The Eternal Farmer: I Trade My Harvest for Immortality

His left hand flashed through a series of seals. The water-aspected Spirit Qi in his dantian rapidly coalesced before him, instantly transforming into a ferocious water dragon that roared as it clawed its way skyward, charging fearlessly toward the Three-Tribulation Thunder Beast.

However, before it could even draw close, the beast’s frigid breath flash-frozen it into a crystalline statue, which was then shattered into a thousand pieces by a dense storm of golden light blades.

But it had bought him a moment—less than a second, yet priceless.

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Tian immediately activated the Thousand Carp River Descent Art. His Spirit Qi burned away at a terrifying rate as he sensed and commandeered all the ambient water energy within a fifty-zhang radius.

In a single breath, the water Spirit Qi gathered and swirled in the air, materializing in the blink of an eye into dozens of golden carp, each several meters long. The scene was a haunting echo of the earlier Ten-Thousand Fish Formation.

The school of carp orbited Chen Tian at incredible speeds, absorbing vast amounts of water Spirit Qi and vapor, weaving them together to form a self-contained aquatic domain.

By now, the Thunder Beast’s cataclysmic assault was pressing down like the heavens themselves were falling.

Seeing this, the seal in Chen Tian’s left hand shifted abruptly.

The swirling golden carp suddenly accelerated. The very instant their tails slapped against the boundary of the aquatic domain, they churned up three concentric, defensive curtains of water.

The outer layer was a curtain of razor-sharp scales, shimmering with motes of golden light.

The middle layer was a web of ensnaring cyan light, a shimmering silken trap.

The inner layer was a barrier of absolute-zero frost, congealed from a chilling miasma.

Chen Tian then directed the dozens of golden carp to weave between the three layers of his defense, a fluid, shimmering shield.

The golden blades of the Thunder Beast rained down, striking the outermost layer. The clash rang out like a thousand tiny bells, a crisp, crackling sound like beans popping in a hot pan.

Thirty percent of the golden blades were deflected, while the rest were ensnared by the cyan web. The lethal sharpness at their tips visibly dissipated, neutralized by the shimmering light.

At first glance, it seemed Chen Tian held the upper hand.

In reality, the Three-Tribulation Thunder Beast’s assault was far from over.

The freezing miasma from the water head seeped through the gaps torn by the golden blades. The cyan light of the ensnaring web instantly froze solid. Several carp, unable to evade in time, were trapped in the ice, the golden patterns on their scales dimming to the color of dead ash.

The wood head’s black, corrosive venom followed close behind. As droplets splattered against the frozen web, they hissed violently, eating through the barrier and leaving behind a festering, honeycomb-like lattice of decay.

The venom dripped through the holes, threatening to reach the innermost frost barrier.

Pushing the Thousand Carp River Descent Art to its absolute limit, Chen Tian caused his aquatic domain to erupt in a shower of golden spray. The frozen carp shattered their icy prisons, their golden scales igniting with pale golden flames the moment they touched the venom, burning the black liquid into wisps of white smoke.

Simultaneously, the cyan light of the ensnaring web flared, drawing upon the vitality of wood to forcefully neutralize the toxin.

But as the confrontation dragged on, the Spirit Qi in Chen Tian’s dantian dwindled to almost nothing.

Yet, not a trace of panic showed on his face. He clearly had another card to play.

Suddenly, with a great tearing sound, the aquatic domain, already weakened by the venom and battered by the relentless storm of golden blades, was finally ripped open.

The moment the shockwave hit him, countless golden lines materialized around his body, weaving themselves out of thin air into a massive, incandescent Golden Light Talisman.

It effortlessly blocked the entire onslaught, rendering it completely incapable of harming Chen Tian.

Seizing the precious seconds this bought him, he calmly tossed a Top Grade pill into his mouth and began to recover his Spirit Qi, remaining utterly composed as the Three-Tribulation Thunder Beast continued its frenzied attack.

“No wonder he’s so fearless! That’s a top-tier spirit talisman!”

“True Lord Mo may have drawn it, but Chen Tian is the one using it. It doesn’t count as outside intervention, so the tribulation’s power won’t increase!”

“Gods, I wish I had a master like that!”

“First, you’d need three Spirit Roots. Second, you’d need heaven-defying comprehension!”

Witnessing this, many disciples burned with envy; for some, it was enough to shatter their composure.

Perhaps sensing that something was amiss, the Three-Tribulation Thunder Beast flew into a demonic rage. The golden head opened its cavernous maw and spewed forth a torrential flood composed of innumerable golden blades. The water head simultaneously blasted out a dense cloud of arctic air, encasing the blades in frost and amplifying their destructive power. Meanwhile, the wood head commanded the venom to spread like a plague, sealing off Chen Tian, the Rain Pavilion, and the entire Black Lake.

It was a final, desperate gambit, designed to corner and annihilate its target.

But just then, a sharp *crack* echoed through the air.

The frozen surface of the Black Lake, particularly the ice directly beneath the Rain Pavilion, suddenly split. The fissure spread with visible speed, branching out like a spiderweb.

Finally, a colossal, ochre-colored head burst through the ice.

It was a creature of contradictions—serpentine, yet not a snake; draconic, yet not a dragon. Its massive eyes held a sinister, predatory gleam. The moment it appeared, it unleashed a glacial wave of cold so potent it forced back the black venom spewing from the Thunder Beast’s wood head.

Jiang Chen’s pupils contracted. “That’s the Mystic Tortoise’s companion beast—the Flying Serpent!”

With a gentle shake, the Flying Serpent shattered the remaining ice. Its terrifying, hundred-zhang-long body erupted from the lake and coiled into the sky. It opened its mouth and exhaled, and a yellow wind howled into existence.

The golden blades, the freezing miasma, the corrosive venom—all were obliterated, scoured from existence by the gale.

The sudden turn of events stunned even the Three-Tribulation Thunder Beast into a momentary pause.

“No wonder he chose the Rain Pavilion for his breakthrough!”

“True Lord Mo planned to use the power of the Mystic Tortoise and the Flying Serpent to help Chen Tian resist the third wave of the tribulation!”

“This way, he not only withstands the Thunder Beast’s attack but also weakens the Mystic Tortoise’s power in the process. Killing two birds with one stone!”

“And crucially, it doesn’t count as external interference, so the tribulation’s difficulty remains the same!”

The core disciples had a collective moment of realization.

While the move was opportunistic, there was no denying its effectiveness. It now made perfect sense why Chen Tian had relied on Spirit Weapons and talismans to weather the first two waves instead of his own power. He was stalling, waiting for this exact moment.

His goal was to drag things out until the Flying Serpent emerged to join the fight against the Three-Tribulation Thunder Beast. Of course, if the commotion managed to wake the Mystic Tortoise itself, all the better.

With the Golden Light Talisman negating most of the damage and the massive Flying Serpent now sharing the burden, the pressure on Chen Tian was reduced to a minimum.

Seizing the opportunity, he focused inward, absorbing and refining the tempest of energy around him. His aura climbed relentlessly, reaching an unprecedented peak. He let out a low, guttural roar. “Condense!”

A resonant hum echoed from his dantian. The nascent core solidified, its ethereal form crystallizing into a tangible reality—a tri-colored, spinning, crystalline Golden Core. His entire reservoir of Spirit Qi underwent a qualitative transformation, sublimating into dense, potent Magic Power.

The three-colored light shield around him morphed into distinct phenomena: water ripples, golden scales, and wood leaves, which began to rotate around him like a divine halo.

The inner layer was a “Sharp Radiance Ring” of flowing golden patterns.

The middle layer was a “Soft Force Field” of undulating water ripples.

The outer layer was a “Vitality Ring” of fluttering wood leaves.

Though the Golden Core remained motionless within his dantian, the waves of Magic Power it emitted shattered the confines of his physical body, connecting with the spiritual veins of the earth and the Spirit Qi of the heavens. It was as if the very boundaries of his dantian had dissolved, extending outward to merge with the world itself.

A three-colored effulgence surged from him, so brilliant it began to wash out the tribulation clouds above. At the same time, a gentle, life-giving spiritual rain began to fall.

In that moment, Chen Tian felt that the Thunder Beast’s blades were no longer sharp, its breath no longer cold, its venom no longer corrosive.

In a flash of profound enlightenment, his right hand began to shimmer with a faint golden light. He made a simple, almost casual slash through the air before him.

Instantly, the entire Black Lake was cleaved in two. A perfect, dry chasm opened down its center, the water held back by an unseen force. The divine cut continued its silent, inexorable path upward and cleanly severed the water-wreathed head from the shoulders of the Three-Tribulation Thunder Beast.