The comet remained silent, only relentlessly unleashing heavenly tribulations.

Chapter 111 Golden-backed Centipede

The Southern Continent is vast and boundless, with abundant spiritual energy in its mountains, rivers, and marshes. Every day, countless spirits and monsters sense the heavens and earth and trigger tribulations.

Most of these spirits and monsters come from humble origins. Some are mountain beasts that accidentally swallowed spiritual herbs and gained sentience, while others are fish and shrimp in the water who had the opportunity to cultivate. Still others are simply plants and trees that have become spirits. They have silently cultivated in the mountains and fields for hundreds or thousands of years before finally reaching the stage of tribulation.

They had no master, no cultivation techniques, and didn't even know what a heavenly tribulation was. They only knew that when the time came, lightning would strike them from the sky.

If you can get through it, the future will be bright; if you can't, everything will be over.

If the spirit, though a demon, harbors good intentions and possesses a pure and spiritual aura, it is not the kind of foolish creature that only knows how to kill and devour without understanding the times.

Song Yi would then lend a hand, sweeping away some of the karmic obstacles entangled in the soul with his jade-handled broom, thus weakening the power of the tribulation lightning.

Don't underestimate these few points; for those spirits who are just one breath away from surviving, these few points can mean the difference between life and death.

These kinds of spirits are mostly foxes and rabbits in the mountains, and deer and sheep in the forests. They are docile by nature, and their cultivation relies on the essence of the sun and moon. They never harm human lives.

Some even secretly help villagers at the foot of the mountain when they encounter disasters, accumulating merit.

However, some spirits have heavy karmic burdens, with dark circles above their heads, clearly indicating that they have committed too much killing.

Even so, Song Yi would not deliberately send down bad luck to be reduced to ashes under the lightning tribulation.

It's not that he's soft-hearted.

To reach the stage of transcending tribulation, which one hasn't undergone hundreds or thousands of years of arduous cultivation?

They endured wind and rain, evaded natural enemies, searched for elixirs, survived minor tribulations, and endured countless near-death experiences before finally reaching the Heavenly Tribulation.

To cut off someone's path to enlightenment simply because they have committed a few serious acts of killing would be contrary to the principles of Heaven and Earth.

But there are always exceptions.

If Song Yi were to encounter a demon whose karmic burdens from this life were so intense they were almost tangible, and whose body was shrouded in a bloodthirsty aura that was nearly solidified, he would no longer be so lenient.

The karmic burden is so heavy that it must have devoured countless humans during its lifetime, leaving it with a blood debt and unforgivable sins.

If such demons survive the heavenly tribulation and become demon immortals, their cultivation will only increase, making them even more ruthless. At that time, who knows how many innocent people will perish at their hands.

Letting it pass would be a terrible mistake.

He encountered such a demon a few days ago.

It was a golden-backed centipede, a hundred feet long, coiled in a treacherous mountain range in the eastern part of Jambudvipa.

This centipede is a rare and ancient species. Its carapace is naturally as hard as iron and shines with a brilliant golden light. Ordinary swords and magical weapons cannot harm it in the slightest.

It has entrenched itself in the mountains for hundreds of years, occasionally devouring passing merchants, hunters, and travelers.

The official road at the foot of the mountain was thus cut off, and merchants dared not pass through. The local county government posted notices many times, inviting various sorcerers to exorcise the demon.

But the sorcerers either got swallowed by the centipede or fled in terror; none of them succeeded.

When Song Yi passed by that mountain ridge, he happened to witness the golden-backed centipede undergoing its tribulation.

However, relying on the powerful physique of this ancient species, the centipede was not afraid at all. It simply coiled its massive body into a ball and allowed the lightning to strike it.

The lightning bolts that would have cleaved ordinary monsters into dust only left a few shallow black marks on its carapace.

From above the clouds, Song Yi could clearly see that the karmic obstacles on the centipede were as black as ink, almost shrouding its entire body in a layer of black mist.

The black aura was not a remnant of a past life, but rather the result of the bloodshed committed in this life.

It devoured no fewer than several hundred humans, and the resentment of each wronged soul clung to it, transforming into heavy karma.

If such demons survive the heavenly tribulation and transform into immortals, wouldn't they bring harm to even more people in the future?

With a gentle flick of his jade-handled broom, Song Yi sent several streams of ominous energy silently descending and binding the centipede's soul.

At the same moment, the storm clouds in the sky also underwent a dramatic change.

The already thick, dark clouds suddenly expanded several times over. The lightning deep within the clouds rapidly changed from bluish-purple to a deep purplish-black. The lightning bolts darted wildly through the clouds, and the roaring sounds made the mountains tremble.

That divine might was several times stronger than before. The pressure from before the tribulation lightning even struck was enough to make all the birds and beasts within a hundred miles tremble and lie prostrate on the ground, not daring to move.

The golden-backed centipede finally panicked.

It let out a sharp screech, pouring all its demonic power into its carapace, causing the dark golden shell to burst with dazzling light as it made a final struggle.

A bolt of lightning, several times thicker than before, crashed down, striking the centipede's head precisely and blasting a bloody hole in its hideous skull.

The centipede let out a mournful hiss, its hundred legs flailing wildly, sweeping away the boulders and ancient trees on the mountain ridge to pieces.

But the subsequent bolts of lightning were increasingly fierce and ruthless.

The seemingly indestructible golden back armor finally shattered under the continuous bombardment, revealing the soft flesh beneath.

The lightning bolt blasted straight in, blasting the centipede's body to pieces, filling the mountains with a strong, burnt smell.

Only a wisp of remnant soul escaped hastily from the shattered body, carrying with it the last bit of spiritual consciousness, and vanished into the void, heading towards reincarnation.

With Song Yi's abilities, if he really wanted to wipe out the golden-backed centipede, it wouldn't be difficult for him to destroy it completely.

But he still retained a shred of compassion and did not go to extremes.

Reaching this level of cultivation is truly not easy. Even if it has committed numerous evils, it should still be given a wisp of its soul so that it can start anew in the cycle of reincarnation.

As for whether one will be reborn as a hungry ghost or fall into the animal realm in the next life, that depends on how the judges of the underworld decide.

Several days later, Song Yi's cloud reached the territory of the State of Qi.

From afar, one could see a major town shrouded in a dark and oppressive atmosphere, with a thin layer of pale yellow mist swirling above the city, completely enveloping the entire city.

Countless tiny black dots were wriggling in the thin mist; these were plague worms formed from the condensed plague vapor. They were invisible to the naked eye, yet they were silently eroding the lives of the city's inhabitants.

Song Yi slowed the clouds down and focused his gaze downwards.

The streets and alleys of the city were desolate and deserted, and many households had hung white banners at their doors, with faint cries coming from various courtyards.

The mortuary at the city gate was piled high with thin-skinned coffins, and several constables were carrying corpses out of the city with worried expressions.

Every household kept their doors and windows tightly shut. The few passersby who did go out on the street covered their mouths and noses with cloths, walked hurriedly, and looked fearful.

Song Yi immediately recognized that this was a tactic employed by the Plague Department.

Ever since he presented sweet potatoes and won the favor of the Earthly Sovereign Shennong, the fortunes of the State of Qi have improved considerably.

With favorable weather and abundant harvests, the people lived in peace and prosperity, and the entire state of Qi was thriving, showing signs of a golden age.

But prosperity inevitably leads to decline; this is an unchanging principle of the natural order.

A nation's fortune is like the tide, rising and falling. Forcibly maintaining its fortune at a high level may seem like a good thing, but in reality, it's like building a dam higher and higher, filling the water level higher and higher. Once the dam breaks, it will cause a catastrophe.

The Plague Department has brought this plague upon itself by order of the Great Heavenly Venerable to regulate the fortunes of the Qi Kingdom.