"A death tribulation?!" Li Xiang felt as though a heavy hammer had slammed into his heart.
He considered himself cautious, securing his footing at every step. Whether in the danger-ridden Blackwater Ancient Town, the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land where demons ran rampant, or even the Netherworld where death was all but certain, he had relied on the resources of the [Book of a Hundred Trades] and his almost cold-blooded rationality to turn danger into safety time and again.
Yet now, Ye Ducheng was telling him that he bore a death tribulation that even the Heavenly Dao could not tolerate?
And someone was secretly shielding him from it, regardless of the cost?
"Senior Ye..."
Li Xiang drew a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down as the blue glow of his [Dharma Eye] flickered wildly within his dark eyes.
"You said this body was meant to die in my place, but... why?"
"I'm just an orphan who runs a shroud shop. Even if I have some talent for cultivation, surely that doesn't warrant the Heavenly Dao erasing me?"
Li Xiang looked at Ye Ducheng and voiced his greatest doubt.
"Besides, even if someone really wants to shield me from this tribulation, why sacrifice my senior brother? What did Senior Brother Qin do wrong to deserve this torment—worse than death, his soul being assimilated by the rules?!"
A trace of suppressed anger seeped into Li Xiang's voice.
He did not fear a death tribulation. At worst, he would cleave it apart.
But he could not accept someone sacrificing one of the few fellow disciples he cared about in this world under the banner of doing what was best for him!
The feeling of having his fate manipulated in secret, even dragging those around him down with him, filled Li Xiang with unbearable