Chapter 744: Two Ferocious Foes of Water and Fire, the Golden List of the Other Shore (Combined Chapter)

Beneath the Xuanteng Tree, Li Yuan sat cross-legged; the black stone before him trembled lightly, and faintly, one could see an extremely ferocious violent ape struggling and roaring within.

"This Shan Xuan Ape's ferocity is quite ample."

Li Yuan did not rush to undo the seal, but focused his spirit to sense the violent ape within the black stone.

In his perception, this Shan Xuan Ape was far more ferocious than the Yixin Sword, but in terms of grade, naturally that Dao Lord's shed remains were still higher.

"The Blood Phoenix governs fire, the Shan Xuan Ape belongs to water; once water and fire merge, the might of the Eight Wastes Prison-Suppressing Divine Ability will greatly increase."

Li Yuan unhurriedly raised a finger and lightly tapped the black stone; with a 'crack', the black stone's seal broke apart, and a black Shan Xuan Ape tumbled to the ground.

When it first broke the seal, it was only the size of a fist, but by the time it landed, it was already a zhang or so in stature; it seemed to have suffered extremely heavy injuries, and a thick bloodthirsty scent instantly permeated the entire Xuanteng Island.

"Roar~"

The instant the Shan Xuan Ape broke free, it let out a ferocious howl; its two furry hands reached out, about to tear Li Yuan in two.

"Sure enough, ninety percent dead — Daoist Daoist Tongqing's hand was truly precise."

Li Yuan could feel the surging qi, but his heart was not panicked; he raised his hand and pointed once more:

"Suppress!"

Thought moves, magic follows!

Within the Shen Jing, a cultivator is like a god of creation; all manner of spells move at will, and in an instant, two chains had reached out from the Wang Yang, arriving later but striking first, tightly binding the violent ape's two arms.

Then, tens of thousands of divine-pattern chains reached out from the Wang Yang, dragging the ape — whose form was swelling as it struggled violently — into the Wang Wang Yangdahai.

Over the past thirty years, Li Yuan's comprehension of the Prison-Suppressing Divine Ability had deepened greatly, and with the support of the Wu Di Fa, its might was far stronger than at the beginning by who knows how much.

He had tried before: with just one chain, he could suppress a Fourth Realm demon; with ten thousand chains deployed together, even a Fifth Realm cultivator could be suppressed!

"Thud!"

As if a stone had fallen into a deep well, Li Yuan's mind shuddered, and he felt his Three Primordials violently quake.

This Shan Xuan Ape's innate gifts were extremely strong, and its realm was high; though Suffering heavy wounds, its weight still exceeded the Fifth Realm, and the instant it fell into the Wang Yang, the Shen Jing also roared and trembled with it.

"Hum~"

At this moment, the Five Extreme Mountains trembled lightly, suppressing the Shen Jing which was shaking as if about to disintegrate.

"Roar!"

The Wang Yang boiled, and the violent ape struggled desperately.

"Suppress!"

Li Yuan stirred the thought once more.

With a 'boom', the Central Extreme Mountain rose from the ground, like a heavenly sword plunging straight into the Wang Yang, and the Yellow Emperor's ancient temple burst forth with dazzling brilliance.

The Yellow Emperor governs suppression; his light burst forth, and the might of the Prison-Suppressing Divine Ability instantly more than doubled — with a wail, the Shan Xuan Ape had plunged into the depths of the Wang Yang.

"The Prison-Suppressing Divine Ability and the Yellow Emperor's Thick Earth Scripture truly complement each other well!"

Li Yuan nodded slightly.

The Yellow Emperor's Thick Earth Scripture at the Fourth Layer Peak already possessed considerable marvel; even without the Prison-Suppressing Divine Ability, if the Central Extreme Mountain exerted its full power, even a Fifth Realm demon could be briefly suppressed.

"Hum~"

Li Yuan closed his eyes and entered meditation.

Within the Sea of Heart, light burst forth, and a 'Great Prison' like a Daoist temple, resembling a shrine, emerged.

Outside the Great Prison, yellow light like Jin Guang — that was the Yellow Emperor's divine light blessing it.

Inside the Great Prison, one could faintly see a phoenix, red as blood, flapping its wings and crying out; seeming to sense the changes in the Great Prison, it too was struggling, intending to break free.

"The Eight Wastes Prison-Suppressing is easy to learn but hard to master; the reason lies in that when imprisoning and suppressing fierce beasts, those already imprisoned cannot be used, and instead struggle with all their might."

"At first, one or two is fine, but later on, six or seven struggle together; one careless slip and the Three Primordials shatter, body dies and soul perishes…"

"Yet this divine ability — the stronger the fierce beast imprisoned, the greater its might; but the stronger the fierce beast imprisoned, the greater the backlash…"

Li Yuan's heart was unruffled, and the essence of the Eight Wastes Prison-Suppressing flowed through his mind.

The flaw of this body-tempering great divine ability had been patched by Lord Lord Tianyu: as long as one imprisons the corresponding fierce beast, not only does the might greatly increase through mutual resonance, but under mutual restraint, the difficulty of imprisonment also drops greatly.

"Clatter~"

As Li Yuan's mind turned, the sound of ten thousands of chains twisting rang out.

He saw the Great Prison in the Sea of Heart tremble violently; Yu Yu Xuanji, countless chains surged back against the current, dragging a Shan Xuan Ape with crimson eyes, ferocious to the extreme, toward the Great Prison.

"Screech~"

The chains trembled lightly as if playing a melody; Li Yuan activated the Eight Wastes Prison-Suppressing, and the Blood Phoenix, which had been struggling desperately, suddenly let out a cry and instead flapped its wings to help the Great Prison suppress the Shan Xuan Ape.

"Roar!"

"Screech!"

The cries and howls of the two fierce beasts exploded unceasingly.

One phoenix, an extraordinary prodigy among the Blood Phoenix clan, a deity who had manifested the Dao; even in death and soul-perishing, its ferocity remained full.

Though repeatedly heavily wounded, after more than twenty years of nurturing, it had regained a fraction of its former ferocity.

One Shan Xuan Ape, bearing both the bloodlines of great demon and shaman god, with transcendent innate gifts; had it not been captured by Daoist Daoist Tongqing, it would likely have long since manifested the Dao — even heavily wounded, it was no less than the Fifth Realm Peak.

The collision of the two fierce beasts made even the Great Prison tremble violently, transmitting through his whole body, causing Li Yuan's pores to seep blood, his viscera and meridians constantly tearing and reforming.

Even though he tempered his body daily with incense fire, it was hard to bear such a collision; the Shen Jing roared and trembled even more, and were it not for the Five Extreme Mountains' suppression, it would likely have disintegrated and shattered.

"Fortunately I didn't choose the Yixin Sword, otherwise I'd likely have had to give up halfway…"

Li Yuan was neither alarmed nor flustered; Ren You Shen Jing roared and trembled, he merely activated the Prison-Suppressing Divine Ability and watched calmly.

He had always prioritized steadiness in cultivation; this scene looked perilous, but in truth he had deliberated over it many times.

Sure enough, as time passed, the trembling in the Sea of Heart gradually subsided; the Shan Xuan Ape's roars weakened, and finally, accompanied by a tremendous boom, it plunged into the Great Prison.

"Hum~"

As the Great Prison fell silent, Li Yuan felt a coolness surge toward his limbs and bones, and even deeper within.

"It's done!"

With a thought, Li Yuan switched his perception control, and with the augmentation of the Soldier Control Register, his mind sank into a state of profound stillness, following that thread of coolness deep into the furthest reaches of his body.

In a daze, he saw an incomparably deep and vast 'starry sky'.

Boundless, infinite stars wheeled within this space; faintly, those stars seemed to be shifting form, at one moment transforming into a Blood Phoenix, at another into a Dark Ape.

Finally, under Li Yuan's gaze, they transformed into great prisons one after another!

"Hoo!"

The instant Li Yuan opened his eyes, ripples spread across the void before him, and even his gaze seemed Extremely heavy.

He rose to his feet, only to feel that this small grotto-heaven had become even more fragile, as if he could tear the void apart with a single stretch of his hand.

"Water and fire merge, and great strength is born…"

Li Yuan sat cross-legged once more, swallowing a large quantity of spirit pills to fuel the metamorphosis of his body.

The augmentation of those two fierce beasts had subjected his body to tremendous pressure, but as long as his cultivation resources could keep up, his physique could advance by leaps and bounds.

If he could digest the benefits brought by the two fierce beasts, the Prison and the Imprisoner, then even without activating the Gu Gu Shentong, his cultivation of the body might well surpass his magic power and divine realm, enough to rival cultivators of Bian Shi Wu Jing!

"Hoo!"

"Inhale!"

Li Yuan closed his eyes and entered meditation, feeling as if furnaces were burning within his body; the various spirit pills he had swallowed dissolved at extreme speed, transforming into streams of heat that poured into his limbs and bones.

In that instant, within his perception, it was as if ten thousand fierce beasts within him were crying out for sustenance; over a hundred spirit pills were exhausted in but a moment's time.

His qi and blood, meanwhile, swelled and grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Comfortable!"

After the spirit pills were exhausted, Li Yuan let out a long breath and swallowed another handful of spirit pills.

Daoist Li, who carried a fortune on him, was in no way lacking for spirit pills; let alone fourth-realm spirit pills, even fifth-realm spirit pills could be eaten like meals.

However, he did not lose himself in tempering his body, merely adjusting his cultivation plan—refining methods, refining the body, visualization, and refining demons, none of it neglected.

……

Several months later, Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen and Ying Mo Shen returned together.

"The Underworld…"

In the small grotto-heaven, upon hearing Li Yuan's counsel, Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen's brows knit tightly: "Junior Brother Li, you suspect that Shi Li Fa Jie has long since fallen into the hands of a great cultivator of the Underworld?"

"Mm."

Li Yuan nodded.

He did not state outright that his Ying Mo Shen had already joined the Underworld, only emphasizing how, at the moment Zhao Zhao Wangji performed the sacrifice, that giant palm descended from the heavens.

Of course, the reason why that Underworld cultivator had descended, he did not say.

It concerned the Calamity Fishing of the Soldier Register; he could not leak a single bit of it.

"A giant palm spanning the sky, yet it did not alarm any of us—truly the method of a great cultivator…"

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen sighed inwardly, but had already extinguished any thought of re-entering Shi Li Fa Jie: "This time, it has truly been trouble for Junior Brother Li."

"What are you saying, Senior Sister? It was merely sending a clone on a trip."

Li Yuan waved his hand.

"Come to think of it, it was I who was too obstinate."

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen lifted her teacup: "Now that I think about it, Shi Li Fa Jie has never birthed a single Dao Lord since ancient times; using the Shi Li to sacrifice the sword, how could it possibly grant the Demon-Refining Sword an innate qi?"

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen revealed the reason for her obsession with Shi Li Fa Jie.

The reason was not complicated—it was simply that she had heard the Shi Li were nurtured by the world, and that using them to aid the sword would help the Demon-Refining Sword attain an innate number in the future.

"An innate number on par with a Dao Lord—how easy is that to speak of?"

Li Yuan poured tea for her, but his thoughts lingered on his own Demon-Refining Immortal-Slaying Sword.

This natal spirit sword of his, even after receiving the full transformation of nine strands of metal nature and obtaining the origin sword qi of the Nine Extremes Heaven, had only barely gained a single thread of innate qi.

"For a spirit treasure to attain innateness is, after all, somewhat easier than merging with the Dao and attaining the True."

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen sighed silently.

Li Yuan merely poured tea for her and said nothing more.

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen was a pure sword cultivator; eighty percent of her cultivation lay in the Demon-Refining Sword. This spirit treasure was tied to her future Dao path, and so long as there was even the slightest possibility, she would fight for it.

Just as Yuan Han and Gu Shan Xuan Sheng, knowing full well how dangerous the Xuanhuang World was, still chose to risk their lives.

A moment later, Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen rose and took her leave.

Li Yuan saw her out of the grotto-heaven.

At parting, Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen invited him to explore the Opening Gui Xu, but Li Yuan politely declined; he had no mind to leave the mountain.

"Cultivation is all about striving."

Watching her depart, a ripple rose in Li Yuan's heart.

Attaining the Dao Lord position before the great limit of one's lifespan was the goal of every disciple of the Weitian Dao Sect; after all, a second life was too insubstantial and elusive—most Dao Lords could not reverse life and live a second one.

But the great limit of a cultivator, even with great medicines for extending lifespan, was at most no more than twenty thousand years.

The difficulty of attaining the Dao Lord position within twenty thousand years could well be imagined.