Chapter 416: Chapter 414: Divine Infant (in honor of the Silver Alliance!)_1
"Lord Lingfeng..."
"It seems the magical conflict I sensed earlier was Demon Lord Qi Sha and his followers surrounding and killing this man..."
Looking at the jade bottle and the Spirit Bird Fan, Fang Xi fell silent for a while.
"Lord Lingfeng has also been taken down..."
"That being said, recently all three major Nascent Soul forces in Yuan Country are headless... As the ’Individual Cultivator Yun Jiezi of Yuan Country,’ I now have the legitimate right to claim sovereignty and could incorporate the whole Yuan Country under my rule... No, wait, there’s still the Seven Deadly Sins Hall. But as one of the top Nascent Soul forces in Jiang Country, there might be more than one old Demon at the Nascent Soul level there. However, with Demon Lord Qi Sha gone, they’re bound to retreat... Indeed, I’ve brought peace to Yuan Country once again."
As for releasing Lord Lingfeng, Fang Xi had no such intentions.
This person wasn’t captured by him.
Moreover, his interactions with the Mixed Origin Sect were not exactly pleasant.
He opened the jade bottle, and a cloud of black mist emerged, revealing the unconscious Nascent Soul within.
Then, Fang Xi’s eyes flashed with blue and yellow light as he attempted to search the soul.
A moment later...
He slowly withdrew his Divine Consciousness, sighing.
The Divine Soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator is incredibly strong, even in an unconscious state, making it difficult for him to search the soul.
This also dashed some of his hopes.
Otherwise, if he could sequentially search the souls of three major Nascent Souls, it would be almost equivalent to obtaining all of their accumulated knowledge, which would indeed be significant.
Fang Xi placed a new Prohibition on Lord Lingfeng’s Nascent Soul and scratched his head, unsure of how to deal with him for the time being; for now, he would just keep him locked up along with the Nascent Souls of Old Demon and Old Chi Laoguai.
He continued to inspect Demon Lord Qi Sha’s storage belt, and a hint of joy quickly flashed across his face.
"This Demon Lord Qi Sha, as the Supreme Elder of the Seven Deadly Sins Hall, is indeed wealthy..."
With a flash of light, Fang Xi now held three top-grade Spirit Stones and a spiritual energy-rich plant, sculpted like jade, in his hand.
"Three top-grade Spirit Stones and a ’Spirit Eye Flower’..."
"Besides, there is an innumerable amount of Demon Path materials... more than five hundred top-grade Spirit Stones..."
"There are quite a few Blood Jade Slips too; I wonder if they contain his cultivation technique of the Seven Slaughters Demon Skills..."
"And there is one Exotic Treasure, the ’Wind-Controlling Bead’..."
A moment later, Fang Xi’s expression subtly changed, and a jade box appeared in his hand.
Upon opening it, he saw three dark Thunder Pearls inside.
"Thunder Bead of Godly Destruction... In terms of power, it should be on par with the Ancient Spirit Annihilation Thunder Bead..."
This kind of Thunder Pearl requires a midterm Nascent Soul cultivator to draw in toxic energy from the earth’s core and fuse it with essence from the nine heavens’ thunder, making its power limitless.
Even Fang Xi did not want to face its sharp edge directly.
"If I didn’t use the Kuyong Mysterious Light and had to fight Demon Lord Qi Sha on my own, I’m afraid I would be no match for him..."
"So why did he seek death when he was living just fine?"
Fang Xi poured out Blood Jade Slips one by one, casually browsing through them.
Time passed without him realizing how much.
While he did not find any fourth-tier Pill Recipes or the Demon Skills and Secret Skills of Demon Lord Qi Sha, thinking of the ’Red Blood Demon Sutra’ at Old Chi Laoguai’s place made Fang Xi feel more at ease.
Moreover, the information about Jiang Country’s customs and secrets of the Seven Deadly Sins Hall recorded in these Blood Jade Slips really broadened his horizons.
"Huh?"
When Fang Xi picked up another Blood Jade Slip and instinctively swept it with his Divine Consciousness, his expression changed slightly.
He felt his Divine Consciousness being rudely repelled.
"This Blood Jade Slip..."
It was then that Fang Xi began to closely examine this particular Blood Jade Slip, noting its ancient design and faint traces of soil, suggesting it was an ancient artifact.
"It seems there’s also a small Prohibition inside..."
As a near-fourth-tier Array Master, Fang Xi had exceptional insight, and after a quick appraisal he recognized, "Forcing it open could cause the Blood Jade Slip to shatter..."
"I could bypass it... but the simplest way is to use Magic Power from the Demon Path, potentially requiring the Magic Power of a Heterodox Nascent Soul."
Such a task might be somewhat challenging for a Righteous Path Nascent Soul cultivator, but for Fang Xi, it was like taking candy from a baby.
He struck his Heavenly Spirit, and the Heterodox Nascent Soul appeared, exhaling a puff of pitch-black mist.
The Blood Jade Slip rapidly absorbed this black mist, becoming even more polished and smooth.
This time, when Fang Xi tried to enter it with his Divine Consciousness,
indeed, his Divine Consciousness met no resistance.
Then, a Secret Skill emerged before Fang Xi’s eyes.
It wasn’t any Demon Skills or Secret Techniques he had expected, but a Magic Spell for sacrificially refining a Demon Path Supreme Treasure!
"Divine Infant Sword?!"
After a good while, Fang Xi emerged from his contemplative state, tapping the Blood Jade Slip unconsciously, "According to the description... this ’Divine Infant Sword,’ even if only at Small Accomplishments, would indeed be infinitely powerful..."
He seemed to recall something and began to rummage through the storage belt again, pulling out an iron box.
Inside it, a small sword the size of a palm materialized upon opening.
This sword was pitch-black with blood-vessel-like patterns spread over the blade, and its edges appeared rough, clearly an unfinished piece that was yet to be fully refined.
Upon seeing this unfinished sword, Fang Xi’s expression shifted, and he exhaled a wisp of blue Infant Flame.
Hiss!
The baby flame, an azure hue, had barely grazed the sword embryo before a demonic light, dark as night, emerged from the blade’s surface. With a single sweep, it devoured the wisp of flame, leaving no trace behind.
Whoo-whoo!
From atop the sword embryo, came sounds akin to the sorrowful wailing and mourning of countless ghosts.
Startled by this piercing sword chant, Fang Xi’s Nascent Soul within the sea of his dantian suddenly opened its eyes, revealing a glint of horror.
"As expected... the main material is ’Nine Nether Demonic Iron’... If the ’Divine Infant Sword’ is refined, it would greatly harm a cultivator’s Nascent Soul..."
"This Demon Lord Qi Sha... what great sin he has committed in secret to search for materials and refine this sword embryo... Now, the embryo is complete, saving me quite a bit of trouble. All that’s left is the final step of the sword offering, and it can barely be used."
The power of this ’Divine Infant Sword’ would naturally far surpass that of the ’Blood Converting Demonic Sabre’.
But when Fang Xi thought of the secret sword offering technique in the magic spell, his expression became somewhat strange.
"To sacrificially refine the Divine Infant Sword, one must use cultivators’ Nascent Souls to sharpen it... At least three Nascent Souls are needed for the sword to reach Small Accomplishments. If one desires the demon sword to fully mature, then nine would be best... This would be the ’Nine-Infant Divine Sword’!"
"No wonder this demon lord is so relentless in pursuing me over a mere Resented Spirit Trace... Turns out he had his eye on my body — no, wrong, my Nascent Soul!"
Fang Xi cursed at Demon Lord Qi Sha fiercely.
In truth, what he didn’t know was that Demon Lord Qi Sha had no secret skill to extract souls from Nascent Souls; he had spared Lord Lingfeng’s Nascent Soul earlier to be used for refining the Divine Infant Sword.
The demon lord had invested a lot into the sword’s refinement and believed that once it was complete, along with his Demon Skills, he would have no fear of Demon Lord Tian Du.
After the cursing, Fang Xi stroked his chin, lost in thought once again.
Most of the primary steps for refining the ’Divine Infant Sword’ had already been prepared by Demon Lord Qi Sha.
’Nine Nether Demonic Iron’ was a top-tier Demon Path material, so rare it was found only once in ten thousand years. Now fashioned into a crude embryo, it would indeed be a waste if not finished.
And concerning the final step of sharpening and offering the sword...
With a flick of his sleeve, Fang Xi released two jade boxes, placing them alongside a jade bottle.
"Lord Lingfeng, Old Demon, Old Chi Laoguai... just the right three Nascent Souls!"
"Perhaps I could give it a try when I return?"
...
Icefiend Lake was a famous cultivation site within Jiang Country, covering thousands of miles, much like a great swamp.
In the lake, ’Ice Soul Evil Qi’ was sporadically produced, which could be used as Base-building Spiritual Objects, and was highly valuable.
As a result, many Individual Cultivators and markets had gathered around the lake’s edges.
From time to time, cultivators would boat around the lake, trying their luck.
But everything changed a few decades ago.
Bands of cultivators directly sealed off Icefiend Lake, barring Individual Cultivators from coming close.
Initially, the Individual Cultivators who occupied Icefiend Lake were very unhappy and wanted to argue, as they represented a non-negligible force within Jiang Country, with Nascent Soul cultivators like Huang Yungong among them.
But, as soon as the banners of those cultivators were displayed, all the Individual Cultivators fell silent and quickly began relocating...
Departure Demon Palace, Seven Deadly Sins Hall, Ruyi Gate...
Almost all of Jiang Country’s top Sects had come together. Against such an alliance, even Huang Yungong would yield and retreat.
On this day.
A pitch-black demonic light appeared, shooting towards the region of Icefiend Lake.
"This senior..."
A party of patrolling cultivators approached, and one Core Formation cultivator, after just one glance at the fierce man within the demonic light, changed his expression and came forward to salute respectfully, "Are you here to attend the alliance meeting? Please rest at the ’Icefiend Pavilion’ for a moment..."
"No need, I wish to see this so-called Void Sign first. You lead the way."
Fang Xi commanded with an air of advanced years.
"This... Yes!"
Considering that Nascent Soul old monsters were often capricious and acted on their own whims, the Core Formation cultivator could only smile wryly, sending patrolling cultivators back to send a message while he led the way.
After entering the lake for dozens of miles, Fang Xi saw a somewhat illusory white arc in the sky!
This white arc stretched for hundreds of miles, tens of miles wide, like a crack in the sky, floating there in midair!
Around the white light, there was a faint silver gleam, and within the crack, one could see indistinct visions...
"Indeed, a Void Crevice..."
Upon seeing this, a flicker of surprise crossed Fang Xi’s eyes.
"Are you a cultivator of the Departure Demon Palace?"
He scanned with his Divine Consciousness and finally asked the Core Formation cultivator leading the way.
"Yes, this junior, Zuoci of the Departure Demon Palace, greets the senior."
Zuoci quickly reported.
"What is the Demon Palace’s response to this Void Sign?"
Fang Xi asked casually.
"Senior may not be aware, but there’s no way to seal off such Void Signs, and they are still expanding... We can only set up a patrol system and sound the alarm once it fully erupts..."
Zuoci explained the Departure Demon Palace’s approach: "The descent from the Higher Realm is imminent... The matters that follow can only be decided by the Sect’s Supreme Elders and many seniors."
"I see," Fang Xi nodded, "Has Huang Yungong arrived yet?"
"Huang Yungong has long been here. Senior, are you possibly ’Yun Jiezi’?"
Something seemed to dawn on Zuoci, and his eyes lit up.