A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality: Wang Yu’s Rebirth as the Reincarnation Dao Ancestor - Chapter 176

Chapter 173 The Humanoid Treasure Trove

Trove Xuan Gu Shangren, whose real name was Xiao Cha, was a Nascent Soul

stage demonic cultivator in the Chaotic Star Sea.

He founded Xuan Yin Island and cultivated the Xuan Yin Scripture.

He had previously entered the Void Heaven Palace twice, gaining something on each occasion.

Six hundred years ago, on his second entry, he obtained a Heaven-Mending Pill.

Upon returning, he was betrayed by his most trusted and favored disciples, Ji Yin and Ji Xuan, who ambushed him, destroying his physical body and severely injuring his Nascent Soul.

After sealing his remnant soul and corpse in this ancient cultivator’s ruins, the two disciples began fighting amongst themselves.

His junior brother, Ji Xuan, stole the Heaven-Mending Pill and fled with severe injuries. He ultimately died on an ancient teleportation array on the other side of the sky, his resentful corpse floating a foot in the air for hundreds of years after his death.

His senior brother, Ji Yin, obtained Xiao Cha’s storage bag, and with his immense wealth, his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.

Over three hundred years ago, he successfully formed his Nascent Soul.

He embarked on his triumphant journey to the Nascent Soul stage.

However, even after condensing his Nascent Soul, Ji Yin didn’t dare break through the great seal to pay respects to his master.

Not only did he not dare to come in to fulfill his filial duty, but he was even more terrified of Xiao Cha from his younger days. He simply arranged for his capable subordinates at the Core Formation stage to guard this place year-round, and repeatedly reinforced the seal. Unbeknownst to them, the external formations had been piled up seven or eight times. It took the original six-person exploration team more than three months of exhaustion to break through the layers of formations.

“Ji Yin has carefully arranged this place, he must have left early warning mechanisms…”

“Xuan Gu probably knows this too.”

In other words, Ji Yin, that treacherous disciple who betrayed his master, could come at any time to send his master off on his final journey.

Under these circumstances,

Xuan Gu’s time to make a decision… is not much.

Xuan Gu really can’t afford to delay in getting rid of the shadow of his disciple.

“One breath.”

“Two breaths.”

“Three…”

Just as Han Li silently counted down three breaths, and the moment his Fiend Core clone stepped to the edge of the pool, something moved almost imperceptibly.

Under the sweep of the great cultivator’s divine sense, the white jade-like fingers of the skeleton lying on the ground trembled slightly.

This movement was extremely subtle.

If it were another cultivator, whose cultivation was only at the early stage of Core Formation, and who had focused almost all their attention on the so-called Seven-Colored Lotus in the pool, then the skeleton’s subtle movement would most likely have been overlooked. It

would probably not have attracted any attention. They would

be even less likely to notice that a strange figure with a body wrapped in a jet-black python was moving along the underground patterns within a stone pillar in the room, heading towards the Fiend Core clone.

It had even touched the Fiend Core clone’s feet.

It went in.

It went in.

Han Li’s eyes lit up when he saw this, but his face remained expressionless.

It was at this moment that a sudden change occurred.

Inside the pool, the demonic serpent disguised as the Seven-Colored Lotus seemed to receive a command, abandoning its disguise and reverting to its true form as a demonic serpent, charging towards Han Li.

Simultaneously, the small green arrow atop the skeleton’s forehead detached, shooting out with golden lightning.

Furthermore, countless ghostly creatures suddenly emerged from the surrounding walls, baring their fangs and claws as they attacked. These ghostly creatures, young and old, screamed incessantly as they pounced, causing considerable annoyance.

As for the Fiend Core clone?

For some reason, it remained motionless.

Its face subtly twisted, as if trying to contort into an abstract smile.

In short, it became exceptionally eerie.

Han Li, far from being annoyed, was overjoyed:

the fish had finally taken the bait.

He then gave a soft shout:

“Return.”

Seeing the strange black shadow already burrowing into the Fiend Core clone’s body from the ground, about to possess the eunuch’s body, he wouldn’t allow the divided soul to linger.

He wouldn’t tolerate the possession by the Xuan Bone.

The divided soul, eager to return to its original form, immediately emerged from the nostrils of the Demon Core clone and then completely disappeared into the brow of the original body.

“Want that eunuch body so badly? Here you go.” Don’t be in such a

hurry.

It’s all yours.

The aura emanating from its body was no longer restrained, but rather released freely.

The violent wave of magical power that rippled out at close range blasted away the Demon Crown Serpent, the Golden Thunder Bamboo Arrow, the Demon Core clone, and all sorts of ghosts that sprang from the walls.

Many ghosts instantly disintegrated.

Within a radius of several miles centered on the cave, the wave of magical power affected everything, causing the earth to shake, mountains to crack, and sand and stones to fly everywhere. Even

the coast a thousand miles away felt the tremors.

“Bang…”

As the Demon Crown Serpent flew backward and crashed into the wall, a thrown magical spear, with lightning speed, accurately pinned it to the wall.

The Golden Thunder Bamboo Arrow tried to return to the Xuan Gu Shangren’s hand, which had possessed the Fiend Core clone, but Han Li easily grasped it with his powerful magic, unable to break free despite struggling for a long time. It was as simple and effortless as the Ancient Demon of Fallen Demon Valley controlling the two Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords of the original body.

Thus, the Fiend Core clone, who had been trying to force a smug smile just a moment ago—or rather, the Fiend Core clone that Xuan Gu had quietly possessed—was embedded in a wall, his smile vanished.

Where was the last trace of smugness?

“Nascent Soul stage? Are you Extreme Xuan or Extreme Yin?”

Han Li didn’t answer.

His Thunder Boots crackled with electricity.

The next moment, he appeared before the former Fiend Core clone.

Xuan Gu tried to dodge

, but was immobilized by the powerful divine sense that could freely manifest, and the heavy Nascent Soul level magic.

“Are you Extreme Xuan or Extreme Yin?”

Who is this traitor?

Han Li ignored the other party, made a hand seal, and activated the many powerful restrictions he had previously left on the Demon Core clone.

Some of these restrictions were specifically designed to deal with ghost cultivators.

These restrictions did not restrict ghost cultivators from possessing flesh and blood bodies, but they would tightly bind the main soul of the possessed ghost cultivator within that body.

The main source of these restrictions was the resources of the Thousand Bamboo Sect.

Although the Thousand Bamboo Sect has rarely produced Nascent Soul cultivators since the Great Evolution Divine Lord, it doesn’t mean there haven’t been any in the past ten thousand years.

In the last ten thousand years, four have emerged.

One of them even reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

Because these Nascent Soul cultivators were direct descendants of the Great Evolution Divine Lord, not usurpers like the Great Master Jin, they followed their ancestors’ wishes and didn’t disturb the cenotaph left by the Great Evolution Divine Lord.

Therefore, they didn’t discover the hidden secrets within.

Two of these four had studied ghost cultivation, and one of them even left behind restrictions against ghost cultivation possession.

When he discovered this unexpected treasure after seizing the Thousand Bamboo Sect, he was overjoyed for quite some time.

“Looks like it works quite well.”

Han Li patted the face of his Fiend Core clone.

The pat made Xuan Gu both shocked and angry.

He clearly still had many methods, such as the Profound Soul Yin Fire. But with the numerous restrictions within his body taking effect, he was already unable to move.

At this point, how could he not understand that he had become a fish on a chopping board?

Now he understood. This clone with the hidden flaws in its cultivation technique was nothing more than bait thrown out by the other side. It was a trap set to lure him in.

Thinking this, he grew even angrier.

At first, he thought some ignorant brat had brought a clone to rescue him from this cage.

He had even been proud and smug about leaving a loophole in the clone technique years ago, boasting about possessing it.

Unexpectedly,

this was just a trap set for him.

This scheme was exactly the same as when his two traitorous disciples betrayed and plotted against him.

He had been tricked again.

Who was this person?

“No, you’re neither Ji Xuan nor Ji Yin, right?”

Xuan Gu looked at him again.

His voice suddenly became much calmer.

Han Li, meanwhile, had just caught the blade with his bare hands and silenced the still trembling and resisting Golden Thunder Bamboo Arrow. Hearing Xuan Gu’s words, he laughed:

“Fellow Daoist Xiao, have you finally realized it?”

“As expected.”

Falling into the hands of a Nascent Soul cultivator, he was doomed this time.

He also saw a hand placed on the forehead of the body he had just possessed.

“Fellow Daoist Xiao, I’ve learned something new from you: never underestimate any cultivator. You must always have a sense of awe towards any cultivator, even if their cultivation level is much lower than yours.”

“You, having experienced the betrayal of two Core Formation stage disciples, still instinctively act arrogantly in front of Core Formation cultivators.”

Just now, this person, using his Nascent Soul level divine sense to probe him, discovered that he was only at the early Core Formation stage after concealing his aura and not fighting.

At that time, he definitely subconsciously underestimated him.

Before invading the Fiend Core clone, he didn’t even carefully check the internal situation of the Fiend Core clone before hastily possessing it.

This is not exactly the same mentality as when he underestimated Ji Yin and Xuan, two Core Formation stage cultivators, but they are about the same.

If this guy had just tested the Demon Core clone, he wouldn’t be in this predicament.

Xuan Gu wanted to say something more,

but Han Li pressed him down.

“Alright, we can talk about it later.”

Without further ado,

he decisively… used Soul Search.

With his more powerful divine sense, he conducted a more detailed memory probe on the former Nascent Soul stage demonic spirit.

This examination was quite poignant.

Xiao Cha, as a Nascent Soul stage demonic cultivator, was indeed rather unusual.

Other demonic elders would place various restrictions on their disciples, capable of killing them with a single thought to prevent betrayal.

Some treated their disciples as expendable resources, potential candidates for possession. After all, their cultivation techniques and spiritual roots were the same, so possession wouldn’t have too many aftereffects or delay their recovery.

Others treated their disciples as servants, ordering them around and killing them at will if they displeased them.

Still others used their disciples and their offspring as materials for corpse refining, as targets for remote possession spells.

Others treat female disciples as vessels for sexual exploitation, or as concubines.

However, Xiao Cha, unlike other demonic cultivators who treat their disciples harshly, doesn’t treat Ji Yin Xuan with the same harshness. He seems more like a righteous cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage.

For example, he even granted Ji Yin Xuan the Blood Jade Spider’s recognition.

The Blood Jade Spider is widely recognized as the most helpful spirit beast for obtaining the Void Heaven Cauldron.

Yet Xiao Cha confidently entrusted the Blood Jade Spider to Ji

Yin, even having the two early spiderlings sign a blood pact with him.

Other demonic cultivators

wouldn’t even dare touch the Blood Jade Spider.

They might not even have told Ji Yin Xuan about its existence.

Xiao Cha’s trust in Ji Yin is obvious to everyone.

He also taught Ji Yin the Profound Yin Technique, a technique leading directly to the Nascent Soul stage.

Even though both their techniques have hidden secrets and aren’t complete, isn’t this to prevent “the disciple from starving the master”?

Holding back is only natural.

However…

He had placed such trust in them.

Not only did he not leave any deadly restrictions on his two disciples, but he also entrusted them with the important spirit beast, the Blood Jade Spider. Even so, Xiao Cha was betrayed. A truly fatal betrayal.

“A member of the demonic path, yet using righteous methods.”

He learned from the righteous path, but didn’t learn the art of combining kindness and severity, only offering favors.

Moreover, Xuan Yin Island was newly established at the time, its foundation was still shallow, and appeasement was no match for high pressure.

Hmm?

This is somewhat similar to my situation in the Thousand Bamboo Sect .

“No, there are also differences…”

“At least I placed restrictions on those Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators.”

A single thought within a certain range would trigger those restrictions, which would be quite fatal. And with a long interval, those restrictions would also trigger after a hundred years.

Unless a great cultivator intervened, an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator couldn’t break them.

Even with the intervention of a great cultivator, breaking them would be a troublesome matter.

Surely no great cultivator would be so idle as to kindly remove the mind-controlling restrictions from hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators one by one?

Of course, while he comforted himself with this thought, he was still reflecting inwardly.

He simply lacked experience in commanding tens of thousands of cultivators; it would be best to have a professional do it for him. Perhaps, he only needed to control the person doing the work?

Like how the original owner controlled Liu Yu…

Unconsciously, his hand tightened slightly while searching the soul.

“Xiao Cha, as a Nascent Soul cultivator of the Demonic Path, only showed kindness, not authority, when managing his subordinates. It’s perfectly normal to raise a treacherous wolf like Ji Yin Xuan.”

“And I, even with my bedmate, still maintain a degree of vigilance…” On

the long path of immortality, both internally and externally, basic vigilance cannot be abandoned.

Remember Xiao Cha’s example.

Soul search.

He located the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng.

In the first level of the Void Heaven Palace, he found the hiding place of the remnant soul of a newly ascended Nascent Soul stage old monster whose physical body had been destroyed and whose Nascent Soul had been severely damaged, forcing him to choose the path of ghost cultivation.

Soul Search.

He found the back door of the Profound Yin Scripture.

From then on, his chances of dealing with Extreme Yin increased significantly.

Soul Search.

He found some secrets of the inner palace of the Void Heaven Palace, such as the distribution map of the lower four levels of the inner palace tower.

“Huh? The third level of the inner palace, there really is a Tree of Spiritual Eyes! And the location is exactly the same as the one I set in my abandoned manuscript!”

Six hundred years ago, Xiao Cha had only been a Nascent Soul cultivator for two hundred years, and his foundation was still relatively shallow. He entered the Void Heaven Palace to seize treasures, and because two Blood Jade Spiders at the peak of the third level performed a great service, he obtained a Heaven-Mending Pill, and was then hunted down and robbed by various parties. He fled all the way from the fifth level of the inner palace to the third level.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to escape to the room on the fourth level and then use the mechanism of the Void Heaven Palace to escape the Void Heaven Palace in advance.

However, the restrictions in the fourth-floor room were too dangerous. Given his severely injured state at the time, he wasn’t strong enough to break through the layers of restrictions and escape.

Therefore, he fled to the third floor.

He thought that the restrictions in any room on the third floor wouldn’t be enough to stop a true Nascent Soul cultivator.

But Xiao Cha was wrong.

There was a stone house containing a spiritual spring, a Spirit Eye Tree, and an ancient device for collecting ten-thousand-year-old spiritual liquid and pure liquid. After several attempts, Xiao Cha discovered that the restrictions protecting the spirit tree could only be broken by someone at least in the mid-Nascent Soul stage. Or rather, one needed a burst of power at the mid-Nascent Soul level to break the restrictions and obtain the treasure. If he were in

his prime, he probably wouldn’t have had a problem. Although Xuan Gu Shangren Xiao Cha was only an early-Nascent Soul cultivator, his demonic arts were extremely powerful, comparable to a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.

For example, his divine sense was at the mid-Nascent Soul level, much stronger than Ji Yin’s current level.

Unfortunately, he was severely injured at the time,

and his strength was less than one-tenth of what it used to be.

Forcing an unleashed power would not only fail to deliver the required strength but would also exacerbate the injury.

Left with no other choice, Xiao Cha had to abandon the treasure hunt and the Spirit Eye Tree, which was at least sixty or seventy thousand years old! He then quietly recuperated, waiting for the appointed time, after which he was automatically teleported out of the Void Heaven Palace by the fragmented Void Heaven Map he carried.

And then…

He had barely been teleported out of the Void Heaven Palace when, incredibly, he was targeted by two veteran Nascent Soul cultivators and relentlessly pursued, suffering numerous injuries to his body.

His previously improving injuries rapidly worsened, compounding his already dire situation.

He had initially thought his injuries within the palace would heal in ten or twenty years, but the injuries inflicted outside the palace exacerbated his condition, making it even more dire.

This was a time when he was extremely weak. Meanwhile,

Ji Xuan and Ji Yin began to have designs on him.

Ji Xuan, because the Blood Jade Spider had broken through to level four and gained the ability to reproduce, began to worry about losing its usefulness and changed his mind.

Ji Yin was more direct; ambition was at play.

The heavily injured Xuan Gu Shangren was completely unprepared for his two beloved disciples, ultimately suffering a crushing defeat.

A legendary figure in the demonic path had become a laughingstock.

It was truly lamentable.

Incidentally, this also significantly strengthened the control of the Chaotic Star Sea demonic path over its disciples.

The demonic path of the Chaotic Star Sea was far more demonic than that of the Tiannan region, and this might have been a contributing factor.

“In previous years, I used the first batch of Mingqing Spiritual Water I concocted to cleanse my eyes multiple times. Later, I refined new Mingqing Spiritual Liquid twice, but the effect was always minimal. This is most likely due to a problem with the liquid.”

The liquid left by the three Spirit Eye Trees on Biling Island was not properly collected and preserved, showing signs of spiritual loss.

It was fine for cultivating Blood Jade Spiders,

but its effect on refining Mingqing Spiritual Water was far inferior.

“I need to enter the Void Heaven Palace and use the liquid produced by the Spirit Eye Tree there to reconstitute the spiritual water and try again.”

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be satisfied.

If he couldn’t cultivate the Mingqing Spiritual Eye, how could he dare to venture into the Fallen Demon Valley?

Naturally, he would find it difficult to obtain the Seven Flames Fan’s refining method and the Spirit Candle Fruit, etc.

The subsequent implications were too great.

Now that Xuan Gu provided information about the Void Heaven Palace, he needed to plan even more carefully.

“Speaking of which, Xuan Gu once even searched the soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Star Palace…”

This is why he knows so many secrets.

Therefore, he’s also diligently…

searching souls.

The complete Xuan Yin Treasure Manual.

Soul searching.

Numerous Nascent Soul level battle experiences…

This guy has fought at least a dozen, if not twenty, Nascent Soul cultivators; he’s practically a walking experience point.

Soul searching.

Insights into various aspects of alchemy, formation, and weapon crafting.

So much precious information that Han Li’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

This guy is practically a walking treasure trove.

And because he’s fallen in cultivation level, he’s incredibly easy to manipulate.

Soul searching, soul searching…!

(End of Chapter)