Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 44 Two Souls

The silence in the temple was broken.

Holding a wand, an old abbot walked out and looked at the thunderbolts with a stern face, his lips slightly trembling.

The little monk next to him was looking at the sky with a worried look. The extremely dark clouds gathered in the sky as if a storm was brewing. Associating with what happened in the imperial city, he asked worriedly, "Master, is there any demon at work?"

The abbot twisted the wand slowly and immediately said, "Wake up everybody and evacuate them first. I will go to start the temple's formation!"

"Yes, Master." The little monk was leaving under orders.

A voice suddenly came, "No need."

In the dark and depressive evening, a petite figure with fierce murderous intent walked over, whose black outfit just perfectly displayed her curvy body shape. Her straight legs were slim and tight, and her footsteps were noiseless. Meanwhile, her black hair swept back in a ponytail with the red string was blowing in the wind.

"Your Highness..." The abbot was surprised to recognize the young girl and greeted her with clasped hands before his chest.

Zhao Xiang'er also curtsied to the old monk who was quite prestigious in the imperial city, saying seriously, "Leave this place to me. You just bring your disciples out of the temple."

After saying that, she just turned around and left without saying anything else. She jumped up agilely and leaped onto the eave by leveraging some force from the tripod before the stairs.

The gale blew on her face. She looked in the direction of the thunderbolts and puckered her lips with a stern face.

In the light waves of the thunderbolts, a young man in white just walked in there dauntlessly.

Zhao Xiang'er confirmed the direction. With her heart full of doubts, she stepped on the wet roofing tiles steadily nonstop, rushing toward the center of the heavenly tribulation against the gale.

Ning Changjiu was standing under the thunderous light. All the thunderous clouds gathered above the temple. As to the other places than the imperial city, the sky was clear. They were even shone with moonlight. However, the thunderbolts had gathered and formed a pool, waiting for the ordinary mortal to transcend it with his body.

"Stop it. What are you doing?" A woman shouted. It was Lu Jiajia dressed in white. When the thunderous clouds gathered here, she and Zhao Xiang'er had got here together.

Ning Changjiu didn't look at her. He just gazed at the thunderous clouds attentively, saying, "Help me look after my fellow disciple."

Lu Jiajia was startled to hear that. With a frown, she struck a flash of sword light at the position where the thunderbolts gathered. She jumped up and dashed through the clouds and thunder, seeming to stop Ning Changjiu with her sword.

Lu Jiajia said, "You've used up your cultivation base. If you withstand the thunderbolts forcibly with your body, you will be smashed into pieces for sure."

Amidst talking, Lu Jiajia threw the sword into the thunderbolts but her sword was quickly swallowed as if the water dripped into the abyss.

Lu Jiajia's face was ghastly pale. She stared at the thunder with her eyes full of disbelief.

Among the immortal sects outside the secular world, if any grand cultivator at the realm of Long Life entered the realm of Purple Court, it would be a rare delight throughout the whole sect because, for cultivators, the thunderbolt tribulation was just like a timely rainfall, which was greatly beneficial for forging the body and training up the soul. During the thunderbolt tribulation, all the other cultivators could stay at the edge of the thunderous pool or stay closer to the center and take advantage of the grand cultivator's breaking through the realm according to their own realms.

However, this thunderbolt tribulation...seemed quite unusual.

Even though Lu Jiajia suffered a fall of the realm, she was still a cultivator at the realm of Long Life. Nevertheless, her sword move couldn't affect the thunderbolts at all.

Then, she heard Ning Changjiu say something unbelievable, "The thunderbolts are coming for me."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Lu Jiajia said with a frown. In history, quite some masters would withstand the thunderbolts for their disciples. Breaking through the realm would only trigger astronomical phenomena. How could there be any thunderbolt tribulation exclusive for anyone?

Ning Changjiu had guessed so before he woke up. Now that he saw Lu Jiajia's sword swallowed, his thought was finally confirmed.

The reason was quite simple. His existence violated the law of the universe.

The cultivators of the immortal sect could have their souls refined when the thunderbolts came but they didn't know that outside the immortal sects, many reclusive cultivators of the evil path would all choose to stay far away after noticing the arrival of the thunderbolt tribulation.

The reason was evident. The universe believed that they violated its law and all the violators would be thunderstruck as the punishment.

For the first time, Ning Changjiu felt so uneasy. Ning Qinshui's cultivation base had been exhausted by him but he still had got something else in his body to rely on. That night, all the evils and ghosts that flooded into his body had been refined into the pure aura these days. Yet, he was always discreet. Even when he fought with the demonized Ning Xiaoling for an hour, it was still not laid bare.

However, now, he suddenly felt that even if he exerted all his cultivation base and used up his aura, he would simply end up being smashed into pieces.

Man proposed, God disposed.

He never expected that his existence should trigger such violent heavenly rage.

In the thunderous pool, the lightning buzzed piercingly and the central part of the thunderous clouds started to sink. A vortex surged from within and the electricity gathered towards the center along the trajectory of the vortex and eventually formed a purplish-blue thunderbolt.

A flash of strong light shone from the center and the gale came with the sizzling electricity. Lu Jiajia, holding the sword with one hand, protected herself with the sword intent. Her white clothes were rustling in the wind. She struck several sword moves in a row but none of them could approach the central area.

"Changjiu..."

Outside the temple gate, Ning Xiaoling finally tore off the cocoon around her. With a pale face, she stumbled out of the room and tripped while crossing the threshold. With a bang, she threw herself on her knees. As the gale blew on her face, due to no cultivation base for now, she was thrown backward and fell back into the room.

On the hall building, Zhao Xiang'er slightly bent down and sank her lower body. Releasing the force with two legs, she leaped among several eaves and rushed towards the center of the thunderbolts against the wind.

Among several leaps, she landed at the door of the hall and looked ahead. Overwhelmed by the tempestuous thunderous pool, the dark clouds gathered whirling and shrinking towards the center, just like an eye of the evil. Within the eye, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled nonstop. Only by one glance, the extreme pressure could be felt.

Amidst the thunderous light, a young man in white standing there was vaguely seen.

A flash of purplish-blue thunderbolt struck him. The moment he touched the thunderbolt, the young man with his hands held high suddenly sank and his bones fractured with a c***k. Faint purple waves spread from the center, just like the tides submerging the banks nonstop. Standing with the sword, Lu Jiajia slashed off the extra thunderous light.

Zhao Xiang'er was in shock. This heavenly tribulation was tough beyond her imagination. Why wasn't it the young girl called Ning Xiaoling who was resisting the heavenly tribulation but an unknown Taoist priest?

Somehow, the Taoist priest managed to weather three thunderbolts reluctantly. The turbulent airflow caused by the thunderstorm collided with the huge copper bell as high as two men's height in the temple. The deep bell-ringing sound mixed with the thunderclaps would almost burst the eardrums of anyone within and cause his seven apertures to bleed within an instant.

"Changjiu..."

Suddenly, she heard a young girl mumble feebly.

Zhao Xiang'er looked back and found that the 64 candles of the temple were put out and thrown over on the ground, leaving the wax oil spilled around. Besides, a young girl with messy long hair and weak breath struggled to get up from the ground, shouting for her fellow disciple nonstop.

Zhao Xiang'er became stern. She drew the sword out of the umbrella smoothly and pointed at Ning Xiaoling with a whoosh.

"No," Lu Jiajia shouted behind her and stood before Ning Xiaoling.

Lu Jiajia took a look at Ning Xiaoling and helped her up, saying, "She is not a fox spirit now. There is no reason for killing her."

Zhao Xiang'er said coldly, "The evil seed is not destroyed yet. It will come to life sooner or later. If I spare her life today, what about the future?"

Lu Jiajia said, "I've taken her as my disciple. When I bring her back to the immortal sect, I will beg the sovereign to help deal with the latent risk."

Zhao Xiang'er stared at the petite young girl who was only about 13 or 14 years old. Her sword tip was slightly trembling.

Zhao Xiang'er said, "What if I insist on killing her?"

Lu Jiajia's eyes were determined. "Now, thanks to Ning Changjiu, the imperial city is waived from a calamity. If the evil seed in her body came around and she entered the realm of Purple Court before, what power else could stop her in the imperial city now?"

Zhao Xiang'er snorted and didn't bat an eyelid at all. "I would find a way out regardless."

Lu Jiajia said, "Now, her fellow disciple is suffering the tribulation due to the imperial city. By emotion or by reason, you can't hurt her anyway."

Zhao Xiang'er bit her lip, with her eyes glistening. She always believed that the disaster of the imperial city was the test her mother arranged for her. Everything went well at first but she still made a mistake due to negligence. As to the mistake, she should have amended it by herself but when she arrived late, she found the crisis had abated and that the young man who saved the imperial city was at the edge of everlasting perdition at any time.

She took a deep breath and the gale surging from behind was blowing her dress as if an invisible hand pushed her forward and made her stab Ning Xiaoling with the sword to put a complete end to this matter.

"I'll spare your life for now."

Eventually, she snorted and moved the sword away. With the sword put behind her back, she walked to the thunderous light.

She must find out who the young man that ruined her test was.

However, the thunderbolts didn't cease. Maybe when the thunderbolt tribulation was over, the young man would be completely smashed.

Holding the young girl in her arms, Lu Jiajia pointed at the middle of her eyebrows to put her into a coma. She was afraid that the young girl would have the suppressed demonic nature awoken upon seeing her fellow disciple's dead appearance.

The thunderbolts dropped as if the rain fell.

Amidst the thunderous light, a blurry figure stood like a withered tree but he was still acting.

Zhao Xiang'er raised her eyebrows and wondered whether the young man was still alive.

She hesitated for a moment and eventually opened the umbrella to support herself to walk forward with difficulty.

...

Ning Changjiu didn't know how he hung on until now.

The evils and ghosts refined by him had been burned off by the first three thunderous flames.

He introspected what he had done with self-mockery. Having racked his brains in scheming, he reckoned that everything was under control. However, he only had lived for a few days when death was around the corner again. He wondered whether he would really die this time or be reincarnated by luck again...

In the face of great danger, people would be forced to think extremely fast.

When complicated thoughts flashed across his mind and another flash of serpent-like electricity struck at the top of his head just like the hammer that hit the stakes into the ground. The tremendous pressure made his hair stand on end and all his blood seemed to boil and burn. Amidst the extreme heat, he felt that his head was extremely heavy while his body was weightless.

The moment the thunderous light struck, it seemed a pair of eyes suddenly opened in the depths of his soul.

Ning Changjiu raised his head. Illusively or not, amidst the thunderous light, a vague figure looked at him aloofly and yet gently. It was a person wearing the billowing Taoist robe.

Next to the figure, there was another figure slightly shorter, who was also staring at him with a confused face.

Standing in situ in a daze, Ning Changjiu couldn't think of anything for the moment, even not sure whether he was dim-sighted.

Only the outlines of the two figures could be vaguely seen against the light.

Yet, it was still enough.

Because he could never recognize the two faces wrongly.

One was him in his prelife and the other one was the current him.

They were both Ning Changjiu.