Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Even though Hei Lou Lan obtained a lot of resources, and her greatest weakness was alleviated, her gains in dao mark were very little.
Making an estimation, it was less than thirty percent of the immortal aperture’s dao marks.
She skipped more than ten calamities and tribulations directly.
This was an immeasurable loss to Hei Lou Lan!
Because of her having one of the ten extreme physiques, every time she underwent tribulation, it would be extremely strong. Fortune and disaster came together, whenever she succeeded in passing the tribulation, the dao marks that she gained would be much greater in number.
More than ten calamities and tribulations, it was not just earthly calamities, but a heavenly tribulation as well!
Considering this, her losses were huge.
Even though undergoing tribulation was a dangerous thing, for a bold and fierce character like Hei Lou Lan, she was not afraid of difficulties, she was only afraid of being ordinary.
“Even if I am unwilling, what can I do? I am stuck deep in the abyss, it is not up to me…” Hei Lou Lan sighed internally.
Ying Wu Xie observed her appearance, seeing Hei Lou Lan’s gloomy expression, he smiled internally as he said: “Alright, let’s continue traveling.”
The group passed the icy tunnel, getting even deeper into the mountain.
Eventually, they arrived in front of a wall of ice.
Through the white wall of ice, the immortals could see countless hearts inside.
These hearts were blue, there were about at least a thousand of them.
Bai Ning Bing did not know of them.
But Tai Bai Yun Sheng screamed: “Oh heavens, these are ice hearts, they are all ice hearts.”
Hei Lou Lan’s expression also changed: “Not just ice hearts, there are twin ice hearts, the latter is a rank seven immortal material, and in such quantity.”
Even the normally quiet Shi Nu gasped: “Unimaginable, Jade Pot Mountain actually has such an abundance of wealth. If Southern Border’s Gu Immortals knew about this, a storm would be whipped up, in order to fight for these ice hearts, they would fight until rivers of blood flowed!”
Jade Pot Mountain was not uninhabited, there was a village on the mountain, with the surname Yu.
Jade Pot Mountain produced jade stones and jade Gu, Yu clan village relied on these resources for survival.
Among mortal forces, Yu clan village, which had many rank five Gu Masters, was very powerful. But to Gu Immortals, they were not worth mentioning.
Who could have thought that Jade Pot Mountain, controlled by a mortal force, could have such a quantity of rare immortal materials stacked together!
Ying Wu Xie sighed deeply: “Jade Pot Mountain is nothing special on the surface, it is easy to ignore. Even my Shadow Sect also found this place due to a fortuitous encounter. But the ice hearts formed naturally here are not so high in quantity. My Shadow Sect’s Gu Immortals had secretly set up a Gu formation to turn this place into a Gu breeding ground.”
“In the past, this place had nurtured ice heart Gu, but they had been taken away. There is still one ice heart Immortal Gu here, it was not ready earlier, but now it has completely formed. Bai Ning Bing, come here and retrieve this wild Immortal Gu using the method I taught you.”
“Alright!” Bai Ning Bing said without hesitation.
She took large steps ahead.
Next, using Ying Wu Xie’s instructions, she stretched out both hands and placed them on the wall of ice, which was covered in frost energy.
Without using any defensive methods, Bai Ning Bing’s hands were completely frozen, frost energy assaulted her as a thick layer of frost formed on her arms.
Hei Lou Lan saw this and raised her eyebrows.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng wanted to speak, he had an expression of pity.
Ying Wu Xie smiled lightly, Shi Nu was expressionless, not saying a word.
Bai Ning Bing endured the intense pain as frost energy traveled through her body from her arms, soon, she felt her body turning stiff, even her mind was becoming frozen.
The intense threat of death assaulted her in both body and mind.
But she was unmoved.
Inside her clear blue eyes, a firm, determined gaze could be seen, she was even more stubborn and cold than this ice wall.
“Endure it!”
“Even if I die, it is nothing much.”
“Hmph, dying from frost like this, it is interesting too isn’t it…”
“Furthermore! Shadow Sect suffered a huge blow, they need manpower. Ying Wu Xie tried so hard to recruit me, how could he let me die like this?”
As expected, a change occurred in front of Bai Ning Bing.
Inside the wall of ice, the blue ice hearts were shaking together, the vibrations were small initially, but got more intense with time.
More than ten breaths of time later, the wall of ice made a loud sound, cracks were forming before the immortals’ eyes. Soon, they were covering the wall of ice like a spider web, one of the cracks went deep into the interior of the wall.
The aura of Immortal Gu leaked out.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng almost wanted to help out.
This was a wild Immortal Gu, it was very hard to catch, if they did not take action now, it would be too late!
But Ying Wu Xie was unmoved, he watched silently.
Since he kept motionless, Hei Lou Lan and Shi Nu also did not act.
Bai Ning Bing could not move.
She was completely frozen, frost energy had permeated her entire body, she was close to death.
But this person who was dying greatly attracted that wild Immortal Gu which had broken out of the ice.
This wild Immortal Gu flew over slowly, entering Bai Ning Bing’s hold.
In the immortals’ vision, this Immortal Gu was about the size of a baby’s fist, resembling a spider with a white body and eight claws, as well as a back with blue flowery markings that showed the appearance of a vengeful ghost screaming.
Rank six ice soul Immortal Gu!
Bai Ning Bing focused her mind, opening her phantom aperture’s entrance.
Ice soul Immortal Gu directly flew in.
When the phantom aperture’s entrance closed, Ying Wu Xie immediately acted, healing Bai Ning Bing’s injuries, dragging her back from the edge of death.
“Good, ice soul Immortal Gu is already in your aperture, it has nowhere to escape, refining it will be extremely easy.” Ying Wu Xie clapped and smiled.
Hei Lou Lan’s gaze shined, she suddenly spoke: “I understand, this ice soul Immortal Gu has a close connection to Bai Ning Bing. Because Bai Ning Bing has the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique!”
“Indeed, the aura of the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique has an intense attraction to ice soul Immortal Gu. Thus, I asked Bai Ning Bing to capture it without using any defensive methods. It was to completely release the aura of the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique without any concealment!” Ying Wu Xie nodded, explaining.
“But if Bai Ning Bing’s vitality was too high, the wild ice soul Immortal Gu would hesitate. Thus, only when Bai Ning Bing was on the verge of death, would ice soul Immortal Gu feel that she was no threat and go towards her automatically.”
“So that’s it.” Tai Bai Yun Sheng realized.
“Lord Fang Yuan is so wise!” The loyal Shi Nu also said.
“Hahaha.” Ying Wu Xie raised his head and laughed: “My Shadow Sect is huge and has many resources, being with me will give you all great benefits. Like this wall of ice, my Shadow Sect had spent a thousand years mimicking a natural environment, creating this Gu refinement ground.”
“The cultivation methods that my Shadow Sect has are unimaginable to all of you. If you aptitude is low, we will raise it. If you have few dao marks, we will increase them. Everything is possible.”
Hei Lou Lan’s heart shook.
Ying Wu Xie’s final words were clearly directed at her.
“This fellow, he has learned how to be a true leader, he is really improving rapidly.” Before Hei Lou Lan could continue thinking, Ying Wu Xie waved his hand: “We’re leaving! Next, we will take over Bai Xiang grotto-heaven!”
Northern Plains.
“I skipped too few calamities and tribulations.” Fang Yuan sighed, he was not happy about this.
At almost the same time as Hei Lou Lan, who was unhappy over her major losses, wanting to skip as few calamities and tribulations as possible.
Fang Yuan sighed, the number of calamities and tribulations skipped did not match his expectations.
If possible, he wanted to be a rank seven Gu Immortal at the very next moment!
The endless number of battles in Hei Fan grotto-heaven made Fang Yuan realize his biggest flaw. His cultivation level was too low, his green grape immortal essence was not efficient.
As Fang Yuan’s identity got more complex, the dangers he faced also became greater.
In the past, Fang Yuan could control the future well, because he was alone. Now that he had many alliance agreements, he could not help himself.
And with the trip to Eastern Sea, he did not manage to exterminate Shadow Sect, the growth of Ying Wu Xie and the rest made Fang Yuan feel immense pressure.
Thus, he would rather sacrifice his future potential and raise his battle strength rapidly.
“Without the present, how can there be a future?”
“Potential is good, but to have room for development, one needs to spend time.”
“The true attitude for cultivation is to be practical, everything is for the sake of our present reality.”
Fang Yuan’s losses were even more severe than Hei Lou Lan’s, but he did not feel any pity or loss, he had a resolute and determined gaze.
“But, Han Dong had already gone through two heavenly tribulations and more than twenty earthly calamities. I annexed his immortal aperture, but I only progressed by four earthly calamities.”
“Is this because the sovereign immortal aperture is too big, the effect of skipping calamities and tribulations from annexing immortal apertures is not very evident?”
Fang Yuan thought about it from all angles, he felt that the sovereign immortal aperture was the cause.
Rank six Gu Immortals face an earthly calamity every ten years, and a heavenly tribulation every one hundred years. After three hundred years, after three heavenly tribulations, they would become rank seven.
During this process, if it was split into three, Fang Yuan was nearly one-third done.
“This is not fast enough, I need to hit rank seven as soon as possible, it would give me a huge boost in battle strength in terms of sustainability! Financially, I will also grow rapidly.”
“If only Han Dong blessed land is not enough, I will have to annex more immortal apertures.”
“Even though the gains in dao marks cannot compare to undergoing tribulation myself, I can save a lot of time, I can deal with challenges and dangers from all aspects more easily now.”
“Furthermore, when annexing blessed lands, I get all of their dao marks without any losses. Even though it is still a loss, I just need to kill some Gu Immortals to make up for it!”
Thinking of this, Fang Yuan had a ruthless light flashing in his eyes.
After uncovering another advantage of the sovereign immortal aperture, Fang Yuan discovered a new way to cultivate.
His original method was to go with the natural flow, undergoing tribulations and obtaining a great number of dao marks and true meaning. But this method was too slow, his battle strength rose slowly, what grew the most was his immortal aperture’s foundation. It was not suited for Fang Yuan, it would only make his situation more dangerous.
Currently, Fang Yuan was going to use the method of annexing immortal apertures and skipping calamities and tribulations, to rapidly raise his cultivation level. When his cultivation level rises, his battle strength would also rise. Fang Yuan would use his new battle strength to kill more enemies and annex their apertures, to avoid undergoing tribulation himself, it could also allow his immortal aperture’s foundation to grow, and he would gain dao marks as well.
This method allowed Fang Yuan’s battle strength to grow at the fastest speed, but his immortal aperture’s foundation would increase more slowly. But it was suited for Fang Yuan’s situation, it allowed him to have a better chance at survival!
Both cultivation methods could create a cycle of benefits for him, they just had their own advantages and strengths.
