Liu Chenyu froze for a moment, then suddenly realized something. His mouth fell open as he said:
"Breaking his core... could Changge be forming his nascent soul?"
As though to confirm his guess, Li Changge's aura suddenly surged.
Below, Xu Changxing had only just brought the surrounding thunderclouds under control when this surge of spiritual energy stirred them into turmoil again.
Streaks of lightning lashed out in every direction as the thunderclouds churned.
Seeing this, the spectating Core Formation elders hurriedly summoned their escape lights and flew backward.
While they fled, another pitch-black thundercloud gathered above the original clouds.
The moment this second thundercloud formed, it disrupted all the spiritual energy within dozens of miles.
The original thunderclouds below began rapidly collapsing, as though someone had struck a vital pressure point.
The thunder-attribute spiritual energy spilling out of them swiftly gathered into the thundercloud farther above.
Rumble!
In that brief instant, the newly formed thundercloud had already let out a roar.
The Core Formation elders who had not yet fled far felt their true essence shudder wildly under that roar.
Some nearly lost control of their escape lights.
Even Xu Changxing trembled under the muffled thunder.
He looked up in astonishment and asked, "Is this a heavenly tribulation?
"Eldest Senior Brother actually summoned a heavenly tribulation by forming his nascent soul?"
Xu Changxing was not the only one astonished. The Core Formation cultivators fleeing in the distance nearly had their jaws drop.
These Core Formation elders had never imagined anyone could cause such a commotion while forming a nascent soul.
Although core-breaking ascension was an immense transformation for a cultivator, it amounted to little in the eyes of heaven and earth.
Normally, a cultivator's core-breaking ascension would merely stir the spiritual energy a little.
They had never heard of anyone summoning a heavenly tribulation during core-breaking ascension.
"Just what sword art is this Li Changge cultivating? How could it summon heavenly punishment?
"Old Liu's disciple is an absolute monster!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down!
"If Li Changge succeeds in breaking through, he'll be a Nascent Soul patriarch of our sect.
"Sword cultivators have never been known for their good tempers!
"Careful he doesn't take a slash at you first thing after his breakthrough."
"Uh..."
While they were all discussing it, Li Changge abruptly opened his eyes.
He slowly raised his head and gazed at the increasingly imposing thundercloud overhead, his eyes shining as he said:
"It really did draw down heavenly punishment.
"So my path was right after all!
"I owe an enormous favor this time..."
Rumble!
Another thunderous roar from the clouds interrupted Li Changge's murmuring.
The corners of Li Changge's mouth lifted. "Lightning of heavenly punishment, what impressive might!
"But the sword in my hand intends to cleave this heaven and earth apart!"
An indescribable sword intent soared into the sky.
Li Changge merged his body with his sword and charged straight at the thundercloud of heavenly punishment!
Rumble!
The thundercloud high overhead seemed enraged by this tiny Nascent Soul Cultivator and roared furiously.
Countless bolts of heavenly lightning crashed down on Li Changge like a waterfall.
The thunder filling the sky instantly became the only sound in the world, drowning out every other noise.
Yet even this sky full of lightning could not obscure that single streak of sword light surging against the current.
Li Changge's sword light became a solitary boat amid the boundless sea of lightning.
No matter how violently that sea raged, it could not stop him from sailing against the current.
Under everyone's gaze, Li Changge's sword light pierced the sky-spanning sea of lightning with unstoppable momentum, then punched through the thundercloud before finally coming to a halt thousands of zhang above the ground, looking down upon the endlessly churning clouds below.
Compared with the thunderclouds filling the sky, Li Changge's sword light was smaller even than a tiny silver needle.
Yet after this "silver needle" pierced it, the tribulation cloud seemed to have been struck in a vital spot, steadily dissipating amid its violent churning.
The Core Formation cultivators below could all see that the thundercloud was still trying to gather again, but no matter what it did, it could not coalesce.
It was as though someone were constantly draining the tribulation cloud's strength.
After a long while, the tribulation cloud high overhead finally vanished completely with a roar of defiance.
Li Changge had actually passed his Tribulation Lightning in this fashion!
The sight left every Core Formation cultivator, Xu Changxing included, shaken in a way they could not explain.
When this tribulation cloud first formed, its might had struck terror into every Core Formation cultivator.
At the time, nearly everyone had thought that the newly advanced Li Changge would most likely struggle desperately through the Tribulation Lightning, with a single misstep putting him at risk of death.
No one had expected Li Changge to merge his body with his sword and confront the thundercloud head-on.
Even more astounding was that he had succeeded.
Li Changge had actually cleaved the thundercloud with his sword, passing this Tribulation Lightning in a way none of them had ever heard of.
Although Li Changge's robes were now in tatters and his aura was somewhat disordered,
the sword intent radiating from him made people afraid to look straight at him.
As Xu Changxing watched that figure pointing his sword at the firmament, he suddenly understood why, in the earlier simulation, Li Changge had swung his sword at heaven even at the cost of his life.
Because from the very beginning, Li Changge's sword light had never intended to be shackled by this heaven and earth.
What could let him roam freely had never been this shallow pond, but the boundless sea of stars.
Xu Changxing suddenly felt ashamed.
As a transmigrator, his vision was actually narrower than that of Li Changge, a native of this world.
The farthest ahead he had ever looked was merely figuring out how to survive the crisis ten years from now.
Yet Li Changge's sword light had pointed straight at the firmament from the very beginning.
At that moment, Xu Changxing suddenly understood why he could not control the unusual sword core within him.
It was not because his foundation was unstable, but because the sea within his heart was too small to contain this freely roaming sword intent.
Before this, he had never considered that he could point the sword in his hand straight at the firmament.
No wonder the harder I tried to suppress my sword intent, the more fiercely my sword core resisted.
This sword intent was never meant to be suppressed like that.
Once Xu Changxing understood, he felt an inexplicable ease fill his heart.
He stopped suppressing his sword core and instead opened his heart, allowing his sword intent to soar straight into the clouds.
Hum!
The Greenwood Sword seemed to sense its master's wishes and let out a ringing sword cry louder than ever before.
Sensing the sword light below, which faintly seemed poised to overtake his own, Li Changge smiled slightly and said:
"It was thanks to your guidance, Junior Brother, that I could freely unleash the sword within my heart and see the path ahead.
"I, Li Changge, will remember the kindness of your guidance.
"Having just broken through, I must return to my mountain and enter seclusion to stabilize my cultivation.
"Once I emerge, I'll spar with you again!"
Xu Changxing hurriedly said, "You're far too kind, Senior Brother. I benefited greatly from this exchange as well."
Li Changge did not continue exchanging pleasantries.
He turned briskly, bowed from afar to Liu Chenyu and Shi Haoyan in turn, then transformed into a streak of light and returned to his own mountain.
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