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Volume 2, Chapter 50 — Metal, Wood, Water and Fire, Initial Success of Profound Light Seed
With the help of the clues on the map, Zhang Yan tried to look for a suitable place. There were a lot of marked spots, but he was not satisfied. Some locations were too eye-catching or had powerful monsters or demons, and he did not dare to enter easily. He continued searching until he finally found a suitable cave in an unremarkable gorge.
The place"s location was hidden and there were 2 exits with underground river streams. If anything happened, he could travel along the river and would be able to withdraw promptly.
After having slightly tidied up the cave, he calculated the time.
Although there was no sundial or time-marking device, cultivators were able to use their qi circulation from their 5 internal organs to grasp the specific changes in time. This time was the 2nd day around 5-7 PM after he entered this Demon Hole.
That said, in order to find this place to stay and cultivate, he had spent a whole day.
Whilst sitting on a flattened stone platform, Zhang Yan used this free time to check on the Sleeve Pouches from the 2 Blood Soul Sect"s disciples. Most of their belongings were some commonly used things for cultivators, and there were no eye-catching things. But, there was a small vial of concocted pills that attracted his attention.
As Zhou Chongju"s disciple, he naturally had a bit of knowledge, and he could tell in a glance that this was the "Blood Qi Primordial Essence Pill".
A look of "as expected" was revealed on his face. The Blood Soul Sect was really secretly refining this kind of concocted pills.
The pill had a sharp fragrance. He heard that if one wanted to concoct this pill and swallow it, they had to refine cultivators" Primordial Essences. Moreover, 5 cultivators must be killed in order to refine this concocted pill. And he feared that hundreds of cultivators were killed to be able to collect all of the Blood Qi Primordial Essence Pills inside these 2 vials.
However, under careful observation, a trace of a faint blood color could be seen on each pill. Zhang Yan nodded. It seemed that these Demonic Sect"s disciples did not have such a big courage to hunt and kill human cultivators. They should have slaughtered demon cultivators and proceeded with the refining.
Under the suppression of 10 Great Sects for a few hundred years, the 6 Demonic Sects had been acting low-key and did not dare to brazenly murder for concocting pills, even a lot of brutal and evil cultivation laws and techniques were forbidden to be cultivated. This was intended to get along and live in harmony with the other Sects in the Great Eastern Continent. So all of the sects in the Great Eastern Continent, altogether was called the 16 Great Factions.
In fact, it was not the 6 Demonic Sects that had reformed. But it was because there were a lot of cultivation laws and techniques that required a variety of strange monsters and demons for their cultivation uses. Actually, there was only a few monsters or demons for their uses now; even disciples from Demonic Sects often came out to in order to capture and fight monsters and demons. Once evil spirits emerged and caused trouble, there would be disciples from the Demonic Sects that arrived; they were even more proactive than disciples from the Righteous Sects. [1]
Therefore, these years, the Righteous and Demonic Sects have been maintaining a balance of the situation.
But in recent days, Zhang Yan actually heard rumors circulate in the Sect that the Millennium Evil Spirit Plundering was approaching. This would cause the monsters and evil spirits in the Demon Hole to increase. n.o.body knew the location of the other 4 Demon Holes in the world aside from the current ones. And the Sect Master had decided to take over Three Anchor Lakes to expand the Sect"s strength, and was prepared to deal with the Evil Spirits" Plunder.
If this was the case, this would completely break the current pattern of equilibrium in the Great Eastern Continent. And sooner or later, the carnage between both sides was only a matter of time.
Zhang Yan faintly sneered. Evil Spirits Plunder was also the plundering of humans. Evil heart namely was the will of humans, as the desire to kill and plunder would rise. For him and other cultivators, wasn"t this the same with opportunity? Perhaps by that time, the true reason that they really needed to be worried about was the hard attempts to maintain the status quo of the Ancient Families in the Sect?
After having received the 2 Sleeve Pouches, his consciousness sank into his Sea of Qi. Within, he could see a suspended drop of Dark Yin Heavy Water therein as he sighed with emotion.
According to Billows Cloud Secret Manual, the more quant.i.ty of Dark Yin Heavy Water, the greater the might. Therefore, he did not regard this matter as important as before. But he did not expect that the might it had shown when he used it to attack that male cultivator from Blood Soul Sect was unexpectedly wonderful. If at that time, he had 2 or 3 drops of it, he would have been able to kill the man in one blow.
The deeper in the Demon Hole, the stronger the Frost Energy in the river. So this place was a good place to condense Dark Yin Heavy Water. He believed that if he peacefully refined it here, 2 months later he would be able to condense 8 to 10 drops of Heavy Water. And it would be very difficult to find anyone to be a match for him in the same generation.
However, it was unfortunate that he was now facing powerful enemies. Zhang Yan did not think that the people from the Blood Soul Sect would give him the calm and peaceful time he needed to steadily cultivate here. They surely would think up any possible methods to eradicate all disciples from the Azure Ocean Sect to keep their secret of entering this Demon Hole safe.
And it was highly likely that, in 15 days, they would send more people to defend this Sea Eye"s exit. By then, conflicts would definitely happen.
Having no other choices, Zhang Yan could only give his best to improve his cultivation as fast as possible.
Before cultivating, as to avoid the Yin Demons from invading, he took out a Mind Purification Pill from his sleeve and swallowed it down. Then, he took out the Metal-attribute Cloud Sand.
He tossed it into the air, and when it was about to fall, a strand of spiritual qi leaped out from the top of his head, holding the Cloud Sand as it hung over the top of his head. Zhang Yan sat on the stone platform and cleared his mind, letting his Primordial Essence enter his Sea of Qi to overshoot toward this Cloud Sand.
The rich spiritual qi from the outside endlessly sent out spiritual energy, causing his 81 strands of spiritual qi to rotate slowly in his chest and continued to breed out Primordial Essence unceasingly, and then it was transferred toward the Cloud Sand. One ring pushed another ring, causing the process to refine the Cloud Sand to continue without stopping.
If he was on Spirit Leaf Island, would he even achieve this kind of situation? Perhaps the spiritual qi would have already been exhausted after 2 or 3 hours. And even if he wanted to continue, it would take a few days for it to be filled again.
One day had pa.s.sed as the Cloud Sand on top of his head suddenly emitted out a looming golden light. But it was indefinite, and only flashed on and off as though it was a weak fire that was about to be extinguished at any time.
Zhang Yan was perfectly aware that this time was the most critical moment. He did not dare to have the slightest slack as his Divine Sense became extremely focused. The golden light turned brighter as the Cloud Sand in the air became more vibrant and its speed in absorbing Primordial Essence was also getting faster.
Finally, with a blast sound, the Cloud Sand exploded into a pile of useless ashes and sprinkled toward the surrounding as its Metal attribute completely fused into his Primordial Essence. A point of brilliant golden light floated in the void, as though it was a glittering shining star in the night.
Zhang Yan opened his eyes and slowly spat out a long breath. He took back the 81 strands of spiritual qi into his chest and extended out his finger to the front. The brilliant point of light slowly fell and stopped at his fingertip.
Suddenly, the light pierced into his flesh and invaded his bones, as he could hear the tinkling sound of the piercing qi inside his mind.
A trace of a joyful expression could not help but be revealed in his eyes.
He finally condensed a grain of his Profound Light Seed. He could use any secret art without condensing his spiritual qi again, since this seed would nourish his strength. Later on, this seed would also be able to be released in his Sea of Qi, and then he would be able to step into the First Stage of the Profound Light Realm, the Essential Spirit Light Radiance.
He took out his Stars Sword Bullet and stimulated this Profound Light Seed, attaching the seed into it. Driven by the sea, the Sword Bullet changed into a ray of light, stretching and expanding indefinitely, stimulating the movement and then braced outward, enveloping him.
Zhang Yan looked up and laughed heartily, "Good, with this grain of my Profound Light Seed, I can evolve my Sword Bullet, and I can change its shape according to my will as well as envelope my body with it to fly. The speed will be faster than Mounting the Clouds, Riding the Mists technique. By having this technique, even if I meet a powerful cultivator and lose, I can also fly to dodge and escape, so I won"t be waiting for death to come."
Previously, his control over the Sword Bullet"s technique was but only superficial and extremely shallow. In various factions, it was considered that the true might of Sword Bullets could only be showcased by cultivators at the Profound Light Realm. But at present, he was also able to use this technique and he still had other means of self-protection, causing his confidence to greatly increase.
This grain of Profound Light Seed in the future would take only one day to be condensed. And this speed was very fast. He was confident and decided to refine all of the Cloud Sands together, and only then would he come out.
After having adjusted his breathing, he took out the Water-attribute Cloud Sand he got from Gui Congyao"s place. He tossed it into the air and began to refine it with his spiritual qi again.
In the next 2 days, one after another, he was able to condense the Water, Wood, and Fire attributes into his Profound Light Seed.
And then, on the 3rd day, when he stimulated the 4 types of his Profound Light Seed and pushed it together, a strange shape appeared inside his Sea of Qi. Those seeds automatically gave birth to a new Profound Light Seed with a slightly yellow color. The new seed was in the middle and was surrounded by the other 4 types of Profound Light Seed, in accordance with the position of Metal in the West, Wood in the East, Water in the North, and Fire in the South.
Zhang Yan was struck with astonishment. The last grain of Earth-attribute Profound Light Seed unexpectedly did not need Cloud Sand as it was derived from the other 4 and voluntarily evolved.
After he thought deeply about it, combined with the details of his previous cultivation practice, he came to a sudden enlightenment.
Originally, the 5 elements were connected and supported each other. After the Metal-attribute was condensed and stimulated with qi, condensing the Water-attribute became a bit faster. Afterward, Water nourished Wood, and Wood helped to temper the strong Fire. Then, when all four were stimulated together, the excess Primordial Essence had nowhere to go, thus forming the Earth-attribute essence. Therefore, the last type did not need to use the Cloud Sand again and successfully condensed naturally.
It was no wonder that the refining process to refine the Profound Light was getting faster. It turned out that there was truth behind it.
However, this also must be credited to this Demon Hole due to the continuous growth and supply of Primordial Essence. Had it been on Spirit Leaf Island, he would have given up the idea of achieving this step.
“I"ve successfully condensed 5 seeds. After I"ve truly entered the Profound Light Realm, I"ll be able to cultivate that "Five Elemental Path of the Highest True Profound Light"."
When he thought up to there, he saw that his whole body suddenly released 5 brilliant lights as they seemed to move gently; he could even see that it had the ability to transform nature. He could not help but laugh, saying, "Ah, it turns out to be so, so you"ve come to disturb, eh?"
Originally, these Illusion Demons had also come. This time he felt that he also longed and had the desire to have great magical powers. So they automatically showed illusions of the dreamland, luring him to fall into it. If his state of mind were to be infatuated with it, more of these kinds of evil spirits would come and take advantage of him, until finally, the essence of his soul disappeared and turned him into a walking corpse.
But Zhang Yan did not have the thought to pursue and expel them. One must know that the deeper the place in the Demon Hole, the more abundant evil spirits were. Yin Demons and Illusion Demons were countless, and the troubles they brought would be extremely annoying. He began to exterminate them and now had become more accustomed. Most of the time he simply ignored them, since as long as his state of mind was unmoved, they would also be unable to do anything to him.
Whilst looking at the side world of this dreamland, and as he was about to take out a Mind Purification Pill, his mind inexplicably moved. He put down the pill as all kinds of images from his previous incarnation came out from inside his mind; even the image of his companion and his best friends who were fighting with him also appeared.
As expected, when his mind strayed and stained, shortly after, each and every person"s image inside his mind appeared before his eyes.
Whilst looking at those familiar and unfamiliar silhouettes, Zhang Yan at first felt a sense of a loss as he sighed in a disappointed and frustrated feeling. However, a smile then sprinkled as he said, "Are these the flaws inside my heart? This time I actually have to say thanks because it let me see myself clearly. Later on, I won"t be confused by any masters in this field."
The moment he said these words, he suddenly felt that the gorge within his heart was like it was filled by something, as his state of mind and body became more fused and no longer had the slightest flaws.
When he looked up again, the illusion and dreamland before him had disappeared without a trace.
[0] Demonic Clans now changed into Demonic Sects… the previous chapters will be updated.
[1] The raws said that it was Immortal and Demon Sects…
[2] The raws said it was Gold, but I used Metal here to match the common knowledge of the five elements