A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality: Wang Yu’s Rebirth as the Reincarnation Dao Ancestor - Chapter 156

Chapter 154 Qianjin Valley, Soul Search, News

traveled unimpeded to Yuanwu.

Yuanwu Kingdom was a medium-sized country considerably larger than Yue Kingdom.

It was once occupied by the three major sects, including Tianxing Sect, but now belonged to Yuling Sect.

In terms of resources, it was relatively more abundant than Yue Kingdom. The number of spiritual veins and treasure lands, as well as the ancient dangerous places, were much greater.

For example, the infamous Panlong River treacherous shoals.

Its tens of thousands of miles of water covered almost the entire northeast of Yuanwu Kingdom. Within its waters, there were numerous demonic beasts, many spiritual herbs and medicines extinct elsewhere, and a wealth of aquatic spiritual plants.

Another example was Qianjin Valley, Han Li’s main destination.

The valley spanned thousands of miles, extremely vast, with an outer circle of over five thousand miles, a middle circle of three thousand miles, and an inner circle of over a thousand miles. Viewed from above, the entire Qianjin Valley resembled a massive three-tiered crater carved out by a meteorite.

Within the valley, a golden wind capable of ripping away at the body and damaging the spirit is pervasive. Cultivators’ physical bodies cannot withstand this wind for long, thus preventing them from lingering there.

Furthermore, prolonged exposure of one’s spirit to the wind will result in permanent damage and weakening.

Exposure of the primordial spirit to the wind can even lead to its immediate dissipation.

Due to these factors, the sensory advantage possessed by high-level cultivators is greatly diminished in this place.

In contrast, the situation is different for demonic beasts.

Their thick hides and tough flesh allow them to resist the damage from the golden wind for extended periods. Moreover, after long-term adaptation, high-level demonic beasts thrive within the golden wind. In addition, demonic beasts don’t rely solely on spiritual sense; they also rely on their sense of smell, which humans lack.

Therefore,

high-level demonic beasts can often detect the approach of humans much earlier,

while human cultivators are often slow to react.

In other words, by utilizing this characteristic effectively, high-level demonic beasts can often successfully evade high-level human beings, much like playing hide-and-seek.

This place is conducive to the reproduction of demonic beasts but unfavorable to human development. Over thousands of years, it gradually became one of the most dangerous places in the Yuanwu Kingdom. Many high-level demonic beasts lurked within.

Han Li stepped into the central circle of Qianjin Valley, a radius of three thousand miles.

The moment he entered, he sensed the difference between the central and outer circles.

“Huh, this golden wind is much stronger.”

His divine sense, when extended for more than a quarter of an hour, felt like being pricked by needles.

It took half an hour to calm the pain.

“Moreover, this golden wind can even distort the surrounding void, obstructing vision…”

Han Li was quite surprised by this.

Even with his Heavenly Eye Technique at the Nascent Soul stage, he could hardly see clearly beyond three miles.

He grabbed a wisp of golden wind, wrapped it with his magic power, and let it surge and thrash within the magic power sphere. Once it stabilized, he immediately controlled the wisp to enter the protective light barrier, then used his physical body to withstand the attack.

The physical body quickly provided concrete feedback:

this single wisp was comparable to the power impact of a Qi Refining Stage 9 cultivator!

Compared to the outer circle of Qianjin Valley, which was only at the Qi Refining Stage 6 level, the golden wind and protective aura in the middle circle were undoubtedly a level higher. A

Qi Refining Stage 6 cultivator was equivalent to a Level 1 puppet of the Thousand Bamboo Sect. A

Qi Refining Stage 9 cultivator was already equivalent to the weakest Level 2 puppet.

Crucially, the overwhelming golden wind was all-pervasive; if it targeted an individual, it was equivalent to being subjected to a continuous and all-encompassing barrage of attacks from a group of Qi Refining Stage 9 cultivators.

This intensity was definitely high for Foundation Establishment cultivators in the early to mid-stages.

After all, Foundation Establishment cultivators had limited mana, and their protective shields weren’t very strong, so they couldn’t withstand the attacks for long.

This was probably one of the main reasons why Foundation Establishment cultivators rarely appeared deep within Qianjin Valley.

The outer circle of Qianjin Valley was inhabited mainly by Level 2 demonic beasts and low-level demonic beasts below Level 2. The middle circle was inhabited mainly by mid-level demonic beasts below Level 5. Of course, this isn’t absolute, because sometimes, mid-level demonic beasts of level three or four, and even high-level demonic beasts of level five, six, or seven, are active in the outer circle.

Now, he has only just entered the middle circle, and the damage the golden wind inflicts on his body and divine sense is already apparent.

Continuing deeper, the intensity will undoubtedly increase .

He used his magic power to grab another wisp, then touched it with his nascent soul. The instant he felt it was like being slashed in the buttocks .

A small knife cutting his buttocks, the kind that tightens his anus.

The pain was obvious, but there was absolutely no change in his divine sense.

He wasn’t in a hurry, but continued to try dozens more times. He meticulously followed the methods of the forbidden area’s inherited techniques to utilize the wind energy here.

Throughout the entire process, he was incredibly patient.

Finally, after the eightieth or so attempts, he discovered a very subtle change in the divine sense he used for the experiment.

“It really works?!”

The portion of his divine sense that he had used for the experiment, the portion that had been directly scraped by the golden wind—that portion of divine sense, only about one millionth of his main body—seemed to have a negligible resistance to the nearby golden wind.

Although it was a subtle change, he immediately noticed it as he paid close attention.

He continued trying.

After hundreds of attempts, the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

At this point, he was quite certain that the golden wind of Qianjin Valley was helpful in strengthening his divine sense and making it more refined.

Therefore, he was overjoyed. He

excitedly clenched his fist.

“Good!”

His divine sense was already incredibly powerful, comparable to that of a Grandmaster who hadn’t cultivated a divine sense amplification techniques.

Further strengthening it would allow him to completely overwhelm his peers in terms of special abilities.

The only slight drawback was that the golden wind here wasn’t particularly effective on the physical body, far less so than the gale-force winds of the Hurricane Desert or the gale-force winds of the Nine Heavens Gale Layer. The effect of body tempering here would definitely be greatly reduced. Unless he continued to delve deeper…

but if he did, the golden wind would be too damaging to his divine sense.

It was a case of too much of a good thing.

“Alright, let’s start here for now. Once my divine sense adapts to the golden wind here, we can delve deeper and achieve the best of both worlds,”

Han Li decided.

He only needs to proceed steadily, building a solid foundation step by step. There’s no need to rush things like the demonic path.

…

The gale enters the body, the golden wind scrapes the bones.

The method for tempering the physical body sounds simple: the basic framework involves absorbing golden wind, letting it penetrate the body, and then circulating it through special meridians throughout the limbs and bones. However, the details are far more complex than can be explained in a few words.

Tempering the nascent soul and divine sense with golden wind is similar.

The nascent soul absorbs the strong wind, using the special energy within to temper the divine sense. This involves damage and self-healing of the divine sense, and the dangers involved cannot be fully explained in a few words.

Fortunately, there is the guidance and assistance of the forbidden area’s secret technique.

“If I can master the first level, according to the cultivation method, I can gain more than twice the divine sense of an ordinary early-stage nascent soul.”

“By perfecting the second level, I can surpass the divine sense of an ordinary great cultivator.” “

Mastering the third level will allow my divine sense to reach a level comparable to the Nascent Soul stage, greatly aiding my breakthrough to Nascent Soul…”

Therefore, he absolutely cannot slack off.

With each half-month interval, the visible improvement made him increasingly immersed in it.

He tempered his body, his soul, and even took a whirlwind ride in the heavens.

While strengthening his physical body and refining his spiritual sense, he also collected the Nine Heavens Gale Wind to cultivate his Wind Escape Technique. In

one month, he ventured two hundred miles deeper into the inner circle.

His spiritual sense’s resistance to the golden wind increased significantly, and its overall strength improved considerably.

Four months later, he had unknowingly penetrated over a thousand miles into the inner circle.

In this area, the damage from the golden wind to the physical body was comparable to a concentrated attack from a top-tier level 1 demonic beast. The damage to spiritual sense was even greater; Core Formation cultivators couldn’t extend their spiritual sense beyond twenty breaths in this area, otherwise, a portion would be blown away, causing excruciating headaches and permanent damage to their spiritual sense’s maximum capacity.

Six months later,

only a few hundred miles from the inner circle remained, and his spiritual sense strength steadily increased.

The visible progress was truly motivating, making it impossible to stop.

Get stronger, get stronger, get stronger.

Cultivate, cultivate, cultivate…

Originally, he thought he could continue in this peaceful, day-to-day routine for several years, until two or three years before the opening of his planned Void Heaven Palace.

But sometimes, unexpected events happen.

On this day,

just as he finished training his divine sense and was withdrawing it entirely into his nascent soul to recuperate, three figures appeared behind him, two chasing and one fleeing.

“Fellow Daoist ahead, please lend me a hand.”

Hmm?

Hearing the cries for help, Han Li immediately turned around.

His divine sense spread out and instantly locked onto three Core Formation stage cultivators.

All three were in the mid-Core Formation stage.

The one being chased was a middle-aged scholar, his sect unknown, perhaps just a rogue cultivator. He was covered in wounds, likely having just gone through a fierce battle.

The two chasing behind were both wearing high-ranking green robes of the Yu Ling Sect, clearly members of the sect.

“Fellow Daoist, please help me…”

Wait, something’s not right!

“…You’re not in the early Core Formation stage?!”

The middle-aged man in the lead, sensing Han Li’s gradually released true cultivation level, suddenly stopped abruptly in mid-air.

The slight sweat that had been on his forehead during his escape was now replaced by large beads of sweat. His teeth were chattering. Had he tried to

shift the blame to a Nascent Soul cultivator?

He was on the verge of tears.

The Yu Ling Sect cultivators behind him, unaware of the situation, continued their attack.

Han Li, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes, and after a moment’s thought, understood the predicament of the middle-aged man being chased by the Yu Ling Sect cultivators.

“Could he be trying to shift the blame onto me?”

he muttered, his figure suddenly disappearing. The middle-

aged Core Formation cultivator only felt a blur before his eyes, and Han Li’s figure appeared before him.

Before the middle-aged man could speak, a wind blade, compressed from dozens of wind blades into a single strike, slashed straight down, instantly cutting through the seemingly thick protective light barrier and easily cleaving a gash in the scroll of a defensive magic treasure.

Just as the middle-aged man’s natal magic treasure, connected to his mind, was damaged, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

A hand pierced through the tattered protective barrier and landed on his head.

“Senior, no!”

the middle-aged man cried out in terror.

“Quiet, be obedient, relax your mind, and you won’t die if you cooperate,”

Han Li said calmly and gently.

He first used a Soul-Shocking Technique to intimidate the man’s mind. The middle-aged man, already feeling guilty, panicked and immediately lost his composure, his eyes instantly filled with fear.

Seeing this, he immediately activated his technique: Soul Search!

At the same time, he glanced indifferently at the two from the Spirit Control Sect, causing them to shudder:

“A Nascent Soul old monster?”

“A Nascent Soul cultivator?”

the two exclaimed in unison, then turned to flee.

“Don’t let those two get away.”

He didn’t make a move.

There was no need for him to intervene further.

The main body and Qu Hun moved.

Accompanying them were Lao Liu, the Wind Howling Eagle, two Blood Jade Spiders, and an Icefire Wolf, all emerging from the spirit beast pouch.

He didn’t want to be disturbed by the Nascent Soul elders of the Yu Ling Sect.

He didn’t want any contact with the outside world to avoid disrupting his cultivation.

Therefore, he decided to leave the two from the Yu Ling Sect behind.

“A level seven Ink Dragon, a level seven Blood Jade Spider, a level six demonic bird Wind Howling Eagle, a level seven mutated Icefire Wolf…?”

“How can there be so many high-level spirit beasts?”

What a joke!

None of their sect’s Grand Elders had ever cultivated so many top-tier spirit beasts, had they?

“And, there are even two subordinates at the peak of the late Core Formation stage?”

The fleeing Yu Ling Sect cultivator felt his mouth go dry.

Just a few breaths ago he was pursuing with great enthusiasm, but now he could only flee in utter defeat. And he had to constantly pray for a miracle.

“Roar!”

The main body, riding Lao Liu, pounced forward.

“Hurry…”

Qu Hun, riding the Wind Howling Eagle, tore through the golden wind and gave chase.

On the ground, Xiao Bai, Xiao Yu, and the Ice-Fire Wolf were not much slower.

As the Ice-Fire Wolf leaped, its hooves seemed to tread on flames, and its feet seemed to generate wind.

“What should we do?”

“Split up.”

One person mounted a spirit bird.

Another summoned the swarm of insects he had cultivated, transforming it into a cloud of insects and hiding within it.

Seeing this, the main body released a cloud of golden insects, which were swarms of Gold-Eating Insects comparable to level four individuals.

“Gold-Eating Insects on the Strange Insect Ranking? How can there be so many golden Gold-Eating Insects?”

This scene made the person in front even more pale.

Two chased and two fled, quickly disappearing into the distance.

Seeing this, Han Li no longer cared about the main body and Qu Hun, but focused on searching the soul of the middle-aged man in the Confucian robe.

Soon, he understood the cause and effect.

It turned out that this person was a high-level cultivator of the Righteous Path Great Sect, Haoran Pavilion. Although he cultivated Confucianism, he also liked to study the art of beast taming. He commanded several demonic beasts of considerable bloodline, including a female silver-armored horned python at the peak of level 4.

He had long been troubled by the lack of an adult mate for his spirit beast, making it difficult for it to produce offspring. The silver-armored horned python, stuck at the peak of level 4 for decades, was particularly frustrating.

Not long ago, he heard that a high-level level 5 silver-armored horned python had appeared in Qianjin Valley.

Furthermore, he heard that the Yuling Sect’s next major move was to sweep through Qianjin Valley, turning it into a private garden for cultivating spirit beasts, herbs, and medicines.

Upon hearing these two pieces of news, how could he remain calm?

After all

, a hundred years ago, after conquering the Yuanwu Kingdom, the Yuling Sect, shortly after completing its reorganization, organized four Nascent Soul stage old monsters, two Nascent Soul stage guardian spirit beasts, and dozens of Core Formation cultivators, leading thousands of Foundation Establishment cultivators… to conduct a thorough sweep of the Panlong River, one of the three most dangerous places in the Yuanwu Kingdom.

Nearly a hundred dragons of various sizes were captured.

This move, while demonstrating strength and deterring villains, also significantly enhanced the future foundation of the Yu Ling Sect.

After all, any dragon possesses great potential, reaching high-level status upon adulthood. Once mature and becoming high-level spirit beasts, they can be tamed and obey the sect’s cultivators, protecting the sect for at least two thousand years.

Upon reaching the Nascent Soul stage, they can protect the sect for nearly ten thousand years.

If an adult dragon is fortunate enough to produce offspring, it will bring blessings to future generations for countless years.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the Yu Ling Sect had long coveted the dragons of the Panlong River.

However, hundreds of years ago, the internal strife between the righteous and demonic factions in the southern hinterland severely depleted their resources. Even the Yu Ling Sect’s Grand Master of the Nascent Soul stage perished.

At that time, the Yuanwu Kingdom belonged to the righteous sects, and naturally, the righteous sects wouldn’t allow the opposing demonic Yu Ling Sect to gain an advantage. When the righteous and demonic paths were driven out of the southern hinterland by rising forces like the Tianxing Sect and the Divine Weapon Sect, the three families—Tianxing Sect, Divine Weapon Sect, and Wanmiao Temple—did not intend to support the Yuling Sect.

Until the invasion of the righteous and demonic paths a century ago, the Yuling Sect merged with the Spirit Beast Mountain, greatly increasing its strength.

Furthermore, the Spirit Beast Mountain made significant contributions, cooperating with the demonic path from within and without to severely damage the strength of the three major cultivation worlds: Yue Kingdom, Yuanwu Kingdom, and Zijin Kingdom.

At that time, the Yuling Sect demanded to annex Yuanwu Kingdom, with only the Demon Flame Sect opposing it.

The Hehuan Sect, the leader of the demonic path, for reasons unknown, or perhaps due to some secret deal, made a choice drastically different from the original trajectory!

This time, the Hehuan Sect’s leadership did not object!

They did not suppress the Yuling Sect.

Instead, they allowed the Yuling Sect to grow stronger.

This led to a series of butterfly effects.

The biggest change was that the Yuling Sect spent over seventy years conducting three large-scale sweeps of the treacherous Panlong River. But

let’s get back to the main point.

The middle-aged scholar from Haoran Pavilion learned that a high-level Silver-Armored Horned Python existed in Qianjin Valley, and that the Yuling Sect was about to launch a large-scale raid on the valley. Naturally, he couldn’t sit still after hearing the news.

He hurriedly sneaked into Yuanwu Kingdom to search for clues about the Silver-Armored Horned Python in Qianjin Valley.

If the python was male, the scholar thought it would be perfect for pairing with his own spirit beast.

If it was female, he would try to tame it first; if he couldn’t, he would kill it to obtain its core, which he would then feed to his own level four horned python to help it break through.

In short, as long as he captured this high-level horned python in the valley, the trip would be worthwhile.

After years of searching, he had indeed stumbled upon it once.

Unfortunately, he failed to seize the opportunity that time, allowing the Silver-Armored Horned Python, which had completed half of its transformation into a dragon and was severely underestimated, to escape.

When he returned to continue his search, he unfortunately encountered a cultivator of the same level from the Yuling Sect.

The members of the Spirit Control Sect were not only powerful in cultivation, but also possessed even stronger spirit beasts, including two high-level ones.

After a fierce battle, the Haoran Pavilion member was no match and suffered heavy losses.

Of course,

the Spirit Control Sect member

also fared poorly, having one of his high-level spirit beasts killed by the self-destruction of his magic weapon. It was precisely because of these significant losses that he became enraged and relentlessly pursued the enemy.

The middle-aged man from Haoran Pavilion, not daring to linger, prepared to flee Qianjin Valley and the Yuanwu Kingdom. Unexpectedly, he encountered another mid-stage Core Formation cultivator from the Spirit Control Sect outside the valley.

His luck was truly terrible.

He couldn’t even defeat one-on-one, let alone two.

Helpless, they could only retreat to Qianjin Valley, using the valley’s golden winds and unique geographical environment to buy time and seek a chance to survive.

Three days passed in a flash.

Just now, the other spirit beast in the scholar’s arms sensed a powerful aura fluctuation in the central area of the valley. After learning the general situation, the scholar came here without much hesitation, intending to draw the battle here and stage a diversionary tactic.

The surprise came too suddenly.

The middle-aged man initially thought that the aura causing his spirit beast’s unease came from a high-level demon beast wandering from the extremely dangerous inner circle of Qianjin Valley.

Upon arriving, he discovered it was just a cultivator in the early Core Formation stage.

And judging from the person’s attire, he knew he wasn’t from the Yuling Sect. As

the saying goes, “Better to sacrifice a friend than oneself.”

Originally, he only wanted to trick a group of demon beasts, but it turned out to be an early Core Formation cultivator. So, he could only reluctantly trick a group of fellow cultivators.

Then,

the surprise turned into shock.

Han Li no longer concealed his cultivation level; his early Core Formation aura suddenly surged to the Nascent Soul stage.

What are the consequences of bringing the flames of war to a Nascent Soul cultivator? Han Li showed everyone in the most vivid way.

“Tsk tsk, you really want to drag me down with you?”

This person is quite something.

After finishing the soul search, he removed the other party’s golden core and destroyed his primordial spirit. He then set the body on fire to destroy it as well.

If it were just an accident, he would have considered showing leniency and not necessarily being so ruthless.

But alas, it wasn’t.

“So it was you, little guy, who discovered me?”

Inside the spirit beast pouch, a level 3 cowardly mouse trembled.

…

A short while later.

The main body and Qu Hun returned separately.

Qu Hun returned with a storage bag.

The main body, however, brought back a dying Core Formation cultivator from the Yu Ling Sect.

No doubt about it.

He pressed his other hand on the other party’s forehead:

“Alas, although your cultivation has improved, you’ve lost your righteousness in pursuit of convenience and precision.”

The next moment: Soul search!

This investigation revealed more important information.

For example, the Grand Elder of the Yuling Sect, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator from a thousand years ago, left behind a level 7 Azure Dragon. After

a millennium of refinement, this highly intelligent Azure Dragon has reached the peak of level 7.

Recently, the Yuling Sect’s higher-ups seem to be preparing to help the Azure Dragon overcome its tribulation.

If successful, the Yuling Sect might produce its second transformed demon cultivator, a feat achieved 30,000 years ago.

Furthermore, the Yuling Sect’s repeated raids on the treacherous rapids of the Panlong River have yielded substantial results. Besides capturing nearly a hundred dragons, they have also discovered three medium-sized spiritual veins of several hundred miles in quality, along with several associated mineral veins. Among these veins is a gold essence ore discovered just two years ago, the raw material used by Core Formation cultivators to refine gold essence, one of the five metals used in magic weapons.

This single vein is of immense value.

Moreover, the sect

has also reaped a great deal of rare spiritual herbs and medicines.

After the distribution of resources among the Yuling Sect’s major Nascent Soul-level families, a new generation of Core Formation cultivators has emerged. For example, a newly promoted Core Formation cultivator named Han Yunzhi. He entered the Core Formation realm twenty years ago.

“It seems that little sister Han Yunzhi’s subsequent growth trajectory wasn’t affected by my interference in the Crimson Forbidden Land…”

This connection is worth trying to secure.

Finally,

something that made Han Li raise an eyebrow was

that the Yu Ling Sect would be attacking Qian Jin Valley in three years.

They would utilize the spirit beasts cultivated by the sect, leveraging their superior numbers to conduct a massive sweep of Qian Jin Valley.

Here, high-level cultivators couldn’t conduct a thorough investigation, but spirit beasts were different.

Faced with a large formation of high-level spirit beasts, the demon beasts lurking in Qian Jin Valley no longer had the advantage of terrain and environment.

The good days for the demon beasts here were coming to an end.

“It seems I don’t have much time left to stay here.”

“Oh, right…”

“And that level 5 peak peak horned python that has already transformed into a silver dragon…!”

There will be a short chapter tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM.

(End of Chapter)