Chapter 913: Crimson Tides Surge, Dark Demon Rises
He did not know how long had passed before Tần Mục slowly regained consciousness. He felt utterly exhausted, his qi and blood both depleted. His nguyên khí and khí huyết had still not recovered much.
Tần Mục trembled as he raised his hand to touch his brow. The Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch was gone from his brow, and so was the ngọc bội.
"What happened while I was unconscious?"
He struggled to sit up and looked toward the mirror across from him. In the mirror, he saw himself gaunt and thin, his face pale, devoid of any color.
The wound on his brow was like an eyelid, already closed, leaving a trail of dried blood.
Tần Mục's mind was in chaos, his thần thức difficult to mobilize. The nguyên khí within his body was empty, his heart beating weakly, with little blood supplying the various parts of his body.
His limbs were ice-cold. He laboriously searched through his noãn thai túi, looking for linh dược. It took a long while before he gathered the needed herbs, and he barely managed to channel his remaining nguyên khí to refine linh đan.
His control over nguyên khí was not what it used to be. When refining the pill, the furnace actually exploded, ruining a batch of pills.
This was something that had never happened since his y thuật had reached great mastery!
He had studied y thuật under Dược Sư, and had only ever blown up a furnace back in Tàn Lão Thôn. But now, with his cultivation profound, every pill refinement succeeded. An exploding furnace was simply impossible for him.
His depletion was too great. His control over his physical body, nguyên khí, thần thức, and khí huyết was not what it used to be—even worse than when he was a youth!
With his current y thuật and tạo hóa chi thuật, as long as he wasn't dead, he wouldn't be considered injured. Yet now he was so depleted that he couldn't even use tạo hóa chi thuật, and even refining pills to heal himself was a struggle.
"Đại sư huynh, the thần thạch you left me has done me in..."
The Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch that Ngụy Tùy Phong left behind was meant for his benefit. However, Ngụy Tùy Phong's plans couldn't keep up with changes, and he hadn't anticipated how complicated Tần Mục's situation would become.
Tần Mục's brow had grown an extra eye. Before Tần Mục had even figured out the mysteries of this eye, the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch had tried to replace it, and the result was that it had tormented him nearly to death.
Tần Mục steadied himself and refined pills again, more carefully this time. Finally, he produced a batch of linh đan.
He grabbed the pills and swallowed them in large mouthfuls, channeling his remaining nguyên khí to catalyze the medicinal power. After a moment, his bone marrow began to produce blood, and the blood in his heart gradually increased.
Tần Mục's complexion recovered somewhat, and his nguyên khí was slowly recovering as well. He then refined several more batches of linh đan to restore his depleted blood to about forty to fifty percent of its former level, and then refined pills to replenish nguyên khí, allowing it to recover somewhat as well.
He struggled to his feet, his body still swaying and weak, but unlike before, his face now had some color. Still, he remained gaunt.
"Where did that Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch and my ngọc bội go? Could they have... squeezed out the eye on my brow?"
His scalp tingled. His heart stirred, and he tried to open the third eye on his brow.
His brow had no eyebrows, only two thin eyelids. The eyelids slowly parted to either side, revealing an eye.
Tần Mục observed this eye carefully in the mirror. He saw that the structure of this eye differed from his normal eyes. His third eye was still made of flesh and blood, but its pupil was not round—it was diamond-shaped!
Moreover, its color was not black, but a cinnabar-red diamond-shaped pupil!
"The Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch didn't manage to squeeze out my eyeball, but it fused with my third eye! Right, where's my ngọc bội?"
Tần Mục continued to observe, looking more and more closely. He saw that the iris within the eyeball was round, but the texture patterns inside the iris looked like the contours of mountain ranges!
Tần Mục shook his head. Normal iris textures should be fan-leaf shaped, but his iris texture had formed the character "Tần"!
"My ngọc bội also fused with my third eye..."
He steadied himself and activated Bá Thể Tam Đan Công, organizing his chaotic thần thức. He planned to use tạo hóa chi thuật to boost his khí huyết once his cultivation recovered somewhat.
Unexpectedly, the moment he activated Bá Thể Tam Đan Công, he suddenly felt his thần thức surge as it flowed through his third eye—massively amplified, reaching dozens of times its former strength!
Uông—
Behind his head, a heavy circular wheel appeared. It was a torrent formed by nguyên khí, roaring as it revolved. The thần thức amplified by his third eye greatly accelerated the circulation of his Bá Thể Tam Đan Công, creating this phenomenon behind his head!
Tần Mục was stunned. He felt that as Bá Thể Tam Đan Công circulated, the nguyên khí in his Linh Thai Thần Tàng surged like tides, rising and falling, his nguyên khí increasing rapidly.
Not only that, the stars in the sky of his Linh Thai Thần Tàng pulsed, the Thái Cực-shaped linh đài breathed as the linh thai inhaled and exhaled, and beneath his feet, U Đô churned with ma khí, as if a giant god was breathing.
The entire linh thai was like a massive chest cavity, inhaling and exhaling.
His nguyên khí and thần thức were rapidly recovering and increasing with the circulation of Bá Thể Tam Đan Công!
Yet he could still feel this eye devouring his khí huyết and nguyên khí, just not as ferociously as before.
"This is... the function of the third eye!"
Tần Mục continued to activate Bá Thể Tam Đan Công. Slowly, a circular wheel of nguyên khí also rose behind the head of the linh thai in his thần tàng.
As his công pháp circulated, the Hồng Minh nguyên dịch formed mist, its refinement speed greatly increased, rapidly nourishing his body and restoring his khí huyết. But the newly generated khí huyết was immediately drawn away by the third eye!
In the sky, stars arrayed themselves in formation. Beneath his feet, U Đô grew even deeper, and the Thái Cực đồ-shaped linh đài also grew steadily.
After who knows how long, his nguyên khí and thần thức had recovered to their peak state, and were still increasing. But his khí huyết remained depleted!
His Linh Thai Thần Tàng was still expanding. More and more stars appeared in the sky, and the U Đô beneath his feet grew ever wider.
He had originally thought his Linh Thai Thần Tàng had reached its limit, but now, with its expansion, he realized he had far from developed all its potential.
The lake formed by Hồng Minh nguyên dịch was slowly diminishing. At this rate, the Hồng Minh nguyên dịch that he had estimated would take over a decade to fully refine would likely be completely refined within a few months!
"However, my eye has already grown out. Why does this eye still devour my khí huyết?"
Tần Mục channeled his thần thức, which surged into his brow, forming a tiny figure that flew within the third eye on his brow.
The space inside this eye was terrifyingly vast—a boundless Tần-character continent, with mountains stacked upon mountains, ridges rising and falling, forming a giant character "Tần."
This was a fragment of Thổ Bá chi giác. Viewed from afar, it was a circular continent, and it was precisely the contours of these mountains that formed the texture of his iris.
And that Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch was precisely embedded at the center of the Tần-character continent.
This thần thạch had become enormously huge, squeezing out a large chunk of the continent's center. The thần thạch was embedded in an abyss, with thần thức connecting it to the land around it like blazing chains, locking the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch in place.
Thổ Bá chi giác had formed the iris of his third eye, while the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch had formed the pupil of this eye.
His nguyên khí and thần thức flowed here like clouds moving across the Tần-character continent, causing the sky to shift and change.
This change was something Tần Mục had never anticipated, and Ngụy Tùy Phong, who had left him the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch, would never have anticipated it either.
"Is this change good or bad?"
He felt some hidden worry. His thần thức searched in all directions, and he saw his khí huyết surging forward, devoured by that Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch.
"Is it this stone that's stealing my khí huyết?"
Tần Mục's thần thức stirred and flew into this crystal.
Within the crystal, crimson light pervaded everything, making it impossible to distinguish east from west, north from south. Tần Mục's thần thức flew through the crimson light for a long time without finding the end.
He suddenly stopped, quietly sensing the direction of his khí huyết's flow, then followed it forward. After who knows how long, Tần Mục's thần thức halted. In the crimson light was a massive altar, and on the altar, flesh and blood writhed, like some enormous monster.
"It's not my third eye or the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch that's stealing my khí huyết—it's something hidden inside the stone, planning to use my khí huyết to be reborn!"
Tần Mục's heart leaped. He slowly approached, and the mass of flesh on the altar seemed to sense something, ceasing its writhing.
Tần Mục narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, the mass of flesh split apart, revealing a scarlet eye that swept its gaze around.
Tần Mục immediately dispersed his thần thức, avoiding the monster's scan. The flesh closed back up, covering the scarlet eye, and continued devouring his khí huyết.
Before the mirror in the cabin, Tần Mục's expression was grave.
Hidden within the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch that Ngụy Tùy Phong had left him was some kind of demonic monster. This monster had lain dormant within the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch, stealing his khí huyết.
"There's also an altar inside. This kind of altar is familiar—it's the prehistoric altar from the Blood Rust Zone. His goal is to steal my khí huyết on one hand, and on the other, to borrow my thần thức to reshape his physical body! So, this thing hidden in the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch should be a prehistoric Tạo Vật Chủ!"
Tần Mục made his khí huyết flow extremely steadily, so as not to alert the thing inside the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch. He thought to himself: "The Blood Rust Zone is the battlefield where the cổ thần eradicated the prehistoric Tạo Vật Chủ. This Tạo Vật Chủ was killed by the cổ thần in the Blood Rust Zone, but he didn't completely die. He must have fled with his last strength into a fragment of the shattered Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch."
He paced back and forth, deep in thought: "Đại sư huynh obtained this crystal. Because đại sư huynh was too powerful, he didn't dare cause trouble, letting đại sư huynh believe the stone was harmless, so he left it to me. But my cultivation and strength are weaker, so when I experimented with the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch, he tried to seize my khí huyết to be reborn. He was blocked by my third eye, so he couldn't succeed."
He gradually deduced the truth: "When I used the ngọc bội to separate the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch from my third eye, the stone suddenly slipped from my hand while I was off guard and struck the ngọc bội, knocking me unconscious. That must have been when this prehistoric Tạo Vật Chủ suddenly made his move!"
"He could have occupied my third eye and completely stripped me of my khí huyết, but he didn't anticipate that this ngọc bội was a seal personally refined by Thổ Bá, specifically used to seal my brother Tần Phượng Thanh, the U Đô Thần Tử."
Tần Mục's eyes gleamed with sharp light: "He struck against Thổ Bá's seal, unable to escape, so he simply settled down and secretly siphoned my khí huyết. And every time I activate Bá Thể Tam Đan Công, my thần thức flows through my third eye, passing through the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch, and he intercepts a portion of that thần thức, keeping it on the altar."
"He's building up strength, waiting to be resurrected! He must be a major figure among the prehistoric Tạo Vật Chủ, not having completely died even after all this time. If he steals enough khí huyết, combined with the miraculous effects of the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch, he truly might be able to be reborn within my eye. So then..."
Tần Mục's three eyes grew brighter and brighter: "How do I completely kill him?"
He stopped walking. Judging from how this prehistoric Tạo Vật Chủ had seized his khí huyết, even without a physical body, this person was not someone Tần Mục could contend with.
At that time, Tần Mục had been completely unable to control his own khí huyết and nguyên khí. If not for the awakening of his third eye, Tần Mục would likely have died!
But now, the Tạo Hóa Thần Thạch had fused into Tần Mục's eye, and with Thổ Bá's seal, he couldn't continue causing trouble for the moment, only able to slowly steal Tần Mục's khí huyết.
This gave Tần Mục an opportunity to deal with him.
However, dealing with this prehistoric Tạo Vật Chủ hidden in the thần thạch was truly tricky, because the thần thạch had already fused with his eye. Any slight mistake could destroy his own eye.
"I need to first control my khí huyết flow and reduce the thần thức flowing into my third eye. That way, I can stop his power from recovering."
Tần Mục thought carefully: "I also need to arrange a formation within my third eye. The Cửu Trọng Thiên Khai Nhãn Pháp that Hà gia gia taught me is no longer enough to obliterate such a terrifying existence. I need to design a new formation... This prehistoric Tạo Vật Chủ died in the Blood Rust Zone, killed by the cổ thần. So the đại đạo of the cổ thần is the best way to deal with him. First, I'll inscribe the đại đạo phù văn of the Chu Thiên Tinh Đẩu Chính Thần!"
He acted on his thoughts immediately. He sealed his khí huyết, mobilized his nguyên khí, and used it to inscribe the đại đạo phù văn of the three hundred and sixty Chính Thần of the Chu Thiên Tinh Đẩu into the pupil of his third eye!
This would not only deal with the prehistoric Tạo Vật Chủ, but also enhance the power of his third eye, turning it into his third thần nhãn!
Once this third thần nhãn's formation was activated, it could transform into the Chu Thiên Tinh Đẩu Chính Thần đại trận, capable of slaying powerful enemies with ease!
In his Linh Thai Thần Tàng, Tần Mục's nguyên khí surged mightily, driven by the linh thai like a long rainbow, charging straight into the Tần-character continent, inscribing the Tinh Đẩu Chính Thần in the sky.
As countless phù văn appeared in the sky, they gradually formed the first Tinh Đẩu Chính Thần.
At that moment, an ancient and obscure thần thức fluctuation appeared in his mind: "Hold on."