Chapter 229: Dao-seeding Talisman and Nurturing Spirit Secret Technique!

Seeing Fang Xu not speaking, the donkey demon came forward, knelt on one knee, looked at Fang Xu and bowed, saying: "Master, you needn't worry."

"If it weren't for you, I might have died a hundred years ago."

"Moreover, I don't want to become a puppet of Heaven's Dao, living till the end and losing myself."

"I want to follow you, Master, and continue on as myself."

"If in the end I become an unfeeling will, losing all my memories, what difference is that from death?"

Fang Xu nodded upon hearing that.

He knew the donkey demon was right.

A person who loses all emotions and memories, eventually dissipating into the Dao, is, in a sense, truly dead.

But the problem is he still feels reluctant.

"Master, please!"

Xiao Hei could also sense Fang Xu's reluctance.

At this point he was already quite content.

After all, they had only known each other for a few days.

"Are you sure?" Fang Xu helped him up and asked in a low voice.

Xiao Hei's gaze firm, he nodded: "Definitely!"

Fang Xu took a deep breath: "Good, then let go of the mind and open the sea of consciousness."

Gu Yu Xi's method transmitted to him is actually simple: it is a technique called the Dao-seeding talisman.

The so-called Dao-seeding talisman means secretly planting a Dao tree in a person's sea of consciousness.

This Dao tree will absorb everything from the host to grow, eventually blossom and bear fruit, forming a Dao fruit.

And this Dao fruit will contain the essence of the host's body and soul.

When the Dao fruit matures, the host's fate is to die and the Dao to vanish.

Gu Yu Xi also seemed to know that Fang Xu found this method hard to accept.

Therefore, besides the Dao-seeding talisman, they prepared for Fang Xu a secret technique called the Nurturing Spirit method.

Using this technique, Xiao Hei's divine soul can give birth to a divine fetus.

In theory, the divine fetus, protected by the divine soul, will not be absorbed by the Dao-seeding talisman.

Thus, when the Dao fruit matures, the divine fetus will retain Xiao Hei's divine soul and be reborn.

At that point, all that is needed is to find a body for him to possess, or use the Heaven Brilliance Realm's secret method to construct a physical form for him, and Xiao Hei can then be reborn.

But all of this is merely theoretical.

After all, Gu Yu Xi has never practiced either the Dao-seeding talisman or the Nurturing Spirit secret technique, so it's unclear whether both can succeed simultaneously.

If, by then, the Dao-seeding talisman is too overbearing and absorbs the divine fetus as well,

Xiao Hei will surely vanish completely from the world.

After all, the Dao-seeding talisman cannot be reversed, nor can it be undone.

Everything is a gamble.

Before him, Xiao Hei closed his eyes, completely released his mind and consciousness, and let Fang Xu do as he pleased.

Fang Xu's trembling finger extended and slowly touched Xiao Hei's brow.

The radiance of the Nurturing Spirit technique slowly flowed into Xiao Hei's sea of consciousness, wrapping his divine soul within.

Xiao Hei's face suddenly showed a look of pain.

Fang Xu, who was performing the Nurturing Spirit technique, also felt unwell at this moment.

Xiao Hei himself is a manifestation of a trace of will from the Heaven Mysterious Realm.

Although this trace of will from the Heaven Mysterious Realm lacks wisdom and spiritual awareness, it instinctively sensed that the Nurturing Spirit technique would be harmful to it and instantly launched a counterattack.

An aura carrying majestic heavenly might surged out along Xiao Hei's sea of consciousness and burst from his body!

In an instant, dark thunderclouds piled up above Fang Xu's head.

Terrifying lightning flickered within the clouds.

Fang Xu opened his eyes, gazed at the heavenly might above his head, and furrowed his brow.

This is the Heaven Brilliance Realm!

Although the Heaven Brilliance Realm's heavenly will is already dead, it shouldn't be controllable by the Heaven Mysterious Realm's heavenly will, right?

Moreover, the trace of Heaven Mysterious Realm's heavenly will within Xiao Hei is merely insignificant.

As soon as this thought arose, the dark clouds in the sky began to show signs of dissipating.

When the dark clouds dispersed, it meant that the heavenly will's counterattack had lost its effect.

Fang Xu then redirected his focus back onto Xiao Hei's sea of consciousness.

The Nurturing Spirit technique continued to be performed.

Xiao Hei's divine soul was torn open, and afterward a large amount of divine soul power gathered toward the abdomen of the divine soul.

Witnessing such a miraculous change, Fang Xu suddenly had a thought.

"Perhaps... I can help him a bit, making his divine fetus safer."

Thinking of this, a black Mysterious Water Soul surged directly into Xiao Hei's sea of consciousness.

After the Mysterious Water Soul surged in, under Fang Xu's control it directly formed a protective shield around the forming divine fetus.

With the protection of the Mysterious Water Soul, Fang Xu could constantly monitor the Dao tree's absorption.

If he detected any sign of the Dao tree absorbing the divine fetus, he could also respond in time.

After completing the Nurturing Spirit technique, Fang Xu adjusted his breath for a moment, his expression solemn, and once again pressed his finger to Xiao Hei's brow.

This time he was going to perform the Dao-seeding talisman.

Compared to the Spirit-nurturing secret art, the Dao-seeding talisman is a very overbearing method.

The profound and mysterious runes formed and condensed in Xiaohei's sea of consciousness.

It then turned into a speck of light radiating seven-colored radiance, slowly merging into the sea of consciousness.

"Ah!"

At the moment the Dao seed merged, Xiaohei suddenly let out a piercing, tragic scream!

"Don't move!"

Fang Xu hurriedly spoke.

The Dao seed was taking root; if Xiaohei moved recklessly now, it would very likely cause the Dao seed to collapse.

The Dao-seeding talisman contains a vast amount of energy; if it were to collapse in his sea of consciousness, the terrifying energy released would absolutely reduce his spirit-soul to dust!

Xiaohei endured the heart-piercing pain and dared not move.

In his sea of consciousness, the Dao seed gradually sprouted filamentous bands of light like roots, deeply embedding into Xiaohei's sea of consciousness, then spreading throughout his flesh and blood.

The pain of this process is beyond imagination.

Xiaohei's body trembled violently; if not for worrying about hurting Fang Xu, he would rather die than endure this pain.

Time passed bit by bit.

Just as Xiaohei was about to collapse, the Dao seed in his sea of consciousness finally ceased all movement.

"Pop!"

A clear sound rang out.

The Dao seed shimmering with seven-colored light directly burst, and a green sprout shot out from it.

Seeing this, Fang Xu let out a slight sigh of relief.

"How do you feel?"

Xiaohei wearily opened his eyes and shook his head:

"Not good."

"I feel the power in my body is rapidly draining."

"Master, I feel that at most in a year's time I will be drained dry."

"One year — that's roughly what Fang Xu expected."

"During this year, the suffering you must endure will only grow stronger."

"So..."

Xiaohei nodded: "I know, Master, rest assured, I can hold out."

Forcing out a faint smile, Xiaohei wanted to salute Fang Xu with clasped hands, but after the torment of the Spirit-nurturing secret art and the Dao-seeding talisman, his body was already severely weakened.

A wave of swaying, and he directly lost consciousness.

Seeing this, Fang Xu hurriedly helped him up.

Inside the hall, Gu Yusix looked at the unconscious Xiaohei and sighed, saying: "He's really been put through a lot."

Fang Xu nodded.

As for Xiaohei, he now truly feels guilty.

"Senior, is there any way to let him suffer less pain over the coming year?"

The Dao tree will continuously draw everything from Xiaohei over the coming year.

His bodily essence, his spirit-soul essence…

This pain will accompany his weakening constitution, becoming ever harder to bear.

In the end, when most of Xiaohei's cultivation and everything else have been drained, this terrible pain will make life worse than death.

Fang Xu felt he should do something to let him suffer less over the coming year.

"There is, but it requires consuming a large amount of resources."

"Moreover, such resources aren't something you can just find whenever you want."

Gu Yusix thought for a moment and then spoke.

"Just tell me what you need, Senior; as long as it exists, I'll find a way to obtain it." Fang Xu hurriedly said.

"Creation Immortal Elixir." Gu Yusix slowly uttered the four words.

"Creation Immortal Elixir!?" Fang Xu froze.

Gu Yusix thought he hadn't heard of it, and immediately explained: "Creation Immortal Elixir is a special liquid formed from the precipitation of the energy of a realm of heaven and earth."

"Depending on its color, the energy it contains also varies."

"Creation Immortal Elixir has a total of its colors; if you want to help him ease his pain, he must drink at least one cup per month."

Saying this, Gu Yusix sighed and shook his head: "But Creation Immortal Elixir belongs to the kind of opportunity that can be encountered but not sought; it's hard to find, so..."

"Boom!"

Before he finished speaking, a large jar suddenly appeared in Fang Xu's hand.

Gu Yusix was stunned.

"What is this?"

Fang Xu lightly smiled: "Senior, open it and take a look."

Gu Yusix dubiously opened the mud seal on the jar, and a stream of pure energy instantly dissipated.

"This is!"

Upon smelling this pure energy, Gu Yusix's eyes widened in astonishment.

"Creation Immortal Elixir!?"

Fang Xu nodded: "Is this what you meant, Senior?"

Gu Yuxi once again stretched his head to the altar's mouth and took a sniff, somewhat intoxicated, closed his eyes: "Exactly."

The Creation Immortal Elixir in this vat is actually still orange.

Besides red, it's already considered the highest grade.

Seeing Gu Yuxi seem to have a strong interest in the Creation Immortal Elixir, Fang Xu asked doubtfully, "Senior, is this thing very precious?"

He had obtained the Creation Immortal Elixir twice in total back then.

One time was in the Endless Sea to the east of the Great Yu.

It was also that time, he used the Creation Immortal Elixir to let Chang Long successfully become a demon.

The second time was at the Ti Lan Shan ruins.

In Fang Xu's view, the Creation Immortal Elixir doesn't seem to have much use.

As a result, to this day, his storage ring still holds several jars, which have been kept for over a hundred years and have never been taken out.

Of course it's precious!

Gu Yuxi said, "This thing is the essence of the essence of heaven and earth."

Fang Xu muttered, "I haven't discovered any use for it either."

I used to just drink it as liquor...

Upon hearing this, Gu Yuxi was dumbfounded.

To drink the Creation Immortal Elixir as liquor, one must be incredibly wasteful to do such a thing.

Do you know why this is called Creation Immortal Elixir?

Fang Xu shook his head.

Gu Yuxi took a deep breath and said, "The two characters 'creation' mean to create and evolve; they can also be understood as a kind of opportunity and blessing."

"This thing is the essence of heaven and earth, which can be understood as containing the mystery of creating and evolving all things in heaven and earth."

"Every drop of Creation Immortal Elixir contains many mysteries of this heaven and earth; for cultivators who are about to come into contact with the Great Dao, or have already done so, this is far more precious than ordinary heavenly treasures and earthly riches."

Upon hearing Gu Yuxi's words, Fang Xu was completely dazed.

He simply didn't know that the Creation Immortal Elixir could be so precious.

Then what about before...

Just thinking back to when he applied an entire jar of Creation Immortal Elixir all over Chang Long's body to heal his injuries...

Later, to prolong the old ape's life, he also gave him a jar to drink as water.

Plus Kulun, and the mountain barbarians in the Ti Lan Shan ruins...

I really seem to be incredibly wasteful!

Furthermore, back when he was opening the star chart, he drank at least six jars of Creation Immortal Elixir.

Feeling somewhat guilty, he glanced at Gu Yuxi and dared not admit to wasting the Creation Immortal Elixir.

Because he thought that if he said these things out loud, Gu Yuxi might very well get angry and slap him.

Cough... Senior, I'll give you this jar of Creation Immortal Elixir.

I still have plenty.

Back then, I obtained nearly ten jars of Creation Immortal Elixir from the Ti Lan Shan ruins, and now there are still six vats left.

"I don't want it." Gu Yuxi shook his head slightly, disappointed.

Fang Xu didn't understand: "Why?"

Over these years, Gu Yuxi has helped him greatly, both publicly and privately; giving him a vat of Creation Immortal Elixir would be nothing out of the ordinary.

"I am a cultivator of the Celestial Bright Realm." Gu Yuxi said helplessly, "Your Creation Immortal Elixir is from the Heavenly Mysterious Realm; to me, it's useless."

And there's this too!?

Fang Xu, feeling a bit dazed, put away the Creation Immortal Elixir and suddenly said:

By the way, there's one more thing.

I also once obtained a kind of green Creation Immortal Elixir.

Upon hearing this, Gu Yuxi looked at him with a complex expression: "Your fortune... really leaves one speechless."

Fang Xu shook his head and said, "Senior, the green Creation Immortal Elixir I discovered is considered man-made."

Impossible!

Before his words were even finished, Gu Yuxi immediately denied: "Such a thing that seizes heaven and earth's creation can only be what remains of heaven and earth; it is absolutely impossible for humans to manufacture."

Seeing his disbelief, Fang Xu immediately recounted how he and Chang Long, while gathering medicinal herbs deep in the Eastern Sea years ago, encountered the Immortal Carved Stone Boat.

Upon hearing this, Gu Yuxi was completely stunned.

"You mean someone used a stone boat at sea, relying on slaughtering sea demons to refine Creation Immortal Elixir!?"

Fang Xu nodded.

Back then he had infiltrated the interior of the Immortal Carved Stone Boat and personally seen that kind of complex and bizarre formation.

"Where is that stone boat now!?" Gu Yuxi asked urgently.

Fang Xu shook his head.

According to Chang Long, the whereabouts of the Immortal Carved Stone Boat are unpredictable; nobody knows where it is now.

"Fang Xu, think carefully!"

"If we could find that so-called Immortal Carved Stone Boat..."

Gu Yuxi was extremely excited, forcibly calming his emotions as he said, "If we could find the Immortal Carved Stone Boat, I might have a way to retrieve all the fragments of the Celestial Bright Realm!"

Fang Xu, hearing this, didn't understand.

What connection does the Immortal Carved Stone Boat have with retrieving the fragments of the Celestial Bright Realm?

Gu Yuxi saw his state and said, "You couldn't really think that stone boat can only drift in the waters outside Three Mountains Island, could you?"

"According to what you said, even if the Immortal Carved Stone Vessel slaughtered cleanly all the sea beasts around Three Mountains Island, it would be absolutely impossible to refine that much Creation Immortal Elixir."

"So I guess that the stone vessel must possess an ability to travel between worlds and wander in the void."

"Only in this way can it obtain enough energy to refine the Creation Immortal Elixir."

"Saying this, Gu Yuxi's face showed a hint of disbelief."

"This is simply unimaginable."

"What kind of existence could possibly craft such a heaven-defying stone vessel?"

"Seeing Gu Yuxi's impatient expression, Fang Xu said, 'Why don't we go to the East Sea to look for it?'"

"Gu Yuxi nodded and said, 'We must find the stone vessel.'"

"Even if we weren't looking for the fragments of the Heaven Splendor Realm, the formations on that stone vessel could still be studied."

"I now suspect that the stone vessel is not a product of the Heaven Mystery Realm at all."

"Hearing these, Fang Xu's expression turned solemn."

"It seems I truly underestimated the Immortal Carved Stone Vessel. (End of chapter)"