Chapter 86
Chapter 86: The Wonders of the Divine Fetus
Jiang Yun Jiang’s smile did not falter.
“Yes.” She met Shao Heng’s eyes and spoke plainly. “I also entered the third trial. I was about to pass it, but the inheritance ground shattered. I didn’t get even a scrap of benefit.”
“Of course I can’t compare to you, Shao Heng, with your gains in cultivation.”
Her spiritual power was weak and drained. Even those bright violet eyes could not hide the exhaustion etched beneath them.
She answered so openly that no one could find a crack to pry at. No matter what suspicions stirred, this was not the time to act. Everyone swallowed the questions.
Shao Heng did not care either. If it caused trouble, good. If not, that was fine too.
They were close to the ground now. No one spoke again. Shao Heng took out a timing talisman and checked it.
Less than two days remained before the secret realm closed.
She began to tally her gains when a voice suddenly rang in her mind, bright with delight.
“Awoo! That was such a good sleep!”
The little White Dragon’s true spirit was bound to her through the Blood Pact while his body slept. Only when he sensed the turmoil had settled did he finally wake.
Ao Chuan chattered nonstop. “Your cultivation jumped a lot. Did you get the inheritance inside the moon?”
Shao Heng was in a rare good mood and answered with uncommon patience. “No. The Inheritance Spirit didn’t want me.”
“Didn’t want you?” Ao Chuan almost laughed, then caught himself, as if worried she might take it to heart. He quickly changed tack. “Even bullying should show a dragon some respect. That Inheritance Spirit is blind.”
“So I destroyed the inheritance ground.”
Ao Chuan jolted. Shao Heng was only late First Realm, yet she had destroyed an inheritance ground left by an ancient Seventh Realm cultivator?
He was about to press her for details when something even stranger hit him.
“Aren’t you riding a shuttle right now? Why do I feel your spiritual power is still rising—like you’re cultivating?”
Shao Heng curled her lips. “Secret.”
Naturally, it was because of Ming Yue—the Divine Fetus.
Whether it was an innate divine ability, or a power bestowed by the Great Dao after reaching the Fourth Realm, such abilities were notoriously uncertain. A cultivator might receive a gift perfectly suited to their bones and cultivation… or one that clashed so badly it became a shackle.
The Gray Cocoon should have been the same.
But it was too special.
It had been nurtured within Shao Heng for a long time, nourished by her spiritual power and steeped in her aura. In the end, the Divine Fetus Art it birthed was not even recorded in the Great Thousand Divine Ability Rankings. It erased that element of chance entirely—like a cultivation method with fixed traits, perfectly matched to her.
Back then, Shao Heng had made a vow: “In my Dao Field, I alone am the true god.” In response, the Divine Fetus Art forged a divine hatchling for her—a Divine Fetus.
Ming Yue, the Divine Fetus, had been formed from the essence of the entire Tai Yin star fragment, shaped through divine power and modeled after Shao Heng herself.
From the moment she was born, she already possessed First Realm peak cultivation. She was naturally skilled in any immortal art tied to Tai Yin, like a living embodiment of the Tai Yin Dao’s rules.
This Divine Fetus was not an external clone. She was a living being with her own mind, even a unique soul and true spirit. Her potential was limitless.
Yet she also differed from the “One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones” Shao Heng had once seen listed among the rankings. Everything about the Divine Fetus was imprinted from Shao Heng. Their bond was as natural as mother and child—fully under her control, like a flower that could bloom brilliantly but could never leave its roots.
Now Ming Yue hid within Shao Heng’s qi sea, cultivating in silence like a small idol. Whatever she gained could be shared with Shao Heng at will.
So even as Shao Heng stood on Ji Xuan Yin’s shuttle with her arms folded, gazing down in leisure, her spiritual power still climbed by slow degrees.
The ring-shaped sigil that marked the Divine Fetus Art had inherited the Gray Cocoon’s ability to conceal. It still masked her aura, and no one else noticed anything amiss.
Only Ao Chuan—bound to her through the Blood Pact—could sense it. True Dragon instincts were simply too sharp.
Wind hissed past. Before long, the shuttle descended and landed smoothly.
Shao Heng stepped off, turned to Ji Xuan Yin, and smiled. “Thank you for the help, Senior Sister Ji.”
Ji Xuan Yin returned the smile. “Junior Sister Shao Heng, you’re too polite.”
But after the tension between Shao Heng and Ji Fei Guang, Ji Xuan Yin watched her turn away and did not know how to ask her to stay. She glanced at her brother. His face was calm, but gloom hid in his eyes.
Torn, she still said, “Junior Sister Shao Heng, the secret realm will close in less than two days. There are over 20 One Yuan Sect disciples here. Why don’t we travel together?”
Shao Heng turned back with the same gentle smile. “You’re right, Senior Sister Ji. Of course I’ll advance and retreat with my senior brothers and senior sisters.”
Most of the disciples here had been thrown out of the Ling Long Illusion Realm. The eerie trials had left their minds unsettled.
Two of them had muddy, scattered spiritual power—a clear sign their Dao Hearts had collapsed in the illusion.
They had landed in a forest clearing. One by one, they sat where they were, set up defenses, then regulated their breath to steady their spirits.
Shao Heng did the same. She took out her cushion and was about to sit when a man in green hurried up.
She looked up and smiled. “So it’s Fellow Cultivator Zhao. What do you want?”
With disciples from both sects present, any fight would draw reinforcements. That was the reason Ji Xuan Yin had suggested traveling together.
Shao Heng did not think Zhao Qing Tu would lose his head… but she would not gamble on his temper. Her spiritual power stood ready, poised to strike.
“I remember your name is Shao Heng.” Zhao Qing Tu no longer looked as aggressive as before. His eyes were complicated as he formed a sound-isolation spell. “Those green vines were your doing.”
When he had fought her earlier, he had seen the Azure Emperor’s plant control. The Tai Yin star fragment and the Moon Palace inheritance had both been shattered and devoured by green vine threads. He suspected Shao Heng.
Shao Heng laughed. “Fellow Cultivator Zhao, I’m not the only cultivator in this secret realm who practices wood-element immortal arts.”
“Besides, I’m only late First Realm. Do you truly think I’m mad enough to claim I could destroy an inheritance ground left by that sort of existence?”
Zhao Qing Tu pressed his lips together. It was unbelievable.
“And yet,” he said quietly, “I still feel it was you.”
Shao Heng’s expression did not change. “If you suspect me, then try me.”
By now, she was confident she could defeat him without much effort.
Zhao Qing Tu gave a bitter smile. “I’ve lost to you twice.”
“I won’t tell anyone about this.”
Shao Heng shrugged. “There’s nothing ‘unspeakable’ here. Don’t make it sound so dramatic. I didn’t cultivate immortal arts for your sake.”
In her mind, Ao Chuan laughed loudly. “That stupid donkey is still testing you.”
After Zhao Qing Tu left, Shao Heng set up her formation disk and sat cross-legged on her cushion.
The increase in her spiritual power had not come from slow, steady cultivation, so it felt slightly ungrounded.
The Origin-Nourishing Qi-Raising Art was only a low-grade method. It lacked refinement, and the weakness showed now. She would need to spend time tempering her spiritual power to make up for it.
As she circulated her qi, anticipation sparked in her chest.
[Once the secret realm ends and I enter the disciple tournament, I’ll rise straight into the inner sect. With my talent, becoming a True Disciple shouldn’t be hard. When the rewards come, the flaws in my method can be fixed.]