The Song Dynasty was the king for thirteen years before he knew that he was Tianlong.

Chapter 403 The Gate of Life and Death
Upon seeing this, the Jurchen giant instinctively took a step back, using his steel sword to protect his body, his eyes fixed on the direction in which the light and shadow fell.

Just a few dozen feet away from him, a deafening roar shook the heavens and earth. The light and shadow sank directly to the ground, scattering sparks, dust, and billowing smoke all around.

He couldn't help but take a few steps back again, squinting as he looked into the dust and smoke.

A fire suddenly broke out, and a large crater appeared to have been smashed into the ground, the aura of which was intense and scorching.

Was it a falling meteor? The burly man looked surprised. It was said that where a meteor fell, there would be extraterrestrial meteorite iron, which was priceless and a good material for forging weapons.

He glanced at it for a few moments, hesitating whether to go forward to take a look now or wait until the sparks died down, when suddenly a hand stretched out from the ground, obscured by the smoke and fire.

The burly man was immediately terrified. His face turned serious, his whole body tensed, and he held his breath almost imperceptibly.

The hand was very long and slender, with a strangely shaped ring on each of its index and middle fingers. It was gripping the edge of the large pit in the ground, seemingly trying to use it to climb out.

What is this thing? Is it a person? The big man couldn't help but show a shocked expression.

As the smoke slowly dissipated, another hand emerged from the pit, equally slender, but without a ring.

He slowly exerted force with both hands, and then two forearms appeared horizontally, wearing painted wristbands, seemingly some kind of armor.

Then a golden helmet emerged from the pit, gleaming brightly in the night, making it difficult to look directly at it.

The Jurchen giant involuntarily gasped. It was indeed a single person. A slight thought of retreat arose in his heart. He wondered whether this person who had fallen from the sky was good or evil, a god or a demon. It would be better to hide for the time being. If all else failed, he would go back and call his soldiers to investigate together. That would be the safest course of action.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave quickly, a loud "whoosh" sounded from the pit, and a golden light suddenly flew out of the pit, leaping more than ten feet into the air. Then, like the sun falling, it crashed to the ground with a loud "boom".

The Jurchen man was terrified and didn't have time to see what it was, whether it was a human or a demon. He turned around and ran away.

But before he could run two or three steps, he suddenly felt a tightness around his body, as if he were bound by something, like being stuck in mud, making it difficult to move forward and his movements became extremely slow.

He was terrified and tried to break free of the binding force by circulating his internal energy, but he couldn't struggle at all. Just then, an extremely majestic voice rang out behind him.

"You, stop!"

The Jurchen man was struck as if by lightning. The sound seemed to whip his mind and soul, making him feel as if he had lost almost all his strength in an instant.

Even if he wanted to run, he couldn't move at all. His legs were weak and his heart was pounding. Then he heard a "crunching" sound behind him, which seemed to be the sound of metal boots hitting the ground.

Sweat poured from the Jurchen man's body. The sound stopped very close behind him, but the man didn't hear any breathing. If it weren't for the previous situation, he wouldn't have realized that someone was standing behind him.

"Turn around!" the majestic voice suddenly said. The Jurchen giant felt his body lighten, but then, as if out of control, he turned around.

Then he saw a person who looked like a god standing in front of him, his golden armor shining brightly, like a small sun illuminating the surroundings.

He himself was a burly man, but this person was a head taller than him, and especially with the golden armor he wore, he didn't look like a human at all, but like a god, or even a god.

The Jurchen giant dared not look at the other's face; the golden light was too dazzling for his eyes. He lowered his head and carefully observed everything about the other, even though he was physically weak, he was prepared to fight to the death.

The golden-armored deity in front of him seemed to be sizing him up, and only spoke after a long while, his tone becoming increasingly majestic, instilling a sense of awe in people.

"Where is this place? Who are you? What's your name? What's your identity?"

Upon hearing this, the Jurchen giant pondered to himself, then his majestic voice rang out again: "Dare to lie even half a word, and I will immediately turn you to dust, leaving no trace of your body."

The Jurchen giant shuddered and cautiously replied, "This is the Tokyo Circuit of the Liao Kingdom, the location of the Jurchen tribes in the White Mountains and Black Waters. My name is... Wanyan Aguda, a Jurchen, and I currently hold the position of Xiangwen in the Liao Kingdom."

"Wanyan Aguda? A Jurchen..." The majestic voice repeated, then fell silent, seemingly lost in thought.

South of Yanjing City, the Song army camp.

Murong Longcheng and Lin Lingsu left the command tent. Zhao Ti looked at the night outside. Since it was still early before dawn, he went back into the tent and began to practice his martial arts.

If Yanjing cannot be captured within a month, things will change over time, morale will drop, logistics will be insufficient, and the enemy will gradually amass a large army, exceeding our own forces, making it very difficult to conquer the city.

To reach Yanjing, they first had to break the Zhuxian Formation, since this formation stretched across the front, its power covering the surroundings, preventing the army from advancing and making it impossible to bypass it and attack from other directions.

However, breaking the Immortal Slaughtering Formation requires perfecting the Twelve Levels of Daoist Arts, ideally advancing to the Dao Palace level. This is somewhat rushed, as attacking a city takes time, breaking the formation takes time, and cultivation also takes time. Zhao Ti has no choice but to race against time.

He sat cross-legged on the couch, guiding his magical power to circulate throughout his body. After a moment, he caused the Vermilion Bird Wings on the eighth floor of the Twelve-Story Tower to boil, with magical power gathering above, eager to try and break through to the ninth floor.

Zhao Ti did not directly break through to the realm. Instead, he suppressed the power of the Vermilion Bird Wings and then mobilized all the spiritual energy he had obtained from the eye of the Six Yin Divine Temple's earth vein at the bottom of his dantian. He transformed it into magical power and gathered it together into the Vermilion Bird Wings.

In an instant, the eighth layer of the Vermilion Bird Wings was incredibly lively. The magical power was so dense that it formed a round ball of energy, refined to the point of being watery and slightly transparent, like a chicken egg, constantly churning and rolling.

This round, condensed, water-like mass of energy is the condensation of all of Zhao Ti's Taoist magic at this moment. It contains not only all his magical power, but also his understanding, comprehension, and experience of Taoist arts.

This energy cluster is called the Dao Seed. It should have formed on the ninth floor of the Twelve-Story Tower, but its accumulation was so great that it condensed a realm ahead of schedule.

Zhao Ti focused his inner vision on the energy cluster for a few breaths, then took a deep breath and began his ascent towards the ninth floor of the Twelve-Story Tower.

The ninth floor of the Twelve-Story Tower is called the Xuanming Prison, and it also has another name: the Gate of Life and Death.

This is because the ninth floor is the most vulnerable part of the Chonglou building; any contact with it from the outside will result in death. It is located in the very center of the throat, hence the name.

Among the twelve levels of the great realm, the ninth level, the Gate of Life and Death, is the most difficult to break through, has the most significant bottlenecks, and is the easiest to go astray and fall into demonic possession.

It can be said that even the twelfth level of the Returning Void Eye is not as dangerous as this level.

Even if you fail to advance to other levels, you can start over. Even if the situation is serious, you can still survive. At most, your power will drop significantly or you will never make any further progress.

It can't be like the ninth level, where a failed attempt would almost certainly lead to demonic possession or even death. Therefore, it's called the "Gate of Life and Death" because external contact is fatal, and internal failure also almost always results in death.

But none of this mattered to Zhao Ti. He had no bottlenecks; the first level, the ninth level, the twelfth level—they were all the same to him.

He mobilized the water-like gas cloud to rush upwards, encountering no obstacles or difficulties whatsoever. The gas cloud rolled past the ninth level and entered the gate of life and death.

It was as if a new door had opened within his body, revealing a new world. His meridians expanded, his magical power increased exponentially, and the energy spheres spun endlessly, growing larger and larger, seemingly without end.

He advanced to the ninth level of the Xuanming Prison! Zhao Ti felt as if his soul had been cleansed, and his mind was clearer and sharper than ever before.

He then looked inward and saw that the ball of energy was originally white, but for some reason it was faintly emitting wisps of golden light, just like a golden ball full of great power, containing an enormous explosive force.

As he looked around, he pondered the calamities that awaited him on this level, and after a moment, a complex expression appeared on his face.

Now, the tribulation realms he enters each time no longer match the tribulations corresponding to his current realm.

This is mostly because the previous tribulation realm was not fully experienced and broken through before being forcibly pulled out by the Illusory Yin True Qi. When they enter the tribulation realm again after the next advancement, they will still be in the same situation as before.

However, this is not a big deal. His inner demon tribulation realm has already been connected in one place, in another world, continuing from one to the next, just like life. The only problem is that the trials and dangers he encountered in that world do not correspond to which realm they belong to.

However, the tribulation facing the ninth level of the Twelve-Story Tower, the gateway to life and death, is different from the previous ones. It is the greatest tribulation among all twelve levels, and the crisis is even greater than the tribulation of the twelfth level, the realm of perfection.

The twelve floors of the tower and their corresponding calamities are as follows:
First layer: Tian Shu Lock. Corresponds to the inner body suffering from tribulation, representing the purity of the body.

The second level: Xuanji Platform. Corresponding to the Tribulation of Refining the Body and Elixing the Flame, it represents unwavering faith.

The third layer: Azure Dragon Spine. Corresponding to the Great Medicine Demon Realm Tribulation, representing the temptation of the devil.

Fourth layer: White Tiger Blade. Corresponds to the Spirit Pill Wind Evil Tribulation, representing a breakthrough to the limit.

The fifth level: the Fire Gate. This corresponds to the Tribulation of Reversing Delusions, representing the fusion of beliefs.

The sixth level: Huangting Ding. Corresponds to the Golden Soil Vacuum Calamity, representing the loss of power.

Seventh layer: Xuanwu Armor. Corresponds to the fetal movement and bone-changing tribulation, representing the reshaping of bloodlines.

Eighth layer: Vermilion Bird Wings. Corresponds to the Infant's Sea of ​​Suffering, representing endless life.

The ninth level: Xuanming Prison, also known as the Gate of Life and Death. It corresponds to the Heavenly Tribulation of the Yang God, representing the interrogation of fate and the judgment of the end times.

The tenth level: Gouchen Prison. Corresponding to the Heavenly Tribulation in the shape of a flower, it represents the control of order.

Eleventh level: Tengshe Cave. Corresponds to the tribulation of forgetting worldly desires, representing the transcendence of the tribulation of love.

The twelfth layer: the Eye of Return to Nothingness. Corresponding to the Supreme Immeasurable Kalpa, it represents the return to the origin.

Now he has reached the ninth level of the Xuanming Prison, the threshold of life and death, which corresponds to the Yang God Heavenly Punishment Thunder Tribulation, representing the interrogation of fate and the judgment of the end times!

The interrogation of fate, standing at the crossroads of life and death, requires facing the ultimate reckoning of all past choices. Those betrayed, sacrificed, and distorted causes and effects, like chains binding the soul, demand the question: "If I could do it all over again, would I still do it the same way?"
The final judgment is not an external ruling, but rather fate collapsing all possible outcomes into this moment. Will it be a descent into a predetermined fate, or will the soul be used as fuel to burn through the cage of destiny? This is the ultimate question of "whether existence has meaning," and it is the Yang God's desperate gamble on its own destiny on the edge of life and death!
The danger of this tribulation is no less than that of breaking through this barrier, and may even be more severe than breaking through the barrier between life and death. The worst outcome of failing to break through the barrier between life and death is simply death.

However, if one fails to survive this tribulation, their soul will suddenly die, their true self will be gone, and their intelligence will be completely extinguished, but their physical body will still exist, turning them into a walking corpse.

In the eyes of a cultivator, it is just a complete furnace chamber, which is very likely to be occupied or refined.

If it is not invaded, it may still cause trouble, be bullied, and be punished because it has no self-awareness. Over time, it will die a miserable death. It is better to just perish and disappear.

Therefore, the most dangerous part of the Twelve-Story Tower is this life-or-death barrier. Not only is it dangerous to break through the barrier, but it is even more perilous to undergo tribulation.

However, if I were to face this tribulation later, I fear I wouldn't be able to directly overcome this Yang God Heavenly Punishment Tribulation. Before I could even finish over the tribulations of the previous realms, I would be pulled back time and time again by the Illusory Yin True Qi. I would probably have to go through them one by one slowly. I should be prepared in my heart and always guard against the occurrence of this tribulation.

As Zhao Ti was pondering, his body suddenly trembled violently, as if his soul had left his body. He leaped and twirled in the void for what seemed like an eternity, yet also as if it were only a fleeting moment.

He felt as if the mirror-like surface of water had been broken, and a scene appeared before his eyes: a solitary lamp in a humble room, ancient scrolls and an old table. A huge crow flew to the table, on which lay a shabby and worn-out golden gourd, gleaming with a dim and desolate light.

“Brother Crow, when I opened the gourd lid, the demon-summoning banner appeared on its own, looking rather tattered,” Zhao Ti said.

"Is it really that badly damaged? Let me take a look." The crow flapped its wings without landing, circled the golden gourd once, then bit the gourd lid with its long beak and pulled it upwards with force.

The gourd lid was pulled off with a "bang," and the crow quickly flew away, its red eyes fixed on the gourd opening.

But there was no reaction at the mouth of the gourd; the gourd remained motionless, utterly lifeless.

“Brother Crow, after I pulled off the lid, the gourd emitted a white mist that turned into white light and appeared carrying the demon-summoning banner…” Zhao Ti frowned and said, not expecting that the thing had deteriorated to such an extent that even the white mist had disappeared.

The crow nodded: "Logically speaking, it should indeed emit white light, but it's probably empty inside and needs to be activated with magic."

Then it suddenly opened its long mouth, and a pale golden aura spewed out, directly covering the gourd and slowly seeping into it.

As the breath exhaled by the crow gradually faded, the gourd shook and swayed three times, and suddenly a puff of black smoke emerged from its mouth.

The black smoke looked and smelled like firecrackers after they'd burned, or like charred bamboo and wood embers, devoid of any ethereal fragrance, and looked even more wretched than the broken gourd.

A plume of black smoke billowed out in the shape of a small mushroom cloud before dissipating completely. The gourd was covered with a layer of black ash and scum, making it look even more half-dead and on its last legs.

The crow stared wide-eyed at Zhao Ti after a moment of stunned silence, its long beak stretched out.

Zhao Ti's lips twitched. Had it completely broken?

(End of this chapter)