Riot in the sea.

Ao Xu and others bid farewell to Chen An and Ao Qingtian.

Ao Xu bowed and smiled, "Fellow Daoist Chen, thanks to your help this time, we will meet again in the future."

Chen An responded with a smile: "The underworld has been violating our human race, and we should have killed them long ago."

Ao Qingtian also stepped forward and said, "No matter what, our dragon clan will remember this favor. If you need any help in the future, just send a message."

Chen An bowed and said, "Brother Ao, you are too kind."

After the three of them said goodbye to each other, Ao Xu led the spirit cultivators to leave first, and Ao Qingtian also said goodbye and returned to the dragon clan to protect them.

Chen An returned to Shengxian Island alone, but his mind was still full of thoughts.

He walked straight to his cave, ready to have a good rest.

However, when he was sorting out the harvest, he accidentally discovered something abnormal in the evil spirit bottle.

Chen An opened the evil spirit bottle and found that in addition to a trace of the remaining breath of Wu Shi Ming Zun, there were also two crystal clear white beads.

He was puzzled. These two beads looked extraordinary and he wondered what secret they contained.

Chen An tried to take out the two beads. As soon as he refined them, he didn't expect that they would automatically fly towards his eyes and merge into them in an instant.

A strange feeling surged in his heart, Chen An closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his eyes seemed to contain the profound power of time.

The law of time!

Chen An's heart moved, and in order to verify his guess, he looked outside the cave.

It happened that the Black-haired Hound was sparring with Zhan Qing at this time. He thought about it and tried to control time. He saw that while the two were sparring, the Black-haired Hound's movements suddenly became extremely slow, as if it was suppressed by some force.

Zhan Qing was shocked, stopped what he was doing, and asked, "Black Haired Hound, what kind of magical power do you have? Why did you suddenly slow down? Did you secretly practice some secret method?"

The black-haired hyena looked confused and answered with tears in his eyes: "What...secret...method! I...don't...know...what...is...going...to...come."

It was just a short sentence, but it took the black-haired beast quite some time to finish it, as if it was a slow-motion picture.

Chen An watched carefully from the side and was secretly delighted. This bead really gave him the power to control the laws of time.

He calmed his mind, released his suppression of the black-haired beast, and everything returned to normal.

Chen An walked out of the cave, and Zhan Qing and Zhan Jing soon arrived there.

After telling the two the news that Ming Xiu had retreated, Zhan Qing seemed particularly excited: "Brother Chen, so, can we finally return to the Lost Sea?"

Chen An nodded and said, "That's right. Most of the cultivators in the underworld have already returned to the underworld, and Ao Qingtian has also promised that the Lost Sea will belong to the mermaids from now on."

To the dragon clan, this small sea area was insignificant at all. Moreover, the Azure Dragon clan had been completely slaughtered by the Dark Cultivators, so it was empty anyway.

Zhan Qing was delighted: "This is really great news!"

Zhan Jing was delighted, but also a little reluctant: "Chen An, thank you for your help during this period. If it weren't for you, we don't know when we can go back again."

Chen An smiled and said, "You're being polite. I just did it casually."

The next morning, Zhan Qing and Zhan Jing set out with a dozen mermaid members to return to the lost sea.

Before leaving, Zhan Qing held Chen An's hand tightly and said, "Brother Chen, we will definitely come back to find you, and then we can have another fight!"

Zhan Jing also looked at Chen An affectionately: "Chen An, take care."

Looking at the group of people gradually going away, Chen An felt filled with emotion.

After seeing off Zhan Qing and Zhan Jing, Chen An turned back to Shengxian Island and began to arrange the follow-up matters.

Chen An instructed Wang Ming: "Take a few combined cultivators and take turns to guard the Xunling Sea. Although this place is relatively safe, you still cannot be careless. If there is any unusual movement, notify me immediately."

Wang Ming clasped his fists and accepted the order: "Yes, senior, rest assured, we will fulfill our duties conscientiously."

After making all the arrangements, Chen An returned to his cave and began a long period of retreat and practice.

The path of cultivation is long and arduous, especially in this world. There is no shortcut to reaching a higher level.

Chen An sat upright in the center of the cave. He took a deep breath, immersed his mind in his dantian, and began to guide the spiritual energy between heaven and earth to gather.

During the retreat, Chen An spent most of his time on condensing the Xuanming spiritual energy.

Now Chen An already possesses half a pound of Xuanming spiritual energy. If he can gather one pound, he can try to rebuild his body and make a further step forward.

He closed his eyes and devoted himself to cultivation.

Fifty years passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, Chen An came out of seclusion, looking more calm and reserved.

He came to the spiritual field on the north side of Kuxiu Mountain, which was the core area of ​​Shengxian Island, where many precious spiritual medicines and fairy trees were planted.

Chen An stepped into the spiritual field and looked around. This field was full of various spiritual plants, which emitted a faint spiritual light under the sunlight.

However, for Chen An, who has now entered the fusion stage, most of these spiritual plants are no longer the focus of his attention.

His eyes swept across these ordinary spiritual plants and finally stopped at the center of the spiritual field, where the eight spiritual treasure trees grew.

After years of cultivation, the Eight Spirit Treasure Tree has now grown into a towering tree several meters tall.

Its trunk is light golden in color, its bark is as smooth as jade, and its crown has broad, emerald green leaves that sparkle with dazzling luster.

Whenever the breeze blows, the leaves make a pleasant rustling sound, as if it is the most beautiful music in nature.

Chen An approached the Eight Spiritual Treasure Tree, reached out his hand and gently touched its trunk. He could feel abundant spiritual energy slowly flowing out from the trunk, nourishing the entire spiritual field.

The Eight Spiritual Treasure Tree can not only absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, but also transform it into more refined spiritual energy for use by the surrounding spiritual plants.

Therefore, even in this spiritual field, the spiritual plants around the Eight Spiritual Treasure Trees appear particularly lush and full of vitality.

Now, it has reached the eighth level and is only one step away from entering the ninth level.

The ninth transformation means that the immortal tree will have almost infinite vitality and have the opportunity to become a real immortal tree!

After dealing with the spiritual field, Chen An found Wang Ming and asked, "Wang Ming, how is the collection of the five elements soil going?"

Before that, he specifically instructed Wang Ming to collect the five elements of soil everywhere.

Decades have passed, and most of the spiritual field has been replaced, and only a little bit is left before it can be completely replaced with the five elements soil.

Wang Ming replied respectfully: "Senior, I have collected all the five elements of soil. I saw you coming out of retreat just now and was just about to bring it to you."

Chen An took the Five Elements Soil and nodded with satisfaction: "Very good."

After that, Chen An personally sprinkled the five elements soil evenly in a corner of the spiritual field. With the addition of the five elements soil, the originally ordinary soil underwent earth-shaking changes.

The soil became extremely fertile and exuded a faint luster, as if every grain of soil contained powerful vitality.

Chen An stood on the spiritual field, looking at the distant sky, feeling an inexplicable throbbing in his heart.

He was secretly surprised in his heart, and after a moment's silence, he turned to Wang Ming and said, "You should concentrate on your cultivation in the future, don't worry about other things, and advance to the Mahayana realm as soon as possible."

Wang Ming was delighted and quickly agreed.

Chen An knew that if Wang Ming could successfully break through to the Mahayana realm, then when he ascended to heaven in the future, the human race would also be able to gain a foothold in this world of immortal cultivation.

Of course, having only one Mahayana is far from enough for the human race.

Just as Chen An was immersed in his own thoughts, suddenly, a terrifying thunder wave came from the sky.

This wave was dozens of times stronger than the great Mahayana thunder tribulation he had experienced before. Its power was so enormous that it almost swept across the entire world of immortal cultivation.

Chen An's heart trembled, thinking to himself, such a fluctuation could only be the catastrophe of ascension!

Chen An closed his eyes and concentrated, carefully sensing the direction of the fluctuation.

Soon, he determined the source of the fluctuation, which was the direction of the dragon clan.

Chen An's heart moved. Could it be that a strong man from the dragon clan was undergoing the tribulation of ascension?
This is an extremely rare thing, because the dragon race has a relatively long lifespan, and the tribulation of ascension is extremely difficult, and generally no one will rashly go through the tribulation unless it is absolutely necessary.

But if he could witness this process with his own eyes, it would definitely be of great help to his future path to ascension.

Thinking of this, Chen An made up his mind and immediately rode the wind and flew towards the direction of the dragon clan.

This kind of opportunity is rare, and missing it may be a lifelong regret.

Chen An was moving very fast, and soon he arrived at the border area where the human and dragon races met, near the Lost Sea.

As the distance got closer, the fluctuations of the thunder became clearer and clearer.

The sky gradually became covered with dark clouds, lightning and thunder, as if the whole world was shaking because of this catastrophe of ascension.

Chen An couldn't help but speed up, but at the same time he felt a little nervous.

After all, the power of the calamity of ascension is so terrifying that even a cultivator like him may be affected if he is not careful.

Just as Chen An was flying at high speed, he suddenly noticed that the thunder tribulation in front of him had an abnormally violent fluctuation, and then the fluctuation disappeared without a trace almost instantly.

Chen An was shocked and thought to himself, "Is this a failure?"

He stopped in disbelief and quietly felt the breath in front of him.

Chen An stood in the air, looking at the scene in front of him, only to see that the originally violent thunderclouds had now dispersed, leaving only silence.

He frowned, his mind full of doubts.

It stands to reason that once the tribulation of ascension begins, it will not end easily unless the person undergoing the tribulation succeeds or fails.

But the scene before him clearly showed that this ascension calamity had ended, and it had ended in failure.

Chen An was hesitating whether to go to the dragon clan to find out what was going on. At this moment, a middle-aged cultivator flew over from a distance.

After noticing that the thunder tribulation had disappeared, he also looked at the distant sky and sighed softly: "Alas, another poor fellow who is about to die and is trying to make a last stand."

Hearing this, Chen An's heart moved slightly. He looked up at the monk and saw that he was wearing a light blue robe, with a thin face and a deep light flashing in his eyes.

He vaguely felt that this cultivator was extremely powerful, probably not inferior to Ao Qingtian.

Chen An raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said with a smile: "Even if you are a Mahayana cultivator, your life span has an end. Born between heaven and earth, you cannot escape the limitation of life span. Becoming an immortal is the only way out of cultivation."

When the middle-aged monk heard this, his eyes moved slightly, and he seemed to appreciate Chen An's insights.

He slowly said, "Daoyou is right. Lifespan is limited in this world. Only by ascending to become an immortal can one escape the suffering of reincarnation."

At this point, he paused, as if recalling something, and then continued: "I am a cultivator from the Yuanling clan, my name is Yuan Fei, what is your name?"

Chen An clasped his fists and bowed: "I am Chen An, nice to meet you, fellow Taoist."

Chen An thought to himself that the Yuanling Clan was also a powerful force in the world of immortal cultivation. They were good at controlling the spiritual energy between heaven and earth and had unique methods of cultivation, so they were quite famous in the world of immortal cultivation.

Yuan Fei nodded and continued, "Well, speaking of which, my world of immortal cultivation has not seen a successful immortal cultivator for hundreds of thousands of years. Many cultivators have spent their entire lives pursuing the illusory immortal path, but in the end they could not escape the limitations of their lifespans and turned into dust."

Chen An was shocked when he heard this. There hadn't been a successful ascending cultivator in hundreds of thousands of years. This was indeed a shocking thing.

It seems that the path to becoming an immortal is much more difficult than he had imagined.

"According to what you said, no one has successfully ascended to heaven in hundreds of thousands of years. Is it because the calamity of ascension is too powerful, or is there another reason?" Chen An asked.

Yuan Fei shook his head: "The reasons are complicated, not just the power of the Ascension Tribulation."

"In fact, as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth becomes increasingly thin, it becomes increasingly difficult for cultivators to break through to the Mahayana realm. They need to rely on external objects. Moreover, even if they reach the Mahayana realm, it is still a life-and-death struggle to survive the catastrophe of ascension."

"The most important thing is that the tribulation of ascension is not just a thunder tribulation, it is like the tribulation of the Dao heart when breaking through the Mahayana stage. The danger is far more terrifying than imagined."

Chen An listened carefully and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

The path to becoming an immortal is not just about improving your skills, but more importantly, it is about the growth of your mind.

Only by truly understanding the true meaning of cultivating immortals can one finally overcome numerous difficulties and ascend to become an immortal.

After the Yuanling cultivator Yun Yi left, Chen An returned to his cave and continued to practice with concentration.

Time flies by like a flash, and several months have passed in the blink of an eye.

One day, Chen An woke up from seclusion and suddenly heard news from outside that the second elder of the Dragon Clan had died after failing to survive the tribulation.

When Chen An heard the news, his heart sank and he shook his head secretly, feeling mixed emotions.

The second elder of the Dragon Clan was even stronger than Ao Qingtian, but even he couldn't survive the thunder tribulation.

Thinking of this, Chen An couldn't help but speed up his practice.

The road to becoming an immortal is full of variables at every step. If you want to go further on the road to ascension, you must have enough strength and make adequate preparations.

Chen An began to focus more on cultivation. He not only wanted to improve his own cultivation, but also perfect various methods to ensure that he would have enough confidence when the calamity of ascension came.

Time flies, and sixty years have passed in a swift manner.

Chen An's cultivation has improved significantly through his hard work over the years, but it is still far from enough.

At this time, he realized that the Eight Spiritual Treasure Trees in the spiritual field had matured and reached the ninth level under his careful care over the years! (End of this chapter)