"Cough cough! Zhang s.h.i.+, the main point!"Even Ancient Sage Yan Qing could not bear looking on.
The Ancient Sage Ordeal was one of the greatest crises a cultivator would face. Even with ample Aeon of Ancient Sage, if one did not possess top-notch talent, it would be impossible to achieve a breakthrough.
The reason that Kong s.h.i.+yao was able to make a breakthrough was partly because she was allocated with a more generous portion of the resources in the Kunxu Domain due to her standing as a descendant of Kong s.h.i.+. Even though the Aeon of Ancient Sage had already run out in the other clans, they were still able to preserve a hint of it for her.
Even so, every breakthrough that she had gone through was no different from walking on thin ice. One wrong step, and she would have plunged into the abyss of despair. Yet, that fellow was telling her to treat the cultivation ordeal like a family member and show care and concern for it…
Do you take me for a fool?
Do you really expect me to accept the nonsense you are spouting over here?
"It seems like you doubt my words." Zhang Xuan shook his head.
He turned to the ominous clouds in the sky and grabbed.
A lightning bolt was immediately torn away from the heavenly retribution.
Kacha! Kacha!
The lightning bolt struggled, wanting to escape from Zhang Xuan"s grasp, but to no avail.
Zhang Xuan stroked the lightning bolt gently and said, "Good boy, good boy…"
His voice was tender, as if he was calming down an angry pet.
In the face of Zhang Xuan"s soothing strokes, the struggling lightning bolt hesitated for a moment before the tension gradually left its body. Slowly, it seeped through Zhang Xuan"s skin and entered his body.
Kong s.h.i.+yao and the others were stupefied by what they had just witnessed.
Was this really possible?
It had to be a joke, right?
"See, that"s how you do it. Love is the key to everything. Instead of resisting it, you have to embrace and allow it into you. That"s how you can win its trust and make it listen to you," Zhang Xuan explained as he flicked his wrist, and the bolt of lightning appeared once more.
He stroked the lightning bolt lightly, as if coaxing a purring cat lying on his arms.
As unbelievable the sight before their eyes was, it raised a doubt in their minds.
Was it really possible to overcome the Ancient Sage Ordeal in such a manner?
If so, why had no one done so in the past tens of thousands of years?
"Considering how powerful the cultivation ordeal is, who would dare treat it as a pet? Trust me, nothing will go wrong! Later on, after you summon the Ancient Sage Ordeal, open up all of the acupoints in your body and absorb it fearlessly. You mustn"t show the slightest hint of rejection! Remember, you must use your heart to feel the other party," Zhang Xuan explained. "As long as you are able to do all of this, I guarantee you that you won"t face any problem clearing your Ancient Sage Ordeal!"
Kong s.h.i.+yao was still a little worried.
No matter how she looked at it, the other party"s words simply sounded like pure cow manure to her…
"Do you not trust me, or do you not have faith in yourself? If you don"t believe that you are able to clear your fourth Ancient Sage Ordeal, you should just drop the idea right now and remain a Sempiternal realm cultivator for the rest of your life!" Zhang Xuan waved his hand in disappointment.
"I have always respected Kong s.h.i.+ for the great man he was, and I thought that his descendant would be as valiant and fearless as him. I guess it was wrong of me to a.s.sume that his descendant would have inherited his courage…"
"Don"t bother taunting me!" Kong s.h.i.+yao harrumphed. "Humph, the worst that can happen is death anyway. Let me tell you this—we of the Kong Clan have never feared anything before! Fine, tell me what I should do!"
Seeing that he had managed to goad Kong s.h.i.+yao into it, Zhang Xuan nodded in satisfaction. He swiftly provided Kong s.h.i.+yao with the exact instructions of what she should do after summoning the Ancient Sage Ordeal, though the crux of it was pretty similar to what he had said earlier.
After summoning the Ancient Sage Ordeal, she should not resist it. She needed to draw it into her acupoints and meridians and use her heart to feel it…
Hearing those words once more, Kong s.h.i.+yao cringed as her gooseb.u.mps rose up.
Even though it sounded like utter nonsense, she eventually decided to take a leap of faith and go along with. Gritting her teeth, she said, "I"ll give it a try!"
Ignoring Ancient Sage Yan Qing"s objection, she flew into the air in preparation for summoning the Ancient Sage Ordeal.
"Don"t do it here! Let"s find a remote location!"
Currently, they were right in the midst of the Tianxuan Kingdom, and if Kong s.h.i.+yao summoned the Ancient Sage Ordeal there, everything in the area could very well be annihilated. Thus, Zhang Xuan quickly stopped her and urged her elsewhere.
They quickly left the area, and a few breaths later, they were standing in the middle of an empty mountain range some distance away from the Tianxuan Kingdom.
Zhang Xuan and the others chose to stand at a distance of twenty li away to spectate the process.
Huhu!
Without any hesitation, Kong s.h.i.+yao drove the energy in her body to her limits and released the entirety of her aura at once, inducing the surroundings to rumble as if an earthquake was happening.
It took a mere instant for her to catch the attention of the heavens. Ominous clouds billowed as the lightning bolts and heavenly flames that had gathered around the entrance of the Kunxu Domain surrounded her, ready to tear her into shreds at any moment.
"What the…"
It was almost as if she was watching a beansprout growing insanely huge right before her eyes. Things were definitely not going the way she had expected!
Ancient Sage Yan Qing turned to Zhang Xuan and nervously asked, "Zhang s.h.i.+, can she really tame and love such a powerful cultivation ordeal?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? Of course not!" Zhang Xuan turned to Ancient Sage Yan Qing and looked at him as if he was a fool.
"Of course not?"
Hearing such a response, the crowd nearly collapsed on the spot.
Weren"t you the one who was trying to convince us just a moment ago that the power of love is omnipotent?
How can you be so fickle as to change your mind the very next instant?
"The Ancient Sage Ordeal is the heavens" punishment toward the cultivators," Zhang Xuan replied. "A sinner trying to tame an enforcer… how could that be possible? What using one"s heart to feel the cultivation ordeal and shower it with love and concern? All of that was just something I spouted on a whim!"
"Words you spouted on a whim… B-but… s.h.i.+yao is facing the Ancient Sage Ordeal… She"ll die like this!" Ancient Sage Yan Qing nearly exploded on the spot.
Even jokes should have a limit!
Kong s.h.i.+yao was the only one among Kong s.h.i.+"s descendants who had a bloodline purity of "8". If he allowed her to die just like that, he would never be able to face his predecessors!
"Calm down, I have no intention of leaving Kong s.h.i.+yao to die. Just wait and see!" Zhang Xuan a.s.sured the nervous crowd with a confident smile.
At that moment, the power building up amid the dark clouds finally reached its tipping point, and ferocious lightning bolts and blazing heavenly flames rained down upon her.
Kacha!
The sheer amount of energy formed a devastating tower of flames and lightning that shrouded everything within a diameter of several hundred meters.
"d.a.m.n it! If that fellow is able to do it, why can"t I do it too?" Kong s.h.i.+yao cursed under her breath as she felt her muscles tensing under the pressurizing might above her.
Her zhenqi instinctively bubbled within her body, ready to burst forth to fend off the devastating energy. However, at the very last moment, she forcefully suppressed every last bit of her strength.
Screw it all!
Just thinking about the smug knowing smile on his face made her boil with rage… If she really died, she will never let that b*stard off even as a ghost!
Boom boom boom!
As the pillar of terrifying energy engulfed Kong s.h.i.+yao, everyone in the area closed their eyes in trepidation, not daring to see what was about to happen. They did not think that their hearts would be able to take it if they saw the young lady being torn to shreds under the cultivation ordeal!
However, as they waited and waited, there was no desperate cry of agony or anything of the sort. Perplexed, they looked over, and what they saw left them stunned.
At that very moment, the young lady was indeed engulfed by heavenly flames and lightning bolts. But instead of desperately trying to resist this destructive energy, her acupoints were wide open as she accepted the energy into her body without any hesitation.
Unlike what most had expected, the destructive energy did not cause any damage or explode within her body. It simply sat quietly in her meridians, almost as if it had been domesticated.
This… What in the world had happened?
Everyone looked at the young man before them with indescribable looks on their faces.
Did he not just say that it was all lies? If so, what was happening?
If Kong s.h.i.+yao was able to do it… should they give it a try as well?
At that moment, the Sempiternal realm consummation Xue Yan felt deeply tempted.
"Zhang s.h.i.+…" With his curiosity getting the better of him, Ancient Sage Yan Qing asked, "Just what is going on here?"