Concentric Life and Death Tribulation

In the woods, Li Jiusheng turned around and looked at the Fox Woman, who was fully dressed, pale, and unsteady. He asked, "This is where Shangqing Palace's Scripture Repository Pavilion is located. How did you get here?"

"Shangqing Palace's defenses are much more lax now than they were four hundred years ago," the Fox Woman said weakly.

Four hundred years ago!

Li Jiusheng's pupils contracted slightly. As if realizing something, he scrutinized the Fox Woman and thought, Indeed. "You are the wife of the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land."

Previously, Li Jiusheng's comprehension had seized a wisp of aura and traced back to the past. He had seen the wedding battle between the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land and the Fox Woman. Back then, the Fox Woman was stunningly beautiful and powerful. Although she still lost to Emperor Wu of Zhou, she had still caught his eye.

The woman before him, who had given birth in the woods, was pale, haggard, and middle-aged. It was hard to imagine she was the same Fox Woman who had astonished the world with her beauty back then.

"As expected, I didn't come all this way for nothing," the Fox Woman said, her emotions stirring as Li Jiusheng recognized her. She coughed up blood, her aura growing weaker.

"The Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land said you were trapped in Luochuan Sect's Demon Refining Tower for several hundred years. Now that you're free, why aren't you finding a place to hide, cultivate, and recover your strength? Why come here?" Li Jiusheng asked.

The Fox Woman smiled foolishly, "Because he is here."

Then, her eyes welled up with tears. "I sensed his aura on you. You've seen him, haven't you?"

Li Jiusheng nodded gently. Under the Fox Woman's expectant gaze, he recounted everything the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land had done after appearing.

Especially the fact that the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land's sword strike was primarily aimed at rescuing her.

"He has already taken the first step," the Fox Woman cried after listening. Tears streamed down her face, her aura becoming illusory. Her body, already extremely unstable from childbirth, seemed to be reaching its end. Her seven massive tails had vanished and could no longer be maintained.

"You mustn't grieve too much, or your life will be in danger. What's the situation with this child?" Li Jiusheng asked with concern, not wanting the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land's widow to face further misfortune.

The Fox Woman wept as she explained, "After being captured and thrown into the Demon Refining Tower, I was bound by Emperor Wu of Zhou's law chains. Day and night, I was tortured by lightning, fire, and earth flames. He wanted me to reveal my plans for entering the Old Land. Heh, I told him I just wanted to use the methods of the Old Land to improve myself, and incidentally, I fell in love with a man. He didn't believe me. He thought the love between a man and a Fox Woman was just a story from a ballad, something those poor scholars wrote to deceive the masses. He thought I was hiding something and tortured me day and night. It was then that I discovered I was pregnant. But in the Demon Refining Tower, with lightning, fire, and earth flames daily, this little life would suffer the moment it was born. I couldn't let his only descendant be harmed, so I used all my cultivation to suppress her growth and used a secret technique, my own life, to improve her physique. After several hundred years, my cultivation was exhausted, my lifespan depleted. Just as I couldn't hold on any longer, he came to save us, mother and daughter."

"That sword strike broke open the Demon Refining Tower, and my daughter and I escaped. But I had no time left. I felt his ethereal, fleeting aura in the heavens and earth. Using my last ounce of strength, I crossed ninety thousand miles to come here. I wanted to give birth to our child in the place where he last appeared and follow him."

Tears streamed down the Fox Woman's face as she spoke. Her words were filled with genuine emotion, and her love for the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land was evident, moving even Li Jiusheng. Love, a concept he had never experienced and for which he had no answers before, was now witnessed firsthand, leaving him deeply shocked.

"I have burned through everything. I don't have time to watch this child grow up. I hope you can take care of her. I've modified her with the secret techniques of the fox tribe for hundreds of years, and she also carries her father's Sword God talent. Her future achievements are limitless. If you can't take care of her in the future, please send her to the Outer Realm Fox Tribe civilization. She will become a new legend among the fox tribe," the Fox Woman pleaded. She struggled to get up and kneel, startling Li Jiusheng, who immediately sent a stream of True Qi to form a large hand, preventing her from kneeling.

"I will raise this child. Where she wants to go in the future, I will respect her own wishes," Li Jiusheng said with a heavy heart.

The residual soul of the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land had just departed this world, and his wife was about to follow him. The little fox would be orphaned from birth. No matter what, Li Jiusheng would raise her until she grew up.

"Thank you, thank you..." the Fox Woman said gratefully. She cast a reluctant glance at her sleeping daughter, kissed her, and then handed her to Li Jiusheng.

Li Jiusheng took her. Inside the swaddling clothes was a snow-white little fox, so white it seemed almost ethereal to Li Jiusheng. What surprised him even more was that the little fox had nine tails behind her, each the size of a finger, drooping weakly.

A Nine-tailed Demonic Fox!

Although he hadn't interacted with the fox tribe, Li Jiusheng was aware of the fame of the Nine-tailed Demonic Fox. No wonder the Fox Woman said she would become a new legend among the fox tribe.

With the child cared for, the Fox Woman's last breath dissipated. Her body became increasingly illusory, and her consciousness began to dissipate first, emitting her final sigh: "From now on, no one can tear us apart again."

In the woods, the Fox Woman dissipated, her body turning into specks of light, like fireflies in the dark night, brief yet brilliant. She died in the same land and the same time as the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land's final moments.

Li Jiusheng watched this scene unfold, from the dissipation of her form to the return of all things to the void. Darkness enveloped the woods, and it was as if nothing had happened, like a dream. Only the Nine-tailed White Fox in his arms told Li Jiusheng that he had just witnessed a love that transcended life and death.

[You have witnessed the most beautiful love, the most sincere love. Your heart is stirred, filled with immense envy, and you sense the Concentric Life and Death Tribulation.]

Li Jiusheng frowned and said, "My heart is stirred, but I don't have immense envy."

Perhaps a little envy at most.

A memory, like a flowing stream, entered Li Jiusheng's consciousness. He began to examine it.

[Concentric Life and Death Tribulation] This is not a powerful technique, but a spell used by ancient lovers to become Dao companions.

Once both parties sign the Concentric Life and Death Tribulation, they cannot abandon, harm, or separate from each other. Whatever the heart desires, it shall achieve; whatever the heart resents, mountains and seas shall separate them.

However, as this spell became widespread, many people who did not love each other, or did not understand love, signed the [Concentric Life and Death Tribulation], leading to various tragedies. This spell was gradually abandoned. Truly loving couples were not bound by a [Concentric Life and Death Tribulation], and those who were not in love did not want to be shackled.

Later, some cultivators modified some of the rules of the [Concentric Life and Death Tribulation], turning it into a bridge of mutual trust between Dao companions.

For example, when exploring a secret realm together, what if one party is unsure of the other?

[Concentric Life and Death Tribulation].

By signing this, for a short period, both parties would be like husband and wife Dao companions, unable to harm each other. Only after the stipulated time expired and the [Concentric Life and Death Tribulation] disappeared would they guard against each other.

Since this modification, the abandoned [Concentric Life and Death Tribulation] was revitalized.

However, with the passage of time, it eventually disappeared into the river of history. He never expected Li Jiusheng to comprehend it now.