Chapter 1222: Late Transformation of the Spirit

Main Text

A perfectly potent Flying Immortal Dragon Gall Pill boosted Chen Mobai's progress on Pure Yang Scroll 7. This was consistent with his previous experience. His body would only develop resistance after consuming and refining three Flying Immortal Dragon Gall Pills, with the effect diminishing from the fourth pill onwards. However, the Heaven-Deceiving Talisman was now easier to produce than the Flying Immortal Dragon Gall Pill, so Chen Mobai did not proceed to take a second pill. Instead, he utilized the power of the Great Dao of Pure Yang to solidify his current cultivation realm.

Afterward, he intentionally dissipated the effects of the Heaven-Deceiving Talisman within his body. Gradually, his body began to reject his current cultivation realm, even showing a tendency towards physical injury. Most cultivators would use the active period of the Heaven-Deceiving Talisman to retain the insights gained from the elevated realm, prioritizing their physical safety afterward. However, after a brief consideration, Chen Mobai chose to preserve his realm. After all, he possessed the Longevity Technique, which had sublimated from the Longevity Dao Body, making him unafraid of physical injury.

Time flowed on. Finally, after multiple recoveries, Chen Mobai's body adapted to his current realm, and the drug resistance within him could only reluctantly yield to this outcome. This indicated that Chen Mobai's hypothesis was correct. With the Great Dao of Pure Yang and the Heaven-Deceiving Talisman superimposed, he could consume pills without limit to advance his realm, as long as he was not afraid of physical injury. However, to avoid any unforeseen complications, he waited another month to confirm there were truly no side effects before activating another Heaven-Deceiving Talisman.

Three years passed.

Chen Mobai opened his eyes beneath the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree, and feeling his newly broken-through realm, a smile involuntarily appeared on his face. Late-stage Soul Transformation! At 244 years old, reaching such a realm, he was certainly unprecedented in the Immortal Sects, and it was unlikely anyone would match it in the future. In the Sky River Realm, although Chen Mobai did not know the specifics of the Soul Transformation cultivators from the various holy lands across the Five Continents and Four Seas throughout history, he felt that there might not be anyone who could compare to his achievements. To reach this stage at such an age, besides the serendipitous opportunities from the Turtle Treasure, Chen Mobai's own efforts were also crucial. Of course, if he hadn't been so cautious, he estimated this timeline could have been significantly advanced, possibly shortening it to within two hundred years. But these records held little meaning; ultimately, reaching the peak, achieving immortality, or even eternal transcendence, was what truly mattered. Chen Mobai was acutely aware of this.

Because he possessed the Great Dao of Pure Yang, he didn't need to consolidate his realm; the moment his realm broke through, it was already complete. After reaching late-stage Soul Transformation, Chen Mobai's efficiency in refining various Great Dao powers also significantly increased. He sat cross-legged before the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree, entrusting his primordial spirit to it, alternately drawing the six types of Great Dao powers from the Pure Yang Scroll. The amount of Great Dao power a cultivator could master and bear varied with the level of their realm. Upon reaching late-stage Soul Transformation, Chen Mobai was naturally able to refine even more. Furthermore, among these, the Great Dao of Nirvana was one he had just mastered, so he spent more time focusing on this particular Dao.

His destined artifact, the Vast Sky Mirror, was wielded by his second primordial spirit, suspended above his head like a blazing sun illuminating the myriad worlds, causing all spiritual plants in the Jade Peace Minor Realm to stretch their branches and flourish with vitality. After the Nirvana Great Dao power he bore reached its limit, Chen Mobai would not forget to infuse it into the Pure Yang Set. As more and more Great Dao power was infused into the Vast Sky Mirror, he suddenly felt that his destined artifact was generating an inexplicable resonance with the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree. This greatly surprised Chen Mobai. After a moment of hesitation, he still aimed the mirror surface of the Vast Sky Mirror at the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree. The mirror light was bright, casting a warm and vibrant glow upon the jade tree.

Gradually, the Dao fruits that had been plucked from the jade tree began to grow back at a faster rate. Chen Mobai had a feeling that if he persistently illuminated the tree with the Vast Sky Mirror, which contained the Great Dao of Nirvana, it would take approximately two hundred years to fully regenerate all the Dao fruits. This was originally something he had planned to do after reaching the Void Refinement stage, but he never expected to find a solution in the late-stage Soul Transformation realm. However, Chen Mobai certainly wouldn't stay there for two hundred years; even his second primordial spirit would find such a wait a waste of time. Nevertheless, he continued to illuminate the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree with the Vast Sky Mirror. Because the source of the resonance between the Vast Sky Mirror and the jade tree was not this.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Chen Mobai even infused more than half of the Nirvana Great Dao power he had refined over the years into it through his destined artifact, and only then did the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree finally reveal signs of its resonance. He saw the jade tree chime clearly, as several multicolored fruits suddenly grew out of thin air from its branches. Upon seeing this, Chen Mobai's expression turned to one of surprise. Because he was certain that these fruits were not the Dao fruits related to pill recipes and artifacts left by Daoist Dandding. In other words, there was an even deeper level of legacy within the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree?!

After realizing this, Chen Mobai's heart stirred with a slight excitement. After all, the previous thirty-six Dao fruits already contained knowledge pertaining to the sixth tier. Since these Dao fruits were hidden so deeply, they must certainly be even more powerful. Perhaps they concerned the seventh tier. Chen Mobai reached out and plucked one of the Dao fruits. Unlike the previous Dao fruits, these did not require refining; the moment they were plucked, their peels dissipated into smoke, revealing their true forms within. It was a fragmented mirror shard. Upon seeing what was in his hand, Chen Mobai couldn't help but feel a surge of doubt. He wondered, "What is this?" At that moment, the Vast Sky Mirror began to vibrate, and the fragmented mirror shard in Chen Mobai's hand also subtly moved. Clearly, the resonance originated from here.

Seeing this, Chen Mobai could only, with a "just in case" mindset, activate the Can Tong Qi. This cultivation technique was highly effective for complete artifacts, but much more difficult for fragmented ones. Nevertheless, he still managed to discern traces of the past on this mirror shard using the Can Tong Qi, likely because the artifact's creator had also used the same technique. This was a fragment of Daoist Dandding's destined artifact, the Sky Phoenix Mirror. In his final days, with his lifespan drawing to a close, Daoist Dandding forcibly attempted to break through to the Dao Integration realm. After his failure, his destined artifact, the Sky Phoenix Mirror, shattered on the spot under the impact of the Nirvana Great Dao. This was the scene Chen Mobai captured using the Can Tong Qi.

He immediately plucked all the newly grown Dao fruits from the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree. As expected, inside were the remaining fragments of the Sky Phoenix Mirror. Logically, after Daoist Dandding failed his Dao Integration, he certainly would not have had the remaining strength to collect them. Chen Mobai speculated that Dao Monarch Wangji might have helped. After he used the Can Tong Qi to resonate with all the Sky Phoenix Mirror fragments, he found that this was indeed the case. Although Daoist Dandding's Dao Integration failed, he was reborn due to a pre-set Nirvana point. However, the injuries from his Dao Integration attempt also exhausted his Nirvana Great Dao and shattered his destined artifact. Later, with the help of Dao Monarch Wangji, Daoist Dandding placed all his legacy, including the Sky Phoenix Mirror fragments, into his destined spiritual plant, which transformed into the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree before him. After Daoist Dandding passed away, Dao Monarch Wangji sent this Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree back to the Dan-Cauldron Sect.

Knowing all this, Chen Mobai couldn't help but sigh with emotion. As a disciple of the Purple Cloud Palace, Daoist Dandding had a Dao Integration intimate friend like Dao Monarch Wangji and a Pure Yang tier (One-Star) senior martial brother, so he certainly wasn't lacking in resources. Yet, he still died of old age, illustrating how incredibly difficult the Dao Integration hurdle was. In an instant, the proud mindset Chen Mobai had developed from breaking through to late-stage Soul Transformation once again became calm. Cultivation was endless. Without achieving Dao Integration, one could not attain immortality. It was not yet time to be proud and complacent.

Chen Mobai looked at the Vast Sky Mirror, suspended above his head and continuously vibrating, and knew that this was the artifact's spirituality, desiring to merge with and assimilate the Sky Phoenix Mirror fragments. As Daoist Dandding's destined artifact, it was naturally extraordinary. When it was originally forged, it used congenital-grade materials. Theoretically, if Daoist Dandding had successfully integrated with the Dao, the Sky Phoenix Mirror would have instantly ascended to the seventh tier and become a Dao Treasure. If the Vast Sky Mirror could integrate and elevate these Sky Phoenix Mirror fragments, it would face no more bottlenecks, at least before the seventh tier. All that was needed was for Chen Mobai to continuously infuse it with Nirvana Great Dao power. Thinking of this, Chen Mobai no longer hesitated. Even if doing so might entail taking on Daoist Dandding's karma, this was a tangible way to enhance his own strength. This move would at least raise the Vast Sky Mirror to the sixth tier, and surpassing the Primordial Sun Sword would merely be a matter of time. Chen Mobai immediately placed the Sky Phoenix Mirror fragments from his hand onto the surface of the Vast Sky Mirror, then instructed his second primordial spirit to continuously apply the Can Tong Qi for their elevation. The Vast Sky Mirror was currently only a fifth-tier low-grade artifact; to instantly ascend to the sixth tier would certainly take some time.

Meanwhile, Chen Mobai's true body continued to use the Can Tong Qi to resonate with the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree. Besides the Sky Phoenix Mirror fragments, he wondered if there were any other hidden legacies left behind. As it turned out, he was right. As the Can Tong Qi circulated, a pure white fruit once again grew on the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree. Seeing this, Chen Mobai immediately plucked it. As the white smoke dissipated, what appeared in his palm was a snow-white broken sword, consisting only of the hilt and a small portion of the blade. From the break, it seemed to have been forcefully snapped by a powerful opponent. But after carefully examining the broken sword, Chen Mobai's expression subtly changed. Because if he remembered correctly, during his three previous visits to the Purple Cloud Palace, on the Three Thousand Great Dao Steps outside, Dao Monarch Wangji had drawn this very sword and held it against his own neck. In other words, this was Dao Monarch Wangji's sword! And as a sword cultivator, it was clearly his destined sword artifact. The breakage of this sword signified that something major had happened to Dao Monarch Wangji. Surely Dao Monarch Wangji hadn't broken it himself to be buried with Daoist Dandding! Chen Mobai felt that a sword cultivator could not possibly be so irrational. According to the records of the Five Patriarchs of the Immortal Sect and the Purple Cloud Star River, it was clear that when the Demon Lord emerged, he had attacked the White Crane Dao Field, and Dao Monarch Wangji had fought against him, but was defeated and suppressed. But if that were the case, did it mean that before Dao Monarch Wangji was suppressed, he still had enough residual power to send out his broken sword, or even bury it within the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree? Did Zhang Daosun, Dao Monarch Wangji's disciple, and Patriarch Yun Ya, the inheritor of the Dan-Cauldron Sect, know about this matter? Furthermore, why was there only half a piece? Where was the other half?

Chen Mobai activated the Can Tong Qi again, but found no related answers. He thought perhaps he hadn't traced back far enough or deep enough, so he pushed the Can Tong Qi to its limit, continuously resonating with the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree. However, even after Chen Mobai refined the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree into his own destined spiritual plant, he still couldn't find any scenes related to the other half of the broken sword. The moment the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree was refined, Chen Mobai's heart suddenly cried out in dismay. Now, Daoist Dandding's karma was unavoidable. Why had he let curiosity get the better of him? Chen Mobai reflected on himself for a moment, but since the deed was done, he wouldn't wallow in self-reproach, especially since the benefits were tangible. Moreover, simply taking the Sky Phoenix Mirror fragments already constituted accepting the karma. Refining the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree merely solidified that fact.

As this inherited spiritual plant was refined by Chen Mobai, an inexplicable point suddenly appeared in his mind. This point indicated the location of the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree before him. Having already comprehended the Nirvana Great Dao, he naturally understood that this point was the Nirvana point of the Pure Yang Scroll. It had previously been set by Daoist Dandding, but now Chen Mobai could also use it as his own. Compared to the fifth-tier low-grade Jadeite Parasol Tree of Danxia Mountain, if the Dan-Cauldron Jade Tree—originally a peak sixth-tier spiritual plant—became his Nirvana point, Chen Mobai could directly revive to his peak state.