Wayfarer

Chapter 608: A Drop of Golden Liquid

Xiao Nanfeng had been preparing for his upcoming tribulation for some time, but he didn't expect it to be quite so intense. The dark clouds surrounded him and everything around him, striking at heaven and earth alike. He had witnessed Zhao Yuanjiao, Ye Dafu, and the others' True Immortal tribulations, but none had been as sinister as his.

He took a deep breath and waited patiently, poised to resist the tribulation to the best of his ability, when the dark clouds suddenly vanished.

Xiao Nanfeng: ...

He stared in shock at the skies that had cleared up as far as his eyes could see. The next moment, however, he felt a sense of imminent death. Those clouds had entered his body.

"What's going on?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

He quickly sat cross-legged in meditation as he activated his defenses in full force. His ten golden crows, his Imposing Avatar of Rulai, his Jade Emperor's Frame—everything circulating all at once.

He turned his sight within his body and searched for where the clouds of tribulation had gone. They weren't in his dantian, nor in his mindscape. Where were they?

He scanned his entire body and found not a single trace of those clouds, despite the fact that all his senses were reporting that a barrage of annihilation was imminent.

"True Immortals seek the truth, the pure, the sincere—my heart," he murmured, stunned.

He suddenly recalled a few common descriptions of True Immortals he had once seen in scripture.

The heart... Madam Rouge once mentioned that the cultivation of the heart involved cultivating his mental world. Could those clouds of tribulation be in his mental world?

The first wave of the tribulation began then. Countless strikes of violet lightning appeared out of nowhere, coursing through his body from within to without, electrifying his limbs, muscles, bones, skeletons, and qi meridians.

His ten golden crows cawed simultaneously in pain, as though injured by the bolts of lightning they had sustained.

Violet lightning emerged from every pore in his body, tearing his insides apart. Even the Imposing Avatar of Rulai sustained a myriad minuscule cracks.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, already deeply wounded from the first wave of the tribulation alone. It was stronger than a blow from a Golden Immortal.

In the sea far in the distance, the black lotus floated above its surface. More and more illusory black lotuses manifested all across the sea, surrounding the island on which Xiao Nanfeng was located.

The black lotus began to vibrate. Black smoke seeped out of its body, rising into the air and sinking into the sea. The black smoke gradually turned transparent. The black smoke seemed vaguely to be interacting with some transparent lines revealed in the void.

The silver moon rose into the air and shone with pure light. It too began to pluck at the countless revealed threads.

The threads that the black lotus manipulated joined up with those that the silver moon did, as though forming a huge cage of natural law protecting Xiao Nanfeng and isolating him from the machinations of heaven.

On the island, Xiao Nanfeng felt weak all over, but he had survived the first wave of the tribulation. He wiped at the blood trickling down his lips and sank back into meditation, sensing that a second wave was about to begin.

Before long, a malicious wind blew by, marking the start of the second wave. This time, however, the tribulation took on the form of hands, not of lightning.

Pitch-black arms trailing with black smoke emerged from within his body and clawed at his face. The black arms, though seemingly ethereal, seemed to possess incredible might. They struck his skin with the clank of metal on stone.

"These hands seem to be charged with cursed spiritual power," Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

The next moment, they struck his body simultaneously, pounding at him and clawing at him and tearing him apart.

Fortunately, he cultivated the Imposing Avatar of Rulai. Though the black hands did little actual damage, they continued to claw at him and multiply the number of minuscule cracks on the Imposing Avatar of Rulai.

In the blink of an eye, they had surrounded his body. Xiao Nanfeng could sense that the hands were trying to pull off not just his superficial layer of skin, but also the blood and flesh beneath, and even his internal organs. He was wracked with pain. Finally, the hands struck his very bones.

The Jade Emperor's Frame shone with golden light, melting away the hands like snow struck by the sunlight. They dissolved into black smoke as they sizzled.

Xiao Nanfeng continued to channel his qi into the Jade Emperor's Frame until the black hands and arms fully melted away.

From afar, the black lotus floating on the surface of the sea murmured, "To think that Xiao Nanfeng would have been able to deal with the Heavenly Demon's Hands so easily... the Jade Emperor's Frame is truly extraordinary."

High in the sky, the silver moon vibrated. It pulsed out white light, as though in response to the black lotus.

"The tribulation of Immortal Annihilation consists of three waves. The first wave alone is enough to annihilate most Immortals, though Xiao Nanfeng survived with his Imposing Avatar of Rulai and Sky of Ten Suns. The second wave is the Heavenly Demon's Hands, which Xiao Nanfeng escaped with his Jade Emperor's Frame. The rumored third wave has the cursed spiritual power of the world away, and no one in antiquity has ever managed to pass it. I don't know what the situation's like myself, either," the black lotus murmured in worry.

By the conclusion of the second wave, Xiao Nanfeng's injuries had worsened. The Jade Emperor's Frame had used up too much strength; Xiao Nanfeng's bones were turning a little pale, and had even begun to crack. Who knew how much longer he would be able to survive? The tribulation wasn't yet over. He could sense a third wave of tribulation approaching as an even more sinister force filled his body.

A gust of purple light surged into his body—not toward his physical body, but toward his soul. Though he was in physical form, he could clearly sense the assault on his spirit.

"Something's wrong!" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

He immediately switched to his True Yin body, only to see the purple light bind his spirit in a purple cocoon.

"This third wave of the tribulation is attacking his spirit! Superior Yin Pearl, return him his spiritual moon, hurry!" the black lotus exclaimed.

However, the silver moon remained hanging in the air.

"What? There's no need? This third wave of tribulation isn't targeting his spirit, but his truesoul?!" the black lotus exclaimed.

Afar, surrounded by purple light, Xiao Nanfeng began to resist this third invasion of his body. Suddenly, he found himself being tossed toward outer space, toward a patch of starry sky. All that he could see was the twinkling of stars and the darkness of space. He couldn't help but feel a sense of chilly void.

He was tossed forward by a force beyond compare, unable to grasp or take ahold of anything around him. All he could sense was the passage of time quickening once and again. A day, a year, ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years—no one spoke to him. He continued to fly, sensing a loneliness without end. All he could do during this thousand-year period was close his eyes and contemplate the star maps, natural laws, and divine abilities he had already begun to grasp. Naturally, he made great strides forward.

After an interminable period of time, he finally reached a giant golden screen of light, so big it seemed to have cut off part of the universe. It was endless in expanse.

Beyond the golden screen of light were countless cursed effigies, all overflowing with cursed spiritual power. They seemed to be trapped on the opposite side. Some of their cursed spiritual power seeped out past the screen, taking him by surprise.

He tentatively touched the screen of light. With a buzz, countless cursed effigies surged toward him, as though attempting to possess him from the other side of the barrier. For some reason, however, the golden screen seemed to radiate some form of affection toward him. Not only did it block all the cursed effigies in the way, it even granted him a drop of a curious golden liquid. Then, the screen suddenly vibrated.

He was sent flying back through the endless expanse of space, unable to struggle, unable to resist. All he could do was count the passage of time. A day, a year, ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years—he continued to contemplate the mysteries of the star maps, natural law, and divine abilities.

And during that trip through space and time, he learned of a truth: the golden screen of light really had granted him a drop of golden liquid, one so arcane that he hadn't managed to gain any understanding of it even after a thousand years.

With a hum, he returned to the real world, suddenly shivering as he found himself back in his True Yin body. He was still seated on his island; his passage through space and time seemed almost like a vanishing dream. The purple light that had cocooned his body had likewise vanished.

The clouds of tribulation within his body began to transform—from pitch-black to rainbow-colored, shining with prosperity and fortune, looming with opportunity. The clouds infused his limbs, bones, and spirit with the potential for growth, causing rainbow light to emanate from him.

Afar, the black lotus was taken aback. "Has he overcome the third wave of tribulation? How did he do it? Were you able to sense what he did, Superior Yin Pearl?"

The silver moon high in the sky pulsed with white light in response.

"You can't tell, either? That does make me feel better. What secrets could he possess, I wonder? To be able to overcome even a tribulation aimed at his truesoul... There must be more secrets he's still hiding," the black lotus murmured to itself.

For the time being, Xiao Nanfeng ignored the transformation that was happening all across his body. Rather, he was deep in search for the golden drop of liquid that he had brought back from the golden screen of light.

However, despite searching all over his body, he couldn't find where that golden drop of liquid had gone.

"I'm sure I brought it back with me, and I can sense it within my body. But I can't find it! Could it have hidden in my mental world, or elsewhere?" Xiao Nanfeng wondered.

Just then, the silver moon flew back into Xiao Nanfeng's mindscape and vanished. The black lotus drew up to him as well. "Xiao Nanfeng, what are you waiting for? You've passed your tribulation, haven't you? You have to advance all your techniques with the rainbow energy you've acquired. Don't waste it!"

"I understand." Xiao Nanfeng intoned, "Cut apart the false and keep the true, and be reborn as a True Immortal."

The Sky of Ten Suns, the Imposing Avatar of Rulai, and the Jade Emperor's Frame were techniques that Xiao Nanfeng had picked up during his cultivation that were meant to serve him throughout his entire journey as a cultivator. To this end, they could be upgraded as he grew stronger, and the rainbow energy that was the reward for successfully overcoming a tribulation was crucial to those upgrades. Though his tribulation had been the strongest of all known tribulations, the energy he received for overcoming it was commensurate in extent.

He swiftly consumed all that radiant energy as his ten golden crows underwent another metamorphosis. They had completely left their fledgling bodies behind and become adult crows in truth. The cracks in the Imposing Avatar of Rulai were smoothed over as Buddhist light radiated from his body, along with a burst of invincible flame. The Jade Emperor's Frame glowed with renewed radiance and the domineering aura of a monarch.

The moment he expended all the rainbow energy he had accumulated, a surge of incredible energy emanated from his body. Deep gullies formed underfoot, radiating in every direction.

"The first stage of the True Immortal realm," Xiao Nanfeng murmured. He opened his eyes and exhaled in excitement.