Chapter 247 - The Nine Seeds and the Hidden Origin
The ancient spiritual light continued flowing into the jade slips.
Su Bai watched the inscriptions take shape for a while before a faint sensation inside his body finally pulled his attention away.
Something had changed.
He had been too occupied with the Immortals to examine the transformation that had begun after consuming the final Root Organ.
Now that he focused inward, Su Bai realized the change had already progressed much farther than he expected.
His nine Gateway Qi Reservoirs had stabilized.
The internal anchors formed from the Root Organs’ strange principle had finally settled completely, giving each reservoir a foundation that no longer felt temporary or dependent on the surrounding meridians to maintain its structure.
Su Bai swept his spiritual sense through them several times.
Each structure now possessed a stable internal center capable of supporting circulation from within itself.
Calling them reservoirs no longer felt appropriate.
Su Bai’s expression became increasingly strange.
’They really became Dantians.’
Nine of them.
Added to his original Infinite Dantian, that meant his body now contained ten Dantian-like cultivation centers connected throughout the Myriad-Path Meridian Web.
Su Bai had barely finished processing that absurdity when something else moved.
His attention immediately shifted toward the Crystalline Tree Spirit Root.
The Crystalline Tree Spirit Root rose directly from the Black-Ice Core at the center of his Infinite Dantian.
Its crystalline roots remained fused into the dark sphere, while the trunk and branches spread above it, carrying the nine Soul-Bloom Lotuses.
The movement came from below.
Its roots were extending.
Su Bai watched as slender crystalline roots traveled beyond the boundary of the Infinite Dantian and entered the Myriad-Path Meridian Web.
They did not wander randomly. Each one followed a different route.
Su Bai quickly understood where they were going.
The nine newly formed Gateway Dantians.
One crystalline root reached the first. Another entered the second. The remaining roots continued spreading until every Gateway Dantian had been reached.
Su Bai became completely still.
’What are you doing now?’
The Crystalline Tree Spirit Root naturally did not answer.
The roots continued advancing until each one reached the center of its respective Gateway Dantian.
An inexplicable sensation rose through Su Bai’s entire foundation.
Before he could determine what it was, the crystalline tree suddenly erupted with light.
Su Bai’s expression changed.
His Qi moved.
The Crystalline Tree Spirit Root was pulling it in!
Qi poured from his Infinite Dantian, flowed through the Myriad-Path Meridian Web, and disappeared into the glowing tree at a frightening rate.
The nine Gateway Dantians joined the flow almost immediately.
Su Bai nearly cursed.
His reserves were enormous.
That did not make watching them vanish any more comforting.
The tree continued devouring.
The light surrounding it grew stronger, and for once, even the Void Ring failed to completely suppress what was happening.
A strange aura escaped Su Bai’s body.
The Immortal souls stopped transferring their inheritances. Every luminous orb turned toward him.
The ancient weapons accompanying Su Bai also stirred.
Su Bai noticed their attention but had no time to explain.
His Qi reserves were still falling.
Worse, another familiar sensation had begun returning.
Hunger.
Su Bai’s face darkened.
He had just eaten several existences that had survived Immortals.
Apparently, even that had not purchased him a peaceful afternoon.
Finally, the Crystalline Tree Spirit Root finally stopped drawing Qi.
The enormous amount of energy it had consumed did not remain inside its trunk or branches.
Light began flowing downward.
It traveled through the nine crystalline roots extending from the tree and entered the Gateway Dantians one after another.
Su Bai’s attention followed.
Something was moving through those roots.
The light carried a faint vitality that felt as though it belonged to the Crystalline Tree Spirit Root itself.
Within the first Gateway Dantian, that light gathered at the exact center of the internal anchor.
The same thing occurred in the other eight.
The condensed light became smaller and denser...
...until something finally appeared.
Su Bai stared.
A seed rested at the center of the first Gateway Dantian.
It was tiny, yet its presence was unmistakably connected to the crystalline tree inside his Infinite Dantian.
Eight more appeared almost simultaneously.
One within every Gateway Dantian.
For a brief instant, all nine seeds released the same strange aura.
The fluctuation passed through Su Bai’s foundation and escaped his body before the Void Ring reacted.
The ring suppressed the aura, concealing the seeds once more.
The crystalline roots slowly withdrew afterward.
They returned through the Myriad-Path Meridian Web and disappeared back into the Infinite Dantian.
Su Bai remained silent.
He examined the seeds.
Nothing grew from them.
They did not begin absorbing Qi on their own.
They simply remained at the centers of the nine Gateway Dantians, quiet and dormant.
That somehow made them more suspicious.
’What exactly did it plant in me?’
The Crystalline Tree Spirit Root continued refusing to explain itself.
Su Bai opened his eyes.
Every Immortal soul was staring at him.
Su Bai suddenly remembered that he was surrounded by beings who had once stood at the Immortal level.
The awkwardness lasted only a moment before an idea appeared.
He had spent years wondering what exactly was wrong with his body.
These people had lived far longer than any expert he could currently consult.
More importantly, they were preparing to reincarnate.
If there was ever a safe opportunity to ask someone knowledgeable to examine his abnormalities, this was probably it.
Probably.
Su Bai still hesitated.
Allowing several Immortals to send spiritual sense directly into his foundation was not the kind of thing a sane Golden Core cultivator volunteered for.
His defenses might react. Reversal might react. The Immortals themselves might notice something he would rather keep hidden.
On the other hand, continuing to guess at everything inside his own body was becoming increasingly unreasonable.
Su Bai finally cupped his hands.
"Seniors, may I ask for another favor?"
The luminous souls stirred.
One of them laughed.
"You already freed us from a duty that consumed our bodies. At this point, asking a question hardly counts as a favor."
Su Bai glanced inward once more before continuing.
"Something inside my foundation has changed, and there are several things about my body that I have never understood."
He paused briefly.
"Would Seniors be willing to examine it?"
The Immortal souls became strangely quiet.
Su Bai raised an eyebrow.
He did not know that several of them had wanted to do exactly that since watching him bite into the first sealed source.
They had restrained their curiosity out of respect.
Examining another cultivator’s foundation without permission was an intrusion regardless of cultivation level.
Now Su Bai had offered that permission himself.
One of the brighter souls drifted forward.
"You understand what you are allowing?"
"I do."
"Then relax your spiritual defenses. We will not touch anything unnecessarily."
Another Immortal added with faint amusement, "Frankly, young man, some of us have been wondering what you are since you began eating those creatures."
Su Bai’s mouth twitched.
"Please begin with ’who’ if possible."
Several ancient souls laughed.
The atmosphere eased slightly.
Su Bai closed his eyes and allowed the Immortals’ spiritual senses to approach.
His body’s defenses reacted immediately.
Su Bai suppressed the reaction before it could escalate.
His foundation reluctantly stopped trying to deal with them.
Several ancient spiritual senses entered his sea of consciousness first.
The laughter disappeared.
For a long moment, none of the Immortals spoke.
Su Bai waited.
The silence stretched longer than expected.
Finally, one of them released a slow breath.
"Your spiritual foundation..."
Another Immortal’s voice followed.
"How is this still the soul of a young cultivator?"
Their senses spread carefully through the vast sea of consciousness.
Its expanded boundaries, the condensed spiritual essence within it, and the faint crystalline quality of Su Bai’s soul became visible beneath their examination.
One of the Immortals became noticeably more serious.
"This is not merely powerful spiritual sense. His soul itself has undergone repeated qualitative refinement."
Another spiritual presence moved around Su Bai’s soul without touching it.
"And it remains stable."
A third Immortal gave a quiet laugh.
"Of course it does. Why would anything about this young man choose to be reasonable now?"
Su Bai’s eyelid twitched.
The inspection continued.
Their spiritual senses eventually reached the Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent Seed, and the reaction was immediate.
Several of the Immortals paused.
"What kind of Intent is this?"
Another spiritual sense carefully circled the condensed seed without touching it.
"A needle?"
There was genuine surprise in the ancient voice.
"I have seen stranger paths, but never someone condensing Intent around something as small as a needle."
Another Immortal examined it more closely.
"And this has not even fully matured yet but its foundation has already been tempered to an extraordinary degree."
A quiet laugh followed.
"Interesting. If this seed truly blooms, I would like to see what kind of Needle Intent emerges from it."
Su Bai listened without interrupting.
It was useful hearing people who actually knew what they were looking at confirm some of his suspicions.
The Immortals eventually moved deeper.
One of them suddenly stopped.
A faint spiritual fluctuation passed through the others.
Su Bai sensed the shift immediately.
"Seniors?"
No one answered at first.
Their attention had settled on something within his soul that Su Bai himself could not properly identify.
The silence became uncomfortable.
Su Bai had wondered about his own origin for years.
He knew enough to understand that there was something abnormal about it, but only part of the truth had ever been available to him.
Since the opportunity had appeared, he decided to ask directly.
"Seniors, there is something else."
The Immortals waited.
"I know that my origin is not entirely ordinary, but I only understand part of it. Can Seniors tell what I am?"
The spiritual senses around him became still.
Su Bai immediately knew they had noticed something.
His hopes rose.
Unfortunately, the answer that came was not what he wanted.
"That is not a question we should answer."
Su Bai frowned.
"Senior?"
The Immortal’s tone remained gentle.
"It is not because what we see is necessarily harmful."
Another soul continued.
"Some truths concern bloodline, origin, and the causes binding one life to another. Speaking carelessly can create karma where none existed before."
A third Immortal sighed.
"We are about to enter reincarnation. Adding such a karmic bond at this point would be foolish."
Su Bai understood the reasoning.
That did not make it less frustrating.
"So Seniors really did notice something."
Several luminous souls became suspiciously quiet.
Su Bai sighed.
The first Immortal laughed.
"Do not make that expression. Whatever your origin may be, you have survived perfectly well with it until today."
Another added, "Although I confess that your existence raises questions I would very much like answered."
Su Bai looked toward the voice.
"What kind of questions?"
The Immortal hesitated before laughing.
"Mostly concerning your parents."
Su Bai’s expression changed slightly.
The second Immortal joined in.
"Your father, in particular, must have possessed extraordinary courage."
Su Bai stared at them.
Another ancient soul corrected him.
"Or extraordinary taste."
The altar fell strangely quiet.
Su Bai’s face slowly turned odd.
The first Immortal seemed to realize how that sounded and continued.
"More accurately, we are wondering how you were conceived at all."
That caught Su Bai’s attention.
"Your foundations carry characteristics that should not naturally coexist in a single human body."
Another Immortal gave a thoughtful hum.
"And yet you were born alive, your soul remained stable, and the Heavenly Dao did not reject your existence."
The ancient souls grew noticeably more interested.
"That alone is extraordinary."
Su Bai remained silent.
He did not need them to explain the implication any further.
Whatever his mother had been, the truly ridiculous part might not have been his father’s choice.
It was that the two of them had somehow produced him at all.
For the first time in years, Su Bai felt an unfamiliar kind of respect.
The Immortals naturally had no idea where his thoughts had gone.
Their spiritual senses continued downward through his foundation.
They reached the Infinite Dantian.
The reaction was immediate.
Several luminous souls flared at once.
"What in the Great Dao..."