Lingyuan Immortal

Chapter 869: Nascent Soul Perfection and Rising Tide
Flowing clouds house cranes, and dusk falls on the mountains.

The Liu family's villa was shrouded in a light golden evening mist, and the copper bells on the eaves rang softly in the wind, as if telling the time.

After Liu Hongyun and his group left, Chen Mu did not rush back to his room. Instead, with his eyes flashing, he walked to the stone table in the yard and sat down.

On one side there is a graceful thousand-year-old willow tree with thousands of willow branches hanging down, as bright as a galaxy, flowing slowly.

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly waved his sleeve, took out a pot of tea and started brewing it.

After a while, the tea leaves in the celadon cup floated up and down, and the tea smoke lingered, turning into a half-image.

As his fingertips stroked the fine ice patterns on the bottom of the cup, he seemed to see that cold figure again.

He has always felt that his relationship with Ao Yi is more like a pair of like-minded partners seeking the truth.

He is devoted to the Tao, and Ao Yi also cares about the entire dragon clan.

But now, he couldn't help but feel moved...

The shadows of the willows were cast obliquely on the bluestone table, and the moss revealed a few stars of last night's rain.

Not only Ao Yi, but many old friends appeared before his eyes.

Two days ago, we were in the same world and could see each other from time to time, but now we are so far apart.

I still remember that when I was lost in Penglai Xutian, my old friends were worried about me returning after a year. Now he is wandering in the outside world, I wonder how many more years it will take for him to return?

The willow branches swayed, shattering the shadows floating in the tea smoke.

Chen Mu suddenly felt a slight chill in his palms. It turned out that the tea had overflowed the rim of the cup, leaving faint traces of water on the cuffs of his black robe.

He took a sip and looked at the last ray of golden light in the sky. He murmured and sighed, "This trip is in a hurry, so I need to drink less..."

Not long after, Chen Mu made up his mind, stood up, walked through the carved wooden door, and returned to his room.

Sitting cross-legged on the soft couch, he concentrated on breathing and regulating his breath. A faint light flickered all over his body, making the faint mark at the corner of his eye gradually clearer.

"The foundation has been damaged, so we can't be anxious..."

The whispers were carried by the wind into the lotus pond in the courtyard, startling a few silver fish.

He closed his eyes and made hand gestures. The remaining spiritual energy in his Dantian immediately began to flow like a silkworm spinning silk, slowly mending the tiny cracks in his meridians...

In a blink of an eye, a month passed. During this period, Zhang's Nascent Soul did not come to visit, so Chen Mu was happy to repair his foundation without stopping.

One day, there was a sound of gurgling spring in the villa room. A misty water vapor rose from Chen Mu's body, and his ten fingers formed seals so quickly that they almost turned into shadows.

The Nascent Soul in the Dantian suddenly opened its eyes, emitting a three-foot-long clear light, which filled in all the deficiencies between light and darkness, and the cracks on it healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Before long, not only did the Nascent Soul recover as before, but the acupoints all over its body became like cracked earth after a long drought and rain, greedily absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Outside the window, the old willow trees swayed without wind, and thousands of tender branches all pointed towards the direction of the wing room.

Chen Mu was delighted, but he found that his Nascent Soul had become more solid. Not only had his foundation healed, but it had become three times stronger than before!
Almost instantly, the bottleneck of the late Nascent Soul stage began to loosen, and the sound of a surging tide could be faintly heard from the Dantian. The spiritual energy within a hundred feet radius turned into a mountain-like water vortex.

He suddenly remembered that among the many words left by his predecessors in the Taoist Palace, there was one that was quite suitable for his current situation, which was "destroy and then rebuild, and you will achieve perfection."

There are many ways to achieve perfection, but this method is the most dangerous. However, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

But at that time he had already made a plan and was not prepared to break through in this way.

However, he did not expect that a disaster would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. All the spiritual energy in his body was depleted, but he showed signs of a breakthrough after being broken down and rebuilt. It was really fate that played tricks on him.

Chen Mu shook his head and smiled, and then an infinite sense of pride arose in his heart.

“If it’s not broken now, how can it be worse!”

He took a step out of the courtyard, and the inspiration he brought with him forced all the weeping willows in the courtyard to sway in unison towards the east.

The Nascent Soul leaped out from the Heavenly Gate, with a mysterious and clear color flowing all over its body. Its figure, which had seemed a little illusory and uncertain in the past, now revealed a delicate jade-like luster under the influence of the spiritual energy in the sky.

The next moment, the Liu family's mountain protection formation was activated, and clouds were seen surging like dragons for thousands of miles, with lightning flashing in the clouds.

Deep in the clan territory, Liu Hongyun, who was leisurely brewing tea, suddenly trembled his wrist, and the tea spilled onto the thousand-year-old iron and wooden table, making a hissing sound.

"Is this... a sign of Nascent Soul becoming a god?"

The old man didn't bother to wipe the water stains off his silver beard. He hurriedly got up and rushed to the courtyard.

Not long after he leaped up, the bearded man and others also flew up one after another, resisting the oppressive force and slowly approaching with shocked faces.

At this moment, Chen Mu also reached a critical moment.

Every time the Nascent Soul rotates, its body becomes more solid, until in the end it is no different from the original body.

When the eastern sky began to turn pale, the strange phenomena in the sky suddenly subsided, leaving only the young man standing in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, his whole body full of energy as harmonious as the full moon in the sky.

The first descendants of the Liu family who arrived stood on the wall in a daze. They didn't know who's sword fell to the ground with a clang, and the sound was particularly crisp in the silence.

"Nascent Soul… Perfection?"

Liu Hongyun also had his eyes wide open, and the silver beard under his chin trembled constantly.

Compared with the Taoist cultivators who were very far away from their Liu family, Chen Mu at this time undoubtedly put more and more direct pressure on them.

After all, there isn't a single cultivator in the late Nascent Soul stage in their entire Jiangdu Prefecture, let alone the state of perfection which is only one step away from the Divine Transformation stage?

The copper bells on the eaves rang out again without any wind, echoing the exclamations that rose and fell in the distance...

"Master Liu."

At this time, the Nascent Soul in the sky returned to the Taoist's body, his robe fluttering in the wind, and his body slowly descended.

Liu Hongyun hurried forward and bowed, "Senior, what are your instructions?"

Chen Mu's eyes flickered as he smiled faintly, "I have made some achievements and would like to travel around. I would like to trouble Patriarch Liu to find some records of Qingzhou's scenery for me."

"That's it?"

Liu Hongyun was startled, but reacted in an instant and replied, "Senior, please wait a moment. I will go right away!"

Chen Mu nodded and turned back to the room.

Liu Hongyun also turned and left, but he did not forget to disperse the many tribesmen who were watching from afar: "Go away, go away, how can we allow you to make noise in the place where the senior is practicing meditation!"

He worked even harder and more diligently, and in a short while, he brought all of Liu's collection of books over.

Looking at the piles of jade slips and books in front of him, Chen Mu nodded and smiled, waved his hand to send the other party away, and began to read through them step by step.

The reason he made this request was not just for traveling, but to understand this realm and the extremely mysterious Dao traces.

Although Liu's level is not high, but if it is such a collection of consensus books, it is enough for him to gain a lot.

The copper incense burner on the table was emitting the fragrance of agarwood, and the shadows of the willows outside the window stretched and shrank.

"Qingzhou Chronicles", "Dongming Sanren's Travels in Qingzhou", "Cangwu Travelogue", "Jiuyi Mountain Chronicles"... Chen Mu's brows tensed and relaxed as he flipped through the volumes, some useful and some useless. Sometimes he nodded in understanding, and sometimes he was stunned and puzzled. If others saw this, they would definitely be surprised...

……

Zhang clan land.

Dusk had fallen, and lights were lit within a hundred miles. It should have been a beautiful night as usual, but a whistling spirit flew rapidly from the distant sky and landed over the clan's land in an instant.

The Zhang clan members who noticed the movement looked up and saw a huge spiritual crane with a dark green luster all over its body circling around the clan territory with no sign of descending.

Everyone was immediately displeased. Where did this flat-haired beast come from? How could he be so tactless as to dare to hover here? Wasn't he deliberately damaging the Zhang family's reputation?
"Which brother will come forward and kill this beast and cook it up!"

Someone shouted loudly, calling on the tribesmen to take action.

"I come!"

A burly man in a grey shirt responded, his magical power surging. Just as he was about to capture the creature, he heard a voice slowly fall from the sky: "Who is trying to kill my pet?"

The strong man was startled and quickly stopped what he was doing. Then he looked up at the sky with his fellow tribesmen.

At this time, a faint light flickered around the crane, and the figure on its back gradually appeared.

He was dressed in a turquoise Taoist robe with water patterns, his expression extremely proud. On the wooden and jade-like token hanging from his waist were four ancient seal characters engraved with "Bi Luo Chao Sheng"...

After seeing the figure's face clearly, the strong man broke out in a cold sweat and knelt down hurriedly, kowtowed repeatedly and said, "I didn't know it was the young master who returned. I hope the young master will forgive me..."

The person who came was Zhang Xuanjing, the young master of the Zhang family. Not long ago, thanks to the request of the guest ancestor, he successfully became a disciple of the first Taoist sect in Qingzhou, the "Biluo Chaosheng Pavilion", to practice.

It's only been a month or so, how come he came back like this without even saying hello?

The strong man felt that he was unlucky, but he didn't bother to think about the reason. He just prayed secretly that the other party would not make things difficult for him.

Outsiders may not know, but as a member of the same clan, he naturally knows each other very well.

Although Zhang Xuanjing was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, he was spoiled by his clan and had a bad temper. When he was young, he beat a clan member who had offended him to death. After that, he became more and more wanton and reckless, and accumulated countless grievances among the clan and outside the clan.

However, his fate with immortality is very deep. Not only did he use all the resources of the Zhang family to practice in the past, but now he has become a disciple of the "Biluo Chaosheng Pavilion".

With all this going on, who could a lowly Zhang clan member like him turn to for justice? He could only silently lament the injustice of fate.

And just now, he deliberately concealed his figure and let the spiritual crane under his seat circle around without landing. It goes without saying that he wanted to show off his power in front of others, but he happened to offend him...

"It turns out to be Zhang Qiu."

Zhang Xuanjing flew down with his hands behind his back, not even looking at the burly man kneeling beside him. He said coldly, "You really haven't improved at all. You're still as clueless as ever."

"Let me tell you, this young master is now a disciple of the 'Bi Luo Chao Sheng Pavilion'. How dare you attack me? How many lives do you have to repay me?"

"You are of the same clan as this young master. If it were anyone else, I would never let him off easily!"

After he finished speaking, he swung his sleeves suddenly, and a dark green force roared up. The strong man immediately groaned and rolled backwards several times uncontrollably.

But the strong man didn't dare to move. He struggled to get up and moved to the side, feeling relieved.

Such a scene was naturally seen by the others, but they were no longer surprised.

"Zhang Qiu has always been reckless, young master, please don't get angry."

"However, the young master has been away from the clan for a short time, yet he was able to drive Zhang Qiu away with a wave of his hand. Could it be that he has already broken through to the late stage of foundation building?"

"The Biluo Chaosheng Pavilion is indeed the number one sect in Qingzhou. Young Master, could you please tell us about the sect and broaden our horizons?"

Zhang Xuanjing laughed out loud, pretending to be profound and said, "How can you know the affairs of the master? Well, this young master has important matters to attend to this time, so please don't waste your time."

He waved his hand to disperse the crowd, and then strode towards the main hall of the clan, while the spiritual crane followed closely and circled behind him.

Not long after, he arrived in front of the hall.

The Zhang family head and the other Jindan clan members, including Zhang Hexuan, were all waiting. After noticing something, they laughed and said, "Xuan Jing, come in quickly."

After seeing the token symbolizing the "Bi Luo Chao Sheng Pavilion," Zhang Hexuan and the others couldn't help but laugh. "Who could have imagined that a disciple of the Jiangdu Zhang family would one day be able to join the foremost Taoist sect in Qingzhou?"

"Xuan Jing, how is your cultivation in the sect? Is everything going well? Does Senior Changsheng have any guidance for you?"

"Xuan Jing, this spiritual crane is the natal spiritual pet given to you by your master? From what I've seen of its cultivation, it's actually close to the Core Formation stage..."

Zhang Xuanjing said complacently, "Since Senior Changsheng has spoken, I have naturally received everything I have received in the sect. I have just entered the sect and have been granted a third-level Dao mark."

"And this spiritual pet, which was also specially chosen for me by Senior Changsheng. With its help, I have successfully refined that third-order Dao mark. Not only has my cultivation reached the late stage of foundation building, but there is still a lot of Dao rhyme left. Once it is fully digested, I can achieve the golden elixir in one fell swoop!"

Upon hearing this, the Zhang clan elders nodded in delight. After praising Senior Changsheng, they suddenly asked, "If that's the case, why didn't you stay at the sect and practice hard? Why did you suddenly come back?"

Zhang Xuanjing frowned and said unhappily, "It's still about the gift."

He looked at the people above him and said, "Didn't you say you could send me a lightning and fire dual-attribute Dao Mark? Why did you only get an ordinary fire Dao Mark in the end?"

Patriarch Zhang looked troubled and asked, "Is it not to your senior brother's liking?"

"Needless to say, if even I dislike it, how can it please Senior Brother Liu?"

Zhang Xuanjing said solemnly, "Senior Brother Liu's elders hold a high position in the sect. If I can befriend them, and with Senior Changsheng's support, once I reach the Golden Core Realm, I will most likely be able to become a disciple of a True Lord."

"How can you be so indifferent to such a major matter concerning my path?"

The elders of the Zhang family looked at each other, speechless after what a younger generation said.

Zhang Hexuan continued, "This was originally feasible, but half a month ago, the two Dao Marks were sold by the Liu family to a Nascent Soul cultivator who was living in their clan's territory."

"And after my observation, what Liu said is true. It involves a Yuanying master, so I can only let it go..."

The elders of the Zhang clan nodded in agreement. Putting Senior Changsheng aside, their Zhang clan was just an ordinary Jindan family. There was no need to offend a Yuanying cultivator for the sake of a third-order dual-attribute Dao mark.

But when they thought so, Zhang Xuanjing, who had broadened his horizons, was dismissive.

"What's there to be afraid of with just a Nascent Soul cultivator? If you don't dare to offend me, I will go and claim it myself!"

After saying this, he jumped onto the crane's back and was about to fly out of the hall.

Everyone in the Zhang family was startled and quickly shouted, "Xuan Jing, no, come down quickly!"

But Zhang Xuanjing did not stop at all. He stepped lightly and the spiritual crane suddenly flew into the sky.

"Why not? If that person dares to embarrass me, I will just wave my token and my fellow disciples will come to the rescue and make sure he gets what he deserves!"

The voice echoed, but the figure gradually became blurred.

The Zhang family's head thought the same thing, and after exchanging a glance with Zhang Hexuan and the others, he laughed out loud, and they all followed closely...

……

(End of this chapter)