Chapter 194: Two Spirit Branches Enter the Grotto-Heaven; Requesting Assistance to Refine a Divine Weapon

Sky light and cloud shadows linger all around.

Tree shade covers the ground, now warm, now bright.

Fang Longye is sitting cross-legged on a piece of green rock, carefully refining the newly transformed Two Instruments Divine Gourd; beneath the rock, green vines grow in clusters, and mountain mist swirls.

The surrounding clouds are dense and thick, layered one upon another.

It is precisely at this moment that the sky suddenly pulls open, and amidst the swirling colors, the two spirit woods sent by Lu Ya Dao Ren fall down, accompanied by his hearty laughter.

Fang Longye suddenly raises his head, hurriedly puts down his work, stands up to receive the two spirit branches, and without rushing to examine them closely, first bows in gratitude toward the void.

Only then does he turn around, return to his original spot to sit, and lower his head to inspect the two spirit branches in his hands.

The two spirit branches, one crimson gold and one cyan white, both radiate brilliant light.

Though both appear only the size of chopsticks, in reality, this is the result of Lu Ya using his Dharma power to shrink them. If one were to speak of their actual size, it would not be an exaggeration to measure them in tens of thousands of zhang.

Once in hand, the spirit branches are as heavy as mountains.

The one with the dense crimson gold color is the branch of the Innate Spiritual Root Fusang Wood, and the one with the swirling cyan and white colors is naturally the branch from the Innate Spiritual Root Laurel Tree.

Even while under the seal of Lu Ya's Dharma power, these two Innate Spiritual Root branches still exude a trace of power, interacting with the surroundings.

It illuminates the area, making it seem dreamlike and illusory.

The Dao Rhyme is dense, like the fine, smoky rain of early spring, hazy and indistinct, and also like the color of banana leaves quietly emerging in the night, seemingly present yet absent.

Not rushing to process these two spirit branches, he just carefully puts them away and continues to refine the Two Instruments Divine Gourd within the celebration clouds above his head.

Who knows how much time has passed.

Suddenly, there is a roar of water and stone.

The celebration clouds above surge and roll incessantly, as if a thousand waters were rushing forth, crashing against rocks to create snow.

Suddenly, light shoots upward a hundred feet, then scatters in all directions, forming a canopy of tassels, condensing without dissipating, supporting a Red Jade Gourd aloft.

The surrounding void is, in an instant, filled with Divine Light and auspicious mist. Between the clouds and water, strange phenomena appear one after another.

The flowing light and overflowing colors are like countless golden scales coming from all directions, connecting into a single expanse, with strips of golden patterns that are truly radiant.

Fang Longye feels the changes in the Two Instruments Divine Gourd and nods and smiles incessantly.

He neither forms a hand seal nor pinches an incantation.

With just a thought, the Red Jade Gourd above his head suddenly flies out, its brilliant light winding into patterns, as if a divine dragon were raising its head and chanting.

Following closely, it spins round and round.

The mouth of the gourd opens, trembles slightly, and an inexplicable light pours out.

It emerges inch by inch, spreading silently and soundlessly, evolving into bizarre and grotesque scenes, cycles of birth and destruction.

Clear Qi rises, Turbid Qi sinks, the Taiji appears, the Two Instruments are formed, the Four Symbols emerge, the Five Elements rotate, the Eight Trigrams evolve, and all things are brought into being.

A scene of flourishing vitality.

Afterward, in an instant, the sun and moon collapse, mountains and rivers sink, and the sky and earth fall.

An indescribable murderous intent permeates and fills the universe.

The originally clear and bright world, stained by the Aura of this Spirit Treasure, immediately becomes flickering and unstable, swaying as if about to fall.

"Haha! Not bad~"

Fang Longye gathers everything in, summons the Two Instruments Divine Gourd back, holds it in his hands, and strokes it incessantly, unable to put it down.

His eyes are filled with joy.

With only thirty-six Post-Heaven Divine Prohibitions, it already possesses power comparable to a Supreme Spiritual Treasure.

It was worth all his painstaking effort.

But come to think of it, this is actually all thanks to the extraordinary material of this Spirit Treasure. Even before it reached the perfection of a Superior Spiritual Treasure, its power was already not inferior to a Superior Spiritual Treasure at the perfection level.

Now that it has reached the perfection level of a Superior Spiritual Treasure, it has naturally gone a step further and possesses power comparable to a Supreme Spiritual Treasure.

Of course, only some weak Supreme Spiritual Treasures. After all, even the Innate Spiritual Treasure Zhanxian Gourd is only at the supreme level.

However, this is already very good.

The current Two Instruments Divine Gourd can not only cultivate and refine spiritual pills and miraculous medicines, but also swallow and suppress enemies, and can even exert an effect similar to the Slashing Immortal Flying Knife.

Its wonderful uses are numerous; it is truly profound and extraordinary.

After playing with the Two Instruments Divine Gourd, which has achieved the perfection of a Superior Spiritual Treasure, in his hands for a while, Fang Longye gradually calms his mind.

Only then does he shift his attention to the Fusang spirit branch and the Laurel spirit branch, these two treasures.

Fang Longye strokes the two chopstick-sized Spiritual Root branches in his hands, his heart surging.

These two divine objects were both things he had previously asked Lu Ya Dao Ren for.

He had originally harbored the thought of "taking a shot at it regardless of whether there are dates or not," but he never expected to actually obtain them from Lu Ya~ With a wave of his finger, the two spirit branches are immediately pulled into his own Grotto-Heaven.

Rumble—

As the two spirit branches enter his internal Grotto-Heaven, the seals Lu Ya Dao Ren had placed upon them immediately dissolve.

The two spirit branches, which had been the length and thickness of chopsticks, suddenly swell, restoring their original appearance.

Whether it is the Fusang Wood Spirit Branch or the Laurel Wood Spirit Branch, both have a length of hundreds of thousands of zhang, and their girth is immeasurable.

Falling into the Grotto-Heaven, they truly blot out the sky and sun, which is incredibly shocking.

Fang Longye looks at these two divine objects, so happy he doesn't know what to say.

One can only say that this Lu Ya is truly a good friend.

These two spirit branches were both cut from the first generation of Innate Spiritual Roots. Even the Fusang Wood branch is no exception.

Come to think of it, setting aside the distinction between Innate and Post-Heaven, the Fusang Wood branch in his hand belongs to the second generation of Fusang Wood, just like the Fusang sub-tree in Tang Valley.

With such a pearl and jade as an example, one can understand the value of these two spirit branches based on their potential alone.

"So big~ Let me think about how to process them?"

"Got it!"

Fang Longye immediately cast the newly refined Two Instruments Divine Gourd into the Grotto-Heaven within his own body.

Afterward, he drove it with all his might.

Instantly, a frost-white divine radiance sprayed forth from the Two Instruments Divine Gourd, resembling a Taiji fish.

It shook its head and wagged its tail, circling the two spiritual branches spanning the void of his internal Grotto-Heaven, swimming back and forth, drifting uncertainly.

In an instant.

Crack, crack, crack—

A continuous sound emerged, like rain hitting banana leaves; at the beginning, it was merely a fine rain, leaving the leaves full of verdant green.

A moment later, the sound became increasingly rapid, striking upon them with startling noise.

Before long.

Whether it was the Fusang spiritual branch or the Moon Laurel spiritual branch, both were severed, deliberately cut into five segments of varying sizes and lengths.

Gazing at the result that had emerged according to his own wishes, Fang Longye smiled, his mind stirred, and he put away the Two Instruments Divine Gourd.

Afterward, he cast the topmost segments of the two spiritual branches—the branches full of flowers and leaves—into the illusory Sun Star and Lunar Star within his internal Grotto-Heaven, respectively.

As the Fusang Wood branch settled into the Sun Star and the Moon Laurel Wood branch settled into the Lunar Star, the sun and moon, which had previously been mere illusory projections, instantly condensed into substance.

The entire Grotto-Heaven leaped for joy.

However~

Perhaps because the starry sky, which had been entirely an illusory projection, suddenly gained two substantial suns and moons.

Coupled with the fact that these were branches of the two Innate Spiritual Roots, Fusang Wood and Moon Laurel, taking root within it, the dome of the sky instantly became incomparably heavy.

Fang Longye immediately felt his internal Grotto-Heaven becoming somewhat top-heavy.

Fortunately, it was not particularly obvious, just a subtle bit. If he were not the master of the Grotto-Heaven, he likely would not have felt it at all.

After all, his internal Grotto-Heaven was, indirectly speaking, formed from the origin of the Dinghai Divine Pearl. The three characteristics of solidity, heaviness, and stability were perfectly embodied in his internal Grotto-Heaven.

His internal Grotto-Heaven was born with super-strong stability.

Otherwise, he would not have dared to use branches of Innate Spiritual Roots to evolve the sun and moon and enhance the foundation of the Qian aspect while still at the Grotto-Heaven level.

In an ordinary Grotto-Heaven, if one were to do as he did, the Grotto-Heaven would have long since collapsed due to the imbalance of heaven and earth.

"Fortunately, it is only a slight imbalance of heaven and earth. It is very easy to solve~"

Not to mention anything else, the list of treasures gifted to him by Lu Ya alone contained many items that could resolve this kind of trouble.

He casually cast several streams of light into the earth within the Grotto-Heaven, causing the heaven and earth within the Grotto-Heaven to regain their balance.

Afterward, Fang Longye gazed at the four sets of spiritual branches floating in the void.

He selected one segment from each and cast them toward the Xun Wood at the center of the Grotto-Heaven, letting it suppress them and attempt to melt and absorb them.

However, looking at the Green Dragon Wood and Jian Wood suppressed beneath the roots of the Xun Wood, which had only shrunk by one-tenth,

Fang Longye felt that for his own Xun Wood Spirit Root to completely melt the Fusang spiritual branch and Moon Laurel spiritual branch, he was afraid he would have a long wait.

Furthermore, he kept a pair of the thickest and longest branches, one Fusang and one Moon Laurel.

He stored the remaining two sets, intending to use one set to melt into his own body and the other to trade through his Golden Finger.

It is evident that his calculations were quite shrewd.

It is very clear that these two best remaining branches were ones Fang Longye had determined from the very beginning.

He had specifically cut them this way for other uses.

"Are you sure you want to melt these things into that divine weapon of yours?"

"That's right!"

Tang Valley Secret Realm.

A red-gold divine tree, appearing like a pillar supporting the sky, divided into two bodies, born from the same root, leaning against each other, reaching straight into the darkness, winding and bending downward.

It was precisely the Fusang Wood branch, which was only slightly smaller than the main body perched on the Sun Star.

Its branches swayed, scattering tiny Golden Flowers and jade stamens, falling slowly from top to bottom, appearing urgent yet actually leisurely.

Their brilliance was like flaming light, as if hanging lamps on either side, ringing with a bright sound, reflecting on Fang Longye's face, which was full of solemnity and determination.

Lu Ya sat cross-legged beneath the Fusang Wood, fiddling with the blooming flame lotus flowers all around, and after sizing Fang Longye up a few times, he reminded him: "A divine weapon is not the same as a Spirit Treasure~"

"No matter how strong a Spirit Treasure is, as long as one can refine even a tiny bit of its Restriction, one can use it without hindrance. At most, one can only exert a meager amount of its power, with no other worries."

"A divine weapon is different; it emphasizes being handy. Even if it matches your cultivation path, if it is too powerful, using it might end up hurting both yourself and others."

"I understand~" Fang Longye nodded, indicating he was clear on this, "Just like a child insisting on wielding a giant hammer~"

"Many thanks for your kind reminder, Senior; this junior understands this principle. Please rest assured, Senior~"

Fang Longye's eyes were bright, revealing the certainty of having thought things through.

Of course, he was well aware of this aspect.

A divine weapon has always emphasized handiness; one naturally pursues power, but it must conform to one's own situation.

If it is too strong, not only will it be difficult to use, but it will also lead to a situation of "inflicting a thousand casualties on the enemy and suffering eight hundred oneself."

But how does that saying go?

Once you pass this village, you won't find this shop again.

If he did not seize the opportunity to ask this big shot, Lu Ya, to help him recast the Panlong Spear now,

God knows when he would be able to melt the broken Tengkong sword and the Tiger Soul Fragment into his own divine weapon. Relying on himself? By the time he could completely melt these two items—the most holy and most evil, the most yang and most yin—into the Panlong Spear,

the daylilies would have already wilted~

If there were only the Tiger Soul Fragment, Fang Longye would never consider melting it into his own divine weapon right now.

Because the Great Dao essence of Chiyou stained upon the Tiger Soul was too strong; it would absolutely affect the direction of the Great Dao his own divine weapon was taking.

The key was that he had also obtained the broken Tengkong sword. The combination of these two was too perfect for his Panlong Spear~

One Saint and one Demon, one righteous and one evil, one Yin and one Yang, one light and one dark, one clear and one turbid...

The two are mutually opposed yet unified.

Even the Dao essence of Chiyou stained upon the Tiger Soul Fragment, under the scheme of smelting the three into one, turned from a disadvantage into an advantage.

It could just happen to neutralize the Dao essence of Zhuanxu stained upon the broken Tengkong Sword.

As for what to do if the Panlong Spear became too formidable after smelting these two divine objects, making it awkward for Fang Longye to wield and causing a backlash every time he used it? At worst, he would just treat it as a trump card for the time being; using the Cai Xian Sword, Two Instruments Divine Gourd, and the like in daily life would be enough.

Lu Ya Daoist saw Fang Longye like this and was noncommittal: "Since you are clear about it, then that is fine~"

With a casual point forward, a Dao platform with rising red clouds emerged.

"Place all these things in your hands onto this!"

Fang Longye immediately stepped forward and laid out the broken Tengkong Sword, the Tiger Soul Fragment, along with the two segments of Fusang spirit branch and Moon Laurel spirit branch he had specially intercepted, one by one.

"Right, also bring your divine weapon and place it over here as well!"

Without hesitation, he followed the instructions obediently, immediately summoned the Panlong Spear, and placed it on the Dao platform.

Lu Ya Daoist saw that he had placed them well, then reached out and pointed downward, and a strange jade pool, spinning round and round, emerged.

The jade pool was not large, with a diameter of only about three zhang.

Looking closely, inside were cinnabar clouds and bright radiance, flowing gold surpassing fire, appearing both real and illusory.

Golden flames settled in the pool, without the restlessness of rising, with a strange calmness.

Lu Ya Daoist stretched, then directly threw the broken Tengkong Sword, the Tiger Soul Fragment, and Fang Longye's Panlong Spear into the pool.

Splash—

As if a stone had fallen into water, the fire pool, which had been as clear as water ripples, instantly produced ripples of its own, circling and spreading outward, rising with red-gold flame brilliance.

The light shone all around, dazzling to the eyes.

The force rushing toward his face turned everything above, below, left, and right into a sheet of red gold.

The brilliant radiance condensed, bright and scorching; for a moment, Fang Longye could see nothing else.

Beside his ears, he only heard the sound of flames rising within the fire pool, as if the flames of the entire world had gathered here.

Before his eyes, there was only light, allowing for nothing else.

Even with his 'Seeing Through Walls' divine ability and the enhancement of his pupil technique, he still could not see anything else; before his eyes, there was only eerie light.

Fang Longye suddenly gained an insight.

Light and darkness are born as one.

If there is only light, then light is an alternative form of darkness. Just as he could only see light before his eyes and nothing else, what difference did this have from darkness? Just at this moment, he heard Lu Ya shout: "The heat is sufficient, I ask the little friend to release blood to douse it!"

The voice was grand, as if it were the sound of the Dao.

Instantly.

His vision returned to normal, and he hurriedly looked toward the fire pool.

(End of this chapter)