Chapter 165: Soul Tribulation

Black clouds covered the entire star sky like a giant curtain; except for that pair of ever-bright Great Dao Eyes, all starlight was obscured.

The power acting simultaneously on body and mind weighed down on the Xuanhuang Mother Qi Pagoda, causing it to tremble incessantly.

Finally, after brewing for a long time, the heavenly tribulation descended with a thunderous roar as the first bolt struck.

Merely the first bolt of lightning, yet the lightning radiated a purple-black light; Jiang Xuan's eyes swirled with yin and yang, clearly revealing the terrifying destructive aura within.

This descending heavenly tribulation left no room for survival; it was simply to blast-kill him!

The Xuanhuang Mother Qi Pagoda merged into Jiang Xuan's body together with the first heavenly tribulation.

The heavenly tribulation actually left no trace on his body's surface, and that destructive aura caused no harm to his body whatsoever!

Jiang Xuan's body was like a water-absorbing sponge, and the heavenly tribulation, like water droplets, ignored the obstruction of Xuanhuang Mother Qi and surged into his body.

The moment it entered his body, the heavenly tribulation dispersed into fragments scattered throughout his body, and only then did the latent destructive aura truly reveal its terrifying side.

It was the destruction of all blood, internal organs, and every cell within his body!

The size of every cell in his body compared to the destructive power it had to endure was like gravel compared to a great mountain!

Jiang Xuan's veins bulged, and his body spasmed in an instant; fortunately, the Xuanhuang Mother Qi Pagoda also merged back into his body in an instant.

The overwhelming pressure made his face turn ferocious again, but he still stood firm like a sturdy pine tree in place.

As the Xuanhuang Mother Qi Pagoda merged into every cell of his body, it finally stabilized the resilience of the cells.

Although it could not dispel that vast destructive aura, it could at least ensure his body would not be completely obliterated by the destructive aura; the only drawback was that every part of his body transmitted pain like ten thousand insects devouring his heart and a million knives slicing him alive!

Actually, Jiang Xuan was not without a way to block this pain; his Half-Step Dao Soldier Eight Trigrams Furnace hovered quietly above his dantian, and that deep, light-absorbing black furnace fire burned fiercely, seeming very interested in this destructive power.

But was this destructive power not also indirectly tempering his body!

Having walked out of the Mysterious World, his cultivation realm had advanced too far, but his body had not kept up at all!

After seeing the essence of this destructive power, Jiang Xuan wanted to use this destructive power to reforge his body once more.

As the destructive power struck every cell again and again, the Xuanhuang Mother Qi circulating within the cells grew heavier, and an aura like sitting like a great mountain faintly emerged around Jiang Xuan.

The destructive power acted as a catalyst, not only indirectly enhancing every cell's adaptability and defense, but also making the Xuanhuang Mother Qi even heavier.

Before he could finish digesting the destructive power within his body, another identical heavenly tribulation descended; the vast destructive power symbolizing death fell upon him.

Jiang Xuan still made no move; his body was slowly transforming under the pressure of the destructive power, and he wished there could be more destructive power for him to temper himself.

As if responding to his needs, and as if the Heavenly Dao did not want to give him any chance at all, the speed of the pure destructive heavenly tribulation falling became faster and faster, and also greater and greater!

All prying gazes from the outside world were blocked outside by the sky-covering heavenly tribulation, but at this moment, a consciousness penetrated space, penetrated the Great Dao, and even penetrated time to cast its gaze.

A youthful phantom of a man in his twenties appeared on the other side of the star sky, facing off against the Heavenly Dao Eye from afar.

The youth had thick black hair, his gaze shone piercing through everything; with every gesture, heaven and earth and all Daos trembled for it; even the distant Heavenly Dao Eye, upon sensing the other's consciousness, dared not include him in the targets of the heavenly tribulation bombardment.

"There is actually a heavenly tribulation personally presided over by the Heavenly Dao?" Light flickered in the youth's eyes, as if he had seen through everything about Jiang Xuan.

"What strange rules these are; they are completely different from the Three Thousand Great Daos within the Heavenly Dao. Even if there are similar rule powers, their might is different! Truly baffling! There are even rules specifically used to tamper with rules?"

The youth's gaze gradually dimmed, and his figure also gradually became illusory, as if his time and space were forcibly dragging him back to where he belonged.

The youth turned to look at the Heavenly Dao Eye: "You want to exterminate him just because of this? That's really too petty!"

The Heavenly Dao Eye still stared fixedly at Jiang Xuan below, as if expressing its determination to exterminate him.

"Even I cannot probe his Sea of Consciousness; you probably cannot achieve your goal! This is also good; more variables mean more possibilities for this world! I alone cannot hold out!"

The words slowly dissipated; the illusory youth in the star sky had already vanished, leaving only the Heavenly Dao Eye still looking down indifferently, as if not believing the heavenly tribulation could kill the youth below who dared to provoke the rules; the speed of the heavenly tribulation decreased even faster.

If Jiang Xuan knew all this was because of a single sentence from that youth, he would only want to say: "I really am... thank you!"

The bolts of destructive lightning turned from one bolt to another into sheets, and finally into continuous lightning pillars covering him entirely.

Feeling the endless destructive power surging into his body, Jiang Xuan was now a bit bewildered!

Has the Heavenly Dao gone mad? Whose heavenly tribulation falls like a laser pillar? What's the difference between this and directly pouring destructive power into his body?

Fine, now it is directly pouring destructive power into his body.

Accompanied by the 'irrigation' of vast death power, Jiang Xuan's body finally reached a bottleneck.

"Boom!"

Accompanied by the rumbling of his body, every cell instantly turned brownish-yellow; the heavy aura instantly devoured all the destructive power, absorbing it as nourishment for the body, and actually returned to simplicity as strands of source power circulating within his body and surging into his dantian.

After resolving all the destructive power within his body, the Xuanhuang Mother Qi Pagoda rose again; head supporting the Heavenly Dao, feet treading the star sky; the Dao and principles emerging within slowly interwove and melted into the pagoda, and faint Dao patterns appeared on the pagoda's body!

Great Dao Patterns!

After the Eight Trigrams Furnace, the second magic weapon to activate Great Dao Patterns!

Jiang Xuan opened his eyes; on his twisted face, a smile spread; his mood was clearly not bad!

If the Eight Trigrams Furnace's Dao patterns were activated by chance while understanding characteristics in the Mysterious World, he had no idea how other magic weapons fused within his body could actively activate Dao patterns.

So now he had confirmed a path!

Magic weapons completely fused with him could become stronger as his body grew stronger; that is to say, his magic weapons did not need to be invested with stronger and better materials, but could advance through tempering!

Just as his body gradually grew stronger under the influence of destructive power, it could also influence the Xuanhuang Mother Qi Pagoda to grow stronger at the same time!

He was the collection of all fused magic weapons, and all magic weapons likewise represented him.

As if sensing that destructive power could do nothing to Jiang Xuan, the mad light pillar finally stopped, but the dark clouds above became even more oppressive!

The light pillar disappeared; the Xuanhuang Mother Qi Pagoda merged into his body again; Jiang Xuan could now calmly resist the pressure brought by the Heavenly Dao Eye; his upright body raised its head to gaze at that one still-bright Heavenly Dao Eye.

A new round of heavenly tribulation descended!

No thunder! No lightning!

Although Jiang Xuan could not see the heavenly tribulation, he could feel it!

The Space-Imagination Authority granted him powerful perception of mental power; even within the star sky, he could feel some people in the Great Wilderness and Central State missing him in their hearts.

He could even clearly and intuitively feel the transparent mental thunder above his head.

The next moment, the transparent thunder penetrated his body and ruthlessly fell toward his Soul Sea of Consciousness!

In Jiang Xuan's perception, the moment the thunder entered his Sea of Consciousness, it was enclosed within the territory of the Hongmeng Treasure Mirror; most of it turned into pure mental power and was absorbed by the Hongmeng Treasure Mirror.

He sensed that the Hongmeng Treasure Mirror had energy, and could instantly continue conducting one capture in the Ten Thousand Worlds.

Just as the remaining bit of Mental Thunder was about to unleash its power, Jiang Xuan heard a crisp electronic voice by his ear:

"Rare pure mental energy detected. Myriad Worlds Fame System absorbing it can restore more functions! Agree to absorb?"

Jiang Xuan was stunned and chose to agree!

Immediately afterward, part of that Mental Thunder was absorbed again.

"Ding! Energy insufficient to unlock more functions. Host, please continue to strive to gain more fans! The more fans, the faster new functions unlock!"

After two rounds of devouring, less than one-tenth of the mental power fell upon Jiang Xuan's divine sense.

Darkness instantly fell before Jiang Xuan's eyes, and then his brain felt as if pricked by a needle, leaving his mind chaotic for a moment, but he soon regained his senses.

When the darkness before his eyes dissipated, he was being held up by both hands by a fat woman with a pockmarked face, her pockmarked face scrunched together squeezing out a smile:

"Tie Gen! You're truly blessed! Your good wife gave birth to a son for you!"

"Good, good, good!" came the voice of a middle-aged man beside him, weathered yet unable to restrain his excitement.

Jiang Xuan curiously turned his head to look at Tie Gen.

This was a middle-aged man with a limp, wearing a set of coarse hemp clothes, his face tanned dark by the sun, deeply lined, with old calluses on his hands from years of heavy labor.

At this moment, the joy on Tie Gen's face turned to worry, and he turned to look at the pockmarked fat woman: "Hua Shen, why isn't this child crying after being born! Can he not speak?"

Hearing this, Hua Shen raised her hand and slapped Jiang Xuan's buttocks, and the crisp, pleasant cry of a newborn echoed through this dilapidated thatched cottage.

It was not that Jiang Xuan wanted to cry; the body he inhabited was actively crying.

Hearing the child's cry, Tie Gen sighed in relief, and his face was once again filled with a happy smile.

Years passed like a shuttle, Tie Gen and his wife Wang Cuilan stood in their son's newly built earthen house, smiling on their faces but unable to hide worry in their eyes as they looked at their son standing outside.

The son grew more capable as he grew older, and the days of the family of three became increasingly comfortable, but the son's temperament became less and less like that of a poor family's child, more like the child of a nobleman lost from somewhere; sometimes he would stand looking at the sky for an entire day, as if possessed.

"Xiao Gen Ge! What are you going to teach me today?"

Hearing the playful voice by his ear, Jiang Xuan slowly withdrew his gaze; before him, a girl of eighteen or nineteen widened her eyes looking at him, her eyes holding reverence and a faint other emotion.

"Today I'll teach you stargazing! I'll test you when there are stars at night!"

"Okay!"

The girl immediately sat cross-legged on the stone bench prepared for her long ago, striking an expression of determination to study hard, the scattered freckles on her cheeks making her look adorably silly.

Jiang Xuan smiled and shook his head, long accustomed to this scene: "Stars are the essence of all things; the sun, the moon, and every star have their place, all have their principle!"

"Stargazing can discern direction and principles; so-called deducing the Heavenly Dao to clarify human affairs! I happen to have found many stars with representative meanings; I'll point them out to you at night!"

The girl nodded heavily, resting her chin on her hands, quietly watching the tall and handsome youth speak eloquently.

Until at night Wang Cuilan called them to eat dinner; although it was just simple soup, the girl had no objections at all, and even actively helped clean up.

Jiang Xuan walked out of the house and looked at the sky, suddenly stunned; many of the stars he had found according to his memory had actually disappeared, and the entire sky, originally covered with bright stars, was slowly dissipating.

This represented that the power of the tribulation was being consumed, and this illusory world would disappear.

He silently watched the sky until the girl lightly patted his shoulder from behind:

"Xiao Gen Ge! What are you thinking about?"

"Perhaps the future!" Jiang Xuan said with a deep gaze, casually.

The girl's hand tightened slightly, she slowly walked to Jiang Xuan's side, wanting to take a breath to say something, but always held back, too embarrassed to speak; instead she sighed long and hard, the scattered freckles on her face turning red.

Finally, after a long while, the girl's mosquito-like voice sounded: "Xiao Gen Ge! Is there... me in your future?"

……

That night

The girl left Tie Gen's home crying, and Jiang Xuan watched that gradually dimming starry sky for a long time.

At this moment, how he wished that mental tribulation had not been weakened by more than ninety percent, allowing him to enter this world with intact memories; perhaps he could naturally accept the other's feelings.

Jiang Xuan looked up; several more stars were erased out of thin air, representing that the power of this tribulation was slowly dissipating.

But this wait was another forty years!

The people of this world generally had short lifespans; nearly sixty was already considered long-lived.

Xiao Hua, or now Hua Shen, had a serious illness, yet had no children to care for her in this lifetime.

Jiang Xuan stepped into the room, his face also full of wrinkles, but his essence qi spirit remained unchanged, possibly due to his strong soul.

Skillfully feeding Xiao Hua medicine, tucking in the corner of her quilt, he sat quietly by her side.

Xiao Hua just watched Xiao Gen Ge bustling about, her eyes still holding a trace of playfulness only from youth, and a deep love hidden for decades.

"Xiao Gen Ge! You still say your world doesn't have me!"

Xiao Hua's freckles had by now become age spots, but in Jiang Xuan's heart she had not changed at all.

"Why remain unmarried for life!"

"Haven't you also remained unmarried for life?"

Xiao Hua's eyes held a stubborn seriousness.

Perhaps having experienced a mortal life once more, although this kind of memory could not affect his main consciousness, it made him cherish it all the more.

Jiang Xuan was silent for a long time: "I told you back then, I am not a good choice!"

Xiao Hua slowly extended her hand from the corner of the quilt with difficulty, gesturing with her hand beside her, murmuring: "Xiao Gen Ge, you taught me!"

Jiang Xuan calmly watched that finger which had struggled to write but slowly stopped; he could tell what the other wanted to write completely.

"In the past, carriages and horses were slow; a lifetime was enough to love only one person."

The starry sky in the heavens completely fell silent, and Jiang Xuan silently walked out of the room.

It turned out that the mental tribulation had not lasted forty years; it was just that he had never wanted to leave.

(Chapter End)