Record of a Demon's Cultivation

Chapter 549 - The Life-Bound Treasure

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Unable to extract any more useful information from Bie Chou, Song Wen fell silent.

He contemplated how to deal with Bie Chou.

Keeping Bie Chou alive had undeniable advantages, but it also posed a significant risk.

The Wu Ji Island and the Xing Family could track the aura from the Soul Shackle at any time and find Bie Chou.

Song Wen considered sealing Bie Chou's soul in a hidden location.

That way, even if Wu Ji Island and the Xing Family arrived, they would capture Bie Chou, but Song Wen's life would not be at risk.

However, this plan carried another potential danger:

It would expose the fact that Song Wen had cultivated the Corpse King Rebirth Art.

If Wu Ji Island learned of this, Yin Shuo would stop at nothing to track him down.

With a single thought, Song Wen summoned the black hole in his sea of consciousness once more.

"What are you doing?! You promised to spare me!" Bie Chou's terrified voice echoed.

In response, a powerful suction force emanated from the black hole.

"You liar—"

Before he could finish, Bie Chou was swallowed by the black hole.

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A month later, Song Wen arrived at the Poison Cave on Fangzhudao.

He placed six Shadow Gu to monitor the area outside the den and retreated to a secret chamber to begin his seclusion.

After devouring Bie Chou's soul, Song Wen felt his spiritual power nearing a bottleneck, on the verge of breaking through. Additionally, he still hadn't stabilized his cultivation after absorbing Ji Qing's power.

This seclusion was the perfect opportunity to consolidate his cultivation and attempt to break through the next level of spiritual awareness.

However, after three months of seclusion, while his cultivation was stabilized, his spiritual awareness failed to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. It seemed as though an invisible barrier was preventing his advancement.

"Is my spiritual foundation insufficient to break the bottleneck? Or, as with the Golden Core stage, do my cultivation level and spiritual power need to break through simultaneously?"

Puzzled, Song Wen decided to set aside the matter for the time being. Instead, he began crafting his life-bound treasure—the Blood Sea Seal.

Retrieving the Blood Brick, Song Wen began extracting the blood energy stored within it.

The blood energy within the Blood Brick was vast and dense, like an endless mist. It was hard to imagine how many lives had been slaughtered by the Nether Shrine to forge this object.

The more blood essence used in crafting the Blood Sea Seal, the greater its power.

Thus, Song Wen resolved to extract every drop of blood essence from the Blood Brick for his treasure.

This decision, however, brought him immense suffering.

His physical body could only handle an amount of blood essence equivalent to that of a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator—enough to fill about four jade bottles.

It only took him fifteen breaths to absorb this much blood essence.

However, he then had to reverse his blood flow to expel the essence from his body.

Beneath him was a massive alchemical furnace over ten zhang in diameter.

Most alchemical furnaces could preserve the potency of spiritual herbs, though their effectiveness varied. Using one to store blood essence was surprisingly practical.

This particular furnace was a high-grade magical treasure obtained from a tomb in the Valley of Rebirth. It could expand to a hundred zhang in size.

Although Song Wen, at the late Golden Core stage, lacked the qi to activate the furnace for alchemy, simply using it to store blood essence required minimal effort.

The cycle of absorbing and expelling blood essence tested both his body and spirit.

It was utterly draining—his mind exhausted, his body hollow.

After three long months, Song Wen finally extracted every last drop of blood essence from the Blood Brick and expelled it from his body.

Inside the secret chamber stood a colossal furnace over ten zhang in size, brimming with blood essence.

Song Wen, pale and haggard, sat cross-legged at the base of the furnace.

It took him half a month to restore his spiritual power, qi, and physical strength. The essence blood is ready; the next step is forging the Blood Sea Embryo.

Song Wen fully immersed his mind into the essence blood, establishing a spiritual connection with it.

This was the most dangerous step in crafting the Blood Sea Seal. This was because the embryo, composed of the essence blood of countless beings, retained their resentful wills, which could pollute a cultivator's sea of consciousness.

However, Song Wen faced no such risk.

All the essence blood originated from himself, so the spiritual connection was completed without obstruction.

Once the Blood Sea Embryo was formed, Song Wen began the final phase: integrating various rare materials into the embryo.

Rare materials such as Five Colored Gold and Earth Burial Lotus were added one by one into the Blood Sea Embryo.

With each incantation Song Wen channeled, the Blood Sea Embryo began to compress and change, transitioning from a liquid state to a semi-liquid state, and finally solidifying.

Eventually, a crimson seal, about the size of a human head, covered in ominous runic carvings, appeared in Song Wen's hand.

On the base of the seal, two large characters were engraved:

Ji Yin!

As soon as the Blood Sea Seal entered his hand, Song Wen felt an intimate bond with it, as though their fates were intertwined. This unique connection was a characteristic of a life-bound treasure, unmatched by other magical tools.

Controlling a life-bound treasure consumed less qi and provided unparalleled ease in manipulation.

Song Wen opened his mouth wide, and the Blood Sea Seal shrank rapidly, entering his dantian.

Life-bound treasures are typically stored within the dantian for nurturing. This strengthens the bond between the treasure and its wielder, enhancing the treasure's power over time.

Standing up, Song Wen exited the secret chamber.

The sound of the stone door opening startled Shan Yue, who was meditating nearby.

Eyes brightening, Shan Yue exclaimed, "Ji Yin! You've finally emerged! You've been in seclusion for over four months."

"I'm heading out for a bit."

With that, Song Wen's figure darted toward the cave entrance.

"When will you return?"

Shan Yue called out to his departing silhouette.

"Soon!"

Flying for two hours, Song Wen arrived at a desolate stretch of sea tens of thousands of miles from Fangzhudao.

After confirming that no one was nearby, Song Wen summoned the Blood Sea Seal.

He tossed the Blood Sea Seal into the sky and focused his mind.

From the Blood Sea Seal, a thick blood mist surged forth.

In an instant, the sky within a radius of dozens of miles was shrouded in blood clouds, resembling an apocalyptic scene.

Beneath the blood clouds was a vast crimson sea.

This sea stretched over thirty miles. For Song Wen, at the peak of the Golden Core stage, this was the maximum extent of his current spiritual awareness.

The Blood Sea churned violently, its waves towering and ferocious.

Standing at its center, Song Wen looked like a demonic god descending from the heavens.

A towering blood wave engulfed Song Wen, but when he reappeared, he was already dozens of miles away.

Moving through the Blood Sea, Song Wen's speed rivaled that of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

A blood-red figure suddenly emerged before Song Wen—a Blood Shadow Clone.

The clone possessed 30% of Song Wen's power, equivalent to the strength of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator.

Blood Shadow Clones could move freely within the bounds of the blood clouds and sea.

As long as the Blood Sea Seal remained intact, the clones could not be permanently destroyed. Even if defeated, they would regenerate after some time of nurturing.

At present, Song Wen could summon three Blood Shadow Clones, and this number would increase as his cultivation advanced.

The Blood Sea, spanning over thirty miles, was the limit of Song Wen's current abilities.

The sheer amount of essence blood he used to craft the Blood Sea Seal was beyond imagination.

Since the method for crafting the Blood Sea Seal was introduced, no one had ever forged it with such a colossal amount of essence blood.

This made the Blood Sea Seal's power unprecedented.

However, its immense power also posed a challenge: even Song Wen, its creator, couldn't fully wield its might.

At present, he could barely utilize less than 10% of its potential.

(End of the Chapter)

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