Rong Yi’s sword sheath slapped the esteemed head of the Demon Lord.
“What are you making a fuss about? Can’t you see the child is about to cry?” she scolded.
This slap was not light at all. Even though the Demon Lord had tough skin, in the cultivation world, a sword hitting the Demon Lord’s head carried more political implications than actual harm.
The demon generals instantly tensed, and even the cultivators involuntarily became nervous.
“Sss—Ouch!”
The people listened complexly as the Demon Lord cooed with a teasing tone, “Rong Rong, you’ve changed, you don’t love me anymore!”
Rong Yi, knowing barely anyone could see her anyway, and as long as she didn’t feel embarrassed, the embarrassment belonged to someone else’s principles, tapped him again.
However, this time she didn’t use much force; it was more like teasing.
She looked at the silly smiling Demon Lord and sighed helplessly, “Don’t forget why we are here! Are you really going to waste time conquering the world?”
“About this,” the Demon Lord sat on the ground and started talking to his sword without paying attention to others, “In these years, I’ve read many books. Now thinking back, perhaps subconsciously I was seeking this kind of opportunity.”
As they listened, everyone became more confused. Yin Yue, suppressing her anger, asked, “What are you all talking about? And me? What about me?”
The Demon Lord raised a finger, indicating for her to be quiet, “Calm down, young man, soon you will become a part of me, and all your negative emotions will be transmitted to me. This way, no one will feel uncomfortable.”
With that, he stood up, dusted off his clothes, revealing a deceitful smile, “Friends! I have a dream!”
Rong Yi interjected, “… Don’t be like this, you are jumping on the edge of plagiarism and infringement.”
The Demon Lord replied, “I have no intention to take over the cultivation world!”
The demon soldiers and generals were taken aback.
The Demon Lord continued, “My father, the previous Demon Lord, fell in the heavenly tribulation of ascension, his body and soul returning to the heavens and earth. I want to ask all of you in the cultivation world, how many great cultivators have successfully ascended in these years?”
The cultivators looked at each other. Indeed, among the cultivators who were still alive, in their lifetimes, they had never encountered a successful ascension.
Ascension, the ultimate goal of cultivation, was also a myth passed down through generations of cultivators—a myth existing only in legends.
Many cultivators’ predecessors often fell short when facing the tribulation.
They believed it was due to their cultivation not reaching the pinnacle state. As long as they worked hard enough, everyone had the potential to ascend!
However, the reality was that even though ascension had a one in a million chance, among the millions of cultivators, not a single one had ascended.
“After my father’s departure, I was deeply saddened, studied various classics, and discovered a secret.”
“Regardless of whether it is the demon race, human race, or monster race, as long as they aim for ascension through cultivation, in nearly a thousand years, there have been no recorded ascendants.”
“Yet, in the past thousand years, the overall spiritual energy of the world has increased.”
“Where did the massive energy of the great beings who were nearing ascension for a thousand years go?”
He cupped his hands as if holding a spherical shape, “Like a balloon, they kept flying and flying, until they reached a place with no atmosphere, the internal and external pressures imbalanced, poof! They exploded!”
Supreme Palace Master: “What is a balloon?”
Ning Dan: “What is the atmosphere?”
Demon Lord: “That’s not important. What is important is that the ultimate destination for cultivators is to ascend after tribulation, but the final result of ascension is failure in the thunder tribulation, with spiritual energy returning to heaven and earth.
“In this world, we are treated as batteries, deceived into cultivation in such a way, only for our hard-earned cultivation to be harvested in the end!”
Seeing the expressions of the cultivators and demons starting to waver, Zhong Zhi Ming immediately spoke up:
“Everyone, to be honest, I am a practitioner of two lifetimes.”
With these words, everyone looked towards him hidden in the crowd.
As the treasure of the Heavenly Question Sect, the vast Immortal Lord held weight in the eyes of both worlds.
“In the last life as well, those cultivators who diligently practiced alongside me ultimately failed in the thunder tribulation. So, in this life, I choose to remain hidden, unwilling to let all my hard-earned cultivation be lost to the world.”
“This is a world that devours people!”
Amidst the astonishment, the Supreme Palace Master clapped lightly, the sound resonating clearly in everyone’s ears, causing them to involuntarily quiet down.
Rarely dropping his casual demeanor, he solemnly asked, “What does the Lord mean?”
Though bound by golden chains, the Demon Lord remained serene as if seated in a demon palace, pointing to the sky with a pair of horns on his head, emitting a seemingly clear aura akin to a Buddha’s.
In the most straightforward tone, he uttered the most shocking words: “I will challenge the heavens.”
The Supreme Palace Master was slightly taken aback: “Did the Lord mean—”
“Over these years, I have been studying relevant texts with an idea in mind. But without the assistance of all fellow cultivators, this is impossible.”
“Please clarify, Demon Lord,” said the Supreme Palace Master.
The Demon Lord proposed a bold plan. He discovered that the closest moment to ‘heaven’ was when heavenly tribulations descended during cultivation.
According to him, these tribulations “appear inexplicably; when thunder strikes on a clear day, it’s because the heavens intend to strike, whether we like it or not.”
By tracing back from where the heavenly thunder originates, he aimed to find ‘heaven,’ which was the core of his entire plan.
In recent years, there had been no cultivators nearing the tribulation stage in both worlds. However, with voluntary participation, cultivation could flow between two practitioners like currency.
If a consensus could be reached to concentrate cultivation on a few individuals to swiftly meet the requirements for tribulation, then the Demon Lord, at the quasi-Golden Immortal level, would trace the source of the thunder tribulations—
“Even as a quasi-Golden Immortal, you cannot challenge the heavens alone!”
Someone in the crowd voiced a doubt.
“That’s correct. But I am not alone.” With confidence, he glanced behind him. In the darkness, the armor of demon soldiers reflected a chilling light.
“Opposing the heavens, seizing the opportunity and spiritual energy from heaven, brothers, do you wish to join this war?”
The demon lords exchanged glances.
While the notion seemed absurd, the innate challenge and adventure of the demon race nearly ignited their blood.
Opposing the heavens was far more exhilarating than conquering the world of cultivators!
Ning Dan tightened the large axe in his hand and slowly squeezed out a word from between his teeth: “…Yes.”
Gradually, more and more voices joined in: “Imagine!”
“Respected Lord! We battle against the heavens!”
“Pierce a hole in the sky!”
Satisfied, the Demon Sovereign turned around. Even though he had been living a mundane life for so many years, his understanding of the demon clan had already penetrated into his bones.
High risk, high reward. Such an exciting prospect was bound to stir the hearts of all the demon clan, who were all essentially gamblers at heart.
“I will select ten of the most experienced demon generals in battles. The rest will evenly share their cultivation with them to aid in their ascension. I will personally oversee the transfer of cultivation and have them pledge a blood oath. Regardless of success or failure, be it life or death, the cultivation will be returned in the same proportion once this matter concludes.”
He smiled as he looked towards the Supreme Palace. “Of course, we demons are only driven by self-interest and must use such means for restraint. The cultivation world has always been filled with righteous gentlemen, but you all can do as you please.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, laughter erupted among the demon clan. The sarcasm in those words was almost tangible.
The Supreme Palace Lord, thick-skinned as ever, was not angered. He smiled and said, “Demon Sovereign, what a splendid method. I will suggest spreading it more widely among them.”
Feeling relieved, Rong Yi understood that this meant the cultivation world had already accepted the Demon Sovereign’s plan.
With the Supreme Palace’s support and the presence of the Immortal Venerable of the Heavenly Question Sect, along with the backing of other players, this plan was essentially unimpeded.
In the end, many NPCs in the demon realm were reluctant to share their cultivation, but with the assistance of the blood oath in the demon realm, they set aside their doubts and treated this matter as a significant investment.
Ultimately, Zhong Zhi Ming and Raymond became the two ascendants of this plan among the players in the cultivation world. After discussing with the demon realm, they set a date and, on a clear day, pledged a blood oath and accepted the cultivation of other players and NPCs.
Dozens of people ascended together. Such a grand event naturally attracted thunder tribulations from the heavens.
On that day, dark clouds rose suddenly, pressing down on the heavens so heavily that it seemed they would collapse.
The first to sense something unusual was Rong Yi. As a soul, she was more sensitive to the flow and temperature of the air.
Standing behind a group of ascending candidates, she felt a tingling sensation throughout her body.
Then, the mount of the Supreme Palace Lord, a white deer, raised its short fur on its body. The white deer nervously tapped its hooves.
It was static electricity.
The air was filled with static electricity!
“Raise your defenses!” she shouted loudly to Yin Yue and the Demon Sovereign. The two identical individuals, acting in sync, quickly deployed their prepared lightning protection devices to shield the onlookers.
“Boom!”
Rong Yi had never seen such lightning before—not the usual branching bolts, but a thick bolt descending from the sky like a huge building, blinding her almost instantly!
The ascendants displayed their abilities and fought against this unprecedentedly mighty thunderbolt, slowly ascending towards the sky as they battled.
The Demon Sovereign and Rong Yi exchanged a glance. They were not ascendants, but with one at the quasi-Golden Immortal realm and the other being a soul, as long as conditions allowed, they could ascend unhindered.
Equipped with lightning-repelling beads, the Demon Sovereign, with Rong Yi closely following by his side, ascended along with the others being lifted by the thunder tribulation.
Along the way, numerous ascendants fell from grace as they could not withstand the thunder tribulations.
One by one, the demon generals screamed in misery as they fell from their side. With fewer and fewer people, gradually, only Zhong Zhi Ming, Raymond, and the struggling Ning Dan remained.
As they climbed higher, Rong Yi felt it getting increasingly difficult, probably due to the thinning air.
They had entered a realm of robbery clouds, surrounded by flashing lightning within the clouds.
Raymond was covered in black soot, blood streaming from his ears and nose, looking almost like a miner who had escaped from a coal mine. He clutched the wound on his abdomen where the lightning had struck, shouting in pain, “How much longer!”
Zhong Zhi Ming, with higher cultivation and more experience, didn’t look as miserable. He looked up at the sky, squinting, “…We’re here.”
With the words “we’re here,” the dark clouds were suddenly left behind them, and a clear sky lay before them!
Rong Yi tidied his hair, which was floating around due to static electricity, and let out a long breath.
Raymond gasped, “Have we… successfully ascended?”
The Demon Lord furrowed his brow, “It’s highly unlikely… Be cautious.”
Before he could finish speaking, a thunderbolt appeared out of nowhere and struck towards him at a speed that no one could react to!
Except for the Demon Lord.
He swiftly threw a lightning-deflecting bead onto Raymond, which shielded him just as the lightning was about to touch his skin.
However, this was heavenly thunder, and the bead could only partially block it. Thirty percent of the lightning struck Raymond’s heart.
Rong Yi panicked, trying to reach out to him, but being a spiritual being, Raymond convulsed and passed through her outstretched arms.
“Ray―”
The Demon Lord raised his hands, lifting him with an unseen force, and sent true energy to soothe his heartbeat.
Raymond gradually calmed down.
Zhong Zhi Ming, being a doctor, examined him and concluded, “This is probably why no one survives the thunder tribulation. Even if one breaks through the cloud layer, they will still be crushed by such unexpected lightning. The will of heaven does not want anyone to successfully overcome the tribulation; to it, the thunder tribulation is just energy that it can use to exhaust the tribulator.”
The sky here had a lighter color than seen from the ground, with clouds beneath their feet and nothing above, as if they were in a void.
The Demon Lord observed around, meditated for a moment with closed eyes, then pointed in a direction, “Here.”
They flew in that direction, with Rong Yi keeping an eye on the static changes, timely warning them of the arrival of celestial thunder. The group narrowly flew through the void for nearly an hour, with the thunder tirelessly chasing them.
Suddenly, the Demon Lord at the forefront stopped.
He reached out in front, and Rong Yi suddenly felt a change in static, shouting, “Be careful!”
A lightning bolt burst out from directly ahead, and the Demon Lord agilely dodged it.
The speed of the advancing thunder was extremely fast, and they almost never knew where it came from.
However, just now, everyone clearly saw—the thunder was conjured out of nothing from that very spot ahead.
The Demon Lord continued to press forward persistently, and he actually touched something solid.
He bent his fingers, attempting to tap it.
“Tock, tock.”
A sound like a metallic door being knocked resonated in the void.
Author’s Note: A salute to “The Truman Show.”
