Chapter 172: Tribulation Approaches and Reveals Itself; To Forge Iron, One Must Be Strong Oneself [Revised] [3k]

Fang Longye did not care whether this Peng Zu was finding an excuse to gift him an opportunity, or if he truly had some unspeakable hidden trouble.

Facing a transaction where he felt he was taking great advantage, he naturally would not refuse.

Just like that, without much entanglement, the transaction was completed with ease.

Host and guest parted ways, both fully satisfied.

Afterwards.

The journey was silent.

Passing through the Space Teleportation Array, Fang Longye and his two servants returned to the previously visited Immortal Island.

After all, there was still a Grotto-Heaven here for which he had paid ten years of rent! Inside the rented Grotto-Heaven.

A mist of clouds and haze swirled, scattering radiance that glinted off the beast-faced roof tiles of the surrounding buildings, sparse and scattered, possessing a sense of clarity and cleanliness.

Amidst the pavilions and towers, pines and bamboos were interspersed, their branches and leaves lush, green clouds drifting slowly.

A spirit bird with a long tail perched on the roof ridge, preening its feathers, occasionally letting out a clear, bright cry that carried far.

A pill pond contained blooming lotus flowers, cranes called with clear tones, and beneath the treasure trees, frost-covered stones were dotted about, with moss leaving traces on the pines.

Fang Longye rubbed the fragment of Jian Wood in his hand, tapping it with his index finger, causing five-colored divine light to bloom.

He intended to use it to exchange for a fragment of the World Tree from the Immortal World.

But he also wanted to keep a portion of the Jian Wood fragment to allow his Companion Spiritual Root, Xun Wood, to absorb the Dharma and creation within it, transforming its essence.

This required splitting it into two halves.

"It's just, it's not easy to do!"

He had tried again and again just now, attempting almost every method, but it was nearly impossible to split this piece of Jian Wood in two.

However, this was not surprising.

Facing a piece of Azure Dragon Wood, he had no way to break even a bit of its skin, and could only rely on the secret technique for refining his Companion Spiritual Root to let Xun Wood solve it itself.

Let alone this second-generation Jian Wood fragment, which in the words of Peng Zu was no less than some Innate Spiritual Roots.

At this moment, a flash of inspiration struck, and he remembered the Tengkong Sword that was almost nothing but a hilt.

With a flick of his right hand, the foot-long broken Tengkong Sword appeared in his hand.

"Sure enough—"

Fang Longye said with delight.

Although only seven or eight inches of the blade remained, and he was not a Human King capable of activating this holy object, the material itself was already sharp enough.

Without needing Dharma power to drive it, he used the mortal method of chopping vegetables to easily slice the Jian Wood fragment open.

He put the broken Tengkong Sword away again.

Without hesitation, he sank his consciousness into his Golden Finger, 'Dengjie Taiping', and exchanged the larger half of the separated Jian Wood fragment for a World Tree fragment from the Immortal World.

Looking at the piece of wood in his hand that resembled dead wood, a smile appeared on Fang Longye's face; now his Companion Spiritual Root, Xun Wood, would truly make great progress.

He was just about to perform the secret refining technique.

Fang Longye's heart gave a warning, and he frowned, looking above his own head, and immediately felt a mouthful of old blood about to spray out!

"Damn it! Sure enough, in this mythological world, those five words are truly demonic."

Fuck your mother, Shen Gongbao! It was you who started this bad trend.

Fang Longye cursed loudly! He saw a massive amount of black and red Aura surging from the void, practically endless, exuding an ominous meaning.

"Tribulation Aura!"

Fang Longye gritted his teeth and said.

He saw these Tribulation Auras rushing toward his pillar of destiny like a tide.

If not for the fact that he had cultivated Great Divine Abilities related to Heavenly Secrets, such as 'Return to Heaven and Reverse the Sun' and 'Reverse Knowing the Future'.

And having the 'Equivalent Balance' that could trade with other worlds by his side, making the Primordial World look at him differently.

I am afraid his mind would have long since been obscured.

He would never have been able to sense something wrong on a whim as he did now, and thus perceive a certain future.

Fang Longye activated the 'Creation Purifying World Bead', which shone brilliantly, and a sense of mental clarity emerged.

Yet, these purifying radiances fell upon the mass of Tribulation Aura like sinking into mud, with no reaction at all.

Fang Longye stared at the clusters of Tribulation Aura above his head, stretching endlessly, and an epiphany arose in his heart.

The Tribulation Aura was black and red in color.

Among them, the black Tribulation Aura was transformed from the Outer Tribulation.

The red Tribulation Aura was the killing tribulation brought down by the interaction between heaven and man, triggered by various calamities of internal and external tribulations.

The 'Heavenly Immortal Path' was itself a path of seizing the creation of heaven and earth, and he had cultivated several techniques to Reverse Innate, so he already had heavy internal tribulations.

Once encountering an Outer Tribulation, it was immediately triggered, forming an unchangeable calamity.

Facing this situation, the path of cultivation had a specific term to explain it—Tribulation.

As the saying goes, Tribulation is hard to escape. This kind of killing tribulation triggered by an Outer Tribulation was almost impossible to avoid.

One could only resist with force and face the calamity directly.

Fortunately, as long as he did not leave Penglai Xiandao, the Tribulation would not descend upon him.

Fang Longye looked at the various Tribulation Auras appearing from the void in all directions above his head, and after some calculation, he reached this conclusion.

Yet, there was not a trace of joy on his face.

Tribulation, Tribulation; if one could escape it just by acting like a turtle, would it still be called a Tribulation? Not to mention that blindly hiding would likely breed even greater calamities, the mere act of fleeing from a disaster would deal a severe blow to his Dao heart.

A ruthless look appeared in Fang Longye's eyes: "Who exactly wants me dead?"

Upon realizing that this was a Tribulation formed by the triggering of an Outer Tribulation, the first person Fang Longye thought of was that pretty boy, Ao Chun.

The key was that, based on his karmic entanglement with him, he performed a calculation and discovered it was not him.

Not to mention Ao Chun, he even performed a divination on Long Xuan, who was by the side of that pretty boy Ao Chun.

Unfortunately, perhaps because he knew too little and had too few connections, he did not glean much.

He only vaguely sensed that before long, there would be some entanglement with her. "Could it be her?"

Fang Longye lowered his eyes in contemplation.

While he was pondering, the black and red Tribulation Qi gathered, forming a cloud of tribulation.

One could see crimson blood-red light overflowing within the black cloud vapor, outlining itself like seal script, moving freely.

As they collided, a thunderous boom that no one else could hear resonated both inside and out.

The brush fell with thunder, the ink ground with strange colors.

Wandering across the sky, omnipresent.

The Tribulation had officially taken shape; there was no avoiding it.

Facing the changes in the Tribulation, Fang Longye's mind instead became increasingly calm.

Of the Great Expansion of fifty, one escapes.

In the Honghuang world, there has never been a tribulation that leads to certain death; a glimmer of survival always remains.

"Heh—"

Fang Longye chuckled, his voice cold and clear, murmuring to himself: "Ever since I met the great Hongyun, I've been used to smooth sailing. Now that I've encountered such a small difficulty, I'm already flustered?"

"If so, how can I achieve great things?"

He looked at the fragment of Jian Wood and the fragment of the World Tree in his hand, smiled, and immediately cast them into his own celebration cloud.

As they drifted, they were surrounded by tens of thousands of seal scripts that were neither bird nor fish, accompanied by the sounds of dragon roars and phoenix cries, and were refined one by one.

To forge iron, one must be strong oneself.

Although he could not blindly hide, it did not mean he would not be given time to prepare carefully.

At present, various planned cultivation matters were yet to be decided, and there was still plenty of time.

……

After some refining, Fang Longye cast the Jian Wood fragment and the World Tree fragment entirely into the Grotto-Heaven within his body.

"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle—"

Do not be deceived; although this World Tree fragment from the Immortal World appeared withered and decayed, it actually contained infinite vitality.

As soon as it touched the Creation Spirit Spring beneath the Xun Wood, it immediately sprouted new buds, and even delicate roots began to form.

Withered wood meets spring!

It began to continuously absorb the Creation Spring water, and its roots even intertwined, wanting to take root in the Xun Wood and usurp its position.

Unfortunately, not to mention that it was only a fragment—though its essence was extremely high, it lacked the power to sustain itself.

Merely by being refined through secret techniques, it was naturally suppressed by the Xun Wood, which Fang Longye had nurtured as his Companion Spiritual Root, and it was forced to bow its head.

In an instant, this revived World Tree fragment was suppressed by the Xun Wood beneath its aerial roots, taking root within it, absorbing its creation, and melting down its characteristics.

As for the Jian Wood fragment, it was naturally the same.

Even though its main body belonged to the second-generation Jian Wood planted by Fuxi when he ascended to heaven as an emperor, it had a long and profound history.

Even its main body had long since mutated through the baptism of endless Merit and Luck, making it no less than some Innate Spiritual Roots.

But after all, it was only a small fragment, and having been refined by secret techniques, it had no way to resist the Xun Wood's plundering of its creation and characteristics.

Even with the Azure Dragon Wood included, as the three divine wood fragments struggled and counterattacked without a moment's rest, the Xun Wood standing in Fang Longye's Grotto-Heaven still firmly absorbed their creation and Dharma.

Fearless of hardship, never ceasing.

Crack, crack—

As the Xun Wood Spiritual Root continuously absorbed the creation of the three divine wood fragments, especially the newly added Jian Wood and World Tree fragments.

The power of space permeated, coming from the roots.

Surging upward to everything.

Seeping into every bit of the wood.

Every inch, every fraction, none were spared. As time passed, the Xun Wood Spiritual Root began to undergo miraculous changes.

It grew taller section by section, already reaching about one hundred thousand zhang.

Reaching up to the clouds and sky, casting shade to the four poles, it stood in the center of the earth, carrying the momentum of supporting the heavens, suppressing the entire Grotto-Heaven.

Whoosh, whoosh—

The Xun Wood Spiritual Root happily swayed its branches, forming a pleasant Dao Rhyme.

Under the permeation of the Dao Rhyme, the power of space within the Xun Wood was continuously generated, penetrating into every part of the Spiritual Root.

Inside and outside the Xun Wood, spatial rule patterns formed like substance, twisting and coiling, like a dragon yet not a dragon.

Roots, trunk, branches, leaves, bark, and so on—within the Xun Wood Spiritual Root, every inch and every fraction was not left out, fine and dense, thick and numerous.

As soon as it appeared, it immediately connected everything, and in the dark, it resonated with the earth, the ocean, the firmament, and the entire Grotto-Heaven.

In an instant, within the Grotto-Heaven, one space after another that had never appeared before was forcibly opened up, dotted around the perimeter of the Grotto-Heaven boundary.

Connected through the Xun Wood Spiritual Root.

These spaces, together with the spaces previously formed within Fang Longye's body, tens of thousands in total, exerted force together, absorbing the spiritual energy and Dao Rhyme of Penglai Xiandao from across the void.

Through the transformation of the Xun Wood, it formed a kind of inexplicable Qi, chaotic and formless, lonely and silent.

It was also extremely faint, continuous and unending.

Difficult to describe, yet truly existing.

Once this Qi emerged, it immediately wandered throughout the entire internal Grotto-Heaven.

From top to bottom, from left to right, the six directions of the universe, any hill, marsh, ocean, and so on, none were missed.

Fang Longye's mind was immersed, watching with bright, piercing eyes.

He discovered that these inexplicable auras contained majestic energy, and wherever they reached, they elevated the already profound Grotto-Heaven to yet another level.

Evidently, his own Companion Spiritual Root had not yet fully smelted the Dharma of creation within the fragments of the Building Wood and the World Tree.

But in the end, it could be considered to have already possessed a trace of the characteristics of these two divine trees, allowing it to exert similar abilities.

(End of chapter)