Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 415: Chapter 289: Enlightenment Pill Completion, Grand Competition Resumes_2

After half an hour of deduction and discussion, the two finally decided on the stance of the Zhao Family, “Participate to a limited extent, and should Central Continent fail, the entire family will immediately relocate to the Shattered Star Sea.”

The sun set, and the moon rose. Dusk descended, and Zhao Sheng walked out of his cave mansion with a calm expression, then tunneled his way towards Xinglong City.

…

In the past half month, the number of visiting cultivators at Zhao Ancestor’s Mansion in Xinglong City had increased day by day.

These people had no significant matters upon arrival at the mansion, but always found excuses to linger, often staying for an entire day.

“Do you smell it?”

“Mmm, just as Third Uncle said, it’s refreshing and full of spirit light. If I could smell it for a few months, I could sooner or later grasp the essence of the ‘One-element Heavy Water Technique’.”

In the living room, a Zhao clan member with a refined appearance was taking deep breaths, trying to inhale as much of the emerging elixir fragrance as possible into his lungs.

For the past half month, a faint fragrance of elixir pills had started to waft from the Zhao Mansion, stimulating the mind and greatly enhancing understanding upon smelling it.

Over half a month, the fragrance of the elixir grew stronger day by day, eventually permeating the entire Zhao Mansion.

Soon, rumors had it that it was the Qingyang Ancestor refining a high-level spirit pill that could enlighten and make one wiser upon consumption.

Despite the Zhao Mansion’s categorical denial of these rumors, the truth was not far off from what was rumored.

At this moment, in the alchemy room beneath the Zhao Mansion, Zhao Sheng repeatedly formed elixir seals with his hands, striking the Golden Crow True Fire with a continuous flow of True Yuan.

At that instant, the Golden Crow True Fire blazed like a Great Sun, with a vermilion spirit pill floating inside that bore seven orifices on its surface.

Above the true fire, massive amounts of elixir essence gathered like clouds, filling the room, while also emitting an extremely intense elixir fragrance.

This nearly complete spirit pill was none other than the Enlightenment Pill.

Zhao Sheng, with his insights from two lifetimes and decades spent collecting medicinal herbs, had only truly begun refining it three months prior.

The difficulty of refining the Enlightenment Pill was far greater than he had imagined, and the first two attempts had ended in failure.

On the third attempt, after enduring half a month of continuous fusion and nurturing of the medicine’s properties, he finally saw the glimmers of success.

An hour later, the Golden Crow True Fire suddenly contracted at high speed, and the vermilion elixir pill, now crystal clear and resembling a longan-sized red agate, was complete.

“Retrieve,” Zhao Sheng uttered softly, with a flick of his sword finger, and saw the Golden Crow True Fire carrying the Enlightenment Pill swiftly fly towards him.

As the Golden Crow True Fire was retracted, it vanished into Zhao Sheng’s abdomen in an instant, while the Enlightenment Pill plummeted from the sky, landing precisely in Zhao Sheng’s hand.

Zhao Sheng brought the spirit pill up to his nose for a sniff, and in an instant, a pungent elixir fragrance surged up to the Bai Hui acupoint, refreshing his mind like cold water over the brain, and countless sparks of insight involuntarily emerged in his mind.

“Good, the name Enlightenment truly lives up to its reputation!”

After praising, Zhao Sheng carefully placed it into a pill bottle he had prepared in advance, affixed three layers of Elixir Seal, then stored it in his personal Storage Bag.

Zhao Sheng did not intend to consume the Enlightenment Pill himself.

There was someone in the mansion who needed this pill even more than he did.

After leaving the alchemy room, Zhao Sheng went straight to his wife and personally handed the Enlightenment Pill to her.

His wife, Dong Miaozhen, was of similar age, and despite being nearly senile, her progress in cultivation had been extremely slow since advancing to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Without the aid of the Enlightenment Pill, it was unlikely she had any hope of forming a Golden Core.

The path to longevity was long, and Zhao Sheng hoped to have a confidante by his side; ascending alone in broad daylight would be rather dull.

…

“…The Three-Ring Golden Wall has been completed, and the Annihilation Array Group has been deployed to ninety percent… All Yin Caves in the Heavenly Burial Plain have been destroyed… The progress is good as of now,”

“…Joyous Tower news update: Ten Directions Spirit Stone Line has temporarily suspended the exchange of spirit stones. The prices of resources like Magical Treasures, Elixir Pills, and talismans have surged more than double on average. The Sect Alliance calls upon everyone in the Cultivation World to unite, urging against hoarding and speculating…”

“…The Vast Sect recently announced that all extensive maritime routes involving the great ocean continents will be suspended soon, and they will rapidly set up new aerial routes within the states, along with announcing the following bounty tasks…”

“…The Alliance has declared the area above the third layer of Cloud Sea on Heavenly Pillar Mountain sealed. The duration of the closure is unknown…”

“…The summoning order for Cultivators was issued three days ago. All forces receiving this order must comply, dispatching the summoned personnel to the Heavenly Burial Plain within the set deadline; the first mandate of the Ten Sect Alliance!”

…

Having read through the latest intelligence contained within the jade scroll, Zhao Sheng’s expression became grave as he put the scroll away.

In recent months, there had been an abundance of significant intelligence, but between the lines, he saw only one sentence stand out: “The momentum of the alliance is overwhelming, those who comply will live, those who defy will perish!”

Zhao Sheng was very curious about what had caused the Sect Alliance to act increasingly hasty and domineering.

He could not believe that the Nascent Soul Ancestors, who had lived for over a thousand years, were unaware of the severe backlash their actions would provoke.

Yet, they proceeded with such a near-violent approach.

“Could it be that the overall strength of the Netherworld Ghost Realm far surpasses that of the Tianzhu Realm?” Zhao Sheng couldn’t help but think this thought more than once.

At that moment, a Messenger Talisman Crane suddenly flew in through the door, interrupting his train of thought.

Zhao Sheng caught the talisman crane, swept over it with his Divine Sense, and absorbed the information into his mind.

“So, the time for the Eight Branches Technique Competition has come around again. This time, I might as well give the youngsters a change of pace and give the Corpse Demon Purgatory Map some air.”

Deciding on a course of action, Zhao Sheng’s form flashed, and in an instant, he vanished from the room without a trace.

…

A day later, in Xinglong City, at the largest training ground of the Immortal Martial Dao Institute, more than three hundred spirited Qi Refining Clan Members of the Zhao family stood below the stage, looking up in admiration at the family elder on the high platform.

Behind the three hundred cultivators, over four thousand Immortal Martial Practitioners stood in grave silence, their dense crowd engulfing silence like a dark cloud.

This year, the Ancestor had specially decreed to allow the family’s Immortal Martial Practitioners to participate in the Eight Branches Competition.

The moment news of this spread, it caused a sensation throughout Xinglong City; everyone notified one another, celebrating with excitement and joy.

The sun was high in the sky, just past noon.

The newly appointed Family Head, Zhao Degang, looked up at the time with a serious expression, then turned, bowed to Zhao Sheng, and respectfully said, “Ancestor, the auspicious moment has arrived.”

Hmm,

Zhao Sheng nodded, took a few steps forward to the front of the platform, and with a wave of his sleeve, a two-foot-long scroll suddenly shot out.

The scroll soared into the sky, burst into a great expanse of spirit light, unfolding as it expanded on both sides, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a massive painting screen several hundred feet in size.

On the screen, one could see endless stretches of the Corpse Mound Filth, with black qi rising to the heavens and dark clouds spreading across the sky. Amidst the grey-black earth, the Blood River Ghost Forest crisscrossed densely, and countless Zombie Demon Ghosts roamed in packs, terrorizing the mountains and forests.

From afar, ceaseless battles between the Corpse Ghosts and demons were visible, with warfare rampant in the sky and on the ground, leaving no place untouched; this shattered world resembled a purgatory at the end of days.

This painting known as the Corpse Demon Purgatory Map was specially given to him by True Monarch Xie in the past.

Zhao Sheng later discovered that the painting was exceptionally profound, containing inscrutable depths of the principles of reality and illusion.

Whoever entered this map could engage in endless battles with the Corpse Demons and demons.

The more Corpse Ghosts one killed, the more powerful the Corpse Ghosts that subsequently appeared would be, until the participant was defeated and perished.

However, even if one fell, they would not truly die, merely losing some of their spiritual power.

In recent years, whenever Zhao Sheng had spare time, he would enter the map to test himself and had managed to kill up to four Golden Armored Corpses of the same level as himself.

Of course, this map wasn’t all-powerful, it could only simulate up to two to three percent of Zhao Sheng’s strength and had almost no reaction to the Immortal Spirit Realm and Star God Thousand Heart Technique.

This time, for the Eight Branches Competition, Zhao Sheng was planning to use it as a trial.

“Anyone who wishes to participate can step onto the platform and directly face the screen with their eyes, projecting their consciousness into it. Whoever endures the longest will be this year’s first in technique demonstration.

Furthermore, this year’s rewards are limitless. If someone impresses me enough, even Spirit Mountain Treasures are rewards I am willing to bestow,” Zhao Sheng said.

His words were not loud, yet they clearly resonated in everyone’s ears.

As soon as he finished speaking, a commotion erupted below the platform, with all the Zhao Clan Members turning red with excitement, their eyes ablaze with fervor.

Seeing the fighting spirit ignited in the younger generation, Zhao Sheng silently nodded in approval, turned around to return to the platform, and seated himself on the specially-designed Mountain and Sea Jade Couch.

The day the Eight Branches Competition began was exactly one thousand days away from the day of the Nine Stars Alinement!