Immortal of the Nine Realms-Chapter 792: A Misstep

In the Three Thousand Dao Realm, Fang Chen sat quietly beneath the Three Divine Beasts. Since the soul-crossing ritual belonged to the Yin Beast, it was reasonable to believe that the Yin Lunar Divine Beast would offer him some protection.

If he could condense the Nine Heavens Profound Mother Primordial Spirit without triggering the soul-crossing ritual, it would naturally be ideal. Given a choice, Fang Chen would rather not venture into such an unpredictable realm without full confidence.

"Zhu Long, I need a drop of your blood essence—just an inch will suffice," whispered Fang Chen.

Zhu Long, who was swimming leisurely in the surroundings, paused at Fang Chen's words and then slowly swam to him.

Fang Chen smiled and took out over twenty Dragon Essence Fruits. "Here, have these Dragon Essence Fruits to replenish yourself first."

Zhu Long's eyes lit up instantly. With a deep inhalation, all the fruits were sucked into its mouth. Its three-foot-long body visibly expanded, only to shrink back after a moment. Strangely, its dual-colored golden-silver eyes seemed to grow even more profound.

In the left eye, a flicker of flame seemed to flash and vanish, and in the right, a silvery frost appeared to fall.

After its meal, Zhu Long affectionately rubbed its head against Fang Chen as it appeared more at ease and friendlier than before. The fear it once exhibited was now completely gone.

The creature then gestured for Fang Chen to open his palm. Mustering its strength, it exhaled a blood droplet the size of a dragon's eye on it.

The blood droplet exuded an overwhelming chill the moment it appeared, threatening to freeze Fang Chen on the spot.

Fang Chen dared not delay. He immediately retrieved the high-grade spirit stone that Elder Xun had given him and placed the two together.

As soon as the blood droplet and the spirit stone came into contact, they began to fuse harmoniously. The two water droplets were drawn to each other and eventually merged into one.

In less than ten breaths, the fusion process was complete. The high-grade spirit stone vanished and the blood droplet transformed into a liquid state. The previously overwhelming chill dissipated entirely.

Fang Chen took a deep breath and slowly opened his mouth. The liquid blood droplet flew into his mouth. It slid down his throat and spread through his limbs and bones.

In an instant, his spiritual energy surged violently like an army of thousands charging toward his Sword Core.

The Sword Core, unable to withstand the onslaught, shattered on the spot. The spiritual energy released was hundreds or even thousands of times more potent than before.

The first step of forming the Nascent Soul was to shatter the core—completed.

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Fang Chen continued to operate the Three Thousand Dao Nascent Soul Chapterand guided the surging spiritual energy through a precise, intricate route within his body.

Before the Sword Core shattered, his spiritual energy had been easy to control like a disciplined army under his command. Now, with the core broken, that disciplined army had transformed into a chaotic, overwhelming force, like millions of soldiers running rampant. Controlling them became an immense challenge.

Even with his Radiant Divine Eyes and his unique divine soul, he could not entirely restrain some of the spiritual energy. It began to seep from his body, taking the form of blood oozing out of his pores.

In just a few breaths, Fang Chen was drenched in blood, looking like a man dyed red.

Each strand of the escaped spiritual energy was potent enough to rival the full power of a 12th-stage Qi Refining Realm cultivator.

Despite the alarming state, Fang Chen ignored it and continued practicing the Three Thousand Dao Nascent Soul Chapter to condense the Nine Heavens Profound Mother Primordial Spirit with his inner spiritual energy.

Over and over, the process repeated itself, following the same cyclical pattern.

Time passed relentlessly.

Several years slipped by.

Fang Chen's appearance had changed dramatically. His face became gaunt and his flesh seemed to have melted away with the spirit blood that escaped his body.

His robes now hung loosely on his emaciated frame, with his bones faintly visible beneath the fabric.

Although only a few years had passed, Fang Chen's visage bore the weariness of centuries, aged and haggard beyond recognition.

During this time, Fang Chen was keenly aware of the changes within his body, yet he was powerless to halt the process.

There was no turning back once the bowstring was drawn. The path of condensing the Nascent Soul was one he had chosen and the shattering of the Sword Core was an irreversible step.

If he failed to complete the Nascent Soul transformation, his spiritual energy would have no vessel to contain it and would dissipate continuously.

In just a few years, more than half of his spiritual energy had already been lost. At this rate, it would only take less than a decade for him to be entirely drained of energy.

At that point, he would face a dire predicament.

Without the spiritual energy, he would no longer possess even the meager two-century lifespan granted to a Sword Cultivator. His body, already on the brink of mortality, would immediately succumb to age, leaving him to die of old age on the spot.

"Where did it all go wrong?"

Fang Chen introspected, revisiting every step of the process.

From shattering the Sword Core to executing the Nine Heavens Profound Mother Primordial Spirit Condensation Method to using the blood essence of the Profound Mother Yin Beast, he had followed every requirement meticulously.

By all reasoning, even if the Nascent Soul wasn't fully formed by now, there should have been some progress—at the very least, traces of success.

Yet, there were no signs of success at all. It felt as though an invisible obstacle stood in his way, preventing any advancement.

The source of this obstruction was elusive. If only he could identify it, he might be able to remove it and proceed.

Years passed again.

Seated beneath the three Divine Beasts, Fang Chen had withered to little more than skin and bones. Only a thin layer of flesh clung to his skeletal frame.

"I understand now," murmured Fang Chen suddenly as his eyes flickered open.

He ceased circulating the method entirely to allow his spiritual energy to dissipate even faster.

From the very beginning, there had been a misstep—a single mistake that had set him on this path of failure.vAnd it was precisely that misstep that had created the enormous obstruction he now faced in condensing the Nine Heavens Profound Mother Primordial Spirit.

The root of the issue undoubtedly stemmed from his Sword Core.

In cultivation, mistakes could manifest in numerous ways. Some might be consumed by the fire while others might be lucky enough to survive by relying on alternative methods.

However, these alternative methods were often temporary as they only concealed the problems at the moment. When the time came, those hidden problems would hit all at once.

Just like the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo of Fairy Yu and Fang Chen's Sword Core. Both had deviated from the proper path due to unexpected incidents in their cultivation journey. To rectify the situation, they had only two choices; either correct the deviation and realign themselves with the orthodox route, or continue along the divergent path to its conclusion.

Neither option was easy.

"At my current rate of spiritual energy loss, I'll probably hit rock bottom in about a month," mused Fang Chen.

This time, it wasn't simply running out of spiritual energy. His Sword Core was already shattered. This was the leakage of his true spiritual energy, a slow and inevitable drain.

What would happen when he hit rock bottom? Would his energy, as it had in the past, rebound in some unexpected manner?

No one could say for certain.

Fang Chen had already prepared for the worst outcome.

With a thought, the black and white paper figures materialized before him. Their sudden appearance caused another significant drain on his spiritual energy.

"My lord! What happened to you? How did you end up like this?"

Both paper figures were visibly startled. Fang Chen's body radiated a pervasive aura of decay. His face was shrouded in deathly pallor, making him appear moments away from succumbing to mortality.

"It's a long story. I'm here to settle a few things—to leave my final will. If I die and you manage to leave this place, follow my words exactly, " replied Fang Chen with a faint wry smile.

"My lord, is it because of the soul-crossing ritual...?" whispered the black paper figure.

Fang Chen shook his head with a self-deprecating smile. "I haven't made it that far. I thought the soul-crossing ritual would be the hardest challenge, but it turns out I couldn't even complete the simplest step of condensing the Nascent Soul."

Both paper figures exchanged glances in disbelief.

"The condensation of Nascent Soul failed...?"

They had never imagined such a possibility so they hadn't been able to immediately recognize Fang Chen's current state.

But now that they looked in detail, they saw that he was exactly like those cultivators who had failed to condense the Nascent Soul.

With the destruction of the Golden Core, failure to condense the Nascent Soul meant becoming a mortal. If one still had enough lifespan left, they might not die immediately. However, most cultivators who reached the Nascent Soul condensation stage had already exhausted their lifespan.

Seventy to eighty years of a mortal would have been spent!

"Little White, Little Black, if my lifespan runs out, throw my body into the Immortal Demon Sea and take my storage ring, Little Sword, Mirror of the Universe, and Zhu Long to find Xia Ji," instructed Fang Chen.

The black and white paper figures exchanged a wordless look.

Little Sword, having sensed something over the years, quickly spoke up, "Little Chen, why not merge with an immortal's blood? There might still be hope."

Mirror of the Universe scoffed, "What nonsense are you talking about? In his current state, how can he face them? He'll be completely possessed and cease to exist."

It turned to Fang Chen and advised, "Brother, you're not dead yet. You still have some Dragon Essence Fruits left, right? When your spiritual energy runs out, take one of them. It will keep you alive for a while longer."