Chapter 420: The Tribulation of Returning Light, Inner Demon

The provincial capital of Feng Province.

The Bieyou Villa.

This villa is as famous as the "Beast King" Yu Yu Longqing's Human-Face Villa in Datong Prefecture; it is one of the two largest cultivation farms for exotic beast fodder in Feng Province.

It is just that the "Beast King" has now become a thing of the past; Yu Yu Longqing has been dead for over two months.

Of the two people who once dominated the exotic beast fodder market in Feng Province, only one remains today—

Luo Luo Yifu of the provincial capital, Boss Luo.

This Boss Luo appeared suddenly out of nowhere, taking over the exotic beast fodder market in the provincial capital of Feng Province in just two years, while also dealing in implants; he can truly be said to have eyes and ears everywhere!

Later, rumors gradually spread that standing behind Luo Luo Yifu was the Inspector of Feng Province!

Since it involved a high-ranking official, not many dared to spread rumors recklessly, so until now, the outside world remains ambiguous about Luo Luo Yifu's background.

But in reality, the truly important figures are all very clear that Luo Luo Yifu is Lu Lu Wenzheng's man.

Today, the inside and outside of Bieyou Villa are under tight security.

Not only are there the martial artists under Luo Luo Yifu himself, but also people from the Law Enforcement Department, the Pacification Department, and the security office of the government building.

The Inspector of Feng Province, Lu Lu Wenzheng, has "traveled incognito" today and quietly arrived at Bieyou Villa.

Besides him, Xu Jing has also come.

After this period of preparation, Xu Jing is ready to break through his realm; next, he needs to use the Black Water divine ability to devour the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast.

Lu Lu Wenzheng has been having people secretly raise this Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast inside Bieyou Villa, which is why he arrived at the villa today together with Xu Jing.

Inside the villa's dungeon, a group of people stands beside a pool of water.

The pool is over ten meters in diameter, with ten circular pillars standing around it; the pillars are made of an unknown material, neither metal nor stone, and are carved with complex runes upon which dim, flickering dark golden light flows.

Ordinary people would feel dizzy just by staring intently at these runes and flowing light.

The ten pillars are also wrapped in circles of blood-red chains.

These chains are as thick as an arm, and the other ends of the ten chains are all submerged in the pool.

"God-Trapping Pillars, Dragon-Imprisoning Chains—what a grand display!"

After arriving here, Xu Jing looked at the setup on-site and exclaimed in admiration.

The Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast is a seventh-grade superior exotic beast; even if the one Lu Lu Wenzheng raised is a "counterfeit," it is at least of seventh-grade inferior rank, possessing combat power comparable to a Martial Arts Master!

To imprison an exotic beast of this grade for a long time naturally requires extraordinary means.

Xu Jing was also curious at first about how Lu Lu Wenzheng managed it, but now he finally knows.

"Are the two of you the Canglin Elders?"

Xu Jing looked toward the two old men standing beside Lu Lu Wenzheng.

These two are wearing pale red robes, one tall and one short, with long beards.

The shorter old man nodded and said indifferently, "Indeed."

The Canglin Elders, the two retainers of the Canglin Lu clan, are both Great Mages of the Possession stage.

Ordinary Great Mages of the Possession stage usually only refine one magic treasure, then continuously add new implants to this treasure to keep strengthening it.

It is not that they do not want to refine other magic treasures, but the cost of one is simply too high—not only the cost of refining, but also the cost of regular maintenance.

Refining an extra magic treasure is like an ordinary family having another child; they cannot afford it.

Only Great Mages backed by major powers have the opportunity to refine multiple magic treasures, or even sets of magic treasures.

The God-Trapping Pillars and Dragon-Imprisoning Chains that Xu Jing sees now are a set of magic treasures; every pillar and every chain is a magic treasure in itself!

As retainers of the Lu clan, the Canglin Elders became famous many years ago for their set of "God-Trapping Pillars" and "Dragon-Imprisoning Chains," though at that time, they only had five pieces of each.

And now, Xu Jing sees twenty magic treasures here!

It is said that a Great Mage of the Possession stage cannot defeat a martial artist of the Dao Foundation stage one-on-one, but it also depends on what specific magic treasures the Great Mage uses.

If it were the Canglin Elders standing here, the situation would be different.

Once the ten God-Trapping Pillars are all deployed and the array is set, if one is trapped within, even the mind of a Martial Arts Master would be affected; an ordinary Dao Foundation powerhouse would instantly lose their sanity and become a vegetable, left to be slaughtered!

Likewise, if the ten God-Trapping Chains are all deployed and wrap around a person simultaneously, even a peak Dao Foundation powerhouse would find it difficult to break free.

Two such sets of magic treasures combined can indeed trap a seventh-grade exotic beast.

Moreover, after the Azure Water Cloud-Patterned Beast advances to become an Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast, the dragon bloodline within its body awakens, making it even more restrained by the Dragon-Imprisoning Chains.

Coupled with the fact that many things were done to it before it advanced from sixth-grade superior to seventh-grade, and the food it was regularly fed was also tampered with, keeping it in a long-term state of weakness, it has remained trapped here.

"Lord Lu is truly far-sighted and plans for the long term."

Xu Jing looked at Lu Lu Wenzheng beside him and said.

Having begun planning over a decade ago, the Canglin Elders must have also been continuously adding new magic treasures under the Lu family's funding since that time.

Even if this plan were to fail in the end, at least the family's two retainers would have genuinely been strengthened, so it would not be a total loss.

"It is merely a means of getting things done; whether it can be accomplished in the end depends on Mr. Xu's methods."

Lu Lu Wenzheng said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Xu Jing took a step forward and looked at the pool below.

The next second, the water in the pool began to churn violently, and the chains on the ten God-Trapping Pillars also vibrated one after another, the ends submerged in the water all pulling taut.

Boom—

The water surface suddenly exploded, but as the towering splashes neared the shore, they seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier, and in the end, not a single drop of water splashed onto the bank.

A behemoth broke through the water:

Over two meters tall and over five meters long, with a single horn and black scales shimmering with ghostly blue light, these lights forming patterns of clouds.

This is the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast; at this moment, its entire body is firmly bound by the blood-red chains, struggling desperately but to no avail.

The tall one of the Canglin Elders glanced at Xu Jing.

The Dragon-Imprisoning Chains are his magic treasures, but he did not activate them just now to forcibly drag the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast from the bottom of the pool; all of this was achieved by Xu Jing using his water-control divine ability.

The Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast also possesses a water-control divine ability, but it was directly crushed by Xu Jing's water-control divine ability!

"Very good, we can begin."

After standing in place and carefully sensing the power contained within this Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast, Xu Jing turned to Lu Lu Wenzheng and said.

Lu Lu Wenzheng smiled and said, "Then, I wish Mr. Xu success in one go; I will wait outside for Mr. Xu's good news."

Having said this, he turned and walked out of the water prison, and the others followed him out.

Soon, only Xu Jing remained in the water prison, along with the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast he was controlling with his water-control divine ability.

Today, the entire Bieyou Villa is guarded by layers of security, and outside the water prison, Lu Lu Wenzheng is leading a group of experts to guard Xu Jing, so Xu Jing does not need to worry about outside interference and only needs to consider how to break through his realm.

He reached out toward the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast locked in the air by the chains, and a stream of black water was released from his palm.

The black water quickly wrapped around the body of the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast.

Roar—

The Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast let out a huge roar, and columns of water rose from the pool below, but they quickly dissipated.

While using his water-control divine ability to restrain the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast, Xu Jing began to use his Black Water divine ability to devour the other's power.

Already in a weakened state and bound by two sets of magic treasures, the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast was almost unable to resist; Xu Jing's devouring this time was even easier than when he devoured Gu Vanguard Commander.

A moment later, the roars of the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast gradually grew weak, and it gradually stopped struggling, floating in the air motionless.

A continuous stream of power was injected by Xu Jing through his Black Water divine ability directly into his own Dao Foundation, 【Frost Cloud Sky】.

The power of the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast perfectly matched his Dao Foundation, so the "conversion rate" of the absorption was quite high, even higher than when he absorbed Gu Vanguard Commander's Cloud-Soaring divine ability back then.

A few minutes later, Xu Jing had drained the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast dry, leaving only a pile of white bones in the air.

Outside the water prison, the tall one of the Canglin Elders said to Lu Lu Wenzheng:

"My lord, the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast is dead."

He had been sensing the changes in the Dragon-Imprisoning Chains, so he could know the situation inside the water prison.

"Mm."

Lu Lu Wenzheng nodded, his face devoid of its usual smile, expressionless.

He was also feeling somewhat nervous inside.

The family's decade-long plan—success or failure hinges on this one move!

Inside the water prison, Xu Jing, having devoured the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast, stood in place and closed his eyes.

Blue, black, cyan.

Three types of light bloomed at Xu Jing's dantian and shone through his body.

These three lights represented the three divine abilities Xu Jing had mastered: Water Control, Black Water, and Cloud Soaring.

To go from Master to Grandmaster, one must combine multiple divine abilities to form a Martial Arts Domain.

The heritage Xu Jing mastered—Water Control, Black Water, and Cloud Soaring—could be perfectly fused together to form a Martial Arts Domain: 【Cloud Abyss Black Water Domain】!

Now that Xu Jing had mastered three divine abilities, his control over the newly acquired Cloud-Soaring divine ability had not been proficient enough before, but through his battle with Hao Yi, he had gained quite a lot.

The preparation during this period was to digest the gains from that battle, and now he had completely mastered the Cloud-Soaring divine ability.

Fusing three divine abilities carried significant risk, but Xu Jing had absorbed the power of the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast, allowing him to continuously replenish his power loss during the fusion process and even heal his own injuries.

In this way, the margin for error was maximized!

That was why he had told Lu Lu Wenzheng earlier that with the Azure Water Sky Cloud Beast, he had at least a seventy percent chance of successfully breaking through his realm.

When the power of all three divine abilities was fully stimulated, Xu Jing began the fusion of the divine abilities.

The three lights at his dantian began to intertwine.

Boom—

A grand force spread in all directions, only to be blocked by the array around the water prison.

At the same time as the divine abilities were fusing, Xu Jing's mind also suffered a violent impact.

In martial arts cultivation, when breaking through from the early stage of Qi Transformation to the middle stage, one must comprehend the corresponding state of mind.

Afterward, before breaking through from the Dao Foundation stage to the Master realm, one must first cultivate Dao Power, and Dao Power has even higher requirements for the power of one's intent.

Breaking through from the Master realm to become a Grandmaster also has requirements for one's state of mind.

The Domain of Martial Arts is the perfect fusion of supernatural abilities; to control the Domain of Martial Arts, one's state of mind must also be complete.

This is the reason why Xu Jing wanted to join forces with Lu Lu Wenzheng to set a trap for Hao Yi.

Hao Yi had always been a knot in his heart; if this knot could not be untied, it would be very difficult for him to break through to the Grandmaster realm.

And the most direct way to untie this knot was to let Hao Yi die by his own hands.

A dead knot is untied by death!

It was only because Master Caiming stood in the way that Xu Jing could not act, forcing him to set a trap to make Hao Yi come to Datong Prefecture of his own accord.

On the day Hao Yi raided the execution ground, Xu Jing crushed Hao Yi with his strength, and the gloom in his heart had been swept away.

Although he was later heavily injured by a strike from Hao Yi, after learning that Hao Yi was dead, Xu Jing deduced that the opponent's final strike had cost him decades of his lifespan.

Calculated this way, Hao Yi had exhausted his lifespan to kill him, so it could be considered that he had died by his own hands.

What Xu Jing pursued was that the winner takes all; the result was the most important thing to him, so this knot in his heart was considered untied.

In this struggle between him and Hao Yi, he was the one who laughed last after all.

With the problem in his state of mind resolved, Xu Jing began this breakthrough.

Several dozen minutes later, the fusion of the three supernatural abilities reached its most critical moment.

At the same time, Xu Jing's consciousness also underwent new changes; as if experiencing a final flash of clarity before death, scenes from the past appeared in his mind.

This is a tribulation encountered when breaking through to the Grandmaster realm—the Tribulation of the Final Flash.

Everyone will recall their past life during this tribulation; if the knots left in the past are not resolved, it may lead to failure in breaking through!

Xu Jing did not come from a prestigious family; he also came from a small city and initially embarked on the path of martial arts in the local Martial Arts Hall.

Later, he also encountered the same problem as Wen Ke: the riot of the beastly nature from an implant.

But he did not have the innate defects that Wen Ke had, and his talent and perseverance were stronger than Wen Ke's; he ultimately solved this problem on his own and even developed an extraordinary ability to interrogate the human heart because of it.

However, during the period of suppressing his beastly nature, his personality was gradually affected, becoming cruel and bloodthirsty!

This made him a monster in the eyes of others; the people around him loathed him and feared him.

He was like a beast living among the crowd.

Xu Jing did not care about this; he only needed to become strong enough.

Later he met Wen Ke, and he saw his own shadow in the other person.

So he reached out to save the other person and even taught them how to kill.

He told himself that he just wanted to add one more interesting person to this world.

But in reality, he wanted to have one more person like himself...

Memories flashed through Xu Jing's mind quickly like flowers viewed from horseback; just as he had expected, the memory regarding Hao Yi did indeed cause fluctuations in his state of mind, but it did not form an obstacle for him.

He had successfully leaped over this obstacle after all.

Everything was going smoothly, until the memories reached the end, reaching the night when Lu Lu Wenzheng told Xu Jing that Wen Ke and the others had been killed by the Blood-Faced Ghost.

"Mr. Wen and the others have unfortunately been murdered."

"Oh."

Xu Jing nodded calmly to indicate he understood.

Afterward, he went to that lake pavilion and stood there stiffly for an entire night.

The memory stopped here.

He thought he did not care.

"Why... is there a knot in my heart?"

The fluctuations in his state of mind gradually became violent, and Xu Jing turned from initial surprise to anger:

"How could I be unable to let go because of one person's death?!"

"It was just the death of a follower!"

"Why?!"

The angrier he became, the more violent the fluctuations in his state of mind, and the knot became increasingly powerful.

Losing to Hao Yi, he could win back; he could find a way to kill the opponent.

But, Wen Ke was already dead...

In Xu Jing's state of mind, inner demons began to grow:

In the world of consciousness, he remained in that lake pavilion; on the lake surface ahead, a figure gradually took shape, looking at him with calm eyes.

This is—the Blood-Faced Ghost.

(End of chapter)