Volume 1, Chapter 403 – Severing the Dao Foundation

After the world consciousness of the Qinghong World entered this green lotus, its cultivation was elevated all the way to the Myriad Phenomena Realm, enough to rival a shapeshifting Demon King.

Later, Shi Lan knocked its realm back down, but it was still equivalent to a ten-thousand-year spirit medicine. It had long since gained intelligence, and after soaking in the Ancestral Blood Pool for so long, such behavior from it was hardly surprising.

When she first planted this green lotus here, she had thought that one day she might obtain an immortal herb from it.

But now, using this green lotus as the core, fusing it with Demon Emperor blood, and supplementing it with many spiritual materials, she might well be able to create an extraordinarily gifted external incarnation.

After a brief consideration, Shi Lan made her decision. With a wave of her hand, she sent out a sheet of gentle rosy light and separated the green lotus from the Ancestral Blood Pool.

“I’m going into seclusion. Have all members of the clan stay far away from this place. Tianbai alone can remain here to stand guard.”

Shi Lan turned back to look at the two great demons, signaling for them to leave.

“Understood. We take our leave.”

Ripples of light flowed through Cangyue’s eyes. He nodded, bowed, and withdrew from the ancestral ground with Chixun. Then he summoned several Demon Kings and gave the order:

“Seal off a radius of a hundred li around the ancestral ground. Anyone who enters without permission is to be executed without exception!”

Once he saw that no one else was around, Chixun frowned and asked softly,

“It seems the Exalted One doesn’t trust you very much?”

Rеαⅾ οո КαtRеαԁіnɡСafe

“Just do what is expected of you. Aside from Tianbai, all the other demons of the Lan clan are no different in the Exalted One’s eyes.”

Cangyue shook his head, unconcerned. He was very clear on his own place. The only one who could truly catch Shi Lan’s eye was probably that unusually lucky Profound Jade Leopard.

Shi Lan had given him the chance to break through the shackles of his bloodline. That was no different from granting him a second life, so whether or not Shi Lan trusted him was not important.

Chixun nodded thoughtfully. Since Cangyue had put it that way, he stopped dwelling on it.

The demon race followed an even more direct law of the jungle. Unconditional obedience to the strong was instinct, and Shi Lan was far stronger than he was.

…

Refining an external incarnation was not especially complicated. One first refined the body, then split off a thread of divine sense from the primordial spirit to inhabit the incarnation.

But Shi Lan’s situation was entirely different. She intended to move her immortal-path primordial spirit and Dao foundation in their entirety into the incarnation, which was almost the same as severing herself. The danger involved was far beyond anything ordinary incarnation refinement could compare to.

Shi Lan sliced open her wrist and drew out strands of pure blood and qi from within, pouring them into the green lotus. The immense life force sharply accelerated its growth.

This green lotus had been an ancient rare species to begin with. Even in the Qinghong World’s exceedingly harsh conditions, it had still managed to reach the brink of awakening intelligence and transforming into a demon. It was anything but ordinary.

Now, with an almost inexhaustible supply of blood and qi, its cultivation quickly stepped into the Myriad Phenomena Realm.

Rеаⅾ оn KatRеaⅾiոɡCafе

Profound patterns emerged from the void, sealing the surrounding space for a hundred zhang in every direction. Wisps of plant essence drifted out and sketched the rough outline of a skeleton in midair.

Batch after batch of spiritual materials was taken out of the Qiankun Bracelet, ground into slurry, and packed into the skeletal frame, condensing into flesh and internal organs.

Shi Lan drew a light breath and slowly opened the seal on the Black Domain, drawing out a river of blood from within.

Divine radiance stained the blood river, and the divine might of Emperor laws flowed through it.

Outside Xianwu City that day, she had taken away most of the Demon Emperor’s blood. Perhaps to the Demon Emperor’s true body, this amount of blood was nothing at all, but to an ordinary person, it was nearly the size of a lake.

A flicker of fire stirred at Shi Lan’s brow as she drew forth Phoenix True Fire and began refining the Demon Emperor’s blood.

The energy within the Emperor blood was too vast. Refining it with Phoenix True Fire was painfully slow, and by Shi Lan’s rough estimate, it would take at least four months to finish refining it all.

After a moment’s thought, Shi Lan’s eyes instantly turned into a pair of vertical pupils. Wisps of blazing Red Lotus Karmic Fire streamed out of them and merged into the Phoenix True Fire.

With the aid of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, the speed of refinement increased enormously, but Shi Lan still spent a full month reducing that river-like mass of blood into a basin-sized ball of vital blood.

Every drop of vital blood from one who had become an Emperor carried terrifying divine might. In the endless legends of Lingyang from the primordial age to the present, several great emperors had been slaughtered by a single drop of an Emperor’s vital blood.

This mass of vital blood naturally could not compare to the true vital blood within the Demon Emperor’s body, but the energy contained within it was still not to be underestimated.

Rеaⅾ οո ΚаtRеаԁiոgСаfе

After a full month without rest, day or night, even with the recovery speed of an Innate Spiritual Body, Shi Lan was somewhat weary. But the refining of the incarnation had only just begun.

After a brief rest, Shi Lan drew out a few wisps from the vital blood, sent them deep into Tianbai’s body, and added a seal over them.

With Tianbai’s current cultivation, she was not yet fortunate enough to bear the energy contained in an Emperor’s blood. She could only wait until her cultivation rose further in the future before refining it.

Over the course of that month, the fleshly body formed from the green lotus had basically taken shape. All it still lacked was blood within and skin without.

The Demon Emperor’s vital blood turned into a line of blood and poured endlessly into the incarnation through its chest.

As the blood entered the body, boundless bloody light erupted from the entire figure. It was as if life had been poured into it, and its chest gradually began to rise and fall.

The immortal-path primordial spirit slowly opened its eyes and reached out with both hands toward the Tiancang Xuanling Scripture suspended above the sea of consciousness.

The immortal scripture, glowing with faint golden light, offered no resistance and was drawn into the immortal-path primordial spirit.

Shi Lan’s gaze sharpened. Her sea of consciousness shook violently, and the nine-tier flawless Dao foundation slowly peeled away from within it.

The indescribably intense pain made it feel as though Shi Lan’s mind were about to explode.

For the immortal-path primordial spirit, leaving the body was extremely easy, without the slightest obstruction. But in that instant, the Dao foundation became incomparably heavy. It kept sinking uncontrollably, trying to leave the sea of consciousness and return to the dantian.

Reαⅾ оո KаtRеаⅾіոɡСafе

Severing one’s own Dao foundation was exceedingly dangerous. The slightest mistake could cause the Dao foundation to collapse and send all of one’s cultivation down the drain.

Shi Lan clenched her teeth. With a thought, the golden body of her primordial spirit rose with a thunderous motion, blazing with brilliant golden light as it lifted the slowly sinking Dao foundation.

“Rise!”

A piercing cry echoed through the sea of consciousness. A bloody crack split open at Shi Lan’s brow, and a streak of light shot out and stopped in midair.

The nine-tier Dao foundation was stained with blood, yet flawless immortal light flowed from it, illuminating all directions.

Holding the bloodstained Dao foundation in its hands, the immortal-path primordial spirit inspected the body before it for a moment, then turned into a point of spiritual light and shot straight toward the brow.

A resonant hum sounded as invisible ripples spread outward. The incarnation’s long hair fluttered, the skin over its body formed in an instant, smooth and lustrous as jade, and a clear, powerful heartbeat echoed through the void.

Shi Lan opened her eyes and quietly examined the incarnation before her.

The body before her was perfect, without the slightest flaw. Its curves were alluring, and though its appearance resembled Shi Lan’s, it was also different, possessing an added, shimmering radiance that she herself did not have.

Its skin was gentle and delicate like spirit jade, suffused with a faint rosy glow, lovely beyond compare.

After a short while, the incarnation before her slowly opened its eyes. Its gaze was dark and lustrous, like a clear, elegant spring, and its expression was utterly indifferent.