Shushan Earthly Immortal

Chapter 412 Borrowing Wood to Give Birth to a Child, An External Incarnation

A beam of light pierced through the void and fled to the South China Sea.

The flying human head was burned by the Yang Fire and fell to the ground. The human skin banner was entangled by the talisman sword and lightning array, unable to move.

Seeing that things were not going well, the seven sharp instruments of torture tried to sneak away. But "Peach Capital" and "Nether Capital" would not allow it. The two flying swords split into thousands of sword threads, which intertwined to form a sword net, completely trapping the seven instruments of torture.

"trap!"

Cheng Xinzhan pointed to the seven instruments of torture in the sword net and uttered a spell.

At this moment, without its master's control, the magic weapon's power was greatly reduced. After Cheng Xinzhan cast a spell, it immediately sank into the quagmire of the void and could not move.

"Photography!"

He then aimed the gourd at the void and, along with the sword net, collected all seven instruments of torture into the gourd.

He ignored the human skin banner for the time being, letting the talisman sword and thunder array keep it in place. He patted the lion's body, and the lion understood, striding forward and running towards Cloud Ladder Mountain.

Behind him, in the Hengmen waterway, Shen Zhaoming saw this and immediately raised his arms and shouted.
"Recapture Yunti Mountain!"

Having said that, he disregarded his injuries and was the first to fly out of the formation, following Cheng Xinzhan southward.

"Recapture Yunti Mountain!"

His call was met with enthusiastic response from the cultivators in the Hengmen Waterway, who crossed the waterway and headed south in large numbers.

Meanwhile, the Southern Demonic Sect within Yunti Mountain, seeing that the Demon King of the Hu family and the evil devil had fled one after another, and seeing the Lion-riding Taoist leading his troops to press on their border, dared not resist any longer. They hastily abandoned the mountain and fled, turning around and leaping into the South China Sea, disappearing without a trace.

With a wave of his sleeve, Cheng Xinzhan caused the "Eight Treasures Cloud Light Cloth" to merge into the sea mist and clouds surrounding Cloud Ladder Mountain, dismantling the old array restrictions and establishing a new one. At the same time, the Nine-Peak Iron Raft Mountain and the White Dragon Flag Snow Mountain between Cloud Ladder Mountain and Hengmen Waterway disappeared without a trace after a flash of yellow light. Cheng Xinzhan did not retrieve the Earth Book hidden deep underground, but instead sent it directly to the bottom of Cloud Ladder Mountain, where it joined the Cloth to form the "Heavenly Cloud Earth Qi Grand Array".

The lion landed at the top of the Heavenly Ladder Mountain, where Zuo Feizi stood beside it, while the Taoist priest on the lion's back gazed at the South China Sea.

On the twelfth day of the first month of the 473rd year of the Ming Dynasty, the Eastern Taoist sect recaptured Yunti Mountain for the sixth time, but for the first time, Yunti Mountain was guarded by four border guards.

From this point on, the Eastern Daoist sect finally had a stable stronghold on the west bank of the Lingdingyang, which could form a complete defense line with the Beijiang River and also monitor the Xijiang River to seize opportunities. In terms of its strategic importance, it was no less than Kowloon Island on the east bank of the Lingdingyang.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon looked up.

At the summit of Yunti Mountain, at the top of Tianti Mountain, stands Chengxin Hall.

On this day when the water vapor and dragon energy were at their peak, Cheng Xinzhan waited quietly for a whole day, but the Southern Faction did not attack. He knew that the Southern Faction should not make any major moves for the time being; if they did, it would be around the summer flood season.

He felt a slight sense of relief.

Twenty days ago, he used the Earth Book to forcibly lock and suppress the Nascent Soul Dao Domain of the evil ghost, preventing it from corrupting the earth with its yin rain and evil spirits. He also used the "Supreme Cave Abyss Divine Incantation Scripture - Volume Four - Killing Ghosts" to forcefully break through the Nascent Soul Dao Domain. This not only exhausted the Earth Palace's magical power, causing his spleen to weaken, but also caused his primordial spirit to become somewhat tired and exhausted. All of this requires time to recover and recuperate.

The next morning, he called for Zuo Feizi to come over.

"I have met the scripture master."

Yesterday, Fei Zi bowed respectfully with his head bowed.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded, opened the lid of the furnace in front of him, and took out the magical treasure inside.

It is precisely these seven sharp tools: needle, hook, awl, knife, chisel, thorn, and saw.

These seven torture instruments, obtained from the evil devils, were originally covered in sword marks from the siege of "Peach Capital" and "Nether Capital," with the needles, thorns, and saws broken into several pieces. After Cheng Xinzhan collected them, he threw them into the furnace to refine away the bloodthirsty demonic energy, then fused them with the metal of the five elements, refining them into a set of offensive weapons of the embryonic level.

He waved his hand, and seven sharp weapons flew before Zuo Feizi. He then said…

"Take it and use it."

Yesterday, Fei Zi was overjoyed. How could he give away such a treasure? The Master was truly generous!
"Thank you, Master!"

Yesterday, Fei Zi shouted loudly and put away his magic weapon.

But that wasn't all. Cheng Xinzhan flipped his hand and produced another magical artifact, a wooden staff that reached his eyebrows. He handed it to Zuo Feizi and said,
"This is the wooden pole from the banner of the evil demon. I took a look, and it should be the remnant of a wood spirit undergoing tribulation. It's as hard as refined iron and has the power of thunder. I added wood metal and wood evil to it, and improved its quality. Since you are a wood cultivator, take it for self-defense. With this wooden pole, you don't need to cultivate your python staff into a weapon anymore. Try to cultivate a wooden dragon instead."

Yesterday, Fei Zi was overjoyed. Although the two magic treasures combined were still slightly inferior to his wooden dragon incarnation, it was better to have them than nothing. Moreover, they were two excellent embryonic bodies. This generous master was so kind that he didn't know what to say.

"Thank you, Master!"

Yesterday, Fei Zi repeated what he had said. Cheng Xinzhan waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.

Yesterday, Fei Zi respectfully withdrew.

Cheng Xinzhan watched him leave, his eyes gleaming. This man's original combat power was all in his Vine Dragon avatar, but now that avatar had been refined by Cheng Xinzhan, his combat strength had decreased significantly. This spoils would be just right to replenish his power. The demonic path was rampant in the world, and there was a great need for manpower. Zuo Feizi was quite useful and couldn't be neglected. It wouldn't be too late to send him to reincarnation when the time was right.

The current appearance of respect from Zuo Feizi is merely a facade; the real reason is that his primordial spirit, nascent soul, and golden core have all been locked up by his family's immortals, leaving his life in the hands of others. As for what this demon truly thinks, that remains unknown. However, actions speak louder than words. If he diligently exorcises demons and accumulates truly great merit, I will recite the *Taiyi Jiuku Xiaonie Jing* for him, which should ensure his reincarnation as a human in his next life. If he shirks his duties and fails to put in the effort, then I will burn a *Ghostly Scripture of Sin*, condemning him to eternal damnation.

After seeing off Zuo Feizi, Cheng Xinzhan did not put away the sword furnace, but instead summoned the Dragon Rope again.

This green vine is a rare species from Mount Ailao, cultivated by Zuo Feizi using his family's wealth and ancestral secret methods. It transformed along the way, becoming a snake, a python, a dragon, and finally, secretly forming a pearl embryo, thus becoming a dragon, a pseudo-dragon of four realms. The vine spirit awakened its spirit when transforming into a snake, opened its senses when transforming into a python, formed a wooden pearl when transforming into a dragon, and secretly developed a wooden embryo when transforming into a dragon. This cultivation secret method is the Four Realms Embryo Formation Method secretly passed down by the demonic sect of Mount Ailao.

Including Zuo Feizi, all the leaders of the four realms of Ailao Mountain throughout the ages directly extracted the wooden embryo from the vine spirit's body when the vine spirit transformed into a dragon and transplanted it into their own Crimson Palace as their nascent soul.

The Ailao Demonic Cult refers to this secret method of conceiving a child through the four realms as "borrowing wood to give birth to a child".

It is precisely because of this that people believe that the demons of Ailao Mountain in the past never cultivated vine dragons, but in reality, it was because their vine dragons were cut open and died as soon as they were born.

This cultivation method is, of course, not easy. Basically, it takes the combined efforts of the entire Ailao Mountain sect and several generations of accumulation to cultivate a single dragon vine. In addition, the transplantation of the vine is not a sure thing; on the contrary, it often goes wrong, causing many generations of accumulation and years of cultivation to be in vain.

In fact, instead of cutting open the tree to extract the embryo, directly having the Four Realms Vine Dragons as one's protectors would be a more prudent approach, protecting both oneself and the mountain. However, in the thousands of years of history of Ailao Mountain, no one has ever been willing to do this. Everyone has been so eager to cut open the tree to extract the embryo the moment the vine spirit transforms into a dragon—the increase in lifespan and magical power brought by entering the Four Realms is enough to make them ignore everything else.

Therefore, like most major sects in the world, the Ailao Demonic Sect can hardly produce two Fourth Realm experts in one generation. It usually takes several generations to produce one Fourth Realm expert.

However, Zuo Feizi had another extraordinary encounter. He obtained a "Azure Dragon's Blood" in an ancient secret realm. This sacred object could revive the dead, heal the wounded, and also enhance magical power and grant the user dragon's might. It was a rare and supreme spiritual item in the world. Zuo Feizi was no ordinary person. Normally, he would keep such a thing for himself. However, he understood that no matter how good this thing was, its best therapeutic effect was in healing injuries. If he kept it for himself, he didn't know when he would be able to use it. But if he gave it to the vine spirit, it might be able to reverse the injury from the abortion, allowing her to conceive again and gain a fourth-realm helper. This would be a tremendous help.

So after taking the vine spirit's fetus, he fed it to the vine spirit to heal his wounds.

The vine spirit was naturally grateful, and this "Azure Dragon's Blood" was very compatible with the vine spirit, which had the appearance of an azure dragon. After the vine spirit completely absorbed the spiritual object, it actually stabilized its injuries and showed signs of being able to rebuild its strength and conceive again.

Yesterday, Fei Zi was overjoyed because the demonic vines of Ailao Mountain had the instinct to entangle and devour each other. So he kept capturing other sentient vines from the Ailao Demon Sect and feeding them to his vine spirits. Otherwise, Cheng Xinzhan would not have been able to burn down Ailao Mountain so easily.

Yesterday's efforts were far more than this; he practically emptied the Ailao Mountain, and in the end, he did indeed get his wish: the vine spirit was reborn and returned to the Four Realms. However, the vine spirit should never have told Yesterday's son that after consuming the "Azure Dragon's Blood," all its acupoints were opened, and changes had occurred within them, creating the Dragon Acupoint Life Treasury, and it even gained a dragon's divine power.

Upon hearing this, Fei Zi did not hesitate and launched a sneak attack, directly annihilating the vine spirit's intelligence.

The reason you did this yesterday is because there are two wondrous things in this world: the "second primordial spirit" and the "external incarnation," each with its own limitations and distinctions.

The former is easier to understand. Generally speaking, the primordial spirit in the world is formed either by the merging of the three souls after tribulation or by the combined condensation of the three souls and seven spirits after tribulation. It is extremely rare for someone like Cheng Xinzhan to have three souls differentiate into three spirits. The reason he did this was because of his unique insights into the great principles of Yin and Yang, internal alchemy, and spirit preservation; it was a path he had chosen for himself. The reason he dared to do this was because he was born with a strong soul and spirit, possessed the two supreme methods, the *Secret Instructions* and the *Principles*, constantly absorbed purple energy to stabilize his soul and spirit, and the visualization method for preserving the spirit itself was also an excellent way to concentrate the mind and solidify concentration.

Others have tried this before; some even fantasized about using their three souls and seven spirits to refine ten primordial spirits, but the result was that they only gained ten useless and weak primordial spirits, thus ruining their future.

Therefore, generally speaking, in order to ensure the strength of the primordial spirit and the future of the Great Dao, the three souls and seven spirits are combined into one primordial spirit. Nine out of ten cultivators in the world possess only this one primordial spirit. If, while ensuring the strength of the primordial spirit, one could also have a second primordial spirit, it would naturally be much more convenient. Thus, the ancient sages created the method of "second primordial spirit".

Cultivating this method requires the use of a spiritual treasure, ideally a perfectly round, true-form spiritual pearl formed from pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth. If one can find such a pearl, a wisp of one's primordial spirit can be placed within it, nurtured by the pearl, and gradually grow into a second primordial spirit. Moreover, protected by the pearl, this second primordial spirit possesses the innate ability to travel day and night, anywhere in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and can easily manipulate spiritual energy to cast spells. Most importantly, having a "second primordial spirit" is like having an extra life; if one primordial spirit is destroyed, as long as the other remains, there is still a chance to rise again.

This is why the so-called "Exquisite Perfect True Form Spirit Pearl" is a treasure coveted by everyone in the cultivation world. Cheng Xinzhan possesses one, the Mysterious Female Pearl, which was born from the "Mysterious Netherworld Female Mother Fiend" and is such a treasure.

As for the "external avatar," it is similar to the "second primordial spirit," but there are also significant differences. Both have advantages in combat, survival, escape, and deception. The difference lies in the fact that the "external avatar" is a physical body and can use life-storing supernatural powers, release and store magical treasures, cultivate techniques, and regulate qi just like the original body. Most importantly, it can normally advance in realms and seek the Great Dao.

Throughout history, there have been many who have refined their "external avatars" to the point where they transcend their physical bodies, then transferred their spirits to external dwellings, abandoning their old physical bodies, and using their primordial spirits to govern their "external avatars" to ascend and seek the Dao. This has a specific name: "Corpse Liberation Ascension," which is a lower-eighth-rank ascension phenomenon.

However, just as the "second primordial spirit" needs to be supported by the "exquisite and perfectly formed true spirit pearl," the "external avatar" is certainly not something commonplace. The "external avatar" is a type of avatar, but compared to ordinary substitutes, paper bodies, illusions, and corpses, the biggest characteristic of the "external avatar" is that it must be a living, non-human spirit, and it also requires all the acupoints to be complete.

Generally speaking, the common "external incarnation" is a spiritual treasure or plant that has attained enlightenment, taken form, and opened its energy channels—this requirement is extremely high. The longer one's lifespan, the slower one's cultivation; this is an immutable truth, applicable to dragons, mountain spirits, yin spirits, metal monsters, wood spirits, and so on. For these races, attaining enlightenment and taking form is relatively easy, but achieving complete energy channels requires a very long time to accumulate. And the old spirits that have accumulated such energy over such a long period are already regional overlords; how could they possibly be easily captured and refined into "external incarnations"?
Therefore, the truly desirable "external incarnations" are those spiritual treasures and plants with exceptionally high origins and who, through fortuitous circumstances, awaken their potential ahead of time. These are extremely rare and truly treasures that are hard to come by.

One can imagine how overjoyed Zi was when he heard the vine spirit say that its acupoints were all open and that it possessed the divine power of the dragon race's life force, and how ruthless he was when he suddenly attacked.

If such a gift from nature were to fall into Cheng Xinzhan's hands and be used merely as a vine, it would be a waste of its potential and an underestimation of his abilities and magnanimity.

"External incarnation" is certainly a usage, but Cheng Xinzhan didn't want to use it, nor did he need to. He wasn't yet sure what the upper limit of the Fire Lotus Incarnation was, but he knew that his family's ancestral bamboo staff incarnation was definitely superior to this vine spirit's. With methodical cultivation, achieving immortality through corpse liberation wouldn't be a problem. There was no need for him to have too many incarnations.

He had already refined the Vine Dragon's true form, eliminating the old aura left behind by Zuo Feizi and the demonic impurities accumulated over the years. He also incorporated the Dragon Qi, Dragon Qi, and Wood Qi he possessed into it, further enhancing its quality and endowing it with the two transformations of rope and dragon.

The vine rope now has a complete dragon shape, with its head, horns, scales, claws, and tail clearly visible, just like a naturally slender green dragon.

What he planned to do was to revitalize the vine spirit and transform it into a dragon.

It should be known that thunder has the power of life and death, and the power of creation. The Dragon Thunder in the Five Thunder Orthodox Method can both kill dragons and bestow titles upon them.

He was already very skilled at the former, but he had never tried the latter before.

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(End of this chapter)