Cultivation of Immortality: Start by Improving Spiritual Root Qualifications

Chapter 959 Refining Treasures, Void Refining Master Comes to the Door!
Tian Shu City and Ding Cui Peak Cave.

After completing his daily cultivation, Zhou Xun left the cave.

Looking at Lei Yu Zitong before him, he was extremely satisfied.

This tree is about three feet tall, with a trunk like purple jade, branches and leaves that are silvery white like lightning, shimmering with spiritual light, and surrounded by thunderous energy.

"Excellent, it seems that it has fully recovered under the nourishment of the spiritual herb's essence!"

Zhou Xun still held high hopes for this spiritual tree.

This wood can retain its lightning spiritual power, and once it advances to the fifth rank, its leaves can be used to brew spiritual tea.

For him now, it is also an excellent aid to cultivation.

Zhou Xun then took out a fourth-grade low-level 'Returning Spirit Mushroom'.
His hands moved swiftly in a series of hand seals, while he chanted a profound incantation: "The way of Heaven is to take from the excess and give to the deficiency..."

A mysterious and profound power enveloped the 'Returning Spirit Mushroom'.
Successfully extracted the essence of the elixir.

It was manipulated by Zhou Xun and integrated into the root system of Lei Yu Zi Tong.

The light shimmered on the Thunder Jade Purple Tree, adding a touch of mystery.

Based on his previous experience, this wood could be promoted to the fifth rank in at most ten years.

After completing his daily cultivation tasks, Zhou Xun arrived at the mountaintop pavilion.
I brewed a pot of spiritual tea and savored it.

Looking at the distant view of Tian Shu City, with its clear skies and gentle breeze, I felt extremely happy.

"Now that my cultivation has advanced to the mid-stage and the Thunder Pool has been upgraded to a spiritual treasure, it's time to consider returning!"

"However, that Tiyu Guidi was born from the inner world of a True Immortal Soul-Eating Beast, so who knows what methods it might have,"

"I need to prepare more!"

"Thunderfire Pearl!" Zhou Xun instantly remembered a treasure.

"Now that the power of my Thunder Seed has greatly increased, coupled with the Nascent Soul level 'Golden True Flame,' if I can refine a few Thunderfire Pearls, their power would probably be too great for even a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to resist head-on!"

Thinking of this, Zhou Xun felt extremely excited.

"The principle behind refining Thunderfire Pearls is to forcibly compress and balance the raging power of thunder and the explosive spiritual fire,"

"It forms an extremely unstable mixture that, once triggered, can unleash devastating power."

"In the past, due to the limited quality of the lightning and fire sources, the power of the lightning and fire beads I refined was limited, and they were like a chicken rib to me."

"But now, I possess a Spirit Treasure-level Thunder Pool, containing a trace of Heavenly Tribulation True Intent Thunder, and also the 'Golden Flame' from the Nine Luminaries True Gourd... The power of these two combined is incomparable to what it was before!"

Zhou Xun's eyes gleamed, and the more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

If he could successfully refine a few of them, it would undoubtedly be a major trump card for him to deal with the Crying Ghost Emperor.

Having made up his mind, Zhou Xun did not delay any longer.

He flashed back to his cave.

After walking through the long passage, his divine sense couldn't help but probe into the interior of the stone wall to the side.
Inside, in a space about four or five zhang in size, a teleportation array shone brightly, ready to be activated at any moment.

"Good, no unusual activity!"

This was something he had planned in advance, a backup plan so that he could escape quickly if anything went wrong.

Upon arriving at the cultivation room, Zhou Xun sat cross-legged, his eyes slightly closed.
He began to repeatedly simulate and deduce the refining process of the Thunderfire Pearl in his mind.

Every transition of the incantation, the proportion and timing of the extraction of the two powers, the precise control of the divine soul power during fusion, the possible accidents and the ways to deal with them... were all rehearsed countless times in his powerful divine sense.

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, his gaze clear and resolute, as if he knew all the steps by heart.

Next comes the formal refining process.

He first set up layers of restrictions around the cultivation room, and spiritual light shone brightly, forming thick light curtains that enveloped the entire stone room completely.

But that wasn't enough. He then cast a spell, activating the protective array around the entire Dingcui Peak.

Amidst a humming sound, a massive, semi-transparent light shield rose from the mountaintop, slowly swirling and enveloping the entire peak.
The powerful fluctuations of spiritual energy caused Sun Yuanxuan and Xiao Jia to look up in surprise, wondering why Zhou Xun had suddenly activated the highest level of protection.

After doing all this, Zhou Xun pondered for a moment,

He then took out the low-grade defensive spiritual treasure, the Xuan Turtle Shield.

With a surge of magical power, the Xuan Turtle Shield spun rapidly, growing larger until it became a heavy shield the size of a door, with a phantom image of a Xuan Turtle appearing on its surface.

It emitted a deep, heavy, earthy-yellow spiritual light, humming as it hovered in front of him, completely protecting him from behind.

Because the Thunderfire Pearl possesses immense power and is extremely unstable,
One wrong move and the entire cave could be blown up, so he had no choice but to be extremely cautious.

After completing these tasks and confirming that the protection was in place to the fullest extent, Zhou Xun took a deep breath to calm his slightly agitated emotions and began refining.

With a thought, his innate lightning pool appeared in his palm.

Then, with a flick of his right hand, the Nine Luminaries True Gourd appeared, its mouth slightly open, causing the temperature in the entire cultivation room to rise sharply.

Zhou Xun's expression was solemn, his hands forming hand seals, his mind highly focused.

He carefully extracted a wisp of lightning energy from the lightning pool.

As soon as the arc of lightning appeared, it emitted a faint crackling sound, and the surrounding space was slightly distorted, making people's hearts jump.

Then, he drew out a wisp of equally subtle golden flame from the Nine Luminaries True Gourd.

This fire may appear gentle, but the terrifyingly high temperature at its core is enough to instantly vaporize ordinary magical artifacts.

Two equally violent forces, but with completely different attributes, slowly approached each other in the air about a foot in front of Zhou Xun, under the exquisite control of his divine sense.

"melt!"

Zhou Xun let out a low shout, changed his hand seals, and attempted to merge the two.
Visibly, at the point of contact, they began to merge into one, becoming a strange energy of alternating gold and purple, which continued to extend.

at this time,

As one side bulged, this energy suddenly became restless.
Then,

"boom!!!"

A deafening explosion suddenly erupted in the training room!

It was like a thunderclap from a clear sky, or a volcanic eruption!
Lightning and golden flames intertwined, repelled, and exploded wildly, forming a destructive energy turbulence that expanded instantly!
Rumble!
The innermost three layers of restrictive light barriers that Zhou Xun had set up were instantly torn apart and vaporized as if they were made of paper!
The violent shockwave slammed into the subsequent restrictions.

Amidst a series of explosions, nearly ten more layers of restrictions flickered violently before shattering! The entire training room shook violently, with stone dust falling everywhere. Finally, the shockwave, now mostly weakened, slammed heavily into the Xuan Turtle Shield, producing a dull thud.

The light shield rippled violently, and the light dimmed slightly before it could barely withstand the aftershocks of the first explosion.

"The explosion resulting from the failed fusion of just a trace of lightning energy and a trace of spiritual flame was nearly as powerful as a strike from a Nascent Soul cultivator!"

"If I hadn't laid out multiple layers of protection beforehand, and had the Xuan Turtle Shield to block it, the backlash alone would have been enough to make me suffer!"

He was still shaken, but mostly excited.

The failure precisely proves just how terrifying the power would be if these two forces were successfully combined!
Instead of immediately attempting a second attempt, he closed his eyes and carefully recalled every detail of the failed fusion.
His divine sense was operating at high speed, analyzing the nodes of energy repulsion and the subtle changes in the balance of power.

"The power of thunder is too explosive, while the Golden Flame True Flame contains extreme yang energy. Both are fierce and unparalleled, lacking any buffer... They need to be neutralized with a gentler force,"

"At the moment of contact, guide it slightly with the power of 'yin lightning' to simulate that trace of balance between heaven and earth..."

A moment later, a look of understanding flashed in Zhou Xun's eyes as he found the key to the problem.

He focused again and tried once more.

This time, he was even more careful when drawing power, his divine sense wrapping around the wisp of lightning and fire like the finest silk.

At the same time, a barely perceptible yet incredibly profound yin lightning power was guiding it within.

The two slowly approached each other again.

Something amazing happened.

The originally restless and mutually repelling Thunder Element and True Flame trembled slightly, their violent intent lessened, and then... slowly and tentatively intertwined!
A tiny, steadily rotating thread of energy, interwoven with purple, gold, and white, successfully appeared in the air! Though subtle, it exuded a harmonious yet extremely dangerous and powerful aura!
"Success!"

Zhou Xun was overjoyed, but dared not relax his vigilance in the slightest.

They began to carefully infuse more thunder elemental power and golden flame into the first successfully fused energy body.

Time passes little by little,
One day, two days, three days...

As Zhou Xun continuously poured energy into it, the fused energy body slowly grew larger, from the size of a hair to the size of a thumb, then a fist... Its color also became deeper and deeper, with purple, gold and white light flowing endlessly, and the energy fluctuations contained within it became more and more terrifying, making Zhou Xun himself feel his heart pound.

On the fifth day, a bead about the size of a goose egg, with a deep purple and gold color, finally floated quietly in front of Zhou Xun.

It no longer shone as brightly as before; instead, all its energy was extremely restrained.

However, upon closer inspection, one can discover that it contains a terrifying power capable of destroying the world!
"It's done!"

Zhou Xun let out a long sigh of relief, a tired yet excited smile spreading across his face.

He dared not be negligent, and cast a series of incredibly complex spirit-sealing restrictions, wrapping and sealing the Thunderfire Pearl layer by layer.
Finally, he took out a specially made jade box that had been prepared beforehand.

He carefully placed the sealed Thunderfire Pearl inside, closed the lid, and affixed several restrictive talismans before finally feeling completely at ease.

After a short rest to recover some of his spiritual energy, Zhou Xun repeated the process, relying on his experience from the first success and his increasingly refined skills to begin refining once more.

In this way, it took nearly a month and a half.

He almost completely drained the spiritual flames inside the Nine Luminaries True Gourd before he was able to successfully condense five such Thunderfire Pearls.

Looking at the five specially made jade boxes covered with talismans in front of him, Zhou Xun felt much more confident.

"With five Thunderfire Pearls, plus my current cultivation and abilities, even if the Crying Ghost Emperor possesses extraordinary power, I can handle him!"

Therefore, Zhou Xun decided to officially set off in three days to return to the human world.

Ten days later, Tian Shu City continued to operate as usual, with cultivators coming and going in droves and the market bustling with noise.

However, this tranquility was suddenly shattered by a terrifying pressure that descended from the sky and was overwhelming!
It was as if the sky had collapsed, or as if an ancient divine mountain had suddenly pressed down on us!
A vast, powerful spiritual pressure, filled with a violent and domineering aura, enveloped the entire Tian Shu City without warning!
The sky darkened instantly, as the clouds were pushed aside and shattered by an invisible force.

All the cultivators in the city, regardless of their cultivation level, felt a sudden sinking in their hearts at this moment, as if an invisible giant hand had gripped their hearts, making it difficult to breathe and causing their internal magical power to stagnate!
A Void Refinement Grandmaster! And a Void Refinement Grandmaster releasing his pressure without reservation!

Countless low-level cultivators turned pale, their legs went weak, and they almost knelt down.

The Nascent Soul cultivators were horrified and looked up at the sky, trying to find the source of the oppressive force.

Even those Nascent Soul Celestial Lords felt their souls tremble, and a sense of awe originating from the level of life itself arose spontaneously.

Outside the massive protective light barrier of Tian Shu City, high in the sky, a figure stood out from nowhere.

It was an old man dressed in a red robe, with a sinister face and a fierce aura between his brows. The crimson spiritual light around him surged and rolled like boiling magma, making him look like a demon god descended to earth!
He simply stood there, and the aura he exuded distorted the surrounding light, causing the space to hum uncontrollably!

He was none other than Lu Xinghai, the patriarch of the Lu clan who had come in anger, a powerful cultivator at the Void Refinement stage!

Such an undisguised and almost provocative way of arriving instantly ignited the entire Tian Shu City!
"who is it?!"

"What...what a terrifying aura! It's far more powerful than a Nascent Soul Celestial Monarch!"

"It's the Void Refinement Ancestor! Heavens, which ancestor has arrived?"

"Judging from this direction... they're heading straight for our Tian Shu City? This momentum... they're not coming with good intentions!"

Exclamations and whispers filled the city, and panic spread rapidly like ripples.

call out!
A thick, earth-yellow beam of light shot into the sky from the city lord's mansion, moving with lightning speed. In an instant, it passed through the protective array and arrived outside the light barrier.

The light dissipated, revealing the extremely solemn face of Xuan Gui Tianjun. As the person in charge of Tian Shu City, maintaining the safety of the city was his top priority.

Almost simultaneously, another bolt of purple lightning shot out from Nine Thunder Peak. Nine Thunder Heavenly Lord appeared with a solemn expression, closely following Xuan Gui Heavenly Lord.

He sensed the familiar, violent aura within that crimson spiritual pressure and guessed the identity of the newcomer, realizing something was amiss.

Almost simultaneously, in the cave dwelling rented by the Lu family, Lu Xingyun's expression turned somewhat surprised and suspicious.

"Ancestor! Why did he come in person, and why is he acting like this..."

He dared not delay and immediately transformed into a streak of light and flew away, his heart filled with unease and worry.

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Xuan Gui Tianjun composed himself, stepped forward, and respectfully bowed to the red-robed elder, his voice steady yet filled with deep respect:
"I was unaware that Senior Lu had graced Tian Shu City with his presence. I, Xuan Gui, have failed to greet you properly and hope that you will forgive me."

However, Lu Xinghai ignored Xuan Gui Tianjun's greeting.

His eyes, burning with rage, instantly locked onto Lu Xingyun, who had just arrived. His voice boomed like thunder, causing the surrounding space to vibrate.

"Nebula! Is King Lin, the Thunder Prison Heavenly Monarch, in the city?"

He didn't bother with any nonsense and went straight to questioning them.

Lu Xingyun was so overwhelmed by the patriarch's imposing aura that he could barely breathe, his face turning even paler. He quickly bowed and replied:
"Reporting to Ancestor, he is in the city, right there..."

As he spoke, he pointed his hand toward Zhou Xun's Dingcui Peak!
Lu Xinghai then looked over.
(End of this chapter)