zhang-long white giant sword that hung above the sea of ​​true essence.

The middle-aged scholar looked at the white giant sword with an extremely solemn expression.

How could he not see that this white giant sword was entirely formed from the essence of Geng metal, making it extremely sharp, capable of annihilating his primordial spirit with a single strike?

But the middle-aged scholar was not worried that Chen Yuan would harm him. He knew that Chen Yuan would never allow the white giant sword to suffer even the slightest loss.

After refining the Geng metal energy, Chen Yuan did not stop. He changed his hand seal and pointed at the azure blue glass bead, slowly drawing out a wisp of Gui water essence from it and putting it into his palm. True essence surged outward and slowly dissipated.

While refining the essence of the five elements, Chen Yuan's true essence was also being continuously depleted.

However, the spiritual energy here was too dense, and his true essence was extremely pure and abundant. Within a few breaths, he could fully recover, and his true essence remained in an extremely full state.

The essence of the five elements is both powerful and fragile, requiring constant focus and no slackening.

Otherwise, if one is not careful, the vital energy will slip out of control and dissipate on its own, and the Five Elements Spiritual Body Secret Technique will be in vain, posing a great test to the soul.

Fortunately, Chen Yuan's divine sense was extremely powerful, and he was also a grandmaster of alchemy who had refined thousands of batches of pills, so his control over his divine sense was extremely precise.

Refining the essence of the five elements is much simpler than refining pills, and even less so than purifying spiritual herbs, so Chen Yuan is even less likely to make a mistake.

……

The essence of Gui water is gentle and long-lasting, making it much easier to deplete. Two days later, only a wisp of pure Gui water essence remained, which Chen Yuan absorbed into his body.

It was as if a great river had surged into the meridians, rushing down, but it could not shake the tough meridian barrier.

Metal generates water. Chen Yuan has already refined the essence of Geng metal, so refining the essence of Gui water will be much easier for him.

Two days later, this wisp of Gui water essence was completely refined and entered the dantian.

Once the first strand was refined, the second strand was refined much faster, taking only one day.

When refining the sixteenth strand, the time was shortened to one hour.

Three and a half months later, Chen Yuan refined all the thousand strands of Gui Water essence and condensed them into a ten-zhang-long river that floated above the sea of ​​true essence, alongside the white giant sword.

Chen Yuan's soul finally felt a trace of fatigue, but he still did not stop and continued to refine the essence of Yi Wood.

To condense the five elements' spiritual essence, it's best to do it all in one go; the longer it takes, the less effective it becomes.

Metal generates water, and water generates wood. The refined Geng metal and Gui water essences have already established a preliminary five-element cycle within Chen Yuan's body, making it easier to refine the Yi wood essence.

It only took one day to refine the first wisp of Yi Wood essence.

Starting from the tenth strand, the time was shortened to one hour.

Three months later, Chen Yuan refined all the thousand strands of Yi Wood essence and condensed them into a towering tree ten zhang tall, with long roots, standing alongside the white giant sword and the river.

Only two glass beads remained in front of Chen Yuan. His soul was even more exhausted, but he could still bear it easily.

Chen Yuan raised his hand, made a hand seal, and pointed at the crimson glass bead, slowly drawing out a wisp of Bing Fire essence from it.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth began to boil, and the essence of Bing fire was intense and violent. It took him three hours to wear it down to only the pure source.

Chen Yuan absorbed this wisp of Bing Fire essence into his body. Wherever it went, it seemed as if a raging fire was burning in his meridians, but the walls of the meridians remained completely undamaged.

Even though he had already refined three types of Five Elements essence, it still took him two days to incorporate this wisp of Bing Fire essence into his dantian.

Then came the second, the third... until the fifteenth, when the time was finally shortened to one hour.

Three months later, Chen Yuan completely refined the thousand strands of Bing Fire essence, condensing them into a sea of ​​fire in his dantian, burning fiercely.

Finally, there is the essence of Earth. Since it has already refined four kinds of the five elements' essence, it only takes one hour from the first wisp.

Eighty-three days later, Chen Yuan refined all one thousand strands of Earth Essence Qi, condensing them into a miniature mountain peak ten zhang high, but its imposing presence made it no different from a majestic peak a thousand zhang high.

With all five elements present, Chen Yuan's spirit was quite exhausted, but it was far from its limit.

He looked inward at himself, his soul attached to his nascent soul, and slowly opened his eyes.

The nascent soul raised its hand and formed a hand seal. The white giant sword trembled slightly and shot out, striking the nascent soul.

However, it did not cause any damage. It dissipated and transformed back into a ball of Geng metal essence, which merged into the nascent soul.

The river surged in, turning into a torrential rain that enveloped the nascent soul.

The towering tree leaves fluttered down and landed on the nascent soul.

The sea of ​​fire rose, bursting into countless sparks that merged into the nascent soul's body.

The mountain disintegrated, quietly weathering into clumps of dust that enveloped the nascent soul.

The sea of ​​true essence below was boiling violently, with towering waves rising up and wisps of the purest true essence rapidly descending at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The essence of the five elements, mixed with pure true energy, merged with the nascent soul, and the three-inch nascent soul slowly grew, its infant-like limbs becoming thicker and stronger.

Gradually, the nascent soul grew to a foot in size, resembling a three- or four-year-old child, shimmering with rainbow light.

The Five Elements Spiritual Body finally coalesced, but it could only last for a few hours. At this time, the true essence sea in his dantian had already decreased by half. Chen Yuan dared not be negligent, so he took out the array plate that Qin Wuyai had given him and pointed at it.

The array plate shone brightly, and Chen Yuan felt the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him suddenly become denser, as if he were immersed in water.

An almost endless supply of spiritual energy from heaven and earth surged into his body, and the rate at which his true essence sea descended suddenly stopped.

The true essence that was released did not decrease in the slightest, and along with the essence of the five elements, it was all integrated into the nascent soul's body.

A soft sound suddenly reached Chen Yuan's ears, like the clear ringing of bells and chimes, or like the resounding tolling of a great bell.

The scene before him changed abruptly. The spiritual energy, which had almost condensed into droplets, vanished. The bamboo house disappeared, Suyue Lake disappeared. Everything vanished without a trace, plunging into absolute darkness.

With nothing beneath his feet and the surroundings vast and empty, Chen Yuan felt as if he were floating in a vacuum, without any support or foothold, and a sense of panic rose in his heart.

Suddenly, a white light appeared in the distance, followed by countless white lights, then blue, cyan, red, and yellow lights, shining like stars and illuminating this dark world.

Sharp, fiery, gentle, vibrant, profound... each star exudes a different aura.

Chen Yuan's heart stirred, and he flew toward a white star in front of him. As he got closer, the sharpness became more and more obvious, as if he were being pierced by thousands of flying swords.

But Chen Yuan did not feel any pain. It was as if he had transformed into a flying sword, soaring through the stars.

As more and more white stars appeared around him, a sense of enlightenment arose in his heart, and some obstacles in his past cultivation regarding metal-elemental spells and the control of the Purple Void Sword were easily resolved.

He then flew toward a crimson star, feeling as if he were surrounded by a sea of ​​fire, which was extremely hot.

The surrounding crimson stars were becoming more and more numerous, and Chen Yuan suddenly realized that his past methods of controlling the Zhu Yan True Fire were actually quite crude.

Within his dantian, the Zhu Yan True Spirit pounded his chest and roared, Zhu Yan True Fire rising around him, transforming into a giant fire ape that soared into the sky.

Chen Yuan slowly approached the blue star again, and everything seemed to quiet down. He seemed to have become a stream of water, flowing quietly among the endless stars.

His understanding of the Way of Space became even more profound.

Within his dantian, the Kunpeng True Spirit flapped its wings, its massive body gliding lightly through the air, letting out a long, desolate roar.

Suddenly, the five-colored stars in the sky began to slowly rotate, their speed increasing, their light intertwining, and some stars even collided and merged, giving birth to new stars.

The new stars have three colors: ice blue, turquoise, and silver-white, exuding a cool, ethereal, and violent aura.

Upon seeing the silvery-white stars, Chen Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of closeness and moved closer.

Boom!

A thunderous roar exploded in his ears, and he felt as if he were being locked onto by a bolt of lightning, which seemed to strike at any moment and wipe him out completely.

Gradually, more silvery-white stars appeared around them, and the aura of thunder was everywhere.

Chen Yuan savored this feeling, as if he himself had transformed into a bolt of lightning, and his understanding of the Dao of Thunder had quietly improved considerably.

The Kui Niu spirit roared, thunder rumbled, lightning flashed, and with a sudden burst of power from its single leg, it leaped a thousand feet.

Chen Yuan's vision suddenly blurred, and when he came to his senses, he was back in the bamboo house.

Before him was a thick white spiritual mist, and endless spiritual energy from heaven and earth surged into his body.

At some point, the Great Ocean of True Essence almost dried up.

Chen Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately took out a jade bottle and poured two drops of the thousand-year-old spiritual milk into his mouth.

Two drops of millennium-old spiritual milk entered the meridians, transforming into a vast and pure spiritual power. The true essence sea instantly rose, recovering nearly 30%.

But this is already the limit. For an ordinary great cultivator, a single drop of thousand-year-old spiritual milk is enough to fully restore the true essence consumed.

However, Chen Yuan's true essence was too pure and vigorous. Now he had refined the essence of the five elements and absorbed a massive amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth. Even the thousand-year-old spiritual milk was somewhat insufficient.

However, 30% of his true essence was enough. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth flowing into Chen Yuan's body was almost inexhaustible. As long as it was not completely consumed in an instant, it would not affect his breakthrough to the bottleneck of the Nascent Soul stage.

With a firm resolve, Chen Yuan summoned three illusory true spirits that approached the Nascent Soul, exhaling white, black, and silver primordial energies that slowly merged into the Nascent Soul's body.

The Purple Kui Thunder Drum, Kun Feather Short Arrow, and Purple Void Sword, which Chen Yuan had been nurturing in his dantian, also released the most refined primordial spiritual energy he had absorbed on a daily basis, which floated towards the Nascent Soul.

Chen Yuan trembled slightly as he carefully regulated the Five Elements essence, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the primordial energy.

He is like a volcano about to erupt, accumulating power for thousands of years, ready to burst forth at any moment.

But above the volcano, another mountain presses down, firmly blocking the crater.

He must make a decisive move when he is most confident in order to have any chance of overthrowing this mountain.

Having just experienced that extremely fantastical thing, his understanding of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth has become more profound, and he is closer to the spiritual energy of the Five Elements. He is now confident enough to overthrow this mountain.

……

Outside Suyue Lake, four Nascent Soul cultivators stood suspended in mid-air, their divine senses spreading out as they stared intently at the bamboo building on the island in the center of the lake, their expressions solemn.

The island in the middle of the lake was quiet, just as it had been when the four of them left.

Suddenly, thirty-six beams of spiritual light shot into the sky, enveloping the entire Suyue Lake and converging into a dazzling pillar of light that enveloped the bamboo building, emitting a tremendous suction force.

The four people's eyes narrowed, and in the next moment, the wind and clouds changed color, and the surrounding spiritual energy surged in, pouring into the pillar of light.
Because the spiritual energy surged in too quickly and too rapidly, it formed a spiritual energy storm, causing chaos and utter violence wherever it went.

Fortunately, Qin Wuyai had already ordered all the Tai Ming Sect disciples within a hundred miles of Su Yue Lake to temporarily relocate, thus preventing any casualties.

Within the pillar of light, the spiritual energy was so dense that it completely concealed the bamboo building, but it could not escape the divine senses of the four Nascent Soul cultivators.

However, inside the bamboo house, there was another barrier of divine sense, preventing them from investigating Chen Yuan's situation.

This barrier is not difficult to break through, but it cannot be hidden from Chen Yuan.

However, if they were to forcefully break through, it could very likely affect Chen Yuan's breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage, and no one dared to take the risk.

Seeing Chen Yuan activate the formation, Qin Wuyai's expression softened slightly, and he smiled: "It seems that young friend Chen has successfully refined the Five Elements Essence and condensed the Five Elements Spiritual Body."

"Next is to accumulate spiritual energy and break through the bottleneck. We should see the results soon."

Daoist Cangsong snorted coldly: "This young friend Chen is quite wary of us. We collected five thousand strands of the Five Elements essence for him to help him break through to the Nascent Soul stage, but he blocked our divine senses."

"Aren't you afraid that if you're not careful, you'll fail to break through the barrier, and we won't be able to react in time, and we'll all perish?"

A hint of displeasure flashed in Lu Wangquan's eyes as he said indifferently, "Fellow Daoist Cangsong, please be careful with your words. Only when young friend Chen achieves the Nascent Soul stage will we have the opportunity to cross the spatial passage and ascend to the Spirit Realm."

"If young friend Chen dies, in a few hundred years, we will all follow in his footsteps and turn into a handful of dust."

The Taoist Cangsong froze, and remained silent.

Ren Laomo gazed at the cloud of spiritual mist and said calmly, "This boy's cultivation method is special; he can even refine the blood of true spirits. Naturally, he won't let us witness his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage."

"However, if he really succeeds in breaking through the bottleneck, the cultivation technique he possesses will be completely out of our reach."

Qin Wuyai frowned: "Fellow Daoist Ren is still interested in Young Friend Chen's cultivation technique?"

Ren Laomo said calmly, "To enable someone with five elemental roots to advance so quickly, become so strong, and refine the blood of several true spirits."

"Such a powerful cultivation technique, is it possible that Fellow Daoist Qin is not interested?"

Qin Wuyai shook his head: "I only wish to ascend to the Spirit Realm, and ascension requires young friend Chen to discern the direction."

"As for the cultivation technique he possesses, even if it is a celestial technique, I, Qin, would never switch to cultivating it and have no interest whatsoever."

A cold glint flashed in Old Demon Ren's eyes: "And what happens after you ascend to the Spirit Realm?"

Lu Wangquan said calmly, "I advise Fellow Daoist Ren not to covet Young Friend Chen's cultivation technique. It takes the four of us to work together to deal with Sun Yuan alone."

"In the end, it was only by using his spiritual treasure that Fellow Daoist Qin was able to barely kill him, and he almost escaped with his life."

"Young friend Chen has cultivated to this level with the talent of five spiritual roots and has refined more than one kind of true spiritual blood. His physical body is only slightly inferior to Sun Yuan's."

"If he can truly achieve the Nascent Soul stage and ascend to the Spirit Realm, we might still have to rely on his guidance."

Ren Laomo fell silent for a long while before coldly speaking: "Let's see if this boy can achieve the Nascent Soul stage."

Everyone's attention returned to the bamboo house, which stood in the air, silent.

Time flies, spring comes and autumn goes, and a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

The four Nascent Soul cultivators stood suspended in mid-air, gazing at the bamboo building on the island in the middle of the lake, without moving an inch, their eyes filled with astonishment and doubt.

Over the past year, the Spirit Gathering Array has been relentlessly absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

A year may not seem like a long time, but ordinary Core Formation cultivators often need six months to a year to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

However, a Core Formation cultivator only needs a medium-sized spiritual vein to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, while the Spirit Gathering Array has been absorbing 30% of the spiritual energy from the giant spiritual vein. Over a year, this would be enough to cause ten great cultivators to explode and die.

In just one year, the cultivation of the Tai Ming Sect disciples was greatly affected.

However, the Spirit Gathering Array's devouring of spiritual energy still shows no end in sight.

Even the four Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't help but wonder how much spiritual energy Chen Yuan needed to achieve Nascent Soul status.

Another month passed, and on this day, the pillar of light that enveloped the bamboo house suddenly dimmed and stopped absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Upon seeing this, the four Nascent Soul cultivators grew even more solemn.

Qin Wuyai slowly said, "Young friend Chen is finally about to break through the bottleneck of the Nascent Soul stage..."

The island in the middle of the lake has become quiet again, and has become completely bare, with only exposed rocks visible, which looks quite ugly.

The bamboo on the island could not withstand the spiritual energy storm that lasted for nearly a year, and all of them withered and died.

But Qin Wuyai didn't care at all when he saw his cave dwelling in this state. He just stared intently at the bamboo building, his eyes unblinking.

Another year has passed, and suddenly a powerful yet ethereal aura spreads out from the bamboo building, sweeping across most of the Tai Ming Sect's mountain gate.

The four were taken aback, then Qin Wuyai laughed and said, "It's done!"

Lu Wangquan smiled slightly, a hint of relief flashing in his eyes: "From today onwards, we have one more person in our generation."

The Taoist Cangsong's eyes shifted uncertainly, and he sighed softly, "Young Chen... Fellow Daoist Chen is indeed a genius."

Old Demon Ren stared at the bamboo building, remaining silent for a long while, before suddenly turning and leaving: "When he emerges from seclusion, please inform Fellow Daoist Qin." (End of Chapter)