Xuan Wu True Form aside, he had cultivated the Azure Thearch Longevity Art for more than ten years and knew the art like the back of his hand. He had absorbed the Elixir Qi of over a hundred Golden Core Cultivators, enough to form a Divine Grade Golden Core.

“But it’s not enough,” Chen Fan thought.

The glowing Deity Wheel rumbled inside of his system and started moving. The Chaotic Divine Tree also started to take form. Currents of powerful True Essence coursed through his body. By then, this art alone could make him as powerful as the Ancient Demon Prince, if not more so.

However, Chen Fan was still unsatisfied.

Wood Element Essence Qi rushed toward him like a rough wave in the sea. It formed countless azure currents the size of mountain ranges. Chen Fan hacked open the sky and let all of it pour down onto him from above.

He then sat cross legged at the top of the barren mountain, just like a Divine King who lorded over the world. Around him was a sea of Essence Qi.

“Such power. Is Senior Chen going to reach the late-stage Golden Core?”

Mu Hongti widened her eyes in awe while Lin Wuhua’s face paled in fear. She had seen many overlords leveling up, but none could compare with Chen Fan.

The Essence Qi over a few hundred miles had been snatched by Chen Fan. An endless number of Spirit Wood trees and Spirit herbs suddenly wilted; their Spirit Qi was sucked by the black hole created by Chen Fan.

The development terrorized Fey Beasts, so they scrambled to get out of harm’s way. Even Mu Hongti had to back away a few hundred kilometers in order to hold her ground.

“A late-stage golden core is below him now. Master is trying to become a Heavenly Lord.”

Zhao Juexian looked up.

Of all the people present, he was the only one who had seen the ascension of a Heavenly Lord. Therefore he knew the energy had not reached climax yet. When the Thunder clouds finally rolled in, everything within a kilometer radius would be turned into ashes.

“Boom!”

When Chen Fan’s energy peaked, the three hundred and sixty orifices on Chen Fan’s body let out a humming sound. His body became more translucent and bright, like a shiny diamond illuminating the heaven above and the earth below.

However, he was still quite a ways away from reaching the second transformation of the Deity Wheel. Without any external assistance, it would take Chen Fan three more years to imprint the Azure Thearch’s True Form onto the Deity Wheel.

“Poof!”

Chen Fan fished out the Longevity Pill and swallowed it.

“Bam!”

The ground trembled as if there were an earthquake.

An unimaginable pulse of Spirit Qi exploded inside of Chen Fan. His body was close to bursting open like a balloon, having grown three meters in size. His skin cracked and the pressure inside threatened to tear it open.

Top Heavenly Pills such as the Longevity Pill needed to be used with a great measure of prudence. Better if they were taken slowly over time instead of swallowing them whole like Chen Fan had just done.

It was more than likely that Chen Fan had swallowed more than he could chew.

However, Chen Fan didn’t mind the challenge as his face became more determined.

“Boom!”

His body was still increasing size.

After a while, his body had grown to a ten meter height, and azure energy shined through the cracks formed in his skin. From those cracks, a new born baby nestled inside of Chen Fan’s Dantian could be seen.

The Longevity Pill had gathered the strength of twenty two Heavenly Medicines and the Essence Qi of over thirteen Superior-grade Golden Cores. Its power was as unstoppable as the flows of mighty rivers.

In the end, the apparition of the Chaotic Divine Tree appeared behind Chen Fan’s back.

The Chaotic Divine Tree had revealed itself again.

However, this time, the Chaotic Divine Tree was much bigger due to the surging energy.

Two thousand, three thousand… The apparition grew until it reached a nine thousand meters’ height.

How tall was nine thousand meters?

It was taller than the Himalaya Mountains. Even the State of Ancient Medicine where Spirit Wood was abundant, the tallest Spirit Wood was only one thousand meters tall. Therefore, the Chaotic Divine Tree’s behemoth frame dwarfed everything around it, making itself look like the lord of all trees.

It was also gaining more solidity by the second. It looked nearly translucent when it first appeared, but as more energy was poured into it, its leaves and branches started to look more vivid, making it look like the magical world tree from the ancient mythologies.

“Swish!”

As soon as the Chaotic Divine Tree completed its form, billions of Qi strands flew to Chen Fan and encased him inside a Qi shield made out of deadly Qi Energy. Each pulse of the Qi Energy could kill a Connate Overlord, therefore the sheer amount of Qi Energy possessed by the Chaotic Divine Tree would make it become more powerful than billions of Connate Overlords.

“Boom, boom, boom.”

As the Qi energy brushed against Chen Fan’s ruined body, it healed Chen Fan’s torn flesh and reined in the pressure inside of his body. Chen Fan’s body started to shrink.

Ten meters, nine meters, eight…

When Chen Fan finally regained his original height, his body had been covered in a golden glow, slowly replacing the former blinding Azure light.

The replacement started from his arms, then shoulders, chest and then his head.

By the end, even Chen Fan’s eyeballs had become two pools of molten gold. His body looked like it had been dipped in a pool of liquid gold. Even his hair and nails had been covered with a layer of gold. He had become the embodiment of the eternal Golden Core.

“Boom!”

Even as everyone wondered if Chen Fan was going to complete the Divine Body, Chen Fan’s body exploded, sending out a shower of golden flesh and blood.

“What… What happened?”

Lin Wuhua was stunned.

Golden Core Cultivators could reform their bodies as long as their Golden Cores remained intact. However, regeneration of their bodies required a huge amount of energy. Most cultivators would rather choose to reincarnate instead of regenerating their bodies, since regeneration could take up thousands of years.

At Chen Fan’s level, it would take him a few hundred years to fully grow his body back.

“I thought that Master had completed his Divine Body. Why did he explode?”

Even Zhao Juexian was perplexed by the turn of events.

Even as he spoke, things changed before his eyes. The golden bits and pieces of Chen Fan’s body started to merge and formed a rough shape of Chen Fan. The Chaotic Divine Tree then reached down and provided many nourishing Qi surges to Chen Fan, which mended his flesh.

The Chaotic Divine Tree was the first living being since the creation of the universe. It comprised all the elements in the world, and was able to heal wounds with ease.

Once Chen Fan’s body had been fully regrown, it would be much tougher than before.

“Boom!”

A gush of golden vitality energy poured out from Chen Fan’s body and filled up the space between heaven and earth. The energy weighed heavily on the mountains, crushing a few of them and turning them into dust.

Chen Fan’s physique was sublime. It was more robust and strong than any Golden Core body Zhao Juexian had ever seen.

Not even the top Physique Refinement master could compete against Chen Fan’s body tempering skills.

“This must be the so-called Heavenly Lord Body!” Zhao Juexian mumbled.

To his surprise, Chen Fan’s body exploded one more time with even more violence. So powerful was the explosion that it reduced his entire body, except for his head, into a pulp.

“Shoo, shoo!”

The Chaotic Divine Tree sent down more mending energy to Chen Fan’s body. Chen Fan’s body was slowly reformed.

With each completed regeneration, Chen Fan’s body gained more strength and resilience. By the end, his body had turned dark gold, and not even Zhao Juexian could imagine its strength. Zhao Juexian thought that it had to be more powerful than the undying bodies of the Heavenly Lord Essence Neonates.

When Chen Fan’s Divine Body was first formed, only Quasi-Heavenly Treasure could have injured him. However, there and then, not even Quasi-Heavenly Treasures would be able to make a dent on his skin.

Still, he wasn’t done yet.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

A fifth explosion, a sixth, a seventh…

Each time Chen Fan’s body was shattered, the Chaotic Divine Tree would bring it back. The last few explosions had disintegrated Chen Fan’s body at the molecular level.

No Golden Core Cultivators should have been able to recover from such trauma.

Their regeneration ability was limited to injuries such as decapitation. However, Chen Fan’s body had disintegrated into nothingness. The substance of his flesh had turned into trillions of particles smaller than the Essence Qi particles.

“Bam!”

Chen Fan reformed his body for the ninth time.

Countless tiny particles were gathered to form Chen Fan’s body out of thin air. His long dark hair framed his exquisite features; his muscles and bones were in perfect proportion. A subtle dark glow flowed on his skin as its color changed to azure.

He had gone a full circle, returning to where he started.

The girls were shocked beyond belief.

“So this is what an undying body looks like. Legend says that the Heavenly Lord’s body is indestructible. I finally see what that truly means. The undying body is the body of a Heavenly Lord,” Zhao Juexian murmured.

His hands shook in excitement while he locked his gaze on Chen Fan. Zhao Juexian was a peak Golden Core Cultivator, and becoming a Heavenly Lord was his only goal in life.

However, only one in a thousand golden core cultivators might be able to find the path to become a Heavenly Lord.

Zhao Juexian possessed the Sky-Swallowing Python’s bloodline, but his power was a far cry from that of the Longevity Roll elites. However, barely one or two cultivators from the longevity roll would be able to become Heavenly Lords. Zhao Juexian had never fully appreciated the extent of the Heavenly Lord’s abilities until then.

Watching Chen Fan’s ascension had elevated his own mind and brought him closer to his goal.

Meanwhile, Chen Fan looked up and gazed into the sky.

“Bam!”

Azure thunder clouds rolled in and covered the entire sky. Powerful Yi Wood Divine Thunder lurked behind the dark clouds, announcing its arrival with booming rumbles.

The Thunder Tribulation for the Deity Wheel’s second transformation was coming.

Unlike the Xuan Wu Heavenly Art, the Azure Thearch Longevity Art was a body tempering art at its core. Therefore, Chen Fan didn’t need to defeat the Chaotic Divine Tree like he did last time.

However, Chen Fan knew that this Thunder Tribulation was every bit as difficult as the previous one. He needed to infuse his body with the energy of the Thunder in accordance with the laws of the universe that created them.

“Great!”

Chen Fan burst into laughter.

He flew into the thunder clouds and allowed the endless surges of Yi Wood Lightning to lash out at him. He stood firmly in the air, surrounded by the mending energy of the Chaotic Divine Tree. His wounds were healed almost as soon as they were created.

Hardened by the Thunder Tribulation, Chen Fan’s body became even more powerful.

In the end, the azure glow diminished as his body regained a fleshy look. His blood also changed from azure to red. He had finally perfected the Azure Thearch Longevity Body. At this point in time, despite his elevated level of attainment, he was at the weakest point in his life.

Even as Lin Wuhua let out a joyful smile, a blaring noise was heard.

Crack!

A dark glinting Blade Aura sliced open the sky and hurtled toward Chen Fan.

The Blade Aura seemed to have appeared out of thin air. However, its presence immediately sent a terrifying pulse of energy ripping across space. It felt as if a Demon God had awakened.

The Blade Aura was over ten thousand meters long and it carved a great canyon on the ground.

Mountains in its path cumbled and the heavens threatened to fall from the sky.

“Swish.”

Chen Fan’s body flickered and reappeared a few miles away. However, his evasion was too late. Blood spilled out from a meter long wound on his body. The attack had cut open his flesh from his right shoulder to the left side of his abdomen, nearly severing Chen Fan into two.