Chapter 646 Overcoming Four Tribulations, The Method to Defeat the Enemy
The three Fairies of Taiyin looked around in horror, but it was still pitch black, and they could not see anything else. However, they had a strange feeling that something eerie was lurking in the darkness, watching them, which made them feel uneasy.
What was that sound?
Qingnu's expression changed, and she said in a low voice.
The two fairies of the moon also heard it; it was the sound of worms intertwining, rubbing and writhing, getting closer and closer to their ears.
The Moon Fairy pointed to the sky, and the Moon Laurel Tree floated above her head, its branches and leaves like jade, radiating a soft moonlight that illuminated a small area around her.
In the southeast corner of the bronze platform, under a pale light, hundreds of peach branches pierced through the vast darkness and crawled towards them.
Every peach branch was crowded with faces, looking at them and smiling.
The three women, including the Moon Fairy, turned pale. After watching for a while, the Moon Fairy finally breathed a sigh of relief: "She hasn't completely escaped this cage yet."
Ni Chang Yuan Jun and the other woman nodded. They could also see that the Evil Jellyfish was more free than them in this cage—or rather, it was stronger and could move around without being bound by the pressure around it.
However, her movements were very slow, and it would take her one or two hours to advance even an inch, which made the three of them feel a little more at ease.
Seemingly noticing the three people's relaxation, the people on the peach branches simultaneously revealed eerie smiles and whispered in unison.
"not good!"
Qing Nu gasped in surprise. This evil jellyfish was using the same trick again. Unfortunately, they had only regained their senses with Zheng Fa's help before, but now that Zheng Fa was still undergoing his tribulation, they had no one to help them!
Despite having her hearing blocked, Qingnu still felt those whispers drilling into her consciousness, and gradually, she could no longer maintain her senses.
Just then, a light drizzle fell from above her head, clearing her mind, and she looked up.
Then they saw the moonlight on the laurel tree like dewdrops, which fell on the three people. It was the Three Lights Divine Water, the most precious treasure of their sect.
The Three Lights Divine Water is condensed from the Taiyin Laurel Tree. It is most suitable for cultivators of the divine path to maintain their spiritual intelligence. It has endless wonderful uses, but it is extremely rare and the production is not high.
But the situation was critical, and the Moon Fairy couldn't worry about anything else.
"The laurel tree can't last long..." The Moon Fairy's expression didn't relax at all when she saw the two wake up. She said in a low voice, "The Three Lights Divine Water is rare, and I don't have much of it either."
Qingnu and Nishang Yuanjun exchanged a glance, their expressions solemn. After a while, Taiyin Fairy spoke again: "If the Three Lights Divine Water runs out, we cannot stay on the bronze platform."
"..."
"If we are influenced by the evil god, it may interfere with Zheng Fa's tribulation, and then it will be too late."
At this point, Fairy Taiyin smiled at Lady Nishang again: "I originally wanted you to go out with Zheng Fa, but now that's difficult."
Ni Chang Yuan Jun lowered her eyes: "This disciple is willing to follow Lord Tai Yin."
"Alright, let's heal our wounds first. If Zheng Fa hasn't woken up by the time we run out of the Three Lights Divine Water..."
Before she could finish speaking, Qing Nu smiled gently. Before she knew it, her hair was completely white. A seven-stringed zither floated in front of her, its body as if cast from ice crystals, looking extremely solemn, as if she were ready to fight to the death.
The Moon Fairy nodded gently, her gaze falling on Zheng Fa, who seemed unaware of what had happened. Even she, with her tranquil nature, couldn't help but silently pray at this moment.
...
Zheng Fa was indeed unaware of the evil jellyfish's attack.
The four tribulations following the emergence of a Loose Immortal are the Void, the Silent Dao, the Chaotic Law, and the Crimson Brightness.
These four tribulations are actually the most difficult of the nine tribulations for loose immortals. If the Five Decays of Heaven and Man is aimed at the immortal body, then these four tribulations are aimed at the Dao Fruit, testing the cultivator's Dao techniques.
He clasped his hands together at his dantian, with the Taiyin Moon Laurel Seed lying in his palms. The Taiyin Origin entered his dantian.
The original Yin essence was originally icy cold, but when it came into contact with his immortal body, it was like oil meeting fire, and it suddenly burst into flames.
Zheng Fa felt as if he were in a ball of ice-like fire, experiencing both extremes.
His soul suddenly sank, as if sinking into a bottomless abyss of eternal ice, growing deeper and colder, the surroundings quiet and monotonous, the outside world receding further and further away from him.
According to the Nine Nether Emperor, the Vacuum Tribulation will cause cultivators to enter a deathly silent space-time, completely isolated from the outside world, where they will no longer be able to hear, see, or perceive anything from the outside world.
Zheng Fa felt as if he were all alone, standing in a dead universe, and even his connection with the Heavenly Emperor's body and the Sword Dao body had been severed.
He had never felt so lonely.
The surroundings were deathly silent, and time passed slowly, bit by bit.
There has been absolutely no change.
Zheng Fa once heard a saying in modern times that what prisoners feared most in prison was being put in solitary confinement. This punishment, although without any physical trauma, was enough to drive even the most vicious prisoners insane.
He feels that way now.
There was no spiritual energy, no matter what it was, not even the wind, let alone other people.
This universe simply watched him in silence.
Zheng Fa couldn't cultivate, and had no one else to talk to. At first, things were alright, but gradually, a thousand worries and ten thousand anxieties suddenly welled up in his heart:
What if Lu Yao restores the Pure Land?
What happened to the Moon Fairy and the others?
If I can't get out, what will happen to the Nine Mountains Sect?
...
All sorts of reasonable and unreasonable thoughts swirled in his mind, growing more numerous and heavier with the passage of time.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but Zheng Fa felt like a shattered fish tank, unable to bear these thoughts, and it exploded with a crack.
His spiritual attainments and his thoughts flowed forth like a stream.
Zheng Fa's last thought was—the Dao Silent Calamity has arrived.
The Dao Silent Tribulation, as the Nine Nether Emperor also explained, is the tribulation that follows the Void Tribulation, and is also the most dangerous one.
During this calamity, a cultivator's Dao Fruit will shatter completely, losing all sense and control over it.
Zheng Fa's immortal body exploded like fireworks, transforming into talismans that drifted aimlessly in the void.
After an unknown amount of time, this dead universe suddenly seemed to crack open.
Chaos silently crept in through the crack and swallowed all the talismans that Zheng Fa had blasted apart.
Zheng Fa had lost all senses, or rather, in a sense, he was already dead and utterly powerless to resist.
In the entire universe, there was no trace of Zheng Fa's presence, only a chaotic void devoid of any order or life.
...
Within the Nine Mountains Sect, the Heavenly Emperor's expression changed.
"What's wrong?"
The most anxious one was not anyone else, but the jellyfish phantom.
She felt as if the sky had fallen—how could Taiyin and Qingnu be in the Zhou Tian Xing Chen Grand Array!
From this perspective, it's actually a good thing that Jile and Rangsui sought refuge with Leiyin Temple—at least they're still alive.
"The original body seems to be dead..."
After a moment of silence, the Heavenly Emperor truthfully expressed his feelings.
Kendo, standing to the side, nodded slightly.
"Dead?"
The jellyfish became even more anxious.
“There’s no need for the jellyfish to rush,” said the Nine Nether Emperor, quite soberly. “It’s probably in the midst of a calamity.”
The jellyfish paused, then seemed to realize something: "The Dao Silent Tribulation? It is indeed possible..."
“We didn’t have this method of creating clones before, so we didn’t know that when undergoing the Dao of Nirvana, the clones would feel like they were dead.” The Nine Nether Emperor seemed to be explaining, yet also comforting. “Jelly Mother, think about it, when we undergo our tribulations, isn’t it equivalent to being reborn from the dead?”
"What Your Majesty says is true." The jellyfish had also survived the tribulation of a scattered immortal and now understood the cause and effect. "I was just confused because I was too concerned."
Everyone could understand that if Zheng Fa died, the fate of Taiyin and the others would probably not be good.
The jellyfish came here to save Taiyin and the others—these are the few remaining sparks of life in Yaochi!
Uncle Pang stared at the jellyfish for a long time, then suddenly transmitted his voice to Elder Yuan: "I think it's not a good idea to take on disciples now."
"What?"
The old man, who had been thinking about Zheng Fa's tribulation, was somewhat confused when he heard this and asked in return.
“Look at the jellyfish, even in death she has endless worries, she’s almost sold herself off.” Uncle Pang sighed. “Seeing her like this reminds me of my good-for-nothing disciples, I really feel the same way.”
The elder raised his head, thought for a moment, and slowly shook his head: "I don't feel anything."
Uncle Pang's expression changed.
"My disciple..." the old man sighed, his tone filled with disappointment, "is too accomplished. I can't even worry about him... I really envy you."
"..."
Just as Uncle Pang glanced sideways at Elder Yuan, his eyes flashing with murderous intent, the Heavenly Emperor shouted, "I sense it!"
Upon hearing this, the old man chuckled, leaned back in his chair, picked up the tea beside him, took a sip, and then gave Uncle Pang a leisurely smile.
...
Although it's fast, it's not easy to disrupt the laws of Zheng's legal system; it even requires some luck.
Before undergoing his tribulation, the Nine Nether Emperor told Zheng Fa the four words: "My Dao arises spontaneously."
Only now did he understand—he felt like a greedy snake, wandering among countless chaotic talismans, searching for the talisman that belonged to his own Dao Fruit, and then connecting them one by one.
Gradually, more and more talismans gathered together, the gluttonous snake grew larger and larger, and its absorption of the talismans became faster and faster.
He didn't know how much time had passed before he finally regained consciousness.
Looking back, from Zheng Fa's perspective, this was a reorganization of the Dao and its fruits, or rather, a typical process of the emergence of life.
In the chaos, countless spiritual symbols collide and combine with each other, but only those combinations that can reproduce and grow on their own can gain the upper hand until they develop consciousness.
This process presents a tremendous challenge to the cultivators:
One is whether your Dao Fruit is unique—if it is someone else's Dao Fruit, then you can never become yourself, but rather become someone else, or a part of someone else's Dao Fruit.
Secondly, it depends on whether your Dao fruit has enough vitality and can grow on its own.
Third, and most importantly, is your Dao Fruit complete? If it is incomplete, it will devour other spiritual talismans, thereby affecting the cultivator's mind.
Zheng Fa's immortal body slowly manifested in the chaos, becoming complete bit by bit. He had a feeling that after the Chaotic Tribulation, he had gained a different understanding of the Yellow Court Scripture and his own Dao Fruit—the Yellow Court Scripture was him, and he was the Yellow Court Scripture; the two were inseparable.
Or rather, he is the walking scripture of Taoism, and to some extent, the embodiment of a Taoist practice.
Just as he realized this, the desolate universe suddenly began to tremble violently, and a bright red light shone, making the entire universe appear as bright and warm as the sea at sunrise.
"The Crimson Light is consecrated, and Heaven and Earth are restored to their original state..."
Zheng Fa recalled the description of the Crimson Light Tribulation by the Nine Nether Emperor. In fact, the Crimson Light Tribulation is not a real tribulation, but a stage—during which cultivators accumulate magical power and completely transform into true immortals.
A red light filled the entire universe, and then the light began to contract, and the entire universe also began to contract.
A vast universe gradually shrank, eventually transforming into a tiny speck of light the size of a mustard seed. It surged into Zheng Fa's brow, into his sea of consciousness, and became a ball of red light.
Zheng Fawei was stunned for a moment, and then he sensed something and was even more surprised—in a sense, this was a world seed, for true immortals to use in creating worlds and proving their Dao as golden immortals.
When the seed of this world matures and life appears in the desolate universe, that will be the day Zheng Fa attains enlightenment and becomes a Golden Immortal.
Zheng Fa sensed the Seed of the World for a while longer and thought to himself that every True Immortal probably had one of these things. He had not yet fully transformed into a True Immortal, and the Seed of the World was now completely ignoring Zheng Fa, simply staying by the Yin-Yang Fish Jade Pendant, acting very aloof.
Having survived the ordeal, Zheng Fagang was about to open his eyes, but upon hearing the message from the Heavenly Emperor, he began to focus on comprehending it again.
...
Within the Nine Mountains.
“I trapped that evil god within the Zhou Tian Star Array,” the jellyfish explained, frowning. “But this is only a temporary measure. The Zhou Tian Star Array is incomplete, and that evil god’s strength far surpasses that of a Golden Immortal; he could even be considered a half-step Great Luo…”
Everyone exchanged bewildered glances. Senior Sister Zhang frowned and asked, "So, how did you originally plan to deal with that evil god?"
“There are two ways. One is to obtain my seeds to achieve enlightenment,” the jellyfish explained. “They and I, and that evil god, are one.”
"With this shift in power, the evil god's strength will also weaken, eventually falling to the level of an ordinary Golden Immortal."
Everyone glanced at Mu Qingyan.
The jellyfish shook its head slightly: "She needs to become a true immortal at least to have any impact on that evil god's power."
At this point, Jellyfish looked quite frustrated and said, "In my opinion, Taiyin and the others couldn't possibly enter the formation. Even if they were trapped inside, it wouldn't matter as long as they didn't encounter that evil god."
“I have enough time to wait for the seeds I leave behind to attain enlightenment.”
"Who knew it would be so early..."
Senior Sister Zhang and the Heavenly Emperor exchanged a glance. Was it because their computing power was too strong?
They understood the jellyfish's frustration quite well. Her arrangements were impeccable, but unexpected events kept happening, forcing her to now remotely rescue her own followers...
"What's the second method?"
“Complete the Zhou Tian Star Array.” The jellyfish sighed. “I have already comprehended the complete array, but I made a mistake back then and couldn’t even control myself, let alone improve the array.”
(End of this chapter)
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