Cultivation Begins From The Desert

Chapter 640 - 625: Difficult Execution! [Additional update for the rewards from readers 9 Ye Ye and Bu Zhi Chun Lai Ji Ge Qiu]

The cultivation realm of the [Corpse Demon] was fixed the moment it formed, but this doesn’t mean its strength was fixed along with it.

A cultivator’s strength is indeed heavily influenced by their cultivation level, but not entirely.

Divine techniques, magic, magical artifacts, and secret treasures can greatly enhance a cultivator’s power.

An early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, equipped with top-tier Tier Six high-grade spiritual artifacts and numerous powerful divine techniques, may still not be able to defeat a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, but killing them would be difficult for the latter.

The [Corpse Demon] has lived for over ten thousand years. Though it was sealed and suppressed during this time, preventing it from acquiring spiritual objects to refine magical artifacts and divine techniques, its existence was not in vain.

Over the millennium, not only has it refined its zombie body to the extreme, but it has painstakingly cultivated a [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl].

Corpse Pearls are treasures only possibly nurtured by high-tier zombies, resembling Demon Pills but not identical.

Demon Beast’s Demon Pill is its lifeline, as crucial as a Golden Core to a cultivator.

Yet, Corpse Pearls are different. To high-tier zombies, they’re just treasures to enhance strength, akin to a cultivator’s lifebound spiritual artifact. Without a Corpse Pearl, a zombie would be weakened, not dead.

The [Corpse Demon] cultivated this [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl], storing within it the extreme essence of corpse evil qi it condensed over thousands of years. Every strand of this essence requires years of diligent effort to refine.

Originally, given the foundation of this item, if it could escape, find some Yin attribute materials, and meld them into it, it would be able to directly refine a powerful Tier Six demon spiritual artifact.

But now, to save its life, this is no longer a concern.

As soon as the [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl], gleaming with a dark luster, sprayed out of the [Corpse Demon’s] mouth, it immediately released vast amounts of corpse evil qi, forming an evil corpse cloud enveloping the golden fireball manifested by the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl].

When the evil corpse cloud touched the golden true flame, it visibly dissipated quickly, but as the pure corpse evil qi from within the [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl] continuously emerged into it, the evil corpse cloud persistently and slowly enveloped the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl].

"Not good, this demon wants to exhaust my magical power this way, leaving me powerless to refine it!"

Inside the Seventh Layer Golden Tower, Zhouyang’s face changed abruptly upon seeing this, realizing the [Corpse Demon’s] intention.

His [Qianyang True Flame] indeed restrains corpse evil qi, but the restraint is relative.

The amount of corpse evil qi a single portion of magical power-generated [Qianyang True Flame] can refine is at best ten times its own quantity.

Once the amount of corpse evil qi becomes excessive and his magical power cannot supply more [Qianyang True Flame] to refine the evil qi, the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl], though unlikely to be tainted, will leave him unable to resist the [Corpse Demon’s] subsequent counterattack.

Although the [Corpse Demon’s] magical power is much stronger than Zhouyang’s, it is not ten times stronger, only three to five times at best.

If it were merely a competition of magical power with the [Corpse Demon], Zhouyang wouldn’t fear it given he restrains it.

But with the existence of the [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl], the [Corpse Demon] has enough confidence to deplete Zhouyang, something Zhouyang might genuinely struggle to keep up with.

After all, it is a Corpse Pearl refined from millennia of cultivation, containing an enormous store of corpse evil essence.

"It seems I’ll have to pull off an unexpected strategy to win!"

Seeing the dense evil corpse cloud, Zhouyang’s eyes flashed, and he immediately flipped his hand, taking a golden spiritual talisman from the storage ring.

This golden spiritual talisman was made during his cultivation at "Peach Blossom Island," extracting the artifact origin from [True Dragon Treasure Seal], the lifebound spiritual artifact of Dragon Taming Golden Radiance. He made three talismans in total, giving one to Jiang Fengxian and her daughter each.

The activation and driving of [True Dragon Treasure Seal] require a true dragon bloodline, but the talismans made from it don’t require this condition. Even if they did, Zhouyang can fulfill the condition after refining [True Dragon Essence Blood].

Now, he holds the talisman treasure, injecting magical power into it, quickly activating all its potential power, turning it into a resplendent golden seal.

This kind of instant activation of all the talisman treasure’s power can only be done by Nascent Soul stage cultivators, with the activated talisman treasure exhibiting nearly seventy percent of the artifact’s power.

"Go!"

Facing the golden seal, Zhouyang uttered a low shout, waved his sleeve, and the golden seal directly transformed into a golden light, appearing above the evil corpse cloud.

Immediately after, a dragon’s roar sounded from the golden seal, and any part of the evil corpse cloud illuminated by the seal’s golden light vanished like melting snow.

Taking this opportunity, Zhouyang suddenly opened his mouth, spitting a blob of essence blood onto the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl], using the essence blood as an impetus to stimulate the artifact to unleash greater power.

Bang!

Stimulated and nourished by Zhouyang’s essence blood and magical power, the amount of golden true flame burst forth from the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl] doubled in an instant, completely incinerating the oppressive evil corpse cloud and simultaneously engulfing the [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl] floating within that cloud.

"Impossible! What kind of divine technique is this, why is it so overpowering!"

The [Corpse Demon] cried out in shock, its expression changing dramatically, caught off guard by this sudden turn of events.

But in the midst of battle, Zhouyang had no intention of answering its question.

Seeing that the [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl] was swallowed up by the golden true flame, Zhouyang quickly maneuvered the golden seal to suppress the resisting power of the corpse pearl, preventing the [Corpse Demon] from reclaiming it.

"No, you dare not succeed!"

The [Corpse Demon] let out a fierce shout and spat out a large blob of dark green corpse fire, which transformed into a green fire serpent, swiftly aiming to rescue its [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl] from the golden seal.

This corpse fire, too, is an extreme yin true flame refined by the [Corpse Demon] over millennia, known as [Green Phosphorus Corpse Fire], which still held some resistance even against the [Qianyang True Flame] that restrained it.

Moreover, this group of [Netherworld Corpse Fire] was not the sole killing move of the [Corpse Demon]. After releasing this fire, a green ghost eye mark suddenly emerged at its forehead, and then a green ghost flame erupted from both the ghost eye mark and its eerie green eyes, splitting into three fire arrows shooting towards Zhouyang within the golden tower.

This was another demonic divine technique {Three Yin Soul-Nailing Arrow} it had painstakingly cultivated, maliciously designed to harm the divine soul.

However, as the saying goes, a clever housewife cannot cook without rice. Under confinement and suppression, these divine techniques and treasures were the maximum capability the [Corpse Demon] could exert.

And these methods, under normal circumstances, were enough to deal with a dozen Golden Core Stage cultivators, and even a typical Early-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator might struggle to handle it.

After all, without mastering something like the [Qianyang True Flame] or other powerful demon refining divine techniques, even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would find it difficult to break its zombie body refined to the extreme.

Alas, it encountered Zhouyang, a nemesis in all regards that perfectly countered its every technique!

At that time, as the green fire serpent transformed by the [Green Scale Corpse Fire] lunged at the golden seal, it was blocked by a protective shield burning with golden flames.

Evidently, after discerning the intentions of the [Corpse Demon], Zhouyang directly activated the [Qianyang Celestial Fire Shield] divine technique.

Meanwhile, the green fire arrows formed by the [Three Yin Soul-Nailing Arrow] also failed to achieve the expected result as anticipated by the [Corpse Demon].

Zhouyang, with rich experience in magical combat, was also skilled in harming the divine soul of others.

Upon seeing the [Corpse Demon] wield this sinister technique, he deduced through experience that it must be a kind of demonic soul refining divine technique.

So he quickly affixed a Tier Five Middle-Grade Spirit Talisman [Profound Light Divine Fixation Talisman] on himself, stabilizing his divine soul, and then conjured a true flame shield externally using [Qianyang True Flame].

The [Qianyang Golden Tower] indeed did not block the three green fire arrows, but once they hit Zhouyang, who had made the necessary defenses, they could not inflict severe damage, only causing a slight injury to his divine soul.

His divine soul was inherently strong, and possessing the [Qianyang Treasure Body], there was no concern about being harmed by the yin sha qi carried by the three green arrows. This minor injury did not hinder his ability to continue the battle.

"Retrieve!"

Zhouyang formed a hand seal, and the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl] then wrapped around the [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl] and flew toward the golden treasure tower.

Seeing this, the [Corpse Demon] suddenly gnashed its teeth in fury and let out a beast-like roar, immediately driving its remaining gray-white corpse hair to form a long spear hurling towards the golden light shield.

Simultaneously, the ten nail flying swords it had retracted earlier were also dispatched once again, aiming at the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl], employing every measure to prevent Zhouyang from seizing the [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl].

This [Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl] was immensely important to it; it had invested ten thousand years of arduous cultivation to refine such a pearl. Losing it to Zhouyang would not only mean the destruction of its ten thousand years of hard work but also its complete loss of the possibility of escape, perhaps even resulting in its death today.

"Go!"

In the seventh layer of the golden tower, Zhouyang shouted once again, and twelve [Great Derivation Geng Metal Sword]s flew out in response, joining the battle.

The grades of these flying swords were not suited for this level of combat, as they could easily be damaged or destroyed.

But Zhouyang could no longer care about that. The situation had come to this point — even if it meant the total destruction of these flying swords today, he was determined to refine and destroy the [Corpse Demon].

Thus, after the flying swords launched their attack, Zhouyang directly activated all the stored power of thunder within these swords, transforming it into a golden thunder net covering the hair spear and nail flying swords.

Thunder held the power to repel evil, and when dealing with these two demonic artifacts, it was far more effective than the chopping of the flying swords themselves, significantly easing the pressure on the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl].

However, the power of thunder within the flying swords was limited; once depleted, it would take a long time to rejuvenate, offering minimal assistance without decisive impact.

Fortunately, with the arrival of these flying sword bodies, stopping the ten nail flying swords, the pressure on the [Qianyang Treasure Pearl] was finally eased comprehensively.

Yet Zhouyang’s face showed no trace of delight, because just as he anticipated, the Great Derivation Geng Metal Sword would be tainted and corroded by the Corpse Evil Qi from the Nail Flying Sword each time they clashed, making it impossible to last long.

At this moment, Zhouyang suddenly regretted why he left Jiang Fengxian outside.

If Jiang Fengxian were here, as long as she helped relieve some pressure on him, he could completely seize the Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl and suppress it.

And once the replenishment of the Corpse Evil Essence of Qi from the Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl ceased, the Corpse Demon would be unable to withstand his refinement.

"Damn, is it really going to fail today?"

His face turned grim as he glared at the Corpse Demon, who seemed to sense his gaze and sneered mockingly as if ridiculing his helplessness.

However, just at that moment, urgent footsteps suddenly echoed from the underground passage.

Upon hearing these footsteps, Zhouyang’s face lit up with joy, quickly turning his head to look towards the passage they came from.

Soon, he saw the graceful and heroic figure of Jiang Fengxian emerging from within.

Holding the Golden Flood Dragon Sword in her right hand and the Red Profound Golden Pearl above her head, she entered the subterranean hall and swiftly swept her gaze around, then chanted as she summoned the Golden Flood Dragon Sword, transforming it into a golden flood dragon that joined the battle.

"Quick, Fengxian, use your Seven-Colored Spiritual Light to block that hair spear! Once I take this wretch’s Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl, it won’t be able to stir up any trouble!"

Zhouyang urgently reminded the beauty how she should act, his face full of joy.

Jiang Fengxian’s Seven-Colored Spiritual Light is her innate lifebound divine technique, awakened through Phoenix True Blood, similar to Zhouyang’s Qianyang True Flame.

It has a wide range of uses and strengthens alongside Jiang Fengxian’s cultivation.

Now Jiang Fengxian is at Ninth-Layer Golden Core Cultivation, and the power of this Seven-Colored Spiritual Light is much stronger than when Zhouyang first saw her use it.

Upon hearing Zhouyang’s words, she immediately activated the bloodline of the Celestial Phoenix Race within her body, revealing a pair of seven-colored phoenix wings behind her. Then she flapped her wings, sending a beam of Seven-Colored Spiritual Light toward the long spear formed by the corpse hair of the Corpse Demon.

Upon being brushed by the Seven-Colored Spiritual Light, the corpse hair spear immediately seemed to be stuck in the mud, losing its previous agility.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhouyang immediately spat out a mouthful of Essence Blood, landing on the Qianyang Treasure Pearl.

Receiving the boost from his Essence Blood, the Qianyang Treasure Pearl finally broke through all obstacles this time, crashing directly into the Seventh Layered Golden Tower along with the Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl.

Seeing this scene, the Corpse Demon was instantly infuriated.

It cast a resentful glance at the golden treasure tower and then turned its venomous gaze towards Jiang Fengxian, the "culprit," and roared angrily: "Wretched girl, you’re courting death!"

Before the words had fallen, nine of its ten Nail Flying Swords abruptly shattered, blasting away both the Great Derivation Geng Metal Sword and the Golden Flood Dragon Sword that were entangled with them, then the sole remaining Nail Flying Sword absorbed and refined the pure Corpse Evil Qi scattered by the explosion, flying straight toward Jiang Fengxian.

"Fengxian, be careful!"

Inside the Seven-Layered Golden Tower, the momentary joy on Zhouyang’s face from seizing the Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl instantly transformed into deep panic.

He couldn’t possibly intervene to assist Jiang Fengxian at this time; everything was up to Jiang Fengxian herself.

The Corpse Demon indeed possessed Nascent Soul Cultivation. Despite facing numerous obstacles in the confrontation with Zhouyang, all its means being thwarted, it didn’t imply it was genuinely weaker than a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator.

The power of its hateful strike now would require genuine consideration from any Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, as any carelessness could lead to injury.

Facing the Corpse Demon’s hateful strike, Jiang Fengxian urgently chanted to her Red Profound Golden Pearl Artifact, unleashing a thick golden shield of light to protect herself while also summoning her lifebound spiritual artifact, the Phoenix Feather Robe.

This lifebound spiritual artifact, Jiang Fengxian only completed its full refinement during her travels in the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm.

The item was crafted primarily from the phoenix feathers shed from her pair of seven-colored phoenix wings mixed with the silk spun by the Wilderness Jungle’s Seven-Colored Celestial Silkworm, blending harmoniously with her own bloodline and serving as a top-grade artifact for protection and life-preservation.

Generally, cultivators wouldn’t refine their lifebound spiritual artifact into a defensive artifact.

The reason is simple: a lifebound spiritual artifact is profoundly connected to the life force of a cultivator, and any damage would result in severe harm to the cultivator, potentially causing life-long incapacitation.

If one refines a lifebound spiritual artifact into a defensive artifact, the likelihood of it being damaged increases exponentially compared to an offensive artifact.

Jiang Fengxian’s lifebound spiritual artifact is somewhat special; she doesn’t need to excessively worry about damage affecting her future path. Nonetheless, being implicated and injured is inevitable.

Thus, although Zhouyang is aware of the strong defensive capabilities of her lifebound spiritual artifact, he still provides her with the Red Profound Golden Pearl—a robust defensive spiritual artifact—hoping that she refrains from using her lifebound spiritual artifact lightly.

At this moment, the Nail Flying Sword came tearing through the air. The Golden Light Shield formed by the Red Profound Golden Pearl barely resisted for less than half a breath’s time before shattering, and then continued its momentum onto Jiang Fengxian.

From Jiang Fengxian came a clear and melodious phoenix cry, accompanied by a dazzling array of seven-colored spiritual light.

A moment later, the pale and bloodless face of Jiang Fengxian once again appeared.

Her body bore no visible wounds, yet her complexion seemed as though she had been overly depleted of Primordial Qi, appearing quite weak.

"Life Substitution Spiritual Artifact!"

A cry of surprise came from the Corpse Demon, its face dour as it stared at the unharmed Jiang Fengxian, revealing the reason for her survival.

It turned out the strongest defense divine technique of Jiang Fengxian’s Phoenix Feather Robe was the lifebound divine technique that substituted the owner to withstand a fatal strike.

At this moment, this lifebound spiritual artifact that had shielded her from a certain death blow had suffered greatly due to the attack’s strength. Thus, the Seven-Colored Phoenix Feathers on the robe experienced dullness and loss of color, some even fall off from the robe, turning into dust.

Because it is a lifebound spiritual artifact, this Phoenix Feather Robe can be restored in the future, yet inevitably Jiang Fengxian was affected by its damage, injuring her Primordial Qi.

"Quick, Fengxian, come inside."

The Seven-Layered Golden Tower arrived belatedly, descending beside Jiang Fengxian, from which Zhouyang’s anxious and caring voice sounded.

Jiang Fengxian did not try to be a hero and immediately flew inside following the open tower door.

"Say nothing, first take this Demon Blood Ancient Lotus seed for healing. Once I’ve refined that demon head, we’ll talk further in detail!"

Within the tower, Zhouyang looked at the pale beauty with a heart full of pain, waved his hand, and handed her a chicken-egg-sized purplish-red lotus seed.

The lotus seed of the Demon Blood Ancient Lotus not only can be used to refine the Tier Six Spirit Pill Blood Lotus Rebirth Pill but also can be directly consumed and refined to restore essence blood and Primordial Qi, its effect surpassing any elixir.

Zhouyang now only has ten such seeds left, never willing to use them, but now without hesitation handed one to Jiang Fengxian, showcasing Jiang Fengxian’s paramount status in his heart.

Jiang Fengxian had long heard him recount the experience of acquiring the Demon Blood Ancient Lotus in the Wilderness Jungle, naturally understanding the rarity of the lotus seed in her hand.

Her hands trembled slightly with the lotus seed, looking at Zhouyang with full teary gratitude, she nodded lightly, "Be careful, if things become untenable, do not force it!"

After speaking, she tossed the lotus seed into her mouth, sat cross-legged, and closed her eyes to refine the medicinal power contained within the seed.

Upon seeing this, Zhouyang slightly eased his worries, then his face sank, glaring angrily at the Corpse Demon on the Cyan Jade Bed, shouting, "Demon head, give up your life!"

Before the shout fell, the Qianyang Treasure Pearl once again attacked the Corpse Demon.

The Corpse Demon had just lost the Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl; although not directly heavily injured like Jiang Fengxian, it was also feeling unwell. Facing the attack of the Qianyang True Flame, it could no longer present any formidable means of defense.

The golden true flame fell upon it for the first time.

Roar!

The Corpse Demon let out an angry roar, unclear whether it was from the sizzling pain of the Qianyang True Flame or from sensing that its end was near, lamenting bitterly.

Despite being refined to the extreme over ten thousand years, its zombie body could no longer withstand the demon-refining flame’s refinement, visibly deteriorating.

"Kid, how about we each take a step back? I’ll tell you where the token to enter Donglai Immortal Island is hidden, you return the Ten Thousand Year Corpse Pearl to me and swear never to trouble me again!"

Seeing its indestructible zombie body being refined bit by bit by the golden true flame, the Corpse Demon’s monkey face finally showed fear, unable to resist offering the temptation of Donglai Immortal Island to entice Zhouyang into sparing it.

"At this point, you still wish to fool me, Zhou? Less nonsense, prepare to die!"

Zhouyang remained unmoved, continuing to refine the Corpse Demon.

The Corpse Demon heard his words, jumping in a haste, desperately shouted, "No, I’m truly not deceiving you; I genuinely know how to enter Donglai Immortal Island, you must not act rashly; that is Donglai Immortal Island, a legacy left by a Tribulation Crossing True Immortal. Aren’t you even slightly tempted?"

"Having passed ten thousand years, you might not know Master Donglai’s name or heard of his deeds, but you must know before his passing, he was a Mid-Tribulation Crossing Great Power, specializing in array, artifact refining, alchemy, talisman making, and several skills of cultivation, his legacy’s worth should be evident!"

"Moreover, Donglai Immortal Island, this True Immortal Cave Mansion holds countless spirit elixirs, not only all kinds of Tier Five and Tier Six Spirit Elixirs but also several rare Tier Six Spirit Fruits of this world, even a giant spirit stone vein; don’t these tempt you at all?"

For Zhouyang to cease refining it, the Corpse Demon cared not for any more concealment, immediately revealing everything it knew about the various spiritual objects within Donglai Immortal Island, hoping this would entice Zhouyang into agreeing to its terms.