The Second Sword Duel

Time flew.

In the Humble Medicine Garden, the fragrant grass was as lush and green as ever.

The Alligator Dragon Origin Pearl lay beside Fang Qing's hand. A faint watery sheen played over it, but it looked not even half refined.

He made a show of refining it a little longer, then put away the Alligator Dragon Core and closed his eyes to rest, as though recovering his magical power.

Yet inside him, boundless watery light flared and faded, while torrents of magical power surged like great rivers.

They wound through nine twisting corridors, a thousand currents turning back upon themselves. Then, like a collapsing dam, they burst through a barrier in an unstoppable flood.

Fang Qing silently looked within. The Netherdark Water Baleful Intent and Primordial Water Astral Force roiled together, their myriad radiances blending into something round and whole, like a single core. It shimmered with the elusive resonance of the Dao and shone in every color before exploding with a roar.

In an instant, his bones, tendons, meridians, flesh, and blood were remade.

Layer upon layer of radiance appeared, evoking ten thousand rivers of stars.

The human body held hidden divine treasures, and now they were opening one after another—

Yet outside, nothing seemed amiss.

"Tribulation Crossing—"

Fang Qing opened his eyes. His aura still hovered around the Gang Refining level.

But a dark cloud hung over his mind, as though a great calamity might descend at any moment.

"An inner tribulation is impossible for me. That leaves an outer tribulation coming to find me—"

"If calamity awaits within the Mount Shu Sword Sect, it can only fall upon Jiao Dazuo—"

Fang Qing counted on his fingers and smiled. "By the standards of righteous cultivators, I ought to go kill him now, break free of the tribulation,