The Fairy: From the Traveling Merchant

Chapter 991 Tribulation and Preaching

On the sea surrounding the deserted island, many cultivators who came to "protect" the island, including the Wang family father and son, saw that the "storm" had ended and the suppressed strange phenomena had gradually dissipated. They immediately understood that the person on the island had successfully advanced to the first-grade divine power.

After all, they had just witnessed the scene of the "Mysterious Heavenly Spiritual Mechanism" flowing backward, so there was absolutely no reason for them to fail now.

So, those with guilty consciences immediately fled. Since they didn't find an opportunity and didn't take any action, it can't be considered an enmity.

Those who truly came to "protect the Dharma," or those who used the name of "protecting the Dharma" to comprehend the laws of the Great Dao, remained behind, preparing to pay their respects to the island's first-grade divine power master after he stabilized his realm, and to establish a good relationship.

"When you get to the island, be careful what you say and do," Wang Xianlou instructed his son beside him.

Seeing that Fairy Su was very attentive to her friend, he realized that their relationship was unusual and worried that his son might cause a conflict without regard for propriety.

As one of the best cultivators with supernatural powers, having already surpassed the third level of the Heavenly Ladder, Wang Xianlou was not afraid to fight, but there was no need for him to make enemies in such a matter.

After a long silence, Wang Lingyu nodded and said, "Father, I understand..."

Seeing that his son seemed to have been hurt, Wang Xianlou felt a surge of disappointment and frustration. How could his son, a top-tier divine power expert, be so clueless about matters of the heart?

Even if it is to develop into a concept that requires "adherence" at the Dongxuan stage, "emotion" is the worst choice, as it is extremely easy to be taken advantage of.

However, just as Wang Xianlou was organizing his thoughts to further change his son's mind, he frowned, then suddenly turned his head to look in the direction of the small island. He saw that the clouds of primordial energy that had just dissipated had gathered again, but this time there was no "stormy clouds," but rather a dark and oppressive atmosphere.

"This is... the 'Heavenly Tribulation'? He actually just achieved supernatural powers and wants to cross the first level of the Heavenly Ladder?" Wang Lingyu also saw this scene and was dumbfounded again.

For cultivators who have advanced to the next level of supernatural powers, their three souls and seven spirits have already gathered in their spiritual platform and purple palace. Under the influence of divine consciousness, the souls and spirits merge into one, which is the process of the soul gradually becoming perfect. In essence, it is also the process of the inner world gradually solidifying, from the initial "semi-substantial" contact with reality when they first advance to the final "substantial" process.

The difficulty of this process varies drastically depending on whether the supernatural power is of high, medium, or low grade.

The reason why it is almost impossible to pass the first step of the ladder with low-grade divine abilities is that the strength of the laws of heaven and earth contained in low-grade divine abilities is not strong enough. When the divine ability is achieved, it is only a barely unified force, and the soul is still very separated. Moreover, it is difficult to remedy this without a great opportunity.

Most people with low-grade supernatural powers will be stuck before reaching the first level of the Heavenly Ladder for their entire lives.

Mid-grade supernatural powers are much better. It takes about seven or eight years to achieve perfect divine soul for fifth and sixth grade powers, while fourth grade powers are much easier to achieve, taking only one or two years, and are almost as good as high-grade powers.

For high-grade divine abilities, the process is even simpler, because high-grade divine abilities not only contain powerful laws, but also have the support of the divine ability's source. Even a third-grade divine ability can achieve perfect divine soul within a year.

As for Zheng Qingyan, a first-grade divine power, it only took her a little over a month to cross the first step of the ladder.

Even if it is easy, it is very difficult to see someone directly undergo the "Ascension Tribulation" on the day they achieve supernatural powers. With Wang Xianlou's knowledge, he has only heard that some reincarnated immortals sometimes do this.

"Could it be... that this newly promoted first-grade divine power is a reincarnated true person who has awakened his memories?"
"If that's the case, it would explain why he advanced in the middle of nowhere..."

Wang Xianlou subconsciously looked at Su Xuanbing, but because the other party was wearing a suit of armor, not only did it conceal his face, but it also completely hid his thoughts, so he could not detect anything.

Unbeknownst to him, Su Xuanbing was also experiencing a storm of emotions, her gaze back at the island filled with complex emotions.

"Is Zhao Chen... really the reincarnation of the 'Joyful' lineage?"
"His foundational cultivation method this time seems to have nothing to do with 'joy'... Did he change his path through reincarnation?"

Just as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, a huge bolt of silver-white lightning suddenly shot out from the low, dark, leaden clouds without warning. Like a nimble yet terrifying silver serpent, it carried the power of heaven and earth, pierced through the mountain peaks on the island, ignored all arrays and restrictions, and struck Zhao Chen's soul.

"Soul Refining Immortal Lightning..." The onlookers uttered the name of this silver lightning bolt. Most of them had been struck by this immortal lightning bolt and knew its power.

Generally speaking, as long as one's soul is complete and one's will is firm, it is not a problem to endure this tribulation of lightning... But the person undergoing the tribulation in front of us has just achieved a divine power. Even if it is a first-grade great divine power, it is impossible to achieve completeness directly. Therefore, he can only rely on his own inner world to withstand it.

"That is, a 'reincarnated immortal.' If an ordinary cultivator with supernatural powers dared to do this, their inner world would probably be shattered!"

Seeing that the first bolt of divine lightning was successfully blocked, the crowd's attitude changed from envy and covetousness towards the people on the island to awe and respect.

After all, the weight of a rogue cultivator with a stroke of luck is different from that of a reincarnated immortal.

This is one of the reasons why Zhao Chen immediately triggered the Heavenly Tribulation; otherwise, even with the protection of Xuanbing, trouble would have been inevitable.

The first step of the tribulation consists of three lightning bolts: in addition to the "Soul Refining Lightning" that just fell, there are also the "Soul-Splitting Lightning" and the "God-Shattering Lightning".

However, this was no threat to Zhao Chen, whose inner world contained the divine power of "Great Sun Star Chariot". He easily neutralized the power of the lightning tribulation and absorbed the benefits it contained.

During the process of being bombarded by the three bolts of immortal lightning, Zhao Chen's inner world also began to transform, from a somewhat ethereal "semi-substantial" state to a "substantial" one, truly able to interact with reality.

—Speaking of which, the reason why cultivators with supernatural powers have a chance to transform into a "secret realm" or become a magical artifact after death is because the "materialization" of their inner world gives their laws and principles a basis, preventing them from easily dissipating into the world.

Once the inner world can truly interact with reality, it can use its inner supernatural powers to sense and get close to the corresponding laws of heaven and earth, perfect its own principles, and then let the law and reason intertwine and feed back to the inner world.

Once all the supernatural powers existing in the inner world have truly acquired their own "laws and principles" and become truly their own, they can then attempt to cross the second ladder.

This is also the main direction of spiritual practice after crossing the first ladder.

"Ultimately, before reaching the First Ladder, the supernatural abilities one could wield were merely 'custom-made' effects of the corresponding techniques. Only when one's own 'reason' and the inherent 'law' intertwined did they truly become one's own. "Take Qingyan, for example. Her 'Undying Evil Dragon Body' initially only allowed her to 'reload' upon death, but after numerous 'practice sessions' with me, it's now not only much more flexible, but she can even transform into an 'Evil Dragon'..."

"Well, in this respect, I have a great advantage. Because of the existence of the 'Great Sun Star Chariot,' my inner world is extremely special. After initially condensing my divine sense, I was already weaving 'law principles,' especially with the insights gained from the 'Nine Nether Divine Body,' which allowed me to grasp some of the changes in supernatural powers... However, only the 'yin' part, since I hadn't yet pieced together my supernatural powers, and the source of my 'law' was all yin and evil magic..."

"No wonder Tantai Zhugong warned me to be more restrained. If I had continued to indulge in it, I probably would have had problems piecing together my supernatural powers."

Seeing the three bolts of heavenly lightning fall and the calamity gradually dissipate, Zhao Chen, feeling the changes in his inner world, sighed and finally stopped practicing. He then extended his divine sense to contact Su Xuanbing, asking her to invite the "guests" outside in.

He planned to give a "sermon" on this small island, which would also be considered as repaying these people for their "protection" of the Dharma—regardless of their motives, they had indeed protected the Dharma, preventing some people with ulterior motives from finding an opportunity.

Su Xuanbing quickly replied to the message, emphasizing that only one of the people who came to "protect" the Dharma needed special attention.

"Wang Xianlou, a supernatural cultivator who has crossed the third level of the Heavenly Ladder, is also the 'Inferior Earth Star' of the previous 'Starry Constellation Assembly'."

"This ranking is quite low, but there are no weaklings who can get a ranking in the 'Starry Sky Tournament'. Even my master couldn't get a ranking back then."

"Moreover, the title won at the Star Assembly is mysterious. Song Wurui was even able to deceive Dongxuan Zhenren by relying on the title of 'Earthly Star'!"

“We do need to be careful… Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve encountered a previous ‘Star Constellation’ besides Song Wurui.”

As his thoughts raced, Zhao Chen casually opened part of the restrictions of the triple formation, creating a passageway for people to pass through—possessing the great supernatural power of "Starry Night Gate," he had mastered the control of formations with ease.

After tidying up the ritual items, he temporarily erected a high platform similar to the throne area inside the "Star Raft" and sat cross-legged on it.

After Su Xuanbing led the seven cultivators with supernatural powers into the not-so-spacious cave, Zhao Chen, adhering to the principle that too much talk leads to mistakes, only introduced himself as "this humble Daoist is Xuantan" before beginning his sermon.

Moreover, right from the start, he chose to use some of the knowledge he had obtained from "Xiande Zhenren" Chai Xun to explain the relevant laws of "constellations" from a high-level perspective.

Because the "constellation" type of inheritance is very widespread and is one of the laws of heaven and earth second only to the five elements, various schools and sects have related cultivation methods. Therefore, although the seven cultivators who came to "form good karma" were puzzled by the strange behavior of this first-grade divine power, they listened attentively and thoughtfully, reflecting on their own understanding of the law and principles. They discovered many problems and had a sense of sudden enlightenment. So they all put aside their extraneous thoughts and immersed themselves in the sermon.

This lecture lasted a whole day. Zhao Chen talked about "constellations" and "blood moon", and then about the Five Elements. He showed off his profound knowledge and made everyone present even more convinced that he must be a "reincarnated immortal".

In fact, thanks to his dual cultivation with the "Nine Netherworld Divine Body," the "Western Liang Empress," and many other female cultivators with first-grade divine abilities, Zhao Chen's understanding of the laws is definitely at the "Profound" level. However, the laws he comprehends are somewhat one-sided, and he has not yet formed his own "reason" to intertwine them... Otherwise, he might have directly attracted the tribulation of the second level of the Heavenly Ladder.

Seeing that his foundation was about to be depleted, Zhao Chen stopped and said with a smile, "These are my humble insights. I hope that you fellow Daoists can gain something from them... This can be considered as repaying your kindness as 'protectors'."

These words jolted them awake. The masters of supernatural powers, who had been listening with rapt attention, finally came to their senses, feeling a sense of loss and lingering dissatisfaction.

Wang Xianlou even felt that his own "Dongxuan" elder's accumulation of knowledge in these laws was inferior to that of the other party.

Wang Lingyu, however, felt no jealousy whatsoever at this moment. She even felt that it was Xuanbing's good fortune to be able to follow this senior expert.

"Thank you, Senior Xuantan!" The seven masters of supernatural powers bowed in unison.

Zhao Chen did not avoid the topic, but simply nodded and said, "I need to continue my seclusion to consolidate my cultivation, so I won't keep you any longer. Please make yourselves at home."

Everyone understood the implication of seeing them off, and several of them immediately took their leave. Only Wang Xianlou hesitated for a moment, then took out a token and handed it to Su Xuanbing, saying sincerely:

"With this token, you can use all of the Wang family's properties and facilities in Yingzhou. Please do not refuse... In addition, the Wang family welcomes Senior Xuantan to visit us at any time."

After saying this, he bowed again before leaving the island with his somewhat reluctant son.

Only after everyone disappeared from his consciousness did Zhao Chen quickly seal all the formations, and then led Su Xuanbing away from this place through another "back door".

After settling on a random hilltop, he immediately took out the "Jade Pool Chess" board and led Su Xuanbing inside.

—If it weren't for the fact that advancing one's supernatural abilities is best done in Xuan Tian, ​​otherwise there wouldn't be enough spiritual energy, Zhao Chen wouldn't have chosen that small island.

It wasn't until the two entered the imperial palace's backyard within the "Jade Pool Chess" secret realm that Su Xuanbing, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke and asked, "Are you truly the reincarnation of a certain immortal?"

Upon being asked, Zhao Chen turned his head and smiled at the other person's handsome face: "You care about this a lot?"

Su Xuanbing seemed a little conflicted. After thinking for a moment, she said, "It's not that I care, it's just that I feel some of my 'advantages' and 'pride' have disappeared... You know, I originally wanted to take you away from that girl from the Zheng family, but now I realize that even without Zheng Qingyan, it seems I can't have you all to myself."

In other words, you were initially the stronger party, but now that you've discovered I might be an "old monster" with a powerful background, your sense of superiority has vanished, right? Tsk tsk, but you're really honest, to be so outspoken about such thoughts!

However, that is indeed the temperament that martial arts practitioners should have.

After a moment's thought, Zhao Chen sighed and said, "If it were a few months ago, I would have told you with certainty that I wasn't..."

"But now, I'm not even sure what kind of 'thing' I am anymore."

(End of this chapter)