"Yama Golden Body! Scatter the wood spirit!"
Fang Han knew that at this moment, his body was at the critical point of Qi deviation. He immediately mustered his spirit, urging the circulation of Qi and blood within his body to crash against every joint, blasting apart the stiffened wood spirit true energy! But with this impact, his entire body immediately felt incomparably piercing pain, as if countless sawteeth were fiercely cutting into his body, sawing open every part of him! Fang Han felt his body could fall apart at any moment.
Ah ah ah ah ah…
Feeling this intense agony, Fang Han's intent boiled within his mind, yet not a single sound came out from between his lips. Indeed, Yan was right; this method of using the Yama Golden Body to scatter the wood spirit true energy was fraught with extreme agony, equivalent to dismemberment!
"Every time you circulate the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art, it is equivalent to being rescued from the edge of Qi deviation. The pain of this cultivation, although dangerous, also tempers your will! The stronger the will, the stronger the spirit, and the stronger the magic power. Only by doing this will you advance by leaps and bounds. This kind of cultivation is equivalent to dismemberment. If you can endure this, what other pain in the world can do anything to you?"
Yan's voice was icy cold, without the slightest bit of emotion.
At this moment, Fang Han could only faintly hear its words as he went all out to circulate the Yama Golden Body to break through the barriers. Crack, crack! At every joint opening, Fang Han's entire body shuddered, and every inch of his flesh and skin felt twisting pain, breaking inch by inch. But he knew that if he stopped circulating his Qi and blood, the stiffness of his entire body would become increasingly severe, ultimately turning him into a wooden man.
Indeed, by cultivating the "Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art," every single practice was equivalent to undergoing Qi deviation once, requiring him to use extreme fortitude and immense willpower to rescue himself. Ordinary people would simply not dare to attempt such tempering. But in order to defeat Hua Tiandu, Fang Han dared to try anything; this was nothing to him.
Step by step, he circulated his spirit, urging his Qi and blood, and breaking through the barriers.
Finally, three days and three nights later, every single joint on Fang Han's entire body popped open one by one. The muscles and sinews inside swelled up high and then exploded. Bursts of wood spirit true energy were forcefully blasted out, and then absorbed into the two talismans in Fang Han's palms.
"I finally rescued myself from Qi deviation!"
Fang Han stood up abruptly. His body shook, and suddenly every strip of muscle cracked like a python, expanding outward and creating a shockwave of air that blew all the surrounding withered purple bamboos spinning wildly into the air. This was purely the power of his muscles, without employing the slightest bit of magic power. At the same time, Fang Han felt that after breaking through the barriers, some pure wood spirit true energy had fused into one with his flesh and blood, making his body a bit stronger.
His Qi and blood circulated continuously, like the surging Dragon Abyss River. A faint stream of primal energy rushed into his mind, fusing with his magic power, thickening his magic power even further.
Dispersing the "Green Emperor Talisman" and "Wood Sovereign Talisman" in his hands, Fang Han's mind stirred, his Heavenly Gate opened, and a surge of magic power rushed out. This magic power was no longer formless and colorless, but carried a faint trace of green-purple Qi, resembling smoke and clouds, partially hidden and partially visible, much like how certain ghosts and deities rely on incense smoke to condense into a physical form.
Hah!
Fiercely condensing his magic power, it transformed into a huge hand and slapped towards the ground!
Instantly, a palm print three or four feet deep appeared on the ground. Fang Han felt his magic power had thickened a bit more, increasing by at least the tremendous strength of one Xuanhuang galloping horse!
"When in the Physical Body Realm, to increase the strength of one horse through cultivation, who knows how many spiritual medicines must be consumed, and how many times the roots and bones must be tempered. But upon reaching the Divine Ability Realm, breaking the restraints, strength can be increased infinitely. This is the true benefit of the Divine Ability Realm."
Fang Han experienced it carefully.
"Right now, you've merely achieved a minor accomplishment. It is still far too early for you to transform all your magic power into true energy and step into the True Energy Realm. You must speed up your cultivation! Oh right, give me that Heavenly Wood Divine Needle so I can soak it in the Water of Lethe. Once you are thoroughly familiar with the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art, you will absorb all the wood Qi from this divine needle! You should be able to step into the True Energy Realm very quickly. Otherwise, since the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art is too domineering, you will suck this entire patch of purple bamboo forest dry, and it won't be easy to explain to Jialan." Yan spoke in detail.
"After you devoured the Golden Light Blazing Fire Mirror, your power seems to have strengthened a lot. What a pity about this precious artifact; I didn't even get to use it once. I should have let it refine a few Heavenly Demons first." While listening to Yan speak, Fang Han saw Yan toss the Heavenly Wood Divine Needle into the Yellow Springs River. With a churn of the river water, the green Qi from this divine needle immediately billowed out. Seeing a precious artifact melt this fast, he knew that Yan's magic power had greatly increased.
"A pity? If news of exchanging a Golden Light Blazing Fire Mirror for something like the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art spread out, the headmasters of the ten great immortal dao sects would fight to make the deal." Yan chuckled. "For you to quickly step into the True Energy Realm is the number one priority right now. However, refining that Wood Spirit Pill cannot be neglected either. Try attempting to refine some with those herbs you gathered from the underground. Now that you've cultivated the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art, you should be able to extract the essence of vegetation without needing to slowly boil them."
"Alright, let's give it a try!"
Fang Han took out dozens of spiritual medicines from the Yellow Springs Diagram, such as glossy ganoderma, poria, rehmannia… and piled them into a heap. Secretly circulating the Green Emperor Talisman, he gave a fierce suck! Immediately, wisps of medicinal Qi billowed from this pile of spiritual medicines and gathered entirely in the center of his palm. After the medicinal Qi finished billowing, this pile of spiritual medicines turned into a pile of medicinal dregs, their essence entirely sucked away.
"I am the Green Emperor, the Sovereign of all wood, regulating wood nature, fusing spiritual energy into one!" Fang Han's magic power circulated non-stop, working these medicinal Qis according to the refinement method of the Wood Spirit Pill. Subsequently, a spiritual pill the size of a sesame seed appeared in his palm.
Originally, refining the Wood Spirit Pill required placing many spiritual medicines in a pill furnace, using fire to slowly boil out the medicinal Qi, and then the pill refiner would use magic power to capture the medicinal Qi and refine it into a pill.
But the "Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art" was far too domineering, forcefully capturing and commanding all wood. There was absolutely no need to boil it with fire first; he simply commanded it! It was just like an emperor dealing with his subordinate officials: if the sovereign wants the subject to die, the subject must die. In truth, when the "Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art" was cultivated to the end, one would merge all wood for one's own use; as the Wood Sovereign, as the Green Emperor, taking charge of the life force of heaven and earth, omnipotent.
This was an extremely high divine ability.
"You realize the domineering nature of the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art now, right? But you are still far from controlling all wood and commanding their life and death."
"I naturally know this. You are an expert in cultivation. How long will it take for me to step into the True Energy Realm?" Fang Han asked.
"At most five years, at least three years. However, by absorbing the Heavenly Wood true energy from the Heavenly Wood Divine Needle, you can speed it up ten times, achieving it in just three to five months." Yan calculated.
"It will take that long?" Fang Han paused.
Yan calmly asked in return, "What did you think? Stepping into the Divine Ability Realm, each level is more difficult than the last. An ordinary expert might not successfully cultivate true energy even after twenty or thirty years. Take cultivating the Great Unfettered Profound Golden Sword Qi for example; one must find a premium metal ore vein, cultivate within it to absorb the metal essence Qi, fuse it into magic power, and harmonize them mutually. Sitting withered all day, one must also consume various medicinal pills to neutralize the damage the metal Qi causes to the physical body. If you hadn't consumed the Nine Orifices Golden Pill, and relied on the Water of Lethe to cultivate the Yama Golden Body, and then learned a primeval miraculous art like the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art, on top of acquiring the Heavenly Wood Divine Needle, I'm afraid you would also have to cultivate for thirty years to reach the realm of true energy. Heh heh, thousands of years ago, there were many rogue cultivators in the Divine Ability Realm who cultivated for fifty or sixty years but still failed to cultivate true energy, gradually aging and dying. That is why people now all attach themselves to sects. Only by obtaining resources can one cultivate quickly."
"You also know the Great Unfettered Profound Golden Sword Qi? What about the Instant Kill Grand Magic, do you know that?" Seeing Yan talk with such assurance, Fang Han asked what he had always wanted to ask; he still did not know exactly how many miraculous arts Yan knew!
"Of course I do. I even know the Purple Lightning Yin Thunder Blade, the Green Flame Seven Cultivations Ray, and the Heavenly Cold Profound Darkness Qi… I know all of the Eight Great Divine Abilities of the Yuhua Sect. Naturally! The Eight Great Divine Abilities of the Yuhua Sect are nothing but mid-tier skills. The most formidable, the peak divine abilities, are all recorded in the Yuhua Ascension Scripture. Those I don't know, just like I don't know Hua Tiandu's Panwu Great Strength Divine Ability." Yan answered straightforwardly, "After cultivating to the Heaven and Human Realm, the sixth level of the Divine Ability Realm is the Unity Realm. All dharmas return to one. At that realm, one must cultivate many divine abilities. For every extra divine ability mastered, the subsequently condensed Great Golden Pill divine ability seed will be one layer more powerful, which directly determines how many chances one has for the Longevity Realm in the future. Back in the day, my Yellow Springs Sect was the number one sect of the demonic path, and we even eclipsed the number one sect of the immortal path, the Taiyi Sect. How could we lack divine abilities? In fact, I know thirty-six divine abilities! And Yellow Springs Great Emperor, back in his day, concurrently possessed ninety-nine primeval divine abilities!"