Tribulation of Ascension

I was too careless!

He was so caught up in the thrill of swallowing the world's spiritual energy like a whale that he actually forgot the most important thing!

He had set up a hundred top-tier Spirit Gathering Arrays, draining the spiritual energy dry within a hundred miles.

Wasn't this the exact same as frantically browsing those super healthy adult websites online and forgetting to turn on incognito mode?!

It was as if he was afraid the jailer wouldn't know there was a prisoner planning a prison break here!

Hui Xing's exasperated voice rang out again, making his head throb.

"I can save you once, but I can't save you a second time!"

"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

Three consecutive idiots left Su Ji speechless.

He really was stupid this time.

He had finally gotten stronger, only to almost get himself killed because he showed off too much.

Su Ji felt a wave of lingering fear in his heart.

He even had the leisure to silently evaluate it in his mind.

Cursing is cursing, but how can she curse so beautifully...

Just then, the main doors of the palace were violently pushed open from the outside.

A cold, elegant figure rushed in with a hint of anxiety.

It was Su Jiu.

At a glance, she saw Su Ji sitting cross-legged in a pile of spirit stone powder, completely unharmed. Her heart, which had been in her throat, finally settled back down.

But when she saw the nonchalant expression on Su Ji's face, a nameless fire flared up again.

"You..."

Su Jiu was just about to question him when she was shocked speechless by the sight before her.

She saw that Su Ji's cultivation aura was no longer at the Foundation Establishment realm.

It was a vastness she had never felt before.

His entire body seemed to form a world of its own.

"What's wrong?"

Su Ji stood up from the ground, patted the dust off his body, and put on that familiar, punchable smile.

"A mere Heavenly Palace Golden Core, isn't it easy enough to achieve if you just have hands?"

He stretched his limbs, feeling the unprecedented majestic power within his body, and felt incredibly refreshed.

Within his Dantian's sea of Qi, an ancient and magnificent heavenly palace floated quietly near his Golden Core.

Every brick, tile, and flying eave of the palace was branded with an aura that could suppress eternity.

Looking at his triumphant appearance, Su Jiu was both angry and amused.

She took a few steps forward, reached out her small hands, and began checking his body without a word, afraid that he had suffered some internal injuries.

"What was that just now? I felt like the world was going to collapse."

The worry on Su Jiu's pretty face still hadn't faded.

Su Ji couldn't be bothered to explain the matter of the jailer: "It's just me being too strong."

Su Jiu tilted her head, clearly not quite believing him.

Seeing this, Su Ji quickly changed the subject. He pointed at the messy palace with a look of disgust.

"Look at this place, what a mess."

"Later, have Li Fan find someone to redecorate it. It's too tasteless."

Su Jiu: "..."

Didn't you make this place like this?

Seeing Su Jiu's cute appearance of being angry and worried but not knowing what to say, Su Ji felt greatly amused.

He reached out and pinched her cheek again.

"Alright, alright, don't just stand here."

Su Ji waved his hand, starting to shoo her away.

"You being here is affecting my cultivation consolidation."

"Barging in so recklessly, what if I suffer from Qi Deviation?"

Su Jiu: "..."

She took a deep breath, forcefully swallowing back the words you're the reckless one.

The commotion Su Ji caused had almost blown up the Acacia Sect.

She had come over with good intentions to check on the situation, and it turned out to be her fault?

Su Jiu glared at him, the meaning in her eyes obvious: You had better not have any problems.

She turned and walked out crisply, pulling the crumbling palace doors shut behind her.

Not long after Su Jiu left, with a bang, the palace doors collapsed directly onto the ground, shaking loose a cloud of dust. Inside the palace, silence returned.

The punchable smile on Su Ji's face also vanished without a trace.

The laziness on his face faded, replaced by solemnity.

He didn't sit down immediately, but stood there for a moment.

His divine sense spread out like quicksilver spilling on the ground, confirming that Su Jiu had gone far away, and that there was no other living creature on the entire mountain peak besides him.

Only after doing all this did he slowly exhale a breath of impure Qi.

His eyes were now as deep as an icy pool.

"[Glimpse of Destiny]."

He softly murmured these three words.

Buzz—

The world before his eyes began to lose its color.

The luxurious palace, the spirit stone powder covering the floor... everything instantly turned into a monotonous grayish-white.

A feeling of being stripped away enveloped his entire body once again.

He only had one thought in his mind.

This time, the commotion of breaking through to the Heavenly Palace Golden Core was too big, almost attracting those purple eyes.

Although it was snuffed out in time by Hui Xing, but... would there be any subsequent effects?

Would that jailer really just let it go?

In the grayish-white world, the scenery began to change.

A dark red thread slowly appeared in front of Su Ji.

"[Ascension Tribulation]."

Was it really like this?

Su Ji's brows twisted into a knot.

Without hesitation, he reached out and snapped the thread symbolizing predetermined destiny!

The scenery began to distort.

However, contrary to Su Ji's expectations, those purple eyes capable of erasing heaven and earth did not appear.

Instead, it was the somewhat familiar Soul Formation Duo.

Only, the scene this time was completely different from the last.

The battle seemed to have reached its end.

Before Su Ji could even clearly see his surroundings, a heart-wrenching pain radiated from everywhere in his body.

His condition seemed terrible at this moment.

His skin was covered in abrasions of all sizes. His shoulders and back were scored with dense, bloody gashes from some kind of sharp rubble, with many stones still deeply embedded in his flesh.

But these were minor issues.

The biggest problem was that Su Ji's vision was completely blurred, and his brain transmitted an intense dizziness and a splitting headache.

It was...

Severe blood loss.

He could even feel the hand holding the Fallen Dragon Spear trembling slightly.

Even so, the spear in his hand remained steady and powerful, the tip pointing straight ahead.

"Hah... Hah..."

Su Ji panted heavily, trying to judge the positions of those two old geezers by sound.

But all he could hear was his own heavy heartbeat and the whistling wind in his ears.

It's no use, I can't see anything clearly.

Su Ji gritted his teeth. Relying solely on his blurry recent memories, he violently raised the spear in his hand, desperately launching a series of horizontal sweeps forward!

The spear shaft brought up a series of afterimages, acting as a temporary stalling tactic.

However, a voice tinged with mockery and lamentation came from his upper flank, a completely unexpected direction.

"Kid, if I had been born in the same era as you, I'm afraid I would be like a stray dog on the side of the road, kicked to death by you."

There was appreciation in that voice, but more so, a condescending pity.

"But, what a pity..."

The owner of the voice was the middle-aged man in gray clothes known as Old Ghost Li.

Subsequently, his figure flickered, appearing like a phantom on Su Ji's left side.

"I have cultivated for over a thousand years longer than you!"

"Die!"

The moment his words fell.

A longsword, devoid of flames yet searing hot, thrust out diagonally—silent, yet fast to the extreme.

Squelch!

Su Ji's pupils sharply contracted.

He wanted to dodge, but his body's reflexes simply could not keep up with his brain's commands.

The longsword pierced cleanly through his left shoulder. Its tyrannical force completely swept him off his feet.

With a heavy thud, he was pinned ruthlessly to the ground!

Ugh...

Su Ji let out a muffled groan and coughed up a mouthful of blood, his vision growing even dimmer.

Immediately after.

Another figure, the Soul Formation cultivator who had yet to make a single move, slowly walked up to him.

He looked down from above at Su Ji, who was pinned to the earth and unable to move, a playful, cat-and-mouse smirk on his face.

He raised his hand, condensing a swirling mass of scorching air in his palm.

The howling of the wind drew near, until it abruptly halted mere inches from Su Ji's forehead.

The intensely searing aura instantly evaporated the cold sweat that had beaded on Su Ji's forehead from the agonizing pain.

The victor was decided.

Life and death were set in stone.

Yet, at this exact moment.

[Wind of Death has been triggered.]

[Destiny has been replaced by: The Wind Ceases, Yet the Will Remains Defiant!]