Chapter 583: One Good, One Bad (A Celebration for Alliance Master Dongli Baying Huanghunshi! )
Chapter 583: One Good, One Bad (A Celebration for Alliance Master Dongli Baying Huanghunshi! )
Demon Tree Ridge.
Fang Xi formed hand seals, continuously channeling them into the Myriad Transformations Cauldron before him.
Misty alchemical qi rose like swirling clouds, undergoing a series of dazzling transformations before finally condensing into a verdant cloud.
With a raise of his hand, a palm materialized from spiritual power gently plucked a pill from the green cloud.
Within this pill, faint, infant-like patterns could be discerned — it was precisely a 'Divine Infant Pill'!
"Excellent, excellent. It seems my alchemy skills have improved further after my studies in the Kyushu World."
Fang Xi caressed the still-warm Divine Infant Pill, nodding in satisfaction.
After he breached the Saint Fire Cult all those years ago, he naturally made no polite excuses, sweeping clean their storeroom. From it, he unearthed two 'Divine Infant Pills' and many rare spirit medicines, including a 'Nine Smokes Infant Ganoderma'!
Now, however, it had naturally all fallen into Fang Xi's hands.
He sent a portion of the 'Nine Smokes Infant Ganoderma' along with the 'Divine Infant Pill' recipe to the Kyushu World, while keeping another part for himself to enhance his own alchemy techniques.
Even though his current identity was the Master of Fang Xian Dao Palace, allowing him to mobilize all the manpower and resources of the entire Kyushu World, Fang Xi firmly believed that his own skills were the best.
Even if his personal success rate in refining pills couldn't compare to that of the Kyushu World, as long as his own alchemy proficiency improved, that was success!
"The 'Divine Infant Pill' is a fourth-tier supreme-grade pill. Now that I can stabilize my success rate. . . my alchemy skills must be comparable to those Grandmaster alchemists, right? Although. . . with a little bit of external help."
While his goal was to improve his personal alchemy, Fang Xi wasn't averse to convenient tools, such as the Myriad Transformations Cauldron and Taiyi's assistance. . .
"My current craftsmanship is entirely thanks to my day-in, day-out persistence, ah. . ."
Fang Xi sighed with emotion.
At this moment, his Divine Consciousness unfurled, sensing that within a cave-dwelling on Demon Tree Ridge, his External Avatar, having transformed into a demonic form through his 'Three-Phase Annihilation Art' and aided by the 'Ancient Demon Body-Refining Secret Art', had already begun to assault the Soul Transformation bottleneck!
"This External Avatar is quite effective. Its cultivation is almost catching up to mine now."
Fang Xi's eyes were cold: "It seems, for caution's sake, it won't need to cultivate further after reaching Soul Transformation. I'll wait until I break through to the mid-stage. . . then I can send it to explore new worlds!"
The External Avatar had handled things quite well recently.
After soul-searching Ziyin's Nascent Soul back then, it uncovered several more hidden lineages of the Saint Fire Cult.
Forces like the Evil Dragon Temple and Yin Yuan Palace were all exterminated one by one by the External Avatar, leaving behind a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, establishing a fearsome reputation in the Western Desert Cultivation World.
Cultivators knew that while the Soul Transformation cultivator of Demon Tree Ridge rarely emerged from seclusion, the second primordial spirit he refined was exceedingly murderous, ferociously cruel and malicious, not to be provoked. . .
However, Fang Xi knew that the Saint Fire Cult had a very deep foundation; this strike would not uproot them entirely.
They must have hidden some disciples, perhaps even unknown to Ziyin!
That Grand Cultivator had done this intentionally, to avoid being caught in one fell swoop.
As for this kind of "mortal wisdom," Fang Xi was nonchalant.
In any case, he would let those people know that no matter how good their planning or forbearance. . . in the face of time units measured in ten millennia, they were all but jokes!
Rattle-clatter!
Auroras flashed across the heavens and earth, converging into a lake. The External Avatar successfully drew in the Heaven and Earth elemental qi, manifesting a Soul Transformation heavenly phenomenon!
Immediately after, it broke through the Soul Transformation bottleneck and entered the heart devil tribulation.
Fang Xi watched intently, ready to suppress the External Avatar at any moment.
The resources he had prepared for the External Avatar's Soul Transformation breakthrough were quite ordinary; there was a high possibility it wouldn't pass the heart devil tribulation.
And cultivators who failed to pass the heart devil tribulation would either perish silently within their inner demons, their physical bodies decaying, or directly fall into madness, frantically slaughtering nearby cultivators!
However, Fang Xi's expression quickly turned peculiar as he looked at the tribulation formed by the Five Elements elemental qi converging around him: "The heart devil tribulation is over? Could this External Avatar's Dao heart be more resolute than mine? Or did the secret art from before take effect?"
To ensure the External Avatar's successful advancement, he had specifically erased most of its memories, retaining only the cultivation experience and the knowledge of assaulting the Soul Transformation bottleneck.
This way, it became a pure and innocent heart!
Since it had no memories, where would heart devils come from?
Whoosh!
A streak of demonic light shot out from Demon Tree Ridge, revealing the External Avatar, clad in black robes and with a stern expression.
It looked at the converging Five Elements elemental qi tribulation, then suddenly let out a sinister grin, transforming in a flash into a divine demon ten zhang tall!
Refining a divine demon body!
This was generally a realm only accessible to Void Amalgamation-level demonic cultivators.
However, the Soul Transformation demonic cultivators of the lower realms were all heaven-blessed geniuses, and most of them could achieve this.
The demonic body cultivated by the External Avatar was a type of demonic physique recorded in the 'Myriad Manifestations True Demon Arts', named — the Myriad Transformations Divine Demon Body!
This demonic body possessed peculiar properties, excelling in myriad transformations and simulating various divine demon forms!
After all, it was 'Free Transformation'!
Compared to the Great Strength Lava Divine Demon, this divine demon was so small it couldn't even be called a younger brother. Yet, it was exceedingly strange, shrouded in a layer of mist, with various forms constantly shifting within. . .
Suddenly, a crisp cry of a peacock rang out.
The Myriad Transformations Divine Demon Body split into the five elements, then transformed into a terrifying demonic bird with a black body and five-colored feathers!
The Five Prisons Peacock Demonic Body!
This type of demonic body was inherently skilled at manipulating the five elements, making it a top-tier divine demon physique!
Bang bang!
Giant trees fell, and with a sweep of the Five Prisons Peacock's feathers, they transformed into pure wood spiritual energy, which it swallowed with a gulp of its beak.
Immediately after, the four other elemental qi heavenly tribulations of metal, earth, fire, and water were actually all swallowed by that Five Prisons Peacock.
A flash of five-colored light, and it transformed back into the cold, youthful appearance of the External Avatar in black robes, full of spirit and vitality, its magic power seemingly several times stronger than before.
"My External Avatar. . . it's amazing."
Fang Xi's eyes widened at this sight.
Rumble!
Above the sky, countless bolts of lightning gathered, transforming into azure-gold lightning!
Rip!
A streak of lightning struck down with a crash, carrying biting heavenly might!
Roar!
The External Avatar's expression remained unchanged. It opened its mouth and spewed forth 'Six Paths Demonic Flames'. This fire, being fifth-tier, actually incinerated that bolt of heavenly lightning completely. . .
Immediately after, came the second, third. . . and sixth bolts!
"Hah!"
After six layers of lightning, the External Avatar transformed in a flash, manifesting a three-zhang-tall divine demon body with purplish-black skin covered in numerous lightning patterns.
This was the 'Myriad Annihilation Lightning Body', a divine demon physique that only an ancient demon inherently skilled at manipulating lightning spiritual energy could condense after reaching Soul Transformation. It was perfectly suited to dealing with the heavenly lightning tribulation.
Woah!
The External Avatar still felt it wasn't secure enough. With a hum of a sword, it held the enlarged 'Divine Infant Sword' in its hand.
The Six Paths Demonic Flames, three-colored, encircled the 'Myriad Annihilation Lightning Body', showing that complete preparations had been made.
Rip!
The seventh bolt of heavenly lightning struck down, still in dual gold-azure colors!
"Slash!"
The External Avatar roared, its divine demon body holding the sword with both hands, the Six Paths Demonic Flames burning on the blade, and slashed towards the sky. . .
"Just an ordinary Soul Transformation lightning tribulation. . ."
Fang Xi murmured to himself.
The tribulation he encountered when he broke through was a terrifying purple-gold lightning tribulation.
"Could it be that this type of heavenly tribulation only targets my true self? What's the reason? Is it the Eternal Evergreen Body? The All-Heavens Precious Mirror? Or the Demonic Tree?"
Fang Xi felt that the Soul Transformation heavenly tribulation he experienced was completely different from others.
If the External Avatar had encountered the purple-gold lightning tribulation, it might have been struck dead!
'This is a hidden danger. If future advancements also involve such tribulations, it could be troublesome. . . '
'To be safe, I must prepare more means specifically for heavenly tribulations, like the Myriad Demon Armor. The more, the merrier. . . '
Fang Xi secretly made up his mind.
Just then, the External Avatar roared, slashing away the last bolt of heavenly lightning with one strike.
Although its aura was unstable for a moment, and both the fifth-tier Six Paths Demonic Flames and the Divine Infant Sword seemed to have lost a bit of their vitality, it had, after all, passed the Soul Transformation heavenly tribulation and become a Soul Transformation Demonic Venerable!
Seeing this, a hint of a smile appeared on Fang Xi's face.
"A century ago, when I was around five hundred and fifty years old, I broke through to Soul Transformation. . ."
"Now, at six hundred and fifty years old, my External Avatar has broken through to Soul Transformation. . . Congratulations, congratulations."
...
Just as Fang Xi was rejoicing over his External Avatar's successful Soul Transformation, he received two pieces of news, one good and one bad, from Emerald Island.
The good news was that Liu Xu, his nominal disciple who was not quite a formal disciple, had successfully condensed a Nascent Soul recently, fulfilling Fang Xi's dream of forming a Nascent Soul using the 'Verdant Wood Longevity Art' back then.
This woman, after all, possessed a Heaven-grade spiritual root, along with an Earth-grade water spiritual root, and had cultivated a secret art of 'Water Nurturing Wood'. Her aptitude surpassed that of ordinary Heaven-grade spiritual roots by a notch.
Moreover, it coincided with Fang Xi's opportune conquest of the Saint Fire Cult, so he had no shortage of 'Divine Infant Pills'. This woman had also rendered some meritorious service, such as guarding the ancient teleportation array in the Western Desert, and with Zhong Hong Yu speaking on her behalf, Fang Xi allowed her to pre-pay contributions to exchange for a 'Divine Infant Pill', thus granting her the opportunity to form a Nascent Soul.
As for the bad news, it was naturally Zhong Hong Yu's failure to condense a Nascent Soul. Although she saved her life with a secret art, her cultivation was severely damaged.
When Fang Xi heard this news, he felt a slight pang of wistfulness.
"Calculating the time, Zhong Hong Yu was just born when I was a hundred years old. . . Now I am six hundred and fifty, and she is five hundred and fifty."
The lifespan of a Core Formation cultivator was around five hundred years.
Zhong Hong Yu's ability to live to this day was naturally because she had taken the 'Tortoise Longevity Pill' and had a habit of regularly consuming various beauty-preserving pills.
Even so, although her appearance remained unchanged, the twilight qi around her grew increasingly dense.
In front of Fang Xi, who was seemingly growing younger with each passing day, she inevitably felt ashamed of her inferiority.
This time, when Fang Xi moved to 'Demon Tree Ridge', he had originally invited Zhong Hong Yu. However, she was unwilling, simply stating that she was accustomed to staying on Emerald Island and did not wish to come to the Western Desert.
Fang Xi did not press her further then. . .
"Hong Yu's lifespan, at most, has only sixty years left. . ."
The Tortoise Longevity Pill could extend a Nascent Soul cultivator's lifespan by a hundred years, and its effect on a Core Formation cultivator would naturally be even better.
However, the version Fang Xi had at the time was diluted by the Kyushu World, so its efficacy was slightly reduced.
With such an increase and decrease balancing out, extending a Core Formation cultivator's lifespan by about a hundred years was pretty much the limit.
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