Born with immortal seed

Chapter 683: Merit Gift
"The clear and the turbid rise and fall, immortals and demons create chaos..."

Bai Zichen calculated that without the Moon Demon's true form and knowledge of the Taiyin changes, even with the mysterious holy body, it would take at least a hundred years to cultivate the Taiyin Purification and Turbidity Slash.

"It still takes too long. I can consider cultivating it after I reach the Nascent Soul stage... This supernatural ability allows one to use a sword instead of a palm and integrate it into sword techniques. It is extremely valuable."

He already possesses the supreme Dao Sheng Yi Jian, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need other supernatural abilities.

It's impossible to fight to the death with the same Dao Sheng Yi Jian technique against every enemy, regardless of their level.

After drawing the sword, his true energy vanished, leaving him powerless to fight again.

It is only suitable for two-on-one combat in extreme situations; fighting against multiple opponents is tantamount to suicide.

The Taiyin Purification and Turbidity Slash initially consisted of only two tiny seeds, which, through derivation, transformation, and chain reactions, achieved its earth-shattering effect.

It relies on the pure and turbid energies at opposite ends of the spectrum, and does not require much of one's own true energy to be invested.

Two Qiankun Pouches were also found among the remains of the Night Emperor, filled with demonic soil, demonic marrow crystals, and various demonic spiritual materials.

Judging from their spiritual energy, many of them are fifth-order magical materials.

"In the hands of demonic cultivators, the demonic materials in these two brocade pouches are priceless treasures, worth more than a thousand pieces of gold... But what use are they to me, a righteous cultivator and disciple of the Daoist sect?"

Bai Zichen sighed helplessly. Despite its immense value, it was no different from a pile of useless junk.

As for selling to demonic cultivators, with the Moral Sect around, demonic cultivation is not thriving in this world and cannot be considered respectable.

It's useless to show off your power in other regions. Just look at the center of the cultivation world. There are a few demonic sects in the Central Region that can be considered super sects.

There have been cultivators who have reached the Nascent Soul stage, and whose actions appear similar to those of the Demonic Sect. However, upon closer examination, it can be found that their lineage is primarily based on unorthodox methods.

Without high-level cultivators, these demonic creatures might fetch a high price, but they could never be exchanged for the items Bai Zichen desired.

He threw out a ball of platinum flames, burning several pieces of the Night Emperor's remains to ashes. Just as he was about to dispel the Star River Sword Formation, he seemed to suddenly remember something and abruptly patted the sword box in his sleeve.

The twelve constellations were pushed to their limits, and countless sword lights were scattered across the starry sky.

At the same time, his eyes widened, and Zhulong's Yin-Yang pupils seemed to be cast from another distant world, looking down from an extremely high position.

Everything within the sword formation appeared so small and inescapable from the perspective of the Candle Dragon's Yin-Yang Eyes.

The former Night Emperor is not dead!

Bai Zichen's heart pounded, and he pushed his true energy to its limit, ready to strike at any moment.

It's not like we haven't encountered powerful figures who descended to the mortal realm at the Refinement stage. That Nine Crystal Venerable was one of the few Refinement cultivators from the Earth Immortal Realm who had fallen to the mortal world.

After being imprisoned for tens of thousands of years, how much skill would he still have left? He would still die by his own hand.

Even though the Night Emperor was the strongest among the demons who descended to the world, his Moon Demon Saint Body was broken by that mysterious sword immortal.

Later, it was chased and beaten by the Immortal Realm, and it abandoned piece after piece of its demonic body to cut off its tail in order to survive.

When they hid in the cave, they were already on the verge of death. After so many years, they still have some means of concealing themselves.

The main concern was the forbidden techniques and secret arts of the Heavenly Demon Realm, especially those related to the soul and spirit, fearing that they might be caught off guard and fall victim to them without warning.

Just like the Night Emperor who just died, a remnant of his soul remained hidden within his body, unnoticed by anyone.

Even if this person hadn't run into Bai Zichen, he wouldn't have lived much longer.

Once he retrieves the demonic body parts and his true form is perfected, the day he believes he can return to the Godhood realm, the remnant soul of the Night Emperor hidden deep within will leap out and devour him whole, thus benefiting someone else.

Looking at the perfect devouring plan, it is highly likely that the former Night Emperor intentionally guided it, or even induced it to this point with mind-controlling magic.

Their purpose is nothing more than to be reborn through another's body and usurp another's place.

Bai Zichen's realization that the Night Emperor was not dead was not due to any enlightenment, but rather because he realized that no merit had been bestowed upon him.

In those days, when the Blood Demon was slain, merit was bestowed upon those who did so as a reward from Heaven and Earth.

The Night Emperor is stronger than the Blood Demon. Killing him would be like removing a greater scourge from Heaven, and the reward for merit would only be more abundant.

There is no reason to remain indifferent; it would go against the fundamental principles of the natural order.

Then there is only one possibility: the new Night Emperor did not truly devour the previous one; in the eyes of Heaven, he was merely a puppet, a parasite.

If you kill it, you will naturally not receive any gifts from heaven and earth.

"Thank goodness I remembered this incident, otherwise it would have been like releasing a tiger back into the mountains... It wouldn't have affected me, but it would have ruined the cultivation world a thousand years later."

Bai Zichen felt a wave of fear. The Night Emperor's feigned death was equivalent to being reborn.

It is extremely difficult for a remnant soul to rebuild itself, but even the slightest possibility would leave a great calamity for the cultivation world.

"Got you!"

The sword light hanging high failed to achieve its purpose; it was the Candle Dragon's Yin-Yang Eyes that saw through the illusion and found a trace of a nearly transparent remnant soul.

Drifting in the folds of the void, it seemed to be in a deep slumber, undisturbed by the outside world.

His appearance is somewhat similar to that of the Night Emperor, but he is more mature and reserved, with his eyes closed.

"Such ruthless methods. To be this ruthless to oneself, no wonder her successor thought she had devoured everything, and even I was almost fooled..."

Bai Zichen's eyelids twitched. Rather than calling it a remnant soul, it would be more appropriate to call it a wandering soul.

It was so fragile that it would dissipate with a single gust of wind.

Judging from the strength of the primordial spirit of a cultivator who has reached the Void Refinement stage, they have basically discarded all three souls and seven spirits, leaving only a trace of their true spirit.

This step is dangerous enough that it could very well lead to complete and silent destruction, unknown to anyone.

Even if the plan succeeds and he is reborn in the body of the new Night Emperor, he may not retain his previous memories.

Perhaps only by doing this could he deceive his own disciples.

Otherwise, with their lineage passed down through generations, the Moon Demon Clan would have mastered all the supernatural powers and secret techniques, so how could they not know that every Moon Demon is a master at manipulating souls?

He devoured his ex, and must have thoroughly examined his own condition afterward.

With a thought, the two flying swords above his head flickered and crossed, sweeping towards the remnant soul.

Considering that the Abyssal Prison Demon Sword originated from the Heavenly Demon Realm, Bai Zichen deliberately avoided this sword and used the Nanming Fire Sword and the Sisha Demon-Slaying Sword instead.

"what?"

The two sword lights turned and returned empty-handed, failing to cause any damage to the remnant soul of the Night Emperor.

"As expected, they had other precautions in place; they were even immune to the flying sword attack..."

Undeterred, he unleashed the Purple Star Thunder Sword again, which pierced right through him without even causing a ripple.

"Not of this realm, indeed! Truly a hidden trump card of a Void Refinement cultivator, truly extraordinary!"

Bai Zichen stopped his sword light, and added two more strands of sacred beast aura to his pupils before he discovered the mystery of the Night Emperor's remnant soul.

After the remnant soul leaves the body, it is as if it has entered another world, which should be related to its own inner world.

But understanding something is one thing, being able to crack it is another.

Even if he used his strongest methods, he couldn't possibly bypass the Void Refining Demon Clan's cave to attack the remnant soul.

Just as Bai Zichen was considering whether to try using the Dao Sheng Yi Jian, his strongest technique, he suddenly thought of a possibility.

"My Heavenly Soul Finger Bone is the nemesis of all spirits and essences, but I haven't truly mastered it yet, so I don't know if it will be effective..."

Subconsciously, he stretched out his ten fingers and reached out to grab the remnant soul of the Night Emperor. Even though there was still some distance between them, he saw the remnant soul sway slightly.

"This is the moment!"

Perhaps it was the intimidating power of the Heavenly Soul Finger Bone on souls and ghosts that caused the remnant soul to tremble and momentarily break free from its grotto-heaven, even though it had not yet been fully cultivated and did not yet have any practical effect.

How could Bai Zichen miss such a fleeting opportunity? In the blink of an eye, a strand of lightning sword light was drawn into it.

Upon contact with the remnant soul of the Night Emperor, they crackled and leaped, both dissolving simultaneously.

The starry sky overhead had cleared up, and a ray of sunlight shone down, landing on Bai Zichen's head.

The next moment, a warm current flowed through his body, and he felt his ears and eyes sharpen, as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged towards him more actively.

He immediately understood that this was the power of merit bestowed by heaven and earth after he killed the Night Emperor.

Although it was formless and intangible, Bai Zichen could feel the merit flowing through his body, splitting into two branches, one strong and one weak.

If there were more, it might even be possible to accumulate merit and form what is known as a treasure of merit.

"We finally succeeded in killing it, leaving no hidden dangers for future generations... If we can eradicate the ancient demon in my generation, the cultivation world will be spared a few more demonic disasters in the future."

This time, Bai Zichen truly put away the Star River Sword Formation and felt relieved.

Unlike before, he now has a much better understanding of the power of merit.

Aside from being favored by Heaven, making everything go much more smoothly, the power of merit has many other uses.

For example, refining a treasure of virtue can help one overcome tribulations, avert disasters, and prevent all evil from invading.

Although it failed once, it can do things that many other magical treasures cannot.

If there are more of them, the power of merit can be infused into suitable spiritual materials to form a merit magic sword.

However, judging from this trend, it may not be possible to kill three or five more ancient demons.

"The Night Emperor's cave is beyond my current strength to covet. I must wait until I reach the Nascent Soul stage before I can even think about it. Or perhaps it will decline over time and reveal its presence in the cultivation world."

One can imagine that the cave of a Void Refining Demon Clan must contain countless treasures.

Even though many are exclusive to the demon race, if it is a fifth-tier flying sword like the Abyssal Prison Demon Sword, he can spare no effort to communicate with the sword spirit and refine it.

It is a great pity that we were unable to find out the method of entering and leaving Taiyin Cave through the Taixu Rebirth Mantra, and we missed a great treasure.

After determining the direction, Bai Zichen continued his journey on his sword.

As it turns out, such unexpected events are still extremely rare in the Central Region, and everything went smoothly afterward.

The number of Tribulation Cultivators that rose to prominence shortly after the war between humans and demons declined rapidly as the Moral Sect began to pay attention to them and many sects withdrew their power.

Having successfully arrived at the Tushita Heaven, they paid their respects and then began to wander around the vicinity.

The invitation was addressed to Yu Ziliang, but the real target of this transaction was the Daoist lineage master, the most mysterious deity of the Daoist sect.

In fact, if it weren't for the chaos caused by demons, even the Daoist lineages wouldn't appear so frequently.

Besides Yu Ziliang, who participated almost from beginning to end, several other disciples of the Dao lineage also joined the battle.

Bai Zichen had his own plans for this deal and was not prepared to follow the other party's pace entirely.

This place was originally a fifth-order spiritual vein, but the Daoist lineage moved the entire spiritual vein into its own grotto-heaven, raising the Doushuai Grotto-heaven to a higher level.

Only a small section of the spiritual vein remains, which has no significant impact on the outside world.

……

"Master, Bai Zichen has arrived at the foot of Xuandu Mountain and delivered his visiting card."

Yu Ziliang knelt down in front of the stone pagoda and reported the truth.

“Then please invite him into the Tushita Heaven. I will wait for him here.”

A faint, distant voice emanated from the stone tower, intermittent and seemingly from an extremely long distance.

“Master… he means he doesn’t want to enter the cave heaven, and wants to meet and trade with us on Xuandu Mountain.”

Yu Ziliang, a man of great stature and accustomed to the world, blushed deeply at those words. After speaking, he let out a sigh of relief, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his heart.

Upon receiving Bai Zichen's invitation, he was greatly shocked after reading its contents.

However, if we consider Bai Zichen as a Nascent Soul cultivator, it makes perfect sense upon closer examination.

Bai Zichen's refusal to enter the Douluo Cave Heaven stemmed from his personal considerations, but it also placed the Moral Sect on the level of untrustworthy individuals.

Yu Ziliang couldn't imagine how his master would react after hearing these words.

"good, very good, excellent."

That ethereal voice remained devoid of any emotional fluctuation, dry and icy like a straight line.

“Tell him that tomorrow at dawn, when the purple clouds rise, I will appear at the top of Xuandu Mountain.”

……

A simple stone cave, the marks of which indicate it was recently carved out with a sharp tool.

Bai Zichen sat cross-legged on a millstone-sized piece of ore, with the Taiqing Crystal Sword resting horizontally on his lap.

This extremely sharp fifth-tier flying sword only underwent basic refining due to time constraints.

To make the process of controlling the empire more smooth in the future, we will need to delve deeper into the refinement process, and there is still much work to be done.

Whenever he has free time, he communicates with the sword spirit.

The Taiqing Crystal Sword is unlike any other fifth-tier flying sword Bai Zichen has ever seen. The sword spirit has no temper and does exactly what you ask for.

Knowing the bad temper of sword spirits all too well, he even began to doubt whether these sword spirits were the same kind of being.

Because of the existence of the Supreme Pure Sword Box, it is irresistible to all flying swords and is the destination they yearn for.

In addition, Bai Zichen's swordsmanship level, even if it is not as good as the number one in all ages as outsiders boast, easily suppressing the Nascent Soul sword cultivators of the Taibai Sword Sect, can at least be considered as excellent talent as he continues to improve.

The sword spirit's attitude towards him was hundreds of times better than that towards other sword cultivators.

In fact, the mysterious sacred body means that as long as Bai Zichen invests time in a certain area, his talent will only increase.

Swordsmanship is his forte, and he started practicing it at the Qi Refining stage and has never stopped.

This allowed them to further develop their strengths and gain the ability to rival the top sword immortals of all time.

"If it were the Holy Lord of Propagation, he would gladly agree, and might even have Yu Ziliang bring out the Northern Heavenly Divine Mud directly. I wonder how the Pulse Lord would respond..."

Times have changed. Back then, Bai Zichen could freely enter and leave the Doushuai Cave Heaven, but that didn't mean he possessed the combat power of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Now that Bai Zichen has become another extreme outside of the Moral Sect in the cultivation world, he can still do so.

"Like the Buddha of the Wheel of Jewels, the Venerable One is severely restricted and cannot leave lightly. However, as long as he is in his own domain, the strength he can unleash far exceeds his proper level."

The Buddha of the Wheel of Dharma relies on countless believers, monks, and arhats, who advance in the Buddha-land layer by layer, with the Buddha's power flowing and the Buddha's light shining brightly.

The Venerable One was able to do so because the Tushita Heaven was a sacred place with a strong Daoist lineage, blessed by generations of immortals, and suppressed by celestial deities from the upper realm.

Playing on home turf, both of them are top-tier in this realm, comparable to late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

(End of this chapter)