In an instant, countless densely packed golden characters floated up from this worn book scroll. These characters seemed to move as if alive, all flying into Zanxing’s body and merging into her mind.
The heart sutra within was different from what Qinghua Xianzi had given her before.
Qinghua Xianzi’s inheritance came from years of accumulation in Duzhou’s cultivation world, and since Zanxing had not been involved in cultivation for over twenty years, understanding it was inevitably difficult. But this “Peerless Heart Sutra,” just as written in the book, was “neither demon nor immortal” – neither the cultivation method of the cultivation world nor having any connection to demonic essence. For Zanxing, who was like a blank slate, it was the most suitable method.
The path of cultivation mostly involved cultivating the way of heaven and earth, borrowing heaven and earth’s spiritual qi and essence to improve one’s cultivation, with the focus on “gathering.” But this cultivation book went against this principle, dispersing one’s power between heaven and earth, with the focus on “scattering.”
All cultivators had to follow existing cultivation rules, but eternally repeating others’ paths would eventually reach limits. It was better to walk a path no one had walked before, creating one’s own rules. With this cultivation method, one might glimpse the primordial great way.
Zanxing’s eyes closed again.
The Ice Abyss became silent once more.
The Ice Palace Jade Realm was like the most ancient place in the world, gathering the vast white jade stones between heaven and earth. And that green seed, that small tree that struggled to sprout in the coldest and most desolate place in the world, was racing toward the Ice Abyss’s exit, still growing ardently yet slowly.
Like its master, exploring alone in fate’s crevices, moving forward with determination.
One day, two days, one month, two months – in the long silence, the Ice Abyss was merely an insignificant corner in the vast world. What was happening in this Ice Abyss was just a tiny moment in the universe. The great way was endless, and challengers climbing toward the firmament always came in waves, generation after generation.
Bujiang always looked worriedly toward a corner of the ice cave, where there was no longer any human shadow. Ice and snow came more urgently, more fiercely, more murderously than before. They tightly wrapped around the silently seated girl, trying to devour her along with her will, attempting to turn her into one of the countless thousands of names in this vast white snow.
Her name was indeed carved upon it, deeper each day, but different from other names on the ice wall. The three characters “Yang Zanxing” were always particularly bright, unlike those names that seemed covered by a layer of white mist. They seemed forever visible at a glance, forever clearly recognizable for who the name’s owner was.
No one knew how much longer such days would continue. The ice cave was still growing, but Bujiang’s heart inexplicably calmed down. She didn’t know when it started, but she seemed to begin firmly believing that the Extreme Ice Abyss wasn’t impossible to overcome – someday, Zanxing would be able to leave.
The Ice Abyss was like a piece of ice frozen in the Duzhou continent – cold, empty, eternally still.
However, in that long wait, finally, in places no one noticed, some changes quietly occurred.
For instance, the large cat sleeping in the girl’s embrace – its snow-white fur began slowly turning silver-white, like countless flowing glimmers of light, gradually beginning to grow and quickly covering its former radiance.
On the Duzhou continent, dark clouds surged layer upon layer, heavily piling together, shrouding heaven and earth in pitch blackness.
Bean-sized raindrops pattered down from the cloud layers. People on the streets ran hurriedly, dodging the sudden heavy rain on a winter morning. A cultivator from the town stood on a small building, looking up toward the clouds, gradually revealing astonishment: “This is…”
“RUMBLE——”
Thunder carrying violent qi exploded at the far end of the sky, as if about to tear heaven and earth apart. That sound was truly terrifying – small children were so frightened they ran crying into their mothers’ embraces.
“Thunder tribulation?” The cultivator murmured, “Such a great thunder tribulation – is someone nearby breaking through?”
The thunder sound went from far to near, passing through countless mountains and waters, falling above the Extreme Ice Abyss. The drowsy Bujiang was awakened by this thunder, first startled, then instinctively looked toward Zanxing.
The girl in the ice cave didn’t move at all. That ice cave wrapping her was like a lonely tomb, silently burying her within.
But on that lonely tomb, the shadow of a tree was growing.
This green tree had unknowingly grown extremely lush. It had become a giant tree, its dense canopy growing together with the Ice Abyss, emanating rich vitality from its branches and leaves, casting it into this desolate, long abyss.
“RUMBLE——”
Another thunder sound rang out. Lightning rolling down from the cloud layers all fell upon this girl. Bujiang’s gaze focused, her heart both shocked and delighted: “It’s tribulation clouds!”
The delight was because if these were tribulation clouds, then Zanxing’s cultivation must have achieved some breakthrough. For such a long time in the Ice Abyss, Zanxing hadn’t spoken, and Bujiang’s demonic essence couldn’t break the ice cave’s restraints, so she didn’t know Zanxing’s actual condition. Now it seemed she must have had some fortuitous encounter, even breaking through again – this was good. But the shock was that this thunder tribulation was so terrifying. Even ordinary cultivators found it difficult to survive tribulation, let alone Zanxing, who was now trapped in the Ice Abyss. How many masters, when breaking through and surviving tribulation, with one moment of carelessness, not only lost all previous achievements but also lost their lives.
She was now bound by chains in this prison, unable to leave this ice platform. Even a bit of Demon Lord essence couldn’t melt the accumulated snow in the Ice Abyss, let alone help Zanxing survive tribulation.
This time, Zanxing could only rely on herself.
The thunder tribulation continued, each sound louder than the last, each time more violent than before. On the Duzhou continent, it seemed all tribulation clouds had gathered in the sky above, pressing heavily overhead, vowing to crush the firmament.
On Gufeng Mountain, sect disciples came out one after another, looking at the rolling dark clouds on the horizon, their hearts pounding with fear.
“So many tribulation clouds – I’ve never seen this before. Ordinary cultivators surviving tribulation only get one thunder tribulation at a time. Even breaking through from Soul Separation to Spirit Transformation is only seven tribulation clouds at once. But look at this – there are at least dozens of tribulation clouds. Could this person be breaking through from Foundation Establishment directly to Mahayana in one go?”
“Not only that,” another disciple pointed into the distance: “They’re also purple tribulation clouds! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – purple tribulation clouds are the most fierce. What’s gathering in the sky are all purple tribulation clouds! So frightening!”
Among those heavy rolling dark clouds, vague purple leaked through, tumbling like purple cloud dragons floating and sinking between heaven and earth.
At the Five Thunder Platform in Duzhou, where Gu Baiying was being punished, the lightning strikes were only blue, and even with such blue thunder tribulation, no cultivator in decades had been able to endure forty-nine days.
“Such a grand spectacle – which fellow cultivator is surviving tribulation here? When did our Duzhou have such a genius? When Senior Sister Meng and Seventh Master Uncle survived tribulation, we never saw such a spectacle!”
“More than that – I heard that when former Sect Master Yushan Shengren survived tribulation and ascended, it was exactly this kind of purple tribulation cloud. Could some fellow cultivator be about to ascend?”