blueteamnovel Chapter 339: Harvest and Agreement
Chapter 339: Harvest and Agreement
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Chapter 339: Harvest and Agreement
A few days later.
In the Qi Kingdom of the Seven Kingdoms Alliance, within an underground cave a thousand li away from the "Forbidden Abyss."
Lan Chang'an sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his consciousness immersed in the fifth frame imprint of the Nine Seal Stele.
The fifth imprint of the Nine Seal Stele had now been illuminated by one-fifth.
The area illuminated this time was also one-tenth, identical to the previous instance, which somewhat surprised him.
After all, Heavenly Net Ancestor had undergone three attempts at Nascent Soul possession, which had caused him to lose a portion of the foundational essence of his Nascent Soul spirit body.
Not long ago, in order to evade Blood Bat King’s tracking and pursuit, he had performed a Nascent Soul forbidden technique, which resulted in an overall depletion of his Nascent Soul spirit body by one-tenth.
In terms of the integrity of his Nascent Soul, he was inferior to True Monarch Shazhai back then.
From this, Lan Chang'an deduced that the progress of illumination was tied to cultivation realms rather than the strength of one’s Nascent Soul spirit.
Besides realm, it might also involve traits related to reincarnation.
Regardless of whether they were in the early, middle, or late stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, cultivators shared the same lifespan and fundamental life essence, despite vast differences in magical abilities.
Perhaps, even if he devoured a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, the illumination progress would still only be one-tenth.
After a long while.
Lan Chang'an opened his eyes, sorting out some useful information from Heavenly Net Ancestor’s chaotic sea of memories.
Heavenly Net Ancestor did not excel in a wide range of immortal cultivation arts, but he had lived long enough to master a few third-rank skills, though overall, he was slightly inferior to Master Lihuo.
Without the ability to convert him into a past life, even if Heavenly Net Ancestor had fourth-rank techniques, they would be of little use to Lan Chang'an—he simply didn’t have the time or energy to learn them.
In terms of combat ability, Heavenly Net Ancestor was fairly mediocre among Nascent Soul cultivators of the same rank. However, he specialized in some unorthodox techniques, making him relatively adept at self-preservation.
His greatest strength lay in the Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Method, which had anti-aging effects and could even restore youth, while also enhancing cultivation and accelerating the recovery of vital essence.
Because of this, Heavenly Net Ancestor had abundant energy, countless offspring, and had developed Heavenly Net Sect into a family-style sect.
During battles, he frequently consumed vital blood, but his recovery rate afterward was fairly quick.
However, in the cultivation world, female cultivators at or above the Core Formation Late Stage were extremely rare, let alone female Nascent Soul True Monarchs, who almost always belonged to top-tier factions in the surrounding regions.
The Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Method that Heavenly Net Ancestor had mastered was called "Dragon Phoenix Dual Cauldron Technique", obtained from an ancient cave dwelling.
However, after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, he encountered a bottleneck, and the technique provided minimal benefits to his cultivation.
Lan Chang'an mused:
"The Eastern Region of the Great Qing is resource-poor, and high-level female cultivators are too few. This limited Heavenly Net Ancestor’s growth along his chosen path."
"Otherwise, with his profound mastery of dual cultivation, if he were in a region with a more advanced cultivation civilization, the benefits would be far greater. He might even have had a chance to reach the mid stage of Nascent Soul."
"The ‘Dragon Phoenix Dual Cauldron Technique’... I’ll organize this secret technique’s memory later. Even if I don’t use it in this life, it might assist my cultivation in my next life."
Time was pressing, so Lan Chang'an prioritized sorting out the most crucial memories.
Especially the opportunity to advance to the Nascent Soul Realm.
His luck was good—he managed to extract key information regarding the Tianying Fruit.
Heavenly Net Sect did indeed secretly cultivate a Tianying Fruit, though it was still over a hundred years short of maturity.
The Tianying Fruit required fourth-rank a spiritual vein in its soil to grow stably.
However, when Heavenly Net Sect lost control of Chen Kingdom too quickly, their fourth-rank spiritual vein sect base was destroyed, delaying the growth of this crucial Nascent Soul-forming ingredient.
According to the extracted memories:
That Tianying Fruit was not in Heavenly Net Ancestor’s possession, nor was it brought to the Seven Kingdoms Alliance.
Instead, it was hidden at a secret location along the way, along with other precious resources.
This hidden treasure trove required the direct bloodline of Heavenly Net Ancestor and a special token key to unlock. Otherwise, a self-destruct restriction would be triggered.
The token key was held by the patriarch of the Xie Family, the only other late-stage Core Formation cultivator of the Xie bloodline.
The Xie Family Patriarch, while being pursued by the Blood Spirit Sect, was severely wounded but managed to escape separately from Sect Master Wei using a Nascent Soul life-saving trump card.
At the same time, Sect Master Wei and two other mid-stage True Dan descendants each carried a different Nascent Soul auxiliary herb, all fourth-rank spiritual herbs.
Lan Chang'an had to admit—Heavenly Net Ancestor was good at spreading out the risk.
...
"The Tianying Fruit isn't in the Seven Kingdoms Alliance. I'll still need to locate the Xie Family Patriarch and make another trip back."
"But the impending calamity is drawing closer... I fear there won’t be enough time to plot this out."
After analyzing the situation, Lan Chang'an sighed and shook his head regretfully.
In the human world, perfection was rare. There was always gain and loss—one couldn't have everything.
If he grew too greedy, the risks would be too great.
Lan Chang'an decided to give up on the Tianying Fruit and the other Nascent Soul materials.
His decision from back then remained unchanged.
If the Central Region Evergreen Practitioner dared to come after him—he would flee immediately.
Over the past year, he had already obtained Taiyin Jade Essence and Ziwu Clear Wind, both rare opportunities for an ordinary late-stage Core Formation cultivator.
Fortunately, Heavenly Net Ancestor’s spoils of war had brought Lan Chang'an some unexpected surprises.
Inside the spatial ring, there were several fourth-rank materials.
Besides herbs, there were several fourth-rank metal ores, which could be used to refine magical treasures or enhance and upgrade his quasi-fourth-rank puppet.
With these materials, his green-armored puppet was now just about ready to be fully upgraded into a true fourth-rank puppet.
These fourth-rank materials had saved Lan Chang'an at least sixty to a hundred years of effort.
Among the loot were also two Nascent Soul-level magical treasures—one top-grade and one superior-grade.
Heavenly Net Sect, as a Nascent Soul-level faction with several thousand years of heritage, had an ancestral magical treasure, the "Wind Cloud Fan", which had been passed down through generations and was deeply intertwined with their cultivation techniques.
However, Nascent Soul early-stage cultivators found top-grade magical treasures too draining to wield, making them unsuitable for prolonged or frequent use.
Such magical treasures were better suited for mid-to-late Nascent Soul cultivators.
It was said that in Heaven Honoured Continent, the top Nascent Soul Great Cultivators wielded pseudo-spiritual treasures, capable of effortlessly slaughtering ordinary Nascent Soul True Monarchs.
As for loot below the Nascent Soul level, they had little appeal to Lan Chang'an, who was already at the pinnacle of the Core Formation stage.
Even Crystal Condensation Pills, Core Formation spirit items, and breakthrough pills for Core Formation cultivators, while considered strategic resources, were of no real use to him.
Unless it was a third-rank Life Extension Pill or a third-rank longevity fruit.
Surprisingly, among Heavenly Net Ancestor’s loot, while there were no Life Extension Pills, there was a Longevity Fruit that had grown to the top of the third-rank!
As an old Nascent Soul monster, Heavenly Net Ancestor had long since consumed a third-rank Life Extension Pill and had been attempting to cultivate a fourth-rank Longevity Fruit.
If successfully refined into a fourth-rank Life Extension Pill, it could extend an ordinary cultivator's lifespan by at least sixty years.
Lan Chang'an carefully stored the third-rank Longevity Fruit, considering two possible future uses:
One, use the Evergreen secret spell to accelerate its growth, transforming it into a fourth-rank Longevity Fruit.
Two, refine it into a superior quality third-rank Life Extension Pill to get the refreshed drug resistance.
Inside the cave, Lan Chang'an finished sorting through the memories and treasures.
Without lingering for even a moment, he immediately set off for the Forbidden Abyss, a thousand li away.
The cave where he had sorted through Heavenly Net Ancestor’s memories was relatively close to the spatial node connected to Tinghai Pavilion.
If an unexpected danger were to suddenly descend upon him, Lan Chang'an could quickly escape from Great Qing through the spatial node.
...
The Forbidden Abyss was among the most infamous and perilous forbidden zones in the Seven Kingdoms Alliance.
At its heart lay a bottomless abyss, shrouded in strange mist. Within the depths lurked irrational beasts and malevolent spirits, along with occasional spatial disturbances.
The deeper one ventured, the thicker the strange mist became, making it easy to lose one’s sense of direction.
For human cultivators, this place was treacherous—spiritual sense and mana would be continuously suppressed.
Over the past tens of thousands of years, countless Core Formation cultivators had lost their way in the Forbidden Abyss, never to return.
Even Nascent Soul cultivators experienced severe suppression in its depths. Moreover, with no valuable spiritual treasures known to exist there, Nascent Soul True Monarchs were reluctant to explore too deeply into this unknown and dangerous land.
Two hours later.
A blue-robed youth had already entered the Forbidden Abyss, cautiously exploring and descending into the great chasm.
The Tianying Fruit still needed over a hundred years to mature fully.
If he played his cards right, he could convince Flame Departing Palace to “safeguard” it for him for many years.
Then, when the time was right, he could return and retrieve it himself.
After all, only he knew about the spatial node between the two human realms, the Great Qing and the Great Yuan.
In theory, if he repaired and stabilized the spatial passage, he could even establish a trade route between the two regions.
However, with the threat from the Nascent Soul Evergreen Technique expert, each traversal would damage the spatial formation, accelerating its collapse.
For now, this idea was impractical.
...
Three days later.
Within the Seven Kingdoms Alliance, the Flame Departing Palace had relocated its sect and established a new mountain gate.
Upon receiving an urgent transmission, the current Grand Elder, Wang Feng, rushed back.
At the core of the quasi-fourth-rank spiritual vein, a towering main peak rose into the clouds, with an environment rich in spiritual energy, nearly reaching true fourth-rank levels.
"Ruyan! The new news from Senior Brother Nie, is it true?"
Wang Feng, standing atop a replica of the Lihuo Gourd, had a handsome face, short beard, and appeared to be in his early thirties. His demeanor carried the steadiness of age and the aura of a true leader.
His Dao companion, Chen Ruyan, wore a flowing blue dress, exuding an elegant and classical air.
"Husband, I found this jade box in my personal storage. The restriction on it is beyond what a Core Formation cultivator can break."
Wang Feng accepted the jade box, immediately noticing an inscription on it.
The words "For Junior Brother Wang’s Eyes Only" stood out clearly, meticulously written with no personal stylistic flourishes.
In the lower right corner, a single character was signed: "Nie."
The phrase "Junior Brother Wang" felt unfamiliar—he hadn’t been addressed that way in years.
Most of the older generation in Flame Departing Palace had passed away. As a late-stage Immortal Golden Dan cultivator, Wang Feng was now the strongest, wielding absolute authority.
Even the few senior Core Formation cultivators left addressed him as "Grand Elder."
Back then, Nie Yuan had referred to himself as Senior Brother, even though they were both Immortal Golden Dan cultivators—his power had been overwhelming.
At the time, Nie Yuan had made three key contributions to Flame Departing Palace, helping them rebuild their mountain gate and lay the foundation for their revival.
Now, Flame Departing Palace had regained most of its former strength, lacking only a Nascent Soul True Monarch.
Wang Feng scrutinized the restriction on the jade box—it was highly intricate, incorporating elements of Flame Departing Palace’s core inheritance.
Even he couldn’t break it quickly.
If he forced it open, the jade box would self-destruct.
"Could it be... has Senior Brother Nie reached that level? Or perhaps..."
Wang Feng had long speculated that Nie Yuan might have merged with the remnant soul consciousness of Master Lihuo, inheriting part of his legacy as repayment for the past favors.
Hum!
The moment Wang Feng channeled his Immortal Golden Dan mana into the jade box, the restriction automatically unraveled.
The restriction on the jade box had recognized Wang Feng’s cultivation aura.
Among those who cultivated Flame Departing Palace’s core techniques, he was the only one at the peak of Immortal Golden Dan.
Inside the jade box lay two items:
A jade slip and a sealed blood bead.
When Wang Feng scanned the jade slip with his spiritual sense, his expression immediately turned solemn.
The jade slip contained confidential intelligence on the Xie Family of Heavenly Net Sect, detailing the true condition of the injured Heavenly Net Sect Master and the Xie Family Patriarch’s background.
Most crucially, it revealed the exact location of the Tianying Fruit.
With Flame Departing Palace’s strength, using the blood bead to track the Xie Family Patriarch and launching a surprise attack would not be difficult.
Seizing the key token and unlocking the secret treasury containing the Tianying Fruit was entirely feasible.
Nie Yuan’s message was clear—
The past debts between him and Flame Departing Palace had been settled.
This time, he was sharing critical intelligence in exchange for a deal with Wang Feng.
Flame Departing Palace could plunder as much as they wanted, but Nie Yuan only wanted the Tianying Fruit.
Since the fruit still needed another hundred years to mature, he wanted Wang Feng to safeguard it until the right time.
Everything else, including Nascent Soul rare resources, would be Flame Departing Palace’s to keep.
If Flame Departing Palace upheld their end of the bargain, Nie Yuan promised a future favor in return.
Of course, he also acknowledged the possibility that Flame Departing Palace might be tempted by greed and decide to use the Tianying Fruit for themselves.
If that happened, then in the future, Wang Feng or Flame Departing Palace would owe him a favor instead.
Unless Flame Departing Palace completely abandons this opportunity and refuses to leverage the intelligence, Nie Yuan will come to "collect the debt" in the future.
Wang Feng took a deep breath, his expression shifting.
"The Tianying Fruit..."
It was the most critical main ingredient for the Infant Transformation Pill.
Even consuming it directly could provide nearly half the effects of the pill.
He had already reached the peak of Core Formation, standing at the threshold of the Nascent Soul Realm.
Flame Departing Palace had poured all their remaining heritage and resources into him, raising his chances of forming a Nascent Soul to about seventy to eighty percent.
...
Two days later.
A man in a bamboo hat, at Fake Dan cultivation, hurriedly left a prosperous high-tier immortal city within the Seven Kingdoms Alliance.
He had just purchased the latest intelligence from the Seven Kingdoms Alliance’s largest information network about the warfront of the Six Demonic Sects.
The report included a shocking revelation—
True Monarch Fulong of Illusion Demon Palace has fallen. His death appears to be linked to a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Central Region of Great Qing—True Monarch Cyanwood.
At the demonic battlefield’s border, the Vice Leader of the Seven Kingdoms Alliance personally escorted the “wounded and pursued” True Monarch Cyanwood, treating him as an honored guest.
"True Monarch Cyanwood... injured?"
A thousand li away, Lan Chang'an’s heart tensed.
Deep inside, he felt a growing sense of crisis.
His Evergreen Dao Fruit was sealed, and his mana was completely restrained, yet an ominous premonition surged within him.
He quickly performed a divination for fortune and misfortune.
The result was chilling—
The original minor misfortune had escalated into moderate misfortune.
The Seven Kingdoms Alliance was vast, far larger than the Righteous Dao Alliance.
And yet, the mere arrival of this “injured” Nascent Soul cultivator at the border had already pushed his calamity to this level.
"So-called injuries... this must be a deception."
This True Monarch wanted others to believe he had fought a life-or-death battle with a demonic Nascent Soul expert, suffering severe injuries and exhausting his vital essence.
But in reality, it was likely a deliberate facade.
Lan Chang'an could no longer afford to hesitate.
He had no time to concern himself with the Tianying Fruit or other Nascent Soul resources.
Retrieving his puppet clones, he rushed back to the Forbidden Abyss at full speed.
Within a single breath, he arrived at the stalactite cavern where the spatial node was located.
He swiftly restored the sealing formation.
Activating his late-stage third-rank body refinement technique, he pasted several protective talismans onto himself.
His body, streamlined like a flowing fish, dove headfirst into the distorted deep blue vortex.
Splash!
With a ripple-like waves on water, he vanished into the spatial node.