There is a progress bar in my cultivation of immortality

On a small island on the calm surface of Mercury's ocean, Tiangong looked up at the sky, his gaze piercing through Mercury's ecological clouds and landing on the barrier of Mercury's orbit.

At this moment, the barrier rippled due to the ripples generated by the starry sky rule network, causing the starry sky around the barrier to ripple as well.

"The sage is merciful!"

Tian Gong clasped his hands together, recalling everything that had happened along the way. He was not even prepared that Wang Ping, whom he had once relied on, was no longer even worthy of his respect.

He first felt the situation was out of control when the battle with the extraterrestrial planet ended. He took some measures for this, but didn't take it too seriously. In addition, with the other True Lords holding him back, he didn't want to ruin the good atmosphere that the meeting had worked so hard to achieve, so he didn't take any further action.

To his surprise, the chess piece he had been looking at suddenly sat down in front of him, making him feel unprecedented pressure. Therefore, he had to strengthen his own strength and allow Wang Qing to advance to the fifth realm. The original plan was to use two Golden Spirit cultivators to suppress the Wood Spirit in Chang Qing's body.

But who could have imagined that when Wang Qing successfully advanced to the fifth realm, they wouldn't even have the chance to face Chang Qing, let alone besiege Chang Qing, and would instead put themselves in an extremely dangerous situation.

The struggle a century ago was his last chance, but unfortunately, he failed at the last hurdle…

When his thoughts drifted to this point, Tiangong was suddenly startled, because he felt that he no longer had the will to fight. He knew that when he faced Yaoxi back then, he was prepared to die at any moment.

"When did it begin? My spirit gradually drifted away from me?"

Tiangong murmured to himself, trying to regain the fighting spirit he had once possessed. As soon as he finished speaking, Longjun appeared beside him, dressed in a white, wide-sleeved Taoist robe.

"If you had intervened in the battle a hundred years ago, things wouldn't have ended this way."

The Dragon King's voice was flat, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Tiangong did not refute this. If he and the demons had been prepared to die and had intercepted Changqing at the crucial moment, they might have been able to change the situation.

But deep down, they never had the intention to fight Wang Ping face to face, or rather, they simply didn't have the courage to face Wang Ping.

Dragon Lord's eyes darted around, reflecting Tian Gong's current state, and he continued, "You need to cultivate your temperament, at least to the point where you can face Chang Qing. Back then, we even dared to attack Yao Xi, let alone a junior?"

As he spoke, his skin distorted slightly, a result of his premature awakening and the lingering pollution in his consciousness.

"Is there still a chance?"

Tiangong's tone was dejected.

Dragon King said confidently, "Don't worry, there's still a chance."

As he spoke, a flash of killing intent flickered in his eyes, which reflected the figure of the Heavenly Craftsman. Then he turned his gaze to the starry sky. At this moment, the Wood Spirit Qi had already manifested outside the barrier of Mercury's orbit.

“You came so quickly!”

As soon as the Dragon Lord finished speaking, he entered a rational state of 'self-discipline'.

At that moment, dense vines appeared on the outer surface of the orbital barrier.

The vines were lush and green, exuding boundless vitality. Wherever they passed, the barrier walls creaked under the strain, as if solid ice had met a red-hot iron.

The sturdy barrier began to deform under the erosion of this pure wood spirit energy, and was eventually forcibly torn open with an irregular crack, beyond which was a surging, emerald-green sea of ​​wood spirits.

The next moment, the endless vines that tore through the barrier, carrying immense power, surged straight toward the location of the Dragon Lord. Wherever they passed, the wood and water elemental energies of the starry sky intertwined, emitting a series of ear-piercing echoes. The ecological zone of the surrounding Linshui Prefecture broke away immediately, and countless cultivators and flying boats fled into the distant starry sky.

This strike is a continuation of the unfinished battle from a century ago!

Tian Gong's expression changed drastically, and he involuntarily took half a step back. The golden spiritual energy around him surged out instinctively, transforming into layers of sharp light that protected him. Yet, he still felt like a small boat in a storm, insignificant and helpless.

As the Dragon Lord was in a state of "self-discipline," his cold dragon eyes remained devoid of any emotion as he faced the overwhelming emerald torrent. The extremely cold aura around him suddenly condensed, and the entire calm sea beneath his feet was completely frozen in a fraction of a second.

"Kakaka~"

The extreme cold wave and the boundless life force became opposing forces. At the center of their collision, the verdant vines were constantly frozen and shattered during the advance, turning into the most basic spiritual particles; while the Dragon Lord's extreme cold domain was also constantly melting and retreating under the endless vitality of the wood spirit.

The violent collision of two primordial cosmic forces has had an impact that extends far beyond Mercury.

Centered on Mercury's orbit, the rules of the entire star field were completely disrupted, and two enormous energy vortices, one emerald green and the other dark blue, visible to the naked eye, formed in the starry sky and tore at each other.

The starlight paled in comparison at this moment. In the distant star field, all cultivators who had reached a certain level of cultivation felt a sense of awe and fear as they looked toward Mercury.

At the heart of the collision, the frozen sea beneath the Dragon Lord's feet was completely transformed. Although the emerald vines were constantly being frozen and shattered, the vitality surging from behind seemed endless. The shattered wood spirit particles were instantly reassembled, transforming into a new offensive, like an unending wave.

In contrast, although the Dragon Lord's extreme cold domain remained stable, firmly holding back the surging emerald torrent outside the island, the domain's range was constantly shrinking.

For Long Jun, the most fatal thing at this moment was that the pollution deep in his consciousness that had not been cleansed was beginning to stir like a venomous snake under such intense rule confrontation and mental exhaustion.

Ao Yi, who was stationed at the Linshui Mansion in the distant ecological zone, wanted to help his father several times, but his primordial spirit could not lock onto Wang Ping in the Wood Spirit World, and he could only stand there anxiously.

In the midst of yet another violent annihilation of the two energies, the chilling aura gathered around the Dragon Lord showed a very subtle stagnation, indicating that his consciousness was being restrained by an internal hidden danger.

Wang Ping easily seized this flaw, and the surging emerald torrent suddenly accelerated, transforming into an emerald spear made purely of wood spirit energy. The light at the spear tip was extremely restrained, yet it contained a corrosive property that could penetrate all laws. In an instant, it tore through the extremely cold barrier, which had been weakened by three-tenths due to the Dragon Lord's stagnation, and pierced straight into the Dragon Lord's brow!
Despite being in a state of "self-discipline," the Dragon Lord's cold face remained expressionless, and the ever-enlarging emerald green spear tip was clearly reflected in his deep dragon eyes.

A chilling aura surged around him as he tried to rebuild his defenses, but a tearing interference from the depths of his consciousness made him a beat too slow.

"Clang!" At the crucial moment, a magnificent divine palace appeared out of thin air and shattered the spear, followed by countless golden threads of faith that pierced through the spear.

I didn't realize you were so weak.

As Wang Ping's voice echoed, his figure appeared out of thin air beneath the clouds of Mercury, surrounded by dazzling emerald light, coldly watching the Dragon Lord and the Celestial Craftsman behind him as if he were a god.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ao Yi, a figure in the distant starry sky, transformed into a streak of light and headed towards the Dragon Lord. Wang Ping didn't even look at him; he simply waved his hand, and a gust of wind constructed from wood spirit energy swept across the starry sky. Ao Yi's figure was instantly engulfed by the gust of wind and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. I just wanted to clear his head."

Auspicious clouds rose beneath Wang Ping's feet, and Yu Lian poked her little head out from his sleeve, her vertical pupils reflecting the figures of the Dragon Lord and the Heavenly Craftsman, revealing a curious expression.

“I underestimated you.” Long Jun adjusted the pollution in his mind. “Back then, I had the opportunity to completely erase my memories of her, but I was too soft-hearted and thus created this karma. It can be considered a kind of cultivation.”

As he spoke, a cyan light appeared behind him, and layers of auspicious clouds rose from his feet, taking him into the sky. He met Wang Ping's gaze with Tiangong and cupped his hands, saying, "Now that you have completely mastered the wood spirit energy of this starry sky, I think you must be very interested in the next step of your cultivation path, right?"

Wang Ping remained vigilant, meeting Long Jun's gaze as he asked, "What do you want to say?"

He was indeed interested.

The Dragon Lord, in a state of 'self-discipline,' showed no emotional fluctuation on his face at this moment. 'There must be records of our subsequent cultivation techniques inside the Holy Palace in the Misty Sea, but I have tried and found that I cannot open the passage to the Holy Palace by myself. How about we join forces and each take what we need?'

Wang Ping's heart stirred, and he said, "I have a proposal that is extremely tempting to me, and I would very much like to agree to it, but I must first seal you on Mercury."

Long Jun immediately replied, "Speaking to you politely doesn't mean I'm afraid of you. Back then, with our meager cultivation, we dared to besiege Yao Xi. Your current cultivation is far inferior to Yao Xi's back then. If you really force me to fight to the death, this starry sky will at worst return to nothingness."

Upon hearing this, the lush green grass beneath Wang Ping's feet rapidly spread, instantly dyeing half the sky a vibrant turquoise, forming a clear contrast with the cold, azure light behind the Dragon Lord. At the same time, his aura became increasingly concealed, merging with the wood elemental energy of the starry sky.

Faced with the Dragon Lord's threat of mutual destruction, Wang Ping's face, hidden in the starlight, revealed no emotion; only his clear, cold voice echoed above the shattered icy sea:
Why not give it a try?

Before he finished speaking, he pointed forward lightly with his fingers like a sword.

Without any earth-shattering display, only an extremely fine emerald green thread shot out from his fingertip. Ignoring spatial distance, the thread instantly pierced through the Dragon Lord's not yet fully stabilized extreme cold domain, heading straight for the Water Spirit at the core of the Dragon Lord's body.

A surge of azure light erupted behind the Dragon Lord, and auspicious clouds beneath his feet propelled the Heavenly Craftsmanship backward at an alarming rate. Simultaneously, he thrust his palms forward with a fierce blast, and an extremely cold aura condensed in front of him into a giant ice crystal shield covered with mysterious patterns.

"Om~"

The emerald green threads gently touched the crystal shield. There was no violent collision as expected. The threads seeped into the ice shield silently, like water droplets merging into the ocean.

The next moment, the giant shield, formed from the extreme cold aura, was rapidly dyed emerald green from the point of contact. This emerald green spread rapidly in all directions as if it were alive, stripping away the activity of the ice crystals wherever it passed, turning them into ordinary, stubborn rocks.

Long Jun decisively severed the energy connection with the ice shield, his figure retreated again, and his face seemed to have become even paler.

After his attack, Wang Ping did not pursue further. The emerald light around him slowly faded, and the grass spreading beneath his feet receded like a tide, revealing the original shattered ice sea scene once again.

He calmly looked at the slightly disheveled Dragon Lord and said indifferently, "I do not see your courage to fight to the death."

The Dragon Lord remained silent, his cold face still expressionless, but the fluctuating aura around him revealed that his heart was not without turmoil.

"The matter of the Holy Palace can wait until you have truly stabilized yourself and are qualified to stand shoulder to shoulder with me." After saying this, Wang Ping no longer looked at the Dragon Lord and the Heavenly Craftsman. He turned around, took a step, and his figure disappeared from the spot, leaving only his voice behind, "Take care of yourself."

As he left, the vast wood spirit energy that filled the starry sky suddenly dissipated. Dragon Lord and Heavenly Craftsman stood there, gazing in the direction where Wang Ping had disappeared, speechless for a long time.

Outside the broken barrier of Mercury's orbit.

Wang Ping, who had been concealed within the wood elemental energy, reappeared. Yu Lian floated down onto his shoulder and said, "Are you worried that if the Dragon Lord pushes you too far, he will break through the void and leave this starry sky?"

Wang Ping exhaled, and a few emerald crystals condensed under the starry sky. Looking at these crystals, he replied, "That's right. If he really wants to escape, I really can't do anything to him with my current cultivation level. If he escapes and stays in the shadows, it will be even more troublesome for me."

As soon as he finished speaking, the barrier he had shattered healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Looking at the healed barrier, he continued, "Besides, I was planning to go to the Misty Sea again anyway. If I really can't open the passage to the Holy Palace, I might consider cooperating with him."

"That guy doesn't look like he'll behave himself."

"Haha, everyone has their own calculations."

"Well, that's true. Sometimes you're even more dishonest than them."

"... "

Wang Ping chuckled, reached out and gently stroked Yu Lian's little head, then pointed into the void.

Where his fingertips touched, a touch of emerald green quickly spread out, transforming into countless fine and intricate runes, like living vines and seeds, following some mysterious trajectory and wandering on their own, in the blink of an eye constructing a massive phantom array spanning tens of thousands of miles of star field.

The moment the magic circle was formed, the wood elemental energy throughout the entire starry sky trembled slightly, and the wood elemental energy scattered in the nearby star fields and even more distant areas flowed continuously toward the magic circle.

Viewed from a great distance, a verdant galaxy seemed to appear out of nowhere near Mercury's orbit, stretching across the starry sky. It flowed and swirled, eventually merging silently into the enormous phantom of the magic array, before disappearing completely into the background of the starry sky.

From then on, any energy anomalies exceeding a certain limit within this star field, especially the unique extreme cold aura belonging to the Dragon Lord, would be like a pebble thrown into a calm lake; every ripple it created would be instantly captured by this magic array, then traversed endless space and clearly presented in Wang Ping's consciousness. (End of this chapter)