Chapter 375

Chapter 375: The Coming of Monster Tribulation

Guang Jin felt deeply injured and was too lazy to pay attention to Li Hui; he thought he had never encountered such a wasteful master.

Li Hui held his forehead and recalled his past actions.

"I manipulated the weather, ensuring good conditions across many areas, even using a lot of medicinal materials to draw the Universal Mercy Talisman, becoming a living Bodhisattva."

"I strengthened the Heavenly and Earthly Arrays, investing dozens of rare media and Celestial Tree Blossoming Branches to enhance the array’s vitality, using the Clear Void Cup as a catalyst."

"I activated the Spirit-Refining Formation, practicing the exceptional Divine Bird Technique in my dreams, providing countless lowly creatures with opportunities, consuming a lot of Spirit-Refining Rare Treasures."

"Wait a minute, the Treasure Cabinet Array, come to me." The air buzzed, and three hundred sixty-five Purple Crystals emerged, moving around him in a specific trajectory. Li Hui was astonished: "How is this possible? Over a hundred Enamel Dragon Crystals will seep into the earth nurturing the dragon veins. Why does each nine hundred ninety-nine Dragon Crystals combine to form a Crystal Shield? Huh…"

In a fleeting moment, he gained a bit of understanding.

"With more than a hundred Dragon Crystals, they seep into the earth to become dragon veins! By a stroke of luck, when the quantity exceeds a thousand, they can soar into the Azure Sky, also forming dragon veins, but these are the Heavenly Dragon veins. The Treasure Cabinet Array’s transformations are consistent in principle, perfectly reaching its limit state, allowing each nine hundred ninety-nine Enamel Dragon Crystals to merge into one."

Li Hui summoned one Crystal Shield for closer inspection; its edges and back were distinct, measuring three feet long, one foot wide, and half a foot thick—very beautiful.

The inside of the Crystal Shield resembled a heavenly realm; it seemed that no matter how much spiritual energy was sent in, it could never fill it. Looking over the Treasure Cabinet space, he found the length, width, and height reduced to two zhang, and he was once again shocked beyond measure.

"It was originally ten zhang, but now only two remain. According to Senior Chen Mengde, expanding the Treasure Cabinet space is easy, but shrinking it is difficult. Now it has conditions to form a void barrier, possessing the capability to resist foes. Breaking down a large amount of Miao Jade to absorb spiritual energy not only enhances potential but also completes all of this."

At this moment, Li Hui felt conflicted about whether to be heartbroken or joyful; his feelings were intertwined.

The Miao Jade stored in the Treasure Cabinet, along with that stored in the Mysterious Pearl, all unintentionally fell into the Treasure Cabinet Array. He vaguely remembered getting carried away with the drink, loudly proclaiming his insights to the heavens, declaring that the Treasure Cabinet was a smooth path, hence he invested without concern for cost.

The benefit was that the Crystal Shields absorbed a variety of spiritual energies from the world, not only granting him considerable potential but also allowing both the Mysterious Pearl and the Heavenly and Earthly Arrays to optimize and adjust, making Bosa no longer obstructed. Additionally, immediately after advancing to Condense Essence, a void barrier was formed, possessing powerful resistance capabilities against foes.

As for the downside? That was obvious—he was now a broke idiot.

"Sigh! After three years of joy, had I known the cost of enlightenment would be this high, I would have never touched the Eight Treasures Enlightenment Wine." Li Hui gritted his teeth, waving his hand to cut his messy hair, and consoled himself, "Fortunately, the Mysterious Pearl spirit herb garden has matured enough to supply the materials needed for talisman-making; otherwise, I would want to hit myself. Accumulating such a substantial amount of Miao Jade isn’t easy unless I find another large vein. Right! After a while, I will break into the dimensional axis to explore the Heavenly Talisman Sect; I refuse to believe I can’t gain something from it."

The next day, Li Hui was forced to seek out materials for talisman-making.

The little ones in the Mysterious Pearl were about to take human form, which usually required three to four hundred years of training to reach this level. With Yao’er overseeing the absorption of Celestial Tree’s energy, the time required for transformation was greatly reduced. However, this also meant the tribulations would be heavy.

To resist the tribulation of transformation, spirit talismans were inadequate; at the very least, he needed middle-grade treasure talismans.

Here’s the problem: when the silver snake bracelet defeated the remnants of Di Jiang, it depleted all the artifact and treasure fragments, and now there was not a single fragment left to improve the success rate for creating talismans, while the tribulation was pressing on. What to do?

After thinking it over and finding no other options, he could only grit his teeth and press on.

Even though Li Hui had significantly raised the success rate for creating talismans, drawing talismans still proved difficult—out of every ten, four or five could fail, and encountering unfamiliar talisman methods could lead to complete failure.

When magnified three times, although he had previously saved a number of materials for talisman-making, it could not withstand the impending tribulations. He needed the assistance of the Celestial Tree; after facing tribulation at Mirror Lake, several demon plants had gained intelligence, including Yao’er and Xie Xuan, bringing the total to twenty-six little demons about to take shape.

"Twenty-six of them! If they come, they all come together." Li Hui sighed, "Sigh! I am forever a child slave, worried they might mess up. Transforming into ashes under the great calamity is no small matter; in the blink of an eye, life and death are separated, and I can’t bear to lose any of them. I need to speed up the talisman-making process; Yao’er is about to collapse!"

Above him, thunder cracked and lightning flashed; the transformation of demons triggered jealousy in the heavens, inevitably resulting in numerous tribulations. If they successfully transformed into human form, it would be akin to the carp jumping over the Dragon Gate, soaring high thereafter. If they stabilized their human forms after the tribulation, they would be comparable to cultivators at the Initial Condense Essence Stage.

This threshold was not easy to cross, but as long as they pushed through, the very essence of life would undergo a monumental transformation. Li Hui looked forward to it, and despite the roaring thunder, he buried himself in hard work.

Until the tribulation came, he precisely set up a nineteen-fold talisman formation.

"Boom, boom, boom…" The resonating sounds echoed continuously; thunder, heavenly fire, fierce winds, and frost appeared, each type of power presenting itself without indicating what kind of tribulation it was.

Chaos ensued; Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind were in disarray; the twenty-six demon tribulations came crashing in simultaneously, if not unprecedented, then certainly rare in the world.

Li Hui quickly moved his fingers to form hand seals, directing the calamity power through the different talisman formations. Countless talisman flags exploded one after another, while some unbroken flags emitted halos, becoming the backbone of resistance against the tribulations.

Ao Chonglin was within the formation, filtered through layers of talismans, and welcomed purple, blue, black, and red lightning with delight, opening his mouth wide to savor it all.

The poison dragon eel, Ao Chongguang, also participated in the formation, used to neutralize toxic gas and poisonous light. The other various insect demons each took their place, reducing tribulations whenever possible and providing resistance against them.

Heaven and Earth gave birth to all things to nurture talismans; similarly, the great calamity could nourish talismans!

Li Hui placed the Great Earthly Xuan Dragon of Reverse Five Elements talisman at the center of the nineteen-fold talisman formation, with the Five Spirits Transformation Talisman on the left side and the Primitive Shell Symbol on the right, using the overwhelming force of the tribulation to enhance the talisman power. If someone else saw this, they would undoubtedly think he was dreaming fantastically.

When he was with the Haotu Sect, he had foolishly exploited those secret realms along the path of nurturing talismans with all things, accumulating substantial experience. Now to extend his hand towards the transformation demon tribulation was something else entirely!

"Not enough; I need to keep adding treasure talismans!"

"I’m all in; what I need now is immense courage. Talisman ready, talisman ready, talisman ready…"

Many middle-grade treasure talismans appeared under his hand, with occasional halos stacking threefold, drawing out a top-grade treasure talisman. Li Hui joyfully laughed wildly, and then, filled with reckless abandon, he executed his strokes with elegance and unbounded spirit.

After storing up a batch of treasure talismans, he hurriedly sent them into the talisman formation, instantly devouring large amounts of calamity power. A dazzling array of purples and reds swirled around the Mysterious Pearl but did not settle down.

Heaven seemed angered by this approach; with a great roar, the calamities erupted, inundating everything with blinding lights; Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind rotated chaotically, as if a millstone was about to grind down everything here.