Chapter 272: Fifth-Tier Sunflower
Pouring all the Sun Essence he had accumulated into the cultivation pot, Gu Mo watched as the green on the upgrade arrow began to grow steadily until it completely covered the arrow.
Seeing this, Gu Mo let out a long breath. To fill this arrow, he had consumed an immeasurable amount of Sun Essence.
Without hesitation, Gu Mo clicked the green upgrade arrow. In an instant, a beam of light enveloped the slumbering Little Flower.
"W-what's happening?"
Startled awake, Little Flower shook her oversized blossom and let out a confused question.
"Little Flower, do you feel any different from before?" Gu Mo asked. She had leveled up, yet outwardly there seemed to be no change.
"Different?"
Little Flower thought for a moment. Then, behind her appeared a phantom sunflower.
"That's a nascent soul dharma image!"
Gu Mo froze. A dharma image was the mark of a Soul Transformation sovereign, yet upon advancing to the fifth tier, Little Flower actually manifested one.
But what use was Little Flower's dharma image? Even after he pressed her with questions, she could only shake her petals. This ability had come with her evolution, but she herself had no idea what it could do.
Since she didn't know, Gu Mo could only rely on his own exploration. Every time he obtained a new plant, he had to discover its effects on his own anyway.
To test a fifth-tier Little Flower's abilities, Gu Mo would need a fifth-tier spirit field.
For this, he was already prepared. A supreme-grade spirit-stone meditation cushion, combined with his Heaven-and-Earth Nascent Soul, could generate an area with fifth-tier spiritual concentration.
The area, however, was tiny. If he drew all the energy from his cave-heaven into that one place, it would enlarge somewhat, but that would drain the other fields, harming his other plants.
Unless absolutely necessary, Gu Mo would not do that. Using the meditation cushion and his Nascent Soul was enough—for now.
But "enough" only applied temporarily. The small patch of fifth-tier field could only sustain a single plant. If he were to acquire a second fifth-tier plant, it would no longer suffice.
To expand the area, he would need to transplant a fifth-tier spirit vein into his cave-heaven. Yet the Qinghe Realm had no such veins. Even in the Tianyuan Realm, there were only a handful, each the core of a top sect.
Normally, obtaining one would be impossible. After all, who would let their sect's foundation be touched? But now, a chance had appeared.
The three great demonic sects of the Tianyuan Realm, ravaged by the zombie calamity, were nearly destroyed. Each of them possessed a fifth-tier spirit vein.
Though those veins were tainted with death energy, if purified, they could still be used.
But to claim one, the zombie plague had to be eradicated first. Otherwise, it was just wishful thinking.
Gu Mo weighed the demonic sects' veins in his mind, while Little Flower swayed happily within the tiny fifth-tier field.
Her dharma image surfaced of its own accord, swaying along with her.
"Hm?"
Gu Mo narrowed his eyes. He saw the dharma image was also absorbing sunlight.
Though the cave-heaven had no sun, the outside sun's rays could pass through freely. Thus, Little Flower's collection of Sun Essence was unaffected.
Now both her body and her dharma image were absorbing sunlight simultaneously. This sparked a thought in Gu Mo—but confirmation would have to wait until evening.
As the sun dipped westward, Gu Mo hurried to her side. From her, he harvested a portion of dual-hued Sun Essence.
"Just as I thought—the fifth-tier Sun Essence contains nascent soul power."
At once, he knew his guess was right.
The core strength of a Soul Transformation sovereign was nascent soul power. Little Flower's dharma image gathered that power, while her body condensed fifth-tier Sun Essence.
When refined, this essence still turned into true essence, but purer than that of an ordinary Nascent Soul True Lord.
There was no essential difference in true essence between Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation. Their true divide lay in the dharma image. With it, a Soul Transformation sovereign could directly command the power of heaven and earth. The volume of true essence mattered little.
So long as the dharma image was strong enough, it could wield boundless forces.
Now, though still at Nascent Soul stage, Gu Mo could, through Little Flower's dual-hued essence, wield the nascent soul power reserved for Soul Transformation.
Once he amassed enough, he could condense his own dharma image—and ascend to Soul Transformation.
Even now, with just a sliver of that power, he could briefly command a region's natural forces and unleash a strike equal to a sovereign's.
"Ahh!"
Withdrawing from that intoxicating sense of command, Gu Mo sighed. To maintain Little Flower's fifth-tier field, he had to leave both his supreme meditation cushion and his Heaven-and-Earth Nascent Soul there. This actually weakened his own combat strength.
Fortunately, it wasn't too big a problem. He had his plant frontlines. His personal strength could dip for now—what mattered was stockpiling more fifth-tier Sun Essence.
Once he had gathered enough, he planned to head to the Tianyuan Realm and seize one of the demonic sects' veins. With that vein, his cave-heaven could host multiple fifth-tier plants, and he would no longer be in such a bind.
…
In an unknown ruin.
"Senior, what's wrong?" Yao Shifeng stared at the fading remnant soul. He could clearly see its weakness.
"Nothing."
Though the soul was seething with fury, he refused to show it before Yao Shifeng. As a senior expert, he had an image to uphold.
"Open that seal a bit more. I need to recover." The remnant instructed. With the power inside, he could quickly replenish himself.
"Yes!"
Yao Shifeng obeyed, weaving seals that slowly widened the crack.
The remnant moved in at once, ready to draw in the leaking power.
But Yao Shifeng's eyes flashed with grim resolve. This was the perfect moment. If he waited until the remnant recovered, he would never have another chance.
His hand-seals shifted. He lunged and swallowed the remnant whole.
"Success!"
As the remnant's essence was fully refined, Yao Shifeng's face lit with wild joy. At last, the boulder pressing on his heart was gone.
"What has been accomplished?"
Suddenly, a cold, indifferent voice came out of Yao Shifeng's mouth. Hearing it, Yao Shifeng's expression changed drastically—but soon he realized that his body was no longer under his control.
"You—you're not dead!"
Yao Shifeng's face was full of disbelief. Just now, he had clearly refined that remnant soul completely.
"It was just a little trick. I gave you so many chances, and only now do you finally make a move. Truly disappointing." 'Yao Shifeng' stretched lazily. "It's been so long since I've had a living body. How wonderful it feels."
"So that's it!"
At this moment, Yao Shifeng understood many things. The remnant soul's earlier claim of looking down on his body was nothing but a lie. The truth was simply that the remnant soul had been too weak to seize him.
Afterwards, that remnant soul deliberately kept giving Yao Shifeng chances to act, waiting for Yao Shifeng to "refine" him. Only in this way could the remnant soul seize the chance to possess him.
But Yao Shifeng had been too cautious. He hadn't acted until now, when the remnant soul had reached the point of extreme weakness.
Still, taking action now wasn't without its benefit. The remnant soul's weakness was real—if it had been at any other time, Yao Shifeng would have had no ability to resist.
Now, however, its frailty gave Yao Shifeng some strength to fight back. The remnant soul could have abandoned this attempt, waiting for a better opportunity, but Yao Shifeng's caution made him fear that if he failed this time, Yao Shifeng might completely withdraw and shrivel up, making it even harder to find another chance.
Of course, if his plan of summoning the zombies had gone smoothly, he wouldn't have needed to rush. He could have waited until the seal here was undone, regained stronger power, and then forcibly seized Yao Shifeng.
A body that had condensed a Devouring Evil Core—what a priceless treasure it was.
Yet twice, Gu Mo had ruined his plans. Forced into desperation, the remnant soul had no choice but to risk everything, attempting possession in his most weakened state.
Yao Shifeng still had his complete soul and was fighting on home ground, while the remnant soul, though weakened, held the advantage of higher cultivation and mastery of soul-secret arts. Thus, the clash between the two souls quickly turned into a bitter, deadlocked struggle.
But in matters of soul combat, Yao Shifeng's experience was far too shallow. Such techniques were usually only touched upon by Soul Transformation experts. As a Golden Core cultivator, Yao Shifeng had no real knowledge of soul battle and was fighting blindly.
At first, he was able to exchange blows evenly with the remnant soul. But gradually, Yao Shifeng began to fall behind, and the control of his body was being stripped away bit by bit.
Seeing his bodily control slipping further and further, Yao Shifeng, in desperation, resolved himself—he charged directly at the remnant soul, preparing to self-detonate his own soul.
"Madman!"
The remnant soul was shocked. He had no wish to perish alongside Yao Shifeng.
With no other choice, he suppressed Yao Shifeng's imminent self-destruction, but doing so consumed what little power he had left. As a result, his plan to completely seize Yao Shifeng's body failed.
Now, both Yao Shifeng and the remnant soul simultaneously controlled the same body—an unusual form of coexistence.
"Without madness, there is no life!"
Yao Shifeng withdrew the crazed look in his eyes. He had gambled correctly—the other party was unwilling to die with him, and that was his chance. The risk had allowed him to keep half of his body's control and avoid total annihilation.
"You're impressive!"
The remnant soul had to admit that this junior was ruthless and decisive. "Very well. I'll grant you a fortune, then!" With that, he moved toward the fissure in the seal.
Now that two souls shared one body, if Yao Shifeng refused to cooperate, many things would be impossible for him to accomplish. Thus, they needed a truce.
To this end, the remnant soul had to show some sincerity—such as helping Yao Shifeng form his Nascent Soul.
With Yao Shifeng's Evil Core, forming a Nascent Soul by his own strength was impossible. But to the remnant soul, it was no big matter. He had countless methods to assist in forming a Nascent Soul. Of course, in his current weakened state, he needed to draw on power from the seal to recover first.
"You'd really be so generous?"
When told that the remnant soul would help him form a Nascent Soul, Yao Shifeng was skeptical. Who knew if the other might secretly tamper with him?
"If you don't want it, then forget it."
The remnant soul's tone was indifferent. "Helping you condense a Nascent Soul costs me power. Do you think I want to?"
"Then strengthen my soul first."
Yao Shifeng knew well that his struggle with the remnant soul lay in their souls. Only by strengthening his soul could he feel any sense of security.
"No problem."
The remnant soul nodded. He then drew a strand of pure soul power from the crack in the seal. Yao Shifeng immediately devoured it, and as his soul surged in strength, his heart steadied.
Yet even as his soul power soared, he still found himself unable to drive the remnant soul out of his body. Clearly, the other had used some special method to fuse completely with him.
"Well then—so long as you cooperate, benefits like this will be plentiful." After Yao Shifeng fully refined that strand of soul power, the remnant soul spoke again.
"Fine."
Yao Shifeng nodded. Though he wanted to reject all such sugar-coated promises, he knew he was powerless to expel the remnant soul. Only by growing stronger could he seek a path to break free.
"Then let's start by helping you form a Nascent Soul. As you are now, you're far too weak to be of use to me."
The remnant soul left the ruins, heading for a remote place overseas to assist Yao Shifeng's breakthrough.
Breaking through with an Evil Core was bound to draw a special tribulation. He certainly couldn't risk it within the Qinghe Cultivation Realm. He didn't fear other Nascent Soul True Lords or demon kings—only the possibility of Gu Mo showing up.
That was the one person in the Qinghe Realm who could truly threaten him.
With the remnant soul ceasing his schemes, the Qinghe Cultivation Realm entered a period of peace. But this was not the case for the Tianyuan Cultivation Realm.
In fact, its situation was steadily worsening. With three Nascent Soul experts of the Demonic Sect aiding it, the headless corpse's seal was being undone at an alarming pace.
This caused both the number and strength of zombies in the Tianyuan Realm to rise continuously. Fortunately, no Nascent Soul-level zombie had yet appeared.
But everyone knew that if no countermeasure was found soon, it was only a matter of time before such an abomination emerged.
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