Heiyan nearly tripped over his own feet upon hearing her words. He swallowed hard and said, "Mistress, unless we dismantle the immortal array... but this is an immortal-grade formation. None of us have the skill for that!"
Hearing this, Chize chimed in, "It can be deactivated. That way, the consumption of immortal stones will be minimized."
Li Xue realized that was their only option. Immortal stones were far too conspicuous in the cultivation world; otherwise, she truly would have wanted to dismantle it. They had already used up more than half of their mid-grade spirit stones during the starry realm transport, and their reserves were running low.
Seeing the expression on his mother’s face, Li Lin knew exactly what she was thinking. He comforted her, "Mother, we have already arrived at Jinming Star. Once we reach a market, we can simply exchange medicinal pills for spirit stones."
Li Xue conceded the point and stopped fretting over the immortal array. The group then returned together to the Dream Realm.
The moment Ling Xiaoyin saw the Dream Realm, she fell in love with it. She ran joyfully into the spirit herb fields, staring in wonder at the ten-thousand-year-old herbs. As a spirit plant who had gained sentience, she was a natural-born manager for medicinal herbs; leaving the fields in her care was a perfect fit.
Chize dove into the lake, swimming with immense delight. When he eventually came ashore and approached Li Xue, he said happily, "Master, the spiritual energy here is perfect for our cultivation. Within a month, I will be able to take human form!" Li Xue was pleased to hear this, curious to see what Chize would look like after his transformation.
One day, dark clouds gathered heavily in the sky. Bolts of lightning suddenly intensified, surging downward with Chize as their target.
Chize had long been waiting in mid-air for the lightning to arrive. A flash of red light erupted from his body as he met the lightning head-on. The moment the bolt touched the red light, it vanished into nothingness.
"That... that easily?" Li Xue found it hard to believe. She remembered her own Golden Core lightning tribulation, where she had struggled even while using magic treasures for protection.
"Chize inherently possesses the lightning attribute and carries a divine bloodline. Furthermore, he is within an immortal array. It is inevitable that he can withstand it," Heiyan said enviously.
"Does that mean the lightning is like a tonic to him?!" Li Xue was also struck with admiration.
Soon after, the second bolt of lightning gathered its power and struck. Chize’s red light flared even brighter, colliding with the incoming bolt. The sound of crackling electricity echoed through the valley. The second bolt of lightning visibly dissipated at a speed discernible to the naked eye.
"This is too monstrous," everyone lamented simultaneously. This lightning tribulation was clearly just delivering supplements to Chize.
The dark clouds in the sky grew even denser. They seemed infuriated by the fate of the first two bolts. Once enough power had accumulated, a pressure three times stronger than the previous bolts bore down.
Chize did not dare to be careless. He unfurled his body and spiraled upward, as layers of crimson light enveloped him. The sound of thunderous crackling rang out. As the onlookers focused their gaze, they saw that Chize was now wreathed in crimson lightning.
At that moment, the third bolt struck. The brilliant white lightning collided with the crimson lightning, resulting in another deafening roar. The two types of lightning intertwined, locked in a fierce struggle. Finally, the crimson lightning gained the upper hand, and the third bolt vanished without a trace.
Just as Chize was waiting for the fourth bolt to descend, the dark clouds in the sky began to disperse. Moments later, the sky was blue and the world was bright.
Everyone was stunned. A transformation tribulation usually consisted of five bolts. There were still two left—how could they just disappear? Had the tribulation... been scared away?
Chize stared at the sky with a look of utter dejection. Clearly, he hadn't expected the lightning tribulation to run off on its own either.
In truth, he had found the third bolt somewhat taxing and had been prepared to use magic treasures to resist the rest, only to find that the tribulation had fled.
Seeing the others approach, he could only fly down helplessly.
"Congratulations, Chize!" everyone offered their well-wishes.
"Sigh, I originally wanted to transform under the lightning tribulation. It seems I’ll have to go into secluded meditation for a while instead," Chize said resignedly.
"Well, it just shows how powerful Lord Chize is! Seclusion is better than being struck by lightning anyway!" Ling Xiaoyin said admiringly.
"Mm, Xiaoyin is right." Chize gently tapped Xiaoyin’s leaves with his claw, a gesture akin to patting her on the head.
A month later, Chize emerged from his seclusion. He had transformed into a youth dressed in red, with a handsome face and a tall, upright posture—a veritable "super shota." Li Xue couldn't help but sigh; it seemed that spirit beasts always became beauties after transforming.
In truth, Li Xue and Li Lin had a purpose for lingering at Chize Mountain. Firstly, this was one of the largest mountain ranges on Jinming Star—the depths of the Northern Mongol Mountains—and it teemed with various spirit herbs. Since both Li Xue and Li Lin were alchemists, they took full advantage of Ling Xiaoyin’s help to harvest extensively, transplanting one or two specimens of every species they found into the Dream Realm.
Secondly, the Golden Ape King on the nearby Golden Ape Mountain brewed a spirit wine famous throughout the cultivation world. Having come all this way, it would be a loss not to exchange for some.
Furthermore, the metal-attribute materials required for Xiaoyin’s transformation needed to be obtained from the Golden Ape King.
Speaking of Xiaoyin’s transformation, both Li Xue and Li Lin had their eyes opened. The cultivation technique the Luo Heaven Immortal Bai Yixing had gifted to Ling Xiaoyin was called the *Jade Heart Art*. It was a technique created by Ye Wuchen, the Palace Master of the Hundred Flowers Palace in the Immortal Realm. Ye Wuchen had once undergone seven cycles of reincarnation; in his seventh life, he was reborn as a Gentleman’s Lotus, and it was by practicing the *Jade Heart Art* that he ascended.
The *Jade Heart Art* consisted of three stages. The first was the Mortal Stage, divided into ten levels corresponding to the realms of human cultivation. The second was the Immortal Refinement Stage, divided into five levels based on immortal realms. The third was the Divine Refinement Stage, divided into five levels based on the realms of gods. Thus, the *Jade Heart Art* was also known as the *Jade Heart Divine Art*. It was created by the Flower God and had somehow drifted down to the lower realms where Ye Wuchen discovered it.
The *Jade Heart Art* allowed for transformation as early as the second level of the first stage. This kind of divine ability was truly heaven-defying. It utilized the essence of the five elements to condense a vessel—such as a physical body—and then fused one's original form with it to achieve transformation.
The result was almost identical to a transformation achieved through a lightning tribulation, though the resulting cultivation level differed. A transformation at the second level resulted in a second-level cultivation, whereas a transformation tribulation typically elevated one from the third rank to the fourth.
This method had one flaw: one could only transform into a single form. Aside from reverting to one's original plant form, whatever physical body was condensed would be the only form available thereafter. Furthermore, a drop of essence blood from that specific race was required.
Zi Huang couldn't help but speak up first. "Xiaoyin, are you certain you want to condense a human body?" Zi Feng and Zi Huang had only recently emerged from their own seclusion.
"Yes, human bodies are so wonderful!" Xiaoyin replied.
"What’s so good about a human body? You should consider our Dragon race; our physical bodies are the strongest and most resilient!" Chize suggested.
Zi Feng also chimed in, "Actually, the Phoenix race of the God Realm is the most beautiful!"
"Stop, stop!" Li Xue hurriedly interrupted the spirit beasts. "We are in the cultivation world, and we still have a long time to cultivate before we can ascend, right? In the cultivation world, which race has the most cultivators? Isn't it the humans?"
