Chapter 89: Chai Xiaoyue’s Tribulation Crossing and Transformation

Red Cloud departed with the baleful pill bestowed by the Wolf Clan Demon King of the Howling Moon.

After refining only a small portion of it, the baleful aura within the soaring cloud wings finally reached the very peak of the Nirvana Realm, unable to advance even a hair farther.

By ordinary reasoning, a breakthrough from Nirvana to Butterfly Transformation would certainly summon a thunder tribulation.

Yet somehow, before he had even noticed it, the tribulation energy in his body already seemed to have reached the level of Butterfly Transformation, and still no change had occurred.

It was merely his strength that had risen to the Butterfly Transformation level, a classification based on baleful energy; that system was no longer suitable for him.

How could something be called a thunder tribulation if no thunder had ever fallen?

But that did not mean the same held true when he pushed the baleful energy within his body to Butterfly Transformation.

A moment ago, when he made even the slightest movement, the sky above his head had begun to churn.

Knowing that this was not the best time for a breakthrough, he simply suppressed his impatience and decided to seek out the next place where tribulation energy gathered.

He ascended into the high heavens, and only when he could rise no further did he look down below, his eyes deep and profound.

Under the power of his Tribulation-Insight Eye, the tribulation energy in his vision blazed like torches, shining over the lands of the Precious Bottle Realm.

After briefly comparing it with the map of the Precious Bottle Realm he kept in his heart, he understood at once.

There were four places left—two in demon territory and two in human territory.

When he went to verify the locations of the tribulation energy, he was startled, his brows tightening slightly.

If he was not mistaken, two of them were precisely in the Demon Emperor Forbidden Land of the demon race and in the imperial capital of the Great Martial Dynasty of the human race.

For such tribulation energy to appear in those two places was truly intriguing.

Could it be that the secret above the Butterfly Transformation Realm in this world lay within these tribulation energies?

Red Cloud pondered this in his heart, and for a time he could not make up his mind. If this conjecture were true, gathering them all would be rather troublesome.

Once he obtained the tribulation energy shaped like a kidney from one of them, his strength would likely be comparable to that of the Butterfly Transformation Realm.

But if, after collecting three of them, he still could not match the Demon Emperor or the Supreme Emperor of the Great Martial Dynasty, how was he supposed to obtain the remaining tribulation energies?

Could it be that he would have to tear apart every small secret realm and every place where baleful medicine grew, and turn the minute traces of tribulation energy within them to his own use?

I am afraid that aside from those five, the tribulation energies scattered across the world would not amount to even a tenth or a twentieth of any one of them.

If that were the case, then he would have to return to the path of cultivating baleful energy...

As he speculated on every possibility in his mind, he did not know that the world itself had already begun to change.

...

In the nation of half-demons, at the residence of the Great Demon Commander.

The Mountain-Splitting Demon King sat in the main hall, glancing from time to time toward the quiet chamber in the distance, worry etched across his face.

Outside the hall, the two crow demons were even more tense, scarcely daring to breathe.

"Ho... how long has it been?"

"About nineteen hours by now. Earlier, Miss broke through in one breath to the peak of Condensed Baleful Energy, but then said she had a feeling she could break through again, and without looking back she went to break her realm once more."

"Yes, it's been so long, and Miss still hasn't come out..."

At that moment, the two demons fell abruptly silent.

In the sky above, baleful energy gathered, condensing into clouds as the tribulation clouds began to spread densely.

The next instant, Chai Xiaoyue actually flew out from the quiet chamber, looking up at the tribulation clouds overhead with those empty eyes of hers, saying nothing.

As though provoked, the tribulation energy raged and brewed wildly, then fell in bolts one after another.

Boom, boom, boom—

Seeing this display, the Mountain-Splitting Demon King lowered his eyes, his expression dark as still water.

The force of this tribulation cloud did not look the least bit like the Tribulation of the Treasure Body. It was outrageously powerful, truly absurd.

And when this round of thunder tribulation finally dissipated, Chai Xiaoyue's figure gradually emerged.

Above her head rose a strange manifestation that swallowed all of the lightning tribulation whole.

When the light within it faded and the form of the manifestation was revealed, every pair of eyes widened in astonishment.

The shape of this manifestation was actually a huge wicker basket.

"Second Crow, don't you think this manifestation looks a little familiar?"

The two crows nearly cried out on the spot, their eyes slowly filling with shock.

"I only know that the cultivation art Miss practices was passed down by the master, but this manifestation ought to share the same origin as that art. How could it be such a thing?"

"You ask me? Then who am I supposed to ask?"

Second Crow looked at the wicker basket in the sky, resisting thunder tribulation with ease and yet unscathed, and for a moment his throat went dry.

"You know how formidable the master is. We cannot fathom him.

Even the subsidiary methods he passed to us were not meant to be used as our principal cultivation art. How could I dare presume to divine the master's intentions?"

...

How many bolts of this thunder tribulation were there again?

In the sky, Chai Xiaoyue listened to the rumbling thunder and counted carefully.

After it had raged for a while, the oppressive feeling finally ceased, granting her a moment of respite.

She did not regulate her breathing, but simply waited in silence for the tribulation to gather again.

When it fell once more and cracked the wicker basket formed by the manifestation, she hesitated briefly, and with a slight stir of thought, she took out a small mirror.

The mirror rose up, faintly gleaming with light, and then transformed into the figure of Mirror Seven, who withstood seven or eight bolts of tribulation lightning head-on.

After the mirror fell away, a little stool flew out next, followed by a flute, a zither, and even a box of rouge, candied hawthorns—varied manifestations rising one after another until at last they repelled the thunder tribulation completely.

When the pure tribulation energy descended, she hurriedly recalled the manifestations and landed on the ground.

Seeing this, Crow One and Crow Two flapped their wings and gathered all the tribulation energy, sending it surging toward Chai Xiaoyue.

When she came to her senses again, the two demons were already before her, their voices overflowing with delight.

"Congratulations, Miss, on breaking through to the Treasure Body Realm!"

The two spoke in unison. Just as they were about to offer a few words of flattery, the Mountain-Splitting Demon King appeared beside them, and all those words were instantly swallowed back.

His tone was calm, impossible to read for joy or anger.

"Why did you try to break through directly to the Treasure Body Realm?"

"I don't know why, but Xiaoyue feels that realm breakthroughs have become much easier. Just now, so long as I had the thought of breaking through, I could draw down thunder tribulation."

Hearing this, the Mountain-Splitting Demon King did not press further on the matter, but instead changed the subject.

"What exactly is going on with that manifestation of yours?"

Manifestation?

Chai Xiaoyue heard this and, not quite understanding, still raised her hand and summoned the wicker basket again.

The delicate little wicker basket manifestation floated in her palm, and her voice rang with delight.

"This manifestation is the wicker basket Uncle Yun carried me in back then. As long as I think of something, I can take it out from inside, and it can all become a manifestation..."

After saying this, she did not care about the other party's expression. Something seemed to occur to her, and she went on:

"By the way, Master, for some reason I feel that breaking through realms has become much easier..."

...

At the same time, in the Precious Bottle Realm.

Many who had not yet entered the Postnatal realm stepped into it.

Cultivators who had long been stuck at the Postnatal and Innate realms, unable to advance even a fraction, happened to circulate their techniques and actually broke through.

There were also some cultivators who were close to breaking into the Condensed Baleful Energy Realm; for a moment, even their bottlenecks seemed to loosen considerably.