NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 125: Thirty Years
A year later, at Zhao's Secret Mansion in Heavenly Pillar Mountain.
Zhao Sheng sat cross-legged under the Spiritual Peach Tree, his gaze aimlessly wandering through the fluctuating cloud mist surrounding the illusion array, his mind filled with a whirlwind of thoughts.
After resolving the trouble with the Golden Talisman Pavilion, he had returned to the secret mansion and had been there for four full months now, with three months having passed since Zhao Xuanjing entered seclusion for his Foundation Establishment.
With so much time having passed, Zhao Xuanjing still had not emerged, which made Zhao Sheng feel increasingly anxious.
However, his concerns did not stop there.
After watching the changing mists for a while, Zhao Sheng sighed, his mind stirred, and he summoned his personal data panel:
Name: Zhao Chonghe (Zhao Sheng)
Life Span: 83/196
Realm: Third Level of Foundation Establishment
Profession: Second Order Talisman Master
Constitution: Four Spirit Roots (Yellow Level), Primary Healing (Mortal Level)
Talent: Spiritual Smell (Yellow Level), Bullet Time (Yellow Level), Rock Hand (Mortal Level),
[Skill]
Cultivation Technique: Mystic Primordial Heavy Water Technique (Small Success), Blood Refining Body Forging Technique (Great Success), Blood Melting God Refining Technique (Skilled), Stacking Talisman Technique (Master, twenty-six layers)
Spell: God-Slaying Sword (Small Success), Thousand Silk Sword Rain (Great Success), Water Dragon Roar (Great Success), Water Bomb Technique (Great Success), Cold Ice Waterfall (Small Success)…
Talisman Making: Blood Refining Talisman (Refined), Thousand Catties Talisman (Great Success), Flowing Cloud Sword Talisman (Divine Transformation), Concentrating God Talisman (Great Success), Sweet Rain Talisman (Great Success), Illusion Shadow Escape Talisman (Great Success)…
Zhao Sheng did not focus on the breakthrough to the Third Level of Foundation Establishment, but rather, his attention was fixed on the number 196.
Just half a year ago, this number had still been 197, but now, it had silently changed to 196.
Two days ago, when Zhao Sheng suddenly discovered that his life span had decreased by a year, he was terribly shocked.
Initially, he could not understand what had caused it.
But on the same day, as he habitually executed his cultivation technique to condense essence blood, Zhao Sheng suddenly came to a realization.
The Blood Refining Body Forging Technique was problematic!
More precisely, the Blood Soul Scripture concealed significant risks.
All cultivators who practiced this technique would see rapid advancements in their cultivation, but the cost was the consumption of their own life span.
Traded life span for a boost in cultivation!
The Blood Soul Scripture was genuinely a typical technique of the Demon Path.
The key issue was that the detriment of losing life span was deeply hidden.
If not for Zhao Sheng possessing the treasured Hundred Lifetimes book, he might never have realized this danger even until his death.
If it was so for him, others were completely kept in the dark.
The move by Origin Ancestor was incredibly cunning and vicious!
Thinking of the sixty to seventy thousand disciples of the Origin Return Sect, thinking of how the Blood Refining Body Forging Technique was not only rampant in Pocket World City but had also widely spread across the Central Continent Cultivation World.
Zhao Sheng felt a chill of fear!
"The essence blood never dies, that is called Mysterious Blood, the source of Mysterious Blood is called spirit, eternal life that continues unendingly, inexhaustible in use."
Underneath the spiritual peach tree, Zhao Sheng repeatedly muttered the preamble of the Blood Soul Scripture, his heart experiencing surges of shock and awe.
He still could not figure out, what was the ultimate purpose of Origin Ancestor spreading the Blood Soul Scripture so extensively?
Origin Ancestor could not possibly be doing this just to rapidly enhance the overall strength of the Origin Return Sect.
If it were merely for this reason, he would not have allowed the Blood Refining Body Forging Technique to spread everywhere.
"All the hustle and bustle of the world is for profit, the world moves for profit," Zhao Sheng murmured:
"So… What 'benefit' is Origin Ancestor doing this for?
What is in it for the Ten Great Sects?"
Zhao Sheng would not underestimate anyone, he did not believe that the Ten Great Sects were completely oblivious to the oddities of Origin Ancestor, nor did he believe those Nascent Soul Ancestors failed to notice the peculiarity of the Blood Soul Scripture.
However, mysteriously, they remained indifferent, watching from the sidelines.
Zhao Sheng couldn't figure it out. Perhaps in this life, he would never know the hidden details.
Because his status was too low, he was far too distant from the upper echelons of the Central Continent Cultivation World.
...
Three days later, under the Spiritual Peach Tree, Zhao Sheng sat cross-legged with closed eyes. His face was as red as blood, and blood surged through his body like waves, emitting a faint roaring sound from within.
Thump, thump, thump!
His heart contracted and expanded violently. In the chambers, blood gathered into a vortex, slowly forming a drop of essence blood at the bottom of the swirl, which quickly took shape.
With inner sight, Zhao Sheng watched the birth of this drop of essence blood, his heart neither sad nor happy.
With a thought, the drop of essence blood suddenly burst into a mist of blood, then instantly transformed into a streak of blood light.
The blood light, ignoring the obstruction of the flesh, rushed into Zhao Sheng's Purple Mansion in an instant and shot into the Soul Sea, disappearing without a trace.
The next moment, Zhao Sheng felt his Divine Sense naturally increase slightly, and the range of his Divine Sense also expanded by an inch.
Shortly after, the flush on Zhao Sheng's face faded, and he opened his eyes, a flash of satisfaction evident in them.
What of the fact that cultivating the "Blood Soul Scripture" diminishes life span?
By then, Zhao Sheng had realized, as long as his cultivation could rapidly improve, he didn't need to concern himself with this hidden danger.
Zhao Sheng stood up from the ground,
Just then, a look of joy suddenly appeared on his face, his figure flashed, and he appeared at the entrance of a cave.
Boom!
As the walls of the cave thunderously fell back to the ground, Zhao Xuanjing strode out like a shooting star.
"Uncle Qi, I've succeeded!"
Seeing Zhao Xuanjing returning to a youthful appearance, Zhao Sheng was very pleased. "Good, good! Xuanjing, you truly are the Qilin'er of our Zhao family, you didn't let me down!"
This time, Zhao Xuanjing didn't respond with humility as he had before, but instead confidently accepted Zhao Sheng's praise.
Having advanced to the Foundation Establishment realm before the age of fifty, Zhao Xuanjing knew he had the opportunity to assault the Golden Core realm.
The title of the Zhao family's Qilin'er was rightfully his.
...
Two months later, Zhao Xuanjing bid farewell to Zhao Sheng and left Zhao's Secret Mansion.
Following the plan, he first wanted to return to Taifu Mountain and then began to travel the four directions. Your next chapter awaits on empire
This was a journey of experience, its duration unknown. It might be years, or even decades.
When he felt his experiences were sufficient, he would return to Zhao's Secret Mansion.
While Zhao Xuanjing traveled the world to refine his spirit, Zhao Sheng didn't return to the Origin Return Sect but chose to "seclude" himself in Pocket World City.
Time flies, the years pass swiftly
As time passed, Zhao Sheng's cultivation also steadily improved,
Foundation Establishment Fourth Layer,
Foundation Establishment Fifth Layer,
...
When Zhao Sheng successfully broke through to the Foundation Establishment Sixth Layer, thirty full years had passed.
During those thirty years, while enduring the hardships of cultivation, Zhao Sheng had been coldly observing the development of the Origin Return Sect.
But contrary to what he had anticipated, the major hidden danger of the "Blood Soul Scripture" hadn't been detected; perhaps someone had discovered it, but it had been suppressed by the Origin Ancestor or an unknown power.
Over the years, the Origin Return Sect had grown vigorously: the number of Qi Refining disciples surpassed a hundred thousand, Foundation Establishment cultivators emerged like bamboo shoots after a rain, and even three Golden Core Masters were added.
Because Zhao Sheng was too low-key, his status in the Origin Return Sect had dropped more and more.
When the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect exceeded a hundred, he had become so unobtrusive that he was almost ignored.
Of course, this was a situation Zhao Sheng was very happy to see.