Chapter 433

The huge-bodied Earth Sprite Elder slowly and carefully rose to his feet, fearing that even a slight movement would send the nearby Elders flying.

All the other Elders rose simultaneously, chanting incantations, forming hand seals, and shot a five-colored divine light at the Earth Sprite Elder.

The Earth Sprite Elder, whose true form stood nearly a thousand zhang tall and whose aura was vast and terrifying, let out a low growl; his body emitted a grating 'squeak' that made teeth ache, and under the pressure of the five-colored divine light, he shrank bit by bit.

The smaller his body became, the deeper its color grew.

After a little over a quarter hour, with over a hundred Elders panting slightly from exhaustion, this Earth Elder's body was compressed to more than five zhang tall. Then, no matter how hard the other Elders tried, he had turned pitch‑black and could no longer be compressed even a bit.

「Enough, enough! 」 the Earth Elder nodded satisfactorily: 「Easy, convenient, water girl, that fool you mentioned who plays with beads, I can smash him with one punch! 」

Wu Tie, concealed under the leaves, raised his brow: Could he actually smash himself with a single punch?

Hahaha, laughing three times, Wu Tie sprang from beneath the leaves, instantly taking human form, and laughed at the Earth Elder: 「One punch to kill me? Then, try taking a punch from me first! 」

He drew a deep breath.

Accompanied by a sound like a dragon's roar, Wu Tie's body seemed to become a black hole, as heavenly and earthly primordial energy from all directions frenziedly surged into him. The efficiency with which Wu Tie devoured heavenly and earthly primordial energy was so terrifying that even the bodies of all the Five Elements Spirit Elders in the valley suddenly darkened.

The five elemental forces within these Elders' bodies were actually forcibly stripped away by Wu Tie, each merging into his body.

Wu Tie's bones, which had remained unchanged for a long time, suddenly heated up. As the supremely pure five‑element essence poured in, his bones felt itchy and warm, his bones incessantly devouring the incoming five‑element essence, and, as if suddenly awakening, his entire skeleton began to absorb the immense medicinal power of the Nine‑turn Golden Pill in his abdomen.

Wu Tie's bones lit up, then ignited.

Heat waves rolled over his body, high temperature flowed within him, and his entire physique rapidly strengthened under the scouring of the heat current.

Seeing Wu Tie suddenly pop up, Shui Qianjian stared blankly, then pointed at Wu Tie and shouted: 「It's him, it's him, that strange bead, it's his! 」

In the valley, over a hundred Elders cried out in unison.

The devouring power emanating from Wu Tie's body was terrifying to the extreme; even the five‑element essence within them was siphoned off a little by Wu Tie. For the Five Elements Spirit Elders, who mastered their aura perfectly like an indestructible vajra without a single leak, this was utterly impossible.

The Tree of Abundance recondensed its true form within Wu Tie's body; with no outsiders watching, Wu Tie unleashed the Tree of Abundance's power without restraint.

The Tree of Abundance's efficiency in absorbing any energy could be called terrifying; no matter how masterfully these Elders commanded their own energy, they could not withstand the Tree of Abundance's devouring force.

Numerous Elders fled in shock.

Merely standing beside Wu Tie for a short while, they lost at least one percent of their cultivation, and two to three percent of their origin essence; this horrifying state left these Elders astonished and at a loss for how to respond.

Only that Earth Elder whose body had been compressed to under five zhang tall surged forward, raining down a barrage of meteor punches on Wu Tie's head. Even when swinging with ordinary force, the Earth Elder kept muttering.

「One punch will kill you, two punches will kill you, three or four punches will kill you, five or six punches will blast you! 」

Wu Tie's entire skeleton burst forth with terrifying heat and intense light; in that instant, his flesh and blood became nearly translucent, allowing a vague view of the outline of his whole skeleton through his body.

A Nine‑turn Golden Pill that Wu Tie had absorbed over several months, yet had only consumed a small portion of its medicinal power, was now gulped down in one bite by his bones at this very moment, and then a scorching, pure, extremely dense heat current instantly surged through his entire body……

The Nine‑turn Profound Technique actually showed signs of a breakthrough.

Wu Tie forcibly suppressed the breakthrough impulse, forcibly holding his cultivation at the half‑step Embryo Storage Realm.

He drove this heat current into his entire physique; his flesh, nerves, tendons, organs, brain marrow, bone marrow, and every other bodily tissue were, in that instant, forcibly enhanced by two to three levels of strength by the wondrous heat current surging from his bones.

Wu Tie wore no armor.

When the heat current flooded his whole body, Wu Tie felt a wave of numbness and was temporarily unable to move.

Thud thud thud, the Earth Elder's fist, the size of a small house, slammed heavily into Wu Tie's body.

This was a power beyond ordinary, beyond imagination, beyond reason—terrifying. Wu Tie was struck until his vision went black and he fainted outright. The heavy punch landed on his body, instantly cracking his flesh and blood with countless fissures, his flesh nearly tearing away from his bones and exploding.

At that very moment, the heat current produced when Wu Tie's bones absorbed and transformed the Nine‑turn Golden Pill surged through his entire body.

The flesh on the verge of shattering healed instantly, as if an invisible giant hand had grasped Wu Tie's body and firmly kneaded it, forcibly smoothing out his terrible wounds all over.

His bodily strength increased by two to three levels, and his flesh and blood all emitted a lustrous glow.

The Earth Elder's fourth, fifth, and sixth punches fell like meteors, striking Wu Tie's body squarely and issuing a deep, thunderous boom.

Wu Tie stood unmoving, like a nail firmly driven into the ground.

Behind him, several dozen Earth Elders held hand seals, chanting incantations with a faint strange grin as they watched Wu Tie.

The ground beneath Wu Tie's feet, or rather, the entire valley floor, turned into a smooth, hard piece of yellow jade. The ground became extremely smooth and extremely hard; when the Earth Elder's heavy punch struck Wu Tie, the friction of his soles against the ground sent out large sparks.

This group of Earth Elders was very experienced—they feared that if one of their companions punched Wu Tie as if driving a nail into the ground, the damage Wu Tie suffered would be reduced manifold.

So they turned the ground into hard yellow jade… thus, the Earth Elder's heavy punch would make Wu Tie bear the full force squarely, with no hope of evading even a shred.

Wu Tie's body remained unmoving, enduring the Earth Elder's heavy punches; not only was he uninjured, but more heat current surged from his bones, and his body grew stronger at an even faster rate.

Having been knocked unconscious by a single punch, yet the instant the heat current flooded his whole body, Wu Tie awoke again.

Facing the heavy punch descending upon his head, Wu Tie straightened his body, submitting to the Earth Elder's heavy punch striking him, then he produced the remaining two Nine‑turn Golden Pills and swallowed these top‑grade elixirs specially refined to aid cultivation of the Nine‑turn Profound Technique.

The heavy punch was the best catalyst.

Wu Tie's bones emitted a 'crack crack' sound; this was the immense pressure and injury inflicted by the Earth Elder's heavy punch.

Wu Tie's bones had mutated into a mysterious existence even he himself could not fathom; after gulping down the two Nine‑turn Golden Pills, under the threat of the heavy punch his bones burst forth with fireworks‑like splendid radiance, and an ever grander heat current continuously poured into his whole body, compelling his physique to steadily increase in strength and continually break through.

Time and again—hundreds of times—Wu Tie was on the verge of being unable to suppress a breakthrough of his realm; his soul and spirit burst forth with bright light, and on multiple occasions a breakthrough based on the Nine‑turn Profound Technique, unfolding naturally, would have elevated him to the Embryo Storage Realm.

Initially Wu Tie himself suppressed the breakthrough impulse; then came the Tree of Abundance, then the Tower of Rebirth, relying on two natal divine artifacts of Osiris, Wu Tie forcibly suppressed over two hundred breakthrough impulses.

Finally, when Wu Tie could no longer restrain that breakthrough force, the Water‑Fire Gourd and Water‑Fire Divine Spear within his body began to vibrate.

The Innate Spiritual Treasure's power was unmatched; the momentum of Wu Tie's realm breakthrough instantly collapsed, that immensely strong blast of breakthrough power was smashed into countless fragments, which were forcibly driven into his body.

Wu Tie drenched in sweat, his skin, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, tendons, five viscera and six bowels, brain marrow and bone marrow, all emitted a clear, gentle radiance like jade, serene and tranquil, flawless and majestic.

Suddenly, a strange thought arose in Wu Tie's mind.

At this moment his physical form resembled the exalted being of ancient legend, seated upon the immense divine throne atop Kunlun Mountain, his body pure bright jade without flaw, entwined with boundless divine light and limitless purple aura.

Like a deity.

With a 'crack', Wu Tie's outer skin split open; a half‑inch‑thick layer of dead skin, as translucent and flawless as diamond glass, shattered apart, then turned into a wisp of blue smoke that slowly rose into the void.

In the void, a wonderful fragrance permeated.

Wu Tie suddenly felt that his body contained boundless power… or rather, the conventional notion of 'magnitude of power' had, for him at this point, lost much of its meaning.

In short, the power he now possesses is strong, strong, extremely strong, abnormally strong.

Moreover, his bodily potential has been forcefully expanded to an absurd degree, so absurd that Wu Tie himself feels his physique is like a black hole, desperately in need of a massive energy infusion.

Wu Tie could clearly feel that his bones suddenly became interested in the five-element essence blood hidden in his heart.

Wu Tie was greatly startled; after a burst of "jīlīgūlū" roar, his bones quieted down, like a well-fed giant dragon lazily curled in its nest, letting out a comfortable little snore.

Deep inside Wu Tie's body, Old Iron cursed a remarkably splendid and extremely foul profanity.

"Fleshly body becoming a saint? What joke are you playing?" Old Iron hysterically cursed: "Although, just barely stepped into this threshold, but... indeed fleshly body becoming a saint... ah, ah? Old man counts, what's your age, kid?"

Wu Tie ignored Old Iron.

He quickly glanced at the many five-element spirit elders present.

The Harvest Tree was too domineering; Wu Tie's bones not only digested the terrifying medicinal power of three nine-turn golden pills, but also plundered a large amount of energy and original essence qi from these elders' bodies.

Each elder ultimately lost about five percent of their cultivation, and lost about six to seven percent of their natal essence qi.

The amount lost by each elder is not too great, but when summed over one hundred fifty elders, this total becomes terrifying. Especially, the total amount of natal essence qi of these five-element spirit elders cannot be judged by ordinary people.

Take these earth-spirit elders: each is over a hundred zhang tall, their total original essence qi is at least several hundred times that of a human cultivator of the same rank; Wu Tie plundered six to seven percent of the original essence qi from each of thirty earth-spirit elders... this quantity is astonishingly huge.

Thus, Wu Tie inexplicably reached the state Old Iron called "fleshly body becoming a saint."

Even though he just entered this threshold, and hasn't even achieved minor success, Wu Tie's fleshly body has absolutely transcended the mundane, worthy of being called divine.

The earth-spirit elders continued to wildly swing their fists, wildly attacking Wu Tie.

Wu Tie took a deep breath, then punched back.

An earth-spirit elder about five zhang tall was hit in the chest by Wu Tie's punch; with a huge bang, his massive body was lifted off the ground by Wu Tie's strike, like a sky-piercing monkey, making a "chīliū" sound as it drew a long white trail in the air, forcibly lifted three hundred plus li off the ground by a single punch.

The earth-spirit elder's chest cracked open with countless fine cracks like a spider web, and from his mouth spewed a large amount of sticky blood plasma like molten glaze.

This earth-spirit elder is remarkably a bachelor; while flying swiftly toward the sky, he spat blood and loudly roared.

"Strong enemy, terrifying... stronger than the five-clawed blood Yingdragon that survived the heavenly tribulation three thousand years ago... old brothers, hurry and leave, I'll hold this guy for you."

"Go to the Origin Holy Land, open the holy land, welcome the Holy Ancestor's relic, kill this brat to avenge me."

This big guy straightforwardly said: "I'll stay behind as rearguard, I'm surely dead... take care of my children and daughters... tell my thirty-eight wives that those willing to remarry should do so quickly, I won't have time to support them anymore."

Wu Tie narrowed his eyes watching the earth-spirit elder he punched into the high sky.

This guy...

Wu Tie inexplicably felt a hint of goodwill toward him.

These five-element spirits... if they could be subdued and become Wu Tie's private army, Wu Tie absolutely would not want to massacre them.

Over a hundred five-element spirit elders scattered and fled, turning into streaks of escape light, fleeing rapidly.

As they fled, they angrily roared: "Earth bastard, go die in peace; if you really die, we'll raise your children, your wife, we'll help you look after... we will surely kill all these outsiders, ask you for revenge!"

"For your revenge!"

Wu Tie narrowed his eyes.

Besides the earth bastard still in midair not yet landed, the valley still left five wood-spirit elders, four water-spirit elders, three earth-spirit elders, two metal-spirit elders, one fire-spirit elder.

They positioned themselves according to the five-element directions, forming a small wondrous formation, step by step pressing toward Wu Tie.

Wu Tie couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

These five-element spirits truly made him sigh in awe.

They act decisively; upon encountering a strong enemy, they immediately let the main force flee, while someone volunteers to stay behind as rearguard.

Seeing this situation, their doing so is already extremely practiced.

This is a group, very good foreign tribe.

Wu Tie grew more fond of them.

So, Wu Tie's body flickered, leaving behind a hair-transformed clone in place, his true body concealed its form and followed behind the retreating spirit elders.

Wu Tie followed along; these elders' escape light was astonishingly fast; they fled into the deep mountains for over twenty thousand li, then ahead, amidst surrounding mountains, suddenly two strangely shaped large mountains appeared; at the center between the two large mountains, a small mountain shaped like a lotus stood there; at the foot of that small mountain, there is a cave penetrating the mountain's interior, faintly with seven-colored smoke drifting out from the cave.