Chapter 485: Heavenly Tribulation
Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village and came to the old willow tree, where he sat down in silence.
Long You the Freeholder, Shao Niangniang, Mu Daozi, and Pei the Freeholder were currently on the yellow earth slope, listening to Daoist Willow expound on the Dao. Their cultivation bases were unfathomably deep. Though they appeared to be in the mortal world, they were actually positioned in the Yin and Yang realms simultaneously, guarding the Empress Temple in both worlds at once.
These four possessed extraordinarily profound cultivation. After learning Chen Shi's Yin-Yang Dao Field, they had been able to barely suppress the Demonic Energy within their bodies, preventing further corruption.
At their level of cultivation, even a slight improvement was a tremendous boost, bringing them one step closer to the immortal realm.
However, fully mastering the Yin-Yang Dao Field remained quite difficult. Their talent and comprehension were extraordinary, but the principles contained within the Yin-Yang Dao Field were too profound, making them difficult to thoroughly grasp. Daoist Willow, on the other hand, had extensive experience and enjoyed spreading his teachings, so they remained there to listen.
Long You the Freeholder smiled and said, "Little Master, why aren't you coming to listen? Daoist Willow's Dao techniques are unfathomable and would greatly benefit you."
Chen Shi shook his head. "I want to become an immortal. Listening to Daoist Willow's lectures won't help me. I must comprehend it on my own."
Long You the Freeholder and the other three exchanged bewildered glances.
"Little Master has probably lost his mind," Shao Niangniang whispered softly.
Just then, Little Duan Immortal arrived, sitting down beside Chen Shi. "I've examined that skeleton you brought. He should be my Great Shang's Grand Guardian."
Chen Shi asked, "What is a Grand Guardian?"
"The number one Great Shaman."
Little Duan Immortal continued, "The Grand Guardian is different from the Sacrificial Officer. The Sacrificial Officer is in charge of rituals, while the Grand Guardian oversees the inheritance of shamanic rituals. Before the cataclysm, the Great Shang court's number one Great Shaman was named Wu Qi. He not only cultivated the shamanic ritual methods of my Great Shang but also practiced immortal techniques, achieving success in both. I never expected that after the disaster erupted, he would end up destroying himself together with the culprit."
Chen Shi's heart stirred. "Wu Qi practiced both shamanism and immortality?"
Little Duan Immortal said, "After my Great Shang was defeated, they didn't reject immortal techniques. Immortal techniques are slow to cultivate, but they allow one to live longer and achieve higher cultivation accomplishments. Shamanic ritual methods, on the other hand, cultivate quickly. In a short time, one can rely on bloodline awakening to elevate their cultivation and strength to extremely high levels. Wu Qi was a grandmaster in this regard. He transformed immortal techniques into shamanic ritual markings and created the Immortal Art of Immortality, preserving the advantages of both immortal and shamanic methods."
Chen Shi's heart was filled with admiration. "Practicing both shamanism and immortality, creating the Immortal Art of Immortality—truly a grandmaster. No wonder he could destroy himself together with the culprit."
The Immortal Art of Immortality was incredibly powerful, making one's eyes burn with desire.
Chen Shi very much wanted to cultivate Wu Qi's Immortal Art of Immortality right now, but thinking of Yang Bi's words, he held back.
Although the Immortal Art of Immortality was extremely strong, the Blood Lake Sutra was equally formidable.
His achievement in the Blood Lake Sutra had already reached its peak. One more step forward, and he would be in the immortal realm. It was impossible for him to switch to another method at this critical juncture.
Little Duan Immortal said, "Black Pot was looking at Grand Guardian Wu Qi with a strange expression. When you went to send off Yang Bi, it carried Wu Qi away and buried him in the dirt."
Chen Shi shook his head. "Black Pot means no harm. It just has itchy teeth and wants to grind them on Wu Qi's bones. The ones you need to watch out for are Fifth Uncle, my grandpa, Granny Sha, and Blue Goat—they're the real bad people."
Little Duan Immortal blinked in confusion. "Granny Sha is such a good person! And Uncle Du is also a great, kind person. Uncle Goat and Uncle Hu aren't bad either. Uncle Qiao Zhuo is the gentlest of them all. How could they be bad people?"
Chen Shi looked around, then whispered in her ear, "They're all good people on their own, but when they get together with my grandpa, they turn bad."
Little Duan Immortal's ear tingled from his breath, and soon her earlobe turned red.
Chen Shi praised, "Your earlobe is really beautiful. I want to touch it."
Little Duan Immortal felt a bit shy. "Then touch it."
Chen Shi touched it. It was soft and fleshy, so he touched it again.
Her hair at the temples was a bit messy, so Chen Shi helped smooth it behind her ear. Seeing her face flushed red, he couldn't help saying, "I want to kiss your ear."
Little Duan Immortal lowered her head and said, "Then kiss it."
Chen Shi kissed her earlobe. Little Duan Immortal felt a numbing sensation spread through her entire body. Her heart fluttered wildly, as if she had suddenly gone into cultivation deviation, losing all her strength.
She hurriedly stood up and fled away as if escaping, her voice drifting back from a distance: "I'm going to take care of Grand Guardian Wu Qi, so Black Pot doesn't carry him off."
In the distance, Black Pot heard this voice, raised its head to look in this direction with a mournful expression, then packed some dirt around the tree.
During the time Little Duan Immortal had gone to find Chen Shi, it had already dragged Grand Guardian Wu Qi out and buried him under the tree.
Chen Shi calmed his mind and silently admonished himself: "I'm cultivating immortality. I shouldn't be having wild thoughts or letting my mind race like a restless monkey."
He emptied his mind, laid the Tianluo Blood-Transforming Divine Blade across his knees, activated the Blood Sea Hell behind his head, and pushed the Blood Lake Sutra to its utmost limits.
At the same time, in the capital of the Heavenly Pool Kingdom, within the royal palace, Chen Shi's skeleton body was also sitting upright, circulating the Blood Lake Sutra, with a Blood Sea Hell manifesting behind its head.
"Wu Qi turned immortal techniques into shamanic ritual markings and created the Immortal Art of Immortality. When I comprehend the Blood Lake Sutra, I use shamanic ritual markings. So can I reverse this process and transform all the shamanic ritual markings of the Blood Lake Sutra into immortal techniques?"
He closed his eyes and concentrated, carefully examining the Blood Lake Sutra and the Yin-Yang energies of the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade from the very beginning, then restored the shamanic ritual markings of the Blood Lake Sutra into Talisman Script.
He appeared to be sitting there, his body unmoving, but within his Sea of Consciousness, waves churned violently, with spiritual light continuously rising up, transforming into streams of talisman runes. Different runes combined and restructured themselves, containing the supreme principles of heaven and earth within them.
On the first day, the talisman runes of spiritual light in his Sea of Consciousness grew more numerous. On the second day, their number gradually decreased. Over the following days, the number of talisman runes dwindled further.
By the seventh day, only a single talisman remained.
Chen Shi sat upright, his aura growing ever more profound and distant. That single talisman's form gradually changed, transforming from two-dimensional to three-dimensional—an extremely complex and profound cultivation circulation diagram.
This was the cultivation technique after the Blood Lake Sutra had been transformed into immortal techniques!
Only then did Chen Shi open his eyes. He raised his hand and gently stroked the Tianluo Blood-Transforming Divine Blade. "Today, I rely on you, my friend. In the future, I'll make sure you drink deeply of immortal and demon blood!"
He stood up, took out an incense stick, lit it, and bowed to the Tianluo Blood-Transforming Divine Blade.
The Blood-Transforming Divine Blade vibrated slightly, rattling loudly, then suddenly transformed into a beam of red light, shooting through the air, flying into Qianyang Mountain, and vanishing in an instant.
In the royal palace of the Heavenly Pool Kingdom, Chen Shi's skeleton body raised its hand to grab. The red light flew over and fell into its hand—it was the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade.
Skeleton Chen Shi sat in lotus position, circulating the immortal technique. The blood energy in the Blood Lake Hell flowed and streamed into its body. In a short time, it condensed a blood Golden Core.
Within a single breath, the Golden Core underwent the Seven Returns, Eight Transformations, and Nine Reversions. After nine revolutions, the Golden Core transformed into a Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul was internally refined, growing rapidly. Soon it reached Body-Equal status, then Spirit Transformation.
Skeleton Chen Shi's Primordial Spirit absorbed the power of the Blood Sea Hell, growing continuously, becoming stronger and stronger. From Body-Equal size, it quickly grew to sixteen feet. The eighteen-foot body cultivated a Dao Field. The thirty-three-foot body cultivated the Three Corpses. The hundred-foot body cultivated Spirit Refining!
Only after reaching the hundred-foot body did the speed gradually slow down.
But compared to other techniques, it was still unimaginably fast!
The next step was the Return to Emptiness realm!
Skeleton Chen Shi drew the blade, merging its Primordial Spirit with the skeleton, swinging the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade with all its power. The blade light left the void, while simultaneously, its Dao Field surged into the void, filling the space the long blade had split open.
Wherever his Dao Field's great Dao extended within the void, it fused and solidified.
A blood sun, a blood moon, and a blood-colored river of stars appeared in the sky.
The Blood Sea Hell behind his head continuously shrank, while his own Realm of Emptiness grew continuously, like a whale swallowing a rainbow, absorbing the power of the Blood Sea Hell.
Skeleton Chen Shi had already cultivated the Blood Lake Sutra to its highest level, equivalent to the new method's Great Completion realm or the old method's Ascension realm. Now cultivating the immortal technique of the Blood Lake Sutra was like water flowing naturally—smooth and without any obstacles!
His Realm of Emptiness continuously improved, quickly expanding to a thousand miles in breadth, still expanding.
In the Blood Sea Hell behind its head, souls that had fallen to its blade involuntarily flew into the Realm of Emptiness, becoming members of that realm.
Skeleton Chen Shi activated the Blood Lake Immortal Scripture, accelerating its cultivation speed. The Realm of Emptiness, after nine expansions and nine refinements, transformed into a curved arc hanging behind its head.
Gradually, the arc curved, forming a blood-colored halo.
This was a sign of achieving Great Completion in the Great Ascension Realm!
At the same time, Skeleton Chen Shi's Blood Sea Hell was fully absorbed by the Blood Lake Immortal Scripture. The Blood Sea Hell formed by the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade was channeled by it, with blood energy continuously flowing toward the Realm of Emptiness, strengthening the great Dao power of this realm.
When this Realm of Emptiness reached its utmost limit, Chen Shi, far away in front of the Empress Temple, suddenly sensed the aura of Heavenly Tribulation.
Meanwhile, in the capital of the Heavenly Pool Kingdom, all the ghost clans were busy with their work. Suddenly, every ghost clan member felt a sense of panic and unease in their hearts. They raised their heads, staring blankly at the sky.
Above the royal palace, blood mist swirled, growing thicker and thicker. Clusters of Yin Lightning exploded within the blood mist, making the mist even denser, forming blood clouds that spread over an increasingly wide area.
In the underworld, one King of Hell's hall after another, one layer of hell after another, the strongmen of the twelve great clans and ghosts and gods like the Righteous Official all raised their heads, looking somewhat confusedly in the same direction.
Someone in the underworld was crossing tribulation.
But this was the underworld!
In Despair Slope, within the True God Dao Field, the Celestial Venerable had only just entered meditation before being startled awake.
At the same time, all the Celestial Way Immortals revealed looks of shock.
In this moment, the Celestial Way of the Western Ox New Continent was alarmed. For the first time in ten thousand years, it displayed the power of this world's Celestial Way!
Qiu Ning Qiu Fairy Maiden's voice rang throughout the True God Dao Field: "Who is cultivating the old method and entering the Tribulation Crossing realm? Are they not afraid of demonic corruption and harming the living?"
Kou Xianren flew outside the Tianyuan Palace and bowed deeply. "Celestial Venerable, an evil person is cultivating the old method to cross tribulation. They will inevitably undergo demonic corruption. I beg you to mobilize the power of the True God to eliminate them!"
The Celestial Venerable sat upright. "First investigate what evil person is causing trouble. The True God is extremely weak. Let the people of the world deal with it first and kill the evil one. After a hundred days have passed since the demonic corruption occurs, then mobilize the True God's gaze to destroy them."
Kou Xianren said, "I obey your decree."
He arrived at the altar of the Universal Sacrificial Rite, paced the Dipper, and borrowed the True God's eyes to observe the movements of the fifty prefectures of the Western Ox New Continent, searching for the source of the tribulation.
"It's not in the Western Ox New Continent! Could it be... in the underworld?"
Kou Xianren's heart shook violently. He hurriedly activated the bronze mirrors surrounding the altar, examining the underworld's activity.
However, the bronze mirrors searched everywhere in the underworld without finding the source of the tribulation.
Kou Xianren broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly went to seek the Celestial Venerable.
Upon hearing this, the Celestial Venerable smiled and said, "I know where his tribulation crossing ground is. It's a place from the Great Shang era's underworld—the second layer of hell. The bronze mirrors of the Universal Sacrificial Rite cannot reach there. You don't need to concern yourselves with this matter. I will handle it personally."