Chapter 42: The Destined-to-be-Abandoned Good-for-Nothing (22)p2
The master and disciple chose an auspicious day to attempt their breakthroughs and undergo their tribulations.
Gui Mian’s cultivation could also reach the Great Ascension stage. After discussing their suspicions about the celestial realm’s intentions, they felt that instead of the celestials suppressing their cultivation and coming to this small world to hunt Gui Mian down, it would be much easier to lure her to the upper realm and then chase after her.
After all, the tactics they had used against her other body during its tribulation wouldn’t work again.
—It was worth mentioning that now, having merged with her other body, Gui Mian possessed all her memories.
The celestial realm must have known this, but they hadn’t sent anyone suspicious to approach her, which meant they had decided to change their tactics.
This meant that if Gui Mian underwent her tribulation and became the only one who could open the Heavenly Ladder, the possibility of her success was even higher.
Having said that, Su Mingxiu still made thorough preparations for her tribulation.
It was the middle of winter in the nine continents. The barren northern border was covered in frost and snow. Undergoing tribulation here wouldn’t affect other places. But judging from the first thunderbolt, it seemed a bit anticlimactic.
It didn’t even melt the frozen ground.
Su Mingxiu took out numerous magical artifacts to protect her disciple. Seeing the dark clouds gathering above, she narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t let her guard down.
Then came the second, the third…
After forty-five thunderbolts, half of the total, none of the artifacts Su Mingxiu had brought to help Gui Mian had been damaged.
In the original owner’s memories, her tribulation hadn’t been so light and gentle. Back then, the entire Sword Sect had been covered by thunderclouds, and low-level disciples didn’t dare to step out of their masters’ cave abodes.
The fact that it had left injuries on her Great Ascension body that even hundreds of years of treasures from heaven and earth couldn’t heal showed how terrifying and ruthless that celestial lightning had been.
The sixty-third… the seventy-second… the eightieth—
The thunderbolts struck one after another.
But their power didn’t stack.
It was as if both sides had tacitly agreed to just go through the motions. The last thunderbolt was even more impatient than the previous ones. It practically emerged from the roiling clouds at the same time as the eightieth bolt.
In the blink of an eye, Gui Mian quickly slapped a talisman on herself. At the same time, the talismans on Su Mingxiu’s robe flew into the air. The ink strokes detached from the fabric, transforming into dazzling gold as they danced in the sky.
The eighty-first thunderbolt was originally hurtling towards Gui Mian. But halfway through, as if attracted by something, it abruptly stopped in mid-air like a snake caught by its throat, wriggling its tail reluctantly, and landed on the other person.
The last thunderbolt contained body-tempering energy.
Anything struck by this lightning would be reborn with enhanced resilience.
As expected, the pain in her meridians, which had been acting up from time to time, vanished in an instant after being struck by this thunderbolt. Her sea of consciousness expanded, the spiritual energy in her meridians surged endlessly…
For a moment, it seemed as if all living beings in the nine continents were within her perception.
But Su Mingxiu didn’t indulge in this warm and comfortable feeling. She quickly opened her eyes and looked towards Gui Mian, only to see her disciple instantly transform into a grey mist, rushing into her fingertip. As the celestial lightning continued to reshape her body, the mist traveled through her blood vessels and her sea of consciousness—
It found something strange in the deepest part.
Almost as soon as Su Mingxiu’s body tempering was complete, the grey mist left her body. Gui Mian breathed a sigh of relief and showed Su Mingxiu a tiny object, smaller than a grain of rice, lying in her palm.
“Disciple has completed the task.”
As soon as she finished speaking, before they could even examine this object, they were enveloped by a golden light.
The light was incredibly dazzling. They could even faintly hear ethereal music playing in their ears. Celestial cranes danced above their heads, and colorful flowers, usually seen only in spring, bloomed from the charred soil beneath their feet.
The master and disciple exchanged glances. Gui Mian closed her hand and retreated to the right, while Su Mingxiu retreated to the left.
The golden light followed Su Mingxiu.
As she looked up, she faintly heard voices congratulating her on becoming an immortal from within the golden light. She didn’t know which celestial being was responsible for guiding her ascension. In any case, she simply looked up and said: “You’ve got the wrong person.”
As if unaware of the allure of immortality, Su Mingxiu waved her hand dismissively, indicating that the golden light of the Heavenly Ladder had targeted the wrong person.
Perhaps having never encountered such a situation, the light surrounding her flickered for a moment, then shifted towards Gui Mian.
Gui Mian ran even faster than her master. “I’m not ascending—”
The last thunderbolt hadn’t struck her. To ascend to the celestial realm without being tempered by it would be asking for trouble. She wasn’t that foolish.
The voice from the sky disappeared.
Only the flickering golden light, swaying between them, seemed to be suffering from indecisiveness, shining on one then the other. Realizing that neither of them was willing to ascend and that they were even pushing the opportunity onto each other, the golden light, in a fit of anger, enveloped them both.
Well, this was great.
The master and disciple exchanged glances. It seemed that the celestial realm was determined to take Gui Mian away, even offering a buy-one-get-one-free deal.
Now, no matter where they hid, the dazzling golden light shone on them, complete with celestial cranes circling, floral fragrance wafting, and ethereal music playing.
They looked at each other again and, in perfect unison, used the thousand-mile journey technique, heading towards the Demon Realm, leading the golden light to its doorstep.
Tribulations were rare in the nine continents, so the commotion from their eighty-one thunderbolts had already spread far and wide. Even the Demon Lord and her demon generals were standing at the top of the abyss, looking towards the northern border.
Who knew that in the blink of an eye, they would actually see these two ascending immortals.
As their eyes met—
Gui Mian and Su Mingxiu each grabbed a demon from the audience and tossed them upwards into the golden light.
The Demon Lord and Fox Nine, suddenly granted the opportunity to ascend: “??”
The legend of the reopened Heavenly Ladder quickly spread throughout the nine continents.
Even the taverns in the mortal world turned the scene from that day into stories and ballads, excitedly recounting how two cultivators, valuing love over immortality, gave up their chance to ascend.
But the two involved had no time to deal with these legends.
Inside a bamboo hut in the mountains.
On the open-air bamboo platform, an object was suspended in mid-air, enveloped by a formation inscribed with talismans, emitting a seven-colored light. It had tried to escape, but every time it touched the edge of the formation, crackling sparks would appear.
At this moment, Su Mingxiu poked the object inside the shimmering bubble. “System?”
“Weren’t you quite capable when you were threatening me before? Why aren’t you talking now? Don’t want to?”
“Uh…” The system, having been burned by fire, drowned in water, and now trapped in this electrifying formation, didn’t want to speak.
Gui Mian leaned on the bamboo platform and also poked the object. She didn’t control her strength, seemingly deliberately shocking the little thing with the edge of the formation.
“Master.”
“Was it this thing that made you extract my sword bone and Golden Core?”
Su Mingxiu, no longer restricted from leaving or speaking, nodded happily.
Ever since being extracted during the tribulation that day, the system had been as quiet as a chicken, either playing dead or plotting something.
But Su Mingxiu enjoyed the peace and quiet in her sea of consciousness and didn’t want to hear its annoying mechanical voice anytime soon. She simply threw it to Gui Mian, letting her play with it however she liked. Torture it, treat it as a toy, it didn’t matter—
“I’m going to dig a spring.”
Gui Mian wanted to help, but seeing her master wave her hand dismissively, she stayed where she was. Listening to the crackling electric sounds from the formation, she blinked her innocent eyes and poked the object while shocking it: “Your name is System?”
“How about we have a chat?”
The rice-sized object, which had been playing dead until now, finally responded coldly: “Chat about what?”
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