Five Immortal Sects
Chapter 125: Mutation of the Guishui True Scripture

At this moment, the situation in Li Yan’s body was strikingly similar to the descriptions of spirit-absorbing techniques found in ancient texts. This horrified him, could the Guishui True Scripture actually be an extreme demonic cultivation method?

What unsettled him even more was that, even as the water-element spiritual vat within him filled to the brim, the powerful suction didn’t stop.

While he was still panicking, the chaotic spiritual power that had filled the water vat suddenly split into four distinct streams as the vat overflowed. These streams flowed steadily toward the neighboring wood, fire, earth, and metal vats, transforming into brilliant arcs of colored light like rainbows.

Li Yan watched nervously, but a moment later, he let out a long breath of relief.

The four streams had accurately converted into their respective elemental attributes and were now pouring into their corresponding reservoirs.

Even more shocking, once they entered, the chaotic energy began to stabilize. Within the divine sense of Li Yan, the previously impure and foreign energy transformed into clean, pure elemental spiritual power, completely indistinguishable from his own.

“Could it be… the Guishui True Scripture really can absorb others’ spiritual power?”

The thought flashed through Li Yan’s mind but immediately afterward, another possibility arose.

“Perhaps the spiritual energy within this strange blue prism is something unique… something different from ordinary ambient spiritual qi?”

The prism seemed to contain a boundless source of power. The vortex above the water-element reservoir showed no signs of slowing, on the contrary, it was spinning even faster, pulling more and more spiritual power from the prism into his dantian.

Li Yan began to feel bloated, unbearably full.

He glanced down, startled to see his lower abdomen bulging outward as though it had been inflated like a balloon. Alarmed, he tried again to sever the connection with the prism. But any spiritual power he attempted to send clung to the vortex, becoming part of it instantly, completely ineffective.

Cold sweat poured down his back. If this continued, he’d still die if not of spiritual starvation, then of spiritual suffocation.

He forced himself to stay calm. After a few breaths, his stomach swelled further. Sweat streamed from his brow. A sharp, unbearable pain radiated from his dantian, engulfing his whole body.

Then, a flash of insight struck him.

“If I can’t sever the outside flow, maybe I can redirect it. I can still control my internal spiritual power…”

Realizing this, he tried once more to circulate his energy and to his delight, it worked. As long as he didn’t touch the vortex, his control remained intact.

Li Yan focused his mind, steadied his breath, and began circulating the Guishui True Scripture technique again.

His solution was simple, since he couldn’t stop the incoming energy, he’d use it to break through! He’d direct it to smash through the next bottleneck, an internal evolution could consume the excess energy and prevent his dantian from rupturing.

The bloating he felt stemmed from the spiritual reservoirs reaching their maximum capacity. The only way to expand them… was to advance in cultivation. Even if he failed, the attempt itself would burn away a great deal of excess power.

The origin of this blue prism was unknown, but its essence was undoubtedly a great treasure. As Li Yan began to attack the barrier to mid eighth level Qi Condensation, the influx of energy surged but the prism still showed no sign of depletion.

However, as time passed, the blue glow on its surface began to dim, while the black core within it grew ever brighter.

Within the Wheel of Life and Death, where spiritual qi was several times richer than the outside world, the torrents within Li Yan’s body crashed violently, each wave more intense than the last, layer after layer hammering against the barrier before him.

Then,

Splash.

A subtle sound echoed in his ears. Like a levee breaking, the tide of energy burst through the wall. More power surged in behind it, the tide rising even higher.

In less than twenty breaths, Li Yan had already reached mid eighth level Qi Condensation but this was just the beginning.

The Guishui True Scripture spun even faster.

The blue prism continued pouring forth its endless reservoir of energy.

Splash… Splash… Splash…

Peak Qi Condensation eighth level… ninth level… tenth…

Half an hour later, Li Yan’s cultivation had soared to the peak of early tenth level Qi Condensation!

His eyes snapped open just as the vortex abruptly dissipated, and the frenzied spiritual tides within him sank back down.

Sensing the surging spiritual power now dwelling within his dantian, Li Yan was overcome with emotion. This trip into the Wheel of Life and Death had been the right call, regardless of whether he made it to the final rankings. As long as he could survive to reach the core, he had already won his gamble.

In just half an hour, he had achieved results equivalent to one or two years of intense cultivation outside. The gains had far exceeded his expectations.

After calming his emotions, Li Yan glanced again at the blue prism, only to be stunned.

The once-vibrant blue prism had turned a dull grey. The black core within it had shrunk to a tiny speck, barely visible unless one looked very closely.

To his senses, it now felt like an ancient elder at death’s door, ready to vanish into dust at the slightest breeze.

Cautiously, Li Yan extended his divine sense toward it, sweeping across its surface.

What he saw within was a world of grey skies, vast, empty, and utterly lifeless.

His sense didn’t detect any immediate danger. He scanned the desolate landscape before continuing forward.

Like a lone bird, his strand of awareness flew on through the grey sky. After some distance, a black dot suddenly appeared ahead.

Li Yan judged that this must be the core that was visible from the outside.

His awareness approached swiftly. As he neared, the black dot rapidly grew in size until it became a black sphere roughly ten feet across.

Li Yan’s divine sense hovered in front of the black sphere. He cautiously probed it, and at once, his heart trembled.

From within the sphere came a sensation that felt strangely familiar, even intimate, like an old friend calling out. It stirred a powerful yearning in him to move closer. At the same time, his spiritual power fluctuated slightly, as if responding to the call of a long-lost companion.

After a moment of hesitation, Li Yan extended his divine sense toward the sphere but remained ready to cut off that strand the moment anything felt wrong.

If danger struck, he would sever it instantly. Though his divine sense would suffer damage, it could be cultivated back over time. That was still better than losing his life.

But the instant his sense touched the black sphere, he felt as though he’d carelessly pushed over a frail old man. The entire space and the black sphere with it collapsed in an instant.

At the same time, the blue prism outside his body disintegrated into wisps of smoke and vanished without a trace.

Watching the fading haze drift away before him, Li Yan sighed in regret. He hadn’t even figured out what the prism actually did before it had completely vanished. What a waste.

Yet in the next moment, his eyes flared with excitement.

If a single blue prism held such power, what if he could obtain several of them?

Wouldn't it mean that even Foundation Establishment… might no longer be just a dream?

His breath quickened, and he instinctively looked toward Gong Chenying’s direction.

But after a dozen breaths, his gaze slowly calmed.

Regardless of how miraculous the blue prism was, each team had only one. Without it, they wouldn’t even be able to proceed to the next stage. Without that, they would all die here.

Besides, each sect's prism core had a different color. His Sixth Senior Sister's prism had a purple core. Did that difference imply something deeper?

If this blue prism truly possessed such an incredible hidden function, why hadn’t the sect mentioned it? Why hadn’t Li Wuyi said anything about it?

Even just the ability to provide such refined spiritual energy was beyond what any number of mid-grade or even high-grade spirit stones could offer. That alone should be enough to drive countless cultivators insane with desire.

And yet… no one seemed to care much about the prism.

Its only known functions were to grant passage through the Wheel of Life and Death, prevent internal slaughter among factions, and delay the black shadow in the sky.

Which suggested what he had just discovered… no one else had discovered before.

But his method of discovery was absurdly simple, he had only injected spiritual power. Hadn’t Gong Chenying done the same?

Then… could it be that at the moment she cut off her power, nothing strange occurred?

One question after another flashed through Li Yan’s mind, piling up without end, leaving him more confused the deeper he thought.

Then suddenly, like a lightning bolt, a memory struck him.

Back during the first trial, hadn’t that monk crushed his own blue prism?

Looking back, was it really just a casual gesture?

Could he have discovered the secret too and destroyed it on purpose to keep it from being exposed? Or… was it tied to a secret plot?

Before entering the trial grounds, and even after, every cultivator from the Wraith Sect had remained alert to the possibility of a conspiracy among the three sects.

Just earlier, when chatting with Mei Caichu and the others, they had discussed this very issue.

So far, apart from the odd looks exchanged before entering, they had only run into disciples from the Pure Land Sect. Everything else appeared normal.

Li Yan frowned deeply. He suddenly remembered something else, just before that monk died, he had whispered a single sentence.

At that time, Li Yan had yet to fully retract his divine sense after triggering a devastating poison explosion. He’d been the closest and had heard it most clearly.

The monk had said,

“What a pity… we met too soon……”

At the time, Li Yan, like the others, hadn’t given it much thought.

They all assumed the monk was lamenting running into Gong Chenying’s team too soon. If they'd had more time, time to recover or prepare, the outcome might have been different.

But now, thinking carefully… those words sounded more like he had expected to meet them, specifically the Wraith Sect team. And the "too soon" part implied some plan had gone awry.

“But what difference would meeting later have made? Would they have been more prepared? And would we not have been just as ready?”

Li Yan’s thoughts spun rapidly.

Everyone knew the moment they entered one of the spherical trial spaces, they’d never face teammates, only strangers. Thus, before entering, everyone would take a moment to prepare. The only exception was when the sky’s black shadow forced them to enter immediately.

Li Yan's frown deepened.

It felt like there was only a thin veil blocking his understanding. One push and everything would become clear. But for some reason, that final push eluded him.

“Prepared? The blue prism? The blue prism… some kind of preparation?”

His eyes flickered with intensity.

“Could it be… that the prism grants some kind of advantage if used properly? That monk’s words, was he suggesting that encountering us, while holding the prism’s hidden potential, guaranteed victory?”

“If so… what exactly is the other use of this prism?”

(Chapter End)