One year later, Tianzhu Mountain, Zhao family secret residence.
Zhao Sheng sat cross-legged under the spiritual peach tree, his eyes fixed on the clouds and mists flowing outside the magic array, his mind full of thoughts.
After resolving the trouble at the Golden Talisman Pavilion, it had been four months since he returned to the secret residence, and three months had passed since Zhao Xuanjing went into seclusion to build his foundation.
It has been such a long time, and Zhao Xuanjing still hasn't broken through, which makes Zhao Sheng feel a little anxious.
However, this was not the only thing that troubled him.
After watching the changing clouds for a while, Zhao Sheng sighed and, with a thought, summoned his personal data panel:
Name: Zhao Chonghe (Zhao Sheng)
Lifespan: 83/196
Realm: Foundation Building Level 3
Occupation: Second-level Talisman Master
Constitution: Four Spiritual Roots (Yellow Level), Primary Self-Healing (Ordinary Level)
Talents: Sniffing (yellow level), Bullet Time (yellow level), Hand of Rock (mortal level),
[Skill]
Skills: Xuanyuan Heavy Water Technique (minor success), Blood Refining and Body Tempering Technique (great success), Blood Melting and Soul Refining Technique (proficient), Talisman Stacking Technique (mastery, twenty-six stacks)
Spells: God-Slaying Sword (minor mastery), Thousand-Thread Sword Rain (great mastery), Water Dragon Chant (great mastery), Water Mine (great mastery), Icefall (minor mastery)...
Talisman Making: Blood Refining Talisman (Perfection), Thousand-Force Talisman (Great Mastery), Flowing Cloud Sword Talisman (Exquisite Mastery), Soul-Concentrating Talisman (Great Mastery), Sweet Rain Talisman (Great Mastery), Phantom Escape Talisman (Great Mastery)...
Zhao Sheng did not pay attention to the fact that he had broken through the third level of foundation building, but instead focused on the number 196.
Just half a year ago, the number was 197, but now it has quietly become 196.
Two days ago, when Zhao Sheng suddenly discovered that his life span had been reduced by one year, he was shocked.
At first, he couldn't figure out what caused it.
But on the same day, when he was practicing his skills as usual to condense his essence and blood, Zhao Sheng suddenly had an epiphany.
There is a problem with "Blood Refining and Body Tempering Technique"!
To be precise, the "Blood Soul Sutra" is a technique that hides a huge hidden danger.
Anyone who practices this technique will see rapid progress in their cultivation, but the price is the consumption of their own lifespan.
Exchange your lifespan for improved cultivation!
The Blood Soul Sutra is simply a typical magic technique.
The key is that the consequences of wasting lifespan are too deeply hidden.
If Zhao Sheng had not possessed the precious Book of Hundred Ages, he might not have been able to detect this hidden danger until his death.
He was like this, and the others were completely kept in the dark.
This move by Guiyuan Patriarch is so insidious and vicious!
Thinking of the 60,000 to 70,000 disciples of Guiyuan Sect, and thinking of how the "Blood Refining and Body Tempering Art" was not only prevalent in Dongtian City, but was also widely spread in the world of immortal cultivation in Zhongzhou.
Zhao Sheng was horrified!
"Soul and blood are immortal, and this is called the Mysterious Blood. The source of the Mysterious Blood is called the Essence, Energy, and Spirit, which last forever and are inexhaustible."
Under the spiritual peach tree, Zhao Sheng kept repeating the outline of the "Blood Soul Sutra" in his mouth, with waves of shock and anxiety in his heart.
He still hasn't figured out what the ultimate purpose of Guiyuan Patriarch's widespread dissemination of the "Blood Soul Sutra" is?
It is absolutely impossible that Patriarch Guiyuan did this in order to quickly improve the overall strength of Guiyuan Sect.
If it was just for this, he would not have allowed the "Blood Refining and Body Tempering Art" to spread everywhere.
"The world is bustling with activity, all for the sake of profit; the world is in turmoil, all for the sake of profit." Zhao Sheng muttered to himself:
"Then... what 'benefits' did Guiyuan Patriarch gain by doing this?
Where are the 'interests' of the ten major sects? "
Zhao Sheng would not underestimate anyone. He did not believe that the ten major sects were unaware of the strangeness of the Guiyuan Patriarch, nor did he believe that the Yuanying Patriarchs could not discover the strangeness of the "Blood Soul Sutra".
However, what is strange is that they have remained indifferent and have just stood by and watched.
Zhao Sheng couldn't figure it out. Perhaps he would never know the hidden truth in this life.
Because his status was too low, he was too far away from the top circle of the Central Plains cultivation world.
…
Three days later, under the spiritual peach tree, Zhao Sheng sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his face as red as blood, blood surging through his body like waves, and a faint whistling sound came from his body.
Bang bang bang!
The heart contracted and expanded violently, and the blood in the atrium gathered into a vortex. A drop of blood gradually formed under the vortex and soon condensed.
Zhao Sheng was in a state of introspection, watching the birth of this drop of essence and blood, feeling neither sad nor happy.
As he thought about it, this drop of essence blood suddenly exploded into a ball of blood mist, and then instantly turned into a ray of blood light.
The blood light ignored the obstruction of the physical body and rushed into Zhao Sheng's purple palace in an instant, shooting into the soul sea and disappearing.
The next moment, Zhao Sheng felt that his spiritual awareness had naturally grown a little, and the range of his spiritual awareness had also expanded an inch.
After a while, the blush on Zhao Sheng's face disappeared, he opened his eyes, and a look of satisfaction flashed across his eyes.
So what if practicing the Blood Soul Sutra will shorten your lifespan?
At this time, Zhao Sheng had figured it out. As long as his cultivation level could be improved quickly, he didn't need to worry about this hidden danger at all.
Zhao Sheng stood up from the ground.
At this moment, a look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face, and his figure flashed and appeared at the entrance of the cave.
boom!
As the stone walls in the cave fell back to the ground, Zhao Xuanjing strode out.
"Seventh Uncle, I succeeded!"
Looking at Zhao Xuanjing who had regained his youthful appearance, Zhao Sheng was very happy. "Great! Xuanjing, you are worthy of being the Zhao family's Qilin son. You really didn't let me down!"
This time, Zhao Xuanjing was not as humble as before, but accepted Zhao Sheng's praise very confidently.
Having advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage at the age of less than fifty, Zhao Xuanjing knew that he had a chance to reach the Golden Core stage.
He truly deserves the title of the Zhao family's "unicorn son."
…
Two months later, Zhao Xuanjing said goodbye to Zhao Sheng and left the Zhao family secret residence.
According to the plan, he would first return to Taiwu Mountain and then start traveling around.
This is a journey of experience, the duration of which is unknown, maybe a few years, maybe decades.
He will return to the Zhao family secret residence only when he feels that he has gained enough experience.
When Zhao Xuanjing traveled around the world to sharpen his Taoist heart, Zhao Sheng did not return to Guiyuan Sect, but chose to "live in seclusion" in Dongtian City.
Time flies, the years pass by like a shuttle
As time passed, Zhao Sheng's cultivation level was steadily improving.
The fourth level of foundation building,
The fifth level of foundation building,
…
When Zhao Sheng successfully broke through to the sixth level of foundation building, a full thirty years had passed.
For thirty years, Zhao Sheng practiced hard and watched the development of Guiyuan Sect with a cold eye.
But unlike what he expected, the great hidden danger of "Blood Soul Sutra" had not been noticed by anyone. Perhaps someone had discovered it, but it was suppressed by Guiyuan Patriarch or an unknown force.
Over the past thirty years, Guiyuan Sect has been developing rapidly. There are more than 100,000 Qi-refining disciples in the sect, and foundation-building monks have emerged in large numbers. There are even three more Golden Core True Immortals.
Because Zhao Sheng was too low-key, his status in Guiyuan Sect continued to decline.
When there were more than a hundred foundation-building cultivators in the Danggui Yuan Sect, he had become so low-key that he was almost ignored.
Of course, this is the situation Zhao Sheng would very much like to see.