Chapter 419
Zheng Fachao turned to Senior Sister Zhang and said, "Sister, could it be that there isn't enough spiritual energy?"
Senior Sister Zhang immediately understood his meaning. The Shanhe Seal flew out, and the laboratory was suddenly filled with an abundance of spiritual energy, more than a hundred times over.
The Shanhe Seal contained the spiritual veins of the Nine Mountains from before.
Since the spiritual energy in the Nine Mountains Realm was relatively abundant, these veins had remained unused—Zheng Fachao had intended to keep them as a strategic reserve.
A spiritual vein capable of supplying a sect for ten thousand years was now concentrated in a small petri dish, and the changes were immediate.
The dish seemed to be filled with liquid spiritual energy.
Uncle Pang switched to a quiet Qingjing Bamboo cell, and Real Person Qian and Ancestor Blood River attempted the experiment once more.
This time...
"It worked!"
Real Person Qian raised his arms and shouted.
Uncle Pang patted Real Person Qian's back vigorously, laughing heartily, nearly knocking the poor Foundation Establishment cultivator over.
Senior Sister Zhang smiled as she stroked the Shanhe Seal.
Zheng Fachao focused on the resilient Qingjing Bamboo cells that were dividing in the petri dish.
The Qingjing Bamboo was naturally important, but its significance to the Nine Mountains Realm was even greater.
The flying sword beneath Ancestor Blood River was also humming softly.
He considered himself a genius, having successfully transformed into a Spirit Transformation cultivator in the environment of the demonic sect, and naturally felt a sense of pride.
But at this moment, he had to admit—he had accomplished something he had never imagined.
This was not something that could be achieved by a mere cultivation genius:
Over the years in the Xuanwei Realm, there had been countless cultivation prodigies like him, if not a thousand, then at least eight hundred.
Yet, no one had ever achieved this!
Though he had not participated much, he felt a swell of pride... and frustration.
He felt like he was about to become the first traitor of the Holy Sect...
He hadn’t even had the chance to betray the Holy Ancestor yet.
Now, there was truly no turning back!
...
"Why is it so slow..."
A few days later, the number of Qingjing Bamboo cells hadn’t even reached double digits, making the impatient Real Person Qian anxious.
"The growth of Qingjing Bamboo requires a tremendous amount of spiritual energy," Senior Sister Zhang said. "Or rather, the environment for the growth of spiritual roots is quite harsh. This slow progress might be due to insufficient spiritual energy."
"Senior Sister makes a good point... On the other hand, the spiritual roots themselves likely need a long time to develop."
"There's no rush. As long as the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor hasn't revived, we can afford to wait."
Though this was meant to be comforting, it was also a matter of necessity.
The spiritual energy in the Nine Mountains Realm was actually not lacking.
Combined with the spiritual veins in the Shanhe Seal, the concentration of spiritual energy the Qingjing Bamboo cells were receiving was even beyond what an average Spirit Transformation cultivator could enjoy.
To achieve a denser concentration of spiritual energy, Zheng Fachao's abilities were still insufficient.
Elder Yuan leaned in to take a look, then turned to Zheng Fachao, suddenly adopting a teacherly demeanor, and asked, "Now that the spiritual roots are taking shape, how is your cultivation progressing?"
"Huh?"
"You're still at the Golden Core stage," Elder Yuan stroked his chin. "Don't let this Qingjing Bamboo grow up while you grow old..."
"..." Zheng Fachao twitched his lips; this old man was being a bit dramatic.
His cultivation had indeed slowed compared to before, mainly because the higher the level, the more accumulation was needed. Achieving the next stage wasn’t something that could be done overnight.
Currently, Zheng Fachao was roughly at the early stage of the Golden Core in the Xuanwei Realm.
In the Xuanwei Realm, the Golden Core stage is divided into early, middle, and late phases, with different names for various techniques, but they are essentially similar.
For instance, in the Shenxiao Thunder Control technique, they are referred to as:
Conceiving Spirit, Nurturing Infant, and Shattering Core.
Conceiving Spirit is essentially a transformation of the soul, merging the soul with the Golden Core, condensing it into a point, leading to a sublimation—hence, the souls of Golden Core cultivators often undergo a qualitative change during this period.
Nurturing Infant, as the name suggests, is the gradual formation of the Nascent Soul.
Shattering Core needs no further explanation.
According to Zheng Fachao's understanding, these three stages could be likened to:
Fertilized egg, ten months of pregnancy, birth...
Zheng Fachao was actually not slow—his soul had always been stronger than that of ordinary cultivators, and with a strong Golden Core, he was nearly at the perfect early stage of the Golden Core.
However, compared to his combat power and the current situation in the Xuanwei Realm, this level of cultivation was still lacking:
At least, others did not regard him as a Golden Core cultivator.
But Elder Yuan bringing this up... was he feeling inspired, thinking of being a good teacher?
"Disciple, you need to work hard..."
"Uh?"
"I was planning to wait for you... but if you don't get your act together, I might just transform into a Spirit Transformation cultivator myself!"
Zheng Fachao was taken aback, suddenly realizing why Elder Yuan was acting so strangely—he was here to show off!
"Transform? Master, are you considering it?"
"That celestial formation, the Thunder God formed by that celestial array, isn't that a kind of Spirit Transformation state?" Elder Yuan said seriously, "I also know about Senior Sister Zhang's spiritual energy circuit."
"I've learned about Uncle Pang's talisman techniques and Uncle Huang's fleeting beauty technique as well."
"With that celestial formation for experimentation, I now have a fifty percent chance of achieving Spirit Transformation!"
Zheng Fachao nodded slowly.
Elder Yuan was not without talent; he was just limited by his accumulation.
But now, after various knowledge enrichments, his accumulation was actually quite substantial.
At the very least... he could see the path ahead.
"Fifty percent... isn't that a bit low?" Zheng Fachao pondered for a moment and countered.
Beside him, Ancestor Blood River twitched his lips.
Fifty percent was too low?
Hadn't he faced death nine times in his own Spirit Transformation?
As he grumbled internally, he saw Zheng Fachao looking at him with a smile, saying, "Master, isn't there still a method for Spirit Transformation that you haven't learned yet?"
Ancestor Blood River's mouth dropped open. "That's the Holy Ancestor's true technique! If I pass it on, the Holy Ancestor might get angry, and if he revives, he will surely punish me!"
"...If you don't pass it on, will he not be angry?"
"Huh?"
Ancestor Blood River stared at Zheng Fachao, slowly widening his mouth.
Zheng Fachao smiled and nodded, "Yep, I did it on purpose."
...
Ancestor Blood River had not yet yielded... at least, not for now.
As long as the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor was not truly dead, he would remain entangled in his thoughts.
Zheng Fachao did not expect him to divulge all the secrets of the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor to the Nine Mountains Sect; even if he did, Zheng Fachao would only dare to reference them.
But the experience of a Spirit Transformation cultivator was still invaluable, after all, "other mountains can serve as stepping stones."
Elder Yuan was his master and the first Spirit Transformation cultivator of the Nine Mountains Sect.
Zheng Fachao still wanted to prepare him as much as possible—even the initial recruitment of Ancestor Blood River had not been without this consideration.
As for how much benefit he could extract from Ancestor Blood River, cunning and schemes were just minor paths.
More importantly, it was whether Ancestor Blood River truly believed in the Nine Mountains Sect... or whether the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor was truly dead.
Some people, like Ancestor Blood River, were unwilling to say anything.
But some people were willing to say anything...
"Brother Yan... what is this?" Zheng Fachao flipped through a small booklet in front of him, staring at Yan Wushuang with a puzzled expression.
The cover of the booklet had no words, and even the contents were jumbled, containing talisman diagrams, ancient characters, and even some drawings or symbols that others could not understand.
"I wrote it down secretly."
Yan Wushuang's heroic face revealed a steadfastness and wisdom akin to that of an underground party member...
"You wrote it down?"
"Yes, sometimes my father and Senior Sister say things to me that I think might be related to the Ancestor... so I wrote them all down."
Zheng Fachao's eyes widened slowly.
"I haven't even told Elder Han about this, fearing he wouldn't keep it a secret," Yan Wushuang whispered. "What’s written in here, only I know..."
Zheng Fachao suddenly understood why the messages from Elder Han were mostly trivial matters.
He had thought Yan Wushuang couldn't uncover any secrets.
"Then..."
"My father can't just search my soul, can he?"
For a moment, Zheng Fachao felt a twinge of sympathy for the leader of the Tianhe Sect.
"There might be some secrets of the Ancestor in here. Elder Han has never had a good relationship with the people in the sect, but I'm different..."
Zheng Fachao believed that this was not just Yan Wushuang boasting—his special identity aside, his usual character was generous and charming.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to gather a group like the Wushuang Society.
Zheng Fachao even believed that his father’s tolerance for Yan Wushuang likely stemmed from a sense of pride.
"Brother Yan, you’re giving me this..."
To be honest, at this moment, he found it hard to understand Yan Wushuang; this was too much of a betrayal.
"I'm different from Elder Han," Yan Wushuang suddenly said. "Elder Han thinks I can disregard everything for the Ancestor's legacy... I used to think so too, but when I went back and saw my father, I realized I wasn't like that."
"Brother Yan?"
"Elder Han wants the Ancestor to return, to restore the original source. I don't..."
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