Chapter 1383: Retrieving The Item (II)

Moongaze Lake.

The blazing sun hung overhead as Zhijing Mountain shone with brilliance. It was the place where Daoist Master Zhaojing had made his breakthrough. Gardenia blossoms covered the mountain year round, never fading. When they bloomed all at once, the mountain dazzled like snow.

A white robed Daoist Master sat cross legged atop a jade pillar amid the falling gardenia petals drifting like rain. The heavenly light over the entire mountain range brightened and dimmed with his breathing. From time to time, purple flames circled his body, yet they did not scorch the white blossoms drifting across the ground.

After an unknown span of time, the Daoist Master exhaled sharply. Fierce winds swept across the mountain. The sounds of galloping hooves, clashing armor, and war drums thundered together. Golden armored figures marched across the slopes, filling the mountain with radiant brilliance.

Li Ximing slowly opened his eyes and the heavenly light at the center of his brows gradually withdrew.

"The Heaven-Venerating Gate is complete!"

The perfection of the Heaven-Venerating Gate perfected had increased its power severalfold. Its suppressing force had grown ever more formidable. It had always excelled in suppression among divine abilities of its kind. Now, when the gate resounded, even Chilu might not escape.

The strength of its golden armor and golden robes had grown much stronger, yet it was too specialized. No one would use Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators to encircle and slaughter a Purple Mansion Realm, so it rarely found practical use. Only in situations like Yehui's South Chou Waters, which also manifested into countless forms, could it provide assistance.

Aside from that, the purple flames of the Heaven-Venerating Gate had finally improved in power. Yet Bright Yang was not Fire Virtue. It still could not compare to the Profound Fire of the Three Phases' Guard and remained secondary to it.

Still, none of that was critical. What mattered was that Li Ximing had brought this divine ability to its utmost limit and fully refined it into the Shenyang Mansion. He could now begin cultivating his second divine ability, Sovereign In Peril!

His spiritual sense sank into the Shenyang Mansion. The heavenly light representing the Heaven-Venerating Gate had withdrawn into a corner, leaving more space to refine other divine abilities.

The talisman seed rested gently in the center, emitting a faint cool glow. Though far less radiant than the Heaven-Venerating Gate, it carried a sharp and unshakable authority.

Li Ximing glanced at it once and withdrew. As he looked beyond his secluded cave, he saw that one large and six small jade talismans had been hung just outside, indicating that a year and six months had passed. There were no warning signs. Clearly, the family had remained stable over the past year and more.

He felt at ease and took a jade slip from his sleeve.

It was the Scripture of the Body Guarding Tiger Pass!

The Scripture of the Body Guarding Tiger Pass was only a fourth grade technique. Though it would count as a direct lineage art of an immortal sect outside, it was nothing special to the present Li Family. Even more so in the days of the Wei's Li Celestial Dynasty at its height, the name itself showed it was not a core imperial technique but one meant for generals stationed at the borders.

Li Ximing had long studied this technique. It lacked the overwhelming grandeur of crushing others by sheer momentum. Instead, it carried the bearing of fighting through life and death, forcing the enemy with martial power when trapped in desperate straits.

His attainments in Bright Yang were already profound. Though he had never seen true imperial techniques, he could discern much. The Scripture of the Body Guarding Tiger Pass emphasized injuring others through force rather than protecting oneself.

He nodded inwardly as he thought,

It was meant for the border. One charges forward and slaughters. There is no need for many life preserving measures. A general must be prepared to trade life for life.

Fortunately, it is a Body Divine Ability. That is not bad. With the Heaven-Venerating Gate already excelling in suppression, a stronger emphasis on offense suits me well.

He paused slightly and slipped a jade box from his sleeve that contained Profound Pass Crimson Fire Qi. This spiritual qi had to be gathered from a Profound Pass personally established by a Bright Yang cultivator. The pass required at least two hundred years of history. Fortunately, it did not require a great desert. The Cui Family had been unable to cultivate it in earlier years. It was only after constructing such a pass on Chongzhou Island that they gradually gained the means to practice this technique.

The requirements were harsh. A Profound Pass occupied considerable land and was not easy to construct. The Cui Family had few of them and scarcely enough for themselves. When they had sent the technique, they gave Li Ximing only a single portion. The Li Family had no surplus either. Thus, no one in the family had cultivated this method for many years.

Having already formed one divine ability at the Purple Mansion Realm, forging an Immortal Foundation was no longer as complicated as in Foundation Establishment Realm. One had to cultivate six cycles during the Embryonic Breathing Realm. Now, with no Immortal Foundation occupying his dharma body, he could condense them freely. Moreover, drawing qi was no longer as troublesome as in childhood. At Li Ximing's current speed, what once took three to five years in the Embryonic Breathing Realm would now require only three to five days.

Once the six cycles were condensed, he could ingest the spiritual qi and easily step into the Qi Cultivation Realm. Advancing from the Qi Cultivation Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm would not be so simple, yet with a Purple Mansion Realm dharma body he could cultivate boldly and consume pills without restraint. It would likely take only two or three years.

It would not be difficult to progress through the Foundation Establishment Realm with divine ability assisting him. Though there was a chance of failure, a custom tailored Essence Gathering Pill would immediately form the Immortal Foundation!

Cultivating the Immortal Foundation for Sovereign In Peril was likewise far easier. Like the Qi Cultivation Realm, it could be completed in five to ten years. Once perfected, it could be moved into the Shenyang Mansion and formed into a divine ability according to the method.

In theory, this Immortal Foundation could become a divine ability within ten years at the fastest.

This was undoubtedly a terrifying speed. Yet Li Ximing had rarely heard of a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator forming a divine ability in ten years. Even the fastest seemed to take twenty years. The difficulty lay in the fact that the Shenyang Mansion already housed one divine ability. Pushing another Immortal Foundation into it would be far harder. If it failed, though the Purple Mansion Realm Dharma Body would not suffer grievous injury, the Immortal Foundation would be ruined.

It would mean ten years or more of effort washed away...

Each time an Immortal Foundation was pushed into the Shenyang Mansion, even if it failed, the residual profundity would adjust the position of the existing divine ability and make them more compatible. Perhaps the second attempt would have a higher chance of success. Yet repeated failures were tormenting.

At this point, Li Ximing almost immediately reached another conclusion,

If one suffers grievous injury during this period and the qihai acupoint is pierced, though it can be reshaped at will, the Immortal Foundation within would likely be destroyed as well. No wonder these Purple Mansion Realm cultivators avoid fighting and prefer to resolve matters through maneuvering...

As for Purple Mansion Realm rogue cultivators of the Eastern Sea, who must repeatedly cultivate Immortal Foundations, they have likely spent decades or even nearly a century.

If even forming one divine ability is this difficult, what if the Shenyang Mansion already contains two or three? Would it not be nearly impossible? No wonder some Purple Mansion Realm cultivators remain stuck for a hundred years.

He lowered his brows. A name flashed through his mind.

The Profound Method of Continuation!

Whoever devised this method was a genius!

No wonder everyone flocks to it. For a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator, it is an immense convenience. On one side, you cultivate an Immortal Foundation within your body. On the other, you raise a talented medicine-human[1]. When the time comes to break through... refine him into a pill and ingest it. It is as if you gain an extra chance to nurture a divine ability from nothing!!

That saves ten or twenty years of effort. Who would not be tempted? Who could remain unmoved? Even those who were not tempted at first, once they were stuck at a bottleneck for ten, twenty, even a hundred years, could they truly resist?!

1. Human sacrifices for demons or dragons. ☜