Chapter 69
Chapter 69: Rejected
Crack—boom—crack—boom!
Blinding light. Deafening sound.
The formation shattered.
The six children were blasted apart by the shockwave of lightning tearing the earth open, thrown in different directions and slammed down hard enough to raise dust. They lay sprawled, dazed and ringing.
All around them, people sucked in breath.
So much for cheating under Heaven’s nose.
The masters lunged forward. “Up! Get up! Set up barriers!”
They’d barely managed to confirm who was where when the tribulation lightning, as if terrified they might link up again, dumped the bolts down in a merciless rush.
Nine bolts at once.
And then, as if the earlier strikes hadn’t “counted,” the sky reset.
Count again.
The lightning slammed down without pause, giving them no time even to breathe, much less comprehend.
People stared in horror. Was this a tribulation, or an execution?
We came to gain insight, not to watch children get killed!
Then the clouds scattered.
A wind rose, and the whole thing ended so quickly it felt like a cruel joke.
Six deep pits remained, steaming in the ground.
The masters charged in to dig them out.
Spirit rain began to fall, and the perfected shouted, “Foundation Establishment Stage disciples—comprehend! Now!”
They seized the last remnants of the tribulation’s aura, wringing out any enlightenment they could.
The six children couldn’t rest even after being pulled from their craters. They had to recover and advance immediately while the tribulation’s blessing still lingered.
A spirit-gathering array rose around them. Spiritual energy surged in like a flood, thick as water, mixing with the rain until the downpour felt almost heavy with power.
It rained for a full day.
By the end, most of the gathered spiritual energy had been absorbed. The spiritual energy within a hundred miles was drained dry, and the six children’s cultivation surged to the late Golden Core Stage in one leap.
It was real, then. The golden age of breakthroughs had arrived.
Changji Gate disciples went home with fire in their blood, all secretly planning when they could lock themselves into seclusion too.
The children, meanwhile, were delighted.
Jin Xin bounced up first, triumphant. “We’re still number one! Number one in the Golden Core Stage!”
Sure. Then they could go back and make a list of late Golden Core Stage senior brothers and sisters and urge them to reach Nascent Soul already.
Back in Zhaohua Sect, the late Golden Core Stage cultivators: Are you even human?
The Changji Gate Sect Master laughed loudly, generous to the bone. “Good! Good, good, good. You all broke through. All good kids. Then we celebrate—banquet!”
“Yay! Sect Master is the best Sect Master! We like you the most!”
A swarm of children not even reaching his waist threw themselves at him, hugging him, tugging him, twisting him like a rope. The Changji Gate Sect Master laughed until his face hurt.
Ah, other people’s kids were so lovable.
Unlike his own—always stiff-faced, always keeping their distance, like he was some kind of monster.
Hmph. Useless brats.
The Changji Gate disciples, being disliked for absolutely no reason: …
Off to the side, Hu Hua Hua held Hu Cai Cai and flipped him over and over, studying him with clinical focus. Finally he declared, “He needs to be struck a few more times.”
Then he looked at Hu Nuan. “When are you all advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage?”
Hu Nuan planted her hands on her hips. “Count on you to get there faster.”
Hu Zhu Zhu snorted. “Don’t count on them. We’ll do it ourselves.”
Hu Cai Cai was a demon. Lightning meant to refine humans wouldn’t work on him. The Demon Clan would have to handle it their own way.
Hu Zhu Zhu’s eyes slid toward Tang Yu Zi. He grabbed the five-year-old and tugged him down in front of himself.
“Want me to cleanse your bloodline?” Hu Zhu Zhu asked.
Strip away the human bloodline.
Tang Yu Zi made a couple uncertain sounds, torn. Right now, being human or demon felt about the same. His friends and masters weren’t going to abandon him either way.
“I’ll ask Master,” he said at last.
“Ask soon,” Hu Zhu Zhu warned. “The younger you are, the higher the success rate.”
Qiao Yu approached Hu Nuan. “Send your mom the good news.”
Hu Nuan happily pulled out her Buddhist beads and tried to contact Hu Qing.
No answer.
She muttered, “Of course,” and tried Shui Xin.
Still nothing.
Her mom and her uncle had gone out to play again.
Qiao Yu, seeing the failure, contacted Yu Liu Ya instead.
Yu Liu Ya answered curtly. “No time to talk. Be careful outside. A lot of people in the sect are about to face tribulation.”
He sounded ready to cut the call.
“Hu Qing—” Qiao Yu started.
“She too,” Yu Liu Ya snapped, and ended the connection.
Qiao Yu blinked. “Your mom is advancing too.”
Hu Nuan beamed. She immediately ran to grab the Changji Gate Sect Master’s hand. “Martial Uncle Sect Master! We want meat. Meat!”
The Changji Gate Sect Master swung his free arm grandly. “Meat! Someone, go to the back mountain and catch a Split-Mountain Tiger. Let the children eat well!”
Split-Mountain Tigers were vicious beasts, usually used for disciples to hone their skills. And he was handing one over like it was a snack.
Sect Master, please wake up.
—
Back at Zhaohua Sect, the number of cultivators preparing to face tribulation was far more than just six.
That same day, Hu Qing followed Yu Liu Ya’s advice and went into seclusion on her own peak.
Before she closed the door, she sent word to Shui Xin and Hu Zhuo.
Shui Xin said he could vaguely sense a breakthrough approaching as well. Once he fully melted the cold force in his body, he would go to face tribulation outside Baoping Ward.
Hu Zhuo promised he would watch the house and wished Hu Qing a smooth tribulation.
Hu Qing finally relaxed and sealed herself in.
Yu Liu Ya, generous as always, handed her all of Zhe Liu’s spirit crystals. Hu Qing accepted without a shred of guilt. She really was poor.
Then she immediately used those spirit crystals to set up a spirit-gathering array.
“Why can’t I just absorb spiritual energy directly?” she complained while arranging the crystals. “Is it because I’m beautiful like Ru Hua—unique, one of a kind—and the whole world rejects me?”
Juan Bu gave her a flat look. “Think about it. The stronger you get, the more people you can rob. Are you really short on a few spirit crystals?”
Hu Qing pressed a hand to her chest, wounded. “How can you think like that? I’m a good person.”
Juan Bu only chuckled.
The good person sat right on top of someone else’s spirit crystals and started absorbing.
Back in Canyon Realm, she’d already swallowed a terrifying amount of spiritual energy. Only the special nature of that extreme-yin land had prevented a tribulation from forming.
And after killing Zhe Liu, she’d replenished her losses with pills. Now her body was full to bursting, meridians and dantian swollen with power.
She ran her cultivation method and tried to guide the spiritual energy upward into her sea of consciousness.
Her sea of consciousness refused.
As if it had developed a personality, it seemed to say, I’m not the hungry, half-starved sea of consciousness I used to be. Feed me properly.
Properly? Now?
Hu Qing gritted her teeth and tried again.
Refused.
She switched targets and tried to feed the inner space instead.
The space refused too.
Juan Bu snorted. “It’s linked to the Gold-Devouring Divine Beast. It stopped caring about this little bit of spiritual energy a long time ago.”
Hu Qing reached for her other trump cards. “Emotionless Thread? Xue Sha bead? Devil Emperor Decree?”
Silence.
Three of them. Three perfectly synchronized plays-dead responses.
“Bai Wen?” she tried. “Thunder Dragon?”
Bai Wen and the Thunder Dragon sprang to life instantly. In her dantian, they circled the tiny Nascent Soul. Each pass made them flash, and each flash ripped another wave of spiritual energy out of her.
Hu Qing almost wept with gratitude. When it counted, the ones she’d raised herself were reliable.
She glanced at the Soul-Locking Chain hanging quietly on the Nascent Soul. That one didn’t suit this gold-fire spiritual power. Fine. Later she would find it something that matched its taste.
Then she looked at her Nascent Soul itself—small, stiff-faced, eyes closed, wearing the smug expression of someone who thought she was above the world.
Hu Qing’s mouth twitched. She refused to believe she looked that unlikable.
Her Nascent Soul had grown crooked.
Worse, she couldn’t stop absorbing.
In the end, she drained every last thread of power from the spirit crystals and pulled in all the surrounding spiritual energy her array could reach—only for most of it to be eaten by Bai Wen and the Thunder Dragon anyway.
Then she felt it: thunder pressure gathering at the edge of the sky, rushing toward her.
Two howls overlapped—one clear and soaring, one sharp and piercing.
The Thunder Dragon and Bai Wen abruptly revealed their enormous true forms, smashed through the sealed stone door, and shot into the heavens.
Hu Qing shot after them, alarmed. “Don’t run around! We’re going to the tribulation ground!”