External Incarnation

Bang! Liuli said not a word. The wooden doors slammed shut. Shixue froze, letting out a long sigh as she halted her steps. Turning to face the closed wooden lodge, her expression was a mix of heartache and helplessness. "That stubborn girl!" Qin Sang glanced at the wooden lodge, then down at the ice sword planted in the ground, gradually piecing things together. Gripping the Goddess Heart Scripture in his hand, he looked at Shixue with a wry smile, caught between tears and laughter. With his sharp wits, even without knowing every detail, seeing the Goddess Heart Scripture Shixue had handed him combined with Liuli’s reaction just now was enough to deduce seventy to eighty percent of the truth. Residual fluctuations still lingered within the wooden lodge. It was obvious that Liuli had been attempting to break through the bottleneck into the middle Nascent Soul stage, but had failed. Since Shixue had offered him the Goddess Heart Scripture, this failure was very likely related to him. Or more precisely, she was trapped by the brand left behind by the Mystic Female Jade Tripod True Scripture. It seemed Dongyang Bo's warning back then had not been an exaggeration. The hidden danger of that evil art was exceedingly troublesome. Even after nearly three hundred years, Liuli was still unable to rid herself of the brand. No wonder someone endowed with a heavenly spiritual root had remained trapped in the early Nascent Soul stage until now, only to be overtaken by him. Ever since their reunion, Liuli had behaved normally in front of him, leading Qin Sang to assume that a sect as vast as Xuantian Palace would possess some secret technique or rare treasure to resolve her predicament. He had even thought that such an outcome was quite good, bringing a clean end to that karmic entanglement. Turns out it had only been a veneer. Qin Sang recalled that back in the bronze hall of the Ziwei Palace, Dongyang Bo had mentioned that Liuli had been enduring the backlash of the evil art from the very start, using silver needles to seal her emotions and shield against the brand's influence. She was probably using a similar method now to seal away the emotional brand. Unfortunately, she had underestimated the power of the technique's lingering repercussions. At the critical juncture of breakthrough, the secret art had failed, and the brand had erupted, causing all her efforts to fall short. Remembering the look in Liuli's eyes when her emotions had surged just now, Qin Sang gave an inward sigh. Such unforgettable, bone-deep feeling was chilling to behold. The tragedy was that this emotion was not real; it did not stem from her true heart, but from the brand of an evil art. And Liuli clearly knew this all too well. She had fiercely held on to her true heart, refusing to succumb. "Lineage Head Shi..." Qin Sang stepped up to Shixue and handed the jade slip back to her, momentarily at a loss for words. "You... you really overthought this." He had felt for some time that Shixue's behavior was a bit peculiar. So it turned out she had been turning all these wild notions over in her head. Shixue likely knew nothing of the plucking and cultivation that had taken place. Had she consulted Qin Sang beforehand, he would have urged her to abandon the idea rather than waste her efforts. Regardless of his own stance, Liuli would never have agreed. And indeed, the facts had proven so. Liuli had decisively shut the wooden doors, preferring to forfeit this chance at a breakthrough rather than even consider the possibility of dual cultivation. Qin Sang was not in the least surprised by this outcome. Liuli was a favored daughter of heaven, a fundamentally different kind of person from him. What a proud woman she was! Back then, she had practiced that evil art of plucking out of a desperate desire to save her master, never for herself. Now, for the sake of her own cultivation, to surrender to the brand, submit to the manipulation of an evil art, and become Dao companions with someone with whom she shared almost no intersection—even under the guise of dual cultivation, it was utterly unthinkable. Call it obstinacy or sheer stubbornness. She would never numb herself into accepting such a counterfeit emotion. Qin Sang had not interacted much with Liuli, yet through her actions, he saw her with complete clarity. If Liuli were someone who could accept the Goddess Heart Scripture, she would not be Liuli. "A blessed person like Fairy Liuli will naturally have fortune on her side; there will surely be a way out. We need only have faith in her and not let concern cloud our judgment." Treating the whole affair as nothing more than a passing farce, Qin Sang shook his head, flashed away from the mountain hollow, and went off to attend to his own matters. Watching Qin Sang's receding figure, Shixue's gaze flickered uncertainly. She walked briskly to the front of the wooden lodge, hesitated, and ultimately chose not to push open the door, standing guard outside instead. "That scoundrel has a point; concern really did cloud my judgment. With my junior sister's wisdom, aware as she was of the perils of Freezing Heart with Ice Soul, she must have prepared for failure. Yet aside from using the Goddess Heart Scripture to enter the Dao through passion, what other way is there to break through before the first heavenly tribulation?" Shixue pondered for a long time, sighing inwardly. *Alas! Junior Sister, I don't even understand you as well as that heartless man does. Just why are you so unwilling to accept him?* *** Leaving the Snow Listening Tower, Qin Sang flew directly toward the northeast. Treading over snow without leaving a trace, it did not take long before a sprawling expanse of boundless snowy mountains came into view, and he returned to this place once more. The subterranean yin vein Shixue had mentioned lay at the base of these snowy mountains. Shortly after entering the range, Qin Sang sensed a faint yin qi. Sweeping his gaze downward, his sight penetrated the snow layers to find openings to several underground caverns—the source of the yin qi. Pfft! A hole burst through the snow, and Qin Sang slipped into the caverns. The subterranean tunnels wound and intersected, remarkably complex. He summoned the Jinchen Sword to guard himself, diving into the depths of the caverns to continue his search. Just as Shixue had said, an underground yin vein truly ran through here, though its intensity fluctuated. In some spots the yin qi was faint, while in others it was intensely dense, scattered throughout the caves like pools of accumulated yin. The first step of Nine Nether Yin Reclamation required the use of an underground yin vein, taking nine-times-nine, eighty-one days to refine the spirit body. This step differed from corpse refinement; it was not meant to thoroughly transform the physical body with yin qi, but rather to use the power of the underground yin vein for slight modification. Its true purpose was not to take in yin, but to draw in cold, making it easier to refine cold-natured materials later and increasing the success rate of the subsequent step. In the end, the yin qi would be expelled from the body. Consequently, the requirements for the underground yin vein were exacting: the yin qi could be neither too rampant nor too weak. Qin Sang had already searched the caves for a long time. Spending another full day, he finally narrowed it down to three locations and ultimately selected one. This spot was a subterranean cavern whose surrounding rock walls were as smooth as mirrors, plunging into a bottomless abyss. With a wave of his sword, Qin Sang carved out a stone platform, sat down cross-legged, and summoned the Nascent Soul talisman puppet. In using the talisman puppet to craft an external incarnation, the process not only concerned whether the Dao Manifestation Tree could be refined into a spirit body, but also how to refine the puppet marks and soul phantoms inside it so they could serve the incarnation. The Nascent Soul talisman puppet differed somewhat from the spirit body required by Nine Nether Yin Reclamation. Qin Sang would likely have to make minor adjustments to the technique, integrating it with the secret method Bai had taught him for refining soul phantoms. Fortunately, the modifications would not be drastic and would not shake the foundation of the secret art. The chances of success were high, though extreme caution remained necessary. Qin Sang ordered the Nascent Soul talisman puppet to sit cross-legged opposite him. Remembering the theatrical scene from yesterday, a sense of absurdity lingered—Shixue truly lived up to her role as lineage head, worrying herself sick over everything. Casting aside stray thoughts, Qin Sang linked his mind with the talisman puppet and sank into deep contemplation. The cavern lapsed into utter silence. *** This seated meditation lasted two whole months. Over the course of these two months, Qin Sang thoroughly comprehended the Jade Chapter of Nine Nether Yin Reclamation. Liuli had claimed earlier that if the primary body died, one could resurrect in the external incarnation, but that was somewhat overstated. One had to execute the body-transfer secret art recorded in the Jade Chapter of Nine Nether Yin Reclamation just before dying to accomplish that. If one were instantly killed before completing the secret art, resurrection was impossible. However, there should be no expert in the North Sea cultivation world powerful enough to kill him before he could even execute the transfer art. For Qin Sang, it truly was an unequivocal second chance at life. Thus, Qin Sang took the Jade Chapter of Nine Nether Yin Reclamation very seriously. Running countless deductions through his mind, he confirmed several points. First, the power of the puppet marks inside the Nascent Soul talisman puppet could not be preserved. He had to erase the marks first, restoring the original Dao Manifestation Tree; otherwise, it would clash with the spirit body. This was a great pity. If the power of the puppet marks could have been fused, the completed external incarnation would have possessed at least middle Nascent Soul stage strength. Yet to reduce conflicts and enhance the chance of success, it was a necessary sacrifice. Second, there was good news. The external incarnation could be manipulated directly by the primary body like a puppet, but the drawbacks were stiffness and an inability to be used for resurrection, so that option was generally dismissed. The orthodox method was to sever a portion of one's essence to form a second nascent soul to control it, granting greater autonomy and allowing it to perform far more tasks. A second nascent soul was split from one's own nascent soul. Unlike the second nascent souls refined by demonic cultivators through bloody methods, one did not need to fear backlash from the second nascent soul unless the primary body granted it complete autonomy or lost control due to some extraordinary circumstance. This approach had pros and cons. When first completed, the incarnation's realm would be one grade lower than the primary body's, requiring gradual elevation later on. Qin Sang's plan was that after refining the second nascent soul, he would use the secret art Bai had taught him to refine the soul phantoms inside the talisman puppet, thereby bolstering the second nascent soul. When Bai had initially suggested he practice an orthodox Daoist method for the external incarnation, he had taken this very factor into account. Though the soul phantoms inside the talisman puppet were mere remnants, they were numerous. Previously, they could never be converted into direct combat power. If he refined them all, and combined them with an extraordinary material like Ice Soul Astral Qi, the external incarnation's strength might very well rise instead of fall, offering a shortcut. Those soul phantoms possessed no consciousness of their own, and his split nascent soul carried a portion of the jade Buddha's power, so there was no need to fear that refining such impure soul energy would increase the risk of backlash. With his path gradually clarified, Qin Sang emerged from his meditative state. His gaze shifted from the Nascent Soul talisman puppet to the subterranean yin vein, then pulled back as he sank his consciousness into his purple palace. Within the purple palace, his nascent soul was clad in the Yin-Yang Armor, concealing its golden glow. When Qin Sang had refined corpses and puppets in the past, he had split off bits of his soul to form divine soul imprints. This time was different: he needed to sever a substantial portion of his nascent soul to form a second nascent soul! Recalling the agony of splitting his soul in the past, Qin Sang's mouth twitched. Steeling his resolve, he shed the Yin-Yang Armor from his nascent soul, revealing its true form. After an unknown length of time, Qin Sang's brow furrowed abruptly, a spasm of pain flashing across his face. The agony of cleaving one's nascent soul cut straight to the marrow. Even with Qin Sang's mental fortitude, his expression could not help but warp. Now, an additional cluster of golden light hovered in his purple palace, though it was countless times dimmer than his primary nascent soul. Without hesitation, Qin Sang activated the secret art. As time passed, the cluster of golden light squirmed and shifted, gradually taking on the form of his true self—the second nascent soul was beginning to take shape! The next instant, golden light flared between Qin Sang's brows. Whoosh! The golden light plunged into the Nascent Soul talisman puppet. In a flash, the soul phantoms within the puppet showed signs of rioting, hungering to devour the still-weak second nascent soul. Enduring the pain, Qin Sang's hands shifted through rapid seal changes, unleashing the soul-suppression secret art Bai had taught him. The second nascent soul sank into the core of the soul phantoms, sitting motionless in a withered posture as it radiated a unique oscillation, gradually soothing the phantoms. Refining the soul phantoms would take a long time; it could not be accomplished overnight. Qin Sang first used the second nascent soul to keep the phantoms suppressed, and next set about erasing the puppet mark power inside the talisman puppet to restore the Dao Manifestation Tree. Having ensured nothing could go wrong, Qin Sang tapped forward with a finger, and the puppet marks on the talisman puppet flashed with light. Under Qin Sang's guidance, the puppet marks shattered one by one, their power dissipating into nothingness. The puppet's momentum plummeted sharply, and the essence of wood grain gradually revealed itself across its body. Watching the once-powerful puppet shed its power before his eyes, Qin Sang felt not a shred of regret. His movements only grew swifter until the very last puppet mark was erased. The Nascent Soul talisman puppet vanished, leaving a compact spirit tree resting in Qin Sang's palm. Only now could one truly tell it was a spiritual root born of heaven and earth. Aside from its slightly rough bark, it was shaped entirely like an infant, its facial features distinct. Who could have imagined that a spirit tree could be so miraculously wrought by nature as to resemble a human form? Next, Qin Sang cast the Dao Manifestation Tree into the subterranean yin vein. The tree bobbed and drifted below. Qin Sang executed one hand seal after another, guiding the tree to absorb the power of the underground yin vein and refine the spirit body. This step was second in importance only to fusing the Ice Soul Astral Qi; Qin Sang dared not let down his guard. Although the Dao Manifestation Tree had been contaminated, it was an innate spiritual root after all, possessing boundless capacity. The process of absorbing yin qi went exceptionally smoothly, proving Qin Sang's worries unfounded. The entire refinement process needed to continue for nine-times-nine, eighty-one days. Once the hand seals were in place, it could refine itself without requiring constant vigilance. Seeing that all was progressing smoothly, Qin Sang withdrew his mind and swallowed medicinal pills to heal his nascent soul. With nothing else pressing, Qin Sang remained on guard here, quietly meditating on the Seven Masters' Buddhist Seal. To his surprise, a minor hitch still arose during this step: what should have taken eighty-one days dragged on for more than half a year before the spirit body was finally refined. Exceeding the expected time by so much naturally made Qin Sang somewhat uneasy, but knowing how unique the Dao Manifestation Tree was, he waited patiently until the day finally arrived. Swish! The Dao Manifestation Tree flew back into Qin Sang's palm. A close inspection revealed a faint chill glowing across its surface. After examining it thoroughly and finding no issues, he retrieved the Ice Soul Pouch from his Qianjun Ring. Opening the pouch, a bone-chilling aura rushed out, carrying an astonishing, violent intensity. Qin Sang was no stranger to Qiantian Astral Qi. His expression calm, he peered inside. The astral jade formed from Ice Soul Astral Qi differed from Qingyang Astral Qi; its body was transparent like ice, resembling an ordinary block of frozen water on the surface. Though it was fundamentally Qiantian Astral Qi—an object of extreme yang in the world—it possessed properties of ultimate cold, a truly bizarre marvel. Fortunately, the yin qi within the Dao Manifestation Tree had already been expelled after the spirit body's initial refinement; otherwise, a clash might have occurred. After a moment's contemplation, Qin Sang drew over a piece of ice soul astral jade. Daring not make direct contact, he enveloped it in true essence and channeled the secret art Liuli had taught him to refine it. Gradually, the astral jade reverted into a streak of pure Ice Soul Astral Qi. The chill intensified until even the surrounding yin qi seemed to freeze in place, locked in stillness. Under Qin Sang's guidance, a wisp separated from the Ice Soul Astral Qi and sank into the Dao Manifestation Tree. In an instant, the cold aura around the tree flared dramatically, its body becoming slightly translucent as it absorbed that wisp with surprising ease. Qin Sang's eyes widened in mild surprise, gaining an even deeper appreciation for the tree. Hesitating no longer, his hands moved swiftly, refining streak after streak of Ice Soul Astral Qi into the tree's form. The spirit body reached completion, the Ice Soul Astral Qi forging a sturdy foundation within the Dao Manifestation Tree. At this stage, the external incarnation was virtually declared a success! Qin Sang took a deep breath, not expecting everything to go so smoothly, marveling inwardly at the wonder of a spiritual root of heaven and earth. Next, Qin Sang stirred the second nascent soul within the Dao Manifestation Tree. Seizing the moment as the foundation solidified, he commanded the second nascent soul to merge completely with it, becoming one and indivisible. The external incarnation was finally complete!