Chapter 366

Time.

When you are decadent and bored, in the afternoon, after drinking, half-asleep, time slips away in the blink of an eye, vanishing without a trace, so you can't catch up even if you chase.

But when you have something on your mind, pressure, tension, anticipation, strong desire, your spirit focuses, your attention unprecedentedly concentrates on one thing, you will find that every second feels extraordinarily long.

The two black-clothed elders, Lu Yun, the four Hua Yun siblings, and even Wu Tie.

Eight people stared fixedly at the water-fire gourd.

Time drifted slowly, bit by bit, extremely slowly sliding past before them.

Everyone's heart burned with fire; they wished to kick time's butt, to make it roll away from before them as fast as possible. But the more fire in their hearts, the slower time's crawl became, slower and slower...

The water-fire lethal qi continuously surged out from the 408 big and small holes, then turned into wisps of black-red mist, constantly absorbed by the water-fire gourd.

The thin vines moved without wind, tugging the water-fire gourd to sway back and forth within a radius of dozens of zhang.

Suddenly, at the root of this vine stretching a thousand li, a point of light welled up. Then slowly, this thread of light gradually spread along the vine, bit by bit, extremely slowly extending outward.

On the thousand-li vine, countless gourd leaves of various sizes lightly swayed—black, red, black-red mixed, constantly changing color—threads of clear, quasi-substantial Dao resonance sprayed from the leaves, gradually forming a black dragon, a red dragon, and a black-red intertwined long dragon that slowly coiled around the vine.

The black dragon, the rumbling, the black-red long dragon were each ten thousand zhang long, their scales vivid and lifelike.

Water, fire, and the thunderous power born from their clash—these three heavenly laws appeared so clearly before everyone. Each twist and coil of the three dragons, every opening and closing of their scales, deepened everyone's insight into water, fire, and thunder by leaps and bounds.

This is opportunity.

Without tremendous luck, ordinary people cannot even smell the aura of an innate spiritual treasure.

If you can touch the edge of an innate spiritual treasure, it proves your luck is not bad; then even if you fail to seize it, you will surely gain some benefit.

An innate spiritual treasure guarding a clan can make that clan a hegemonic colossus. Moreover, if one chance-encounter absorbs the treasure's aura, they can easily produce a batch of masters with profound insight into the heavenly Dao.

Wu Tie hid in Lu Yun's hair strands, foolishly 'watching' the three dragons lightly dancing around the gourd vine.

As previously mentioned, whether in the ancient relics' scriptures or in the depictions, mighty divine figures hold dragons and serpents. Those dragons and serpents are incarnations formed by the condensation of the heavenly Dao controlled by the primordial gods.

These three dragons are the manifestation of the Dao represented by the water-fire gourd.

Intense, vivid Dao resonance rushed at him, with an imposing force that made it impossible for Wu Tie not to absorb or comprehend, it slammed into his soul and continually imprinted upon it.

In Wu Tie's vast life pool, it was already filled with mana crystals. Streams of light representing heavenly laws drifted slowly, among them the streams of metal, wood, water, fire, earth five-element power already faintly showed the shape of juvenile flood dragons.

As the water-fire gourd's three dragons manifested 'expounding the Dao,' the two flood dragons in Wu Tie's life pool corresponding to water and fire Dao suddenly solidified; on their already-formed bodies, clear scales rapidly sprouted.

Then, in the vast life pool, the stream of light representing thunder Dao rapidly solidified, soon a flood-dragon aspect burst forth, with threads of electricity nurtured in the light, and the flood dragon's body gradually took on dragon-scale patterns.

In Wu Tie's heart, the fifteen drops of five-element essence blood from the five Wu family Divine Realm ancestors, corresponding to pre- and post-heaven five-element power, simultaneously burst with blinding light, and rich Dao resonance surged from the fifteen differently colored essence blood drops.

Metal gives rise to water, water to wood, wood to fire, fire to earth, earth to metal...

Pre- and post-heaven, the five elements transform; stimulated by the three external Dao dragons and driven by the fifteen overwhelming Divine Realm essence blood within, Wu Tie's comprehension of the five-element Dao advanced at a terrifying pace, shooting straight ahead.

Wu Tie's cultivated Primordial Scripture, when he broke through the Chonglou Realm, had already merged all heavenly Dao into one furnace, fully contained within his heart.

However, when breaking through the Life Pool Realm, Wu Tie merely 'possessed' countless heavenly Dao, like a newborn baby whose personal treasury holds scriptures recording all mysteries of heaven and earth; he 'possessed' these heavenly Dao.

But to truly 'master' heavenly Dao, one still needs a process of digestion, absorption, integration, and gradual strengthening.

The cultivation of the Life Pool Realm means exactly this.

His understanding of the five-element Dao deepened continuously; soon Wu Tie's grasp of the five-element Dao reached the level of the five Wood Misters of that day. Driven by the fifteen drops of five-element essence blood, his mastery of the five-element Dao is now forcefully assaulting an invisible bottleneck.

Once broken through, Wu Tie's control over the five-element Dao will reach the state of 'flawless,' 'seamless,' 'boundless heaven and earth.'

Having those five-element essence blood is equivalent to having five Divine Realm Wu family ancestors forcibly shaping Wu Tie.

The bottleneck that had troubled the Wood Misters for who-knows-how-many years shattered explosively; Wu Tie's command of pre- and post-heaven five-element Dao instantly attained an ultimate perfect state.

In the life pool, Wu Tie's soul erupted with five-colored divine light, five vast streams of five-colored light shot upward from behind him like a splendid, gorgeous peacock tail.

In Wu Tie's life pool, as he coalesced the vast life pool, the phantom of the 'Creation Jade Butterfly' that had appeared without cause at the pool's bottom suddenly blazed with light.

The vague shadow of the Creation Jade Disc suddenly showed a hint of solidification; on the dim, lackluster projection of the Creation Jade Disc, five twisting, winding five-colored Dao patterns emerged, containing boundless heavenly secrets.

These five five-colored Dao patterns are each ten thousand li wide, stretching tens of thousands of li long, their aura lofty and majestic, like five giant dragons nearly filling the entire Creation Jade Butterfly.

Wu Tie's heart suddenly gave rise to an awakening.

With Xi Bu Bai's help, he in an extremely short time cultivated his mana to the utmost capacity the life pool could hold.

Now that pre- and post-heaven five-element Dao is complete, with Wu Tie's foundation, he can fully, easily push open the gate of the Embryo Storage Realm based on the five-element Dao.

Moreover, Wu Tie holds in his hand a tremendously powerful 'Five Elements True Explanation'; relying on this primordial secret from bloodline memory, once he condenses a divine fetus, his strength in the Embryo Storage Realm will absolutely be that of a peak powerhouse, not inferior to those old monsters who have spent hundreds of years in that realm.

Wu Tie forcibly suppressed the urge to break through the realm.

The five-element Dao being perfected, the projection of the Creation Jade Butterfly suddenly underwent an anomaly.

Wu Tie was very curious; when he had comprehended all Dao and imprinted all Dao patterns onto this Creation Jade Butterfly, what would it be like when he again breaks through the Embryo Storage Realm?

With his current foundation, even if the five Wood Misters of that day joined forces, he could easily handle them.

At this moment he can be considered a half-step into the Embryo Storage Realm, but his strength within that realm is also absolutely not weak.

With the five-element Dao perfected, countless profound and exquisite five-element secret arts naturally arose in his soul; the inexhaustible mysteries of metal, wood, water, fire, earth were like the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, instantly flooding his soul.

Wu Tie faintly felt a slight resonance with the three dragons ahead.

Wu Tie's heart suddenly surged with wild joy—he faintly sensed that in this underground space, his mastery of the five-element Dao was the deepest……his insight into the five-element Dao was a flawless boundless realm, whereas others, even if they had spent who-knows-how-many years in the Embryo Storage Realm like Hua Yun and company, either they did not specialize in the five-element Dao, or their Dao comprehension genuinely had flaws and omissions.

The water-fire gourd that had been swaying back and forth suddenly stopped.

He tugged the thin gourd vine, pointing straight toward Lu Yun's direction.

The three dragons formed from the Dao resonance of the great paths also simultaneously ceased their coiling and dancing; they turned their massive heads and stared fixedly at Lu Yun.

The treasure is sentient; the water-fire gourd sensed an interesting life form in Lu Yun's hair strands—his grasp of the five-element Dao had actually reached a flawless level.

This undoubtedly gave the water-fire gourd a tremendous attraction.

'Heh, hehe, hehehe!' Lu Yun's eyes blazed with fervent laughter: 'Two elders, this treasure, this treasure… surely my recent breakthrough in fire Dao insight perfectly matches the water-fire gourd's source power… he, he, he is taking a liking to me?'

The faces of the two black-clothed elders also shifted unpredictably.

One of the black-clothed elders fell silent for a moment, then swept his wide sleeve, and a dozen or so men in tight black clothing abruptly appeared.

'Ancestor!' Lu Yun shouted, a little embarrassed and angry.

"Shut up, what place is this, letting you shout loudly?" the black-clothed old man said in a deep voice: "Back then, that old ancestor sent back a message, explaining the innate nature of this treasure. Therefore, for a thousand years, our family has toiled bitterly, not hesitating to wipe out three aristocratic clans, and finally obtained a copy of the Water and Fire True Classic……"

the black-clothed old man said in a deep voice: "What are we doing? Isn't it just to let our clan members be able to harmonize with the supreme treasure's primordial power?"

"Lu Yan, you have earned merit, no doubt, but for the sake of smelting and forging, you have diligently cultivated fire techniques… you lack water, you lack water!" the black-clothed old man said in a deep voice: "So… their chances are greater than yours."

the black-clothed old man said coldly: "Just now in my sleeve, perhaps it had some influence on your comprehension of the Dao…… now, you should be more careful, more cautious, more diligent. Lu Yan can make the supreme treasure sense something; you are the talents our family has painstakingly cultivated over these hundreds of years, you should also be able to."

Lu Yan clenched his fists, and the joints of his whole body crack-cracked continuously.

But after a while, he slumped and exhaled a breath, then nodded firmly: "Everything, for the family."

Lu Yan stood up, turned to look at the four Hua Yun: "In that case, old ancestor, I will come to protect the Dharma for the brothers."

The two black-clothed old men also stood up, they solemnly nodded, and likewise turned to look at Hua Yun and the others.

"We are old in age, and our cultivation method does not match the water and fire power. These youths have cultivated the Water and Fire True Classic since childhood; if this treasure is to choose a master, it should be among the youths our clan has carefully selected."

The two black-clothed old men smiled at the Hua Yun quartet, whose faces were extremely grim: "Hua family, even if you discover our actions, what then? You are unprepared; our chances are still somewhat greater than yours."

One black-clothed old man shouted a warning: "Don't even think about killing our clan's youths…… we two brothers can definitely drag you down to die together. Let me tell you, we come from the Great Wei Divine Kingdom's Heavenly Patrol Secret Guard…… exchanging lives for lives, we are professionals."

The Hua Yun quartet were shocked and moved, and they all rose to their feet.

They looked at each other, Hua Yun gave a cold snort and nodded firmly: "No rush, no rush, let's talk after the treasure matures. Hehe, Heavenly Patrol Secret Guard, you have great gall…… no wonder those outsiders have such terrifying combat power."

Hua Xue curled her lips and said gently: "However, don't underestimate my Hua family—who will win the deer is still uncertain. After all, we have four people, while you only have two."

Lu Yan clenched his fist and slammed his chest hard, shouting loudly: "Three!"

Hua Xue raised her eyebrows, gave Lu Yan a disdainful glance: "Just you? Grandma will kick your balls to pieces—do you even count as one?"

Lu Yan was so angry that the veins on his forehead throbbed wildly.

One black-clothed old man said indifferently: "What's the point of verbal sparring? Lu Yan, why bother arguing with an…… 'old' woman?"

The black-clothed old man emphasized the character "old".

Hua Xue's face instantly turned extremely grim, her whole body trembling; obviously, if she weren't wary of the Water and Fire Gourd that was pregnant, she would have already rushed forward to fight the black-clothed old man to the death.

Altogether, eighteen black-clothed old men from the clan lined up in a row, sitting cross-legged in the void, their eyes wide and round, staring at the three long dragons that had begun to coil and dance again.

The Water and Fire Gourd continued to sway with the thin vines, gradually a bit of strange spiritual light drifted out from it.

Below the gourd vine, a large sheet of spiritual light quickly surged upward; at this speed, it would take only a dozen or so days to illuminate the entire vine.

Calculating the time, when this thousand-li-high vine is fully illuminated, that will be the moment the Water and Fire Gourd matures.

Time trickled away bit by bit.

The Hua Yun quartet and the Lu Yan trio confronted each other in midair.

When there was still one shichen left before the Water and Fire Gourd matured, they had already simultaneously unleashed their strongest defensive treasures, wrapping themselves completely from head to toe.

Spiritual light surged upward along the gourd vine.

Fragrance filled the entire cave, and the strong Dao resonance poured directly into everyone's bodies through their pores, greatly enhancing everyone's perception of water, fire, and thunder.

Ten……

Nine……

Eight……

………………

Three……

Two……

One……

The Water and Fire Gourd suddenly detached from the vines and floated lightly in midair.

Three long dragons let out a long whistle, and one head plunged into the fist-sized water-fire gourd.