Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 533 Cause and Effect
After storing the Thousand Faces of Sorrowful Flame within his green robe, Li Xiangming returned to the location of the Purple Yin True Lord's coffin and once again felt the comfort of being nourished by spiritual energy.

"Such a sacred place, yet it has remained isolated for ten thousand years. What exactly is the Su family thinking?"

Li Xiangming couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

He had already figured out that there were actually no spiritual veins in the cave. True Monarch Ziyin must have set up a large spirit-gathering array somewhere to attract so much spiritual energy.

If True Lord Ziyin were still alive, there would be no reason for him to do this.

But he has already passed away, and it would be a waste for all this spiritual energy to remain in the cave.

It should be noted that even the underground palace where the Su family members live is worlds apart from this place.

Doesn't the Purple Yin True Lord consider the future generations?
After pausing for a moment, Li Xiangming hesitated for a moment before placing his hand on the coffin lid.

Perhaps due to excessive trust in the Thousand-Faced Sorrowful Flame, there were no restrictions placed on the stone coffin. Although the coffin lid was heavy, it still trembled slightly under the influence of magical power.

The spotted little fox seemed to understand Li Xiangming's intention, its expression instantly turning terrified, and it let out a scream.

Even the Thousand-Faced Sorrowful Flame, which had already fallen silent, had to speak weakly: "There is nothing you want in the coffin. Old Man Ziyin has cultivated for a thousand years and was once a leader in your human cultivation world. I hope you will not desecrate his remains."

Li Xiangming paused in his actions and asked, "True Lord Ziyin, why did you allow your Dao body to remain in the world?"

He knew, of course, that his actions were impolite. However, instead of burying himself, the Purple Yin True Lord left his remains in the Little Purple Yin Cave, leaving behind a loophole such as the stone tablet and key.

Despite the fact that the Thousand-Faced Sorrowful Flame was powerful enough to resist external enemies and even drive out the descendants of the Su family.

But there are exceptions to everything!
For example, right now, the Thousand-Faced Sorrowful Flame has suffered a setback.

How could a Nascent Soul cultivator like True Monarch Ziyin not have foreseen such an unexpected event?
But he still settled himself in the cave!
Essentially, isn't it just about leaving "oneself" to future generations?

Even if Li Xiangming doesn't open the coffin today, future generations of the Su family will be unable to resist exploring this place—no one can resist the "opportunity" left behind by the Nascent Soul True Monarch.

Bei Niang paused for a moment before speaking, "Before his death, Old Man Zi Yin's cultivation had reached the late Nascent Soul stage, making him one of the most powerful figures in the Boundless Sword Sect. According to him, if he were even one realm lower, he would have stayed in the sect to retire. But since he had already glimpsed the path to the Divine Transformation stage, he left the Boundless Sword Sect to seek his own opportunities."

With his cultivation level, traveling to various places was naturally easy, and he found many valuable items. However, this did not greatly help his cultivation path. After several unsuccessful attempts to break through, he gradually gave up and planned to return to his sect.

It was at this time that he luckily found a small secret place.

The secret realm was a world unto itself, with an exceptionally favorable environment for cultivation. The old man Ziyin was overjoyed, believing he had seen hope!

However, at that time, his lifespan was nearing its end, his body could no longer retain magical power, and his cultivation level was at risk of declining.

In this state, forcibly entering seclusion to break through to a higher realm would be nothing short of courting death.

In order to buy time, the old man planned to extend his life.

He had two options at the time. The first was to possess another's body.

It is common knowledge that souls are incompatible, and even if the possessor is powerful, there is still a great risk involved. Countless cultivators in the cultivation world have died because of possession.

Even if they succeed by chance, the original owner's soul will not completely disappear. It's like grinding sand with your bare hands; it will take the possessor several years or even more than ten years to turn the sand into dust.

However, the absence of sand does not mean the end of everything.

After a cultivator breaks through the Core Formation and forms the Nascent Soul, they need to gradually integrate their divine soul into the Nascent Soul. However, the divine soul of someone who has possessed another's body is impure and will be resisted by their own Nascent Soul, making it almost impossible for them to cross this crucial threshold.

In other words, the path of a cultivator who possesses another's body will come to an abrupt end once they reach the Nascent Soul stage.

To solve this problem, the evil cultivators of the Soul Crossing Sect created a secret technique called the 'Soul Crossing Scripture'. The wonder of this technique lies in the word 'crossing'. If someone is willing to transfer their soul, the person who is trying to possess them will not brutally devour that soul, but will temporarily integrate it into their own soul, and then, when the time is right, find a way to cut it off.

In this way, there is no problem of the person possessing another's body having an impure soul, and their subsequent path in the Dao is also guaranteed.

However, the cultivation world is extremely wary of the practice of possession. The appearance of the Soul-Crossing Scripture could very well intensify the trend. Therefore, the Boundless Sword Sect labeled the Soul-Crossing Sect as an evil cultivation sect and destroyed it. This miraculous secret technique thus fell into the hands of the Purple Yin Elder.

To relinquish one's soul?

Li Xiangming was shocked halfway through the conversation.

What a brilliant idea!

Most people are unwilling to sacrifice themselves, but those who practice evil cultivation have the ability and means to cultivate a group of talented and blindly obedient offspring or disciples.

They could use this method to avoid the backlash from Heaven and inherit the new body's aptitude, cultivation, and most importantly, lifespan.

what does this mean?
A never-ending journey?
Or immortality?

Bei Niang seemed to have guessed Li Xiangming's thoughts, and her tone became subtle: "Don't think too highly of it! Although this method is ingenious, it also has a fatal flaw. The person being possessed may be willing at first, but once integrated into the soul of the possessor, they will gain all of the possessor's memories and wisdom, and gradually form a new consciousness."

One body, two souls—who is the true master?
You should be able to guess where the hidden danger lies even if I don't tell you!
Even if the possessor risks severing this new consciousness, an indelible soul cocoon will remain in their soul. This soul cocoon does not affect their cultivation path, but if the possessor fails to achieve their goal in this life, the new consciousness will occupy the soul cocoon and grow several times stronger when they possess another body.

Lifetime after lifetime, no matter how powerful the soul of the possessor becomes, it cannot keep up with the accumulation of the soul cocoon. Ultimately, it will always be driven out and devoured by a completely new consciousness, rendering all previous efforts futile. Having interacted with Transcendent Soul Sect cultivators, the old man Ziyin was well aware of the drawbacks of this method and therefore refused to use it.

魂茧
Li Xiangming frowned slightly. As expected, those with great supernatural powers are bound to suffer great calamities.

In theory, the Soul-Searching Scripture can help people achieve immortality, but practitioners can only possess a body once or twice before facing the risk of being possessed in reverse.

If the soul cocoon becomes thick enough, the cultivator will not even have the ability to resist, and will only benefit "others".

Ziyin Zhenjun felt he had a chance to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, but his lifespan was insufficient. If he used this method, he would not only have to painstakingly cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage, but also have to fight against his own "evil thoughts," which would be quite troublesome.

But if he doesn't possess another body, how can he prolong his life?
Longevity Elixir?
Li Xiangming didn't think the Wuliang Sword Sect lacked this kind of thing.

It's certain that True Lord Ziyin developed a tolerance to the drug, which is why he went out alone to seek opportunities.

Faced with Li Xiangming's question, Bei Niang slowly replied, "The opportunities that Old Man Ziyin obtained in the last ten years, besides the secret realm of Ziyin Cave, also included an ancient formation."

This formation is called the Heaven-Seizing Bloodline Formation. It can plunder the bloodline power of a cultivator's relatives and descendants, merge it with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, transform it into vitality, and nourish the cultivator. It is extremely mysterious.

According to the formation's description, the old man Ziyin could extend his lifespan by a hundred years and have abundant blood and energy by sacrificing a thousand Foundation Establishment descendants, and would also receive a boost when breaking through to a higher realm.

The price it pays is the creation of blood feuds.

Once this barrier is destroyed, it will be a devastating blow to Elder Ziyin. However, it is invisible and intangible, making it difficult for ordinary cultivators to target. Only lightning magic or heavenly lightning can attack it. You humans are uniquely blessed, having to cultivate to the Mahayana stage before undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation. Such a long path is not in Elder Ziyin's consideration. If he really has to undergo the Heavenly Tribulation in the future, he can simply use the Soul-Crossing Scripture to cultivate a second life and remove the Blood Resentment Barrier.

In short, as long as the old man is careful and avoids lightning magic cultivators, he can continue his first life's path. Accumulating Nascent Soul experience in the first life is always better than in the second.

However, the old man Ziyin was devoted to cultivation and held a laissez-faire attitude towards his bloodline. Although he had many descendants over the past thousand years, finding a thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators remained a pipe dream.

In addition, the old man Ziyin couldn't bear to ruin his descendants, so he tried to improve the Bloodline Seizing Formation.

The new Bloodline Array does not force living people to be sacrificed. Instead, it uses the Pine and Banyan Tree as its base to extract the soul and residual magic power of the recently deceased, integrate them with the power of bloodline, and generate life.

After several attempts, the old man Ziyin felt that this method was feasible, so he brought all his clansmen into the Ziyin Cave secret realm and made three 'last wills'.

First, no descendant of the Su family is allowed to leave the secret realm. Second, all Su family cultivators are to be buried beneath the Pine and Banyan Tree. Third, all Su family cultivators reside in the underground palace, and no one is permitted to search for their dwellings.

After doing all this, the old man set up the Water Dragon Roar Slow Array in the cave, gathering the spiritual energy of the secret realm and cooperating with the Heaven-Seizing Bloodline Array to maintain his physical functions.

According to the old man, the new formation was much slower to take effect than the original, but it was more suited to the situation at the time. He predicted that he would sleep for at most a thousand years before awakening from the stone coffin and attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul realm. I believed him and willingly stayed in the cave to protect his physical body.

At this point, Bei Niang's tone suddenly turned somber: "But in less than two hundred years, things changed. The descendants of the Su family defied the old man's prohibition and trespassed into the cave. I hesitated because of their bloodline, but Xuan Sheng seized the opportunity to steal the Bone-Crying Lamp of No Return. This lamp was specially made for me by the old man and has been fused with me for eight hundred years. It is because of its nurturing that I am able to communicate normally with humans."

"Wait a minute, Xuan Sheng?"

Li Xiangming suddenly looked up and interrupted.

At the same time, my gaze involuntarily falls on the portrait on the wall.

Bei Niang paused for a moment and continued, "Xuan Sheng is the crow in the portrait. His background comes from the Black Cloud Imitation Crow. He is extremely good at imitation and learning, and can even sit and discuss the Dao with the old man."

The old man had many children throughout his life, but only two possessed spiritual roots, the eldest of whom was Xuan Sheng. Xuan Sheng died young, a great regret for the old man. He bestowed the name Xuan Sheng upon his spirit pet, partly to express his longing, and partly to reflect his affection for the Black Fortune Dao Crow.

However, the Black Crow betrayed the old man, and the fact that the Su family descendants were able to find this place was inextricably linked to its guidance. At the time, I didn't think much of it, only realizing Xuan Sheng's true colors after losing the Bone-Crying Lamp. This fellow even broke the seal on the stone coffin, wanting to know the old man's fate. I naturally refused and fought it fiercely.

Little did I know that this was Xuan Sheng's scheme to secretly entangle me. While using his clones to fight me, he broke through the restrictions of the alchemy room, stole the pills left by the old man, and finally left with the descendants of the Su family.

Since then, the Bloodthirsty Array within the cave has ceased transmitting any life force. I don't know what happened outside, but clearly, the old man's plan failed.

He hadn't anticipated the Su family's downfall, nor had he foreseen Xuan Sheng's boundless ambition. Perhaps he was wrong from the moment he began to modify the Heaven-Seizing Bloodline Array—wrong for entrusting his fate to the hands of time!

Bei Niang paused, her voice fading into the distance: "Time is best at turning loyal dogs into jackals and vows into ambition."

Upon hearing this, the fog in Li Xiangming's mind gradually dissipated.

He then questioned why True Lord Ziyin deliberately left his remains behind, allowing adventurous cultivators to fight over them.

It turns out that 10,000 years ago, this old man still held the idea of ​​"bringing the dead back to life".

Unfortunately, all the planning over a thousand years ultimately failed at the last hurdle.

As a spirit fire, it was already difficult for Bei Niang to develop intelligence, but she was clearly still somewhat inferior to intelligent beings like Hei Yun Mo Dao Ya.

If she hadn't been fooled, Black Lucky Dao Crow wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed. When True Monarch Ziyin awoke a thousand years later and advanced to the Nascent Soul realm, the entire cultivation world of Heng Kingdom would have undergone a tremendous change!
The Su family of Ziyin Cave will also become the most prestigious family.

But there are no "ifs"!
Regardless of Black Lucky Dao Crow's motives for entering the Little Purple Yin Cave, it would inevitably worry about being blamed by True Lord Purple Yin upon its return. Therefore, destroying the Heaven-Seizing Bloodline Formation became a necessary step.

Since it has no master, it can continue to deceive the descendants of the Su family by virtue of its identity as an ancestral spirit pet, and thrive in the Purple Yin Cave, even dominating the place, right?
The negligence of Bei Niang and the betrayal of Hei Yun Mo Dao Ya caused the dignified Nascent Soul cultivator to perish in the stone hall in such a humiliating way.

How heartbreaking this is!

The Su family didn't fare any better. This hastily established family lost its ancestor because a few individuals listened to the slander of Hei Yunmo Daoya.

Most people still adhere to their ancestral teachings and have not sought out the cave of the Purple Yin True Lord.

This also prevented them from detecting the Water Dragon's Roar Slow Formation.

For the past ten thousand years, the Water Dragon's Roar Slow Array has been in constant operation, drawing almost all the spiritual energy of the secret realm into the cave, which is why the spiritual energy in other places is so thin.

To some extent, this formation directly destroyed the Su family's cultivation civilization.

No wonder the Su family's Wind Escape technique has only had three successors from beginning to end.

If we include Li Xiangming, then there are four.

But two of them are outsiders.

Perhaps, this is cause and effect!

Li Xiangming dared not think too much about it and instead asked, "Outside my cave, I met a woman who called herself the Wonderful Sound True Person. She was always surrounded by crows. Could she be the Black Fortune Dao Crow you mentioned?"

Bei Niang replied, "I have never been to the outside world and do not know Xuan Sheng's current situation. The reason I told you this is only to explain that there is nothing in the coffin except the remains of a poor old man. If you want to find opportunities, you can break the restrictions of other stone chambers and see if there is anything usable, or you can look for the descendants of the Su family. The old man Zi Yin's cultivation technique was passed down to them as well."

After saying that, Bei Niang's voice fell completely silent, as if this conversation had exhausted her enough.

Li Xiangming gently stroked the stone coffin, weighing his options in his mind, but ultimately did not push it open.

True Lord Ziyin was clearly confident in his backup plan, which is why he didn't resort to possession to prolong his life. If that's the case, he really had no need to leave any rare treasures in the coffin.

Furthermore, it's unbelievable that even spirit fire can lie these days!
Rather than satisfying one's own curiosity, it would be better to preserve the last vestiges of Ziyin Zhenjun's dignity in exchange for Bei Niang's favor; this would be a worthwhile trade.

With a slight sigh, Li Xiangming released his grip and then looked around.

As expected, there's nothing valuable here!
The other stone chambers should contain some good things, but the restrictions on them are too troublesome for him to touch.

For a moment, he was at a loss for what to do.

"Waaah?"

At this moment, the spotted little fox came closer, gently placing its two front paws on Li Xiangming's legs. Its clear eyes showed a hint of anxiety, yet also revealed a pleading tone.

　Just wanted to update everyone on my condition: my illness has improved, although I'm still experiencing a slight cough, but it doesn't affect my writing. I also want to explain the recent hiatus in updates; it stems from a change in my work-rest schedule in early April. I tried shifting my writing time to the mornings, but it didn't work. After struggling for half a month, I decided to move my writing time back to the evenings. Unfortunately, my writing performance has been consistently poor, and I'm truly sorry to have disappointed everyone! But don't worry, I'm working hard to get back into shape, starting with resuming double updates!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)