Chapter 2 The Calamity of the Mortal World

On Brightheart Island on Yishe Lake, Mount Yan, Anchan Commandery.

Whitewater Marsh, having taken human form, sat alone under the pavilion drinking wine gloomily. Woodchild Zishuo sat leaning against a wooden pillar with his eyes closed, while Xiaoqing sat in a corner of the corridor hugging her knees in silence.

They were all quiet.

After a long time...

"Should we tell Qiuye?" Xiaoqing suddenly spoke.

"Don't tell her," Whitewater Marsh sighed. "Ning'er in Qiuye's heart... alas, she can't bear this blow. Let's wait for now, just say Ning'er is in seclusion."

"Keep it hidden forever?" Xiaoqing pressed.

"We can sense that Ning'er is still alive," Uncle White said. "As long as Ning'er is alive, we'll keep it from Qiuye and all the Ji clan members."

Xiaoqing nodded gently, then asked, "And what about Ji Ning's master, the Immortal Diancai?"

"Diancai..."

Whitewater Marsh hesitated before saying, "Let's wait. The most terrible punishment of descending karmic fire lasts seven days. If he endures the seven days, it means Ning'er has withstood the karmic fire. If by then Ning'er hasn't returned, it means he's truly trapped in some mysterious deadly land outside the Grand Xia world... Only then will we tell Immortal Diancai."

"Mm," Xiaoqing nodded.

Silence fell again.

They were all silent, waiting quietly.

Seven days...

These seven days were a great calamity for Ji Ning. If within seven days Ji Ning didn't die and withstood the karmic fire, then at least this great calamity would be considered overcome. But they didn't know where the Shaoyin clan had teleported Ji Ning. Given the Shaoyin clan's hatred for Ji Ning, they would surely send him to a truly terrifying deadly land.

...

On the bank of a vast, mighty river, a man in a green robe sat cross-legged, holding a flying sword from which hung a fishing line, clearly fishing.

Whoosh.

A handsome young man came riding clouds through the air from afar, landed on the ground, and bowed respectfully: "Greetings, Patriarch Lü. I am here on the orders of the Xia Emperor to deliver a letter." In his hand appeared a scroll, which he held respectfully with both hands.

"Deliver a letter? The Xia Emperor?" Lü Dongbin turned to look, reached out, and the scroll flew into his hand. He tapped it lightly, and the scroll unrolled by itself.

Lü Dongbin looked carefully, and even his expression changed slightly.

"I understand. You may go." Lü Dongbin said calmly.

"Yes." The handsome young man immediately drifted away.

Lü Dongbin frowned: "Karmic fire descending? The Shaoyan clan actually uses such means. Ji Ning's talent is indeed extraordinary, but he has been cultivating for less than a hundred years. Can he withstand it?" Then Lü Dongbin turned to look into the distance. Golden runes suddenly appeared in his eyes, and his gaze pierced through space, seeing an island thousands of miles away.

On that secluded island, a girl in black was sitting cross-legged on the sandy beach.

"This disciple of mine hides her thoughts deeply," Lü Dongbin murmured to himself. "The killing intent in her heart is even more terrifying than I initially anticipated. Moreover, she has been concealing her strength in the Great Xia Dynasty. But when I went to Judge Cui to check her past life experiences, they seemed normal. Although her past life was a formidable demon lord, with strength comparable to a million-year loose immortal, having strong past-life power is a good thing—there's no need to hide it. When she awakened her past-life memories at the Immortal Fortune Convention, with her past life's high level of insight, she could have easily broken into the top three, even taken first place."

Back then, he had very much wanted to take Ji Ning as a disciple because Ji Ning was indeed a peerless sword immortal prodigy, and he vaguely sensed some extraordinary qualities in Ji Ning.

As for Yu Wei...

Lü Dongbin had even more subtly sensed the hidden side of Yu Wei, but he wasn't certain at first. After taking Yu Wei as a disciple and spending a long time with her, with his discerning eye, he naturally discovered more flaws in Yu Wei. Eventually, Yu Wei admitted: "Master, I am hiding my strength, but only because I don't want others to know about my past life. I don't want people to know I was a great demon lord. I'm tired and weary. In this life, I just want to live a little more easily."

Yu Wei clearly knew that with Lü Dongbin's status, he could easily look into her past life, so she no longer concealed it.

"Is it really just about wanting to live an ordinary, easy life?" Lü Dongbin's level of insight was extremely close to that of a Dao Ancestor. He could vaguely glimpse the mysteries of fate, and he always felt that Yu Wei was not as simple as she claimed.

But he had checked the Book of Life and Death.

Yu Wei had not lied.

Could his intuition be wrong?

"Yu Wei is now in meditation, waiting for the right moment to undergo the heavenly tribulation," Lü Dongbin thought to himself. "The heavenly tribulation is extremely dangerous. She failed to survive it in her past life. This life is also very perilous! I can feel that her feelings for Ji Ning are genuine. If I tell Yu Wei about Ji Ning's current predicament, the 'heart demon tribulation' during her tribulation might become even more terrifying."

"I won't tell her for now. After she has crossed the tribulation, I will speak."

Lü Dongbin pondered.

...

Yu Wei was sitting cross-legged on the beach. At this moment, the sea and sky merged into one, vast and boundless, and her heart was incomparably calm.

She was nurturing her Dao heart.

Silently preparing...

According to Patriarch Lü, once she crossed the tribulation and became a celestial immortal, she would be considered to have completed her apprenticeship.

"Junior apprentice-brother, I will soon undergo my tribulation, and afterward I will come find you immediately." Yu Wei's lips held a faint smile. Ji Ning was the warmest concern in her heart. When Ji Ning had returned to Daxia earlier, Patriarch Lü had learned of it and naturally told Yu Wei. But now, with Ji Ning in dire straits, Yu Wei was unaware.

……

The Three Realms refer to the realms of Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld.

The Heavenly Realm and the Underworld are vast and boundless, while the Three Thousand Greater Worlds and the countless billions of Lesser Worlds are like grains of sand in the Milky Way, beyond counting. Beyond these worlds lies an endless void—a void even more expansive than the Three Realms. Within this void are two supreme celestial bodies, the Sun Star and the Moon Star, along with countless other stars.

In the endless void, there are also countless perilous places. Some can claim the lives of even True Immortals and Celestial Immortals, while others are places where even True Gods and Dao Ancestors dare not tread.

These Three Thousand Greater Worlds and billions of Lesser Worlds are like islands and reefs in the endless void. The Three Thousand Greater Worlds are like large islands, while the billions of Lesser Worlds are like small reefs. At the very center of these three thousand large islands and billions of small reefs, within a vast expanse of void, lies a massive 'continent.'

It is an endless continent, far vaster than any Greater World, where space interweaves and time is chaotic...

Truly the most fearsome place.

At the boundary between this chaotic continent and the endless void, there are constant void tides.

"Rumble~~~"

Just as at the boundary between ocean and land, where great waves crash against the shore.

The same principle applies.

The void tides repeatedly batter the chaotic continent, and their collision creates a domain of annihilation!

……

The Domain of Annihilation.

Boom~~~

A flash of white light streaked by, directly delivering a young man to this place.

"Ahhhh."

Pain.

It was a pain he had never experienced before. For mortals, pain to a certain degree can cause death. But for cultivators... the first wave of karmic fire inflicts excruciating pain directly on the mind, utterly unavoidable, far surpassing even the pain of soul-splitting.

The pain of the body and soul has its limits.

But the pain of the mind can escalate without bound.

Under such pain, once the Dao-heart collapses, the soul will be directly burned to ashes.

"No, no..." Ji Ning endured with difficulty, barely maintaining a shred of reason. But that shred was too faint; he didn't even have the mind to observe where he was.

The ever-increasing pain finally reached a peak.

Then, in an instant, the pain vanished.

Ji Ning was momentarily stunned. The transition from extreme agony to sudden relief made his Dao-heart tremble.

"This place is..." Ji Ning finally took note of his surroundings.

All around was darkness.

With the faint light from the distant Sun Star, he could barely make out the surging tides like raging waves in the endless darkness. The void tides stretched endlessly, and he was but a tiny speck of dust within them.

"Boom~~~" A wave of void tide crashed into him. Ji Ning felt his entire body shake; the terrifying force far surpassed the combined might of the many Celestial Immortals of the Shaoyin clan.

Then...

Darkness fell before Ji Ning's eyes.

"Young master." A stunningly beautiful, seductive woman in thin clothing gazed at Ji Ning. She gently pushed the garment off her shoulder, letting it slide down, half-exposing her bosom. Then she licked her fingertip, lightly flicked it, and pushed the garment off her other shoulder as well. The outer robe completely slipped off, revealing her entirely naked body. She walked over softly, her big, watery eyes looking at Ji Ning, "Young master, I want it."

This woman's appearance and expression combined the best features of Yun Lu, Qiuye, Yu Wei, and Jiulian.

Yet she was even more alluring, more seductive, fully arousing Ji Ning's desires.

"Get lost."

Ji Ning still retained his reason, understanding that this was an illusion after the descent of karmic fire—the second tribulation, the 'Mortal Tribulation,' specifically the lust tribulation. If he sank into it, he would truly die. He immediately raised his hand to strike the woman into ashes.

But Ji Ning found himself very weak. When he struck, it was like an ordinary mortal. The naked, seductive woman simply reached out and grabbed his arm, whispering, "Still shy." Then she pressed him down...

……

The desire of human intimacy can indeed shake one's Dao-heart. Unable to resist, Ji Ning could only guard his Dao-heart tightly and strive to withstand it all.

"It seems your servant hasn't served you well enough. But your servant has six sisters, even better than me." The woman lying on Ji Ning's chest whispered in his ear. From afar, six more women emerged, each with her own charm. Such exquisite beauties would be rare in reality, and each was exactly what Ji Ning's heart desired most, stirring his passions.

He knew it was all the lust tribulation.

But how easy was it to withstand this lust tribulation? Just as many know drugs are harmful, yet once tasted, they cannot quit. The same principle applies. He knew that once he sank, it would mean utter destruction. Yet the desire of human intimacy is a fundamental part of human nature—a desire that cannot be eliminated, only suppressed. Unable to resist, he found his desires stirred again and again.

"Red pink skeletons, they are all skeletons, all transformed from toads, covered in sores, deliberately deceiving me." Ji Ning kept muttering to himself, forcibly suppressing his desires.