The surging demonic clouds flashed with light, growing brighter and brighter, louder and louder.
The glorious might of the heavens smashed through obstacles, crushing down from above.
The twelve Demon Sovereigns returned to their places on the stone pillars. All of them were stern, no longer as relaxed or casual as when they ambushed Chao Tianjiao. If they were sucked into the heavenly tribulation, their lives would be in danger.
They powered their demon hearts and made their demon qi surge. They chanted away, singing praises for the twelve Demon Gods and their “great deeds”.
The power of the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous was completely unleashed, making it circulate furiously.
“Chaos—Destroy!” Ying Zhe suddenly stamped his foot and pointed into the formation. The demonic egg of chaos shrank in response as if it was trying to forcefully crush Chao Tianjiao.
The claps of thunder grew closer as if it was weighing down above them. He had run out of patience, stamping his foot again and again as he called out urgently, “Destroy, destroy, destroy, destroy, destroy…”
The demonic egg of chaos rapidly shrank, becoming smaller and smaller until it was only the size of a water tank. However, it had condensed all the power from the twelve Demon Sovereigns and the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous. It could even crush a mountain to pieces.
“Die!” As soon as a hint of relief appeared on Ying Zhe’s face, a blade abruptly pierced the demonic egg of chaos. Chao Tianjiao’s voice rang out, “Come, lightning!”
The blinding lightning rained down from above.
The scorching light illuminated the entire valley. The twelve Demon Sovereigns were all shocked.
The pass collapsed; the ground shook. The pillars swayed about as the Demon Sovereigns struggled to maintain their footing, gazing towards Ying Zhe.
Even if the twelve Demon Sovereigns worked together and used the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous, they could not contend against this glorious might of the heavens.
Sometimes, manpower would be insufficient, but the might of the heavens would always be limitless.
All the lightning gathered on the tip of the blade, penetrating deep into the demonic egg of chaos along the edge.
“Fall!”
With a swing of her blade, the lightning flashed, and Chao Tianjiao cut through the demonic egg of chaos, leaping out. She was as valiant as a god.
With another slash, she cut through the formation and moved up against the light, like a fish transforming into a dragon.
The Demon Sovereigns gazed up at her blinding figure and were left temporarily speechless. She had already begun to demonstrate the demeanour of a Human Immortal. Once she truly crossed that boundary, even they could only look up to her as Demon Sovereigns.
Tu Wancheng trembled uncontrollably. If she became a Human Immortal, another slash from her would be guaranteed death.
“Sir Ying Zhe, we cannot let this bitch undergo the heavenly tribulation!”
Ying Zhe wove his fingers together. His expression was extremely twisted. He said viciously, “Lower the formation and conserve your strength.”
The Demon Sovereigns immediately dispersed, and the stone pillars sank back into the ground. The heavenly tribulations had no regard for the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous. If it became an obstacle, it would all be obliterated.
“She definitely won’t succeed. She definitely won’t succeed.” Ying Zhe muttered to himself as if he was trying to comfort himself. “This is the Demon domain. She’s completely unprepared, so how can she succeed?”
The other Demon Sovereigns fell silent and gazed up. Even to them, the sixth heavenly tribulation was an extremely rare sight. Perhaps they could comprehend something from it. However, just like Ying Zhe, they did not believe she could undergo the heavenly tribulation successfully, yet they were still filled with worries.
Tu Wancheng could not help but cry out, “Should we move a little further away?”
“You coward!” Ying Zhe flew into a fury. “Even if she succeeds, she’ll be extremely feeble. We still have the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous, so it’s perfect for killing her then and there.”
A vicious expression flashed across Tu Wancheng’s face. “If this bitch really becomes a Human Immortal, no matter how feeble she becomes, how can a formation trap her?”
Ying Zhe instead calmed down all of a sudden. He became as calm as dying embers. “I have my ways.”
“Other ways…” Tu Wancheng suddenly remembered that and immediately lowered his head. He did not dare to say anything at all. Meanwhile, he sneered inside. You old bastard, if this bitch succeeds with the tribulation, there’ll be plenty of suffering waiting for you.
In the blinding light, several armaments of tribulation lightning whistled about, constantly bombarding Chao Tianjiao.
She had reached the peak of Human Sovereign a long time ago, and she had obtained all of the power in Li Qingshan’s Yin Soul too, which gave her even more assistance.
Now, it was a counterattack with her back against the wall. She powered the Heavenly Tome of Xuanwu as hard as she could. The seven stars flickered and turned into a tortoise and a snake. The unparalleled power of xuanwu was no weaker than the lightning.
She had never been able to circulate her power so freely before, condensing it all in her blade and swinging it about freely. It turned into strands of xuanwu blade aura, matching the armaments of tribulation lightning evenly.
This is all thanks to him.
Chao Tianjiao thought of Li Qingshan again, as well as the countless days and nights in the dream. What left her with the deepest impression was not the moments they spent entwined together, but the scenes of love he had set up.
In one dream, they were both located on a grand ship. She was the young miss of a wealthy family who had been forced to marry an heir to a fortune that she disliked. Meanwhile, he was merely a poor young artist who took the bottom cabin, yet he had saved her from despair.
She could still clearly remember how he held her at the stern of the ship, like they were flying over the ocean, and how he yelled out, “I’m the king of the world!”
At that moment, many emotions flooded her mind. An armament of tribulation lightning shot past, almost cutting off her blade-wielding arm.
She shivered and discovered her power showed signs of losing control again. She immediately returned to her senses. “Skandha-māra!”
This was a guaranteed obstacle in the sixth heavenly tribulation.
If cultivators wanted to go from mortals to immortals, they would definitely face the attacks of māra, obstructing them from immortality.
There were a total of four kinds of māra, which were the skandha-māra, the kle?a-māra, the m?tyu-māra, and the devaputra-māra.
When Li Qingshan’s soul nascence lost control, it had been mistaken by Ruan Yaozhu as a skandha-māra, but that was not actually an encounter that regular cultivators experienced. Otherwise, most cultivators would perish before they even reached the sixth heavenly tribulation.
Even the weakest of them all, the skandha-māra, was an extremely terrifying haunt. As for the strongest devaputra-māra, only gods and immortals would receive such treatment. It was a personal embodiment of Mahe?vara himself, preventing them from achieving enlightenment.
As for Mahe?vara personally taking action, only the buddha had encountered something like that according to the legends.
The five skandha were form, sensations, perceptions, actions, and consciousness. “Form” was the basis of it all, which referred to the body. The mind and form merged together to form the body of form and thus sensations, perceptions, actions, and consciousness bloomed.
The five skandha ablaze was one of the eight sufferings of life. As for the seven other sufferings, “life”, “old age”, “sickness”, “parting with the loved”, “union with the hated”, and “inability to obtain what is wanted”, they were all born from the five skandha.
The skandha-māra was an internal demon. It took shape based on the body of form and thus inner demons sprang forth.
Originally, she practised the Heavenly Tome of Xuanwu. She was extremely harsh and cold like the stars. She did not even care about this “body of form”, so she had no so-called inner demons.
However, while the dual cultivation had opened the gates to Human Immortal, it had also given her the corresponding forms, sensations, perceptions, mental activities, and consciousnesses. The five skandha blazed, and she struggled to control herself.
For a moment, illusions bloomed before her eyes, leaving her uneasy. Signs of danger immediately sprang forth from everywhere.
If she did not practise the path of xuanwu, she would have been sliced to pieces by the armaments of tribulation lightning already. Following the path of xuanwu, the seven stars were unwavering, and her nature was harsh and cold. She possessed the will of purging demons, which made everything easier to control when coupled with the refinement from dual cultivation.
“Zhenwu Purges the Demons, the Seven Stars as One! The Divine Turtle as Armour, the Black Snake as Arms!”
She was stern, circulating the Heavenly Tome of Xuanwu as she visualised the divine image of the Zhenwu Emperor, holding the skandha-māra at bay. She had become much slower, which led to many injuries, but at least she controlled the situation. The illusions vanished from before her eyes.
However, at this exact moment, her breathing halted, and her eyes widened. She saw Li Qingshan standing in the middle of the lightning with his back towards her.
“Y- you’re still alive!”
