Chapter 325 - Mantra

When the Empress heard about the Dragon Transformation Pond, she was slightly surprised and she remembered something.

She took half the body of Huang Longzi's real dragon and extracted his real dragon blood to secure the River Deity position.

She also obtained some memories from the real dragon blood - there were different clans of dragons on heaven and earth, and if one was not of the pure blood, one could not turn into a divine dragon through cultivating. The potential was limited.

Even though one could be fortunate to achieve a similar state of the immortal Zhenren of Daoism through cultivation, one could hardly achieve any improvements.

The Dragon Transformation Pond was the hope for these side branches of the dragon clan to transform into the divine dragon.

However, the Dragon Transformation Pond only opened every one thousand years. For the dragon to want to attack the dragon clan of the East Sea so soon, it must be because the Dragon Transformation Pond was going to open.

The dragon clan of East Sea was not considered an authentic dragon clan too. They belonged to the category of the snake which had the blood of the dragon. They only gained the dragon body after cultivating, hence, they were never strong. They were always bullied by the other powerful demon kings of the sea region.

The Empress did not know that the dragon clan of East Sea had a Dragon Transformation Pond under control.

The Dragon Transformation Pond could potentially benefit her but then she could not leave the river basin of Qingshui River.

The news could be of use to Shen Lian as Qing Xuan was in the sea region too. The Empress then sent a message to Shen Lian to inform him about this.

Mount Qing Xuan, Taiyi Peak, underneath a cliff, Shen Lian was teaching Ruoxi.

The cliff was carved with countless tadpole writing - it was the Golden Courtyard.

Ruoxi now looked otherworldly, and it came as a shock to other Qing Xuan students who saw her. After they asked around, they then figured out this was the niece of the chief who was brought out to travel by the founder.

Nobody dared to ask about the background of the chief, they only knew the little girl followed the surname of the chief, Shen.

They did not know how complicated Ruoxi's background was, as technically speaking she was Shen Lian's cousin's niece.

Shen Lian and Ruoxi should not follow the surname Shen, but as the Shen family had no more descendants, plus Shen Lian did not care too much about his background, and for Ruoxi to not be any more involved with Dawei, both of them adopted the surname Shen. As such, he claimed Ruoxi was his niece.

With the incident of Zhang Lingxian and Zhang Ruoxu, for Shen Lian to bring Ruoxi back, nobody was going to say anything, but the talent Ruoxi demonstrated was terrifying.

As the doyens of Qing Xuan fell their eyes on the powerful mana and pure Qi of Dao, they all wished that the chief could let them have the kid under their teaching to bring glory to their line.

One could not blame the doyens for having this though because Ruoxi had made use of an elixir to reconstruct her Daoist body and hence she was still a little of seven to eight years old. With the level of cultivation, it was a natural aftereffect.

As kids had not undergone puberty, it was hard for them to have mana. If they could have mana by age ten, they could be considered to be extremely talented to be a Daoist. Like Ruoxi, not only did she only look like she was seven to eight years old, not even the students who had entered Ruhua for a few years had a compatible level of mana. Even if she was the reincarnation of a celestial, it was still too much.

For this type of genius, with fine and thorough method to train the Daoist understanding since young, there was a ninety percent chance that she could achieve eight transformations of Huandan or more. Immortality was expected.

Shen Lian began to worry, because as the elixir helped to reconstruct Ruoxi's Daoist body, and the technique of the old Daoist had cut out the karma that she was the reincarnation of Yuan Jun, Ruoxi's body was not made of blood and flesh anymore. She would not grow up anymore.

This scenario was similar to the Investiture of the Gods which he read in his previous life - where the deity of the three seas, Naza had obtained a clone of the lotus, his shape was fixed. It was fortunate that the Daoist body was better than a mortal body, especially in terms of gathering mana, she had a unique advantage. It was a relative of the Great Way. It would be easier for her to cultivate the authentic techniques of Xuanmen using this body. There were pros and cons associated.

Shen Lian said, "The Dream Heart Sutra from the Grand Ancestor Master is a rare sutra even in Qing Xuan. If you can practice it to a really high level, you will have a great future. Uncle will not help you modify it, but as the Dream Heart Sutra emphasizes on the moral nature, you will not be able to understand it even though the Grand Ancestor Master has guided you for a few years. If you venture into it without careful consideration, you may enter the wrong path. The tadpole writing on this cliff is the Daoist's Golden Courtyard. It is profound and an authentic and neutral technique. It will not clash with what you're learning."

Shen Lian stopped for a while, he then spoke softly, "This scripture is wide but deep. Even though uncle managed to achieve Daoist immortality, there are some parts I have yet understand. If I explain to you, it is my own understanding and it may not be applicable to you. Hence, I will only explain what every writing means and you will have to decipher the rest of them yourself. Fortunately while one can not understand it in a short time, but as one identifies the tadpole writing and reads them in silence, there will be return. This requires years of persistence for the effort to come to fruition. You had a great destiny, but as luck and misfortune often come hand in hand, you should be more careful."

Ruoxi hugged Shen Lian's arm and she playfully said, "Okay, uncle. I understand everything you say. I am not a kid anymore, grandfather has brought me to many places."

Shen Lian smiled and said, "Okay, I still think you're the Ruoxi from ten years ago because of how you look."

Ruoxi seemed a bit disappointed but she was hopeful, she asked, "Uncle, do you wish for me to grow up or to be a kid?"

Shen Lian patted her head and said, "I am only a relative. You can do as you please as long as you don't choose the wrong path."

Ruoxi sighed, "Uncle, please don't forget that my body now has no blood relation with you anymore."

Shen Lian was slightly shocked but he coughed and said, "Come, let me explain what the tadpole writing means."

Ruoxi's spirit and understanding were so powerful that it even exceeded many people who had reached Huandan. She was quick to pick up and remember every word Shen Lian said. She could even argue against it with her own dissection. It really impressed Shen Lian.

Shen Lian was also aware that Ruoxi's understanding stemmed from the cultivation experience of the old Daoist. Through immersion, she had gained some of it.

Because of that, Shen Lian found Ruoxi's understanding to be very interesting.

When she was talking about spirit, she revealed a method called the Divided Heart Mantra, which was to sneak into people's heart and use a special method to steal the heart and turn others into clones.

This method needed a basis, which was the body that was being sneaked into had to feel close to the person or had other connections.

This was not a proper path, and Shen Lian deduced this from Ruoxi's understanding.

Looking at it in detail, this technique was similar to Yanxu's Free Form Incarnation. He connected the dot between the lessons Ruoxi picked up from the old Daoist. Shen Lian could finally be sure about his suspicions.