On the peak of Never-Parting Peak, a red dress was whipped about by the wind. Li Changting looked up at the churning, ink-black clouds. Several years had passed, and the married Li Changting was even more slender and curvaceous, her figure captivating. A large expanse of fair skin was visible on her chest, with a deep cleavage that one dared not look at directly. The hem of her dress fluttered in the fierce wind, occasionally revealing two snow-white, smooth, and full calves, inspiring a desire to caress them.
After watching the sky for a while, she couldn't help but sigh. "Your family's little black boy is actually the first of our generation to form his Nascent Soul. My Wuyi was the most outstanding on Little Bamboo Peak, and even in the entire sect! I thought he would be the one no one could look at directly in this generation. But now, sister, I feel that… this is just unreasonable!"
At this moment, Zhao Min and Miao Wangqing were floating beside her. Miao Wangqing's beautiful eyes were wide as she stared at Zhao Min. She still hadn't recovered from the few words Zhao Min had just said. She and Li Changting had both thought it was Zhao Zhi facing the Heavenly Tribulation. But Zhao Min had said that Li Yan had returned and was facing the tribulation, which they found unbelievable.
"Your Wuyi was the most outstanding of his generation? Senior Brother Wuyi must not have been cultivating diligently these past few years, has he?" Zhao Min glanced at Miao Wangqing's already slightly bulging abdomen, then at Li Changting, her gaze quickly flitting away as she replied.
Seeing Zhao Min look at her belly and say such words, Miao Wangqing's cheeks flushed red, and she subconsciously placed a hand on her abdomen.
When Li Changting saw Zhao Min's gaze sweep from side to side and then land on her own flat stomach, she couldn't help but glare at Zhao Min in annoyance. She was momentarily speechless with anger. Zhao Min's words were few, but they cut deep. Was Zhao Min implying that Li Wuyi hadn't had time to cultivate diligently these past few years because his mind was on producing offspring?
Li Changting, fuming, turned her enchanting eyes to Miao Wangqing and then quickly whispered, "You're already like this now, so you're not suitable for certain activities for the next few years. When he comes out, he'll be mine every night. You have no objection, right? If he doesn't get a result, he can forget about forming his Nascent Soul!"
Li Changting looked at Miao Wangqing with a smile, but her words left both Zhao Min and Miao Wangqing dumbfounded. Miao Wangqing's pretty face turned as red as if it were on fire, and for a moment, she didn't know how to respond.
"Pah!" Zhao Min also spat lightly and immediately turned her head to look at the sky, no longer wanting to deal with Li Changting. She hadn't expected the great Peak Master Li to be capable of saying such things. If she didn't know her character, she would have looked like a common harlot at that moment.
In another part of the sky, Wei Chituo and the two demons stood together. His large eyes were wide. He had stopped the two demons' duel after receiving Wei Zhongran's voice transmission. The two demons had also received Li Yan's mental transmission and were equally stunned.
'Little Junior Brother is forming his Nascent Soul? He… isn't he of Miscellaneous Spirit Root? For him to have formed a core was already unbelievable. And now he's even faster than me and that pretty boy…' This thought kept churning in Wei Chituo's mind. Even after all this time, he still found it hard to believe. Back then, Li Yan had explained to them that he had almost failed at Core Formation. It was only because he had joined a sect that was extremely skilled in alchemy that he had managed to succeed by piling up medicinal pills.
'Has he been hiding his cultivation all this time? You two never told me about this. And I even introduced so many fine wines and beautiful female cultivators to you. Hmph!' Wei Chituo snorted coldly at Zi Kun and Qian Ji, feeling that something was off. He had thought he got along well with these two demons and had shared all good things with them, yet they had hidden something like this from him. This wasn't some great secret of Li Yan's. Given his relationship with his Little Junior Brother, it wouldn't have been a big deal for him to know his true cultivation level. Although he was reckless, the fact that he had successfully formed a core was proof that he wasn't stupid. He simply couldn't believe that Li Yan could break through two levels in just under sixty years, going from mid-stage Golden Core directly to the peak of the Golden Core stage. If Li Yan had already been at the late-stage Golden Core when he returned, and had cultivated diligently for these few decades, that might have been more plausible. But even for a genius like Li Wuyi, that would have been astonishing, let alone for Li Yan, whose aptitude he was aware of.
Qian Ji chuckled. "Well, the master never told us not to tell you. It's not that we didn't say anything, it's that you never asked!"
Wei Chituo was stunned. His gaze then turned to the increasingly thick, ink-black clouds in the sky. 'Pretty boy is still in seclusion, and Third Junior Brother hasn't returned from his journey. I wonder how frustrated they'll be if they find out about this! I never would have thought that the first of our generation to face the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation would be Little Junior Brother!'
Thinking of this, Wei Chituo couldn't help but glance out of the corner of his eye at another part of the sky, where Baili Yuan, Wang Tian, and the others stood. 'Hehehe… they still think it's Martial Mother facing the Heavenly Tribulation, don't they? When they guess it's Li Yan, they'll be even more frustrated than me. Thinking of it that way, I feel a lot better!'
The Heavenly Tribulation had not yet descended. The churning dark clouds covered the entire sky above the Malevolent Spirit Sect, with the center of convergence undoubtedly being Little Bamboo Peak. Before the tribulation descended, no one knew where it would strike. Many of the formation restrictions on Little Bamboo Peak were active, and their Divine Sense could not penetrate them to see what was happening inside. In fact, even when the tribulation descended, they still wouldn't be able to know who was transcending it, unless Li Yan actively flew into the sky to face it. Otherwise, with the Divine Sense of these Golden Core cultivators, no one would dare to probe into the Heavenly Tribulation. A single misstep could instantly and severely damage their Divine Sense. So, their observation was limited to feeling the power of heaven and earth from a distance and witnessing the spells cast by the other party in response to the tribulation. They could use this opportunity to comprehend the might of the tribulation, and it might even trigger their own qi. Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivators could even take the opportunity to have an epiphany. This was the result a sect most hoped to see.
"Hmph! I'm not introducing you to the female cultivators from that 'Water Cotton Sect' this time. We'll see after you've shown some good performance in the future. And I thought of you as brothers!" Wei Chituo squinted at the two demons, but his words made the mischievous grins on their faces freeze instantly.
The next moment, with a "thud, thud," Qian Ji and Zi Kun had each grabbed one of Wei Chituo's shoulders.
"Don't, Senior Brother…"
"Senior Brother, you can't do this! How can you go back on your word?" the two demons' faces changed drastically as they pleaded in unison.
That "Water Cotton Sect" was a sect under the jurisdiction of the Malevolent Spirit Sect. The sect only accepted female disciples. Most importantly, this sect cultivated a kind of Harmonious Union Dual Cultivation Method. Every female disciple was incredibly beautiful and charming, especially skilled in the arts of the bed, the dream Dao Companion for all male cultivators. It was said that Wei Chituo had long been having an affair with the vice sect master of this sect. Whenever Wei Chituo talked about this with the two demons after drinking, he would have a look of utter enjoyment and shamelessness. This had long made the two demons drool with envy, especially since Wei Chituo had boasted about the ecstatic effects of the sect's cultivation method. They had begged him for a long time to introduce them to the female cultivators of the "Water Cotton Sect."
Wei Chituo was being shaken back and forth by the two demons, but he just had a look of disdain, his nose pointed at the back mountain of Little Bamboo Peak. Inwardly, he was enjoying their pleas…
In an herb garden on the back mountain of Lord Lao Peak, a handsome young cultivator stood with his hands at his sides in a thatched shed. From the fluctuation of his spiritual energy, he was only at the sixth layer of the Qi Condensation stage. Opposite him stood a mountain of flesh, his Foundation Establishment stage master, who was rapidly giving him instructions. Three breaths later, the mountain of flesh impatiently flew away. He wanted to find a place that was both safe and had a good view of the Heavenly Tribulation. Although the Nascent Soul ancestor had told them all to return to their cave residences, there were still some cunning old hands among the low-level disciples who had other ideas, hoping to benefit from someone else's tribulation.
"With your level of cultivation, watching will only mess with your state of mind. Forget it. Seeing as you're usually not too harsh, I'll just… knock you out!" The handsome young cultivator looked at the hastily departing fatty, his eyebrows raised slightly as he muttered to himself.
After flying out of the herb garden, Wang Dahai immediately and stealthily released his Divine Sense. He looked to be only in his thirties, but his body was so fat that it bulged out, making his already loose robes appear to have many extra folds. The herb garden behind him belonged to the sect; he had only taken on the task of caring for it for fifty years. In reality, apart from occasionally coming over to check on the condition of the spirit plants, he left everything to his disciple. If it weren't for the fear of not having enough spirit plants of the required grade to hand over each month, Wang Dahai might never have come here at all.
Wang Dahai was quite satisfied with this disciple named Ding Xiaofan. Besides being exceptionally clever, even his name had felt particularly fateful to him when he first heard it. "Dahai Xiaofan" (Great Sea, Little Sail), it sounded like they were family! So he had taken him in as a disciple without hesitation. Ding Xiaofan was very diligent. He managed this herb garden in an orderly fashion. To make it easier to care for the garden, he had even built a thatched hut and a shed. Here, apart from watering the spirit plants, he would sit in meditation and cultivate, being very dedicated and hardworking. For this, Wang Dahai also gave Ding Xiaofan an extra two low-grade Spirit Stones each month. Among the Foundation Establishment stage masters, this was not the best, but it was still quite good.
Wang Dahai had happened to come over today to check on the maturity of the spirit plants. As he was strenuously bending over to carefully inspect a stalk of "Blue Jade Grass," the sky suddenly changed. As he looked up in surprise, Ancestor Wei's rolling voice echoed in his ears.
Wang Dahai thought for a moment and understood everything. He was an old-timer in the sect and was very familiar with its rules. He quickly figured out the reason for the situation. Then, he immediately gave Ding Xiaofan a few instructions. "You stay here and don't run around. A senior in the sect is forming their Nascent Soul. Fortunately, this herb garden is very remote, and with the ancestor protecting us from above, it won't affect us here. I'll come back to check the rest of the spirit plants later. You harvest the herbs I've already checked and put them in the herb basket. Remember, don't go out, you hear? At your level, you'll get yourself killed!"
As his voice fell, before the astonished eyes of Ding Xiaofan, he shot out of the herb garden like a mountain of flesh in a gust of wind.
After leaving the herb garden, Wang Dahai's movements suddenly became light and agile. But his figure and his movements were very uncoordinated, making him look quite comical, like a fat pig tiptoeing around, furtively glancing everywhere.
After walking some distance, Wang Dahai's eyes lit up. To his front right, about ten li away, was a mountain peak shaped like a bull's horn. 'Silver Horn Peak! Although it's in a remote part of the sect, the terrain is excellent. There aren't many obstructions around, and the sect's ancestors rarely pay attention to that place. It should be a good place to observe!'
Thinking this, Wang Dahai's entire being, like a mountain of flesh, shot into the air. But just as he shot up from the ground and passed through a dense patch of branches and leaves in the forest below, a huge black shadow suddenly appeared in his line of sight. Wang Dahai's heart leaped in shock. 'What the—, why is there a stone pillar here…'
That was the last thought that flashed through his mind. With a loud "DONG!", the mountain of flesh crashed into it as if trying to hug a stone pillar.
"Damn it all to hell…"
Wang Dahai felt a sharp pain in his forehead, and the world spun before his eyes!