Chapter 354: Leaving Seclusion (Requesting Subscription)

"When Senior Brother consolidates his Nascent Soul and becomes a True Lord, our Iron Sword Sect can seize a fourth-rank spiritual vein in the Outer Seas as our foundation, and thus flourish forever."

Brother Zhou's eyes gleamed with fervor.

The several Golden Core true cultivators of the Iron Sword Sect had grown up together since childhood and shared deep bonds.

Of course, the key was still the ancestral "River of the Dead Stone," which could forge a "Blood Pact of the River of the Dead," exerting some restraint even over Great True Lords.

They had all sworn oaths to keep the secret and glorify the sect, naturally uniting their efforts as one.

Moreover, among the Iron Sword Sect today, only Fire Dragon True Lord had the highest cultivation, on the verge of Golden Core Great Completion.

This Essence Great Pill was primarily fire-affiliated.

In fact, aside from Fire Dragon True Lord, none of the other junior brothers or sisters had the qualification to use it.

"Hmm, that's right."

Fire Dragon True Lord nodded: "Brother, you've come at the perfect time—I've already found a spiritual vein island. Though it's only a third-rank spiritual vein, it can serve as temporary shelter, far better than living on the Mingkun Island, dependent on others' mercy and living in constant dread."

Even though the Mingkun Island Lord had been in seclusion for decades, they were still terrified!

……

At this moment, Fang Xing—whom countless cultivators coveted—was in the "Spiritual Eye" of the Mingkun Island, where spiritual energy was most abundant.

After decades of seclusion, his appearance remained unchanged, as if frozen in time.

At this moment, a powerful spiritual force surged from within him, followed by a muffled grunt as a thread of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"So it's come… finally hit a bottleneck?"

Fang Xing's cultivation avatar sighed faintly and stood up.

After decades of seclusion, he had refined all the resources he gathered into pills, purged their toxins through the Ten-Thousand Transformations Cauldron, and, aided by the fourth-rank spiritual vein on the Mingkun Island, finally pushed his spiritual energy to the peak of Nascent Soul Early Stage!

For a Nascent Soul cultivator, achieving this level after decades of seclusion was already a tremendous gain.

Most of them would enter seclusion for several centuries, using the time to refine techniques or master grand divine arts.

When they emerged, the world would have changed beyond recognition!

"But… for me, this cultivation avatar is gradually falling behind."

"After all, whether it's the martial path of Blue Star or the Source Power system… both seemed far faster at the beginning."

Fang Xing sighed softly.

After reaching the peak of Nascent Soul Early Stage, he naturally attempted to break through to Nascent Soul Mid Stage.

Alas… he discovered he had hit a bottleneck, unable to break through as smoothly as before when his spiritual energy reached its peak.

In truth, this was the norm in the cultivation world.

Even a Heaven-grade spiritual root faced no bottleneck before Golden Core, but after Golden Core, a bottleneck could appear.

His spiritual root surpassed even ordinary Heaven-grade roots—he encountered almost no bottlenecks even during Golden Core cultivation.

But after consolidating his Nascent Soul, he finally felt resistance when attempting to break through to Nascent Soul Mid Stage.

"Over the years, using the Explorer, also known as the Mingkun, I've conducted many experiments—my spiritual root's enhancement seems to have reached its limit."

Fang Xing fell silent in thought.

This was normal—after all, cultivation techniques always had limits, and this blood sacrifice method was invented by Wan Fa, a Golden Core cultivator.

That it still worked this long was far beyond Fang Xing's expectations.

"Since technological methods here won't work, I must rely on traditional cultivation methods."

He murmured softly.

Cultivators in the cultivation world typically have three ways to break through a bottleneck.

The first is to continue meditating and endure, relying on time—perhaps ten or twenty years, perhaps a hundred or even several hundred years—until suddenly, enlightenment strikes.

Of course, more often than not, one remains trapped in the bottleneck for life, never breaking through.

For most cultivators in the cultivation world, reaching a certain limit, hitting a bottleneck, and being unable to advance further is the norm.

After that, they usually shift focus elsewhere—enjoying life, establishing families, or revitalizing their sects.

Only true ascetics, those with a genuine chance at the Dao, would endure endless suffering for even a sliver of breakthrough opportunity.

The second is to travel outside, engage in combat, and hope for sudden "sudden enlightenment," though the risk of dying in battle increases dramatically.

The third is to use secret techniques, rare artifacts, or even pills to force a breakthrough.

For Fang Xing, having sat in meditation for decades, the first method was clearly unfeasible.

The third method was currently out of reach—pills or secret techniques capable of aiding a Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivator to break into Mid Stage were exceedingly rare even in the Hanhai cultivation world, appearing only occasionally at grand auctions in the Inner Seas.

"So I must leave seclusion, travel outside, and seek opportunities along the way?"

Fang Xing's eyes brightened, then he struck his crown. A dark-green Nascent Soul emerged, its eyes crimson, a solar mark branded on its forehead—the "Wan Fa Ghost Infant!"

After so many years, the Wan Fa Ghost Infant remained at Nascent Soul Early Stage.

"My main body cannot break through quickly, but I do have a secret technique to accelerate the second Nascent Soul's advancement."

Fang Xing fell into deep thought.

The second Nascent Soul could rapidly advance through the "Devour Infant Technique," but this method required vast quantities of Nascent Souls or Essence Great Pills, violated heavenly harmony, and if discovered, would make him the target of universal condemnation.

"But I have no choice—once the second Nascent Soul grows rapidly, breaks into Nascent Soul Mid Stage or even Late Stage, it'll be useful. Otherwise, in the main world, an Eighth Stage Early Stage combat power? What good is that?"

At this moment, the dark-green second Nascent Soul gestured again, and the "Green Yang Demon Lamp" before it rapidly expanded.

Inside the lamp, the Southern Ming Fire and Soul-Devouring Demon Fire had long since merged into a single, pale violet flame.

"This flame has been refined from demonic to righteous, its power boundless—it might as well be called 'Purple-Green Divine Flame!'"

Fang Xing nodded, and the Nascent Soul's tiny hand grasped.

The pea-sized "Purple-Green Divine Flame" detached from the Green Yang Demon Lamp and suddenly swelled into a fist-sized fireball.

Under Fang Xing's control, it transformed into the shapes of a fire dragon, a fire phoenix, and a fire tree—all lifelike.

Its power far surpassed its former state, yet its control became even more fluid.

"The Fire Dao… though the Fire Dao here differs from that of Great Xia, its power is significantly weakened, yet it still allows me to sense and slightly manipulate the fire spiritual force in heaven and earth, greatly enhancing all fire-based spells…"

Fang Xing's eyes flickered with insight, then he fell into contemplation.

Great Xia's Source Power system progresses from mystery to Dao, from Dao to the Ultimate!

Their relationship is one of continuous advancement, with adaptability increasing at each level.

"Mystery power is weakened somewhat in the main universe, but in the cultivation world, it's diminished by over ninety-nine percent… clearly, Mystery is unsuited to different worlds."

"Dao power is more interesting… the cultivation world also has the Five Elements, and the Fire Dao still has its use, though many aspects are incompatible and require new comprehension and adjustment… yet clearly, it won't match the power of Great Xia."

"But Ultimate power is entirely different—it likely adapts across countless dimensions, universes, and worlds… as long as Ultimate exists, Ultimate power flows without obstruction…"

"All times and spaces eternally exist… Luo?"

"Or perhaps, though the cultivation world, Great Xia, and the main universe are not in the same world… these countless worlds and universes still belong to a higher realm? A sea of universes? A river of time and space?"

Fang Xing had some theories, but he knew that until he reached a sufficiently high realm, all speculation was mere nonsense.

At this moment, after briefly casting a few fire spells, he realized his understanding of the Fire Dao also enhanced his cultivation avatar.

"Too bad… why not an understanding of the Metal Dao? Otherwise, with my sword art, even at Nascent Soul Late Stage, I could rival a Transformation Lord."

Transformation Lords could summon heavenly spiritual forces; understanding Dao could also manipulate heavenly spiritual forces.

In this regard, Fang Xing was confident he could match a Transformation Lord.

Alas, his foundation—his spiritual energy—was far too weak, so currently he was still inferior to Transformation Lords.

The spiritual energy of Nascent Soul Early Stage was at least several times weaker than that of Nascent Soul Late Stage!

And the spiritual energy of a Nascent Soul Late Stage Great True Lord was one great realm below a Transformation Lord—possibly a tenfold difference!

Combined, that was a dozens-fold gap!

"Forget it… if my main body can't surpass them, the Wan Fa Ghost Infant can cultivate the Green Yang Demon Lamp as its core spiritual treasure, refine demonic flame arts… and then, through frantic consumption of Nascent Souls, advance to Nascent Soul Late Stage or even Full Completion. Though it will never reach Transformation, matching a Transformation Lord won't be difficult."

Being able to match an ordinary Transformation Lord meant Ninth Stage combat power—barely enough to make trouble in the main universe.

"My understanding of the Fire Dao might even surpass many Transformation Lords… but against a Transformation Heavenly Lord, I'd likely still be outmatched."

"But does any Transformation Heavenly Lord still exist in the Hanhai cultivation world today?"

Such beings, if they existed at all, would likely reside only in the two holy sites: Wuji Palace and Piaomiao Immortal Palace.

After all, they were sects that had produced Void-Refining cultivators and ascended immortals.

Other cultivation sects or hermit lineages—even if lucky enough to have once had a Transformation Lord—could not pass down their legacy generation after generation, let alone aspire to higher realms.

That's why the destruction of the Spirit Sword Sect had ignited wild jubilation among the Hanhai cultivators.

Countless Transformation Lords had secretly moved, seeking to seize the Spirit Sword Sect's "Lingkong Sword Scripture" to complete their own Void-Refining path—or at least pave the way to becoming a Transformation Heavenly Lord!

"It's time to leave seclusion."

Fang Xing's will shifted, transforming into a blade of light that shot out of the Spiritual Eye and arrived aboard the Mingkun.

"Little Green, how has the island been running lately?"

He sat on the sofa, sipping juice from the main universe, asking casually.

A flash of light revealed a sprite resembling Little Blue, except its wings were green.

"Master… these are the annual work reports written by Master Ni Huolong and the other True Lords."

"In addition, there are the annual tributes of top-grade spiritual stones and market taxes…"

Little Green manipulated drones to bring forward a series of storage bags: "My surveillance on the Mingkun Island has recorded evidence of 342 cultivators committing crimes—several cases require your personal attention…"

(End of Chapter)