Innate Immortal Seed

Hunting down the Blood Dao Demon Cultivator originally carried a reward of two thousand Sect Contribution Points.

After Senior Brother Ni fell victim to his treachery, the reward was increased by another three thousand points.

Furthermore, given Mo Changzhi’s identity as a survivor who had escaped Black Mountain after the annihilation of the Mo Family, the Qingfeng Sect had also issued a Sect mission for his elimination.

The two rewards added up to five thousand Sect Contribution Points. Divided among the three of them, that still came to sixteen or seventeen hundred each.

After learning that the Sect Secret Hall housed heirlooms left by past Core Formation True Men, and even Secret Treasures that could aid in reaching Core Formation, Bai Zichen had become even more focused on acquiring Sect Contribution Points.

His position as Supervisor Elder required a full 60-Year Cycle of service to qualify for selecting one item. When the time came, just before his Core Formation, he could spend Sect Contribution Points to exchange for another Secret Treasure for peace of mind.

’So it really is the Rainbow Feather Robe...’

Inside his Quiet Chamber in White Jade Tower, Bai Zichen had spent several days refining the Colorful Cloud Feather Robe, and in the process, he had obtained information about the Spiritual Artifact.

As a Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Rainbow Feather Robe was famous throughout Black Mountain.

First, it was the heirloom Treasure of the Fire Phoenix Mo Family, traditionally worn by the Mo Clan Leader as a symbol of status.

Second, the Rainbow Feather Robe could negate most Five Elements Magic, and it had other wondrous uses when worn, making it extraordinary even among Top-Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

’It was refined with three Cyan Simurgh True Feathers and a hundred Tier Three Firebird Feathers. It can make the body as light as a goose feather, unafraid of the Gang Wind... It can also negate over seventy percent of damage from Tier Two Techniques; only a direct hit from a Spiritual Artifact’s physical body can inflict full damage.’

Bai Zichen toyed with the Rainbow Feather Robe. It was smooth and delicate, feeling like flowing water against his fingertips.

’But with materials like these, it was only refined into a Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact? And it can ward off the Gang Wind... that’s an ability only a Magical Treasure should have...’

The primary refining materials didn’t match the Treasure’s Tier, and even its abilities were inconsistent with its rank.

A hundred Tier Three Firebird Feathers, with just a few more Spiritual Materials, would have been enough to refine a Low-Grade Magical Treasure.

Even with crude refining techniques, or if the refiner deliberately held back due to the intended user’s Realm limitations, it would still be sufficient to create a Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact.

Not to mention, three Cyan Simurgh True Feathers were added to the mix!

If he remembered correctly, the Cyan Simurgh, as a collateral bloodline of the Fire Phoenix, had the potential to grow into a Tier Four Shapeshifting Great Demon.

And since they were called True Feathers, they must have come from a Tier Four Cyan Simurgh that had already condensed its True Blood.

Each True Feather represented a portion of the avian Great Demon’s Origin Power; losing even one would affect its strength.

Using these as the primary materials, it wouldn’t have been surprising to refine a Top-Grade Magical Treasure. How did it end up as a mere Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact?

A Cultivator’s flight has always had its altitude limits.

For instance, when Bai Zichen used Sword Control, his maximum altitude was no more than a thousand zhang.

Higher up, the air grew thin, Spiritual Power was nonexistent, and it was accompanied by fierce winds and storms, making it unsuitable for travel.

Even if one forced their way up, they wouldn’t be able to last long before having to retreat.

And the skies at ten thousand zhang became a true forbidden zone.

There, endless Gang Wind blew, and a single gust could shred a Core Formation True Man to pieces.

Countless Great Sun Celestial Fire Beams shone down, scorching and venomous. Even a Core Formation Body Refining Cultivator could only endure for a short while before their skin would burn and fester, and their bodies would spontaneously combust from within.

Only an extremely powerful Defensive Magical Treasure could allow someone to survive at altitudes above ten thousand zhang.

Even so, one would have to be exceedingly careful, as if treading on thin ice.

Once the Gang Wind converged and the Celestial Fire erupted, even a Core Formation True Man activating a Defensive Magical Treasure wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.

Yet the information transmitted by the Rainbow Feather Robe included a line about being "unafraid of the Gang Wind." How could Bai Zichen not be astonished?

This information, revealed after refining the Spiritual Artifact, had been engraved within it from the very beginning of its creation to help every Cultivator who refined it master it.

The possibility of the information being false was extremely low.

’If three Cyan Simurgh True Feathers were truly added during its refining, then being able to resist the Gang Wind would make sense... But why it stopped at the Tier of a Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact is what’s strange.’

The Rainbow Feather Robe shimmered with colorful light and transformed into a ribbon of Flowing Colored Silk, tying itself around Bai Zichen’s wrist.

It didn’t just have the form of a feather robe; as long as it wasn’t fully activated, it could transform into various articles of clothing and accessories.

Since he couldn’t solve the mystery of the Rainbow Feather Robe for now, Bai Zichen didn’t dwell on it and turned his attention to the remaining Blood-Colored Crystal Stone.

After concentrating for a long moment, he flipped his wrist, and another very similar crystal stone appeared in his palm.

Aside from being larger and not emitting a foul, bloody stench, it was identical in all other aspects.

It too was a piece of ore with blood vessel-like channels growing on its surface, almost as if it were a living thing.

The Blood-Colored Crystal Stone from his own storage pouch had a much older origin; he had obtained it from the belongings of a pair of Tribulation Cultivator brothers he had killed before joining the Qingfeng Sect.

He couldn’t identify it at the time, but he had a feeling it was likely a Tier Three Ore, so he had kept it in his storage pouch ever since.

’The two definitely come from the same source, it’s just that the one from Mo Changzhi has been refined...’

Bai Zichen held one in each hand, comparing them, and confirmed his suspicion.

The Blood-Colored Crystal Stone that had dropped from Mo Changzhi’s body, in addition to being covered in the blood vessel channels, also had several faint, blood-red Runes of unclear meaning appearing on its surface.

He tried to inject a stream of Magical Power into it, but it only circulated through the channels in the crystal before being expelled along the same path.

’Perhaps I need to circulate it through the crystal along the correct path to unlock it?’

The more Bai Zichen thought about it, the more plausible his guess seemed.

It was just a small Blood-Colored Crystal Stone, and while the channels upon it were less complete than those of a human body, the number of potential circulation routes was still in the hundreds of millions.

He closed his eyes and began to recall the images he had obtained from Mo Changzhi’s mind using the Taiwu Soul Searching and Soul Cutting Technique.

The reason this Soul Searching Technique required the user to have a powerful Divine Sense, and why it couldn’t be used on Cultivators with a comparable Divine Sense strength, was the fear that too many residual images from the one being searched would affect the caster themselves.

In severe cases, one could lose track of what was primary and what was secondary, becoming unable to distinguish which memories belonged to their own life.

That was why the technique’s full name was the Taiwu Soul Searching and Soul Cutting Technique; the "Soul Cutting" part referred to excising redundant and useless images to avoid affecting oneself.

Mo Changzhi had hidden the Blood-Colored Crystal Stone solemnly between his sternum bones. If not for his already tattered body being jostled around, it wouldn’t have fallen out.

For such an important item, there was bound to be an image of it left in his memories.

It was just a matter of whether the Soul Searching Technique had selected and captured it as a memory image.

After all, the Taiwu Soul Searching and Soul Cutting Technique could only retrieve one-third to one-half of the target’s memories, so it was possible to miss it.

However, important events usually formed multiple images in the mind.

The probability of the Taiwu Soul Searching and Soul Cutting Technique happening to skip over all of them was very low.

’Found it. This is the moment...’

Mo Changzhi’s memories were like a long river, fast-forwarding at high speed.

With a thought from Bai Zichen, the river stagnated, and a segment of memory was extracted.

"The Blood Essence Core is hard to come by. Only an ancient battlefield where countless Cultivator corpses have gathered, soaked in layers of blood for a thousand years, can produce a single piece... Trading the clan’s hidden Vengeful Spirit Yin Iron to my Third Senior Brother for it wasn’t too bad a deal."

Mo Changzhi was sitting in a pool of filth and blood, holding a Blood-Colored Crystal Stone, his expression a mixture of joy and reluctance.

’So this thing is called a Blood Essence Core. I wonder what Vengeful Spirit Yin Iron is...’ Bai Zichen thought to himself, observing from a spectator’s perspective.

"The refining is finally a success! I can place it inside my body. Once I reach Core Formation, the Blood Essence Core will automatically upgrade into something like a Storage Magical Treasure, without needing any Space Spiritual Object. And Spiritual Qi will rise within it, allowing even Spirit Beasts to survive... Given time, it might even develop into a small world of its own, just like a Nascent Soul True Monarch’s Realm."

Mo Changzhi’s expression was crazed. His entire body merged into the Blood Pool, and when his hands rose from it, they had transformed into two masses of congealed blood.

Bai Zichen’s eyes widened as he watched a thread of blood trace a path over the Blood Essence Core. Then, with a CLICK, the crystal split open. Mo Changzhi placed two items inside, then withdrew his Magical Power, and it sealed itself back to its original state.

His Divine Sense was consumed at a frantic rate. He had barely managed to finish watching this scene when it shattered into countless fragments.

A deep exhaustion welled up from the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, and his head throbbed as if it would split apart. With practiced ease, Bai Zichen placed two Spirit Tea leaves in his mouth, cleared his mind, and began to recover his Divine Sense.

This extreme sense of fatigue was like having communed with the Five Crystal Divine Iron three times in a row.

Fortunately, thanks to his cultivation of the Five Crystal Glaze Body and the Divine Casting Technique, he had developed a resistance to this kind of situation.

After about an hour, the symptoms subsided, and he had mostly recovered.

’No wonder they say not to expect to replicate a Cultivation Technique’s contents from memory images using the Taiwu Soul Searching and Soul Cutting Technique... Just recording a single Magical Power circulation route nearly exhausted my Divine Sense to the point of collapse. A complete Cultivation Technique, a hundred times more complex, would be impossible to copy even if it drained my entire Sea of Consciousness dry.’

Bai Zichen picked up the Blood Essence Core from Mo Changzhi, and circulated his Magical Power along the route from his memory. It felt like an extremely rudimentary Cultivation Method.

CLICK!

The Blood Essence Core opened, revealing a dark space inside, where a roll of Beast Hide and a Jade Bottle were floating.

’He didn’t keep them in a storage pouch, but solemnly hid them inside the Blood Essence Core’s space. Could it be...’

Bai Zichen’s heart began to beat a little faster. He took a deep breath, and with a gentle wave of his hand, the two items moved out of the space.

And as he withdrew his hand and stopped injecting Magical Power, the Blood Essence Core indeed closed up again, not leaving the slightest seam.

He opened the Jade Bottle. Inside was a single drop of Spiritual Liquid, perfectly round like a pearl, rolling about as the bottle shook.

It was as clear as water, but it reflected a jade-like luster in the sunlight. From another angle, it appeared to be a thick, jade-like liquid.

Just taking a single sniff made him feel refreshed and clear-minded, an effect equivalent to several days of his own cultivation.

He quickly capped the Jade Bottle, lest the Spiritual Qi evaporate and diminish its effects.

’No wonder this Jade Bottle is inscribed with multiple Forbidden seals to isolate it from the outside... It’s actually a Core Formation Spiritual Object, the Clear Spirit Jade Marrow!’

Bai Zichen had once accompanied Ancestor Yang to the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect to purchase Clear Spirit Jade Marrow, he had seen it at an auction in Zengguang Immortal City, and he had heard it mentioned by every Cultivator who intended to attempt Core Formation.

His knowledge of this Core Formation Spiritual Object was already extensive.

With the real thing right in front of him, he could compare it to his knowledge and immediately determine that the Clear Spirit Jade Marrow in the Jade Bottle was genuine.

The drop of Clear Spirit Jade Marrow that the Ghost Spirit Sect had sent to the Fire Phoenix Mo Family had, after the fall of the Mo Family and the death of Mo Changzhi, found its way back into Bai Zichen’s hands through a winding path.

’I wonder how long the Ghost Spirit Sect had this drop of Clear Spirit Jade Marrow before sending it to the Mo Family... Once sixty years pass, the Spiritual Qi will have evaporated, and the Clear Spirit Jade Marrow will lose its effect.’

However, Core Formation Spiritual Objects were rare no matter where you went, so it was unlikely the Ghost Spirit Sect had it in stock for long.

This drop of Clear Spirit Jade Marrow sent to the Mo Family had probably also been purchased from the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect not long ago.