What Kind of Logic Is That

Precisely because he had been utterly convinced that a cultivator like himself would face the standard sevenfold thunder tribulation in proper sequence, the first tribulation he had prepared for was the Fire Cloud Thunder Tribulation.

The heavenly fire and thunder force within the Fire Cloud Thunder Tribulation were ordinarily not especially powerful. For a tribulation transcender like him, the greatest threat was instead the heat contained within that heavenly fire. Thus, when the first golden tribulation cloud appeared, the magical artifacts he brought forth were all meant to make him feel a little "cooler" amid the Fire Cloud Thunder Tribulation's heat.

The less capable one was, the more one had to mind the details.

He had put on no fewer than three icy robes capable of warding off heat.

Who could have known that the tribulation clouds looked perfectly normal, yet the first wave of lightning to descend would actually be such an Exotic Thunder Tribulation?

He had nearly been frozen straight into a frozen pear.

At the same time, in a patch of woodland at the foot of the mountain on the edge of the Heavenly Tribulation's reach, a young cultivator in an azure Dharma robe stood rigidly against the terrifying cold. The trees around him had completely withered the instant the chill erupted. As the frost continued to invade, branches frozen brittle kept falling with crack after crack, like rotten joints of bone. Thus, though this young cultivator in azure merely stood braced against the wind, he possessed an indescribably upright bearing.

"Senior Sister, are you cold?"

The young cultivator turned to look at his senior sister behind him.

A Heavenly Tribulation was, after all, a Heavenly Tribulation—especially the sevenfold thunder tribulation of a Golden Core cultivator.

The young cultivator's face had in fact already been frozen a little blue-black.

Yet his expression remained calm.

He and the young female cultivator behind him, who looked several years older than he did, were currently the cultivators closest to Old Ancestor Tong Hui.

But the instant he turned and saw his senior sister, that calm vanished.

The young female cultivator, a few years his senior, also wore an azure Dharma robe. Her features were exceptionally exquisite—the sort where every individual feature was beautiful, yet together they became even more breathtaking. Moreover, an almost sickly haze of confusion lingered in both her face and eyes, stirring an irresistible urge to cherish her.

But her posture at this moment was exceedingly strange.

She was squatting on the ground.

It looked like she was squatting over a latrine, yet not quite. When squatting over a latrine, one's feet would be spread farther apart, and one's waist would not be held as straight as hers.

"Senior Sister, what are you doing?"

The young cultivator in green was so frightened that even his voice changed. "Don't tell me you're having another episode at a time like this? You clearly even took a Purple Bamboo Pill."

"I'm not sick!"

The exquisitely featured female cultivator answered him with full force. Yet her next words were sent by voice transmission, like a mosquito's hum sounding beside the young man's ear. "I am a mushroom right now."

The young cultivator in green nearly cried. "Senior Sister, and you still say you're not sick like this?"

"Are you stupid?"

The female cultivator shot him a vicious glare. "There are too many cultivators here today. We can't possibly hide our tracks. If they think I'm in my right mind, how will they let us snatch the magical artifacts and leave later?"

"You really aren't having an episode?" The young cultivator in green eyed her suspiciously.

"Wang Li!" The beautiful female cultivator flared up. "Do you believe I'll self-detonate my Golden Core right now?"

"I believe you, all right? I believe you." The young cultivator in green was even more speechless.

A thread of scorching heat suddenly appeared within the frigid air.

A mass of crimson radiance emerged in the central region where the Ice Soul Heavenly Thunder had fallen.

Grief and fury aside, even the most mediocre Golden Core Peak cultivator was still a Golden Core Peak cultivator. He could not possibly surrender and await death without even struggling.

The slower one cultivated, the longer one generally had to prepare for tribulation—and the more thorough those preparations often became.

Old Ancestor Tong Hui brought out three fire-attributed magical artifacts in a single stroke.

To avoid conflict with the formations he had previously arranged and the magical artifacts he had already deployed in such a short time, and to instantly hold back the heavenly might for a while, fully demonstrated that even the most mediocre Golden Core Peak cultivator was absolutely no soft egg to be kneaded at will by the Heavenly Dao laws.

A round, ancient crimson mirror hovered above Old Ancestor Tong Hui's head. Though its mirror surface was only the size of a palm, it seemed connected to an underground fire abyss, madly pouring forth black Earth Fiend True Fire shaped like lingzhi mushrooms.

Although every cluster of black Earth Fiend True Fire would instantly extinguish with a hiss the moment it touched even the faintest thread of roaming lightning in the sky, a clump of extraordinarily viscous black smoke would immediately rise wherever the firelight vanished. Each clump was as large as an ordinary umbrella canopy and could remain suspended in midair for at least a dozen breaths, continuing to release immense heat throughout that time.

A piece of tattered purple cloth revolved around Old Ancestor Tong Hui. Looking closely, it appeared to be a damaged bellyband.

Cultivators also cared about the form of their magical artifacts. If a male cultivator were to bring out a female cultivator's intimate garment in ordinary circumstances, it would inevitably evoke all sorts of strange feelings and associations. But amid a Heavenly Tribulation like this, no one would care about such details.

Though this item was a damaged artifact, it still displayed astonishing might under Old Ancestor Tong Hui's control.

Great numbers of fire crows continuously surged forth around the tattered cloth, filling the air with incomparably grating cries. Those sounds had no effect on the Heavenly Dao thunder tribulation, but they made the eardrums of most cultivators far from the mountaintop ache.

The fire crows circling Old Ancestor Tong Hui seemed like genuine living creatures. Not a single thread of wandering lightning could pierce through that flock of flying fire crows.

In addition, Old Ancestor Tong Hui held an ancient white-jade coin of gentle luster in his palm. The coin emitted hazy white radiance, forming a translucent barrier around him.

True Person Baixi had already escorted a group of Immortal Seedlings to a sufficiently safe area.

As he watched Old Ancestor Tong Hui at the center of the Heavenly Tribulation, a trace of doubt had appeared deep within his eyes.

The reason Heavenly Tribulations were terrifying was not merely their dreadful might, but also their endurance.

Heavenly Tribulations controlled by the Heavenly Dao laws were famously devoid of feeling; they would only cling on relentlessly.

When cultivators faced a Heavenly Tribulation, they never needed to overpower it. They needed to be tough enough to endure.

Thus, when dealing with a Heavenly Tribulation, the most practical magical artifacts were never those with overwhelmingly destructive power, but rather those like sticky taffy, with exceptional tenacity.

They had to last a long time, while minimizing the tribulation transcender's own expenditure.

The magical artifacts Old Ancestor Tong Hui had brought out were precisely such artifacts.

To instantly produce three magical artifacts so specifically suited to the situation, Old Ancestor Tong Hui had performed far better than True Person Baixi had imagined.

The Heavenly Dao laws never created something from nothing.

Could it be that Old Ancestor Tong Hui of the Huayang Sect was actually a peerless genius who had hidden himself deeply, and that was why he had not dared undergo tribulation lightly?

"Dog shit!"

Old Ancestor Tong Hui was already roaring without cease in his heart. If he could have heard True Person Baixi's thoughts, he would likely have been unable to stop himself from coughing up blood again.

Who knew himself better than he did?

If he were a genius, then the vast majority of Golden Core cultivators in Lesser Jade Continent would all be supreme geniuses!

Before the Heavenly Tribulation began, he had still harbored a sliver of luck, wondering whether the Heavenly Dao laws might send down a slightly weaker tribulation because he was rather mediocre. But now that this Exotic Thunder Tribulation had descended, he was no longer thinking about successfully passing the tribulation. He only hoped not to die too disgracefully, not to set the worst tribulation-crossing record in Lesser Jade Continent, and not to be reduced to ashes in the very first wave of lightning.

Moreover, the Huayang Sect's reserves were truly too meager. The tribulation-crossing cultivators of those powerful sects from various continents might still have thirty magical artifacts hidden on them after using three, but fearing that this Exotic Heavenly Tribulation would kill him outright, he had brought out every suitable magical artifact on his person.

Among these three magical artifacts that were somewhat effective against the Ice Soul Heavenly Thunder, the fragment of purple bellyband had been a token of love left to him by his Dao companion years ago. If he had not truly been left with no alternative, how could he possibly have brought out even this magical artifact?

According to the Cultivation World's experience, in a normal sevenfold thunder tribulation faced by a Golden Core cultivator ascending to Nascent Soul, each wave of thunder tribulation lasted roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

Do not underestimate the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

This was by no means a leisurely prelude. It was a full-speed sprint of raging wind and torrential rain from beginning to end.

Old Ancestor Tong Hui's three magical artifacts lasted only half the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

The round ancient crimson mirror was the first to collapse beneath the Ice Soul Heavenly Thunder's battering and lashing. Following the profound, indescribable patterns on its surface, cracks rapidly spread deep into the ancient mirror. At the instant it shattered, black oil-like liquid flowed from the edges of every crimson fragment. Then, within the snap of a finger, that liquid burned away completely. The mirror fragments, devoid of all radiance, sprayed outward and fell hissing across an area several hundred zhang around Old Ancestor Tong Hui.

"What a waste of Heaven's gifts. He might as well have given it directly to me."

Watching the magical artifact shatter, the female cultivator squatting on the ground and pretending to be a mushroom offered this assessment.

"The Huayang Sect has nothing to do with our Profound Heaven Sect. Why would they give it directly to you?" Wang Li uneasily watched several threads of tribulation lightning flickering not far ahead, growing more worried by the moment. "Senior Sister, are we really all right being this close to an Exotic Thunder Tribulation?"

The female cultivator looked at Wang Li as though he were an idiot and sent him a voice transmission. "Trust me. There is absolutely no problem."

The moment she finished speaking, Wang Li's perpetually suspended heart finally lowered a little. Then a thread-thin bolt of tribulation lightning suddenly flashed before him.

With a sizzling crack, a streak of white ice crystal instantly appeared on Wang Li's azure Dharma robe.

Wang Li's face went white at once. "Senior Sister, this is what you call no problem?"

As he spoke, cracking sounds like shattering ice crystals rang out from inside his body. It felt as though his flesh and bones had broken apart like tree branches frozen beyond their limit.

Yet the female cultivator seemed to completely ignore his question. She merely looked toward where Old Ancestor Tong Hui's magical artifact had fallen and said regretfully, "That magical artifact was at least a Profound-grade high-tier artifact. Unfortunately, when this kind of vessel breaks apart, its stored spiritual energy cannot be preserved. These fragments are useless now."

Wang Li took several steps back. He felt that those words of his senior sister's were still fairly normal, but her next sentence left him utterly dumbfounded.

"When the Heavenly Tribulation eases up later, I'll tell you to charge in, and you'll charge in to gather up these fragments too."

"But... Senior Sister, if these magical artifact fragments are useless, why collect them?" Wang Li looked at her speechlessly.

Still maintaining her mushroom posture, the female cultivator sent him a voice transmission. "They are useless to us—truly useless—but they should be useful in a while."

The back of Wang Li's head turned cold in waves, and his forehead throbbed with a buzzing ache. He felt that the chill from the tribulation lightning might truly have invaded his brain. "Senior Sister, what kind of logic is that?"

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