Five years passed.
A thunderous roar, like a surging celestial river, erupted from Ning Fa's body.
Simultaneously, his entire form was enveloped in dark, profound lightning, exuding an aura of extreme yin, chilling cold, and ultimate gentleness.
Within Ning Fa's kidneys, a space had been carved out, revealing a black lake. The water in this lake was pure Supreme Water Divine Thunder.
With this, Ning Fa's fourth Innate Divine Thunder Sea Treasury was finally opened, leaving only the Supreme Earth Divine Thunder yet to advance.
However, advancing the Supreme Earth Divine Thunder to the Innate realm was far from easy.
This was because the Five Phases True Origin flowing from the pottery teapot was not evenly distributed; some elemental attributes were abundant, while others were scarce. The Water Phase True Origin was the most plentiful, followed by Metal and Wood. Fire and Earth Phase True Origins were the least.
In fact, within the Five Spirits Sea, the Spirit Abysses of Fire and Earth were also the scarcest, which likely explained the situation.
Ning Fa's foundation for the Supreme Earth Divine Thunder was already the weakest, which was why the opening of its Sea Treasury was progressing so much slower.
Eventually, the Earth Phase True Origin in the pool was completely absorbed by Ning Fa. He could only wait for the pottery teapot above to release more Earth Phase True Origin.
Ning Fa decided to temporarily halt his cultivation of the Supreme Earth Divine Thunder and instead focus entirely on the Body Cultivator section of the Ancient Source Thunder Scripture, as well as the Divine Firmament Manifestation and the Moon God Art.
He intended to use this time to cultivate all three to the peak of their current realms.
This would undoubtedly provide significant assistance when he eventually broke through to the Spirit Transformation realm, and after the breakthrough, it should yield greater feedback from the laws of the world.
Furthermore, he still possessed the Fifth-grade Thunder Roar Beast Heart obtained from Zhu Yan. By using the Essence Devour Divine Ability to consume this heart, he should be able to fully mature the Qi Fruit he possessed. This was also crucial for improving his Body Cultivator realm and cultivating the Divine Firmament Manifestation.
Thinking of Zhu Yan, Ning Fa couldn't help but sigh again.
Just then, Ning Fa sensed something and jumped back into the pool. After a moment of searching, he held several stones of varying sizes.
These stones were white, cyan, black, crimson, and yellow, respectively, emitting layers of halos. Within them, countless tiny runes flickered in and out of existence.
Ning Fa felt an extremely pure Five Elements power emanating from them, and his expression shifted to one of awe.
After examining them closely, he murmured, "Could these be crystal cores formed from the Five Phases True Origin?"
Ning Fa's speculation was not unfounded. Given how long this pool of Five Phases True Origin had existed, it was plausible for crystal cores to form. Moreover, the concentration of spiritual energy they contained far surpassed that of ordinary Five Phases True Origin liquid.
Ning Fa's face lit up with joy, as the effect of these True Origin Crystal Cores might even surpass that of Top-grade Spirit Stones.
He immediately began searching the bottom of the round pool. Before long, a small pile of True Origin Crystal Cores, shimmering with various spiritual lights, had accumulated by the edge of the pool, numbering over two hundred.
Seeing these crystal cores, Ning Fa seemed to recall something, his eyes brightening slightly.
With a thought, a clear sword cry echoed, and five lightning swords flew out from his body, trembling slightly—these were his Natal Magic Treasure, the Heaven-Shattering Sword.
The Heaven-Shattering Sword had originally been forged with the Illusory Spirit Five Elements Jade Embryo as the primary material. This precious spiritual material was something he and Huangfu Ziyue had stolen together from Hidden Dragon Island of the Ascension Alliance.
While this spiritual item was quite valuable even to Nascent Soul cultivators, it wasn't truly top-tier.
Therefore, the Heaven-Shattering Sword itself was not even a Spirit Treasure; its power only rivaled that of a Spirit Treasure due to Ning Fa's Five Elements Thunder Body nurturing and enhancing it.
Ning Fa had long wanted to upgrade this Natal Magic Treasure into a true Spirit Treasure. However, he believed in being uncompromising when it came to upgrades. It had to be forged with high-grade Fifth-grade Spiritual Material as the primary material, and it had to possess all five elemental attributes. Such materials were difficult to find, so he had put the matter aside for the time being.
Now, these True Origin Crystal Cores were the most premium artifact refining materials for him, and they were perfectly suited.
By forging them anew with these as the primary material, the Heaven-Shattering Sword could at least reach the level of a high-grade or even top-grade Spirit Treasure. Coupled with the enhancement from his Five Elements Thunder Body, the Heaven-Shattering Sword could completely contend with ordinary Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasures.
With this thought, Ning Fa felt that the Origin Points he had paid to the Heavenly Book were well worth it.
He immediately set to work. Over the next year, he dissolved the five Heaven-Shattering Swords.
Concurrently, he kept only a small portion of these True Origin Crystal Cores. The rest were all extracted into a viscous liquid according to the requirements of the "Five Qi Returning Origin Sword Canon."
Another year passed, and he reforged the sword embryos of the five Heaven-Shattering Swords. He then directly inhaled the sword embryos into his abdomen.
From now on, they only needed to be nurtured by the Five Elements Divine Thunder within his body.
Having accomplished this, Ning Fa let out a light sigh. After a brief period of recuperation, he resumed his cultivation.
Time flew by in cultivation. This time, a full sixty years passed.
The dazzling lightning surrounding Ning Fa slowly receded, revealing his form once more.
He opened his eyes, a flash of electricity streaking through them as if the void itself had sparked. Streams of five-colored lightning flowed around his body like torrents.
At this moment, he exuded a powerful aura capable of shattering mountains and cleaving seas, far stronger than his previous peak.
Through sixty years of arduous cultivation, combined with the abundance of Five Phases True Origin and numerous other precious cultivation resources, he had finally reached the peak of the Nascent Soul realm.
His mana, spiritual sense, and physical strength had all reached their zenith.
Furthermore, his Divine Firmament Manifestation had also reached the peak of the First Transformation, just one step away from the Second Transformation. Similarly, his Moon God Heart had reached the peak of the Moon Soul Crystal Core stage.
He was now in a state of power far exceeding anything before.
Ning Fa had no doubt that if he were to face a true Spirit Transformation cultivator now, he would not be at a disadvantage, even without using the True Form Imprint or other life-saving techniques.
Everything was now in place for him to attempt the breakthrough to the Spirit Transformation realm; only one step remained.
That step was the Supreme Earth Divine Thunder, which needed to have its Sea Treasury opened and advance to the Innate realm.
With this thought, Ning Fa looked towards the round pool not far away. After such a long time, a considerable amount of Earth Phase True Origin had accumulated in the pool, which should be sufficient.
At this moment, a faint light flashed in Ning Fa's eyes.
Another sixty years passed. His connection with Lan Dian and Baili Ming remained intact, as did his bloodline connection with Ning An and Le'er. This brought him a measure of relief.
He didn't think any further and jumped back into the circular pool, preparing to cross the final threshold to Spirit Transformation.
Another twenty years passed.
On this day, bright yellow lightning began to surge around Ning Fa's body, covering him.
At this moment, within his spleen, a mysterious space appeared internally. In this space, endless bright yellow lightning gradually formed a majestic, unmoving Spirit Mountain, exuding a heavy and ancient aura.
With this, Ning Fa's last Innate Divine Thunder Sea of Lightning Divine Treasury was successfully opened.
Ning Fa slowly opened his eyes, a strange look within them. He murmured, "It's finally come to this..."
He spread his hands, and streams of lightning emerged, gradually forming visions of white swords, black rivers, crimson flames, and yellow peaks around him.
These five Divine Thunder visions spun around him, and Ning Fa's aura grew stronger and stronger, quickly breaking through the limits of Nascent Soul and soaring to infinite heights.
A rumbling thunderclap echoed from the void, growing increasingly intense. Even though the defense of this space was extremely strong, it began to vibrate. An indescribable power of rules started to spread throughout the space.
Immediately, the pottery teapot trembled slightly, and a five-colored radiance shot out from its lid, enveloping Ning Fa.
In the next moment, Ning Fa's figure vanished without a trace.
The space returned to silence.
The teapot lid opened by itself, and a tiny figure, no more than an inch tall and shrouded in five-colored radiance, flew out.
The small figure looked up at the sky with an indistinct face, and a childlike voice emerged, "Perhaps leaving with him is the better choice."
But soon, another, sharper voice rang out.
"Don't be foolish! That person might achieve extraordinary things in the future, but he's still too weak now. If we return to the Spirit Realm with him, he won't be able to protect us at all.
After all, in our current state, once we return to the Spirit Realm, we'll definitely be discovered.
It's already good that we can make a trade with the Supreme Treasure on him to recover much of our injuries. Let's continue to stay here and recover slowly.
It's not too late for him to find us when his realm is higher. After all, that matter you just told him about, as a cultivator of the Five Elements Thunder Body, he couldn't possibly refuse."
The original childlike voice was silent for a moment before agreeing, "You're right, this is more stable."
After speaking, the small figure flew back into the teapot.
Meanwhile, Ning Fa suddenly appeared low in the sky above a sea, his face filled with astonishment.
This was because when he was teleported by the five-colored radiance just now, a mysterious sound transmission suddenly echoed in his mind.
Recalling the content of the sound transmission, Ning Fa couldn't help but feel his heart churn. The content was deeply related to his future advancement to higher realms, though it was still too early to consider.
At this moment, Ning Fa was also basically certain that the pottery teapot was a sentient treasure, and the sound transmission should have come from it.
And this teapot, not to mention anything else, just the fact that it could be treated so specially by the Source-Crossing Heavenly Book showed its extraordinary nature.
Ning Fa stopped thinking about the teapot and the sound transmission. These were not things he could consider now; his priority was to focus on the impending Spirit Transformation Heavenly Tribulation.
A rolling thunderous roar sounded, and the previously clear sky suddenly turned dim.
A dark cloud suddenly appeared high in the sky and spread rapidly. In a short period, this tribulation cloud covered an area of nearly a thousand miles.
Lightning churned within it, and the terrifying aura it emitted would make even a Spirit Transformation cultivator tremble.
This was because these were tribulation clouds, and within them brewed tribulation lightning containing the power of rules.
Moreover, the aura of the tribulation lightning brewing in these tribulation clouds at this moment was far stronger than the tribulation lightning that appeared when other cultivators advanced to Spirit Transformation. Streaks of dazzling lightning danced like dragons and snakes within the tribulation clouds, as if they were about to destroy the world.
Ning Fa stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm, and information related to the Spirit Transformation Heavenly Tribulation quickly flashed through his mind.
The Spirit Transformation Heavenly Tribulation was also known as the Three-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, but unlike the nine bolts of tribulation lightning for Core Formation and Nascent Soul tribulations, it had five additional bolts, making a total of fourteen bolts of heavenly lightning.
These last five bolts of heavenly lightning were particularly special, all being of the Five Elements attribute.
Even Spirit Transformation cultivators who had already passed their heavenly tribulations would turn pale at the thought of these Five Elements tribulation lightning.
This was because tribulation lightning of a single attribute possessed extreme destructive power, and one could only resist it with a divine ability or treasure of the opposing Five Elements attribute.
However, cultivators who could reach this level were all exceptionally gifted.
Most of them had Heavenly Spiritual Root or Dual Spiritual Root aptitude. Even Three Spiritual Roots were rare, let alone Four or Five Spiritual Roots, which were considered Pseudo Spiritual Roots. It was only possible to cultivate to this stage through extraordinary fortune.
Therefore, resisting the Five Elements tribulation lightning was exceptionally difficult, requiring the collection of various defensive supreme treasures or other means to resist it.
It could be said that nearly half of the cultivators who perished while attempting the Spirit Transformation Heavenly Tribulation died under the Five Elements tribulation lightning. As for the other half, they all died from inner demons.