Chapter 1578: Symbol of friendship

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain wasn’t convinced. He stretched out his hand and held Doudou in place. “Don’t move.”

　　“What’s the matter now?” Doudou said. It had just ascended, and acquired a seven-color monster core with eight patterns; its entire self was in a state of excitement, so when faced with its owner, Yellow Mountain, it was inevitably somewhat arrogant.

　　“Don’t move!” Venerable Yellow Mountain’s right hand pressed hard onto Doudou, pressing it onto the ground like a dead dog, and leaving it unable to move.

　　Doudou cried, “Woof! Stupid Yellow Mountain, I was wrong~”

　　The master was still the master; it was best not to provoke him!

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain’s consciousness entered Doudou’s dantian again, and carefully observed the bottom of his monster core.

　　There, a metal version of little friend Song Shuhang’s head twinkled. It was very eye-catching, and it looked like some sort of mark.

　　Why is it little friend Song Shuhang’s metal head rather than my head?

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain pinched his chin, and fell into thought.

　　Doudou saw Yellow Mountain’s solemn look, and suddenly became a little flustered. “Stupid Yellow Mountain, is there something wrong with my body?”

　　It couldn’t be that some hidden dangers were left in its body after it transcended the tribulation, right?

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain suspiciously asked, “What’s the matter with that mark at the bottom of your monster core?”

　　“What mark?” Doudou’s consciousness sneaked into its dantian, and taking Yellow Mountain’s words into account, it looked at the bottom of its monster core.

　　Afterward, Song Shuhang’s shiny metal head twinkled right before its dog eyes.

　　Doudou shouted, “F*ck, what’s going on?!”

　　Song Shuhang, Dharma King Creation, and Fairy Dongfang Six all looked over curiously. “What’s the matter?”

　　“Song Shuhang, why is your head on my monster core? It’s even twinkling and all that,” Doudou said in despair.

　　“???” Song Shuhang was dumbfounded.

　　My head is here on my neck.

　　“Come and take a look at my monster core, the bottom,” Doudou said with a depressed look.

　　“Could it be the ninth pattern in disguise?” Song Shuhang asked curiously.

　　They then each sent their consciousness into Doudou’s dantian, visiting its monster core like they were a sightseeing group.

　　At the bottom, Song Shuhang’s metal head shone brightly, seemingly greeting everyone.

　　“…” Dharma King Creation.

　　Fairy Dongfang Six said, “This head… Shuhang, could it be the mark of your steel manifestation?”

　　The head of Song Shuhang’s steel manifestation while in its human form was identical to this mark.

　　Song Shuhang said, “However, why would the head of my steel manifestation appear on Doudou’s monster core? It looks like this mark isn’t a core pattern, is it?”

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain affirmed, “It’s definitely not a core pattern. It’s something completely different.”

　　Song Shuhang thought for a while. “Doudou, why don’t you try to ‘activate’ this mark?”

　　Unfortunately, Doudou had just ascended to the Fifth Stage.

　　If it had been at the Fifth Stage Realm for a while, it could ‘spit’ out its monster core from its mouth, and Song Shuhang could then use the secret appraisal technique on it to uncover the origins of that mark.

　　As such, they could only resort to Doudou trying to stimulate the mark to see what it did.

　　Doudou replied, “I’ll try it out.”

　　It mobilized the little spiritual energy it had left in its body, gathered it at the mark, and tried to activate it.

　　After receiving Doudou’s energy, the mark suddenly shone brightly.

　　At the same time, Song Shuhang discovered that, in the Inner World, there was a reaction coming from the steel manifestation, which had only half of its body left right now. It was as if it wanted to respond to the call of Doudou’s mark

　　However, with the Inner World between them, it was impossible to answer Doudou’s call.

　　“…” Song Shuhang.

　　“Is there any reaction?” Doudou asked nervously.

　　Dharma King Creation said, “Apart from being more dazzling, I didn’t notice anything else.”

　　Fairy Dongfang Six said, “Same here. Looking at little friend Shuhang’s shining head feels quite spicy, though.”

　　Song Shuhang said, “After Doudou activated that mark, there was a response coming from my steel manifestation. It seems that it caused a resonance between Doudou and my steel manifestation.”

　　“…” Doudou.

　　Song Shuhang continued, “But as for what the meaning of this resonance is, I have no clue.”

　　“I only transcended the tribulation with it, why did it stamp its mark on my body? It’s like I’ve become something under its ownership!” A wave of weakness surged in Doudou’s heart.

　　Song Shuhang suddenly said, “Wait, something’s happened.”

　　Song Shuhang found that when Doudou activated its mark, the ‘core reactor’ of the steel manifestation showed signs of being activated.

　　It was similar to when it had come out and gone to transcend its tribulation earlier.

　　Immediately afterward, on the core reactor, a mark also appeared—it was Doudou’s head.

　　“Wait, a mark appeared on my steel manifestation’s core, and that mark looks just like Doudou’s head.” Song Shuhang stretched out his hand, and inserted it into the Inner World. He touched the exposed part of the core reactor, and used the secret appraisal technique on it to appraise the mark.

　　The price that he had to pay for conducting this appraisal was very small. In other words, this mark did not hold any excessively valuable information.

　　[Heavenly tribulation mark: a mark formed after a team transcends a tribulation together; it’s a symbol of friendship. Two cultivators of the same realm will have a certain chance to produce this mark after they transcend a tribulation together. It will disappear after those who worked together transcend another heavenly tribulation together.]

　　“…” Song Shuhang.

　　What kind of weird thing is this?

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain curiously asked, “Did you find anything?”

　　“This thing is a ‘heavenly tribulation mark’. If we want to make it disappear, Doudou will have to transcend his Sixth Stage tribulation with my steel manifestation.” Song Shuhang gave a thumbs up. “It’s a symbol of friendship.”

　　“Ptui!” Doudou exclaimed. “Transcending a group tribulation isn’t something to be enjoyed again and again, doing so would quickly send one to their grave. Right, Yu Jiaojiao’s underwater cemetery still has a 50% discount if anyone’s interested. Anyway, the reason I was fine with increasing the difficulty of my Fifth Stage tribulation was to increase the quality of the monster core I could condense. After all, a monster core determines one’s path. However, when it’s time for my Sixth Stage heavenly tribulation, I’m not going to transcend it together with your steel manifestation.”

　　More importantly, what if Song Shuhang’s steel manifestation went haywire again, and directly drew over the Seventh Stage heavenly tribulation right after they finished transcending the Sixth Stage heavenly tribulation?

　　He couldn’t take such a risk.

　　Doudou was already satisfied with his seven-color monster core with eight patterns. He had no plans of accompanying Song Shuhang’s manifestation in this mad endeavor.

　　Song Shuhang smiled, and said, “Then just keep the heavenly tribulation mark. It doesn’t bring you any harm anyway. You can just treat it as something to appreciate every now and then. And, it’s a symbol of friendship”

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain said, “Since it isn’t harmful, it’s fine to let it stay there.”

　　After saying that, he reached out and grabbed Doudou.

　　Doudou felt uneasy.

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain calmly said, “Alright, Doudou, we’re going home. This time I got a dog cage specially made for you. It’s completely made out of Seventh Stage materials, making it near-indestructible. In the next year, you will rest there and consolidate your realm. Zhou Li will take care of you.”

　　“Dog cage? One year?” Doudou struggled vigorously. “Don’t be like this, Stupid Yellow Mountain. You’re going to lose me if you do this.”

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain smiled, and said, “Little friend Shuhang, when I return, I’ll prepare a gift for you for the spirit stones that you spent this time. In addition, I’ll arrange for someone to come and repair your immortal boat.”

　　Senior Yellow Mountain was extremely reliable. Everything would be arranged properly when he was involved.

　　If Senior Yellow Mountain was missing from the ‘Nine Provinces Number One Group’, Song Shuhang had no idea how chaotic it would be.

　　In the end, Senior Yellow Mountain was like the mother of the ‘Nine Provinces Number One Group’.

　　Song Shuhang replied, “By the way, I filmed the process of Doudou’s tribulation. I’ll send it to Senior Yellow Mountain when I get back.”

　　Venerable Yellow Mountain nodded, grabbed Doudou, and rode his sword up into the air.

　　Suddenly, he remembered something. He took out three palm-sized crystal pillars, and threw them to Song Shuhang, Dharma King Creation, and Fairy Dongfang Six.

　　“This is something for the ‘Celestial Hunting Event’. After you inject your mental energy into the crystal pillar, you will be able to see the spirit stones and treasures that can be exchanged for Celestials of all levels. Of course, the value of living Celestials and dead Celestials isn’t the same. The crystal pillar will store the points you obtain through the exchange which can be used to trade for treasures. If you accumulate 100 Fourth Stage Celestials or 50 Fifth Stage Celestials in one go, they’ll come to your door to retrieve the goods. You can check it out later on your own.” Venerable Yellow Mountain waved his hand, and said, “Anyways, I wish you all good luck. See you next time.”

　　In the sky, Doudou shouted, “Shuhang, Shuhang~ I still want to play with you for a few more days! I have very much faith in you and Senior White!”

　　Song Shuhang smiled. “Don’t worry, Senior White and I will look for you when we visit Senior Yellow Mountain’s house. At that time, you can introduce your new bridal cage to me.”

　　Doudou angrily said, “F*ck you, our friendship is over.”

　　Song Shuhang continued to wave his hands. “The heavenly tribulation mark says otherwise!”

　　“Woof! You will regret this.” Doudou’s voice moved farther and farther away before finally disappearing.

　　Doudou and Venerable Yellow Mountain were now gone.

　　Fairy Dongfang Six and Dharma King Creation also bid farewell to Song Shuhang.

　　“We’ll be going first. We have some very important things we need to prepare,” Dharma King Creation said with a mysterious face.

　　Fairy Dongfang Six said, “Shuhang, I will take away this group of researchers first to see if I can get something good from them. In addition, if Senior White leaves his seclusion and is interested in these researchers, just tell him to come to me. I will give him a few of them at that time.”

　　Song Shuhang smiled, and said, “Okay.”

　　“Alright, we’ll be going then.” Fairy Dongfang Six waved. She stuffed the group of researchers into her off-road vehicle, got in the car with Dharma King Creation, and stepped on the gas, causing the off-road vehicle to rush into the sky.

　　Dharma King Creation and Fairy Dongfang Six left.

　　Song Shuhang looked at the patch of scorched ground at the heavenly tribulation area. All he could do now was take away the remains of Demon Monarch Anzhi’s tribulation-transcending formation.

　　Song Shuhang held the phone-like magical treasure in one hand, and said to the virtuous lamia, “Let’s go back as well.”

　　When he turned his head, he found that there was another beautiful fairy standing right beside the virtuous lamia.

　　It was Fairy Creation.

　　She did not go with Dharma King Creation.

　　Song Shuhang said, “Heavens.”

　　Dharma King Creation was about to hold a concert, but Fairy Creation was not behind him. How was he supposed to break inner demons?