Water and Fire Descend

[Consciousness]: Eleven days

[Artifacts]: Golden Duke, "Nascent Infant Pill"

[Cultivation]: Outer Scenery—Lower Beast

[Methods]: "Three Lights Purifying Tribulation Curse" "Light-Devouring Method" "Turbidity-Linking Method"

Li Fuchan emerged from the previous vision of his death and could not help murmuring:

"Hua Hong served the Old Flood Dragon and called it Master. Huaqing plotted in secret, stealing its treasure and pill, thinking she alone could escape. Little did she know that she, too, was merely livestock to be made into a pill. Blue-and-Red Harmony Fire—it had all been ordained long ago."

Li Fuchan sighed. Deep within his consciousness, the death visions suspended in chaos had increased to eleven. He could only lament that he had not inherited a deadbeat system. He wanted so badly to be a deadbeat.

His only consolation was that devouring spiritual objects with the Three Lights this time had caused a mutation in his Illuminating Light.

At the brink of death, stimulated by the Nascent Infant Pill, he had finally used the Illuminating Light to penetrate the meaning of the ten characters in Flying Earthworm Cave that pointed toward a chance of survival.

Now his emotions settled. Looking at his unchanged cultivation entry, Li Fuchan could not help feeling puzzled:

"By rights, my Treasure Light has grown enormously, and I've devoured and refined the Maiden of Cinnabar, Flying Mercury, and Sunken Lead. Why hasn't my cultivation advanced even an inch?"

His Three Lights were now as follows:

The golden light coiled upon "Above-Brow Peak." After devouring flying mercury and sinking lead, "Above-Brow Peak" seemed truly rooted upon his spiritual dais, transformed from the intangible into the tangible. Blue-green in color, it towered tall and imposing, with the golden light coiled around it like a snake, forcibly held down.

It was the light that affected him least.

The Illuminating Light guarded his spiritual dais, shining brilliantly. Having devoured the Maiden of Cinnabar, it resembled a Silver-White pearl, slightly elongated like a pupil-less eye. Once released, it could seize hearts and souls and hammer spirituality into the depths.

The Treasure Light shone brightest, dazzling the eyes. It was his innate nature, the means of seeing through delusion, the fruit that could reconcile the irreconcilable. Governing the other two lights, it was the central light that ensured neither swelled nor overflowed, diminished nor suffered loss.

Li Fuchan had read the Old Flood Dragon's collection of books and tangled with Huaqing several times.

Thus, he knew that the Three Lights he had cultivated were abnormal.

According to Huaqing and the "Three Lights Purifying Tribulation Curse," Treasure Light should have appeared first. After all, Treasure Light was the radiance of one's own nature, concealed within the inner palace and connected outwardly to the Great Void, capable of piercing delusion and harmonizing creation.

Once Treasure Light was cultivated, it would awaken Illuminating Light; once Illuminating Light was cultivated, it would reveal Golden Light.

That was the proper sequence of cultivation.

He had done it backward.

First Golden Light, then Illuminating Light, and only afterward Treasure Light.

This had violated the intrinsic nature of Treasure Light, reversing "I am inherently complete" into "seeking outside myself."

As a result, his Treasure Light was imperfect, his Illuminating Light incomplete, and his Golden Light unstable.

So this was the Old Flood Dragon's contingency. No wonder it wasn't afraid of anyone escaping after cultivating the Three Lights. Not only did it turn a path into a technique and cut away the part that united the Three Lights' secret names, it also reversed the cultivation sequence. That was what made the Three Lights' purging so vicious. The slightest use would scour me into an idiot. Anyone else who cultivated all Three Lights would likewise become a turtle trapped in a jar.

Using the "Light-Devouring Method," he had made his treasure light devour the golden and illuminating lights, bringing it into harmony and revealing his innate nature. He had used illuminating light to devour the maiden and make itself whole, then refined the flying mercury and sinking lead to give "Above-Brow Peak" substance and stabilize his golden light.

Now, through his own efforts and a tiny bit of help from Tribulation Qi Tribulation Divination,

he had broken the Old Flood Dragon's scheme of reversing the cultivation sequence in the Three Lights Method.

Now, even without using the "Turbidity-Linking Method" to link his turbidity with others, he would no longer have the Three Calamities casually scoured away and become an idiot.

At least he had a grace period. By his estimate, if he did not use the Three Lights, he would have at least six months before losing control. Even with frequent use, he would have at least three months.

But that did not change the fact that the "Three Lights Purifying Tribulation Curse" was a technique, not a path.

There was simply no further cultivation method for Outer Scenery.

Perhaps that's why I can't advance my realm anymore. Until I find a way to complete the method or switch to another one, inheriting cultivation realms is meaningless.

Once Li Fuchan understood this, he immediately stopped He Liuhun and the other two from maiming one another. He offered little explanation, only saying that he had accomplished what he needed to do. Then, under the three men's wary gazes, he dressed their wounds simply to ensure they would not bleed to death.

Only then did Li Fuchan turn his attention back into his consciousness and choose the treasures without hesitation.

No unusual phenomenon appeared. Within "Above-Brow Peak," two objects simultaneously manifested.

They were the Golden Duke and the Infant Pill.

I never refined this Golden Duke. Now that I've finally managed to balance the Three Lights, I'd better leave it alone. It might prove useful at a critical moment, sharpening my Golden Light. As for this Infant Pill...

Li Fuchan was no longer an ignorant mortal.

An infant was the substance of primordial simplicity, the truth before it was carved.

It was not some pill that would make one a sage on the spot upon swallowing it.

The Old Flood Dragon must have intended to use the Infant Pill and the great tribulation of water and fire to carve out a dragon embryo and fashion a dragon's form, thereby becoming a dragon.

The Infant Pill is useless to me now. Once I escape, change cultivation methods, and reach the Transformation and True stages within Outer Scenery, perhaps I can use it to fashion a superior treasure that serves as the "foundation of nature and life."

Yes, Li Fuchan still entertained hopes of escaping.

This was certainly not because he had lost his mind. Once he had seen through the entire truth, the so-called Heaven-and-Earth Cataclysm, the destruction of the world by water and fire, seemed utterly laughable.

He slowly approached the inscribed cave wall.

"Unicorn-Hiding Shell Mountain, secretly nesting in Flying Earthworm Cave."

The Illuminating Light had shown that his chance of survival lay here.

Yet beneath a true Heaven-and-Earth Cataclysm, there would be no chance of survival anywhere.

The Illuminating Light flickered between Li Fuchan's brows. Drawing on the scattered scales and claws of information glimpsed in the death vision he had borrowed in advance, and using the methods he had learned from Huaqing, he began his Tribulation Divination.

Shell meant scales. Unhorned meant the appearance of one whose horns had yet to emerge.

The unhorned creature hiding its scales was, in truth, a flood dragon.

Interpreting this through the latter phrase, it meant that a flood dragon had lowered its station to nest secretly in a small cave—a transformation between great and small, rising and hiding.

That was merely the first layer of meaning.

The secret of the Old Flood Dragon's true form lay within the second layer of metaphor.

Just as it had reversed the cultivation method of the "Three Lights Purifying Tribulation Curse," the truth on this cave wall also followed a reversed sequence.

The unhorned, hidden-scaled form was not a flood dragon, but a feng shui configuration.

Seventy-two small caves and thirty-six large caves crisscrossed, connected in every direction, winding and twisting. A long body, four feet, and two horns yet to emerge—it matched perfectly.

The Illuminating Light between Li Fuchan's brows pulsed as he supplied the final fragment of truth.

"The secret intruder isn't a flood dragon, but an earthworm."

This earthworm had stolen the flood-dragon configuration of the unhorned, hidden-scaled form and made its home here, becoming an earthworm capable of flying and hiding.

As he completed this final fragment of truth, beyond his own insights, another understanding arose from somewhere unseen. It was as though some guidance from fate had led him to see through the truth.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Three thunderclaps rang in Li Fuchan's ears. Then a faint, almost imperceptible earthy odor drifted outward.

Li Fuchan withdrew the Illuminating Light between his brows and turned toward the dark figure that had appeared behind him at some unknown moment. His body, mind, and soul all shuddered. Anger and greed welled up, as though the figure before him bore the immense hatred of obstructing his path.

This sudden surge of anger and greed closely resembled the understanding that had appeared when he penetrated the truth of those ten characters.

The dark figure stood behind him and spoke in a hollow voice:

"The immortal said long ago that to cast off this body, I must dare to rob and steal. Thus, it became the word 'secretly.' To put on a dragon's skin, I must endure and hide. Thus, it became the word 'nesting.'"

"So long as I nest secretly within this feng shui configuration, even if I never cultivate or refine qi, even if I neither advance nor retreat all my life, I possess the Flood Serpent Destiny within it. There is nothing I cannot do, nothing I cannot accomplish. When I wish to grow large, I grow large; when I wish to become small, I become small. This configuration has given me all of that."

"But the immortal also said that, possessing such a configuration, my virtue did not match my station. Thus, after thirty years, a calamity would surely come to kill me and seize the Flood Serpent Destiny I had nurtured here."

"The calamity the immortal spoke of might be rumbling heavenly thunder, surging floods, raging fire, or clouded human intent. Now that you have suddenly glimpsed the heavenly secret within Flying Earthworm Cave, you must be the last of those—a human tribulation."

Li Fuchan's brows were long and his eyes narrow. His gray-black gaze drove straight into the dark figure, gripping the soul.

The eleven chaotic visions remained unchanged. So long as he did not actively guide them, that proved there was no imminent death tribulation.

Only then did he relax. Holding his Golden Light poised on the verge of release, he bowed:

"Greetings, Master."

The dark figure waved a hand. "A Lower Beast like you is unworthy of being my disciple."

Li Fuchan sneered inwardly at those words.

A filthy earthworm had sat within this configuration for thirty years, relying on its power, and truly thought it had become a flood dragon. Foolish dreams—it was not even fit to be called livestock.

Li Fuchan had a vicious temperament, but he was no fool. Though he thought this inwardly, his expression remained respectful. He could not help wondering what realm the immortal mentioned by this filthy earthworm had reached.

After all, enabling a filthy earthworm to perform so many wondrous feats through nothing more than a feng shui configuration showed just how formidable that immortal was.

As Li Fuchan's thoughts wandered, the Illuminating Light between his brows suddenly pulsed. It was warning him.

His Illuminating Light immediately pierced the dark figure. At that moment, a pair of emerald flames within it stared fixedly at him.

At the sight, Li Fuchan's heart jolted:

Hiss! How did I forget this? It keeps saying I'm that human tribulation, here to seize its flood-dragon Destiny. And that does seem to be true. My sudden insight into Flying Earthworm Cave's secrets and the greed that abruptly welled up in me must both be Destiny influencing me, urging me to seize its Destiny. To keep possessing this Destiny, this filthy earthworm will definitely kill me.

Yet deep within Li Fuchan's mind, the eleven chaotic visions remained unchanged, indicating that he faced no death tribulation.

Could I turn danger into safety?

Perhaps I really can.

This filthy earthworm is only a worm. All its abilities come from the Destiny within this feng shui configuration. But now that Destiny intends to favor me, how many miraculous powers and tricks can it still use?

The emerald flames within the dark figure flickered. It said hollowly, "If being captured and brought into Flying Earthworm Cave has bred any vicious hatred in your heart, do not blame me. After all, I have lived my entire life within the immortal's promise. To me, you are merely a Lower Beast, a dish of food to handle however I please. Yet to the immortal and heaven and earth, I am less than even a beast with intelligence..."

"What instruction does Master have for me?"

The filthy earthworm assumed an air of carefree magnanimity, as though accepting its fate:

"None. With the immortal above as witness, take the Flood Serpent fate."

Li Fuchan's expression did not change. He bowed respectfully to it, yet at the very instant he lowered his head,

the emerald flames within the dark figure began to die.

Heh.

Boom.

A Thunderbolt suddenly exploded.

Li Fuchan snapped his head up. Viciousness surged from his gray-black pupils, almost bursting from his eye sockets.

He had already felt it. This was Destiny's guidance. Between the man and the monster, one had to die, and one had to inherit the Flood Serpent Destiny. This was a fight that could never be abandoned.

What Destiny could do was place him and this filthy earthworm at the same cultivation realm, with the same strength.

Without hesitation, Li Fuchan unleashed golden, illuminating, and treasure light together. Empowered by Destiny, the Three Lights surged in strength. As he wielded them, they even began burning his body.

He let the Three Lights burn him, then hurled himself at the dark figure with those lights and his blazing body.

So long as he seized the Destiny, he would survive, no matter what.

Within the dark figure, a speck of emerald flame abruptly flared.

The Flying Earthworm's sinister, chilling voice rang through the darkness. Toward Li Fuchan's appearance and Destiny's choice, it seemed to feel nothing but resentment and fury:

"Why? Why? I was clearly only half a step away from becoming a dragon! With this Destiny, I would definitely have become a dragon! Why must you harm me?!"

"Why have you come to steal my Destiny?!"

The Flying Earthworm's deafening roar reverberated amid a heavy earthy stench.

Its body suddenly swelled. With Destiny's empowerment, it once again assumed the form of a flood dragon.

Its enormous body smashed through "heaven and earth."

The next instant, water and fire descended, and the great tribulation arrived.