Master and Disciple

"Senior Brother, what newfangled thing have you made this time? Is this another rapid formation deployment device?"

By the Grand Pure Patriarch, Lan Ling'e had only asked that one question before her senior brother called her over, shut her inside a wooden cage, and turned her into the lab rat for this "technical achievement."

The wooden cage stood over a man tall. Its main body consisted of thirty-six Falling Thunder Wood poles bound together, with a layer of fine, colorful "iron" mesh wrapped around the inside.

Since the Falling Thunder Wood had been pieced together and tied up, the cage looked somewhat shabby.

A seven-colored long needle hung above the cage, while below it was a hexagram ring forged from Thunder-Containing Seven Divine Irons. Yet this was not any sort of formation, nor did it bear any restrictions. It was simply shaped like a hexagram.

When Qi Refiners passed tribulation and became immortal, they could not use formations to resist it. The lightning of heavenly tribulation ignored all formation barriers.

Acquired magical treasures could possess many wondrous uses, relying mainly on the restrictions inscribed inside and outside them.

After many years of research, Li Changshou had confirmed one thing—the principles behind restrictions and formations were actually the same. Both used fixed "symbols" and "patterns" to draw upon spiritual energy; they merely differed in complexity, simplicity, and scale.

Restrictions condensed upon magical treasures; one could regard a magical treasure as a single formation foundation. Most relied on a Qi Refiner pouring immortal power into them to activate the restrictions and unleash tremendous might.

Formations used formation foundations as nodes, allowing spiritual energy to flow between them, mainly borrowing the power of Heaven and Earth.

Though the two shared the same principles, their paths of development were completely different.

Advanced acquired magical treasures could often integrate a complete set of restrictions into an area no larger than a fingernail.

The power of formations, meanwhile, was often directly proportional to the area they covered, and they pursued harmony with Heaven and Earth in order to borrow Heaven and Earth's might.

Therefore, although Li Changshou excelled at formations, he was not skilled in artifact refinement.

There was nothing to be done about that. He had cultivated immortality for only a hundred and twenty years or so. Ever since he had become able to go without sleep, he had rarely slept. Cultivation, alchemy, poison refining, formations, and all those miscellaneous pursuits all demanded enormous amounts of time.

He wished he could split each day's twelve double-hours into twenty-four, but his years of cultivation were ultimately still too few. He had to make choices among his "side professions"; he could not possibly master everything.

Returning to the matter of resisting heavenly tribulation.

Heavenly tribulation ignored formations, and it also ignored the vast majority of defensive magical treasures. Only certain rare treasures could weaken its power. Innate Spiritual Treasures and supreme treasures were not worth discussing—they were simply too rare.

But Li Changshou possessed an advantage no one else had—Nine-Year Compulsory Education.

This wooden cage he had made was that "Faraday Cage" from his high school physics textbook. It was used for lightning protection and often appeared in certain pleasing electrical performances.

Li Changshou had nearly forgotten all the principles behind it, but he had not remembered the construction incorrectly. It should have been like this.

Li Changshou instructed Ling'e, "Don't touch any of the mesh around you."

Ling'e shuddered inside the wooden cage. Standing on a wooden board beneath her feet, she looked pitifully at her senior brother. "Senior Brother, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"Just don't move," Li Changshou said calmly. He drew several talismans from his sleeve, casually tossed them ten zhang above the wooden cage, and pointed at them from afar with his left hand.

With several cracks, lightning fell from a clear sky.

Several bolts struck directly upon the Falling Thunder Wood above the cage. Fine electric arcs instantly lit up across the "iron" mesh around it, while the Thunder-Containing Seven Divine Irons below immediately dispersed the lightning and conducted it into the earth...

Lan Ling'e, who had been crouched in a ball with her head covered, slowly raised her head. She looked left and right in astonishment, then let out a string of praise.

"What kind of treasure is this? It can actually withstand lightning."

Li Changshou said blandly, "This is a Mage Birdcage... Stay inside a while longer. I'll increase the intensity and give it a try."

"Senior Brother! Better not... Ah!"

Before Ling'e could finish, Li Changshou had already pulled a stack of yellow paper talismans from his sleeve. With a surge of dharma power, he threw them above the wooden cage.

The talismans summoned bolt after bolt of lightning, filling the sky with crashing thunder as they blasted down toward the cage below!

In an instant, electrical light surged wildly. Flocks of birds took flight from Lesser Qiong Peak, while spirit beasts everywhere grew restless with fear...

Practice proved that the Mage Birdcage worked quite well. The only question was whether it would be blasted apart when facing a true heavenly tribulation.

As long as it could help his master withstand the first heavenly lightning bolt, the rest would be easier.

"Come out. You've worked hard."

Li Changshou called to her as he began considering ways to reinforce the wooden cage.

Ling'e could not help complaining, "Senior Brother, wouldn't it be the same if you put a fish in there instead?!"

"I wanted you to have some Sense of Participation too," Li Changshou said with a smile. "In helping Master pass his tribulation, both of us have contributed a little."

Ling'e immediately pursed her lips, raised a hand to smooth the hair by her ear, and softly asked, "Senior Brother, are we going to keep testing it?

My cultivation is low, but I can still do this sort of thing."

"You can't stay inside for the next test. As you said, go find a wooden bucket and catch a fish."

Li Changshou took out several long ropes radiating five-colored brilliance and continued working with his head down. "The lightning we test next will be too powerful. If it strikes you directly, you definitely won't be able to endure it."

Ling'e agreed, turned, and hurried toward the lakeside. Avoiding her master, who was meditating within a Soundproof Barrier, she leaped onto the lake and strode across the waves.

A short while later, lightning once again flashed over Lesser Qiong Peak...

Such commotion continued for three full days. Outsiders merely assumed someone here was cultivating a Lightning Method, and no one paid it any attention.

It was not until Old Daoist Qi Yuan awoke from meditation and turned over with a satisfied expression that black lines instantly covered his wrinkled forehead.

The lakeside clearing that had once been carpeted in green grass and graced with pleasant scenery had somehow become a massive black pit. His two disciples were squatting at the bottom, tinkering with an oversized birdcage...

Qi Yuan sighed helplessly and scolded, "Why aren't you two cultivating properly? What are you fooling around with down there?!"

"Master! You're awake!"

Lan Ling'e called out excitedly. "Senior Brother made a treasure to resist heavenly tribulation for you! We've struck it with lightning dozens, even hundreds of times, and the fish inside is still alive!"

Li Changshou added, "Master, please wait a moment. This item will be finished very soon."

"Oh?" Qi Yuan's expression shifted. He immediately wanted to go down and see what strange new treasure his eldest disciple had been tinkering with.

But just as the old Daoist moved his foot, his expression suddenly changed. He stared at the eastern sky, his body frozen in place.

Lan Ling'e looked up and asked, "Master, what's wrong?"

"Alas," Qi Yuan said softly, standing with his hands clasped behind his back. "The heavenly tribulation has arrived."

Those four words instantly wiped the smiles from Li Changshou and Lan Ling'e's faces.

The two hurriedly jumped out of the pit and looked where their master was staring. A mass of gray-black clouds had appeared in the eastern sky and was rushing toward Du Xian Sect.

"Ling'e, hurry!"

Li Changshou immediately said, "Take this cage to the tribulation ground Master selected in the back mountain! You must bury the six Seven Divine Irons beneath it in the soil!"

"Yes!"

Lan Ling'e directly hoisted the "Mage Birdcage" onto her slender arms, mounted a cloud, and hurried toward the back mountain, completely forgetting any concern for an immortal maiden's image.

At this moment, Li Changshou was even more anxious than his master. He immediately pulled a brocade box from his sleeve and rushed before Qi Yuan.

"Master, this is a precious medicine this disciple refined with every bit of his effort.

It... it can allow Master to withstand one bolt of heavenly tribulation. After the first bolt has passed, if Master feels unable to resist the next one, take it immediately."

Old Daoist Qi Yuan looked at Li Changshou with a smile, his gaze flickering slightly. He said in a low voice, "Keep this precious medicine for yourself, to use when you pass tribulation in the future. There is no need to waste it on your master."

"Master!"

Li Changshou dropped straight to his knees before Old Daoist Qi Yuan, stuffed the brocade box into his hands, and urgently said, "Master raised this disciple, taught this disciple for a hundred years, guided this disciple onto the path, and never made any harsh demands of this disciple.

This is the only thing this disciple can do for Master. If Master refuses to accept this precious medicine, this disciple will destroy it right now!"

Qi Yuan only gave a bitter smile. "Why must you do this? Does your master not know his own condition?"

"Oh, right, this disciple has eleven more!"

Li Changshou immediately changed his approach. "This disciple can swear upon the Great Dao that there are absolutely another eleven identical pills, and each Qi Refiner can only use one of these precious medicines!"

Old Daoist Qi Yuan immediately hesitated. "Truly?"

"Absolutely true!"

"Very well." Qi Yuan took the brocade box in hand. "Come, let's go to the back mountain. Don't let the heavenly tribulation destroy our home."

The gray clouds flying in from the east had now reached Du Xian Sect.

Li Changshou hurriedly summoned a white cloud, pulled his master aboard, and shot toward the back mountain.

"Master, conserve your dharma power.

Oh, right, Master, do you have enough pills on you?

You can use all kinds of pills during tribulation. Have you prepared healing pills and pills to restore Vital Energy?

Why has this heavenly tribulation come so suddenly, without any warning at all?!"

"I have, I have." Old Daoist Qi Yuan smiled as he looked at Li Changshou before him. In his heart surfaced the image of that reserved, somewhat helpless little boy from when he had first brought him up the mountain...

In the blink of an eye, so many years had passed.

Though that child's path later became a little wild, he had ultimately grown up and become capable.

Qi Yuan had spent Lesser Qiong Peak's final reserves on him, because all he had truly wanted was for him to become immortal safely...

"Changshou.

If your master cannot withstand the heavenly tribulation, Lesser Qiong Peak will be entrusted to you.

If the sect wishes to reclaim our Lesser Qiong Peak, do not obstruct them. Follow the sect's arrangements. I have already asked several fellow disciples I know well; they will take you and Ling'e to cultivate on other peaks."

"Master, you will definitely pass the heavenly tribulation!"

Li Changshou said firmly, "Have confidence! You absolutely cannot lose heart now. This is a trial granted by the Heavenly Dao. Once you pass it, the sea will be broad and the sky vast.

If living beings do not struggle for that Thread of Life, why walk this world at all?

Every desperate situation contains a Thread of Life. Only by struggling within desperation can one survive!"

Old Daoist Qi Yuan immediately sighed and smiled bitterly. "My good disciple, since you understand these principles, why are you usually so cautious and timid?"

Li Changshou said in a grave voice:

"This disciple has never forgotten for even a moment the principles Master taught.

This disciple's caution is only to avoid falling into desperate situations."

They soon reached the back mountain of Lesser Qiong Peak. Ling'e was continuously waving from a forest clearing. Li Changshou pulled his master down, shoved him into the newly completed wooden cage without another word, and then lowered his head to hurriedly inspect whether the birdcage had been positioned properly. He took out a pile of porcelain bottles and threw them into his master's hands. Finally, he shut the wooden cage, grabbed Ling'e, and rapidly flew backward.

The gray clouds had already appeared above Du Xian Sect, shrouding it in darkness.

Li Changshou shouted, "Master, resist with all your strength!

You must use that precious medicine after the first bolt of heavenly tribulation!"

Qi Yuan nodded solemnly, raised his head toward the Tribulation Cloud, and waves of dharma power surged around him. His sleeves and the hem of his Daoist robe fluttered without wind.

Ling'e shouted, "Master, you can definitely do it!"

"Your master must also fight for himself this once!"

Old Daoist Qi Yuan raised his head toward the sky, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.

One struggle—for Heaven's decree!

Suddenly, a dragon roar descended from the clouds. A thousand-zhang azure dragon covered in blazing crimson fire scales burst from the gray clouds, and its dragon claw smashed fiercely against the Mountain Protecting Grand Formation.

Light rippled across the Mountain Protecting Grand Formation. The surrounding peaks trembled slightly, while thunderous rumbling spread through the earth!

At the same time, a deep, booming voice descended from the sky!

"Whoever is in charge of Du Xian Sect, come out and answer!"

Wait!

An azure dragon? Calling out?

These gray clouds were also outside the Mountain Protecting Grand Formation. They did not possess the trait of ignoring all formations...

Though there was pressure, upon careful sensing, it was not Heavenly Might...

"Eh? Isn't this Master's Tribulation Cloud..."

Lan Ling'e tilted her head. Li Changshou could not help raising a hand to his forehead, while Old Daoist Qi Yuan's mouth twitched repeatedly inside the Mage Birdcage.

The old Daoist silently turned around and slowly crouched down.

Grand Pure above, this time he had truly disgraced himself beyond all measure!