Translator: AnubisTL
In a mysterious grotto-heaven located in the south-central region of the Azure Ridge Domain, the area had suffered the most severe devastation during the demon realm's invasion. Over ten thousand miles of land now lay tainted by demonic qi, its vitality withered and spiritual energy depleted.
Even Li Qing felt a slight discomfort upon arriving here.
Although the void rift had completely closed, the spiritual environment remained dire, with the natural laws of heaven and earth seemingly suppressed.
"A Divine Transformation Great Power emerged here that day," Li Qing murmured to himself, standing in the void outside the grotto-heaven. "Unfortunately, too many events followed, and I never had time to investigate that senior's secluded cave abode."
"Later, after the demonic cataclysm was quelled, I completely forgot about this place."
Li Qing scanned the surroundings before diving straight down into the grotto-heaven below.
This wasn't his first time entering this grotto-heaven. When it first opened, he had explored it and obtained a Heavenly Poison Heart.
Beyond that, he had found nothing else of note, despite repeated searches of the depths.
At the time, Li Qing had never imagined that deep within this grotto-heaven, a Divine Transformation Great Power—one of the most formidable beings in this realm—would be in secluded cultivation.
Back then, he was merely at the early Nascent Soul Realm, so it was understandable that he hadn't detected the concealment methods left by a Divine Transformation Great Power.
Li Qing's figure flashed forward, transforming into a crimson escape light that vanished in an instant.
He traversed the deep grotto-heaven passage, arriving at the lowest point he had explored before—the toxic swamp where he had discovered the Heavenly Poison Heart.
Now, the poisonous miasma had dissipated, but what surprised Li Qing even more was that the toxic swamp itself had vanished.
"So that's it! The Divine Transformation Great Power's cave abode was actually hidden even deeper, concealed beneath this toxic swamp. No wonder my thorough searches yielded nothing!"
Staring at the ground where the swamp had once been, now replaced by an even deeper and more concealed passage, Li Qing couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
For a moment, he wondered how True Monarch Chen Yuan had managed to find this place.
After all, the goateed old man wasn't even a cultivator from the Azure Ridge Domain. Logically, he shouldn't have been able to locate this hidden sanctuary.
"Boy, you've come this far. What are you waiting for? Hurry down!"
A faint, ethereal voice echoed from the depths of the toxic swamp, urging Li Qing to descend.
Following the voice, Li Qing ventured deeper into the swamp. After a long while, he came upon a tightly sealed stone gate concealed by a restriction.
The restriction masked the gate from divine sense detection, making it impossible to discern its presence through spiritual means alone. Only the naked eye could reveal the existence of this hidden stone gate.
Before Li Qing could speak, the restriction on the gate suddenly dissolved, and the twin stone doors swung open on their own.
Buzz!
A cloud of dust rained down as a cultivator in a black brocade robe stood behind the gate, his face wreathed in a warm smile.
"Master Li, it's been far too long! I never imagined we'd meet again after all these years since our parting at the Hundred Refinements Pavilion!"
Li Qing recognized the speaker instantly. It was none other than Fellow Daoist Qiu, whom he had encountered when he first established the Hundred Refinements Pavilion in the Great Wilderness Domain.
Back then, Qiu Zhen had frequented Li Qing's pavilion daily, seeking his help in refining a severely spirit-damaged piece of purple veined copper mother into a top-grade magical artifact.
Moreover, Qiu Zhen had repeatedly invited Li Qing to explore ancient grand tombs together, demonstrating his sincere intentions.
Unfortunately, Li Qing's cultivation level was too low at the time, making it impossible for him to venture into such dangerous ancient tombs.
"Hahaha, long time no see, Fellow Daoist Qiu Zhen! How have you been?" Hearing the long-unheard title "Master Li," Li Qing's mood brightened considerably.
His mastery of artifact refinement had now reached the level of a true Grandmaster.
Qiu Zhen clasped his hands in greeting. "Thanks to your guidance, Master Li, I've had some fortunate encounters these past years. I even took on an unreliable old man as my master."
"Still, I can't compare to you. We were both at the foundation establishment realm back then, yet you've far surpassed me, now a late-stage nascent soul great cultivator revered by tens of thousands."
Before Li Qing could respond, Old Man Chen Yuan's voice boomed from within:
"Hmph, you unfilial disciple! How dare you call your master unreliable? I'll be cleansing the sect of you sooner or later!"
Hearing this, Qiu Zhen immediately fell silent, clearly still deeply respectful of his master.
Guided by Qiu Zhen, Li Qing stepped through the stone gate.
The passage ahead suddenly brightened, revealing a hidden grotto-heaven deep within the mountain.
This wasn't a typical cave abode, but a luminous space with mountains and rivers, like entering another miniature world.
The first thing that caught Li Qing's eye was a withered spirit tree. A cushion rested on its branches, seemingly fused into a single entity with the tree.
The spirit tree and cushion appeared perfectly natural, as if they had grown together. Goateed Old Man Chen Yuan sat cross-legged on the cushion, seemingly meditating.
"Don't bother looking around," Chen Yuan said dismissively. "There's no inheritance or fortune left here. When I arrived, only this cushion remained."
"Not even a single decent spirit herb, let alone daoist arts. Qian Gu was such a miser."
Li Qing felt a twinge of embarrassment. He thought to himself that this eccentric old man was likely the only Nascent Soul True Monarch in the world who dared to criticize a Divine Transformation cultivator so openly.
At least, Li Qing wouldn't dare. What if that Divine Transformation Great Power named Qian Gu was still alive?
"Senior Chen Yuan, when do you plan to attempt your breakthrough?" Li Qing asked, clasping his hands in a respectful bow.
True Monarch Chen Yuan replied calmly, "I'll begin immediately!"
"So soon!" Li Qing exclaimed, surprised. Since it wasn't his own breakthrough, he refrained from further comment.
His thoughts inevitably drifted back to Daoist Jin Bao. Due to the deteriorating cultivation environment in this realm, even after Daoist Jin Bao had meticulously prepared and used three portions of core formation spiritual material, his core formation attempt still ended in failure, leaving him in bitter disappointment.
Now, Senior Chen Yuan was attempting to reach the Divine Transformation stage, a challenge far surpassing Daoist Jin Bao's!
In Li Qing's eyes, this seemed an almost impossible feat.
"Ah, it's not that this old man doesn't wish to wait longer, but my lifespan is dwindling, and ominous signs have appeared in this realm. If I delay further, I fear I'll never have another chance to take this step in my lifetime."
"To die with such deep regrets would haunt me even in the cycle of reincarnation!"
"If I fail, I ask you, my unworthy disciple, to refine a spirit treasure for me. The reward for your success will surely satisfy you!"
Upon hearing these words, Qiu Zhen, standing behind the stone gate, clenched his fists, his face etched with emotion. "Master..."
Though their relationship often seemed strained, Qiu Zhen couldn't help but feel deeply moved at this critical moment.
If his master failed in this breakthrough, the only outcome would be death and the dissipation of his cultivation.
Li Qing naturally held deep respect for the goateed old man.
However, he also knew that his master's lifespan was truly nearing its end. Having exhausted every known cultivation method to prolong his life, True Monarch Chen Yuan likely had no more than seven or eight years left to live.
For a Nascent Soul True Monarch who had lived for countless ages, seven or eight years was a mere blink of an eye. Rather than passively awaiting death, it was better to seize this final opportunity and gamble everything.
Success would open the door to a new realm of existence; failure would reduce him to calamity ash.
The path of cultivation was mercilessly harsh, a truth Li Qing had long understood. Given the old man's extraordinary longevity, further words of persuasion were unnecessary.
A moment later, an immense aura erupted from the goateed old man's hunched, aged frame.
He had finally ceased suppressing his inner power—the peak cultivation of the nascent soul realm, a realm he had reached the pinnacle of, with no further progress possible!
One more step forward lay the bottleneck of the divine transformation stage, a barrier as thick as an impenetrable wall that had blocked countless brilliant cultivators throughout history.
"Boy," Chen Yuan said, tossing an ancient Lightning-Repelling Dharma Robe into Li Qing's hands—the very same robe he had worn earlier. "If I attract a heavenly tribulation later, I'll need you to act as my guardian!"
This time, True Monarch Chen Yuan didn't mention the ownership of the Lightning-Repelling Dharma Robe, likely because he no longer cared.
If he succeeded in overcoming this trial, what was a mere Lightning-Repelling Dharma Robe worth?
If he failed, death and oblivion awaited, rendering all worldly possessions meaningless.
"Senior, rest assured, I will do everything in my power!" Li Qing clasped his hands in a respectful bow as he accepted the worn robe.
True Monarch Chen Yuan said nothing more. He closed his eyes, produced a handful of pills from who-knows-where, and tossed them into his mouth.
Boom!
In an instant, the aura within True Monarch Chen Yuan intensified severalfold, faintly surpassing the boundaries of the nascent soul realm.
Watching from afar, Li Qing felt a surge of awe.
At that moment, the stooped old man before him seemed less like a frail elder and more like an unparalleled ferocious beast. The sheer power radiating from him could sweep away all obstacles!
Meanwhile, the heaven and earth spiritual energy outside had become violently turbulent. This small world seemed to hold hidden mechanisms; Li Qing noticed brilliant spiritual light suddenly erupting from the ground around them.
Accompanying the spiritual light were torrents of concentrated spiritual energy!
The earth soon parted, revealing its hidden depths.
Li Qing was astonished to discover a vast deposit of spirit stones buried beneath the surface—at least several hundred thousand, by his rough estimate!
Among them were numerous mid-grade spirit stones.
Moreover, three spirit stones, radiating a dazzling azure light, floated around True Monarch Chen Yuan.
Three top-grade spirit stones! And all three were wood-attribute top-grade spirit stones!
Li Qing was deeply shaken by this sight. It was the first time since he began cultivating that he had ever seen wood-attribute top-grade spirit stones. Such legendary treasures were said to exist only in whispered tales passed down through generations.
These three wood-attribute top-grade spirit stones contained an exceptionally abundant and pure concentration of wood-attribute spiritual energy.
This energy, combined with the surging spiritual energy from the surrounding hundreds of thousands of spirit stones, poured into True Monarch Chen Yuan's body, causing his aura to rise steadily, as if he were beginning to breach the formidable barrier of the Divine Transformation stage.
"Unbelievable," Li Qing murmured, deeply impressed by the scale of this operation. "To expend so many spirit stones just to gather spiritual energy... And those three wood-attribute top-grade spirit stones! Even if you scoured countless Spirit Stone Mines, you might never find a single one."
True Monarch Chen Yuan had unleashed three top-grade spirit stones right from the start!
The spiritual energy environment provided by these three wood-attribute spirit stones alone far surpassed that of any top-tier spiritual vein in the world, let alone considering the abundance of spirit stones surrounding them!
A torrent of spiritual energy surged into True Monarch Chen Yuan's body with unimaginable force. It was clear that his Wood dao cultivation manual was of exceptional quality, certainly no less formidable than the Crimson Blaze Heaven-Burning Art.
True Monarch Chen Yuan channeled his energy through his hands, visible streams of spiritual energy flowing from his nostrils and mouth.
"Hasn't he broken through the Divine Transformation stage barrier yet?" Qiu Zhen felt dizzy. After absorbing such a massive amount of spiritual energy, his master still showed no signs of breaking through the Divine Transformation stage barrier.
To be honest, Li Qing was equally astonished. Could even such meticulous preparations prove insufficient?
However, it was too early to draw conclusions. The spiritual energy within the small world remained incredibly dense, and the spirit stones continued to supply True Monarch Chen Yuan with a steady stream of pure spiritual energy.
Li Qing maintained unwavering focus, not even daring to blink for fear of missing any crucial detail. After all, this was invaluable experience!
Witnessing a peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivator attempting to break through to Divine Transformation was an exceedingly rare occurrence.
Li Qing knew that he too would one day reach this stage, so accumulating as much experience as possible was undoubtedly wise.
The grand spectacle persisted for a full seven days, even draining the spiritual energy from three top-grade wood attribute spirit stones.
"Still no breakthrough?" Li Qing watched the figure seated cross-legged on the cushion without blinking.
Even this overwhelming surge of spiritual energy had failed to shatter the bottleneck barrier of the divine transformation stage—an utterly astonishing feat.
If this were to end here, True Monarch Chen Yuan, still trapped in the nascent soul realm, would be crushed by the rebounding torrent of spiritual energy, leaving him no chance of survival.
Yet True Monarch Chen Yuan remained calm, as if he had anticipated this outcome. "With the demonic cataclysm barely over and the Dao obscured, breaking through these shackles is truly difficult," he murmured.
"It seems I must resort to my final measure."
He had prepared a contingency plan!
As his words faded, an intensely concentrated Profound Yin Qi suddenly erupted from True Monarch Chen Yuan's body.
A massive surge of yin energy erupted, so potent that Li Qing, despite being miles away, sensed it clearly.
But that wasn't all. Another wave of pure yang qi surged forth, also originating from True Monarch Chen Yuan's body!
What followed left Li Qing in disbelief.
True Monarch Chen Yuan began to deliberately collide the yin and yang qi within his body, creating a continuous, violent impact.
This wasn't Yin-Yang Harmonization; it was a deliberate clash of opposing forces.
Li Qing's eyes widened. He almost thought True Monarch Chen Yuan had gone mad, stirring up such chaos at this critical moment.
Is he trying to die?
True Monarch Chen Yuan hadn't lost his mind. He remained utterly calm as the colliding yin and yang qi within his body generated a terrifying energy fluctuation.
This destructive energy surge, capable of easily killing a Nascent Soul cultivator, didn't kill True Monarch Chen Yuan. Instead, it seemed to be drawn toward something.
In the next instant, a faint cracking sound echoed through the small world.
Though barely audible, the sound rang clear and loud in Li Qing's ears.
(End of the Chapter)
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