Chapter 518 : A Nascent Soul's Hidden Fortune

To avoid unforeseen complications, Eldrin Chen did not delay any further.

After entrusting The Vast Sea to Kael Chen and the others, he and Lyra Jiang immediately mounted their Flying Sword and soared towards Heavenly Abode Continent.

Upon their Flying Sword, the pair opened Alaric the Daoist's Storage Bag and began examining the treasures within.

As the Lord of the Vast Sea, Alaric the Daoist had dominated The Vast Sea for nearly three hundred years. Over that time, through his control of the Frostbitten Expanse Alliance, he had amassed a truly substantial fortune.

However, after purchasing the Earthly Dao Essence [a profound spiritual essence representing the power of the Earthly Dao], that fortune had been largely depleted.

Within Alaric the Daoist's Storage Ring, aside from a set of Nascent Soul Heritage [a legacy cultivation method for the Nascent Soul Realm] and thirteen Frostbitten Expanse Immortal Sword, there were no other exceptionally precious treasures.

There were, however, a staggering number of Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy]—over one hundred million, far exceeding Eldrin Chen's expectations.

"He only broke through to the Nascent Soul [the realm where a cultivator forms their spiritual infant] a few decades ago," Eldrin Chen remarked with a puzzled frown, gazing at the Spirit Stone within the Storage Bag. "How could he possibly possess such a vast quantity?"

One hundred million Spirit Stone was no small sum. For the Chen Immortal Clan, which now controlled several high-grade Spirit Vein [a natural conduit of concentrated spiritual energy] and Spirit Stone Mine [a vein rich in Spirit Stones], and operated numerous lucrative enterprises, it was still an immense amount of wealth.

The annual revenue has long since rivaled that of most Nascent Soul Immortal Clan [a clan with cultivators who have reached the Nascent Soul realm]. Yet, accumulating one hundred million Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy] would likely still take several centuries. Access the full story on audio–novel.com.

The reason for this lies in the immense expenditures required for the material stipends provided to the clan's cultivators and the procurement of Five Elements Essence [a refined spiritual essence containing the power of the five elements].

The annual stipend expenditure of the Chen Immortal Clan alone exceeds one million Spirit Stone, and the cost of procuring Five Elements Essence for Eldrin Chen also surpasses one million Spirit Stone.

Such colossal outflows resemble a bottomless chasm, making it exceedingly difficult for the clan to amass its Spirit Stone reserves.

Yet, these expenditures are all necessary. Without sufficient stipends, the cultivation paths of most clan members would be severed. Without the Five Elements Essence, Eldrin Chen would have been unable to advance his Spiritual Treasure [a powerful enchanted artifact with its own spirit] so rapidly and consecutively.

In the future, he will also need to cultivate his Lifebound Grand Divine Ability [a supreme innate power bound to one's life essence]. The consumption of Five Elements Essence for that endeavor will start at tens of millions of Spirit Stone. It can be said that every single Spiritual Treasure and Divine Ability [a powerful supernatural technique] is a monstrous devourer of wealth, consuming a staggering amount of resources.

For a newly ascended Nascent Soul True Lord [a title for a cultivator who has reached the Nascent Soul realm] like Alaric the Daoist, the resource consumption for cultivation is already immense. How could he possibly have managed to save up over one hundred million Spirit Stone?

Eldrin Chen pondered for a long while, a flicker of understanding dawning within him. He let out a cold laugh. "I think I understand now."

"What do you mean?" Lyra Jiang's eyes glinted with curiosity.

Eldrin Chen gave a firm nod. "The Qin Clan!"

The Heavenly Abode Continent [a major continent in the cultivation world] was not far from The Vast Sea, a mere ten million Li-lengths [one Li-length equals five hundred meters] away. The Middle-Grade Demon-Subduing Immortal Sword [a powerful flying sword artifact] could traverse two million Li-lengths in a single day. Thus, after only a few days' journey, they arrived at the borders of Tianlu Continent Territory.

At the same time, within the Heavenly Abode Continent, in the Yuan Nation...

...within a majestic Spirit Mountain Dao Field [a sacred mountain used for cultivation], a gaunt figure opened his eyes.

This person was the Qin Clan Patriarch, Qin Dukong. At this moment, his brow was shadowed with gloom, and a flicker of unease passed through his pupils.

A burly figure beside him noticed this and asked with some confusion, "Elder Brother, what troubles you today?"

"An inexplicable sense of dread has settled upon me. Something feels... amiss."

Qin Dukong rose to his feet and began to pace restlessly within the Grand Hall.

The burly figure was named Qin Duzun. He was the Qin Clan's Second Ancestor and also the sworn enemy who had slain Eldrin Chen's mother.

Seeing his elder brother's disturbed state, Qin Duzun quickly stood up. "Could it be that Eldrin Chen has come seeking trouble?" he asked.

"Do not speak his name."

Qin Dukong's expression shifted, a flicker of anger crossing his features. "If you had handled the matter cleanly back then, how could we have gained such a formidable enemy?"

"You cannot blame me for that," Qin Duzun replied with a bitter smile, his voice tinged with lingering fear. "At that moment, I had already been detected by that supreme existence. Had I forced my hand, not only would I have failed to kill him, but I would have been utterly annihilated on the spot."

Mentioning that past event, a trace of terror surfaced in Qin Duzun's eyes.

The might of that Supreme Treasure of Pure Yang was akin to a Dao Lord descending upon the mortal realm. Had its power truly been unleashed, not just his former self at the mere Golden Core Great Perfection, but even a Nascent Soul, Mid Stage cultivator would have had no hope of returning alive.

At this thought, Qin Duzun's face twisted with frustration. "That Alaric the Daoist is also useless. We tasked him with capturing Chen Thalion to lure out Eldrin Chen, yet all he managed was to seize a single Ancient Spirit Apricot Tree."

"Had he brought Chen Thalion to us, we could have drawn Eldrin Chen out and surrounded him for the kill long before he ever broke through to the Nascent Soul realm."

Thinking of Alaric the Daoist, the Second Ancestor of the Qin Clan gnashed his teeth. "To secure his alliance, we lent him the Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy] our Qin Clan had painstakingly accumulated over Ten Sixty-Year Cycles." Dive deeper into the Dao at https://audio-novel.com.

"That was a full three hundred million Spirit Stone! Now that he has failed to deliver, can we even demand their return?"

"I fear that is no longer possible."

Qin Dukong shook his head, a note of resignation in his voice. "The advancement of Alaric the Daoist's Spirit Island is already halfway complete. Most of those Spirit Stone have likely been spent. At this juncture, he probably lacks the Spirit Stone to repay us."

The reason Alaric the Daoist had torn all pretense with Eldrin Chen was not merely due to past karma, but more crucially, because the Qin Immortal Clan had offered him a lavish price.

The key reason Alaric the Daoist possessed the capability to nurture a Fifth Rank Spirit Vein was precisely the Qin Immortal Clan's support—a massive infusion of Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy] that enabled him to elevate a spirit vein to the fifth rank.

The condition for this exchange was an alliance between the two parties to jointly deal with Eldrin Chen.

Alas, they gravely underestimated Eldrin Chen and his wife. A single incarnation of Lyra Jiang had already held Alaric the Daoist at bay, not to mention the two supreme treasures, the Sun and Moon Twin Wheels, standing guard.

Having failed to abduct Chen Thalion, the scheme by Alaric the Daoist and the Qin Clan to lure their enemy into a trap collapsed at the final moment.

Even so, they would not have been completely at a disadvantage, for their combined strength was formidable.

However, after Eldrin Chen and his wife seized the Heavenly Dao Qi [the primordial essence of the Heavenly Dao], the situation shifted dramatically. Even facing two newly-advanced Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul [cultivators whose Nascent Soul is aligned with the Heavenly Dao], they would be utterly suppressed, barely able to hold their ground even while entrenched within their Spirit Mountain.

What they could never have anticipated was that the couple had forged a Great Luo Nascent Soul [a Nascent Soul of the highest, most profound foundation]. The power of such a Nascent Soul [the spiritual core formed after the Golden Core stage] was anything but ordinary. Eldrin Chen's very first move was earth-shattering, slaying Alaric the Daoist outright.

At this moment, Qin Dukong had not yet received news of Alaric the Daoist's demise. Yet, as a practitioner of the Heavenly Secrets Secret Art, he sensed an ominous shift in the unseen currents of fate.

A profound, nameless dread welled up within him, causing his brow to furrow and sending a chill creeping down his spine.

"Something is amiss."

Sensing the disturbance, Qin Dukong produced a Turtle Shell. This treasure was a type of Divination Turtle Shell [a mystical artifact used for fortune-telling and divination], forged from the shell of a Demon Emperor Realm Spirit Turtle. It was an exceptionally rare Heavenly Secrets Spiritual Treasure [a spiritual treasure imbued with the power to glimpse the workings of fate and heaven's secrets].

Qin Dukong first attempted to divine the fate of Eldrin Chen, but found the heavenly secrets shrouded in profound darkness, making any clear calculation impossible.

"A pity."

Qin Dukong sighed. Eldrin Chen was protected by multiple Spiritual Treasures and cultivated Heavenly Secrets Secret Art [esoteric arts that obscure one's fate from divination]. Without his precise Birth Date and Time [the exact celestial hour of one's birth, crucial for fate calculation] or items like his essence blood, divination was futile.

With no other choice, he reluctantly shifted his focus to divining the fate of Alaric the Daoist. The moment the calculation completed, his heart turned to ice.

"Dire. Catastrophic. Utterly hopeless, with no chance of survival!"

"Disaster!"

Qin Dukong's face paled with sudden, profound horror. He jerked his head up, his gaze piercing across tens of thousands of Li-lengths [one Li-length equals five hundred meters]. There, in the distant heavens, an unbearably brilliant radiance ignited and descended, cleaving through the vast expanse between sky and earth.

Sword Qi [the sharp, condensed energy released from a sword cultivator's blade] spanned thirty thousand Li-lengths. A single sword's light chilled the very soul of nineteen continents.

What a dazzling sword radiance it was! Even separated by tens of thousands of Li-length [one Li-length equals five hundred meters] of mountain ranges, it descended like the Nine Heavens Silver River [a mythical celestial river] itself being cleaved from the heavens. For uninterrupted reading, go to site: audio-novel.com.