"All energy, including life and soul energy."
Xiao Wenbing was startled. No wonder he started to lose his mind as soon as he stared at these patterns. If his divine essence hadn't sensed the danger and taken control of his body to fight against this dangerous force for his nascent soul, he would probably have been dead long ago.
"Mirror God, how could you... put such a dangerous thing on your armor? Aren't you afraid it will harm me?" Xiao Wenbing glared at it angrily, and thinking of the near-death experience he had just gone through, he immediately felt a wave of fear.
“Hehe… well,” Mirror God tilted his head and said, “Actually, these patterns are hidden inside the fortress. They don’t appear automatically on a normal day. They only come out to absorb energy when attacked by a powerful force. So as long as you don’t touch them unnecessarily, you will be in no danger.”
"Is that so?"
“Exactly, and it will play an unexpected role when facing enemies.” Jing Shen’s tone shifted, and he said, “Even this time, if you hadn’t rashly used the immortal fire to refine the weapon, causing it to absorb too much energy, it wouldn’t have been able to come out and hurt you. Fortunately, I was quick-witted and immediately threw you into the Nether Water and the immortal fire as soon as I saw something was wrong, otherwise you would have exploded and died long ago.”
Xiao Wenbing raised his eyebrows, completely dismissing the Mirror God. This calamity was now his own fault, and he should be grateful for its life-saving grace.
With a snort, Xiao Wenbing said, "Then why won't you tell me the truth? Are you only happy when something bad happens?"
In fact, what angered him most was that the Mirror God hadn't warned him of the danger beforehand; otherwise, he wouldn't have suffered such a mishap and almost lost his life.
The Mirror God smiled awkwardly and said, "This formation is actually one of the secrets of the divine realm, unknown even to ordinary gods. I'm afraid that if you find out, you'll spread it everywhere, and if it eventually reaches the ears of the gods, then..." It looked up at Xiao Wenbing and slowly said, "At that time, there will be many more people eyeing us."
Xiao Wenbing was slightly taken aback. Although he was powerful, he still had some self-awareness and knew he was no match for a god. He immediately accepted the Mirror God's explanation, but still felt somewhat unwilling, and asked, "Of course I know the gravity of the situation. Don't you trust me at all?"
The Mirror God stared at him blankly for a long time before uttering a sentence that nearly made Xiao Wenbing vomit blood in anger: "It's precisely because it's you that I can't trust you..."
Volume 4, Chapter 335: The Great Serpent Incarnation
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The lid of the cauldron was lifted, and layers of thick fog poured out, gradually thickening until, in a moment, the thick fog draped the entire space in a white veil, and everything was enveloped in a sea of smoke, ethereal and mysterious, giving people a sense of wonder.
"Mirror God, do you really need that much smoke?" Xiao Wenbing's surprised voice came from the thick fog.
“Yes, I’m sure. Look at the body of this giant serpent. It’s this… this big.” The Mirror God stretched out his arms as wide as he could, making a gesture of embracing the world, and said, “The Netherwater energy I created is at least larger than the body of this giant serpent.”
Xiao Wenbing nodded silently, showing no objection to the statement. Whether it's refining weapons, alchemy, or even creating a serpent avatar, a medium is needed to completely conceal the items being refined; otherwise, only some kind of monstrous, incomparable junk can be produced.
This thick fog was not formed naturally, but rather by using a secret method to evaporate the Nether Water, specifically for refining that giant serpent.
The mist of the Netherwater contains powerful energy; it is not only bone-chillingly cold but also contains potent toxins. Even cultivators at the Tribulation Transcending stage dare not linger here.
But Xiao Wenbing and Jing Shen chatted and laughed in the thick fog, as if they were unaware of the situation.
The day before yesterday, after undergoing a massive bath involving both water and fire, Xiao Wenbing's internal water and fire energies were assimilated by his supernatural abilities at the last moment.
The result of assimilation was that all the shattered Nascent Soul fragments turned into a small Nascent Soul, and his physical body also underwent a miraculous change, meaning that he was no longer afraid of the power of Nether Water and Immortal Fire.
Those days when Queenie chased him with her divine fire are gone forever.
As for the Mirror God, it is composed of pure energy. It will lose some energy when it encounters the hottest celestial fire, but in the Netherwater, it will at most move a little slower. It is absolutely impossible to freeze or poison it with this kind of misty Netherwater.
In order to refine this enormous serpent, the Mirror God racked his brains and, after comprehensive consideration, finally decided on the method of condensing mist.
This refining method is extremely rare in the cultivation world, almost a once-in-a-millennium event. Of course, it is so rare because firstly, the refining method is very difficult, and secondly, there are very few opportunities in the cultivation world to use it.
Most legal artifacts emphasize small size and portability, so things that are exceptionally large are generally not considered worthwhile. This is because the larger the size, the more difficult it is to refine. Take this giant snake, for example. If it were given to experts in artifact crafting like Hui Zhe from the cultivation world, their only method would be to skin and dismember the snake, then extract its inner core, scales, and other parts to refine separately.
They naturally knew that only the whole snake could unleash its full potential, but even top-tier cultivators like HP were powerless to refine the entire snake.
Although I've heard from Quini and others that many people in the Immortal Realm use this place, the power of immortals is still incomparable to that of cultivators.
So, over the next two days, what the Mirror God and Xiao Wenbing did was to use the cauldron to refine the Nether Water into mist until it completely enveloped the entire giant serpent.
Fortunately, before this, the Mirror God had the foresight to use the Spirit Gathering Platform to cultivate most of a bucket of Nether Water. After consuming nearly half of it, the resulting mist finally enveloped the giant serpent.
A wisp of energy, under the control of the Mirror God, flowed into the giant serpent's body. Xiao Wenbing watched in awe; the Mirror God's manipulation of energy had reached the level of his uncle, a level of consummate skill. Even in his current state, let alone after activating his divine power, he wouldn't have achieved anything comparable.
Watching the Mirror God from the sidelines, Xiao Wenbing was secretly amazed. He had long suspected that this guy possessed a divine nature; otherwise, how could he control energy so precisely? Hmm, I must find an opportunity to ask him about it later.
Despite the serpent's enormous size, the Netherworld Mist continued to surge upwards. Although it was constantly being absorbed by the serpent's body, the Netherworld Mist only grew denser and denser.
Gradually, the damaged scales on the giant snake began to glow anew, as if it had gained new life energy. This giant snake... was reviving again.
After a long time, once all the fog in the sky had been absorbed by the giant snake, the snake's form changed again.
Its already enormous body seemed to grow even larger. Xiao Wenbing looked up at the giant snake from beneath it, but couldn't see its end.
Its body, which had been cratered by lightning, had been fully restored. A faint halo flowed across its dark scales, and each scale was as smooth as a mirror, shining brightly.
"Alright, let's put it away." The Mirror God breathed a sigh of relief. The difficulty of refining this giant serpent had exceeded its expectations. If it weren't for the Spirit Gathering Platform constantly converting spirit stones to provide it with energy, it really might not have been able to do it.
"So big?" Xiao Wenbing swallowed hard, gestured, and said with a wry smile, "Mirror God, it's not that I don't want to take it, but look at it, it's so big, how am I supposed to take it?"
Yes, such a huge snake, even the space inside the Heavenly Void Ring isn't that big.
"Don't you have ten thousand Nascent Souls? Just take out some and assimilate them with the giant snake."
After a slight hesitation, Xiao Wenbing said, "Well, this..."
"What, you can't bear to part with it? Then let's use the Dark Infants. With the power of the Divine Spark, if three Dark Infants are combined, they should be able to be controlled."
Xiao Wenbing frowned slightly, pondering without speaking.
Creating an external avatar involves assimilating the differentiated nascent soul of the main body with the target. For example, the demonic avatar was only usable after Xiao Wenbing assimilated it with a dark nascent soul.
However, if the goal of creating an external avatar is too closely related to one's own strength, then the chance of success is extremely slim.
Although the differentiated nascent soul possesses powerful energy, it is worlds apart from the might of this giant serpent. Even if Xiao Wenbing's original nascent soul were to enter, it would likely be futile, let alone a differentiated nascent soul.
Want to assimilate Orochi? Hehe... I'm afraid the chances of being assimilated by Orochi are even greater.
According to the original plan, three of the four remaining Dark Infants were to be taken out. With the combined power of these three Dark Infants with divine power, it should be possible to assimilate the Great Serpent.
However, the situation is different now. Xiao Wenbing suddenly has tens of thousands of nascent souls in his body, which is unprecedented. So it is normal to use some of them.
After all, with the God of Treasures not by their side, new Dark Infants cannot be created, and at this moment, there are only four Dark Infants left, so they should save as much as possible.
After thinking for a moment, he finally made a decision. A small nascent soul flew out from Xiao Wenbing's fingertip and came to the body of the giant snake. With a "whoosh", it burrowed into the snake.
Xiao Wenbing sat with his eyes closed, quietly sensing the changes in the nascent soul inside the giant snake.
These nascent souls within his body did not form spontaneously, thus differing from ordinary nascent soul differentiation. These nascent souls were numerous, and each absorbed some mutated pseudo-divine power and the energies of water and fire, so the energy contained within each nascent soul was actually far greater than the original.
In terms of total energy, Xiao Wenbing, having survived the tribulations of water and fire, has essentially gained ten thousand times more energy. At this moment, the sum of energy within his body alone would be unmatched even by cultivators in the Tribulation Transcending stage. Of course, given Xiao Wenbing's current level of control, how much of this energy he can actually utilize is a matter highly debatable.
However, from now on, he no longer needs to absorb any more spiritual energy. As long as he continues to temper his physical body and finds a way to integrate these nascent souls into one, he can skip the separation and reunion stage and directly enter the ranks of top-level tribulation experts.
Perhaps this is a form of compensation for him after surviving the ordeal of death.
Under Xiao Wenbing's watchful eye, the tiny nascent soul transformed into a ball of spiritual energy as soon as it entered the giant snake's body, spreading outwards towards the snake's form.
"Not good!" Xiao Wenbing exclaimed in surprise. With a flick of his hand, ten more Nascent Souls rushed into the giant snake's body.
The Mirror God also looked solemn and said, "This won't work. Let's use the Dark Infant."
Xiao Wenbing nodded slightly, his mind still focused on the giant snake. However, to his disappointment, the snake's energy was too powerful. Even if the ten Nascent Soul cultivators entered, it would be like throwing stones into the ocean, without making any ripples.
With a wry smile, Xiao Wenbing finally gave up the idea of continuing his efforts. With a flick of his hand, three dark infants radiating golden light entered the giant snake's body.
The Dark Infant controlled by the Divine Soul is different from the ordinary differentiated Nascent Soul. Its pale golden light is long and powerful, flowing through every cell of the giant serpent. Gradually, even the giant serpent's appearance began to emit a wisp of pale golden light.
"Sigh..." Xiao Wenbing sighed. The role of the divine spark was indeed not to be underestimated. Without these three dark infants, he would have no chance of assimilating this giant snake unless he sacrificed a thousand or eight hundred of his split nascent souls.
Gently, the large snake that had coiled up trembled slightly. Xiao Wenbing was startled and retreated, while simultaneously reaching out to pull the small bronze mirror towards him.
The moment the giant serpent began to move, he knew he had succeeded. Although sacrificing three dark infants was a bit too much, the trade of gaining such a huge external avatar made it a worthwhile deal.
Volume 4, The Divine Artifacts, Chapter 336: Manipulation (Part 1)
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The enormous snake head rose high, then fell like a cannonball, the sudden speed generating a strong wind that sent dust flying across the ground.
"boom……"
After a loud bang, the giant snake's head landed flat on the ground, its large, black, gem-like eyes gleaming as if it were staring at Xiao Wenbing and saying something.
Xiao Wenbing felt a chill run down his spine. Although he knew that the giant snake was his own avatar and that he could control it at any time, the chill still rose from the bottom of his heart uncontrollably.
It was only then that he realized something: he was truly lucky...
Come to think of it, this giant snake is at least at the level of an immortal, while Xiao Wenbing is only at the Nascent Soul stage. A Nascent Soul cultivator is the most powerful, yet he wants to create an avatar at the level of an immortal? Isn't that just overestimating himself...?
It's important to understand that immortals and cultivators are two completely different concepts.
If anyone else did this, the only result would be that their nascent soul would be assimilated by the giant snake, and in an even more tragic way, they might even lose their lives.
But he succeeded by sheer luck. It wasn't because his physical strength was so high, but because there were too many miracles around him that far exceeded the realm of cultivation.
Without the Mirror God refining the giant serpent, and without the Treasure God's help in refining the Dark Infant, I would be helpless just as I am today.
The giant snake opened its mouth slightly, and a chilling blast of cold air spewed out, instantly covering the ground with a thin layer of frost. Several small branches that had just escaped being crushed by the snake's body were now destined to be frozen into icicles.
With a flick of his finger, a burst of spiritual energy was released, and with a crisp crackling sound, the frozen saplings turned into ice shards that fell to the ground.
If even a tiny breath escaping from its enormous mouth possesses such power, how would it be used to attack an enemy?
"Such a heavy chill..." Xiao Wenbing exclaimed involuntarily, "Mirror God, if we were to fight Queenie again now, who would win?"
Back then, Xiao Wenbing used every trick in the book against Quini, but he was still forced to run around wildly by the scorching immortal fire. So what about now? Now that he possesses this great serpent that has absorbed countless streams of Netherwater power, what will be the outcome when he encounters such an opponent again?
Since ancient times, water has been known to overcome fire, but whether the Nether Water can be effective in suppressing the Earth Immortal Fire on Quini's body is beyond Xiao Wenbing's control.
"It's hard to say. Netherwater and Immortal Fire are two extremes. Although water can overcome fire, the Immortal Fire on Quini's body is directly taken from the Fire Spirit Immortal, while this Netherwater is not taken from the Water Spirit Immortal. Therefore, if they really fight, Quini has a better chance of winning." The Mirror God pondered for a moment and made a fair judgment.
"Is that so?" Xiao Wenbing sighed sadly. Of course he believed the Mirror God's words. In such important matters, its deductions were never wrong.
“However…” Mirror God suddenly smiled mysteriously and said, “If you were to fight Queenie now, you would definitely win.”
Xiao Wenbing was taken aback, then overjoyed. He knew the Mirror God wouldn't try to please him, so he quickly asked, "Why?"
"Because of your constitution, after experiencing the tribulations of water and fire, you are no longer afraid of the power of Nether Water and Immortal Fire. Since Quini's strongest spell cannot harm you, then you can send ten thousand Nascent Souls to swarm him and crush him to death." Mirror God said with a smile.
Xiao Wenbing chuckled and said, "Nonsense."