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At the mont when the last wish was fulfilled, Lan Chang'an experienced a profound realization.
It felt as though he had resolved a karmic bond, breaking free from certain shackles.
The prerequisite conditions were t, and the life of Master Lihuo had now been transford into a past life.
This was entirely different from soul-searching, where mories were forcibly extracted.
The Nine Seal Stele was not a prison for confining souls; its essence lay in the manipulation of the power of reincarnation.
Where there is reincarnation, karma is inevitably involved.
Thus, one of the three reincarnation thods of the Nine Seal Stele — turning soone else's life into one's past life — required fulfilling the deceased's most significant wish during their lifeti.
A deceased person's wishes were unlikely to be limited to one, but the Nine Seal Stele selected the one with the strongest obsession.
By dissolving this obsession and fulfilling the wish, it seed to align with the rules of the Nine Seal Stele and even the laws of reincarnation in the universe itself.
At this mont, Lan Chang'an thought of a chilling possibility.
If Master Lihuo beca his past life, would there still be a next life for him?
Or rather, would Master Lihuo’s next life beco Lan Chang'an?
The concept of reincarnation had existed in the cultivation world since ti immorial and had even been proven across various human realms.
This was because there were nurous examples of powerful cultivators who, after reincarnation, unlocked their mories of their previous life in their new one.
Rebuilding one's path in a new life with the mories of the past, and embarking on the immortal path once more, was not unique to Lan Chang'an.
However, the Nine Seal Stele made Lan Chang'an's reincarnation and cultivation far more stable and precise.
It even allowed him to control his reincarnation to a certain extent.
“There are three reincarnation thods, and I still have a choice to make.”
Lan Chang'an withdrew his consciousness from the Nine Seal Stele, pondering for a long ti.
After all, this was the first ti he had gained the ability to choose his own reincarnation.
In his first two lives, reincarnation had been passive, triggered only after his death.
The other two reincarnation thods were as follows:
One, a customized new reincarnation life. He could choose his birth background, the region where he would be reborn, his spiritual root aptitude, and even his luck and fortuitous opportunities. RΑ𝐍ꝋ฿Ěꞩ
However, under the overall rules of fate, gains and losses were inevitable. If one pursued a balance across all aspects, the result would be diocrity.
Second, enter a dream of an alternate cultivation life, where the person in the dream would be another "Lan Chang'an" who coexisted in the sa cultivation world.
The outco of this thod was highly unpredictable, with imnse potential for both gains and losses.
The "other Lan Chang'an" in the dream might perish midway during the Qi-Refining, Foundation Establishnt, or Core Formation stages. Conversely, it was also theoretically possible for him to ascend to the Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation, or even achieve immortality.
…
Three days later.
In the underground stone hall beneath Yunlai Peak, the quasi fourth-rank formation was activated.
Lan Chang'an, his spirit, energy, and essence brimming, decided to proceed according to his original plan.
The insights and enlightennt gained during a Nascent Soul Tribulation alone were priceless treasures.
His first two lives as a Qi-Refining cultivator and Core Formation cultivator had provided imnse assistance to Lan Chang'an, forming the foundation that allowed him to survive and thrive in the cultivation world.
Without his past lives, he would have had no way to establish himself in the early stages of his current life.
Without his past lives, he wouldn’t have been able to achieve a Third-Turn Golden Dan and use his imnsely powerful rged spiritual sense to hide his identity through the Hundred Illusions Mask, fooling everyone in Wangyue Immortal City.
Without his past lives, when he was intercepted by Master Lihuo back then, he would have passed out during the first wave of spiritual soul attacks.
The Nine Seal Stele was rely immune to Nascent Soul possession; it did not grant immunity to soul-based attacks.
Caution alone was not an omnipotent solution.
For ordinary cultivators, even with double the lifespan, it would still be extrely difficult to form an Immortal Golden Dan and ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm.
The disasters and tribulations in the cultivation world, both great and small, could not be resolved with longevity alone unless one possessed both vision and the ability to defend their path.
Additionally, the spirit veins of various ranks, and key strategic resources of various realms were controlled by major powers.
This ant that cultivators could not isolate themselves entirely; they had to interact with major cultivation forces.
“Begin!”
Without further hesitation, Lan Chang'an closed his eyes, his consciousness entering the Nine Seal Stele to initiate his fourth reincarnation.
Buzz!
The soul imprint of the purple-robed Daoist from his fourth life fra began to glow with a crystalline white radiance. The depiction of the Daoist, with his celestial aura and profound bearing, slowly lost its brilliance and faded.
It was like a vivid portrait gradually losing its color and vitality, becoming a lifeless black-and-white morial.
Boom!
Lan Chang'an’s sea of consciousness trembled violently.
It felt as if a veil concealing the mysteries of the womb had been lifted, and the vast mories of this new past life surged forth like an overwhelming tide.
This sensation was identical to when he had awakened the mories of his first two lives in this lifeti.
The difference was that the mories of this past life were more imnse than those of the previous three lives combined, by at least tenfold.
Fortunately, this vast and boundless mory inherently belonged to his "reincarnated past life," causing no resistance or rejection within him.
It was as if a missing segnt of his mory had been restored.
As ti passed, a look of clarity appeared on Lan Chang'an's face.
“So, it turns out that beyond my first life as a Qi-Refining loose cultivator and my second life as a peak Core Formation cultivator from a cultivation family…”
“I also had a third life — a glorious eight-hundred-year-long journey as a Nascent Soul True Monarch!”
In the brief span of ti, Lan Chang'an awakened and reviewed the life of his fourth reincarnation.
Yet, his true self remained unaffected, still retaining the mindset of a modern youth from Earth before crossing over, untouched by the vicissitudes of his several lifetis of cultivation.
…
I, Poor Daoist Lihuo Shangren, True Monarch Lihuo, Supre Elder of the Fla Departing Palace.
Before this Poor Daoist embarked on the path of cultivation, my mortal na was Duan Daniu.
I was born in the Eastern Region of Great Qing, Hengshui Prefecture of Liang Kingdom, in Leyang County...
Before the age of ten, an anomaly occurred around , revealing my talent: a Heavenly Fire Spiritual Root. My aptitude was discovered.
Amidst the fierce competition between several sects, I was admitted to the strongest sect in the Liang Kingdom's cultivation world — Fla Departing Palace.
At the age of twenty-five, I successfully advanced to the Foundation Establishnt stage without the need for a Foundation Establishnt Pill, breaking a three-thousand-year record in the Liang Kingdom's cultivation world.
In the years following Foundation Establishnt, I married several concubines.
They were the descendants or disciples of the Supre Elder, the Palace Lord, or Inner Sect Elders. They were all extraordinarily beautiful, pure, and ethereal.
I could not refuse them and reluctantly accepted.
At the age of eighty-one, after polishing my cultivation at the peak of the ninth level of Foundation Establishnt for many years, I attempted to form an Immortal Golden Dan.
With my heavenly spiritual root aptitude, a superior Crystal Condensation Pill, and three superior Core Formation items… I lived up to everyone’s expectations and successfully ford an Immortal Golden Dan. The true fire I condensed burned at a significantly higher temperature, though it had limited use in combat.
I made a decision then — to pursue both alchemy and artifact refinent alongside my cultivation.
Later, I discovered that my talent in alchemy was diocre, but I had so aptitude for artifact refinent.
At the age of 256, after lingering at the peak of the Core Formation stage for over twenty years, I ventured out for experience, tempered my spiritual sense, and returned to the sect to attempt forming a Nascent Soul.
However, the advantage of my heavenly spiritual root was far less effective during this pivotal breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm than it had been during Foundation Establishnt or Core Formation.
Fortunately, with a solid Core Formation foundation and being in my pri, I managed to break through and form a Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul Tribulation, however, was fraught with danger.
I endured the initial lightning tribulations, though I suffered severe injuries.
The final Heart Demon Tribulation nearly led to my downfall, as a demon from beyond attempted to exploit my weakness.
But this poor Daoist had lived life with a clear conscience and eventually overca the tribulation of the heart.
When I ford my Nascent Soul, the Supre Elder at the ti had only seventy to eighty years of lifespan remaining, and their Nascent Soul had already begun to wither.
It was fortunate that I succeeded, ensuring that the Fla Departing Palace's lineage of Nascent Soul cultivators was not severed.
Another fellow senior brother with an earth spiritual root, who was also a Golden Dan, failed in his tribulation and perished, his Dao vanishing.
At the age of 542, I attempted to advance to the mid-stage Nascent Soul for the second ti. This ti, I failed. My vitality was severely depleted, and my divine essence was damaged.
After two failures, I realized that the unparalleled advantage of my heavenly spiritual root was no longer present.
In the Eastern Region of Great Qing, high-grade fourth-rank spiritual veins were rare.
In the surrounding cultivation realms, the luck and fortune were insufficient. For Nascent Soul cultivators, this region was nearing its limit as a cultivation ground. Every breakthrough beca increasingly difficult.
I heard that in the ancient Central Region of the Heaven Honoured Continent, fifth-rank spiritual veins existed. There were Deity Transformation Heavenly Lords, vast expanses of land, and abundant resources.
In Fenghua Province, the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty suppressed the fortune of heaven and earth, making tens of thousands of sects bow their heads. The emperor bestowed immortal titles, and all under heaven was imperial soil.
If I were to travel to such a vast and powerful province, my chances of breaking through to the mid-stage Nascent Soul might increase.
However, the Fla Departing Palace had only as a Nascent Soul cultivator. Seeing my grown disciples, descendants, and offspring, how could I abandon them?
Moreover, according to the records of the sect's ancestors, the journey from Great Qing to the outer provinces was long and perilous.
One ancestor of the Fla Departing Palace had perished on such a journey.
The Golden Sun Sect monopolized a middle-grade fourth-rank spiritual vein. Otherwise, my chances of advancing to the mid-stage Nascent Soul would increase by at least 15%.
Unfortunately, the Golden Sun Sect had three Nascent Soul cultivators, though one of them, an ancient being, was nearing the end of their lifespan.
I could not defeat them and dared not provoke them.
I made a vow: If I ever reached the mid-stage Nascent Soul, I would join forces with the Chen Kingdom to invade the Feng Kingdom and seize the Golden Sun Sect's middle-grade fourth-rank spiritual vein.
At the age of over six hundred, a Golden Dan disciple whom I had high hopes for failed to form a Nascent Soul.
Disappointed once more, I diverted more of my energy into the myriad arts of cultivation.
In the long years of cultivation, even though I lacked exceptional talent in these arts, I managed to achieve so accomplishnts.
- As an Artifact Refiner, I reached the superior third rank.
- As a Formation Master, I achieved the middle third rank.
- As an Alchemist, I attained the low third rank.
- As a Talisman Master, I reached the low third rank.
- In Divination, I achieved the low third rank.
…
At 698 Years Old
I heard a rumor about a loose cultivator in Huanglong Immortal City who practiced a life-nurturing technique. At seventy years old, he reached the Foundation Establishnt stage, breaking a millennium-long record in Liang Kingdom's cultivation world.
That kid, seems to be called so kind of turtle.
An amusing tale, but it wasn't enough to draw my attention.
If I had known how difficult it would be to break through to the mid-stage of Nascent Soul, I might have practiced life-nurturing techniques myself and extended my lifespan by another hundred years.
Unfortunately, such techniques are mostly wood- or water-elental, while my heavenly spiritual root is fire-elental.
At 734 Years Old
Chu Tianfeng of the Endless Palace in the Yan Kingdom advanced to the mid-stage of Nascent Soul.
This rising star, two or three hundred years younger than , possessed an innate Dao physique. Though his aptitude and cultivation speed were inferior to mine, he still managed to break through to the mid-stage Nascent Soul.
It was said that Chu Tianfeng traveled in the central regions of the Great Qing for over a century and perhaps obtained so fortuitous encounters.
I was envious, but there was nothing I could do.
At 740 Years Old
As I expected, Chu Tianfeng allied with the Chen Kingdom and invaded the Feng Kingdom, targeting the fourth-rank middle-grade spiritual vein controlled by the Golden Sun Sect.
At 743 Years Old
The Feng Kingdom, with its deep reserves, managed to hold its ground, and the war reached a stalemate. Chu Tianfeng found himself in a difficult position.
I sent envoys to contact Chu Tianfeng, offering to cooperate in the invasion of the Feng Kingdom to plunder resources and elevate the Fla Departing Palace's heritage as well as that of the Liang Kingdom's cultivation world.
Chu Tianfeng did not object, which I took as tacit approval.
The invasion by the Liang Kingdom's sects went smoothly. With mutual understanding and coordination between Chen Kingdom, Yan Kingdom, and us, our efforts aligned seamlessly.
Feng Kingdom, rich in resources and ho to three Nascent Soul sects, was a formidable opponent, a tough bone to chew.
Among them, the forr top Nascent Soul cultivator of Feng Kingdom, True Monarch Blood River from Blood Sword Valley, though no longer at his peak, remained a force to be reckoned with.
At 755 Years Old
The Six Demonic Sects began expanding eastward. The signs were becoming apparent.
Man proposes, but Heaven disposes.
Sensing danger, Feng Kingdom, Yan Kingdom, and Chen Kingdom secretly negotiated a ceasefire agreent.
At 765 Years Old
Golden Sun Sect relocated north, launching an aggressive campaign.
The disparity in strength and resources left with no choice but to fortify defenses.
Fortunately, the Golden Sun Sect only dared to dispatch a single Nascent Soul cultivator to lead their forces.
At 786 Years Old
I successfully defended against their advances for twenty years and began preparing a contingency plan for evacuation.
However, the Six Demonic Sects continued to draw closer, forcing Chu Tianfeng to pressure for a decisive battle.
A gamble was proposed: if I could defeat Six Sun True Monarch of Golden Sun Sect in a one-on-one duel, their forces would withdraw.
The losing side would be relegated to guarding the Yan Kingdom's fourth-rank spiritual vein, becoming the first line of defense against the demonic sect invasion.
As a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator, my odds in a one-on-one battle were fifty-fifty.
At 787 Years Old
Chu Tianfeng went back on his word. During the duel, a mysterious individual ambushed !
That long spike-like magic treasure—it injured my soul!
With my Nascent Soul damaged and my physical body heavily injured during the fight, Six Sun True Monarch took advantage of the situation, breaking our agreent and attempting to kill .
I narrowly escaped with my life, fleeing to the Jing Kingdom's border.
My Nascent Soul was gravely wounded, my body nearly destroyed, and my divine abilities reduced to barely a tenth of their full strength.
To make matters worse, the audacious Xuan Yin Demonic Sect dared to attack !
How did Liang Shaotian know the specifics of my injuries?
After driving off Liang Shaotian and his accomplices, I encountered Chu Tianfeng, who had pursued .
Chu Tianfeng apologized and gifted a fourth-rank Soul-Nurturing Wood, urging to recover quickly and join him in resisting the demonic sects' invasion.
However, I confird that the mysterious assailant belonged to Unseen Gate.
This shattered my faith in the soon-to-be-ford Righteous Dao Alliance. Losing trust, I beca disillusioned.
At 788 Years Old
I began preparing to seek a new physical body to restore my strength and planned to relocate the Fla Departing Palace to the Seven Kingdoms Alliance.
It was then that I heard of a Foundation Establishnt cultivator nad Lan Chang'an, known as the "Turtle Talisman Master."
Despite being in the Foundation Establishnt stage, this person had over five hundred years of lifespan remaining!
The vitality and longevity of that body were highly desirable.
I decided to investigate.
I set up a formation, intending to capture him alive and interrogate him slowly.
To my surprise, he resisted my soul-attack techniques!
Deep within his body, there seed to be a concealed Core Formation-level soul. Due to my damaged Nascent Soul, I had failed to detect it earlier.
So many Restriction-Breaking Talismans? My formation couldn’t hold him!
What’s more, there was even a third-rank Great Demon assisting him?!
This man was far too peculiar—he must have had a trendous fortuitous encounter.
Wang Feng was injured and buried under an earth wall.
I had no choice but to unleash my Nascent Soul to pursue and capture him.
If I let him escape, I would lose this once-in-a-lifeti opportunity forever.
I had a strong intuition: if I offended this man and allowed him to leave, it would spell disaster for the Fla Departing Palace in the future.
With no other options, I risked everything and unleashed my Nascent Soul.
Fortunately, the Core Formation soul within him had already been greatly depleted, giving a more than 70% chance of success.
What?!
This Nine Seals Stone Tablet?!
My soul was utterly defenseless! Could this be a legendary Heaven-Defying Spiritual Treasure?
No—
…
“This Poor Daoist—no, this ‘Lan’—was defeated by the Nine Seal Stele in my past life. I cannot claim it to be unjust. The Nine Seal Stele must surpass ordinary spiritual treasures and is likely a reincarnation treasure on par with supre treasures like the Xuantian Treasures.”
Inside the underground stone hall, Lan Chang'an opened his eyes, returning to the present reality.
Not long ago, he had initiated the fourth cycle of his reincarnation and reviewed the illustrious life of his fourth incarnation as the "Poor Daoist."
With a Nascent Soul-stage past life, Lan Chang'an’s perspective had completely changed, granting him a much deeper understanding of the Nine Seal Stele.
The Nine Seal Stele appeared to contain the laws of reincarnation, which prevented Master Lihuo’s soul from entering the great cycle of reincarnation after his death.
Xuantian Treasures often embody the corresponding laws of a specific world.
From this perspective, the Nine Seal Stele resembled a special kind of Xuantian Treasure.
“A Nascent Soul past life—truly extraordinary! Even just a fragnt of the knowledge it provides can change the destiny of lower-tier cultivators.”
With a single thought, countless insights and instincts surged into Lan Chang'an’s mind.
For example, the techniques and divine abilities Master Lihuo specialized in, along with his spells and crafts.
From the fourth life’s mories alone, there were at least seven or eight Nascent Soul-level inheritance techniques.
Beneath those, there were countless other cultivation thods.
Even body-refining techniques numbered over a dozen, most of which were superior to the Hundred-Refinent Vajra Art that Lan Chang'an had been cultivating.
Among the secret arts was a movent technique called the Crimson Sun Blood-Escape Technique.
This technique burned one's essence blood and lifespan to transform oneself into a blazing crimson sun, explosively boosting escape speed.
The Crimson Sun Blood-Escape Technique placed imnse strain on the body. The more lifespan burned, the more terrifying the escape speed.
Theoretically, if one paid a sufficient price, it could allow escape from pursuit by cultivators of much higher realms.
This escape technique had six levels, corresponding to Foundation Establishnt through late-stage Nascent Soul.
Master Lihuo had cultivated it to the fourth level.
Because of this, Lan Chang'an now intuitively understood and naturally mastered the first four levels of the Crimson Sun Blood-Escape Technique, saving him a great deal of effort.
However, with his current cultivation base, he estimated he could only use the second level, which corresponded to the mid-stage of Core Formation.
At the second level, the explosive speed was several tis that of a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator—enough to escape even late-stage Core Formation cultivators.
Still, using this escape technique would cost him lifespan with every use.
“Divination arts… Zhou Tian Tui Bei Book… Nine Lives Divination Unraveling…”
Lan Chang'an was surprised to discover that he now possessed the ability to divine.
In his fourth life, he had studied divination but only reached the third rank. At that level, he could only calculate fates at the Core Formation stage or below.
If he had reached the fourth rank, it would have provided significant assistance to even Nascent Soul cultivators, predicting their fortunes and disasters and securing opportunities for himself.
“Divination and fate calculation are paths that pry into the workings of heaven. They cannot be used frequently, as they consu vitality and lifespan. That’s why, over hundreds of years in my fourth life, I only managed to reach the low third rank.”
Lan Chang'an understood the difficulty of this path.
For now, third-rank divination was sufficient for him. With his long lifespan, the occasional toll on his life expectancy wasn’t an issue.
With this thought, Lan Chang'an began to calculate his recent fortunes by pinching his fingers into a divination gesture.
Suddenly, an overwhelming feeling of inspiration surged into his heart.
A great fortune was imminent!
It felt as though he could hear the ethereal music of the heavens, lifting his spirits.
Lan Chang'an nodded slightly, feeling that unlocking the mysteries of his Nascent Soul past life was indeed an auspicious sign.
Divination, when paired with specialized tools and artifacts, could increase the precision and success rate of calculations.
The mories of his Nascent Soul past life were vast, and there was an overwhelming amount of useful knowledge.
He would need so ti to sort through it all and adapt gradually.
...
Once more, Lan Chang'an sent his consciousness into the Nine Seal Stele.
The figure of the purple-robed Daoist from the fourth life now appeared shrouded in darkness, lifeless and dim.
“I wonder how long it will take to fully ignite the fourth life.”
Lan Chang'an had no imdiate answer.
If the fourth life were fully ignited, it would be equivalent to a Nascent Soul possession.
At the Nascent Soul Realm, the soul undergoes a qualitative transformation, and the divine abilities brought about by such a possession would far surpass those of his first two lives.
At present, the first four seals of the Nine Seal Stele all had etched images.
Only the third life, represented by the figure of a white-clothed man, remained indistinct, flickering between light and shadow.
The remaining five seals were completely blank.
Curious, Lan Chang'an directed his thoughts to touch the blank fifth seal, probing the conditions for unlocking it.
Since devouring the Nascent Soul and lighting the fourth seal, the Nine Seal Stele seed to have gained a touch of sentience. When he explored or inquired, it would provide abstract and vague responses.
“Ten… or one?”
This vague response left Lan Chang'an startled, but then he suddenly understood.
“Ten tis the previous requirent?”
His expression shifted.
“Ten Nascent Soul spiritual bodies?”
Lan Chang'an couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine.
Opportunities to capture Nascent Souls were exceedingly rare and incredibly difficult to co by.
Devouring ten Nascent Souls? The difficulty of this task was almost unimaginable.
Even if he advanced to the Nascent Soul Realm in the future, capturing a Nascent Soul alive would be several tis harder than simply killing one.
Every Nascent Soul cultivator had lived for hundreds of years and possessed unpredictable divine abilities and ans.
Without overwhelming strength, each capture would entail imnse risks.
Such a requirent was entirely at odds with his cautious and steady philosophy for cultivating in this life.
Shaking his head, Lan Chang'an exited the Nine Seal Stele.
Unlocking the fifth life seed a distant goal, and by then, he might not even choose this thod of reincarnation again.
For now, his priority was to digest the imnse gains from the fourth life and use this newfound knowledge to plan his path to Nascent Soul with even greater clarity.
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