All-class Gu Immortal

Chapter 182 Mid-stage Human Realm! Soul Splitting and Spirit Possession

Zhou Qing arrived at Han Wending's camp and obtained information about fire-attribute spiritual objects.

Deep within Tianzhu Mountain lies a valley called Shenhuo Valley.

It is said to be a relic left behind by a powerful cultivator at the Nascent Soul Realm who fought against an enemy a thousand years ago and used fire-attribute divine power.

The valley is scorching hot all year round and almost nothing grows there, but a very few strange beasts and spirits have adapted to the environment of the valley.

Influenced by the power of fire-attribute supernatural abilities, almost all of them underwent mutation.

Furthermore, the Divine Fire Valley still retains the fire-attribute divine power left behind by that Nascent Soul Realm expert, making it impossible for ordinary martial artists to even approach the valley.

Even martial artists at the Bone Refining Realm must enter the valley on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month each year when the Yin energy is at its strongest in order to penetrate deep into it.

As for the Blood Exchange Realm Grand Martial Masters, unless they cultivate fire-attribute techniques, they will be suppressed by fire-attribute divine powers when they enter the valley, and their strength will be greatly reduced.

A month ago, it was said that a second-tier Gu Master from the Beast Soul Clan of the Five Streams Barbarian Tribes broke into the Divine Fire Valley in order to refine Gu, and ended up discovering a Heavenly Fire Leopard that had already become sentient in the valley.

After a fierce battle, although the Beast Soul Clan Gu Master destroyed the Heavenly Fire Leopard's physical body, he himself was also seriously injured, so he did not collect the Heavenly Fire Leopard's inner core and the leopard escaped.

Afterwards, the barbarians sent other Gu masters into the valley to search, but because they could not withstand the terrifying heat in the Divine Fire Valley, they were unable to go deep into the valley and did not find the Heavenly Fire Leopard's spiritual core.

Now that the surrounding forces are aware of this situation, they are all gathering towards Divine Fire Valley.

Everyone is waiting for the 15th of July, when the yin energy is at its strongest, to enter the Divine Fire Valley.

In previous years, although some martial artists entered Divine Fire Valley on the fifteenth of July, most of them were martial artists who cultivated fire-attribute internal energy techniques.

These people mainly rely on luck, hunting fire-attribute beasts and searching for fire-attribute spiritual items in the outer areas, or simply collecting the unique fire crystals in Divine Fire Valley.

Fire crystals can continuously and stably release powerful heat, which can assist in forging high-quality weapons and refining high-quality pills.

Generally, reputable weapon-making shops and powerful alchemists will purchase fire crystals year-round.

For these powerful forces, the one thing they have no shortage of is silver. Their clansmen, centered around Nanli County City, control various industries in the surrounding towns, and silver flows in like water every day.

Resources that can be bought with silver are no problem.

As for things that money can't buy, they can be solved with force.

"There are still half a month until July 15th. I have military duties to attend to and cannot leave the camp easily, so I asked Su Wuhen, the eldest son of the Su family, to accompany you." Han Wending came to the sand table in the middle of the camp and marked the location of Shenhuo Valley for Zhou Qing.

"Thank you, Uncle Han." Zhou Qing bowed respectfully, a strange glint in his eyes.

It seems that, as Han Qingqing said, the Han family is not a monolithic entity.

Otherwise, Han Wending would not have asked the eldest son of the Su family to protect them.

The Han family does not only have Han Wending as a Blood Exchange Realm Grand Martial Master.

According to Han Qingqing, Han Wending married into the Han family in his early years and originally did not have the surname Han.

With his outstanding talent and ability, Han Wending was valued and cultivated by the old master of the Han family. As a result, in less than 20 years, he made rapid progress and became a top martial arts master who had undergone seven blood exchange realms.

The patriarch of the Han family appointed Han Wending as the head of the family, and no one dared to object at first. However, after the patriarch and Han Qingqing's mother passed away, the eldest and second branches of the Han family wanted to regain power.

The eldest master of the Han family is a Grand Martial Master who has undergone five blood transfusions, while the second master is at the peak of the sixth blood transfusion. They are just one step away from catching up with Han Wending in terms of cultivation.

Although the Han family members are united when facing outsiders, they are constantly competing with each other internally.

The reason is still self-interest.

The position of family head represents power and control over most of the Han family's resources.

Power and resources can lead to increased strength, which in turn leads to more gains, creating a virtuous cycle.

When resources are limited, you have to fight for them!

We must either fight externally or internally.

Or, both.

Just like the Five Poisons Sect today, the biggest dispute is that the patriarch is about to pass away. Whoever can accept the patriarch's transmission of power can save decades of hard work and may even have a chance to glimpse the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top realm in the future, and take one foot into the realm of immortality.

Compared to these enormous benefits, kinship, friendship, and love are insignificant to many people.

Because Han Wending officially hired Zhou Qing as the Han family's alchemist, and the Han family could not support two alchemists who were on the rise at the same time, the alchemist supported by the second branch of the family was persuaded to resign by Han Wending.

As for the alchemist supported by the eldest son's family, he is quite old and is now semi-retired. However, the Han family, mindful of his many years of diligent alchemy work for the family, has decided to support him until his death.

Initially, the second branch of the Han family firmly opposed persuading the alchemist they supported to retire, because without the alchemist, they would lose many channels for obtaining resources, which would damage the core interests of the second branch.

However, after witnessing Zhou Qing's alchemy skills and learning that he was willing to split the profits 50/50 with the Han family, ensuring that both the eldest and second branches of the family could receive their pills on time, the second branch of the family was speechless and could only obey Han Wending's orders.

For the past two and a half months, even though Zhou Qing was in the Divine Might Camp, the Han family's eldest and second branches were able to send people to secretly contact him, offering him many generous conditions in an attempt to persuade him to switch allegiance and serve the eldest or second branch.

However, Zhou Qing rejected them all without hesitation and even revealed the matter to Han Wending.

After all, Han Wending is the strongest member of the Han family, so he should definitely follow the most powerful one.

Although Zhou Qing only wanted to cultivate peacefully and live a tranquil life, the moment he set foot in Nanli County, he had already entered a huge Gu breeding ground.

No matter how large the environment, high-level resources are always limited.

Once you reach a certain level, even if you don't compete, others will still see you as a competitor.

This is inevitable.

Currently, Zhou Qing is only competing for resources at the Blood Exchange Realm. However, when he starts vying for resources to break through to the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top Realm, the conflict will likely escalate into a life-or-death battle.

He had already made preparations for this.

"You should rest in the camp for the next two weeks. You don't need to refine pills for the Han family for now." Han Wending's words pulled Zhou Qing out of his reverie. "Yes, thank you, Uncle Han." Zhou Qing bowed respectfully and left the camp.

According to the contract, he was to refine pills for the Han family four times a month, which was a very generous condition.

Of course, Zhou Qing was busy improving his alchemy skills, and for the past two and a half months, he actually started refining pills every other day.

The reason for the one-day interval was to allow him to recover his true essence and spiritual power; otherwise, he might have been refining pills continuously.

Despite the advantages of the jade tablet and his profession, Zhou Qing did not slack off in the slightest. He believed that he was second to none in terms of hard work.

After leaving the main camp, Zhou Qing returned to his own tent.

Since he wouldn't be refining pills for the Han family for the next two weeks, he planned to use the time to refine Yuanhun Golden Liquid.

After all, his alchemy skills had just broken through to a state of extraordinary mastery.

Three days passed almost imperceptibly for Zhou Qing as he focused on alchemy.

Hissing sounds.
From a crystal-white alchemy furnace, plumes of smoke rose, and gusts of cold air swept over you.

The blue-white blood inside gradually shrank, turning into blood beads. As Zhou Qing continued to add powdered medicinal herbs and refined them with his true essence, a strange fragrance rose from the furnace after a short while.

"It's done?!" Zhou Qing opened the lid of the alchemy furnace, his pupils dilating as he looked at the platinum liquid inside.

He never expected that he would be able to refine the Yuanhun Golden Liquid in just four attempts.

It should be noted that this time, he used undiluted Ice Soul Mystic Spider essence blood to refine the Yuan Soul Golden Liquid.

"Such condensed cold energy!" Zhou Qing put his hand into the alchemy furnace and felt the cold energy inside almost freeze his hand.

Since refining the Ice Fiend Gu, his resistance to cold has greatly increased, and he hasn't felt such a strong sensation in a long time.

Zhou Qing did not rush to refine the Yuan Soul Golden Liquid, but instead released the Ice Fiend Gu from his Yuan Aperture.

"Buzz!"

As soon as the Ice Fiend Gu appeared, it excitedly fell into the alchemy furnace and plunged into the Yuan Soul Golden Liquid to swim freely.

Kaka!

As the Ice Demon Gu swam, its entire body was quickly frozen into an ice sculpture, and then it remained motionless.

"With my current abilities, can I really refine it?" Zhou Qing frowned slightly.

According to Xuanzhu, if he were to refine the Yuanhun Golden Liquid made from diluted Ice Soul Xuanzhu essence blood, it would cause his bloodline to become impure. Not only would he be unable to awaken the Ice Soul Xuanzhu's bloodline supernatural powers, but it would also bring hidden dangers to his future cultivation.

More importantly, the Ice Spirit Clan might not recognize his identity. After all, he is a martial artist from elsewhere. Unless his talent is so high that the Ice Spirit Clan is reluctant to let him go, they will not easily allow him to 'recognize his ancestors and return to the clan'.

However, the coldness of this Yuanhun Golden Liquid was so strong that even a mid-grade second-tier Ice Fiend Gu was frozen.

Although the Ice Fiend Gu was unharmed, Zhou Qing's physical strength was definitely inferior to that of the Ice Fiend Gu.

"It seems we need to think of a way to weaken the coldness in the Yuanhun Golden Liquid by utilizing the extreme heat of the Divine Fire Valley," Zhou Qing said thoughtfully.

What he wanted was the pure Ice Soul Profound Spider bloodline power within the Yuanhun Golden Liquid. He could do without the cold energy within it, but the current situation was that he couldn't simply eliminate the cold energy if he wanted to. He could only place his hopes on the Divine Fire Valley.

Otherwise, Zhou Qing would probably have to wait until he breaks through to the Blood Exchange Realm, when his blood and true essence are greatly enhanced, before he can attempt to refine the Yuan Soul Golden Liquid.

Just as Zhou Qing was pondering, the Ice Fiend Gu slowly absorbed the icy cold energy from the Yuan Soul Golden Liquid, and the ice sculpture it transformed into gradually shrank.

Seeing this, Zhou Qing retrieved the Ice Fiend Gu back into his Yuanqiao.

“Supporting several Gu worms with one Yuanqiao (a type of energy point) is quite a burden.”

After the Ice Fiend Gu returned to its primordial aperture, Zhou Qing couldn't help but shiver.

The Ice Fiend Gu also needs to consume its true essence to refine the Yuan Soul Golden Liquid.

In addition to providing food, maintaining the life of the Corpse Worm King, Erqing, and Chiyan also requires consuming a small amount of true essence. As for the true essence consumed in battle, that is immeasurable.

Zhou Qing has not seen many Gu Masters so far, but these Gu Masters usually only cultivate one or two Gu worms. It is rare to see someone like him who has Gu worms on land, sea and air.

If he can successfully hatch the Crimson Flame and obtain the second-tier Heavenly Fire Centipede, Zhou Qing will then devote all his energy to seclusion to break through to the Blood Exchange Realm.

Although breaking through to the Blood Exchange Realm will not increase the amount of true essence stored in the Yuan Aperture, the Dantian will be expanded, allowing it to store more true essence, which is equivalent to indirectly increasing the Gu worm's endurance.

This is the advantage of having multiple jobs.

After Zhou Qing retrieved the Ice Fiend Gu into his Yuan Aperture, he continued refining the Yuan Soul Golden Liquid.

Hissing sounds.
A moment later, the second batch of Yuanhun Golden Liquid was also successfully refined.

Suddenly, Zhou Qing's body trembled, and he felt a blur before his eyes. He seemed to hear some kind of noisy sound coming from a very far place.

"Your soul realm has broken through!" Xuanzhu's voice suddenly rang out from the depths of Zhou Qing's heart.

"At less than nineteen years old, you are already at the mid-stage of the Human Realm, and your talent has already surpassed that of Venerable Xuanzhu back then!"

The next moment, a line of text appeared in Zhou Qing's field of vision.

Your skills have improved!

[Skill: Soul Refining Scripture]

[Progress: Level 1 (21/12000)]

[Effect: Enhanced five senses, soul fragmentation and possession]

(End of this chapter)