Chapter 25 Past Events (Part 2)

  Bai Miao Dao: "The Yun Qing Men and the Xue Ying Jiao slaughtered each other for two days and one night, with countless deaths. The master of the Lei Shan sect personally led his troops to arrive, defeating the Xue Ying Jiao, which also left a regrettable place in the Wu Shang Jiuxue Formation. However, the evil people were despicable and shameless, the leader of the Xue Ying Jiao led part of the ten major evil factions' high-ranking officials and strange soldiers to directly enter Dong Zhou and take Yun Qing Men, the master led the remaining disciples of Yun Qing Men to fight back, finally defeating the evil faction and beheading the leader of the Xue Ying Jiao, but the master was also seriously injured and could not be cured."

  "The current leader's father, the Cloud Clear Sect's law enforcement elder disciple, was ordered to contact various sects and factions, abandoning their traditional hostile attitude towards the Demon Cult. Finally, they formed an alliance with the Demon Cult. The Demon Cult disciples killed their way into the Azure Mystic Realm, directly attacking their lair. Meanwhile, the Orthodox Sect and scattered individuals began to encircle and annihilate the evil faction in the Twelve Continents. This plan of surrounding Wei to rescue Zhao achieved a miraculous effect. However, after the evil forces retreated, the Demon Cult disciples who entered the Azure Mystic Realm were surrounded from all sides, suffering heavy casualties."

  "After this battle, the top ten masters of the Demon Sect lost seven or eight, and the major sects of the Orthodox Church, such as Leishan and Yunqingmen, also suffered heavy losses. The greatest loss was that many Taoist scriptures were lost in the Demon Sect and Yunqingmen. After painful reflection, Yunqingmen increased its emphasis on the Hidden Immortal Sect, which consisted entirely of senior elders with their own unique abilities."

  Next, Lin Fan knew that although he was a direct disciple of the Righteous Sect, he had only entered the sect and not taken anyone as his master. The sect leader hoped that one day, a senior member of the Hidden Immortal Sect would take notice of Lin Fan and accept him as a closed-door disciple. Before their ascension or flying up to heaven, every senior member of the Hidden Immortal Sect must take in at least one disciple, lest they suffer another tragedy of losing their teachings. However, the sect leader's efforts were in vain. Currently, there were only twelve people in the Hidden Immortal Sect, eleven of whom already had closed-door disciples. The remaining person was an elder from Purple Bamboo Forest who only accepted female disciples. Ye Wushuang also couldn't be considered since he had already taken Exterminating True Person as his master.

  Bai Mu concluded: "The Demon Sect, although self-proclaimed as the Demon Sect, is only different from the Orthodox School in their views on cultivating truth. They do not bully the weak or fear strong enemies. However, evil people are cruel and ruthless. It's said that only the Blood Shadow Sect's Bamboo Sword Hall can be considered a demonic sect among the evil sects, they don't kill indiscriminately but also don't value human life. The evil sects practice evil techniques, such as the Tian Jiang Sect's Sky Silkworm, which requires planting the silkworm in a virgin's body. After 100 days, the silkworm matures and emerges from her abdomen, feeding on the virgin's blood and flesh. Their methods are cruel beyond human imagination. However, when facing enemies, the Sky Silkworm is ferocious and toxic, able to invade the protective true energy, burrow into the body, and devour the internal organs before stopping. Therefore, evil people must be eliminated."

  Ye Wushuang nodded: "So my master told me that when fighting against evil people, we must be prepared to defend and attack at the same time. We need to observe our opponent's moves carefully before making a decision."

  Lin frowned: "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, treating all things as straw dogs. Heaven and earth treat all things equally. We are cultivators of the Tao, why should we leave the world to help the common people? I didn't mean that, if I see injustice on my journey, I will definitely assist. But it seems..."

  Bai Mu nodded: "The Heavenly Way is cyclical, so the evil person's heavenly calamity is extremely cruel. Only 500 years ago did the Evil Emperor break through the Small Heavenly Calamity, but his physical body was destroyed, leaving behind only two souls and six spirits. Due to the deficiency of his soul and spirit, he could not be reincarnated and can only wander between heaven and earth forever."

  The Lesser Heavenly Tribulation is a stage of cultivation in the Orthodox Way. When one's cultivation reaches a certain level, or if they have killed too many people, or saved too many lives, it will trigger the Lesser Heavenly Tribulation, also known as the Small Kalpa. If one successfully passes this tribulation, they will possess an indestructible soul. If they then pass the Greater Heavenly Tribulation, they can become a Dispersed Immortal. The final stage of the Dispersed Immortal is to comprehend the Great Way or the Mystery of Heaven, and thus ascend to immortality.

  Those who have passed the Lesser Heavenly Tribulation but not encountered the Greater Heavenly Tribulation may live for nearly a thousand years before passing away without illness. As for where they go after death, no one knows.

  Those who pass the Greater Heavenly Tribulation but fail to comprehend the Mystery of Heaven will have their lifespan increased several fold before passing away without illness. Again, no one knows where they go after death.

  According to records, there have been seven instances of Ascension in the past three thousand years, all of whom were Orthodox Way cultivators. Before ascending, they would appear in the sky and impart a few words of heavenly mystery to their disciples, before flying upwards as a beam of auspicious light, disappearing into the clouds.

  Note: The translation is provided without any additional explanation or context.

  Unfortunately, in the past 500 years, no one has broken through the Small Heavenly Tribulation. As for the reason, no one knows. This is the way of heaven, a mysterious and profound thing. However, according to records, the Orthodox sect's Small Heavenly Tribulation is the easiest, while the Demon Sect is extremely difficult, and as for the Evil Sect, there is no possibility of successfully crossing the tribulation.

  The Great Heavenly Tribulation and the Small Heavenly Tribulation appear after reaching a certain point, while ordinary heavenly tribulations are numerous and do not have substantial manifestations. For example, when a stone falls from the sky and kills someone, that is considered a tribulation. When the stone falls and coincidentally hits someone who has been saved by another person, this is called fate. Buddhism believes that both tribulations and fate have causes and effects, while Taoism believes in no cause and no effect, because heaven and earth are not benevolent and treat all things as straw dogs. The Orthodox Way, the Devil's Teachings, and Buddhism each have different views on cultivating truth. However, regardless of whether one is ultimately cultivating immortality, cultivating demonic powers, or cultivating Buddhahood, both great and small heavenly tribulations must be experienced. To trigger great and small heavenly tribulations, aside from spiritual boundaries, cultivation is the most basic condition.

  Gu Yan listened to Bai Mu's introduction, and after a moment of silence, Lin Fan's temperament changed, he would shout loudly when he found out that something was stolen, but if he couldn't get it back, he became very calm.

  Lin Fan asked: "Fortune teller, when will this treasure be born?" Familiar with Hei Bai, Lin Fan no longer used the title of Shixiong and casually gave him a nickname.

  Bai Mu sighed: "Maybe three or five days, maybe three or five watches, let's wait and see."

  Wait, this wait is just seven days. The other three people spent most of their time inside Lianhua Mountain, and only Lin Fan was running around, chatting with disciples from various sects and scattered people, calling a group of people to play Tianjiu cards during his free time, and the time didn't pass badly.

  On the seventh day afternoon, Lin Fan returned with a tired look, and Ye Wushuang saw him from afar and shouted loudly: "Gambler, what did you cheat on today?"

  Lin fell to the ground, chuckled and then sighed: "None of them would bet with me anymore."

  For the past seven days, Lin Fan had won many things, from small warm jade to large demon bones. Outsiders didn't have much to bet with. Lin Fan said, "I heard that in Zhongzhou, there's a place called Wenlong Valley where every five years, they hold a Cultivation Market."

  "Immortal Cultivation Market?" Ye Wushuang was very curious: "What are they selling?"

  Bai Miao knew a lot: "It's a trading conference among cultivators, with unrefined treasures, swords, and artifacts, as well as various rare medicinal materials. Some disciples even take out their sect's secret techniques or Dao methods for trade. The Cultivation Market is also the most favored place for alchemists and artifact refiners, where they can collect recorded texts and obtain things that are hard to get otherwise. Of course, they need to offer something satisfactory to the seller in exchange. The market lasts for seven days and was established by the Zixiao Temple, the largest sect of the Central Plains' Orthodox School."

  Lin Fan was curious and asked: "I know about other things, but how can you tell if a treasure is good or bad before it's refined?"

  "I don't know, the unrefined magic treasure doesn't even know its five elements attribute, nor does it know its function." Bai Mu Dao said: "I remember once at the market, a senior of our Hidden Immortal Sect used the skin of a thousand-year-old fox demon to exchange for a magic treasure. After refining it, he discovered that this magic treasure could only be activated with an evil sect's heart method. Having no other choice, he had to let the magic treasure self-destruct."