Volume 1, Chapter 413 – Heavenly Tribulation

The Emperor Realm was still far too distant for the current Shi Lan. At present, the only thing she could do was do her utmost to increase her strength.

She sealed off the entire secret chamber and used top-grade spirit crystals to lay down a spirit-gathering formation.

Tian Bai sat cross-legged in a corner of the chamber, cultivating the Heaven Demon Scripture on her own.

Shi Lan had also once looked through the Heaven Demon Scripture, but their paths of cultivation were different, and it was difficult for her to offer Tian Bai any guidance. Tian Bai could only rely on herself to feel her way forward.

…

Time passed unnoticed in cultivation, and in the blink of an eye, half a year had gone by.

Burning top-grade spirit crystals to supply spiritual qi made Shi Lan’s Nascent Soul grow several times faster than it had in the Yunlai Immortal Realm.

Her Nascent Soul golden body had already swelled to more than fifty zhang in height, and the price for that was that the few hundred top-grade spirit crystals she possessed had been completely used up.

Converted into low-grade spirit crystals, Shi Lan had devoured several hundred million spirit crystals in just a few short months.

With a rate of consumption like that, Shi Lan’s wealth simply could not sustain it. Even a first-grade power would never spend so many resources to raise a martial artist in the Nascent Soul Realm. It simply was not worth it.

Whether it was just her imagination or not, after the immortal-path Nascent Soul separated from her body, the speed of her cultivation progress seemed to have increased again by quite a bit.

The cultivation of the True Martial Undying Body was also going smoothly, and she naturally advanced into the second layer.

Shi Lan took out the Golden Rainbow Sword and infused it with astral qi, then cut a wound in her arm so deep that the bone could be seen.

The wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. In only a few breaths, all that remained was a faint red mark.

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As for regenerating severed limbs, Shi Lan had not tried it, but with her current fleshly body, she should be capable of it.

Tian Bai cultivated with great diligence and was slowly approaching the late stage of the Myriad Phenomena Realm.

Before taking human form, she could only rely on instinct to absorb the essence of the sun and moon, as well as other demonic beasts, to increase her cultivation.

Compared with that primitive method of cultivation, the Heaven Demon Scripture increased her cultivation speed by more than tenfold. In an environment like this secret chamber, where spiritual qi was abundant, her progress was even more rapid, so naturally she was unwilling to waste even a single moment.

Shi Lan did not disturb Tian Bai. She restrained her aura and quietly left the chamber.

After more than half a year in seclusion, changes must inevitably have taken place within Tianyan Sect.

At the very least, more than thirty years had passed in Yuanji World, so there should already have been some results.

Just as she stepped out of the chamber, a faint ripple suddenly stirred in Shi Lan’s mind. With a flip of her hand, she took out the access token for entering and leaving the Yunyan Star grand formation and focused her senses on it.

Someone had broken into the formation…?

…

Inside the formation, yellow sand filled the sky and blocked out the heavens. The blazing sun overhead neither rose nor set, but hung forever in midair, and the scorching desert was nearly enough to roast people dry.

This was a land utterly devoid of spiritual energy. After more than half a year, all the spirit crystals on Zhu Xiyang and Bai Weiyang had been used up, and they were nearly at the end of their rope.

Without strength to resist it, even a Heaven Demon could not endure the scorching heat of that sun. One could only watch helplessly as one slowly descended toward the abyss of death. It was an indescribable torment.

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“There’s no need to worry. If something unusual happens inside the formation, someone is bound to notice. It should be very soon before—”

Bang!

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Weiyang’s vision went black and he pitched headfirst into the yellow sand. His cultivation was far inferior to Zhu Xiyang’s. In a trapping formation this harsh, he had long since reached his limit.

Zhu Xiyang sighed, dug Bai Weiyang out, and cut open the wound on her wrist that had yet to heal.

After a long while, a thread of bluish-green sap seeped out and dripped into Bai Weiyang’s cracked lips.

Shaking her somewhat dizzy head, Zhu Xiyang’s eyes flashed with helplessness. Her natal essence was already dried up. These were almost the very last drops.

If she had known it would come to this, it would have been better to die in battle in the starry sky…

Now she was not only going to die together with this human, but also drag Changqing down with her, ruining everything at the very end.

“…So…”

Bai Weiyang had already lost consciousness, yet he was still mumbling under his breath.

Zhu Xiyang failed to catch it at first and bent down. Only after a while did she make out the two words.

“…sweet…”

Sweet my ass!

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Zhu Xiyang cursed inwardly. Seeing that Bai Weiyang had still not awakened, she glanced at her own left arm, pressed her lips together, and with a flip of her hand took out a foot-long blade.

Her true form was Violet-Heart Treasure Bamboo, a seventh-grade immortal root. If Bai Weiyang fed on her body, perhaps he could hold on a while longer.

Rip—

The blazing sun in the sky suddenly dimmed, and a crack appeared in the center of the heavens.

Shi Lan stood outside the formation, reached a hand into the grand formation, and pulled out the one human and one demon.

Surging spiritual qi gathered from all sides. Zhu Xiyang could not help but greedily draw in several deep breaths, then she turned a wary gaze toward Shi Lan.

Judging from the appearance of this grand formation, the person before her was most likely a member of the Demon-Suppressing Army, which was undoubtedly a tremendous threat to her.

Being able to see Bai Weiyang here was something Shi Lan had never expected in the slightest, but it could also be counted as an unexpected delight.

“Come with me.”

Seeing the caution in Zhu Xiyang’s eyes, Shi Lan said nothing more. She brought the two of them down to a spiritual peak and directly arranged for disciples to take them away to rest and recover.

As for Zhu Xiyang, Shi Lan did not pay her much mind. Her own strength was no longer what it once had been. A Heaven Demon whose realm was not particularly high and who was also extremely weakened could not escape the palm of her hand.

…

After settling Bai Weiyang and Zhu Xiyang, Shi Lan returned to the main hall on the principal peak and summoned Li Canglan.

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“Sect Master…”

After paying his respects, Li Canglan recounted the developments of the past half year one by one.

In Yuanji World, he had recruited more than ten thousand disciples in total. This referred only to the inner sect disciples who had truly entered the mountain gate and begun practicing immortal arts, chosen one in a hundred. The number of outer sect disciples and nominal disciples was even greater.

In more than thirty years, the vast majority of those ten thousand-plus disciples had condensed their Dao foundations and stepped into the Foundation Establishment Realm. Of those, nearly a hundred had even formed Golden Cores.

At present, Tianyan Sect as a whole already had several hundred Golden Core cultivators. Among them were several dozen whose cultivation aptitudes were quite outstanding. They had long since reached the peak of the Golden Core Realm, yet none had broken through to the Spirit Infant Realm.

The reason was that not long ago, one disciple attempted a breakthrough and underwent tribulation, but misjudged the might of the thunder tribulation and was struck directly into tribulation ash, terrifying everyone.

Disciples who cultivated immortal arts had bodies far less sturdy than martial artists, and they were even less comparable to Shi Lan. When facing thunder tribulation, they had to rely on magic treasures, or even spirit treasures, to protect themselves.

With Golden Core Realm cultivation, refining spirit treasures was truly too difficult.

Li Canglan also had some thoughts on this point. Back then, he and Lin Lang had both stepped into the Spirit Infant Realm in Qinghong World, and neither of them had undergone thunder tribulation.

From that, it seemed perhaps some disciples could be taken back to Qinghong World to make their breakthroughs.

“Undergoing thunder tribulation is not necessarily a bad thing. It is also a kind of tempering for one’s cultivation.”

Shi Lan pondered for a while, then shook her head.

“Besides, heavenly tribulation is a test of the Heavenly Dao. It will not vanish for no reason. If you avoid it this time, it may accumulate until your next breakthrough and bring even greater trouble.”