Chapter 80: The Ice Silkworm That Steals Destiny
A decade-old ice marrow can forge a sharp weapon; a century-old ice marrow can temper a treasure; but a millennium-old ice marrow can produce a spiritual artifact. For this reason alone, even a small vial of millennium ice marrow could incite a storm of bloodshed in the Snow Kingdom. In that land, ten-year ice marrow is commonplace, century-old ice marrow is rare, and as for millennium ice marrow—it is something that might not be seen once in several centuries!
That is only its use in forging. When it comes to alchemy, ice marrow is even more valuable. For example, if it is consumed directly to temper the body, a hundred drops of millennium ice marrow can elevate someone with no cultivation at all to possess a physical strength equal to someone at the Meridian Unblocking Stage. In other words, their body will reach the Meridian Unblocking level in one leap—an unimaginable advancement!
For many direct descendants of powerful families in the kingdom, those without talent but born into privilege, this is an opportunity of a lifetime.
At present, the small pool was little larger than a basin, and with the approaching maturity of the Meridian Lotus, only a thin layer of millennium ice marrow remained. Yet by Lin Fan’s estimation, even that thin layer contained at least one or two thousand drops, perhaps even more.
Of course, as precious as millennium ice marrow is, it is ultimately an accompanying substance; the true treasure is the Meridian Lotus itself.
What is the Meridian Lotus? It is the sacred object of the Meridian Unblocking Stage!
It is well known that those at the Meridian Unblocking Stage have advanced beyond the Qi Vein Stage by opening all 108 meridian nodes throughout their bodies. At this point, their meridians are fully open and their vital energy begins to liquefy. But how are the stages of progress within the Meridian Unblocking realm distinguished? In truth, it is simple—just as with the Qi Drawing Stage, it is all about accumulation. The Qi Drawing Stage accumulates threads of vital energy, while the Meridian Unblocking Stage accumulates liquid vital energy.
A hundred drops of vital liquid mark the early stage, a thousand drops the middle stage, and ten thousand drops the late stage of Meridian Unblocking.
The Meridian Lotus is named as such because of its close connection to this realm. A ten-year Meridian Lotus can produce one to ten seeds, each granting an additional ten drops of vital liquid to a cultivator at this stage. A hundred-year Meridian Lotus’s seed grants a hundred drops. A millennium-old Meridian Lotus produces one to ten seeds, each of which grants a thousand drops of vital liquid!
Such power is staggering.
This means that even someone who has just entered the Meridian Unblocking Stage—if they obtain the ten seeds of a millennium-old Meridian Lotus and refine them—could leap through the entire realm to a much higher one in an instant. Even if they do not break through, they would become the very peak among their peers, standing just half a step away from the Stream realm—a single step from true advancement!
For large clans, if they chose ten late-stage Meridian Unblocking cultivators, each with about nine thousand drops of vital liquid, and gave them these thousand-year Lotus Seeds, they could gain ten new Stream realm experts. This is something that could fundamentally elevate a clan’s foundation!
In the Snow Kingdom, where the River realm is the ultimate peak, the Stream realm sits just beneath it. To have a Stream realm expert is to be counted among the elite. A single clan might rise or fall based on the rise of a Stream realm expert.
Take his own Lin clan as an example—they do not have a single Stream realm expert. In contrast, the top twenty families of the entire Qingxue Prefecture each have one presiding.
So, within the Snow Kingdom, whether a family possesses a Stream realm expert determines whether they are truly considered a clan. Only with such an expert can one stand on the kingdom’s stage; with only Meridian Unblocking cultivators, one might have status in a prefecture, but would amount to nothing in the kingdom at large.
Thus, the value of millennium Meridian Lotus Seeds speaks for itself. If millennium ice marrow could incite bloodshed, then the millennium Meridian Lotus Seeds could shake the entire kingdom to its core. Even the top fifty families would send their people to compete for them.
Lin Fan finally understood why the Frost Tiger, despite its fear of the Ice Bear, would sneak into the latter’s territory to seize this fortune. For the sake of the millennium Meridian Lotus Seeds, it all made sense.
A fourth-rank fierce beast is equivalent to a human at the Meridian Unblocking Stage. If the seeds can elevate humans to the Stream realm, they can do the same for beasts, breaking through their bloodline limits. The allure is irresistible!
He also understood why the Ice Bear would pursue the Frost Tiger to the very edge of its territory, determined to destroy it—lest it return with reinforcements. For the allure of the millennium Meridian Lotus Seeds was simply too great.
“I’d best act quickly, before the Ice Bear returns. If it comes to a desperate struggle, these worldly treasures might be destroyed!”
Only a single breath had passed since Lin Fan laid eyes on the millennium ice marrow and the Meridian Lotus, yet in that moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Without hesitation, he retrieved a jade bottle for healing elixirs from his storage ring and began to collect the ice marrow.
Each bottle held a hundred drops; in the blink of an eye, he had filled ten bottles. As he took out the eleventh, before he could scoop up more, the ice marrow in the pool surged toward the millennium Meridian Lotus, vanishing in an instant.
Yet seeing this, Lin Fan was not alarmed but overjoyed—for this signaled the imminent maturity of the Meridian Lotus, the moment when it would bear seeds.
By his original estimate, the Lotus would take several more days to ripen, and he had planned to pick it early for fear of the Ice Bear’s return. That would have diminished its efficacy, though it would still far surpass a hundred-year Lotus. But to his utter astonishment, the millennium Lotus matured at this very moment—an unexpected blessing that left him dazed with joy.
He watched as the Lotus, having absorbed the last of the ice marrow, bloomed in an instant. It was as if time slowed to capture the fleeting beauty: each purple petal unfurled, radiant and dreamlike, the hue shrouded in mist, intoxicating to behold.
But this was not the moment to be distracted. Lin Fan’s eyes remained fixed on the lotus pod, waiting for the precise instant the flower opened to pluck its seeds.
Yet when the Lotus was in full bloom, he froze—there was not a single seed upon the pod!
“How can this be?”
Lin Fan frowned in confusion; this should have been impossible. Wait—something was wrong. He noticed, upon the pod, a small, half-transparent cocoon the size of a fingernail—something almost invisible unless one looked closely. Its transparency made it easy to overlook, and it clearly did not belong to the Lotus.
Most importantly, it seemed innately capable of concealing its own presence.
A sudden laugh burst from Lin Fan, his eyes alight with joy and memory, even reddening at the corners. He had always joked and bantered, yet there was an abiding loneliness within him, for he knew he was a reincarnate—he did not truly belong here. At the very least, he carried memories from another life, and thus always felt alone.
But seeing this tiny, half-transparent cocoon, he suddenly felt he had found a companion.
“Since you’re so greedy, little one, and have stolen my fortune, from now on, you’re mine!” Lin Fan reached out, pinched the cocoon between his fingers, drew a drop of blood from his fingertip, and let it seep into the cocoon, turning it blood red before tucking it into his robe.
He had never expected to encounter an Ice Silkworm in this world. In his previous life, such a creature had been fearsome indeed, causing rivers of blood wherever it went.
That one had been a Ten-Winged Golden Silkworm, a being equivalent to a god, just a step below the True God level. Even so, when that Golden Silkworm went on a rampage, it poisoned hundreds of deities and dozens of True Gods. In that battle, the Golden Silkworm unleashed its full fury, devouring dozens of planets and staining entire starfields with blood.
In the end, it was only through the combined efforts of himself, Qin Long, Beiming Xi, and a few other friends—all at the peak of True God strength—that they managed to slay the silkworm.
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