Chapter 139: The Everlasting Regret Body Technique

“Excellent! Truly worthy of the centuries-long accumulation of the Divine Herb Mountain. With such an abundance of century-old elixirs, not only can a batch of spiritual pills be refined, but the Condensed Long Regret Body Technique will be no problem at all!”

Within the treasure vault, Jiang An glanced around at the neatly arranged, densely packed varieties of spiritual herbs, a trace of joy welling up in his heart.

He had returned about a year ago, and in such a short time, had advanced from the Initial Qi Refining Stage to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. For anyone else, such progress would be described as astonishing and extraordinary. But for Jiang An, it was merely satisfactory—after all, he faced no bottlenecks, possessed ample experience and insight, and as long as he had sufficient energy, he could restore his cultivation.

However, it was precisely because he relied on the domineering Difficulty-Transcending Scripture technique, recklessly refining vast amounts of spiritual stones to replenish his magical power, that progress was rapid but flawed. To remedy this, he ingeniously used the dual extremes of cold and heat from the Divine Herb Mountain’s Chilling Fiery Dragon Array to temper his body, purging impurities and potential hazards to perfect his foundation. Naturally, this method was beyond others—first, few had such a perverse physical constitution, second, few could endure the excruciating pain of ice and fire simultaneously assaulting their bodies. Even Jiang An only managed through his powerful divine sense.

Later, he pursued Master Sanmiao relentlessly, only to be ambushed by someone’s divine sense strike, which ironically brought him greater benefit.

The one who attempted to ambush him called himself Ice Flame True Man, originally named Sima Wujiu, a Golden Core stage cultivator from before the Era of Decline. A prodigy with many opportunities, he reached Golden Core at three hundred years old and made a name for himself in the cultivation world with his ice-fire cultivation technique. Had he advanced further, he would have become a legend, but he was unfortunate enough to live in the Era of Decline.

During this era, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth drastically waned, and blessed lands and spiritual flora vanished year after year. For cultivators, this was cataclysmic—they could neither advance nor maintain their cultivation; instead, their strength faded over time. To compete for the ever-scarcer resources, ancient cultivators waged brutal battles, many perished, and the survivors lived in constant peril, employing every trick to survive.

Ice Flame True Man was such a person—cowardly and cunning, avoiding others as much as possible, wandering aimlessly. By sheer luck, he discovered the Misty Sea Secret Realm, and more importantly, a rare and extraordinary Purple Capital Spirit Tree!

He then spent the next two hundred years establishing Divine Herb Mountain, setting an isolationist ancestral decree solely to protect this Purple Capital Spirit Tree. This secret was known only to him; not even the successive sect leaders or his direct descendants were told.

The Purple Capital Spirit Tree was a marvel of heaven and earth, one of the Four Great Divine Trees. Although unremarkable in appearance and extraordinarily long-lived—legend says it shares the lifespan of the world—it was extremely rare, with typically only one sprouting per realm. Its most wondrous feature was its vigorous, sun-like life energy. Its roots grew ceaselessly, burrowing dozens of meters underground each year. The one Jiang An encountered had roots extending for hundreds of miles in all directions, so when he uprooted it, he had to cut it at the base.

It was by relying on this spirit tree that Ice Flame True Man managed to survive so long. The Golden Core stage’s lifespan was typically only five or six hundred years, even under rich spiritual energy. When his time neared, he chose to undergo nirvana, abandoning his body and letting his soul draw on the life energy emitted by the spirit tree to cling to life. But this was a temporary fix; he fell into long slumber, and his primordial soul slowly dissipated over time. In the past century, he awakened again, unwilling to fade away. He tried to cultivate a fragment soul and continuously sent his descendants to find a suitable body for him to possess.

It wasn’t that Ice Flame True Man showed mercy to his own people; rather, no one in Divine Herb Mountain met his standards. There were many masters, but few with natural spiritual roots, and those who had them were of poor quality. Possessing such bodies made restoring his original cultivation nearly impossible. Thus, he required a powerful physique. Planning to use the spirit tree’s terrifying life energy upon its maturation to transform into a body cultivation, he set his sights on Jiang An’s body, leading to the current situation.

As for the fragment soul that escaped, Jiang An could do nothing about it. After all, securing the treasures was paramount. He preferred to avoid complications and seek it out after completing his cultivation.

“Three hundred-year-old Dingling flowers, five hundred-year-old supreme Qianhu grass, three-striped Fiery Vermilion fruits, mature Thunder Resonance roots…”

Jiang An examined shelf after shelf, identifying each herb without fail. Soon, he finished the inventory: eighty-seven varieties in total, ranging from one or two plants to nearly a hundred each, aged from fifty to five hundred years. Besides these, there were three decent pill furnaces, a dozen or so scrap metal talismans, and some spiritual stones. This was the result of centuries of accumulation at Divine Herb Mountain—not too much, not too little, given their continuous consumption.

A slight regret was that the more advanced pills required a wider variety of herbs, yet these herbs could only produce three types of spiritual pills: the Kongxin Pill, Taiyang Pill, and Juanyun Pill. Their ingredients were similar, with close medicinal properties and gradually increasing potency, matching Jiang An’s upcoming cultivation needs. These pills were suitable for Foundation Establishment stage cultivators and could be used until the late Foundation Establishment stage if all went well.

Having devised a plan, Jiang An set to work. He first used spiritual stones to establish new barriers, sealing the vault to prevent prying eyes and disturbances, then began pill refinement.

The herbs were ready, the pill furnaces intact. While later generations of Divine Herb Mountain might only refine common pills, Jiang An could make full use of the resources to craft Foundation Establishment stage pills, with nearly a hundred percent success rate—no waste of ingredients.

He cleared a space in the vault’s center and set up a simple pill-firing array. Lacking earthly fire, he used magical flame to refine pills, simultaneously absorbing spiritual stones and outputting magical power.

With both hands infusing power into the array’s edges, a fiery blaze erupted at its core, enveloping a bronze pill furnace. Jiang An then began refining the simplest Kongxin Pill, carefully adding herbs one by one. The entire process was fluid and precise.

Once the pills were completed, he could consume them, absorb their potency, and surge directly into the Foundation Establishment stage.

Reaching this stage, he could begin cultivating the first phase of the Difficulty-Transcending Scripture: the Long Regret Body Technique. This was the true priority!

A cultivator’s body could be classified by strength into several tiers: the Law Body, Treasure Body, Immortal Body, Divine Body, and the unreachable Saint Body. Each tier could be subdivided into Entry, Minor Accomplishment, Great Accomplishment, and Great Perfection stages.

Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stage cultivators belonged to the Law Body tier. Novice cultivators were Law Body Entry. Upon reaching Foundation Establishment, they became Law Body Minor Accomplishment. For Foundation Establishment body cultivators, however, their Law Body stage was one or two levels higher—often achieving Law Body Great Accomplishment with near-invulnerability, akin to copper skin and iron bones. Achieving Law Body Great Perfection at this stage was rare—either born powerful demonic beings or true spirits, or fortunate practitioners of supreme body cultivation techniques, like Jiang An.

Once the Long Regret Body Technique was successfully cultivated, Jiang An would be a solid Law Body Great Perfection—his physical body alone could overwhelm ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, and upon full condensation, the Long Regret Body Technique would manifest corresponding corporeal divine abilities!

A vital prerequisite for cultivating the Long Regret Body Technique was an enormous foundation of life energy, and the Purple Capital Spirit Tree coincidentally provided exactly that. This was truly a rare opportunity.

...

As dawn’s light spread across the land, painting the clouds in enchanting shades of orange-red.

High above, a great white crane flashed by at incredible speed. Atop the crane, a young man gazed down at a rapidly passing second small city, his expression shifting unpredictably.

“Isolated for centuries, the world has changed beyond recognition. Though I’ve occasionally heard my grandson’s tales, truly seeing it makes me realize how long I have been away…”

The youth—no, Ice Flame True Man—looked at the modern city below with deep emotion. For now, he could only continue northward.

Was he fleeing? No, he sought allies before turning back to strike!

Ice Flame True Man was well-versed in the art of war, understanding the interplay of feints and reality. Rather than hiding and fearing his enemies might consume Divine Herb Mountain’s treasures and grow stronger to hunt him down, he planned a surprise counterattack. A sudden strike might yield miraculous results and reclaim his ancestral legacy, especially the three-thousand-year-old Purple Capital Spirit Tree.

Originally torn between two choices, upon seeing signs of civilization, a profound sense of alienation settled over him. Coupled with his extremely weakened cultivation, he dared not approach the many affiliated clans outside Divine Herb Mountain.

Now his sole goal was to find an old friend: Black Prison True Man—a master of the demonic path who, to break free from the Era of Decline and lifespan constraints, had transformed himself into a demonic corpse!

Rotting Axe Marsh, I hope you’re still there, Black Prison. I, the True Man, am bringing you half of Divine Herb Mountain!