Chapter 121: Heavenly Tribulation
Chapter 121: Heavenly Tribulation
Among all the myriad magics under heaven, none surpassed the fluid transformations of water arts. Mu Yuan possessed a sharp eye. The fierce shifts of the Tidal Flow combined with the gentle warmth of the Pure Stream Heart-Cleanse Truth Art endowed him with a keen sense of timing. In an instant, he spotted a gap in the two demons’ merged form shift and pierced through it with his sword!
The two demons roared in fury. Mu Yuan let out a weird chuckle, shook his Talisman Sword light, and ensnared one. Shangguan Shuiqing channeled her Clear Water True Qi. It surged out, forming a mighty river that layered over Mu Yuan’s Zhenqi. No matter how the demon leaped within this torrent, it couldn’t break free.
With only one demon left, Tie Ling finally perked up. He had learned his lesson, transforming both arms into thick iron chains. He swung them to blockade the enemy, countless needle-sharp spikes erupting from the links. Crushing inward, they battered against the monster’s protective green glow. The collision caused booming waves of light that surged and scattered like grinding stones, slowly wearing the demon down!
Separated, the two demons became much weaker. Mu Yuan trapped one. The Northern Dark Water Curse attached to his Talisman Sword constantly spat out fist-sized, ink-black water pearls. Thunderous explosions rang out one after another, like a cauldron refining pills, blasting the demon’s green radiance apart. Just as Mu Yuan prepared to finish it off, a massive boom resounded! An enormous surge of force erupted from the left rear, tearing Mu Yuan’s robe and threatening to topple him. He frantically used the momentum to redirect the force entirely onto the demon trapped in his sword light. A deafening roar came from within the light, and the demon actually broke free, spraying arcs of blood everywhere, before reuniting with its companion’s green glow. Together, they transformed into a two-headed snake demon over ten zhang long!
Mu Yuan withdrew his Talisman Sword. The demon’s desperate escape left it struck repeatedly by his Sword Qi, and finally took a heavy blow from Shangguan Shuiqing’s air blade to its waist. Revealing its true form now was clearly a last-ditch effort!
The Talisman Sword transformed into a streak of pure light, tinged with a dark ink-black glow. Mu Yuan steadied himself and glanced back. The Square-scarf Scholar had slain his opponent; dancing his Flying Sword, he gave Mu Yuan a quick grin before twisting toward the Peacock Demon King!
Master Long Yin’s protective golden radiance was completely suppressed by the Peacock Demon King’s five-colored glow. Only the supreme power of his Vajra Dharma Form kept him standing. The Square-scarf Scholar’s Flying Sword was fierce; with a shake of his wrist, thick beams of sword radiance pierced the rainbow light. Mu Yuan breathed a small sigh of relief, turning back with Tie Ling and Shangguan Shuiqing to face the two-headed snake demon!
Despite its enormous size and shimmering silver scales, the demon held no terror for the trio! Although a demon beast’s strength increased when it assumed its true form, it lost the ability to wield many spells. If not for that, countless demons wouldn’t strive so hard to take on human shapes!
Tie Ling laughed loudly and charged. He straightened his arms and spun like a top, transforming into a huge wedge that pierced forward. His force raged violently on the spot. The snake demon spewed foul-smelling venom from both mouths. A deafening roar, like crashing tides, echoed.
Mu Yuan and Shangguan Shuiqing exchanged a smile. Their Clear Water True Qi surged from their hands. As they rotated their arms, they generated swirling vortexes of differing sizes!
At water manipulation, how could this snake demon compete with Mu Yuan and Shangguan Shuiqing, trained in the Pure Stream Heart-Cleanse Truth Art?
The sky-scattering venom was swept into multiple vortexes like iron shavings drawn to a magnet. The vortexes grew larger and larger. Holding their arms high, Mu Yuan and Shangguan Shuiqing whipped the venom into a frenzy. The stunned two-headed snake writhed. Facing the onrushing Tie Ling, it whipped its massive tail with cracks like thunder. Both gaping crimson maws opened wide; its body trembled violently as if a huge tumor traveled up its spine, splitting into two surges erupting from its mouths!
The left head spewed Raging Flames; the right spat dozens of ice shards! Flames distorted the Void; vapor crackled into ice chunks, falling like flakes of crumbling plaster!
“Fire and ice, relentless! But can’t any demon try something new?!” Tie Ling’s spinning wedge drilled through the opposing forces with hurricane force. The raging winds around him cleaved a narrow path. The flames couldn’t burn him; the ice shards couldn’t pierce him. He shot straight into the gaping maw!
He tore through like a gopher burrowing through mud. A visible furrow raced along the demon’s ten-zhang body. The two-headed snake howled in agony, body coiling and arching before plummeting from midair to the ground. Its massive form crushed innumerable savage beasts. It thrashed wildly, sweeping across the battlefield like a massive chain, flattening countless ox-rhinos and tigers. Yet the surging tide of beasts swallowed the snake demon beneath them, splattering gore everywhere!
As the two-headed snake plunged, Mu Yuan and Shangguan Shuiqing rained the venom they held onto the battlefield below. With a chorus of sizzling sounds, billows of gray smoke erupted as countless beasts perished!
Mu Yuan worried about the simple Tie Ling getting injured amid the chaos. He quickly descended, hovering two zhang above the ground, scanning. He saw Tie Ling swing his iron arms into the beast tide, reversing course. Silvery white light exploded from his limbs like great engines of slaughter. None of the wild beasts could get close!
Shangguan Shuiqing watched raptly. Mu Yuan chuckled darkly. Confronted by this vast spectacle, he felt a surge of daring and plunged into the horde. His Talisman Sword morphed into a dazzling pure light over a zhang long. Landing atop a charging mammoth, he hacked wildly!
The Northern Dark Water Curse attached to the sword benefited greatly. As Mu Yuan slaughtered, vast Primordial Qi poured into it. The curse swelled into a shining orb one chi wide, pulsing powerfully!
“How foolish I was!” Mu Yuan sensed the change in the water curse. He realized this was the perfect moment to bolster the Bright Illumination Universal Passage curse. Without a second thought, he released the other Four Great Curses from the Black Water Gourd. His Talisman Sword became a ring of light wrapping his body, the curses spinning around him as balls of dark-purple, cyan, and yellow light. Whirling madly, they absorbed Primordial Qi, filling even Mu Yuan himself with boundless vigor!
“Forget containing these curses! The Clear Water Palace arts are too stifling. Having this set of Great Curses for defense is far better than going barehanded and always being countered!”
“These Five Great Curses are much better than Brother Chu’s Five Ghosts Divine Transport Technique! More elegant and righteous! Hmph, when he finally collects his ‘Five Ghosts’, I’ll mock him good!”
The aerial battle neared its end. Besides the formidable Peacock Demon King wielding the Clear Water Palace’s Water Soul Pearl, only five ragtag imps remained. Mu Yuan knew taking the pearl back was unlikely. At the Peacock Demon King’s level, even Master Long Yin and the Square-scarf Scholar couldn’t hold him if he decided to flee!
Mu Yuan and Tie Ling plunged through the earthbound horde. Mu Yuan’s giant spirit puppets and two lightning dragons raced among the sky beasts with wind speed, slaughtering birds by the score! It was an impassable Thunder Pond!
Mu Yuan now ignored the air battle, focusing entirely on driving the Five Great Curses to swallow as much Primordial Qi as possible!
“Boom! Boom!” Tremendous beast roars shook heaven and earth. Though they had slain countless fearsome creatures, the beasts remained like an endless mass clouded by dust, choking on foul stench. Mu Yuan caught the killing fever and charged deeper, shouting. The cursed light orbs expanded several zhang from his body. Excess Primordial Qi flooded his meridian channels, converting into surging Clear Water True Qi!
Clear Water True Qi was never known for volume. Yet within Mu Yuan’s body, it reached an extreme surge. His Pure Stream Heart-Cleanse Truth Art only cultivated it to the Evil Energy Condensing stage, but now it swelled uncontrollably. The Great Art of Yin-Yang Soul Shackling and Qi Sealing in his Dantian still bound his core powers. Yet the suppressed fiendish-yang energies surged back like a giant millstone, grinding drops of Clear Water True Qi into Condensing Fiend and Refining Yang!
Unable to contain himself, Mu Yuan roared. Great True Qi blasted out like a fierce wind, parting a layer of the dense flying flock! It shot toward the Beyond the Nine Heavens, stirring heaven’s might and changing sky! The lowest layer of Heaven’s Might Atmosphere became like an upturned river of stars. Suddenly seized by this Qi surge, it tore through the lightning-fire layer, carrying cyclones downward like a waterfall!
“Is this ‘Heavenly Tribulation’, as recorded in ancient texts!?” The knowledge flickered in Mu Yuan’s mind.
Ancient records described ancient beings incurring disasters as they cultivated. From Beyond the Nine Heavens came thunder and fire. Cultivators surviving this tribulation saw their Magical Power soar greatly. Yet modern Cultivators never met this “Heavenly Tribulation”. In this moment, Mu Yuan suddenly understood!
Ancient Cultivators explored in the dark! They didn’t know to actively practice Condensing Evil Energy and Refining Righteous Energy. Accumulating too much Zhenqi invited both fiendish Yin energy below and righteous Yang energy above to descend automatically! This neutralized internal Zhenqi not yet connected to heaven and earth!
No matter how wide a Cultivator’s meridian channels, Zhenqi holding capacity was finite. Ancient Cultivators recklessly accumulated Zhenqi. At their limit, this imbalance triggered a collision! Fiendish and righteous energies descended together — the “Heavenly Tribulation!”
Later Cultivators discovered the path of Condensing Fiend and Refining Yang. At a certain level, they actively sought such energies to elevate their power! The Heavenly Tribulation faded!
Mu Yuan cultivated the Pure Stream Heart-Cleanse Truth Art with hidden goals. He had never planned to ‘Refine Yang’. Yet this chase and slaughter unexpectedly elevated his Zhenqi beyond its limit. He was already at the ‘Yang-Fusion’ stage! Had he stopped swallowing Primordial Qi, the conversion would have been gradual. But Mu Yuan didn’t know! He kept driving Five Great Curses upward, stirring heaven itself… attracting the Yang!