Chapter 390

Chapter 390: The Humble Path of Guidance

Five days passed in the blink of an eye. The upper reaches of the Li River rumbled ominously, the fearsome calamity power accumulating, with lightning weaving downwards.

Heaven and Earth were furious, and the remaining branches of the Celestial Tree not only revived from the ashes but also grew wildly, thriving with rapid intensity.

The calamity clouds gathered, scorching the Li River.

Around the Celestial Tree, ninety-nine layers of tribulation soil swirled, floating nearly ten thousand treasure talismans in the air, shining brightly and dazzlingly. The formation was extremely powerful; yet when resisting the overwhelming calamity power, all the talismans burned fiercely, consuming their power at ten times the rate.

Li Hui felt a deep shock in his heart, realizing, “Heaven and Earth are indeed fearful of the Celestial Tree, worried it may become a force to reckon with. It seems that today, I must unleash all my means to survive this tribulation.”

Next, a brilliant silver light erupted.

The silver snake bracelet feasted blissfully as Li Hui used up all his resources accumulated over six months to enhance the power of the talismans. At the same time, Bai Ze appeared, devouring chunks of red pebbles the size of a baby fist.

“Swish!” The Fortune Ascending Talisman blazed to life, the profound qi began to purify the talisman’s surface, removing the impurities and leaving the essence behind to help the Celestial Tree avert disaster.

The effects of the Three Yang Opening Tai Stone were remarkable; each time the calamity power rose a level, it immediately dispersed that layer, creating a back-and-forth tug of war.

Li Hui smiled bitterly; he needed the Three Yang Opening Tai Stones for himself, but at this rate, he wouldn’t be able to keep even half of one. His greed was at fault, wanting to devour the small heavenly cave but finding his appetite insufficient; at this moment, he could only give it his all.

“Boom!” The purple lightning struck the Mysterious Pearl, leaving twisted fire lines on the trunk of the Celestial Tree, igniting many branches and leaves in flames.

The small demons rushed over to extinguish the fire. Xie Xuan swung the golden scissors, “Snip, snip,” cutting away the calamity fire that entangled the branches. Li Hui quickly activated an exotic treasure, a golden silk garment he had found while sheltering refugees in the heart of Xiuming Mountain.

Unbeknownst to whom built the burial mound, a golden silk garment was left behind; with this garment’s influence, it actually transformed the mountain’s insides into a patch of Yang soil.

“Shred!”

The golden silk garment flew out…

Thunder erupted, and terrifying lightning targeted the Celestial Tree. It suddenly changed direction just after crossing the dual barriers of the small heavenly cave and the Mysterious Pearl, blasting towards the twirling golden silk garment.

Li Hui sighed in relief; this golden silk garment possessed pure Yang power. It must have been a personal item of a senior expert, buried in the burial mound for many years, and now generated Yang soil. Its own power was barely perceptible, but the material was exceptional. If he used this garment to create a decree, it could transfer a great danger once.

Ao Chonglin cried out wildly, clawing at the golden silk garment, tearing off strands of purple lightning. Even though he grimaced from the shock, he still gobbled up eagerly.

“Swift…” The treasure talismans burned, enhancing the talisman formation. All the spiritual plants in the spirit herb garden shared breath and fate with the Celestial Tree, resonating to begin sharing the calamity. The ground had already formed the embryonic shape of a dragon vein, also dividing and consuming the calamity power. Layers of arrangement exerted continuous efforts, and many tree demons exhaled demonic energy, finally managing to slightly reduce the calamity faced by the Celestial Tree, allowing it to boom upwards in growth.

Li Hui opened the treasure cabinet to clear out the accumulated spiritual energy. Meanwhile, Zhong Yuan, Jin Feng, and other disciples held nothing back, breaking through all their Miao Jade and storing exotic treasures imbued with spiritual energy.

“Guide!”

The Mysterious Pearl emitted a faint glow and began to devour the small heavenly cave again.

“Two thousand two hundred acres, two thousand five hundred acres, two thousand eight hundred acres…”

The Celestial Tree shot up, its canopy seeming like the heavens. As the trunk reached three hundred thirty-three zhang high, Yao’er sharply commanded, “Stop, immediately stop! If you dare to grow even a little more, your foundation will be obliterated.”

“Boom, boom…” The Celestial Tree reluctantly halted. Even without spiritual intelligence, it could sense Heaven and Earth’s auspice, knowing that growing further would bring great terror upon it, and the surrounding strange “weeds” could no longer protect it.

Following this, the spirit plants in the garden experienced manic growth due to the vitality of the Celestial Tree, expanding the spirit herb garden to eight hundred acres. Beyond that, the vast spiritual soil sprouted tender buds, while the spiritual rice grew rapidly.

The spiritual fields extended for thousands of acres, beyond which lay desolation.

Desolation was inconsequential; laying the groundwork mattered most.

The Mysterious Pearl had swallowed most of the small heavenly cave, and even with the support of the Celestial Tree, it could no longer consume anything. It seemed to evolve into a small heavenly cave itself, exuding a faint sense of vast Heaven and Earth.

“Capture!”

Li Hui’s expression turned serious; he came in with talismans available, but now he was going out empty-handed, having exhausted all his reserves. He needed to take the chance to move the Four Evils Sealing Array and Dao Traces Sealing Array into the Mysterious Pearl; otherwise, going out would become a major problem.

Opportunities must not be missed; they do not come twice.

The Mysterious Pearl integrating with the small heavenly cave was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Whether breaking the formation mattered was irrelevant; swallowing the sealing arrays together could also reinforce the pearl.

“Boom, boom, boom…” The heavenly cave transformed thoroughly.

Two hours later, when Li Hui stepped out of the stone door, his face was pale and blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.

He had forcibly absorbed the small heavenly cave’s sealing array but ultimately could not escape the backlash. Not only that, after entering the Mysterious Pearl, the sealing array organized itself into a blocked formation.

“This is bad; Yao’er and the others can’t come out, and I can’t go in! I’ll have to break through the array repeatedly until I adapt to the formation. The fifty times flow rate of time is far from enough; it needs to be a hundred times. I can only try when I reach the mid-Condense Essence stage. It seems the Mysterious Pearl will be sealed for a while; fortunately, my quick hands let me store the heavenly mansion ceramic vase and essence of calamity power in the treasure cabinet.” Li Hui smiled wryly as he hurried toward the Heart Refining Branch…

Why go to the Heart Refining Branch?

Because the Heart Refining Branch had secret techniques for refining the body, External Transformation, battle body transformation, and mortal transformation, countless methods could be derived.

Cheng Yuyan sent a message saying that to save Mu Qianyun’s life, they needed to return to Dalong and procure the head of National Master Qiao Tianxing a year from today, sealing his three souls and seven spirits entirely within the head.

Li Hui feigned indifference, but in truth, he took it to heart.

After all, they were acquainted; even if he forgot, he couldn’t just ignore it. Moreover, what if there were changes outside Nanxun City in Dalong? Since Cheng Yuyan had become powerful and hadn’t forgotten past grievances, annihilating the young and old of Chuxia Mountain would only be a thought away.

Yes, he had set up contingencies before leaving, but with Zhang Daoheng erasing his traces, he knew nothing about whether Yin-Yang Nine Heads or the manager Que San would obey orders.

Yet he found himself unable to leave the Great Xia; he had to continue finding opportunities within the Great Xia to quickly raise his cultivation. This time, having obtained a lump of essence of calamity power that could transform into human shape, he contemplated practicing External Transformation.

The next day, Li Hui arrived at the mountain path around the Heart Refining Branch.

He casually molded a command token for the outer disciples of the Jin Tian Sect using mud and solidification talismans. He couldn’t say it was impersonation; it was just that under the boiling calamity power, the command token disappeared entirely, equivalent to being swept out the door. This had nothing to do with the sect; it was entirely the doing of Zhang Daoheng.

No matter when, he accepted his identity as a disciple of the Mirror Lake faction. Cultivating Dao relies on sincerity; thinking of his master’s kindness is enough; whether the command token exists or not is irrelevant.

“Who are you?” The light and shadow swayed to the sides, and two gate gods emerged, looking down on the newcomer from above.

The Heart Refining Branch was different from the Jin Tian Sect, which adhered to the simple concept of the Dao. Only a dilapidated Daoist temple stood alone atop a small mountain.

This place had innumerable grand buildings, countless pavilions and towers, rivaling the royal city of the Great Xia; however, while it was easy to come out, it was hard to go in and required recognition.

As it was Li Hui’s first time visiting, he thought, “This branch is truly wealthy, even raising two gate gods. If I could guide them to the Primitive Shell Symbol, that wouldn’t be bad…”

“I am the humble path of guidance; I have come specifically for business at the branch.”