Chapter 154 The Realm of Trials (Part 5)
First level of Spirit Refinement, in a certain cave.
Jiang Xiangyun frowned in annoyance as he looked at the communication array that had not responded for a long time. Since entering the Spirit Tempering Realm, he had not been able to contact Yao Li. In the past, Yao Li would have come to find him immediately.
Unless something happens to him.
"Yo." A flippant voice suddenly rang out from above.
Jiang Xiangyun's mind went on high alert. He deactivated the sound communication array and held the Xuan Yang Halberd in front of him. When he met Lu Liyu's scarlet eyes, he sneered, "You still dare to appear in front of me?"
“This isn’t Pingze Continent. Without the Jiang family, who can you rely on?” Lu Liyu squatted on a steep rock. “It’s just a small Songsui Tower. There are countless such divine artifacts on Wangyue Continent. I’ll just give you another one to calm you down.”
Jiang Xiangyun narrowed his eyes and looked at him, "What, you've fallen on hard times after betraying the Water Pavilion and going to the Burning Platform Palace, and you can only afford a divine artifact?"
Lu Liyu said in surprise, "Young Master Jiang is quite well-informed."
“Likewise.” Jiang Xiangyun glanced discreetly at the Netherworld Bone hanging at his waist. Although he had already refined half of the Netherworld Bone, it was quite difficult to use. Lu Liyu’s cultivation was quite high, and he might not be a match for him.
"Don't worry, I have enough artifacts and resources to support you." Lu Liyu said jokingly, "How about joining the Burning Platform Palace? I can be your introducer. It would be a wonderful thing if we, as Daoist partners, joined forces."
"I'm not interested in old things that are hundreds of years old," Jiang Xiangyun scoffed.
Lu Liyu was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in shock, "I'm only 233 years old this year, much younger than those cultivators who are thousands of years old!"
"Heh." Jiang Xiangyun looked him up and down with a mocking expression, displaying the unique arrogance and pickiness of a young master from a prominent family, and slowly said with a smile, "Old beggar."
"You know what, I like your spirit." Lu Liyu laughed heartily upon hearing this, but after a moment, his laughter abruptly stopped, and he said in a deep voice, "As long as you hand over Jiang Gu, I'll guarantee your safe exit from this tenth realm, how about it?"
Jiang Xiangyun was silent for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Jiang Gu isn't in my hands, so why do you think I can decide his life or death?"
Lu Liyu's smile slowly widened. "Since Jiang Yinzhong sent him here with you, he must have already prepared a backup plan. Whether it's Jiang Gu or Yao Li by your side, aren't they all taking an extra life for you? Since you brought them out, you can decide their fate. It's much easier for living people to find you than to find them themselves."
Jiang Xiangyun's expression turned slightly cold. "No one has the right to decide another person's life or death."
"Huh? Hahahaha!" Lu Liyu burst into laughter, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. "Oh, Ayun, how exactly did the Jiang family raise you? You didn't say that when you killed Wu Jiu for me."
Jiang Xiangyun gripped the Xuan Yang Halberd tightly, channeling his spiritual energy and charging straight at him.
Lu Liyu dodged, and the rock beneath his feet shattered instantly. Amidst the flying dust, he stood in front of the teleportation array that Jiang Xiangyun had secretly set up, and smiled sinisterly, "Ah Yun, there's no harm in cooperating with me. Otherwise, even if you manage to pass through these ten realms on your own, your primordial spirit will be corrupted to the point of being almost completely controlled by the Misty Rain Platform. What's the point?"
Jiang Xiangyun's eyes flashed sharply. "That's none of your business to tell me what to do."
The Xuan Yang Halberd slashed down at him, but as Lu Liyu dodged, a bamboo hat suddenly appeared and covered him. When he chopped off the hat, Jiang Xiangyun had already disappeared.
"Tsk." He rubbed his cheek, which had almost been scratched by the straw hat, and muttered to himself in annoyance, "Why don't they believe me?"
On the other side, Jiang Xiangyun looked at Yao Li, who was covered in injuries, with surprise.
Yao Li removed his bamboo hat, revealing his pale, effeminate face. His narrow eyes were like a pool of stagnant water. He knelt on the ground, pleading for forgiveness, "Your subordinate is late. Please punish me, young master."
"Uncle, what are you saying?" Jiang Xiangyun frowned, reached out and supported his arm to lift him up. "I should thank God you're still alive."
Yao Li pursed his lips and remained silent.
"Where have you been all this time?" Jiang Xiangyun asked.
Yao Li answered truthfully, "I encountered a great opportunity in the Tempering God Realm, so I found a place to go into seclusion and break through."
"Then you've already broken through to the late Golden Immortal realm?" Jiang Xiangyun exclaimed in delight, "Uncle, congratulations!"
Yao Li pursed his lips, seemingly quite uncomfortable without his bamboo hat. He lowered his eyes, avoiding eye contact with Jiang Xiangyun. "Moreover, I found the Spirit Tempering Technique as soon as I arrived, but I didn't inform you immediately, only focusing on my own breakthrough. I—"
Jiang Xiangyun slapped his arm. "Uncle, I have also found the art of tempering the spirit, and I even cooperated with my seventh brother to obtain half of the divine artifact. I am not much worse than you."
Yao Li opened his mouth, then fell silent.
"Why don't you protect me? That bastard Lu Liyu wants to use me to capture Seventh Brother alive. We absolutely cannot let him succeed," Jiang Xiangyun said.
“Okay.” Yao Li nodded.
Jiang Xiangyun pondered for a moment, "People from the Burning Platform Hall have infiltrated. I need to inform my seventh brother."
Yao Li stared at his profile, suppressing the unease in his heart.
If the young master knew that he had secretly broken the master-servant contract... But when he thought of what Jiang Yinzhong had done to the Yao family and to Sister Jiang, he suppressed the rising guilt.
——
A rune bearing the mark of the Vermilion Bird God appeared burning before Jiang Gu.
'Lu Liyu has appeared in the Tempering Spirit Realm. The people of the Burning Platform Palace intend to capture you alive. Be careful.'
A small six-legged furnace was being roasted by raging fire within the magic array. The Netherworld Bone was faintly visible in the flames. After reading the runes, Jiang Gu slowly added more spiritual power into it.
Capture him alive?
If he truly is the so-called Jade Step, why are the people of Misty Rain Terrace still hesitant to act? What are they waiting for? The diluted Jade Step marrow is the "antidote" for the Heaven and Earth Pavilion's control over spirit pets. Before entering the realm, Xiao Qingyan mentioned that all those who passed the trial must enter the tower for six hundred years. However, five years ago, the Eight Pavilions staged a large-scale rebellion and formed the Burning Terrace Hall. In the end, they had no choice but to sneak in through the Misty Rain Token to undergo the trial and break the contract again. Jin Yingxiu, as a member of the Burning Terrace Hall, even asked him to take samples from the Golden Pavilion...
Jiang Gu rubbed his fingertips. Perhaps the Misty Rain Terrace knew more than the Burning Terrace Palace. They were not sure if they were the real "Jade Steps".
How did they confirm this?
Jiang Gu suddenly thought of the black-robed man who hid his head and tail. The man wanted to destroy Wei Feng's small primordial spirit, but he also helped him clear the turbid energy from his body. However, he never revealed his identity from beginning to end. Did he know him? Who could he be?
The Netherworld Bone in the furnace had been refined into two pieces of bone, one black and one white. Jiang Gu summoned the Black Jade Bracelet, and the white Netherworld Bone transformed into a piece of white bone about the thickness of a finger, which wrapped around the bracelet like a vine. In this way, the Netherworld Bone and the Black Jade Bracelet became one.
The black jade bracelet can withstand lightning tribulations and protect the primordial spirit. It also contains a hidden space with abundant spiritual energy and a restored goddess statue that can repair the primordial spirit. However, all of these require a large consumption of spiritual energy, even at the cost of lifespan. Therefore, Jiang Gu does not often use the black jade bracelet's ability to repair the primordial spirit. But with the Netherworld Bone, it can absorb all the energy in the world, whether it is relatively scarce spiritual energy or a large amount of mixed turbid energy. After Jiang Gu refined it, he separated the turbid energy and only used the spiritual energy. This means that as long as he can activate the black jade bracelet, he can repair the primordial spirit at any time. The only drawback is that his current cultivation level is not high enough, and the speed of primordial spirit repair is still very slow, but it is much better than before.
Jiang Gu sensed the subtle changes in his primordial spirit. The surrounding spiritual energy was no longer as ethereal as before, but had become a visible and tangible mist. The abundant spiritual energy gathered into a vortex above his head, and the metal-attribute spiritual power was refined and absorbed into his dantian. His primordial spirit finally revealed its original clear pale gold color and began to frantically absorb spiritual energy. As Jiang Gu cultivated, he vaguely felt that he no longer needed the protective robe formed by the jade crown, and even the jade armor had become somewhat cumbersome. The black snowflakes floating in the sky no longer posed any threat to his primordial spirit.
The faint sound of thunder could be heard in the sky.
Jiang Gu hid the spiritual realm and the short flute in the black jade bracelet, quickly set up the tribulation-crossing protective array, and began to accelerate the absorption of spiritual power.
The lightning bolt arrived in the blink of an eye.
The journey from the Mahayana stage to the True Immortal realm is widely recognized in the cultivation world as the calamity with the highest probability of a cultivator's demise. This calamity almost determines whether a cultivator is qualified to step into the threshold of ascension. Talent, Dao heart, and cultivation are all indispensable, and one must also have the right timing, location, and people, and even good fortune.
But Jiang Gu knew that his luck had always been bad, and the thunderclouds during his tribulation were usually more intense than others. When he saw the first lightning tribulation, which turned from purple to black, he became even more certain of this idea—the Heavenly Dao seemed to dislike him particularly, perhaps because of its anger at him for daring to defy fate with his mere five spiritual roots.
Without the slightest hesitation, he activated over a thousand protective formations on his primordial spirit, and the seven heavenly-rank magic treasures he had searched for after entering the Spirit Tempering Realm were arrayed in front of him. The first lightning tribulation then crashed down!
Jiang Gu's vision went black instantly. After a moment of numbness, every inch of his primordial spirit was followed by excruciating pain. His jaw tightened, and his spiritual power began to circulate wildly within his body, absorbing the surging spiritual power after the lightning tribulation and turning it into his own. At the same time, he activated the black jade bracelet to begin repairing his damaged primordial spirit.
Then came the second, the third... Jiang Gu didn't know how much time had passed. His primordial spirit had lost consciousness, and all the protective formations and magic treasures had turned to dust. The thirty-six lightning tribulations had passed, but there was still no sign of stopping.
He slowly raised his head, his primordial spirit faintly about to dissipate, while the thunderclouds above his head remained dark and thick. Blinding lightning tore through the dark clouds, and the tribulation lightning had turned into white light, so dazzling that it was impossible to look directly at it or even measure it. It seemed to hate Jiang Gu's cold and fierce gaze, and impatiently swept down on him.
In an instant, the entire Tempering Spirit Realm shook for a moment.
The Dharma images of the eight pavilion masters opened their eyes simultaneously.
"Who is undergoing tribulation with such a grand display?" Shui Ge asked.
“There are more than thirty cultivators undergoing tribulation.” Jin Ge’s gaze swept over the countless water mirrors in front of him, and he frowned and said, “When cultivators undergo tribulation, the Heavenly Dao cannot be discerned, and it cannot be seen in the water mirrors.”
Chu Guanshan laughed and said, "It's alright. They are only undergoing tribulation of their primordial spirit. Once this person emerges from the tempering spirit realm, his body will definitely react. Moreover, he has the tribulation jade, so he will give us a satisfactory answer."
At the same time, the Spirit Tempering Realm.
The snow froze in the air, turning into black mist that enveloped the entire Tempering Realm.
Jiang Gu narrowed his eyes. The thirty-seventh massive lightning tribulation seemed to have been blocked by something high in the sky, but even so, it was still more ferocious than the previous thirty-six lightning tribulations combined. Anger flashed in his usually indifferent eyes. He gripped the Crimson Snow Sword tightly, and his primordial spirit began to frantically absorb the surrounding spiritual energy. He leaped up and charged straight at the heavenly lightning—
Cultivators who strive for immortality have always defied the heavens!
He was not afraid of the powerful lightning tribulation, nor was he afraid of hardships and tribulations. He would bear all the injustices and consequences. As long as he held fast to his Dao heart and was strong enough, even the Heavenly Tribulation had to be broken in front of him!
The sharp light of the Crimson Snow Sword was swallowed by the thunderous roar. The tribulation lightning exploded, and the world seemed to fall silent, but a tall figure broke through the lightning.
Vast spiritual power surged into his primordial spirit, and the Dharma image symbolizing a True Immortal cultivator appeared behind Jiang Gu. The enormous golden Dharma image lowered its brows and eyes, and faintly revealed a bit of divine power.
The fierce thunderstorm seemed to retreat for a moment, reluctantly continuing to rumble, but the rules of nature did not allow it to run rampant, and finally it slowly dissipated.
The golden Dharma image stood gracefully between heaven and earth, raising its hand to catch the scorched primordial spirit falling from the sky.
The large hood slipped down, revealing a face underneath that was stitched together with black thread, making it grotesque and unrecognizable.
Jiang Gu lowered his eyes and looked at the completely unfamiliar black-robed man in the palm of the Dharma Image, and slowly frowned.
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