Chapter 54
The words ‘hold on’ determined life and death!
This time, the judgment’s subject seemed to be himself…
The moment Li Changshou shouted, and when he felt the oppression descending from the skies, a realization dawned on him.
Li Changshou, along with the omniscient Grandmaster Heavenly Dao, might be responsible for his current predicament.
Buzz, buzz, buzz—
Suddenly, ripples mysteriously appeared in the sky, accompanied by rumbling sounds.
This alarming oppression covered a 50-kilometer radius, making the living organisms in the area to quiver and remain motionless in fear.
Boom!
Li Changshou looked up again. A 10-feet-wide gray cloud had unknowingly appeared in the sky.
Two crevices suddenly and slowly split open in the gray cloud, as though two huge eyes were gradually opening. The entire gray cloud condensed to form the expressionless face of an old Daoist priest, his empty eyes staring down at Li Changshou.
‘Heavenly Dao? Dao Ancestor?’
In that instant, Li Changshou felt that he was completely exposed, and he sensed a strong feeling of danger.
His instincts were no longer probing him, but were hollering like a metal kettle filled with boiling water!
Even the immortal light emitting from his upper body retreated forcibly into his body!
What should he do?
His current situation was one where the Heavenly Dao would certainly kill him if he was perceived to be an abnormality in the Primordial World!
That was even if he did nothing, and if he was not involved in any karma!
Li Changshou did not want to care so much anymore.
Bearing down on the oppression, he yelled, “I have no intention to challenge Heaven’s authority! This is truly accidental! Grandmaster Heavenly Dao, please hold on a moment!”
‘What am I talking about, making the Heavenly Dao wait for me?’
What the hell, it was the Violet Clouds Divine Lightning Alarm!
Li Changshou hastily opened his Dao robe, removed the 60-pockets Dharma treasure shorts he was wearing inside, and put it away inside his bangle.
He did not expect that he would need to reveal some of his trump cards in such a situation.
This was something completely unexpected, given how much preparation he had made for the Heavenly Tribulation.
Initially, the Heavenly Dao was not that vigilant toward him.
A cloth rope with a jade fragment was wrapped around his left shoulder. That jade fragment shone with faint esoteric Dao runes.
It was the Nameless Jade Fragment. When Li Changshou was five, a group of tomb raiders had come by with some ancient wares to trade with the tribe for livestock and money. This jade fragment was treated as an ordinary jade. After Li Changshou had discovered that an ancient character, translated as the word ‘fire’, was inscribed on it, he obtained it through wheedling.
Its function was unknown.
However, ten years after Li Changshou had joined the sect, he had secretly placed the jade fragment beside his Master. Upon using the predictive technique he had just learned, he discovered that he could no longer predict his Master’s future moves, which was something he could do previously.
The jade fragment’s function was to avoid being found through prediction, and it was something he always carried along with him.
The cloth rope was originally a piece of linen splattered with blood. It was found in-between an ancient animal-skin scroll that held historical records of the human race. This linen cloth should belong to a piece of clothing some human expert wore after getting injured.
According to the records written on the animal skin, any human wearing it would gain the protection of the Saints of the human race. However, it had to be used with pure intentions.
After taking off the cloth rope and Nameless Jade Fragment and stuffing them back into his bangle, Li Changshou took out a dagger from it before looking behind him.
The oppression falling on him from the sky had reduced slightly.
Li Changshou was delighted, but he quickly calmed down again. He twisted his head and looked at a spot on the back of his left shoulder. There was an ancient talisman directly tattooed onto his skin, which was currently emitting faint flashes of light.
Li Changshou slid his dagger through the talisman, breaking it instantly…
Fortunately, when the wound healed, later on, the talisman would repair itself as well.
That was the Ancient Secret Talisman of the Mage Race. It was used to evade and provide protection from disasters, trouble, and predictions. It was made by the Mage Ancestor to defend against the demon race.
Its effect would be activated after being carved on animal skin, but carving on flesh and blood would procure greater effects.
There was a similar secret talisman carved at the side of his torso, which Li Changshou cut through as well…
The oppression falling on him from the sky, immediately, reduced once more.
That was not all…
Li Changshou grasped hold of the keyword “protection against prediction”, so he instantly put away all the other items he usually carried with him.
For example, the two old coins sewn into a pocket in his underwear.
They were claimed to be the first version of coins used by humans from the ancient times, thus containing some merits within, combined with the ability to protect against prediction and evade disasters.
A demon bone fragment was tied to his ankle, and a rainbow fish scale was pasted on his thigh…
In total, there were about seven miscellaneous ‘strange’ trinkets Li Changshou had used on his Master—as his test subject—to see if one could use them to evade from prediction techniques…
As these items were not Dharma treasures, they were hard to be discovered but easy to obtain.
Speaking of the Primordial Times, other than the various Dharma treasures, mystical abilities, and experts, the most memorable thing was the mysterious prediction technique.
Experts with high cultivation levels and proficient in prediction would borrow the power from the Heavenly Dao, pinch their fingers together and instantly know what was going on at places far away.
Li Changshou himself could be considered a ‘small secret’, having reincarnated to this Primordial World while retaining his memories from his past life. Thus, he had to keep his guard up at all times. He had obtained these trinkets through hard work and luck.
However, he would never expect that even the Heavenly Dao would be affected!
The oppression was slowly disappearing by this point, along with the old Daoist priest’s face on the gray cloud. However, the gray cloud was still floating above his head.
Li Changshou broke out into cold sweat. He might have collapsed onto the ocean surface if his psychological capability was not strong enough.
He had obtained these items purely to prevent others from using the prediction technique on him, and not to use against the Heavenly Dao.
‘Any intentional disguise when one was at a very low cultivation level would instead attract attention from experts, drawing trouble to oneself.’
As he understood this logic early on, Li Changshou had always been using a common disguise when he was in the sect.
Why would he purposely go against the Heavenly Dao?
Maybe…
Probably…
Could it be that there were different forms of the Heavenly Dao?
Opportunistic, energy-saving, fully-operational, high-performing?
Cough. That was a joke.
The Heavenly Dao monitored all living organisms but did not pay special attention to any, especially those who had yet to become an immortal and were not destructive.
The Eight Lightnings Tribulation Li Changshou just experienced was based on how the Heavenly Dao calculated his potential. The strength was already configured.
It was only when something wrong occurred after he transcended the tribulation that the Heavenly Dao paid attention to him.
Originally, the Heavenly Dao would adjust the strength of the Heavenly Tribulation for other cultivators like Li Changshou, whose cultivation exceeded expectations. This way, the cultivator would undergo a trial hard enough. If the cultivator could not withstand it fully, they would die, and their Dao would disappear.
However, it was unexpected that Li Changshou possessed so many strange trinkets that provided protection against prediction. Therefore, the Heavenly Dao misjudged while it was in the ‘energy-saving mode’.
Also, the Heavenly Dao scrutinized him, a ‘half-immortal’, exposing all his secrets.
The oppression he felt served as a warning and not as a way to investigate the matter.
It was the Violet Clouds Divine Lightning Alarm.
‘It is still okay. Might be because I was polite earlier.’
Li Changshou regulated his breathing and wore on his short-sleeved shirt and Dao robe, as he contemplated how he should thank Grandmaster Heavenly Dao.
An explosive rumble suddenly reverberated in the air, and the surrounding scenery changed!
Li Changshou cupped his fists together and did a Dao salute.
Then he shouted once more, “Dao Sect’s disciple wishes to inform the Heaven today!
“What happened with the Tribulation Transcendence is unintentional on my part! Those were just methods I used to avoid man-made incidents or disasters!
“The Dao base I possess currently is built on the Dao Sect manuals I obtained, based on the teachings of the Dao Sect’s founder, and through the hard work, I had put into cultivating!
“Please rain down another Lighting Tribulation, looking at how hard I had worked to attain my cultivation level!
“Also, please allow me to change the location to avoid any accidental death!”
The gray cloud above started to gradually expand. A strong gust of wind blew from all directions, and numerous gray clouds rose from the ocean surface within the radius of thousands of kilometers as they gathered above Li Changshou’s head.
Li Changshou seemed to immediately come to a realization, for he turned heads and dashed toward the ocean.
Previously, in order to prevent people from causing trouble before the Tribulation Transcendence occurred, he had especially sought out several potential locations and set up an array at the ocean bed used to speed up movement in the water.
No one would have predicted that he would head over to the second location, not because of people interrupting, but because he needed to transcend his second Heavenly Tribulation!
Two times of the Immortal Ascension Tribulation? Such a thing was unheard of…
Evidently, it was not too over-the-board for him to make so many precautions to face the Heavenly Tribulation!
This time, the Tribulation Cloud hovered over the ocean in a 1,000-kilometer radius. The thickness of the Tribulation Cloud was ten times more than before.
Li Changshou swiftly moved across the ocean surface, the huge Tribulation Cloud floating at the same speed above him towards the East.
Above the Tribulation Cloud, there was a majestic heaven palace with countless gray human figures loitered around it. In addition, a dignified emperor was seated inside the palace.
These human figures were made from the Tribulation Cloud, and they had indistinguishable facial features.
Underneath the heaven palace were two huge statues of a dragon waving its claws, and a phoenix with wings expanded. They seemed to be about to come to life in the next instant and fight each other.
Below the two statues was a war between a hoard of ferocious beasts and a crowd of towering human figures, as though they were reenacting the Demon-Mage War.
Lastly, furthest below were a number of silvery-white lightning spots with a tinge of purple, scattered around the Tribulation Cloud, but were swiftly congealing. This was the formation of a 10-feet-diameter lightning pond!
The lightning inside this pond was like liquid, as the pond was slowly being filled.
The second location Li Changshou picked was 150 kilometers away. The arrays he had set up in advance helped Li Changshou to move swiftly over water.
In the very instant he arrived at the second island, a rumbling sound could be heard.
Without much care about anything else, Li Changshou grabbed hold of a sack and threw it hard. Six folded Faraday Cages were flung in all directions, for he did not have the time to open them…
Before the sack could fall onto the ground, Li Changshou was already clutching a carving knife in his left hand and a wooden sword in his right hand! Several talismans flew out of his sleeve opening!
Upon sensing something, Li Changshou stumbled when he lifted his head.
What was this?
The lightning pond in the sky tilted slightly, and a ‘lightning waterfall’ poured toward him…
Countless bolts of lightning lit up the sky in an instant!
Li Changshou waved his carving knife swiftly and carved several ancient characters in the air. The Dharma powers in his body were activated. His upper body started to emit seven-colored immortal light as he accumulated his immortal energy aura at the top of his body.
Boom!
Li Changshou was completely submerged in the lightning waterfall. The ancient characters were almost immediately crushed, and he was also pressed to the melted ground…
Some time later, the lightning waterfall dissipated. Li Changshou jumped out of the deep square pit, his Dao robe tattered and aura unstable. After bending his head, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Was this his real Heavenly Tribulation?
‘Strong… Strong enough.’
Li Changshou waved his carving knife and wrote a few ancient characters in the air. The content of these words was from the manual Cultivation Composition, which was written by the ancient human ancestors.
These words seemed to assemble into some kind of array, lined up according to the original text before they gradually rose up to hover above Li Changshou’s head.
At the same time, a ball of True Samadhi Flame appeared beside him and engulfed his body.
Numerous nine-petaled lotus flowers, the size of a basin, slowly bloomed around him.
This was the strange phenomenon that appeared when he exerted his full strength to stimulate his Dharma powers!
‘Come, Heavenly Tribulation!’
Li Changshou looked up, his long hair and Dao robe fluttering in the wind. The lightning pond tilted once more, and another lightning waterfall fell!
This time, however, Li Changshou bent his knees and pushed himself into the sky. With bright eyes, he actively sought to welcome the lightning waterfall head-on!
‘Nine Lightnings Heavenly Tribulation! I have been waiting for you for a very long time.’
…
“Master, why are we stopping again?”
A white cloud had stopped above the South Ocean. A young girl being pulled along by an old Daoist priest asked the question.
The old Daoist priest stared at Li Changshou’s second location for Tribulation Transcendence and could not help but gasp.
“What… What kind of Heavenly Tribulation is this?
There is a heaven palace above, a dragon and a phoenix in the middle, and Godfiends below. Can this be the Ninth Heaven Godfiend Tribulation, which is ranked second place?”
Then, the old Daoist priest shook his head and sighed. “What’s up with the South Ocean today? Did these cultivation geniuses meet up to transcend their tribulations?
Unfortunately, another fella is about to die because of their Heavenly Tribulation.
Let’s go, let’s go. It’s useless to watch this anymore.”
The young girl asked softly, “Master, is that person unable to survive a Heavenly Tribulation like this?”
The old Daoist priest questioned, “Did you sense the surrounding spiritual energy surging toward the Tribulation Transcendence location when that Eight Lightnings Tribulation was happening?”
The young girl shook her head.
“Exactly. It is extremely difficult to survive the Eight Lightnings Tribulation, and the 32 Violent Tribulations are even more so the case. The cultivator we encountered just now had died, and yet, another one came.”
With a bitter smile, the old Daoist priest added, “Heaven will become jealous if one’s aptitude is exceptional. There were too many experts in the Primordial Times. If the Heavenly Tribulation failed to suppress the cultivator, a Great Tribulation might arrive soon after.
“Let’s go. There is no need to watch people die.”
As soon as he said that, the white cloud continued on its trajectory toward the south. Nonetheless, the young girl took a few extra curious glances at the ocean thousands of miles away.
The extremely large Tribulation Cloud was almost covering the entire ocean.