And there were three of them!
The nine-coloured deer had once read through many books with Ruan Yaozhu. She understood the horrors of kleśa-māra.
Kleśa-māra were not inner demons. Instead, they were external demons, true demons. They were all subordinates to the one known as the lord of the Form realm, Maheśvara.
Every kleśa-māra possessed a will of its own. They would proactively get in the way of tribulations for cultivators, and they were eerie and cruel, underhanded and sly, most skilled in taking advantage of a person’s openings.
These demons were all intangible. They could pass through space freely, not only unafraid of the tribulation lightning, but virtually immune to all techniques too. It was only possible to resist them on a mental level, so they posed an extremely great threat to cultivators.
Who knew how many cultivators had survived the armaments of tribulation lightning and the skandha-māra, only to fall to the kleśa-māra and ultimately fail the tribulation, resulting in their deaths.
Even just one of these damned things was life-threatening, yet three of them had actually shown up at the same time.
The nine-coloured deer only gazed at the three twisted figures from afar, and she felt extremely disgusted inside as if a dirty, messy piece of cotton had been shoved down her throat. If they threw themselves at Ruan Yaozhu together, the consequences would be unthinkable.
By now, the three kleśa-māra had already emerged from space completely. Their twisted figures consolidated into humanoid forms.
One locked his brows, so sorrowful that it seemed like it wanted to die. One laughed away, like it had gone insane. The last one was furious, its face twisted viciously from anger.
They were all identical to Li Qingshan.
The nine-coloured deer immediately looked towards Li Qingshan. Was he not Ruan Yaozhu’s source of kleśa, affiliations?
Originally, with the path of nature that Ruan Yaozhu walked, she should not have encountered any kleśa-māra. It was all because of him that her five skandha flared. It left her in emotional disarray, drawing over kleśa-māra as a result of both internal and external factors.
“Li Qingshan, look at what you’ve done! What is she supposed to do now?”
Li Qingshan touched his nose. That sure was concrete evidence, beyond anything that he could refute.
He smiled. “She can only rely on herself when it comes to inner demons, but I have ways around something like this. I’ll just go and say hello and ask them to spare her.”
The nine-coloured deer called out, “Say hello? You sure say that easily! Do you think these kleśa-māra are yours?”
The kleśa-māra’s eyes were glued to Ruan Yaozhu, filled with greedy eagerness. When cultivators failed their tribulation, they would be able to split up the shattered Origin Soul and feed off it, which would bring great benefit to them.
Right when they were about to throw themselves at Ruan Yaozhu, they suddenly sensed an extremely familiar aura, containing both great terror as well as great might, which made them shiver. They all looked in the same direction together, and only then did they discover that the “divine statue” was actually alive and currently waving at them.
“Come over here,” said Li Qingshan.
The three kleśa-māra that were identical to Li Qingshan originally possessed great sorrow, great joy, and great fury, but at this moment, their faces all blanked out. The voice directly rang out from their hearts, drowning out the rumbling thunder. It possessed an irresistible charm.
As a result, they drifted down slowly in confusion, arriving before Li Qingshan and staring at him blankly.
Li Qingshan told them to sit. They were flattered, sitting down in a hurry. They continued to stare at Li Qingshan blankly, like three obedient hounds waiting for their master’s next order. Even their faces blurred, no longer resembling his.
However, Li Qingshan had stopped paying attention to them. These intangible existences were immune to the harm from all techniques, but from a different perspective, it was instead easier to influence and bewitch them. After all, since they lacked a stable form, it was extremely easy for them to be taken away by the flow.
That was why a “body of form” was so important to cultivators. Once the body was destroyed and they became a Corpse Liberated Immortal, their chances to become a True Immortal were basically severed. All of their afflictions arose from it, but all of their hopes sprang forth from it too.
“Impressive, Li Qingshan!”
The nine-coloured deer widened her eyes and blurted out. She had read all of those books with Ruan Yaozhu, but she had yet to hear that kleśa-māra could instead be controlled.
Li Qingshan shook his head. “It still isn’t over yet!”
In the air, a long rope draped down before anyone had noticed.
It was a coarse, hemp rope, splotched with blood, dangling around in the wind while remaining unaffected by the tribulation lightning.
“Ruan Yaozhu” hung on the other end of the rope. Her slender neck had almost been broken from how tight it was as her head tilted to one side in an extremely unnatural manner. Her face was purple with her head rolled back and her tongue extended. She did not seem beautiful or charming at all anymore, only terrifying.
“What is that!?”
The nine-coloured deer paled in fright before catching a whiff of the intense smell of death, which even contained the foulness of urine and faeces from the loss of control over the bowels and bladder when hung to death. It was so disgusting that she wanted to vomit. She refused to admit that it was Ruan Yaozhu, but she also became extremely frantic, like a nightmare had come true.
“Mṛtyu-māra.” Li Qingshan also became a little more serious.
Whether it was heroes or outstanding talents, they would all be so disgusting and frightening after death.
Ruan Yaozhu was originally ready to die, to make up for her mistake to the sect by giving up her life. Li Qingshan had basically forced her into undergoing the tribulation. Her desire to live was reignited again after hearing his words, but the māra would not let this opening in her heart slip by.
And Li Qingshan guessed that it was probably related to the three kleśa-māra he had placed under his control. Heavenly tribulations always grew stronger when they were up against someone powerful, forbidding any outsider from interfering.
Mṛtyu-māra were far more difficult to deal with than kleśa-māra. According to the normal procedure, Ruan Yaozhu only had a chance of encountering them during the seventh heavenly tribulation.
In the past, Li Qingshan had almost been brought to his death by this thing, encountering a drowned “Li Qingshan” who was just as disgusting and just as frightening.
In the end, it was all because his Origin Soul that had run off on its own returned, choosing to merge with him and continue down this path of the Nine Heavens, which allowed him to overwhelm the mṛtyu-māra.
By now, the heavenly tribulation was already approaching its end. Ruan Yaozhu was only one last step away from succeeding.
“I can’t give it any opportunity to do anything!”
The nine-coloured deer urged, “Hurry up and say hello to it!”
However, before Li Qingshan could say anything, the mṛtyu-māra actually spoke first, bowing towards Li Qingshan and saying in a deathly manner, “So a successor of the heavenly lord is present. My apologies, my apologies.”
Li Qingshan said sternly, “Since you know me, why don’t you take a seat?”
The mṛtyu-māra’s eyes blanked out, but it immediately recovered again. It said sinisterly, “Truly a successor of the heavenly lord! If you were undergoing the tribulation, I’d definitely keep my distance and never make things difficult for you!” Then it glanced at the three kleśa-māra and warned him. “Since you’re a successor of the heavenly lord, you best not break the heavenly lord’s rules, or you’ll definitely be torn to shreds by demons, never to rest in peace!”
After saying that, it lunged towards Ruan Yaozhu, but it suddenly came to a halt, becoming shocked.
A vertical eye opened up on Li Qingshan’s forehead, burning with endless black fire. “If Maheśvara were here, I’d show him some respect, but do you really think the likes of you can threaten me?”
“You’ve actually achieved the Divine Fire of World Destruction!” The mṛtyu-māra fumed. “If you disturb the laws of the heavenly tribulation, the heavenly lord will never spare you!”
By now, the heavenly tribulation was already ending. Ruan Yaozhu’s Yang Soul had basically completely morphed into an Origin Soul, and the green light she radiated with became extremely dim too. She was currently at her weakest moment. It only needed to touch her to devour her. The temptation was almost irresistible, even when it was faced with the threat of the Divine Fire of World Destruction.
Li Qingshan thought of an idea and said, “Why don’t we make a bet? I’ll open my mind and let you possess me. If you can shake me even by an inch, I won’t interfere with this.” His voice possessed both a secretive and wondrous temptation.
“Alright!” The mṛtyu-māra beamed with joy inside. I’ll devour your Origin Soul first before devouring hers!
It vanished into thin air, suddenly appearing behind Li Qingshan and throwing itself onto him.
Sure enough, Li Qingshan opened his mind and did not resist. He only shut his eyes.
The mṛtyu-māra first saw endless darkness and heard limitless silence. It had never witnessed such deep darkness before. Gradually, it heard all the strange sounds too…
A while later, Li Qingshan opened his eyes and spat out the mṛtyu-māra.
The mṛtyu-māra’s pitch-black, twisted figure was no longer humanoid. It curled up as a ball on the ground, trembling away as black fluid flowed down its face like it was crying.
The nine-coloured deer said in surprise, “W- what’s wrong with it?”
Li Qingshan smiled. “It’s very well.”
