The true challenge had only just begun. There was no doubt about that.
All his earlier hardships seemed like nothing more than an appetizer.
He rose and once again deliberately dispersed the protective aura of wood magical power around him.
He decided to rely on this Ginseng Fruit Tree Dao Body, tempered countless times by the Wood Scripture and Pangu pressure, and now infused with his insights into the Four Symbols.
With physical strength alone, he would face the omnipresent Pangu pressure, which had grown increasingly terrifying, almost condensing into a solid wall.
Every step was a hundred times harder than it had been at the foot of the mountain. And the higher he climbed, the more wildly the pressure soared—not in a linear progression, but exponentially!
The air was as heavy and viscous as mercury. It not only bore down on his skin but seemed to possess a will of its own, seeping through every opening into the depths of his marrow, grinding against every sliver of bone. It even assailed his primordial spirit's sea of consciousness, seeking to extinguish the light within.
The mountain wind howled fiercely, yet brought not the slightest hint of coolness. Instead, it was like countless invisible blades tempered with chaos qi, constantly slicing his skin.
They gave off teeth-grating hisses.
The occasional wisps of gray chaos energy stream fragments mingled within were even more dangerous. Their annihilating properties could easily reduce ordinary houtian spirit treasures to dust.
Lord Wanshouyuan remained wholly focused, his spiritual platform clear and tranquil. He devoted all his attention to sensing and resisting the endless pressure, carefully experiencing every subtle change and adaptation in his body under this extreme strain.
His steps were slow and steady, like an old farmer plowing deep.
Each footfall left a shallow, almost imperceptible footprint on the timeless, imperishable rock of Buzhou Mountain, harder than divine iron.
An instant later, the omnipresent, eternally acting pressure smoothed it away, as though no one had ever set foot there.
Beneath his skin, the vast, verdant radiance of his wood origin circulated rapidly of its own accord.
Like the most precise loom, it constantly repaired the tiny injuries torn open by the pressure and chaos energy streams.
It also seemed to reverse that terrifying, destructive pressure, absorbing its essence and turning it into the finest energy for tempering his body and purging impurities, hammering every inch of flesh, sinew, and bone.
Gradually, he entered a profoundly mysterious state of selflessness, one that could only be encountered, never sought.
His sense of time passing in the outside world became utterly indistinct. Even his surroundings seemed to lose their color, fading into a blurred backdrop.
Only the winding mountain path ahead, seemingly leading to the summit of the heavens, remained, along with the immense pressure squeezing him from every direction, above and below. That pressure itself became the only clear "existence."
His consciousness was intensely focused, pure and unified, yet seemed to transcend all external restraints. Every stray thought, even consideration of his purpose, fell away. All that remained was the single, pure instinct to go upward, to climb.
His breathing gradually fell into step with his stride, harmonious and natural. Every inhalation was as heavy as a collapsing mountain; every exhalation carried traces of foul qi and energy impurities forced from his body by the extreme pressure.
He forgot himself, forgot why he had come, and even forgot what pain was. His entire being—body and mind, spirit and flesh—became wholly immersed in resisting, adapting to, and even faintly merging with the legacy of this divine mountain formed from Great God Pangu's spine.
This was the state of selflessness that cultivators of the Primordial Wilderness dreamed of attaining.
Empowered by this wondrous state, his control over his body reached an unprecedented degree of precision. He perceived every tremor of muscle and every surge of blood;
His circulation of the Wood Scripture also became ever more practiced and natural, approaching the dao realm. Every measure of magical power went precisely where it was needed to preserve vitality and transform pressure, multiplying his efficiency while reducing expenditure to a bare minimum.
The vast pressure, mighty enough to crush stars, was no longer merely an obstacle and an ordeal. Instead, it became the finest, most extravagant whetstone.
It honed his immortal Dao Body and tempered his unwavering heart of seeking dao.
Yet as the pillar supporting the heavens, Buzhou Mountain seemed to possess limitless pressure, without end.
After climbing for who knew how long, crossing countless treacherous cliffs capable of killing a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal and passing through countless banks of chaos mist that could corrode bones and dissolve souls, Lord Wanshouyuan was abruptly jolted out of that mysterious state in which both self and surroundings were forgotten!
A terrifying pressure descended with a crash, unprecedented and far beyond anything he had experienced before. It could shatter vast fields of stars and collapse ten thousand miles of space, as though the weight of the entire Primordial World had been piled onto him in an instant!
Crack... hum...
It was not the harsh sound of bones breaking. Rather, every last minute particle composing his Dao Body was groaning under the unbearable burden and trembling violently!
It seemed that in the very next instant, this endlessly tempered Dao Body would be utterly crushed and disintegrate, becoming the purest innate spiritual qi among these mountains and returning to the world.
Agonizing pain from the very origin of his life swept over him like a world-destroying tide, battering his purple mansion primordial spirit and nearly drowning his lucid mind.
Fine beads of blood seeped uncontrollably through his skin, only to be ground into nothingness by the terrifying pressure. The green light of yi wood that instinctively protected him flickered violently, wavering like a dying candle in a raging storm, ready to collapse entirely at any moment.
Before this boundless might of heaven and earth, his magical power at the peak of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal level seemed pitifully small, a mere drop in the bucket. It could only barely draw inward and desperately protect his vital meridians and the core of his primordial spirit.
His body had reached the true, absolute limit of what his current taiyi realm could withstand! Even the smallest step forward would leave him pulverized, his dao foundation damaged or even destroyed!
Retreat? Perhaps he could withdraw a little. Once he left the core region where the pressure was strongest, it would ease slightly, giving him a moment to breathe and slowly recover through his wood vitality.
But after the initial agony, what flashed in Lord Wanshouyuan's eyes was utter resolve and determination.
How could a heart of seeking dao retreat so easily? Rather than stepping back, he completely withdrew his peak Primordial Unity Golden Immortal magical power. He no longer used any of it for external resistance, drawing it all inward to closely guard his vital meridians and the core of his primordial spirit.
At the same time, he roused the blood throughout his body, raised his head, and released a long, low cry like the roar of an ancient beast of the Primordial Wilderness. Within it resounded all his indomitable will, his longing for the pinnacle of the Great Dao, and his utmost pursuit of a truly powerful body!
He intended to open himself completely, surrendering himself to that destructive pressure. At the very brink of annihilation, within the jaws of death, he would force out the boundless potential hidden in the deepest reaches of life and achieve rebirth in his flesh!
BOOM—!!!
A mighty roar erupted from the deepest reaches of his body, like chaos beginning, like the universe exploding!
This was not a breakthrough in his magical power, but great dao resonance born from an ultimate leap in the level of his life and the origin of his flesh!
It was the mightiest note of life's evolution!
The physical barrier between Primordial Unity Golden Immortal and Da Luo Golden Immortal, which had obstructed him for so long, shattered with a crash in that instant of staking everything on death to find life!
Endless innate spiritual qi surged toward him, seemingly dragged in by the frenzied pull of an invisible force.
Even here on Buzhou Mountain, where pressure filled every space and the laws were extraordinarily stable, it forcibly tore open a brief, distorted vortex of spiritual qi.
Like parched, cracked earth receiving rain after a long drought, his body greedily devoured this purest origin energy. His bleeding skin, which had been on the verge of collapse, healed instantly.
It took on an unprecedented crystalline, glasslike luster. His skin and flesh, sinews and bones, organs and blood vessels, down to the tiniest cellular particles, all underwent a fundamental transformation and sublimation, as though being remade from within.
An unprecedented sense of power surged from the deepest reaches of his body, as though a single punch could pierce space and a single stamp of his foot could shake the mountains and rivers of all eternity.
This was pure strength, independent of magical power or divine abilities, arising from the very origin of life! It was one of the ultimate manifestations of power!
His physical cultivation had now entered the realm of Da Luo Golden Immortal!
His magical cultivation and comprehension of the dao realm, however, remained at the peak of Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, unable to break through alongside it.
Yet this reborn, powerful body, newly ascended to Da Luo, already possessed more than ten times its former sheer toughness, explosive strength, recovery speed, and resistance to external harm!
He truly possessed the formidable foundation needed to break techniques through strength and confront ordinary Da Luo Golden Immortals head-on!
Lord Wanshouyuan stood in place, his blood surging and roaring like the Archaic Dragon Clan, actually producing the rumbling sound of the Great Dao. His immense blood energy mingled with pure wood vitality and soared skyward.
It forcibly pushed back the surrounding Pangu pressure, dense as lead and mercury, for a brief moment, creating a distorted vacuum several dozen feet across.
He carefully experienced the earth-shaking changes in his body, which had all but been reconstructed, and endless emotion welled up within him. Buzhou Mountain was indeed a place of absolute peril and death, yet it was also a supreme treasure ground for tempering the body! Nothing better illustrated how fortune and disaster went hand in hand.
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