Born with immortal seed

Chapter 337 Enlightenment and Bodhi
The Heavenly Spirit Gathering Array only served as a backup.

If possible, even Bai Zichen, who had full confidence in passing the Nascent Soul stage, would not want to take such a risk.

Who knows, perhaps they survived the heavenly tribulation, but then something went wrong in the final step of replenishing the primordial energy of heaven and earth after manifesting the infant.

Master Ge Cang suggested that he go deep into the Black Mountain to investigate the true situation of the Azure Phoenix once again.

Last time, due to the sudden invasion of the Ghost Spirit Sect, the mission was abandoned halfway, and not even a single feather of the Azure Phoenix was seen.

His ability to travel between the ends of the earth within reach was crippled, but his lightning escape technique was further improved, allowing him to escape even if the Azure Phoenix awakens.

Then, based on Ge Cang Zhenren's close observation, we can determine the exact level of the Azure Phoenix's strength and proceed with the next step of the plan.

"Wu Sheng, a member of the Secret Hall Guardian lineage, greets Ancestor Bai... Please show your token for verification."

Before the secret hall, a middle-aged cultivator, devoid of any aura and resembling a stubborn rock, spoke expressionlessly.

"I've come to collect two Enlightenment Bodhi seeds."

Bai Zichen displayed his identity token, and the intricate patterns on the gate flashed with spiritual light, emitting a pleasant sound confirming its authenticity.

The disciples of the Secret Hall lineage have always been passed down through a single lineage. They are not required to have talent or aptitude, but only to have excellent character, be able to endure loneliness, and be 100% loyal to the sect.

The successors were mostly chosen from orphans without parents, placed among the outer disciples to observe until they reached adulthood, and after passing the test, they entered the secret hall to begin cultivating the Treasure Gathering Technique.

Apart from a few Core Formation Ancestors and the Sect Leader, the disciples of the Secret Hall have no contact with other members of the sect. In fact, many elders do not even know who the seated elder of the Secret Hall is.

Bai Zichen could enter any part of the Qingfeng Sect without any restrictions, except for the secret hall where he needed to verify his token and sense his life essence.

It was confirmed that the person who came was indeed the person in question, and not someone else impersonating him.

"Verification approved. Please enter, Ancestor."

The middle-aged cultivator's tone remained completely calm, showing none of the excitement and fawning that the other disciples displayed when they saw him.

"Not bad, you've already reached the late Foundation Establishment stage... Strive to become the first Core Formation True Person in the Secret Hall Treasure Guardian lineage."

Bai Zichen nodded slightly, indicating his approval of Wu Sheng.

Unexpectedly, there was such a late-stage Foundation Establishment disciple hidden in the secret hall. Judging from his age, he should be less than a hundred years old.

In the outside world, he would be qualified to run for the position of the Fifth Palace Master.

The cultivation speed of the Secret Hall lineage has little to do with one's own aptitude; it mainly depends on the quantity and quality of the treasures being guarded, and it also places extremely high demands on the cultivator's mental fortitude.

If one's mind wavers, one's cultivation will plummet.

If it is as solid as a rock, then there is no worry about an unstable foundation or the dissipation of its precious energy.

With the growth of Qingfeng Sect in recent years, the number of treasures stored in the secret hall is almost ten times that of a hundred years ago.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wu Sheng also got on the fast track of cultivation, and his cultivation progress was much faster than that of his teachers and mentors.

Wei Dao once said that if Junior Brother Bai were willing to keep the Moon Spinning Sword in the secret vault for thirty years, it could create a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

This statement reveals the extent to which disciples who have cultivated the Treasure Gathering Technique rely on treasures.

Upon entering the secret hall, Bai Zichen went straight to the point, ignoring the large pile of dazzling magical treasures, many of which he had personally placed inside and were very familiar with.

Two brown Bodhi seeds hanging high above fell into my hand, emitting a refreshing fragrance that invigorated me.

This item is a third-order Enlightenment Bodhi, one of the spiritual items that True Lord Suihan used to trade for the Earth Divine Sand. In that transaction, the Ice Soul Sect also gave up a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade.

The piece of ancient ice jade, about the size of a palm, had long been placed beside Old Ancestor Bai to neutralize the fire poison generated from cultivating the Fire Dragon Returning to Origin Scripture.

This piece is large enough to last him until he reaches the Nascent Soul stage.

Once they reach the Nascent Soul stage, they will all have the ability to transform into fire dragons and breathe pure Yang fire, so they will no longer care about mere fire poison.

As the pure Yang fire circulates, the fire poison can be neutralized silently, eliminating the need for the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade.

The Enlightenment Bodhi is an extremely special spiritual object. After use, it can greatly enhance one's comprehension within seven days, which is of great benefit for cultivating special supernatural powers and secret techniques or breaking through the bottlenecks of various immortal arts.

It shares a similar essence with the Enlightenment Lotus Seed of the Holy Lotus Sect and the Enlightenment Spirit Tea he had seen before.

However, the Enlightenment Lotus Seed is more often regarded as a spiritual object for Core Formation, and the Enlightenment Spiritual Tea can be swallowed directly or used to brew tea, which can slightly and permanently enhance one's comprehension.

Enlightenment through Bodhi is simple and direct: once crushed, spiritual light bathes the body, greatly enhancing one's understanding.

The source of the Enlightenment Bodhi of the Ice Soul Sect is unknown. In any case, it was only after the Green Maple Sect repeatedly rejected their proposal to exchange magic treasures for the Earth Divine Sand that they reluctantly added this spiritual item.

There were three Bodhi seeds in the secret hall. Bai Zichen took two and left one for his descendants to use in case of need.

Fortunately, he had enough contribution points; otherwise, both the Eternal Ice Jade and the Enlightenment Bodhi would have required six figures in sect contribution points, making them unaffordable to exchange.

Bai Zichen took these two Enlightenment Bodhi stones, naturally intending to use them when refining a third-tier flying sword.

The application scope of the third-order Enlightenment Bodhi is limited to those below the Nascent Soul stage, and the third-order flying sword is still within its effective range.

In the days that followed, Bai Zichen traveled back and forth between Thunder Cliff and Ten Thousand Immortals Stream, mainly because refining magical treasures with water was inseparable from that spiritual spring.

This time, he chose to refine a high-grade magic weapon called the Ten Thousand Crows Pot, and the preliminary work went very smoothly.

Ten months later, when the most important fusion step began, he decisively crushed an Enlightenment Bodhi, and a milky white spiritual light flashed and entered his body.

"Is this what it feels like to have a Heavenly-level comprehension? It seems that the patterns of all things have become clear..."

Bai Zichen had a premonition that if he were to practice the Cantong Qi or other supernatural abilities now, it would be ten times faster than usual.

The moment the hand seals for the Myriad Crows Pot came to mind, he used them naturally, without even needing to practice them several times in his mind.

When the hand seals are mastered to the point of perfection, it's as if one has already experienced refining the Ten Thousand Crows Pot hundreds of times. Where to apply force and when to tighten the hand seals are all done with ease.

The ten fingers danced, as if plucking the strings of a musical instrument, weaving a beautiful picture.

Bai Zichen, whose comprehension was only average, had never felt this way before. From this perspective, his past weapon-refining techniques were crude and clumsy, riddled with flaws.

By simply changing a few things, the efficiency of weapon crafting can be greatly improved.

"No wonder spiritual items related to enlightenment are so valuable and sought after by so many people... Those who have accumulated profound skills in cultivation and are just one step away from breaking through will almost certainly enter the next realm if they have it."

Compared to other cultivators, Bai Zichen actually experienced better results from taking the Enlightenment Bodhi.

Because his weapon-refining skills were acquired through haphazard learning, relying on specializing in one area and sparing no expense to improve them.

He has absolutely no foundation in weapon crafting. If he were to craft a top-grade spiritual weapon that he had never seen before, there would still be a high probability that he would fail.

As long as he successfully refines a certain magical artifact once, the Mysterious Holy Body can forcibly raise his artifact refining level as if it were a forced growth.

Therefore, in the art of weapon crafting, he was truly lacking in certain skills.

However, he never intended to become a master weapon refiner; all his efforts were simply to master the art of sword forging on his own.

Under the influence of the Enlightened Bodhi, Bai Zichen rapidly absorbed the knowledge of weapon crafting, and the weapon crafting inheritances he had read in the past gradually came to his attention and were put to his own use.

The next moment, a flock of crows cried out in chaos. Although not a single spirit crow could be seen, there was the sound of thousands of wings flapping, as if tens of thousands of spirit crows had actually flown into the pot.

A silver snuff bottle-sized jar of ten thousand crows leaped out of the eye of the spiritual spring and lay in his palm with water droplets on it.

The first superior-grade magic weapon in my weapon-refining career was thus born with the help of the enlightened Bodhi.

Bai Zichen raced against time, taking advantage of the remaining time before his comprehension enhancement expired, and began refining the third-tier flying sword, flying directly back to Thunderclap Cliff.

During the forging of the Thunder Sound Sword, the blade must be tempered with lightning and fire, so the water-forging method is definitely not feasible.

He had made arrangements for sword forging on Thunder Cliff early in the morning, and prepared many portions of Thunder Sound Bamboo and various auxiliary materials.

Bai Zichen stood before the Heavenly Thunder Wall, recalling the forging method of the Thunder Sound Sword and memorizing it.

A five-foot-long section of Thunder Sound Bamboo appeared in his hand, as thick as a forearm, purplish-blue in color, with lightning crackling in the center of the bamboo.

A light tap with a finger produces a thunderous sound, with lingering echoes.

For the first time refining a third-tier flying sword, Bai Zichen abandoned earth fire and directly used pill fire to refine spiritual materials, while simultaneously integrating auxiliary materials into the Thunder Sound Bamboo.

The originally straight Thunder Sound Bamboo gradually took on the shape of a flying sword. Just as he pointed his finger at the Thunder Crystal fragments on the ground, the Thunder Sound Bamboo swayed and lost its shape, melting into a puddle of viscous liquid by the Pill Fire.

Scattered on the ground, the extreme heat absorbed the fragments of the lightning crystal, which turned into a charred mess after cooling.

"The frequency of the alchemical fire smelting process malfunctioned, damaging the internal structure of the Thunder Sound Bamboo... Let's try again!"

In his Heavenly-grade comprehension state, Bai Zichen realized where he went wrong the instant he failed to refine the weapon.

Without pausing, he took out the second set of sword-forging materials and began forging again.

This time, it went a step further. The fragments of the Thunder Crystal exploded, drawing the raging thunderous spiritual energy to the Thunder Sound Bamboo, causing the sword to take shape. From the outside, the texture of the spiritual bamboo was no longer visible.

However, in the final step of activating lightning and fire to bombard the tempering process, the heavenly lightning that arrived directly blasted the half-finished Thunder Sound Sword into ashes.

When the thunder dissipated, only half of the Thunder Sound Sword remained on the spot, still emitting blue smoke.

"This is the biggest flaw of tempering with heavenly lightning: the power of the lightning and fire cannot be controlled... How can an unfinished third-tier flying sword withstand a full-scale bombardment of heavenly lightning?"

Bai Zichen didn't know how the swordsmiths of the Fish Dragon Sect solved this problem back then.

But at this moment, all he could do was keep trying and gamble on his luck, hoping that the next heavenly lightning strike would be within the range that the Thunder Sound Sword could withstand.

After consuming a pill to restore his true essence, he successfully forged a semi-finished Thunder Sound Sword in the last moments before his enlightenment state ended.

Thanks to the special environment of Tianlei Wall, lightning often strikes.

After a short wait, a relatively weak bolt of lightning finally appeared, pushing the Thunder Sound Sword into it.

Sizzle! Boom!

Amidst the clash of thunder and fire, a deafening thunderous sound resounded across Tianlei Cliff, and every disciple looked up at the summit.

(End of this chapter)