Within the main hall, Dao Sound drifted faintly.
Taishang, Zhen Yuanzi, and Hong Yun, the three Quasi-Saint mighty figures, sat cross-legged. Celebratory Clouds unfurled above their heads, countless Azure Lotuses appearing and vanishing. Every word from their mouths contained the profound truths of heaven and earth.
The Great Dao Sounds collided with one another, stirring layer after layer of ripples. The entire Wuzhuang Temple was shrouded in an unfathomable atmosphere.
Niu Ben lay prone nearby. The immense life energy transformed from the Ginseng Fruit surged through his body like an endlessly rushing Celestial River.
It formed a wondrous resonance with the Great Dao Sound.
His rate of comprehension soared in an unimaginable manner!
Time lost all meaning amid the discussion of the Dao.
The Primordial Wilderness did not count the years; in the mountains, there was no reckoning of time.
The Chaos Singularity within Niu Ben's body exploded with a boom, transforming into a small, grayish Chaos Space. The phantom of the first Earth Fiend Divine Oxen slowly condensed within it.
It was formed entirely of pure energy, with an ox's head and a human body. Its muscles were knotted, and it radiated a heavy, primordial aura.
It worked!
Niu Ben rejoiced inwardly and continued guiding the remaining medicinal power of the Ginseng Fruit, along with the spiritual qi of heaven and earth absorbed from outside, to condense the second, the third...
Meanwhile, the three mighty figures in the hall had long since immersed themselves in their discussion of the Great Dao, completely unaware of the earth-shaking transformation occurring in the little Azure Ox beside them.
They spoke from the beginning of the immortal path to the Golden Immortal realm, then discussed the Primordial Unity Dao Fruit and Zenith Heaven Supreme, finally arriving at the Quasi-Saint method of Slaying the Three Corpses.
Hong Yun was free-spirited and followed his heart.
Zhen Yuanzi was steady and bore all things with great virtue.
Taishang was non-striving, serene, and natural.
In the blink of an eye, amid the convergence of three different paths,
three thousand years quietly passed.
Auspicious clouds coiled above Wuzhuang Temple, and Auspicious Qi rose into the air.
Within the main hall, the profound Dao Sound finally gradually subsided.
"Haha, exhilarating! Discussing the Dao with fellow Daoists for three thousand years surpassed a hundred thousand years of solitary cultivation!" Hong Yun laughed heartily, clapping his hands.
Zhen Yuanzi also wore a smile as he bowed with clasped hands. "Fellow Daoist Taishang's Dao of non-striving is truly unfathomable. This humble Daoist has benefited greatly."
Taishang nodded slightly. His expression remained calm, but his eyes, placid as an ancient well, held an additional trace of clarity.
"Rumble—"
A dull thunderclap suddenly exploded in the Nine Heavens Above without warning!
The entire Longevity Mountain Blessed Land trembled faintly.
"Heavenly Tribulation?"
Zhen Yuanzi frowned deeply, his face full of confusion.
"My Wuzhuang Temple is where the fortune of the Primordial Realm converges, a place Immune to All Calamities. How could it draw a Heavenly Tribulation?"
Taishang's gaze swept across the Tribulation Cloud. His deep eyes seemed capable of piercing through layers of dark clouds and looking directly upon its Origin Essence.
At that very moment, the "bluestone statue" lying in the hall finally moved.
Niu Ben slowly raised his ox head and let out a long breath of stale air.
That was one satisfying sleep!
He sank his consciousness into his body and was instantly overwhelmed by the earth-shaking changes within.
His cultivation had already entered the Mystic Immortal realm steadily!
And within the Chaos Space in his dantian stood five hundred majestic Earth Fiend Divine Oxen!
Every one of them radiated a formidable aura comparable to a Houtian Spiritual Treasure!
The strength of his physical body was more than a hundred times greater than it had been three thousand years ago!
"Ding!"
"Detected that the host's cultivation has reached Mystic Immortal, fulfilling the first requirement for Bloodline Ancestral Return."
"Bloodline Ancestral Return is about to begin!"
"Warning! Heavenly Tribulation detected. Host, please prepare yourself!"
Damn!
It really was his Heavenly Tribulation!
Niu Ben was startled. He had merely broken through to Mystic Immortal—how had that brought down a Heavenly Tribulation?
The only explanation was that this heaven-defying Bloodline Ancestral Return had triggered the Heavenly Dao Rules!
At this moment, the gazes of the three mighty figures finally fell upon him in unison.
The source of the Calamity Qi was actually this ox!
The atmosphere instantly became extraordinarily strange.
Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun's faces were filled with disbelief.
An ox?
An ox that had just broken through from Heavenly Immortal to Mystic Immortal?
It had summoned such a terrifying Heavenly Tribulation?
The imposing might of those dark Tribulation Clouds surpassed even the usual spectacle of a True Immortal undergoing tribulation!
How could a Mystic Immortal possibly draw Thunder Punishment of this level?
"This..." Hong Yun opened his mouth, but for a moment, he did not know what to say. He could only turn to look at Taishang.
Niu Ben had no time to care about anything else.
The Heavenly Tribulation had already locked onto him. Its pressure bore down on him so heavily that he could barely breathe.
He shook his massive ox head and respectfully sent a message to Taishang Daoist. "Master, this little ox... needs to go undergo a tribulation."
His voice was calm, without the slightest trace of panic.
Taishang Daoist gave him a faint glance.
"Go."
Only one word, yet it seemed to grant Niu Ben the greatest permission and confidence.
Niu Ben responded and violently pushed off with all four hooves.
"Moo!"
A heaven-shaking ox bellow rang through the clouds!
His massive body transformed into a streak of azure lightning, smashing through the roof of the Daoist Temple and charging without hesitation toward the pitch-black Tribulation Clouds.
Boom!
The instant he rushed out of Wuzhuang Temple, the aura of his Mystic Immortal cultivation was fully released without reserve.
The Tribulation Clouds above, as if provoked, began spinning even more violently!
The purple Thunder Dragon and azure figure collided with a thunderous crash. Violent lightning instantly swallowed Niu Ben whole.
Purple arcs of lightning crazily slithered over his solid muscles, producing only bursts of crackling sounds. They could not tear through his skin, which was comparable to a Magic Treasure.
"Exhilarating! Again!"
Niu Ben felt every inch of flesh in his body becoming tougher under the tempering of lightning. The sensation of transformation originating from deep within his bloodline grew ever clearer, making him unable to resist raising his head and roaring toward the sky.
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
The Heavenly Tribulation seemed to have been thoroughly enraged. The second and third divine lightning bolts arrived one after another, each thicker and more violent than the last!
Niu Ben accepted them all without refusal, using his body as a furnace and the Heavenly Tribulation as fire to temper himself and accelerate the Bloodline Ancestral Return process.
Under this terrifying Thunder Punishment, his body not only did not collapse, but instead radiated an increasingly ancient and noble aura.
It was a pressure that surpassed ordinary Innate Beings!
"His innate foundation... is improving!" Hong Yun said in horror.
"How is that possible?! A living being's innate foundation is destined from the day of its birth. Unless one encounters heaven-defying fortune, it is absolutely impossible to improve it postnatally!" Zhen Yuanzi muttered. His proud, steady Dao Heart had already become a complete mess.
He looked at the figure bathing in lightning above, as though witnessing the birth of a myth.
Only Taishang Daoist's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"Boom!"
The ninth and final Heavenly Tribulation finally descended!
It was a bolt of lightning that had nearly turned pure black. The destructive aura contained within it was enough to make even Grand Unity Golden Immortals change expression!
Niu Ben's eyes turned crimson. He drove the power of every Earth Fiend Divine Oxen within him to its utmost limit, transforming it into a massive Chaos Ox Shadow that shot into the sky.
"Break!"
After an earth-shattering explosion, the Tribulation Clouds filling the sky vanished into thin air.
A brilliant golden light descended from the Nine Heavens Above, enveloping Niu Ben.
This was a Heavenly Dao Gift, the reward for successfully overcoming the tribulation.
The changes within Niu Ben's body also reached their peak at this moment!
"Moo—"
A distant, desolate ox bellow, as though it had come from the age of Chaos, emerged from his mouth.
The Bloodline Shackles within his body were completely shattered!
A faint yet incomparably pure Chaos Qi spread from his body.
At this moment, his innate foundation completed an epic leap!
From an ordinary Innate Being, he had leapt directly into the innate foundation of an Innate Divine Being!
The bottleneck in his cultivation, washed by the power of this transformation and the Heavenly Dao Gift, was as fragile as paper and instantly broken through!
Mid-stage Mystic Immortal!
Late-stage Mystic Immortal!
Early-stage Golden Immortal!
His cultivation advanced in rapid succession, finally stabilizing at the early stage of Golden Immortal!
"Ding!"
"The next ancestral return requires Grand Luo Golden Immortal cultivation!"
Niu Ben slowly descended from the sky. His massive body returned to human form, and he bowed deeply toward the three mighty figures within Wuzhuang Temple.
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