bookbashuk Chapter 177 Fountain of Youth
Chapter 177 Fountain of Youth
The Zhong family residence.
"Young master... I saw Xiang Dahu again today... This man looks down on you."
Peng Yidao stood before a young man in a snow-white robe, his voice sharp and stern, seemingly even more furious than the young man himself.
"Hmph, Xiang Dahu... People of the Azure Sea Sect, I really don't know why my uncle insists on using these surrendered generals? Fang Qing is one thing, at least he's an alchemist... Bei Lingshu is good-looking and has a skill with spiritual plants, yet he insists on using Xiang Dahu."
This young master of the Zhong family had also reached the perfect stage of the ninth level of Qi Refining: "However... Fang Qing has emerged from seclusion? Perfect, have someone go and instruct him to refine a few more Foundation Establishment Pills for me..."
Although he had a Foundation Establishment Pill given to him by Zhong Lingxiu, his aptitude was too poor, so he planned to get a few more as insurance.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a cold wind blew through the hall, causing the young master to shiver involuntarily.
"Huh? Uncle?"
Upon seeing Zhong Lingxiu, he immediately bowed.
"Um."
Zhong Lingxiu stood with her hands behind her back, her face expressionless, and simply instructed Peng Yidao, "The Bihaimen front is short-handed lately, go over there..."
"what?"
Peng Yidao stood there dumbfounded, but knowing that the will of the Core Formation Ancestor was difficult to disobey, he could only grit his teeth and say, "Yes, sir..."
Having joined the Foundation Establishment stage halfway through, and being a cultivator who had previously undergone Tribulation, he already possessed Zhong Lingxiu's abilities. Escaping halfway was impossible for him; he could only secretly lament his predicament.
"What a run of bad luck... I was trying to curry favor with the direct descendants of the Zhong family to avoid falling into danger... How did I suddenly end up being sent to the front lines?" After Peng Yidao left, Zhong Lingxiu turned to the young master of the Zhong family: "Zhong Kunyu... you belong to the Kun generation, a descendant of Brother Lingfeng..."
"Yes..." Zhong Kunyu quickly said, "Why did Uncle exile Peng Yidao? I feel completely unfamiliar with everything in this ancestral land of Taibai Island. It's rare to find a close and understanding person here..."
As he spoke, his tone gradually lowered, and he realized something was wrong.
"Brother Lingfeng has been kind to me; we were good friends back then... Therefore, I value you and bestow upon you a Foundation Establishment Pill, hoping you can successfully establish your foundation..."
Zhong Lingxiu softly recounted the past: "But, you shouldn't have... you shouldn't have offended the young master."
"Young master? Which one?"
Zhong Kunyu looked bewildered. On this Taibai Island, which young master had a more noble status than him?
But he had no time to think, and a beam of icy light swept across his neck.
boom!
His head fell to the ground, and the wound was completely frozen, so not a single drop of blood flowed out.
Zhong Lingxiu remained expressionless, patted her storage bag, and put the corpse away.
He was the only Core Formation Ancestor in the Zhong family, and he didn't need to explain himself no matter what he did.
Even though the Zhong family is a prominent family, not a sect, and has patriarchal laws and kinship ties, they can't do anything to him.
"This method of salvation is truly terrifying!"
Fang Qing was horrified when he saw this scene.
Zhong Lingxiu is usually fine, but once you give her an order, she's like a completely different person...
Ancient Shu.
Qingli Mountain.
An elderly man with white hair stood under a jujube tree, gazing at the jujubes that were about to ripen.
Fang Yixin is quite old now.
He barely managed to break through to the seventh level of Qi Condensation by relying on the gains from attacking the Xuan Tu Sect, and then made no further progress for decades.
By this time, he had basically given up on spiritual practice and spent his days enjoying the company of his grandchildren, finding contentment in his simple life.
"Father... Shanglin is back."
At this moment, a middle-aged man came and said, "I have brought news of Elder Tian's death..."
"Old Tian..."
Fang Yixin paused, tapping his black cane. Over the years, he had seen many people go, and the familiar faces from back then were becoming fewer and fewer.
Perhaps only the Dao Foundation cultivator from the Four Directions Chamber of Commerce can remain evergreen?
"When I received that letter from the Tian family son saying that Old Tian was seriously ill, I had a bad feeling... We cultivators who practice Qi cultivation are light and healthy. Unless we are about to die, how could we suddenly become seriously ill?"
Fang Yixin slowly strolled back to the mansion and laughed, "And that guy Lao Tian, he swore at first that he would never marry, never have children, and never take on apprentices... but in the end, he fell into a womanizing ways in his old age, making us old friends laugh at him."
Even Fang Wujiu couldn't help but chuckle at the mention of this.
Old Tian, in his old age, unexpectedly found himself with some romantic luck. It's said that he rescued a woman who turned out to be the daughter of an ordinary official family with extremely strict social norms. During the rescue, they had physical intimacy, and if he didn't marry her, she threatened to throw herself into a well...
So Old Tian had no choice but to marry this woman, and she soon became pregnant and they had many children...
Fang Yixin returned to his residence and saw a young man with wisps of [Ji Shui] energy on his body, indicating that he had already reached the mid-stage of Qi Absorption. This person was Fang Shanglin. The Fang family of Qingli had long since shaken off the desolation of their days as rogue cultivators. This young man had a jade pendant hanging from his waist, which was actually a Qi Absorption artifact. He had an elegant demeanor and already possessed some of the air of a scion of a family of immortal cultivators.
"I've met my grandfather, uncles..."
Fang Shanglin bowed and said, "I went to the Tian family's house and happened to find out that Grandpa Tian had passed away..."
"Did Lao Tian pass away peacefully?"
Fang Yixin said leisurely, "In my opinion, he should have lived a life without regrets..."
"No!"
Mentioning this, Fang Shanglin's expression became quite strange. He said, "Grandpa Tian's death was not peaceful, even undignified... At that time, Grandpa Tian seemed to wake from a dream, drenched in sweat, yet on the verge of death, his eyes wide open, his facial muscles twitching as if bound by ropes. Suddenly, he opened his throat and hissed, 'Neither east nor north! My descendants will surely suffer a great calamity!' After saying this, he coughed up blood, and his hands grasped at empty air..."
Upon hearing this, Fang Yixin and Fang Wujiu exchanged bewildered glances…
Wusheng Temple.
Today, the White Bone Path is attacking in all directions, no longer limited to Xituo County, and has established a large business empire in ancient Shu.
Of course, Sangji, the White Bone Dharma King, was also very cunning, leaving the direct line of the White Bone Dao of the Wuxiang Temple to be guarded by Xituo.
As for the secret followers of the Black Heaven Path and the Blood Sea Path, they were all sent to preach in other counties...
"Greetings, Venerable One."
Inside the secret chamber, Sangji prostrated himself in worship, then rose and presented a stone box: "This humble monk is useless; all I have collected over the years is this... I have failed to find a suitable spiritual object for the [Ji Shui] breakthrough in the Purple Mansion."
"It's good enough that it exists."
Fang Qing took the stone box, and before he even opened it, he felt waves of [Ji Shui] energy rushing towards him, mixed with another water virtue aura, which made his blood and energy active and made him seem a few years younger.
"This is... a spirit object from the Purple Mansion?"
He was slightly surprised, opened the stone box, and saw a spring inside.
Its crystal-clear appearance carries a hint of timeless beauty and exudes a vibrant energy.
Sangji's voice slowly drifted to his ears: "This Purple Mansion spiritual object is called the 'Fountain of Immortality.' It is formed by the mixing of [Ji Water] and [Bi Water], but it barely reaches the boundary of a Purple Mansion spiritual object... It has two great wonders. First, it can make the user's appearance ageless. Second, it can heal injuries, even those in the Purple Mansion... This humble monk felt that the second wonder of this object was exactly what the Venerable One needed, so I brought the two Taras, Moonlight White and Sky Sparrow, to retrieve it for the Venerable One..."
"You're so thoughtful..."
Fang Qing reassured them, saying that even for cultivators at the Purple Mansion level, obtaining Purple Mansion spiritual treasures was not an easy task.
The details are too numerous to mention: "This item... is indeed quite to my liking."
Although the "Fountain of Youth" is not a spiritual object for forming the Golden Core, its ability to revive the dead and heal the flesh is quite useful as a backup plan in case one fails to form the Golden Core.
In other words, it's equivalent to the "Ice Heart Protecting Pulse Pill" used during the Foundation Establishment stage.
As for things like "eternal youth," he's not someone who cares about those things at all...
"However, do these Purple Mansion spiritual objects... also have levels?"
Fang Qing was somewhat curious.
"Indeed... Among the spiritual objects of the Purple Mansion, the most top-tier ones are quite effective for the cultivation of Great True Persons, while the slightly lesser ones are remarkably effective for the breakthrough from the mid-stage to the late-stage of the Purple Mansion... They are a shortcut to advancing to the Great True Person."
"The remaining ones should prioritize those that can assist cultivators in cultivating supernatural powers, with those that can refine Purple Mansion magic treasures and formations being of slightly lower priority..."
"As for the Purple Mansion spiritual objects that can assist cultivators at the Dao Foundation Perfection stage in breaking through, they are also highly sought after among Purple Mansion cultivators... However, not all Purple Mansion spiritual objects have the effect of assisting in breakthroughs; on the contrary, most Purple Mansion spiritual objects do not have this effect."
Sangji explained slowly, "The last one is the 'Fountain of Youth,' which cannot help cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage break through; it only has some effects on preserving youth and healing injuries..."
"If Your Excellency is interested, this humble monk has a handwritten copy of the 'Complete Collection of the Precious Light Sutra'... It was drawn by a 'Precious Light Dharma King' who traveled the world and compiled many scriptures, creating an illustrated catalog of spiritual creatures in the Purple Palace. It may be of some use..."
Sangji took a Buddhist scripture and presented it with both hands.
"Good, I'll go back and take a good look at it..."
Fang Qing increasingly felt that this White Bone Dharma King was truly a great treasure.
"After all, he is no longer a direct descendant of the Golden Core Sect, but a high-ranking member, so his status has changed again..."
"Furthermore, the Great Snow Mountain lineage in the Secret Realm has more than one 'Buddha incarnate,' which means several Golden Core True Monarchs presiding over it... In terms of foundation and power... it probably surpasses Moyun Cliff and Yin Corpse Sect, with only Luofeng Mountain comparable..."
Fang Qing took the "Fountain of Youth" and went straight back to Taibai Island.
He certainly wasn't in a hurry to break through the Core Formation bottleneck; he was just waiting for the secret realm to open so he could obtain that Five Elements Spirit Fruit.
Once one's cultivation in the Qi Refining Path stagnates, one should naturally focus more on the Qi Absorption Path.
"Spiritual objects from the Purple Mansion... even those mixed with [Wall Water] are extremely rare..."
Inside the cave, Fang Qing opened the stone box, sensing the mysterious Daoist charm of the clear spring, his expression serene.
Since advancing to the mid-stage of the Dao Foundation Realm, his cultivation of Qi Absorption has stagnated for many years.
There are still about three years before the secret realm opens, so it's a good time to study this Purple Mansion Spiritual Object.
If one can improve their [Ji Shui] cultivation by even a little bit, that would be excellent.