Volume 21, Chapter 20: Crystallization of Divine Power (Part 1)
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Watching Keris and the others disappear beneath the ground, the Great Serpent Supreme's eyes flashed with a sharp light. He asked, "Fellow Immortal Xiao, are we really not going down?"
"You want to go?" Xiao Wenbing replied casually.
“Of course,” the Great Serpent Supreme said solemnly, “The old skeleton has reigned supreme for many years. Its collection is naturally extremely rich. Moreover, as a divine messenger, who knows if there are any divine artifacts in its lair? It would be such a pity if such divine treasures fell into their hands. Also, the Skeleton Supreme must have left behind a life-saving clone. We must find it.”
Xiao Wenbing smiled slightly and said, "I don't have high hopes for finding a life-saving clone. However, if you're looking for a divine treasure, then you shouldn't have gone in."
The Great Serpent Supreme looked at Xiao Wenbing with great confusion, not understanding the meaning of his words.
Xiao Wenbing suddenly turned around, his gaze fixed on a distant point in the void.
Everyone noticed his strange behavior and simultaneously sent out their divine senses. However, to their disappointment, they found nothing unusual at all.
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, what are you doing?" the Great Serpent Supreme asked in confusion.
Xiao Wenbing sneered, pointed his finger, and released a wisp of immortal power, which shot forward.
The crowd's divine senses followed this immortal power closely, and they saw a sharp gust of wind streak across the sky, leaving a bright trail of light before striking the protective shield heavily, instantly reducing it to nothingness.
Seeing the suspicious looks from everyone, Xiao Wenbing smiled awkwardly, muttering to himself, "Mirror God, you're not seeing things, are you?"
"Don't worry, absolutely not. There's something wrong with the space here; that Skeleton Supreme is definitely hiding here."
"But I can't hit it."
"Only divine power can do it."
Xiao Wenbing raised his eyebrows and flicked his wrist, unleashing a powerful golden light.
Accompanied by a solid, oppressive force, the golden-yellow mutant power silently swept past.
A strange ripple appeared in the void before them, and a small, peculiar object resembling a temple appeared in front of them.
Inside the small temple, the Skeleton Supreme was curled up, staring at Xiao Wenbing in disbelief, his eyes filled with utter horror.
The Great Serpent Supreme was overjoyed. He hadn't expected that the old skeleton would still escape despite being surrounded by so many people. Such methods were truly extraordinary.
The Skeleton Supreme's expression changed drastically; it used its last life-saving measure, intending to deal with the situation after these people left. However, the small temple, which had always been foolproof, unexpectedly failed this time.
With a swift movement, it emerged from the small temple and rushed towards the ground.
However, Xiao Wenbing, who was prepared, waved his hand, and the roc beside him let out a long cry, its figure flashing like lightning, and it had already appeared in front of the Skeleton Supreme.
The old skeleton roared in despair, like a stray dog, filled with extreme grief and indignation.
With a powerful inhale, the Skeleton Supreme trembled and finally turned into a cloud of black powder, which was completely absorbed into the Roc's belly.
Xiao Wenbing flew up unhurriedly and arrived beside the roc.
A ripple appeared in the void, and the six Supreme Beings, including Keris, appeared one after another. They had originally been searching for the remnants of the Skeleton Supreme below, but they noticed the energy fluctuations above and heard the old skeleton's last cry. Knowing that something must have happened, they all returned to mid-air.
However, by the time they arrived, the Skeleton Supreme, who was already on his last breath, had already been swallowed by the Roc.
The roc suddenly raised its head and let out another long cry, then spat out two golden, glittering items.
Xiao Wenbing took it in his hand and saw that it was a small golden temple, which seemed to be the treasure that the Skeleton Supreme had used to hide from the search.
This thing was made in an unknown way. Once it was used, it even fooled these supreme beings. Fortunately, I had the help of the Mirror God. The spirit of this artifact noticed the anomaly in the void, otherwise I would have had no way of finding the old skeleton's whereabouts.
With his divine sense probing into the small temple, Xiao Wenbing quickly mastered how to use this thing.
Within this treasure flows a faint wisp of divine power; according to the Mirror God, this thing is already a semi-divine artifact with auxiliary functions.
The small temple contained the mark of the Skull Supreme. If it were anyone else, even if they could break the mark, it would take a tremendous amount of effort. But in the face of Xiao Wenbing's mutated ability, all the restrictions vanished as easily as snow under the scorching sun.
However, after Xiao Wenbing gained control of the small temple, he unexpectedly frowned.
This thing gave me an extremely strange feeling, as if my divine power was completely unable to fully utilize its wonders.
He quietly sent the small temple into the Heavenly Void Ring; he'd study this later.
The other item was a small, golden sphere.
Under Xiao Wenbing's divine sense, he discovered that this thing possessed extremely refined divine power. Moreover, this divine power had a special attribute, giving people a sinister and terrifying feeling despite its infinite majesty.
Mingzhu approached Xiao Wenbing and immediately noticed the small round ball he was playing with in his hand. His expression changed instantly: "A crystallized divine power."
Xiao Wenbing was taken aback, looking at the small round ball in his hand. He said, "This thing is the crystallization of divine power?"
"Exactly."
Several burning gazes focused on the small sphere, each one subtly revealing a hint of greed.
Xiao Wenbing was secretly alarmed. Although he didn't know what this thing was for, the way these supreme beings looked at him—each one like a wildcat that hadn't eaten for three days and three nights seeing a mouse—was incredibly chilling. A bone-deep coldness shot through his heart, and his entire spine felt cold.
"Ahem, Fellow Immortal Mingzhu, what exactly is the use of this thing?" Xiao Wenbing asked.
Mingzhu hesitated for a moment, seemingly considering whether or not to speak directly.
However, before he could make a decision, the Great Serpent Supreme spoke up: "Fellow Immortal Xiao, this thing is a crystallization of divine power, a treasure condensed by the god behind the Skeleton Supreme using his divine power."
"I know, but I'm asking what the use of this thing is."
"This thing contains divine power, true divine power." The Great Serpent Supreme's gaze never left the divine power crystal, showing that it too longed for this treasure.
Xiao Wenbing frowned and said, "It's just divine power, nothing special."
Several supreme beings looked at him simultaneously, their gazes seemingly filled with unspoken contempt. Truly, the well-fed don't know the hunger of the starving.
The Great Serpent Supreme sighed and said, "Fellow Daoist Xiao is also a divine messenger. Your Earth God power must have been borrowed from the Treasure God, right?"
Xiao Wenbing pursed his lips, thinking to himself that his divine power was of course his own, but he naturally wouldn't show it off. Instead, he nodded and said, "That's right."
"Although the divine power borrowed by the divine messenger is powerful, it is ultimately not our own. For us Great Immortals at the Refining God realm to further our cultivation and become gods, the first step is to master divine power." The Great Serpent Supreme's voice suddenly lowered, its gaze fixed on the divine power crystal in Xiao Wenbing's hand. It said, "For us, divine treasures are what we truly dream of. And among all divine treasures, the divine power crystal is the most accessible treasure for us to comprehend divine power."
Xiao Wenbing held the divine power crystal in his hand, looked at it in the sunlight, and sent out a wisp of divine thought, which circled inside the crystal. After a moment, he completely understood the meaning of the Great Serpent Supreme.
Within this crystal of divine power, not only is a vast amount of divine power contained, but what is even more captivating is that within this divine power lies a faint aura of primordial origin.
To comprehend the primordial energy of a certain kind of power in nature is an extremely difficult task. Apart from Xiao Wenbing, a freak born with divine power, even Zhang Yaqi and Feng Baiyi only managed to comprehend the origin of these two supreme powers in places where the power of the five elements and the power of heavenly thunder were extremely concentrated.
If it weren't for that environment back then, the two women might have had to reach the Refining Spirit Realm before they could hope to access the power of origin.
The most crucial step to becoming a god is to master the primordial power of a force, and this vital step is not actually directly related to one's personal cultivation level.
Opportunity and willpower are actually the most important factors. Those with good luck, like Zhang and Feng, have already grasped the key to becoming gods before they even ascend. Those with average luck, like the Great Serpent Supreme, are still struggling to find it. As for those with extremely bad luck, no matter how high their cultivation level is, they will not be able to comprehend it and will eventually die by exploding.
Of course, those born with divine power cannot possibly understand the yearning for divine power that Orochi and others possess.
With a thought, Xiao Wenbing had already grasped the fundamental characteristics of the divine power crystal in his hand.
Having been able to create the power of the Five Elements and the power of Heavenly Thunder, Xiao Wenbing had a very thorough understanding of the origin of divine power. The origin power in this divine power crystal was just one of the Five Elements, and it held no secrets for him.
Xiao Wenbing glanced at the faces of the several supreme beings and understood their purpose.
A crystal of divine power must contain a trace of the original aura of divine power. These supreme beings want to comprehend and master the origin of this energy from this trace of the original aura of divine power. Only in this way can they easily pass through the final tribulation of refining the divine power and condense the immortal power in their bodies into their own divine power.
However, not everyone who obtains a crystallized divine power can comprehend the source of that power.
Just as it is far more difficult for someone who has spent their life playing with fire to master the power of water than to master the origin of fire, if one's own immortal power does not match the attributes of this divine power crystal, then trying to comprehend the origin power within this divine power crystal is essentially like trying to catch the moon's reflection in water.
He raised his head, his divine sense sweeping over the several supreme beings, and he had already made up his mind.
Volume 21, Chapter 21: Crystallization of Divine Power (Part 2)
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Holding up the crystal of divine power in his hand, Xiao Wenbing smiled and said, "Fellow immortals, this is what you want, isn't it?"
Several supreme beings simultaneously revealed a glint of light in their eyes. Mingzhu smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Xiao, since we are all divine messengers, and this item has already been obtained by you, we naturally will not covet it."
"Really?" Xiao Wenbing was greatly surprised, not expecting there to be such a gentleman's agreement.
However, seeing the regret in Mingzhu and the others' eyes, and knowing that they had no intention of stealing, Xiao Wenbing immediately knew that he was not lying.
Later, with Mingzhu's introduction, Xiao Wenbing finally understood some unspoken rules among these divine messengers.
If a deity wishes to take a celestial being as their divine messenger, the price they must pay is a crystal of divine power. Only when the divine messenger uses this crystal can they mobilize the divine power within it to a limited extent. And because the crystal contains a portion of the original divine power, it has the characteristic of automatically regenerating divine power.
The reason Mingzhu and the others readily agreed to the encirclement and annihilation of the Skeleton Supreme was certainly because of the tortoise shell in Xiao Wenbing's possession, but their covetousness of the divine power crystal in the Skeleton Supreme's possession was also a factor.
For these top-tier immortals, the more divine power crystals the better. Once they possess divine power crystals with the same attributes as their own physique, their path to godhood becomes extremely simple.
However, if it weren't for the secret help of the deity behind the pearl, they wouldn't have been able to eliminate the Skeleton Supreme silently without alerting the deity behind him.
In fact, if Xiao Wenbing hadn't obtained the golden roc, Mingzhu and the others would probably have been secretly plotting against him as well.
Holding the divine power crystal gently above his head, Xiao Wenbing pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "This thing isn't of much use to me. Since that's the case, why not test its power?"
With a flick of his finger, the crystallized divine power transformed into a brilliant arrow of light, shooting downwards.
The tiny sphere successfully sank into the ground. Then, a ring of azure bubbles rose from that point.
Each bubble is exactly the same size. Once a bubble is formed, it expands rapidly and bursts immediately when it reaches a volume of about half a square meter.
Silently, the bursting bubbles instantly obliterate anything they come into contact with.
Then, more and more azure bubbles appeared, multiplying in all directions. In an instant, the soil, sand, and hills disappeared into the atmosphere, leaving no trace.
This is the lair of the Skeleton Supreme, who has many powerful subordinates, including two ordinary Refining God Immortals.
However, no matter how high their cultivation level was, once they encountered this strange and incredibly powerful bubble, they were all dissolved into the void, without any power to resist.
The bubble-like creatures multiplied faster and faster, and in a short while, they arrived before the barrier that Mingzhu and the others had jointly set up.
The sturdy barrier shook violently, and to the disbelief of Mingzhu and the others, the barrier, which covered an area of a thousand miles, finally collapsed with a roar.
"Wow, that's incredibly powerful!"