The head master has a new female apprentice

Chapter 180 The Old Emperor's Soul-Severing Realm (6k)

"An animal is an animal after all. They possess nothing but brute strength and a ridiculously simple mind, knowing only to use the most brutal and direct methods to solve problems. They are completely unaware that such actions, far from achieving their goals, can actually backfire and bring disaster upon themselves."

Cao Zhengyang clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.

Yan Xiaohu said angrily, "No, what kind of person is that? He ran out to seek opportunities because he was greedy for things in the abyss. Later, he lost his things. Why does he blame us?"

Lu Yaoyao was equally angry and said, "Yes, the image stone has clearly recorded Li Niang, and we were only helping to find her out of our long-standing friendship. How come it's like we stole the holy medicine now?"

"We are helping out with good intentions, but we are now criminals. How can this be possible?"

Lu Yaoyao looked aggrieved and angry.

Zhou Qing was still looking at the image stone. His original favorable impression of Hou Shan disappeared at this moment, and he was even extremely disappointed.

Cao Zhengyang sighed and said, "I and others have been trying to put ourselves in his shoes and understand his feelings, but his actions over the past few months have been truly disheartening."

"Now he has completely confirmed that it was our Taiqing Sect and Cangyan Dao Palace that stole it, and he is completely indiscriminate. But those demon kings are united, and there is nothing we can do."

Cao Zhengyang's tone was full of helplessness.

"It's easy to find a pretext to accuse someone of something, and with the encouragement of those demon kings who came to watch the fun, even if they did find it, they'd still say the holy medicine has lost its potency and find an excuse to vent their anger."

If the other party really wants to cause trouble, they can always find an excuse.

After hearing this, Zhou Qing pondered for a moment and said, "Master, what you're saying is that these demon kings who came to watch the fun are actually taking advantage of the heavy losses suffered by our five sects after years of fighting. They want to take advantage of our weakness and fatigue to gain some benefits?"

Cao Zhengyang nodded and said, "That's probably the case. Hou Shan might have really wanted to ask us to find the holy medicine before, but as more and more demon kings gathered, and everyone started talking to him, his original intention might have changed."

"With so many people talking, and those demon kings instigating things, he probably lost his mind and thought it was all our Five Sects' fault."

"Perhaps in their view, the fact that the five sects were frightened by a demon king's threat and immediately stopped fighting and tried their best to help find medicine speaks volumes," Cao Zhengyang explained helplessly.

Lu Yaoyao got even angrier when she heard this and said, "Then why should we continue to help them look for him? We've tried so hard, but they don't appreciate it and even wrongly accuse us. What's the point of continuing the search?"

Cao Zhengyang looked at the three of them, but suddenly smiled and said, "We still have to look for it openly."

"Openly?" Zhou Qing frowned slightly, a little confused.

It's like this, why don't you just tear each other apart?

Cao Zhengyang suddenly looked at Zhou Qing and said, "You're back just in time. Come with me tonight."

Zhou Qing was puzzled, but seeing that his uncle didn't want to say more, he didn't ask any more questions.

…………

Under the moonlight, eight figures kept shuttling through the night.

Zhou Qing didn't expect that Duanmu Shu and other supreme elders would also come. Such a terrifying combination, who are they planning to launch a sneak attack on?
Soon, they arrived at the designated location, only to see that people from Qingyu Xianzong and Jinlei Zong had been waiting there for a long time.

In addition to the two sect leaders, each of them also had several powerful masters who had reached the great perfection of the Spirit Transformation Realm that Zhou Qing had never seen before. This was quite a scene.

Sixteen supreme elders gathered together, could they really be planning to join forces to attack?
Capture the king first before capturing the thief?
Zhou Qing suddenly became a little nervous, and more importantly, he felt an inexplicable sense of excitement.

Seeing Cao Zhengyang bringing Zhou Qing, who is currently in the limelight among the younger generation, everyone was a little confused. Is there any special arrangement?

Zhou Qing hurried forward to greet the elders.

"You are not planning to..." Lei Wuji looked at Cao Zhengyang and spoke, but stopped talking.

Cao Zhengyang smiled slightly, which was considered as his agreement.

Fairy Xuanyou looked at Zhou Qing with deep emotion.

Before, this kid was a Foundation Establishment disciple who came to eat breakfast for free, but now he is able to kill the five geniuses of Cang Yan Taoist Palace, and has been chosen by Cao Zhengyang as the next headmaster.

[Heart Judgment Points +9]

The next moment, the note [Awesome] above Fairy Xuanyou's head quickly changed to the words [Young Master of Taiqing Sect].

Seeing the new entry note, Zhou Qing was stunned, then immediately realized what was happening. He subconsciously looked at Cao Zhengyang with a look of disbelief on his face.

Thinking back, his uncle started to tell him about the various secrets he was investigating, and kept asking him what decision he would make if he were in his position. And now that he was bringing him to participate in this matter, Zhou Qing suddenly felt a little panicked.

No, I did kill the five geniuses of Cang Yan Dao Palace, but I shouldn't be chosen by you to be the next master, right?
I am only a small Nascent Soul Stage now, and even superficially use the "Virtual Realm Dharma Image" to suppress my cultivation to the early stage of the Nascent Soul Stage.

He even announced that he had managed to kill them by using poison, formations and collaborating with others.

Gui Ao, Li Daoxuan, and many other chiefs from various peaks are all more qualified and capable than me.

Cao Zhengyang didn't notice Zhou Qing's gaze, but looked at everyone and asked, "Are you sure you've made up your mind?"

Lei Wuji and Fairy Xuanyou subconsciously looked at their elders. The supreme elders looked at each other and nodded silently.

Seeing this, Cao Zhengyang took a deep breath, his expression became serious and he said, "Okay, in that case, let's go!"

Afterwards, the group set off again.

Although Zhou Qing was confused, facing such a scene, he did not dare to ask too many questions, but followed them silently.

It seems that this operation is top secret. After all, none of the peak masters, including many people in the Spirit Transformation Realm from the other two sects, came.

Just like that, about an hour later, when Zhou Qing saw the people from Cang Yan Taoist Palace and Tian Ji Sect, his face suddenly turned cold.

Faintly, he seemed to understand something.

"Brother Cao, Brother Lei, Xuanyou, we meet again!" Sikong Yan and Xuanjizi came forward and greeted them with a smile.

But to Zhou Qing, this smile seemed a bit hypocritical.

Cao Zhengyang and the others simply bowed, not bothering to exchange pleasantries. They simply asked, "Where are the things in the portrait?"

Sikong Yan glanced at Zhou Qing in surprise, chuckled, and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Are you sure you want to let this little guy know too?"

"That's my business!" Cao Zhengyang said without giving in.

Sikong Yan shrugged and said, "Well, this is really none of my business. Uncle Xu, take it out!"

After he finished speaking, he turned around and spoke to an elder behind him who was at the Great Perfection of the Spirit Transformation Realm and had a restrained aura and a powerful aura surrounding him.

The white-haired old man, with a slightly flushed face, walked out steadily. His eyes seemed to be real as he glanced at the people around him.

Then, he slowly extended his right hand.

In his hand, an extremely strange lotus quietly emerged.

This is a strange black lotus that is still in bud, emitting a deep purple-black light all over.

The layers of petals are tightly clustered together, but they can't hide the deadly force emanating from the inside out, making the surrounding air seem to be drained of vitality, becoming cold and solemn.

At the top of the lotus bud, a faint green light is faintly visible, and a strong demonic aura escapes from the top, condensing into crystal ice silk in the air, crisscrossing.

The attention of everyone present was instantly attracted by it. They all held their breath and focused their eyes on the lotus.

Zhou Qing was also puzzled. Even though he was knowledgeable and had seen all kinds of rare treasures, he could not recognize this thing at all.

However, including Duanmu Shu and others, their breathing became rapid at this moment, their eyes full of excitement, even greed.

"It really is... the Nine Nether Demonic Lotus!" Cao Zhengyang felt his mouth dry and he couldn't help swallowing. His voice trembled with excitement.

Sikong Yan said, "Indeed, it is the Nine Nether Demonic Lotus. It grows on the edge of the Nine Nether Purgatory, taking root where the remains of countless demons and their blood essence converge. It is a peerless divine medicine that can only grow with an extremely low probability."

"Brother Cao, Brother Lei, Xuanyou, to be honest, this war between the five sects was not initiated by me, but was pushed into it by others."

Sikong Yan sighed deeply, his expression becoming complicated. He slowly said, "I can't help it. I'm sure you all know what's been happening in the many prefectures under Longyuan County recently. We can't hide from it."

Seeing that the other party had taken the Nine Nether Demon Lotus, Cao Zhengyang and others finally came to their senses.

Lei Wuji spoke first, saying, "Let's not talk about this matter for now. I just want to know where you got this Nine Nether Demonic Lotus."

Others also looked over.

Sikong Yan said, "I got it by chance a few years ago, but it hasn't blossomed yet. If it could fully blossom and the Nine Nether Lotus seeds inside could mature, you would know what it would mean."

As he spoke, he looked at Duanmu Shu and the others, with a hint of temptation in his eyes.

Everyone was silent.

At this moment, Zhou Qingze was full of curiosity, but he could only suppress it. If he had known earlier, he would have understood it by just checking it out.

Seeing that no one spoke, Sikong Yan continued, "For this Nine Nether Demonic Lotus to fully mature, it requires a vast amount of blood and essence from the elite demon race. The blood and essence from the demon race at the Spiritual Transformation Realm is even better."

"I'm not afraid to tell you, my original plan was to deal with you while secretly capturing the Demon King and the other demon tribes with the elders. We can defeat them separately and gradually mature them over time."

Sikong Yan directly told his previous plan without reservation.

"Unfortunately, as you can see from the current situation, plans can't keep up with changes. I even suspect these beasts are stealing from the inside and deliberately looking for an excuse to unite and take advantage of the situation when we are both suffering."

"There's no other way. I can only ask you to cooperate."

Sikong Yan said, looking at everyone with an angry look on his face.

Cao Zhengyang frowned and said, "Even if all eighteen demon kings gathered together, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to make it mature, right?"

After all, he knew something about the Nine Nether Demonic Lotus, and the conditions required for it to mature were extremely harsh.

Sikong Yan said: "Of course not. As I said just now, we need a huge amount. According to the information I got, many monsters have begun to gather and rush to Canglan Mountain. We can't avoid the beast tide at all. In this case, we might as well do something big." This time, it is a crisis, but it is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

As long as you make good use of it, nothing is impossible!
"How to do it?" asked Fairy Xuanyou.

Sikong Yan smiled slightly and looked at the supreme elder again.

The other party just slapped his storage bag, and a formation plate flashing with five-colored light appeared in his hand.

Seeing this scene, everyone's expression suddenly changed.

Black puppets, Nine Nether Demonic Lotus, five-colored restrictions, what else does the Cang Yan Taoist Palace have that they don’t know about?
Zhou Qing's expression also changed slightly, but he soon realized something was wrong. There seemed to be a ray of green light that was rather dim, which was out of tune with the other four bright colors around it.

Sikong Yan introduced: "This formation is called [Demon Sealing and Strangling Formation], and it is listed as a five-color forbidden formation. Unfortunately, it is incomplete and can only exert the power of four colors at most."

"When the time comes, I will use the Nine Nether Demonic Lotus as the center of the formation, and use the blood essences of billions of demonic beasts to irrigate and catalyze it. Nine Nether Lotus seeds will surely be born."

When Sikong Yan said this, his eyes were full of madness.

After hearing this, everyone looked at each other in surprise. It was truly a bold idea to use the beast tide to mature the Nine Nether Demon Lotus. However, the carnage that would result would probably be unimaginable.

But I have to say, if it really succeeds, the rewards will be huge!
Zhou Qing frowned slightly. When he heard the name "Demon Sealing and Killing Formation", his heart moved.

This formation seems to be included in the inheritance left by Senior Xuan Qingzi.

He hurriedly looked carefully, and sure enough, he found relevant information in the inherited memory.

At this moment, a Grand Elder of the Qingyu Immortal Sect couldn't help but ask, "How many lotus seeds are there? How will they be distributed then?"

Sikong Yan said, "I don't know about that, and I can't guarantee it to you, but the Nine Nether Demon Lotus and the Demon Sealing Array both belong to my Cang Yan Dao Palace, so at least they should own half, right?"

Lei Wuji asked excitedly, "So, the remaining half belongs to our three sects?"

"Everyone, have you forgotten about my Tianji Sect?" Xuanjizi reminded.

Everyone turned to look.

Xuanjizi said, "First of all, Brother Sikong and I are allies. In addition, the arrangement of this demon-sealing strangling formation cannot be done without the help of Tianji Sect."

Sikong Yan nodded and said, "He's right, so the Tianji Sect will take 20%, and the remaining 30% will belong to your three families. But how many will there be at that time? And how will they be divided? It all depends on the treasures you bring out."

The three clan leaders looked at each other, and then looked at their own supreme elders.

There was a moment of silence among the many people who had reached the Great Perfection of the Spirit Transformation Realm. They communicated with each other through voice communication, and then nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Sikong Yan couldn't help but smile, and then three lists floated out.

"In that case, let's start preparing early. Here are the various materials and the number of top-grade spirit stones required to activate the [Demon Sealing Array]. We need to do it quickly. We need to start setting it up by at least this time tomorrow."

After Cao Zhengyang and others took the list, they were shocked when they saw the huge amount of things on it. These things would probably empty all the inventory they had accumulated over the generations, right?

"Where is the location?" Cao Zhengyang asked after a brief silence.

Sikong Yan smiled and said, "Don't you think that Canglan Mountain is the best place?"

……

Under the cover of night, after bidding farewell to the Jinlei Sect and the Qingyu Xian Sect, Cao Zhengyang took Zhou Qing to his own base.

At this time, Zhou Qing finally couldn't help but ask about the situation of the Nine Nether Demon Lotus.

After all, the reason why the Three Sects Alliance suddenly cooperated with the Cang Yan Dao Palace seemed to be because of this thing, especially the Supreme Elders, who were extremely urgent.

Cao Zhengyang looked at Zhou Qing, his face filled with excitement as he asked, "Do you know how the old Emperor was able to advance to the Soul Severing Realm?"

Zhou Qing was stunned for a moment, and just as he was about to ask subconsciously, he suddenly realized and said, "Is it because of the Nine Nether Demonic Lotus?"

Cao Zhengyang nodded and was about to explain to Zhou Qing when Grand Elder Duanmu Shu said, "Zhou Qing, do you know why the Soul Severing Realm is called Soul Severing?"

Zhou Qing shook his head.

In the entire Shengwu Dynasty, there are only a dozen or so people in the Soul-Slaying Realm, but no one knows how many people are in the Great Perfection of the Spirit-Transforming Realm below this line.

How many people have tried to find the way in but were unable to enter, and finally could only die in meditation.

Duanmu Shu looked at the layers of mountains in the distance, sighed softly, and said: "The 'spirit' to be slain in the Soul Severing Realm is one's own obsession spirit."

"Obsessive spirit?" Zhou Qing was puzzled.

Duanmu Shu nodded and took the opportunity to explain to Zhou Qing.

The so-called obsession spirit is the strong emotions such as desire, regret, hatred, attachment, etc. that have accumulated along the way since the moment you were born, regardless of whether you have practiced cultivation or not.

On the other hand, it can be said to be obsession.

However, you may have already let go of some of this obsession, or even don’t remember it yourself.

But your body and mind help you remember the torture and harm you have suffered because of it, and even other things.

Just like Zhou Qing, his golden elixir was once crushed, he was ambushed by the old ghost of blood and bones, and he was also targeted by the five geniuses of Cang Yan Taoist Palace. These hardships were only part of the many dangers in his life, and in the future, he will face various difficulties.

In the process of going through these hardships and dangers, countless related emotions, regrets and experiences will condense in the depths of the soul, forming a special existence - the obsessive spirit.

They are like shadows hidden in the darkness of the soul, blending and coexisting with the soul of the monk, quietly absorbing the power of the soul to strengthen themselves.

Some subtle things in life can actually reflect the existence of obsessive spirits from the side.

For example, you have a dream in which someone appears whom you haven't seen for many years.

This person may be a childhood playmate or a familiar relative who has passed away.

In the dream, you are either walking side by side in familiar streets or sitting together chatting. The scenes are vivid and the emotions are real.

These are the obsessed spirits that have a deep bond with you in the past.

Those unspoken words and unfulfilled promises have inadvertently planted the seeds of obsession deep in our hearts.

But this is a benign farewell, or it can be said that it is a kind of reconciliation, and the obsessive spirit is also released to a certain extent.

But life is long, and being able to completely let go of an obsession like this is just a drop in the bucket.

Most of the time, those obsessions you ignored would surge out from the depths of your memory like a surging tide when you broke through the critical juncture of the Soul-Severing Realm, leaving you defenseless and caught off guard.

They will stir up your sea of ​​consciousness crazily, causing soul shock, making it impossible for you to gather spiritual power to break through the realm barrier.

Not only that, they will also transform into various terrifying illusions and launch fierce attacks on the psychological level.

Trying to break down your psychological defenses, plunge you into the abyss of negative emotions such as despair and fear, leaving you with no time to care about other things and being completely controlled by these emotions.

What's even more terrifying is that the obsession spirit will mislead you to circulate spiritual power incorrectly, causing the spiritual power to flow back and erode the cultivator's meridians. In the best case, your body will suffer serious damage, and in the worst case, your soul will be destroyed.

At the same time, the backlash of spiritual power will also cause the external spiritual power tide to become disordered, causing strange phenomena in the heaven and earth, such as thunderstorms, storms, etc., making the already difficult path to breakthrough even more dangerous.

After reaching the state of transformation, the lifespan will increase to more than two thousand years.

More than two thousand years, seven hundred and thirty thousand days and nights, in such a long time, the things you experienced every moment were as numerous as the stars.

Let me ask you, in such a situation, which person who has reached the Great Perfection of the Spirit Transformation Realm would dare to try it easily?
No one dares to seek death by breaking through until their life span is almost over.

Until someone discovered the miraculous use of the Nine Nether Demonic Lotus. Its mature Nine Nether Lotus seeds possessed a rich power of death and silence.

Once the spiritual power has been accumulated enough and has been refined to the Great Perfection of the Soul-Transforming Realm in the Soul-Slaying Realm, there will be a 20% chance of suppressing the obsessive spirit.

It also causes the cultivator to "retrace his spiritual consciousness". While the obsession is suppressed, he will move his spiritual consciousness upstream along the long river of memory and re-examine the key nodes that formed the obsession.

Analyze and let go from the perspective of an observer to further weaken the foundation of the obsessive spirit and make the subsequent killing smoother.

The old emperor once obtained a Nine Nether Demon Lotus, which he used to successfully kill the spirit, and gave the remaining lotus seeds to his younger brother Xuanyuan Shuo.

He later announced this discovery to others, which led to the situation in which the Shengwu Dynasty now has more than a dozen people at the Soul-Slaying Realm.

Unfortunately, the number of Nine Nether Demon Lotuses is too small, and a person can only take three at most, otherwise the medicinal effect will be lost.

Whether or not one can suppress the obsessive spirit depends on one's luck, after all, the probability is only 20%.

Therefore, when Sikong Yan took out an immature Nine Nether Demon Lotus, everyone was so shocked.

If this matter were to get out, I'm afraid the old emperor would come in person to fight for it.

Of course, no one would be stupid enough to do such a stupid thing. Once he is promoted to the Soul-Severing Realm, who would dare to interfere in the affairs of the major sects in the Eastern Region?
From then on, you can be on equal footing with the emperor and call him your brother.

Therefore, in order to keep it secret, only a few sect leaders and several useful supreme elders knew about this matter.

Since Zhou Qing was able to participate in such a confidential matter this time, Cao Zhengyang really had begun to train him as the next headmaster.

Let him slowly get in touch with these important things, participate in these high-level occasions, increase his knowledge and accumulate experience.

After hearing this, Zhou Qing finally understood how tempting the Nine Nether Demonic Lotus was to the supreme elders of the three sects.

Maybe the entire Taiqing Sect can take this opportunity to soar to the sky.

"What about its credibility? I always feel that Sikong Yan is unreliable. How could he be willing to divide this thing equally among our three families?" Zhou Qing said worriedly.

(End of this chapter)