Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chongde Mountains, Heyu Peak.

At the mountain gate of Haoran Sect, there are numerous thousand-foot-high peaks, standing tall and majestic.

These thousand-foot-high peaks were not formed naturally, but were slowly formed by the ancestors of the Haoran Sect by piling up earth and moving mountains.

Haoran Peak, where the ancestors of all generations are enshrined and the head of the sect resides, is the only three thousand feet high peak in the Chongde Mountains. From the mountainside upwards, it is shrouded in thick spiritual mist all year round.

Qi training practitioners only dare to walk below the mountainside, otherwise they will explode and die immediately if they inhale a breath of spiritual mist.

Heyu Peak is naturally not as high as Haoran Peak, but it is also a thousand-foot-high peak, only forty miles away from Haoran Peak. The top of the mountain is shrouded in thin spiritual mist, and the spiritual energy is so rich that it is comparable to a large spiritual vein.

According to the Haoran Sect's rules, only the elders in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul could open a cave on the top of a thousand-foot-high mountain.
From the top of the mountain down, there are spiritual medicine gardens everywhere, cultivating a large number of rare spiritual herbs that are more than three hundred years old.

The original intention of the ancestors of the Haoran Sect to move mountains and build peaks was not to make the mountain gate magnificent, but to open up more spiritual medicine gardens, make full use of the spiritual energy of the giant spiritual veins, and cultivate more spiritual herbs.

Only in this way can we provide for the cultivation of tens of thousands of monks in the sect, and at the same time sell it to others in exchange for the necessary cultivation resources.

On this day, a ray of light rose from the mountainside, passed through the spiritual mist, landed on the top of the mountain, and revealed the figure of Yan Tongchun.

After his master, Elder Gu, broke through the bottleneck of the middle stage of the Nascent Soul, he opened up a cave on Heyu Peak.

He was also able to move his cave to the hillside of Heyu Peak, where he enjoyed more abundant spiritual energy than before.

The top of Heyu Peak is quite steep, and Elder Gu’s cave is built on a three-meter-high cliff.

On top of the mountain wall is the peak, with two stone doors tightly closed and several twisted green vines clinging on them. In front of the door are two tall pine trees with two squirrels playing and fighting on their branches.

Yan Tongchun arrived in front of the stone gate, stood under the pine trees, with his hands hanging down, waiting quietly.

For thirty years, he has been practicing in seclusion in the cave, without going out, patiently polishing his true essence, removing the dross and retaining the essence. Over time, his true essence has become increasingly pure and rich, and has vaguely touched the realm of a false infant.

He is only over 300 years old this year, and he still has plenty of life left, so he has plenty of time to achieve the Nascent Soul stage.

However, his goal was not to form a Nascent Soul, but to break through the bottleneck in the middle stage like his master, or even become a great cultivator and take over the position of the leader of Haoran Sect.

Every true disciple of the Haoran Sect is a person of extraordinary talent. All of them are geniuses who have formed golden elixirs in less than 120 years and are cultivated with the sect's utmost efforts.

Yan Tongchun is a cultivator with natural spiritual roots. He has been a child of destiny since childhood. Before he had even built his foundation, he was accepted as a personal disciple by Elder Gu.

He had smooth sailing all the way, and in less than a hundred years, he had formed a golden elixir, and his progress was rapid and unstoppable.

He had never encountered any setbacks. Not only did he make rapid progress in his cultivation, he also had a profound understanding of Confucian and Taoist classics, and his body was full of righteousness and integrity.

He was also bestowed with magical weapons by his master, and his strength surpassed that of his peers. In the sect competition, he successfully became a true disciple.

But it was also during this sect competition that he lost to Zhang Wushan for the first time.

Zhang Wushan was only a cultivator with earth spiritual roots, his talent was worse than his, but he entered the sect twenty years earlier than him, and only managed to form a golden elixir at the age of 116.

The Haoran Sect gathers all the geniuses from Renzhou, including more than a dozen cultivators with natural spiritual roots, and Yan Tongchun is one of the best among them.

He was arrogant and never took any of his fellow disciples seriously, let alone Zhang Wushan who almost lost his qualification as a true disciple.

But even such a monk with mediocre talent defeated him after a fierce battle.

That was the first time that Yan Tongchun failed in a fight. Zhang Wushan was a disciple of Mr. Qingliu, and Elder Gu had always had a grudge against Mr. Qingliu. His defeat made Elder Gu lose a lot of face.

For the next three years, Elder Gu always treated Yan Tongchun coldly. Yan Tongchun felt extremely guilty and therefore bore a grudge against Zhang Wushan.

From then on, he practiced diligently, and his speed of improving his skills did not slow down at all, and he was determined to suppress Zhang Wushan under him.

But after the formation of the elixir, the role of the spiritual root became much smaller. Yan Tongchun was shocked to find that his cultivation speed began to lag behind Zhang Wushan!
Nearly two hundred years have passed since the two of them became true disciples.

Both he and Zhang Wushan's cultivation had reached the late stage of Jindan, but Zhang Wushan had entered the false infant realm earlier than him, preparing for the formation of the infant.

During these two hundred years, Yan Tongchun tried to cause trouble for Zhang Wushan several times, but always returned empty-handed.

However, he had some concerns and did not fight Zhang Wushan directly again. He just lost a little in the competition for the sect mission. Although it was quite embarrassing, it did not damage Elder Gu's reputation.

His hatred for Zhang Wushan grew deeper and deeper. More than 30 years ago, Zhang Wushan slashed his face in public at the Fanyang auction, which made him hate him even more deeply.

Because of this, at the Shipingshan people's baby-birth celebration banquet, Yan Tongchun met Chen Yuan, who had bid against him at the auction and was also a past acquaintance of Zhang Wushan, and he immediately wanted to kill him.

But what he didn't expect was that this person was actually a physical cultivator. He caught the bronze sword with his bare hands and was able to control the extremely strange white flame to burn his soul, forcing him to use the stone talisman given by his master and flee.

He was terrified and returned all the way to Haoran Sect without telling anyone about the matter, not even Elder Gu.

From then on, he practiced hard in seclusion, honing his true essence. After thirty years, his cultivation finally reached the false infant realm.

The fake infant is actually in the late Jindan stage, but his true essence is pure and rich, with almost no impurities, and his strength far exceeds that of a cultivator in the late Jindan stage. Yan Tongchun believes that if he meets Chen Yuan again now, he will definitely be the winner.

Over the past thirty years, he has been thinking about the fight with Chen Yuan, and has already figured out a way to control the white flames.

Today he was summoned out of seclusion by his master, and he had already made up his mind that as long as he completed the tasks assigned by his master, he would go looking for Chen Yuan and avenge his previous humiliation.

As Yan Tongchun's thoughts were flowing, half an hour passed quietly. The stone door slowly opened and he immediately stepped in.

Elder Gu would read for an hour every day without being disturbed.

When Yan Tongchun came out of retreat and saw his master's sound transmission talisman, it happened to be the time for his master to read, so he just waited outside the cave and did not dare to disturb him.

He could have waited half an hour before coming back, but waiting quietly in front of the door for half an hour showed more respect for his master.

After he lost to Zhang Wushan and saw his master's cold face for three years, Yan Tongchun knew that his position in his master's heart was not as high as he thought, and he became more and more thoughtful when doing things.

Yan Tongchun walked through a corridor and came to the main hall. Elder Gu was sitting in the main seat with a calm expression. On the square table beside him lay a book and a jade slip.

He looked to be only about forty years old, dressed in a Confucian robe and a Jinxian crown on his head. He had a gaunt appearance and a short beard under his chin. His expression was calm, but with a hint of majesty.

"Disciple greets Master." Yan Tongchun bowed deeply.

Elder Gu looked Yan Tongchun up and down and smiled: "Not bad, your thirty years of hard training have not been in vain. Next, you can prepare to form a baby."

Yan Tongchun said respectfully, "I was about to leave seclusion to search for spiritual objects to form a baby, when I received a message from Master. Master, what instructions do you have? Please let me know."

Elder Gu said calmly, "Today, Senior Brother Qingliu acted as a guarantor for a fake infant cultivator, who borrowed the sect's spiritual veins to form a fake infant. This is the name and appearance of this person. Go check his background."

After saying that, he picked up the jade slip at hand and threw it over.

Yan Tongchun stretched out his hands and caught the jade slip that was flying slowly towards him. He probed inside with his spiritual consciousness and his expression suddenly changed.

The portrait in the jade slip was of Chen Yuan, the man who forced him to flee!

The two words "Chen Yuan" below made Yan Tongchun even more suspicious. He was so stunned that he even forgot to reply for a moment.

Elder Gu frowned slightly: "Why, do you recognize this person?"

Yan Tongchun withdrew his consciousness, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Master, I have seen this Chen Yuan at the Fanyang auction more than 30 years ago..."

He recounted in detail how he and Chen Yuan competed for the Zhenkong Stone and were obstructed by Zhang Wushan.

But when it comes to the encounter with Chen Yuan at the Shipingshan people's baby-birth celebration banquet, it is quite brief.

He also concealed the fact that he had lost the fight with Chen Yuan, and only said that after the banquet, Chen Yuan used a magic to escape and could not be caught.

Elder Gu said, "No wonder Senior Brother Qingliu wanted to be a guarantor for this man. The two thousand-year-old thunder lilies that Senior Brother Qingliu took out were actually donated by him... Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Yan Tongchun was startled and said defensively, "I thought that Chen Yuan was just a casual cultivator. There was no need to disturb the master. I can handle it myself."

“This time when I come out of retreat, in addition to searching for spiritual objects to form infants, I also want to find this person’s whereabouts.”

"I never thought that he had actually cultivated to the false infant stage and wanted to use the spiritual veins of the sect to form an infant. I beg Master to forgive me."

Elder Gu said calmly, "It's not too late to mend the fence after the sheep have been lost. The matter of Chen Yuan using the spirit vein to form a baby has not yet been finalized. You can go to the Six Virtues Hall to ask. There are still a few tasks to hunt down the traitors and murderers in the sect. Pick the most difficult one and give it to this person."

"Master, why didn't you just reject Elder Qingliu's proposal?" Yan Tongchun was very surprised.

Elder Gu's cultivation is one level higher than that of Mr. Qingliu, and he is on good terms with several Nascent Soul elders. He can veto this matter by just finding a reason.

Elder Gu shook his head and said, "Chen Yuan is willing to offer a thousand-year-old thunder lily to the sect, which can create a Nascent Soul cultivator. Several elders in the sect are quite jealous. I can't reject this matter, so I can only block him on the task."

Yan Tongchun's expression changed slightly. The thousand-year-old thunder palm was so precious, and it was unbelievable that Chen Yuan took out three of them one after another.

Could it be that this person looted the spiritual medicine garden of one of the top ten sects?
His mind raced, and he said in a deep voice, "Master, I have inquired about Chen Yuan's background. He is a physical cultivator, and when he forms his infant, he consumes twice as much spiritual energy as a magic cultivator."

"Although the Millennium Thunderbolt is precious, I'm afraid it is not enough to offset the loss of the spirit vein."

Elder Gu finally showed a hint of surprise on his face: "This person is actually a physical cultivator. I can still do something to force him to give out more things."

"But with the support of Senior Brother Qingliu, a few treasures should not be a problem for him."

"How about this, you should go to the Six Virtues Hall and choose the most difficult task for him."

"This Chen Yuan is good friends with Zhang Wushan, and also has some connections with Senior Brother Qingliu. We must not let him borrow the spiritual vein, successfully form a fetus, and become Senior Brother Qingliu's external aid."

Yan Tongchun said solemnly: "Yes, I will do it right away!" (End of this chapter)