From a martial arts disciple to a god through countless trials and tribulations

Chapter 199 The storm is rising
The mountains and seas have their own scriptures, and ancient trees have their own spirits. In the beginning of the vast world, Guyao stood tall, and strange beasts roamed freely. In the long and ancient years of the mountains and seas, countless myths and legends were left behind.

But now, there are no gods in the Guyao Mountains.

The sun and moon are gone, leaving only desolation; even the passage of time has lost its measure.

About a month later.

"In the southern wilderness and the Chu Kingdom outside Guyao Mountain, it should be winter and snow has begun to fall."

Chen Xuan secluded himself for intensive cultivation. The hustle and bustle of the world were cleansed by the desolation here. His heart was far removed from the complexities and noise of the mortal world, immersed in the tranquil and peaceful true meaning of the Taoist scriptures.

In the sixth month of his secluded cultivation, a small accident occurred in his inner world.

"When I was first born, I respected you as my seniors. Now, I have reached the sixth level of the Heavenly Realm!"

As Emperor Yan Daozang roared to the heavens and ascended to the sixth heaven, his unruly nature erupted instantly. He decisively launched a long-suppressed rebellion, determined to overthrow the tyrannical rule.

"boom!"

With a kick, the Emperor Yan Daozang, who was only knee-high, was sent flying backward. Immediately afterwards, the three-legged alchemy furnace smashed out like a ball of fire, slamming the Emperor Yan Daozang into the ground, raising clouds of dust.

"In heaven and on earth, fire reigns supreme!" Emperor Yan Daozang, having avenged his previous humiliation, laughed heartily, his entire body wreathed in flames, exuding an awe-inspiring majesty.

"boom!"

Chen Xuan's suppression descended like thunder. His soul entered the small world within his body, and he immediately used the ancient secret technique, the Eight Gates Spirit Locking Technique.

"puff!"

Nine gleaming golden chains stretched across the sky, like golden dragons piercing through the shoulder blades, wrists, and legs of Emperor Yan Daozang... like a spider web, firmly pinning him in the air, blood splattering everywhere.

"Ah!" Yan Di Daozang screamed in agony, his expression changing drastically as he was directly suppressed by Chen Xuan's divine soul body, powerless to resist.

"Little Six, you've gone too far! You've really given me face!" Emperor Daozang rose up from the ground, his anger reaching its peak. He unleashed a powerful set of fist techniques, leaving Emperor Daozang covered in blood, his eyebrows and eyes shattered, his nose broken, and blood gushing out.

"Yeah!"

The little man from the Heavenly Evolution Daoist Treasury, only at the first level, with a furrowed little face, followed the Human Emperor Daoist Treasury like a little shadow, using black and white chess pieces to smash the Yan Emperor Daoist Treasury's head, which was as big as a mountain.

It used this to show its loyalty to Chen Xuan; it had done its part!

"Attack!" Chen Xuan said coldly, without stopping the Human Emperor and Tianyan.
"A tough nut to crack? This emperor specializes in dealing with tough nuts!" Emperor Daozang roared, and with a ruthless move, he took the flag from his back. The tip of the flag was like a precious spear, piercing out hundreds of cold lights, which exploded into countless bright red blood flowers on Emperor Daozang's body.

This one-sided beating lasted for half an hour.

"Roar!"

Emperor Yan Daozang was very tough, but he gradually lost his toughness and began to soften, begging Chen Xuan for mercy.

"Stop hitting him, stop hitting him, Xiao Liu gives in..."

Because Emperor Yan's skull was shattered into pieces, and both of its eyes had been gouged out and crushed by Emperor Ren. If it didn't beg for mercy, it would be beaten to death, ending its short life.

When one lacks sufficient strength, even the most defiant rebellions appear ridiculous and laughable.

The turmoil subsided quickly.

Chen Xuan officially began cultivating the Cauldron Chapter of the "Yan Emperor's Daoist Canon".

"Wow!"

Golden seal script, reddish-gold in color, emanates from the body, accompanied by raging flames, beginning to draw upon the power of heaven and earth.

Within a radius of ten miles, a strange phenomenon of fire erupted, as if the sky was being violently stirred by an invisible giant hand, with fire sparks flying everywhere, resembling a magnificent yet terrifying apocalyptic rain.

"Howl!"

These sparks take on various shapes and forms. Some resemble agile firebirds, their bodies ablaze with flames and their enormous fiery wings outstretched. Others are like burning meteors, streaking across the sky, instantly igniting the air in their path and creating twisting trails of fire. Still others are like tiny fireflies, densely clustered together...

"The imagery of advancing to the next level is magnificent; the current level of Yin Qi is insufficient to conceal its full potential..."

Chen Xuan thought to himself, "The next stage of my cultivation will be very risky."

The Yin Qi is not included in the calculation, while the Yang Qi is all-encompassing. Clearly, whichever is at a higher level has a stronger effect.

Xiao Qingtian is one of the strongest lineages of the Sun Dao. If a group of powerful cultivators were to approach this place to investigate, they would easily discover the clues.

When the "Cauldron Chapter" of the "True Scripture of Emperor Yan" is fully mastered, the fourth Heavenly Tribulation will be triggered. The heavens and earth will resonate, and a vast thunderous aura will affect hundreds of miles, which will be completely unstoppable.

More than twenty days later.

Chen Xuan has completed the second half of the Cauldron Chapter of the Yan Emperor's True Scripture. In a few more days, he will be able to fully master it.

At such a critical moment, the retreat was forced to stop.

"Quickly! We've spotted a tiger!"

Hua Liuli sent out a call through a communication talisman, her charming voice carrying a hint of anxiety.

"……it is good."

Chen Xuan responded, quickly ending his cultivation. The strange phenomenon of fire within a ten-mile radius slowly subsided. Immediately, his soul body fell into the lifeless physical body. Instantly, a cold and desolate feeling entered his consciousness.

The body was completely dead, as if it had turned into a cold stone sculpture. The fire heart, which had recently resumed beating after cultivating the Yan Emperor's Daoist Canon, also stopped beating again, and the campfire went out.

Furthermore, the inner world within the body, which had been holding on for almost two months, was gradually reaching the brink of collapse and was in danger of being completely destroyed at any moment.

At this moment, every minute of delay could lead to serious consequences. If that happens, the inner world within the body will collapse, the Heavenly Mandate Dao Treasures will perish, and the ascension to the Cauldron will fail.

"Could it be that by cultivating four cauldron bodies, one has reached the pinnacle... and the cultivation of the [Five Treasures Martial Immortal Body] must be stopped prematurely, only after the cauldrons are formed?"

As Chen Xuan controlled his stiff, cold body on his way to the Two Realms Camp, he pondered these thoughts.

The inner world within the body can barely be maintained for a while, and the little people of the Heavenly Mandate Dao Treasury all possess an indomitable character.

But ultimately, an unexpected event occurred that forced an early termination... In any case, we had to go and check on the situation.

Not long after, Chen Xuan met Hua Liuli.

"Where is that giant cauldron demon?" Chen Xuan asked impatiently, having already learned the whole story during their journey.

In the past six months or so, Hua Liuli has turned the vast area of ​​twenty to thirty thousand miles around Guyao Mountain upside down.

In the past two days, we finally made a special discovery: we found a lost great ghost from the Southern Wilderness!
“The chicken is a mad pheasant! I can’t get anything out of it.” Hua Liuli, dressed in a plain white gauze dress, her crystal-clear skin faintly visible, led Chen Xuan to see the great ghost of the Southern Wilderness.

"Oh dear! I'm in such a sorry state!" This was a golden pheasant, over a meter tall, covered in blood, its feathers dull and lifeless, most of them missing, looking as if it had been gnawed by a dog, its appearance extremely pitiful.

The golden pheasant's eyes were filled with tears of blood, its expression one of terror. Its feathers left a scribbled "misery" mark on the ground, stark and glaring.

Hua Liuli's group of subordinates were looking at the crazed golden pheasant, scratching their heads and helpless.

"..."

Chen Xuan was taken aback by what he saw, thinking to himself, "This is quite a cultured pheasant..." He had no idea where this pheasant came from.

"The south? The north?" Chen Xuan asked in a deep voice.

"Oh no! I'm going to write a big 'misery' on your feet!" the golden pheasant cried out in anguish, lunging at Chen Xuan like a streak of blood-red lightning.

"Whoosh!" Chen Xuan controlled his stiffened body to retreat, quickly dodging the attack of the colorful pheasant. Then, he stepped out and accurately stepped on the pheasant's wing. The immense power under his foot exploded, firmly suppressing the pheasant.

"what!"

Although the Golden Pheasant was a powerful being, its injuries were too severe to break free. It could only howl and wail at Chen Xuan's feet: "Oh no, this chicken is so miserable!"

"The Holy Son of the Southern Wilderness is right in front of you, what exactly happened? Just tell me, His Highness the Holy Son appointed by the Mountain Demon Goddess will stand up for you!" Hua Liuli stepped forward and said softly.

"Son……"

Upon hearing this, the golden pheasant immediately looked up at Chen Xuan, a flicker of doubt in its eyes. Then, it cried out in agony, "It's fake! It's fake! The Holy Son of the Southern Wilderness is the offspring of the Golden Crow God..."

"He was pretending to be crazy, but he's actually a big monster from the south."

Hua Liuli's face was frosty. With a flick of her sleeve, she ordered her subordinates, "Heat oil in a wok and cook it for me!"

Since it was a powerful ghost unrelated to Chen Xuan, she didn't need to be polite and directly used ruthless interrogation methods to boil the Golden Pheasant alive.

Chen Xuan turned to look at Hua Liuli. This woman was so decisive and efficient; it was as if she had become a completely different person.

Immediately, a group of subordinates behind Hua Liuli took action. A powerful fire elementalist, upon receiving orders, summoned a large treasure cauldron that spewed forth raging flames; a powerful water elementalist flicked his sleeve, creating a stream of water that flowed into the cauldron; a powerful wood elementalist channeled azure energy, causing countless precious spices and herbs, their fragrance filling the air, to scatter like celestial maidens scattering flowers into the boiling water…

"Pluck the feathers!" Hua Liuli's subordinates grinned as they surrounded the golden pheasant. A powerful Jin De summoned his treasured artifact, the Bone-Piercing Immortal Sword, which emitted a chilling sword aura as he walked towards the pheasant.

"No! Your Highness, save me!"

Seeing this, the golden pheasant was terrified and immediately cried out to Chen Xuan for help, wailing, "Your Highness, we can't let humans from other places bully us ghosts!"

Chickens living under human roofs have no choice but to bow their heads.

"Tell me honestly, what exactly happened?" Chen Xuan asked. "You don't want to be plucked and eaten, do you?"

"No, I don't want to."

This time, the golden pheasant behaved itself and dared not continue to pretend to be crazy. It immediately poured out its tragic story like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

"More than half a year ago, when the Mountain Lord started excavating the central part of the Southern Wilderness, we in the south had already noticed it and were watching from a distance. As soon as something happened, several top-notch furnaces immediately led us to join forces and follow the Mountain Lord."

"The result was disastrous. Hundreds of powerful demons who served as cauldrons instantly became food for the [Chilong God]. It devoured everything, showing no respect whatsoever to the [Golden Crow God]!"

"And then? What happened to the Mountain Lord?" Chen Xuan asked hurriedly. He already knew that a large group of Mountain Lord monsters from the south had entered the White Mist Abyss and disappeared.

Originally, it was thought that they were lost in the Great Abyss of White Mist, but they actually followed the footsteps of the Mountain Lord and met the Chi Dragon God!
"As expected of the Mountain Lord personally appointed by the Mountain Goddess. Although he is only a cauldron, the second-generation body of that little earth dog is terrifyingly strong. He actually forced the construction of a temple for the Chilong God and detained the Chilong God for a short time."

The golden pheasant trembled, as if recalling the tragic scene of that day, and continued to recount: "Some of the mountain lords and monsters were able to escape into Guyao Mountain."

Chen Xuan's gaze sharpened, and he pressed on, "Who escaped into the Guyao Mountains? Are the six-tusked white elephant, the three-tailed fox... and all those great monsters still around?"

Although some remains of these large monsters can be seen outside the entrance to Guyao Mountain, it does not necessarily mean that they are dead.

It should be known that those who cultivate Qi possess terrifyingly tenacious vitality, let alone those who are powerful beings in the cauldron. Fire element can be reborn from the ashes, Wood element can be reborn from a drop of blood, and Metal element can continue to fight even when only a skeleton remains... These are all abilities brought about by immortal Qi.

The golden pheasant shook its head and said, "I didn't notice. I didn't have time to check. As soon as I entered Guyao Mountain, I was captured by a group of demons."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuan was startled. A group of demons was hiding in the lifeless Guyao Mountain!
"What kind of demon race is it?" Hua Liuli was equally shocked. In the past six months, she had thoroughly investigated the surrounding area of ​​20,000 to 30,000 miles, but had not found any trace of demon activity.

"A bunch of utterly despicable vixens."

The golden pheasant said in a deep voice, "Those despicable fox spirits have nine tails. They separated me from a group of mountain demons and locked me in iron cages, forcing us to fight and play games every day! The loser would be eaten by those fox spirits."

Vixen?
Chen Xuan was taken aback. A group of fox spirits lived in the desolate Guyao Mountain?

"Could it be the Nine-Tailed Demon Clan of Qingqiu Mountain?" Hua Liuli frowned and muttered to herself.

"Qingqiu Mountain?" Chen Xuan looked at Hua Liuli upon hearing this.

Qingqiu?

In mythology, several kinds of mythical beasts from mountains and seas live, the most famous of which is called the Nine-Tailed Fox!

Some memories of this ancient mountain and sea surfaced in Chen Xuan's mind.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Nanshan Jing) states: "Mount Qingqiu. Its sunny side is rich in jade, and its shady side is rich in green jade. There is a beast there, which looks like a fox but has nine tails. Its cry is like that of an infant. It can eat people, and those who eat it will not be harmed by poison."

The nine-tailed fox is a creature on par with legendary mythical beasts from the mountains and seas, such as the true dragon, phoenix, Kunpeng, and Yonghe.

"The 100,000 ancient mountains and seas were either destroyed by ancient immortals and sages or forced into hiding. Some of these hidden ancient mountains and seas were rediscovered during the Immortal and Ghost Era."

Hua Liuli told Chen Xuan that Qingqiu Mountain has now fallen into one of the three thousand states in the Southern Region, occupying a state and being taken over by a group of nine-tailed fox demons.

"If they are demons from Qingqiu Mountain, why are they appearing in Guyao Mountain?" Chen Xuan asked in confusion.

“In ancient times, the mountains and the sea were connected, and perhaps there were existing feng shui secret paths connecting them.”

Hua Liuli speculated, then paused and shook her head with a smile, "Of course, this is just speculation. These fox spirits are more likely just a group of natives who have been surviving for thousands of years in the Guyao Mountains."

This possibility is greater and more reasonable.

Chen Xuan nodded, then asked the golden pheasant, "Since you were captured by the fox spirits, why did you escape?"

Upon hearing this, the golden pheasant puffed out its chest and proudly declared:
"I am, after all, a powerful demon in the cauldron of cultivation, so of course I have ways to save my life. Taking advantage of the fox spirits' inattention, I broke the ancient magic array where they were hiding and forcefully broke out!"

As the golden pheasant spoke, it raised its head, opened its beak, and spat out a blue talisman.

It held up the blue rune stone with its wings and said smugly, "Holy Son, look! This is the evidence that I broke the magic array!"

Chen Xuan stared at the cyan talisman, his pupils shrinking.

He also possessed a similar talisman. He examined the talisman in the pheasant's hand and saw four familiar, though slightly messy, large characters engraved on it.

Don't come in!

"This stone..." Hua Liuli, upon seeing this, also slightly opened her rosy lips, extremely surprised.

The golden pheasant, still shaken, sighed, "I escaped quickly, otherwise, sooner or later I would have become food for those fox spirits to cultivate. Many great monsters have been eaten."

Chen Xuan thought to himself, "I can't see how capable this pheasant is. Could it be that the pheasant was deliberately released... There are no gods in Guyao Mountain. Could it be that the Mountain Lord was seriously injured in the battle with the Chilong God? That's why he was captured by the fox spirits?"
Chen Xuan turned to Hua Liuli and asked, "Have you found out where this pheasant escaped from?"

"No, we can't find the old path. It's like it fell from the sky."

Hua Liuli shook her head solemnly, then pointed to the cyan rune stone and said, "We still need to land on this rune stone... Using the Azure Bag Technique, we might be able to trace back to a secret path." She paused, then pointed to the golden pheasant and continued, "We can also use this pheasant to find our way!"

Chen Xuan stared at Hua Liuli and fell silent.

At that moment, Hua Liuli's expression suddenly changed, and the communication talisman in her sleeve trembled. She looked at Chen Xuan and said solemnly:
"Nanmian left the place where Wu Taotie ascended to godhood, and nine suns soared into the sky with overwhelming force, heading this way."

Nanmian had been quiet and well-behaved for more than a month after entering Guyao Mountain, but now he has suddenly made a big move.

Chen Xuan blinked. Had his arrival at the Two Realms Camp revealed his presence and been discovered by Nan Mian? Or was it for some other reason?

The next moment, Hua Liuli's expression hardened, and she delivered another crucial message:
"Outside the entrance to Guyao Mountain, another battle between the gods has broken out. The Golden Crow God has descended, bringing in a large number of feathered monsters that are also heading this way!"

"It's getting lively... What a coincidence, could it be that they're also heading towards me?"

Chen Xuan's lips twitched slightly as his gaze fell upon the cyan rune stone... This seemed to be a way out right in front of him?
(End of this chapter)