Chapter 875: One Entity

Qin Sang's mind raced, and the more he thought about it, the more feasible the plan seemed. The key question was how his outer-body avatar could be selected by Yanmiao Pavilion and infiltrate it.

The physical body chosen was of ordinary talent, possessing only four spiritual roots. Its previous owner had been fortunate enough to encounter an opportunity, cultivating to the fifth level of the Qi Condensation stage at a young age. However, they were then completely stuck at the major bottleneck of the sixth level.

Even if it could somehow break through that bottleneck in the future, it would be difficult for it to achieve much.

The outer-body avatar primarily relied on blood feeding and secret techniques for cultivation. Since the 'Seed Demon Embryo' technique had no requirements for the physical body's talent, Qin Sang had chosen this corpse as its vessel.

With such ordinary talent, it was impossible for Yanmiao Pavilion to take notice. Therefore, success would have to come from its cultivation level.

The three major bottlenecks of the Qi Condensation stage were critical hurdles for cultivators. Successfully breaking through these three bottlenecks, even with lesser talent, indicated either a strong will or profound luck, suggesting a potential future opportunity to establish a Foundation. These qualities would be sufficient reasons for selection. Someone with such resolve, even if they failed to establish a Foundation, could still achieve something by pursuing a minor art and contribute to the sect, preventing the intake of a mere waste. After all, Yanmiao Pavilion was not a renowned major sect like Landou Gate; its disciple selection criteria couldn't be overly stringent, or it would likely struggle to recruit many people.

The outer-body avatar's cultivation progressed extremely rapidly, now nearing the peak of the seventh level of the Qi Condensation stage. With only just over a month until Yanmiao Pavilion's disciple recruitment ceremony, breaking through to the ninth level within that month would be challenging. It would require Qin Sang to expend his vital essence to forcefully accelerate the avatar's progress.

"Continuous blood feeding should force it to the ninth level of Qi Condensation within a month," Qin Sang mused. "However, such rapid advancement might destabilize the avatar's mental state. But with such a low cultivation level and the sword soul still possessing a trace of the Jade Buddha's power, there's no risk of backlash..."

With a plan in mind, Qin Sang instructed his assistant to procure demonic corpses at any cost. He then returned to his cave dwelling and sat cross-legged opposite his outer-body avatar.

A month later.

Qin Sang ceased his secret technique and slowly opened his eyes. A faint pallor briefly touched his face before quickly fading, his complexion returning to normal. The outer-body avatar's aura, however, was somewhat unstable. In just one month, its cultivation had astonishingly reached the peak of the eighth level and was now undergoing a breakthrough.

*Boom!*

The true essence in the avatar's Qi Sea suddenly expanded, then abruptly compressed inwards, before quickly settling into tranquility. The sound of bones cracking emanated from him, as his physical body was tempered during the breakthrough. As his aura stabilized, the tempering process swiftly completed. At this point, his cultivation had successfully broken through to the ninth level of the Qi Condensation stage. If other cultivators were to witness such an effortless and smooth breakthrough, especially at the major bottleneck of the ninth level, they would undoubtedly be green with envy.

Qin Sang checked the outer-body avatar's condition, confirmed everything was in order, and his expression relaxed slightly. Over the past month, it wasn't the avatar but his true body that bore the brunt of the exhaustion. He had to not only maintain the secret technique but also supply vital essence. Fortunately, the results were good.

However, this method of rapidly increasing cultivation through blood feeding would become less effective as the cultivation gap between the avatar and his true body narrowed. Once their cultivation levels were comparable, the only way to quickly advance the avatar would be for it to truly become a demonic fiend and absorb the essence of other cultivators. The 'Seed Demon Embryo' technique was originally a sinister demonic art. Although it appeared less malevolent after improvements by Senior Qingzhu, its essence remained bloody and cruel.

Qin Sang silently calculated the time. "Yanmiao Pavilion's disciple recruitment ceremony is in six days. It's best to go early. I'll let the avatar stabilize its cultivation, and I'll quickly refine some Soul-Devouring Cones to give him more defensive means."

Qin Sang set up a restriction, creating a separate quiet room for his outer-body avatar. He then conjured the Nine Nether Demonic Flame to refine the demonic corpses his assistant had delivered. Following this, he took out several luminous, peculiar demonic bones from his Thousand-Pound Ring. To ensure the avatar's safety, Qin Sang spared no expense, taking out all his treasured demonic bones. These were bones from demonic beasts of the Demonic Core stage, a slight waste for refining Soul-Devouring Cones, but their power would undoubtedly be formidable.

Without resting, he immediately began the refining process. The demonic flame gathered into a ball, hovering before Qin Sang. His control over the demonic flame and his artifact refining abilities were now far superior to before. He watched with ease as the demonic bones tumbled within the flame, impurities refined away, melting into the purest material, eventually taking the shape of the Soul-Devouring Cones. Based on past experience, he added other insidious features to the Soul-Devouring Cones, such as poison needles.

After a flurry of activity, Qin Sang had more than a dozen Soul-Devouring Cones before him. He stored them in a spatial pouch, then selected some artifacts suitable for the avatar's identity and handed them over for it to refine. Qin Sang observed his outer-body avatar, pondering if there were any overlooked details.

Late night, three days later.

Qin Sang set off with his outer-body avatar. The market town was still a considerable distance from Yanmiao Pavilion, but for Qin Sang, it was nothing. By dawn, they had already entered Landou Mountain. Landou Mountain was the territory of Landou Gate, with several smaller sects affiliated with Landou Gate occupying various parts of the mountains.

On a mountaintop.

Qin Sang gazed at the boundless mountain ranges ahead, his expressionless outer-body avatar beside him.

"Let's part ways here. Take this."

Qin Sang turned and handed his outer-body avatar a Qingfu Mother-Child Coin. He decided to separate from the avatar here, letting it travel alone to Yanmiao Pavilion while his true body secretly provided protection. The outer-body avatar's expression remained unchanged as it silently took the coin.

At this moment, Qin Sang summoned the Heavenly Eye Butterfly. His lips moved slightly, as if giving instructions. The Heavenly Eye Butterfly fluttered around his true body, appearing very reluctant to leave. Finally, when the outer-body avatar sensed an aura similar to Qin Sang's, it became less resistant. Its butterfly wings fluttered, and its figure flickered, disappearing into the avatar's Qi Sea.

"With the Heavenly Eye Butterfly's concealment abilities, it should be enough to evade external detection. However, it's best not to summon it openly..." Qin Sang's expression was solemn. Both were of great significance to him, yet now they had to part.

The outer-body avatar nodded to his true body, then lightly tapped the ground, conjuring a bamboo leaf-shaped artifact. It mounted the artifact and flew off, disappearing into the morning mist of the mountains a short while later. The true body took a breath, its figure vanishing into thin air, silently following.

The bamboo leaf artifact was light, carrying the outer-body avatar as it flew through the mountains. The outer-body avatar wore a simple gray robe, a jade belt cinched at its waist, and a longsword on its back. The sword was a high-grade artifact, its power decent. However, its uniqueness lay in the fact that Qin Sang had refined it from a mysterious jade, granting it invisibility when activated, allowing for elusive strikes against enemies. Aside from the longsword, the avatar's other artifacts were quite ordinary, which was already respectable for a rogue cultivator.

The outer-body avatar squeezed the Qingfu Mother-Child Coin, then put it into its spatial pouch. It gazed intently in the direction of Yanmiao Pavilion, murmuring to itself, "From now on, my name is Zhang Yue."

At that instant, his eyes and expression bore a striking resemblance to Qin Sang's. After all, they were originally one.