357: Chapter 1 Tribulation, A New World

The Lightning Tribulation descended from the clouds, instantly spanning tens of thousands of miles vertically, striking Meng Li precisely.

Meng Li's first reaction was not pain, but confusion.

The Lightning Tribulation attacked not only his Physical Body, which belonged to the essence category, but also his Soul, which belonged to the spirit category.

The moment it struck him, the sound of thunder, carrying majestic heavenly might, exploded in Meng Li's mind. The roaring shock left his mind blank, with only a sliver of clarity remaining. Relying on instinct formed through multiple simulations, he mobilized his True Qi to circulate the foundation-casting method within the Carefree Wandering Wind, fusing his essence, Qi, and spirit.

Only when the blankness in his mind dissipated did Meng Li belatedly perceive the sensation brought by the lightning striking his body.

Pain!

Intense pain!

His entire body was in agony!

It felt as if his entire skin had been sliced open and peeled away with a blade, and the sensation of pain erupted in an instant.

Stimulated by the terrifying pain, Meng Li's sensory acuity increased dramatically. He noticed that circulating the foundation-casting method was effective, and his essence, Qi, and spirit Fusion took a step forward.

He wanted to accelerate, but soon, this pain was replaced by numbness.

Meng Li's perception encountered an obstruction.

Before he could adapt or check his own condition, another Lightning Tribulation descended.

The sound of thunder exploded, and Meng Li's mind once again fell into blankness, followed by pain.

This time, he felt as if someone was scraping the flesh from his entire body. He sensed that as the Cultivation Technique circulated, his essence, Qi, and spirit Fusion took the second step.

In the next instant, he fell into numbness again.

Not long after, the third Lightning Tribulation descended.

Meng Li's mind went blank, and the subsequent pain felt as if all the meridians in his body were being pulled out. His essence, Qi, and spirit Fusion took the third step, followed by numbness.

The fourth Lightning Tribulation arrived.

Meng Li's mind went blank again, and the pain that immediately followed was like having the bones in his entire body hammered.

His essence, Qi, and spirit Fusion took the fourth step, followed by numbness!

The fifth Lightning Tribulation.

His head went blank, the pain was like having his marrow sucked out, and the Fusion took the fifth step.

Numbness!

The sixth Lightning Tribulation!

Blankness, indescribable excruciating pain, the Fusion took the sixth step.

Numbness!

The seventh!

Meng Li became numb.

The eighth!

Meng Li: "..."

The ninth!

Meng Li's consciousness plunged into darkness.

...

After an unknown amount of time, Meng Li's consciousness recovered clarity, and he discovered he had transformed into—a fish!

A Yin and Yang fish, interwoven with flowing black and white colors!

He was in a bizarre and unknown river.

The reason it was called an unknown river was because he could not see its boundaries. The concept of a 'river' was known to him from the mysterious void. What flowed within was not water in the conventional sense, but countless scenes resembling fleeting lights and shadows.

Some were complete, some were broken, some were clearly visible, and some were hazy and indistinct.

The river thus appeared bizarre.

But no matter what, these light and shadow scenes flowed ceaselessly, so much so that Meng Li could only see a tiny fraction of it.

When he was attracted by some scenes and swam to chase them, he immediately noticed something strange about himself.

When chasing downward from his starting position, Meng Li found that the light color of his body shone outward, but his form dispersed, and a sense of weakness arose. When swimming upward, the opposite occurred: the light color was contained and dim, and his form became more solid, clearly growing stronger.

Discovering this, Meng Li swam upward without hesitation.

During the swimming process, he distinctly felt himself growing stronger.

After becoming strong to a certain degree, Meng Li captured a flash of spiritual light from the mysterious void, and his mind fell into a profound state of enlightenment.

Breaking and then establishing, moving towards death to find life...

During this process, he was both dreaming and awake, and swimming upward became instinct.

After swimming for an unknown time, Meng Li exited the state of enlightenment and vaguely saw light in the distance, with a human figure within the light, beckoning to him.

He was instantly drawn to the figure and swam toward the other party.

When he got close, Meng Li had a sudden inspiration, activated what he had comprehended, and plunged headfirst into the light.

Unexpectedly, this light was like a quagmire; he couldn't pass through with a single plunge. He could only swim forward bit by bit.

In the process of swimming, the black and white colors interwoven on Meng Li's body shone brilliantly.

When the light dissipated, the Yin and Yang fish vanished, replaced by a ten-year-old child.

Just then, the human figure that had been beckoning to Meng Li in the light lunged over and shot into Meng Li's body.

Meng Li noticed this but had no time to react.

Because in the next second, he broke free from the range of the light and encountered—a lightning strike!

...

A rainy day in a dense forest.

A short old man lay on the ground, his face contorted in pain, shouting at a young girl.

"Act, Feng Baobao!"

"Act!"

"Even if there were no battle today, this old man was already nearing the end of his life."

"To be able to eliminate some scourges for Chu Lan and those descendants of Jia Shen in my final moments, this old man is already fully satisfied."

"Hurry up and act, Feng Baobao!"

"Do I have to beg you?!"

The girl named Feng Baobao's eyes flickered slightly. With her left hand, she grabbed the old man's collar and lifted him up. Her right hand formed a blade shape, and she pierced the old man's chest with one palm strike, then let go.

The old man felt the pain dissipate, his face showing relief. His body lost support and fell weakly to the ground.

"Chu Lan... I leave him to you!"

After saying his final instructions, the old man closed his eyes, and his life force vanished.

Watching all this, Feng Baobao remained expressionless.

The tall, thin man standing beside her sighed and said, "A Wu, let's go."

Feng Baobao nodded.

Just as the two turned to leave, a crack of thunder descended from the sky, striking a spot not far away and blasting a large pit in the ground.

The tall, thin man was startled and instinctively shielded Feng Baobao, dodging to the side.

Only when he confirmed that no more lightning was coming down did he pat his chest with lingering fear, then turned to look at the dead old man, saying with surprise and uncertainty, "What kind of background does this person have, that even after dying, he provokes the heavens to get angry?"

Feng Baobao tilted her head and pointed at the large pit created by the lightning strike: "There's someone in that pit."

The tall, thin man's face immediately showed shock.

He remembered that the location of the pit was empty before. Now, after the lightning strike created a pit, there was a person inside. This...

Either there was someone buried underground at that spot previously, or that person was struck by lightning and transported here.

Whichever the answer, the person in the pit was not simple.

At this moment, Feng Baobao suddenly darted to the edge of the pit. After clearly seeing the person inside, she beckoned to the tall, thin man: "Gou Wa Zi, it's a boy, and he's still alive."

The tall, thin man, seeing this, was first surprised, then, as if realizing something, sighed helplessly. He walked to Feng Baobao's side, peered into the pit, and indeed saw that it was true.

"What should we do?" Feng Baobao asked.

The tall, thin man stroked his chin and thought for a moment: "Let's take him back and see what happens when he wakes up."

Saying this, he jumped into the pit, hoisted the child onto his shoulder, and then easily leaped out of the pit.

"A Wu, let's go."

"Okay."