Nine-Leaf Sword Grass

The voice coming from the phone sent Crocodile Ancestor plunging into an icy abyss.

"When did he find out? How many other secrets of the Ninety-Nine Dragon Mountains does he know?"

For a moment, questions kept surfacing in Crocodile Ancestor's mind.

Then Jiang Zhu's voice came through the phone again. "How many map fragments have you found? Let me count... five, right? There's another one each at Changbai Mountain and the Vatican. The rest were destroyed in the wars."

With that, Jiang Zhu squeezed his dragon claw, crushing the phone to powder. Then he returned to human form and entered JZ City disguised as a tourist.

Crocodile Ancestor was now both shocked and furious. His earlier delight vanished completely, and towering black mist surged from his body. "Old ghost, well done! Just you wait! We'll see who gets the secret of immortality first!"

He took a single step and appeared at the Heavenly Scale Tribe's dwelling in the Primordial Dragon Cave on Changbai Mountain. An enormous hand radiating monstrous demonic energy reached out and gathered the entire Heavenly Scale Tribe into his palm. He searched their souls and found the bone fragment hidden in the cave abode where the Primordial Saint Emperor had cultivated in seclusion.

Then he repeated the process and found another bone fragment at the Vatican.

That day, golden light blazed above the Vatican's Divine Land, blanketing heaven and earth. Psychic power as vast as an ocean rumbled across the sky.

Even the heavens sagged beneath its weight. It was a silver ocean, holy as moonlight, countless strands of psychic power intertwining across the sky to form a sea of life.

This was the power of faith the Western Land had amassed over untold years. The Vatican's cultivators had summoned it to suppress Crocodile Ancestor, that peerless demon.

The ancient crocodile's black-gold armor clanged. His killing intent slashed in every direction like swords, carving great ravines across the earth and sky. He roared, his voice shaking heaven and earth as killing intent fell like rain. The ocean formed from faith shattered at once, and even the Western Land was struck down.

After that night, the cultivators living in the Age of Declining Dharma once again understood the terror of a peerless demon god!

After obtaining the bone fragments, Crocodile Ancestor did not head straight for Kunlun. From the information on them, he could determine that at least one fragment had been destroyed, but he could not be sure whether Jiang Zhu had told him the truth. If he could find the last fragment, he would have a greater advantage in Kunlun.

So Crocodile Ancestor ordered the entire cultivation world to search for the bone fragment, telling them that whoever found it could leave Earth with him for another planet brimming with spiritual vitality.

The entire cultivation world erupted into a frenzy, everyone searching for the bone fragment.

Meanwhile, as Crocodile Ancestor headed for the Vatican, Jiang Zhu returned to Eight Ridges Mountain.

Some time earlier, news had broken that a great tomb belonging to a Pre-Qin Qi Refiner lay here, drawing an endless stream of Dragon Transformation cultivators. Since Crocodile Ancestor's visit, only a scattering of low-level cultivators remained, acting as "hyenas" as they searched for anything the higher-level cultivators had discarded.

Jiang Zhu pressed onward until, under the Demon-Refining Pot's protection, he reached the edge of a sea of fire. The temperature here was terrifyingly high, and Solar Essence Flame filled the area.

Deep within the sea of fire, there should originally have been a Fire Vine and a coffin-the Cremation Coffin that Chisongzi, an ancient sage of Earth, had prepared for himself.

"Chisongzi breathed out and drew breath, expelled the stale and took in the fresh, cast off form and intellect, embraced simplicity and returned to truth, roaming the profound mysteries and reaching the clouds and heavens above." This passage from "Customs of Qi" in the Huainanzi described Chisongzi's wondrous abilities as an ancient Immortal.

"Chisongzi was the rain master in Shennong's time. He consumed water jade and taught Shennong this practice, and could enter fire to burn himself."

This passage came from Biographies of Immortals. It stated that he had lived in Shennong's era and had even taught Shennong techniques before Shennong attained the Dao. His background was enough to make anyone tremble; he was one of the most renowned cultivators of ancient times!

Who was Shennong? He was the Emperor Corpse Gaining Sentience of Hengyu! And Jiang Zhu's surname was Jiang, so he might even be a descendant of Shennong.

Moreover, there was another record. In ancient times, before the Yellow Emperor attained the Dao, he too had sought Chisongzi's guidance. This was recorded in the Admonitions of Chisongzi, in a lengthy conversation covering many subjects.

The Yellow Emperor's origins were equally staggering: he was the Emperor Corpse Gaining Sentience of the Void Emperor.

Calling Chisongzi the most renowned cultivator of ancient times was no exaggeration. His standing and cultivation were both terrifyingly lofty, and no one could fathom his depths.

Now the coffin Chisongzi had left behind stood wide open, and the Fire Vine had been uprooted. Only a few broken vines remained amid the Solar Essence Flame.

Jiang Zhu apologized as he used the Demon-Refining Pot to collect the remaining Fire Vine. As for Chisongzi's coffin, there was nothing he could do for now. He could only wait until his cultivation had advanced, or ask Ye Fan to help lay the remains to rest when he returned to Earth.

After all, Chisongzi had once guided Shennong, who might have been Jiang Zhu's ancestor, yet Jiang Zhu had drawn Crocodile Ancestor here to destroy Chisongzi's burial ground. Still, he had done it for Earth. Surely an ancient sage like Chisongzi would not blame him.

What? Who did you say had lured Crocodile Ancestor here?

But he had only wanted to live. What crime had he committed?

Watching the Fire Vine being refined inside the Demon-Refining Pot, Jiang Zhu felt uneasy, unsure whether it would activate a True Spirit Totem.

As the Fire Vine was refined, a surge of Origin Blood emerged, and a new True Spirit Totem appeared on the Demon-Refining Pot.

The new totem depicted a blade of grass with nine leaves. Its leaves resembled sharp swords, and intense sword intent radiated from its entire body. In a fleeting vision, the universe seemed to be cleaved apart, the sun, moon, and stars cut down.

It was none other than one of the Ten Fiends of the Immortal Ancient Era-the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass.

As Jiang Zhu looked at the newly appeared True Spirit Totem, his thoughts wandered.

Sure enough, this cheat must have taken a sword strike from the Desolate Heavenly Emperor before entering this shattered universe. Otherwise, how could a vine activate the true spirit of the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass? A gourd vine or a Cloud-Touching Vine... now that would make more sense.

Still, there was nothing bad about the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass. Its Precious Technique was hailed as one of the Three Great Primordial Sword Arts, its might unrivaled.

At the end of the Immortal Ancient Era, the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass had been sitting at home, contemplating the Great Dao and cultivating toward immortality, when four mighty Immortal Kings suddenly appeared at his doorstep and beat him to death together. His luck truly could not have been worse.

Even so, his fighting prowess was enough to make people's eyes pop. Before becoming an Immortal King, he had fought four Immortal Kings for a long time-and three of them, Wushang, Crimson King, and Pumaking, were titans among Immortal Kings.

That alone showed the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass's might. Even the Corpse Immortal Emperor and the Desolate Heavenly Emperor, both at the Immortal Emperor level, used its Precious Technique, a testament to its wondrous power!

After suppressing his excitement, Jiang Zhu fell into thought. It looks like any plant that becomes a demon can be converted into Nine-Leaf Sword Grass Origin Blood from now on. I just wonder how Immortal Medicines would work.

Without much hesitation, Jiang Zhu decided to choose the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass for his second true spirit transformation.

In the world as it now stood, very few plants attained the Dao and became spirits. Most evolved toward becoming Immortal Medicines. They had little offensive power but were first-rate at fleeing, and their spiritual intelligence had not awakened.

Even those that had existed for hundreds of thousands of years, such as He Shou Wu and Ancestor Ginseng on Earth, had only awakened their intelligence and could not cultivate.

Even among Immortal Medicines, only the Azure Emperor had embarked on the path of cultivation. The others still followed Great Emperors, actively seeking their protection.

If he mastered the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass Transformation, he would be a wolf among huskies. The benefits would be endless!

Once he made his decision, the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass totem on the Demon-Refining Pot began to glow, and the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass Transformation was transmitted from within the pot.

The Origin Blood extracted from the Fire Vine circulated throughout his body. All the True Dragon Source Blood within him gathered together and settled into the true dragon manifestation in his Bitter Sea.

The next moment, Jiang Zhu vanished, and a Fire Vine stood in his place.

The Fire Vine glowed all over, vivid as crimson clouds. Its main vine resembled a young dragon, and every leaf looked as though it had been cast from phoenix blood red gold, glittering in the firelight. The slightest touch made them ring like metal; they were incomparably sharp.

The Fire Vine was small, only half a person's height, with indistinct facial features on its main vine.