Chapter 87
The center of the heavenly tribulation cloud, which had been suppressing the atmosphere, flashed.
At the center of the pitch-black clouds, the lightning tribulation condensed and lightning qi gathered.
As if the entire sky were taking a breath, the air was pulled in, the wind died down, and the leaves stopped moving.
“Now.”
Baek-Cheong began to Infuse Qi into the Five Elements Banner according to each attribute.
Wood, fire, Earth, metal, water.
In the calculated order, the Five Elements Qi was infused into the Five-Colored Cloth, carrying its role and direction.
And the Glyph Talismans attached to the chests of the Five Elements Golems emitted light all at once.
Source, Main Body, Boundary, Anchor, support.
The foundation of the Five Elements Formation activated, deploying the Formation across the entire Clearing.
Finally, she sent the principles of the Lightning Glyph into the White Cloth and Black Cloth.
“Lightning Dispersion, Illusionary Form, Remaining Essence.”
The principle of peeling away the outer shell of the form and leaving only the essence melted into the qi of the Metal Element and Water Element.
The Metal Element drew a thin line across space.
The Water Element poured down along the line.
The two energies collided at the center of the Five Elements Formation.
BOOM.
Right on time, the lightning tribulation struck down from high in the sky.
From the hole in the center of the heavenly tribulation cloud, a blinding streak of lightning tribulation plummeted toward the Supreme Clan Head’s Hall, shaking the Earth.
A thunderous roar that seemed to swallow heaven and Earth echoed across the mountains and rivers.
Crackle.
And in that exact instant, lightning erupted from the center of the Five Elements Myriad Lightning Formation as well.
The lightning created by the Formation fell from the empty air, and the accompanying thunder was completely drowned out by the thunder of the lightning tribulation pouring from the sky.
There was not a single inch of error.
It was worth calculating it in her head over and over again.
“It worked.”
But there was no time to savor the success.
Right after the lightning erupted and the thunder subsided.
Two types of qi were divided over the Clearing.
Outside the Formation, the qi of the lightning tribulation lingered.
The aftermath of the lightning tribulation that had struck from the sky scattered and drifted through the air like threads.
It was a vast, overwhelming power from a realm untouchable by humans.
On the other hand, inside the Formation, the lightning qi created by the Five Elements Myriad Lightning Formation remained.
The primordial principle of compressing qi that was scattered to the extreme in all directions and releasing it into a single point in an instant.
It was an artificial lightning qi reproduced through a Formation.
Although it was a time close to a fleeting instant, Baek-Cheong clearly felt the difference with her entire body.
‘It’s definitely different.’
The lightning tribulation was the Judgment of Heavenly Dao.
Lightning qi was the primordial form of the lightning tribulation dwelling within the Judgment of Heavenly Dao.
The two shared the same root, but their levels were completely different.
She had managed to peel away the outer shell of the glyph and manifest lightning qi using Lightning Dispersion, Illusionary Form, Remaining Essence, but…
In the face of the phenomenon of the lightning tribulation, her own lightning qi was infinitely feeble.
It was true that she had peeled off the shell, but she couldn’t say she had reached the essence.
Within the lightning tribulation, there remained a deep part she had yet to touch.
“Just a little more…”
Baek-Cheong wanted to observe it a little more deeply.
The feeling that she could more clearly realize the difference between the lightning tribulation and lightning qi lingered in her mind.
However, the time permitted by the lightning tribulation was merely an instant.
The qi of the lightning tribulation did not stay; it was in the midst of scattering.
Diluting at an invisible speed, the faintly grasped enlightenment faded away like sand slipping through her fingers.
“I lack the capability.”
She struggled to hold onto the edge of enlightenment, but her depth was lacking.
As a result, a bitter taste seemed to linger in her mouth.
If she could look into it in more detail, her enlightenment regarding lightning qi could advance another step.
Baek-Cheong raised her head and looked up at the sky.
But the heavenly tribulation cloud was scattering as if it had finished its duty the moment it poured out a single strike of lightning tribulation.
The mass of pitch-black clouds that had filled the sky dispersed, and warm sunlight shone down.
“The heavenly tribulation is already over.”
Unlike the major heavenly tribulation her father had undergone when leaping from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Core Formation stage.
Because, as a Core Formation cultivator, it was a minor Boundary crossing from the middle stage to the late stage, the lightning tribulation ended with a single strike.
In the end, she had no choice but to wait for the next opportunity.
“Still, there was a harvest.”
Just clearly realizing the difference between the lightning tribulation and lightning qi was a valuable experience.
Previously, she had only watched the lightning tribulation from the outside, but this time, she had placed her own created lightning qi and the Heavenly Dao’s lightning tribulation side by side and compared them.
She had grasped the outline of the sensation, however faintly.
She thought she would be able to look deeper into it at the next opportunity.
‘Let’s clean up.’
Baek-Cheong hurriedly withdrew the Formation.
She retrieved the qi of the Five Elements Banner in reverse order and swept off the talisman papers on the chests of the Five Elements Golems.
The fragments of the talisman papers, which had burned to ashes from deploying the Formation just once, crumbled in her hands.
She also stored the Five Elements Golems one by one into her Storage Platform.
Cheong-Roe, Jeok-Roe, Geum-Roe, Baek-Roe, Heuk-Roe.
Finally, she put the Five Elements Banner inside and tied the Storage Platform around her waist.
“Quickly, before anyone catches me.”
She had to return before the time when everyone’s attention was focused on the Supreme Clan Head’s Hall was over.
Leaving the Clearing, she hurried her steps as she descended onto the Mountain Path.
Pushing through the branches and taking the downhill slope, she headed toward the Clan.
When she had calmed her breathing and come down to where people were visible
The foot she was about to step forward with stopped on its own.
Pacheon Sword Saint, wearing a shabby robe, stood among the trees as if he had been watching from the very beginning.
She had been caught red-handed at the scene, with no way out.
‘I’m in big trouble.’
Baek-Cheong squeezed her eyes shut, as if trying to hide her head.
There was no way to hide the fact that she had used lightning qi.
The traces of lightning qi remaining in the spot where she had deployed the Formation wouldn’t have completely disappeared yet.
Moreover, Pacheon Sword Saint was someone who could see through things that other Nascent Soul Cultivators couldn’t even detect.
He would have read not just the traces of lightning qi, but the traces of her deploying lightning qi directly upon the Formation.
No excuse would work.
“At this rate, will I be dragged off to the Heavenly Sword Sect and forced to learn a Sword Formation deployed with lightning-warding bamboo…?”
Silence flowed for a while, creating an awkward atmosphere.
Soon, Pacheon Sword Saint opened his mouth in a calm tone.
“Lightning qi is a Heterogeneous Qi. It is of a different lineage from the Five Elements and Yin-Yang, so if you deploy its qi, it is bound to stand out.”
Baek-Cheong slightly opened her closed eyes and examined Pacheon Sword Saint’s expression.
It was his usual dry, emotionless face.
“Next time, conceal it properly.”
And his words ended there.
No interrogation, no reprimand, and no solicitation followed.
“…Am I not being made his Disciple?”
Baek-Cheong was inwardly bewildered.
Continuous doubt followed his attitude of covering up her mistake.
Soon, Pacheon Sword Saint lightly raised his right hand.
He leisurely waved his hand in the empty air.
It was an unremarkable movement.
However, Baek-Cheong noticed a minute change through her Spiritual Perception.
Something she hadn’t perceived until now disappeared, suddenly revealing a void in the qi.
“A Barrier?”
Pacheon Sword Saint had withdrawn the Barrier he had set up.
As the Barrier disappeared, the outside momentum rushed in all at once.
The heavenly tribulation cloud was in the midst of scattering, but the momentum of the Heavenly Dao was still laid out across the area.
The coercion of the Heavenly Dao remained, as if pressing down on the ground.
And inside the Barrier, that coercion hadn’t been felt at all.
“The inside and outside were divided with the Barrier as the starting point.”
Only after the Barrier was lifted was the difference starkly felt.
Outside, the momentum of the Heavenly Dao was suppressing the atmosphere, while the inside of the Barrier was completely free from the Heavenly Dao’s momentum.
Because the Barrier was there, she had been able to avoid the Heavenly Dao’s detection even when deploying lightning qi inside the Formation.
“When he said to conceal it…”
She finally understood the meaning of concealment that Pacheon Sword Saint had spoken of.
It wasn’t limited merely to avoiding the eyes and ears of people.
It was meant to conceal it from the Heavenly Dao as well.
The lightning qi she had enlightened to was an energy originating from the Judgment of Heavenly Dao.
If a Cultivator peeked at the lightning tribulation, it could offend the Heavenly Dao.
Pacheon Sword Saint knew this fact, and had been watching after blocking even the gaze of the Heavenly Dao with a Barrier.
Realizing this fact as well, Baek-Cheong looked up at Pacheon Sword Saint.
But Pacheon Sword Saint had already disappeared without a trace.
“What in the world is the Sword Saint…”
She couldn’t understand why Pacheon Sword Saint was so favorable toward her.
The fact that he had set up a Barrier meant he had been watching her since before she deployed the Formation.
Even though he had been watching from the beginning, he neither stopped her nor scolded her, but instead protected her by blocking the momentum of the Heavenly Dao.
It was a consideration that went far beyond the duties of a Master, not to be explained merely by an alignment of interests.
However, reading Pacheon Sword Saint’s intentions was beyond her capabilities.
There was something questionable about viewing it as unconditional goodwill.
She could only faintly sense that some grand scheme was intertwined, but she wasn’t in a position to see through the true nature of that grand scheme.
“The matter he needs to handle before ascending to the Soul Formation stage.”
The real reason Pacheon Sword Saint was touring the Continent using the excuse of finding a Disciple.
The thought crossed her mind that it might be connected, but she decided to just let the thought pass.
Because no matter how much she pondered over something with no answer, it would only give her a headache.
Another thought suddenly intruded into her mind, which had been briefly lost in contemplation.
“Wait.”
Baek-Cheong paused and looked up at the sky.
The scattering remnants of the heavenly tribulation cloud were being carried away by the wind.
“Grandfather!”
Between observing the lightning tribulation and lightning qi, and getting caught by Pacheon Sword Saint, she had completely forgotten the most important fact.
Her grandfather had just undergone a heavenly tribulation.
Since her grandfather was originally such an incredible person, she assumed he would be safe, but she couldn’t be relieved until she confirmed it herself.
She ran urgently down the Mountain Path.
Her hem caught on branches and her feet tripped over stones, but she ran without caring.
She exited Baeknyeon Mountain and headed toward the Supreme Clan Head’s Hall.
.
.
.
People were gathered in front of the Supreme Clan Head’s Hall.
The Clan’s Family members and retainers were gathered and murmuring, and the figures of her uncle, mother, and father could also be seen.
At the same time, the condition of the Supreme Clan Head’s Hall caught her eye first.
Beyond the Eastern Region, half of the building had collapsed.
The roof had caved in, pillars were broken off, walls were cracked, and debris was scattered everywhere.
‘To think it’s this bad.’
It was because it wasn’t an ordinary lightning tribulation.
The lightning tribulation that fell during a minor Boundary heavenly tribulation of the Core Formation stage was different in scale from the start.
A single strike of the lightning tribulation had enough power to blow away half of a building located far away.
However, the collapsed building wasn’t a problem.
In the Cultivation World, if Cultivators set their minds to it, they could rebuild it in a single day, so the condition of the building wasn’t important.
“What about grandfather?”
Baek-Cheong squeezed her way through the people.
The gazes of the Family members were gathered toward the collapsed Eastern Region.
At that moment, a presence stirred from beyond the debris.
And her grandfather revealed himself, pushing through the debris of the collapsed Eastern Region.
Not a single speck of soot stained his robe, and his momentum had deepened by a layer compared to before.
Seeing him step over the debris with a nonchalant gait, the Family members burst out with sighs of relief.
Her father and uncle also stepped forward and bowed their heads in greeting.
“As expected of grandfather.”
Baek-Cheong felt relieved inwardly and let go of her worries.
To a Core Formation Old Ancestor looking toward the Nascent Soul stage, a minor Boundary lightning tribulation would have been nothing more than a light trial.