Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 511 Moon Marrow Golden Ointment Pool

—————Xuanqiong Palace, Moon Marrow Golden Ointment Pool
"Kuai En greets Uncle!"

The head of the Kuai family, who once guarded Dantong Cliff and eagerly awaited Kang Rongquan's cultivation of spiritual soil for him, has long since changed his appearance.

Kuai En now appears to have reached the Core Formation stage much earlier than Headmaster Kang, and after being raised by the Kuang family clan for so many years, he has also developed an air of nobility.

During his time living in the Fei family's ancestral lands in Yingzhou, Kang Dabao gained some experience through his interactions with the Fei family members. This allowed him to recognize that the seven-jeweled crown on Kuai En's head was indeed made by the Fang family.

The main crown is inlaid with the seven treasures of the Buddhist family, which are of the highest rank and surround the pearl of the merman from the outer sea. The main crown is covered with gold foil of divine birds, which is also a rare and superior spiritual object in Liangxi Road. Even the golden elixir of immortality is hard to come by.

This treasure, made from so many rare and precious items, must be an extraordinary protective artifact.

In addition, the peacock feather brocade cloak she wore was also eye-catching.

The cloak is covered with a hidden pattern of a thousand birds carrying lingzhi mushrooms. This craftsmanship not only requires a third-level spirit tailor to make, but it is also specially outlined with spirit threads mixed with purple gold powder, which saves 30% of the consumption time for this magic weapon that combines offense and defense.

The jade belt buckles on the shoulders of the cloak are engraved with dragon heads and phoenix feathers. This not only shows wealth and nobility, but also conceals two sharp skills, making it a force to be reckoned with.

Such extravagant weapon-forging techniques, as described above, are rarely seen in impoverished and remote military prefectures like Yunjiao Prefecture. It's easy to see that Kuai En has truly benefited greatly from his years of service under the Southern King's tutelage.

What Master Kang saw in that brief moment was enough to lure many cultivators with no background or connections to him and make them his servants.

"Fellow Daoist Kuai, how have you been?" Kang Dabao couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion. After all, back then, when Pei Yi insisted on giving up the He family's lady and marrying the Kuai family's youngest sister, no one could have imagined that things would turn out this way.

"I am unworthy of such a title, Uncle. I will never forget your kindness in saving the Kuai family!"

Kuai En spoke truthfully, and while the Grand Master Kang was deeply moved by what he saw, he also remained somewhat wary.

After all, the former has already become a mid-grade Golden Core cultivator thanks to the David clan. If Kang Dabao really treats Kuai En as a filial junior just because of this so-called "uncle" title, that would be a real joke.

However, since Kuai En's attitude has not changed, Sect Leader Kang is not in a hurry to correct his title. After all, if this royal favorite with the Mingxing Xuanshu Body really still has some old feelings for Chongming Sect, that would be a wonderful thing.

Even though Kang Dabao had just entered the Xuanqiong Palace, even when he was in the Fei family, he had heard that the current emperor intended to emulate Shen Lingfeng's story and marry the princess to Kuai En.

Thinking about it this way, it's only a matter of time before this former head of a small family becomes another remarkable member of the royal family; sooner or later, he'll be of use.

Kang Dabao remained cautious, but Kuai En's enthusiasm far exceeded his expectations. He grasped Kang Dabao's arm, his tone now tinged with excitement:
"During the last imperial hunt in the Jiazi year, my nephew ranked first among all the secretaries of the Imperial Secretariat, which earned him praise from the Emperor. The Emperor specially ordered the Ninth Prince to grant my nephew another opportunity to cultivate in the Moon Marrow Golden Ointment Pool."

My nephew was halfway through his cultivation at home today when he suddenly had a whim and rushed over. I thought it was a chance to break through to the initial stage of cultivation, but I never expected to see my uncle again; I'm truly overjoyed.

"This child is already about to break through to the early stage of the Golden Core realm?"

When the Grand Master Kang heard what Kuai En said, he was first surprised. He then thought to himself that the Mingxing Xuanshu Body was truly extraordinary. No wonder that when the Southern King Kuang Shenzhi heard this news, he did not even give Kuang Liuting any face and insisted on taking Kuai En as his disciple.

There was also the Ninth Prince mentioned by Kuai En. When Kang Dabao was still a Qi Refining cultivator, he had heard people talk about his deeds: "At only twelve years old, he fought three Foundation Establishment cultivators alone with his Qi Refining body and won a great victory."

Now, several decades have passed, and even the Grand Master Kang can't remember whether the acquaintance who spoke back then is alive or dead. This Ninth Prince, however, is even more remarkable.

Even many discerning young men from the Fei family in Yingzhou held him in high esteem. They all said that the Ninth Prince was gentle, courteous, and of exceptional talent, truly possessing the qualities of the current emperor.

In fact, before Kuang Liuting suddenly appeared, this ninth prince had always been a strong contender for the former's position as heir apparent.

Only after Kuang Liuting formed a superior-grade golden core, became a disciple of the master of Lanmeng Palace, and was granted the title of Duke of Qin, did this struggle for the crown prince finally come to an end.

Outsiders often think that spiritual practitioners should be unrestrained and free, so why bind themselves to these titles and honors, thus losing their freedom? They never imagined that the current emperor, chosen by the previous kings to ascend the throne, has already lived for nearly three hundred years.
During this period, all the resources for spiritual practice were readily available, including scriptures, histories, philosophical works, and literary collections; classics, treatises, registers, and diagrams were readily available. The purpose was to hope that another true ruler would emerge from the Davidian royal family to restore order to this shattered kingdom.

In other words, whoever can sit on this throne is the next true king whom the David family has exhausted all their resources and cultivated with all their might.

However, human strength is ultimately finite.

Although Emperor Wei devoted himself wholeheartedly to the throne after his ascension, he failed to achieve the status of True Lord as desired by the imperial clan and nobles. Even after expending countless resources, he still could not escape this shackle and remained only a Nascent Soul Peak cultivator with no hope of advancement.

Even though few in the world could rival the true immortals, the Great Wei Dynasty was still plagued by chronic illnesses and lacked vitality. In fact, due to Emperor Wei's own excessive spending on cultivation, the number of talented individuals within the imperial family had become increasingly scarce and the dynasty had become increasingly desolate.

This has led to the current predicament where only three True Immortals remain in the Wei royal family, and all twenty-seven Daoist practitioners are in a state of turmoil. It was only in the last one or two hundred years, after Emperor Wei completely abandoned his thoughts of breakthrough, that the cultivation of the royal family members began to show some improvement.

In other words, if Emperor Wei had not ascended the throne back then, he would have been buried in the mausoleum along with a large number of treasures, just like all the other princes of his generation. How could he now be able to rival a True Monarch by relying on the many methods left by the founding emperor, as long as he doesn't leave the Xuanqiong Palace?

Compared to these benefits, the so-called treasures, beauties, and all kinds of enjoyment are even less worth mentioning.

Although the Ninth Prince is no longer destined for the throne, he remains one of the most prominent members of the imperial family. Although he has not yet been granted a title, having only achieved the mid-grade Golden Core stage a few years ago, the Emperor both inside and outside the court knows that he is highly favored by the Emperor.

From Kuai En's tone, Master Kang could tell that the latter was quite familiar with the Ninth Prince, which was one of the clear signs that he was highly regarded.

Kuai En probably had no idea that in just a few words, so many thoughts had flashed through the mind of the uncle in front of him. He simply gave the latter some more advice on the key points to pay attention to in the Moon Marrow Gold Ointment Pool, and then arranged a time and place to catch up.

After bidding farewell to Kuai En, Kang Dabao was finally able to throw the talisman in his hand into the giant mouth of the beast outside the pool. When its teacup-sized pupils gleamed with silver light and the gate opened, he was able to enter a pool of moon marrow and golden ointment to cultivate.

This spirit pool is said to have a history. It was built after the founding ancestor won a bet with a venerable of the Lishan lineage, and several peak demon officers came and performed labor for more than a hundred years.

Originally, the Spirit Pool was a place for the cultivation of the imperial clan's immortals. However, after the fall of the Great Ancestor, the events of the Six Kings' struggle for the capital and the Nine Dukes' aid to the sea occurred, which not only severely damaged the vitality of the Kuang family's imperial clan, but also left this Spirit Pool mostly in ruins.

The current effect of the pool, as seen by the current headmaster of Kangda, is still not as good as the eleventh of what it was back then, which is quite regrettable.

However, to Kang Dabao, who had little experience, the spiritual spring in the pool was still as smooth as jade and as fine as ice, and the rising spiritual mist was extremely dense, making it the best place for cultivation he had ever seen in his life.

If what Emperor Wei said earlier in the Dulong Hall is true, Kang Dabao only needs to cultivate in this pool for a month to save more than ten years of wasted time, solidify his elixir essence, and become like a true elixir.

This is a crucial step for cultivators after they form their core. Just like Gu Chengsen, the Daoist disciple of the Red Heart Sect back then, although he was able to crush all the Core Masters and True Cultivators after breaking through in battle, he was actually on the verge of danger.

If he had disregarded propriety and insisted on fighting to the death with Master Kang and his group, Gu Chengsen himself would have faced the risk of unstable dantian and regression in his cultivation level.

Kang Dabao was luckier than him, spared these troubles. He simply removed his robes and stepped naked into the spirit pool.

The Primordial Body at the Great Completion Realm had already made him incredibly strong and muscular. Although he was large, he did not look bulky at all, so even though he was completely naked, no one found him unsightly.

A silvery-white mist rose from the Moon Marrow Golden Ointment Pool, condensing into droplets that adorned the muscular back of Sect Leader Kang. The silver liquid flowing within the pool rippled with indigo blue, reflecting the profound runes carved on the stone walls by top-tier demon officers.

Kang Dabao stood tall against the pool wall made of cold jade, his bare back taut like a bowstring in the bone-chilling cold.

The dozen or so Spirit-Forging Palace Lanterns along the edge of the Spirit Pool suddenly lit up, and tiny flames leaped out. As the emerald runes manifested from the "Secret Book of Xuanqing's Withering and Flourishing" floated in mid-air, the water in the pool suddenly boiled.

At the same time, the veins on the forehead of the sect leader Kang Da bulged, and thick silver liquid seeped into his flesh and blood and flowed into his meridians from the pores of his body.

This process, however, was far from pleasant; rather, it felt like ten thousand poisoned silver needles were vigorously rubbing against every inch of his bones. The essence of the moon marrow, which had been accumulating for who knows how long, meandered along Kang Dabao's trembling spine, exploding like thunder in his dantian, almost causing his internal organs to churn violently.

At this moment, the Golden Core no longer concealed itself, and the image of two fish chasing each other, veiled in a layer of jade color, became apparent. The liquid in the pool began to become visibly clearer, while the Golden Core in Kang Dabao's dantian became increasingly solid and gradually lost its ethereal appearance.

No one knows how much time passed, but suddenly a trace of emerald green appeared in the golden elixir contained in the dantian.

Suddenly, Kang Dabao, who hadn't moved for a long time, swallowed hard and uttered a difficult, obscure syllable.

The text of the "Secret Book of Profound Purity and Decline" that he had been silently reciting in his heart suddenly solidified into a physical form in his sea of ​​consciousness. One by one, the vigorous and powerful green seal characters began to travel along the meridians of the Triple Burner, and when they passed through his lungs, they made a crackling sound as if rotten wood had been reborn.

Suddenly, a bluish light appeared at the bottom of the pool, and the water ripples condensed into a dragon that circled its body three times. This was the manifestation of the wood flower in the pool being drawn out. Kang Dabao, having heard the teachings, acted swiftly, using his divine sense to create a cage of water and imprison the bluish light within.

Then, the thirty-six great cycles of the Heavenly Cycle were activated, and the blue light in the water gradually seeped into the body, swam into the Niwan Palace, was refined by the Dan Fire, and merged into the Dan Body.

Then the entire spirit pool began to frantically steam up bluish-white mist, and the branches of several spirit plants by the pool, whose origins were unknown to Master Kang, were instantly covered with frozen ice crystals.

Another gentle breeze blew by, and the ice crystals instantly turned into a drizzle, pouring onto Kang Dabao's scorching hot body, making a sizzling sound.

It was at this point that the cultivation of the "Secret Manual of Profound Purity and Decline" reached its most crucial stage.

The moonlight falling from the sky suddenly twisted into a vortex, and the vegetation around the spirit pool rapidly withered and flourished. Tree bark-like patterns appeared on the face of the Grand Master Kang, while emerald seal characters emerged one by one from the pads of his ten fingers.

The withered and flourishing pure energy that had settled in Kang Dabao's body burst forth with a blue light, as if refining the entire pool of moon marrow gold paste into flowing jade. At this point, the silver paste on the surface of the pool had lost its last layer of color.

Within the rising mist surrounding Master Kang, the phantom of a blue lotus could be faintly seen. In the alchemy chamber, the withered and flourishing energies intertwined and coalesced, and the image of two fish chasing each other's tails on the alchemy body became increasingly solid until it was perfect and flawless.

The clear sound of the water clock by the pond signaled the end of Kang Dabao's training.

The eyes of the guardian beast outside the gate regained their clear light, and the gate encircling the spirit pool opened again. The various restrictions around the spirit pool also dimmed along with the spiritual light.

Just then, a slow, labored breathing sound came from the fading spiritual tide. When Kang Dabao opened his eyes, his face still seemed to be covered with some lingering fragments of moonlight, but his small eyes were filled with a look of satisfaction.

"Only now do I realize what kind of life I lived during those arduous hundred years of cultivation!"

No matter how much they savored the food and how much they wanted more, the month was up, and Master Kang had no choice but to step out of the Spirit Pool and put on his robes.

That is, after it stepped out of the spirit pool, the pool of moon marrow gold paste visibly began to thicken.

"My superior-grade golden core cannot be measured by logic. If we follow what Supervisor Wei taught me before, the amount of Moon Marrow Golden Ointment I used to stabilize the core is equivalent to six times the number of golden cores that came with me? That's terrifying. Where will I find supplies after today?!"

For the first time in his life, Kang Dabao harbored such deep resentment towards these powerful clans and noble families.

He glanced once more at the Moon Marrow Golden Ointment Pool, which had gradually returned to its original state, his eyes filled with lingering affection.

The ancients said, "It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality." This is indeed true.

Based solely on his fluctuating emotions, Master Kang has reason to suspect that Emperor Wei's arrangement is intended to make him remember this encounter so that he will be willing to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to it in the future, in order to exchange for this opportunity to cultivate.

This time, Headmaster Kang not only stabilized his elixir body and perfected his true elixir with this pool of Moon Marrow Golden Paste, but even his Primordial Body, which had been stagnant for quite some time, seemed to have reached a higher level, and some new insights appeared in his mind.

This was an unexpected delight.

After leaving the meditation room with mixed feelings, Kang Dabao did not see Kuai En and did not know whether the latter had finished his cultivation, so he decided to leave the place first.

As soon as he stepped over the barrier, a burly Foundation Establishment Fire cultivator came forward, his tone full of ingratiating flattery:

"Lord Wuning, the Grand Pillar of State is waiting for you in the Elegant Study Garden. He has specially sent a servant to guide you."

Fei Yeling, as a high-ranking official, was only below the Three Dukes and the Two Chancellors. There was no way he was more than a few levels below this strong fire-wielder who had no background. Why would he come to explain himself?

Kang Dabao didn't expose his ostentatious act. Instead, he took out a second-tier jade pendant that he had picked up from some unlucky guy's storage bag and handed it to the fire cultivator.

"Please help me, fellow Taoist, to lead the way."

The latter seemed unsurprised, since few who emerged from the Moon Marrow Golden Ointment Pool were not refreshed and invigorated. These important figures, in high spirits, naturally had plenty of money; without connections, he wouldn't have been able to secure such a cushy job.

Following the robust fire-wielding warrior, Sect Leader Kang passed through numerous powerful restrictions, avoided many mysterious formations, and brushed past many beautiful palace maids before finally arriving at an elegant and refined study.

Having reached this point, the fire-wielder, being of lowly status, could not proceed further, lest the guardian beast at the entrance suddenly revive and devour him.

When Kang Dabao entered the room, he only saw Fei Yeyi. As for Fei Tianqin, that old bird, he didn't see him and didn't know where he had gone.

In front of Elder Ye Sui, a low table was set up with a game of chess in progress, and he was pondering it over and over, clearly quite engrossed in it.

After the sect leader Kang entered and paid his respects, the old cultivator did not rush to examine him or ask questions. Instead, he handed him a letter that had been forwarded from the Yingzhou clan territory.

Kang Dabao took the letter with both hands, unfolded it, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes. He couldn't help but read out the key words on the letter in a low voice: "Uncle Lian's Three Immortal Cave can be broken in a day or two. After Senior Brother returns, he will reward him for his merits."

(End of this chapter)