Zixiao's aura gradually began to sweep across the entire mountain peak. Although he had not yet undergone his tribulation, the aura unique to the Tribulation Transcendence Rank was already displayed to its absolute limit on him.
He cast a downward glance at the few people lying on the ground. Simply resisting the pressure radiating from him was already enough to keep them from standing up.
Initially, he had thought about turning these people into nourishment for his ascension, but now, it seemed there was no longer any need.
He slightly raised his ice-armor-covered face and looked toward the tribulation clouds continuously gathering on the horizon.
The absolute top priority right now was waiting for him in the sky.
Tribulation Transcendence! The opportunity to leap over the dragon gate was right before his eyes. How could he possibly suppress the wild joy in his heart? Once he attained a Tribulation Transcendence Rank cultivation, he would become the ruler of this world.
He watched the tribulation clouds continue to condense and opened his arms, as if actively embracing the clouds and the imminent tribulation lightning.
He looked at the thunder dragon looming within the clouds. It was thicker, larger, and far more lifelike than the one present when Jiang Ci was exiled.
Any fear of the tribulation lightning was cast to the back of his mind. Within his heart, which had been riddled with countless holes from the calamity seed's erosion, nothing remained but a desperate thirst for cultivation.
He had to stand above tens of thousands, above hundreds of millions. The only thing that could lead him to this height was the continuous elevation of his cultivation.
As for the oaths he had sworn in his youth, as for why he wanted to raise his cultivation, why he wanted to stand above hundreds of millions...
Was it to overturn this world when it was unjust, or to extend a helping hand when he saw the weak being bullied by the strong?
He could not remember.
Such trivial matters had long since been worn away to nothingness during his repeated pursuits of higher cultivation.
He used the dark law of the jungle to mask the cracks in his conscience, and used excuses to erase the lingering curses in his heart after resorting to unscrupulous means time and time again.
Over time, under repeated self-inflicted devastation, his conscience could no longer hide the countless fractures. It had become completely shattered.
His moral compass was repeatedly painted black with indelible ink. After so long, even if he wanted to wash it, it could never be made white again...
He did not regret it. Or rather, he did not care at all. He only wanted to cultivate, to cultivate, to cultivate by any means necessary.
As long as there was still someone above him, as long as there was still someone who could suppress him, it meant his cultivation was still lacking. It meant his cultivation was still not high enough.
He cultivated with desperate desperation, daring to do what others did not!
Even if the price was becoming enemies with the entire cultivation world, even if it meant being a public enemy of humanity, colluding with the Ice Spirit Cult, the Water Spirit Cult, and all kinds of other evil sects.
Even if it meant harming his fellow disciples, seizing the talents of others, and squeezing his disciples' resources dry, earning the hatred and disgust of everyone, he would not hesitate!
As long as his cultivation could increase, as long as he could see the hope of ascension, that was enough. It proved the path before him was still open, that ascension was not a lie!
He stared fanatically at the lightning gathering in the sky, eagerly anticipating its descent. Or rather, what he anticipated was not the heavenly thunder itself, but the proof it brought.
Proof that he was right, that he was not wrong, and that everything he had done was on the correct path.
As the thunder dragon descended, he had already closed his eyes, preparing to bathe in this sea of tribulation lightning.
As for the infinite confidence and backing that allowed him to disregard this realm-crossing tribulation, it was also the very foundation that allowed him to leap across the threshold between the Body Integration Rank and the Tribulation Transcendence Rank.
One would have to ask Bai Cen. But even Bai Cen did not know. No one had ever consumed this pill before.
This pill could not reconstruct a sword heart, but it had granted Zixiao something else entirely.
The Glass Sword Body. That was what he should call it. Looking at the sword qi flowing through his body, he felt he had never understood sword arts so profoundly before. To think that little girl was actually born with such a talent!
A surge of jealousy welled up, but in the next instant, it turned into boundless, malicious pleasure.
No matter how high her talent was, was it not his now? It was just a pity about Bai Cen. If there were even stronger talents to seize in the future, he could have had Bai Cen refine pills for him.
If Bai Cen had not died, once Zixiao ascended, he would have definitely made him his exclusive elixir slave.
With these thoughts in mind, he waited, but the thunder dragon did not descend for a long time. He had been posing for nearly ten minutes, which made him look incredibly foolish.
He opened his eyes and looked up at the tribulation clouds. They were growing fainter and weaker, and even the thunder dragon had vanished.
“No! No, no, no!”
Zixiao instantly grew frantic. He did not understand why. The tribulation clouds had been perfectly fine just a moment ago, so why were they suddenly dispersing?
Cultivators who failed to undergo their tribulations would be trapped in their current realm for the rest of their lives, unable to make any further progress.
He would not allow such a thing to happen. He would not allow it to happen to him.
He raised the icy tip of Flowing Light, pointing it at the tribulation clouds, and roared at the top of his lungs, “Come on! Strike me down if you have the guts! Come on!”
The tribulation clouds did not slow their dispersal because of Zixiao's actions. He panicked, his face, covered in deep blue cracks, twisting into a bizarre expression of extreme terror under his panic.
“It cannot be like this! Heavenly Dao! You cannot do this to me!” he roared, raising his sword and slashing out beam after beam of frost-blue sword qi.
With the enhancement of the Glass Sword Body and a Tribulation Transcendence Rank cultivation, each beam of sword qi sliced through the sky, trailing a magnificent tail of light and tearing several rifts into the dark, heavy sky blanketed by the tribulation clouds.
As if truly provoked by him, the tribulation clouds finally sent down a single bolt of golden lightning. It was so thin that it was not even as thick as an adult's forearm.
Yet, Zixiao reacted like a traveler dying of thirst in a desert who had finally spotted an oasis.
Flapping his blue-purple wings, he soared upward to meet the lightning—a bolt so pathetic it was inferior to the tribulation lightning a normal cultivator faced when forming their Golden Core.
But even so, he still failed to catch the tribulation lightning he so desperately yearned for.
The tribulation clouds dispersed, completely pierced through by a long, white staircase. Along with them, the golden lightning vanished as well.
Zixiao stared at the steps before him. They were white, with a texture like marble, yet they also held the warm, yellowish luster of jade.
A red carpet was laid over them, so vibrant that it was impossible to look away.
“What is this?” Qingwei muttered to himself. He had never seen any records in ancient texts about a long staircase appearing during a tribulation; there were only accounts of tribulation lightning.
Zixiao stared blankly at the staircase for several seconds before suddenly bursting into laughter. “The Lord Heavenly Envoy has come to receive me! He blocked the tribulation lightning for me! He is going to take me to the immortal realm, to the upper realm!”
As he spoke, his voice grew from a low mutter to a booming shout.
It was hard to tell whether he was explaining the origin of the staircase or spinning a lie he desperately wanted to believe. In any case, after he finished speaking, nothing but fanaticism remained in his eyes.
He lifted his foot and stepped onto it, taking one step after another, walking his own path to ascension. As long as he believed that the end of this path was the immortal realm, that was enough!
His figure gradually disappeared above the clouds, and those below could no longer see his back. Perhaps he was still walking, or perhaps he had truly reached the upper realm.
No one knew. The staircase suddenly retracted upward, vanishing from this world in an instant.
Qingwei and Su Li, who was beside him, exchanged a glance.
Was it over? What should they do now?
They stood up, enduring the pain of their injuries, and prepared to leave this troubled place.
A shooting star streaked down, crashing to the ground with a crisp metallic ring.
The shooting star had landed right inside the deep trench Qingwei had carved with his sword earlier. Qingwei slowly bent down, leaning half his body over to see what it was.
A sword—a sword encased in ice.
“Flowing Light”
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