Layers of red light emanated from the cauldron, and scorching immortal fire surged and churned on the fire-elemental fortress. Xiao Wenbing's gaze was fixed on the cauldron, adjusting the size of the fire at any moment.
Refining artifacts is a troublesome matter; one wrong move and all previous efforts could be wasted. This is especially true for powerful magical artifacts, which require even greater care.
If it were anything ordinary, Xiao Wenbing wouldn't be so nervous, because he possesses the ability to replicate a set at any time. However, this Five-Element Fortress is not something he can replicate out of thin air. If it's destroyed this time, he'll have to go back to the Treasure God and borrow its divine power to rebuild it.
The journey from the Flame Realm to the Cultivation Realm is incredibly long, spanning thousands of miles. Who knows how long it would take to travel back and forth? Moreover, before the storm clouds and storms in the Cultivation Realm subside, it's unlikely that anyone other than Feng Baiyi could travel freely between them.
Therefore, contrary to his usual behavior, Xiao Wenbing focused all his energy on refining this magical fire-type fortress.
Little by little, the immortal fire slowly seeped into every inch of the fire-type fortress, and at first glance, it looked exactly like a raging, burning flame.
Another day and night passed, and the immortal fire in the furnace gradually increased in size. At this time, the fire-type fortress had undergone earth-shattering changes after the immortal fire was integrated, and it was no longer afraid of this level of heat.
Xiao Wenbing sighed with relief. All his troubles had finally paid off; he had succeeded.
Volume Four: The Divine Artifacts Chapter 332: The Two Tribulations of Water and Fire
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With a thought, the fire-type fortress in the cauldron immediately flew into the air.
Gazing intently at it, Xiao Wenbing was still terrified, even though it was a treasure he had personally crafted.
The design of the armor was not significantly different from before, but its imposing presence was noticeably different. The original deep red surface had changed slightly; instead of deepening, it had become much lighter. The patterns carved on the armor appeared even clearer, resembling ferocious centipedes covering its surface.
These patterns were not carved for aesthetic purposes. In the eyes of the Mirror God, the legally required practical function of a piece of clothing far outweighed its beauty.
After all, laws are meant to be used, not just looked at.
These patterns were actually a formation, but what kind of formation it was, the Mirror God, contrary to his usual behavior, refused to tell him. Although Xiao Wenbing knew the Mirror God wouldn't harm him, he still felt a sense of resentment. However, the Mirror God showed unusual persistence on this question, remaining unmoved no matter how much he threatened or pleaded.
In the end, the matter was left unresolved.
Of course, although they had a minor disagreement and some unpleasantness, it did not affect their trust and friendship.
Before this refining process, these patterns were not obvious, hidden beneath the deep red color. However, after being baked by the immortal fire, they unexpectedly became prominent, as if a layer of bright red gemstones had been inlaid on the surface, radiating a scorching aura.
Xiao Wenbing's gaze was fixed on the bright red stripes. They seemed vaguely familiar, but upon closer inspection, he couldn't recall any recollection of them.
He was slightly taken aback; this was an unprecedented situation. He frowned and looked again, unwilling to give up.
Circle after circle, layer after layer, these patterns suddenly came to life, like streams of water flowing in a certain direction on the armor.
Xiao Wenbing's gaze gradually became unfocused; his entire mind was drawn to the pattern, and he could no longer extricate himself from it.
Faintly sensing that he was now in a dangerous situation, Xiao Wenbing tried to extricate himself with the last vestiges of his consciousness, but his gaze remained fixed on the patterns.
A wave of heat rushed into his body through the air, and his soul and consciousness seemed to have suddenly lost their autonomy, as if they were about to be pulled out of his body.
The nascent soul within the body trembled and slowly floated upwards, about to fly out of the body.
Xiao Wenbing was shocked. The last vestiges of his consciousness desperately held onto his nascent soul. Although he didn't know why, he had a feeling that if his nascent soul left his body at this moment, he would fall into an abyss of no return.
The external suction gradually increased, and that faint divine thought no longer had any effect. Little by little, the nascent soul passed through the body and floated to the top of the head.
Xiao Wenbing felt a chill in his heart, but at that moment, another energy within his body suddenly activated.
The familiar warmth spread throughout his body almost instantly. For the first time, the divine spark, this mysterious and unpredictable power, had completely and spontaneously taken control of Xiao Wenbing's body after being shattered by Feng Baiyi.
The nascent soul hidden in the Baihui acupoint finally stopped. The moment the divine essence took over Xiao Wenbing's control of his body, even the nascent soul was indirectly controlled by it.
However, before Xiao Wenbing could catch his breath, another strange change occurred within his body.
That mysterious force seemed unwilling to give up, and the pulling force from outside increased again. Fortunately, the divine essence was not to be trifled with; with a tightening of its divine sense, the nascent soul was pulled back and forth between the two forces within the Baihui acupoint.
At this moment, Xiao Wenbing's body was no longer under his own control. Most of his consciousness was drawn to the mysterious patterns on the fire-elemental fortress. The little bit of his remaining consciousness was helpless against these two forces, and he could only watch helplessly as his pitiful nascent soul was gradually stretched in the Baihui acupoint.
Good heavens, what are they doing? Are they making ramen?
When the nascent soul was stretched into a thin, round rod by these two forces, Xiao Wenbing finally let out the loudest wail he had ever heard. At this moment, he could even foresee his tragic fate.
"Snap..." It was as if a slight sound came from the depths of the soul.
As expected, the nascent soul was torn in two right before his eyes.
Then, the nascent soul, pulled from the body, disappeared instantly into the red patterns with a "whoosh," as if it had always been part of the red patterns. Half of the nascent soul disappeared without a trace of abnormality. The only difference was that the red stripes seemed to have deepened slightly.
The remaining half of the nascent soul inside the body also began to undergo new changes.
The shattered nascent soul exploded within his body, and the powerful impact caused a new transformation in his body.
In that instant, Xiao Wenbing felt his body begin to tremble violently, as if countless tiny mice were scurrying around under his skin, causing dents and creases.
Xiao Wenbing watched in horror as the unexpected changes in his body occurred. He naturally understood that the power of the Nascent Soul exploding was absolutely extraordinary, at least much more powerful than the explosion of his Golden Core.
Fortunately, this time the explosion occurred inside his own body, and the body was controlled by the divine essence. Under the control of this being comparable to a supercomputer, his body was doing its best to weaken the damage caused by the explosion.
However, as blood began to seep from his skin, Xiao Wenbing knew that the situation was not optimistic.
If it weren't his own nascent soul that exploded inside his body, and if it weren't a god controlling his physical form, this wretched body would have long since turned to dust and ceased to exist.
Even so, the divine essence could not completely neutralize the impact of the nascent soul's explosion. As more and more blood appeared on his body, his body swelled up like an inflated balloon.
Xiao Wenbing was immediately disheartened, never expecting that he would inexplicably die here today.
However, before he could even utter a cry of despair, his body was already lifted into the air. Then, it traced a graceful arc in the air before crashing heavily into a large wooden barrel.
A massive amount of energy, accompanied by bone-chilling cold, surged into the body, instantly freezing the nearly shattered flesh. Even the countless fragments of the nascent soul within the body ceased their agitation, as if struck by a legendary acupoint technique, causing all bodily functions to stop in an instant.
Although his body was out of control and his senses were disconnected from his consciousness, Xiao Wenbing still sensed where he was.
This is a large wooden barrel, filled with the Nether Water that the Mirror God had painstakingly cultivated.
The Netherwater, a terrifying substance said to be able to dissolve everything, actually suppressed the exploding body and saved his life.
However, the power of the Netherwater was extraordinary. Just as it suppressed the restlessness within Xiao Wenbing's body, his skin began to frost over and crack.
Xiao Wenbing had long heard of the infamous Netherwater. He knew that just a touch of it was enough to freeze a cultivator in the Tribulation Transcending stage into an ice pop. Moreover, the Netherwater contained a large amount of corrosive energy. Once turned into an ice person, the only way out was to be completely dissolved by the Netherwater and disappear without a trace.
Therefore, dark water... is definitely a great help in destroying evidence in murder cases.
It’s over…
This was Xiao Wenbing's only thought at that moment. However, a strong force came, and Xiao Wenbing's body flew out of the wooden barrel again and landed in the large stone barrel next to him.
The red and white flames instantly melted all the frost on his body. Before the highly toxic Netherwater could exert its corrosive effect, it was completely evaporated by the intense heat in the stone barrel.
However, Xiao Wenbing, who had escaped this calamity, was not happy at all. Although he had avoided the fate of turning into a lump of pus, he was equally unhappy about the fate of being burned to ashes in the immortal fire of the Fire Spirit Immortal.
The flames of the Fire Spirit Immortal are enough to burn anything in the world to ashes, even the energy waves of the Mirror God are no exception, which shows how powerful this immortal fire is.
However, the Netherwater truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier water-based item; even the thin layer of water mist attached to the body's surface was enough to block the impact of the powerful heat wave.
One second...
Although it only lasted a brief second, it was enough to save Xiao Wenbing's physical body from disintegrating in the wind.
"rise……"
A familiar shout rang out from outside the barrels. Xiao Wenbing's body remained in the two large barrels of Nether Water and Immortal Fire for a second each before being enveloped by a powerful energy wave and flying out.
Xiao Wenbing was overjoyed. Looking at his physical body, although his clothes had been burned away by the immortal fire, his body had been preserved. Even the bloodstains that had gushed out from his body had been completely evaporated.
The power of the divine power instantly receded, and Xiao Wenbing's consciousness and mind fully recovered at this moment, regaining control of his body once again.
"Concentrate your mind and gather your energy to absorb spiritual power."
A loud and impatient voice came to his ears, and almost at the same time, Xiao Wenbing felt as if two completely different forces had appeared in his body, intertwined and fighting each other.
Xiao Wenbing was shocked to realize that he was not yet completely out of danger. He quickly put everything aside, sat cross-legged, and began to regulate his breathing.
Volume 4, The Divine Artifacts Chapter 333: The Strange Realm of Divine Transformation
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The two suddenly appearing energies, one cold and one hot, clashed fiercely within his body, neither willing to yield, like water and fire meeting, each displaying its power. However, as these two energies stirred within his body, Xiao Wenbing immediately felt a terrible headache and was in unbearable pain.
His body had already been ravaged by the explosion of his nascent soul and the tempering of water and fire. Now, the two forces within him were fighting each other, which only made matters worse and caused him unbearable pain.
However, what comforted him was that he was still alive at this point. It has to be said that the physique of cultivators is indeed different from that of ordinary people.
Although he is still alive, if these two forces continue to entangle, even with his Nascent Soul stage physique, he probably won't be able to hold on for long.
While manipulating the energy within his body, trying to balance the conflict between the two forces, he also racked his brains, desperately trying to find a solution. This situation could not continue for long; otherwise, if it went on, he would surely explode and die, with no chance of survival.
At this moment, Xiao Wenbing deeply missed the sect's prized treasure, the Little Golden Talisman. The divine power within the talisman possessed extremely strong restorative effects; with its blessing, he would surely have been able to overcome this hurdle. However, unfortunately, in order to save the Tree of Life in the Flame Realm a few days ago, the energy within the Little Golden Talisman had been completely exhausted, and it would take at least a hundred or two hundred years to recover.
With a sigh, could it be that the saying "good people don't get good rewards, while evil people live on for a thousand years" is actually true?
A sudden thought struck him, and he remembered that he had a treasure on him. He was overjoyed, but he was now focused on resisting the impact of the two forces and could not spare any strength to trigger it.
I barely managed to open my eyes, and a familiar figure was anxiously waving in front of me.
Xiao Wenbing was overjoyed, recognizing that this was the Mirror God. He was about to use his divine sense to contact the Mirror God when he unexpectedly discovered that the clash between the two forces within his body seemed to carry a mysterious energy that prevented the activity of his divine sense. In other words, he could no longer contact the Mirror God through his divine sense.
What should I do? With a try-it-out mentality, Xiao Wenbing forced out a little bit of strength and blinked at the Mirror God.
Although his expression was slight, the Mirror God clearly noticed it, so the ethereal figure stopped swaying and stared straight at him.
There was hope, as if after drifting in a dark and sunless sea for seven days and seven nights, they had finally seen land. Xiao Wenbing was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes. He quickly gestured with his eyes, asking the Mirror God to bring out the life-saving golden talisman bestowed by the White Crane Ancestor.
"What are you doing? Staring blankly?" Mirror God was greatly surprised to see Xiao Wenbing's bulging eyes. He said, "At a time like this, instead of focusing on your internal energy and regulating your breathing, do you want to die?"
Xiao Wenbing was stunned, then burst into anger. This idiot Mirror God, once the mental connection was lost, he unexpectedly realized that this guy was an absolute idiot.
"Hey, your eyes are getting bulging, this is bad, this is bad, they're even rolling their eyes back. I'm going to die!" Mirror God shouted incoherently.
A surge of intense anger welled up within him, and from who-knows-where a sudden surge of strength arose, Xiao Wenbing abruptly stood up with a "whoosh."
The moment he stood up, he heard something softly ring in his mind, followed by a subtle energy spreading from the depths of his consciousness.
Xiao Wenbing stopped moving, his mind focused entirely on this newborn energy, and he had no time to care about anything else.