Chapter 532: The Tribulation Between Heaven and Earth

A few days later.

Blood Spear General Hei Loushan and the other Jin Dan cultivators silently watched the lone figure on the mountain.

It was an old man with grizzled hair.

His face was covered in crisscrossing wrinkles, his hair was grey-white and dishevelled, falling loosely down his back; without even using divine sense, just looking with the eyes, a thick weariness radiated from him.

He was indeed an old man.

Many of the Blood Cloud Riders thought to themselves.

Even for a Jin Dan cultivator, this was an age that had entered its twilight — no longer young, no longer at peak condition.

"Do we have any other path?"

Someone asked in an extremely low voice, their spirits utterly sunk.

Much of the intelligence on Tushan Xiancheng surfaced in his mind — ever since it had escaped from a Nascent Soul cultivator, it had long ceased to be unknown.

It was none other than the Second General of the Blood Cloud, Xue Shou Ren Mo Li Tu!

"Big Brother?"

After several quarters of an hour, once again came the sound of the Blood Lotus blooming.

"No."

The great Dao goal they had pursued for hundreds of years, the goal for which they had risked life and death countless times — in an instant, most of it had vanished. The feeling was not pleasant.

Li Tu's eyes were blank and lost.

Even with the firm Dao heart of a Jin Dan cultivator, at this moment his resolve wavered.

Someone whispered.

"No, no, he's strong, but he has no Nascent Soul opportunity."

"And he won't take us in either — there's no trust between us. Even if he advances to Nascent Soul, there's no guarantee he'll keep his promise."

It was said that in Tushan Xiancheng, he had widely opened the path of immortality, not bound by surname, vigorously supporting rogue cultivators from all over.

"I'm still alive? How is this possible?"

The lotus garments shattered, revealing within them a naked figure, the size of a thumb, with a handsome face and translucent skin.

Before anyone could speak, the one who had spoken let out a low sigh himself.

The people around him fell silent.

Blood Spear General Hei Loushan lowered his head to gaze at the blood spear in his hand and said flatly: "This is the closest we have ever been to Nascent Soul. The Heishi, the Yins, the Dari Sect, the Great Sun Sword Sect — none of them will take us in or grant us a Nascent Soul opportunity."

Crack…

The only worry,

If one cannot advance to Nascent Soul, then the credibility, the feelings, the reputation of the incompetent — none of it is worth a thing.

"Tushan sword cultivator…"

Blood Liuyun had a thousand faults, ten thousand faults, but at least, as things stood now, he was still a man of sterling reputation, a man who valued bonds.

Many hearts stirred.

His last memory was the excruciating agony of his divine soul and body shattering — even now, the thought of it still made his heart tremble with lingering fear.

His hazy gaze gradually cleared, and he looked at the person before him.

Wrinkles ran deep, hair was grey-white, and there was even a peculiar stench — the stench of a body in decline. What he had lost was not merely two hundred years of time.

"Big Brother?!!"

Li Tu was greatly shocked, his voice trembling as he asked: "How did you end up like this? Why?!"

"Second Brother, don't worry about that for now."

Blood Liuyun smiled, unconcerned, and said: "Your sea of consciousness — look at how your sea of consciousness is."

As he spoke, the Blood Cloud Dharma Intent had already surged up, wrapping around the thumb-sized lotus-seed figure, ready to strike and suppress at the first sign of anything amiss.

Of course, this was only a precaution.

He did not believe that across such a vast distance, after two resurrections through the Blood Lotus, with divine soul and body shattered and recongealed, any obligation could possibly remain.

Li Tu instinctively complied.

A moment later, his face turned utterly ugly, and his lost gaze once more became fearful, incredulous.

"It's still there, Big Brother, it's still there!"

"Sword intent!"

Li Tu panicked, like a child, trembling as he said: "What exactly is this sword intent? Why hasn't it disappeared? Why?!"

"Open up your sea of consciousness!"

Blood Liuyun roared, his eyes once again turning wild; he could barely stop himself from charging toward the direction of the Disciple Peak, killing his way over there regardless of everything.

If we die, we die; if we live, we live!

He would care for nothing else!

Divine sense poured into Li Tu's sea of consciousness, searching inch by inch.

In the crimson sea-of-consciousness space — a common sight in the sea of consciousness of Blood Dao cultivators — at the core of the sea of consciousness, Li Tu's faint, translucent divine soul curled up on the ground, trembling ceaselessly.

Upon his brow, a faint sword-scar was imprinted.

This sword-scar carried an aura of spirit-breaking and law-annihilation; though its aura was exceedingly faint — fainter even than the scent of weeds — it was firmly embedded within the core of Li Tu's divine soul, almost fused with it as one.

Any force that sought to destroy it would first have to destroy Li Tu's divine soul!

And symbiosis was not the end.

Drawing on the divine soul, it would slowly absorb the power of the sea of consciousness to restore itself; once it had积蓄 enough, it would immediately transform once more into a blade to slash the divine soul — to the death, without end.

"Tushan!"

"Tushan sword cultivator!"

"This is going too far!"

Blood Flow Cloud's dharma intent and divine sense probed for a while, to no avail. His eyes turned blood-red, utterly crazed.

"Big Brother! Don't!"

"Don't!"

Xue Shou Ren Mo Li Tu was startled, and said anxiously: "If I die, I die. Don't go looking for him! You might…"

He did not finish the sentence, but everyone around understood.

In terms of personal strength alone, their famed Commander was probably no match.

Blood Spear General Hei Loushan's eyes flashed with a trace of fear, then it vanished.

With just a wisp of sword intent, he could repeatedly slay the reviving Xue Shou Ren Mo. If he faced him in person, even escape would be a luxury.

Not to mention, this person was not like those upright Nascent Soul Ancestors — instead he was extremely cunning, without the slightest shred of a sword cultivator's dignity or bearing.

Speaking purely of danger, he might well be even more terrifying.

"I know."

Blood Flow Cloud took a deep breath, barely calming himself.

Over all these years, he had met many foes he could not match in strength. No matter how furious, no matter how full of killing intent — even if his entire clan were wiped out — he had to hold himself firmly in check.

Otherwise, he would die.

"There is still a way."

Blood Flow Cloud's thoughts turned a thousand times, and he quickly thought of a plan: "I will first seal this wisp of sword intent, slowing the rate at which it drains my soul's power. It won't erupt for at least twenty or thirty years."

"Don't panic. There will be a way in the future."

……

"The sword intent's perception has weakened a little… it's still there."

Jiang Ding concealed his form and flew through the sky.

Within his soul's perception, a small dot was moving, heading away from the Disciple Peak, deliberately circling around, trying to hide and evade.

Completely useless.

Focused only on getting away from Disciple Peak, the actual distance to him had instead grown a little closer.

"No rush."

"In the language of myths, does this mean the tribulation hasn't arrived yet?"

Jiang Ding thought it over and found it rather interesting.

The world was just this complicated. Even with killing intent, now was still not Xue Shou Ren Mo's Day of Death.

Since he had successfully escaped, it meant he had the strength or the luck — he was no feeble ant.

Then he was useful.

People like Xue Shou Ren Mo Li Tu, who could shake the rotten rule of the Northern Plain families, were of some benefit to his future plan of destroying all enemies, taking over the entire world, and gathering all the world's resources to build a super mothership — they could add a one or two in ten-thousandth increase to the success rate.

Don't look at how small the effect is.

Heaped earth becomes a mountain; without accumulated half-steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles.

One small factor after another, accumulated together, can ultimately converge into a surging river, destroying the rot of the entire world, and letting his Dao and the world be reborn together.