This was the most important scroll of the Dao Scripture, for it was the scripture's opening volume and the foundation of cultivation.
It was one of Ye Fan's most precious possessions, and now he had brought it out to share with him.
Jiang Zhu studied the golden page in his hands. He already possessed the scripture recorded upon it, but the Original Manuscript was extraordinary nonetheless. A Heavenly Venerable had written it personally, imbuing it with his insights into cultivation. Such a scroll of the Dao Scripture could rightly be called priceless.
"You're handing over a treasure like this so easily? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you and take it?"
"I trust you."
Jiang Zhu said nothing, merely nodding as he circulated his divine power and looked at the golden page in his hands.
At its beginning, three ancient characters rested like bright moons, divine radiance flowing around them. Farther along, the writing grew considerably smaller. These tens of thousands of densely packed characters contained supreme truths, vast and profound.
Reading this golden page felt as though the Heavenly Venerable were personally expounding the scripture. Every sentence held deep meaning, explaining cultivation with consummate subtlety.
Jiang Zhu was utterly engrossed. Although he had resonated with the laws of heaven and earth while cultivating the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm, this Wheel Sea Scroll of the Dao Scripture still brought him considerable gains.
Resonating with the laws of heaven and earth offered breadth and scope, while the guidance of the Dao Scripture's Original Manuscript offered focus and precision.
With his newfound insights, Jiang Zhu continually refined the foundations of his cultivation, bringing his Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm to a far higher level.
Immersed in this state, he unconsciously began cultivating the Dao Palace Secret Realm according to the Dao Scripture's guidance.
Within the world inside his body, the five great divine repositories trembled in unison. Scripture chants rang out, connecting with the world of the Great Dao and making vows for his present self, allowing him to transform.
After a long while, Jiang Zhu opened his eyes and returned the golden page to Ye Fan.
"Next, I'm going to break through to the Four Extremes Secret Realm, then undergo a lightning tribulation. Find somewhere safe to watch!"
Hearing that Jiang Zhu was about to break through to the Four Extremes, Ye Fan left with shock written all over his face. They had both entered the cultivation world after Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin, yet Jiang Zhu had already cultivated to such heights?
Watching Ye Fan walk away, Jiang Zhu laid down a formation where he stood. Once the simplified True Dragon Heaven-Binding Formation was complete, he took out the precious blood and source. In an instant, auspicious radiance shot into the heavens.
Under the formation's concealment, nothing could be seen from outside. Otherwise, such a phenomenon would have been visible for dozens of miles around.
"I never thought my chance to break through to the Four Extremes would come here. Looks like I can't drag anyone else into the tribulation with me!"
Divine source and precious blood were continually refined, sending rich vital essence pouring into Jiang Zhu's body without end.
Immense blood energy surged skyward, condensing into the phantom of a black dragon that hovered behind him. Before him, a blade of grass emerged, its nine leaves crystalline and sharp.
At the same time, the Chaos Bell flew out of his Bitter Sea and hovered above his head.
Chaos energy wreathed the bell, whose body was covered in Dao patterns, with true spirit totems and inscriptions imprinted upon it as well. A vast, boundless aura drifted from it, as though it could suppress earth, fire, wind, and water.
The Chaos Bell and the phantoms of the Ten Fiends shone in mutual splendor, making him appear sacred and extraordinary.
Within the Demon-Refining Pot's space, the auras of various Divine Medicines were continually drawn out and merged into Jiang Zhu's body.
Black dragons seemed to swim beneath his fair skin, and dazzling divine radiance rippled through every inch of his flesh.
As he breathed, mist woven from crimson light and dark radiance billowed from his pores. Within it, Qilin, True Phoenixes, and other creatures formed from Divine Medicine essence could faintly be seen, only to be devoured by his flesh the instant they touched his skin.
Divine Medicine essence surged. All the divine source was refined and rushed toward Jiang Zhu, pouring into his body and making him crystalline and radiant.
His flesh was cleansed until it grew ever more flawless, as transparent as crystal, while a powerful aura of life bore down.
At the same time, the five great divine repositories within his inner world resonated. Deities manifested, releasing cries that resounded throughout heaven and earth.
Every cry seemed to resonate with heaven and earth, terrifying beyond belief.
With each breath, it was as though a volcano erupted. Had the array patterns not contained it, the surroundings would have been reduced to ruins.
Meanwhile, the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass and true dragon bloodline within him seethed. Jiang Zhu's form continually shifted between the two. Before long, his blood gradually began taking on shades of gold and silver.
The blood of both colors was still transforming, flowing slowly like mercury while remaining sharply distinct.
Within the golden blood, tiny dragons seemed to swim. Within the silver blood, a blade of sword grass stood rooted in the ground.
The instant gold and silver appeared, the two manifestations-True Dragon Battle Immortal Map and Sword Grass Splits the Starry Firmament-emerged with them.
The appearance of gold and silver in his blood also signified that Jiang Zhu had entered the Four Extremes Secret Realm, and that his True Dragon Transformation and Nine-Leaf Sword Grass Transformation had reached minor accomplishment.
Jiang Zhu rose from the ground. His immense aura circulated, its pressure shaking the earth. Divine radiance shimmered across his newly transformed body, as though a deity had descended into the mortal world.
Boom!
Just then, violet lightning descended from the heavens and struck at Jiang Zhu. He stood tall and proud, meeting it head-on.
The first bolt of Violet Heavenly Thunder struck with the force to rend space. Divine radiance flowed across his entire body as his crystal-clear flesh withstood the lightning head-on, suffering not the slightest damage.
Boom!
The second wave of the tribulation descended. It was no longer a single bolt of lightning, but had transformed into a thunder pool that engulfed Jiang Zhu.
It was an ocean of lightning. Violet thunder filled every inch of his vision, and blazing violet light colored the entire sky.
Rumble!
Thunder descended with earth-shattering explosions, deafening beyond measure. Savage lightning linked heaven and earth, pouring down in vast torrents like the Milky Way spilling onto the ground, countless great stars swaying on the verge of falling.
Blinding lightning filled heaven and earth.
Dragon roars and sword cries erupted from within Jiang Zhu. The True Dragon Battles Immortals Diagram carried golden waves of blood straight into the heavens, while the Nine-Leaf Sword Grass phantom slashed out ribbons of silver radiance.
The Chaos Bell rose into the sky with a thunderous roar. Chaos energy flowed around its body, and its Dao patterns blazed with divine light as it underwent the lightning tribulation alongside him, battered furiously by violet thunder.
Countless lightning marks branded the bell's surface, leaving behind streaks of innate patterns.
Within the violet sea, Jiang Zhu's skin split and his flesh tore, spilling blood of gold and silver.
Ye Fan watched from far away. Even at that distance, it was terrifying. He could scarcely imagine what ordeal Jiang Zhu was enduring within the violet sea.
The third wave of the tribulation fell. Crimson Thunder condensed into a colossal spear that plunged toward his head. Carrying out punishment on heaven's behalf, it hurled down the immense spear to annihilate everything.
A dragon roar burst from Jiang Zhu's spine, and the phantom of a black dragon rose along its entire length.
He swung his right fist, nine small dragons following it. The True Dragon Battles Immortals Diagram covered his fist as he punched skyward. The instant his knuckles collided with the lightning spear, gold and silver blood energy surged into the heavens, shredding the lightning into crimson stars that filled the sky.
The fourth wave of the tribulation transformed into nine heavenly dragons, each a hundred thousand feet long, that swooped down.
As the nine lightning dragons dived from the tribulation clouds, Jiang Zhu cracked the void beneath his feet, and Nine-Leaf Sword Grass phantoms grew wildly from his soles.
He slashed with his left palm like a blade, silver sword intent bursting from his fingertips and instantly dividing into a hundred thousand grass-leaf-shaped strands of sword energy. Each leaf pierced precisely into the lightning patterns of a dragon's eyes. Amid mournful cries, the heavenly dragons disintegrated into drifting lightning.
The fifth wave of the tribulation arrived, transforming into a Yin-Yang Dao Diagram that covered the sky, wreathed in chaos energy.
Facing this Tribulation Dao Diagram, the Chaos Bell above Jiang Zhu's head shook violently with a thunderous roar.
Dong!
A vast, boundless toll rang out. The patterns on the bell lit up one by one, and the chaos energy it released condensed into countless chains of Dao laws that met the descending diagram.
The sixth wave, the seventh... the ninth.
As though fighting his way through one trial after another, Jiang Zhu battled on, bathed in blood, until the ninth wave of the lightning tribulation ended.
His flesh, divine sense, Precious Techniques, and Chaos Bell all fought alongside him, continually growing stronger.
Hum!
At last, the void trembled, and the lightning filling the sky vanished. Heaven and earth fell silent in an instant.
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