A Stick

Over the past half month, apart from strolling through the streets each day to see whether Poison Immortal Cai Di had appeared outside Moon-Gazing City, Chen Xiao had devoted himself to studying the cultivation method of the Nine Heavens Thunder Virtue Universal Transformation Art.

During this time, aside from the heavenly tribulations overseen by the Thunder Virtue Heavenly Book, Chen Xiao occasionally went to watch the excitement. But before long, even that began to bore him.

Merging with heavenly tribulation, controlling thunderbolts, and deciding whether a tribulation-crossing cultivator lived or died—these were the abilities Chen Xiao had gained after cultivating the Nine Heavens Thunder Virtue Universal Transformation Art. But he was only at the first level of the Red Cloud Realm and could only control the Transformation Tribulations of demon beasts.

Moreover, there were two ways for him to preside over a lightning tribulation. The first was to send out his divine sense and remotely control the heavenly tribulation, just as he had done that night. In truth, it had been his divine sense overseeing the heavenly tribulation. The second was what Chen Xiao was displaying now: going in person with his true body.

After presiding over several heavenly tribulations, Chen Xiao had lost interest and left everything to the Thunder Virtue Heavenly Book. Yet this time, the Thunder Virtue Heavenly Book had actually sought his instructions, asking Chen Xiao to personally oversee the heavenly tribulation.

It was easy to imagine that this matter was surely different.

At this moment, Chen Xiao's true body had already appeared above the tribulation clouds, crossing billions upon billions of miles in an instant to arrive at some unknown corner of the Immortal World.

Rumble...

A muffled peal of thunder boomed through the sky. Behind the tribulation clouds, a pair of cold and merciless Giant Eyes of Heavenly Punishment appeared, lofty above all else as they looked down upon the tribulation-crossing being below.

"This is..."

When Chen Xiao saw the being about to undergo its transformation tribulation below, he could not help but stare blankly.

A jet-black short staff, three feet, three inches, and three fen long, lay silently on the ground. Dense silver starlight specks covered its surface, making it appear exceptionally strange.

A short rod, pitch-black from end to end and three chi, three cun, and three fen long, lay quietly on the ground. It was densely covered with silvery points of starlight, making it look extremely strange.

Chen Xiao finally understood what was happening. When Spirit Objects underwent tribulation, whether demon beasts or plant and tree spirits, if they wished to seek the supreme Heavenly Dao, they had to transform themselves into Dao bodies—that was, human forms—before they could continue cultivating.

Thus, after cultivating to a certain stage, countless powerful demon spirits had to take human form before they could advance further.

Any being capable of transforming possessed a soul and spirit. But the staff on the ground was not a living being!

A magic treasure!

That was right. The staff below was clearly a bizarre magic treasure, yet it was actually about to undergo tribulation and transform?

Since the creation of heaven and earth, the Thunder Virtue Heavenly Book had been a supreme sacred object in charge of heavenly tribulations. But even it had never encountered such a situation before. Unable to make a decision on its own, it could only seek the instructions of its current master and let Chen Xiao decide.

"Staff Daoist, Low-Grade Treasure Tool. A magic treasure transforming should suffer an inauspicious heavenly tribulation. Its original body was a magic treasure refined by Nine Heavens Profound Immortal Wen Nuo."

This was the record concerning this magic treasure within the Thunder Virtue Heavenly Book.

"Staff Daoist, Staff Daoist... Could it be him?"

All at once, Chen Xiao recalled that in his previous life, an unparalleled killing star had appeared in Glazed Heaven. He called himself Staff Daoist. Though Staff Daoist possessed only the cultivation of an ordinary cultivator, his temperament was savage and bloodthirsty, and he had once stirred up a heaven-shaking massacre throughout Glazed Heaven.

Staff Daoist's physical body had been exceptionally powerful. Even ordinary Mahayana Realm cultivators had been unable to do anything to him. In the end, several immortals had joined hands to wipe him out.

According to rumors, the magic treasure Staff Daoist wielded had been a black short staff. Could the short staff below be that Staff Daoist? Was the reason that fellow had been so formidable because he had been a transformed magic treasure?

In an instant, countless thoughts spun through Chen Xiao's mind. He knew that Staff Daoist was cruel by nature and wild beyond taming. He absolutely could not be subdued like Cai Di. Even Chen Xiao's current subjugation of Cai Di was merely for show; whether Cai Di was willing to submit sincerely remained unknown.

"Since I've encountered you, how could I possibly let you go?"

Chen Xiao looked at the staff below, a faint smile appearing in his eyes.

Although the staff below had developed intelligence, it was incomplete. Or rather, it was like an infant now, possessing no real wisdom and acting entirely on instinct.

Chen Xiao stretched out a hand, and the rolling tribulation clouds instantly parted. A giant hand of thunder descended from the heavens and seized the black short staff in one grasp. Seeming to sense the danger, the short staff twisted desperately, trying to break free from Chen Xiao's control.

But Chen Xiao had now merged with the heavenly tribulation and wielded the might of heaven and earth. How could a mere Treasure Tool possibly break free?

With a shift of thought, Chen Xiao produced a bolt of lightning that instantly entered the short staff, directly erasing the spiritual awareness sheltered within it.

Immediately afterward, the summons generated by the tribulation vanished completely. With the staff's intelligence erased, it no longer possessed the ability to transform—at least not until it developed new intelligence.

With another movement of his mind, Chen Xiao's body had returned to his room. In his hand was a short staff as black and lustrous as jade.

Though he had erased the intelligence within the staff, Chen Xiao felt not the slightest ripple in his heart. Cultivators fought heaven to seize their lives, refining all things between heaven and earth for their own use.

Besides, even if this staff safely passed its heavenly tribulation, it would still throw the cultivation world of Glazed Heaven into utter chaos after entering the world, only to be killed by immortals in the end and benefit someone else. Since it would die sooner or later anyway, better for it to benefit him than another.

Chen Xiao stroked the staff in his hand, a smile spreading across his face.

As long as he bestowed new intelligence upon such a thing, it could transform again and continue cultivating. The reason Chen Xiao had taken it now was because he had decided that, once he reached the Out-of-Body Realm, he would use this staff to refine an External Incarnation and Second Primordial Spirit.

This was practically the equivalent of a humanoid magic treasure. Just thinking of Staff Daoist's terrifying power—having only the strength of an ordinary cultivator, yet requiring several immortals to join forces before they could subdue him—made its value clear.

As for things like External Incarnations and Second Primordial Spirits, cultivators and even immortals in Glazed Heaven rarely cultivated them. But Chen Xiao had entered the Immortal Martial Sect in his previous life. It was a sect that entered the immortal path through martial arts, and it possessed methods for refining External Incarnations and Second Primordial Spirits.

With a flip of his hand, Chen Xiao placed the staff into the Golden Immortal Kingdom, allowing the Golden Immortal immortal power within to slowly nourish it.

This staff had only just entered the rank of a Low-Grade Treasure Tool. Chen Xiao intended to nourish it with the Golden Immortal Power in the Golden Immortal Kingdom, striving to give it the potential to become an immortal artifact.

"The fifth turn of the Red Cloud Realm actually consumed a full eight thousand six hundred high-grade Heavenly Mystery Stones..."

After roughly calculating the Heavenly Mystery Stones he had consumed during his cultivation, Chen Xiao could not help but feel secretly astonished.

Eight thousand six hundred high-grade Heavenly Mystery Stones had only supported his cultivation to the fifth turn of the Red Cloud Realm. When he broke through the Red Cloud Realm and reached the Orange Cloud Realm, what sort of terrifying level would the consumption reach?

Chen Xiao involuntarily swallowed. Eight thousand six hundred high-grade Heavenly Mystery Stones amounted to half the assets of the entire Chen Clan. A single cultivation session, merely taking him from the third level of Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment Late Stage, had consumed such an enormous quantity of Heavenly Mystery Stones. What would the road of cultivation ahead be like?

Had he not obtained the treasure trove of the Talisman Treasure Golden Immortal, even the Heavenly Mystery Stones needed for cultivation would have become a problem.

"No. Although the Heavenly Mystery Stones in the Golden Immortal Kingdom can temporarily satisfy my cultivation needs, they will eventually be exhausted. I can't simply sit back and eat through my reserves..."

The next moment, Chen Xiao sank into deep thought.