Chapter 26 Looking back on the path I came from, my eyes are downcast, devoid of emotion…

A new, towering staircase has been added to the main hall of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

This staircase, named Dengwen Ladder, was the only way to reach the Baidai Building and also the most direct means of transportation to various branch examination centers in later generations.

A long staircase is opened, allowing cultivators who wish to challenge the prodigies to proceed on their own. If they succeed in the challenge, a golden list will be displayed, announcing the results, and then left in the building.

"Go on, Xiaoyun, I'll wait for you to come back." Chang Yubai patted Xiaoyun's thin shoulder, his tone full of encouragement.

Li Qingyun hummed in agreement and nodded emphatically. Then, amidst the dense gazes behind her, she mustered her courage and stepped onto the long staircase.

The Heavenly Sword Sect supporters behind them sighed in disbelief. They were all human, so how could there be such a difference? Last time, some of them had stepped onto the Ascending Ladder, and their cultivation level was still within the normal range.

Chang Yubai: "..."

Quarrel.

It turns out that if one sparrow leaves, there will be many more sparrows.

The Dengwen Ladder appears to ascend into the clouds, but it only takes a few blinks to cross it. The clouds in front of Qingyun disperse, and at the end of the long staircase lies a huge platform.

The Baidai Building was even more expansive than Li Qingyun had imagined.

The towering pavilions and jade palaces, hundreds or thousands of feet high, resemble the moon hanging upside down in the sky, like a journey through the clouds. Leaning on the railing and gazing into the distance, two cries can be heard in the silence.

Stepping into the Jade Pavilion, glimpses of light and birds occasionally flit past the window, their bellies up, the pale blue sky swirling with pure white. If it weren't for the fact that I was actually standing on the floor, it would be hard to imagine that I would witness such a scene in reality.

Li Qingyun took steps and walked deeper and higher into the pavilion.

His destination was on the east side of the second floor. It wasn't that he knew the examination room from the beginning. Before stepping into the main hall of the pavilion, Li Qingyun was worried about whether he could find the right place for the examination. It wasn't until his footsteps landed in the main hall that a golden light flashed before his eyes, leaving the words "Second Floor, East Thirteen" as a guide. Only then did Li Qingyun feel at ease to go find his target.

Among the thousands of doors reflected in the high-rise buildings, one door opened automatically, and the golden light on the doorplate quietly revealed the three golden characters "Li Qingyun".

Having grown up in the desolate land, Xiao Yun had never seen such a scene before, and her competitive spirit was immediately aroused.

Indeed, only such a magnificent scene is worthy of his genius status!

So he stepped into the inner room.

Upon entering the room, there was only a circular platform in the center. After standing on it, the platform flickered, and the door behind him closed automatically.

The clanging of bells and the aroma of a fragrance told us that the trial had begun.

Suddenly, darkness enveloped everything, and there was not a single ray of light to be seen in any direction.

"Li Qingyun, eight years old, a member of the Wood Spirit Clan."

A clear yet childish voice rang out, but the voice sounded all too familiar.

Li Qingyun suddenly looked up toward the source of the sound, only to see a child who looked exactly like her standing upright, with a playful smile on his face that was rare to her.

"Who are you? Why are you impersonating me?"

With vines wrapped around her hands, Li Qingyun was ready for battle.

But the person opposite him, "Li Qingyun," simply shook his head: "No rush, let's see how you understand things first."

After saying that, he beckoned to Xiaoyun with his finger.

"What?!"

In an instant, Li Qingyun was already in front of the illusion. His fist, covered in thorns, swung out subconsciously, but only shattered a void.

However, due to this inertia, he fell forward and headfirst into his own reflection on the opposite side.

That illusion even seemed to be smiling at itself with great interest, though it was unclear what the hidden meaning behind it was.

When Li Qingyun woke up again, her head was heavy and throbbing, as if a chaotic mass was pressing down on her, causing unbearable pain.

The surrounding environment he saw had also changed drastically. The ceiling that came into view was now covered with vines, which was the very thing he hated most in his memory.

Ten meters away, his biological parents were still discussing his fate in fear, while countless clansmen came running, clamoring to get rid of this scourge.

Is this the trial?

What kind of trial is this?

What kind of trial of enlightenment allows one to relive their life?

Let alone giving Li Qingyun a second chance, given the difficult circumstances he was born into, even the gods couldn't turn things around.

He wanted to chuckle, but no sound came out. His mind was getting heavier and heavier, and he could no longer support his thoughts.

Finally, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. When he opened them again, the baby with the mocking expression had turned back into the soft and harmless little dumpling he was at first. His innocent eyes stared at the ceiling made of vines, unaware of the trials and tribulations he was about to experience.

Life is short, and how far we go depends entirely on enlightenment.

Looking back on one's life is looking back on this journey of enlightenment, step by step.

If you don't fully appreciate the experience, how can you know at what moment your life took a turn for the better?

...

There must be people who are born unhappy.

On the day Li Qingyun was born, the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits experienced its first panic in history. All the Wood Spirits felt the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits' favoritism, and the spiritual energy from thousands of plants converged in the same direction, pointing directly at an infant in swaddling clothes.

The spiritual essence is the source of a plant's vitality. If it is removed from the plant, the plant will lose its ability to continue living and will eventually wither and turn into residue.

Even if they only absorb a portion of the spiritual energy, the clansmen will simply consider the child to be exceptionally gifted, pleasing the tree god, and willing to sacrifice some spiritual plants to raise him.

But this wouldn't work for the entire Forest of All Spirits.

This is the place where thousands of people have settled and lived. Why should a newborn baby like you take it away?

Today you want the spiritual essence of the entire Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits. After you finish eating, you'll be hungry again. Wouldn't that mean you want the very essence of all the cultivators of the Wood Spirit Clan?

This child is here to destroy the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits; he is an ominous creature, a great calamity that comes only once in millions of years!

We absolutely cannot let this go!

On that day, the baby's cries echoed for miles, but they could not stop people from being cruel to it. Its unique root essence was forcibly stripped away, finally stopping the gathering of plant spiritual energy from all directions.

But the Wood Spirit Clan discovered that this matter was not over yet.

The elders had initially hesitated about what to do with the stripped spiritual energy, fearing that improper handling might allow it to be seized and merged by those with ill intentions, bringing about another catastrophe that would wipe out the clan. However, they soon no longer needed to worry.

—The source material actually separated on its own after being destroyed, turning into eighty-one points of light, each scattering to different places in the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits!

Unprecedented! Unheard of!

The original essence was divided into eighty-one parts. Sixteen parts were buried in Muqiong County, twenty-one parts were buried in Shuque County, thirty-five parts were buried in Shuying County, and the remaining nine parts were intercepted in the scattering of light and fell into the hands of the clan leader.

The Wood Spirit Clan members dug in terror, only to discover that these fragments of root essence had transformed into ginseng-like shapes, moving incredibly fast and extremely difficult to grasp. They were also accompanied by a chilling, pitiful cry that pierced their spiritual sea, so they dared not approach rashly.

In the end, it was the clan chief who intervened and stopped the resentful attack.

The clan chief, unwilling to place all the blame on an infant, ordered everyone to leave the matter alone, which gave people a chance to loosen their grip and release their resentment.

But what they didn't know was that the infants they mistreated were born with intelligence, and seeing them destroy their very essence, they had already harbored hatred in their hearts.

The first to discover this were Li Qingyun's parents. They were already disliked by their tribe because they had given birth to a demon child, and when they looked back and found that their child had sentience and resented the entire tribe, the two parents were terrified. Even though they knew that their child would never be able to cultivate, they always felt that Li Qingyun would turn into a demon in the blink of an eye and take revenge on everything.

The more they spent time together, the more anxious they became. Finally, one day, when a merchant traveling from out of town passed through the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits, Li Qingyun's parents made a decision: to sell their son from the Tree Domain and never see him again!

At that time, Li Qingyun was already over a year old. He scrambled to the residence of the elder of Muqiong County, begging the elder to save him. He didn't want to be homeless, nor did he want to be sold to strangers like a commodity.

The elder naturally couldn't bear to see a child suffer, especially since the child had already suffered greatly at birth. The elder wanted to save him and promised to do so, hiding Li Qingyun in his own home.

However, the Wood Spirit Clan's senses are always sharp, and they even alarmed the Great Clan Chief once again. Even though the elders of Wood Dome County tried to cover it up, they couldn't stop the Great Clan Chief from investigating.

The Wood Spirit Clan already disliked Li Qingyun, and when they saw the child's hateful expression while searching, they were all filled with fear. They began to put pressure on the elders and the clan leader, saying that they could tolerate not executing Li Qingyun, but they could not allow him to remain in the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits as an ingrate!

At this time, the three major counties were at their most united on the surface. Regardless of their motives, the other two counties began to exaggerate and persuade the clan chief to be ruthless.

Even Li Qingyun's biological parents stepped in to persuade him, turning their angry but unspeakable baby into a little devil who would surely torment their entire clan in the future.

With the tearful testimonies of her biological parents as evidence, the clan patriarch believed it to be true and genuinely thought that Li Qingyun was a born scourge. He then forcibly ordered the ruling elder of Muqiong County to send Li Qingyun away.

The elder sighed. Where can such a young child be sent? He wouldn't survive anywhere.

Li Qingyun sensed something ominous in that sigh, but since the elder had promised to save him, Li Qingyun was still willing to trust the elder this once.

The next day, his biological parents broke into the elder's tree nest and dragged him out.

Li Qingyun cried out for help from the elders, but when the elders did not appear, he knew that his premonition had come true, and that the elders must have agreed to sell him.

A glimmer of hope turned to dust, leaving only despair in my heart.

He was taken by traveling merchants to the Great Wilderness, which was said to be the best place to do business.

Li Qingyun was only a year and a half old. Even though his hometown did not bring him warmth, he still wanted to go home. However, his mortal body was too fragile and not strong enough to support his return home.

Cultivation.

Only by becoming a monk can one have the ability to return home.

So Li Qingyun stopped thinking about those painful past events. He began to observe the preferences of merchants and, using the most harmless and endearing appearance and merchant jargon, learned a set of training methods most commonly used by ordinary people in the secular world.

To cultivate oneself, one must possess a foundational element.

Many cultivators who rise from the bottom are not born with innate root essence, but rather generate a natal root essence through the cultivation of spiritual power within their bodies.

However, Li Qingyun was unaware at the time that a person's dantian can only produce one root essence, and to forcibly grow a second one is to go against the will of Heaven.

On the day his spiritual power was transformed, nine bolts of heavenly lightning mercilessly struck him, each one more ferocious than the last, almost causing the merchant guarding him to mistake the location and think he had arrived at Thunder Valley.

If such a thunderbolt were to strike, there wouldn't even be any ashes left, would there?

But Li Qingyun was still alive. Not only was he alive, but he was sitting on the spot laughing loudly, as if he had used up all the strength he had in his life.

He truly rebuilt his original essence.

But what will the cost be?

Li Qingyun was unaware.

But he will know.

Cultivators with strong roots are much easier to sell than children from ordinary families. In addition, they are versatile wood-attribute cultivators, so many cultivators who want to take crooked paths are offering high prices.

Then, seeing the child's innocent vulnerability, they were momentarily caught off guard and their lives were taken away.

One of the evil cultivators had studied under Tian Shuji and could tell fortunes. He wanted to find an auspicious day, but he accidentally saw the words written in big red on the fate of the child next to him: "Heavenly Killer Lone Star"!

I will not be close to anyone in this life, nor will I be treated kindly.

This is the punishment for going against the will of Heaven.

But Xie Xiu died young, before he could explain the true horror of this destiny.

But Li Qingyun seemed to understand.

Anyone who has gone through more than a dozen buying and selling and fleeing will understand that they have become an unpopular jinx.

He achieved great success in cultivation at the age of three, reshaping his foundation. For the next five years, he lived a miserable and destitute life, encountering all sorts of inhuman beings. With a gloomy expression, he was locked in a magic array in the desolate land, waiting for the next unlucky guest to arrive.

One sentence kept echoing in my ears—you are a cursed star, you will never be happy in this life.

But what good is his happiness?

He only wanted to return to his hometown, to the Forest of Ten Thousand Spirits, but this time it wasn't longing anymore; he wanted revenge.

He wants to take revenge on everyone who bullied and humiliated him back then, and everyone who insulted him!

Anyway, he's a jinx!

Everything is a dream.

When I opened my eyes again, I was still in endless darkness.

Another "Li Qingyun" stood opposite, unable to hide his smile, and said: "Born with a spiritual body, destroyed in an instant, but his physique was rebuilt, and he entered the initial stage of martial arts in five years. His comprehension is excellent."

But then, this illusion is further complicated by the statement: "But you are a cursed lone star."

Li Qingyun spoke with such certainty, as if he were truly speaking the truth in accordance with the will of Heaven.

All he got in return was a scornful laugh.

Why are you laughing?

"Idiot..." Li Qingyun muttered under her breath.

The illusion was even more perplexed. He stepped forward, wanting to reach out and lift Li Qingyun's head to ask him what he was thinking.

But the next moment, a heavy blow blasted the illusion ten feet away, and the half-humanoid figure turned into a black dot and disappeared.

Li Qingyun withdrew his heavy fist, raised his head again, and smiled much more brightly than he had pretended: "What a joke! So what if I'm a cursed star? How can that stop me from forging ahead on the path of martial arts!"

He spoke with unwavering confidence, undaunted by wind and rain, displaying the same heroic spirit as when nine bolts of lightning struck him from the heavens, yet he still smiled at the sky.

"If you want to fight, then fight. Trying to provoke me won't work. If you keep dawdling, I won't be polite!"

Li Qingyun rarely laughed loudly. He couldn't laugh before the Ninefold Tribulation, and he had nowhere to laugh after the Ninefold Tribulation. But now, no one could rely on this arrogant laughter.

Especially after hearing the phrase "a cursed lone star".

I was laughing so hard I was shaking.

The illusion of "Li Qingyun" has reappeared.

This time, Li Qingyun adopted a fighting stance, his blood boiling with excitement: "Alright, first level of martial arts, second stage, then let me see your strength!"

Let's see if your skills, aside from your age and comprehension, truly match your abilities!