Innate Immortal Seed

’The Sect often has reserves of Pure Yang Gang Sha and Black Water Gang Sha. With my status, it won’t be a problem to exchange for one of them from the Sect in the future... And Profound Frost Gang Sha is even simpler; my own Earth Evil Yin Vein produces it.’

The Seven-Quartet Profound Bead contained seven Forbidden restrictions, and each type of Gang Sha corresponded to one of them.

Every time a type of Gang Sha was refined into it, the corresponding Forbidden restriction would reach Perfection, increasing the Profound Bead’s power.

When all seven types of Gang Sha were gathered, they would connect end to end, complementing each other.

This would unlock the Seven-Quartet Profound Bead’s full potential, allowing it to directly ascend into a Magical Treasure. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

’As for the remaining types of Gang Sha, I’ve heard of some, but others are completely new to me... Still, there’s plenty of time. I can make it a long-term plan to collect them slowly.’

Bai Zichen refined the Seven-Quartet Profound Bead until it was Heart and Spirit Linked, allowing him to wield it as he pleased, before finally putting away this Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact.

Despite already having two Magical Treasures in his Dantian Qi Sea, they were both damaged and currently being nurtured. He might not even be able to use them by the time he reached Core Formation.

The Seven-Quartet Profound Bead, on the other hand, seemed much more likely to be upgraded.

With a flick of his wrist, a Jade Bottle appeared. Inside was the very Profound Frost Gang Sha that Lu Song had collected for him several years ago.

A bone-chilling Cold Qi emanated from it. It looked like a shuttle-shaped mass of gas darting back and forth.

At other times, it would condense into a pool of inky black liquid, lying quietly at the bottom of the bottle.

’It’s a shame I don’t have a suitable junior. This Profound Frost Gang Sha is useless for now...’

Bai Zichen put the Jade Bottle away. Tong Huan was still young and his cultivation was low, and Lu Song needed to use a Foundation Establishment Pill to break through his realm.

He would just have to see if any of his other subordinates were suitable candidates when the time came.

The Profound Frost Gang Sha alone should be enough to attract some disciples to his side.

In the following days, Bai Zichen focused his main efforts on the second layer of the Fire Dragon Returning Essence Scripture.

He would occasionally study the True Enlightenment Sword Techniques and the third layer of the Five Crystal Glaze Body to alleviate his loneliness.

He came out of seclusion once every month or two to guide Tong Huan’s cultivation.

During this time, Liang Yu also sent a letter, saying that Wei Dao’s original plan had received Ancestor Yang’s approval and they could give it a try.

A small team of nine: one at Foundation Establishment Perfection, one at Late-Stage Foundation Establishment, three at Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment, and four at Early-Stage Foundation Establishment.

All of them were elites at their respective levels, wielding powerful Spiritual Artifacts. With a spy on the inside, a surprise attack on an unguarded Spirit Stone Ore Vein was a near-certain success.

Ancestor Yang would personally take action, trailing about a hundred li behind them.

If anything unexpected happened and a signal was sent, he could arrive in an instant.

Even if they ran into the Corpse Stiff Elder or even Daoist He, he had nothing to fear and could ensure their complete retreat.

Liang Yu also mentioned in the letter that perhaps because his end was near, Ancestor Yang’s actions had become more aggressive and he had fewer reservations.

In the past, he would never have agreed to such a thing.

He certainly wouldn’t have acted as a secret backer, providing protection for an operation to plunder a Spirit Stone Ore Vein just to raise Spirit Stones for Sect Disciples.

A Core Formation Ancestor was the sky of the Sect, its pillar of support, but they couldn’t truly become a nanny for the Sect Disciples.

Wouldn’t that be putting the cart before the horse?

Ancestor Yang’s situation was unique. He had walked alongside the Qingfeng Sect for four hundred years, single-handedly supporting it for a century. His feelings for the Sect were beyond what an ordinary person could comprehend.

In his final years, he wanted to leave behind as much as he possibly could for the Qingfeng Sect.

Attacking the Spirit Stone Ore Vein would not only cause the Ghost Spirit Sect to lose a large number of Spirit Stones but also reduce their number of disciples.

Even though the Ghost Spirit Sect had methods for rapid advancement and their number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators far exceeded the Qingfeng Sect’s, losing five at once would still be a significant blow.

But a month later, a new letter arrived from Liang Yu. Their party had acted with lightning speed, hiding their tracks as they crossed the border and then making a beeline for the Spirit Stone Ore Vein.

Everything went very smoothly. The spy used a Ban Breaking Talisman to destroy the Array, and they eliminated all the Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivators in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

But they found only a few thousand recently mined Spirit Stones at the ore vein. The three to four hundred thousand Spirit Stones they had expected were nowhere to be found.

According to the spy, someone from the Ghost Spirit Sect’s headquarters had suddenly arrived the day before and moved the batch of Spirit Stones ahead of schedule.

It had happened so suddenly that he didn’t even have time to send a warning.

After the lightning raid, including the loot scavenged from the dead Ghost Spirit Sect Cultivators, the total haul was only fifty to sixty thousand Spirit Stones.

It was a far cry from what they had planned.

The group had no choice but to hastily cut out a few blocks of raw Spirit Stone ore, disregarding the waste.

At the same time, they destroyed the Spirit Stone Ore Vein, ensuring it would take the Ghost Spirit Sect several years to restore its production.

’All that fanfare... The favors owed and promises made were probably worth that much alone...’

Bai Zichen’s gaze was deep as he fell into thought.

’Critically, a hidden piece was exposed. Senior Brother Wei made a losing trade... but Senior Brother Liang said that while he was slightly disappointed, he wasn’t discouraged. He must have other plans.’

’But who would have guessed that Senior Brother Wei’s spy in the Ghost Spirit Sect was actually his eldest disciple... If he hadn’t been so ambitious, wanting to set up a Celestial Spirit Gathering Spirit Array, the ridiculously high amount of Core Formation resources required would never have exposed him.’

’What grand ambitions!’

Wei Dao had a total of four Direct Disciples. He had raised his eldest disciple since childhood, treating him like a son.

Unfortunately, after reaching Qi Refining Great Perfection, just when everyone thought he would shine brightly and become another rising star of the Qingfeng Sect, he supposedly perished during his travels.

Of the remaining three disciples, two had successfully reached Foundation Establishment. Only his youngest apprentice, being the most junior in age, was still stuck at Late-Stage Qi Refining.

But he was still one of the best among the Inner Sect Disciples.

The high success rate of Wei Dao’s disciples earned him a reputation for tailoring his teaching to his students’ aptitudes and for being a skilled mentor.

This was why, back then, the mere rumor that Wei Dao wanted to take on another Closed-door Disciple caused such a stir. Countless self-proclaimed geniuses and descendants of Cultivation Families wanted to become his apprentice.

And this spy hidden within the Ghost Spirit Sect turned out to be Wei Dao’s eldest disciple, Wei Chuming, who was supposed to have died over thirty years ago.

Wei Chuming was an orphan with no parents and had taken his master’s surname.

Unseen for over thirty years, Wei Chuming had also reached Early-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation. He held a certain status within the Ghost Spirit Sect and was one of the five Foundation Establishment Cultivators in charge of guarding the Spirit Stone Ore Vein.

This was precisely why Wei Dao had such detailed intelligence, allowing him to know the schedule for mining and transporting the Spirit Stones from the ore vein.

He could learn that Daoist He had important matters to attend to and had returned to the Mountain Gate, so he wouldn’t be appearing on the border for some time.

He could be certain that although the operation had risks, compared to a haul of three hundred thousand Spirit Stones, it was worth the gamble.

The originally flawless plan fell through at the last minute because of an unexpected internal change within the Ghost Spirit Sect, which led them to move the Spirit Stones ahead of schedule.

According to Wei Dao, Wei Chuming had indeed been attacked and seriously injured during his travels back then. He was also hunted by Tribulation Cultivators from all sides and only managed to escape the encirclement by taking an unexpected route through Hejian County.

After contacting Wei Dao, he decided to play along, faking his death to slip away and assuming the identity of a Loose Cultivator from Hejian County to infiltrate the Ghost Spirit Sect.

Liang Yu said there were definitely some unclear and untruthful parts to the story, but since Wei Dao vouched for him and there was proof of him passing intelligence as a spy, he would likely be granted the status of a Sect Elder after a perfunctory investigation.

’The storm is coming. Raising my own strength is what matters most...’

Bai Zichen frowned slightly and muttered to himself.

The Qingfeng Sect had destroyed a Ghost Spirit Sect Spirit Stone Ore Vein; the Ghost Spirit Sect had been acting strangely lately, with many personnel transfers; Ancestor Yang’s end was near, perhaps only a year away...

All these events combined could create a storm that sweeps through both sects and both counties.

As a disciple of the Qingfeng Sect, he definitely couldn’t avoid it.

To protect himself and contribute to the Sect, it was natural that the stronger he was, the better.

’With my current strength, ordinary Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators are no longer a difficult challenge... But against someone like Senior Brother Liang, who has an outstanding Cultivation Technique and possesses a Secret Treasure, I’d have to play all my cards to win.’

The Ghost Spirit Sect occupied a fertile land like Hejian County and had a large population.

Demon Path Techniques were relatively less picky about aptitude and temperament, so they would accept almost anyone when recruiting disciples.

They didn’t invest any resources in low-level disciples anyway. Each person was given a Cultivation Technique and taught the basics of cultivation.

It was like raising Gu worms: they let the vast number of low-level disciples kill each other, and the strong consumed all.

In addition, Blood God True Man developed the Heavenly Demon Blood Slaughter Pill. The Pill Formula replaced the Thousand-Year-Old Golden Crown Lingzhi with other Spiritual Objects, reducing the refining cost to one-third of a standard Foundation Establishment Pill.

Despite its various drawbacks, it was still popular among the vast number of Demon Path Cultivators, creating a large population of cultivators permanently stuck in Early-Stage Foundation Establishment.

The Ghost Spirit Sect had five Core Formation True Men and nearly two hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators. On paper, their strength far surpassed that of the Qingfeng Sect.

The Qingfeng Sect’s only advantage was that Ancestor Ge Cang was immensely powerful and a natural nemesis to Demon Path Cultivators, with a heroic feat of defeating four opponents at once.

Even if White Bone True Man and the others were prepared and had acquired specific Magical Treasures to counter him, it would still take at least four of them to stop Ancestor Ge Cang.

The fear was that the Ghost Spirit Sect would use its numerical advantage to attack on multiple fronts. No matter how strong Ancestor Ge Cang was, he couldn’t be in several places at once.

’I must at least have the combat power to face a Core Formation True Man head-on to play a decisive role in the war between the two sects.’

Otherwise, the most I could do is kill a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators, which wouldn’t have a major impact on the overall war.

Understanding this, Bai Zichen stopped wasting time. He consumed a Nine Revolutions Dragon Tiger Pill and closed his eyes to refine it.

After advancing to Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment, this Spirit Pill was effective for him again, and he could take it once more.

A few months ago, Qing He from the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion had made a special trip to Feiyue Lake to visit him, bringing two Nine Revolutions Dragon Tiger Pills and other Cultivation Elixirs he needed.

She also informed Bai Zichen that she had received a transfer order from the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion Headquarters and would be leaving next month. Someone else would be assigned to take charge of the local branch.

Bai Zichen found it somewhat regrettable. This woman, Qing He, clearly had some connections at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion Headquarters. Her speed in mobilizing resources was much faster than the previous branch manager’s.

He figured her "gilding" period was over, and she was being transferred back to headquarters for another appointment.

As soon as he consumed the Nine Revolutions Dragon Tiger Pill, Spiritual Power surged through his entire body, a completely different feeling from taking ordinary elixirs.

Nine streams of majestic Spiritual Power churned within him, producing droplets of Spiritual Liquid. Refining this one pill saved him five years of arduous cultivation.

He also used the significant medicinal effects of the Nine Revolutions Dragon Tiger Pill to deduce that it would take him about sixty years to reach the Peak of Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment.

’Now it’s only fifty-five years... The Earth Flame Spirit Pill is still effective for me. If I take elixirs continuously, I can do it in thirty years at most.’

Bai Zichen opened his eyes, a sharp light still glinting within them, inspiring awe in any who looked upon him.

In a time of peace and stability, thirty years would be fine.

But at this critical juncture, thirty years was too long.

He had to shorten the timeframe and grasp greater power. Only then could he break the stalemate, and only then could the Sect gain the upper hand in the coming conflict between the two sects.