txolops Chapter 368 Rebirth from the Ashes
Chapter 368 Rebirth from the Ashes
Compared to the "Myriad Spirits Blood Body" Dharma form outside, which is hundreds of feet tall, floating amidst the intertwining of silver-white lightning and crimson-black earth fire, and being tempered by the great power of heaven and earth.
At this moment, Luo Ming, who was sitting cross-legged in the deepest part of the secret room, connected with the Dharma image in spirit and cultivating life and body, was in a similarly miserable situation, or even more shocking.
The power of heavenly thunder and earthly fire does not merely affect the outward appearance of the Dharma. Luo Ming's physical body, which is of the same origin as the Dharma and serves as its foundation and core, endures the same, or even more direct and violent, impact and baptism of thunder and fire.
"Sizzle—!"
The secret chamber was already filled with silver-white electric snakes and dark red flames.
The raging power of lightning was like countless tiny silver whips, each carrying a destructive will, lashing wildly at every inch of Luo Ming's skin, every muscle, and every bone!
Wherever it passed, skin instantly turned black and carbonized, revealing the bright red flesh beneath, which was then further ravaged by the heat and destructive power contained in the lightning.
The Earthly Fiend True Fire is like a maggot clinging to the bone, burrowing into the body through pores and wounds to wreak havoc and burn, bringing terrifying pain that penetrates deep into the bone marrow and extinguishes life.
At this moment, Luo Ming's body surface seemed to be covered with a thick and ferocious "blood cocoon" made up of his own charred and carbonized skin, solidified dark gold blood, and newly grown tender flesh.
Beneath this "blood cocoon," his physical body is undergoing the most cruel, cyclical destruction and rebirth.
The old flesh and bones were ruthlessly destroyed and annihilated by the power of thunder and fire, while the blood and qi power of the "Myriad Spirits Blood Technique" pushed to its limit, combined with the "green qi" that was constantly flowing in the dantian, repaired, reorganized and strengthened the damaged tissues at an astonishing speed.
The physical body of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator is strong enough to rival that of a transformed demon beast, and its vitality is terrifyingly tenacious.
Luo Ming's "Myriad Spirits Blood Technique" is based on refining and fusing the essence blood of various demonic beasts, with the essence blood of the Xuan Turtle being the most abundant and deeply fused.
This gives his body not only terrifying defensive capabilities, comparable to those of turtle-like demonic beasts, but also far superior recovery ability, endurance, and resistance to damage compared to ordinary body cultivators.
At first, the violent destructive power of the lightning and fire overwhelmed the healing speed of his body, making Luo Ming feel as if he were in an infernal hell, enduring the double torment of being slowly sliced to death and burned at the stake, almost to the point of collapse.
As time went by, after countless destructions and rebirths, the body's resistance to the power of lightning and fire seemed to be slowly increasing, and the speed of blood and qi recovery became faster and more efficient due to extreme exploitation.
Gradually, the balance between the despairing destruction and repair began to tilt toward equilibrium, or even... toward repair gaining a slight advantage!
Luo Ming could clearly feel the immense power within his body, accumulated through constant "destruction and rebirth," like a volcano about to erupt, becoming increasingly clear and difficult to suppress! It was not a simple increase in power, but a leap in the level of life, a transformation of the essence of the physical body!
"roar--!!!"
Finally, when another wave of the most violent lightning and fire had passed, and the newly grown flesh and bones exuded an unprecedented sense of resilience and power, Luo Ming could no longer suppress it. He suddenly raised his head and let out a deafening roar filled with the release of power and endless joy!
The whistling sound did not come from his throat, but rather from his boiling blood and qi and the transformed life essence, which transformed into invisible sound waves that penetrated the restrictions of the secret chamber and resonated synchronously with the hundred-foot-tall Dharma image outside!
"Buzz—!!!"
Outside, the "Myriad Spirits Blood Body" Dharma form, towering a hundred feet tall, had been completely stabilized amidst the thunder and fire, its entire body displaying a dark golden hue and exuding a heavy and majestic aura.
As if sensing the breakthrough and exhilaration of its own body, it suddenly opened its massive maw and let out an even grander, more soul-shaking silent roar! A boundless, tangible pressure erupted, forming visible dark golden shockwaves that swept outwards in all directions!
"puff!"
"Ugh!"
In the distance, many low-level cultivators who had retreated ten miles away, thinking themselves safe and observing, were swept away by the sudden impact of the blood and qi containing the pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
It was as if they had been struck in the chest by an invisible hammer. Their blood surged, their faces turned pale, and many staggered, their eyes filled with horror and fear!
Some Qi Refining stage cultivators who had poor control over their own Qi and blood were directly shaken so badly that their internal mana became disordered and their Qi and blood flowed in reverse. They instantly lost control of their physical bodies and magical artifacts and fell straight down from mid-air like dumplings being dropped into a pot, screaming and flailing their arms and legs!
"Bang bang bang—!"
A series of muffled splashes came from below.
Fortunately, they didn't fly very high, and the vast expanse of Qinghu Lake below cushioned most of the impact. Even so, several unlucky ones suffered broken bones and were struggling in pain in the lake. If their companions hadn't rescued them in time, they might have truly become the rarest way to die in the cultivation world.
Luo Ming had no interest in paying attention to who was behind all of this.
High in the distance, Elder Wang Tiangu of the Ghost Spirit Sect, who had been silently hovering like a cold, indifferent rock, watching the entire tribulation process, saw that the dark golden dharma image not only stood firm in the final wave of lightning and fire, but its momentum was even stronger, and it became completely stable.
When he could even actively release such astonishing blood pressure, his refined and calm face finally showed a slight twitch of his brows, a strange light flashing in his eyes, as he thought to himself:
"What profound foundation! The power of this final wave of 'Golden Thunder Fiery Blaze' was comparable to the full-force attack of an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, yet his Dharma Form withstood it head-on and even used it to stabilize his realm... This person's body-refining techniques and foundation are truly remarkable."
This is no small matter. It seems that this tribulation of thunder and fire can no longer harm him; a successful breakthrough is just around the corner.
He quickly weighed the options in his mind, and the original thought of taking advantage of the other party's failure to transcend the tribulation or serious injury faded a bit, replaced by a faint sense of regret.
However, forcibly attacking a Nascent Soul cultivator who is about to succeed and whose strength is probably not weak is too risky and not worth the effort.
"So be it. Since things have already taken shape, we might as well forge a good relationship." Wang Tiangu instantly adjusted his mindset, his gaze sharp as lightning, staring intently at the facial contours of the dark golden Dharma image in the distance.
Although the appearance of the Dharma form is not as clear as the original body, its general outline and features are exactly the same as the cultivator's original body, and it is absolutely impossible to disguise or change it.
"Child Ghost." Wang Tiangu ordered calmly without turning his head.
"Your subordinates are here!" the two elders, Tong Gui and Er Lao, quickly responded.
"A cultivator's face can be disguised, and they can even change their bone structure by cultivating special techniques, but the appearance of this Dharma body is a reflection of their life essence and soul, and it is absolutely impossible to fake."
Wang Tiangu spoke slowly, his gaze still fixed on the Dharma Image, "You two immediately return to the sect and review all the sect's secret files from the last two hundred years... no, three hundred years, as well as the information on any suspicious cultivators recorded. Carefully compare them and check if there is anyone whose face resembles this Dharma Image. Such a person could not have appeared out of thin air; there must be a traceable background to him."
"Yes, sir!" The two elders, Tong and Gui, dared not delay, cupped their hands in agreement, and then transformed into two streaks of light, rushing towards the Ghost Spirit Sect's main altar to carry out the order.
On the other side, Duan Chen, who had been silent and observing the situation, was now frowning, his cold eyes fixed on the face of the huge Dharma image in the distance that was gradually solidifying and looked like it was cast in gold.
For some reason, the more he looked at the blurry outline, the more a faint, inexplicable sense of familiarity rose within him. It was as if he had seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it.
"Strange... When did I ever meet a fellow body cultivator with such formidable strength?" Duan Chen wondered, carefully sorting through his memories of the past hundred years.
He knew very few body cultivators, and most of them had low cultivation levels or had already perished.
"Moreover, the path of body cultivation is more difficult than that of magic cultivation, requiring far more resources. Those who can cultivate to the late stage of Core Formation are already extremely rare, and Nascent Soul body cultivation... has never been heard of in Tiannan in the last few hundred years! For this person to succeed in one fell swoop, he must be at least two hundred years old, or even older..."
He ruled out his familiar peers or seniors. But that sense of familiarity lingered, like looking through a thin mist, making it difficult to see clearly.
Duan Chen closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the depths of his memory, searching and comparing again and again... One after another, faces, some clear and some blurry, flashed by rapidly.
Suddenly, a young man's face, long buried in the corner of his memory and almost forgotten, with a scholarly air and unusually calm eyes, jumped out without warning!
"Luo... Junior Brother Luo Ming?"
Duan Chen suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils contracting sharply. An expression of utter absurdity and disbelief crossed his face. He instinctively gasped in a low voice, "No...impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"
He shook his head repeatedly, as if trying to dispel this absurd idea.
"When Junior Brother Luo left, his cultivation was only at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, and he mainly cultivated the Spirit Control Technique, without any mention of him also practicing any advanced body-refining techniques. Now, he's at most 160 or 170 years old!"
One hundred and sixty or seventy years, from the mid-Foundation Establishment stage to the Body Refinement Nascent Soul stage? This is simply... simply a fantasy! Throughout history, there has never been such a record in Tiannan!
Duan Chen forced himself to calm down, but once the thought surfaced, it grew wildly like weeds. He couldn't help but look closely at the face of the Dharma image again, trying to find more evidence to refute this conjecture.
"Furthermore, during the great battle back then, didn't Junior Brother Luo and Han Li from Yellow Maple Valley leave Tiannan together through an ancient teleportation array, and their whereabouts remain unknown to this day?"
Duan Chen couldn't help but recall the incident that had caused quite a stir among the higher-ups of the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Imperial Spirit Sect back then.
Back then, it seemed that the Ghost Spirit Sect's conflict stemmed from a feud between its young master, Wang Chan, and Han Li; while the Imperial Spirit Sect's conflict arose because Luo Ming "stole" Dongmen Xiao's "Thousand Demon Banner," which was considered one of the sect's future treasures!
If it weren't for the high status of his family's ancestor within the sect, who protected him, he would probably have been thrown into the Ten Thousand Poisons Cave by the enraged higher-ups to be fed to the sect's guardian poisonous beast.
"That idiot Dongmen Xiao is more trouble than he's worth, he deserves it!" Duan Chen sneered inwardly, then composed himself and stopped thinking about those old grudges.
He turned his gaze back to the dark gold statue in the distance, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
As time went on, the earth-shattering thunder and fire phenomenon above Qinghu Market, like a lighthouse in the night, attracted the attention of more and more cultivators.
Various colored lights flew in from all directions, hovering dozens of miles away, gazing with astonishment and uncertainty at the terrifying scene of intertwined thunder and fire and towering Dharma images, feeling the terrifying pressure emanating from it that even Core Formation cultivators found suffocating.
Just then, Wang Tiangu, who had been standing with his hands behind his back, calmly observing the tribulation process, suddenly frowned almost imperceptibly, his gaze abruptly turning to the southeast sky, a hint of solemnity and... apprehension flashing in his eyes.
"Old Monster Fen? How come he arrived so quickly? Is he also nearby?" Wang Tiangu wondered to himself, quite surprised and somewhat wary of the appearance of this fellow cultivator.
The next moment, a strange black and blue fire cloud with sparks of blue light jumping around its edges appeared on the southeastern horizon, like a burning meteorite, and hurtled through the air at an astonishing speed!
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