From Qi Refining to Soul Separation, all focus on cultivating the body; from Soul Separation to Worldly Immersion, it transitions from body cultivation to heart cultivation; from Worldly Immersion to Transcendent Heaven, it becomes complete heart cultivation.
Body realm cultivators often rely on gradual accumulation of cultivation over time.
Heart realm cultivators can achieve sudden enlightenment—with a single thought reaching clarity, their realm can advance by leaps and bounds, even achieving enlightenment and ascension.
The Heart-Questioning Dao Tribulation is a threshold—a barrier between transitioning from body cultivation to heart cultivation.
No one can avoid it.
The difference lies only in whether it comes early or late. Some face the dao tribulation the moment they break through to Soul Separation; others reach Soul Separation Peak before their tribulation arrives; some with dull talent never break through even until their lifespan ends, never experiencing the heart-questioning.
But Jian Chou was different.
She cultivated her heart realm first, body realm second, forcibly suppressing her realm for a full four hundred years until this moment when it burst forth like a flood breaking through a dam.
In an instant, she had reached Worldly Immersion Peak!
This also meant that her dao tribulation would arrive within moments.
Monk Yichen himself was a great cultivator at Void Refining Peak, and having personally witnessed Jian Chou’s realm ascension process, he understood her current cultivation better than anyone.
Not only was she at Worldly Immersion Peak!
She still had strength to spare!
However, the three realms of Void Refining, Bounded Existence, and Transcendent Heaven were known as the “Final Three Realms” in the cultivation world of the Nineteen Regions. Anyone who reached these realms was qualified to be respectfully called a “great cultivator.”
Among them, Void Refining was the threshold of these three realms, requiring one to carry the Dao to enter.
At this moment, if Jian Chou wished to ascend another level beyond Worldly Immersion Peak, the Heart-Questioning Dao Tribulation was the inevitable path, and the tribulation she could not escape at this moment.
Questioning the heart, questioning the heart…
Facing Heaven’s Dao’s inquiry, what answer would this female cultivator give?
Yichen stood at the great hall’s entrance, watching quietly.
Abbot Wugou seemed to sense something, his thick eyebrows furrowing slightly as he turned to look.
At some unknown moment, Xie Buchen, who had remained silent, had also walked over.
Only he neither glanced at this highly respected, stern abbot, nor paid attention to the renowned Monk Yichen. He simply raised his eyes, gazing at Jian Chou’s figure ahead.
His refined features held a rarely seen sickly pallor, his eyes revealing complete desolation at a glance.
The Buddha light from when the female demon Jian Chou achieved instant enlightenment earlier had not yet dissipated. Auspicious clouds drifted across the sky, as if an immortal realm had descended to the mortal world, a Buddha land manifesting in the earthly realm.
Now thunder rolled, and winds and clouds surged across the boundless firmament.
Majestic purple clouds and golden light, flashing and spinning, actually formed a massive vortex above Chanzong!
Covering a hundred li, its depth unknowable.
Jian Chou, positioned directly beneath it, raised her head to look. Her gaze passed through this space where spiritual energy suddenly fluctuated wildly, instantly entering the vortex’s center.
Deep purple had become pitch black here.
To be precise, it had no color at all.
This vortex seemed capable of swallowing everything in the world—no wind, no clouds, not even light. Yet gazing at it for slightly longer, one felt their sight drawn into the vortex, reaching an indescribably wondrous place.
Profound and vast, ancient and primordial, as if connecting to the endless universe!
For a moment, all Jian Chou’s heart could perceive was the vastness of star rivers…
Since ancient times, cultivators have made drawing close to heaven and earth their cultivation mission.
First cultivating the body, seeking to approach heaven and earth; then cultivating the heart, seeking to resonate with heaven and earth. At the wonderful depths, they breathe with heaven and earth—what heaven and earth think, they think; what heaven and earth feel, they feel.
Where the heart reaches, wind blows and clouds move, grass and trees sway—nothing remains unknown.
Great cultivators are especially like this.
The higher their cultivation, the more and broader their knowledge and perception becomes, let alone such obvious heaven and earth phenomena at this moment.
Across the great land of the Nineteen Regions, countless cultivators turned their attention northward!
At Kunwu’s Yihe Palace.
Master Hengxu, who had always been honored as the foremost leader of the righteous path, was instructing several core disciples in their cultivation. But he had barely spoken half a sentence when he sensed the current disturbance between heaven and earth.
As his brows furrowed slightly, his powerful spiritual consciousness swept outward.
Thousands of mountains and rivers, crossed in an instant.
All the scenes in Chanzong’s direction were completely displayed in his mind, including that figure standing beneath the dao tribulation vortex.
Yashan, Jian Chou.
The beloved who had once been personally slain by his cherished disciple, a genius who had “survived great calamity,” a disciple of Yashan whose three souls and seven spirits remained incomplete and still unrestored…
Such tribulation clouds, such phenomena—even he had never seen their like.
Clearly she had leaped three realms at once, with all the heavenly tribulations piled together, and moreover, there was the most troublesome “heart-questioning” for her…
The Void Body constitution meant certain death when questioning the heart.
He wondered whether this female cultivator named Jian Chou would bring him a “surprise.”
Hengxu’s gaze had already penetrated this stretch of sky, faintly carrying several gleams of divination light, but he spoke no further words.
At Mingri Star Sea, Jiexing Mountain Manor.
Due to frequent disturbances in the Extreme Domain in recent years, and with the Star Sea located at the eastern edge bordering the Extreme Domain, Yashan Kunwu, Chanzong, the Yin-Yang Sects, and even the southwestern aristocratic families and the three demonic paths continuously dispatched experts to investigate.
The current Star Sea had taken on a completely new appearance.
Low-cultivation cultivators, scenting danger, fled for their lives; true desperadoes or those who had already seen through everything remained, not placing those foreign old monsters and great cultivators in their eyes at all.
To the northwest, when the phenomena appeared, Qu Zhengfeng was sitting by Sword Lake sharpening his sword.
The originally blunt blade edge, after careful grinding, had gradually begun to flash with cold light.
Though it was an ordinary mortal sword, in his naturally sword-wielding palms, it faintly carried an extraordinary aura.
A letter written on mysterious jade-gold paper lay spread at his feet, unknown whether it had been there one, two, or three days, covered with considerable dust and muddy water.
The signature “Kunwu Hengxu” was particularly prominent.
But Qu Zhengfeng didn’t glance at it once.
When he sensed that aura coming from the direction of Western Sea Chanzong, his sword-sharpening motion paused slightly. The mortal sword tip, already brightened by three parts, left a diagonal deep mark on the black whetstone.
Raising his head to gaze toward the sky’s edge, his eyes showed slight bewilderment, the next moment his brows furrowed tightly.
With three souls and seven spirits incomplete, how could she question her heart?
Not many outsiders knew of this matter; even those many great cultivators observing at this moment couldn’t see through half of it. After all, soul and spirit matters concerned fundamental essence—without special methods, even great cultivators would be completely mystified.
But at Yashan, quite a few were fully aware of this situation.
When Jian Chou and Xie Buchen broke out of the Sumeru Mustard Seed yesterday, Fudao Shanren knew she was safe and sound. But because he learned from that thieving monk Yichen that she had gone to settle a karmic debt, and considering that all three masters of Western Sea Chanzong were there, he thought nothing should go wrong.
Who could have expected that upon opening his eyes today, he would witness such a terrifying situation!
The Void Body constitution—invincible below Soul Separation, but certain death upon heart-questioning!
With incomplete three souls and seven spirits, how could she face Heaven’s Dao’s inquiry?!
Fudao Shanren stood atop Huanqiao Peak, gazing far toward Western Sea Chanzong’s direction, wishing he could grab those three unreliable bald monks from Chanzong one by one and strangle them!
With incomplete souls and spirits, how could they let her undergo heart-questioning?
And what was with this cultivation level? Suddenly surging to Worldly Immersion Peak, just one step away from Void Refining!
His heart, liver, and spleen were about to explode with rage!
Without another word, he rolled up his sleeves, wanting to kill his way directly to the Western Sea to demand answers: “Damn it, these bald monks constantly deceive this mountain man! Must they harm my disciple to death under Heaven’s Dao?!”
“Heaven’s Dao?”
In that instant, a voice that was neither clearly laughing nor mocking suddenly appeared beside him. Fudao immediately froze, recognizing the somewhat familiar voice.
Turning his head, he indeed saw that person who had claimed to be Jian Chou’s “old friend” days ago, staying as a guest at Yashan.
The ancient mugwort-colored robe he wore carried an indescribable scent of dust and decay, yet the person wrapped in this robe gave off a sense of abundant vitality.
The Dijiang bone jade that slept nine days out of ten was now clinging to his shoulder, looking completely familiar.
Fudao Shanren had no idea where Jian Chou had met this person.
He only knew that this “guest” before him, though appearing to have only late-stage Void Refining cultivation, somehow gave him a feeling of opacity.
Hearing the other speak now, he couldn’t help but frown.
But Fu Chaosheng had no intention of explaining or apologizing for his words. Instead, he directed his gaze toward the distance, his lips carrying a trace of inexplicable smile as he said lightly: “Heaven’s Dao is merely a dead thing.”
What was there to worry about?
Daring to release her realm at this moment, openly questioning her heart, proved that his old friend had already made her decision and understood her true heart.
She cared neither for those incomplete souls and spirits, nor for how Heaven’s Dao would judge her.
With a unified heart, Heaven could not change it.
Success meant stepping into Void Refining; failure meant nothing more than complete annihilation.
Moreover, facing such a dead thing, how could she possibly fail?
The great land of the Nineteen Regions stretched wide and vast.
The morning sun had only recently risen, just beginning to spread its radiance everywhere. Yet the moment that dao tribulation vortex appeared, the entire sky took on a strange dimness, as if shrouded by shadow.
The phenomena hanging high above Western Sea Chanzong were like a suddenly appearing fierce beast, ready to devour the firmament.
Above the temple halls in front, among the meditation chambers and stone forests behind, countless monks raised their heads in terror, but searching their memories, they couldn’t guess who in the temple was undergoing tribulation.
In their recollection, none of their senior brothers or uncles had cultivation reaching this threshold.
Only when that female cultivator’s figure before the Thousand Buddha Hall slowly rose into the air did someone recognize her identity.
“It’s the female cultivator who returned with Grand-Uncle Yichen yesterday!”
“Is that the Yashan eldest senior sister who’s always disappearing?”
“Amitabha, but her cultivation…”
“This monk has never seen anyone undergo tribulation with such imposing power…”
“Inconceivable!”
…
For most cultivators in the Nineteen Regions, such massive, even terrifying tribulation scenes were unheard of and unseen!
After all, what madman would pile all their realm tribulations together to undergo at once?
The power of tribulation lightning was calculated based on the cultivator’s realm when undergoing tribulation!
In other words, whatever realm the cultivator was at, the tribulation lightning’s power would match that realm.
From Nascent Soul to Soul Separation, the tribulation lightning’s power roughly equaled Nascent Soul Peak; from Soul Separation to Worldly Immersion, the tribulation lightning’s power approximated Soul Separation Peak.
When breaking through from Worldly Immersion to Void Refining, there was no tribulation lightning.
Because at this realm, they cultivated the heart—one thought could achieve immortality, one thought could also destroy one’s dao foundation. After Void Refining, every thought was a tribulation, so tribulation lightning was unnecessary to test cultivators.
Jian Chou at this moment was already at Worldly Immersion Peak; the realm she actually needed to break through was Void Refining. If only this were the case, she would need just one thought to arrive and break through, without any lightning tribulation.
But unfortunately, her realm had surged up suddenly.
What she faced now was not something as simple as three tribulation lightnings of different power levels, but two tribulation lightnings at Worldly Immersion Peak power and the most dangerous Heart-Questioning Dao Tribulation!
Between heaven and earth, a strange force naturally lifted her up.
Throughout her entire body, all of her cultivation exploded at this moment, all of her heart realm states converged at this moment, and that supremely powerful force was instantly displayed without reservation!
A Worldly Immersion Peak cultivator, half a foot stepped into Void Refining—a quasi-great cultivator!
The feeling the Treasure Vase and Treasure Seal Dharma Kings gave people when they acted at the Snow Domain Sacred Hall that day was exactly what Jian Chou gave people now.
Moreover, she surpassed them by several degrees!
Only because of her current heart realm, her current spirit and vigor!
Looking around, the overlapping meditation halls were arranged in orderly fashion, yet they shrank in her vision along with the surrounding mountains and waters. The boundless Western Sea was dark nearby but still illuminated by sunlight in the distance, completely divided by this tribulation lightning vortex into bright and dark halves.
Apart from overhead, not half a wisp of cloud could be seen anywhere in the sky.
All cloud layers had been gathered by the vortex, forming a terrifying pressure!
A trial from heaven and earth!
A trial from Heaven’s Dao!
“Swoosh!”
Under this pressure, the Wanxiang Battle Disc appeared without being called, actively spinning, reaching a massive five zhang and five chi in the blink of an eye!
Each dao seal upon it emitted piercing golden light, reflecting with the battle disc.
Heaven-Flipping Seal.
Red Sun Slash.
Dijiang Wind-Thunder Seal.
Riding the Wind.
Drawing the Blade.
Great Five Elements Prohibition-Breaking Technique.
…
And all of Jian Chou’s current magical artifacts—the Wind-Swallowing Sword, Deer-Cutting Blade, Lamp-Burning Sword—all sensed some tremendous danger from heaven and earth, emerging in full, arrayed upon the battle disc!
Even the Eight Divisions Heavenly Dragon Dharma Aspect, which had undergone bitter cultivation for four hundred years in the Sumeru Mustard Seed without testing its power, responded to the terrifying pressure overhead!
With a humming resonance, Buddha light filled the sky!
Deva, Naga, Yaksha, Gandharva, Asura, Garuda, Kinnara, Mahoraga…
The phantoms of the eight divisions slowly emerged under the Buddha light’s illumination, sharing the same compassion, the same solemnity!
At this moment, all the Chanzong monks below widened their eyes, hardly daring to believe what they saw. Even Yichen and Wugou at the Thousand Buddha Hall entrance were ten thousand times beyond expectation!
This…
This clearly looked like their Buddhist techniques!
Since the Yin-Yang Realm war, Buddhism’s reincarnation remained unchanged, thus maintaining connections with the Extreme Domain. Among them, the concept of “dharma body” was transmitted from Buddhism to the Extreme Domain, and Extreme Domain ghost cultivators often chose one dharma body to cultivate—Yichen and Wugou had seen this before.
But this eight-division scene spread behind Jian Chou at this moment…
Where was she cultivating just one dharma body—she was cultivating eight!
Cultivating one dharma body with single-minded focus versus cultivating eight dharma bodies with eight-fold attention—could those be the same?
Though they didn’t know where Jian Chou’s technique came from or exactly how she had cultivated it, upon seeing those Eight Divisions Heavenly Dragon phantom images, Yichen had already drawn a sharp breath!
Those who didn’t know the details were merely puzzled; but those who knew, who could discern the depths, were all clicking their tongues in amazement.
This female cultivator wasn’t merely unusual—she was absolutely mad!
No one knew how she had cultivated these Eight Divisions Heavenly Dragon dharma aspects. Most people guessed it was natural genius, but only Jian Chou herself knew that four hundred years of lonely bitter cultivation could push her potential to what extremes!
Opening her arms, she also opened her heart.
At this moment, the wide sky and broad earth, the vast world, all rushed into her embrace and into her heart!
Gone was any previous tribulation’s oppression, utterly different from the surrounding dao seals, techniques, and magical artifacts facing formidable enemies—at this moment, Jian Chou was calm, relaxed, even carrying a landscape painting’s artistic quality.
As if what she was about to face was not the most terrifying, most powerful heavenly tribulation in the history of the Nineteen Regions’ great land, nor the Heaven’s Dao interrogation that would determine her life, death, success, and failure!
“Rumble!”
Almost the instant she spread those arms, the vortex high above overlooking everything seemed to sense her indifference and contempt, releasing an angry roar!
A pure black lightning bolt fell like a heavenly pillar!
It came from the vortex’s depths, from that space where even light would be swallowed, from heaven, from the dao!
Wherever it passed, all things should submit!
Jian Chou beneath it, a mere mortal flesh body, how fragile, how insignificant? She was like a leaf in fierce wind and sudden rain, a grain of sand during mountain collapse and earth splitting!
Who could believe she would survive such a terrifying tribulation lightning?
Yet it was just such a leaf, such a grain of sand, that at the moment that pure black tribulation lightning descended, exploded with infinite power!
Her slender form stood straight, towering like a mountain!
Extending her palm forward, the Lamp-Burning Sword floating above the Wanxiang Battle Disc automatically fell into her grasp.
At such a moment, facing such world-overturning, catastrophic tribulation lightning, she showed no retreat, didn’t even raise half a point of defense!
What she raised was only that single Lamp-Burning Sword!
The approaching tribulation lightning forced out Jian Chou’s most peak state of her entire life, her most transcendent comprehension!
Drawing the sword!
Drawing the Lamp-Burning Sword!
When the sword left its sheath, where in her eyes was there ordinary cultivators’ reverence for heavenly tribulation?
There was only tranquility.
In her eyes, this heavenly tribulation was no different from any opponent she had encountered in the past!
What she had to do was not submit, but destroy!
The Lamp-Burning Sword had three levels: First Level Red Dust Realm, Second Level Ash Realm, Third Level Illumination Crossing Realm.
Jian Chou considered herself a mere mortal, unable to cross over these deluded worldly people, but this heavenly tribulation before her—why not “cross” it over!
Sword from sheath—
Twenty-one treasure-aspect flower patterns blazed red!
Deep red sword light, towering sword qi!
Yet even more soul-stunning was the sword intent that slashed out with the sword!
This was clearly a Buddha sword that should possess the solemnity and compassion of benefiting all under heaven and universally crossing worldly people, yet when Jian Chou’s sword slashed out, all anyone could sense was that unstoppable killing intent!
Forced transcendence!
Whether what lay beneath this sword was life or death, human or object, it mattered not!
The moment the sword was swung, the entire long sword instantly transformed.
The originally lotus-petal-like sword guard suddenly opened, actually becoming a lotus lamp’s bowl, only missing the final lotus petal. The three-chi sword body, beginning from the sword tip wrapped in treasure-aspect flower patterns, retracted inward.
In one breath, the pitch-black sword body had completely disappeared, the twenty-one treasure-aspect flower patterns overlapping each other!
Layered into one bright flame!
Thus at this moment, that already-slashed sword light, that sword qi, was also ignited by this single flame, simply becoming a raging sea of fire!
Before anyone could even blink, the sword qi had already collided with the tribulation lightning!
“Boom!”
The pillar-like lightning was instantly engulfed by this endless sea of fire!
The terrifying thunder power exploded violently, actually shattering this sea of fire into pieces, immediately scattering across the sky like myriad lights illuminating a vast hall!
The remaining tribulation lightning power transformed into countless small electric snakes swimming in mid-air. But they didn’t even have the chance to touch Jian Chou before being burned by the endless flames, becoming ash and wisps of smoke!
Unprecedented Worldly Immersion Peak heavenly tribulation!
Also unprecedented direct confrontation!
She had actually won! And as the tribulation-undergoer, Jian Chou remained completely unharmed after this tribulation lightning!
Countless mouths gaped open, lacking the strength to close.
The gentle-acting Chanzong monks—when had they ever seen such a domineering and powerful female cultivator? Even their Chanzong’s most hot-tempered Diamond Protectors wouldn’t dare directly confront heavenly tribulation!
Yet Jian Chou had done exactly that, and succeeded!
Never mind current Chanzong—even the current Nineteen Regions fell into silence due to this earth-shattering sword!
But…
Shock would have no limit, especially concerning Jian Chou, concerning this female cultivator who had already clarified her dao and would practice it unchangingly!
Heavenly tribulation was merciless, incapable of shock.
The collapse of the first tribulation lightning had no effect on it whatsoever.
The moment the first tribulation lightning dissipated, it had already acknowledged the tribulation-undergoer had passed this trial, so the second tribulation lightning instantly formed within the vortex!
Still with Worldly Immersion Peak power!
Still coming from the universe’s depths, star river depths, from light’s end!
Almost everyone believed that Jian Chou at current Worldly Immersion Peak, having been able to scatter the first tribulation lightning, must have already exhausted her strength—this second tribulation lightning with undiminished power, she couldn’t possibly easily withstand!
Indeed, Jian Chou had released the now lotus-bowl-transformed Lamp-Burning Sword.
Everyone thus thought they had guessed correctly.
But who could have expected that the next moment, they saw her slightly close her eyes and spread her palms!
The Eight Divisions Heavenly Dragon dharma aspects that had been slowly rotating like a giant wheel behind her seemed to sense her current intent, settling to a stop.
All eight division dharma bodies blazed with golden light.
Positioned directly above Jian Chou’s head was the Deva among the eight divisions—Mahabrahma!
The seated Buddha had four faces and four arms.
Each Buddha face bore different expressions, each arm held different postures, each palm formed different mudras, holding different magical implements.
The Buddha light surrounding Him made Him appear majestic and inviolable!
The moment He stilled above Jian Chou’s head, she raised her hand!
In this instant, the entire dharma aspect descended like a true Buddha, shrinking at once to overlap with her figure, adhering to her body!
She reopened her eyes, and within them was already pure Buddha light!
Standing in the ninth heaven, bearing the eight division dharma aspects, moreover possessing these Buddha eyes!
At this moment, who could distinguish?
Was the female cultivator before them the tribulation-undergoing Jian Chou, or that Mahabrahma who governed the Buddha realm? And this heaven-covering, earth-concealing palm strike—was it Shangren Buyu’s famous Heaven-Flipping Seal, or the Tathagata palm from Buddhist scriptures that could suppress the three realms!
Golden Buddha light emerged from deep black palm shadows, actually gilding this palm shadow, as terrifying as heavenly tribulation itself, with a golden edge!
How could Jian Chou choose passive defense!
On the contrary, four hundred years of accumulated cultivation filled her body with inexhaustible strength, while that suddenly enlightened heart realm gave her the spirit to contend with heavenly tribulation!
Never mind just two tribulation lightnings!
Today, at this moment, with this heart—even if ten or a hundred more came, her response would still be this same palm!
If undergoing tribulation was Heaven’s Dao’s test for cultivators, then this was her answer to Heaven’s Dao after four hundred years of bitter cultivation!
She only wondered—
Are you satisfied with my answer!
“Crack!”
“Rumble!”
This time, even the momentary stalemate from the first tribulation lightning was absent—it was complete domination!
That pillar-thick tribulation lightning, under the coverage of Jian Chou’s world-overturning palm shadow, looked thin as an earthworm. Struck by palm power like raging waves and furious seas, it couldn’t persist even for a moment!
In just one blink, like a lone boat swallowed by a tsunami!
Not even a shadow remained!
The remaining force of this palm strike even blasted into the vortex at the firmament’s end, creating ripples ten thousand zhang wide that took long to fade to silence.
At this moment, no one could utter another word.
Standing in the void, what difference was there between Jian Chou and an ancient war god?
With Worldly Immersion Peak realm, battling Worldly Immersion Peak heavenly tribulation—complete victory!
Complete victory without suspense!
Throughout history, looking across the world, how many could achieve this?
Everyone’s gaze was on her, yet all her attention was on this firmament above, within that vortex.
After two tribulation lightnings, it had not disappeared.
Circle by circle it rotated, and that Heaven’s Dao aura finally clearly released from within, enveloping Jian Chou entirely!
Soundless, breathless.
Yet that vastness traversing primordial chaos and encompassing the universe, that majesty controlling all things and governing destiny, had mercilessly descended upon her head.
All around, it was clearly so quiet only wind could be heard.
But in this brief yet endless moment, Jian Chou seemed to hear it—she heard that voice from the vortex, heard that inquiry from Heaven’s Dao!
You—
What do you take as your Dao!
Thus all the hot blood that had surged from previously confronting heavenly tribulation gradually calmed.
Even if she possessed the Void Body constitution, destined to die upon Soul Separation, so what?
Even if her souls and spirits were incomplete, imperfect, so what?
This was her—
Her present self, her current self.
Beneath her feet was the star-bright octagonal Wanxiang Battle Disc, behind her the Buddha-light-illuminated Eight Divisions Heavenly Dragon dharma aspects. Jian Chou stood suspended in the void, under Heaven’s Dao’s gaze, her body like pure crystal, her heart like an unstained bright mirror.
When she spoke, that clear and resolute voice reached the hearts of all great cultivators whose spiritual consciousness could reach this place, echoing in this lonely sky above the Nineteen Regions!
“I—”
“Take myself as my Dao!”
“My dao is myself.”
No matter how this world’s three realms and six paths of reincarnation might change, no matter how this physical shell’s three souls and seven spirits and consciousness might be incomplete, there is only one me in these heavens and earth!
And I exist only in the present!
The present me is the best me.