Chapter 463

Inside the water palace, light shone bright and clear.

The quiet chamber was about a zhang square; apart from a table and a chair, there was nothing else. Looking up, five large characters were inscribed at the very top:

“No demon, no Dao!” Zhang Fan murmured softly, reading it aloud.

The water palace had nine levels, yet after he entered, he appeared directly in this zhang-square chamber.

At first, he had assumed the water palace held deeper mysteries, perhaps even a treasure vault filled with countless rare treasures from the mountains and seas.

After all, outside the water palace hung the Divine Artifact: [Hunyuan Chi Shen Treasure Seal].

But inside, it was nothing like Zhang Fan had imagined.

Zhang Fan glanced around; besides four walls, there was nothing. He walked to the table and found a notebook lying upon it.

“This is a notebook!?”

Zhang Fan picked up the notebook, opened it, and saw it was written in a fountain pen—the handwriting was messy, even scribbled over, with frequent blotches of ink.

“Whose notebook is this? Grandfather?”

As Zhang Fan thought this, he began reading the parts he could make out.

“The Nascent Soul is a disease!?”

The opening sentence tightened Zhang Fan’s heart.

The notebook claimed the Nascent Soul was a disease, innate to all beings, from which even the postnatal conscious soul arose.

Yet the innate nature of the Nascent Soul obstructed immortality.

Cultivation is curing this disease.

Burn away all yin impurities within the soul, achieve pure yang without limit.

Only then is the Nascent Soul no longer pathological.

“Truly left by Grandfather?” Zhang Fan pondered; he had to admit, the notebook’s views were remarkably novel. He continued reading.

Throughout history, the secrets of nature cultivation and soul refinement were countless, yet only the [Divine Demon Sacred Embryo] and the [Three Corpses Mirroring Fate] fully encompassed the mysteries of the Nascent Soul.

If one wishes to refine the Nascent Soul, one must begin with these two methods.

Now that the Final Dharma Age has arrived, the Dao struggles to endure; the path to immortality grows ever harder, and soul-refinement techniques have fallen into confusion.

I believe the process of cultivating the Nascent Soul is the process of transforming it.

Thus, the union of father and mother, like yin and yang mating, as if heaven and earth nurture, absorbing a spark of primordial essence to give birth to life…

This process aligns with the natural Dao and is the very genesis of the Nascent Soul.

In other words, the union of man and woman is the most direct, most fundamental method of transforming—or rather, creating—the Nascent Soul.

The mystery behind this can be glimpsed within the [Three Corpses Mirroring Fate].

“Divide-Soul Art!?” Zhang Fan’s third eye flared.

One begets two, two begets three, three begets all things…

Father and mother—only two—produce three, giving birth to the newborn Nascent Soul.

Everything is perfectly natural.

Zhang Fan, reading the notebook, noticed a marginal note beside it: The reproduction of life is another form of immortality. Modern science confirms that an individual’s genetic code is a continuation of ancestors, encompassing everything from the beginning until now…

Similarly, if one intervenes in the father’s and mother’s Nascent Souls, it profoundly affects the Nascent Soul of their descendants.

Due to individual differences, cultivation yields different results for each person.

Here, the notebook was annotated with dense, highly complex data.

Zhang Fan carefully deciphered it: times consumed, effects achieved, and other parameters from different individuals practicing the same Dao method.

“He was conducting experiments?” Zhang Fan pondered.

The notebook mentioned that by intervening in the father’s and mother’s Nascent Souls, one could influence the direct descendants’ Nascent Souls, and this influence could spread through generations, producing various changes.

Yet this influence, these changes, were uncontrollable and random.

In a sense, this was not transformation—it was cultivation.

Crossing time and space, beginning cultivation from the past.

Crossing individual boundaries, beginning cultivation from the paternal or maternal line, even further back.

More effective than cultivating from a single individual.

“The Xu family is an excellent specimen.”

At this, Zhang Fan’s pupils shrank sharply.

“Grandfather…?”

Zhang Fan stared at the notebook in disbelief, scanning the messy handwriting—he could feel the madness between the lines.

Zhang Tian’s inspiration surged like a geyser; he could not stop seeking to prove his wild ideas.

The Pure Yang Xu family descended from Xu Zu, naturally suited to cultivate the [Slaying the Water Dragon Art]; its true attainment rivals Pure Yang-level Dao arts.

But according to Zhang Tian’s design, if any Xu descendant surpassed the individual, they could transcend the ancestral bloodline—his Nascent Soul…

“Innately capable of suppressing the Slaying the Water Dragon Art!?” Zhang Fan’s gaze darkened.

An ancestral supreme Dao art, yet within the descendants emerged an individual innately capable of suppressing it, towering above all other bloodlines.

Most crucially, this Nascent Soul naturally harmonized with Xu Zu’s Sword.

Reading this, Zhang Fan’s thoughts grew more active—the notebook mentioned Xu Zu’s Sword.

It was Xu Zu’s Pure Yang artifact; logically, even Xu family blood descendants could barely activate it only after comprehending the Tianshi Realm.

“When the transcendent individual appears, the Nascent Soul becomes the scabbard, naturally capable of housing Xu Zu’s Sword… At that point, if one controls this Nascent Soul, one may claim the Xu family’s Pure Yang artifact…”

Zhang Tian’s mad hypothesis stunned Zhang Fan—his grandfather had already set his sights on the Xu family’s Pure Yang artifact?

“He didn’t…”

Zhang Fan flipped through the notebook and finally found traces.

“Grandfather…?”

Zhang Tian chose Xu Xuanxiao and tampered with his Nascent Soul.

“Among his direct descendants, if any change occurs, it shall manifest within three generations; otherwise, it remains hidden and hard to detect.”

Zhang Fan read this passage, his heart stirred—he saw a figure flash in his mind.

“Xu Jiuliu!?”

No wonder, back at West Spirit Mountain, when he saw Xu Jiuliu, he felt his Nascent Soul was peculiar—like a deep, empty valley.

He wasn’t lacking talent for the [Slaying the Water Dragon Art]; his Nascent Soul was simply too unique.

He was the Xu family’s “scabbard,” capable of holding the Xu family’s “sword.”

“Grandfather really did it,” Zhang Fan murmured, dazed.

Unfortunately, Zhang Tian never witnessed the Xu family’s transcendent individual emerge—and Xu Jiuliu himself remained unaware of the immense power hidden within him.

“Xu Jiuliu’s Nascent Soul… can steal Xu Zu’s Sword!?” Zhang Fan pondered.

He shook his head and continued flipping through Zhang Tian’s notebook; the next few pages were too blurred, ink smudged beyond recognition.

Zhang Fan skipped ahead directly.

Failed!

I failed!

The innate Nascent Soul already holds the secret to immortality; postnatal intervention may forge powerful individuals, but cannot truly unravel the secret of longevity.

It can only serve as a catalyst.

This path has failed.

Here, Zhang Tian’s emotions calmed; his handwriting became neater—his control over emotion was astonishingly strong.

He could face failure and setbacks with equanimity.

“Didn’t he leave an inheritance? Surely not just this notebook,” Zhang Fan muttered.

Setting aside the notebook, Xu Jiuliu could be considered Zhang Tian’s legacy—but his greatest value lay in the terrifying power hidden within his Nascent Soul; using it might take ages.

“Hm!?”

At that moment, Zhang Fan flipped idly—the notebook reached its final two pages. Before his eyes appeared a drawing: a seed, an extremely strange seed…

The seed’s shape resembled a brain.