Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

The next day, in the cave arranged by the head of Yingke Peak named Ruan, Chen Yuan met Elder Zhou who came to visit alone.

He personally went out of the house and welcomed Elder Zhou into the house, and the two of them sat down as host and guest.

Elder Zhou looked serious and bowed, "Thank you, Daoist Fellow Chen, for your kindness. Daoist Fellow Bai saved my life, and it is difficult for me to refuse his request. I have no choice but to owe you a favor."

Chen Yuan returned the greeting with a bow and said with a smile: "Fellow Daoist Zhou, you are too polite. Our sect has no grudge against the Guiyuan Sect. It was the Ziyang Sect that was causing trouble. Fellow Daoist Bai had no choice but to do so."

"Now that the Ziyang Sect has been destroyed and the Guiyuan Sect has abandoned darkness and joined light, everyone is naturally happy."

Elder Zhou smiled and said, "Senior Brother Zhang has already told you the purpose of your visit. It's just that the Taixuan Sect is very old. The founder of our sect was only a Yuanying cultivator in the Taixuan Sect back then, and he didn't leave many books behind."

"I know very little, but since Fellow Daoist Chen has spoken, I will tell you everything I know."

Chen Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Earlier in the Demon Realm, I heard from Sect Master Daoxuan that Taixuan Sect was an ancient sect. The ancient demon army crossed over and was defeated by Taixuan Sect. How could such a powerful sect lose its tradition?"

Elder Zhou sighed, "In ancient times, Taixuan Sect was indeed very powerful. It was the undisputed number one sect. There were more than one Divine Transformation cultivator who controlled the spatial passage to ascend to the spirit world. They overpowered Donghua and enjoyed unlimited glory."

"But the ancient demon army came from the Demon Realm after all. The Demon Realm is on par with the Spirit Realm, and its strength is far superior to that of us lower realm cultivators."

“Although Taixuan Sect led all the major sects to defeat the ancient demon army and sealed off the Demon Realm, the cultivators in the sect also suffered heavy casualties and thus declined, and even the Taoist tradition was cut off.”

"The founder of our sect was an elder of the Taixuan Sect. He originally wanted to re-establish the sect, but the name Taixuan Sect was feared by all the sects, so he had to change his name, but was still suppressed by the sects."

"Fortunately, our sect has preserved a part of the Taixuan Sect's heritage, and its foundation remains. It has gradually grown stronger and has become the 'leader of the righteous path'. This can be regarded as a comfort to the spirit of our ancestor in heaven..."

Chen Yuan was quite surprised that Elder Zhou was actually quite talkative and spoke incessantly. He told Chen Yuan the origin of the Tianxuan Sect in detail without hiding anything.

Elder Zhou seemed to see what Chen Yuan was thinking, and said with a smile: "Fellow Daoist Chen, there is no need to worry. These are ancient secrets for ordinary cultivators, but the nine major sects all know about them, so Zhou naturally does not need to hide them."

"After the fall of Taixuan Sect, all the sects and schools plundered all the secret treasures left by Taixuan Sect. Only the secret formation of Dongxu Mountain is difficult to break and has been well preserved to this day."

"Today, no one cares about Taixuan Sect anymore. If the Demon Realm had not been broken, I would not even have read the books left by Taixuan Sect."

Chen Yuan finally felt relieved and sighed, "I just feel a little sad. The world is unpredictable. The Taixuan Sect was so powerful, but it was destroyed in one day."

"I just don't know why the ancient demon army invaded this world. Is there any record of this in ancient books?"

Elder Zhou snorted coldly: "The ancient demon is cruel by nature, it just covets the abundance of this world and wants to plunder the treasures of heaven and earth."

"You have also seen that the Demon Lord feeds on Nascent Souls. In the eyes of those ancient demons, human cultivators like us are no different from elixirs. I don't know how long they have been coveting us."

“But those ancient demons did not expect that our human cultivators, with the united will and under the leadership of Taixuan Sect, defeated the ancient demon army.”

“Otherwise, this world would have long since fallen into the lower realm of the demon world, and human cultivators like us would have been nothing more than vassals of the ancient demons.”

Chen Yuan was surprised and said, "The Demon Realm is the upper realm. Would the ancient demons covet the resources of the lower realm?"

Elder Zhou hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't know either, but the ancient demons will definitely not invade this world without a reason. The ancestor once said that the heavens and myriad worlds will be conquered endlessly. I think the ancient demons acted in this way..."

Seeing that Elder Zhou was being vague, Chen Yuan did not ask any further questions but kept this sentence in mind.

He changed the subject: "According to what the remnant soul of the Demon Lord said, the path to ascension has been cut off. Is it true that the younger generation like us will never be able to ascend to the spirit world again?"

"Daoyou still have this intention?" Elder Zhou was surprised, and then he laughed dumbly, "I forgot that Daoyou has been in the Nascent Soul stage for 200 years, and you have an extraordinary talent. It is reasonable for you to have a glimpse of the great path to ascension."

Chen Yuan waved his hand: "Fellow Daoist Zhou, please don't tease me. I am just curious. How dare I have such extravagant hopes."

Elder Zhou sighed, "Fellow Daoist Chen, there is no need to hide anything. We cultivators have worked hard for hundreds of years to form our Nascent Souls. We are all people with a firm heart of Taoism, pursuing the path of immortality."

"After Zhou had his Nascent Soul, he was also ambitious. However, after more than three hundred years, he is still stuck in the early stage of the Nascent Soul. His ambitions have long been worn away. He has devoted himself to studying the art of formations, but his cultivation has not improved. Instead, he has gained the false title of the first grandmaster of formations..."

He paused for a moment, then suddenly shook his head and laughed, "I am sorry for what I said. Fellow Daoist Chen is a man of extraordinary talent, and you should not be contaminated by my decadent aura."

Chen Yuan said sincerely: "Your words are all based on experience, and I have benefited a lot from them."

Elder Zhou put away his smile and said sternly, "Fellow Daoist Chen has plenty of life left. You should focus on cultivation, but don't think too much about the path to Ascension."

"Back then, we, the human cultivators, fought a great battle with the ancient demons. The battle destroyed the heaven and earth, cut off all the spatial channels leading to the demon world, and the ascension channel was also affected and cut off."

"Not only that, the war also caused the spiritual energy to be exhausted. The founder of our sect, thanks to the legacy of Taixuan Sect, tried to achieve the state of incarnation three times, but failed each time and died in meditation at the end of his life."

"Since then, no cultivator has achieved the state of incarnation, let alone ascending to the spirit world." Chen Yuan looked unwilling: "Is there really no way out?"

Elder Zhou shook his head: "The nine major sects have produced countless great cultivators throughout the ages, who have used all kinds of secret techniques, but no one has ever made a breakthrough to the God Transformation stage, and they have long since given up."

"Becoming a great cultivator is the end point, otherwise Senior Brother Gu would not have believed the Demon Lord's instigation and committed such a crime as to betray his master and ancestors."

At this point, he sighed, a trace of sadness flashed in his eyes: "Although Senior Brother Gu is a bit old-fashioned, he is quite caring towards me."

"It's a pity that he was obsessed with his ideas and was seduced by the Demon Lord. He didn't repent even when he was dying. Otherwise, the Master would have saved him even at the cost of his reputation."

“If I had known earlier that the Demon Lord had promised to let Senior Brother Gu ascend to the Demon Realm, I would have told him that the spatial passage to the Demon Realm had been cut off, and maybe he would have changed his mind…”

Chen Yuan's mind moved: "According to what the Demon Lord said, although the space channel of Donghuazhou has been cut off, we can still search in Huangliangzhou and Jiuxianzhou. Could there be other continents in this world?"

Elder Zhou nodded slightly: "This matter is not a secret. The nine major sects all have records in their books. There are three continents in this world, namely Donghuazhou, Jiuxianzhou, and Huangliangzhou."

"In ancient times, with the help of teleportation arrays, cultivators from the three continents traveled frequently."

"But after the great war with the ancient demon, the space channel was cut off, the teleportation arrays became increasingly rare, and were destroyed one after another. Until today, there has been no communication for tens of thousands of years."

Chen Yuan suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. I am ignorant. Thank you for clearing up my confusion."

Elder Zhou said, "Fellow Daoist Chen, you are too polite. I owe you a favor, so I will tell you everything I know."

Chen Yuan smiled and said, "Then I will ask you a question. Is the protective formation of the Dongxu Mountain Secret Realm really unbreakable?"

Elder Zhou shook his head and said, "It's not difficult to break the formation, but we can't preserve the secret realm of Dongxu Mountain. Otherwise, that large spiritual vein would have been divided up by our sect, Jiangxian Mountain, Zhiyuan Sect, and Baihe Sect."

Chen Yuan sighed, his face full of reluctance: "Daoyou Zhang said the same thing yesterday. It seems that the secret realm of Dongxu Mountain is no longer within our sect's reach..."

He paused and shook his head slightly: "This may not be a bad thing. If we can really break the formation, the Dongxu Mountain Secret Realm will no longer be used by the Qi State Sect."

Elder Zhou clapped his hands and smiled: "Daoyou is absolutely right. Is there any such thing as having the best of both worlds in this world?"

……

The two stopped discussing ancient secrets and instead exchanged their experiences in cultivation, told anecdotes, and talked about past experiences. After a night had passed, Elder Zhou finally got up to say goodbye.

Chen Yuan sent him out of the cave and did not stay any longer. He rode on the light of escape, left Tianxuan Sect and flew towards the north.

The favor owed by Elder Zhou has been repaid.

Chen Yuan flew all the way without stopping, and in less than ten days, he returned to Qi.

Before going to Tianxuan Sect, he had visited Zhiyuan Sect and Jiangxian Mountain, and took away a thousand-year-old body-tempering spiritual herb from each of them.

The first place he went to was Jiangxian Mountain. Ziyang Sect had a close relationship with Jiangxian Mountain. He wanted to get the spiritual herbs first before the news of Ziyang Sect's demise spread.

After leaving the gate of Jiangxian Mountain, Chen Yuan rushed to Zhiyuan Gate without stopping.

Zhiyuan Gate is the closest to the Southern Wilderness, and Wanshou Mountain often purchases rare monsters from Zhiyuan Gate, and the exchanges between the two are close.

However, Zhiyuan Sect was too far away from Qi State, and Wanshou Mountain had not yet been destroyed. Zhiyuan Sect knew nothing about this matter and readily handed the spiritual herb to Chen Yuan.

Only after obtaining the two thousand-year-old body-tempering spiritual herbs did Chen Yuan feel relieved and rushed to Shaoyue Mountains to inquire about the affairs of Taixuan Sect.

Elder Zhou told Chen Yuan everything he knew, but Chen Yuan still had doubts.

Taixuan Sect is the number one sect in Donghua Continent. Why did the broken stele recording Taixuan Sect’s achievements in exterminating demons appear in Jiuxian Continent?
As for the interruption of the ascension channel, he didn't care too much.

Donghuazhou's path to ascension might indeed be cut off, and because of his declining strength, he was unable to break through to the stage of spiritual transformation.

However, there are cultivators who have attained the state of divine transformation in Jiuxianzhou, and everyone in Nanzhou knows about the demon cultivators who have attained the state of divine transformation. The path to ascension should have also been preserved.

In this situation, the ancient teleportation array leading to Jiuxianzhou becomes particularly important and must not be leaked easily.

When Chen Yuan passed by the barren mountain, he scanned it with his spiritual sense and found that everything was fine. Sun Congyao was meditating and practicing in the cave.

He nodded slightly, and left quietly without disturbing Sun Congyao. (End of this chapter)