Chapter 866: Rulin's Return to Void
Chapter 866: Rulin's Return to Void
Tianyuan City.
Zhai Xingzi, clad in a star-patterned dharma robe, stood shoulder to shoulder with Yanri Venerable of the Pure Yang Demon Subduing Sect, gazing at the distant sky.
"Another heavenly tribulation. . ."
Yanri Venerable's gaze swept over a patch of thunderclouds, and he smiled faintly: "It seems someone is undergoing the great heavenly tribulation for Return to Void. . . Your fellow Daoist has truly abundant talent under your command. Just a few days ago, one cultivator advanced to Return to Void, and now another has been added. . ."
"Haha, it's merely because they gained some extra battle merits by relying on the immortal array's protection during the great war. . ."
Zhai Xingzi replied modestly.
Many cultivators in the Starry Sky Domain received Qing Hezi's protection and mostly remained within the city.
Later, when the demon race's army entered the city, the cultivators were forced to fight the enemy. They happened to catch the 'Nine Serene Sand River Grand Array' unleashing its power, truly slaying many high-grade demons.
Afterward, the Human Race Five Sons deliberated. Originally, Five Elements Child had wanted to directly reduce the merits tenfold, or increase the exchange value several times, but Qing Hezi overruled all dissenting opinions, and they were still distributed as originally planned, earning much gratitude.
After experiencing bloody battles and with no shortage of resources, it was only natural for these cultivators to advance one after another.
Even Zhai Xingzi had exchanged for a bottle of pills that greatly aided Void Amalgamation cultivation, planning to break through to the mid-Void Amalgamation stage.
"Indeed, I've heard that Senior Qing Hezi is of noble character and unblemished integrity, distributing the merits that should have belonged to the immortal array among the cultivators. . ."
Yanri Venerable smiled faintly.
"Exactly. . . " Zhai Xingzi's joy was evident. Following a generous lord was always better than a stingy one.
"It's just. . . " Yanri Venerable said, "Although we all know that Senior Qing Hezi's cultivation is profound, and his path of array formations can be called the foremost in the human race, there are still some who are not convinced in their hearts. . ."
"Heh heh. . . Back then, they were wary of responsibility and unwilling to contend for a position among the Human Race Five Sons. Now that a Mahayana cultivator has personally designated him, who among the human race dares to make a fuss?"
Zhai Xingzi let out a cold laugh, secretly wishing for some cultivator to make a fool of themselves so he could seize the opportunity to express his loyalty.
Yanri Venerable felt a chill in his heart.
As far as he knew, there were indeed several reclusive late-Void Amalgamation cultivators who coveted the positions among the Human Race Five Sons.
However, with Qing Hezi currently at the height of his influence, possessing the prestige of having slain a Demon Race Great Sage and a Demon Race Devil King, and with a Mahayana cultivator backing him, cultivators were not fools. They only dared to grumble inwardly, not daring to show any hint of it outwardly. Instead, they became doubly deferential.
They were merely waiting for an opportunity to secretly trip up Qing Hezi.
"With Senior Qing Hezi's talent, and now that he's fully dedicated to reclusive cultivation, even the hurdle of late-Void Amalgamation likely won't be difficult!"
Zhai Xingzi naturally spoke up for his senior: "By then, those people will have plenty of suffering to endure. . ."
"Precisely. . ."
Yanri Venerable was about to say something more, perhaps subtly guiding out one of his own enemies, when he saw a streak of light, drawing forth the world's spiritual energy, arriving with great momentum.
Among them, a Return to Void cultivator, upon seeing Zhai Xingzi, immediately halted his escape light and bowed: "Greetings, Senior Zhai Xingzi!"
"Hmm, you're Li Rulin from Moonlight Immortal City, aren't you?"
Zhai Xingzi glanced at him and smiled faintly: "All practices united into one, achieving Return to Void. Excellent, excellent. . ."
While smiling, he passed over a jade bottle: "Today you broke through to Return to Void. This Old Ancestor doesn't have many good things on hand, but this bottle of 'Dingyuan Pills' has a miraculous effect on stabilizing the cultivation realm for those newly entering Return to Void. I shall bestow it upon you. . ."
"Many thanks, Senior!"
Li Rulin was overjoyed and quickly accepted it.
Zhai Xingzi then cast a glance at Yanri Venerable.
Yanri Venerable gave a slight wry smile in his heart, knowing that although Zhai Xingzi was only in the early Void Amalgamation stage, he was 'old and cunning like a fox'.
Some of his actions had already been seen through. This was forcing him to bleed a little.
He immediately smiled as well, sweeping his hand across his storage ring. A short, crimson-glowing spear flew out: "This item was acquired by this old man in a certain ruin. It can be used after a brief refining. Once spiritual power is infused, it can summon two Return to Void-level 'Blazing Ape'. Consider it my congratulatory gift to a junior. . ."
"Thank you, Senior."
Li Rulin held the short spear in his hands, feeling as if a pie had fallen from the sky directly onto him.
Such a treasure was quite rare even for Void Amalgamation cultivators; he hadn't expected it to be so easily bestowed upon him.
Upon this thought, a wave of emotion surged in his heart.
Ever since he joined the Wang Family, his cultivation luck seemed to be getting better and better. . .
In his remote hometown, surely no one would have imagined that he could reach the Return to Void stage, right?
"Fellow Daoist is generous!"
Zhai Xingzi chuckled. Just as he was about to say something, his expression suddenly changed drastically!
Yanri Venerable also had an extremely grave expression, looking up at the sky.
The sky was utterly dark, imbued with a dense heavenly might.
Li Rulin was a bit slow to react. Only then did his Divine Consciousness detect a clue. After roughly assessing the range and intensity of the heavenly tribulation, he couldn't help but be filled with envy: "A dual-colored gold and silver heavenly tribulation? Could it be that a perfected Return to Void cultivator in the city is about to advance to Void Amalgamation?"
"No. . ."
Zhai Xingzi's expression was solemn: "This is a minor heavenly tribulation! And specifically, a minor heavenly tribulation for advancing from mid-Void Amalgamation to late-Void Amalgamation!"
"Late Void Amalgamation?"
Li Rulin's eyes widened: "Currently, in Tianyuan City, isn't that. . ."
Zhai Xingzi let out a long breath: "It should be Senior Qing Hezi breaking through. . . At late Void Amalgamation, beneath the Mahayana realm, I fear it will be hard to find a match for him."
After all, Qing Hezi was a ruthless individual who had slain a Demon Race Great Sage while only in mid-Void Amalgamation.
Now that he's advanced to late Void Amalgamation, reaching perfected Void Amalgamation in the future will merely be a matter of spiritual power accumulation.
It can be said that after advancing to the late stage, his position among the Human Race Five Sons will be absolutely well-deserved, perhaps even surpassing the other four to become the leader of the Five Sons!
"Since that's the case, let us go and protect Senior during his breakthrough."
Yanri Venerable was eager to curry favor.
"This matter is inappropriate. Since Senior Qing Hezi has not commanded us, he clearly doesn't wish for us to all go out at once. . ."
Zhai Xingzi slowly shook his head. He knew that Qing Hezi possessed a perfected Void Amalgamation ghost slave.
Protecting him during his breakthrough was but a trifle.
Moreover, who among the human race would dare to take advantage of the Human Race Five Sons' vulnerability now?
Just as countless cultivators watched, a streak of dual-colored gold and silver lightning struck down with a resounding crash!
...
Whoosh!
Fang Xi swept the 'Five Fires Seven Birds Fan' in his hand.
A swirl of multicolored flame transformed into a wave of fire. From within it, a True Flame Phoenix soared forth, carrying an indescribable aura of nobility, followed by countless fiery birds and avian creatures, rushing skyward.
Blaze!
Raging flames surged, unexpectedly incinerating all the lightning!
Not only that, the True Flame Phoenix flew into the thunderclouds, igniting clusters of them, showing every sign of burning a hole right through the heavenly tribulation clouds.
Rumble!
The heavenly tribulation continued ceaselessly, endless lightning and flames intertwined, ultimately turning into ash.
A moment later, the clouds dispersed and the rain cleared.
Fang Xi gently fanned himself with the feather fan, feeling the surging and boundless spiritual power within him. He couldn't help but smile faintly: "Late Void Amalgamation. . . it is finally achieved."
As an External Avatar, he cultivated the 'Myriad Manifestations True Demon Arts', an orthodox demonic art. As long as he had a 'furnace cauldron', his cultivation could advance by leaps and bounds.
This time, he simply returned to Trapped Sky Island and sent the Zizai Tianmo Wang on his way.
Although Zizai Tianmo Wang was once at the peak of Void Amalgamation and could even attempt to break through to Mahayana, he later suffered heavy qi damage, falling back to late Void Amalgamation.
Fang Xi fully devoured his demonic cultivation, then thoroughly soul-searched him. After extracting all usable value, he buried him beneath the Ancestral Demonic Tree, using him as tree fertilizer.
As the demonic cultivation underwent some loss during conversion, its power could at most support Fang Xi in a single attempt at the late-stage bottleneck.
Fortunately, his main body had already broken through to late Void Amalgamation, so there was no talk of a bottleneck this time.
The External Avatar casually made an attempt and succeeded in one go, ushering in a minor heavenly tribulation.
This late Void Amalgamation heavenly tribulation, under the might of the 'Five Fires Seven Birds Fan', ultimately found it difficult to claim his life. Instead, it allowed him to thoroughly test the power of this imitation Immortal Abode Rare Treasure.
'Indeed, after being re-refined, this fan's power is no longer inferior to some incomplete Immortal Abode Rare Treasures. '
The power of incomplete Immortal Abode Rare Treasures also varied by grade, mainly depending on their degree of incompleteness.
For instance, an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure that was ninety percent incomplete would only be slightly stronger than mere fragments of Immortal Abode Rare Treasures.
Counting the incomplete Immortal Abode Rare Treasures in Fang Xi's possession, the Green He Sword (Fifth Generation) was naturally the strongest. After all, with the addition of the flying sword from the Sword Child's hand, it had largely been restored.
Next was the 'Suppressing Void Pagoda', which was approximately fifty percent incomplete.
After that was the 'Seasmasher Staff'. Only thirty to forty percent of this staff remained intact, but in the hands of the Great Sage Tongbei, it could unleash fifty percent of an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure's power due to its excellent compatibility with his cultivation technique.
As for so-called imitations of Immortal Abode Rare Treasures, like the 'Nine Dragons Cauldron', no matter how exquisite the craftsmanship, they could at most compare to an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure that was only twenty or thirty percent intact.
In actual use, even an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure that was over ninety percent complete still fell far short when compared to a true Immortal Abode Rare Treasure.
After all, once an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure was complete, its amplification of the power of laws was simply incredible; it was a supreme treasure coveted even by Mahayana cultivators.
As for incomplete Immortal Abode Rare Treasures, even if their effects were unique, they were still unlikely to catch the eye of a Mahayana cultivator.
"This 'Five Fires Seven Birds Fan' should be equivalent to an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure that is one or two tenths complete, right?"
"As for that 'Erwu Soul-Slaying Gourd', it was merely cleverly refined from a larger fragment of an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure, at most comparable to an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure that is one tenth complete."
"Finally, the 'Netherworld Banner' is a quasi-eighth-rank treasure. Its power is hard to say; if it fell into the hands of someone unfamiliar with array formations, it would probably only be equivalent to a seventh-rank Void Amalgamation treasure. But if, as during the great war, a large number of array-laying tools were crafted to assist, and a pseudo-immortal vein was burned to deploy the 'Nine Serene Sand River Grand Array', then its power would be incredible, perhaps even comparable to the might of a complete Immortal Abode Rare Treasure?"
Fang Xi calmly put away the Five Fires Seven Birds Fan, pondering silently in his heart.
He transformed into a streak of demonic light, and with a sweep of his large sleeve.
A grayish-white pearl in the void immediately flew into his sleeve.
Although he had decided to break through in the outside world, establishing the fact of Qing Hezi's late Void Amalgamation, Fang Xi had naturally prepared in advance.
The protection from the Yellow Springs Heavenly Ghost was merely the most insignificant part of his preparations.
Demonic qi surged majestically, returning to Tianyuan City.
The many cultivators had already been alarmed by the immense commotion. Now, led by numerous high-grade cultivators, they stood along the roadside. Upon seeing Fang Xi's escape light, they immediately bowed, their voices rising in an incredibly grand chorus: "Congratulations, Senior Qing Hezi, on advancing to late Void Amalgamation!"
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