Chapter 7 This is a demon king capable of destroying the heavens and the earth!!!
(Contains a large section on world-building; you can skip this section if you don't like it, just read the last sentence, and come back to it when you need to refer to it.)
After Li Qiaoyan left, Ling Shu paid close attention to her physical condition. She sat there for a while and felt her body getting hot.
After that woman drugged her last time, her body temperature dropped considerably. Although it was still unusual compared to normal people, it stopped rising. The downside was that the drug restricted her magical power. Without magical power and possessing a demon core, she was practically a walking hot commodity. She was practically announcing everywhere: "I possess a demon core, come and capture me to refine weapons!"
Um, that's a bit dangerous.
The rising temperature in her body felt familiar to her. Ling Shu drew her sword finger, channeling her magic power. A faint white light flew out from her fingertip as her magic power was being restored!
The woman's drug was neutralized...? Could it be... that the meal Li Qiaoyan brought her contained the antidote?
No, what exactly is Li Qiaoyan after?
Another hour passed, and his magical power recovered by one-tenth.
The next day, upon waking, I focused my magic power on my palm. The white light condensing in my palm was abundant with magic power, which had already recovered to 60%. By the afternoon, my magic power would be fully restored.
The sound of orderly footsteps came from behind. Turning around, I saw Wang Lifu, dressed in a purple dress, leading two rows of sword-wielding cultivators. Before they arrived, Li Qiaoyan hurriedly flew over on his sword in the air.
Wang Lifu stepped out of the crowd and walked towards Li Qiaoyan. The two were close together, seemingly intimate. Wang Lifu asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Let me take a look." Li Qiaoyan looked somewhat anxious. "Does it have to be today?"
Wang Lifu flicked his sleeves and said, "Today is already a long time to give you permission."
Ling Shu stood up from the ground, bewildered. A thunderous roar followed, and a bolt of lightning struck Ling Shu's feet, causing her to run away in fright, screaming "Ah!" When she came to her senses, the spot where she had just stood was now a charred crater.
"You dead king Li Fu, what are you doing!" Ling Shu glared at her, her eyes full of disgust.
Wang Lifu solemnly announced, "My daughter Ling Shu mistakenly killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Li family. The case has now been investigated and closed. According to the law, she should be sentenced to twenty strokes of lightning. The time has come; carry out the execution."
Ling Shu gathered magical power in her palm and struck the restriction: "I don't acknowledge what you said!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a bolt of lightning struck down. Before Ling Shu could react, she was hit hard, causing her legs to give way and her to kneel down, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"I said I don't admit it! I did nothing wrong! She wanted to kill me too, so why should I be punished even though I won!"
The second bolt of lightning struck. Ling Shu gathered her magic power in her palm and created a protective shield, catching the lightning with her hand, which was comparable to the intensity of a heavenly tribulation. After the lightning passed, Ling Shu supported herself with her hands on the ground and spat out another mouthful of blood. If Wang Lifu had come in the afternoon and her magic power had been fully restored, she could have resisted the heavenly lightning on her own. Unfortunately, she only had 60% of her magic power left.
However, when the third bolt of lightning struck, the entire sky roared, lightning flashed frequently, and dark thunderclouds rolled. Ling Shu once again erected a protective shield, but this time it was weaker than before. With 60% of her magic power, she could only keep herself alive.
"This heavenly lightning...this heavenly lightning is strange!" a cultivator exclaimed urgently.
Another cultivator, observing the dramatic change in the sky, added, "This is the thunder of a heavenly tribulation!"
Upon hearing this, everyone gasped and stared at Ling Shu, wondering how a teenage half-demon girl could withstand the tribulation of being a demon. There are a total of forty-nine tribulations for demons!
Ling Shu knew that she was destined for a heavenly tribulation, but she didn't know which day it would be.
The existence of demons is itself a defiance of the heavens, hence demons face heavenly tribulations. If they can overcome these tribulations, they can live a peaceful life. However, if they wish to cultivate into immortals, they must sever their ties to the mortal world and undergo eighty-one heavenly lightning strikes before they can be reborn as immortals.
Wen Ji did not cultivate to become an immortal because she could not give up the art of spirit cultivation.
However, most of them are demons who fail to transcend the tribulation, and the result of failing to transcend the tribulation is that they are reduced to ashes.
Ling Shu withstood the third bolt of heavenly lightning. After just three bolts, she felt as if her whole body was being burned by fire and pierced by lightning. From head to toe, every muscle, bone, and flesh was in pain, as if ants were gnawing at her flesh, causing excruciating pain.
When the fourth bolt of lightning struck, Ling Shu's hands were too weak to support the protective shield. Her kneeling body curled up and bent forward. The fifth bolt of lightning was like a hammer hitting her spine, causing her entire body to fall forward.
She fell face down on the ground like a sapling blown down by a strong wind.
Wang Lifu subconsciously took a step forward, her body still in a forward-rushing posture, but then immediately realized that it was she who insisted on punishing her, and she could not go over.
Li Qiaoyan, however, had no such reservations and was about to rush over, but his forward momentum was immediately pulled back.
Li Qiaoyan frowned and tried to shake off her hand: "If you want to discipline your daughter, you should also consider the timing." His arm was held tightly, and he couldn't break free at all.
Li Qiao said, "You're not afraid of the worst, but I am!" As he spoke, he created a protective barrier to strike Ling Shu. Wang Lifu remained silent and broke the barrier.
Li Qiaoyan angrily cursed, "You! Bastard!"
"I am impartial," Wang Lifu said, but his other hand, which was secretly gripping his sleeve, was about to tear the fabric.
The sixth, seventh, eighth... all the way to the thirteenth, Ling Shu remained lying motionless on the ground.
The cultivators present couldn't hold back any longer: "Is the sect leader's daughter... dead...?" These words echoed the thoughts of the other cultivators, who all turned to look at Wang Lifu.
Wang Lifu's solemn face seemed to freeze, her gaze fixed on the fallen Ling Shu without shifting for a moment. Bolts of lightning struck down, scorching the floor blackened by the impacts. It seemed as if the floor was struggling against the fierce lightning strikes. Determined to punish the rebellious daughter, she stood firmly outside the barrier, watching, lost in thought.
"You're still looking! Your daughter is about to die and you're just standing there!" Li Qiaoyan slapped her shoulder, his grip on her right arm was frighteningly heavy. She slapped hard, but Wang Lifu didn't react at all. Li Qiaoyan cursed again, "How can you be so cold-blooded and heartless?!"
"It was your sister who died, why are you speaking up for this wicked bastard?" Wang Lifu finally frowned and cursed.
Li Qiaoyan tried to pry her tightly clenched hands open, but couldn't for a long time: "Are you sick? She's your own flesh and blood!"
Wang Lifu retorted, "Are you out of your mind? Why are you thinking about my daughter?"
“You…” Li Qiaoyan swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue, feeling his cheeks getting hot, and he loosened his grip on her hands. “Because she is your daughter.”
"..." Wang Lifu withdrew the hand that had been in physical contact with her.
Just as Li Qiaoyan was about to cast a spell, a golden light flashed by. When she looked closely, a blinding bolt of lightning struck down. This time, unlike the previous times, the golden light on Ling Shu's body was like a sharp blade that broke through the darkness, scattering the lightning that was about to strike her.
She twitched her knuckles as she lay on the ground, then bent her arms, braced herself with her elbows, and began to push herself up with her feet. Like a newborn calf, she shakily crawled up from the ground. The sticky blood at the corner of her mouth was blown away by the wind brought by the magic and stuck to the hem of her emerald green skirt.
"The twenty-fourth one," she read slowly, her voice soft yet booming, "Wang Lifu, I'm not dead. Are you disappointed?"
Li Qiaoyan relaxed for a moment when he saw Wang Lifu's expression.
Ling Shu reached out and made a fist, stretching it towards the sky. In the next instant, the chaotic lightning bolts concentrated in her palm. From a distance, it seemed as if she had condensed the heavenly light into her hand, giving her a kind of sacred majesty.
"Lightning... Lightning Spiritual Root!"
Once the lightning bolts were concentrated in her hand, they began to accelerate, faster and faster, until flashes of light appeared frequently before her eyes, dazzling her to the point of almost blinding her.
"No, it's not an ordinary lightning spirit root, it's a heaven-level lightning spirit root! Only a heaven-level lightning spirit root can control the speed of lightning tribulation!" a cultivator exclaimed in amazement.
Another disciple spoke without confidence, his voice tinged with fear: "There was only one person in this world with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, and no one had broken the record for three hundred years. Now, a half-demon has broken it..."
There are eight types of spiritual root attributes in the Shangqing Realm: water, fire, wood, earth, metal, wind, thunder, and ice. They exist side by side without any order of importance. However, spiritual root levels are divided. The lowest type is the mixed spiritual root, which is a mixture of five or more spiritual roots. This type of spiritual root is the most difficult to cultivate. There are eight cultivation stages: Body Tempering, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation, Mahayana, and Ascension. Each stage is divided into early, middle, and late stages. People with mixed spiritual roots generally find it difficult to break through the Qi Refining stage and can only cultivate to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment at most. It is very difficult to break through to the late stage.
The next level above mixed spiritual roots is ordinary spiritual roots, which are a mixture of three to four spiritual root attributes. These are ordinary cultivators, usually outer disciples of various sects and families, and they are the most numerous. People with ordinary spiritual roots can easily reach the early Foundation Establishment stage, but at most they can only cultivate to the early Golden Core stage.
The next level up is dual spiritual roots. These are typically found among the inner disciples of various sects, the cream of the crop. However, even within this level, there are varying degrees of strength. The highest is a combination of wind, thunder, and ice, neither mutually destructive nor mutually reinforcing. The two spiritual roots are independent yet coexist as one, often producing individuals with dual skills. Next are spiritual roots where the two elements mutually generate each other, such as water-wood (water generates wood), wood-fire (wood generates fire), fire-earth (fire generates earth), earth-metal (earth generates metal), and metal-water (metal generates water). Mutually generating spiritual roots are roughly equivalent to one attribute supporting another, harmoniously complementing each other. Those with mutually generating spiritual roots often progress rapidly and possess exceptional learning abilities.
The most dangerous are those with conflicting dual spiritual roots. Such individuals are prone to qi deviation and death at the beginning of their cultivation. However, if they can stabilize their cultivation and break through, their cultivation momentum will be extremely strong, and their killing moves will be comparable to those of a single spiritual root, with a high upper limit. Those with dual spiritual roots can generally only cultivate to the mid-Golden Core stage. If someone with conflicting dual spiritual roots overcomes the initial life-or-death barrier of cultivation, they can later break through to the Nascent Soul stage. If compared to a destiny, this is the "Killing Wolf" destiny, a destiny of great achievements and dominance over the world. Conflicting dual spiritual roots include water-fire, fire-metal, metal-wood, and wood-earth spiritual roots.
Li Qiaoyan possesses dual spiritual roots of wood and earth, and is in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.
Next is the Earth Spiritual Root, which is a single spiritual root. It is rare in the world and is mostly found among the inner disciples of various sects. It is a height that ordinary people cannot reach. Similarly, Wind, Thunder, and Ice are even higher and are rare in the world. They are mostly single spiritual roots of water, fire, wood, earth, and metal. They can cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage, but it is difficult to break through the Nascent Soul stage. However, there is one exception, namely Wang Lifu, who has a mid-stage Nascent Soul Golden Spiritual Root.
The Heavenly Spiritual Root is an extraordinary talent, rare in the world. The Wind, Thunder, and Ice Heavenly Spiritual Roots are even rarer, with the chance of finding one in the world being about as likely as finding an ant in the ocean—impossible! But! A genius descends from the heavens. In the Shangqing Realm, there is a person with a Heavenly Spiritual Root. She is also the only person in the Shangqing Realm to ascend to immortality, namely the Pure Breath Immortal Venerable Zhuang Jinfu, a person with a Heavenly Ice Spiritual Root. She is known as the Guardian Immortal of the Shangqing Realm and is a true savior immortal. With her around, there is no need to worry about natural disasters.
This immortal being lived a secluded life, aloof and indifferent, disdainful of all worldly affairs. He cultivated the path of ruthlessness for three hundred years, severing all emotions and love, thus becoming a heartless traveler beyond the mortal realm. Some folk tales say that this heartless traveler once ventured into the human world.
Now that a person with a Heavenly-level Thunder Spirit Root has reappeared in the Upper Clarity Realm, no one feels joy.
Wang Lifu waved her hands, creating a light-blocking barrier in front of everyone. Her face showed no joy, and was even more solemn than before. She said coldly to Ling Shu, "Disappointing."
Ling Shu burst into laughter in an instant: "You want me dead, hahahahaha! I'll refuse to die, hahahahaha!"
She laughed wildly amidst the thunder, her passion more fervent than a runaway horse. Her unrestrained laughter sent chills down the spines of the cultivators outside the barrier.
A cultivator muttered to himself, "A thousand-year-old demon core combined with a Heaven-grade lightning spiritual root—this is a demon king capable of destroying the heavens and the earth!!!"
Someone shouted, "We must not let the great demon descend upon the world! Quickly, before the heavenly tribulation is over and before she has accomplished her great feat, kill her! Kill her!!!" As they spoke, cultivators rushed forward.
Li Qiaoyan stood in front of Ling Shu, saying, "Let's see who dares!"
"I dare." The voice was cold, extremely cold, coming from Wang Lifu's throat.
"Are you crazy?! This is your own daughter!" Li Qiaoyan spread her arms wide, protecting Ling Shu behind her like an eagle protecting its chicks. A barrier at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm was erected behind her, like the red wings of a butterfly, extremely beautiful and dazzling.
But Wang Lifu is only at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
"I cannot let a great demon be born by my hand, I cannot betray the Shangqing Realm, she must die!" Wang Lifu shouted resolutely, his sword already in his hand. At first, the sword was swung with an undeniable slowness, but soon it was swung up with great force, aimed at the crazed Ling Shu.
The sword energy swept across the battlefield with the force of a thousand armies in war. The Crimson Wing Barrier shattered like a mirror, scattering in the dust and light, breaking through the restrictions, and heading straight for Ling Shu.
In an instant, a cluster of ice crystals blocked the sword light, easily dissolving the fierce sword energy into a wisp of light wind.
A clear, melodious voice drifted down from the sky, each word carrying a sense of tranquil peace and serenity. She said:
"Master, she is my disciple. Please let me discipline her."
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