Chapter 476: Chapter 474: Cicada Slough (Making Up for Missing 34)_1
Ruyi Gate.
Inside the Dongfu.
Fang Xi was sitting cross-legged in meditation when he suddenly opened his eyes and reached out with a sweep of his hand.
Three ’Jin Chanzi’ cicada sloughs floated out, lining up in a row, but the decay they emitted furrowed his brow.
"It seems... something is not right."
After a careful check, Fang Xi’s face was left with only a wry smile, "The potential has been forced too much... These are not three high-quality fourth-tier monster beasts but force-grown stuffed ducks and chickens... Once dead, the essence inside rapidly drains away... To even make a low-grade fourth-tier puppet would be considered lucky."
He gritted his teeth, formed a hand seal, and a light green talisman flashed, flying into one of the cicada sloughs of Jin Chanzi.
The next instant, something unexpected happened!
Within the body of Jin Chanzi, streaks of flesh and bones rapidly dissolved, and by the time Fang Xi realized what was happening, it had already turned into a pool of foul-smelling fluid!
"Damn it..."
He muttered to himself and cast a magic spell, releasing Daqing, "Go... clean this up for me!"
Daqing howled, looking somewhat wronged, but still manipulated the mist and started working like a garbage cleaner...
"Tch... The secret skill I taught you is above the ’Sky Demon Slaying Immortal Tactics,’ and you are complaining about being a garbage worker?"
Fang Xi was unconcerned and began to re-examine the three pieces of ’cicada slough’ after Daqing cleaned up.
Yes...
The moment Jin Chanzi died, the flesh was unknown why it had melted away, leaving just three cicada sloughs behind.
Although they looked lifelike from the outside, they were actually empty inside, just three pieces of gold skins!
"This loss is massive..."
Fang Xi looked at the three transformed Jin Chanzis with an expression full of pity and regrets on his face.
If he could have refined these three Jin Chanzis into high-grade fourth-tier wooden puppets, wouldn’t the Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm be at his mercy?
However, even though he did not have the three wood puppets capable of contending with late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, he could still do as he pleased within the current human race territory... so it didn’t seem to make much of a difference, did it?
His Divine Consciousness swept through the cicada slough inch by inch, and he suddenly let out an astonished sound.
Just within the slough, near the abdomen, there seemed to be some blurry patterns.
Fang Xi picked up one of the cicada sloughs and examined it carefully. Then he looked at another one.
"It seems... it’s not just a pattern, but... a talisman? A talisman similar to the Phoenix Seal Script?!"
He picked up a jade slip, attempting to copy and restore these patterns to completeness...
Crack!
Suddenly, unbeknownst to him, a crack appeared on the jade slip!
"Ordinary jade slips cannot bear it... even if it’s incomplete?"
Fang Xi looked at the pieces of purple seal script inside the three cicada sloughs and began to ponder, "The Phoenix Seal Script also has the same characteristic; it appears these scripts are of a high level, even representing an external expression of some kind of heavenly and earthly rule, and thus common objects cannot bear them?"
"Could it be... this is actually ’Dragon Chapter Script’?"
Ever since he learned of the origins of the ’Phoenix Seal Script,’ Fang Xi had always paid attention to collecting information in this area.
Only recently, after having taken a hefty harvest from the Departure Demon Palace, did he finally learn about the detailed information concerning the ’Dragon Chapter and Phoenix Seal.’
"Dragon Chapter Script... is the result of a true dragon studying the Dao of Light and Time and embodying it in its form..."
Fang Xi observed the purple lines, which indeed looked a bit like earthworms, or perhaps like a snake’s path, twisted in their tracks, easy to cause dizziness if not careful.
"Light and Time, the Void... These two are among the most supreme Dao, besides true spirits, both the Demon Clan and the human race have great powers that have studied them, each passing down different scriptures and talismans, although their shapes are more or less similar... After all, the Dao is right there, the closer to the Dao, the more unified... Even true dragons and phoenixes seem to have the deepest understanding of these two Dao. So even if the ’Dao’ comprehended by the human race is named ’Dragon Chapter and Phoenix Seal,’ right?"
"It’s just a pity... that currently among the sects of the Southern Wilderness, there is no inheritance of the ’Dragon Chapter and Phoenix Seal.’
"Luckily, I still have the remnants of a Nascent Soul cultivator’s soul from the Primitive Devil Door, so it should not be a problem to get started in learning the ’Phoenix Seal Script’... As for this ’Dragon Chapter Script,’ it will depend on my luck and opportunities in the future."
Fang Xi carefully stored the three cicada sloughs of the Jin Chanzis.
Being able to naturally manifest ’Dragon Chapter Script’ and hold on to it, these three husks were clearly not ordinary objects.
"Seems like... it’s not a loss after all?!"
...
After dealing with various puppets of the Monster Clan and categorizing his spoils of war, Fang Xi fell into a state of intense cultivation in seclusion.
Ever since his spiritual root’s advancement, his cultivation rate had increased rapidly, and with the help of ’Separation and Union Pills,’ he felt that he was only a hair’s breadth away from completing the seventeenth layer of the Kuyong Skills.
Therefore, he must continue his arduous cultivation every day, striving to perfect his cultivation technique as soon as possible, so that he could break through the mid-stage bottleneck!
Through this series of battles, Fang Xi deeply realized the inadequacy of his own cultivation level.
Without sufficient realm, even the power of the spiritual treasures couldn’t be fully unleashed!
He slowly closed his eyes, and as his cultivation circulated, threads of blue and yellow radiance entwined around his body. The rich wooden spiritual energy from the fourth-tier spiritual vein was quickly drawn to him, forming a circle around him and even faintly manifesting various spirit plant phantoms.
In the Dantian Qi Ocean, the main Nascent Soul opened its eyes, inhaling and exhaling strands of magic power, appearing to grow incessantly...
...
Cultivation is timeless.
Fang Xi, diligent in his practice, would occasionally leave seclusion to seek out Nangong Li and the Eighteen Heavenly Concubines, observing and giving pointers on techniques such as the Eighteen Heavenly Demons Dance, while also conveniently inquiring about the situation in Jiang Country.
According to Nangong Li, after the great victory of the Demon Path in Jiang Country, Elder Qing’s group of Monster Clan seemed to have given up on the Void Passage here and joined with Feng Country instead.
The Righteous and Demon Paths have now joined forces at a strategic point on the border between Jiang Country and Feng Country, establishing the ’Biyi Seven Superior Array’ and confronting the reorganized Monster Clan with a defensive strategy.
After all, it has been several decades since the Monster Clan descended to the realm, and another few decades of delay might find the descent over.
As long as, during this period, the Monster Clan can’t utilize the Transformation Array to contaminate the spiritual energy of the South Wilderness, that would be considered success!
As for the number one figure of the Righteous Path with a damaged magic body, the late-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator ’Tian Xingzi’, he has regained most of his strength through Soul Possession and is currently still in seclusion.
Now, it seems like both the human and Monster Clans are in a state of silently licking their wounds, and a large-scale war is unlikely to break out again in the short term.
Fang Xi had a good talk with Nangong Li, then returned to his Dongfu and began cultivating arduously.
...
Inside the Dongfu.
Fang Xi opened his eyes, "Indeed... The Eighteen Heavenly Demons Dance is immensely beneficial for my cultivation of the Seven Emotions and Sorrows Script."
The advantages of having a strong Divine Consciousness, naturally, need not be mentioned.
After obtaining the complete cultivation method and guidance from Demon Lord Tian Du, his progress on this Secret Skill skyrocketed, and he had finally mastered the first layer!
"The first layer of the Seven Emotions and Sorrows Script, Divine Consciousness amplification..."
He projected his Divine Consciousness outward; previously, he could clear see only within a hundred miles, and then sense the situation roughly within two hundred miles.
But now, Fang Xi felt his Divine Consciousness suddenly increase by twenty to thirty percent; he could clearly perceive everything within one hundred twenty to thirty miles, and even some vague situations beyond two hundred miles were within his sensory reach!
"As expected of a cultivation method focusing on Divine Consciousness..."
"Having a powerful Divine Consciousness also offers certain advantages when making breakthroughs in cultivation stages."
"Moreover, this cultivation method surprisingly comes with its own Secret Skills for Divine Consciousness attack and defense..."
Fang Xi felt as though he had stumbled upon a treasure.
The Divine Consciousness attack Secret Skill of the ’Seven Emotions and Sorrows Script’ is called ’Sky Demon Chant’. It uses a haunting demon melody to stir up the opponent’s seven emotions and six desires, causing their Divine Soul to be entrapped in an illusory world. If they are not careful, they could be led into madness by their own mind.
As for the defense Secret Skill, it is called ’Seven Emotions Armor’, which allows one to coat the Sea of Consciousness with a layer of seven-colored radiance to fend off common Divine Consciousness attacks.
Fang Xi was not particularly interested in the Seven Emotions Armor Secret Skill.
After all, he had the ’Treasures of All Heavens’ guarding his Sea of Consciousness, which served as his most powerful defense for the Divine Soul.
But the ’Sky Demon Chant’ was something he could diligently cultivate.
"With the first layer mastered, I can finally resolve the Resented Spirit Trace that has plagued my body."
Fang Xi sighed.
He had always been carrying the Resented Spirit Trace, which he had simply concealed with a Secret Skill.
Now, at last, he could remove this longstanding hidden danger!
"Resentment, hatred... these are also part of the seven emotions and six desires, which can be transformed into fuel for the ’Seven Emotions and Sorrows Script’, helping to empower me instead."
Fang Xi murmured softly as his hand signs changed.
The next instant, a hint of seven-colored Liuli gleamed in his eyes, and faintly, the resentful spirits entwining him became visible.
Most were from the disciples of the Primitive Devil Door he had killed, truly insignificant.
Yet the strongest among them was from Demon Lord Qi Sha!
"Hate me..."
"Harbor malice..."
"The grudges of the weak are truly inconsequential."
Fang Xi’s lips curled into a smirk as he began operating the Secret Skill to extract the Resented Spirit Trace, refining his own Divine Consciousness to solidify an unyielding ’metallicity’!
’Metallicity’ that does not corrode, if he could cultivate his Divine Consciousness to an imperishable ’metallicity’ stage, then even with a body of Divine Thoughts, he could be as robust as any ordinary flesh and blood body.
This was the realm of the Transcendent God Demon Lord of yesteryear!
It is also an unsurpassed Divine Skill of materializing the immaterial!
...
Time trickled away bit by bit.
The door of Fang Xi’s Dongfu remained unopened.
That day.
"This ungrateful deadbeat... Right now, so many people from both the Righteous Path and the Demon Sect want an audience, and all were rebuffed by me, offending how many people?"
Nangong Li stroked the Four-eared Marmoset on her shoulder, gazing at the Spirit Mountain where Fang Xi’s Dongfu was located. Amidst her complaints, a subtle gleam of joy flickered.
The grand name of ’Yun Jiezi’ had resonated across both the Righteous Path and the Demon Sect, hailed as the foremost individual below the rank of great Cultivator.
And those who truly recognized worth even proclaimed him as the number one Cultivator of the Southern Wilderness, a claim that neither Tian Xingzi nor Demon Lord Tian Du have publicly refuted.
While most Cultivators thought little of this, some old-timers were notably tight-lipped about it...
Thanks to this, Nangong Li’s status naturally soared with the rising tide.
Suddenly, her expression shifted slightly as she looked around the Spirit Mountain.
Whoosh whoosh!
The breeze howled, followed by layers of Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi swirling up and rushing into the Dongfu.
Momently, even Ruyi Gate’s fourth-grade Spiritual Vein seemed somewhat overwhelmed.
Nangong Li was quite familiar with this scene, "This celestial phenomenon is much smaller than that of the Nascent Soul, it must be that ungrateful brute... breaking through to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul? Hah... If someone had said earlier that the number one Cultivator of the Southern Wilderness was only at the early stage of the Nascent Soul, surely no one would have believed it..."