Chapter 240 - The Feast and the Nine Natal Needles
The ancient weapons finally lost whatever restraint they had left.
A loud spiritual laugh came from the saber as Su Bai continued chewing.
"GAHAHA! If this great one had a mouth, I would taste it too."
The hammer immediately responded.
"If that flesh touched whatever you consider a stomach, you would probably corrode from the inside."
The saber’s laughter stopped for a moment.
"You ruin everything."
The hammer released a heavy vibration that carried obvious satisfaction.
Nearby, the bow remained silent, while several of the younger artifact spirits seemed uncertain whether they should join in or pretend they had heard nothing.
The sealed sources convulsed against their restraints.
"YOU INSIGNIFICANT RELICS."
"WHEN WE BREAK FREE, WE WILL GRIND EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU INTO DUST."
The saber’s spirit surged again.
"You were saying the same thing thousands of years ago."
A few of the younger weapons immediately stirred.
The hammer added, "You should try a different threat. That one has become old."
The flesh masses thrashed harder.
Golden light erupted from the ancient restraints as the formations beneath the altar awakened in response. The pressure became so intense that several of the artifact spirits instinctively backed away, briefly wondering whether the sealed sources might truly tear themselves free this time.
The ancient weapons pinning the flesh masses trembled beneath the strain. Formation patterns spread through the altar.
For several tense breaths, the entire clearing shook.
The sealed sources pulled harder.
Their flesh swelled against the restraints while Ashen-Blood Miasma surged violently around them.
The ancient saber stopped laughing. Even the hammer became quiet. The other artifact spirits tensed.
But then, the struggle only lasted a few breaths before the suppression overwhelmed them and forced the flesh masses back down beneath the restraints.
Their movements gradually weakened until the violent struggle became little more than exhausted twitching beneath the ancient weapons pinning them in place.
The silence lasted only a moment.
The saber’s laughter immediately returned.
"That was impressive. You almost moved."
The hammer gave a deep spiritual rumble.
"I believe one of them shifted half a finger."
"Did it?"
"Perhaps I imagined it."
Several of the younger weapons could no longer remain silent.
Faint spiritual laughter spread through the clearing.
The sealed sources gave another furious convulsion, but the formations immediately pressed them down again before they could gather any real strength.
Su Bai ignored all of them.
He continued eating.
The brood organ had contained far more concentrated Ashen-Blood essence than the ordinary flesh fragments he had consumed before. With every bite, the harmful corruption entering his body was overturned by Reversal and transformed into something his foundation could use.
The effect reached much deeper than he expected.
His soul felt as though it were being washed repeatedly, leaving his spiritual perception clearer with every passing moment.
The changes inside his sea of consciousness were even more obvious.
Its boundaries slowly expanded.
The increase was not violent enough to cause instability, nor did it feel like an artificial swelling caused by excessive spiritual power. The space itself seemed to become broader and more stable as the cleansed soul gained greater capacity.
Su Bai could feel his thoughts moving through it with less resistance.
His spiritual sense became easier to divide and control, while the connection between his consciousness and the Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent Seed grew noticeably clearer.
The Intent Seed hovered within that expanding sea and absorbed some of the refinement brought by the repeated cleansing.
It did not transform.
Su Bai was still short of true Needle Intent.
Even so, its edges became more defined, and the sensation flowing from it grew increasingly concentrated.
The first Natal Needle responded as well.
It remained within the Soul-Bloom Lotus while the power nurturing the Lotus steadily accumulated.
The eight newly planted Soul-Bloom Seeds benefited even more.
The same Ashen-Blood essence that had once fed them inside the underground chamber was now reaching them through Su Bai’s body, except the harmful corruption had already been overturned before it arrived.
Their reaction was immediate.
The small growths resting along the branches of his Crystalline Tree Spirit Root began swelling.
What had previously been dormant seeds gradually opened into developing buds.
The brood organ had been created specifically to nourish Soul-Bloom Seeds, so the eight new buds reacted to its essence far more strongly than Su Bai expected.
The nourishment continued pouring through him.
The buds grew at a speed that would have been impossible under ordinary conditions, drawing from the concentrated essence while his existing Soul-Bloom Lotus stirred nearby.
At the same time, a portion of the transformed power spread outward through his body.
Su Bai was not deliberately circulating the Calamity-Reversal War Body Scripture, yet his Innate Unified Body still absorbed part of the benefit.
His skin tightened slightly. The density of his muscles and bones increased by another small margin, while the coordination between the different structures of his body became even smoother.
He had already completed the abnormal Tenth Major Body Transformation.
Now, the accumulated nourishment was steadily pushing that transformation toward its own peak.
Su Bai could faintly sense the next boundary beyond it.
The Vajra Body Realm.
He did not attempt to cross it yet.
His current foundation was still improving, and forcing another breakthrough while the benefits were still being absorbed would only waste what he had gained.
For now, strengthening the tenth transformation was enough.
Su Bai continued eating.
The ancient weapons eventually stopped mocking the sealed sources and simply watched.
Time passed quietly around the altar, broken only by the occasional crackle of the Ashen-Frost Blight Flame and the movements of Su Bai turning another piece over before eating it.
The amount of flesh he consumed would have left an ordinary cultivator unable to move.
Su Bai did not even feel full.
That realization irritated him more than it should have.
’What exactly does it take to fill this stomach?’
He had long since stopped expecting a normal answer.
By the time the last major portion of the brood organ disappeared, the changes inside his Crystalline Tree Spirit Root had finally reached their conclusion.
The eight Soul-Bloom Buds opened. Petals unfolded one after another along different branches of the crystalline tree.
Eight new Soul-Bloom Lotuses had bloomed.
Su Bai’s attention immediately shifted inward.
Each newly opened Lotus carried a developing black needle within its center.
The needles gradually emerged and floated toward the Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent Seed.
Together with the original Natal Needle, all nine entered the influence surrounding the Intent Seed.
Flaw-Piercing power washed across them.
The original Natal Needle responded naturally, having already undergone this nurturing countless times since its birth.
The eight newer needles trembled beneath the unfamiliar power.
Their forms sharpened.
Their connection to Su Bai became clearer.
After remaining there for some time, they separated from the Intent Seed and returned to their respective Soul-Bloom Lotuses.
Su Bai examined them carefully.
The difference became obvious.
The original Natal Needle was still stronger.
Its structure felt denser, its connection to the Flaw-Piercing Intent Seed was deeper, and its spiritual quality surpassed the eight newcomers by a noticeable margin.
Su Bai was not surprised for long.
The first Soul-Bloom Seed had come from the system.
The soul material within it had been far higher in quality than the mixed soul slivers used by the sealed sources to cultivate these eight seeds.
Naturally, the Natal Needle born from it possessed a better starting foundation.
That did not disappoint him.
Natal weapons could grow alongside their owner.
The eight new needles were weaker now, but that did not mean they would remain weak forever.
They could continue being nurtured by the Soul-Bloom Lotuses.
They could continue bathing in his Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent Seed.
More importantly, there was still an enormous amount of suitable nourishment left inside the Fallen-Star Sanctuary.
Su Bai opened his eyes.
His gaze moved toward the sealed sources.
The layered curses had stopped.
For once, none of the flesh masses spoke.
Perhaps they had finally realized that threatening him only made the situation worse.
Perhaps they were simply exhausted from struggling against the ancient restraints.
Su Bai did not care which explanation was correct.
He stood.
The ancient weapons noticed immediately. Their earlier amusement faded.
Su Bai took one step toward the altar.
The sound carried clearly through the suddenly quiet clearing.
Another step followed.
The sealed flesh masses stirred.
This time, no curses came.
Su Bai kept walking.
The ancient weapons remained behind him, watching in silence as the distance between him and the existences they had failed to destroy for thousands of years slowly disappeared.
Even Immortals had once tried to kill one of these things.
Its entire body had been burned until nothing remained but ash.
It had still returned.
Su Bai did not yet know exactly what anchored their existence.
He only knew one thing with certainty.
Everything he had eaten from them so far had stayed eaten.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
The sealed sources shuddered.
This day might become the first time an existence that even Immortals had failed to permanently destroy finally disappeared.
And the one preparing to do it was apparently a human(?).
Su Bai stopped before the altar.
The silence between them felt much heavier than any curse they had exchanged before.
This time, he had no interest in listening to threats.
He had come to find out what part of them refused to die.