Chapter 28: Azure and Crimson Lightning

All the painstaking preparation ultimately proved to be in vain; the innate karma fused seamlessly into his natal spiritual treasure, utterly unimpeded. From this moment onward, the path of the Azure Void’s Great Dao was well and truly severed. The burden of karmic retribution upon him would gravely encumber his understanding of the Dao and his pursuit of sanctity, let alone that this was innate karmic retribution.

[Possessed of one tribulation’s worth of innate karma, when three thousand years have passed and the chaos tribulation descends upon you!]

The sudden message crashed through the depths of Qingxu’s soul like a tidal wave, leaving him staggered by the revelation—another tribulation awaited him.

“The first tribulation of chaos? It’s like the tribulation of the scattered immortals.”

So-called scattered immortals were those who, having failed to attain the Dao of immortality at the Divine Transformation stage, suffered the collapse of their Dao bodies and could only cultivate the path of the primordial spirit. This path granted them an extra nine thousand years of lifespan, with a heavenly thunder tribulation descending upon them every millennium. If they survived, they would remain unscathed; if not, they would be reduced to ash. Only after enduring all nine tribulations could one become an immortal. Yet it was not without its rewards: a scattered immortal, upon ascending, would at minimum reach the peak of Celestial Immortality, perhaps even attain the early stage of Profound Immortality—a true intermingling of fortune and calamity.

At first glance, the path of the scattered immortal seemed a shortcut: under normal circumstances, even nine thousand years might not suffice to cultivate from the initial Earth Immortal stage to the peak of Celestial Immortality, to say nothing of the Profound Immortal realm. Yet almost no being willingly chose the scattered immortal’s path, for the thunder tribulations were simply too dreadful.

The ninefold thunder tribulations faced by scattered immortals were nearly certain death. The first tribulation alone was twice as fearsome as the ordinary ninety-ninefold heavenly tribulation. The second was twice as powerful as the first, the third three times that of the second, and so on through all nine. Without divine powers capable of defying heavens and earth, who could possibly withstand them?

Qingxu now bore four hundred and eighty million points of innate karma, meriting a single tribulation; should he accrue another four hundred and eighty million, he would suffer two chaos tribulations at once.

“As expected, there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. With such an overpowered Great Karma Art, how could there not be a price?” he thought with growing frustration.

Crackle! Snap!

From the depths of his primordial spirit and true soul, as if stirred by the innate karma, a tremor suddenly arose. A flash of azure and crimson lightning darted past, causing Qingxu’s eyes to widen in astonishment.

“Azure-crimson lightning?” he cried out, thunderstruck—this was no trivial matter, for it was precisely because of this power that he had traversed into the world of the Great Desolation.

Crackle, crackle, crackle… Snap, snap, snap…

The azure-crimson lightning burst forth with dazzling brilliance, illuminating the entire Palace of the Mud Pill. Thunderclouds wreathed Qingxu’s innate primordial spirit, forming a web of azure and red lightning that wrapped tightly around him, coursing in ceaseless streams. The oppressive might was unimaginable, saturating the air within the palace and pressing down with suffocating intensity.

The inner walls of the palace shuddered and twisted, swelling and receding in endless waves. The agony was so intense that Qingxu could hardly bear it, surpassing by a hundredfold any torment of the eighteen levels of hell.

[Host’s consciousness at 1%...]

Just as Qingxu’s mind was about to collapse, the Investiture System intervened of its own accord, shielding him and restoring his consciousness to 50%.

Crack!

After some time, a resounding shattering echoed within Qingxu’s agonized mind—a sound unlike gold or jade or ceramic or iron, impossible to describe.

Whoosh!

With that shattering, a wisp of inky-black energy slipped from a point on the palace wall, coalescing into a dark mass and hovering in the air.

“Innate karma?” Qingxu saw it clearly and was astounded. It was indeed innate karmic retribution. He had never imagined that, formidable as the azure-crimson lightning was, the innate karma could not resist even its mere presence. It was utterly inconceivable.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!...

One after another, strands of innate karma were forced out by the pressure of the azure-crimson lightning. In the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, all four hundred and eighty million strands of innate karma were expelled and gathered together, suspended within the palace as a massive, inky-black cloud, occupying nearly a tenth of the space.

With the innate karma forced out of both body and soul, the azure-crimson lightning seemed still unsated. Amid the roaring thunder, a bolt of lightning shot forth, disregarding all distance and time, and struck directly at the gathered karmic retribution.

Boom!

A world-shaking roar resounded in the void. The vast mass of black energy, occupying a tenth of the palace, contracted rapidly under the single bolt of azure-crimson lightning. In the blink of an eye, it condensed into a single black point of light.

Once the karmic retribution had been compressed to a single point, the azure-crimson lightning seemed appeased; it dissipated and vanished without a trace, no matter how Qingxu searched for it.

The solid point of karmic retribution fell to the base of the palace after the lightning faded, now inert and harmless.

“What is the origin of this azure-crimson lightning? It can subdue the retribution of the Great Dao—could it be... the Lightning of the Great Dao itself?” His heart could not calm for a long time. Karmic retribution was born of the workings of the Great Dao, exceeded in rank only by the Dao itself; in all the world, only the Dao and its punitive lightning could suppress it. The azure-crimson lightning had clearly overpowered the innate karma in terms of rank, placing it above even the three thousand supreme arts of the ancient era—it was no wonder Qingxu suspected it was the Lightning of the Great Dao.

“No matter what, at least one calamity has been resolved!” Unable to grasp the matter, Qingxu set it aside for the moment.

His innate Great Karma Art was unaffected by the removal of karmic retribution, a source of great excitement. As for the solidified point of karmic retribution, Qingxu also left it alone for now—whether it was his true form or a clone, to draw upon it would invite the chaos tribulation in three thousand years. At that time, the tribulation would recognize no distinction between true body and avatar; under the Dao, tracing all to the source, both would be annihilated together. Lacking the power to contend with the chaos tribulation, Qingxu dared not touch this point of karmic retribution.

This harvest could only be described as tremendous—even the Great Karma Art alone was enough to thrill him, and now, with the azure-crimson lightning, he need no longer fear its limitations and could wield it freely.

“If only I knew how to advance the Great Karma Art. If I could raise it to the second level, I would immediately possess nine supreme ancient arts. By then, the world would be mine to roam at will.” Qingxu had witnessed the power of these ancient arts from Ba Liming, who had merely scratched the surface, while Qingxu possessed the true origin talismans of innate karma, granting him a power at least a hundredfold greater.

“These things can be studied later. First, I should seek out my quest, and use the system to refine pills and strengthen my Dao foundation.”

Having been delayed for a hundred days, Qingxu grew anxious—he still had his mission. Without further delay, he set out.

As he walked, he checked his quest information.

[Seek Fortune]: Difficulty 80 (maximum 100); location: the eastern sea shore, land of Wan Hill. Assist humanity in repelling the Four Dire Beasts: Chaos, Gluttony, Qiongqi, and Taowu! Reward: 100 points of acquired merit, 1,000 points of yang merit, 10,000 points of yin merit, and 100,000 points of faith incense.

“Hmm? Not only has the difficulty dropped by five points, but the details have become far clearer—even the rewards are listed. And what generous rewards! One hundred points of acquired merit can be exchanged for a single point of innate merit; yang and yin merit can be used to cultivate the Yin-Yang Virtue Body, and this faith incense fits my needs perfectly.”

Faith incense was born of the sincere devotion of sentient beings, serving as the source of the divine path, and could be used to forge a divine golden body.