Heavenly Tribulation, Sword Skills, and New Comrades-in-Arms

Under the pitch-black night sky, lightning flashed and thunder roared.

One after another, glowing orbs of lightning emerged from the leaden clouds, illuminating the perpetually dark land with their fierce radiance.

Like a cascading river of stars, they poured down, launching a relentless bombardment toward their target.

Time passed slowly.

More lightning orbs merged, transforming into even more ferocious crimson bolts that continued to strike down at their mark.

Not far away.

A woman's voice spoke up: "Liu Ping."

Another voice responded leisurely: "Hmm?"

The woman asked, "How did you manage to pull this off?"

The voice replied, "Ever since I realized that the 'Deception' ability stems from the concept of 'performance,' I've been delving deeper into its power. The more I use 'Deception,' the more proficient I become. Plus, as my own strength and cultivation level improve, the 'Deception' I can unleash grows stronger too. That's how we got here."

Liu Ping explained earnestly.

In the wilderness.

He and Andrea sat side by side on a large boulder, quietly watching as the heavenly tribulation lightning continued to strike down.

The brilliant glow of the tribulation illuminated their surroundings, relentlessly bombarding a dummy placed about ten meters away.

The dummy—

Liu Ping had dug it out from his Thorn Ring. Its main function was to take hits for its user.

According to the instructions, its endurance was extraordinarily high, capable of withstanding damage on the level of world destruction without being destroyed.

Liu Ping had placed it in the wilderness and then activated his Strange power—

Deception.

The heavenly tribulation had been thoroughly fooled.

The laws of heaven and earth mistakenly believed the dummy was Liu Ping, so they kept hurling lightning bolts at it.

It could be said that since the dawn of cultivators, something like this had never happened before.

The laws of the world had been deceived.

Liu Ping yawned and asked, "Andrea, you're a spirit from the Holy Realm. What's it like there?"

"I only remember one thing: the Holy Realm doesn't interfere with the affairs of other worlds. It's like the rising sun—it simply maintains its own operations under normal circumstances," Andrea replied.

"Then how did you end up descending to the World of God's Pillars?" Liu Ping asked.

"That was an accident… It's a long story. Honestly, I've forgotten too much of the past. The only thing I remember clearly is that you once saved me. I didn't want to keep wandering, so I re-entered history, slowly regaining my strength until now, when I could finally reunite with you."

"Truly mysterious… But now that you're back, I feel much more confident," Liu Ping said.

The two of them simultaneously recalled the moments they had shared in the past and exchanged a smile.

"What's your next move?" Andrea asked.

"Now that you mention it, I just remembered—my 'Tremor Slash' has leveled up. It was thanks to this upgraded technique that I managed to kill that nightmare creature. It needs a name."

Liu Ping looked up into the void.

Lines of burning text hovered in midair:

['Tremor Slash' has completed its upgrade, advancing to a Secondary Strange Blade Technique.]

[As it evolved from a Primary Strange Blade Technique, it is stronger than ordinary Secondary Strange Blade Techniques.]

[Please name this blade technique.]

Liu Ping recalled the omnipresent sound that accompanied the technique when executed and said, "This move is almost like creating a world composed entirely of sound. So I'll call it: 'All Who Hear Shall Be Severed, Their Souls Cut Down Here.'"

All the small text vanished.

Two new lines of burning text appeared:

[Secondary Strange Blade Technique: All Who Hear Shall Be Severed, Their Souls Cut Down Here.]

[Effect: Those who hear the blade's sound will inevitably suffer your full-power strike, with their souls enduring equal damage.]

Liu Ping finished reading and sighed. "I never imagined I could create a blade technique like this."

By now, the heavenly tribulation lightning had begun to thin.

The tribulation was nearing its end.

"Congratulations. You're about to break through," Andrea said with a smile.

"Yeah," Liu Ping replied.

Truthfully, he could break through again right away.

But he had a vague feeling that the next tribulation would be exceptionally powerful, so he was hesitating.

It wasn't that Deception would fail.

Rather, as a cultivator, he wanted to experience a real tribulation battle. If he avoided genuine combat for too long, some of his skills might deteriorate.

In the sky, another bolt of tribulation lightning descended.

On a whim, Liu Ping temporarily canceled Deception.

The lightning bolt immediately changed course, hurtling straight toward him.

"Liu Ping! What are you doing?" Andrea exclaimed in alarm.

"Back when I was at the Divine Illumination Realm, I never got to experience a tribulation at this level. Now that I'm about to break through to the Profound Void Realm, I want to test the power of this stage's tribulation lightning," Liu Ping explained.

"Be careful!" Andrea urged.

"It's fine," Liu Ping said with a laugh, drawing his Hundredfold Blade.

With a flash of steel, the blade met the lightning orb head-on.

BOOM—

In the deafening explosion, Liu Ping's blade cleaved the lightning orb apart.

"Hiss—damn, that hurts!"

Liu Ping sucked in a sharp breath, his face twisting in pain as he sheathed his blade and pointed at the dummy.

Deception—activated!

The remaining lightning bolts redirected themselves, returning to bombard the dummy.

"Huh? Didn't you just split the lightning? Why does it still hurt?" Andrea asked curiously.

"I did split it, but it still grazed me. It really hurts," Liu Ping said, as if confirming a hypothesis.

"A peerless cultivator like you is afraid of pain?" Andrea couldn't help but ask.

"It's not that I'm afraid… It's just that after dying in battle so many times, during my last reincarnation in the cultivation world, I made sure to avoid getting hit in fights. No one so much as scratched me… So I almost forgot what pain felt like."

Liu Ping shook off the lingering electricity around him and sighed.

Finally, the tribulation lightning ceased.

The heavenly tribulation was over.

A line of burning text appeared before his eyes:

[Congratulations! You have advanced to the Mysterious Spirit Realm.]

[Your soul strength, spiritual power, and physical constitution have all undergone a significant enhancement.]

[As you are not in the Six Paths of Reincarnation world and are too far from it, you cannot awaken any Six Paths-related divine abilities at this time.]

Liu Ping finished reading and sighed. "No divine abilities? Fine. For now, I'm just glad my strength has improved."

He closed his eyes, briefly sensing the changes in his body.

This breakthrough had indeed brought a substantial boost.

Previously, he could only execute Tremor Slash three times before exhausting himself.

Now, he could use it ten times in succession.

As for the All Who Hear Shall Be Severed technique—

He could perform it four times.

Andrea suddenly sensed something and said, "The heroic spirits have finished analyzing the corpse's secrets. We can return now."

Liu Ping's spirits lifted.

"Wait just a little longer."

"There's more?"

Though he was eager to uncover that secret, there were still many unresolved matters at hand.

For example—

The soul energy he'd gained from killing that nightmare creature could fuel another breakthrough!

That could wait.

But one thing couldn't be delayed.

"I need to tidy up things with the Expeditionary Army here," Liu Ping said.

"You're about to enter the Nightmare Layer's world. Why not uproot the Expeditionary Army entirely to prevent them from paving the way for the Nightmare Tide?" Andrea asked.

"We can't sever this lead. Keeping our identities in the Expeditionary Army means maintaining a source of intelligence," Liu Ping countered.

"No! This time, no one will be guarding your true body. Staying in the Expeditionary Army is too dangerous!" Andrea objected.

Liu Ping thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "There is another way… but we'll need some very specific allies to pull it off."

"Specific allies?" Andrea asked, puzzled.

Liu Ping took a deep breath and intoned silently:

"Come forth—mystical children of the Flame Pillar, allies of the Twilight Dwellers! I summon you to this world!"

A peculiar ripple of energy emanated from him.

After a few breaths—

A tiny figure in pajamas suddenly popped out of thin air.

He wore a miniature crown, held a vanilla ice cream cone in his left hand, and gripped a red-hot iron rod in his right.

Excitedly, he announced:

"Ah, Liu Ping! Before the destruction of Purgatory and the Eternal Night Pillar, you've finally remembered us!"

"Your Majesty, the Goblin King… what exactly are you doing?" Liu Ping asked curiously.

The little goblin brandished his glowing-hot iron rod proudly.

"The Butt-Branding Championship just started! I've already branded seven people's behinds—wanna join?"

Andrea froze, then made a face. "Goblins."

She whispered to Liu Ping, "At a critical moment like this, calling goblins might not be the best idea. They'll only make a mess."

Liu Ping whispered back, "I called them because I want to use their talents to disrupt the Expeditionary Army's plans—keep them too busy to accomplish anything."

Andrea was immediately convinced.

"Causing chaos for the enemy? Goblins are qualified for that," she conceded with a nod.