Chapter 215: Severing Malevolent Energy to Seize the Dragon, Shaping the Spirit Bones
Sheng Nian’s five fingers clamped down upon the demonic cultivator’s crown. Dark crimson light blazed from his palm.
As the soul-searching secret technique took effect, the demonic cultivator’s convulsing body suddenly fell silent. Blood seeped slowly from his seven orifices.
“Heh heh. Just as I thought.”
Moments later, Sheng Nian released the Demonic Ruins cultivator, withdrawing his demonic qi. He murmured to himself.
A-Yuan stepped forward, picked the man up, and dispatched him casually before carrying away the corpse.
“The Demon Seeding Path—old dogs still playing the same tricks.”
Sheng Nian sat on the stone bench with his legs spread wide, a glint of shrewd light passing through his eyes.
Song Yan spoke with barely concealed disdain. “Out with it. Do not sit there muttering to yourself.”
“Those demonic cultivators from the Ruins are mostly practitioners of the Demon Seeding Path.”
“These men were originally dispatched on the orders of a Demon Seeding Path elder to rendezvous with a Dao Candidate in the Yi River region.”
“For reasons unknown, this person had come here, and his whereabouts were entirely unknown. Yet the elder had issued no further commands. These men had no choice but to remain here and wait for him to appear. They would not be leaving for some time.”
“Word has it this person once attempted to force-cultivate a demonic art and suffered deviation. Yet through this misfortune he turned fortune to his advantage—though his cultivation advanced slowly, his demonic arts possessed extraordinary combat power.”
“But his mind is somewhat lacking. They say he often falls into bouts of madness without provocation. His mind is now in chaos, and he babbles incoherently all day long.”
The title of “Dao Candidate” was not exclusive to demonic sect cultivators.
This designation represented the rising stars nurtured with the full resources of major sects, orthodox lineages, holy grounds, or ancient immortal clans.
They were entrusted with the hopes of becoming the future pinnacle of their faction, their status exceeding even the majority of elders.
Yet Song Yan had only encountered this term in historical texts.
After all, in Chu Kingdom, even the Profound Abyss Sect—which was said to hold dominion over all beneath its reach—was, on paper, only a seventh-tier sect.
There was simply no need to speak of Dao Candidates.
Song Yan’s attention, however, lay elsewhere. He asked, “So great an orthodox lineage—a Dao Candidate—to come seeking fortune in a remote backwater like Chu Kingdom?”
“He is merely a candidate. The Demonic Ruins teem with such men.”
Sheng Nian seemed to hold the title in contempt. “His strength was likely insufficient to compete with those monsters in the central domain, which is why he came here.”
“The internal struggles of the Demonic Ruins far exceed your imagination.”
He let out a cold laugh and continued. “The rogue cultivators Jiang Chen rallied were mere rabble. Pay them no mind. Within three to five days, with no resolution in sight, they will scatter of their own accord.”
“These demonic cultivators from the Ruins are currently garrisoned in Qingfeng Gorge, thirty li north of the Yi River. They will not be leaving anytime soon.”
“I must trouble Immortal Master Song to wait a few more days.”
“I need to rest and recuperate for several days to recover some of my injuries. When the time comes, we two shall venture forth together and slay those demonic cultivators. What say you?”
Song Yan was indifferent. The place was quiet enough. A few days’ time to digest and organize the treasures from the Cosmos Bags would suffice.
He considered for a moment. “If we happen to encounter that Dao Candidate, what then?”
“That would be even better.” Sheng Nian’s mouth split into a grin. “We could eliminate him as well.”
“Why not let me take his place as Dao Candidate? Would that not be a fine thing?”
Song Yan was taken aback.
Then he nodded.
…
The Yi River region lay at the intersection of the spheres of influence of the Profound Abyss Sect, the Hanging Sword Mountain, and the Sun-Shooting Sect.
Theoretically, it did not belong to any one sect. Only some Profound Abyss Sect disciples naturally assumed that within Chu Kingdom, any territory not belonging to another sect was their own.
At Green Barrier Mountain, the spiritual energy was reasonably abundant.
Song Yan opened a temporary cave dwelling near Sheng Nian’s hiding place.
While Sheng Nian rested and recuperated, Song Yan guided Xiao Ju in her cultivation and sorted through the spoils of the Cosmos Bags.
Xiao Ju’s cultivation foundation was, it had to be said, truly abysmal.
After cultivating for so many years, she had only reached the third level of Qi Refining. Beyond her own poor spiritual root talent, the lack of any systematic cultivation path was a significant contributing factor.
Song Yan’s own three spiritual roots had been considered passably mediocre. Before severing his spiritual root to plant the sword, his only disadvantage had been scarce cultivation resources, which placed him only slightly behind ordinary cultivators.
This was the difference between sect disciples and rogue cultivators.
The Qi Condensation Chapter Song Yan cultivated had been distributed by the sect, with helpful annotations from senior cultivators, allowing him to avoid many detours.
Xiao Ju, on the other hand, cultivated the Qi Refining portion of the Metal Spirit Scroll, which she had purchased with her own painstakingly earned spirit stones. There were no annotations and no guidance. She had walked nearly every wrong turn that could be walked.
She had even ventured further down many of those erroneous paths.
Fortunately, the girl was obedient. Whatever Song Yan instructed, he absorbed without hesitation.
Her cultivation speed had already begun to steadily increase.
Xiao He, by contrast, had grown quite idle lately. Having broken through to late-stage first-rank, she seemed to consider herself on holiday, spending her days eating and playing.
At this moment, she was clutching a small mechanical box, tinkering with it and producing a series of clinking sounds.
Song Yan had bought it casually at the Worry-Free Market. He had long noticed she wanted it, and when he spotted it during a stroll, he purchased it without a second thought.
He had not expected her to become so enamored with the thing.
In less than half a day, Song Yan had finished sorting through the contents of all three Cosmos Bags.
As each item was removed and classified, his eyes grew ever brighter.
Excited heart, trembling hands.
A fortune beyond imagination!
“Thirteen hundred and twenty-seven spirit stones…”
Song Yan stacked the last pile of spirit stones neatly, unable to suppress a sharp intake of breath.
“Arson and murder for a gilded belt…”
He reflected that even with the diligent pill-refining he did each month, after subtracting the pills he consumed himself, he barely earned sixty or seventy spirit stones in profit.
No wonder so many cultivators in the immortal world risked everything, specializing in the trade of killing and robbing.
Earning spirit stones one by one through honest labor could never match the speed of taking them directly from others.
The world had always been one where the strong preyed upon the weak. Such windfall profits were undeniably tempting.
He drew a deep breath. “In stillness and in motion, forget the self—free of blemish, free of harm…”
He must not let his heart demons find an opening.
Among these Cosmos Bags were numerous spirit materials, many of which appeared to have already been partially consumed.
They had likely been obtained within the secret realm and used over the intervening days, though they had not yet been fully exhausted.
Beyond the thousand-odd spirit stones, the bags also contained an assortment of magical artifacts, pills, and talismans.
What delighted Song Yan most was a supreme spirit essence of the Wood element.
Moreover, it was one he had seen referenced in texts—a named and renowned supreme spirit essence.
The Construct Tree’s Vitality.
Legend held that the Construct Tree was the ancient world-tree that reached toward heaven.
In the myths of the mortal realm, it served as the bridge connecting the heavens, the earth, and the realm of man. Its branches could reach the celestial plane above, while its roots plunged into the netherworld below.
The trunk itself existed in the mortal realm.
Thus, some apocryphal records spoke of cultivators who found the Construct Tree and climbed its trunk upward, arriving in the realm of the immortals.
It sounded rather implausible at first, but even such a minor apocryphal account was remarkably restrained.
It did not fabricate that the man ascended and became an immortal upon climbing. It merely stated that one could reach the immortal realm through the Construct Tree.
In the Complete Records of Immortal Dao Customs, it was recorded that among certain regions of this mortal realm, some cultivators regarded the legendary Construct Tree as the spiritual root of the mortal world.
They believed that all the spiritual energy in the world was birthed and dispersed by the Construct Tree.
Therefore, by finding the Construct Tree, one could draw upon the most pure spiritual energy between heaven and earth.
And it was said that the Construct Tree’s Vitality was a derivative of that purest spiritual energy.
Of course, this was merely a legend.
The Construct Tree’s Vitality was indeed incomparably precious. Whether for cultivators who practiced Wood-element techniques or those who wished to rapidly mature rare spirit herbs, it was nothing short of a supreme treasure.
This item, too, must have been extracted from that secret realm Sheng Nian had spoken of.
“The cultivators of old truly were extravagant…”
“An entire cave dwelling filled with such treasures.”
Song Yan could not help but marvel.
The time required to refine a supreme spirit essence was brief. He went ahead and produced the Sinking Sand Dark Gold on the spot, refining both in succession.
Two new and unique scenes appeared within the Two Meridians World.
A phantom of a small sapling, and an expanse of boundless desert.
The visions within the Two Meridians World could be seen but not touched. Song Yan treated them as mere projections of the Dao seed within his body.
Counting the initial Wind-Thunder Spirit Essence he had refined, the supreme spirit essences he had now fused into his Dao seed encompassed six attributes: Wind, Thunder, Fire, Metal, Earth, and Wood.
Song Yan was not greedy. This was sufficient. If he could find a Water-element supreme spirit essence before Foundation Establishment, completing the five elements in harmony, that would be ideal.
If not, then he would let nature take its course.
He must not squander a good opportunity in pursuit of mere perfection.
Foundation Establishment was connected to every aspect of a cultivator’s being. If the deliberate pursuit of so-called completeness affected his state of mind and spirit, the result would be counterproductive.
Within the Cosmos Bag of the red-robed cultivator, there were also thirty to forty pieces of superior-grade Cloud Iron.
It seemed this man had indeed been skilled in artifact forging. No wonder both of his twin blades had been superior-grade artifacts.
A matched pair of superior-grade artifacts was a rare sight among Qi Refining cultivators.
These Cloud Iron pieces could all be used directly to elevate the grade of flying swords, though they only affected medium-grade and inferior-grade artifacts.
As for the remaining items, there were indeed many valuable ones. The artifacts and talismans dazzled Song Yan’s eyes.
But for a sword cultivator like himself, they were of little use. He would sell them all for spirit stones when the time came.
The only item worth mentioning was a remnant technique scroll from a Buddhist sect.
The “Severing Malevolent Energy to Seize the Dragon Art.”
“With perfect serenity, no malevolent energy—like the Weak Water, seizing the dragon…”
He softly recited the opening verse, his brow raising slightly.
This secret art was quite unique. It could temporarily ignite one’s Buddhist power, and during that period, one could slay opponents without accumulating malevolent energy.
A Buddhist cultivation method—Song Yan naturally could not practice it. But merely leafing through it, he found the technique remarkable.
“A Buddhist technique. Truly profound.”
Activating this art, one’s strikes would be as overwhelming as a dragon-seizing grasp, yet as untainted of karma as the Weak Water.
Song Yan clicked his tongue in admiration.
Then a thought struck him—something felt off. How had these men obtained this Buddhist secret art?
Within Chu Kingdom, the only Buddhist cultivation site of any renown was the Transformation Crossing Temple.
As far as he knew, the Transformation Crossing Temple seldom participated in any of the disputes within Chu Kingdom’s cultivation world.
Few would trouble these Buddhist cultivators either.
Could it have also been obtained from that secret realm?
Without knowing the full story, he let the matter rest.
Song Yan stored everything away in an orderly fashion, then bent two fingers into a sword gesture.
Three flying swords shot forth in unison.
They landed at three different positions among the surrounding mountain slopes.
Simultaneously, six white sword shadows flowed one by one from the sword casket.
The Spirit-Gathering Sword Formation took shape in the blink of an eye.
In an instant, across Green Barrier Mountain, countless threads of spiritual energy surged in from every direction.
Within the sword formation, the area was swiftly blanketed by dense spiritual energy.
Xiao Ju, cultivating in quiet solitude in the distance, sensed the unmistakable shift in the surrounding spiritual energy and opened her eyes.
She had witnessed and experienced the Spirit-Gathering Sword Formation before, at Wuyu Valley.
Feeling it once more, she still found it incredible.
But this was no time to waste in awe. She quickly returned to her meditative state and resumed cultivation.
Song Yan seemed to be making thorough preparations. He held a medium-grade spirit stone in each hand and kept a Qi Condensing Pill in his mouth.
The sword qi gathered by the formation swiftly restored the spiritual energy throughout his body to its peak.
Sheng Nian had said he needed several days of recuperation, but only half a day had passed so far. While waiting, he might as well try that.
A unique passage of scripture surfaced in Song Yan’s mind.
The Pure Brightness Heaven’s Great Radiance Dharma Form.
In truth, this was a cultivation method for the Dharma Body.
He had attempted it once before, back when he was at the sixth level of Qi Refining, in the Cold Flower Valley.
His cultivation had been too low at the time. He estimated that only at the ninth level of Qi Refining—or perhaps even at the perfection of Qi Refining—would his spiritual energy be sufficient to complete the first stage, the “Shaping the Spirit Bones.”
Now, having broken through to the ninth level of Qi Refining, the urge stirred in him once more.
The most critical factor was that he would soon be seeking out those demonic cultivators. If he could forge the skeleton in advance, he would then be able to absorb demonic qi and fuse it into the Dharma Body.
However, Song Yan did not wish to follow the technique’s instructions and use spiritual energy to shape the bones.
He intended to substitute sword qi in place of spiritual energy.
The Sword Sect’s Spirit Transformation Chapter also contained secret methods regarding the Sword Dao Dharma Body.
But its records were rather sparse, carrying a vague suggestion that “as long as you have one, there is no need for it to be too fine.”
Comparing the two, the technique Sheng Nian had gifted him was far more complete.
Using the Sword Sect’s sword qi method to forge the skeleton and bones of this Dharma Body would surely produce a result superior to one shaped by ordinary spiritual energy alone.
His sword fingers bent. The sword qi slumbering within the Town-Dao Sword Manor surged forth like a river in flood.
“Condense.”
At his soft command, threads of sword qi began slowly weaving behind Song Yan’s body, coalescing into the phantom of a spinal skeleton.
This was the very foundation of the Dharma Body—the beginning of the Shaping of the Spirit Bones.
At this moment, his body was undergoing a startling transformation. The sword qi was being consumed at a rate that exceeded all expectation.
It could rival the expenditure of the Crescent Moon Sword Formation.
The skeletal frame condensed inch by inch behind him. The sword qi from his manor poured forth in full. The process had barely reached the halfway mark when seventy to eighty percent of the sword qi within his body had already been depleted.
“As expected, still not quite enough.”
This was precisely why Song Yan had made such extensive preparations.
The spirit pill in his mouth was swallowed into his abdomen, swiftly dissolving into pure spiritual energy, which the seed of the Sword Dao absorbed in its entirety and converted into sword qi.
Simultaneously, the medium-grade spirit stones in each palm began to channel spiritual energy into his meridians at a steady pace.
Little Xian perched not far away, fluttering its wings and shedding several crow feathers, which transformed into sword qi and merged into the skeleton.
At a certain moment, the snake toy paused in its hands, as if sensing something, and looked toward the stone platform.
“Ah!”
Ju Luyi’s small mouth fell open, her expression one of utter disbelief. She stared fixedly at the space behind Song Yan.
Beneath the moonlight, behind Senior Song, a translucent white bone silhouette of eight feet in height had appeared.
Upon that eerie skeleton, faint and abstruse patterns flowed like hidden currents.
It was as though the remains of a titanic spirit!
(End of Chapter)