Looking at the Yellow-Haired Great Bear before him, Ju Hua's heart was filled with emotion.
He was now in the Immortal Abode passed down from that Daoist Sanshou, and the Yellow-Haired Great Bear was the Abode Spirit of this Immortal Abode—in other words, its spirit.
The bear had been with him since he was a boy of just over ten, accompanying him every step of the way. More than three hundred years had passed since then. One could say that, apart from his little sister, the "person" closest to Ju Hua was the Yellow-Haired Great Bear.
"Senior, I failed my tribulation!" Ju Hua said.
"I know!" The Yellow-Haired Great Bear nodded.
"But I won't give up!" Ju Hua said, his gaze resolute. "If I can't become a Celestial Immortal, I can still become a Celestial God! I can even cultivate a second primordial spirit and have it undergo the Celestial Immortal Tribulation!"
"Your chances of becoming a Celestial God are slim. You've been cultivating the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, but so far you've only reached the thirteenth level. You're still far from becoming a Void-Return Fiendgod, let alone passing the unimaginably difficult Celestial God Tribulation!" The Yellow-Haired Great Bear continued:
"As for having your second primordial spirit undergo the Celestial Immortal Tribulation, you have no chance at all! In theory, this path is possible, but no one has ever succeeded. Do you know why?"
"Why?" Ju Hua asked, slightly taken aback.
"Because the second Celestial Immortal Tribulation is terrifyingly difficult—no less difficult than a weaker Celestial God Tribulation. Most Void-Return Fiendgods can't pass it. How could your second primordial spirit, with only the strength of an Earth Immortal, survive such a tribulation?" the Yellow-Haired Great Bear asked.
"..."
The Yellow-Haired Great Bear's words left Ju Hua momentarily silent. Most Void-Return Fiendgods could match weaker Celestial Immortals, and those capable of passing the Celestial God Tribulation were the cream of the crop among them. Most of those Void-Return Fiendgods still failed. How much less likely was an Earth Immortal to survive such a tribulation?
After a long silence, Ju Hua finally asked, "Senior, are you telling me to give up on becoming a Celestial Immortal and do everything I can to become a Celestial God?"
"You've grasped the point. It seems your mind hasn't been thrown into disarray after all!" The Yellow-Haired Great Bear gave a slight nod.
"I understand your good intentions, Senior! But I won't give up on either path. I'll give them both everything I've got! Still, please rest assured: before my body perishes and my Dao is extinguished, I'll find a new master for the Immortal Abode!"
"You're determined. I hope you really can succeed." The Yellow-Haired Great Bear sighed, then asked, "Where are you going now?"
"The Star Hall!" Ju Hua answered without hesitation.
"Mm. Since you've just failed your tribulation, that's indeed the place best suited to you. Go on." The Yellow-Haired Great Bear nodded, then vanished from before Ju Hua.
"..."
After the Yellow-Haired Great Bear left, Ju Hua silently walked out through the imposing palace gates. Beyond those gates lay the Immortal Abode proper, where its four most precious halls were located.
The Treasure Hall held countless treasures, though one needed the proper strength to claim them.
The Divine Ability Hall contained seven divine abilities. Ju Hua had entered it as a boy, but unfortunately, he hadn't passed the trial. From then on, those divine abilities had remained beyond his reach.
The War God Hall was the most dangerous place in the Immortal Abode, but it was also brimming with opportunities.
The Star Hall was the most unfathomable of the halls. It contained countless manifestations of the mysteries of the Dao, even complete Daos in their entirety.
Ju Hua walked unhurriedly for a while, and soon came to a huge wooden gate.
Looking through the gate, he saw a mountain teeming with life. Great trees and weeds crowded its slopes, but farther down, at the foot of the mountain, the ground was almost entirely barren. Only in scattered corners could one spot a trace of grass.
At the foot of the mountain stood a Thatched Cottage, with a stream flowing past it. The stream wound down from the mountain in twisting curves, creating a peculiar sense of harmony.
Above, enormous, dazzling stars filled the sky. Their light enveloped the earth, casting a dreamlike quality over everything below.
On the surface, these were stars. In truth, each one was a different Dao.
Ju Hua had admired the scenery here countless times already, and he had no desire to look again. As soon as he arrived, he strode straight to a desk in front of the Thatched Cottage and sat down cross-legged.
On the desk lay book after book: Star Scroll One, Star Scroll Two, Star Scroll Three... There were forty-three volumes in all.
Sitting there, Ju Hua recalled the days he had spent comprehending the Dao in this place. Then he gave a quiet sigh. The past was gone, and the future still stretched far ahead.
The Daos of the Three Realms were divided into ordinary Daos, Great Daos, and Heavenly Daos. Ordinary Daos were innumerable. Great Daos included the Great Dao of the Sword, the Dao of Dripping Water, and the Great Dao of Thunder, among others. There were ten Heavenly Daos in all: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, yin, yang, life, destruction, and chaos!
The stages of Dao comprehension could roughly be divided into grasping the true meaning of one Dao, grasping the true meanings of multiple Daos, reaching the Domain Realm of the Dao, and comprehending a complete Dao.
Ju Hua had once believed himself exceptionally gifted. In just three hundred years, he had fully comprehended three complete Daos: the Way of Flowing Water, the Way of Gale, and the Way of Thick Earth. He had already begun comprehending the Great Dao of the Sword, and was now just one step away from the Dao Domain Realm. He had also reached the Domain Realm of the Dao in the Way of Rainwater and the Way of Blazing Fire.
With a realm as high as his, an ordinary Earth Immortal would have had a chance of passing the tribulation. But Ju Hua now understood that he was no ordinary Earth Immortal. He possessed the Immortal Abode passed down from Daoist Sanshou, and the karmic fortune he bore far surpassed that of an ordinary Earth Immortal. Accordingly, the heavenly tribulation he faced would be far more powerful than normal.
Ju Hua was the only one who knew he possessed the Immortal Abode. The Celestial Immortals of his clan wouldn't tell him about such a thing without reason. The Yellow-Haired Great Bear had tried to stop him, but he hadn't taken its warnings to heart.
And so, he had failed his tribulation—and failed utterly!
The reason Ju Hua now understood all this was entirely because he had learned so much from the book Desolate Era. With his horizons broadened, he had naturally come to understand many of the things that had puzzled him before.
It was just a pity that he had figured it out too late.
"I don't have powerful divine abilities. If I want to pass the tribulation and become a Celestial God, I have to fully comprehend a Great Dao! And if I want my second primordial spirit to undergo the Celestial Immortal Tribulation..." Ju Hua sighed softly. He had made up his mind, but no short explanation could convey just how difficult the road ahead would be.
Fully comprehending a complete Great Dao was the greatest obstacle between a Celestial Immortal and a True Immortal. Celestial Immortals had souls countless times stronger than his, and their speed at deduction far surpassed his own. Even after countless years, they might still fail to comprehend a single Great Dao. For him, a mere Loose Immortal, to achieve the same thing—the difficulty was self-evident. One could even say it was impossible!
"My only advantage is the Star Hall. So I have to make good use of it. The Great Dao of the Sword is my hope!" Ju Hua silently told himself. Then he picked up the first Star Scroll and began to read, slowly and carefully.
P.S. I don't think the original work ever said whether a second primordial spirit could undergo a second tribulation, so I've decided that it can. The difficulty, however, is enough to make anyone despair!