Chapter 575 - 523: Tier 5 Earth (Part 2)

Chapter 575: Chapter 523: Tier 5 Earth (Part 2)

This was a crucial point. Who knew if those powers still harbored the intent to completely annihilate the Taibai Sword Sect.

Completely eradicating the number one sect in the world would surely involve more than just one or two powers. It would require the tacit approval of all Divinity Transformation Level factions, at the very least.

According to the Star Palace’s subsequent investigations, there were even shadows of those Descent Great Powers who had managed to survive since the Ancient Times and Middle Ancient era.

"Even if you hadn’t brought it up, I was going to explain it to you all."

It seemed Po Jun Star Monarch had no intention of dismantling the Star Palace’s current structure.

"The Star God Lineage was not popular within the Taibai Sword Sect back in the day. Even though the Fourteen Star Masters each had a corresponding Cultivation Technique and an orderly inheritance, too much was lost in that great war. However, the Star Palace Secret Realm’s ability to be entered and exited from anywhere gives our lineage an essential reason to exist."

Judging from the Cultivation Techniques that could currently be comprehended from the divine statues, a complete Star God Lineage possessed fourteen Divinity Transformation Techniques.

For even that to not be valued by the Taibai Sword Sect showed just how powerful their primary Sword Dao inheritance was.

According to Po Jun Star Monarch, after discovering the Star Palace Secret Realm and establishing their claim, the Sword Sect’s Cultivators had traced its origins.

It wasn’t unheard of for Void Refining Cultivators to die in the Lower Realm. Their Grotto Heavens would become Secret Realms, which were just larger and had more abundant Heaven and Earth Primordial Power.

But a Secret Realm with the characteristics of the Star Palace Secret Realm had never been recorded before.

The Taibai Sword Sect’s Cultivators suspected that the Star Palace Secret Realm wasn’t something that could evolve from the Grotto Heaven of a Lower Realm cultivator; it could only have come from the Earth Immortal Realm.

Back in Ancient Times, frequent interactions with the Upper Realm had taught the Cultivation Realm a lot of common knowledge.

The resources required for a Divinity Transformation Cultivator to descend to the Lower Realm weren’t exorbitant. The main issues were the right to use the Ascension Channel and the restrictions imposed by the various powers in the Earth Immortal Realm.

Void Refining Cultivators, however, exceeded the limits tolerated by the Laws of Heaven and Earth in the Lower Realm. Even if they sealed their Cultivation, they would still face numerous restrictions when crossing through the Ascension Channel.

To achieve this, the resources sacrificed would be beyond anything the Human World could imagine.

As for Integration Cultivators, who were a level higher, they were titans even in the Earth Immortal Realm, enjoying a Life Span of One Yuan and controlling the fates of countless beings.

Even if an Integration Cultivator were willing to descend, no Ascension Channel could withstand them. It would easily destroy the passage between the two worlds.

In comparison, the idea of an Integration Level Secret Realm from the Earth Immortal Realm drifting through the void and coincidentally ending up in the Lower Realm, while still hard to explain, was at least more logical than an Integration Cultivator dying in the Human World.

"According to our predecessors’ records, the Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven existed independently, full of vitality and not yet having degenerated into a Secret Realm. But by the time the founding predecessors of the Star Palace discovered it, the two had already merged. They suspect that at the moment of the Sword Sect’s fall, the ancestors used a Great Divine Technique to hide the Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven inside the Star Palace Secret Realm to prevent their lineage from being severed. It’s a good thing they did. Given how thoroughly all the powers later searched the seven Sword Mountains, if the Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven had remained separate, it surely would have been taken by another Sect long ago."

Po Jun Star Monarch seemed very sincere, revealing many unknown secrets of the Taibai Sword Sect.

He didn’t evade the other Star Monarchs’ questions, answering each and every one in detail.

"So when do we enter the Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven?"

Jumeng Star Star Monarch sounded a bit rushed, but that was understandable given the legacy of the Taibai Sword Sect was at stake.

"How about in three days’ time? We can use the time to regulate our conditions and also wait for Fellow Daoist Lianzhen... His mask hasn’t returned to its place, so he’s still alive. He might be injured, or perhaps he hasn’t found a suitable opportunity to enter the Star Palace Secret Realm yet. But we will only wait three days. At this time in three days, we will enter the Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven. To ensure the operation goes smoothly, I propose we all remain in the Star God Hall for these three days."

Po Jun Star Monarch glanced at the others, his words leaving no room for negotiation.

...

’Both Taiyin and Jumeng want to leave the Star Palace Secret Realm, but they had to compromise in the face of Po Jun’s firm stance...’

Bai Zichen chuckled to himself. ’How could their relationship possibly return to what it was before so easily? Once a rift forms, it only grows deeper.’

It was obvious that both Taiyin Star Monarch and Jumeng Star Star Monarch had top-tier powers backing them. Leaving at a time like this was undoubtedly to seek outside support.

Perhaps their joining the Star Palace wasn’t even a personal decision, but something done with their Sect’s permission.

Those Super Sects with profound foundations might have ways to circumvent a Dao Heart Oath, or at least minimize the backlash.

Bai Zichen, in his guise as Tiann Xiang Star Monarch, had no objection to the proposal to remain in the Star Palace Secret Realm. It seemed the Sect backing him wasn’t particularly powerful.

However, he couldn’t be bothered to get involved in these petty, behind-the-scenes schemes. He decided to take this time to inventory his spoils of war.

’The Essence of the Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede is enough to power a Tier Four Puppet for several hundred years. If I use it sparingly, it could last even longer...’

This was a precious fortune. Countless Sects would fight to the death for it. For a Sect, the difference between having a Nascent Soul Level combatant and not was like the difference between the clouds and the mud.

In many ways, a Tier Four Puppet was far more useful than a Tier Four Sect Spirit Beast. The key was that it was absolutely obedient.

If he handled it properly, he might even be able to trade it for a Tier Four Flying Sword—assuming the other party had one.

’The Demon Pill is actually less valuable. Perhaps I can package it with the creature’s mangled Demon Body and sell it to an Artifact Refining Grandmaster for a sum of Top-Grade Spirit Stones.’

The Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede had no Magical Treasures on it. For a Tier Four Top-Grade Great Demon with Desolate Beast Bloodline, even ordinary Spiritual Treasures were less useful than their own bodies—like the golden arrows forged from its own forelimbs.

Beyond that, his greatest gain came from a space in its abdomen. The Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede had used it as a small storage space.

There were over a hundred pieces of Centipede Armor, likely shed when it molted. All of them were excellent materials for Refining Magical Treasures.

A fist-sized clump of soil seemed to have a life of its own, constantly growing and expanding.

But there was a restriction placed upon it. Every time it grew an inch, it would collapse and revert back to the purest Earth Element Primordial Power.

This process repeated over and over.

Just this one piece of soil, upon appearing in his Realm, caused the still-imperfect world to sink several inches.

The once-chaotic Spiritual Qi grew heavy, and dirt appeared on the white ground.

"Earth! And it’s Tier Five Earth!"

Bai Zichen exclaimed in his heart. Besides the number one Divine Soil in the world, what other soil could have such a miraculous effect?

He could feel that if he buried this clump of Earth in his Realm, it would advance significantly in less than ten years—an effect even better than transplanting seven or eight Spirit Eye Objects into it.

It could even generate Earth Veins and grow mountains and rivers, bringing everything closer to a True Realm.

To achieve this, only the legendary Divine Soil and Earth would suffice—and it had to be Tier Five Earth.

’I never thought this seemingly poor bug would have something so good on it...’

Gazing at the clump of Earth, Bai Zichen hesitated once more.

Using it on his Realm would naturally be great, but he had another item that also required Tier Five Earth: the bag of Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice Seeds he had obtained from Li Hansi of the Fish Dragon Sect.

This Spirit Rice was different from all other Spirit Rice currently grown in the Cultivation Realm. It didn’t just strengthen one’s blood and qi, expel impurities, or fortify the physical body. Instead, consuming it could directly increase one’s Cultivation.

And it could increase the Cultivation of a Nascent Soul True Monarch!

Such a heaven-defying effect was truly worthy of a Spirit Rice discovered alongside the Holy Beast Essence Blood and the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword. It was befitting of something from an Immortal Mansion.

Elixirs that could increase the Cultivation of a Nascent Soul Cultivator were already exceedingly rare.

For one, Pill Formulas were limited; there were only a handful that had been proven effective.

For another, many of the Spirit Medicines required for alchemy were already extinct, or the age requirements were simply too outrageous.

They often required ages of ten thousand years. Even with the accelerated growth in a Medicine Garden Secret Realm, one couldn’t produce many such plants.

If Bai Zichen could successfully cultivate the Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice, he wouldn’t need much. Just a few acres would be enough for his own use.

He thought about the time it took him to reach the peak of the Early-Stage Nascent Soul realm. That was with the help of Earth Spirit Milk and Rejuvenating Holy Water; otherwise, the process would have been much longer.

The next two realms seemed impossibly distant.

Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice had to be grown on Tier Five Earth. Otherwise, the Fish Dragon Sect’s attempt to cultivate it back then wouldn’t have failed, yielding only Spirit Rice that had degraded to Tier Three.

"If only I could split this clump of Earth in two, that would be the best of both worlds..."