txolops Chapter 134 Burning Spirit and Forging Tower, Foundation Establishment Completed
Chapter 134 Burning Spirit and Forging Tower, Foundation Establishment Completed
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Deep within the Zhenmo Division of Changning County lies an underground chamber constructed of refined steel and encased in three layers of spirit-locking formations.
The secret chamber was no more than two zhang long and wide, with no windows or holes, and only a fist-sized luminous pearl embedded in the dome emitted a faint, cold light.
The ground paved with bluestone was dry and cold, and four bronze auspicious beast incense burners were placed in the four corners, their mouths slowly releasing centuries-old sandalwood incense that calmed the mind and spirit.
Gu Yan sat cross-legged on a white jade futon in the center of the secret room, his upper body bare.
In front of him were three small mountains of mid-grade spirit stones, totaling more than three thousand.
The azure spiritual energy condensed into tangible droplets in the confined space, and following Gu Yan's breath, transformed into two white energy dragons that continuously entered his nasal cavity.
At the very front of the pile of spirit stones was a transparent glass dome.
Inside the glass dome, the Crimson Flame Fruit, a top-grade third-tier spiritual herb brought back from Sunset Valley, expanded and contracted rhythmically, just like the heart of a living creature. With each beat, it emitted terrifyingly high temperatures and an extremely rich, exotic fragrance.
Gu Yan opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
The storms and intrigues outside, the power struggles within the Flowing Cloud Sect, were all kept out by these thick, fine steel walls.
In this unknown underground depth, he could finally shed his timid mask and transform the immense wealth he had fought so hard for in Sunset Valley into his own hard power.
Without further hesitation, Gu Yan pointed his fingers like a sword and gently lifted the glass cover.
A wave of heat hit us, and even the sandalwood smoke in the corner of the enclosed room was instantly evaporated by the high temperature.
Gu Yan opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and used his true essence to lift the Crimson Flame Fruit out of thin air and swallow it directly into his stomach.
The fruit pulp melts in your mouth without needing to be chewed, transforming into a violent stream of magma that burns down your throat.
Gu Yan's face turned blood red in an instant, and dense, fiery red patterns appeared on his skin. The high temperature evaporated the sweat on his body into white mist, and even the white jade futon beneath him made a cracking sound under the weight.
This is a top-grade third-tier spiritual medicine that can increase the chances of a Foundation Establishment peak cultivator forming a core. For Gu Yan, who has just entered the early stage of Foundation Establishment, the medicinal power is too great, so great that it can burst an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator on the spot.
However, Gu Yan was no ordinary cultivator.
He gritted his teeth, not letting out a single scream, his hands rapidly forming hand seals in front of his chest, his mind sinking into his dantian.
Upon internal inspection, Gu Yan's Qi Sea was no longer the gaseous or liquid ocean of spiritual energy found in ordinary cultivators, but rather a towering, towering pagoda reaching the heavens.
This tower is the foundation of his divine and demonic path.
The entire tower is made of a crystal-clear material like white jade. It is not spiritual power, but the pure incense power of gratitude from tens of thousands of people in Changning County.
Incense and the power of vows are the most perfect adhesive in the world. They have no poisons or bottlenecks, and they fuse the scattered spiritual energy in Gu Yan's body together, transforming it into this immortal golden body.
On the pristine white surface of the tower, a lifelike relief of a jet-black dragon is entwined.
This demonic dragon was formed from extreme resentment and malevolence. Its scales were ferocious, its claws were deeply embedded in the tower wall, and its pair of scarlet dragon eyes seemed ready to come alive and devour people at any moment.
Solemnity and mystery, holiness and violence, have achieved a strange balance on this tower that reaches the heavens.
As the immense medicinal power of the Crimson Flame Fruit surged into the Qi Sea, the entire Tower of Babel began to tremble violently.
Gu Yan frantically circulated his cultivation technique, guiding the violent fire elemental energy to wash over the tower.
The fire elemental energy struck the foundation of the divine and demonic path like the most violent forging hammer.
The bottleneck that was originally stuck in the early stage of Foundation Building was broken by this tyrannical force, like a dam bursting.
A faint, almost imperceptible, crisp sound.
Gu Yan's aura suddenly rose a notch. With less than 20% of the medicinal power of the Crimson Flame Fruit consumed, he naturally stepped into the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.
But he had no intention of stopping.
Today, he will seize the opportunity and fully digest the enormous resources he has plundered!
Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes and shook his arms.
The three small mountains of spirit stones placed in front of him exploded with a deafening roar.
More than three thousand mid-grade spirit stones shattered into the purest spiritual energy powder at the same time.
The concentration of spiritual energy in the secret chamber reached an extremely terrifying critical point in the blink of an eye, turning into a viscous liquid.
Gu Yan was like a greedy black hole, his pores wide open, frantically absorbing the spiritual energy into his body like a whale swallowing a dreg.
Within the Qi Sea, the Taiji diagram of gods and demons beneath the Tower of Babel began to spin wildly.
The golden divine heart and the pitch-black demonic bone converged in the sea of qi, forming a huge vortex that swallowed up the massive amount of spiritual energy that surged into the body and the remaining medicinal power of the Crimson Flame Fruit, and then transformed it into the bricks and tiles for forging the tower.
One floor, two floors, three floors...
The Tower of Babel ascends at a visible speed, and the mountains, rivers, and all kinds of creatures carved on its body become increasingly clear.
Gu Yan entered a mysterious state of mind, as if he were wandering in the vast emptiness.
His consciousness detached from his body and floated in the sky above Changning County.
He saw Granny Wang in the east of the city mending clothes under the dim oil lamp, her stitches fine and neat; he heard the sound of hammering iron coming from the blacksmith shop in the west of the city, sparks flying everywhere; he sensed that those survivors he had once saved from the mouths of demons, even in their dreams, still held pure gratitude for him, the commander of the Demon Suppression Division.
These subtle, trivial, and mundane scenes transformed into specks of white light, continuously merging into his Tower of Heaven, making his divine and demonic foundation incredibly solid and compensating for the deficiencies and instability caused by his original four spiritual roots.
Late stage of Foundation Establishment, Breakthrough!
The immense spiritual energy propelled Gu Yan's cultivation to leap forward once again.
However, the rapid breakthrough brought with it extremely fatal hidden dangers.
As his cultivation level soared, the dragon relief wrapped around the tower also absorbed enough power.
The vengeful spirits of countless mortals who died in the Burial Dragon Mountains, as well as the karmic consequences of the Blood Swordsman's rampage outside, surged wildly in through the connection of their souls.
The dragon opened its scarlet eyes and let out a silent roar.
Black resentment began to spread across the pristine white tower, attempting to erode the white bricks and tiles that represented the people's incense offerings.
At the same time, gray-black spots began to appear in the pure incense offerings and prayers.
That's because he absorbed too many prayers from sentient beings, which were mixed with greed, selfishness, and resentment, turning into poison and polluting Gu Yan's divinity.
Two extreme forces collided violently in Gu Yan's sea of consciousness.
His divinity made him indifferent, making him want to look down on all living beings from a high place, regarding all things as straw dogs; his demonic nature made him violent, making him crave blood, wanting to destroy all living things he saw.
Under the mad pressure of gods and demons, the human side, Gu Yan's true nature, is teetering on the brink of collapse like a candle in the wind.
If an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator were faced with such a massive amount of resentment and faith poison, they would probably go mad in a single breath, turning into a madman who only knows how to kill, or a clay puppet without any emotion.
Black blood spilled from the corner of Gu Yan's mouth. One half of his face radiated a compassionate golden light, while the other half was covered with hideous black demonic patterns.
At this very moment, life and death hang by a thread.
Gu Yan bit his tongue hard, the excruciating pain allowing him to retain his last bit of clarity.
He neither sought to become a god nor wished to fall into demonic ways; he simply wanted to live a fulfilling and joyful life in this damned world!
If your heart is pure and clear, you will not be alarmed even if the sky falls.
Gu Yan silently chanted in his mind.
The Pure Heart and Universal Benevolence Mantra is activated!
Suddenly, the sound of Sanskrit chanting arose.
The ancient and obscure Pure Heart Universal Benevolence Mantra rippled from the depths of his soul, transforming into golden Sanskrit characters, like heavenly rain, sprinkling upon the Tower of Heaven within his Qi Sea.
Gu Yan held fast to his principles. He recalled how he had vanquished demons and punished local bullies in Changning County, not for the sake of the common people, but only to seek justice that he could be proud of.
This unwavering will to self, like a peerless sword, fiercely cleaved through the combined attack of divinity and demonic nature.
The golden Sanskrit characters washed away the evil aura from the tower, suppressing the roar of the demonic dragon.
At the same time, upholding justice, they gradually removed the gray and black impurities from the incense and prayers, burning them away completely, leaving only the purest gratitude and faith.
The Tower of Babel once again emitted a soft white light, the demonic dragon relief gently coiled around the base of the tower, and the divine and demonic Tai Chi diagram resumed its steady rotation.
The final obstacle has been reduced to dust in the past.
The spiritual energy of the three thousand mid-grade spirit stones was squeezed dry, and the medicinal power of the Crimson Flame Fruit was completely absorbed.
"boom."
A muffled sound, like the booming of a great bell, came from Gu Yan's body.
The Tower of Babel rose from the ground, its spire pointing straight to the heavens.
His aura stopped rising and gradually became as deep and unfathomable as an abyss.
He, Gu Yan, has now reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage!
He was only one step away from the lofty Golden Core Path.
Gu Yan slowly opened his eyes. In his pupils, a golden divine light flashed in his left eye, and a dark demonic light swept across his right eye, before finally returning to a calm darkness.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands, which were as translucent as the finest mutton fat jade.
The impurities in his body had long since been washed away by the spiritual energy, turning them into ashes. At this moment, his physical body was even more resilient than a top-grade magic weapon.
With a thought, the paper-based power representing the power of rules swirled around his fingertips.
At this moment, if Gu Yan were to face the Yin Serpent Venerable of the Ten Thousand Poisons Valley in Sunset Valley again...
Gu Yan was absolutely confident that, without any calculations, he could forcefully fold the old monster's poisonous mist into waste paper by simply unleashing the spiritual power of his perfected Foundation Establishment stage, combined with the strong pressure of the rules of the Paper Realm, and instantly accomplish the feat of reversing the Golden Core stage.
This is the terrifying foundation brought about by cultivating both gods and demons, and using incense to forge the Dao foundation.
Within the same rank, he is absolutely invincible.
Gu Yan stretched his body for a long time, and his bones made a series of cracking sounds like popping beans.
Just as he was about to get up and end this long and dangerous seclusion.
A sudden change occurred.
After reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment, Gu Yan's divine sense, which had expanded several times and was enough to cover most of Changning County, suddenly detected an extremely intense fluctuation of spiritual energy in the world.
This fluctuation did not originate from a cultivator's breakthrough, but rather from underground.
And not just in one place.
Gu Yan frowned sharply. He closed his eyes and pushed his divine sense to its limit.
In his perceived imagery.
In the mass grave east of Changning County, a cemetery that was always shrouded in gloom suddenly cracked open with a huge fissure in the ground. A ghastly green beam of light shot straight into the sky, and within the beam, a rusty bronze coffin was faintly emerging from the earth.
At the bottom of the White Bone Riverbed in the west of the city, which had been dry for decades, the mud and sand churned. Accompanied by a clear and melodious sword cry, a broken sword radiating a chilling light cut through the silt on its own and hovered in mid-air. The sword energy shredded the surrounding rocks into dust.
In the abandoned site of the City God Temple in the south of the city, a large area of the paving stones collapsed, and a stone tablet carved with the Xuanwu pattern slowly rose up. Ancient array runes flowed on the surface of the stone tablet, exuding a heavy earth element spiritual power.
Meanwhile, the wilderness, dry wells, deep mountains, and old houses in various parts of Changning County.
One after another, beams of precious light pierced through the cover of darkness, and the extraordinary phenomenon of magical treasures emerging appeared like bamboo shoots after a spring rain in Changning County.
Those magical artifacts, array plates, and even unknown rare treasures that had been buried deep underground for countless years and were imbued with the aura of ancient cultivators, seemed to be summoned by some mysterious force, breaking free from the shackles of the soil and returning to the world.
The pale green eerie flames, the frosty white sword energy, and the dim yellow array patterns, like inverted aurora borealis, dyed the deep night sky with bizarre and surreal colors.
These lights intertwined, illuminating the night sky of Changning County as bright as day.
In the secret room, Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with astonishment and solemnity.
His hand instinctively pressed against his chest, where the jade box containing the severed finger of a Nascent Soul cultivator, which he had brought back from the Sunset Valley underground palace, was kept.
At the same time as strange phenomena occurred in the outside world, the severed finger inside the jade box also produced an extremely faint resonance and tremor.
Gu Yan stood up and casually waved his hand, dispelling the spirit-locking formation in the secret room.
Even through the thick layer of soil, he could sense the spiritual energy boiling to its extreme in the outside air.
Changning County, a remote town where even Foundation Establishment cultivators are rarely seen on ordinary days, has become a coveted place full of treasures due to the influence of the Burial Dragon Mountains.
The emergence of a magical treasure on its own is a rare phenomenon that will not only attract a frenzy of snatching from the surrounding rogue cultivators, but will also be impossible to hide from the powerful figures of the Flowing Cloud Sect, the Emerald Bamboo Sect, and even the Azure Profound Sect.
The peaceful days are over.
Gu Yan pushed open the heavy iron door of the secret room, climbed the steps, and looked at the mysterious night outside. His expression was indifferent, and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or sad.
The night wind rushed in, whipping up a few withered leaves from the old locust tree in the courtyard.
Withered grass swirls in the frosty wind at the corner of the wall, and startled birds disappear into the distant mountains.
The pale green and frosty white light reflected off the mottled blue brick walls of the Demon Suppression Bureau, flickering in and out.
In the distance, the sounds of frightened dogs barking and the disorienting gongs of the night watchman echoed through the streets and alleys.
One by one, red paper lanterns were lit, the flickering candles swayed a few times, and were finally swallowed up by the cold mist rising from the long street.
Gu Yan stood with his hands behind his back in the deep shadows of the eaves, his blue robes fluttering in the wind.