Terran Guardian - Chapter 3743

Chapter 3719 Flower Fairy Stones Flow Like Water

Every era produces its own prodigies.

The only difference lies in their numbers.

In eras with many prodigies, the competition for the Heavenly Dao Divine Stele is fierce.

In eras with fewer prodigies, the difficulty of ascending to the Heavenly Dao Divine Stele’s ranking naturally decreases.

But according to Mingxin,

the current era has more prodigies than any other era.

In the past,

prodigies who could overcome the Ancient Immortal King Tribulation were qualified to enter the Immortal King Stele.

But now—

overcoming the Ancient Immortal King Tribulation is merely a chance to dabble in the Immortal King Stele.

Over millions of years, more than one top prodigy at the Immortal King realm has gone to the Heavenly Dao Immortal City, but all have ultimately returned empty-handed.

Shen Changqing understood.

If Mingxin’s words were true, then among the many disciples of the Xuantian Dao Sect this time, probably only a few would truly obtain the opportunity of the Heavenly Dao Divine Stele.

Of course,

originally there weren’t many either.

But at least a few had the possibility of obtaining the opportunity.

But now,

apart from the three Innate Immortals, whether the rest could obtain the opportunity was still unknown.

Among them…

Including Ye Yun’s existence.

Undeniably,

Ye Yun’s current strength is considerable; his half-step Immortal Emperor cultivation is enough to rival an Immortal Emperor.

Under other circumstances, a prodigy of this caliber would be able to enter the Ancient Immortal Stele, and his ranking wouldn’t be low.

But now—

that remains to be seen.

However,

Shen Changqing’s heart wasn’t greatly affected.

He was fortunate to have it!

Such things couldn’t be forced.

In any case, the Xuan Tian Dao Sect provided ample cultivation resources; as for how high they could reach, that depended on their individual fate.

…

Time passed.

A hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Shen Changqing rarely secluded himself in his Immortal Mansion, often traveling within the Heavenly Dao Immortal City.

As the number one immortal city in the Divine Sun Domain, the Heavenly Dao Immortal City was home to numerous forces, including many top-tier merchant guilds.

The Tongtian Pavilion, and other forces comparable to it, were naturally abundant.

With so many top-tier merchant guilds, auctions were frequently held, where rare natural treasures and other valuable items would appear.

Shen Changqing naturally wouldn’t miss these auctions.

However, most of the auctions didn’t offer much of value to him. Occasionally, he would acquire some semi-saint level rare materials and treasures that could temper his physical body.

He had plenty of high-grade immortal stones, enough to acquire most of the treasures.

As for top-grade immortal stones,

Shen Changqing had no intention of using them for the time being.

Meanwhile

, over the past century, some geniuses had ascended to the Heavenly Dao Divine Stele, while others had fought each other, the strong reaching the top and the weak perishing.

However, the Heavenly Dao Immortal City had its own order, and other cultivators dared not act rashly within its walls.

On this day,

within the Profound-Rank Immortal Mansion

, a pool was created, its emerald green water containing boundless life energy.

Each drop of water was refined from numerous rare materials, and each drop was enough to overwhelm a half-step Immortal Emperor realm cultivator.

In the middle of the pool, Shen Changqing sat cross-legged, half his body submerged in the water, as the vast energy of the pool surged towards him.

Rumble!

His blood and qi surged

like a raging ocean.

Shen Changqing focused his mind, concentrating entirely on refining this energy, using it to temper his blood and qi, and temper his physical body.

However, this tempering process was slow, almost negligible.

As time passed, the emerald green water gradually became clear and transparent.

When the last trace of green disappeared, Shen Changqing opened his tightly closed eyes. A Daoist aura flowed across his body, and the boiling, surging blood and qi calmed down.

“Hoo!”

Shen Changqing exhaled a breath of stale air.

He felt the changes within himself and shook his head slightly.

“Achieving physical sainthood is truly not easy. Taking that final half-step requires slow and arduous training.”

That pool of water was refined from numerous rare and precious materials; if calculated using high-grade immortal stones, it would be worth at least hundreds of millions.

Even with hundreds of millions of high-grade immortal stones and the vast amount of rare and precious materials collected, refining the life-giving power contained within, it was still difficult to achieve physical sainthood.

This shows

just how difficult it is to achieve physical sainthood.

Although Shen Changqing already knew this outcome, witnessing the difficulty of physical sainthood firsthand still left him feeling somewhat helpless.

Physical sainthood!

It can be considered a disguised leap in life.

Although those who achieve physical sainthood cannot attain immortality, they can extend their lifespan and greatly increase their strength, comparable to true semi-saint realm experts.

Normally,

physical cultivation cannot significantly increase a cultivator’s lifespan.

But those who achieve physical sainthood are different.

The semi-saint realm is the key for cultivators to achieve immortality.

Therefore…

The changes brought about by physical ascension to sainthood are naturally extraordinary.

As far as Shen Changqing knew, if a Celestial Emperor achieved physical ascension to sainthood, their lifespan could be extended by a trillion years, ten times longer than that of an ordinary Celestial Emperor.

In other words,

it was equivalent to the other party indirectly consuming ten immortal elixirs.

After all, one immortal elixir could allow a Celestial Emperor to live another life, adding billions of years to their lifespan.

A trillion years of lifespan through physical ascension to sainthood was naturally equivalent to ten immortal elixirs.

However—

immortal elixirs

were extremely rare. Physical ascension to sainthood was even more difficult.

If a serious comparison were made, the difficulty of physical ascension to sainthood was more than ten times greater than collecting ten immortal elixirs.

This point…

Shen Changqing understood this all too well.

Despite investing countless cultivation resources, he was still stuck at the very last step.   To put it simply, the pool of water, crafted from rare and precious materials and worth hundreds of millions of high-grade immortal stones, was enough to deter most Immortal Emperors.   Then ,

with   a thought, a jade-like lingzhi mushroom appeared.   This lingzhi radiated a warm, lustrous sheen, as if cast from white jade. Every vein contained the essence of heaven and earth, and a powerful life force emanated from it, accompanied by a unique fragrance.   Even with Shen Changqing’s current cultivation level, the scent caused his blood to tremble slightly, and a primal desire surged within him. Moreover   ,   this white jade lingzhi seemed to possess a life of its own, struggling frantically in Shen Changqing’s hands, trying to break free and escape.   But alas,   Shen Changqing’s fingers were like iron clamps; no matter how the white jade lingzhi struggled, it couldn’t break free for a long time.   ”The Jade Marrow Ganoderma King truly lives up to its reputation as a top-tier natural treasure. Although it’s only a ninth-tier treasure, even some tenth-tier natural treasures can’t compare!”   Shen Changqing looked at the white jade Ganoderma in his hand, his expression calm.   The Jade Marrow Ganoderma King!   Mortals who consume it can achieve the physical body   of an Immortal Emperor! This is a supreme treasure for truly tempering the physical body.   If we’re simply comparing its effects on the physical body, the Jade Marrow Ganoderma King’s efficacy is naturally stronger than most semi-saint-level natural treasures.   However,   Shen Changqing also knew that with the efficacy of just one Jade Marrow Ganoderma King, there was no possibility of him breaking through that final barrier.   Unless—   he could find multiple Jade Marrow Ganoderma Kings at once, then that would be a different story.   But the problem is, many forces regard natural treasures of this caliber as priceless, so how could they easily part with them?   Just like the Immortal Elixir.   These kinds of elixirs are only useful to Immortal Emperors, allowing them to live another life, but few would be willing to auction off an elixir of immortality.   Similarly,   the Jade Marrow Ganoderma King is the same.   This supreme treasure, capable of enabling a cultivator’s physical body to reach the level of an Immortal Emperor, greatly increases one’s strength upon acquisition.   No one would let go of such an opportunity that directly enhances cultivation.   Therefore,   Shen Changqing thought for a moment and decided to put the Jade Marrow Ganoderma King away.   Now was not the time to consume it.   The Jade Marrow Ganoderma King was hard to find; its effects could only be maximized when he was truly about to break through his cultivation barrier and complete the final leap.   Before that,   the Jade Marrow Ganoderma King could not be wasted easily.   Shen Changqing could continue to collect other rare and precious materials, refining them little by little, using their life-giving power to temper his physical body.   …   Soon.   Another three hundred years passed.   During this time…   Shen Changqing continued to collect numerous rare and precious materials, refining them all to nourish his physical body.   Countless high-grade immortal stones flowed through his hands like water, yet he felt no remorse.   Immortal stones were only truly useful when they served their purpose; otherwise, what difference was there between them and roadside stones?   Therefore, Shen Changqing never felt pain at using them.   For him,   as long as it increased his strength, that was enough.   Everything else was unimportant.   As a large number of immortal stones were spent like water, Shen Changqing could clearly feel that his physical body was getting closer and closer to the semi-saint realm.   However, this change was not significant, and his strength had not improved at all.   After all, at his level, improving strength was no longer easy.   Moreover, without a major breakthrough in his physical body, transformation was even more difficult.   On this day,   the Immortal Abode’s restrictions were triggered.   With a thought, Shen Changqing saw the Immortal Abode’s restrictions open, and Xiao Ling walked in from outside.   ”Disciple greets Sect Master!”   ”You’ve arrived. Are you planning to travel to the Heavenly Dao Divine Stele?”   ”Sect Master is right. I’ve been in seclusion for hundreds of years, and I know my cultivation has reached its limit. Now, on the verge of breaking through to the Ancient Immortal Realm, my only option is to travel to the Heavenly Dao Divine Stele to see if I can secure an opportunity!”   Xiao Ling said respectfully, neither humble nor arrogant.   Shen Changqing nodded slightly. He could also see that Xiao Ling’s immortal power was now extremely refined, far surpassing other cultivators of the same level.   Just as the other party said, Xiao Ling had reached the limit of progress at this stage.   His immortal power had been refined to its peak.   The only way forward   was to break through to the Ancient Immortal Realm.   The ranking on the Heavenly Dao Divine Stele was determined by the cultivator’s own foundation. For someone like Xiao Ling, continuing seclusion would only be a waste of time. (End of Chapter)