Chapter 273 – Shangqing Spiritual Treasure Heavenly Sovereign's Second Divine Ability, Artificial Immortal Artifact

Beyond the Immortal Alliance, in the Forbidden Ground: Great Dark Heavens.

“Pfft!”

Within an ancient temple, the Black Lotus Holy Mother, who had been meditating, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The Black Lotus Holy Mother no longer appeared as the childlike form Lu Chen had encountered during the college entrance examination, but had transformed into a youthful appearance.

At this age, she possessed not only feminine softness but also masculine vigor.

Every beautiful word used to describe appearance seemed to manifest in her form, regardless of gender.

The only flaw was that the youthful Black Lotus Holy Mother’s face showed no emotional fluctuations whatsoever.

That icy demeanor gave off a porcelain-doll-like rigidity, beautiful yet carrying an indescribable eeriness.

After spitting blood, the Black Lotus Holy Mother seemed to sense something and suddenly looked toward a certain direction outside the temple.

‘Was it a trap specifically set by those old fellows, or has some ancient monster I didn’t know about emerged?’

The Black Lotus Holy Mother closed her eyes and formed hand seals with her fingers.

The next moment, a black Buddhist wheel appeared behind her back.

After an unknown length of time, the Black Lotus Holy Mother finally opened her eyes.

“Was it someone obscuring the heavenly secrets, or has the one who acted reached the Mahayana Realm?”

At the Transformation Soul Stage, one gains the ability to perceive heavenly secrets.

To some extent, this allows avoiding harm and encountering good fortune.

But nothing is absolute.

First, the heavenly secret perception ability at the Transformation Soul Stage can only be applied to oneself.

Second, the perceived heavenly secrets are often ambiguous, requiring personal interpretation. Moreover, once these heavenly secret deductions involve special existences, they become shrouded in mist.

Finally, heavenly secret deductions at the Transformation Soul Stage cannot predict events that haven’t yet occurred.

Although the Black Lotus Holy Mother gained no information from this heavenly secret deduction,

Often, having no information is itself a form of information.

After pondering for a moment, the Black Lotus Holy Mother suddenly spoke: “Tongueless…”

Before long, a tongueless monk entered the temple.

“Tongueless pays respects to the Holy Mother. What are your instructions, Holy Mother?”

“Pass down the order: have others temporarily suspend their preaching activities within the Immortal Alliance.”

“Yes.”

The tongueless monk sat in meditation, and a special Buddhist tongue formed from Buddhist Power appeared in his mouth.

Soon, many Black Lotus Cultists still operating around the Great Dark Heavens and within the Immortal Alliance received the message from Tongueless.

The Black Lotus Cultists within the Great Dark Heavens chose to withdraw from areas near the Immortal Alliance and return to the Black Lotus Sect’s main altar.

Those within the Immortal Alliance completely concealed themselves, not daring to take any action for the time being.

“Holy Mother, this humble monk has relayed the message. However, some cultists are too distant, and there are no Buddha Mother Statues in their vicinity, so this humble monk cannot contact them.”

“No matter. You may withdraw.”

After the tongueless monk left, a young maiden entered the Great Hall.

The maiden wore flowing white monastic robes, with a string of white jade prayer beads hanging around her neck.

Her eyebrows were like willow leaves, her eyes like peach blossoms, her appearance absolutely stunning.

Combined with her devout practice, she possessed Buddhist nature, her gaze clear and pure.Standing still, she exuded an indescribable sense of tranquility, as if purifying the soul itself.

“Master, you summoned me?”

Ji Linghui pressed her palms together and calmly performed a Buddhist salute toward the Black Lotus Holy Mother.

“How fares the task I assigned you?”

Ji Linghui replied, “Your disciple has taken refuge with the Rakshasa tribe. They have agreed to make offerings to our Buddha and embrace our sect’s teachings.”

Hearing this, the Black Lotus Holy Mother nodded in satisfaction and said, “In that case, you should depart soon. I hope you will not disappoint me.”

“As you command.”

With that, Ji Linghui of the Black Lotus Sect left the Great Hall.

Outside the Great Hall, an earless monk and an eyeless monk had been awaiting her arrival for some time.

Without exception, both were existences at the Nascent Soul Stage.

Like the Tongueless monk who had appeared earlier, they were two of the Black Lotus Sect’s main temple’s ‘Six Desires Vajra Guardians.’

“Junior Martial Uncle Earless, Junior Martial Uncle Eyeless, let us depart.”

The two nodded silently, their monastic robes transforming into ordinary garments.

To the naked eye, they now appeared as nothing more than an ordinary blind man and an ordinary deaf man, showing no trace of abnormality.

As for Ji Linghui, she changed into modern clothing.

Though her attire had altered, her transcendent aura of having seen through the Mortal World remained completely unchanged.

Were it not for her location being the Black Lotus Sect’s main temple, one might easily mistake her for a Fairy or Saintess nurtured by some major orthodox sect.

After exiting the Black Lotus Sect’s main temple, the trio headed directly toward the direction of the Immortal Alliance.

The ‘black mist’ within the Forbidden Land Great Dark Heaven—feared by ordinary people and even many Immortal Alliance Cultivators—seemed to have no effect on the three whatsoever.

Or more precisely, it did not affect Ji Linghui in the slightest.

For when Ji Linghui stepped into the black mist, her body emitted a pure white Buddhist radiance.

This Buddhist light appeared to be the natural bane of the black mist, causing it to retreat without daring to approach.

Their destination was none other than the nearest Immortal Alliance Academy located beyond the Great Dark Heaven—the Southern Fire Dao Academy.

Just as the Black Lotus Sect was fully retracting its forces due to the incident at Qingzhou’s college entrance examination venue,

Many powers hidden within the Immortal Alliance also received fragments of information through their respective channels.

Though they were unaware of the specific details,

Two matters had become abundantly clear to them.

First, the Black Lotus Sect’s Leader within the Immortal Alliance—the Black Lotus Holy Mother—had been confirmed slain by the Immortal Alliance.

Though it was merely a Clone, for such an existence, the fall of even a single Clone could be considered a severe loss.

The second piece of information was that during this operation, the Black Lotus Sect had employed some unknown ancient Celestial Artifact.

And this ancient Celestial Artifact was suspected to remain in the possession of Lady White Bone of the Black Lotus Sect.

Currently, due to the loss of the Leader’s Clone, the Black Lotus Sect dared not move freely within the Immortal Alliance and thus could offer little assistance to Lady White Bone.

This resulted in both the orthodox factions openly operating within the Immortal Alliance and the heretical factions working in the shadows

Developing covetous intentions toward Lady White Bone.

After all, the Immortal Alliance strictly forbade Cultivators from attacking other Cultivators without cause.

But Heretical Cultivators like those of the Black Lotus Sect were not protected under these regulations.

Thus, countless forces began mobilizing, all for the sake of the Celestial Artifact in Lady White Bone’s possession.The entire Qingzhou had now become the focal point of the entire Immortal Alliance.

After all, Qingzhou was currently gathering a large number of Nascent Soul Stage cultivators from the Immortal Alliance.

Although these old-timers had various excuses for coming to Qingzhou.

Anyone with discernment knew what their true purpose really was.

To prevent these fellows from becoming blinded by greed in their treasure hunting, the Immortal Alliance had secretly given them a bottom line.

That was they must not harm ordinary people during their treasure hunt.

Moreover, the rightful owner of the treasure would be the one who killed Lady White Bone.

Even if someone obtained the Celestial Artifact first, if they weren’t the one who killed Lady White Bone, they would have to surrender the artifact afterward.

Under these restrictions, the numerous Nascent Soul Stage cultivators were practically turning all of Qingzhou upside down.

No matter how mysterious Lady White Bone’s methods were, it was only a matter of time before she was found, and that time definitely wouldn’t be long.

As for what was happening in the Immortal Alliance at this moment, Lu Chen didn’t pay much attention.

Because he had now devoted all his energy to cultivating the Samadhi True Fire.

One day in reality equaled ten days in the game.

Lu Chen had now reached the third day in the game.

“Three days, spending over a million experience points, I’ve finally managed to cultivate this ‘Human Fire’.”

Feeling the continuous heart fire within his body, Lu Chen immediately looked at his game panel.

【Samadhi True Fire (Transformation Dao Realm)】

【Cultivation Requirements: Possess Heavenly Fire (satisfied), Earth Fire (not satisfied), Human Fire (satisfied), Golden Core Stage cultivation (satisfied)】

【Description: Using the heart to harmonize with the law, departing from evil chaos, thus called Samadhi, capable of burning all things in the world, purging and eliminating demons】

Among the conditions for cultivating the Samadhi True Fire, he now only lacked ‘Earth Fire’.

Although Lu Chen very much wanted to immediately go to Danyang Peak’s Great Hall to cultivate this final Earth Fire.

He knew that haste makes waste.

Having just mastered the heart fire, his foundation was still unstable.

If he rashly attempted to cultivate Earth Fire, it could easily cause disturbances in his heart fire and lead to mistakes.

After all, this heart fire wasn’t like the Heavenly Fire·Purple Dawn Divine Fire he had cultivated step by step before.

The latter was something Lu Chen had cultivated for a long time and could control with ease.

In this aspect, the heart fire was undoubtedly inferior.

However, completely mastering the heart fire wasn’t particularly difficult for him.

Lu Chen estimated that it would take at most one month in the game to fully master the heart fire.

After that, he could begin attempting to absorb Danyang Peak’s Yangming Earth Fire to cultivate this Great Divine Power comparable to the Transformation Dao Realm… the Samadhi True Fire.

Once he truly succeeded in cultivating the Samadhi True Fire, it would definitely be a significant improvement for him.

After considering all this, Lu Chen took out the Celestial Artifact fragment he had obtained from the Black Lotus Holy Mother from his Storage Bag.

【Name: Celestial Artifact Fragment (Gathering Immortal Bell)】

【Grade: Fourth Realm Dao Artifact】

【Effect: Can slightly execute incomplete celestial technique… Great Dream Millennium through special methods.】

【Note: You have obtained Gu Yue True Immortal’s recognition and meet the conditions to use this item】

Looking at the Celestial Artifact fragment in his hand, Lu Chen pondered how he could make this item exert its proper effects.

After all, without specific methods, this Celestial Artifact fragment would be largely useless in his hands beyond being something to look at.Even with the remnants of Gu Yue True Immortal’s Origin essence blood still within him, this remained the case.

Back then, the Black Lotus Holy Mother had sacrificed part of her own Nascent Soul to temporarily restore the Gathering Immortal Bell, allowing it to unleash a portion of its power.

Although Lu Chen did not understand the secret Black Lotus technique employed by the Black Lotus Holy Mother, he possessed similar methods of his own.

To test his theory, Lu Chen immediately manifested his Dharma Body… the Shangqing Lingbao Heavenly Lord.

The emergence of the Dharma Body gave Lu Chen an indescribable, subtle connection to the Celestial Artifact fragment in his hand.

However, the Dharma Body alone was insufficient.

He needed to supplement it with other techniques.

Such as the special Divine Ability he had acquired when slaying the Netherworld Alien Race’s Huang at the Nascent Soul Stage in the simulated battlefield during the college entrance exam… the All-in Throw.

The effect of All-in Throw allowed Lu Chen to condense his wealth Qi into ‘Divine Ability Coins – Heaven-Earth Coins’, which could then simulate certain treasures.

What Lu Chen intended to do was use these treasure projections to restore the Celestial Artifact fragment, achieving an effect similar to that of the Black Lotus Holy Mother.

[Special Divine Ability: All-in Throw (Non-upgradable)]

[Effect: When activated, condenses personal wealth Qi into ‘Divine Ability Coins – Heaven-Earth Coins’ to exchange for treasure projections. The greater the wealth Qi, the more coins can be condensed, and the greater the quantity and power of treasure projections that can be exchanged.]

[Note: Treasure projections exchanged through coins only exist momentarily. Their power, effects, and duration depend on the number of coins consumed.]

As Lu Chen activated ‘All-in Throw’, the wealth Qi around him began to rapidly condense.

However, even after depleting his current wealth Qi, Lu Chen found he still couldn’t meet the conditions for restoring the Gathering Immortal Bell.

He had anticipated this outcome.

He immediately activated his destiny trait acquired through his contract with Diting – the Innate Nine Qi.

In the next moment, after converting most of his Nine Qi into wealth Qi, Lu Chen finally barely met the requirements for using the Gathering Immortal Bell.

This was only possible because Lu Chen had manifested the ‘Supreme Purity Multitreasure Celestial’ Dharma Body, which significantly reduced the difficulty of controlling Celestial Artifacts.

Otherwise, with his Golden Core Stage cultivation, he truly wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this.

Looking at the Gathering Immortal Bell in his hand, Lu Chen suppressed the urge to activate it and dispersed his Divine Ability.

After all, he had witnessed the bell’s effects during the college entrance exam.

If he were to activate it now, everyone in Danyang Peak – from the Peak Lord down to ordinary Disciples – would have their Divine Souls absorbed by the bell and drawn into a peculiar ‘dream state’.

Should things reach that point, once others regained their senses, he as the instigator would undoubtedly face severe consequences.

Although he hadn’t actually activated the Celestial Artifact, Lu Chen still verified a bold hypothesis through this experiment:

When the ‘Dharma Body – Shangqing Lingbao Heavenly Lord’, the ‘Special Divine Ability – All-in Throw’, and the special destiny trait ‘Innate Nine Qi’ were combined, he could indeed achieve ‘artificial Celestial Artifact’ creation.

However, all of this depended on Lu Chen obtaining ‘Celestial Artifact fragments’ first.

Ordinary people couldn’t even obtain a single Celestial Artifact fragment, let alone hear any relevant information about them.

Yet Lu Chen happened to know the whereabouts of several Celestial Artifacts, and even had means to acquire them.

For example, one of his current instances… the Atlas Laborer.Thinking of that immortal cauldron of Pot-Lifting Peak, which transformed into an entire mountain to suppress the Aura Golden Dragon.

Lu Chen’s eyes gradually lit up with spirit.

“A complete Celestial Artifact would be useless to me even if given now, as I cannot wield it properly.”

“Using Celestial Artifact fragments as a foundation, supplemented with Divine Ability techniques for completion—this suits my current state best.”

“If I retrieve fragments of the immortal cauldron from the instance, does that mean I can restore the mysterious cauldron using the same method as I did with the Gathering Immortal Bell?”

Once this idea surfaced, it completely occupied Lu Chen’s mind.

Were it not for the Pot-Lifting Brute instance still being on cooldown, Lu Chen might have tried it right then and there.

If everything truly aligned with his speculation,

it would mean he, at the Golden Core Stage, would possess multiple artificial Celestial Artifacts.

With these artificial Celestial Artifacts at his disposal, Lu Chen felt that even if he encountered a Great Divine Power expert at the Deity Transformation Stage,

he might no longer be completely defenseless, even if he couldn’t win.

With this in mind, Lu Chen immediately formed a clear plan for his future.

After the college entrance exams concluded, he would first cultivate the Samadhi True Fire.

Then, once the Pot-Lifting Brute instance refreshed, he would find a way to… steal a Celestial Artifact fragment from it!

(End of Chapter)