New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 320 Corpse Seed = Human Immortal Seed or Loose Immortal Seed

Upon arriving at Greenhouse No. 1, Yuan Zhu knocked twice and pushed the door open, whereupon she saw two figures, one large and one small, from behind.

At this moment, the girl Yuan Tang was in the center position, explaining something to her senior in a low voice, while her hands were still moving, performing some kind of operation.

Upon closer inspection, he could see that in front of them was a long table with identical square, transparent glass containers. Inside each container lay a dark, serene animal—some were oversized frogs, others brightly colored birds, or cleaned guinea pigs, and still others unidentifiable wild animals.

However, they all have one thing in common: they're all dead.

At this moment, the little girl is demonstrating to her senior the secret technique for cultivating spiritual herbs from [Cicada City]: [Corpse Seed].

Yuan Zhu: "Sister Chen, Xiao Tang, are you guys promoting this product? How's it going? Has it been successful?"

Upon hearing this, the girl with a solemn expression silently shook her head and said in a tone of existential doubt, "It failed."

"Ah? How come?"

He still remembered that after returning to the [Feathered World] for the second time, he immediately entered the inner world of the [Law Domain]. At that time, the 'Shadow Space' had already taken in and planted the [Reverse-Growth Mulberry Tree]. The entire space had been transformed into a garden, filled with 'demon insect corpses' of various shapes and sizes. Various kinds of spiritual herbs sprouted from the cracks in their shells and from the seven orifices of their heads, growing vigorously with an indescribable eerie vitality and beauty.

Clearly, as the person in charge of the [Garden of Reverse Life], Yuan Tang has mastered the [Corpse Seed] technique, which allows him to sow seeds inside various corpses and use [True Qi] to accelerate their growth.

So Zhuzi asked, "Didn't you use [True Qi] to awaken them?"

Although he asked the siblings to conserve their "true qi" as much as possible, he did not explicitly forbid them from using it.

Yuan Tang shook his head: "Of course I used it. I tried 10 different animals and used [True Qi] to stimulate the seeds, but without exception, they all failed. This seems to be related to the environment of the 'Upper Realm' and the corpses of these strange creatures."

Yuan Tang has been learning from her senior for the past few days. When using the [Corpse Seed] technique, she shared her planting experience and techniques with her senior without reservation.

Based on the discussions and deductions of both parties, the failure of the [Corpse Seed] is most likely related to the surrounding environment and the substandard quality of the 'corpse'.

...

In the [Feathered World], the remains of any creature meet the standards for planting medicine; but after arriving in Running, none of them do.

In the underground world, the 'corpses' one can encounter are of two types: insects and humans. Insects come in many varieties, but the minimum size required is larger than a soccer ball, or roughly the size of a standard flowerpot in human society.

Whether human or insect, both are subjected to the erosion and transformation of the 'underground polluted environment' during their lifetime. Therefore, after death, their bodies naturally contain a large amount of pollution traces such as 'miasma pollution, immortal tendrils, and iron poison' that could not be cleaned in time.

According to the analysis of the [Immortal Scripture], the key to the [Corpse Seed] lies in the 'Immortal Corpse Beard', followed by the vast amount of polluted energy (nutrients) contained within the corpse. What is the 'Immortal Corpse Beard'? It is a distorted and polluted version of the [Kunlun System. Degraded Spiritual Root].

A corpse filled with [Immortal Zombie Whiskers], mixed with Knight-type [Iron Poison], naturally does not decay after death and can be preserved for a long time. At the same time, it contains abundant energy and a large number of [Immortal Zombie Whiskers (Kunlun Spiritual Machine)] that have begun to proliferate uncontrollably after being deactivated.

What does this mean? It's natural nutrient soil that contains all five elements!

Planting a [spiritual herb seed] in such a fertile flowerpot will allow it to quickly adapt to the favorable environment after being stimulated and awakened, continuously absorbing 'immortal thorns (Kunlun spiritual essence)' and growing strong.

From another perspective, this is simulating a low-budget version of the "elixir of immortality." The spiritual herbs and medicines grown are naturally full of medicinal properties.

Now, Nie Yin has replaced the flowerpots with ordinary animal carcasses from the local soil. Without the naturally multiplying 'Immortal Corpse Whiskers and Iron Poison', even the Little Girl Sister can't handle the preservation process.

The frog carcasses she had confidently planted seeds on not only showed no signs of germination, but also emitted a faint, unpleasant odor.

Yuan Zhu leaned closer, glanced around casually, and pointed to a [Frog Body Species] that had been completed yesterday.

"The taste is off, it's almost rotten! Didn't you use any preservatives?"

Yuan Tang's expression was grim, filled with self-reproach and confusion. "I didn't expect the 'Upper Realm' environment to be so strange. In my 'hometown,' any creature that dies has a very low chance of decaying. The 'immortal zombie tendrils' inside the corpse will rapidly multiply after the host dies, filling the body and even refining and strengthening it." The senior student, who had been listening nearby, suddenly spoke up: "It's like a 'mushroom bag' for growing mushrooms?"

Yuan Zhu thought for a moment, then nodded, "Huh? It really does look alike!"

The senior student comforted her, saying, "Xiao Zhu, you don't need to be too harsh on your sister. Although she failed to stimulate the growth of the spiritual medicine, the technical concept of the [Corpse Seed] and the theoretical knowledge behind it are very valuable and have greatly inspired me! The failure of this batch of seeds does not mean there was no harvest."

"On the contrary, we can learn a lot from this. Cultivation techniques developed in another world and under a different special environment will naturally need to be modified to adapt to the local soil and water if we want to successfully reproduce them on Duling Star. I think we can process the 'corpses' first to solve the problem of 'decay.' Also, what exactly is this 'Immortal Zombie Beard' that you mentioned?"

Seeing that the little girl looked somewhat lost, Yuan Zhu wanted to organize her thoughts to introduce the "Immortal Zombie Beard," but she only had a vague understanding of the origins of the underground world.

So Yuan Zhu stepped forward and answered on his behalf: "The [Immortal Zombie Beard] is a special contaminated variant of the [Kunlun System]. Just like the [Holy Light] after its fall, it exists in countless directions. The [Immortal Zombie Beard] is also a special variant of the Kunlun System after it has become demonic. It likes to proliferate wildly in the corpse in the form of microscopic 'rotten roots,' gradually turning the deceased's body into a 'zombie.' It can even use the 'corpse' as a base to extend countless fine roots (white-haired zombies) outwards, absorbing the decaying miasma and pollution from the surrounding environment, and feeding on the decaying plant roots of the [Kunlun System] to strengthen itself."

The senior student rested her chin on her hand, recalling her textbook: "It sounds familiar, like it's about [Reversing the Immortal Path]!"

Yuan Zhu was puzzled: "Reverse cultivation of the [Human Immortal]?"

The senior student nodded: "Do you know about the [Kunlun Immortal]? After implanting the roots of the 'Peach of Immortality' into their bodies, cultivators initially possess [Spiritual Roots]. They can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nurturing and growing their [Spiritual Roots], which continuously expand and multiply, spreading throughout their limbs and bones, forming a [Meridian System]. After this step is completed, all [Kunlun Cultivators] must refine a [Natal Spiritual Plant]. This [Spiritual Plant] can be selected from ordinary plants, or it can be a branch or seed inherited from a sect's [Spiritual Plant], or even a branch of the [Kunlun Mother Plant]. In short, there is only one requirement: it must be a woody plant."

"The path to becoming a Human Immortal begins with using the physical body as a flowerpot, planting a 'natal spiritual plant' within the flesh and blood, overlapping and fusing with the 'meridian system,' sharing life and death. The cultivator strengthens the same vessel (physical body) through the dual cultivation progress of their 'self' and 'spiritual plant,' rapidly growing and gaining immense power. Furthermore, it offers extremely high freedom, unrestrained and uncontrolled, allowing for unfettered freedom. The 'Immortal Corpse Beard' you mentioned is similar to the 'spiritual root' within a Kunlun cultivator's body, and also somewhat like the 'natal plant' planted within the body by the Human Immortal method to strengthen the physical body."

The senior student added, "However, the [Human Immortal] is alive, and the [Native Spiritual Plant] within its body is also alive and constantly growing stronger. While the [Immortal Zombie Beard] and [Immortal Zombie] you mentioned are dead, they can also continuously grow. Using these [Immortal Zombies], which are very similar to 'Human Immortals,' to cultivate spiritual herbs can indeed produce top-grade 'spiritual medicines,' which is very reasonable."

Yuan Zhu asked with some curiosity, "Then what about the other four immortals among [Heaven, Earth, Man, Ghost, and God]? What are their methods?"

Senior: "I don't know much about this. I only know that the Earth Immortal plants his natal spirit outside his body, combines it with the Earth Contract, takes root and expands, nurtures a spiritual land, and then opens up a blessed land, with the spiritual plant as the hub of the blessed land."

"The Ghost Immortals are also known as the Lords of the Underground, which seems to have some connection with the Underworld, but they are not commonly seen. Some legends about Celestial Immortals are closely related to Earth Immortals, suggesting that they are a higher level than Earth Immortals; others say that Celestial Immortals are related to the Kunlun Mother Plant of the Eternal Continent. As for the God Immortals, I have only heard about them."

Yuan Zhu: "So, in the Kunlun Immortal Path, the only common lineages are the Earth Immortals and the Human Immortals?"

Senior student: "[Earth Immortals] are not common. They are controlled by the land and always hide in one place, acting discreetly. Only [Human Immortals] can move freely and frequently appear in the human world. [Ghost Immortals] are said to exist in the underworld. [Celestial Immortals] are extremely difficult to find, and [Divine Immortals] are elusive and without a trace."

Yuan Zhu: "Tsk! According to you, we need to turn these ordinary animals into 'human immortals' before using [Corpse Seed]? That would be too costly!"

Upon closer reflection, the polluted environment of the "underground world" is truly unique. After a living creature dies, it becomes a natural 'culture medium + nutrient pack + flower pot'.

The senior student thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, "Not necessarily. We can conduct several control experiments, such as introducing 'corpse refining techniques' to slow down the decay of ordinary animals in the Misty Forest. After simple refining (preservation treatment), we can try [corpse seeding]. In addition, I can also use the 'Botanical School's' 'Dao seed parasitism' on these corpses to create 'pseudo-loose immortals' before [corpse seeding]..."

The Dangerous Botanical School aims to explore the mysteries of the 'Immortals' and shares the same origin as the 'Kunlun System'. If they don't pursue the unique 'Dao Seeds (new varieties)', then the senior sister can provide a large number of 'Dao Seeds' that are controlled by others, as well as defective works awaiting destruction.

If these 'Dao Seeds' are planted into the bodies of animals to create pseudo-immortals, and then the 'Corpse Seeds' are killed, can they replace 'Immortal Zombie Beards'?
One thought after another surfaced in his mind, which roused Yuan Tang, who had been somewhat discouraged.

At this moment, Yuan Zhu, who only talked but didn't act, also joined in, suggesting, "I have an idea! Xiao Tang, besides using the [Corpse Seed] to cultivate spiritual medicine seeds, you can also devote some energy to [Fungi Medicinal Herbs]."

Running's native corpses may not be able to successfully grow 'spiritual medicines', but they will definitely be able to cultivate [Cordyceps sinensis and zombie fungus]!

Because of the characteristics of these 'Cordyceps and zombie fungi', they are parasitic organisms that multiply mycelium in flesh and blood, eventually killing life and absorbing nutrients from the remains of organisms to grow fungi, spiritual plants, cordyceps, and other medicinal materials.

This biological behavior has absolutely nothing to do with whether the corpse contains [immortal zombie whiskers, polluted spiritual energy, or iron poison].

Upon learning about the existence of magical creatures like the "Otherworldly Cordyceps" and "Zombie Fungus," the senior student, filled with curiosity, strongly urged Yuan Tang to quickly demonstrate his skills.

She said, "Although 'fungi' do not meet the 'Dao Seed' standard of [Loose Immortal] at all, they meet the standard of spiritual medicine, and are excellent for refining pills and making medicine! Hurry, hurry."

Seeing that it was still early, Yuan Zhu left the greenhouse and drove back to Running City, intending to return to the haunted house to harvest his cultivation materials. After letting them roam freely for so long, it was time to completely forge the two seals and see if his 'Earth Spirit Warrior' was ready for market.
(End of this chapter)