Junior sister, I really need to control you

After one cultivates to become a True Person, both the Pure Profound Scripture and the True Blood Secret Manual have their own unique strengths.

But for him, who is now a Great True Person, the True Blood Secret Manual is undoubtedly far superior to the Pure Profound True Scripture.

Therefore, he couldn't refute what Shangguan Ling'er said. Since the Qingxuan True Scripture was no longer keeping up with him, the True Blood Secret Scripture was now more like his main cultivation, while the Qingxuan True Scripture had become a secondary cultivation.

“What Fellow Daoist Shangguan said is not without reason, but…” Li Yinsheng shook his head helplessly, “I believe the Zhongzhen Temple’s cultivation method has been lost, and I cannot find a higher cultivation method than the Qingxuan True Scripture.”

"Are you talking about the Precious Illumination Sutra?" Shangguan Ling'er said. "It is indeed alright, but it's nothing special. It can't compare to my Five Elements Reincarnation Sutra."

“Each Taoist temple values ​​its own fundamental lineage as much as its own life, and is unwilling to reveal even a fraction of its teachings. But in reality, most of them are just so-so. They are better than some, but not as good as others.”

As she spoke, she poked Jiang Ningzhi's cheek: "If you were willing to leave Xuanzhen Temple and join my lineage, you wouldn't have to practice that broken sword scripture all day long. You might have already achieved the Dharma form."

"Although the Zhengyang lineage doesn't have many sword cultivators, it's not difficult to find two sword cultivation techniques that are on par with your Baozhao Scripture."

Jiang Ningzhi poked Shangguan Ling'er's face back: "I cultivate sword intent, so cultivation techniques don't have that much of an impact on me!"

"The lineage of a Taoist temple cannot be compared with that of a Buddhist lineage, but it is still better than the Qingxuan True Scripture."

Li Yinsheng gave a wry smile and looked at Jiang Ningzhi: "Uncle-Master, why didn't our Xuanzhen Temple make a backup of the temple's heritage?"

“Making a backup of the Baozhao Sutra is meaningless; it only contains the cultivation method, which cannot be practiced.” She shook her head.

"Huh?" Li Yinsheng was taken aback.

After confirming that the Baozhao Sutra was completely lost, he didn't ask too many questions about it, since it was pointless to be sad about a broken jar.

But now that my uncle is mentioning it, it seems that the Baozhao Sutra is a special kind of cultivation method.

Jiang Ningzhi was silent for a moment, organized her thoughts, and then said seriously, "Yinsheng, now that you are a Great Master, I should tell you everything about what happened to Xuanzhen Temple and the loss of the Baozhao Scripture."

"So you haven't told him yet?" Shangguan Ling'er said in surprise. "I know all about these things, how come he doesn't know?"

“Some things, if your cultivation isn’t up to par, saying them beforehand will only cause unnecessary trouble and won’t do you any good,” Jiang Ningzhi shook her head.

Li Yinsheng immediately became serious.

“However, my knowledge is not comprehensive either,” Jiang Ningzhi said with a wry smile. “Although I experienced it firsthand, I only escaped death, so there are naturally many things I don’t understand.”

"This story begins thirty years ago with a great battle between the Zhengyang lineage and the Demonic Heavenly Demon Palace. Although the Demonic Heavenly Demon Palace has a grand name, it is not an exaggeratedly large entity."

"In terms of strength, it should be similar to the Thousand Insect Valley you encountered before, or perhaps even inferior."

"Therefore, for a long time after the war started, the Dharma lineage and the Heavenly Demon Palace were evenly matched and remained deadlocked."

Jiang Ningzhi said, "It wasn't until my Xuanzhen Temple and Yutan Temple joined forces to launch a sneak attack deep into the Heavenly Demon Palace's formation and destroyed a small section of the formation that our lineage was able to use this as a breakthrough and achieve a great victory over the Heavenly Demon Palace."

"Are there any rewards for those who follow the lineage?" Li Yinsheng asked curiously.

“Of course they have. Both Xuanzhen Temple and Yutan Temple have been rewarded with many good things,” Shangguan Ling’er sighed. “It’s just a pity that you are not fortunate enough to enjoy them.”

Jiang Ningzhi gave a wry smile: "The rewards from the lineage were indeed extremely generous at the time, but the other True Men in the temple and I couldn't pay attention to those things."

"We focused all our efforts on a magical artifact we intercepted while we were deep inside the Heavenly Demon Palace and destroying the central array."

"A magic weapon?" Li Yinsheng asked curiously. "What kind of magic weapon could be far more important than a reward from a lineage?"

“Calling this a magic weapon is no longer accurate; it’s almost half a spiritual treasure,” Jiang Ningzhi said softly.

"A spiritual treasure?" Li Yinsheng asked, "Is it something on a higher level than a magic weapon?"

“Yes,” Shangguan Ling’er said, “What a True Person uses is a magic weapon, while what an Immortal uses is a spiritual weapon.”

"An immortal!" Li Yinsheng immediately became solemn.

He knew that there were real immortals in the lineage, but apart from this legend, he knew nothing more about immortals.

Chapter 86 Ghost Immortal Secrets, The Theory of Dharma Forms

Jiang Ningzhi in her bedroom.

When the topic turned to immortals, Li Yinsheng listened very attentively.

“After a True Person cultivates to the Dharma Aspect Realm, the next step is to attain immortality,” Shangguan Ling’er said.

"You have experienced the process of breaking through from a mortal to a true immortal. Although with your talent, you should not have encountered any obstacles, you should also know that if you fail to break through to a true immortal, the consequences will be severe."

Li Yinsheng nodded: "So, this is also how a True Person breaks through to become an Immortal?"

"Similar, but a bit more complicated."

Shangguan Ling'er explained, "When a mortal breaks through to become a True Person, there are only two possible outcomes: success or failure. But when a True Person breaks through to become an Immortal, there are three possible outcomes."

"Three kinds?" Li Yinsheng was taken aback. "Where did this third kind come from?"

“It’s possible, it’s not possible, it’s only half successful,” Shangguan Ling’er said.

Li Yinsheng was even more puzzled.

How can it possibly be even half successful?

"The consequences of failure are self-evident; the inevitable outcome is death and the annihilation of one's spirit."

"But for real people who successfully break through, there are two possible outcomes."

Shangguan Ling'er explained, "The process of a true immortal becoming an immortal can generally be seen as two steps: the first step is the immortalization of the soul, and the second step is the immortalization of the physical body."

"The superior one, in one burst of energy, completes the process of attaining the Dao, and his physical body and soul become immortals together, which is called the Human Immortal."

"Those of inferior ability, after their souls ascend to immortality, lack the strength to continue and have to abandon their physical bodies to become immortals solely through their souls. They are called ghost immortals, and are far inferior to human immortals."

"The magic weapon that Ningzhi mentioned, which is almost half transformed into a spiritual treasure, let's call it a quasi-spiritual treasure for now. Human immortals disdain using it; it's mostly used by ghost immortals."

"I see," Li Yinsheng nodded thoughtfully. "So, Fellow Daoist Shangguan means that only Human Immortals are considered true immortals?"

That's not what I meant!

Shangguan Ling'er immediately became anxious, looking as if she wanted to pounce on Li Yinsheng and cover his mouth.

"Do you know how difficult it is to become a Human Immortal? Most of the Supreme Elders in the lineage are Ghost Immortals! You must never say to anyone that Ghost Immortals are not considered Immortals!"

"Unless you are a celestial being, then you can say so," the uncle said leisurely.

“With your talent, you might one day be able to cultivate into an immortal,” Shangguan Ling’er shook her head, “but let’s not talk about such things now.”

Li Yinsheng nodded seriously, indicating that he had remembered.

“Although ghost immortals are not as good as human immortals, they are not beings that true cultivators can contend with,” Shangguan Ling’er said. “Your Xuanzhen Temple was destroyed by a ghost immortal.”

"A ghost immortal?" Li Yinsheng exclaimed in surprise. "Is it related to that quasi-spiritual treasure that my martial uncle mentioned?"

“That’s right,” Jiang Ningzhi nodded. “When we found that quasi-spiritual treasure, although it was shrouded in demonic energy, it looked dignified and upright, with a strong sense of righteousness.”

"Moreover, there is always a pure and clear energy within it, struggling to survive amidst the demonic energy."

"We assumed that this quasi-spiritual treasure was originally a righteous magic weapon, but it had been corrupted by demonic energy, so we brought it back to the temple in an attempt to purify and remove the demonic energy within it."

"Isn't this too risky? Quasi-spiritual treasures are used by ghost immortals, so they should be extremely dangerous for a true immortal, right?" Li Yinsheng frowned.

"When I and other seniors made this decision, we naturally had the confidence to suppress it," Jiang Ningzhi said with a wry smile.

"The reason why the Baozhao Sutra was never copied is also here."

"In Xuanzhen Temple, there is a top-tier magic treasure for suppressing the temple, called the Zhaoxuan Stele. It can both store magic techniques and has a strong ability to suppress."

"Although it has not yet reached the level of a quasi-spiritual treasure, it is not far off, and the Baozhao Sutra is contained within it."

"To truly grasp the essence of the Baozhao Scripture, the techniques alone are insufficient. One must use the spiritual energy of the Zhaoxuan Stele to cleanse the meridians and acupoints throughout the body before cultivation can commence. Otherwise, even if one forces cultivation, its power will be greatly diminished, resulting in diminishing returns."

"Correspondingly, any cultivator who has mastered the Baozhao Sutra can use and refine the Zhaoxuan Stele without refining it."

"Therefore, the Zhaoxuan Stele does not belong to any single True Person, but is shared by all True Persons of Xuanzhen Temple who cultivate the Baozhao Scripture."

“The true practitioners of the Baozhao Scripture, in addition to cultivating their own name-based magic treasures, also cultivate the Zhaoxuan Stele together and pass it down from generation to generation.”

“When Xuanzhen Temple does not encounter major events, the Zhaoxuan Stele is erected on the third floor of the Sutra Repository to teach the Baozhao Scripture to talented disciples and assist them in their cultivation.”

"If we encounter a formidable enemy, the Great True Person with the highest cultivation of the Baozhao Scripture will take the lead, with the other True Persons who cultivate the Baozhao Scripture assisting them, and together they will activate the Zhaoxuan Stele to fight the enemy and break free from their predicament."

“The Zhaoxuan Stele has existed since the establishment of Xuanzhen Temple. Before that, there was no shortage of Great Masters, and sometimes there were even two. As for the Masters who cultivated the Baozhao Scripture, there were sometimes three or four, and sometimes six or seven.”

“Xuanzhen Temple has been established for over a thousand years, and the cultivation of the Zhaoxuan Stele has never been interrupted during this time.”

Li Yinsheng gasped.

This magical artifact has been refined by countless True Immortals and Great True Immortals over thousands of years, and even in battle, it requires a Great True Immortal to take the lead and several True Immortals to work together to activate it.

Just hearing about its power made his scalp tingle.

"So, the reason you were so confident in suppressing that quasi-spiritual treasure was the Illuminating Stele?" he asked.

“That’s right. Although I don’t cultivate the Baozhao Sutra, there were six True Persons and one Great True Person in the temple at that time who cultivated the Baozhao Sutra. When they joined forces to activate the Zhaoxuan Stele, it was enough to suppress the Imperial Title True Person directly,” Jiang Ningzhi said.

"The premise is that the Imperial Edict Master doesn't run away, and is really stupid enough to confront that thing head-on."

Shangguan Ling'er added, "Moreover, if we encounter a particularly strong Imperial Title True Person like my master, the outcome is hard to say."

"With the Zhaoxuan Stele as our reliance, suppressing an unclaimed quasi-spiritual treasure should have been a sure thing." A bitter look appeared on Jiang Ningzhi's face.

"Unfortunately, it is not ownerless."

Li Yinsheng immediately realized: "Could it be that the Ghost Immortal has been hiding in that quasi-spiritual treasure all along?"

“That’s right,” she nodded gently, “and that quasi-spiritual treasure wasn’t a righteous spiritual treasure corrupted by demonic energy at all.”

"On the contrary, the pure energy in that quasi-spiritual treasure should be the work of a righteous immortal who sealed the ghost immortal within his own quasi-spiritual treasure."

"We were short-sighted and misunderstood the key points. We rashly brought it back to the temple, hoping to remove the demonic energy from it."

"But the demonic energy was originally generated by itself, and after years of refining, it has not decreased in the slightest."

"On the contrary, the pure energy within it is like water without a source or a tree without roots. After several years, it has become like a candle flickering in the wind."

"By the time we realized what was happening, the ghost immortal had broken free of its seal..."

As Jiang Ningzhi finished speaking, she gently closed her eyes.

"Although the Zhaoxuan Stele is powerful, how could it suppress a ghost immortal? That person went on a killing spree, and at that time, everyone in the temple, from the immortals to the ordinary disciples, was killed or injured."

"At that time, my cultivation level was close to the Dharma Aspect. I fought him to the death, but even at the cost of my meridians and foundation, I had no chance of winning. I only managed to fight him for a while."

"Then the Supreme Elder of the lineage noticed the presence of that ghost immortal, and that person fled with the Illumination Stele."

"Although I survived by chance, the Xuanzhen Temple was almost completely wiped out in this battle. Only a few disciples who were not in the temple at the time survived. After that... you know what happened next."

After listening to what Uncle Jiang said, Li Yinsheng remained silent.