"Crossing the sea within one’s own heart is the true trial..."
Among the cultivators present who heard Qin Tang's words, some seemed mesmerized, as if they had grasped some insight. Others paid no attention, looking completely indifferent.
Just like that, the second day quickly passed.
Early on the third morning, Qin Tang appeared in everyone's view as usual. This time, however, he wasn't drinking, and looked much more clear-headed.
"Today is the final trial," Qin Tang said, surveying the cultivators present with a serious expression.
"On the path of cultivation, you will inevitably encounter countless hardships and temptations. Can you persevere through them all, never altering your original intentions?
"Let’s see."
As Qin Tang's words faded, everyone felt their vision go black as they lost consciousness.
***
In a small mountain village, Li Fan lay on a rooftop, watching the setting sun. He felt like he was forgetting something.
Having grown up in this village, he lived a life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. This had gone on for a full fifteen years.
Such days were peaceful and happy. It didn't seem so bad to continue living like this forever.
But deep in his heart, there was always a faint stirring, a feeling that his life shouldn't end in such mediocrity.
"Fan'er, Fan'er, where are you? Come home for dinner!"
Li Fan remained unmoved by his mother's call. He looked up at the sky, watching the birds soaring freely, gazing at the sun and moon that existed regardless of human will, lost in thought.
He stayed like that until night fell and the stars filled the sky.
Beneath the vast starry expanse, he felt his own insignificance even more keenly.
He stayed like this the entire night.
Just before dawn, clarity struck him. He flipped over and jumped down from the roof.
Rushing into the house, he announced loudly to his mother, who was still asleep, "Mother, call off the marriage arrangement with Er Niu's family next door.
"I'm not getting married. I'm going to cultivate immortality!"
His sleepy mother was jolted awake. Thinking her child had lost his mind, she quickly got up and grabbed Li Fan's hand. "Cultivate what immortality? There's no such thing! Child, wake up!"
Li Fan pulled his hand free. His young face was full of determination. "I don't know where the immortals are, but I will find them."
With that, he packed a few belongings and strode out the door, leaving his weeping mother behind.
Six months later, while exploring deep in the mountains, Li Fan met his unfortunate end in the jaws of a tiger.
***
Before a dilapidated Taoist temple, amidst flickering firelight and soft sobbing, Li Fan's mind was filled with confusion.
"Great Senior Brother, Master is dead. What will become of our Cloud Soaring Temple from now on?" a timid voice asked beside him.
Just as Li Fan was about to speak, he heard angry voices rising from all around.
"What else can we do? Obviously, we divide the temple's belongings and go down the mountain!"
"We only went through all that hardship to come up here and pay our respects because we thought there was a true immortal on this mountain. Who knew the old Taoist was nothing but a complete fraud!"
"Right! Would a true immortal just suddenly get sick and die like that?"
The more everyone spoke, the more agitated they became. Li Fan could only watch helplessly as they ransacked the Cloud Soaring Temple, taking everything of value.
A short time later, Li Fan remained alone on the mountain.
After gathering and burying his master's ashes, Li Fan recalled the look in his master's eyes just before he died.
Reluctance, regret, melancholy, hope...
Was his master a fraud?
Was the Cloud Soaring Ascension Chapter his master taught him also fabricated nonsense?
Li Fan felt that things might not be the way they seemed.
Immortals... perhaps they truly did exist.
In the end, Li Fan did not descend the mountain.
He spent the remainder of his life alone in the deserted temple, watching the clouds gather and scatter, and the sun and moon trade places in the sky.
Day after day, he meditated on the Cloud Soaring Ascension Chapter.
He passed fifty years of age, yet his cultivation had not advanced a single step.
He died with regrets.
***
The Imperial Palace.
Li Fan looked at the wooden plaques arranged on the golden tray before him. Each one was inscribed with a name.
A trace of impatience flashed in his eyes.
"Take it away. I will be cultivating tonight."
"Your Majesty, you have not visited the imperial harem for three months..."
"Hmm?" A ferocious gleam flashed through Li Fan's eyes.
"...As you wish."
Watching the Chief Eunuch retreat in fear, Li Fan snorted coldly.
Perhaps being Emperor isn't worth it. The thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
He had drained the empire's resources to fuel his cultivation.
Outwardly, he still appeared mortal, but in truth, he now had one foot firmly on the threshold of the Golden Core realm.
These mundane, worldly affairs were utterly tedious!
Three months later, during a morning court session, Li Fan pierced through the clouds in front of all his civil and military officials and departed.
Two hundred and sixteen years later, while exploring an ancient cave dwelling, Li Fan fell victim to a treacherous ambush.
His body perished, and his Dao dispersed.
***
Lingyun Peak.
"The tribulation cloud has been gathering for so long. Why hasn’t it struck yet?"
"The power of this heavenly tribulation... it feels stronger than when the sect leader ascended all those years ago, doesn't it?"
"Naturally! In terms of pure combat strength, Junior Uncle is arguably the number one talent our Li Mountain Sword Sect has seen in a millennium!"
As Li Fan watched the tribulation clouds roil with increasing might above him, a surge of heroic spirit swelled within his chest.
Three hundred years of cultivation. What did he have to fear from a mere heavenly tribulation?
A beam of sword light shot skyward from Lingyun Peak, cleaving the endless tribulation clouds clean in two!
Sunlight poured through the fissure in the clouds, bathing Li Mountain's Lingyun Peak in its radiance.
Divine flowers cascaded from the sky, and the gates to the immortal realm swung open.
Li Fan soared into the immortal gates without a moment's hesitation.
Upon entering the immortal realm, Li Fan was furious to discover that all his seniors from Li Mountain who had ascended before him had been mysteriously killed by some unknown enemy.
He cultivated while searching for the mastermind behind the murders.
A century passed in his quest, yet he found no answers.
While exploring an ancient secret realm, he was ambushed by a sworn brother who was traveling with him. He died, filled with utter shock and bitter resentment.
***
The Northern Immortal Domain.
Ever since Heavenly Imperator Fan unified the Azure Heaven Immortal Domain two thousand years prior, he had embarked on a bloody campaign of conquest.
Over the years, he had taken the heads of five Immortal Imperators and sixteen Immortal Kings, cementing his reputation for unparalleled ferocity.
Finally, the entire immortal realm was subdued, leaving only the Northern Immortal Domain clinging to a desperate, final breath.
Now, his armies were at their borders, and he vowed to eradicate the Northern Immortal Domain within a year.
At the center of the vast army, Qin Tang looked at Heavenly Imperator Fan, who sat with his eyes closed in repose.
He wanted to speak, but was hesitating.
Li Fan opened his eyes and looked at this trusted general who had fought by his side all this time, offering a rare smile.
"Qin Tang, you seem to have a question for me?"
"I will not hide it from you, Your Majesty. There is indeed one matter I do not understand."
"Speak freely."
"From your humble mortal beginnings, you endured untold hardships before finally achieving the status of Heavenly Imperator.
“Your power is overwhelming, and all immortals in the realm tremble at the mention of your name.
“Yet, why have you never shown any intention of stopping? What is it, exactly, that you are so desperately pursuing?”
“After exterminating Heavenly Imperator Zhuan and fully unifying the immortal world, what plans does Your Majesty have then?” Qin Tang stared at Li Fan, voicing the questions in his mind.
“Haha,” Li Fan let out a light laugh.
“What I seek is nothing more than eternal life,” he said plainly.
Qin Tang was stunned, as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“Eternal life? With Your Majesty’s current cultivation, can your lifespan not already be considered eternal? Barring unforeseen circumstances, it wouldn’t be difficult for you to live several million years more, would it?” he asked, his face a mask of shock and incomprehension.
“Can a lifespan of a few million years truly be called eternal?” Li Fan smiled faintly, merely posing the question in return.
“Within the Barren Heavenly Tomb, over a hundred ancient Immortal Imperators have long since turned to dry bones in their graves.
“Even those legendary ancient immortals who supposedly opened the immortal realm and possessed peerless divine power—are their bodies not now transformed into mountain ranges, suppressed beneath my very palace?
“This time, I intend to unify the immortal world, gathering the strength of all its immortals to construct a grand array that envelops the entire realm. With it, I will shatter that so-called Prison of Immortals that has existed since ancient times.
“I wish to tread beyond immortality, to advance a step further.” Li Fan’s tone was calm, yet carried such firm resolve that it brooked no argument.
Qin Tang was rendered speechless.
He knew that there was nothing above the immortal realm, but he could only lower his head in silence.
Everything proceeded according to Li Fan’s plan.
In just a single year, Li Fan unified the entire immortal realm.
After that, he employed extremely bloody means to suppress all opposition. Gathering the resources of the whole immortal realm, he successfully constructed that grand array, intending to break the shackles of the immortal realm.
As the array activated, the entire immortal realm trembled.
Countless cracks appeared in the sky, and the entire world began to shatter.
Li Fan laughed heartily and charged into the fissures.
What greeted him was only endless darkness.
***
With that, the Trial of Perseverance concluded.
Qin Tang knew there was no need to continue the test.
An anomaly had appeared in this trial.
Even if he constructed endless worlds, he likely could not wear down this person’s unyielding determination.
If his master were here, he would probably be immensely pleased to see such a prodigious talent.
It was just a pity...
A trace of melancholy flashed in Qin Tang’s eyes.
With a long sigh, the crowd awoke from their illusory dreams one by one.
They were still in the same plaza where they had started.
Some were bewildered. Others immediately paled once they came to their senses.
Some, however, looked enlightened, appearing to have gained something from the experience.
Qin Tang looked at the varied expressions of the cultivators and announced with a smile, “The three trials have now concluded.
“Among you, some have performed beyond my expectations, while others were truly... lacking.
“The sect leader once told me that when our Cloudwater Palace accepts disciples, we value quality over quantity.”
He surveyed the crowd, his expression gentle. “As such, only half of you will remain.”
The faces of the cultivators who looked pleased a moment ago turned ugly upon hearing Qin Tang's words.
“What do you mean by that?”
They were acutely aware of their own performance across the three trials.
Hearing that Qin Tang intended to kill half of the cultivators present, they were both shocked and enraged.
Driven to desperation, they launched an assault against him.
Qin Tang wasn’t angered.
He merely smiled faintly. “I, Qin Tang, Chief of the Technique Transmission Pavilion of Cloudwater Palace, humbly ask for your guidance.”
As Qin Tang spoke, shimmering blue figures abruptly materialized beside half of the cultivators in the plaza.
They were like perfect duplicates of their targets—identical in appearance, aura, and even strength.
The moment they appeared, they launched relentless, lethal attacks.
“Our sect leader, my senior uncle, is a stern man. But my master once told me never to take things to the absolute extreme. If you can survive against your own reflections, I will not pursue this further.” Qin Tang spoke slowly as he watched the cultivators struggle in fierce combat.
The cultivators who had not been targeted, including Li Fan, quickly distanced themselves from the battle to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Li Fan began observing the situation after retreating to a safe distance.
These blue reflections attacked with extreme ferocity, never tiring and seemingly immune to injury.
Ordinary cultivators were simply no match for them.
In moments, many found themselves overpowered.
Before long, quite a few cultivators had already fallen dead at the hands of their own reflections.
Those still struggling could barely hold on, and their situation was growing increasingly desperate.
Cornered and frantic, they began hurling curses at Qin Tang.
“Wake up! What disciples are you even taking in? Cloudwater Palace was destroyed ages ago!”
“What’s all that bullshit about your master and sect leader? When calamity came, didn’t you all just turn on each other?”
***
“Turn on each other?” Qin Tang shook his head repeatedly upon hearing this.
“Cloudwater Palace is united as one. We respect and care for one another. We would never hesitate to sacrifice ourselves for our fellow disciples.
“How could we possibly turn on each other?”
As Qin Tang spoke, his voice gradually trailed off.
“Calamity, calamity...” He frowned deeply, as if remembering something.
“Calamity...” He muttered the words over and over under his breath, and the sky above the plaza darkened ominously.
The blue phantoms attacking the cultivators began to mutate.
A thick darkness seeped out from within them, staining the reflections with an ink-black hue in an instant.
These ink-black reflections were far more vicious and deadly than their blue predecessors.
In the blink of an eye, most of the struggling cultivators were slain. Only a handful remained, clinging desperately to life.
Yet Qin Tang had not snapped out of his trance. He continued to mutter under his breath.
The plaza grounds began to shake violently. Dark clouds pressed down from above. Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled.
Even the cultivators who hadn’t been attacked by reflections and were only observing from the sidelines began to sense the danger.
But facing Qin Tang, who had fallen into this disturbed state, none dared act recklessly.
For a moment, no one knew what to do.
Just then, Li Fan slowly walked up to Qin Tang.
He carried a gourd of wine, patted Qin Tang on the shoulder, and offered it to him.
Smiling calmly, Li Fan said quietly, “Senior Brother Qin, have a drink.
“Don’t dwell on it. There is no calamity.”
Qin Tang turned his head. He sniffed, instinctively accepted the gourd, and took a deep swig.
Then he looked at Li Fan somewhat blankly. "No calamity?"
Li Fan nodded with certainty and repeated, "That's right. There is no calamity at all."
Qin Tang's eyes gradually brightened, and he muttered repeatedly, "No calamity, no calamity, no calamity..."
"Hahaha, you're right! There is no calamity at all!"
After a long while, Qin Tang laughed loudly and finally returned to normal.
The strange phenomena in the area also disappeared, and the atmosphere once again turned calm and serene.
Seeing this, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief, casting grateful looks toward Li Fan.
At that moment, Li Fan's mind stirred. He had detected two strands of faint, almost imperceptible killing intent locking onto him.
Though these two strands of killing intent were extremely weak, Li Fan's perception was exceptionally sharp; he couldn't possibly be mistaken.
They had originated from none other than Sikong Yi and Baili Chen!
Li Fan pretended not to notice but secretly locked onto them with Formless Killing Mechanism in return. He just held back from activating it.
The brief interlude quickly passed, and the battle between the cultivators and the blue reflections ended.
In the end, only two fortunate souls survived.
Qin Tang looked gently at the surviving cultivators. "The trials have ended. You may go."
The bewildered cultivators opened their mouths to speak, only to watch as each other's figures gradually faded and slowly disappeared from the plaza.
Soon, Li Fan was the only cultivator left.
Qin Tang looked at Li Fan, a complex emotion flashing through his eyes.
"Why haven't you left?" he asked.
Li Fan smiled frankly. "Senior Brother, you still owe me a jug of good wine."
As if surprised by Li Fan's response, Qin Tang was taken aback for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Right! I still owe you a jug of good wine!"
His expression suddenly shifted, turning serious as he looked at Li Fan.
He extended his right hand, lightly tapping Li Fan’s brow with his index finger.
"This technique, the Cloudwater Dream Illusion Art, is the culmination of my life's research, a unique creation born of my blood, sweat and tears. I hope you do not let it fade into obscurity!"
A moment later, Qin Tang withdrew his finger.
Li Fan’s figure also slowly began to fade.
Once again, Qin Tang remained alone in the vast plaza.
Just as it had been for thousands of years.
"Senior Uncle... Master... Senior Sister..."
Qin Tang looked around at his surroundings but found nothing.
So he took another drink.
***
Li Fan gradually regained consciousness.
Before him stood a towering gate, inscribed with the words "Cloudwater Palace."
In front of the gate stood a stone statue.
It was broken, battered, and covered in scars.
Its heart seemed to have been pierced straight through, leaving a gaping hole
From the statue’s blurred features, one could faintly make out the resemblance to Qin Tang.
Li Fan quietly observed the statue for a moment, then took out a wine gourd from his storage ring.
He gently placed it before the statue.
Then, activating the Shadow Stalk Art, he sped off in the direction Formless Killing Mechanism had locked onto.