To one side, Shen Yushu was startled by his methods, virtually forgetting about his fear.
As it turned out, before absolute power, not only was living impossible, but even dying was impossible too.
Li Qingshan sat on the wilted ground expressionlessly like an actual statue. Who knew what he was thinking as he stared at the unruly great sword cultivator that had now become so modest. He only continued with the Qilin Transformation, absorbing the spiritual qi and focusing on completely refining the Hundred Herbs garden. He refused to leave even a blade of grass for his enemies.
After gathering some more spiritual qi, he pressed gently against Wan Jianfeng’s forehead, channelling surging spiritual qi and comprehension of the path of the sword into Wan Jianfeng’s Yang Soul.
Wan Jianfeng shuddered and widened his eyes.
Immediately, the tribulation clouds began to surge and gather again, rolling with the sound of thunder and obscuring all the stars.
Li Qingshan gazed into the horizon. The might of the heavenly tribulation this time was far greater than Ruan Yaozhu’s. After all, Wan Jianfeng did not practise the Heavenly Tome of Nature but the Heavenly Tome of Sword Control, so he obviously would not receive any special treatment. The might of the heavenly tribulation did not decrease at all. It only became stronger.
That was the law of the heavenly tribulations. The greater your battle prowess, the stronger the heavenly tribulation.
The path of a sword cultivator had always been one that required thorough tempering.
If Wan Jianfeng perished, then the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance would definitely become wary, but Li Qingshan still chose to take this gamble. If he succeeded, he would gain a powerful ally. That was not all that he wanted either.
Wan Jianfeng bowed deeply towards Li Qingshan and rose up into the air, ready to face the tribulation.
But at this moment, twisted, dark figures crawled out from space. They were kleśa-māra and there were more than just three this time.
Originally, the benefits of practising the sword was a pure mind and a firm will. They could not easily be shaken by inner demons, so they would not draw over māra so easily. However, Wan Jianfeng’s current inner demons were even stronger than Ruan Yaozhu’s.
This was not due to faith. True faith came from the bottom of the heart, a display of internal emotions. It required thought and understanding. Wan Jianfeng’s faith had been forced onto him.
Li Qingshan’s actions were no different from a māra. As a matter of fact, he was even more forceful and unreasonable than any māra.
When regular māra disturbed cultivators, at least they still had to follow a proper procedure, like “sensations arising from form, perceptions arising from sensations…” Meanwhile, Li Qingshan just used the fervent worship from the countless living creatures of the Demon domain to bypass the entire process, directly overwhelming Wan Jianfeng’s sense of self, making him develop fervent worship towards him, which also led to tremendous inner conflict.
The inner conflict was also covered up by the fervent worship, as he could never question his god. As such, he would never come to terms with the conflict.
This was basically a death sentence to any cultivator, severing their path of cultivation. For a sword cultivator, it was basically even worse than that, like his corpse abandoned in the wilderness, reduced from a swordsman to a sword slave.
If it were not for the fact that his cultivation was so close to the sixth heavenly tribulation, even Li Qingshan could not make his cultivation progress further unless he completely refined him into something like a puppet.
Wan Jianfeng was like a twisted sword. His internal structure was filled with irreparable cracks. Each crack was an opening and a wound. The scent of blood it gave off would definitely draw over many “sharks”.
However, Li Qingshan rejoiced instead of becoming surprised. This was what he was after. Not only did he want a sword slave that had undergone the sixth heavenly tribulation, but he also wanted to subdugate another mṛtyu-māra.
Li Qingshan watched the sky as he continued to refine the Hundred Herbs garden, converting the surging spiritual qi into dark-green beads. He stringed them together and hung it on his arm.
It was as if he had completely forgotten about Shen Yushu. Shen Yushu did his best to circulate the Heavenly Tome of Nature so that his aura blended in perfectly with the surroundings, wanting to be forgotten.
Boom!
The first bolt of tribulation lightning fell.
Immediately, lightning filled the sky, weapons shot about, and demons danced madly.
With just his sword, Wan Jianfeng faced off against this tremendous might of the heavens. Now that was the spirit that a sword cultivator should have possessed.
However, before he could raise his sword, his mind was already disturbed. Form, sensations, perceptions, actions, and consciousness, the five skandha flared, giving off a sense of sorrow for some reason. When he drew his sword and looked around, his mind had already become dazed.
……
The final bolt of lightning fell, and the moon emerged from the clouds once more.
Li Qingshan had already converted the entirety of the Hundred Herbs garden into a great string of beads, thirty-six of them in total. They wrapped around his forearm several times, like a string of prayer beads. It made him think of Xiao An, which made him stare at them for a very long time.
Over a dozen more kleśa-māra had appeared in front of him, but he failed to draw over mṛtyu-māra unfortunately. He wondered whether Maheśvara had sensed this and refused to lend him any more troops.
Apart from calling him stingy a few times, there was nothing else that Li Qingshan could do. However, he probably could make do with a single mṛtyu-māra. It would save him quite a lot of trouble when he attacked the Myriad sect, which was already an unexpected surprise. It was just a pity that after paying at trip to his sea of consciousness, the mṛtyu-māra had become so haggard and miserable, twisted beyond shape. He needed to deal with this somehow.
At this moment, Wan Jianfeng descended from above slowly. He glowed dimly, while his eyes were cold and hollow. He seemed extremely feeble.
Li Qingshan had helped him subjugate all of the kleśa-māra, but no one could help him with the skandha-māra inside, so his five skandha flared beyond control. In the end, he could only abandon his body to pacify his inner demons, so he could only be considered as a Ghost Immortal now.
But despite that, his cultivation had still undergone an overwhelming transformation. Even regular Human Immortals were not his opponent. He was not a Heretic God either, so he would not raise attention from beyond the Nine Heavens. He would be an impressive assistant.
And without the restraint of the body, his sword intent had become even more pure. However, that was it.
Li Qingshan removed a bead and handed it to him. Wan Jianfeng’s hollow eyes immediately lit up with enthusiasm again, accepting it with tremendous gratitude. He made his way over to one side to meditate and recover.
“There are still thirty-five.”
Li Qingshan calculated silently before lowering his head and looking at Shen Yushu. Seeing how he was like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand, he could not help but laugh.
“Shen Yushu!”
Shen Yushu’s hairs stood on end, and he planted his head against the ground like he was trying to become a part of the Hundred Herbs garden. Perhaps he could still utter some fierce words when he first entered this place, maybe even embrace death boldly like Wan Jianfeng, but under this constant pressure, his will had completely collapsed already. He was completely swallowed by fear.
He squawked out like a duck that was held by the throat. “I surrender! I surrender! First senior brother, please spare my life considering we were once senior and junior brothers! I’ll definitely pledge myself to you with utmost loyalty, to work and die for you!”
“Sure!” Li Qingshan said indifferently.
As if he had just heard the words of the heavens themselves, Shen Yushu felt like he had just been liberated. He banged his head against the ground. “Thank you, first senior brother- no, thank you, master! Thank you, master!”
“I just happen to be in need of you!” Li Qingshan flicked his finger gently. “Let me borrow your Yin Soul first!”
With a thunk, Shen Yushu’s chest jolted and projected out with his Yin Soul. Receiving Li Qingshan’s signal, the mṛtyu-māra immediately lunged over. The Yin Soul that resembled Shen Yushu immediately became covered in wrinkles, rapidly aging.
“No! Li Qingshan!”
Shen Yushu stared at Li Qingshan in complete despair and hatred, while Li Qingshan simply ignored it.
The mṛtyu-māra was like a cicada on a tree, sucking away at Shen Yushu’s will and life and devouring it all in a short while. All that remained was a body, tottering around and falling forwards.
“Let me borrow your body now!”
Li Qingshan bent over and his mountainous figure was completely sucked into Shen Yushu’s body. He extended his hand and stopped him from falling completely before waving his hand without even looking back. The mṛtyu-māra led the dozen or so kleśa-māra to vanish into the space there, while Wan Jianfeng rose up as a streak of light.
The Hundred Herbs garden seemed to enter late autumn, completely yellow and wilted, leaving behind a bleak landscape devoid of life. It seemed to live up to the saying from the legend—Wherever the daemon star of misfortune went, weapons were raised and nothing was spared.
“I’m coming, Myriad sect.”
