Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 215 Capturing the Dragon Without Fiend, Shaping Bones with Illusory Spirit (25th of the 10,000-word update)

In his prime, he gripped the demonic cultivator's crown with his five fingers, a dark red blood-red light emanating from his palm.

As the Soul Searching Technique was activated, the demonic cultivator's body, which had been convulsing, suddenly quieted down, and blood slowly seeped from his seven orifices.

"Haha, it's true."

A moment later, Sheng Nian shook off the demonic cultivator, withdrew his demonic energy, and muttered to himself.

The corpse puppet A Yuan stepped forward, grabbed him, killed him casually, and then went to dispose of the body.

"Those people who cultivate demonic arts are so old, yet they still resort to these kinds of tricks."

He sat imposingly on the stone bench, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

Song Yan said with some disdain, "Hurry up and say it, stop rambling on and on to yourself."

"Most of the demonic cultivators here are those who cultivate demonic paths."

"This group of people were originally ordered by the elder of the Demonic Path to come to Yijiang to meet their Daoist candidate."

"We don't know why that person came here or where he went. The elder is slow to issue any orders, so these people have no choice but to stay here obediently and wait for that person to appear. They probably won't be able to leave for a while."

"It is said that this person once practiced demonic arts with great force, but went into a state of demonic possession. However, he turned misfortune into blessing. Although his progress in cultivation was slow, his demonic arts made him extremely powerful in battle."

"He's just a little mentally unstable; I've heard he often goes crazy for no reason. And now he's in a state of mental confusion, muttering incoherent nonsense all day long."

The term "Daozi" is not only used by cultivators of demonic sects.

This title represents a rising star nurtured by major sects, lineages, holy lands, or ancient cultivation clans.

They are expected to represent the future highest achievers of their faction, and their status even surpasses that of most elders.

However, the term "Song Yan" has only been seen in some historical books.

After all, in the Chu Kingdom, even the Xuan Yuan Sect, which claimed to have absolute power, was only a seventh-grade sect on the surface.

There is really no need to talk about the title of Daozi.

Song Yan's focus, however, was elsewhere. He asked, "Such a great lineage, a candidate for Daoist disciple, actually comes to a remote little place like Chu to seek opportunities?"

"They're just reserves; there are countless people like that in the Demon Ruins."

Sheng Nian seemed quite disdainful of this title: "I'm afraid it's because they lack the strength to compete with those demons and monsters in the Central Region, which is why they came here."

"The conflicts within the Demon Ruins are far beyond your imagination."

He sneered and continued, "The rogue cultivators that Jiang Chen gathered are just a rabble. There's no need to pay them any attention. If there's no result within three to five days, they'll scatter like birds and beasts."

"This group of demonic cultivators is currently stationed in Qingfeng Gorge, thirty miles north of Yijiang River, and they won't be able to leave anytime soon."

"I will have to trouble Master Song to wait a few more days."

"I need to rest for a few days to recover from my injuries. Then, the two of us can go out of the mountain together and kill those demonic cultivators. What do you say?"

Song Yan didn't mind. This place was quite quiet, and he could digest and integrate the treasures in his Qiankun bag in a few days.

He pondered for a moment: "If you happen to encounter that Daoist candidate, what will you do?"

"That would be perfect." Sheng Nian grinned. "We can just kill them all at once."

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to have me as the candidate for the position?"

Song Yan was taken aback.

Then he nodded.

……

Yijiang is located at the intersection of the influence spheres of the Xuanyuan Sect, Xuanjian Mountain, and Sheyang Sect.

Theoretically speaking, it does not belong to any sect. However, some disciples of the Xuan Yuan Sect naturally assume that in the Chu Kingdom, as long as the territory does not belong to any other sect, it is all Xuan Yuan Sect territory.

Qingzhang Mountain has a fairly abundant spiritual energy.

Song Yan built a temporary cave dwelling near where he had hidden himself during his prime.

During his rest and recuperation, he guided Xiao Ju in her cultivation while sorting through the gains in the Qiankun bags.

It has to be said that Xiao Ju's foundation in cultivation is really too poor.

She has only reached the third level of Qi Refining after so many years of cultivation. Apart from her own poor spiritual root aptitude, the lack of a systematic cultivation path is also a major problem.

Song Yan's aptitude with three spiritual roots was, to put it mildly, average. Before he could sever his spiritual roots and plant the sword, he was only slightly slower than ordinary cultivators due to the scarcity of cultivation resources.

This is the difference between sect disciples and independent cultivators.

Song Yan's cultivation method, Qi Condensation Chapter, was distributed by the sect and annotated by many kind seniors, thus saving him from many detours.

Xiao Ju practiced the Qi Refining section of the "Gengling Scroll," which she had bought with her own saved spirit stones. It had no annotations and no one to guide her, so she practically took every possible detour.

They even strayed further and further down many wrong paths.

Fortunately, the little girl listened to advice and absorbed everything Song Yan pointed out without hesitation.

Therefore, the speed of his cultivation progress has gradually accelerated.

Xiao He has been quite lazy lately. Ever since breaking through to the late stage of the first tier, it's like she's on vacation, eating and playing every day.

He was currently holding a small, mechanical box, taking it apart and playing with it.

This was something Song Yan bought casually at the Forget-Worry Market. He had noticed that Snake Treasure wanted it, and when he saw it while strolling around, he bought it on a whim.

I never expected her to be so obsessed with this thing.

In less than half a day, Song Yan had sorted out all the gains from the three Qiankun bags.

His eyes grew brighter as each item was taken out and sorted.

Excited heart, trembling hands.

What an unimaginable windfall!
"One thousand three hundred and twenty-seven spirit stones..."

Song Yan neatly stacked the last pile of spirit stones and couldn't help but gasp.

"Murder and arson bring wealth and power..."

Thinking about how he has worked hard to refine pills for a month, after deducting the pills he needs to consume, he has only earned about sixty or seventy spirit stones.

No wonder so many cultivators in the cultivation world take risks and specialize in murder and robbery.

Earning spirit stones honestly, one by one, is nowhere near as fast as robbing people directly.

The world is inherently a dog-eat-dog world, and such exorbitant profits are indeed tempting.

He took a deep breath: "Thinking and practicing meditation, forgetting worldly desires, free from defilement and harm..."

Don't let your inner demons find an opportunity.

These Qiankun bags contain many spiritual items, and it's clear that a significant portion of them have already been consumed.

It must have been obtained in the previous secret realm. Some of it has been used up in the past few days, but it hasn't been used up yet.

Besides the thousand or so spirit stones, there were also various magical artifacts, elixirs, and talismans.

What surprised Song Yan the most was that there was a spiritually potent wooden item among them.

Moreover, it was a highly spiritual object that he had seen in a book before, with a name and a surname.

The essence of Jianmu (建木).

Legend has it that Jianmu was an ancient tree that reached the heavens.

In popular mythology, it is a bridge connecting the three realms of heaven, earth, and humanity. Its branches and leaves can reach the heavens, while its roots are buried beneath the netherworld and hell.

And the part of the tree trunk is in the human world.

Therefore, some unofficial historical records state that a certain cultivator found the location of the Jianmu tree, climbed up the trunk of the Jianmu tree, and arrived in the immortal realm.

It may sound a bit far-fetched at first glance, but this little piece of unofficial history is actually quite rigorous.

It did not fabricate the story that this person climbed to the celestial realm and became an immortal; it simply stated that one could reach the celestial realm through the Jianmu tree.

According to the Complete Records of Immortal Customs, in some areas of the human world, cultivators regard the legendary Jianmu tree as a spiritual root of the human realm.

They believe that all the spiritual energy in the world is nurtured and emitted by the Jianmu tree.

Therefore, as long as you find the Jianmu tree, you can absorb the purest spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Legend has it that the essence of the Jianmu tree is derived from the "purest spiritual energy".

Of course, this is just a rumor.

This essence of the Jianmu tree is indeed incredibly precious. Whether for cultivators practicing wood-element techniques or those seeking to accelerate the ripening of rare spiritual herbs, it is a priceless treasure. Presumably, this item was also discovered from the secret realm mentioned by Sheng Nian.

"The cultivators of ancient times were truly extravagant..."

"So many treasures are hidden in one cave."

Song Yan couldn't help but sigh.

The time required to refine a spiritual object is very short, so he simply took out the Sandy Profound Gold on the spot and refined it as well.

Two more unique landscapes have been added to the realm of Yin and Yang.

A faint silhouette of a sapling, and an endless desert.

Most of the scenes in the Yin-Yang Realm are visible but intangible, and Song Yan only regarded them as phantoms projected from the Dao Seed within his body.

Including the initial refinement of the Wind and Thunder Spirit, the spiritual objects that he has now fused into his Dao Seed now possess six attributes: wind, thunder, fire, metal, earth, and wood.

Song Yan was not greedy; this was enough for him. Of course, it would be best if he could find the Water Element Spirit before he could establish his foundation and complete the Five Elements.

If that doesn't work, then let nature take its course.

We must not waste a good opportunity in pursuit of perfection.

Foundation building is related to every aspect of a cultivator's life. If one deliberately pursues so-called perfection and it affects one's state of mind and spirit, it is not a good thing.

There were also more than thirty or forty pieces of high-grade cloud iron in the red-robed cultivator's Qiankun bag.

It seems this person is indeed skilled in weapon crafting; no wonder the two swords in his hand are both high-grade magic weapons.

Two high-grade magic weapons as a set are rare among Qi Refining stage cultivators.

These cloud irons can be used directly to upgrade the grade of flying swords, but they only have an effect on mid-grade and low-grade magic weapons.

As for the other items, there were actually quite a few precious things, including magical artifacts and talismans that dazzled Song Yan.

But it's not of much use to him as a sword cultivator; he can sell it all later and exchange it for spirit stones.

The only thing worth mentioning is that there is also a fragment of a Buddhist cultivation method among them.

"The Dragon-Capturing Skill Without Killing".

"Without evil spirits, the weak water captures the dragon..."

He softly recited the opening verse, raising his eyebrows slightly.

This secret technique is quite peculiar; it can activate one's own Buddhist power in a short period of time, and one can kill opponents during this time without being tainted by evil energy.

Song Yan could not possibly practice Buddhist techniques, but upon casually flipping through the pages, he found the methods quite peculiar.

"Buddhist practices are truly profound."

Using this technique, one's strikes are as fierce and unparalleled as capturing a dragon, yet as unaffected by cause and effect as weak water.

Song Yan couldn't help but marvel.

On second thought, something felt off. How did these people get their hands on this Buddhist secret technique?

Within the territory of the Chu Kingdom, the only Buddhist practice site that can be considered well-known is Huadu Temple.

As far as he knew, Huadu Temple was almost never involved in any disputes within the Chu Kingdom's cultivation community.

And very few people would bother these Buddhist practitioners.

Could it be that it was also obtained from that secret realm?

Without knowing the details, let's leave it at that.

Song Yan neatly packed away everything, then pointed his sword and bent it.

Three flying swords flew out simultaneously.

They landed in three different locations in the mountains.

At the same time, six white sword shadows flowed out from the sword box one by one.

The Spirit Gathering Sword Formation took shape in the blink of an eye.

In an instant, countless streams of spiritual energy from heaven and earth surged forth from all directions on Mount Qingzhang.

The sword formation was instantly enveloped by dense spiritual energy.

Xiao Ju, who was cultivating silently in the distance, noticed a significant change in the spiritual energy nearby and opened her eyes.

Xiao Ju had already witnessed and experienced the Spirit Gathering Sword Formation when she was in Wushan Valley.

Experiencing it again now still feels incredible.

However, now was not the time to waste time marveling, so she quickly continued to meditate and cultivate.

Song Yan seemed to be making some kind of thorough preparation, holding a mid-grade spirit stone in each hand and a Spirit Condensation Pill in his mouth.

The sword energy gathered by the sword formation quickly restored his spiritual power to its peak.

Sheng Nian said it would take several days to recover from the injury, and only half a day has passed now. Since we're just waiting anyway, we might as well give that a try.

A unique scripture came to mind for Song Yan.

The Pure and Bright Dharma Image.

That is, in fact, the cultivation method for the Dharma body.

Back when he was only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, he had tried it out in Linghua Valley.

At that time, my cultivation level was too low. I estimated that I needed spiritual power at the ninth level of Qi Refining, or even the peak of Qi Refining, to complete the first stage of "Void Spirit Bone Shaping" in one go.

Having already broken through to the ninth level of Qi Refining, he was itching to try again.

Most importantly, we are about to go and cause trouble for those demonic cultivators. If we can forge the skeleton in advance, we will be able to absorb demonic energy and integrate it into our Dharma body.

However, Song Yan did not want to use spiritual energy to reshape his bones as the cultivation method suggested.

Instead, he wanted to use sword energy to replace spiritual power to complete the task.

The Sword Sect's Spirit Transformation chapter actually contains secret techniques related to the Sword Dao Dharma Body.

However, the record is rather brief, subtly conveying a sense that "having it is enough, there's no need for it to be too good."

In comparison, the technique given by Sheng Nian is much more complete.

Using the sword energy cultivation method of the Sword Sect to shape the skeleton of this Dharma body should be better than using ordinary spiritual energy.

With a flick of the sword, the sword energy dormant within the Zhendao Sword Mansion surged forth like a river.

"Congeal."

With a soft shout, wisps of sword energy began to slowly intertwine behind Song Yan, forming a spine-like skeletal silhouette.

This is precisely the foundation of the Dharmakaya, the beginning of the spiritual transformation of the body.

At this moment, his body was undergoing astonishing changes, and the speed at which his sword energy was being consumed was unexpected.

It's comparable to the energy consumption rate of casting the Ring Moon Sword Formation.

The skeleton behind him was forming inch by inch, and the sword energy in the mansion poured out. The process was only halfway complete, and seven or eight tenths of the sword energy in his body had already been depleted.

"It's still not enough."

This is why Song Yan made so many preparations in advance.

The elixir in his mouth was swallowed and quickly transformed into pure spiritual energy, which was then fully absorbed by the Sword Seed and transformed into sword energy.

At the same time, the mid-grade spirit stones in his palms began to slowly transmit spiritual energy into his meridians.

It landed idly not far away, flapping its wings and shaking off several raven feathers, which turned into sword energy and merged into its skeleton.

At one point, Snake Baby stopped playing with his toy, as if sensing something, and looked up at the rock.

"what!"

Ju Luyi's mouth was slightly open, as if she was incredulous, and she stared straight at Song Yan's back.

Under the moonlight, a semi-transparent white skeleton, eight feet tall, appeared behind Senior Song.

Some kind of mysterious pattern was faintly flowing on the grim skeleton.

Like the remains of a giant!

(End of this chapter)