Chapter 543 - 445: An Old Friend This Master Has Missed for a Very, Very Long Time
Chapter 543: Chapter 445: An Old Friend This Master Has Missed for a Very, Very Long Time
There was a slim chance a Cultivator could try for Foundation Establishment again later.
But from what Xiao Mo knew, only one in a thousand Cultivators succeeded on their second attempt.
BOOM!
The moment the thunder cracked, that bolt of purple light from the horizon had already smashed down.
Xiao Mo didn’t dodge.
There was no dodging the Celestial Thunder anyway.
He stood his ground and took the first bolt head-on.
When the lightning dissipated, he lowered his head and coughed twice. The taste of char filled his mouth, and his throat felt like it had been scoured by smoke.
Xiao Mo’s face, hands, and the skin visible through the rips in his clothes were all covered in black scorch marks.
He blinked and shook his head. Tiny golden stars still floated in his vision, and a ringing lingered in his ears.
Xiao Mo looked toward the three figures in the distance. His vision was hazy; he could only make out their blurred silhouettes.
Before Xiao Mo could even catch his breath, the second bolt of lightning arrived.
This time, the lightning didn’t smash down directly. Instead, it suddenly contracted and condensed mid-air, forming the shape of a longsword with its tip pointed straight at Xiao Mo.
"The Thunder Tribulation is taking form?"
Bai Ruxue’s voice was hushed, but she had already taken half a step forward.
Jiang Qingyi and Qin Siyao beside her also shifted forward a step, the expressions of all three changing at almost the same instant.
The so-called shapeshifting Thunder Tribulation was a phenomenon only seen when Dragon Gate Realm Cultivators were Crossing the Tribulation.
At the Dragon Gate Realm and above, when one’s Spiritual Power had solidified to a certain degree, the Thunder Tribulation sent down by the Celestial Dao would take on different forms based on the Cultivator’s primary Cultivation Technique.
But Xiao Mo was only undergoing Foundation Establishment.
For a Foundation Establishment Realm Thunder Tribulation, two bolts of lightning was the absolute limit. How could there possibly be a shaped bolt?
But out on the plain, Xiao Mo had no time to ponder such things.
The longsword formed by the Thunder Tribulation was already upon him.
He raised his hand, and the Spirit Sword that Jiang Qingyi had given him landed in his palm.
Xiao Mo condensed a burst of Sword Qi and slashed it toward the lightning sword.
The two forces collided, erupting with a muffled explosion.
A shockwave blasted outward, sending rubble flying and kicking up a dust cloud thirty feet high.
When the dust settled, Xiao Mo’s knees buckled, and he slammed down onto one knee, plunging his sword into the ground for support.
He kept his head down as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the scorched earth before him. Thin cuts had opened on his arms, neck, and forehead, and blood seeped out to mix with his grayish-black sweat.
Bai Ruxue clenched her sleeves, her knuckles turning white.
The second bolt of the Thunder Tribulation had passed.
But the sky did not clear.
Instead, the dark clouds pressed even lower, and something seemed to be stirring within the churning layers.
A moment later, a head poked out.
It was an Ancient Thunder Beast.
The Thunder Beast’s entire body was a deep, ethereal blue. Its eyes had no pupils, only two orbs of even brighter lightning.
It made no sound, merely lowering its head to stare fixedly at Xiao Mo on the ground.
’A third bolt???’
Xiao Mo raised his head, staring at the Thunder Beast, wondering if he was seeing things.
He began to doubt whether this was truly a Foundation Establishment Tribulation he was crossing.
’Shapeshifting tribulation lightning, three consecutive bolts... even the Dragon Gate Realm tribulation is only this severe...’
A sense of helplessness washed over Xiao Mo.
’I have the Chaos Emperor Bone and I even took the Heaven-Stealing Pill refined by National Master Jiang. What did I do to deserve this kind of "special treatment" from the heavens?’
At the same time, Bai Ruxue was already moving.
The Spiritual Power within her sleeves was nearly solidifying, and the black pupils in her peach-blossom eyes had transformed into vertical slits of gold.
Jiang Qingyi also tightened her grip on her longsword.
At some point, Qin Siyao had produced the Ten Fierce Spear.
They knew that if they interfered now, Xiao Mo’s Foundation Establishment would be ruined. And if he failed his first attempt, trying to cross this threshold again in the future would be next to impossible.
But if they didn’t act, Xiao Mo would die here.
However, just as the three of them were about to move, Xiao Mo stood up.
His knee left the ground and his spine straightened once more. Blood was still flowing, but he no longer bent his back.
A faint layer of light began to glow around him.
"What is that?"
Bai Ruxue and the others stared at Xiao Mo in astonishment.
The light wasn’t glaring or sharp; it was as gentle as if it were shining from a great distance.
It wasn’t the glow of Spiritual Power, nor was it the protection of a Magical Artifact.
It was like the Merit and Qi Fortune coalesced from the lights of a million homes!
Xiao Mo took a deep breath, and the Sword Intent around him surged.
He had walked the streets and alleys of the mortal world, treating the common people during a plague and testing the medicine on himself.
He had seen the smoke rising from kitchen stoves, supported poor families, and heard the cries of children in the night.
He had braved torrential rains to reach the dams, working day and night to control the floods.
The very life force of the living—things that Cultivators on their mountains would deem "ordinary," "trivial," and "unworthy of mention"—now condensed into a thin halo of light, protecting him.
Xiao Mo tightened his grip on his sword.
He didn’t look at the Thunder Beast, nor did he look at the roiling tribulation clouds in the sky.
He simply lowered his gaze to the Spirit Sword in his hand.
Then, he unleashed a single strike.
There was no retreat in this strike, nothing held back.
The last shred of Spiritual Power in his body, the final ounce of strength in his bones and blood, along with that faint halo from the "lights of a million homes," were all poured into this one strike.
The blade shot upward.
The Thunder Beast dove down.
...
「Meanwhile.」
Within a private courtyard of Bailu Academy.
A woman in a long, ink-black dress was in her room, reading a book.
Suddenly, the woman set down her book and strode out of the room.
Standing in the courtyard, she gazed into the distance, her fair, slender hands clenched tight.
"Master, what is it?"
Hu Die, who had been practicing calligraphy in the courtyard, looked up. Seeing her master staring blankly into the distance, she hurried to Shang Jiuli’s side.
In Hu Die’s memory, her master had always been elegant, dignified, and unflappably calm.
This was the first time she had ever seen her master looking so tense.
Shang Jiuli shook her head and said slowly, "It’s nothing... Just an old friend... who has reached Foundation Establishment..."
"An old friend?"
Hu Die blinked, her expression even more confused.
Logically, her master’s old friends should all be Great Cultivators.
How could the words ’an old friend’ be associated with Foundation Establishment?
"Yes..."
Shang Jiuli turned with a smile to look at her disciple, ruffling her hair.
"An old friend whom I have missed for a very, very long time..."
...
「The Central Plains.」
The Confucian Academy.
Here, in the central region of the World of Ten Thousand Laws, was the place every scholar under heaven dreamed of.
A beam of inky scholastic light shot up from the Confucius Temple, soaring into the heavens.
Gusts of refreshing wind swept through the Confucian Academy.
It was a pleasant wind, carrying with it the fragrance of ink.
When scholars felt it, they could feel the Vast Qi stirring in their chests.
This was the Book Flipping Wind.
"What’s happening?"
"Such a strong Book Flipping Wind!"
"Could it be that a Saint has descended upon the world?"
"A strange phenomenon at the Confucius Temple! How many years has it been since the last time this happened?!"
"A Saint... It’s been so long since our Confucian School has produced a Saint..."
Seeing the strange phenomenon at the Academy, the disciples began to discuss it animatedly with their friends, speculating about what could be happening.
"Academy Master... Academy Master... The Confucius Temple..."
A young Confucian Gentleman ran frantically into the courtyard of Kong Sheng, the Confucian Academy Master, stuttering in his haste.
"I know... I know everything..."
Kong Sheng, his head full of white hair, slowly rose from his soft couch and walked to the window.
The old man, who looked like a common villager, folded his hands in his sleeves and gazed silently into the distance.
"Academy Master, what exactly is this phenomenon at the Confucius Temple?" the Confucian Gentleman asked, walking to Kong Sheng’s side, his heart full of doubt. "Could it really be that a Saint has descended upon the world?"
"Yes... a Saint has descended..."
Kong Sheng turned his head and looked in another direction.
It was the direction of the Confucius Temple.
A total of four Saints were enshrined in the Confucius Temple.
But among the four Saints, there was one empty spot, which looked glaringly out of place.
It was as if a statue had once stood there, only to be moved away.
"Jin Che, do you remember the story I once told you?" Kong Sheng asked with a smile, looking at his closed-door disciple.
Jin Che paused. "Master, you refer to?"
Kong Sheng smiled faintly, but his eyes were filled with sorrow.
"Once upon a time, there was a very, very young Saint. He did many, many things, and he never let the world down."
"But the world... let him down."