Born with immortal seed

Chapter 749 The Solemn Calamity of the Past

"Chen-ge'er, where are we going to play today?"

"My dad brought back a few packets of snacks from the market; we'll share them later!"

Waking up in a daze, Bai Zichen moved his hands and feet and found that he had shrunk a lot and had become a child.

Beside him, a chubby man was shouting loudly and pulling him around, playing in the clan's territory.

Familiar yet unfamiliar faces appear one after another, creating a vivid picture full of everyday life.

The Bai family's life, which had been forgotten, resurfaced in my mind, giving me an unreal feeling, as if I were watching a phantom screen.

This obvious barrier constantly reminded him that he was in an illusion, not truly reborn hundreds of years ago.

'Still lost in endless illusions, this time I've been transported back to my early days in the world of cultivation, where I've just learned of a group of immortals who have transcended the mortal realm and entered the heavens...'

Bai Zichen observed the development of current events from the perspective of an outsider, just as he had experienced it before.

He tried to make small changes, but the strong inertia still managed to reverse the situation and get him back on the right track.

But it's not all for naught. If you do it four or five times in a row, things will really start to go in the direction you want after repeating it.

"This is something that truly happened, so naturally I have no resistance to it. Nine out of ten others would confuse reality with illusion, mistaking this illusion for rebirth… If I were to truly relive it, spending hundreds of years to reach the Nascent Soul stage again, the inner demons would have grown to an unimaginable extent, making them impossible to control."

The brilliance of Infinite Illusion lies in the fact that it does not force the illusion to become reality.

This illusion involves a large number of cultivators and has undergone a century of changes, so it certainly cannot be compared to the real world and has its own flaws.

A meticulous cultivator who has prepared in advance to deal with the inner demon tribulation can easily find the flaw and break free from the illusion.

Therefore, it directly reflects the thing that the person undergoing tribulation desires most deep in their heart, making you actively believe in all of this, and you will directly ignore those unreasonable parts.

Perhaps it was because of the many attempts before that they failed to find Bai Zichen's most urgent desire.

We might as well send him back to his childhood and let him decide for himself what he wants to change.

"Chen'er, why are you standing here in a daze... Your uncle exchanged a bottle of pills with the clan. Take them quickly and try to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refining within the year."

Bai Jiu'an walked hurriedly, his robe still stained with blood and dust, and handed over a jade bottle.

Dark circles under the eyes are probably from the long journey and lack of rest these past few days.

"Uncle..."

Bai Zichen was stunned, his heart filled with sorrow, and he almost couldn't control his expression.

"No wonder some people see through the truth and still remain in the illusion seeking only solace. How wonderful it would be to have a perfectly functioning world without regrets... But I am not the kind of person who escapes reality. I will not succumb to this. I really want to relive the voices and faces of my loved ones. After I ascend to heaven, I can find any small world and mold it into a world from my memories."

"Chen'er, stay here. The outside world is dangerous and people's hearts are unpredictable. It's better to stay at home and be a country bumpkin than to be forgotten."

Bai Jiu'an grew anxious and spoke earnestly.

"You're wrong. My uncle would never say such a thing. More than anyone else, he wants to see me bravely climb the mountain and see the view from the top in his place..."

Bai Zichen's face was devoid of any warmth, utterly cold.

The illusion conjured up his most cherished family member, and a spark of anger ignited within him.

The scroll of "Xuan Yue Xian Jun's Daily Records, Chen Manuscript Supplement" was torn open, and like butterflies fluttering, it scattered into countless fragments in the air.

One seal after another burst forth, like the crisp sound of a mirror shattering, and the scene before our eyes cracked inch by inch.

After a quick flash, we returned to the real world.

The oppressive atmosphere on Rotten Axe Mountain dissipated, and the cultivators who had been struggling to breathe were finally able to exhale deeply.

The spirit stones in the array's core had turned into dust and debris. Immediately, disciples replaced them with brand-new spirit stones to serve as backup spiritual energy for the array.

Bai Zichen felt a sense of relief, knowing that he had overcome the tribulation of inner demons and seemed to have changed somewhat.

If I had to point out a difference, it's like someone has wiped my heart clean, leaving it clearer and free of dust.

……

“Fellow Daoist Ge, there’s no need to be so nervous. Just treat it as watching a show and learning some experience, which you will need in the future… With Ziwei’s abilities, the Nascent Soul stage is a piece of cake. He is a genius who will recreate the glory of the Taibai Sword Sect and is a living sword immortal.”

Observing the Heavenly Tribulation of the Nascent Soul stage up close is quite an opportunity. Many cultivators have comprehended the Great Dao and understood supernatural powers during this process.

However, those with low cultivation levels will find it more harmful than beneficial to read it; it was mainly Ge Cang and Po Jun Xingjun who gained the deepest insights.

There were also two spirit beasts lying far away. The Red-Bearded Man and Ao Quan revealed their true forms and secretly raised their heads to peek at them out of the corner of their eyes.

Needless to say, the two demons felt deep regret. They could have had a chance to ascend with them if they had behaved well, and the fact that they weren't skinned alive was already a testament to their master's magnanimity.

"Under the tribulation of the Nascent Soul stage, how many brilliant predecessors have fallen? No one dares to be certain until the very last moment."

Ge Cang found it amusing; Po Jun Xing Jun's words implied that Bai Zichen was the successor of the Tai Bai Sword Sect.

However, his junior brother Bai showed little enthusiasm even for returning to the true sect, Jingming Sect, let alone Taibai Sword Sect.

"The inner demon tribulation is difficult for outsiders to fathom, and can only be judged by the length of time... Five days have passed, which is not too long in the past records of Nascent Soul, but it is definitely not among the fastest."

Just as Ge Cang was still feeling uneasy, the dark clouds finally dispersed, his inner demons were vanquished, and a clear blue sky was revealed.

"Alright, the first test is over. Now let's see what kind of tribulation lightning will fall."

There was almost no interval between the two tribulations, but the gathered heavenly tribulation clouds did not seem very obvious.

"The tribulation clouds look even weaker than the Nascent Soul Tribulation... Comparing them to the types of Deity Transformation Tribulations in the records, none of them seem to look like this. Fellow Daoist Ge, you are knowledgeable and experienced, could you possibly recognize what kind of heavenly lightning this is?"

Po Jun Xingjun was full of doubts; this did not conform to everyone's expectations of the Heavenly Tribulation of the God Transformation.

He had read through a large number of jade slips from the Taibai Sword Sect, including introductions to the Nascent Soul Ancestors, so he was not as unfamiliar with this kind of heavenly tribulation as ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators.

"I have never seen it before either. It can't be because of Junior Brother Bai's newly generated Heavenly Tribulation. I estimate that the triggering conditions are extremely harsh, and it hasn't happened in at least tens of thousands of years."

Ge Cang stared thoughtfully at the tribulation clouds in the sky, then glanced at Bai Zichen in the center, and exclaimed, "The heavenly tribulation has begun! This tribulation actually has nothing to do with the Dao of Thunder. Even this old Daoist was almost fooled!"

Bai Zichen was already surrounded by flying swords.

Several flying swords were swirling around, slashing at the void, making actions that seemed inexplicable to outsiders.

However, as an ancient thunder magic cultivator, Ge Cang's sensitivity to the thunder path far surpasses that of his peers.

It was precisely because this kind of heavenly tribulation did not contain divine lightning that traditional thinking had not been corrected, which led to his misjudgment. He only began to exclaim about the tribulation clouds after the first round of heavenly lightning had already descended.

……

Two sword lights swept into the air, striking a bolt of lightning in what appeared to be an empty space, causing the void to tremble.

However, the sword light was somehow affected, and whenever it came into contact with the heavenly lightning, it would revert to its original state, losing most of its power for no reason.

It transformed into sword energy, and with a whoosh, it burst forth, disappearing without a trace as if it were a mud ox sinking into the sea, melted away by the heavenly lightning.

"Good, good, good. As expected, they won't let me pass the tribulation easily. They'll find some trouble... Even this legendary heavenly tribulation has appeared. It has directly turned from a massive battle of heavenly lightning into a contest of the true meaning of the Great Dao."

Just as Bai Zichen blocked the first round of heavenly lightning with his sword, the name of this heavenly tribulation appeared in his mind, and it also corresponded with the contents of the classics given by the Moral Sect.

In the past, during the solemn calamity and the heavenly tribulation, all things came to naught, returning to the starting point.

The future star tribulation he experienced when he was in the nascent stage was a heavenly tribulation that only appeared in the ancient mythological era, and it had appeared less than once in the entire cultivation world.

The solemn tribulation of the past was even more exaggerated, and there has never been any written record of any cultivator who has ever experienced this tribulation.

Some speculate that if one goes far enough on the path of the Great Dao during the tribulation, it will lead to the descent of the solemn tribulation of the past.

Heaven's way is impartial, and the Heavenly Tribulation actually serves a balancing function, using divine punishment to eliminate cultivators who do not conform to the laws of heaven and earth.

This is why the distribution of strength and the intensity of the heavenly tribulation suffered is normally distributed.

The appearance of the solemn tribulation in the past was actually the Heavenly Dao's recognition that ordinary heavenly tribulations were child's play and posed no threat to you.

Only this transcendent, past solemn calamity that can directly alter the nature of matter itself could possibly stop him.

"It has been abruptly reduced from the realm of sword light differentiation to sword energy as soft as sound, which is quite exaggerated... It's fortunate that it is a fifth-order flying sword. If it were a spiritual treasure, it would probably have directly degenerated into a main material and fallen to the ground with a crash, unable to even maintain its magical treasure form."

Bai Zichen communicated with the sword spirits and learned that when they extinguished the heavenly lightning, a surge of true intent would wash over them from beginning to end.

Even a fifth-tier sword spirit, with its sturdiness, trembled in panic, feeling as if a great calamity was about to befall it, fearing that it would lose its spirituality and become a lifeless sword.

Another round of thunderbolts struck, silent and still, like the greatest sound without a sound, like the greatest form without a shape, quietly reaching his head.

Who could have imagined that such a terrifying heavenly tribulation was hidden within these two pale white orbs of light?

Bai Zichen felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy and couldn't think of a good way to deal with it for a while, so he could only switch to the Abyssal Prison Demon Sword and the Star Sand Sword to step forward.

Before the demonic energy could spread, it was extinguished upon colliding with the heavenly thunder, leaving only the pure flying sword to pierce through the spiritual light.

The other Star Sand Sword was much wiser. Knowing that the sword light would be reverted to its original form even if it split, it simply activated its sword intent and used the star-like light particles to bombard the target.

Halfway there, illuminated by that pale white light, they turned into pebbles and fell to the ground.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Star Sand Sword flicked its blade, piercing through the heavenly lightning, only to have the sword itself dim in return.

"Master, this heavenly lightning is strange. If it continues like this, it will soon turn me back to my original form... I will have to sleep in the sword box for at least a hundred years before I can awaken again!"

The Avici Heavenly Prison Demon Sword cried out mournfully. Judging from its apparent power, it was far inferior to any heavenly lightning. However, the past solemn tribulation proved with its actual effect what a terrifying heavenly tribulation that only existed in legends was.

"I'll keep going for a few more rounds, I refuse to believe it's invincible!"

Little White Nascent Soul leaped out of the Niwan Palace, summoned the Supreme Pure and Subtle Sword Box, and directly spat out a mouthful of his natal true essence to accelerate the speed at which the pure energy repaired the flying sword.

The used flying swords are returned to their sheaths, then launched by other flying swords, confronting the solemn calamity of the past in their most primal form.

"Fortunately, there were enough fifth-tier flying swords. Anyone else would have reached the point where their physical body could resist by now. Even the strongest body-tempering techniques probably wouldn't last more than a few blows before turning them into ordinary mortals..."

Bai Zichen couldn't imagine that, besides himself, who else in the cultivation world could survive several rounds of the solemn tribulation of the past?

Having three Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasures already indicates that the Great True Monarch was quite wealthy, and that the sect valued him highly.

At this rate, they can only survive two rounds of tribulations at most. The usual lightning-attracting and lightning-avoiding treasures and tribulation-crossing techniques they have prepared will be useless at this time.

He had considered that the Heavenly Tribulation would be difficult and terrifying, after all, he had already learned from the previous experience of the Star Tribulation and knew about his special treatment.

Even if the future Star Tribulation occurs, it will only be a simple increase in power, which is still within an acceptable range.

Unlike in the past, when Zhuang Yan was caught in such a bizarre situation, there was no lightning or thunder, yet he was helpless.

It's not fair to blame him for not being fully prepared. There are at least a hundred types of heavenly tribulations that have never actually appeared but have only been calculated, even in the classics of the Moral Sect.

On the surface, each one seems logical and indeed possible.

However, no cultivator undergoing tribulation took it seriously and focused their energy on it.

Who could have imagined that the solemn calamity of the past would actually occur, catching him completely off guard.

However, after calming down and thinking it over carefully, I realized that there really is no good solution other than to tough it out.

The heavenly lightning of the past solemn tribulation went straight to the essence. Even if the Star River Sword Formation was constructed, it would return to its initial state after at most one round, and the sword formation would disintegrate.

Moreover, the sword spirits of all twelve flying swords were affected when they were damaged one by one and formed a sword formation.

Therefore, Bai Zichen was willing to use self-destructive means to use his flying sword to block the first few bolts of heavenly lightning.

"Throughout the long history of the cultivation world, there must have been more than one cultivator of similar strength to me, especially in the ancient times... Yet they didn't allow the solemn tribulation of the past to occur, which shows that it's not just about strength, but also has a great connection with the Great Dao of Time!"

What truly sets Bai Zichen apart from other prodigies and makes him unique in the entire mortal realm is his mastery of the Great Dao of Time.

Cultivators like the Sword Lord of Withered Glory, who have only scratched the surface of time, are extremely rare; only one such person has appeared in nearly a thousand years.

To achieve what Bai Zichen did—to truly master the Great Dao of Time and transform his true intent into a sword—is unprecedented throughout history, except for the banished immortals of the lower realms.

To break free from the solemn tribulations of the past, one must start with the path of time.

In the blink of an eye, he had reached the sixth round of heavenly tribulation, and all the flying swords in his box had already completed one cycle.

At this point, the difference in quality between five-tier flying swords can be seen.

The natal flying sword definitely has the advantage; those swords that haven't been refined into natal swords already have dimmed sword light, and their sword spirits are weak and feeble.

If the sword is drawn again, it will inevitably damage the source.

Among the natal flying swords, most can still unleash another strike, with the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword and the Xiwang Golden Mother Sword being the most outstanding.

Especially the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword, which only made Xiao Zi shrink a size, its power remained undiminished.

(End of this chapter)