blueteamnovel Chapter 297: Nascent Soul Forbidden Shackles
Chapter 297: Nascent Soul Forbidden Shackles
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in the cultivation world of feng kingdom, at the proud moon palace.
on the snow-clad main peak, shrouded in a blend of azure mists and rosy clouds, stood an expanse of jade-white palatial buildings, resembling celestial palaces that dwell in the chilling heights of the heavens.
the spiritual energy in the ice peak's vicinity had unmistakably reached the fourth rank.
suddenly, a lotus platform with three-colored petals flew out from one of the jade palaces.
on the lotus platform stood a graceful female cultivator clad in a moon-white palace dress. she appeared to be around twenty years old, her slender waist resembling a willow branch, her snow-like complexion tranquil and picturesque. a faint trace of cool melancholy lingered between her brows, evoking the image of a solitary and ethereal fairy dwelling within an ice palace.
“junior sister wenyue, our master forbids you from leaving the proud moon palace’s territory. this is her heartfelt concern all to protect your rare and special innate dao physique.”
a woman clad in a gauzy dress, with a vermillion mark between her brows, emerged from the jade palace and descended onto the lotus platform.
“the demonic battlefield has now spread to the southeastern borders of feng kingdom. even within the country, instability grows. who can guarantee that no demonic cultivators are lurking? you’ve only been at the core formation stage for two years. it would be better for you to cultivate in peace and polish your skills. once you master life-saving techniques, master will naturally allow you more freedom...”
the woman in the gauzy dress spoke in a gentle tone, patiently trying to console her.
“master does not keep her word.”
xia wenyue lightly pursed her crimson lips and replied softly, “she promised me that after forming my core, i would be allowed to go out and visit my friends and family.”
after sixty years of cultivation at the foundation establishment stage, xia wenyue had successfully reached core formation two years ago. her upper-tier core was adorned with traces of dao patterns, which was considered a “half-step golden dan.”
“times have changed. the palace mistress suffered severe injuries during the war with the demonic cultivators, and her nascent soul has been damaged. as her disciple and a pinnacle core formation cultivator with an immortal golden dan, master is now in seclusion, aiming to form her nascent soul. she has no spare energy to take care of your safety.”
“senior sister nalan is right. wenyue should consider the bigger picture and not cause trouble for the sect or to our master.”
xia wenyue’s starlit eyes flickered, and she sighed softly, ceasing her insistence.
“it’s good that you understand,” senior sister nalan said with relief.
it was difficult to keep constant watch over a core formation cultivator if they were determined to leave.
xia wenyue’s "cold soul jade marrow" innate dao physique began to nurture "taiyin jade essence" after forming her core. once she advanced to the mid-to-late stages of the core formation, it provided a slight boost toward ascending to the nascent soul realm, making her a key figure under the close watch of the demonic sects.
even though the benefits of taiyin jade essence were far inferior to the legendary "infant transformation pill" and wasn't a deciding factor, it still made xia wenyue a coveted individual.
in feng kingdom, many outstanding young cultivators from powerful factions sought her favor.
even when xia wenyue was still in the foundation establishment stage, there were core formation experts who “lowered themselves” to court her, sending gifts and expressing admiration.
“although i won’t leave carelessly, you must keep me informed of external developments, senior sister. especially news from jing kingdom, and...”
“i know, you’re concerned about your old teacher from before you joined the sect. i will definitely keep an eye out for news about him.”
senior sister nalan smiled sweetly.
“here, this jade slip contains some intelligence that might interest you,” she said as she handed over a jade slip.
“thank you, senior sister.”
xia wenyue stepped back onto her lotus platform and returned to her secluded mountain, which housed a third-rank spiritual vein.
standing on the edge of the lonely cliff, xia wenyue’s eyes resembled tranquil autumnal waters, calm and still, but with a subtle chill that was hard to describe.
eight years ago, lan chang'an had mysteriously disappeared in the liang kingdom, leaving no trace.
lan chang'an had no dao companion or descendants. moreover, he hadn’t left behind a soul lamp to monitor his life or death.
rumors circulated that the "turtle immortal" had fled early to avoid the war.
some unconfirmed reports suggested that lan chang'an had been captured and killed by the peacock saintess of the demonic path, who sought the secrets of his cultivation of the profound water turtle.
later, xia wenyue asked her senior sister to consult a gifted diviner about his fate. however, an invisible obstruction hindered the divination, leaving only the confirmation that lan chang'an was alive, though his fate was uncertain.
“master lan, sixty years have passed since we last met... a few more years, and i may forget your appearance altogether.”
xia wenyue’s delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly as she murmured to herself.
it had been many years since lan chang'an had taken the initiative to contact her.
the lengthy span of six decades had worn away her once-vivid feelings for him.
back when she was just an inexperienced young woman, she had harbored a faint, unspoken admiration for lan chang'an. yet now... those feelings had gradually faded.
after joining the proud moon palace and forming her half-step golden dan, xia wenyue had broadened her horizons. she was no longer the naïve girl from her clan who knew nothing of the world.
among xia wenyue’s numerous admirers were prodigies with earth-grade spiritual roots, innate dao physiques, and even sect geniuses who had already formed golden dans.
compared to these dazzling individuals, lan chang'an, who had only managed to form a low-tier core, appeared unremarkable. even with his skills in talismans and medicine, he could only be considered mediocre within her current social circle.
the man she had once revered and admired had long since lost the halo he once wore.
she could even guess that lan chang'an had the same goal as her current suitors and was scheming for her taiyin jade essence.
the difference was that lan chang'an had never cloaked his intentions under the guise of love or courtship.
she felt grateful that during her naive and inexperienced youth lan chang'an had never taken advantage of her, nor deceived her emotions or body.
if she had lost her virginity back then, it would have affected her ability to produce taiyin jade essence.
though her feelings had faded, xia wenyue still held gratitude in her heart and did not forget the kindness he had shown her in the past.
bound by a heart demon oath, she had kept their secrets and never revealed them to anyone.
returning to her secluded cave-dwelling, xia wenyue took out the jade slip her senior sister had given her and began reading the intelligence it contained.
“the jing kingdom has yet to suffer a large-scale invasion by demonic cultivators, only small skirmishes and occasional probes...”
“the xia family in qingsha bay: the old patriarch’s health is declining, with only twenty to thirty years left in his lifespan. fortunately, xia mingqu has successfully formed a fake dan.”
“jin yun valley... hmm? that fairy zhao—she fell in battle! her body destroyed, her jade-like beauty gone forever!”
xia wenyue’s calm demeanor finally wavered.
she had once paid attention to fairy zhao’s situation because she was one of lan chang'an’s closest confidantes for over two centuries.
years ago, she had even regarded zhao siyao as a potential romantic rival. now, thinking back, she couldn’t help but sigh at the irony of it all.
“fairy zhao has fallen... will the elusive master lan, whose life and death are uncertain, show up?” she mused with a tinge of pity.
perhaps it was the inertia of having missed him for so long, but xia wenyue couldn’t let go of a certain fixation in her heart.
it had nothing to do with love or gratitude; she simply wanted to see the youthful and ageless master lan once more.
...
liang kingdom, jin yun valley.
at qunying mountain, in front of a freshly erected tombstone.
the slender and haggard zhao tan'er knelt on the ground, her robes in disarray, her eyes swollen and red as tears streamed down her face incessantly.
“master, it’s all my fault!”
“if only you hadn’t given me that mid third-rank escape talisman, you wouldn’t have died...”
over and over, zhao tan'er repeated the same sentence before the tombstone, her words carrying a hint of madness.
the third-rank escape talisman was the best talisman lan chang'an had been able to produce at that time, apart from his treasure talismans.
in truth, zhao tan’er had already used the talisman two years ago during a life-or-death encounter in the demonic war, narrowly escaping death.
had it not been for that talisman, it would have been zhao tan'er who had died instead.
swoosh!
a golden streak of light, emanating the aura of a mid-stage core formation cultivator, descended from the sky.
“are you certain that the culprit was the black crow immortal?”
zhang tieshan, his black robes billowing as he waved his wide sleeves, lit an incense stick in front of the grave before speaking in a deep voice.
“yes, tan’er saw it with her own eyes.”
zhao tan'er wiped away her tears, clenching her silver teeth tightly as hatred and killing intent filled her voice.
in fact, she might not even dare attempt the nascent soul tribulation at all.
and even if she hired a nascent soul true monarch to kill lan chang'an, it wouldn’t solve the root of the problem. she would have to personally confront and defeat him to fully resolve her inner conflict and achieve clarity of mind.
of course, this was merely lan chang'an’s analysis based on his nascent soul-level insight.
“almost a sure thing. otherwise, the peacock saintess wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of asking a skilled diviner to cover up this matter.”
lan chang'an was now confident in his conclusions.
with this revelation, he held the upper hand.
it was equivalent to saying that he had control over the forbidden shackle tied to the peacock saintess’s ascension to the nascent soul realm.
if lan chang'an chose to remain hidden, never revealing himself, the peacock saintess’s chances of advancing to the nascent soul realm would remain slim.
if he denied her the opportunity to resolve her inner demons, she would have no hope of succeeding.
his only concern was that if the peacock saintess couldn’t find him, she might retaliate by targeting zhao tan’er, the descendants of li erqing, or even taking vengeance on jin yun valley.
“the peacock saintess has only recently entered the late stage of core formation—twenty-some years ago, at most. she still has a long way to go before reaching the peak of core formation realm,” lan chang'an estimated.
he speculated that the peacock saintess wouldn’t become truly desperate until she began preparing to form her nascent soul, which could be decades away.
by that time, the demonic invasion war would likely have reached its conclusion.
moreover, the peacock saintess’s cultivation speed wasn’t unrivaled. while her innate dao physique granted her significant advantages in taming spiritual beasts, it didn’t accelerate her cultivation speed as much as an earth-grade spiritual root would.
...
half a year later.
in the secret chamber of the estate, within a third-rank body-refinement medicinal pool.
"mid-stage third rank body refinement!"
lan chang'an’s colossal dark-golden body shimmered faintly, covered in densely packed golden scales resembling fish scales. slowly, the scales receded back into his skin, revealing his refined physique.
the oppressive aura of his powerful body and blood vanished from the chamber.
half a month later, lan chang'an had fully stabilized his cultivation and could now freely control the power of his golden luo overlord body.
to the outside world, he declared that he was entering seclusion.
in reality, he had quietly left the river source oasis.
lan chang'an flew toward the outskirts of the desert, heading in the direction of liang kingdom’s cultivation world.
with his body refinement reaching the mid-stage of the third rank, lan chang'an’s strength and self-preservation abilities had improved significantly.
even so, he had no intention of personally entering the liang kingdom cultivation world.
two months later.
lan chang'an arrived at the outskirts of the flying sand desert, close to the border of the liang kingdom’s cultivation world.
“go!”
sitting within a sand beast cart buried beneath the sand, lan chang'an activated his puppet clone.
swoosh!
a figure cloaked in gray-white robes and a black cape, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, blurred into motion. the assassin’s silhouette vanished like an imperceptible shadow, entering the liang kingdom cultivation world.
the straw hat assassin carried within it the soul power of lan chang'an’s peak core formation life. its spiritual sense was exceptional, and its mana cultivation level matched that of a mid-stage core formation cultivator.
the puppet could perform most of the general spells of human cultivators. in terms of stealth and concealment, it surpassed lan chang'an himself.
this puppet was, in essence, lan chang'an’s proxy, capable of handling dangerous tasks in his stead with little difference in efficacy.
a few days later.
the straw hat assassin approached the beast taming zhou family and remotely performed an incantation to stabilize the gu insect restriction in zhou qingxuan’s mind.
according to the agreement, lan chang'an would remotely stabilize zhou qingxuan’s gu insect restriction every ten years.
at the same time, zhou qingxuan controlled the gu insect restriction embedded in xing peng, an incense master of the unseen gate.
now, it was merely a year ahead of schedule.
beast taming zhou family, supreme elder’s cave mansion.
“could it be? is that old ghost coming back?”
zhou qingxuan, clad in an elegant pale-yellow dress and bearing the delicate face of a young maiden, felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding. her expression shifted to one of shock and dread.
“this isn’t good! according to xing peng, the unseen gate has spies near the zhou family, little turtle peak, and jin yun valley...”
her brows furrowed deeply as worry gripped her heart, not daring to go out easily.
half an hour later, zhou qingxuan suddenly noticed the protective formation in her cave mansion being activated.
“who?!”
breaking into a cold sweat, she turned toward the shadows cast by her window drapes, where a mysterious figure wearing a bamboo hat slowly emerged.
“i go by the code name ‘black lord,’ a member of the azure dragon society. i am here on the orders of my master to neutralize the gu insect restriction in your mind and ask you a few questions.”
the straw hat figure’s voice was low and raspy. a soundproof barrier had already been set up within the room.
“the azure dragon society? the lord that your excellency is talking about...”
zhou qingxuan’s face went pale, her heart trembling with terror as she stared at the mysterious straw hat figure standing mere feet away.
the beast taming zhou family was protected by a third-rank formation and guarded by keen-sensed spirit beasts. even a mid-to-late-stage core formation cultivator would find it challenging to infiltrate her chamber undetected.
...
seven days later, outskirts of the flying sand desert.
splat!
lan chang'an emerged from the sand, brushing off grains from his robes. he gestured, and the straw hat assassin flew back to him, disappearing into his storage pouch.
through the puppet, lan chang'an had successfully communicated with zhou qingxuan and gained detailed information about the current state of the war between the righteous alliance and the demonic path.
this included further details regarding zhao siyao’s death.
“the demonic invasion has focused on encircling and attacking feng kingdom. yet, they haven’t launched a major offensive against jing kingdom?”
lan chang'an frowned, surprised by this revelation.
having been away for nearly nine years, he hadn’t expected jing kingdom to remain relatively unscathed.
neither the feng kingdom nor jing kingdom had fallen, so the flames of war hadn’t yet spread to liang kingdom.
had it not been for the peacock saintess, lan chang'an might have continued cultivating in liang kingdom’s jin yun valley for many more years—perhaps even long enough to alter zhao siyao’s fate.
“black crow immortal... the direct killer of zhao siyao.”
with this vital intelligence, lan chang'an refrained from lingering further and retraced his steps back to the depths of the desert in the fengyuan kingdom.
no one could have guessed that lan chang'an had just made a trip back to the liang kingdom cultivation world in such an unconventional manner.
through this operation, lan chang'an gained deeper insights into the usage of his puppet clone.
he began contemplating a future where he could craft a late-stage core formation-level puppet clone. such a creation would bring about a qualitative leap in combat strength, it would be no less than his personal presence on the battlefield.
by then, he wouldn’t have to take risks personally; through remote control, he could exact revenge for zhao siyao.
not only that, but he could also retaliate against the peacock saintess. he would strike back in kind, forcing her to restrain herself from dragging innocent individuals—his old friends and their descendants—into the conflict.
the peacock saintess wasn’t invincible. she had disciples, family, and a clan of her own.
if she believed she could threaten lan chang'an, a solitary cultivator with a long lifespan who did not take a wife or have children, she was gravely mistaken.