"What?" Xiao Wenbing exclaimed in surprise, "You were originally the Spirit of Gold?"
"Indeed, the essence of this sword is a metal spirit, which is why it is so sturdy."
Xiao Wenbing's expression gradually turned strange. He pointed to the cane hanging in mid-air in front of him and said, "Come and see what this thing is."
The sword spirit emitted a white light, sweeping across the cane-wielding figure, and immediately exclaimed, "The Spirit of Gold! It's actually the body of the Spirit of Gold!"
"That's right, this is a treasure given by a senior, who said that a deity accidentally erased the spiritual essence of the gold during the refining process."
The white light and shadow flickered incessantly, indicating that the Blade Soul was extremely excited at this moment. Suddenly, a flash of white light appeared, and it pounced on the cane with lightning speed.
"Thump..."
The sound of metal clashing rang out, and the white light quickly retreated.
The cane was covered with Xiao Wenbing's mutated superpowers. Although this magical power was far less ferocious than the power of the sword spirit, the sword spirit could not break through it.
Caught off guard, Xiao Wenbing nearly had his golden spirit possessed by it. He immediately waved his hand, putting his cane into his Heavenly Void Ring, and angrily said, "You want to possess me directly? Hmph, without my permission, even if you do possess me, I'm confident I can force you out."
The sword spirit gave an awkward smile and said, "This sword has not had a body for many years, so upon seeing such a suitable husk, I couldn't resist for a moment. Please forgive me, fellow immortal."
"Hmph, what does it matter to me that you have no physical body? Stay here as you please, farewell." Xiao Wenbing withdrew his numerous Nascent Souls and turned to leave.
Since these Nascent Souls were of no use, they had no choice but to be stuffed back into the Heavenly Void Ring.
"Wait, wait..." Dao Hun immediately panicked and shouted to stop him.
The Golden Spirit, a Golden Spirit that has lost its soul, this body is practically tailor-made for it. To it, it is infinitely better than the Multi-Armed Supreme or the Great Serpent Supreme. If it were to give up this opportunity, it would rather perish.
"What are you doing?" Xiao Wenbing hadn't planned to leave in the first place, so he stopped and asked calmly.
"Fellow Immortal, please forgive me. I was indeed in the wrong just now. If you are interested, I would like to make a deal with you."
"you say."
"This swordsman wishes to exchange for the Golden Spirit in your possession, fellow immortal."
"Haha." Xiao Wenbing laughed heartily, the small Nascent Soul making such a gesture looking even more comical: "This is the Spirit of Gold, what do you have to exchange for it?"
"I'll trade this Forbidden God Tower for it."
Volume 19, Chapter 12: Sub-Divine Artifacts
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Pointing to the vast space, Xiao Wenbing asked in surprise, "Is this Forbidden God Tower also a treasure?"
"Of course, this is a quasi-divine artifact personally crafted by my old master. No creature trapped inside can escape on its own." The Blade Soul was willing to sacrifice anything to obtain its body: "It is precisely because of this quasi-divine artifact that I can unleash half of its power. Otherwise, how could I have intimidated those two Ten Tribulation Body Supremes?"
Xiao Wenbing looked at the empty sub-divine artifact and was still somewhat tempted.
The so-called Divine Artifacts are actually no less powerful than ordinary divine artifacts. However, at the moment of their final formation, the gods accidentally made a mistake when bestowing spirituality upon the artifacts, so they could no longer produce treasures with the spirit of divine artifacts.
Forging a divine artifact is a long and arduous process; even gods make thorough preparations before each attempt.
When the artifact is formed and finally imbued with spirituality, it is the final step. Unless something unexpected happens, it is almost always successful.
Logically speaking, sub-divine artifacts are actually much rarer than divine artifacts. After all, no god would deliberately waste countless rare materials to specifically forge sub-divine artifacts. And treasures lacking the spirit of a divine artifact are far inferior to true divine artifacts in terms of usability.
However, for Xiao Wenbing, given time, there is actually no difference between a sub-divine artifact and a divine artifact.
Other deities cannot cause sub-divine artifacts to generate new divine artifact spirits, but Xiao Wenbing can. Before the power of creation, as long as the conditions are sufficient, creating a brand new life is not a difficult task.
Giving up the Spirit of Gold in exchange for a divine artifact... this deal doesn't seem like a bad one.
However, after much consideration, Xiao Wenbing shook his head and refused: "Forget it, Brother Dao, to be honest, this Golden Spirit is a very important treasure to me, and I cannot give it up."
"This is merely a golden spirit that has lost consciousness, while the value of this Forbidden God Tower far exceeds it..."
Xiao Wenbing let out a feigned sigh and said sorrowfully, "Brother Dao, to tell you the truth, I have a friend who possesses a supreme treasure, and the Spirit of Gold is extremely important to this treasure."
"What kind of treasure is this? Could it possibly compare to a quasi-divine artifact?" The Blade Soul asked anxiously.
"The Universe Ring."
"The Universe Ring, what is that?"
Xiao Wenbing was taken aback, then remembered that the name "Treasure Circle" was only popular in the cultivation world and the Flame Realm. As for this old guy who had been trapped for millions of years, he certainly wouldn't know about it.
Frowning, Xiao Wenbing said, "The Qiankun Ring isn't a thing, but rather..." He drew out his words, and under the watchful gaze of Dao Hundi, slowly continued, "...the Ring of Order."
The white figure of the Blade Soul suddenly throbbed violently, a hundred times more excited than when it had discovered the Golden Spirit's body.
"You possess the Ring of Order; let me see it."
Xiao Wenbing looked at it as if it were an idiot. Had this guy really gone mad? How dare it make such a request?
The sword spirit quickly realized its own abnormality and, after a moment of silence, finally said, "Fellow immortal, if you truly possess the Ring of Order, then I am willing to possess this golden spirit and reside within the ring forever. What do you say?"
"The Universe Ring belongs to my friend. Whether she's willing to accept you, a spirit of a divine artifact with hands stained with blood, is something I can't guarantee."
The Blade Soul, being an ancient ghost of millions of years, understood the meaning behind the words and immediately said, "If you, fellow immortal, can help me accomplish this, then I, the Blade Soul, am willing to give this tower to you."
“Alright. It’s a deal.” Xiao Wenbing was overjoyed, but there was still one thing to resolve. He asked, “Brother Dao, if you encounter your former master in the future, will you continue to follow the Qiankun Circle, or will you return to your former master?”
The Blade Soul replied without hesitation, "My former master was very generous. If he had known that I had not only restored my original form but also entered the Ring of Order, he would definitely not have made things difficult for me."
Hearing the sword spirit speak with such certainty, Xiao Wenbing felt relieved. He understood, of course, that the sword spirit wouldn't joke about something so important. Besides, its master had been asleep for millions of years; who knew if it would ever wake up again?
Even if he were to truly awaken, it would still take millions of years. With this buffer period, given his talent, he might already have become a god.
Having removed the mutated power from the cane, Xiao Wenbing said, "In that case, please let Brother Dao possess me."
The sword spirit didn't refuse; in a flash, it had already wrapped itself around the cane.
A ball of white light swirled around the slender cane, seemingly trying to force its way in, but failing to find a way in.
"Brother Dao, how long will it take?"
"Very soon."
Xiao Wenbing never believed in any promises regarding timelines related to deities. So he pressed, "How long exactly?"
One day is enough.
He frowned, relieved that he had asked carefully; otherwise, he would have been a fool to wait here all day.
"Brother Dao, take your time with the fusion. I'll head outside now."
"Fellow immortal, wait a moment. Where will I find you in a day?"
"I'll be outside helping Huangzhou City fend off the beast tide. You'll see me when you come out." With that, Xiao Wenbing led hundreds of Nascent Soul cultivators back the way they came.
After walking for a while, I suddenly noticed something strange. The ground began to heal itself shortly after I left. Before long, the passage to the Forbidden God Tower closed again.
Using his divine sense to sense the area, he faintly felt a powerful force and immediately understood that the Blade Soul was right; there were indeed many restrictions placed here. If he didn't possess the power of creation, which allowed him to integrate the power of all kinds of gods into one, he would never have been able to pass this test.
The deity who set up the formation could never have imagined that there was such a method in the world that could be used to create the power of creation through restrictions. That was the highest level of divine power, and of course it was not bound by the power of ordinary gods.
However, one cannot blame that deity for being short-sighted. While that deity was indeed a god, possessing extensive knowledge of various powerful beings, it was unbelievable that this god would foresee the ancestor of the divine realm lowering himself to personally descend upon a mere celestial realm to engage in such petty theft…
Even if you cut off that god's fine head, he still wouldn't have such a rich and unrestrained imagination.
A wisp of divine thought slowly returned to his body, and Xiao Wenbing turned to smile slightly at the two women.
Xiao Wenbing was able to escape unharmed during the sword spirit's counterattack, thanks in large part to the two women. This was due to their mysterious spiritual connection with Xiao Wenbing, coupled with their constant attention.
Using telepathy, Zhang Yaqi recounted her encounter in the Forbidden God Tower. Upon hearing that the Golden Spirit had been located, even she couldn't help but beam with joy.
However, while the three of them were happy, someone else was worried.
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, you should leave quickly," Mu Yun said with a worried expression.
"Why?" Xiao Wenbing was greatly surprised. The situation was so favorable now, he couldn't think of any reason to flee in panic.
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, you may not know this, but that divine weapon possesses immense power. In the past, a single slash of its blade in mid-air would have been enough to last for days and nights. But today, for some reason, not a single blade has appeared for an hour."
"An hour? I can't believe it's been that long." Xiao Wenbing realized that an hour had unknowingly passed in the Forbidden God Tower.
Looking towards the direction of the Forbidden God Tower, one naturally understands the reason behind it.
For at least a day and a night, there would be no more sword light. After its true nature was exposed, the sword spirit no longer cared about unleashing sword light to kill enemies. Subsequently, it possessed the Golden Spirit, and it was probably only thinking about how to quickly enter the Golden Spirit. It had no time to consider the battle between humans and demons outside.
“Not only have all the demonic beasts in the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons come out in full force, but even the Multi-Handed Supreme has personally joined the battle. Moreover, the divine artifacts in our Huangzhou City have suddenly malfunctioned. Alas… misfortunes never come singly.” Mu Yun sighed and said, “Fellow Immortal Xiao, you should take Xiao Sun and your men and leave quickly. You are not from Huangzhou City, so there is no need for you to get involved.”
Xiao Wenbing pondered for a moment and asked, "Senior, if you resist with all your might, how long can you hold out?"
Mu Yun was taken aback, then smiled bitterly, "I don't know either. The Multi-Handed Supreme and its subordinates number fifteen Immortals—such formidable strength!" He shook his head again, appearing utterly unsure, "If, as in the past, with the help of the divine artifact, we could hold out for a few days, some of our fellow immortals would surely return quickly, and our chances of holding out would be much greater. But now… all we can do is try our best."
Hearing Mu Yun's lack of confidence, Xiao Wenbing also became somewhat worried.
He exchanged a glance with the two women, realizing that relying solely on the strength of Huangzhou City was definitely not enough. It seemed that they would have to use the Five Elements Guardian Formation no matter what.
"Senior, since that's the case, let us do our part, however small."
"You..." Mu Yun hesitated, saying, "Fellow Immortal Xiao, the Upper Immortal realm is not so easy to contend with."
“I know,” Xiao Wenbing said confidently.
Although the Multi-Handed Supreme and the fifteen Immortals are all formidable figures, as long as they can hold out for a day and a night until the Blade Soul is fully possessed, with its divine artifact power and the characteristics of the sub-divine artifact—the Forbidden God Tower—it's not impossible that they could not only win, but also wipe out all these demonic beasts.
In just one day and night, Xiao Wenbing looked at the army of over ten thousand immortals who had automatically taken their positions, and was filled with confidence of certain victory.
Volume 19, Chapter 13: Reinforcements
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The strange changes within the human race have clearly attracted the attention of the demon race.
Led by the Multi-Handed Supreme, numerous demon kings soared into the air, and behind them, some high-level demons also joined the battle.
At first, these highly intelligent demonic beasts were cautious, fearing it was just a trap set by the humans. But even as they approached the city walls, the elusive, sharp blade of light remained nowhere to be seen.