The four slots for the Greatlaw Gold Pond were finally confirmed.
This was because among the original Four Great Commanders, only Xu Qing and Zhou Yue remained. Even if Liu Bai was added, that made only three. The fourth person to stand out was unexpectedly not a commander under any of the Kings, but Fang Lei, the Lord of Lion-Tiger Mountain under the Great Heavenlaw Domain.
Fang Lei was a tall, powerfully built middle-aged man. His aura had already reached the late stage of a First-Grade Sovereign, not inferior to Cao Feng in the slightest. The Lion-Tiger Mountain he controlled was also a land of treasures, no worse than those major cities.
In the Great Heavenlaw Domain, Fang Lei was a well-known figure. Many of the Kings had extended invitations to recruit him, but he had refused them all. He was considered a direct subordinate force of the Great Heavenlaw Domain, comparable in status to the Kings themselves.
As the atmosphere on the Greatlaw GoldPond Platform gradually quieted down, high in the sky, the Sky Vulture Emperor exchanged a glance with the other two Emperors. Then, his aged and deep voice resounded across heaven and earth.
"The final four slots for the Greatlaw Gold Pond have been determined. Now, receive the Golden Talismans."
"Asura Hall, Xu Qing!"
At the Sky Vulture Emperor's shout, Xu Qing stepped forward calmly. A beam of golden light descended from the sky and condensed into a Golden Talisman that landed in his hand.
"Mountain Splitting Palace, Zhou Yue!"
Zhou Yue likewise stepped forward and received his own Golden Talisman.
"Nine Nether Palace, Liu Bai!"
The Sky Vulture Emperor's gaze fell upon Liu Bai, and a faint smile seemed to appear on his aged face.
This seemingly ordinary scene caused the hearts of all the Kings present to stir. Meanwhile, the Blood Hawk King's expression grew even darker.
Liu Bai stepped forward as golden light gathered, finally condensing into a Golden Talisman in his palm. The moment it entered his hand, a peculiar fluctuation spread out, and the source of that fluctuation seemed to be located at the mountaintop.
That was precisely where the Greatlaw Gold Pond was located.
"Lion-Tiger Mountain, Fang Lei!"
Fang Lei, the last to be called, walked forward with visible excitement, raising hands that trembled slightly from emotion.
"From this moment on, the four of them will be the new Four Great Commanders of our Great Heavenlaw Domain!"
Among the four, Xu Qing and Zhou Yue were old faces, while Liu Bai and Fang Lei were newcomers. Moreover, Fang Lei was not a commander under any King, which made the title of "Four Great Commanders" somewhat unworthy of its name.
"Fang Lei, I can give you an opportunity now. You may choose to join under any one of the Nine Kings, or you may maintain your current status—but in that case, the title of one of the Four Great Commanders cannot be given to you."
Suddenly, the Spiritual Pupil Emperor spoke.
As soon as these words were spoken, many of the Kings present lit up with interest.
They had all personally witnessed Fang Lei's strength. If he could be taken in as a subordinate, he would undoubtedly be a formidable asset.
Especially the Blood Hawk King—both of his top commanders had already died at Liu Bai's hands, and the remaining ones were hardly worth mentioning. If he could recruit Fang Lei, the strength of the Blood Hawk Palace could still be preserved at seventy to eighty percent.
As the person concerned, Fang Lei's expression changed upon hearing this.
To be honest, he did not care much about the title of "Four Great Commanders," nor did he wish to become a subordinate of any King.
But now that one of the Three Emperors, the Spiritual Pupil Emperor, had personally spoken, he effectively had only one choice…
Fang Lei wore a contemplative expression, while his mind raced as he considered how he should choose.
In the end, an image suddenly surfaced in his mind—Liu Bai's decisive and ruthless demeanor in battle. His eyes immediately lit up.
"My lords, I wish to join Nine Nether Palace. I wonder if Nine Nether King would be willing to accept me."
As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the Kings instantly became colorful. The Blood Hawk King, in particular, felt both ashamed and furious—he had just been about to speak and invite Fang Lei, yet Fang Lei had already chosen Nine Nether Palace.
Even Jiu You herself was momentarily stunned. However, she immediately rose from her throne with a broad smile, looked at Fang Lei, and said:
"Nine Nether Palace is more than willing to accept your joining. From today onward, you will be the second commander of my Nine Nether Palace!"
Jiu You was well aware of the strength of Lion-Tiger Mountain. With Fang Lei, not only would Nine Nether Palace gain a powerful commander, but it might also quickly assemble a force of a thousand Nine Nether Guards.
After all, Fang Lei also commanded an elite guard force of his own!
"Hehe, since Fang Lei has made his choice and Nine Nether King has agreed, then this matter is settled."
The Sky Vulture Emperor even revealed a clear smile as he delivered the final verdict with a single sentence.
A trace of gloom flashed deep within the Spiritual Pupil Emperor's eyes, but he did not speak again.
"Alright. Now, you may ascend the peak!"
With the Sky Vulture Emperor's words, Liu Bai and the other three transformed into streams of light and shot toward the summit.
Rumble!
The golden torrent was terrifyingly violent, yet when it encountered Liu Bai and the others, it completely parted around them. Liu Bai raised his eyebrows slightly, then looked down at the Golden Talisman in his hand.
At this moment, the Golden Talisman was emitting a spiritual glow. Whenever the torrent encountered this glow, it was as though waves were being split apart, forcibly divided.
"Quite interesting…"
Liu Bai smiled faintly. The Golden Talisman and the torrent clearly originated from the same source—most likely the handiwork of the Great Heavenlaw Domain Lord.
The so-called Greatlaw Gold Pond truly resembled a lake condensed from molten golden liquid. The thick, viscous pool water churned endlessly. From time to time, golden bubbles slowly rose to the surface, only to burst and at that instant, golden torrents swept outward.
"The Greatlaw Gold Pond has already been opened. Each of you may enter it. The pool water within weighs tens of millions of jin. The deeper you go, the more terrifying the pressure becomes, so do not force your way through recklessly, or you will reap bitter consequences."
"As for whether you can cultivate the legendary Daluo Golden Body within it, that will depend on your own fate. Do not force it."
When Liu Bai and the others appeared beside the Greatlaw Gold Pond, the Sky Vulture Emperor's deep, resonant voice rolled down from the sky like muffled thunder.
The four of them nodded in acknowledgment.
In the next moment, Liu Bai nodded to the other three. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he pushed off with his foot, his body transforming into a stream of light as he plunged straight into the Greatlaw Gold Pond.
Golden light instantly filled his vision. Immediately after, Liu Bai felt a terrifying force surge in from all directions, as if it were trying to crush him into fragments.
Liu Bai frowned slightly. A layer of white jade–like radiance spilled out from his body, isolating the golden energy and reducing the pressure exerted by the pond water on his body.
The energy of the Greatlaw Gold Pond possessed an extremely powerful tempering effect on Sovereign Celestial Bodies. However, precisely because of this, it offered no benefit to a cultivator's physical body. The energy was simply too violent. Even someone who had cultivated a specialized body-refining divine art such as the Thunder God Body would be unable to withstand its erosion. In the end, it would only result in futile depletion of physical energy, potentially leading to irreparable consequences due to excessive consumption.
For people like Xu Qing and the others, after descending only about a hundred zhang, they were forced to manifest their Sovereign Celestial Bodies to continue. Liu Bai, protected by the white jade spiritual radiance of his Ice Muscle Jade Bones, managed to descend roughly three hundred zhang before he, too, could no longer endure it. At that point, he summoned his Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body, after which he began descending at an astonishing speed.
The so-called Greatlaw Golden Body was formed precisely by using the unique energy of the Greatlaw Gold Pond to continuously temper one's Celestial Body, making it increasingly condensed. After all, a Sovereign expert's Celestial Body was a concentration of energy—the more solid it was, the greater its combat strength.
The instant the golden energy came into contact with Liu Bai's Sovereign Celestial Body, he was startled to discover that the Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body emitted a faint humming sound, almost as if it were expressing delight. It was like a starving man encountering exquisite food, greedily devouring and absorbing the energy.
Strands of golden light drifted across the surface of the Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body as it frantically absorbed the energy.
Since this was not a combat state, Liu Bai's Celestial Body remained at its normal size—around a hundred zhang—rather than expanding to its extreme thousand-zhang height. Otherwise, more than half of it would still have been exposed outside the Greatlaw Gold Pond.
Liu Bai continued descending while simultaneously sensing the pressure surrounding him.
Although his objective for entering the Greatlaw Gold Pond was not solely to obtain the Greatlaw Golden Body, at the very least, he still had to act within his limits.
When he reached a depth of roughly a thousand zhang, Liu Bai once again felt the terrifying pressure transmitted by the golden pond water. He immediately stopped descending, crossed his legs, and sat down, beginning to control his Celestial Body to rapidly absorb the surrounding pond energy.
If an ordinary Sovereign Celestial Body absorbed the pond energy like a silkworm nibbling at leaves, then Liu Bai's Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body was devouring it like a whale swallowing the sea.
Liu Bai controlled the Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body to form hand seals before its chest. Immediately afterward, the five different divine mask aspects simultaneously opened their mouths and inhaled—
Five golden torrents suddenly surged up from the depths of the pond, rushing violently before being swallowed into the opened mouths.
However, this energy was not absorbed directly. Instead, it was refined and fused by the divine mask aspects, transforming into a gentler golden energy before merging into the Celestial Body itself.
As this process continued, the originally pale purple Sovereign Celestial Body began to display faint streaks of golden light. These streaks gradually intensified, until eventually, the entire Celestial Body transformed into a purple-gold hue.
At the same time, above Gold Pond Peak, the Three Emperors stared solemnly at the four golden talismans floating before them.
These four talismans were linked to the golden talismans held by Liu Bai and the others, allowing mutual sensing.
At this moment, all four talismans were radiating golden light, and that radiance was steadily intensifying.
Generally speaking, the deeper one descended into the Greatlaw Gold Pond, and the more pond energy one absorbed, the brighter the golden talisman would shine. Thus, the Three Emperors could determine the positions of the four below based on this.
"It seems this generation's Four Great Commanders are somewhat stronger than those before them. Their current positions should be between five hundred and a thousand zhang," the Heavenly Vulture Emperor said with a smile as he observed the light.
The Spirit Eye Emperor remained silent, while the Sleep Emperor frowned slightly, seemingly dissatisfied with this level of achievement.
"Could it be that once again, no one will be able to touch the Golden Body?"
At this depth, it was impossible to condense a Greatlaw Golden Body.
The Heavenly Vulture Emperor fell silent for a moment before saying, "There is still a chance. That Liu Bai should currently be at the thousand-zhang threshold. Perhaps after further tempering, he will continue…"
Before he could finish speaking, one of the four golden talismans suddenly erupted with dazzling brilliance. Golden radiance surged outward, completely overwhelming the light of the other three talismans.
The Heavenly Vulture Emperor immediately fell silent, and all three turned their gazes toward the suddenly erupting talisman.
"This depth has already exceeded fifteen hundred zhang!" the Sleep Emperor said with a smile. "Heh, not bad. It seems there really is a chance this time…"
The Spirit Eye Emperor nodded slightly but still said, "Liu Bai was already quite strong to begin with. Coupled with that strange Celestial Body of his, his limit is likely around two thousand zhang. But whether he can truly condense the Greatlaw Golden Body will still depend on fate…"
This assessment was indeed correct. At this moment, Liu Bai—who had reached two thousand zhang—felt his entire body submerged in horrifying pressure. Even his Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body had been compressed to only ten zhang in size. Any further expansion risked complete collapse.
"I was a bit too hasty… I should have tempered it longer above," Liu Bai thought to himself.
With his Celestial Body reduced in size, the immense pressure penetrated through it and fell directly upon his own body. Drops of blood were squeezed out from his pores, an indescribably agonizing sensation.
However, Liu Bai had no intention of retreating. Instead, he directly controlled his Celestial Body to frantically absorb the even more viscous Greatlaw Gold Pond energy around him.
At this moment, the energy here was at least a hundred times more concentrated than before. Only now did Liu Bai truly understand why it was impossible to condense a genuine Greatlaw Golden Body without reaching such depths.
The difference in energy density was simply too vast.
Unlike Mu Chen in the original canon—whose Greatlaw Golden Body manifested as eight fully formed golden dragons—Liu Bai's Celestial Body never produced golden snakes, pythons, or dragons from beginning to end. It was merely a transformation in color.
However, after the Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body turned golden, its original mysterious and profound aura weakened somewhat, replaced instead by overwhelming nobility and majesty. At a glance, it resembled a colossal golden Buddha.
As the tempering continued, the Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body nearly transformed into a Five-Faced Buddha. Golden radiance enveloped it entirely, resembling descending Buddha light, forcibly pushing away the dense pond water for a hundred zhang around it.
At this time, the Celestial Body had recovered to a size of several hundred zhang. Its overwhelming presence stirred the deep pond waters, churning up countless layers of golden silt from the bottom.
In the next instant, that silt pierced straight through the hundred-zhang golden radiance and rapidly coated the Five Spirits Divine Celestial Body. Liu Bai then heard sizzling sounds—
His Celestial Body was rapidly melting upon contact with the silt.
"Damn it!"
Liu Bai couldn't help but curse aloud.
The pain from the dissolution of the Celestial Body was transmitted directly to him.
In that instant, Liu Bai felt like an ordinary person who had jumped into molten lava, on the verge of being burned to ashes.
At the critical moment, a jade-white radiance burst forth from within his body, instantly pulling him out of the sea of fire.
..
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