The Duruo Spear was a silver-white spear that was originally of the Profound Thunder lineage and not part of the Celestial Thunder. However, many Celestial Thunder treasures had also been refined into it during its forging. This spear had accompanied Li Qinghong through life and death. It had been tempered by her blood and spirit, and had long since become one with her.
She stepped onto the white steps. The rumbling in the hall had ceased, but the golden rain still splattered against her skirt, making its hem tremble slightly.
"Zhang Yuanyu... the Fruition Attainment of Metal Virtue, and his surname is Zhang, he must be that True Monarch from the Golden Feather Sect."
The words of one at the level of True Monarch carried immediate magical effects. He must have fought in this hall, leaving behind echoes that, along with various visions, still reverberated, sometimes as golden rain and sometimes as white lightning.
This True Monarch of the thunder lineage might have already perished, and the white lightning that marked the beginning of his fall was incredibly dense, with spiritual lightning flowing down, brushing past both sides of her.
The grand hall’s doors were tightly shut. There were carvings of surging waters on both sides of the door. Ferocious dragon kings loomed faintly in the stormy rain and sea, and above, immortals stood calmly with hands folded behind their backs, a command token floating before them.
Below was inscribed, Falling Water, Rising Storm.
"Falling Water, Rising Storm..."
Xi Zikang had once said that the master of this hall had slain the fourth son of the True Hornless Dragon to attain enlightenment. Now Li Qinghong understood.
"Why is there this spiritual aura of Falling Water, Rising Storm? Why did Dongfang You fail to refine the Converging Water and die instead, resulting in falling water and rising storm?"
"It fits the struggle between Converging Water and Profound Thunder... The son of the True Hornless Dragon died by thunder, and from then on, whenever a Dragon Clan’s Converging Water line perished and water fell, thunder would inevitably rise."
Li Qinghong’s face brightened and darkened in turn under the silver-white lightning. All kinds of illusions gathered before her once again, and the grand hall suddenly seemed to recede into the distance, replaced by a bright moonlight.
***
Moonlight gathered before her eyes, and the white steps of the thunderpool in front of Li Qinghong transformed into a clear, bright lake. The dark green water rippled with glints of light, and pale white moonlight cascaded down as she stood among the clouds. Before her stood a middle-aged man.
His brows were long and arched, his bearing broad and composed. He wore a flowing gray robe, holding a sword and carrying another on his back, both sheathed.
His calm gray eyes turned toward her, and he spoke gently, "Qinghong, that boy from the Fei Family probably has some feelings for you. What do you think?"
Grandfather!
Her heart ached, and in her ears, her own voice from her spirited youth rang out, "I have no interest in romance and do not wish to become anyone’s wife or concubine!"
Li Qinghong realized that she had not yet faced much hardship back then. Both her elder brothers were alive, and her father and grandfather were the family’s pillars. The girl’s voice was still bright, echoing over the lake, "Though I am not a man, I too aspire to refine the six wheels and hone divine abilities, to slay immortals and demons, to guard the land and bring peace to the people. Let the red tassel of my spear move, and heroes falter and immortals bow their heads!"
Li Qinghong remembered those words but had long buried them deep in her memories. She looked at Li Tongya before her, who lowered his brow slightly, paused for several breaths, then spoke a single word, "Hard!"
Hard!
Li Tongya gave her just one word, but it carried all the decades of struggle she had faced. At the time, she had not even registered Li Tongya’s answer.
Now, as she recalled it, Li Qinghong’s eyes finally grew moist and muttered, "Hard!"
Li Yuanxiu had been murdered; Li Xuanling fell at Zhenhui Temple; and Li Tongya had slain Yu Xiaogui with his sword and perished. Later, her younger brother Li Yuanyun died an ignoble death, her second brother Li Yuanjiao died at Green Pine Temple... Li Yuexiang, Li Xuanfeng, Li Chengliao, Li Xijun... Li Qinghong was not one to show her emotions, but that did not mean she did not feel pain.
Meeting her grandfather’s gaze, which was as warm as ever, Li Qinghong’s voice grew hoarse as she softly said, "Grandfather... If the Great Dao lies ahead and there is a chance to attain divine abilities, yet the risk is nine deaths out of ten and I fear it will shake the very foundations of the clan, should I take that step or not...
"I also understand Ximing’s thoughts. On one side is the endlessly tempting path of the Dao, on the other, the interests of our brothers in the family. How can one separate the two..."
Li Tongya watched silently, as Li Qinghong’s voice grew even quieter, "Grandfather... Uncle Xuanfeng took the Human Pill... but what could we have done?
"When I was young, I thought that righteousness was righteousness, that good was good and evil was evil, and that doing good was enough.
"But now I see that we cultivators are a hundred or a thousand times stronger than mortals. Thus, doing good is extremely difficult, yet doing evil is all too easy. Yet merit cannot offset the sin of killing!
"If it could be offset, then Chi Wei, who saved millions but devoured hundreds of thousands, or saved a hundred thousand but ate one, wouldn’t he have canceled it out completely? Thus, a single crime, a single evil, is a lifelong stain..."
She spoke in a low voice, "Grandfather... it seems to me that our family today is like a boat traveling through muddy water. All things are pure at the beginning, but when things get stirred, there will inevitably be traces of mud. After a hundred years of navigating, stains have already appeared...
"I don’t wish to complain about the ways of the world, but there is certainly no such thing as a perfectly pure, spotless world. In every generation, which family is without sin? ...Is eating people only a sin when they are in your mouth? Which family’s hands are not stained with human blood?"
She slowly raised her head, her voice hoarse yet still pleasant to the ear, "Grandfather, how is it that we are always guilty? Is there truly no path in the mortal world but sin or death?"
Li Tongya before her watched her quietly, one hand resting on her head. His voice was as warm and gentle as ever, "Don’t take it too heavily, each generation does what it must..."
***
Boom!
Thunder echoed in the sky as Li Qinghong gradually came to her senses. Before her was a white stone staircase ascending into the endless void, surrounded by raging lightning.
Li Qinghong’s eyes gradually cleared as she stepped onto the final stair, its surface dense with patterns that glowed with a silver-white light.
Purple lightning flowed from her slender hand, sliding down the white steps into the Thunder Pool below. Li Qinghong held her spear pointed diagonally toward the ground, her long hair fluttering in the wind like ink dissolving in the endless purple, her eyes contrasting strikingly in black and white.
The thunderpool behind her kept surging. A middle-aged man knelt at its edge, his massive thunder-imbued axe shattered into a chaotic mess of fragments that danced on the ground under the pull of lightning. Black blood gushed from his lips, quickly turning into white lightning that rose into the sky.
Yet he lifted his head and laughed wildly, "Purple Lightning Primordial Radiance Secret Technique! Hahahahahaha!"
His laughter aggravated his wounds, and black blood spurted again, turning white in midair. Without turning his head, he transformed into lightning and shot upward, shouting loudly, "Li Qinghong! Li Qinghong...
"Above the thunder is the dragon! Above the thunder is the dragon! Thun—pfft..."
Li Qinghong turned her face slightly, the raging lightning sweeping her black hair behind her ear. Her voice was cold and pleasant, like the soft chime of a bell, "I know."
Her cyan-white feathered robe glowed with silver-white lightning. Her profile shone bright in the light, tinged with an apricot-white luster that reached her chin.
She stepped forward until she reached the front of the grand hall. Six stone slabs extended to the entrance before her. They glowed bright silver-white, with even brighter patterns blooming across them.
Nine enormous pillars stood in a row, each entwined with itself and seamlessly integrated with the main columns. Dazzling white runes soared upward, circling and leaping around the pillars.
Thread-like lightning crackled as they wove through the runes. Her cloth shoes disintegrated in the dazzling thunder, leaving her barefoot on the stone slabs.
Li Qinghong, draped in a long-feathered cyan robe, stepped across the shining white stone slabs and approached the grand hall doors. She placed a slender hand lightly upon them and slowly pushed.
Faces began to appear before her eyes, her father Li Xuanling’s steady, gentle brows; her mother Lu Wanrong’s sorrowful expression; her elder brother Li Yuanxiu’s bright profile; Li Yuanjiao’s cold and sinister gaze; Li Xuanxuan’s look of hopeful concern...
Boom!
The bright white doors emitted a sharp crack of thunder, as ferocious dragons on both sides roared. The carvings of the watching immortals slowly sank into darkness, revealing a vague purple-black glow.
Li Qinghong gazed quietly into the hall.
There was nothing inside but an endless, boundless black void. Two beams of golden light fell from the sky, illuminating her face.
A handsome youth in an immaculate cloud-patterned Daoist robe stood in the void. He bowed slightly toward her and said softly, "I am Dongfang Heyun. Daoist friend, please follow me inside."
He led Li Qinghong forward into the endless black void. His voice was clear and polite, "Daoist friend, please look."
Dongfang Heyun extended his hand into the black void. Li Qinghong looked closely, focusing her sight to its utmost, and at last, she saw countless faint white lightning currents spiraling and twisting through the darkness, stretching endlessly into the sky.
The lightning that fell from the sky came from the mouth of a pitch-black abyss. This object was unimaginably massive, extending all the way up to the pinnacle of the black void before coiling downward into the deep darkness at its base.
The two golden suns hung directly above her. She and the grand hall doors behind her were so tiny they looked like small dots of light, as they vanished in the endless purple-black void.
"Dragon!"