Vol 5 Chapter 7: Deportation

Compared to the Wood-attribute Pine Leaf Mouse and the Dragon Carp, the Ice Soul Gu faced slightly greater difficulty in its breakthrough.

Firstly, its attributes were overly chaotic. Had it not devoured so many bizarre gu insects afterward and retained only its ice attribute, the breakthrough would have actually been easier.

Secondly, it possessed a "Death Gu Avatar." It wanted both its true form and avatar to achieve breakthroughs simultaneously. The Wood-attribute Pine Leaf Mouse and Dragon Carp didn't have such complex requirements—their avatars remained at the Demonic Court working, leaving only their true forms to focus on.

"It's coming!"

This resulted in Lin Jing, as their beast tamer, benefiting from their successful Nascent Soul Transformations. With their breakthrough feedback, he surpassed the Ice Soul Gu and shattered his own bottleneck first.

Lin Jing's nascent soul rapidly grew and transformed, his perception of the surrounding natural energies becoming increasingly acute. The most critical step in breaking through from Nascent Soul to Nascent Soul Transformation was allowing the nascent soul to comprehend the natural forces of heaven and earth, thereby forging a Heaven-Earth Primordial Spirit.

Every cultivator's primordial spirit possessed different attributes. The Wood-attribute Pine Leaf Mouse's primordial spirit was primarily vegetation-based, while the Dragon Carp's was flame-based.

Now, Lin Jing had reached the stage of shaping his primordial spirit with natural energies. However, reaching this stage didn't guarantee a successful breakthrough. Insufficient perception of natural forces during this phase could still lead to failure.

This was why most Nascent Soul cultivators would create natural-attribute avatars. At this stage, avatars could enhance their master's perception of natural energies and increase breakthrough success rates.

Unfortunately, Lin Jing hadn't taken this path with his avatar. His contracted beasts could substitute for avatars in enhancing his perception of natural forces. With the Wood-attribute Pine Leaf Mouse and Dragon Carp, forming either a vegetation or flame primordial spirit would be effortless for Lin Jing.

However, neither vegetation nor flame aligned perfectly with Lin Jing's path. Though vegetation harmonized well with his Longevity Body, it wasn't the optimal choice.

"According to ancient texts from the Immortal Palace, the natural forces of heaven and earth aren't limited to metal, wood, water, fire, earth and other basic elements—they encompass all phenomena in creation."

"Day, night, and stars are also part of nature's fabric."

"Gravity, life and death—these too are natural laws."

"The reason Tianyuan Continent cultivators typically choose wind, rain, thunder or lightning for their primordial spirits is because such elemental spirits are relatively easier to form."

"But consequently, these spirits are far from being the strongest..."

"If I'm to forge a primordial spirit, it must be the strongest and most suitable for me...!"

Lin Jing chose life and death—the inescapable fate and fundamental law governing all existence in creation, the extreme polarity dictating all transformations between heaven and earth.

"Ice Soul Gu, cease cultivation and assist my breakthrough."

At Lin Jing's command, the Ice Soul Gu momentarily paused before merging into his body. It allowed the Death Gu Avatar—forged from "Gu God's blood and Death Rare Beast bloodline"—to take dominance, offering its death essence for Lin Jing's control.

In the next instant, Lin Jing mobilized his longevity essence and death bloodline, making them circle his nascent soul like twin fish as it underwent metamorphosis. At this moment, everything around him seemed to freeze in his perception.

The power of life and death blurred the natural elements within the mountain—metals, rivers, flowing winds—replacing them with new visions. He saw blades of grass, but beyond their vegetal nature, he witnessed their entire life cycle: sprouts breaking through soil, tender shoots growing, then withering and returning to earth.

He saw birds hatching from eggs in trees, witnessed eagles falling silently from skies, closing their eyes in final repose.

"Life........"

For Lin Jing who simultaneously grasped the extremes of life and death, a life-death primordial spirit perfectly matched his current state.

The Dragon Carp finally settled down, while the bewildered mountain god still pondered whether Lin Jing's group had truly mastered the Earthcore Immortal Fire...

Before long, the mountain god made a more despairing discovery—under some mysterious influence, it seemed to be going into labor.

"Turns out the Longevity Body achieves completion during Nascent Soul Transformation. To perfect it requires mastery over death energy too..."

The completed Longevity Body drastically enhanced Lin Jing's vitality and lifespan. None of his current methods could conceal this overwhelming life force, which even leaked through his formation's gaps, dispersing across the mountain slopes.

Bathed in this vitality, numerous plants began undergoing strange transformations, developing spiritual intelligence and becoming new lifeforms.

The moment these plants evolved into sentient beings, a surge of life energy fed back into Lin Jing's primordial spirit, strengthening it further.

"What in damnation..." This development gave the mountain god stomach pains. As a comprehensive super mountain deity, no new spirits should be able to form within its domain without permission. Yet now, everything was in chaos.

Lin Jing also noticed these changes with astonishment. His perfected Longevity Body could actually animate plants into spirits—this approached the capabilities of a Creation Immortal Physique.

However, unlike the Creation Immortal Physique which could awaken intelligence in any natural object (even rocks), Lin Jing could currently only animate spiritual plants. Moreover, he suspected this effect was amplified by the Origin Realm's dense natural energies—such results would be impossible in the Tianyuan Realm.

Most crucially, spirits awakened by the Creation Immortal Physique obeyed their creator's commands, whereas Lin Jing suspected the creatures animated by his longevity energy might actually try to devour him after gaining sentience.

If that wasn't enough, Lin Jing made another startling discovery—as his Longevity Body perfected, the Death Rare Beast bloodline rotating alongside his longevity essence was also enhanced by the life energy, undergoing simultaneous evolution.

Amidst this interplay of life and death, while the Ice Soul Gu's true form remained at Nascent Soul stage, its avatar successfully condensed a death primordial spirit first, achieving Nascent Soul Transformation.

Torrential death energy surged from Lin Jing's body alongside the life force, jointly affecting the surroundings. Perhaps because Lin Jing had developed his death energy primarily through the Yin Corpse Sect's corpse manipulation arts, as vegetation gained sentience, the mountain god also discovered hordes of long-dead demonic beast corpses crawling out from its insides.

The mountain god felt a massive headache and full-body irritation.

"Could this be... a life-death primordial spirit?"

"Unacceptable. This youth cannot remain here—he's far too disruptive. He must be deported immediately."