Chapter 216: Spiritual Ascension
The Heavens roared as if they could not contain their own anger and indignation. Under the cover of the Dao Shield, Xie Qing was like a turtle. Moreover, the Heavens were even more angry that this turtle was absorbing the energy of the Heavenly Lightning!
“Ugh!”
Xie Qing gritted his teeth. The energy inside his dantian was rebelling, refusing to obey! His own Qi was trying to revolt against him!
This was the first sign of the transformation of ordinary Qi into Superior Qi! This was the boundary separating mortals and cultivators who were one step away from immortality! A level of cultivation that had become a barrier for many geniuses, driving them into despair.
“Haaaaaaaah!”
Xie Qing’s loud battle cry, like a deafening roar, echoed through the Heavens, causing even the Heavenly Retribution to pause for a few seconds.
“Submit to me!” Xie Qing gritted his teeth and shouted.
Boom!
Inside his body, in the spiritual channels, there was a real war! The cultivator’s own Qi rebelled against him, resisting the sudden changes that were partly due to the stimulations of the Heavenly Lightning.
The Qi began to take on a light-white, moon-like glow! Mortal Qi – the primary state of Qi before breaking through to Spiritual Ascension – tried to resist the changes.
However, like a virus, the Superior Qi began to spread through the spiritual veins, replacing the old. Soon, his Qi turned from golden to pure white!
“Aaaaagh!”
This process lasted less than two seconds, but it brought Xie Qing unbearable pain. It was as if hundreds of poisonous insects were devouring his flesh from within!
The physical body… could not contain the Superior Qi!
Thunder… thunder…
The Heavens still roared, and the beautiful sky was covered with a thick, gloomy fog, hiding the view of the stars and the moon from all living beings.
The world seemed to be plunged into silence and darkness… and then, after two seconds… the sky flashed with a crimson glow!
“W-what is this? I’ve never seen anything like it!” Yu Longfeng always considered herself strong and calm, but she could not help but fall to her knees (still in the air).
“This… you don’t know what this lightning is either? It looks terrible!” Xu Mei was seriously frightened. She was about to rush towards Xie Qing, but…: “Hm? Yu Longfeng! Let me go!”
“Wait!”
Yu Longfeng frowned, seeing Xu Mei’s recklessness. Her head began to ache from how absurd this Master-disciple pair was. It felt like they had taken a hundred years off her life.
“Can’t you see? The Heavens are enraged and will not stop the Heavenly Retribution until your disciple manages to survive this trial! If you interfere, you will forever cut off his path in the Dao!” Yu Longfeng snapped, looking angry. She grabbed Xu Mei’s wrist and shouted: “So stay put and don’t interfere! Act like an adult, not a child!”
“Y-you…”
Xu Mei was speechless. For the first time in her life, someone had shouted at her so fiercely. She was more shocked than angry.
Yu Longfeng snorted, releasing Xu Mei’s wrist and turning back to continue observing Xie Qing’s Heavenly Karma. She frowned.
“I can’t understand why the Heavens are so set against him. If he had negative karma, I would have discovered it long ago. But did he sin in his past life? Yu Longfeng couldn’t understand: “Does reincarnation exist? If so, who is this brat? Is he the reincarnation of some killer who sinned against the Heavens?!”
This time, it seemed the Heavens needed a little time before striking again! Xie Qing narrowed his eyes, carefully waiting for the next lightning bolt.
And then…
[Danger! Danger! The next strike may put the user in a difficult situation. Probability of death – 56%].
“Whatever. Where am I going to run to? The Heavenly Lightning won’t let me escape!” Xie Qing smiled, preparing to take the hit.
Either way, if he tried to run, he would only make the punishment worse. So it was better to just take this hit.
The youth blinked, and a strange glow appeared in his eyes.
The lightning struck Xie Qing almost silently. The youth gritted his teeth, resisting the horrifying pain…
“AAAAA!”
In the sky, Xu Mei could not help but scream, seeing both of Xie Qing’s arms fly off! If it weren’t for Yu Longfeng, she would have intervened!
“Stop, fool! Are you completely stupid?!” The Empress could not suppress the chill in her spine when she saw the power of this lightning: “Don’t interfere! Otherwise, your disciple, and you yourself, will die!”
“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! MY XIE QING!”
Yu Longfeng gritted her teeth. Xu Mei went into hysterics, and if Yu Longfeng hadn’t been strong enough, the woman would have broken free and intervened in the Heavenly Retribution.
“How difficult! Cursed be the day I decided to meet this kid! If a second life exists, I will definitely reincarnate as a dog!” Yu Longfeng frowned.
Xu Mei almost went mad when she saw that Xie Qing’s entire body was covered in deep wounds. His hair had long since burned off, and he looked more like a corpse than a living person.
If it weren’t for the fact that his thread of life still existed, Xu Mei would have lost her mind from anger and despair.
Yu Longfeng could only pray that the youth would be able to overcome this difficult trial.
***
How much time had passed? Maybe a week, a month… or even a year. Xie Qing had long lost count of time, for it was pointless to count the seconds that felt like hours in this unending pain.
His mind had long since gone into hibernation, trying to protect itself from the shock. Surprisingly, his soul was still whole and unharmed.
Heavenly… Divine Lightning, Blood-red lightning. The strongest lightning that struck only once – when the race of Deities was exterminated, from the young to the old.
But why? Why did such lightning strike Xie Qing? Did he have a past life, and was his great sin the destruction of the Dao itself?
Alas, no one knows the answer to this question. We can only hope that everything goes smoothly.
In the pitch darkness, in Xie Qing’s soul… a flame ignited.
[Detected fluctuations of the Primordial Soul… 1%… 4%… 67%… 78%… 89%… 100%! Successfully suppressed… System returned to its normal state].
[Suppression of the Primordial Soul… success…]
***
In the outer world, a week had passed. Xie Qing opened his eyes on the first day of the second week, when the sun was setting below the horizon.
Xu Mei, first of all, tried to ask him about his condition, but found that the youth was just staring blankly at the ceiling.
“This…”
The woman frowned. His mind was in shock! Gritting her teeth, Xu Mei could barely contain her anger.
“Heavens!”
The only reason she didn’t try to go against the Heavens was her own weakness and helplessness. Because of this, Xu Mei’s mood was the worst.
If it weren’t for the fact that Xie Qing had restored his body after a successful breakthrough, she would have gone mad!
After a few minutes, Yu Longfeng appeared in the room, and seeing Xie Qing’s condition, she too was gloomy.
“Unfortunately, I’m not sure I can heal the mind… the soul is one thing, but the mind is still considered an unreachable zone…” Yu Longfeng sighed.
Xu Mei fell silent. Who, if not her, would know about such things? During the great war against the devilish cultivators, she had seen people who had lost their minds.
Even if their souls were healed, they remained forever on that battlefield. Such shock was incurable.
However, it seemed they were somewhat mistaken. Because all this time… Xie Qing was conscious.
It’s just that in his current state, with his entire body suffering from pain, he himself could neither speak nor move his facial muscles. However, part of his mind was indeed damaged.
“How boring…” he thought, spending the whole day in the same pose: “Heavenly Lightning… Divine Lightning, Blood-red lightning – if we go by the System’s words. Who would have thought that I would be struck by it… and awaken some strange memories”.
At the moment the lightning struck him, some memories began to awaken in his mind. It was nothing supernatural, just five years of the life of a person very similar to him, who lived in a village.
However, what was strange about these memories was that Heaven and Earth were connected to each other… although, the meaning of these words Xie Qing still did not understand.
“How mysterious. Are these my memories? I’ve heard of the concept of reincarnation, but I’ve never encountered anything like it… I wonder who I was in my past life, that the lightning kicked me so hard?”
The only saving grace was that at the moment of breaking through to the next stage, his body had been restored. Otherwise, it would have been too hard to live… as a walking piece of charcoal.
Looking out the window, Xie Qing was speechless.
“This is… a view of the imperial castle…” the youth didn’t know what to say: “As far as I know, this place… is Yu Longfeng’s personal estate?”
