At this moment, Wan Jianfeng continued to stand guard outside the Hundred Herbs garden, completely unaware of everything happening inside.
The Hundred Herbs garden already resided in a miniature world of its own, independent from the Human realm. Ruan Yaozhu had activated the Seventy-two Pentads formation too, completely sealing it inside. As such, even tremendous disturbances inside could not be detected so easily.
The time limit of three days drew near. Wan Jianfeng was aware that it was impossible to breach the Hundred Herbs garden with his powers alone. However, Dai Mengfan must have requested for the central authority over the miniature world from the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance already.
The power of the formation did not originate from itself but from the surrounding terrain. As long as they could control the miniature world, they would be able to nip the entire issue in the bud. There would be no formations that worked. By then, Ruan Yaozhu alone stood no chance against him.
At this moment, a jade-green streak of light shot over from over the ocean, except it was not Dai Mengfan.
“Who are you?”
“Greetings, senior brother Wan. I am Shen Yushu.”
……
Thunder rumbled through the Hundred Herbs garden, booming through the earth and resounding through the entire miniature world. Fierce winds swept the land, lifting countless fallen leaves into a wild dance like it was the end of the world.
The tribulation clouds that surged like ink weighed heavily in the sky, blotting out the stars and moon instantly, leaving it pitch-black. Everything sank into darkness.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating everyone’s faces.
At that instant, the light and shadows streaked through the landscape, becoming especially evident like a frozen oil painting.
Li Fengyuan continued to stare at the wilted bodhi tree as if he was completely unaware of everything that unfolded behind him. Who knew what he was thinking.
Li Qingshan sat still, like the statue of a god.
The nine-coloured deer peered towards Ruan Yaozhu in worry with her gentle, moist eyes.
The sixth heavenly tribulation was extremely important to cultivators. This was the step that determined their mortality or immortality, but this step was extremely difficult as well. There were very few cultivators that could make this step successfully.
It was not just because the tribulation lightning would be particularly intense and armaments of tribulation lightning were guaranteed to appear. When the Yang Soul became an Origin Soul, there would be inner demons at work too, which were what buddhism referred to as skandha-māra.
The armaments of tribulation lightning and the skandha-māra, an external opponent and an internal problem, were both extremely terrifying existences.
When cultivators faced the tribulation, they were confronted with the threat of death, but they were also overcome by the desire for immortality, which itself led to fluctuation in emotions and instability as a consequence.
And at this moment, Ruan Yaozhu’s mind was in disarray with her five skandha ablaze. The risks involved were much greater, and it might even draw over even more terrifying kleśa-māra.
Once her mind gave way, faced with both internal and external pressures, she would either suffer from cultivation deviation, lose control over her powers, have her soul shattered and explode on the spot, or she would be slain on the spot by the armaments of tribulation lightning.
The nine-coloured deer thought, Li Qingshan, oh Li Qingshan. Will you only be satisfied once you’ve killed Yaozhu?
When the tribulation lightning was about to rain down, Ruan Yaozhu only stared at Li Qingshan stubbornly, possessing absolutely no intentions of receiving the tribulation. She refused to accept these “kind intentions”, nor did she forgive Li Qingshan for his deceit.
I stand no chance against your powers, but at least I can lay down my life to make amends.
Li Qingshan seemed to have anticipated this a long time ago. He grabbed the nine-coloured deer. “If you die, I’ll bury this stupid deer with you!”
“You!” Ruan Yaozhu paled in fright. “Release her! You bastard!”
“Save me, Yaozhu!” The nine-coloured deer’s face was filled with pain. “I still don’t want to die! Ahhhhh! It hurts!” She behaved like she was about to be crushed to death by Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan curled his lip. He had not used any force at all, but he still appreciated her acting. She truly was a natural spirit. It was very spirited.
Why would daemonic beasts care about the rules of the Human realm? The nine-coloured deer did not care about the Hundred Herbs garden or the Myriad sect either. She was only concerned about Ruan Yaozhu’s safety.
“You’re despicable!” Ruan Yaozhu glared at Li Qingshan, having truly been angered by him, tempted to just kill him on the spot.
“You know me. I always do everything I say I would,” said Li Qingshan.
“Then did you do everything you promised me?” Ruan Yaozhu only felt like neither death nor life was an option at that point.
Li Qingshan was unable to answer her. He sighed gently. “Yaozhu, will you trust me one more time?”
Ruan Yaozhu’s heart skipped a beat, but she did not give him an answer. She finally rose up into the sky, flying between the tribulation clouds. “Qingshan, promise me one last thing.”
“Go on.”
“If I fail the tribulation, please spare her.”
“Yaozhu!” The nine-coloured deer said tearily, “You definitely won’t fail! We’ll be together forever!”
“Alright. As long as you give it your all, I won’t touch a hair on her regardless of what ends up happening. However, as long as you even consider death, it won’t be able to escape my watch.”
“I won’t consider death. I want to become a Human Immortal, to exterminate demons and guard the orthodoxy!” Ruan Yaozhu ground her teeth.
“Alright!” Li Qingshan smiled. He no longer wanted to distract her anymore, so he released the nine-coloured deer.
At this moment, the might of the heavenly tribulation peaked, and it all condensed into a single point. The nine-coloured deer cried out, “An armament of tribulation lightning!”
Li Qingshan was not unfamiliar with this sight, but he could not help but sigh. “This is it?”
As it turned out, the “armament of tribulation lightning” was a small sword around half a metre long. It clearly possessed tremendous might, but Li Qingshan had never seen such a delicate “armament of tribulation lightning” before. He could not help but curse, “Damned heavens, why do I get huge blades and axes when I face the tribulation?”
He had basically witnessed the definition of “the heavens are unfair” now, just like the exams he took in his past life. They were the same subjects, yet the difficulties of the exams differed. They were the same mark, yet the schools they could enter were different.
The nine-coloured deer sneered. “Hmph, you’re really going to tell me you don’t know that?”
Li Qingshan smiled. “Of course, I know. There are no gods watching over up above. Justice lies within the blade!”
He stared at the tiny sword, and his gaze became extremely deep and distant as if he had realised something.
In the past, he only treated heavenly tribulations as a phenomenon of nature and went on about some cliches like “obedience is mortality and defiance is immortality.”
However, just who could defy the Dao and nature? Just who could not abide by it?
Were raging rivers also supposed to be tests from the heavenly Dao to those who crossed the river? Where defiance led to success and obedience meant being washed away, becoming a floating corpse? Perhaps that did make some sense, but that was still just the fantasy that people came up with.
Since he had already become a god, Forging his Soul back into the Void and comprehending the laws of the world, he discovered many man-made traces within the heavenly tribulation. This probably was not some test from the heavenly Dao at all!
He found the significance behind the armaments of tribulation lightning to be extremely familiar. That’s right, it bore great resemblance to Sovereign Xi’s lightning. There was a tremendous difference in terms of quality, like a drop compared to an ocean, but they shared the same origins when it came to quality. It truly was filled with the might and dignity of the heavenly Dao because Sovereign Xi was basically the embodiment of the heavenly Dao.
Since Sovereign Wa had succeeded in mending the heavens, Sovereign Xi had returned to the heavenly Dao too.
Then who was the one who set down these laws to massacre the cultivators in the world?
But regardless of who it was, they clearly showed great grace towards the path of nature that Ruan Yaozhu walked, so the might of the heavenly tribulation was much weaker.
The tiny sword also rampaged through the air, leaving behind blinding traces as it attempted to kill Ruan Yaozhu, but compared to everything that Li Qingshan encountered, it was only like a modest display of what it was truly capable of, like a patient, guiding teacher.
However, Ruan Yaozhu was still under life-threatening danger, clearly unable to handle the test of the armament of tribulation lightning, and her inner demons began to stir.
