Incarnation

During his period of quiet cultivation on Tianxing Island, he had made the acquaintance of several fellow Daoists. Most of the voice transmission talismans had been left by them, and Qin Sang reached out to snatch two at random. Some invited him for small gatherings among a few friends to discuss the Dao together; Others had heard that a senior was preaching elsewhere and invited him along to listen. Eager to check on the condition of his external incarnation, Qin Sang set the voice transmission talismans aside for the moment and briskly walked into the cave dwelling. Inside the cave dwelling, A moonstone cast a faint light through the chamber. The external incarnation sat cross-legged on a prayer mat. With the restriction blocking its perception, it had not noticed Qin Sang's arrival. Its aura was exceptionally steady, sitting upright as a bell. This was a good sign, showing that no mishaps had occurred during the time Qin Sang was away. Opening the restriction and stepping inside, Qin Sang saw that the external incarnation remained sitting motionless. Qin Sang sat down facing the external incarnation and examined its state. He discovered that the demonic seed had already "gnawed away" at—or rather, fused with—the fleshly body, reaching the most critical juncture of gestating the origin embryo. At the time, he had not expected to be away for so long, and had nearly jeopardized this crucial matter. Wearing a solemn expression, Qin Sang pondered briefly before rising to seal the cave dwelling. He then retrieved some spirit stones and laid down a Spirit Gathering Array around the area. Sitting back down, Qin Sang channeled his spiritual sense to link with the external incarnation's consciousness, preparing for the blood nourishment. The spiritual energy on Mount Baogu was already remarkably dense, and with the support of the Spirit Gathering Array, the spiritual energy inside the cave dwelling was more than sufficient to sustain Qin Sang through the secret art. He spent an entire night ensuring that everything was foolproof before forcing a droplet of essence blood from his fingertip. The essence blood hovered between them. Qin Sang's expression turned grave as his hands shifted through seals in rapid succession. The spiritual energy in the cave dwelling churned, and runes materialized out of thin air, swiftly sinking into the droplet. The essence blood devoured the runes, turning a dazzling scarlet. For a single droplet of essence blood to bear hundreds, even thousands, of runes was a severe test of Qin Sang's control. Fortunately, his cultivation was no longer low, and everything proceeded smoothly. The final rune sank into the essence blood. With a soft pop, the essence blood burst like a bubble. A surge of blood qi condensed without dispersing, ultimately morphing into a humanoid blood shadow. The blood shadow was merely the size of a finger. Its facial features bore an uncanny resemblance to Qin Sang's, yet an exceedingly wicked air hung between its brows. A bizarre smile played across its face, sending a chill down the spine of anyone who looked at it. "As expected of an evil art of the demonic path, it truly is sinister," Qin Sang murmured. From the very inception of this secret art, the root of backlash had been sown. Even with his current cultivation, he could already sense an urge toward backlash—though it was exceedingly faint and practically negligible. "Go!" Qin Sang gave a low shout and pointed at the external incarnation. The sinister smile on the blood shadow deepened as it pounced impatiently toward the external incarnation, boring straight into its glabella. The external incarnation shuddered slightly, then fell completely still. Qin Sang channeled his spiritual sense, following the blood shadow into the purple mansion. There, he saw a black cocoon of light. Inside lay the slumbering sword-soul demonic seed, poised to break free like a butterfly from its chrysalis. The blood shadow merged into the light cocoon and vanished. However, Qin Sang did not stop; he consecutively forced out several drops of fresh blood and refined them into blood shadows. Some entered the purple mansion, while others merged into the external incarnation's fleshly body. Having done all this, Qin Sang slowly exhaled, his face slightly pale. Checking the external incarnation's condition, he found that the secret art had progressed very smoothly. Between him and the external incarnation, there seemed to be an additional wisp of an elusive connection. The sword-soul demonic seed was exceptionally stable. If things continued like this, he would only need to repeat the blood nourishment a few more times to successfully refine the external incarnation. Having consumed so much essence blood in succession, he hurried to swallow several spirit pills. In the blink of an eye, the ninth day arrived. Every day, he had repeated the secret art once, using essence blood to catalyze the origin embryo. Now, he was performing the ninth and final round. Poof! Poof! Poof! Blood shadows materialized at Qin Sang's fingertips and swiftly lunged toward the external incarnation, leaving behind streaks of blood marks across its body. Most noticeable was the cocoon of light within the purple mansion, which had already been dyed blood-red. When the final blood shadow entered its body, the light cocoon cracked open abruptly, and the sword-soul demonic seed sprang forth. At the same moment, the external incarnation snapped its eyes open. Its eyes were crimson, resembling pools of blood, and a faint, wicked smirk seemed to linger on its face. Qin Sang's face darkened. His voice burst forth like spring thunder as he channeled the secret technique from the Origin-Seeding Demonic Embryo, dispelling the improper thoughts within the external incarnation and bringing it firmly under his control. As if struck by lightning, the external incarnation stiffened violently. The bloody tint in its eyes gradually receded, and its expression returned to normal. Two people with completely different appearances now possessed remarkably similar temperaments. However, now that the external incarnation was fully refined, the faint, elusive connection between it and Qin Sang became concealed and obscure. As long as Qin Sang and the external incarnation did not appear together, or unless an onlooker's cultivation far exceeded Qin Sang's, it was impossible to see through the incarnation's true nature at a glance. Furthermore, the external incarnation possessed its own consciousness and could act independently; even outside Qin Sang's line of sight, it was no different from an ordinary person. Having finally refined the external incarnation, Qin Sang could not help but let a smile touch his face as he inspected its condition. The external incarnation's cultivation in life had only been at the Qi Refinement stage, and it would not be any higher now that it had been refined into an incarnation. It required Qin Sang's continuous blood nourishment paired with secret arts to rapidly elevate its strength. Of course, another method was recorded in the Origin-Seeding Demonic Embryo: devouring other cultivators. The higher their cultivation, the faster the external incarnation would advance. Yet the consequence of doing so was obvious—the external incarnation would become far more prone to turning on its master, creating a demon that would ultimately devour him. Once the Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter hit a standstill, Qin Sang would have to control an external incarnation at the peak of Core Formation with his mid Core Formation cultivation. For safety's sake, feeding it with essence blood and raising it gradually was the better choice. Regrettably, the external incarnation had not developed a Second Nascent Soul, nor could it be stored inside a corpse puppet pouch like a refined corpse. It had to remain outside at all times. To prevent accidents, until it possessed a certain degree of self-preservation ability, he had no choice but to keep it in the cave dwelling. Qin Sang forced out a few drops of essence blood, and after finishing the blood nourishment, ordered the external incarnation to cultivate in quiet isolation. He also sat cross-legged on the ground, entering a state of complete selflessness. After a night of deep meditation, he finally washed away all his exhaustion. The next morning, Qin Sang glanced at the external incarnation and paced out of the cave dwelling. He was pondering the matter of the Landou Sect. The Landou Sect possessed a cultivation method that drew upon the heavenly circuit of stars and had once produced Core Formation cultivators, yet it was now unheard of. Was there a flaw in the method that kept anyone from practicing it, or had some mishap occurred? To look into this thoroughly, he would likely have to head near the Landou Sect's mountain gate and find a way to make contact with their core disciples or senior cultivators. Going from Tianxing Island to the Landou Sect was not overly far; with his flying speed, he could arrive in less than a month. "Before leaving, I should visit Alchemist Yi to ask if there's any news regarding the Scorpion Poison Grass. Searching for the spirit herbs remains the priority. That reminds me..." Seeing the voice transmission talismans outside, Qin Sang reached out and drew them over. The messages in the talismans were mostly expired, but one caught Qin Sang's attention. It had been left by a shopkeeper—the very same shopkeeper who had helped him procure the top-grade spirit stone last time.