Chapter 998: Late Stage of the Core Formation Realm

After testing the transformation of his physical body in the uninhabited sea, Qin Sang returned to his cave dwelling and continued cultivating.

Seasons passed in quiet alternation. It had already been eight years since Qin Sang arrived at the Heavenly Dao Sect’s market. There was less than a year left before his agreed meeting with Yuan Zhu.

Apart from occasionally going out to discuss Dao with other cultivators, Qin Sang had spent nearly all his time cultivating in seclusion. With a solid foundation laid beforehand, all he needed to do was focus on inscribing killing symbols and tempering his true essence, and his cultivation steadily advanced.

Now, the first killing symbol created by Senior Qingzhu was about to be fully inscribed. Qin Sang had been in seclusion for several months. He examined himself through inner vision and confirmed that nothing was amiss. The killing symbol carved onto his spiritual sword remained perfectly stable.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Sang focused his mind within his upper dantian and drew the final stroke of inscription on the ebony sword.

***

A month later, Qin Sang emerged from seclusion. He walked briskly out of the city, rose into the sky on a stream of evasion light, and flew once again to a deserted stretch of ocean.

His aura was fully revealed. It was the late stage of the Core Formation Realm! Before entering Seven-Kill Hall, Qin Sang had already reached the middle stage of the Core Formation Realm, and only now had he broken through once more.

"Being free of bottlenecks feels wonderful." A faint smile crossed Qin Sang’s face as he summoned the ebony sword.

While improving his own cultivation, he had not continued fusing the Soul-Nourishing Wood into the sword. It remained a high-grade astra.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Once all current matters were settled, he intended to find a safe cave dwelling to refine it further. With the remaining Soul-Nourishing Wood, upgrading the ebony sword to a top-grade astra would not be difficult.

However, as far as Qin Sang knew, it was impossible to advance the sword into a spiritual treasure by relying on spiritual materials alone.

He had befriended several cultivators skilled in artifact refinement, and during their discussions he had learned several secrets.

The key to a spiritual treasure lay in the word "spirit." This did not refer to an artifact spirit, but to spiritual essence itself.

A treasure capable of giving birth to an artifact spirit was already considered priceless in ancient times. And before an artifact spirit could be born, enabling an astra to first awaken a trace of spiritual essence was an indispensable step.

Yet no one truly knew how to imbue an astra with such essence, not even the artifact refinement masters among them.

One refiner surnamed Guo seemed to recall something and said, "It’s said that an immortal cultivator’s life-bound astra, being refined together with the cultivator’s own life, is far more likely to gain spiritual essence. That’s one of the benefits of nurturing a life-bound astra..."

The others engaged in discussion, but no one could reach a conclusion.

Someone chuckled self-mockingly. "With our meager cultivation, we can’t even guarantee success when refining a low-grade astra. We shouldn’t aim too high. Spiritual treasures are far beyond our reach. I haven’t heard of any being born in the world for countless years. In the entire immortal cultivation world today, there might not even be a single one."

Another person immediately objected. "Daoist, I think you're jumping to conclusions! I suspect that top-tier sects with ancient passed-down arts like Heavenly Dao Sect should have a spiritual treasure. Let's not talk about the treasures gained from Seven-Kill Hall yet. Great cultivators at the late stage of the Spiritual Infant Realm should be able to refine their life-bound astra to the top grade. According to what Daoist Guo said, life-bound astras are more likely to gain spiritual essence, so it's impossible that not even a single one of the great cultivators possess a spiritual treasure."

He then turned to a white-haired elder beside him with anticipation. "Daoist Master Wu is from Heavenly Dao Sect, a sect with deep heritage. Surely you know of some hidden secrets? Could you share a little with us?"

That white-haired elder was indeed a Heavenly Dao Sect cultivator. The reason everyone was gathered there was thanks to him.

Unexpectedly, the old man smiled bitterly. "I’ve already been stationed outside in the market. How many secrets could I possibly know? My understanding of spiritual treasures is no greater than yours. Still, I agree with this Daoist’s guess; our cultivation is simply too low to glimpse that level..."

Daoist Guo chuckled and added, "I only said that life-bound astras are easier to develop spiritual essence than ordinary ones. I didn’t say it was easy to gain spiritual essence at all. Think about the vast difference between top-grade artifacts and astras. Then imagine the gap between top-grade astras and true spiritual treasures. The difference in materials and power must be as great as heaven and earth."

Listening to their discussion, Qin Sang sank into thoughtful silence.

The eighteen devilish banners were unique. Each individual banner’s quality was only equivalent to a low-grade astra, and since their power came from the devilish flames, the chance of them developing spiritual essence was nearly nonexistent. His only true hope lay with the ebony sword.

With the ebony sword refined using the Soul-Nourishing Wood, there was no need to worry about its material quality. The only question was how to help it give birth to spiritual essence and advance into a spiritual treasure.

Still, possessing two top-grade astras would already make him nearly invincible once he entered the Spiritual Infant Realm. There was no need to rush as he still had a long road ahead.

Recalling these thoughts, Qin Sang subconsciously ran his fingers along the surface of the spiritual sword. Its texture felt smooth and warm to the touch.

"Sword wheel!" Qin Sang shouted in a low voice, and the sword wheel reappeared.

Previously, his focus had been entirely on cultivation, leaving little time for him to study the Sword Dao in depth. Once he fully comprehended the insights he had gained along the sword path, the sword wheel would surely reach a new realm.

After testing the sword wheel’s might, Qin Sang recalled the ebony sword, summoned a spirit talisman, and simultaneously activated the Heavenly Demon Transformation.

Most crucial was still his evasion technique. Now that he had reached the late stage of the Core Formation Realm, he could finally unleash the full power of the Nine-Dragon Heavenly Chariot Talisman.

His

Heavenly Demon Body Refinement

had also advanced further. Sword light coiled around his body, intertwining seamlessly with the image of a Jiao.

Qin Sang lowered his gaze to inspect himself, then suddenly spread his phoenix-like wings. His figure vanished in an instant.

A heartbeat later, a peal of thunder echoed through the air as a streak of lightning flashed into existence out of nowhere.

Rumble...

Thunder roared endlessly.

Moved by exhilaration, Qin Sang continued flying for a long while before finally dismissing his evasion light. By then, he had already flown far from the sea region where he started.

He slowly exhaled, furrowing his brows as he recalled the sensations from earlier. In terms of sheer flight speed, he had far surpassed the time when he was hunted by Old Devil Mou.

Among Core Formation cultivators, it would be rare to find anyone whose evasion technique could rival his. There were many skilled in a single evasion technique, but few who, like him, had mastered three top-level evasion techniques. Such individuals were as rare as phoenix feathers.

When facing opponents of the same realm, he could toy with them at will. However, when compared to a Spiritual Infant cultivator, Qin Sang could not yet make any confident judgment. After all, the difference between realms was simply too great.

After testing each of his treasures and abilities, Qin Sang returned to his cave dwelling to stabilize his cultivation. Before long, it would be time to head for the storm belt to meet Yuan Zhu. Before that, Qin Sang decided to pay a visit to Heavenly Dao Sect.

Over the years, he had not only become acquainted with many of the sect’s Core Formation disciples but had also learned much about their Spiritual Infant grandmasters.

Some of those grandmasters were involved in various affairs, while others remained reclusive and mysterious. From all he gathered, none matched the name of the sword cultivator surnamed Ning.

Several months later, Qin Sang emerged from seclusion and activated the barrier outside Bai’s cave dwelling. This time, Bai would not accompany him.

As the cave doors opened, Qin Sang stepped inside and saw that Bai still carried a faint aura of corpse qi, though his expression had grown far livelier than when he was a flying yaksha.

While Qin Sang occasionally ventured out, Bai had spent the entire time in seclusion, conducting various experiments. At last, his body's origin vitality had gradually stabilized.

Qin Sang said with satisfaction, "Your condition looks much better. You shouldn’t need to worry about the corpse qi invading your body for now, right?"

Bai nodded but showed little joy. "It’s still not enough. With only Core Formation strength, it’s hard to accomplish much in the cultivation world. Unfortunately, I still dare not rashly attempt to advance to corpse king."