Free Web NovelChapter 351: Heavenly Pillar Peak
Fang Hao wandered around in the Ancient Elephant Mountain Range for two or three more days, flying deeper until he completely felt no trace of pursuit, before stopping by a cold pool covered in thick fog.
This place was cold and damp, with fog that never dispersed year-round, and even Divine Sense was restricted.
Moreover, a fourth-order Peak Demon Beast, the "Green Water Mysterious Python," was entrenched in the cold pool, so ordinary Cultivators and Demon Beasts dared not approach, making it perfect for him to hide, lick his wounds, and digest his spoils.
He found a sheltered crevice, set up a concealment Formation, and took out several sets of Formation Flags looted from Qingfeng Stockade to set up a simple defensive and early warning Restriction before sitting down with a grimace in pain.
"Damn it, that crazy tiger really had a kick in his final counterattack." Fang Hao looked at his bloody, bone-fractured right fist and gasped.
Tiger Zhao’s final "Sea of Blood is Boundless" had power that definitely reached the Middle Nascent Soul Stage level.
If his Physical Body foundation hadn’t been ridiculously hard and protected by Chaos Qi, this arm would likely have been ruined.
He didn’t dare to neglect it, immediately taking out the best healing Medicinal Pill, taking it internally and applying it externally.
He then circulated the Chaos Derivation Art, mobilizing the faint wisp of Chaos Qi in his Dantian to slowly nourish his damaged Meridians and bones.
Chaos Qi was indeed the source of all Qi, containing infinite vitality.
Wherever it passed, his injuries recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye; broken bones were reconnected, and damaged muscle tissue grew and healed rapidly.
It took a full five days for Fang Hao’s injuries to be mostly healed.
Although his right fist still had some lingering pain, it was no longer a major issue.
He stretched his muscles and bones, feeling his spiritual power full and his blood energy vigorous—his state was even slightly better than before he was injured.
Life-and-death combat was indeed the best way to improve strength.
With his injuries healed, the next step was to check his gains and improve his strength.
He took out the ancient animal skin scroll obtained from Qingfeng Stockade again and studied it carefully.
The records on the scroll regarding the "Tian Zhu True Persons Mansion" were relatively brief, only stating that the Immortal Cave was located at the summit of Heavenly Pillar Peak, guarded by a natural Formation, and inaccessible unless one was destined or powerful.
As for the "ten-thousand-year star wood," it only mentioned that this wood might grow in the depths of the Immortal Cave, absorbing the star essence at the top of Heavenly Pillar Peak, with its specific location unknown.
"Natural Formation... destined person..." Fang Hao stroked the scroll and fell into deep thought.
None of the Immortal Caves left by ancient Cultivators were easy to deal with.
Natural Formations often borrowed the power of heaven and earth, possessing unfathomable power, and were harder to crack than man-made Formations.
As for being a "destined person," that was even more mysterious—who knew what standard True Man Tianzhu had set?
"Forget it, I’ll go take a look first. If it really doesn’t work, I’ll look for nine-leaf star grass near the Peak. If I can find it, I’ll refine the nascent soul forming pill first, and then go break into the Immortal Cave after forming my Nascent Soul; that will be safer." Fang Hao quickly made a decision.
Forming a Nascent Soul was the most direct and effective way to improve his strength, and it had the highest priority.
He took out the black iron box obtained from Tiger Zhao’s storage ring and studied it again.
The Restriction on this iron box was ten times more complex than the one in the Qingfeng Stockade treasury, layer upon layer, linked together, and faintly carried a trace of an ancient Seal aura.
Fang Hao tried to penetrate it with Chaos Spiritual Power, discovering that this Restriction not only had strong defense, but also seemed to carry some kind of backlash and self-destruct mechanism; forcefully cracking it would likely destroy what was inside.
"It seems I either need to find a specific method to crack it, or wait until my attainments in Formation Dao improve, or my cultivation becomes higher before I can open it." Fang Hao felt some regret but was not discouraged, carefully putting the iron box away.
The harder it was to open, the more precious the contents inside might be—it was worth waiting for.
Next, he began to organize the medicinal herbs.
seven-colored moon orchid and nine-leaf star grass, the two main ingredients, were ready.
The other seven main ingredients had also been prepared long ago.
As for the eighty-one supplementary ingredients, he had found seven or eight more in the Qingfeng Stockade treasury this time, and now only the last five or six were missing.
Although these were also obscure, they were not as rare as the seven-colored moon orchid and nine-leaf star grass.
Fang Hao estimated that if he tried his luck in the depths of the Ancient Elephant Mountain Range or went to a large trading market in the Eastern Region, he should be able to gather them.
"Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing." A hint of anticipation flashed in Fang Hao’s eyes.
As long as he refined the nascent soul forming pill, his confidence in breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage would greatly increase.
Finally, he took out the "remains" of the golden puppet, as well as the various Materials needed for repairs—star core, star iron, earth Dragon beast bone, iron-backed gray wolf blood essence, etc.
Looking at this pile of junk, Fang Hao sighed, but then his eyes became firm again.
"Old friend, don’t worry. After I return from Heavenly Pillar Peak and find the ten-thousand-year star wood, I will definitely find a way to fix you and make you stronger than before!"
He categorized and put away the golden puppet remains and Materials.
Repairing the golden puppet, especially performing "spirit Fusion and regeneration," was not a task that could be accomplished overnight; it required the right timing and environment, and the conditions were not yet ripe.
After doing all this, Fang Hao began to Cultivate.
The battle with Tiger Zhao gave him new insights into the application of his own power, especially the combination of the Golden Body power and Chaos Qi.
He repeatedly pondered the "Taiyi Splitting Light Sword Art," trying to fuse the sharpness and changes of the Chaos Sword Qi with his own unstoppable Fist Intent to create a killing move more suitable for himself.
Time flew by in his Cultivation, and in the blink of an eye, another half a month passed.
On this day, Fang Hao woke up from his meditation.
As his eyes opened and closed, the sharp light was contained, and his aura became increasingly deep and steady.
His injuries had completely recovered, and his cultivation had completely stabilized at the Great Perfection of Golden Core Stage, just one step away from the Nascent Soul Stage.
"It’s time to set off." Fang Hao stood up, removed the Formation Restriction, and walked out of the crevice.
Outside, thick fog still filled the air, and the cold pool was calm and motionless.
The Green Water Mysterious Python seemed to sense Fang Hao leaving, quietly poking its head out from the bottom of the water.
Its cold vertical pupils took a glance at his back before slowly sinking back down.
Fang Hao identified the direction and summoned the azure spirit boat.
However, he did not fly too high, but instead skimmed along the treetops, flying quietly toward the highest and most conspicuous mountain Peak in the depths of the Ancient Elephant Mountain Range, which looked like a jade pillar supporting the sky—Heavenly Pillar Peak.
With Tiger Zhao’s detailed map, Fang Hao avoided several dangerous areas marked with powerful Demon Beasts.
Although he encountered attacks from some blind Demon Beasts on the way, they were all easily dealt with by him.
His aura became increasingly refined, and his actions became more ruthless and decisive.
In this barbaric mountain range where the weak are prey to the strong, being kind to enemies was being cruel to oneself.
The closer he got to Heavenly Pillar Peak, the more Fang Hao could feel the difference in this place.
The Spiritual Qi in the air seemed purer, but also thinner, carrying a piercing chill.
The surrounding mountain Peaks were also becoming increasingly steep, with jagged rocks and sparse vegetation.
Looking up, Heavenly Pillar Peak towered into the clouds, its upper half completely covered by white snow and dense clouds, as if it were truly connecting to the sky.
After flying for another day, Fang Hao finally arrived at the foot of Heavenly Pillar Peak.
Looking up from here, he could feel the majesty and oppressive feeling of this mountain even more.
The mountain was steep, almost vertical, and the rocks presented a cold, cyan-black color, covered with thick ice and snow.
Piercing gale winds swept past like knives, making wailing screams.
"What a Heavenly Pillar Peak!" Fang Hao put away the azure spirit boat and switched to climbing on foot.
Flying in this kind of place made him too big of a target, and the gale winds were fierce, causing massive consumption.
He circulated his spiritual power to protect his body and began to climb up along the steep mountain wall.
The higher he went, the lower the temperature, and the fiercer the gale winds.
Fine ice crystals began to appear in the air, hitting his protective spiritual light and making pattering sounds.
Ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators would likely be frozen stiff or blown off by the gale winds before they could even climb halfway up.
Fang Hao’s Physical Body was powerful, so this severe cold and gale wind had limited impact on him.
He used his hands and feet, climbing on the steep ice rocks like a spirit ape, his speed not slow.
After climbing for about two hours, he had already passed the snow line.
Everything around was white, and the cold wind whistled.
Fang Hao found a sheltered ice crevice to rest for a while.
He took out the map to compare.
According to the records on the scroll, the entrance to the Tian Zhu True Persons Mansion should be on an ice-covered platform near the summit.
After resting for a moment, Fang Hao continued upward.
After climbing for about another hour, a relatively flat, huge platform covered by thick ice appeared ahead.
The platform was about a hundred zhang in radius, located on the side of the main Peak, as if it had been forcefully cut out by something.
"This is it!" Fang Hao’s spirits lifted, and he accelerated.
When he stepped onto the platform, he immediately felt an unusual aura.
The Spiritual Qi here was richer than below and seemed to carry a trace of faint Power of the Stars.
At the end of the platform was a steep ice wall, smooth as a mirror, reflecting the cold sky light.
Fang Hao walked to the ice wall and observed carefully.
The ice wall was seamless, showing no traces of manual excavation, nor any signs of Formation fluctuations.
"Could the records be wrong? Or does it need a special method to open?" Fang Hao frowned slightly.
He tried to probe the inside of the ice wall with his Divine Sense, but found that his Divine Sense was blocked by an invisible force and could not penetrate it.
He tried to inject spiritual power into the ice wall, but the ice wall did not react.
He knocked on it with his fist, and it made a dull sound, extremely hard.
"That shouldn’t be..." Fang Hao rubbed his chin and walked around the platform.
Suddenly, his gaze narrowed and fell on the center of the platform.
There, the ice layer seemed slightly thinner than the surroundings, and he could vaguely see some blurry patterns under the ice.
Fang Hao walked over, brushed away the floating snow on the surface, and looked carefully.
He saw that under the ice layer, there was vaguely a circular pattern, and in the center of the pattern, there were a few grooves arranged in a specific shape.
"This is... a Formation base?" Fang Hao squatted down and observed the grooves carefully.
The shape of the grooves was very strange, not like ordinary Spirit Stone slots.
His heart stirred, and he took out the pitch-black token, neither gold nor jade, which he had obtained from the Qingfeng Stockade treasury, from his storage ring.
He carefully placed the token into one of the grooves.
It fit perfectly!
Immediately after, Fang Hao felt the token vibrate slightly, and the circular pattern under the ice layer suddenly lit up with faint starlight!
An ancient and profound aura permeated from the depths of the ice wall.
"It really needed a key!" Fang Hao was overjoyed.
This black token was actually the key to opening the Tian Zhu True Persons Mansion!
He hurriedly checked the other grooves and found that there were five grooves in total.
Except for the one where he inserted the token, the other four were empty.
"Could it be... that I need to collect five tokens to fully open the Immortal Cave?" Fang Hao’s heart sank.
This was troublesome; heaven knows where the other four tokens were.
Just as he was deep in thought, the glowing circular pattern became brighter and brighter, the ice wall began to vibrate slightly, and fine cracks appeared on the ice layer on its surface.
"Crack... crack..."
The cracks became more numerous, spreading like spider webs.
Suddenly, with a loud "boom," the ice wall suddenly caved inward, revealing a pitch-black entrance that only allowed one person to pass!
A more pure Spiritual Qi, carrying rich Power of the Stars and the aura of ancient dust, gushed out from the entrance!
"It opened?!" Fang Hao was both surprised and happy.
It seems that one token, although it couldn’t fully open the Immortal Cave, was enough to open a temporary entrance!
He didn’t hesitate anymore, took back the token, flashed his figure, and rushed into the pitch-black entrance.
Shortly after he entered the entrance, the cracks on the ice wall began to close slowly, and the entrance also shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye.
A few breaths later, the ice wall returned to its original state, smooth as a mirror, as if everything just now had never happened.
Only the faint starlight aura remaining on the platform proved the extraordinariness of this place.
And at this moment, Fang Hao was already in a narrow, downward-sloping ice path.
The surroundings were chilling, and some strange Ore that could spontaneously emit light were embedded in the ice wall, providing faint light.
The passage led all the way down, not knowing where it led.
Fang Hao gathered all his focus, released his Divine Sense, and carefully explored down along the ice path.
Tian Zhu True Persons Mansion, I am here!
ten-thousand-year star wood, I am determined to get you.
