Chapter 56 - 8 21.5-24

Story 8 - Tribulation Trepidations (21.5/24 - Reactions and Battles ?)

Early Rise Swift Brush jerked his head away from the jade slip that contained a beautifully written report only to stare with narrowed eyes towards the sixteenth mountain peak.

Tribulation energy was something that all cultivators became sensitive to after going through one once. Even though he was miles from this one, he could instinctively tell how powerful it was and how large the cloud had grown.

To put it lightly, it was massive. And the strength of it neared the Golden Core level!

The crazy thing was, the only person this tribulation could belong to was his Great Martial Aunt. But that didn't make any sense.

Oh, no! Was this what she was talking about?

He... he should do something, right? At the very least, he should be there to witness it.

He stood from his desk and started toward the exit.

A sect enforcer stationed in the corner of the room suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of Early Rise.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but the Sect Leader has requested that everyone remain here for your own protection. We're currently dealing with some traitors and it could get messy."

He clenched his jaw. "If you want me to stay here, then you need to have an enforcer go to our Great Martial Aunt's side. She's in the middle of her tribulation and requires the sect's protection more than I do."

"Calm down. I'll ask that our headquarters send someone who is free."

"Not someone free. Send someone who knows what they're doing. A little Qi Condensation cultivator is going through a terribly powerful tribulation. She needs backup now!"

A slight smile appeared on her face. "I understand. Help will be sent to her. Just sit down and everything will be taken care of."

While he returned to his seat, he knew that no more work would get finished today until he knew the genius who created the Dao of Paperwork was alright.

Fairy Garlic threw her wok weapon at the tiger spiritual beast, knocking it out. When it landed, it slid on the stone tile floor of her outdoor courtyard, leaving patches of orange and black fur.

Brave Stick Bug, the beast tamer who used to come down to treat his beasts to her cooking, had attacked her earlier, almost killing her in front of her students. He'd then revealed himself as a secret demonic cultivator. But Garlic wasn't going to let him harm her kids.

He grinned and pointed toward his other spiritual beast. "Great Red Bear, I choose you!"

She crossed her arms under her chest and raised a brow. "Are you going to let your beasts do your dirty work?"

"A tamed beast is part of a cultivator's power."

She scowled at him. Her hands moved in a blur as she created several hand seals and rotated her cultivation base. "Scent of Shame!" Then she pointed towards the bear. A wind blasted the creature and enveloped it.

At first, the bear stopped and swatted at the invisible smell, then its face looked enthralled. It fell down causing the ground the shake. One of its legs twitched.

Brave Stick Bug swallowed. "That was a potent attack!"

"Of course it is. Immortal Chefs are stronger than you realize. For example, this technique creates the most intoxicating food scent you have ever smelled. It's so strong that one whiff will take away an opponent's will to get up. And for those who are not prepared for it, it can knock them out entirely."

"And you're telling me about it because I've already seen it, so it can't affect me?"

"No. I'm telling you about it because you've eaten my cooking. So there is no way you'll be able to escape from it."

Then she pointed two fingers toward him and the attack that was swirling around the bear blasted into Brave Stick Bug's face. His cheeks turned red, a massive grin spread across his face, and he fell onto his ass.

"Hehehe. I can't let this defeat me. Hehehe."

"Oh. I purposefully didn't allow it to knock you out. You see, I remember you talking to my students. You were trying to coerce them into joining the demonic sect, weren't you?"

"Hehehe. Of course!" He slapped a hand over his mouth, then an evil energy erupted from his body. He was getting ready to use his dantian as a bomb.

Fairy Garlic pulled out a hundred knives from her space, they floated in front of her, then she gestured forward and they zipped towards her opponent. The blades stabbed into the cultivator and continued high into the air, bringing him with them. When he reached a distance of about a thousand feet up, the demonic beast tamer turned into a firework.

The immortal chef then glanced over her little adorable students and gestured for them all to come out.

"Now, which of you were approached in private by that nasty bug of a man?"

A couple raised their hands, including Tangerine Flower, who had sweat on her forehead. Each of them wore similar terrified expressions.

"Relax. Nothing bad will happen to you. Just tell your teacher if that guy gave you anything or hurt you."

They all shook their heads.

That was when Fairy Garlic sensed a massive Golden Core tribulation. No, oddly, it wasn't quite at that stage.

"Who is the idiot going through a tribulation during this mess?" She spread her divine sense over to where it was happening and nearly fell on her face. "Great Martial Aunt Lin?!"

How was that supposed to be a Qi Condensation tribulation?! If she'd known that was what her student's sister was worried about, she wouldn't have pushed the little girl so hard.

Tangerine Flower started vibrating and evil energy gathered around her.

Garlic looked at her in horror. The young chef was being forced to explode her dantian because of a demonic enchantment. The surrounding children started running away.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't want to do this." She scowled. "This would never have happened if that stupid Little Spring—"

"So you turned to the demonic sect?!"

"I didn't know that was what it was!"

Garlic had known that this girl had an inferiority complex when it came to Little Spring, but she thought it was just a normal problem that would resolve itself. For her to turn to demonic cultivation of all things to get a leg up on him...

"Tch." Fairy Garlic pressed her hand to the Tangerine's dantian and sent a blast of concentrated Qi into it. While this stopped the explosion, it also broke her core and ruined the girl's chance of ever becoming an immortal chef.

Tangerine Flower coughed up several mouthfuls of black blood. Her face turned pale. But she survived.

"You're lucky."

"I know," she whispered.

"You weren't that contaminated with evil energy. It hadn't been more than a few days since you started, right?"

She bit her lip and nodded.

Garlic sighed. "You'll never cook again. As of this moment, you're no longer my student. But, as long as you never touch the demonic path again, you can still practice other forms of cultivation."

Tangerine Flower sank to the ground as tears fell from her face uncontrollably. She wiped her face with her orange sleeve. "But cooking means everything to me."

"If it really did, then you wouldn't have turned to demonic energy to win, even if you didn't know what it was."

The girl winced.

"If you ever want to reincarnate, you'll have to devote yourself to the righteous path from now on."

One of her bests students was almost lost to the demonic path. Someone she genuinely loved teaching. And now she'd never be able to teach her again.

Garlic turned her back to her former student so she couldn't see how hard she worked to keep a straight face.

At least the girl was still alive.

Clear Eyes Mad Tongue stepped on the back of a demonic cultivator he'd just taken down before he could explode his dantian near him.

"Just get somewhere safe," Fairy Lin said.

"Great Aunt!" Clear Eyes felt touched. Here she was in a horrible situation, but she was still worried about him. He couldn't let her face it by herself. They were all part of the Indomitable Will sect. A sect that stuck together. "I'll come as soon as I can."

"Staying alive is more important. I'm not out of options yet."

She had to be lying to make him feel better.

He turned to his master's master, Three Eyes Sun Blade, who was in the middle of fighting a giant white snake mystical beast who had transformed into a human.

All throughout the peak, sword masters fought tamed beasts that demonic energy had corrupted. A disciple detonated his dantian. Several buildings suddenly blew up with the traitor, sending a shock wave through the peak.

Would it really be fine if he left?

His own master just finished taking down a level 4 falcon spiritual beast with help from Spear Grand Master, Unwavering Thunderous Strike.

"Master! Our great martial aunt asked for help. She's being attacked while in the middle of her tribulation!"

He scowled. "You want to leave right now?"

Very seriously, Clear Eyes nodded.

His master glanced off into the distance, then his eyes widened. "That's not a Foundation Establishment tribulation," he murmured. With a furrowed brow, he tossed him a protective talisman. "Go! You owe your martial aunt a lot."

Suddenly, a young spear-wielding teen was thrown toward him. Clear Eyes caught the young teen with one hand. Spear that Weaves awkwardly waved at him.

The teenage sword cultivator turned to Unwavering Thunderous Strike, who casually blocked an attack from an incoming spiritual beast with a spear swipe. "Take my disciple with you. He also owes Martial Aunt Lin. I'd go myself, but I have to help protect the disciples here."

A weight lifted off Clear Eyes' chest. "Thank you Master, Spear Grand Master!"

Hopefully, they could make it in time to help.

"Great Martial Aunt Lin! This isn't the best time!"

Earlier, Unyielding Firestorm, his friends, and his girlfriend had gone to turn in a special metal ore they'd picked up for a sect mission. Of course, before they could, the demonic cultivators retaliated in response to his master's attack against the traitors. Now they were in a fight for their lives against several infiltrators who seemed to be specifically aiming for him.

After battling for a dozen minutes and barely keeping up, Justice Reaching Devine Blade distracted the Golden Core demonic cultivator with dynamic thrusts of his sword.

Unyielding Firestorm used that distraction to create a hand seal, causing a bright light to appear in front of him. With two fingers, he directed the energy to blast the Golden Core level traitor, who attacked him with a brush filled with evil energy. A powerful laser-like fire landed on the man's head and he fell down.

Unyielding sighed with relief. That had been one hard fight, even with Justice distracting him.

"I know," Fairy Lin said, frustration clear in her voice, "but I'm in the middle of my tribulation and being attacked by a bunch of demonic archers."

He glanced in the only direction he felt a tribulation. That was his martial aunt's?! Impossible. If she was going through that while being assaulted by demonic cultivators, her chances of survival were terrifyingly small. A chill ran down his spine because...

"... I'm on the other side of the sect..." He gestured to Jujube and Third Peach to wrap up their current fights with a Foundation Establishment traitor. They had to leave now to have any hope of saving her life. "I'm on my way, but I don't know if I can reach you in time. Stay alive."

"Always."

He never forgot that he would not be here today without this Great Martial Aunt of his. It was time to repay some karma.

Peerless Resolve stared into the dark eyes of Gracious Blue Luan, the Peak Master for Beast Tamer's Peak. She had aged well, but her constant lemon-sucking expression had caused the lines around her eyes and mouth to become apparent.

He'd always wanted her to find some joy in life, but after so many years and tragedies, that was just wishful thinking.

Another tragedy was currently happening to his sect. This time it was one she caused.

They stood in midair, so high above the sect that they could even see the hint of the beautiful spiral mountain range. The wind barely made their clothes whip around, something that only happened to those beyond the force of nature.

"Why betray the sect for the demonic cultivators, of all people?!"

She laughed in disbelief. "Of course, it's because I needed power to defeat you! Now, face my pseudo-law enhanced with demonic energy!"

The space surrounding Gracious Blue Luan warped. An illusory figure of an evil, flaming bird of prey appeared behind her. The natural laws bent, causing the law of fire in that area to bend and change temporarily. For a mile in every direction, the air caught fire with azure flames. They closed in on Peerless Resolve as if concentrating their power into one point.

Peerless Resolved coughed up a half mouthful of blood, then wiped his bottom lip with his thumb. "Your flames are weak."

"What do you know?!"

"Little Luan. I'm not the one who killed your husband and children. And the sect isn't responsible for it either. Your misplaced hatred will destroy the lives of many innocent disciples."

Her face contorted and she once again spread the azure flame pseudo-law throughout the sky and contracted it to a point on top of the Sect Leader's glabella. This time, the Blue Luan Illusory image flew out from behind her, screamed, and barreled into the man as he reached out with his own pure fire pseudo-law to block the attack.

::Nephew! I could use some help.::

Unfortunately, a call from his martial aunt distracted him, and he coughed up two mouthfuls of blood when he failed.

::Aunt Lin! You're back?!::

::You didn't know?::

Of course not! He'd planned this strike on the traitors and infiltrators for when she'd be gone. He would have mentioned something to her if she had told him.

::This isn't a good time! I'm in a fight.::

His divine sense spread through the sect. He saw the chaos happening all over as the demonic cultivators his teams hadn't found were revealing themselves to do as much damage to the buildings as disciples as possible.

::If you can, get somewhere safe. We enacted our plan to take out the demonic sects' infiltrators, but there were far more than we suspected.::

Hold on! Why was there a Foundation Establishment Cultivator going through their tribulation at a time like this? Were they insane?!

He focused his divine sense down. No, this cloud wasn't at the power of Golden Core yet. However, the cloud was larger than any Golden Core tribulation he'd seen. Oh, no. This was his aunt's!

No wonder she had over-prepared!

And there looked to be several dozen demonic archers attacking her from a distance. It was like they'd lied in wait to trap her and take her down.

He glared at Gracious Blue Luan.

He had been planning to get more information out of her, but he supposed it would be better to end this fast.

"Your flames enhanced by evil energy may be strong. But they're still mere copies of an ascendant beast's pseudo-law flames. However, mine come from the concept of fire. Of energy itself."

She scoffed. "We all know you haven't had time to contemplate your pseudo-laws. Meanwhile, I have worked tirelessly on my own blue luan flames."

That... was true. Though recently he had had more free time to study them thanks to his aunt, he still hadn't had a breakthrough. Perhaps this fight would give him the inspiration he needed to push the understanding of his pseudo-law to the peak. That said, the source of his flames was far more pure and powerful than hers. And that meant, even at his low understanding of them, they could be more impressive.

He gathered his fire onto the tip of his finger. It was pure white. A ball of light shined behind him like the sun in the sky and he sent a blast of flames toward her.

An incredibly fast bird shot out from an immortal cave in Beast Tamer's Peak. The creature was the size of a palace but had the speed of a comet.

"Master!" It screeched. The massive spiritual falcon barreled into Peerless Resolve before he could dodge. It sent him flying, then it soared after him with its beak open wide, ready to bite his arm off.

While he knew tamers never fought alone, he'd thought her tamed beasts would be too busy dealing with the other Nascent Soul and Immortal Bone Creation experts!

After coughing up another two mouthfuls of blood, he shot a glare at the peaks below. What were his elders doing?!

Then he used a single finger to crack the beak of the beast and force it away from him.

This fight was going to last longer than he wanted. He'd have to rely on his other sect disciples to save his martial aunt.

Story 8 - Tribulation Trepidations (22/24 ?)

At this point, I had to use three times the amount of talismans just to protect myself from a single lightning strike. To decrease the rate its strength increased, I needed to switch things up. Keep it on its toes.

The spiraling clouds rumbled with thunder. The sixth bolt zipped toward me.

I used Impossible Leap to dodge, but I knew I wouldn't be fast enough to completely bypass it, so I blocked it by angling the rubber heel of my boot just right. The force sent me flying almost to the edge of my second defensive formation.

Right next to my head, an arrow slammed into my array's shield.

"So close," Little Black said.

"You're still here? If I were a traitor like you, I'd be hauling my ass out of the sect."

"Not until I see you dead with my own eyes."

I created a spiritual fist attack with its middle finger extended, essentially giving everyone here a massive fuck off.

It significantly drained my energy, but damn, did it feel good. It also took on most of the seventh lightning strike, leaving the rest to dissipate when it hit my array.

I must have pissed off the archers because they stopped firing on the defensive formation indiscriminately and started a focused assault. They quickly found out its weakness — taking hits on the same spot in succession.

One of the arrows punched through the shield and struck me, causing a talisman to burn away as I aimed a Thousand Cuts into the air. The arrow was so powerful that I slid sideways a whole foot over the wet grass, messing up my goddamn aim. My attack completely missed the eighth bolt.

Almost impossibly fast for my realm, I sent another out as the strike crashed down on me. Because of my hurried extra attack and how large it was, that missing talisman was just enough to fuck things up.

My muscles spasmed even though my armor took the most of the hit. A metal taste spread in my mouth and I coughed up a little blood.

Even with the best laid plans, no one came out of a tribulation unscathed... unless they were a Xianxia protagonist.

Fortunately, I still had enough talismans, but these assholes just forced me to waste energy and supplies.

Another Foundation Establishment level energy arrow punched its way through my formation. I dodged.

Technically, I could have blocked it. Well, I could block several before running out of energy, but I needed to save my strength.

I attached more talismans to my armor, doubling the number I had. At this point, I knew I wouldn't have enough to get my ass through this tribulation. But that was why I prepared back ups.

"It won't be long now, my dear customer."

Bitch. "Why don't you all come closer and say that?"

"And get caught up in your tribulation? My associates and I are good."

Actually, in most Xianxia, this level of interference would have led to the tribulation throwing lightning bolts at these interrupting assholes. But this world was different thanks to the original dumbass author. Cultivators could attack someone transcending their tribulation and not receive punishment as long as they stood a distance away from the cloud and didn't interfere with a bolt.

This cloud would also remain in one place unless I reached the edge and tried to leave it. This meant I'd have to run all the way over to the archers while dodging bolts and arrows just to get my attackers involved. Since their involvement would increase my difficulty it wasn't worth it.

Not when my supplies were dwindling, and I only had a few items that could handle a Golden Core level tribulation.

Even without their meddling, the rate the lightning's strength increased was alarming.

Not taking any chances. I sent two Thousand Cuts towards the ninth bolt then used an impossible Leap to dodge most of the energy while simultaneously avoiding an arrow that I saw coming.

Of course, that was when an arrow I thought would ping off my formation punched through it to hit my pauldron. It used up another talisman.

The defensive formation collapsed. Shit. This was earlier than I expected.

Several arrows struck me, burning up the remaining set of talismans. After blocking another with my sword, I skidded across the wet grass, away from my prepared defenses, and into the path of another arrow. It slammed into my back and bounced off my armor.

I coughed up two mouthfuls of blood.

If only I'd only had a single high tier spirit stone. I could have set up a larger defensive formation that would have lasted longer. But, whatever. I did what I could with the resources available to me.

At this point, I needed to add more talismans and reach my next formation before the next barrage and bolt hit.

This next should be the last.

Hopefully, it was the last.

I needed to make it to the next formation.

As soon as I took a step, my center strangely tugged. Little Spring suddenly appeared in front of me in his blue armor and became drenched in the rain. My mind blanked, interrupting my split mind technique.

"Sister Lin! Are you okay?!"

"Do I look like I'm okay?!"

This fucking brat! Exiting the goddamn space right in front of everyone! Joining my tribulation! He was going to get us both killed!

He pulled out his sword and yelled, "Ten Cuts!"

The arrows aimed at me broke apart. Shit, we couldn't stand here. We had to move!

I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the third defensive formation. I immediately activated it. Maybe it was because this was a fresh array, but the attacks seemed to have a harder time punching through the shield.

::Why are you here?!::

::The Spirit of the space told me you were in life-threatening danger. He confirmed that there wasn't anyone around. I thought you were injured and needed my immediate help!::

That... was a valid reason for leaving. Unfortunately, while no one was technically nearby, there were many people around!

I pointed above us. ::Well, now we're both fucked!::

His eyes widened as he saw the clouds spiral out, increasing in size and density.

On the plus side, the archers stopped attacking because they had to run away or get caught up in the heavenly lightning. Even Little Black ran as quickly as she could.

Little Spring's eyes grew wide and shook. "I came out while you were in the middle of your tribulation?"

"Weren't you the one who pointed out that I was scared of it and needed to face my fears?"

"I didn't m—"

"Stop! I already know my timing was horrible. We'll just have to deal with it."

He nodded. Apparently, he already realized the situation we were in because his jaw firmed. "I'm ready to become stronger, even if it means facing death."

I didn't want to hear that from a goddamn almost ten-year-old. This brat should have been safe. I had planned to have him wait another couple of years. Then he could safely go through his own tribulation while being over protected with spiritual tools and formations.

Fuck.

He was just a child. He could die here!

No. Calm down. I'd over-prepared for a goddamn reason. Our asses just might end up a bit toasty by the end but... "We're not going to die..."

I faced the heavens and grinned. This time! This time, despite having someone interfere in my tribulation, I wasn't going to fucking lose!

"Because I still need to kill you."

"Sister Lin!"

I flicked his glabella. "And by that, I mean double your hell training."

He grimaced, but pressed his back to mine. I popped a Qi Recovery Pill into my mouth, and we circled our cultivation.

Just after I finished replenishing a good portion of my inner energy, that bitch of a black market dealer sent me a sound transmission.

"How did you do it? How did you bring Great Martial Uncle over here?"

Shit.

"Was it a special tool your master left you?"

Well, she shouldn't know about Little Spring's space and probably assumed it was some teleporting tool. Those existed, but they were mostly seen in secret realms. Still, I didn't like even a hint about the space existing. My paranoid ass was itching to end her. A shame she was too far away. Since I couldn't do anything about her immediately, I focused on the growing spiral above us.

Although I could sense that the power of this tribulation grew past Golden Core, the amount of killing intent that wafted off it significantly decreased. It was like the brat had appeased its temper by existing. But also made it stronger. What kind of bullshit was this?

I blocked Little Black from yelling at me and addressed the kid. "The cloud will grow dark right before it strikes. When that happens, search for a spot of light. That's where the next bolt will come from. Eventually, you'll be able to feel it, but following after me is enough for now."

"Attack it together?"

"Yes! Now!"

A bolt the size of a hundred-year-old oak zipped down from the left. I mirrored the brat's movements as we both released our attack. Our swords almost touched.

"Thousand Cuts!"

"Ten Cuts!"

Since I had the talismans and better armor, I stepped in front of Little Spring to shield him, but the rest of the bolt struck the formation and dissipated.

Wait... It stopped, just like that?

The fuck?

Why was that so effective against heavenly lightning?

Don't tell me... this whole time... If we'd worked together like this, we would have been stronger, especially when fighting against the tribulation? The same way the cloth we weaved became more powerful. The way we created more advanced pills. And similar to how we pushed the energy of a goddamn Ascendant Beast out of Little Spring's body!

If I weren't in the middle of a fight for my life, I might have slapped my palm to my face.

Why hadn't I figured this out sooner? Maybe because I was too used to doing things on my own. Constantly believing that all cultivators had to walk their paths by themselves. Always. Because that was the setting I was familiar with. And because I had walked my path alone in my last life.

Wait! Did that mean that if Bloodsword and I had worked together...

Fuck! Fuck the author who created this goddamn universe! If I ever found him, I'd punch him in the face… no, that was too tame. I'd curse his motherfucking left eye, specifically!

Well, it wouldn't have worked anyway since I hated that blood sucking cock mosquito. He also didn't have the mirrored cultivation like I had with Little Spring.

The clouds settled at their new width and Little Black stopped retreating. "It doesn't matter what spiritual tool you have! We'll take it off your corpse and use it for the demonic sect!"

Arrows flew over to me and pinged against my defensive formation. A couple punched through, but they had been so obviously telegraphed that we sidestepped them with ease.

The clouds darkened. Both Little Spring and I turned around and aimed two sword slashes at the eleventh lightning bolt. The remainder vanished when it hit my array. Instead of returning to a lighter state, the spiral dimmed even more.

Shit. It may have decreased its killing intent, but its quality had increased to Golden Core and the fucker wasn't giving us a break.

"Again!"

Alongside Little Spring who mirrored me, I stabbed slightly to the left, sending a dart of concentrated sword Qi where the bolt would be.

The smallest part broke through my formation, but I had stepped in front of the kid. It slammed into me, burning up my talismans and singeing my armor. The force of it pushed me into the brat and we both skidded back several feet.

The lightning blasted the grassy plain below as if the tribulation had a grudge against the valley. It blew apart the ground where I had my last defensive array. Even if the flags were intact, they wouldn't work if the goddamn terrain completely vanished.

Motherfucking tribulation!

The cloud grew so dark it looked black. It wasn't giving us time to catch our breaths. The thirteenth bolt hit, causing my array's shield to flicker.

Little Spring pulled out the Golden Core level defensive talisman he received from Shadow Gopher and triggered it just as my array collapsed. Arrows hit our shield. Lightning struck. I grabbed the brat and gritted my teeth as we were blasted several yards away and into the faraday cage formation. I immediately activated my last array.

It completely blocked the fourteenth strike that was the size of two tree trunks.

I pulled out the last of my foundation establishment level talismans and placed them on Little Spring and myself. Now that we didn't have a convenient shielding array deflecting attacks, we'd have to take care of them ourselves.

Arrows came at us from all directions. These weren't something we could slap away without using any internal Qi. Though our body cultivation would still help.

"Die!" Little Black yelled with glee. She must have realized that we were currently only safe from lightning.

Working together, Little Spring and I used our swords to deflect five arrows. But another seven slammed into us. That burned off several of our talismans.

The fifteenth bolt crashed down, then appeared to vanish right above us. Technically, it traveled around the shield's surface and into the surrounding ground. Which was why the array's outline smoked.

Of course, this formation would not last. It could take one or two more strikes at most then we'd be dealing with the tribulation at its highest strength while also fending off demonic arrows.

Fuck!

"Greatest-Alchemist-Under-The-Heavens Lin!"

Clear Eyes?! He was still calling me that?

"Great Martial Aunt!"

I stretched out my divine sense past the archers. Both Clear Eyes and Unyielding Firestorm flew in on flying swords.

They weren't alone either! Justice Reaching Divine Blade, Spear that Weaves, Blissful Jujube, and Third Peach Sapling all threw attacks at the demonic cultivators and Little Black.

Spear that Weaves took down an archer a realm above him with several lightning-enhanced jabs of his spear. Of course, Clear Eyes backed him up by using his Dirt Eating Blade to cut down one of the stronger archers near him.

The Junior Sect Leader spotted Little Black and chased after her fleeing figure.

Blissful Jujube, sent sharp blasts of sound from her zither, disrupting a large portion of the archer's attacks. Her friend, Third Peach, used her whip to stop arrows from striking Jujube. The two worked together flawlessly. A massive improvement from the antidote mission!

So many people we'd helped over the past two years made it here when we needed them to.

The rain made my eyes water. And absolutely not something else.

Another arrow slammed against my protective talisman and pushed me a few feet back. Shit!

Of fucking course, just because help arrived didn't mean we'd be safe right away. Several dozen demonic cultivators surrounding the valley still took potshots at us.

Little Black moved her arms exaggeratedly, trying to get more of her people to shoot me down instead of fighting off clearly higher realmed opponents. Then she dodged the golden rope Unyielding threw at her.

Justice Reaching, Unyielding's best friend, came at her from the other direction in a pincher move.

The demonic dealer pulled out a series of talismans and directed blasts of fire toward the two.

The sixteenth lightning struck the faraday cage formation. The air seemed to charge with electricity as the last spirit stone ran dry.

I was running low on energy after taking care of so many Foundation Establishment arrows.

With a flick, I brought out the Golden Core level Dancing Star talismans I'd conned Shadow Gopher out of. Little Spring did the same and nodded. Apparently, he also realized that our energies were stronger when we mirrored our actions as best as we could.

I wasn't sure it would do anything for talismans we didn't make. Whatever. Trying wouldn't hurt.

The size of the seventeenth strike reached the width of three old trees. Fuck. I never even had lightning this thick when I went through my Golden Core tribulation in my last life.

Following the example of those assassin assholes who supercharged the fire talismans, we layered ours on top of each other and activated the attack spell. An outburst of star-like light coiled forward in a dense strike that hit the bolt. The blast caused the shadowy valley to look like it was midday. A shockwave spread from where they met.

Since we were so close that it quickly blasted us, burning up the very last of our Foundation Establishment level talismans and forcing us back several yards.

I coughed up three mouthfuls of blood. The poor kid did the same.

Fuck. I didn't expect that to happen.

Little Spring handed me a Lin's Healing Dan and took one for himself.

The cloud must have sensed our weakness because it didn't let up like it usually did. Before I could raise the second talisman and attack it, several arrows originally aiming for us came between us and the eighteenth bolt. Shockingly, those spiritual arrows intercepted the strike.

The tribulation froze for a second, as if surprised. Then a flash of light zipped to the eastern edge of the cloud. A barrage of lightning zapped the interfering demonic cultivators. When it stopped, the only thing remaining was a massive scorch mark and cracks in the stone ground where they'd stood.

I took this chance while it was distracted to cycle my cultivation base and use my healing pill.

The area turned dark, leaving a bright but small dot in the east.

Little Spring and I aimed our last Dancing Star Talismans at the tribulation and activated it. When the shockwave spread toward us, I grabbed the brat and briefly brought us into the space before it could do more damage.

The clouds boiled and turned red. The twentieth should be the last.

I pulled out the Golden Core Protective Talisman. At this point, I wasn't sure it would work against the final strike.

Maybe I had been smiling at it in a melancholy way because the kid said, "Sister Lin?" His expression appeared worried.

::After we attack, use the space! Ready?::

He nodded.

The clouds turned black aside from one small pale red dot in the center of the spiral.

"Thousand Cuts!"

"Ten Cuts!"

Crimson lightning struck. Half of it dissipated because of our combined sword Qi. Some of it broke off and devastated the valley, while the rest continued its downward trajectory. Little Spring vanished.

Good.

I did not enter the space with him. Because I'd already used it too often.

My Golden Core talisman activated and part of the bolt punched its way through it. Lightning hit my armor. A metallic taste spread through my mouth and my mind blanked. My muscles spasmed. I dropped like a sack of rice onto the charred and uncomfortably wet ground.

But I trusted my armor and my body cultivation to keep me alive enough to use another Lin's Healing Dan.

Little Spring returned. His eyes grew wide, and he quickly knelt next to me. I must have looked like ass because his eyes glistened. Fuck. I felt like ass too.

"Why?"

::I'd already used the space before. Using it again would bring it to the tribulation's attention. That might even make it increase the number of lighting strikes.::

He swallowed as if forcing himself not to say what he wanted.

::We're out of supplies at this point so I couldn't take the chance. This is nothing.::

I coughed up five mouthfuls of blood.

He paled.

Then I brought a healing pill from the space directly into my mouth. It melted.

As I worked it's healing energy through my body, a familiar sensation came over me. It had been over a year since I last felt this. My body's special constitution was activating! Finally! The lock on it had eased!

It figured that throwing myself into a life or death situation would improve my chances of activating it.

My body became stronger, my skin became smoother, and my singed hair grew out a bit and shimmered.

Okay, the smell of burnt hair wasn't pleasant. But whatever. We'd come out of this alive! I faced my fear, my tribulation! Hell, I even had an extra person next to me! And I survived.

The kid looked relieved, like he wanted to hug me. Then his eyes widened and he grabbed my sleeve. "Sister Lin! There's so much energy!"

Shit. Now that the tribulation ended, heavenly energy fell onto us. We needed to hurry up and form our foundation!

Story 8 - Tribulation Trepidations (23/24 ?)

I glanced over to see Unyielding Firestorm throw a fire dragon at another small group of archers. Could I really just leave these kids here fighting for me while I went to create my foundation? I grimaced.

::Great Martial Aunt! Go. We'll be fine here.::

Clear Eyes and Spear That Weaves started flying over. "We'll act as your Dao protectors!"

These guys!

I grabbed the brat and rushed to the rock cave I'd set up. Once inside, I closed it up, activating my defensive formation, and sat back-to-back with Little Spring.

Since I never had the chance to give a lecture on how to create a foundation, I would have to walk him through it. Hopefully, I didn't cause him to fuck up his base.

I breathed out a calming breath and allowed my body to absorb the heavenly energy and bring it into my dantian to circle.

"We're about to form our twelve foundational pillars."

"Yes, Sister Lin!"

"The essence of cultivation is walking a path of improvement. To become the best version of yourself whether that means becoming a powerful swordsman or an amazing chef. It's perfectly acceptable to change over time, but the foundation you build here will be with you always, so it's best to lay an excellent one."

"Sister Lin, could you hurry up? I'm not sure I can keep holding back."

"There are three main types of illusory pillars. The first is minimalist. It is a sturdy base that uses basic cylinders to represent a foundation. Cultivators who use this kind will never fear their foundation crumbling. They can also learn almost any technique without it damaging their cultivation base."

"So we're creating those?"

"No. I'm giving you options. If you don't choose wisely, you could fuck yourself over."

He nodded, but his jerky movements showed how strained he felt.

"Those who apply the first type often develop an unbending personality."

"That's a good thing, right?"

If we weren't back to back, I'd flick his glabella. "Things that cannot bend, break."

I thoroughly believed that this style was why this Xianxia universe had a bunch of dumb and unreasonable people everywhere. Their foundation was too stiff. I also suspected Bloodsword used it in his past.

"Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with choosing this kind."

The kid shook his head. "That's not for me. What's the next?"

"Ornate and aesthetic. These pillars allow you to become more powerful at the cost of narrowing your path."

"And the drawbacks?"

"You add limits to yourself and you'll have to focus on a specific style. This isn't inherently a bad thing; however, the foundation itself won't be as stable as the other types. For example, you cannot accidentally learn a technique that goes against your cultivation style or it will ruin you."

He swallowed. "Does that one have any weird personality quirks?"

"People with this type of pillar regularly think too highly of themselves. Whether that's from believing that they're stronger than everyone or something else, I don't know. I haven't done enough research on it."

This was also the pillar style most young masters and geniuses used. Of course, those types of cultivators usually had strict inheritances, so it was fine for them to use it.

"What's the next?"

"Self-expression."

"That one isn't really self-explanatory."

I grinned. "Instead of creating a traditional architectural-type pillar, you create symbols of things that represent yourself and your path up till now. Each pillar can be as simple or detailed as it needs to be." This was also the style I chose.

"If you go with this one, you have to be very confident with yourself. While these types of pillars are both powerful and strong, you're taking a risk that the things you make part of your foundation will continue to affect you throughout your life."

"And what's the downside?"

"Well... Ah. That changes from person to person. However, I found that this kind of foundation makes it difficult to change some habits that others don't exactly appreciate."

The kid jerked his head around.

"What's wrong?"

"Just... That explains so much."

Brat! "Like I said, it varies."

"Is there another style?"

"These are the only ones I've encountered that don't leave your foundation significantly vulnerable."

"Then I'll go with the last."

"Then what are the twelve aspects of yourself that have helped you grow?"

"Not sure. What are yours?" The strain in his voice was becoming obvious.

"Well, we can't keep putting it off, so I will go over mine. If you feel like it's part of your journey and important to who you are, then you can also make it a pillar for yourself."

I looked inside my dantian, where the ball of internal Qi had melted to form a lake and merged with the heavenly energy. I grabbed a small portion of it and built an illusory sword. When I originally created my foundation in my previous life, I'd made it look like the blade I imagined I would wield in the future. In this life, I sculpted it to resemble the one I kept with me for the past three years. While it wasn't mine, it had brought me to this point, and I would remember it fondly.

I filled the pillar with spiritual energy until it glowed.

"My first pillar is always the sword. One of the martial arts I put most of my time in. Practicing it has shaped who I am."

"It's the same for me."

"Next is alchemy. It has consumed most of my attention throughout the years. I create a cauldron for its pillar."

He nodded.

"Just as important as swords are inner energy techniques, also called spells. The way I fight has always relied on these two aspects the most. To represent them, I use a hand creating the seal for directing a technique rather than focusing on one in particular."

"That should work for me, too."

"The next is a formation flag and then a forge."

"Same."

I was actually surprised by that. The kid had only just started learning item forging techniques. To suddenly make it a pillar of his foundation must mean he enjoyed it a lot.

"In this life, I've decided to include body cultivation in my foundational pillars. While I'm not certain that I'll continue it past Foundation Establishment, it is an important part of my cultivation's groundwork."

"What are you using to represent it?"

I cleared my throat. "Ah, um. A perfectly proportional muscular body."

"Whose?"

I considered just using Leonardo da Vinci's The Man, but I should put more thought into it.

"My own, as an adult. But you can use what you imagine you'll look like. Pillars don't have to be exact, as long as they approximate what they're representing."

I grudgingly sculpted an illusory image of my own perfect form, with good proportions and bodybuilding musculature wearing a contemporary exorcize outfit. Also, beautiful abs because I happened to be fond of muscles. I frowned at my carving and stared at it for longer than I should have.

There was something wrong with it… Oh, right. The goddamn chest area. Even though the size I created it at was my ideal, it just didn't look normal if it wasn't the same as my past life.

Grimacing, I forced myself to change it. My eyes relaxed when I studied the new larger version.

Fuck. This had to be a curse or something from that dumbass harem author and his 'twin peaks with no equal' bullshit.

Or maybe I'd just grown too used to seeing myself with these proportions. Goddamn it!

Whatever. Just because my pillar looked like this didn't mean I would. There was a significant chance I'd have a more manageable size in this life. Which would be a nice 'fuck you' to the original author.

"What's next?" Little Spring said, reminding me that this wasn't a good time to throw well-deserved shade at the universe's creator.

"A vine with a flower."

"For the plague you cured?"

"That's one meaning, but mostly it's for practicing horticulture. Our knowledge of spiritual plants and our willingness to plant seeds to replace what we took."

He nodded.

The brat would remember every time we marked the ingredients we collected on a map.

"This is where we're going to diverge. Because my next pillar is in the shape of a physician's acupuncture needles."

"Then mine will be a bowl."

"For… immortal cooking?"

"For the space. A small ancient bowl that holds a mustard seed space."

Right! That disappeared after Little Spring was acknowledged as the space's owner.

"I'll create a brush. The kind that creates complex seals." Like the one I used to hide my massive Immortal Ascension soul.

"Mine needs to be a wok for immortal cooking."

I grinned when I decided on this next one. "Tribulation lightning, to represent overcoming my fears."

"For me, it would have to be the wave symbol. So I'll never forget to find those people and ruin them."

Oh right! This kid still had the goal to find the assholes who murdered his mother.

"If you decide to use that as a pillar, you might find it difficult to reach immortality if you don't succeed in your revenge. I can't recommend you do that, but I won't stop you."

Everyone's path was different.

He cleared his throat. "If I can't take out the clan that murdered my mother, then I don't deserve to ascend."

The kid sounded firm. It might cause problems in the future, but we'd deal with that when we got to it.

"My next pillar is something only I can make, because it's a clock. A time-keeping tool that only exists in the world I originally came from. It represents my return to my past." Out of every event in my life, that was the most significant. And now I could openly talk about it since the kid had figured it out… It also reminded me that we still needed to sit down and have a conversation about that.

While he'd obviously read my letter, that wasn't enough to clear up this mess.

"Hmm. Then mine will be Xiao Bai."

The dog?!

I coughed. "Ah, why?"

"Well, I considered having you as a pillar, but then I figured you'd tell me no."

I scowled. No shit.

"So then I chose Xiao Bai because I want to continue to raise spiritual beasts in the future."

"It is your path. I can't choose it for you." While it might make me uncomfortable, if the kid found his calling as a beast tamer, then I wouldn't stop him. Though I would have to add some boundaries, so his monsters didn't try to murder me. "It's better than having me as a pillar. If I ever betrayed you, your foundation could crumble."

He nodded.

"My last pillar will be a phoenix to represent my special constitution."

"I should make one for my bloodline… but what should I use?"

I cleared my throat. "Well, I'm not sure exactly what your bloodline is."

"Then I'll represent it with a dragon."

That… made sense. And made me want to murder the original author all over again because that was just the sort of blatant Easter Egg bullshit he would include in his dumbass setting.

As soon as I filled up the last illusory figure with energy from my pool, all twelve pillars glowed brightly. A small amount of gross impurities left my body through my pores.

My internal Qi condensed and thickened. My body and mind became stronger, even more so than when we'd been bathed in the light of heavenly energy. My life expectancy increased by 50 years.

I had officially become a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

Considering how easy it was to spread my divine sense through the cave, I could now use it at the beginning of Nascent Soul without hurting my body… However, that would break the seal on my soul. That was something I would only do in the direst circumstances.

"Done!" Little Spring said, then jumped to his feet and grinned down at me excitedly. "Now, how do we get to Golden Core?"

I very carefully stood up, lifted my chin, and crossed my arms. "It's too soon for you to think about that. There are important steps you need to take in Foundation Establishment first. You still need to grow up more!" This kid was only 9... well, almost 10. Before he thought about the next realm, he had to experience more. The last thing I wanted was for him to become an unbalanced, impatient person. And now that I knew my tribulations would be less deadly when we worked together, I'd have to consider the pros and cons of possibly going through the next tribulation with the brat.

There was a chance I'd have to slow down my own cultivation speed to let the brat experience some hardships.

Wait a minute. Didn't we make a wager about this shit? Fuck! This kid would win if I did that! He may have won a spiritual tool from me this round but I wouldn't let him win the next even if I made my tribulation more difficult!

I glared at him like the imposing little master I was. "Before you think about Golden Core, I should teach you the technique for Foundation Establishment. It's slightly different from Qi Condensation. Then you'll have to continue to absorb spiritual energy, purifying your body and turning it into internal energy. Once you have enough, you have to create another pillar."

"And how many pillars do we need?"

"A total of 144."

The kid looked at me like he'd been scammed.

"Hey, we already have the first twelve."

He scowled. "How are we supposed to come up with all those different pillars?! I had to try hard just to think of those!"

I aggressively smoothed a strand of the brat's hair that refused to stay down. It popped back up. "We don't have to make unique ones. They should be copies of the original twelve. This is why you should only choose things that resonate with you."

I cast a cleaning technique at the foundation establishment level.

Ah! That was the stuff. That whole gross feeling that was irritating my skin vanished. My armor sparkled like it hadn't taken a beating earlier. Even the ground and stone walls gleamed as if polished.

And the kid jumped so high he hit his skull against the ceiling. A small crack appeared on its rocky surface.

"Sister Lin, I feel like I lost a layer of skin," the brat whined as he rubbed his head.

"Good."

He scowled.

"Do you know how gross we were after all that?"

His eyebrows furrowed.

"We were covered in dirt, grass, burns, and impurities."

"If you cast the cleaning technique at this level, you might really offend someone."

I glanced at the door, clenched my hand into a fist, and punched it. The stone flew out several feet.

"Muahahaha! You're thinking too much. Who'd be offended at getting clean?"

"With how often you use it, I'd think you'd choose it as one of your pillars."

"Nonsense!"

"You could turn it into an attack."

This brat. "How can something so inherently good be an attack?"

When I stepped outside, I grinned at Clear Eyes Mad Tongue.

Little Spring tried to point at me secretly and whispered, "Her cleaning technique is stronger now."

Mad Tongue's eyes widened with horror. "Senior Lin, you're going to get murdered."

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"How long were we in there?" Little Spring asked.

"Thirty minutes?"

That sounded about right for my cultivation technique.

"How are you out already?! I thought internal Qi cultivators took days or months to finish their foundation."

I grinned. "Sect secrets."

He nodded seriously.

I'd need to prepare a gift for these guys as a thank you for helping me out when I needed it.

A loud noise blasted through the valley, flattening the grass.

I frowned at the familiar energy signature. "Is that the Sect Leader?"

Clear Eyes shrugged.

Immortal Bone Creation fights usually ended fast. If he was still engaged, then his opponent must be on an equal level to him, or a person who knew him well.

Unyielding Firestorm and Justice Reaching flew over with Little Black, who had been wrapped in the golden rope sect enforcers used.

Jujube and Third Peach came in behind them and waved enthusiastically. The pair appeared very close.

"Grand Nephew!"

Unyielding grinned. His clothes had tears in them from the fight, but the man still had the chiseled jaw of a superhero.

"Great Aunt Lin! Is this the demonic cultivator who ordered the attack on you?"

I stared down at the bitch, then pulled her hood back.

Story 8 - Tribulation Trepidations (24/24 ?)

Little Black had skin paler than white jade, painted red lips and large, wild eyes. She also looked older than I'd thought. Strangely, I had never seen her before. No, that wasn't exactly true. I had noticed her hanging out around the Indomitable Peak's treasure pavilion. Just another face in the crowd. Probably trying to coerce new victims.

"Well, if it isn't my dearest customer," the smile she gave me made her look like she didn't care that she was tied up. It was like she thought she'd get out of this.

I'd make sure that didn't happen.

"Ah, Senior Lin," Mad tongue said. "What is she talking about?"

Spear That Weaves, Justice and Little Spring had curious expressions on their faces while the others looked the other way.

This damn clear-eyed teen. "Don't let a demonic cultivator distract you."

"We've been interrogating her for a while now." Justice Reaching gestured to her. "This is the first thing she's said."

She smirked. "Maybe you just didn't ask the right things. Because it's obvious why I'd betray a sect that kicks out the orphaned children of its core disciples..."

Unyielding glared down at her. "The Indomitable Will Sect would never—"

"—Instead, shouldn't you first ask me how many merchants work under me in this sect? How about asking what would happen to this sect's black market if you kill me?" Her laugh rang out sharply. I wanted to punch her in the face.

"Stop talking nonsense. You're a traitor who joined the demonic sect," Unyielding said.

"Am I, or did the sect betray me first?" She grinned. "That's the thing with you, righteous cultivators. You all think you're sooo right. You never consider the possibility that we're right, too."

"You might have a reason for your betrayal," I said, "but that doesn't make your actions justified. Demonic cultivators always have a reason. Always."

If she was trying to seed doubts, similar to how she worked to give me an inner demon, she needed to die now.

She had also witnessed Little Spring appear out of nowhere. While she had made up a reasonable excuse for it, I didn't want to give her time to think. The bitch might suspect that we had a treasure we weren't strong enough to protect. Unfortunately, in this Xianxia universe, being poor while owning jade was considered a crime... or, in other words, our asses were too weak to own a precious item like the space.

Aside from that, she betrayed me multiple times. The worst one was when she sent us to that forest to get killed. If not for her Little Spring would never have become so injured.

She'd also turned her back on the sect. Only she knew how much of the current chaos was her doing. How many disciples died because of her.

I grabbed her by the throat. She coughed and struggled. "Before you kill me, you should know that my death would make a large portion of the sect's underground economy vanish. All of my contacts will disappear when I die. There are things this sect can never get again if I'm gone. Herbs that can be used to heal injuries. And precious materials that only my people can get their hands on."

"It doesn't matter how useful something is. If it's rotten to the point it can't be saved, kill it."

Her eyes widened. "Wait! Don't you want to know who my master is and what her goal is?" Then she lowered her voice. "Have you thought about all the spirit stones you'd make off me if you let me live?"

"I let you live once. I won't allow this sect to make the same mistake."

I placed my finger to her glabella. Now that I was in Foundation Establishment, I could just barely use Any Item is My Sword. In this case, I was using my fingernail.

I silently pulled her hood on and used a Hundred Cuts, executing her on the spot.

Her lifeless body collapsed to the ground. To make sure she was dead, I stored it inside my ring.

Little Spring covered his glabella while Clear Eyes rubbed the spot on his forehead I'd flicked a couple days ago.

"Ah. Great Aunt Lin," Unyielding said. "Wouldn't it have been useful to keep her alive for information? She sounded like she was ready to confess everything there."

"What do you want to learn from her that we can't figure out on our own?"

"How did she smuggle in so many demonic archers, for one," Clear Eyes said.

"She used the gaps in our sect's formation to smuggle items in to sell in the black market." Holes that I fixed in my past life when I was in the Immortal Bone Creation realm. "It's not that big of a stretch to figure that's how she brought them in."

"Then what about her master?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure but, knowing the demonic cultivators," or more accurately, the genre, "we'll find out soon."

"Why didn't you leave her to the sect enforcers?" Justice Reaching Divine Blade asked.

I just stared at the large sword cultivator. "If she'd attacked you during your tribulation, would you let her live?"

"Ah, no." Justice awkwardly pulled at his sleeve.

"But," Unyielding said, "don't you want to learn who was behind this whole situation?"

I shrugged. "My martial nephew is probably fighting them right now."

As if emphasizing my point, a thunderous sound echoed from Beast Tamer's peak. My juniors all turned their heads toward it.

"They're really going at it." I gestured to Mystical Bamboo Peak. "We should go back so we can take care of some traitors. Or help those who are injured."

Jujube spoke up. "Great Aunt Lin! Before we go back, I need to ask, how did your tribulation get so large?"

Everyone turned to stare at me.

My face became hot.

I cleared my throat, clasped my hands behind my back, and prepared to lie my ass off.

"It's my fault!" Little Spring said before I could open my mouth. "I wouldn't let my sister face it alone so we transcended our tribulations together." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I didn't know it would become so dangerous either."

"That's so scary," Third Peach said.

Gracious Blue Luan from Beast Tamer's Peak suddenly appeared standing in the air above us, her eyes red, wide and furious. It was like she was trying not to cry.

She glared down at me, then used her cultivation base to pressure us. Everyone coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Fuck!

We couldn't handle this bitch by ourselves.

I pulled out the token Peerless Resolve gave me before we left for the golden walnut mission. It was thin, and warm to the touch. With a snap, I broke it.

"You! You! You killed my disciple!"

As expected. This genre never failed to provide a more powerful enemy cultivator once a weaker one died. I just wasn't expecting Little Black's master to be in Immortal Bone Creation.

Wasn't this escalation a bit extreme?

Actually, I never thought the ringleader of all this was Beast Tamer's Peak's master. I knew she'd eventually betray the sect, but that was supposed to be over a hundred years later! How had she concealed herself and her demonic cultivation for so long?!

"This despicable sect just keeps taking and taking from me."

Several tamed beasts appeared next to her, either in human form or in the form of tigers, boars, predatory birds or bugs. Dozens of them surrounded her.

Shit. If even one of them made a move on us, we'd only survive if Little Spring sent us into his space.

"I asked her to kill you at any cost, but I didn't expect she'd actually die trying," Blue Luan said. "You were in the middle of a tribulation. It should have been easy to pick you off!"

My head ached and my muscles strained as I locked my knees. I had to figure a way out of this situation.

Little Spring used his sword to stay standing, just like you'd expect from a little protagonist. He glared up at the peak master.

Meanwhile, poor Jujube and Third Peach hugged each other for support but ended up falling onto their asses.

Spear that Weaves' eyes rolled into the back of his head before he passed out.

The others tried their hardest to stay standing, with varying degrees of success. Considering that we were dealing with a cultivator in the Immortal Bone Creation realm, enhanced with demonic energy, the only reason we hadn't been flattened was because she didn't want to give us an easy death.

The sect leader suddenly appeared above us and used his own cultivation base to block hers from pressuring us. His robes were torn in places, and his jade crown was askew. He'd definitely been on the losing end of a fight. "I don't believe we're done yet, Blue Luan. And I'm not so weak that'd I'd let you pester my sect's Foundation Establishment disciples."

"Peerless Resolve. I thought I'd left you to my falcon tamed beast?"

He glared at her. Then several of the peak master and peak elders appeared around the sect leader. Even Verdant Bamboo came.

Shit. We needed to get away from here while these old monsters were distracted by each other... But we also couldn't retreat fast enough.

"This is the end of the line," Peerless Resolve said. "We've already discovered and taken down all of your other demonic disciples."

Tamed beasts ran at the sect elders and started mauling them.

A massive tiger spiritual beast took a bite out of a Nascent Soul peak elder's neck, forcing him to escape in soul form.

A spiritual boar was thrown to the side by a body cultivation elder. When it landed on the scorched valley, it created a trench. When it stopped moving, it stood up and shook its head before returning to fight again.

Holy shit. This was a real skirmish with the demonic sect.

"You righteous sect people are a bunch of lying hypocrites. Killing left and right for resources! Letting innocents die for your greed. Like my boys! At least demonic cultivators are honest about what they're doing."

She wasn't wrong about the killing part. This world was a real-violent shit show. The original author designed it that way. But that didn't mean that all of it sucked.

Just look at all my precious juniors who came to help me out of a fucked situation.

Look at all the cool plants that existed in this world and the amazing things cultivators could create, from immortal cuisine, to kitchen tools, to armor.

This might be a shit universe, but it was still fun to live in it.

"This sect has taken away everyone I love, so I'll do the same to everyone in it! And I'll start with the brat who killed my disciple." Wind whipped her hair around and her bony finger pointed toward me.

Motherfucker.

And here I was all out of Immortal Bone Creation protective items.

A level 5 boar and several more of Luan's lower level beasts charged at us. Likely, the only reason she wasn't taking care of us was that she considered it beneath her to make a move herself — one trope in this genre I was grateful for.

The sect leader tried to intervene by sending a fiery burst toward the creatures. Unfortunately, it didn't reach them because Blue Luan countered it with her own rage-filled blast.

The beasts neared. It wouldn't be long before they pulverized us.

Little Spring's jaw firmed.

Oh, no. I'd been hanging around this kid for too long not to know that look of determination. This brat had decided that he would bring everyone into the space, hadn't he? But that would just make everything so much worse.

There was a better way to do this, and that would be to send the beasts to the food-only-time-freezing area where they would die instantly. That would also destroy all the ingredients we had stored there. Including the expensive items we prepared for our Foundation Establishment Body Cultivation meals.

I grabbed his shoulder. "Wait."

Before I could pull the monsters in, the illusory image of a giant red pagoda appeared around us. The beasts all crashed into the ghostly walls. The boar hit it the hardest, causing the structure to shake.

Hey… I recognized this pagoda!

"Sword Master Salamander?!"

He soared over to us, standing on a flying sword. While he wasn't Nascent Soul yet, he was almost there. All he needed to do was to raise his hand to call down his tribulation. Yet, he was using his best protective item on us instead of saving it.

He rushed to attack the boar, who had done the most damage to his spiritual tool. His new stance was the same one I'd used. He'd changed it! Perfect!

Several of the peak elders picked off the lower-ranked beasts that had attacked the pagoda.

While they fought with the creatures, the sect leader and Gracious Blue Luan fought. It was difficult to look at with my Foundation Establishment body, but I could study their fight using my divine sense. After they exchanged several attacks, I noticed him discover something significant about his pseudo-laws.

He sent a massive fiery blast toward Blue Luan.

When these new flames hit, her body vanished into the pseudo-concept of fire. However, she still had her soul. Peerless Resolve brought out two boulders. With a quick gesture, they slammed together in midair. The rock morphed into a huge head sculpture that looked eerily similar to Luan and fell onto the burnt grass.

Ah. Looked like he was replacing the face statue he crushed in our slap-tastic hall.

When Gracious Blue Luan died, her contracts broke, causing all of her beasts to experience an enormous backlash. This was enough to turn the tables. The peak elders slaughtered the remaining beasts.

Salamander raised his silvery blade into the air and thousands of thick and vibrant sword Qi rose from the ground underneath the boar spiritual beast. It made one last attempt to break the pagoda before collapsing.

Well, I bet no one would be eating that pork for breakfast.

***

After Luan died, the beasts and demonic cultivators throughout the sect were quickly taken care of.

Little Spring and I started helping with the aftermath by joining the alchemists and physicians. We treated the injured who had only eaten a blood coagulation dan. While those pills would stop the bleeding, they would do shit to actually heal the wound. Mostly I would set bones and hand the cultivator a Healing Dan the sect stored for emergencies like this. Little Spring and I also handled a couple complicated injuries where we worked together to remove lingering evil energy.

During this time Early Rise Swift Brush sent me a compiled report on the damages to the sect. There were around a hundred casualties and two thousand wounded. The demonic traitors had done most of their damage to important sect structures. It would take a significant amount of funds to repair everything.

By the time we saw our last patient, it was several hours later.

Then, just before I could take a break, Peerless Resolve gave me a mission to quickly clear and carefully demolish a few ruined buildings that held sensitive sect information.

A vein ticked on my forehead. I'd accepted it because I needed the spirit stones. Because I was fucking broke.

I knew there were other disciples who could handle this so I wondered if he was using the infamous secret delegating technique: If You Want Something Done, Give it to Someone Who's Busy?

Little Spring looked at me with a furrowed brow. "Sister Lin. Why don't you rest first?"

That... wasn't a bad idea, but…

"How about we have a conversation instead?"

I set up our tent outside and entered it. Once Little Spring joined me, I activated the obfuscation array.

"I saw you reading the letter I left you. I'm glad you did, but I wanted to make sure you understood everything."

He sat down and bit his lip.

I waited.

He looked off into the distance.

The kid was dragging this out on purpose, wasn't he?

I cleared my throat and he jumped, then blushed.

"Ah… You mentioned that in our previous timeline, the one who killed you wasn't actually me, but was some strange soul that inhabited my body. But I don't understand how you can be so positive about that. What... what if it really was me? What if I was just a terrible person in my past life? What if I still become someone like that?"

I sighed. "The reason I didn't tell you about this was so you wouldn't need to ask these kinds of questions. You're a kid. You should be playing and learning. Not contemplating complexities like this."

"I'm almost ten, you know. Shouldn't I be old enough to think about these things myself? Just because you don't want an awkward conversation about it doesn't mean you should hide them from me."

"Hey! When have I ever shied away from those?"

"Chef Garlic."

"That... Fairy Garlic is a kind of monster. The only way to fight her is by ignoring her." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Anyway. I'll answer your questions."

He nodded and stayed silent as if waiting for me to respond. Oh, right. He'd already asked if that idiotic bastard really was him.

I poked his chest. "I've seen evidence that shows your alternate self was taken over. My hypothesis is that Bloodsword was an amalgamation of your soul, Bloody Crimson Sword Edge, and Ghosty McGhostFace."

The kid looked disgusted.

"Of course, this happened because you had cultivated a powerful technique that left your soul vulnerable."

"So, if I hadn't learned from you I would have lost to him..." The kid's expression looked similar to a creeped-out cat's.

I nodded sagely. "That proves to me that you weren't the same person who got me killed."

His hand shook, then he clenched it into a fist. "What if I still become someone terrible like that man? Would it be possible for the universe to make that happen somehow?"

He must have seen the hesitation on my face because his eyes widened. "You don't know!"

"Karma exists." Also plot armor. "If I hadn't helped so many cultivators after returning to this timeline, I might not have survived my tribulation on top of being attacked by demonic archers. That proves to me that, if this world has a destiny for you, the way to fight against it is through building karma. Your own actions can change the universe."

"Then what should I do so I don't become like that guy?"

I looked at the kid more seriously than I ever have in my life and said, "Never get married and never get into a romantic relationship."

He coughed. "S-sister Lin? I may be too young to think about that, but isn't saying to never—"

I squeezed his shoulder tightly. "You think I'm joking about this?"

Dealing with all of Bloodsword's wives had made my life difficult. Like hell would I allow Little Spring to gather a bunch of partners just so I could go through that all over again.

"Then what about you?" The kid looked upset. "You must have had a Dao companion in your previous life."

I smirked. "Of course not!"

At first, Little Spring's expression looked like everything made sense then he narrowed his eyes at me. "So, no one—"

"By choice. I did not get into a relationship by choice." I crossed my arms and looked down at him. "It's not unusual for cultivators to choose to focus on their way over romance."

He nodded, then froze. "What about in the world you came from?"

Did I really have to answer these personal questions? I was a thousand-year-old monster, damn it!

"Sister Lin, me not knowing about your past got us into a mess earlier."

Could the brat be wrong for once?

I stared at the tent wall. "Where I came from, it was normal for people to be monogamous. Even if they later divorced, a majority of individuals would still choose to have only one partner at a time."

"Like taking a Dao companion then leaving once their path differed only to take another Dao companion?"

"Similar." I held up a finger. "Sadly, even in that world, some partners would be unfaithful to each other."

I approved of the disgusted look on his face. "Did you marry there?"

I flicked his forehead. He rubbed it exaggeratedly.

"Do you think I would murder my husband if they brought home a second wife?"

He nodded very seriously.

"Of course, I would! And if I couldn't kill the asshole, I would divorce him and make his existence a living nightmare for decades afterward." Because I was spiteful like that. Muahahaha!

He did not look surprised.

What the hell? Had I mentioned this before, or did this kid just know my personality because we'd been living together for so long?

"And that's why I should never, and will never, get into a relationship." At least in this world, it was normal to be a multi-millennia-old virgin. "Anyway, it's perfectly fine to live your life without romance. You can find joy in good friends, good work, and doing things you love."

Wait a second... wasn't telling the lead of a harem Xianxia to never marry raising some kind of flag? One that would turn him into another harem lord? Shit. I couldn't let that happen. I would absolutely go insane if I had to live in a world where I was harassed by dumbass wives again.

I gently cleared my throat. "Actually, it's not that you can't ever have a relationship."

He scowled.

I sighed. "After I ascend to immortality you can marry anyone you set your mind to." Because it would be somebody else's problem. Muahahaha!

The kid looked like I'd said something profound. "That makes sense."

I grinned. Of course, I made sense!

"Then are there more things I can do to prevent myself from going down Bloodsword's path?"

"Start by not becoming an asshole."

"How—"

"Do things that make you happy and enjoy life when you're not training. Make reliable friends. While that… guy was stronger than me, I don't think he ever had fun. And judging by how he brought back wives like souvenirs, I frankly question if he liked and respected any of them, either."

Little Spring blinked. "He was stronger than you?"

That was what the brat had picked up?

I shrugged. "It's not like we really fought. However, we would spar now and then. And he would kick my ass almost every time."

"So, to avoid becoming like that guy, I should do things that I enjoy. And I should wait to get married until I reach immortality?"

"Exactly." Wait a second. There had been something off about that last sentence. Well, whatever. It was close enough, and it sounded like somebody else's problem.

"The last advice I can give you is — if you end up needing to kill someone, research their background so you know if you'll have to run from their more powerful ancestor."

He gestured toward the tent's exit. "Like what happened to that demonic cultivator earlier?"

I nodded. "Of course, we have our own backing. So, if you run across someone who really has to die, make sure the Sect Leader is available to smooth things over."

"The only people I want to kill are part of the clan that killed my mother. I don't plan on getting the sect involved in my revenge."

Good kid.

"But, I would like to know if Bloodsword managed to kill them."

"He wiped out several clans so it's possible. But I don't think he was too interested in fulfilling your revenge. He wasn't you."

The kid had a complicated look on his face then he clenched his hand into a fist. "If he didn't, then that proves we're two different people more than anything else."

***

A few days after my conversation with Little Spring, after we'd all been working non-stop repairing the sect and handling paperwork, I forced... er, gently requested that my old friend have a drink with me.

The weary expression on his face aged him. From how he sat so stiffly, I could tell his shoulder ached. Unfortunately, I couldn't make pills that would work for someone in his realm. Other alchemists would have to cure him.

I poured him a cup of spiritual wine and myself one of spring water.

"If it wasn't for your hint about Gracious Blue Luan all those months ago, the sect would have been in a lot worse state than it is now."

"It was more of a gut feeling." I only knew that she had betrayed the sect in the future and not when.

At this point in time, everyone would have been coming out of mourning for Unyielding's death. So, technically, it was worse than it should be. That said, what we did was like extracting a tick. If we'd left it alone, we would become crippled from a debilitating lime disease. Removing it made us bleed, but we could recover from it in a short amount of time.

"How are your injuries?"

He frowned. "I'm well enough. It's nothing that can stop me from running the sect. Which is what I have to focus on after such a horrible attack."

I frowned. "Nephew, while your dedication is appreciated, it's not what you should concentrate on. You need to go into closed door cultivation within the next few days or you'll miss your chance to improve."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Despite my age, I am your martial aunt for a reason."

He chuckled. "I don't feel comfortable going into closed door cultivation after this battle. Many promising disciples died leaving power vacuums. The sect needs my leadership now more than ever."

"The sect isn't as devastated as it would have been if you let the infestation continue. Imagine what would have happened if the demonic cultivators started a war. Those traitors would have made the situation worse. Tens of thousands would have died instead of a hundred." I knew because I'd lived through it. The loss of life had been staggering. Even though we were the biggest and most powerful sect on the continent, that single war gutted us down so we couldn't even compete in the top ten sects in terms of size and power. It took many decades and Bloodsword's intervention for us to return to being number one.

"I can't. The sect needs its leader."

"Nephew, I'm going to reach the immortal realm, and I want you to join me there someday. The sect has good, well-trained people in it who can handle everything for a while. I didn't spend all that time creating a paperwork system for nothing."

"Running this place is more than paperwork."

"I know." There was a reason I refused the sect leader position in my last life.

"I'm not sure that there's anyone I trust to run everything during the aftermath of this crisis."

"You have your inheriting disciple."

"The peak masters and elders won't respect him." He must have been referring to his low realm.

"They listen to Little Unyielding. It's enough."

This was the guy the whole sect had mourned for two years in my past life! The sect fucking adored him. Just look at what he did over the past few days. He handled the cleanup effort, spoke to the peak masters with confidence, and helped organize disciples to rebuild things. Everyone gave him face.

From the twitch of my old friend's lip, I knew I had him on the fence. I just needed a little more of a push.

"I estimate your closed-door cultivation will last five years. That's a short time for immortals. The elders of Indomitable Peak know their jobs and do them like clockwork." I gestured toward the door. "Now go contemplate the laws of the universe, so you don't get stuck in Immortal Bone Creation. And trust in the junior sect leader."

He frowned.

Maybe he needed one more push. "Just let me recite a lecture about pseudo-laws to help you."

He scoffed. "While I'm glad that you're now in Foundation Establishment, I don't think you can give me a lecture... Actually, how could you possibly know anything about the Earthly Laws?"

I lifted my chest, acting like a proud eleven-year-old. "I remember everything my master told me about them in my dreams."

He nodded, but still looked skeptical.

I smirked and began. "While the heavens deemed that the universe must be made from Earthly Laws, they take on different forms. The lesser ones that are studied at Immortal Bone Creation are called Pesudo-Laws. The hardest to understand is fire because a chaotic flame requires an indomitable will to control..."

***

I landed my flying sword next to Little Spring.

Xiao Bai watched him work through the beautiful flowing sword art the Foundation Establishment equivalent sword cultivators practiced. The puppy lolled its tongue happily and barked in approval when he jabbed his sword forward finishing the set.

Fuck. I'd only demonstrated these moves to him before I left to drink with my nephew. From how he held each position exactly, he looked like he'd already mastered it.

Just how was this brat so scarily proficient?!

Damn protagonist halo.

He turned to me with a bright smile. "Did the sect leader agree?"

I grinned. "He did. Which means we'll be spending four years studying and cultivating in the sect." Because I wasn't taking the chance with our lives while he wasn't around to have our backs. At least not while we were only in Foundation Establishment.

He blinked. "No sect missions?"

I nodded. "After what we've just been through, I think peace and quiet is what we need."

His brow furrowed. "What about the Alchemy Convention next year?"

Xiao Bai jumped in front of the kid, asking for something.

I lifted my chin up. "Of course, we'll visit the convention, but that will be a nice and peaceful trip. They'll teleport us there and back." That might strain the sect's already tight budget, but it was worth it since we, along with a few seniors, would be its representatives.

He frowned and picked up the puppy. "Are you sure it will be okay?"

"Of course! Nothing bad ever happens at the Alchemy Convention."

He looked at me skeptically. Xiao Bai tilted its head cutely as if also skeptical.

Why did no one believe me? I was always right, damn it! Well, almost always.

"Forget about the convention. For now, I want to study this together." I pulled out the manual I found on that assassin a week ago. "I have a feeling that this technique is going to kick ass."