Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation.

Chapter 377 Innate True Dragon (Thanks to @八戒不爱看书 for the generous donation)

"A divine sense at the level of a Core Formation cultivator!" The old ghost's spirit retreated abruptly, his sea of ​​consciousness being devoured by Li Ji'an's divine sense.

Even though his Dharma body is now brimming with resentment, it is still not as strong as Li Ji'an's soul.

Looking at Li Ji'an's cultivation level in the early stage of Core Formation, it can be concluded that he must have practiced some kind of spiritual cultivation technique to specifically temper his spiritual soul; otherwise, it would be impossible.

"My lord? You..." Besides Li Ji'an's sudden revelation of his cultivation of the three aspects of law, body, and soul, Lin Xiuzhu was even more shocked by the way the Holy Maiden of the Blood Spirit Sect addressed Li Ji'an.

"Who exactly are you? How could you scheme against us like this? You... that Nascent Soul technique just now was you!" The old ghost suddenly realized, and immediately became on high alert.

"Hmph, it was clearly you who insisted on dragging our lord into this place, how come it's now that our lord has schemed against you?" The Blood Spirit Saintess stood behind Li Ji'an, looking quite proud.

"Blood Kite, even if our four sects are fighting, it's an internal matter. How dare you collude with outsiders to plot against us! Even the Blood Spirit Saintess cannot withstand the wrath of our two sects!" Lin Xiuzhu rebuked through gritted teeth.

Xue Yuan smiled slightly: "There's no need for Fellow Daoist Lin to worry about that. Not to mention that exploring the Ancient Dragon Burial Cave is inherently fraught with danger, it's common to die unexpectedly while engaging in combat and sparring outside. Our four sects' principles are such that we wouldn't go so far as to exterminate your clan and destroy your sect. Besides, as long as you perish here, who will know what happened here?"

"Are you so sure you can keep us here?" Lin Xiuzhu narrowed his eyes, and the Thunder Talisman reappeared in his hand.

Upon seeing this, Xue Yuan instinctively shrank back a step behind Li Ji'an.

Li Ji'an chuckled slightly.

The situation has reached this point, and it's difficult for Li Ji'an to resolve it by using fewer trump cards.

However, it doesn't matter.

The true dragon's essence blood has been collected, and the remnant soul of the true dragon is right before our eyes. The return on this trip has exceeded expectations.

It perfectly matches Ning Sujin's "extremely auspicious" appearance according to divination for good fortune and avoiding misfortune.

Thinking of this, Li Ji'an glanced at the Dragon Suppressing Cauldron in the center of the Soul Abyss, and at the remnant soul of a true dragon peeking out from its edge, secretly observing the fight between the group.

"Huh~" Seeing the furtive appearance of the remnant soul of the true dragon, Li Ji'an couldn't help but feel surprised and suspicious.

An ancient dragon, the ruler of a realm, should be majestic, domineering, and look down upon the world—that's the temperament that suits it.

But at this moment...

“Although the soul remains, the soul imprint has been erased, leaving only the true spirit origin… If we don’t look at its true spirit origin, can it be considered a new life?” After carefully observing the remnant soul for a moment, Li Ji’an had many insights and guesses in his heart.

"Fellow Daoist! Are you confident that you can take this talisman treasure?" Seeing that the Blood Spirit Saintess hid behind Li Ji'an and Li Ji'an remained silent for a long time, Lin Xiuzhu narrowed his eyes and his attitude subtly changed.

Li Ji'an then withdrew his gaze from the remnant soul and looked at Lin Xiuzhu.

"It's just a mere third-grade talisman. Even if a real third-grade magic weapon were to appear before me, I wouldn't be afraid." Since I've already revealed a bit of my trump card and lost the opportunity to play dumb, I might as well put some more pressure on them.

Under immense pressure, one might easily lose their composure.

"You...you really want to fight us to the death?" Li Ji'an's attitude made Lin Xiuzhu even more wary.

Combined with the trump cards that Li Ji'an had already revealed, especially his ability to instantly kill the old ghost's nascent soul, Lin Xiuzhu's fear of Li Ji'an rose to another level.

"Brother Lin, things have come to this point, so let's not hold onto any more hope. It's either him or us; there's no middle ground." Old Ghost saw Lin Xiuzhu's concerns and immediately roared.

Lin Xiuzhu slowly held his breath, his gaze meeting that of the old ghost, their eyes hardening.

Then, the two exchanged a brief message using some unknown secret technique.

"Then let me see where you get your confidence from!" Lin Xiuzhu suddenly waved his hand, and five corpse puppets attacked Li Ji'an.

Clearly, they wanted to test Li Ji'an's methods again.

Seeing this, the Blood Spirit Saintess once again flashed out from behind Li Ji'an, ready to go forward and deal with the five silver corpses.

However, before she could make a move, Li Ji'an lightly patted the storage bag, and puppets flew out one after another.

There are twelve puppets in total. They are the result of my years of seclusion in the Biyun Sect in order to advance to the third-level puppet master. Among them, seven are at the late stage of the second level and five are close to the third level.

As soon as the twelve puppets appeared, Li Ji'an immediately implanted commands into them with his divine sense, killing five of the silver corpses.

"So many puppets!"

"A puppet that is almost of the third rank."

The appearance of the puppet shocked the other three once again.

Puppetry skills were extremely rare in the post-ancient era, and second-tier puppeteers were already considered honored guests of sects.

As for third-tier puppets, they have never appeared in the Three Realms since the post-ancient era.

"You are a third-tier puppeteer!" Lin Xiuzhu's expression became even more solemn.

"A third-tier puppeteer!" Xue Yuan's eyes widened as she stared at Li Ji'an's profile in front of her. This shock was even stronger than when she had just sensed his late-stage Core Formation Realm expert's divine sense.

How on earth did he do it?
Let alone the three cultivations of Dharma, body, and soul, even if an ordinary cultivator focuses on one of them, they are almost racing against time and have little energy left to study other methods.

Li Ji'an had actually honed the niche and highly difficult skill of puppetry to near the third level, based on his three cultivations!
"Brother Lin, his puppet is only at the quasi-third level, and it is not comparable to your natal corpse puppet. Let your golden corpse puppet wipe them out!" The old ghost sat cross-legged to repair his soul that had just been attacked by Li Ji'an, and kept encouraging Lin Xiuzhu to buy him time.

Lin Xiuzhu understood his intentions, but now they were in the same boat, not the time for intrigue.

However, he was somewhat uneasy about letting him release the golden corpse puppet to wipe out the puppets.

After all, the killing intent of the Nascent Soul that had previously annihilated the old ghost's Dharma Body made him dare not be careless in the slightest.

"Brother Lin, there's no need to worry about the Nascent Soul level killing intent just now. Although this person is extraordinary, his magical power is indeed only at the early stage of Core Formation. It's absolutely impossible for him to activate two Nascent Soul level techniques in such a short time."

If we cannot overpower him in these aspects at this moment, it will only embolden him and be detrimental to the battle.

"Release the corpse puppets as you see fit, I will protect you." The old ghost encouraged him again through telepathy.

"Alright!" Having said that, Lin Xiuzhu could no longer refuse. Moreover, Old Ghost was right; if they couldn't suppress their opponent in their area of ​​expertise, they would lose some confidence in the upcoming battle.

He gritted his teeth and charged forward with the golden corpse puppet protecting him, which had already shattered the five corpse puppets in front of him.

The golden corpse puppet's physical body is comparable to that of a third-tier body cultivator, and its power is no less than that of a mid-stage Core Formation True Person. It can easily deal with twelve puppets below the third tier.

However, just as the golden corpse puppet rushed close, Li Ji'an waved his hand again, and two more true third-tier humanoid puppets rushed out in an instant.

"A true Tier 3 puppet!" Lin Xiuzhu's expression suddenly changed.

They had underestimated their opponent.

Moreover, judging from these two third-tier puppets, they wear bamboo hats, their aura is restrained, and they are both humanoid, which shows that Li Ji'an's puppetry skills are superb.

"Whoosh~"

"Zheng~"

What shocked him most was that as soon as the two humanoid puppets appeared, they rushed straight to the golden corpse puppet and launched a combined attack.

The Puppet Control Technique requires the puppeteer to control the puppet with their soul, while an ordinary puppeteer can only control one puppet at most to unleash its full power.

However, the two third-tier humanoid puppets at this moment were clearly not under ordinary command control. Their close coordination and coordinated attacks must be the result of precise human manipulation.

"He can actually control two third-tier puppets at the same time!" Lin Xiuzhu exclaimed in shock to the old ghost.

A hint of panic flashed in the old ghost's eyes, which were shrouded in yin spirit. He had already witnessed the strength of Li Ji'an's soul, but he hadn't expected that Li Ji'an had actually mastered the technique of splitting the soul.

This made him feel even more depressed.

"Let's fight!" Seeing that the golden corpse puppet was being held back, Lin Xiuzhu and the old ghost dared not delay any longer.

Once these fourteen puppets have dealt with the golden-bodied corpse puppet, they will be in even greater danger.

With a single glance, the two simultaneously charged towards Li Ji'an.

"Insolence!" Without Li Ji'an's command, the Blood Spirit Saintess immediately blocked Lin Xiuzhu's attack and flew to confront him.

The moment the fourteen puppets appeared in the arena, the Blood Spirit Saintess felt completely reassured, and her aura surged.

Faced with the old ghost's renewed frenzied attack, Li Ji'an calmly activated the Flaming Talisman in his hand.

In an instant, the extreme flames of heavenly fire blazed, incinerating more than half of the charging Yin spirits.

Old Ghost bared his teeth and glared fiercely, but this was not the time to feel sorry for himself. He shook the Soul Banner again, releasing more Yin Ghosts. This time, he was determined to fight to the death.

"I don't believe you have more talismans than I do ghosts!"

oooo~
Amidst the howling of the ghosts, Li Ji'an remained unmoved.

A slight smile curved his lips as he patted his storage bag, and a thick stack of talismans instantly appeared in his hand.

Ding~
The old ghost, who had been looking ferocious and crazed just a moment ago, froze instantly when his gaze fell on the talisman in Li Ji'an's hand, followed by terror, and finally... despair!
Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three talismans were activated almost simultaneously, and the heavenly fire returned.

This time, the Yin ghosts released by the old ghost were all wiped out, and their soul banners instantly darkened visibly.

"You...you...you're not some kind of third-tier talisman master, are you?" The old ghost's face was contorted with a look of utter disbelief.

If I weren't a third-tier talisman master, how could I have so many third-tier spirit talismans around me?
Xue Yuan and Lin Xiuzhu, who were engaged in fierce fighting nearby, instinctively stopped their attack and stared at Li Ji'an in disbelief.

"Old Ghost, hold on! I'll come to your aid after I've dealt with the Blood Woman." If they can't join forces to deal with Li Ji'an, they have no chance of winning.

The old ghost composed himself, retrieved all the ghosts to the soul banner, and nodded emphatically.

Then his ghostly phantom solidified again. He no longer hoped to take down Li Ji'an. He only wanted to hold him off until Lin Xiuzhu took down the Blood Kite, and then join forces to fight the enemy.

Previously, he had been careless and was almost shattered by Li Ji'an's third-tier physique, so he was now extremely cautious.

Faced with the extremely cautious Old Ghost, who was primarily focused on restraint, Li Ji'an, with his third-tier physique alone, was indeed unable to defeat him in a short time.

Each time it struck its body, it instantly turned into a phantom, which was quite effective against body cultivators.

However, when Li Ji'an began to unleash the "Demon Suppression Fist," the Daoist aura it carried immediately made the old ghost feel threatened.

At this moment,

"My lord, save me!" Blood Kite cried out in anguish.

At the crucial moment when Lin Xiuzhu was locked in battle with the Blood Kite, he took out a jade bottle, from which hundreds and thousands of blood mosquitoes swarmed out.

The blood-fiend aura unleashed by the Blood Kite instantly attracted the Blood Mosquitoes.

The blood kite was quickly surrounded by a dense swarm of blood mosquitoes.

Its blood-fiend shield immediately became food for the blood mosquitoes, and it was in grave danger.

"Lin Xiuzhu, are you still saying you never intended for us to leave alive from the very beginning?" Xue Yuan demanded sharply.

Only Lin Xiuzhu, who was extremely familiar with the Blood Spirit Sect's Blood Fiend Secret Technique, knew the weakness of her Blood Fiend Skill.

These blood mosquito spirit insects are the most feared natural enemy of the Blood Spirit Sect's Blood Fiend Technique.

Second-tier blood mosquitoes are almost extinct and extremely difficult to cultivate. The fact that the other party brought out so many at once shows that they really went to great lengths.

Lin Xiuzhu had no mood to argue with her at the moment. He was just frantically urging the blood mosquitoes to devour her blood essence, wanting to get rid of her as soon as possible and then deal with Li Ji'an together with the old ghost.

Upon hearing Xue Yuan's cry for help, Li Ji'an immediately ordered Guagua to intervene. Guagua had originally planned to use this as a trump card for a surprise attack, but with the old ghost's avatar destroyed and Lin Xiuzhu possessing the Corpse Puppet Exchange ability, an opportunity had not yet been found.

At this moment, Xue Yuan was in danger, but he could not allow Lin Xiuzhu to free up his hands to join forces with Lao Gui.

"Qua~"

The moment the croak emerged from the ground, the aura of a third-tier Golden Core demon erupted.

Faced with the dense swarm of blood-red mosquitoes, Guagua almost went crazy.

These are all highly nutritious for it.

In a single bite, it swallows nearly 60% of the blood mosquitoes.

"A third-tier great demon!" Lin Xiuzhu's face was almost numb.

After breaking through the encirclement of blood mosquitoes, Blood Kite was stunned as she stared at the vermilion toad that was feasting on its meal.

They even kept a third-tier great demon as a pet!
She was completely unable to understand Li Ji'an using normal reasoning.

"Die!" Taking advantage of Li Ji'an's distraction while he was focused on the Blood Kite, the old ghost temporarily escaped the range of Li Ji'an's Demon-Suppressing Fist and then couldn't wait for Lin Xiuzhu's support.

The Daoist aura carried by Li Ji'an's Demon-Suppressing Fist had caused his Yin Soul's origin to collapse.

If he were to be further worn down by Li Ji'an's boxing skills, his very soul would likely be annihilated.

Therefore, he took a desperate gamble and unexpectedly unleashed the ultimate ghost technique—the Yin Sha Tsunami!
This was also what he considered his last chance.

uh~
In an instant, the howls of countless wronged souls resounded, and the entire Soul Abyss was filled with inky black energy.

Then all the black energy rapidly converged, and the Yin energy, centered on Li Ji'an, roared in like a sea.

Li Ji'an tried to block with his magic, but he felt an irresistible force. As the waves of Yin energy surged higher and higher, the pressure he was under increased sharply.

In less than three breaths, his protective magic shield shattered.

Subsequently, they relied entirely on their third-tier body cultivation to resist.

What's most unusual is that, despite being a Yin Sha (negative energy), the Flame Talisman had very little effect when activated by Li Ji'an.

Seeing that the Yin energy was almost swallowing Li Ji'an, and that Li Ji'an seemed to have run out of tricks, the old ghost breathed a sigh of relief: "Haha, this is the innate divine power of my holy son's Yin ghost spirit body, formed by gathering the Yin energy of heaven and earth, and condensing 108,000 Yin souls. How could your mere third-order Fiery Talisman possibly destroy it?"

"My lord!" Xue Yuan sensed Li Ji'an's situation and her heart tightened instantly.

Lin Xiuzhu seized the opportunity and suddenly used the Bloodthirsty Cudgel to strike at a level close to that of a Core Formation cultivator, instantly shattering the Blood Kite's protective Blood Fiend.

"Pfft~" The Blood Kite immediately flew backward, its blood splattering across the sky.

Upon hearing what the old ghost said, Li Ji'an nodded secretly. The blazing talisman earlier was not ineffective; it was just that there were too many Yin spirits in this Yin Sha, and they were very solid, so the effect of ordinary third-order blazing talismans was minimal.

However, he possesses the most intense flames in the world.

Without a word, the small fire spirit in Li Ji'an's dantian suddenly burst forth, instantly unleashing a flame power surpassing that of a Core Formation cultivator.

As a sacred spirit of this world, Little Fire Spirit's spiritual flames are absolutely at the pinnacle of any third-level dimension.

woohoo~
Even the most malevolent forces could only scatter and flee the moment the little fire spirit's flames approached.

In an instant, the sea-like waves of Yin energy were completely dispelled by the little fire spirit.

"This...the Holy Spirit of Fire?"

"..."

"..."

The three holy sons and daughters were completely numb at this moment.

The old ghost suffered a severe backlash and fell straight to the ground, still staring intently at the legendary Holy Spirit of Heaven and Earth.

Lin Xiuzhu had just escaped Xue Yuan's entanglement and was preparing to join forces with Lao Gui to deal with Li Ji'an. Seeing this scene, he was almost furious.

"How is this possible? How could you possibly have so many heaven-defying trump cards?" He roared, unleashing the full power of his sixth-grade magic weapon, the Bloodthirsty Staff.

Lin Xiuzhu possesses exceptional talent and superior skills, and has honed his abilities through numerous life-or-death battles, resulting in a significantly higher level of magical power compared to others of the same rank.

This is what he is most praised for among his peers, besides his golden-bodied corpse puppet.

Furthermore, thanks to his profound and pure magical power, he could unleash 50% of the power of a sixth-grade magic weapon even in the mid-stage of Core Formation.

At this moment, the Bloodthirsty Staff was unleashed at half its power. Not to mention ordinary early-stage Core Formation cultivators, even mid-stage Core Formation cultivators who were also Holy Sons and Holy Daughters would not dare to challenge its edge. The Blood Kite from earlier was a prime example.

However, Li Ji'an remained calm in the face of this attack, only a flash of azure light appeared in his hand, and a dragon-shaped staff appeared.

The magical aura emanating from the Dragon Staff, infused with Li Ji'an's magic power, once again shocked the three of them.

A fourth-grade magic weapon!

How could a mere early-stage Core Formation cultivator from the Biyun Sect possess a fourth-grade magic weapon?

"No!" Lin Xiuzhu was shocked, but then suddenly came to his senses.

"How can you, with your early-stage Core Formation cultivation, activate a fourth-grade magic weapon?" With a fierce shout, the Bloodthirsty Cudgel crashed down, leaving several afterimages behind.

At this critical moment.

Li Ji'an unleashed the full power of his golden core without holding back.

Boom~
The Dragon Staff was activated in an instant, and a tentacle resembling a swimming dragon shot towards the falling Bloodthirsty Cudgel, firmly binding it and preventing it from falling any further.

Even one-tenth of the power of a fourth-grade magic weapon is far greater than half the power of a sixth-grade magic weapon.

"He can actually activate a fourth-grade magic weapon!"

"Golden Core Magic Power!"

"You've actually formed a Golden Core!"

……

Lin Xiuzhu's pupils contracted sharply, and his previous resentment vanished instantly, leaving only envy and longing in his heart.

In the three domains of Tiancang Domain, Huangtian Domain, and Wuya Domain, the upstream True Core cultivators are almost at the pinnacle, a quality that only holy sons and daughters like them dare to pursue.

The person before them was none other than the Golden Core cultivator and Nascent Soul seed they could only dream of!

puff~
Lin Xiuzhu was knocked away by the recoil from the dragon staff and crashed heavily to the ground.

"Quickly activate the talisman!" Old Ghost was already despondent, and his last hope lay in the talisman in Lin Xiuzhu's hand.

Lin Xiuzhu's heart skipped a beat, his eyes instantly turning extremely fierce, and the Thunder Talisman in his hand was activated in an instant.

Rumble~
One-tenth of the power of a third-grade magic weapon was close to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator. In an instant, thunder roared and shot towards Li Ji'an.

As Li Ji'an was about to be hit, Lin Xiuzhu and Lao Gui kept their eyes glued to him.

Dang~
However, just as the violent lightning snaked its way to within ten feet of Li Ji'an, it suddenly exploded, and its power dissipated.

In that once open space, a charred figure, struck by lightning, appeared.

Enveloped in black armor, he remained unmoved, and the aura briefly emanating from his body due to the thunderous impact sent shivers down the spines of the three.

"True Lord Yuanying?"

"A Nascent Soul True Monarch has actually been hiding here all along!"

"This……"

Unaware of Lin Xiuzhu and the old ghost, Xue Yuan was already at her wit's end. She had considered many possibilities, but she never imagined that Li Ji'an would actually have a Nascent Soul True Monarch secretly protecting him!
"Pfft~" Just as the three were dumbfounded, a green shadow suddenly appeared behind Li Ji'an and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The invisible puppet was ultimately controlled by Ning Sujin, and although the Thunder Talisman could not possibly harm the invisible puppet, it still caused some backlash to Ning Sujin.

However, her Dharma body was only at the Qi Refining stage, and at this moment it was truly unable to withstand it, so it revealed its true form.

"She..." When Xue Yuan and the other two saw Ning Sujin reappear, their brains completely went blank.

Ning Sujin's phoenix eyes swept over them, and the power of her primordial spirit once again made them tremble.

"True Lord's Primordial Spirit!"

"Two Nascent Soul True Monarchs are secretly protecting them?"

……

At this moment, Lin Xiuzhu and the old ghost were completely desperate, and they could no longer muster the will to resist, nor even think of self-destructing their dantian.

In an instant, the entire Soul Abyss fell silent.

"Wow... cough cough, not bad, I admire you."

Suddenly, a childish yet deliberately mature voice rang out from the central Dragon-Suppressing Cauldron, breaking the silence.

Li Ji'an turned his head and saw that the remnant soul was already standing on the Dragon Suppression Cauldron, looking at Li Ji'an with a sincere expression.

"Croak~" The croaking croaking croaked as it had just finished devouring all the blood mosquitoes when it suddenly saw the remnant soul and was immediately jolted awake.

The suppression from its bloodline made its limbs weak, and it couldn't help but want to submit.

Seeing this, Little Fire Spirit hurriedly flew in front of Frog and blocked the dragon soul on the Dragon-Suppressing Cauldron for it.

"Not bad, innate fire spirit, I admire you too." Sensing the hostility, the dragon soul looked at the little fire spirit and said again, feigning profundity.

Upon seeing this, Li Ji'an chuckled and shook his head, then reached out and grabbed.

The immense suction force instantly pulled the dragon soul, which was still putting on airs, away from the Dragon Suppression Cauldron and flew towards Li Ji'an.

The next moment, Li Ji'an held the dragon soul in his hand, his eyes filled with a look of inquiry.

"Huh~ the aura on your body... how come it's from the same source as mine?" The dragon soul was held in Li Ji'an's hand and immediately felt ashamed.

But now it is powerless to resist.

Just as he was about to find a way to back down, he unexpectedly sensed the aura of the same bloodline within Li Ji'an's body.

Li Ji'an smiled faintly, knowing that he must have sensed the existence of that drop of true spirit blood.

At the same time, a bold conjecture suddenly occurred to me.

Ancient records state that a true dragon born from a drop of blood can be reborn and its soul will never perish. If this dragon soul were to be combined with the essence of a true spirit, it is unknown whether a true dragon that has long been extinct could be reborn.
When this idea came to him, Li Ji'an was startled.

Born under the mandate of heaven, the innate true dragon possesses the majesty of the ruler of this realm from the moment of its birth, and begins to take human form.

Moreover, it is not only a treasure trove, but also carries the fortune of heaven and earth.

If I could truly have a real dragon by my side, my path to enlightenment would be promising!
(End of this chapter)