Chapter 1190: Chapter 358: So This Is the Secret Recipe to Break Through to the Spirit Severing Realm!
The first thing that came to mind was the list of materials needed to refine the secret medicine of the Spirit Severing Realm.
The first ingredient was the Nine Nether Demon Lotus, with its growth location and harvesting method recorded in detail afterward.
Next was the Xuantian Cyan Vine, exactly what Sikong Yan had seen years ago.
Then came the Celestial Star Dew, Nine Orifice Exquisite Ginseng, Blood Soul Demon Fruit...
However, upon seeing the last two main ingredients, Zhou Qing’s face of anticipation gradually froze, replaced by a deathly pallor.
The forty-sixth secret ingredient — [Soul-breaking Grass of Seven Emotions], needed to be planted in the belly of a fetus during childbirth, growing with the innate energy of the newborn infant.
When the child reaches seven years old, their heart must be removed after experiencing the seven extreme emotions of joy, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear, and shock to refine the medicinal primer, with three hundred hearts needed for safety.
The forty-seventh spirit medicine — [Soul Condensing Dew of Ten Thousand Souls], required the live stripping of a complete Primordial Spirit from the Divinity Transformation Realm, confined with a specially made magical artifact, and refined in the Land of Extreme Yin for a hundred years.
During this period, one must continuously add the newly dead’s living souls, and only then can a drop of ink-black soul dew be condensed.
Then came the detailed method of refining these forty-seven secret medicines.
The more Zhou Qing read, the more shocked he became, his face as white as paper, his hands uncontrollably trembling.
He never expected that the secret medicine of the Spirit Severing Realm, coveted by countless cultivators, was refined in such a sinister way.
Besides the Nine Nether Demon Lotus, a rare and naturally grown treasure, the other spirit medicines, though precious, were not unattainable.
But the most appalling was —
Zhou Qing’s throat bobbed, his gaze fixated on the record of the forty-sixth secret medicine.
He could hardly imagine the disaster if this secret recipe were leaked by Sikong Yan, how many unborn infants would suffer in countless surrounding cultivation countries, not just the Holy Martial Dynasty!
Even scarier was the possibility of these heaven-defying secret medicines being turned into an "industry" by someone.
Thinking of this, Zhou Qing only felt a chill running straight to his Celestial Spirit, trembling with anger.
So, the Spirit Severing Realm experts of the Holy Martial Dynasty today were all created by the old emperor Xuanyuan Chong using such cruel means?
If a Spirit Severing Realm expert emerged from the few people who survived the medicine and broke through, how many innocent infants have died over the years?
If not for the difficult-to-obtain Nine Nether Demon Lotus acting as a barrier, Zhou Qing dared not think further.
Glaring at the Jade Scroll in front of him, Zhou Qing’s anger boiled over, subconsciously wanting to destroy it.
But within a split second, he suddenly realized —
This recipe was just a backup!
The true recipe was deeply engraved in the old emperor’s sea of consciousness.
If what Sikong Yan said was true, the old emperor would only temporarily erase this memory at the brink of death, coming here to recover the backup after escaping danger.
In other words, destroying the Jade Scroll at this moment was meaningless.
Once they left, the Three-Color Restriction "Nine Layered Heaven Net" would automatically activate to investigate and alert.
By then, when the old emperor personally investigated, even if the recipe were found missing, he would merely choose another place to engrave another copy.
The real problem was he would surely use every means to track down the intruder.
And as a newly advanced Fourth-level Array Master, conveniently at the stage of Divinity Transformation Perfection, I would undoubtedly be the primary suspect.
Being able to silently break through the restriction required the cooperation of a Spirit Severing Realm expert with a high-level Array Master.
In the Imperial City, among those proficient in arrays and on the verge of a breakthrough, who else could it be but him?
What was more terrifying was the tactics of the Xuanyuan Clan; even the Taiqing Sect, hosting three Spirit Severing Realm experts, were but ants to the old emperor, extinguishable with a snap of his fingers.
Mind you, he had once seen Shen Hanyi obliterate the Spider Emperor with a single finger.
And among the seventeen Spirit Severing Realm experts in the Holy Martial Dynasty, who hadn’t received a great favor from the old emperor?
Only by maintaining the status quo could he avoid bringing calamity upon himself when the matter arose.
Having realized this, Zhou Qing clenched his fists tightly until they cracked, finally closing the hidden compartment quietly and carefully erasing all traces to ensure no flaw remained.
He stepped back a few paces, his gaze fixed on the Cyan Jade pillar, his heart churning with indescribable complex emotions.
The recipe was already in hand, but truly, to extend life and breakthrough, was he to harm countless infants?
Moreover, with such a low success rate, it took dozens taking the medicine just to allow one person to luckily break through...
With such odds, the Taiqing Sect’s twenty-one Divinity Transformation Realm Perfection members might not even have a chance to reach that step.
After all, even their advancement to Perfection was achieved through the use of Yin Spirit Stones, incomparable to the veteran prodigies who showcased their value and potential to the old emperor.
But even so, those people became forgotten bones.
But what if?
At this moment, contradiction tore at Zhou Qing’s sanity; his master’s lifespan was nearing its end, with only a century or two left. How he wished for them to continue accompanying him.
But if achieved with such a loss of humanity...
"This recipe shouldn’t exist in the world!" quickly, a trace of determination flashed in Zhou Qing’s eyes, with murderous intent appearing abruptly.
If leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Fortunately, only the old emperor knew of this recipe. If he could be killed and this backup destroyed...
But the old emperor was a late-stage Spirit Severing Realm expert, cloaked in dynasty fortune, with the support of seventeen Spirit Severing Realm allies. Who could kill him?
Not even Shen Hanyi could achieve it.
He suddenly felt a sense of despair.
"The only way now is to prevent the Nine Nether Demon Lotus from appearing, cutting off his refining materials!" Zhou Qing quickly decided.
But the world was vast, and the old emperor had long spread the news that the Nine Nether Demon Lotus could help break through the Spirit Severing Realm, driving countless cultivators to search frantically...
