Simultaneous traversal: All Abyss difficulty.

Chapter 804 (Third Update, Please Subscribe) Materials Complete, Ready to Refine the Golden Elixir! Nurturing the Nascent Soul

In an unnamed valley, a flower and a person stare at each other, wide-eyed.

The giant man-eating flower's enormous, serrated petals were tattered, with charred and curled edges, as if it had been struck by lightning eight hundred times.

The giant maw of the flower, once capable of swallowing mountains, is now empty. All the fangs that could crush the spirit jade floor are gone! Only the bare, pitted gums remain, still opening and closing unconsciously, making a "whooshing" sound as they leak air.

The huge flower buds drooped completely, looking listless, like a giant eggplant that had been wilted by frost.

In addition to losing his arm, Fang Yu's physical strength had also reached its limit.

Both sides were at their limit, and the air was thick with the brutal tension of either death or certain annihilation.

Fang Yu spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, which aggravated the wound on his face, causing him to hiss in pain.

He glanced up at the giant flower struggling to survive opposite him, then looked down at his own empty left shoulder, a bitter smile more painful than a grimace appearing on his lips:
"Laojun, cough cough, I told you you shouldn't have interfered! If I had known you were just an old man with a personal information system, I... I would never have bothered to pluck that broken ginseng root! Luckily, this time we've provoked a Nascent Soul stage 'monster'."

He took a breath, his tone filled with the bittersweet feeling of surviving a close call, "If that had been a Nascent Soul stage boss, that one bite would have turned me into excrement and been digested!"

In his mind, the phantom of Laozi snorted irritably, the sound seeming to explode directly in his brain: "You brat! Be grateful you're still alive! If I hadn't concealed the secrets of heaven for you and obscured the perception of the Heavenly Dao of this world, with your cultivation level that's risen like a rocket and that messy 'heretical power,' you would have been wiped out eight hundred years ago! Would you still be here risking your life against a flower? Instead of wasting your breath, quickly examine your body! Feel the changes within your body!"

"Huh?" Fang Yu was stunned, not yet fully understanding Lao Jun's "modern" reprimand.

In that moment of stunned silence, the seemingly dying giant flower opposite suddenly contracted the last bit of dark green sap deep within its core, squeezing out all its remaining power and transforming it into a final, ferocious burst of power, carrying the meaning of mutual destruction!
That bare, gaping maw, accompanied by a foul-smelling gust of wind, like the dying beast's final burst of energy, lunged at Fang Yu once more! Its speed was even slightly faster than before!
The shadow of death loomed over them in an instant!
"Holy crap! Again?!" Fang Yu's pupils constricted, and his hair stood on end! His body's instinctive reaction was faster than his brain's thought.

Almost at the very last 0.01 seconds before that giant mouth was about to swallow him up—

Om-! ! !
An indescribable, immense power, originating from the depths of his soul, suddenly erupted from his broken body!
It was neither spiritual power nor magical power, but a strange kind of power.
Eye power?

Immediately following was a blinding white light!
A towering, milky-white giant phantom, indescribable in words, rose from the ground with a roar centered on Fang Yu!

Bones, muscles, and armor solidified in an instant!
The giant's face was blurred, his eyes burning with eerie purple flames, exuding majesty, rage, and an aura of destruction!

Its enormous body almost filled half of the valley, firmly protecting Fang Yu in the core of his chest cavity.

Complete Susanoo!
"Roar—!" Susanoo let out a silent roar, its huge right hand clenching in mid-air!
Zila——! ! !
The raging purple lightning gathered out of thin air and instantly condensed into a giant lightning sword with arcs of destruction wrapped around it, which was more than tens of feet long!
The arcs of electricity leaping across the sword illuminated the entire dark valley in a ghastly white light!
Without hesitation, without holding back.

Just a moment before the giant flower's jaws snapped shut!
The complete Susanoo's massive right arm, crackling with lightning, swung down with the force to cleave mountains!
Boom——! ! !
The Thunder Greatsword, carrying the force to crush everything, slammed fiercely into the giant flower's massive yet already shattered body!
There was no clanging of metal, only the tearing sound of destruction!
The dark purple and scarlet petals burst and flew away like fragile pieces of paper!
The incredibly resilient roots snapped and carbonized inch by inch under the devastating power of the thunder!
"Awooo—!!!" A piercing scream, so shrill it was beyond description, filled with pain and resentment, echoed through the valley before abruptly ending.

The violent energy shockwave swept outwards like a tsunami, scraping away a thick layer of rock from the valley walls, filling the air with smoke and dust, and raining down rubble.

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated.

In the center of the valley, only the towering, milky-white Susanoo remained, along with the giant thunder sword in its hand that was slowly dissipating.

Beneath Susanoo's feet, the once enormous, ferocious, man-eating flower had vanished.

There was only one plant in the place. Hmm, how should I put it?

A small flower, about the size of a palm, with an eerie, intense, and almost blood-red hue.

It grows alone on the scorched earth, its petals delicate and vibrant, its slender stems swaying gently in the breeze stirred by the aftershocks of the explosion, emitting a faint scent, quite different from the previous pungent, rotten stench.
A strange, slightly mesmerizing sweet fragrance.

Quiet, fragile, and beautiful in a way that's a little eerie.

This created an absurd yet endearing contrast with the devastating scene just moments before.

Fang Yu stood at the core of Susanoo, looking down at the small red flower. He seemed to have forgotten the pain from his severed arm. His lips twitched, and he exhaled a breath of bloody turbid air.
"Huh? What's going on?"

The embers of that earth-shattering battle in the valley were still warm, and the smell of burnt meat mixed with a strange sweet fragrance still lingered in the air.

Fang Yu leaned against a boulder remnant that had been cut in half, his empty right sleeve flapping wildly in the mountain wind, like a tattered flag proclaiming tragedy.

"Hiss!" He grimaced and gasped, the sensation aggravating the pain in his wounds all over his body.

The wound where his left arm had been lost still stubbornly oozed a dark green, corrosive fluid, emitting a nauseatingly sweet and pungent odor, and causing a dull ache, a constant reminder of the viciousness of that man-eating flower.

"Laojun," Fang Yu's voice was hoarse with the shock of surviving a disaster and a hint of lingering fear, "Could you have spoken up earlier next time about why you couldn't do it? We almost became 'fertilizer'."

In his mind, the illusory image of Laozi snorted irritably, his immortal demeanor tinged with a hint of speechlessness: "Save your banter! If you don't want to be 'Yang Guo' for the rest of your life, do as I say! Concentrate, look inward, and activate your 'external eye power' to try to construct a spiritual body!"

"Spiritual body?"

Fang Yu's Rinne Sharingan silently rotated beneath his eyelids, the nine tomoe gleaming with a ghostly light.

Concentrating his mind on the severed arm, a cold and violent energy originating from his pupil power began to gather and take shape.

hum-

At the tattered left shoulder, the space was slightly distorted.

First, the outline of the skeleton, as white as jade, is drawn out in the void. Then, the rudiments of muscles and veins appear, and finally, a layer of solid, semi-transparent energy skin is covered.

The whole process was silent, yet it carried a strange sense of creation.

A few breaths later, an arm made entirely of pure white light appeared at the spot where Fang Yu's arm had been severed!
The light flowed steadily and subtly, radiating an aura of destruction and protection that shared the same origin as Susanoo.

The white-glowing arm has clearly defined fingers, flexible joints, and you can even see energy flowing slowly inside like liquid.

"It's done?" Fang Yu opened his eyes, a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty in them.

He tentatively considered the idea. The white-gloved hand then opened and clenched.

The finger joints can bend and straighten flexibly without any resistance.

He could even feel the faint airflow as his fingertips brushed against the surface.

"Hey?" Fang Yu became interested and, controlling the novice, first carefully pinched his intact right cheek. The touch was warm and the feedback of the force was clear.

Then, he slammed his fist into the half-rock next to him!

boom!
Gravel splashes!

The hard rock was like tofu dregs under the white light's fist.

"Ouch!"

Fang Yu's eyes lit up, and the slight dejection on his face was instantly replaced by excitement.

He repeatedly clenched and opened his fist, and then performed several "flower hand" gestures from his past life memories, his movements incredibly fluid.

"Look, Lao Jun! This novice is even better than the original! The strength, the agility!"

He squeezed Bai Guang's biceps hard, feeling the explosive power contained within, and was as happy as a child who had just received a new toy.

"If this had been done sooner, I could have taken fewer hits when I was beating that damn flower!"

However, this excitement didn't last long.

A distinct sense of detachment and a slight dizziness washed over me, as if my energy was being rapidly drained from the depths of my brow.

Maintaining this white-glowing arm is like continuously consuming some kind of invisible blue bar, and the rate of consumption is quite considerable.

Lao Jun's voice rang out at the right moment, carrying a hint of disappointment: "Hmph, getting carried away! This is a psionic prosthetic limb forcibly constructed from your pupil power source. Although its power is great, it is like a rootless duckweed, consuming the very essence of your 'eyes'! It may be able to provide a short-term emergency, but to maintain it in the long term? You probably want to go blind!"

Fang Yu's excitement instantly vanished. He shook off the glowing newbie and muttered, "I knew this wouldn't happen. It's like I've got a cheat code that doubles mana consumption. What am I going to do? I can't really become a one-armed hero, can I? This look doesn't fit my majestic image as the 'Great Love Celestial Venerable'."

"A mortal body is ultimately a burden!"

Laozi's voice was resolute, carrying a detached indifference that looked down upon the mortal world: "The Nascent Soul is just the beginning of a qualitative change! Once the elixir breaks and the infant is born, the physical body can be reshaped with a single thought, and limbs can be regenerated with ease! At that time, this physical body will be nothing more than a 'clothes' that can be changed and repaired at any time. The most urgent task is not to tinker with this 'light figurine' of yours, but to refine the elixir! Refine that Heaven-Reaching Golden Elixir that will help you condense your Nascent Soul!"

"Nascent Soul."

Fang Yu savored the word, a strong desire blazing in his eyes.

Come to think of it, once you become a Nascent Soul cultivator, losing an arm or even changing bodies wouldn't be a problem.

He rubbed his chin, his gaze sweeping across the ravaged valley before finally settling on the lone, eerie little red flower swaying in the wind.

Alchemy
Laozi previously said that ingredients should be used to harmonize yin and yang.

As for the ingredients, this flower looks quite special, so it should be considered a portion.

The three essential components for alchemy are: the formula, the materials, and the alchemy furnace.

Laozi will take care of the elixir recipe.

I collected quite a few materials myself, plus this flower.

Only this alchemy furnace.
Fang Yu frowned.

A cauldron? He did take a whiff of the Yellow Maple Valley cauldron; it's only good for roasting pig's butts, but refining a Nascent Soul level Golden Core? It'd probably explode into fireworks the moment it's opened.

High-grade alchemy furnaces are not mass-produced goods that you can buy from roadside stalls; each one is a treasure of a major sect or the lifeblood of an old monster.

"Where can I find a reliable, large alchemy furnace?"

Fang Yu stroked his chin and paced back and forth, his white arm waving unconsciously with his movements, drawing trails like fireflies in the dim light of the valley.

Suddenly, he stopped abruptly, as if he had stepped on an electric shock.

An extremely bold idea, perfectly in line with someone else's style of doing things, struck my mind like lightning!

"That's right!" Fang Yu slapped his forehead, his eyes shining brightly.

Why bother searching all over the world?

"A ready-made big client is right in front of us!"

His gaze was intense, as if piercing through the valley walls and directed towards a certain direction—the location of the top sect in the Yue Kingdom's cultivation world, a sect with a deep foundation and long history.

"Hehe." Fang Yu rubbed his bare and fleshy hands together, his smile growing brighter and more dangerous. "Alchemy is all about timing, location, and people. I think the feng shui treasures of those major sects are pretty good, and their alchemy furnaces are definitely top-of-the-line!"

"How about we just find a major sect and 'borrow' their alchemy furnace?"

"Anyway, the pills refined from a furnace 'borrowed' through skill are the most fragrant, right?"

Lao Jun was speechless, swallowing back the words he was about to say, "The more I look at him, the more he looks like a monkey."

(End of this chapter)