In the end, Deng Jiugong's attempt had nearly ended in failure.
He had the Time Dao Disk and a Creation Jade Disk Fragment. He had even spent a million Great Dao Merit to accelerate his comprehension. With so many advantages, he still hadn't even touched the threshold of a Law.
However, Deng Jiugong had also been a little too ambitious. From the very beginning, he had tried to comprehend the Law of Time within the Creation Jade Disk Fragment.
Deng Jiugong possessed the Time Dao Disk.
The Time Dao Disk was a rare treasure, and the benefits it brought him were beyond imagination.
That was why Deng Jiugong had first chosen to comprehend the Law of Time.
Deng Jiugong had a premonition that if he mastered the Law of Time, the Time Dao Disk might change in some way.
However, after all that comprehension, it wasn't as if he had gained nothing. He simply still had a long way to go before he could truly use it in actual combat.
They said that Golden Immortals could begin to dabble in Laws. In Deng Jiugong's estimation, one probably had to reach the Grand Unity Golden Immortal Realm before one could truly put Laws to use in battle!!!
Otherwise, comprehending only the tiniest trace of a Law had no practical effect. He might as well cultivate divine abilities instead.
After all, divine abilities also evolved from Laws. They were simply a simplified way of releasing them.
In particular, once one reached the Golden Immortal Realm, the speed of comprehending Laws increased considerably.
Knowing how difficult Laws were to comprehend, Deng Jiugong had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and prepare to study divine abilities.
The Creation Jade Disk Fragment recorded the Thirty-six Heavenly Dipper Arts and the Seventy-two Earthly Fiend Arts.
Deng Jiugong had now mastered two Great Divine Abilities: Five Elements Great Escape and Dragon Subduing Tiger Subduing.
One was a speed-based divine ability, and the other was a strength-based divine ability.
In truth, with those two divine abilities, Deng Jiugong already had more than enough for combat.
But as the commander of an army, he couldn't think only of himself. He also had to consider the troops under his command.
So, after weighing his options, Deng Jiugong settled on Scatter Beans into Soldiers, one of the Thirty-six Heavenly Dipper Arts, and Pill Refining, one of the Seventy-two Earthly Fiend Arts!
Scatter Beans into Soldiers was a Great Divine Ability. As the name suggested, beans could be scattered and transformed into soldiers.
Once he reached the entry level, he could turn beans into thousands upon thousands of troops.
However, that would only look intimidating. In reality, the soldiers he created wouldn't have any real combat strength.
If he reached Minor Accomplishment, he could transform a single bean into a living being, which could prove quite useful on the battlefield.
And if he reached Major Accomplishment, the ability would become truly formidable. The beings created from beans could even possess the strength of immortals.
As for perfect mastery of Scatter Beans into Soldiers, the strength of each being would depend on the caster's magical power. If empowered with the power of Laws, they could even reach the level of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal.
The advantage of Scatter Beans into Soldiers was that it could create a great many soldiers out of thin air.
However, it had its limits. Once the power the caster had imbued in them ran out, they would turn back into beans. They wouldn't truly possess the endless vitality of living beings, nor could they recover on their own.
In the last battle against Xiqi, many of the soldiers under Deng Jiugong had been wounded.
If he mastered Scatter Beans into Soldiers, he could ease the burden on his troops considerably.
Next was Pill Refining, a divine ability used to refine pills.
Though Pill Refining was a minor divine ability from the Seventy-two Earthly Fiend Arts, its usefulness was not to be underestimated.
Last time, Deng Jiugong had used just a few pills to raise the cultivation of the generals under his command to the Earth Immortal Realm.
If he could refine immortal pills himself, he could improve the overall strength of his troops.
However, raising one's strength with pills wasn't as quick as using Scatter Beans into Soldiers.
Even so, pills were tremendously valuable. They could truly cultivate powerful experts. To a certain extent, if he didn't have an army to lead into battle, Deng Jiugong would have preferred to study Pill Refining.
But now, Deng Jiugong intended to master both divine abilities.
Hum!
He summoned the Creation Jade Disk Fragment to boost his comprehension, then began studying the divine abilities.
Although Deng Jiugong's comprehension speed was extremely fast now that he had reached the Golden Immortal Realm, he still felt it wasn't enough.
He spent five hundred thousand Great Dao Merit to speed up the process.
Soon, Deng Jiugong had brought both Scatter Beans into Soldiers and Pill Refining to Minor Accomplishment.
As for reaching Major Accomplishment, even if he forced his way there by spending Great Dao Merit, he wouldn't be able to unleash their full power with his current strength.
Take Dragon Subduing Tiger Subduing, for example. He had reached Minor Accomplishment long ago, yet even now, in the Golden Immortal Realm, he still felt he couldn't fully unleash its might.
His strength was still insufficient, leaving him feeling that he wanted to do more than he was capable of.
Now that he had mastered Pill Refining, Deng Jiugong was ready to start making pills.
He had used up all the Crimson Blood Dragon Fruit he had obtained on his previous expedition, but there were still plenty of Spiritual Roots on that island.
Those Spiritual Roots were somewhat low-grade for Deng Jiugong, but they were good enough for refining pills.
Hum!
As he activated Pill Refining, a series of alchemical talismans condensed with a wave of his hand. Before long, they had gathered into a pill furnace in front of him.
A pill furnace was essential for refining pills.
However, Deng Jiugong didn't have one, so he could only conjure one with Pill Refining.
This might lower his success rate, but it would still be enough to refine pills.
With a thought, Deng Jiugong took out the spiritual materials he had obtained earlier and tossed them into the furnace. He activated Pill Refining, channeled his magical power, and began refining.
Before long,
batch after batch of pills had been refined.
The pills Deng Jiugong made were not high-grade, so not a single batch had failed.
Nearly all of them were useful to mortals. He had made them as practice, in case he failed with the more difficult recipes.
Only then did Deng Jiugong move on to refining higher-grade pills.
Pills below the third revolution were for mortals; those above the third revolution were for immortals.
The immortal pills Deng Jiugong had previously obtained from Tu Xingsun, for instance, were around the fifth or sixth revolution.
At the ninth revolution, pills could even benefit Grand Unity Golden Immortals. But refining Nine Revolutions Golden Elixirs required perfect mastery of Pill Refining.
Deng Jiugong had only reached Minor Accomplishment in Pill Refining, so at most he could make Seven Revolutions Golden Elixirs—that is, pills useful to those in the Golden Immortal Realm.
Thus, refining low-grade pills was effortless for Deng Jiugong.
After making many Three Revolutions Golden Elixirs, he quickly went on to refine quite a few Four Revolutions Golden Elixirs and Five Revolutions Golden Elixirs. He managed only a handful of Six Revolutions Golden Elixirs.
By then, Deng Jiugong had used up all his alchemical materials.
He couldn't help sighing. He had too few materials on hand; he hadn't even managed to make a single Seven Revolutions Golden Elixir that would be useful to him.
Still, these pills would be of great use to the soldiers in his army.
He could even train experts in the Mystic Immortal Realm among his generals!
After finishing the immortal pills, Deng Jiugong didn't hurry out of seclusion. Instead, he began studying the Vast Void Divine Blade Art.
The Vast Void Divine Blade Art Immortal Scroll had six levels in total.
Back when he was in the Mystic Immortal Realm, he had been able to master the first level. Now that he had reached the Golden Immortal Realm, he could master the second.
"Great Dao Merit!"
He spent five hundred thousand Great Dao Merit. With the Creation Jade Disk Fragment boosting his comprehension, Deng Jiugong began studying at tremendous speed.
Soon, he had mastered the second level of the Vast Void Divine Blade Art.
At this point, Deng Jiugong took out his two divine blades.
The Heavenly Origin Divine Blade and the Destruction Divine Blade were both mid-grade Innate Spirit Treasures. Now that Deng Jiugong's primordial spirit had advanced to the Golden Immortal Realm, he could fully refine their Innate Restrictions.
He poured his magical power into the two divine blades and fully refined their Innate Restrictions. Then he began swinging the pair of great blades.
Hum!
Boundless blade intent surged through the Marshal's Mansion, its sharpness exposed and its power immense.
Deng Jiugong's improved cultivation, the full refinement of the restrictions within both blades, and the second level of the Vast Void Divine Blade Art had all contributed to his strength.
This time, all three factors enhanced his swordplay, making it far more powerful than before.
The force was so overwhelming that even Kong Xuan raised his proud head in surprise and turned his attention toward Deng Jiugong.
"Deng Jiugong's blade technique has improved again!" Kong Xuan exclaimed.
"Wait, his cultivation has actually advanced to the Golden Immortal Realm!"
Deng Jiugong's talent was simply incredible.
"Marshal!"
Just then, Tailuan spoke, sounding uncertain.
"What is it?"
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