Chapter 300

Chapter 300: Master Ling Xiao Gradually Loses Control

A deafening crash erupted as the first Heavenly Lightning Tribulation fell. Trees around the platform snapped in half, and the terrifying power looked ready to flip the whole platform over.

The Elders serving as Dharma Protectors shielded Master Ling Xiao while also fending off the rain of small lightning strikes. Even if they were small, they were still part of a Peak Divine Transformation Cultivator’s Tribulation Crossing. Several weaker Elders had their hair standing straight up. At a glance, they looked like Black Mountain Demons.

Master Ling Xiao’s face was blank as he ran his Spiritual Power. His eyes held their usual pride, and he did not take the sixty four Heavenly Lightning Tribulations seriously. He knew the lightning was not the real threat. The tricky one was the Heart-Devil Tribulation.

So, what he had to do now was keep a calm mind, hold his heart steady, and focus all his attention on the breakthrough. [Focus on the breakthrough.]

The second Heavenly Lightning Tribulation fell, lighting his sharp features. His gaze turned a bit colder. [And after the breakthrough?] After he succeeded, he would bring Shen Sang Ruo back.

Ninghua Sect and Immortal Lord Chang Li were nothing in his eyes.

The third Heavenly Lightning Tribulation crashed down. In the blinding light, his clenched hand slowly tightened. The tribulation cloud covered the sky; after a brief brightness, the world sank into darkness again.

It was not total darkness. Tiny points of light seemed to flicker on the platform. But no one noticed such a small change. Everyone had their eyes on Master Ling Xiao’s Tribulation Crossing.

His face stayed steady, but his grip kept tightening until his fingertips dug into his palm. After he brought Shen Sang Ruo back, he would accept her as his disciple again. Then she would be what she had been before Bai Mu Mu arrived, his youngest disciple. He would hold a grand acceptance ceremony, ten times, a hundred times grander than when Immortal Lord Chang Li took a disciple. He would erase that low technique’s imprint and personally teach her the Profound Fire True Dragon Art. She would be happy.

Shen Sang Ruo would understand that he was the most suitable person to be her Master. Only under him could she truly improve.

The fourth Heavenly Lightning Tribulation fell. The pale light washed over his face. His brows knit, yet the corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile; his fingertips turned white from how hard he squeezed. [Shen Sang Ruo can only be my disciple.] What Immortal Lord Chang Li? Riffraff like that was not worthy to be her Master. At the Sect Grand Tournament he had even dared to say Master Ling Xiao was not worthy. Now Master Ling Xiao was about to break into Void Refinement. Who exactly was unworthy? What right did Immortal Lord Chang Li have to defend Master Ling Xiao’s disciple, even to the point of Soul-Burning just to injure him? Laughable. Foolish. They said he might surpass Master Ling Xiao and become the first in the Cultivation World? He would make the world open its eyes and see who was stepping into Void Refinement today, and who was hiding in Ninghua Sect to watch.

Immortal Lord Chang Li could never match him. How dare he try to steal his disciple?

The fifth Heavenly Lightning Tribulation fell. The flash passed in an instant, yet the platform blazed with light.

Every Formation on the platform activated and glowed. Shen Dao Chen’s face turned ugly. Those were mind-stabilizing Formations. For them all to light up could only mean that Master Ling Xiao’s Dao heart was in trouble.

The other Elders realized it too and looked toward Master Ling Xiao together. Even without the glow from the Formations, they could clearly see a small flame burning at the center of his brow, laced with threads of black mist.

This was the mark of the Heart Devil’s influence, the sign that Devilization was near. They all confirmed that Master Ling Xiao was facing the Heart-Devil Tribulation.

Shen Dao Chen’s expression grew even worse.

This was only the fifth Heavenly Lightning Tribulation, yet Master Ling Xiao was already affected this badly. How could he endure the remaining fifty nine? He had expected that Master Ling Xiao would face the Heart-Devil Tribulation, but he did not expect it to come this fast or this fierce.

He had thought that with Master Ling Xiao’s temperament, he could at least last through half.

He had still underestimated how deep Master Ling Xiao’s obsession with Shen Sang Ruo ran.

Some Elders, seeing Master Ling Xiao like this, felt the crossing was most likely doomed and began to waver. If Master Ling Xiao failed, the best outcome would be losing his cultivation or bursting and dying.

But if he blackened and fell into Devilization and lost his reason, the first to suffer would be them, the Elders serving as Dharma Protectors.

With one misstep they would go from the Dharma Protector team to a burial team.

Cultivation had not been easy for them. They had lived most of their lives to climb to their current level and become Elders of Flying Cloud Sect. They were not ready to die.

At a time like this, Shen Dao Chen’s sense for people was unusually sharp. He instantly sensed their shaken hearts. He snapped: “Why panic! We just started, and you are already afraid? Are the Elders of Flying Cloud Sect so greedy for life and afraid of death?”

He barked: “The one crossing the tribulation is Master Ling Xiao, the first person in the Cultivation World today. You have been in Flying Cloud Sect for years. Do you not know his strength?”

He added bluntly: “Let me be rude. Even if you died in your own Tribulation Crossing, Master Ling Xiao would still be fine!”

He ordered: “Pull yourselves together! We must help Master Ling Xiao turn danger into safety and break through successfully!”

His words steadied everyone in time. Those Elders who had panicked thought it through. Right, this was Master Ling Xiao.

If they helped him succeed, it would be a great merit.

Soon, the Dharma Protector Elders gathered again. Under Shen Dao Chen’s direction, some resisted the Heavenly Lightning Tribulation, while others poured Spiritual Power into the Guardian Spirit Formation.

Master Ling Xiao knew none of this. He had fallen completely into the Heart Devil.

Countless scenes flickered before his eyes.

In those scenes, a tiny Shen Sang Ruo had just sworn to him as her Master. Her bright eyes were full of curiosity and admiration as she looked at him. She said in a clear voice: “Father, no, Senior Uncle said from now on you are my Master.”

She added cheerfully: “I am good at learning. Senior Uncle has already taught me Guiding Qi into the Body. I will not make Master worry.”

She was not wrong. Her talent was very high. What he taught her, she learned in one try.

But back then he had no extra attention to spare for her, and he was very unhappy that Shen Dao Chen had sent a half-grown child up to Thunder-Scale Peak.

He was the first Cultivator of the Cultivation World. He was a Master who taught disciples to cultivate, not a babysitter.

So he tossed Shen Sang Ruo to his four disciples.

Feng He Yun and the others were even less likely to teach her properly.

All day long, either Feng He Yun secretly gave her wine and got her tipsy, then took the chance to pinch her flushed cheeks, or Luo Chu dragged her out to run around. She would pump her little legs to chase him and come back exhausted.

And Lu Shi Qing, who was only a teen then, was not as cold as he is now. He was more lively and often suddenly produced strange bugs to startle her.