“It seems that something is really wrong!”
After Zhou Bao killed Man Yujun, he had to deal instantly with the Earthly Immortal Tribulation. At the very moment of Man Yujun’s disappearance, Zhou Bao’s Primordial Sword Spirit emerged and devoured Man Yujun’s Divine Sense: the Immortal-eliminating Sword Qi and the Immortal-trapping Sword Qi.
The absorption of the two Sword Qi meant that he had gained the Seven Wonderful Techniques as well as the Four Immortal-killing Swords. If he could have a better understanding of the latter skills and build up an Immortal-killing formation, then the Seven Wonderful Techniques would not even be its equal. However, currently it was just a dream to him. He expected the two Sword Qis to disappear in a short time. Besides, his body attracted the Earthly Immortal Tribulation’s attention at a very early stage and became the focus of an attack. Therefore, his Primordial Sword Spirit absorbed the Sword Qi easily. After it had absorbed them, he felt a strong thought staying in the hollow where his body was also in the process of absorbing the thought. Meanwhile, two primordial spirits among his Primordial Spirits of Three Separations were taking in the same thought. Hence, aside from his body, both his Primordial Fire Spirit and Primordial Poison Spirit greatly benefited from it. His insight on the force and the law of Heaven and Earth increased to a whole new level. He even had a feeling that he now had the ability to battle against Dark Emperor Yu’an. He could escape from him and resist him for a time, if he was given an advantageous situation. Now, the benefits he received were just from the start of the tribulation. Once he survived this tribulation, his strength would increase greatly and he would quickly become the strongest person among the Earth Immortals. At least, he was a counterpart of Dark Emperor Yu’an. In this world, only the troop in the Jade Palace had the strength of similar level, so he did not need to be so cautious.
It was a good thing for him. His thought also felt the presence of the Primordial Sword Spirit and knew that it was one of the Zhou Bao’s Primordial Spirits of Three Separations. But the Primordial Sword Spirit had already digested two Sword Qis. The Four Immortal-killing Swords were now a complete collection and ignored the thought. His thought seemed to have realized it and did not go along with the Primordial Sword Spirit. For this reason, the Primordial Sword Spirit was clearly aware of the body’s state. Zhou Bao had seemingly obtained a big advantage. However, why did he feel that the situation was very similar to what he had experienced when Man Yujun was burning his own fate, Merit and Qi of heaven and earth?
It felt like he was now undergoing a more dangerous situation.
However, this situation was a bit different. Man Yujun fired everything while Zhou Bao was just faced with a thought. His fate and merit were not affected and he had obtained great benefits from it. In other words, he encountered an unusual stroke of luck.
Good luck was on his side. But why did the Primordial Sword Spirit feel so uneasy?
It was a feeling of uneasiness and was totally unsettling.
He had no idea where the uneasiness came from. It was just an intuition popping up from the bottom of his heart.
At this time, the most powerful tribulation arrived. Clouds of bright red light flickered in the air. They were surging and moving. A blood red thunderbolt gave way to a wild storm and blocked out the radiance emitted by the Tree of Seven Wonders. The Primordial Sword Spirit suddenly transformed into a Sword Qi and shot towards his body.
Whoosh!
The violent Sword Qi broke up the blood red thunderbolt storm and created a giant gap in the hollow where endless pneuma was swirling around.
“What’s this pneuma?” Now, Zhou Bao’s body was alerted to what his insight had been trying to tell him. He felt the pneuma spewing from the spacetime gap. The pneuma was different from what he had encountered before; it seemed to possess some magical powers. Once his body came into contact with it, it was absorbed totally and rapidly into his system; He could feel the strength seeping into his body.
His body was a rarity among the practitioners. Even he himself believed that he would not have any more space for progress if he became an Earthly Immortal. After all, his body strength had already been intensified to its maximum potential. But the current situation seemed to prove him wrong. The mysterious pneuma from the hollow gap refreshed his body and made it stronger. Moreover, his power increased from the pneuma incorporation. The strangest thing was that this pneuma had penetrated his Black Pearl and entered Azure Big World along with the Black Pearl.
Yes. They went to Azure Big World.
It had been protected by the Tree of Seven Wonders all this time, so the Dharma Ending Tribulation and Deva’s Five Decrepit Phenomena did not have any influence on the practitioners there; they could not enter that world.
“Qi of Creation. That’s Qi of Creation!” Ghost Child suddenly showed up as if he was about to receive an incredible advantage. His red gourd also emerged. They rushed to the spacetime gap and ran into the Qi of Creation.
Qi of Creation?
Zhou Bao was astonished and then slowly relaxed. He knew about the Qi of Creation, too. It was a pneuma which appeared after the ending of the Earthly Immortal Tribulation and was one of the oldest pneuma. The reason that the Earthly Immortals had their fame was that they were remolded after the Earthly Immortal Tribulation. Consequently, they had the ability to create things. They could evolve their micro worlds into big ones and became the masters to escape from the fetters of the Law of Heaven and Earth. Compared with the Immortals, they existed in an utterly different life form.
The quantity of the Qi of Creation depended on the level of the Earthly Immortal Tribulation. Some weaker Earthly Immortals only gained a small portion of it and would spend a long time improving their macro worlds. When their macro worlds reached a perfect state, they were then qualified to be Celestial Immortals. Some stronger Earthly Immortals had already had great accumulation before they met the Earthly Immortal Tribulation. Hence, they absorbed a lot of Qi of Creation and even completed their macro worlds instantly. They were already qualified to become an Earthly Immortal.
However, every Earthly Immortal found it very difficult to become a Celestial Immortal even if they owned a perfect macro world. There was a small possibility that only one in a million Earthly Immortals could succeed.
In fact, many mighty Earthly Immortals could trigger the Celestial Immortal Tribulation. But it was useless because one thunderbolt from the Celestial Immortal Tribulation could destroy the Earthly Immortal. The two tribulations were totally different things.
Many powerful practitioners stopped after they had achieved the Earthly Immortal status, for the Celestial Immortal Tribulation was too violent. Ordinary practitioners could not get over it. There were some famous great practitioners and Earthly Immortals who had lost their lives in the Celestial Immortal Tribulation. They had been struck to death by the first thunderbolt.
That explained why there were more Earthly Immortals but lesser Celestial Immortals. Among the Earthly Immortals in the whole Immortal Realm, there were only three well-known Celestial Immortals.
However, apart from those ancient Earthly Immortals in the legend, no one else had received so much Qi of Creation as Zhou Bao.
The Sages who were Celestial Immortals merely transformed their bodies and macro worlds with the Qi of Creation as they were obtaining the Earthly Immortal position. Nevertheless, the Primordial Sword Spirit had just shredded the hollow, which brought out the Qi of Creation and engulfed Zhou Bao.
He recovered when his body, his macro world and his two primordial spirits could not harbor any more Qi of Creation.
At the same time, he had a feeling that his spirit had also changed slightly in this Divine Tribulation.
Seeing the hollow gap closing, Zhou Bao raised his fist. With a woosh, the space around him ripped apart and his spirit was released. Everything within an area of a hundred miles could not hide from it. What was more, he could feel a heavy sense of failure in the surrounding essence of the world.
That spirit filled every single piece of pneuma and even integrated with the original source of the essence of the world. In other words, the Qi of Decay came from the essence of the world and was part of it. Besides, practitioners were affected by the decay of the whole world essence and then passed on such Qi of Decay. Under the constant external and internal attacks, even the Immortals could not bear it and they died in the end. Also, some Earthly Immortals could not resist it. Only some magic weapons of the Divine Sense with special functions, including the Seven Wonderful Techniques, Four Immortal-killing Swords, Crimson Thunder, were able to stand up to the Qi of Decay because of their strong powers. That was the reason why Zhou Bao and several people were called the Tribulation Takers of the Dharma Ending Tribulation. While other practitioners were caught in the Deva’s Five Decrepit Phenomena, they could plunder and engulf with the help of their Supreme Powers and fate. Thus, they made rapid progress.
“Earthly Immortal. Tribulation Taker—!” Zhou Bao gently closed his eyes. He could not absorb any more Qi of Creation, but his spirit and body continued gaining strength and was now entering a mystical realm. The red gourd suspended before he absorbed much more than he did. The gap was slowly closing. The red gourd produced an eccentric power field forming a circle around the gap. It gathered lots of Qi of Creation.
“Damned Ghost Child! Isn’t he afraid he will burst with all the Qi he is absorbing?” Zhou Bao was jealous. Suddenly, a light flashed.
“Who?” Zhou Bao had gone through the Earthly Immortal Tribulation and absorbed the Qi of Creation, which made his spirit as sensitive as that of an Earthly Immortal. When the person disappeared, the Seven Wonderful Techniques in his hand flew to the light.
“Dang!” A loud crack sounded. Its colorful brilliance faded. As the purple bamboo stick bumped against the dull light, a small section of the stick was cut off. Zhou Bao felt an overwhelming power coming at him. He was struck violently and stepped back.
“Be careful! It’s the Axe of Fate, the instantiation of the World Tree’s Thunder of Fate. He controls the Thunder of Fate!” Ghost Child’s voice sounded in Zhou Bao’s heart.
