Thanks to his special connection with the Bodhi Tree, Zhunti refined it at an extremely fast pace.
After all, the Bodhi Tree was one of the Ten Innate Spiritual Roots. Once refined, it would surely become a top-grade spirit treasure, perhaps even a supreme treasure. Then Zhunti could use the Bodhi Tree to sever the Three Corpses and become a Quasi-Saint.
Zhunti felt that his life was becoming increasingly hopeful.
Old Ancestor Xuantao Perishes
After the enormous vortex swallowed more than a dozen fearless Earth Immortals, the frenzied immortals gradually came to their senses and calmed down.
Although the vortex might contain the Opportunity of Three Immortal Island, not just anyone could lay claim to it. At the very least, those below the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm could only watch helplessly.
Over a thousand immortals gathered around the vortex, discussing it heatedly.
"Alas, it seems the Opportunity of Three Immortal Island has nothing to do with low-level immortals like us."
"This feeling of being able to watch but not approach is too painful."
"It seems only Grand Unity Golden Immortals can..."
"Shut up!"
The immortal who had been ambushed with a brick had only just regained consciousness when someone cut him off before he could finish speaking.
Fuxi ignored the crowd's discussion and instead observed the vortex.
Concealing himself, Fuxi arrived at the edge of the vortex and sensed its formidable power.
"With this level of power, even an ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortal would likely be unable to withstand it."
Fuxi extended a finger into the vortex. The destructive force within left streaks of white marks on his hand.
Just as Fuxi was about to enter the vortex and investigate, shouts came from nearby.
"Old Ancestor Xuantao has come to investigate Three Immortal Island! All unrelated persons, move aside at once!"
A group of Golden Immortals appeared first, driving away some of the watching immortals and forcibly clearing a path through the crowd.
Immediately afterward, several Grand Unity Golden Immortals carried a sedan chair toward the edge of the vortex.
Seated calmly atop the sedan chair was an elder at the mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, looking down upon the surrounding immortals.
"It's Old Ancestor Xuantao of the Nether Turtle Clan!"
"I heard Old Ancestor Xuantao has already reached the mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, and his physical defenses are outrageously powerful."
"With Old Ancestor Xuantao's defenses, resisting the destructive power of this vortex should be effortless."
Everyone discussed Old Ancestor Xuantao's cultivation and strength. Their praise put him in an excellent mood.
The sedan chair stopped, and Old Ancestor Xuantao slowly stepped down, looking toward the illusion of Three Immortal Island.
"So many spiritual roots. As expected of the legendary Three Immortal Islands of the East Sea!"
Old Ancestor Xuantao stared feverishly at those visions. Since the other Grand Unity Golden Immortals had not yet arrived, he might have a chance to monopolize the Opportunity of Three Immortal Island.
Old Ancestor Xuantao glanced at the vast, violent vortex but did not take it seriously.
With his defensive power, even late-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortals could not kill him. How terrifying could the destructive force of a mere vortex be?
Seeing Old Ancestor Xuantao's confident expression, Fuxi gently shook his head.
Although Old Ancestor Xuantao had reached the mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, his aura was unsteady. Compared with the Grand Unity Golden Immortals of the Honghuang Continent, his actual strength was far inferior.
Such a gap was only to be expected.
When Hongjun preached the Dao, Fuxi had noticed that hardly any Grand Unity Golden Immortals from the sea clans had come to listen.
It was not because Fuxi had excluded the sea clans of the four seas when he announced his preaching after becoming a Saint. Rather, these sea clans lived peacefully in their own territories and had become somewhat complacent, showing little interest in Hongjun's teachings.
Thus, while these Grand Unity Golden Immortals of the sea clans appeared to possess decent cultivation realms, neither their combat strength nor their comprehension of the Great Dao could compare to the Grand Unity Golden Immortals of the Honghuang Continent.
Although Old Ancestor Xuantao was at the mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm, in Fuxi's eyes, he was not even a match for an early-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal from the Honghuang Continent.
This was not prejudice, but Fuxi's accurate assessment.
And Old Ancestor Xuantao truly might not be able to withstand the vortex's destructive power.
Of course, if Old Ancestor Xuantao possessed a Chaos Supreme Treasure, or a treasure like the Heaven and Earth Mysterious Yellow Exquisite Pagoda, then Fuxi said nothing.
But Old Ancestor Xuantao naturally had no idea what Fuxi was thinking. His attention was entirely drawn to the spiritual roots radiating treasure light within Three Immortal Island, and he was already itching to make a move.
"You all stay here and do not move about. I'll go into Three Immortal Island and pick a few spiritual roots."
After giving his followers these instructions, Old Ancestor Xuantao turned and flew toward the vortex.
"Rest assured, Old Ancestor. We shall await your return."
The Golden Immortals and Grand Unity Golden Immortals who had accompanied Old Ancestor Xuantao bowed to him before standing guard beside the sedan chair.
The surrounding immortals looked at Old Ancestor Xuantao with admiration and envy.
"Now, the spiritual roots inside Three Immortal Island will have an owner."
"Alas, I'm so envious of Old Ancestor Xuantao's clansmen. They should receive some spiritual roots too, right?"
"With so many spiritual roots, if he gave me even one, I'd be willing to risk my life for Old Ancestor Xuantao!"
"Forget it. What is the life of a mere Profound Immortal worth?"
Old Ancestor Xuantao's clansmen and servants all held their heads high with proud expressions, their gazes filled with smug satisfaction.
Once Old Ancestor Xuantao emerged with the Opportunity of Three Immortal Island, their status and strength would surely rise along with the tide. Who would not be delighted by that?
But Fuxi looked at Old Ancestor Xuantao with some sympathy. He had lived for countless years, yet he was so careless in the face of this vortex. It was like an old man eating arsenic—he was tired of living.
Under the watchful eyes of countless immortals, Old Ancestor Xuantao charged directly toward the violent vortex.
The fluctuations generated by the spinning vortex made Old Ancestor Xuantao's body sway, but he was not the least bit flustered. He shouted, "Watch me enter the vortex in my true form!"
In the blink of an eye, Old Ancestor Xuantao revealed his true form. A black turtle a thousand zhang long appeared before everyone.
However, Old Ancestor Xuantao did not immediately enter the vortex. Instead, he shrank his body until it was only one zhang long.
Old Ancestor Xuantao's true form visibly became more solid, his body seeming as though it had been forged from dark iron.
Only then did Old Ancestor Xuantao enter the vortex.
Upon entering the vortex, Old Ancestor Xuantao's true form did not immediately change. It seemed he had withstood the vortex's violent destructive force.
But a few breaths later, just as Old Ancestor Xuantao was preparing to venture deeper into the vortex, a crisp cracking sound suddenly rang out across heaven and earth.
"What was that sound?"
A Golden Immortal watching from outside the vortex asked in confusion.
"I don't know. What could have broken so crisply and loudly that the sound carried throughout this entire region?"
A Profound Immortal voiced his own doubts.
However, at that moment, a Grand Unity Golden Immortal suddenly pointed into the vortex and cried out excitedly:
"Look! Look at Old Ancestor Xuantao's turtle shell!"
Everyone hurriedly looked into the vortex, only to discover that Old Ancestor Xuantao's supposedly unmatched turtle shell had cracked under the vortex's impact.
Within the vortex, Old Ancestor Xuantao suddenly felt a powerful force of destruction battering his shell. Then, his turtle shell began to fracture.
As the shell cracked, it felt like someone walking on ice suddenly realizing that the ice beneath his feet had shattered. The feeling was utterly despairing.
"No! I want to live!"
The turtle shell Old Ancestor Xuantao had been so proud of was breaking apart. His flesh began to endure the vortex's assault, and his comparatively soft flesh was directly torn apart by the currents.
Another Drop of Pangu's Essence Blood
Old Ancestor Xuantao's one-zhang-long body was inconspicuous within the vortex, yet it drew everyone's attention.
His face was filled with panic as he desperately tried to escape the vortex, struggling with all his might.
But no matter how Old Ancestor Xuantao struggled, his body seemed trapped in a quagmire, completely unable to break free.
"Save me! Save me!"
Old Ancestor Xuantao's expression became terrified and despairing. At this moment, he had lost all of his former arrogance.
His incomparably hard turtle shell was crumbling, his flesh was being ground away, and his body was growing weaker and weaker.
"Old Ancestor! Come back up, Old Ancestor!"
The younger members of the Nether Turtle Clan shouted toward Old Ancestor Xuantao, but he was powerless to escape the vortex's restraints and gradually sank deeper into it.
"I refuse to accept this! I regret it!"
Old Ancestor Xuantao let out a miserable scream as his head was swallowed by the violent vortex, which was immediately dyed blood-red.
"Old Ancestor!!!"
A group of Golden Immortals from the Nether Turtle Clan cried out heartbreakingly beyond the vortex, but they could feel that their connection to Old Ancestor Xuantao had vanished.
The ancestor of the Nether Turtle Clan, a mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal, had died within this terrifyingly violent vortex. The watching immortals around them were chilled to the bone.
"A Grand Unity Golden Immortal died just like that?"
"How terrifying is this vortex's destructive power? Old Ancestor Black Turtle was a mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal, and he was renowned for his incredible defenses!"
"Could it be that only Saints can withstand this vortex's destructive force?"
"Who was it just now that said Grand Unity Golden Immortals could endure the vortex's impact?"
When Old Ancestor Xuantao died, the watching immortals completely abandoned any thoughts of entering the vortex to seek Opportunity. Their enthusiasm for Three Immortal Island was extinguished by the vortex's terror.
As for the immortals from the Nether Turtle Clan, they looked as though they had been drenched in filth—wretched, despairing, and unable to believe what had happened.
With Old Ancestor Xuantao, the pillar of their clan, dead, every member of the Nether Turtle Clan had lost their support. The Nether Turtle Clan had lost its protection and would have to face retaliation from forces with Grand Unity Golden Immortals.
Fuxi watched as the blood-red color gradually faded from the incomparably violent vortex. His expression remained calm, and his heart was utterly unmoved.
Hearing someone say that only Saints could enter the vortex, Fuxi's mouth twitched.
These immortals who had not reached the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm were still too shortsighted. In Fuxi's view, a peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal possessed the strength to enter the vortex, though they might require the protection of a spirit treasure.
He had tested the force at the vortex's edge just now. It was powerful, but not invincible.
With his physical body, he should be able to withstand the vortex's impact.
Before you continue