Chapter 83: Trial of Eternity

"Crossing the sea within one's heart is difficult."

Upon hearing Qin Tang's words, some of the cultivators present seemed lost in thought, as if they had grasped something. Others seemed indifferent, paying no attention.

And so, the second day quickly passed.

Early on the third day, Qin Tang, as usual, appeared before the eyes of everyone.

However, this time, he didn't drink. He appeared sober, much more spirited than before.

"Today is the final trial," Qin Tang assessed the cultivators present with a serious expression.

"On the path of cultivation, you will always encounter countless challenges and temptations. Will you be able to persevere and stay true to your initial intentions?"

"Let me wait and see."

In Qin Tang's words, everyone felt a sudden darkness before losing consciousness.

...

In a small village amidst the mountains and fields, Li Fan lay on the roof, watching the setting sun. He had a feeling that he had forgotten something.

Growing up in this mountain village, he led a simple and happy life, working with the sunrise and resting with the sunset every day.

It was a plain and fulfilling life. If he continued like this, it didn't seem bad at all.

But there was a vague restlessness in his heart, a feeling that he shouldn't end his life so ordinarily.

"Fan, Fan, where are you? Come home for dinner!"

Li Fan remained unmoved by his mother's call.

He looked up at the sky, at the birds soaring freely, at the sun and moon, ancient and steadfast, not subject to human will, lost in thought.

He spent the whole night like this until dawn was approaching. Suddenly, it seemed like he had a realization.

In a swift motion, he jumped down from the house.

He rushed into the house and loudly said to his still-sleeping mother, "Mother, cancel the marriage arrangement with the girl next door."

"I'm not getting married. I want to cultivate immortality!"

His mother was alarmed by the abrupt statement, thinking her child had gone mad, and hurriedly got up to hold Li Fan's hand. "What immortal are you talking about? There's no such thing as immortality! Wake up, my child!"

Li Fan pulled away from his mother's grip, his youthful face full of determination. "I don't know where the immortals are, but I will definitely find them."

With that said, he, in the midst of his mother's tears, packed his belongings and strode out of the door.

Six months later, while exploring in the mountains, Li Fan tragically fell into a tiger's mouth and lost his life.

...

In front of the dilapidated Taoist temple, amidst the flickering fire and the cries of the people, Li Fan felt lost.

"Senior Brother, Master is dead. What should we do after we leave Ascending Clouds Sect?" A timid voice asked by his side.

Li Fan was about to speak when he heard angry voices from all around.

"What else can we do? Of course, everyone should divide the things in the temple and leave the mountain!"

"We thought there was a real immortal on the mountain, that's why everyone endured hardships to come up. Who would have thought this old Taoist was an out-and-out fraud!"

"Yeah, can a real immortal suddenly fall ill and die like this?"

As everyone got more and more agitated, Li Fan didn't know how to explain, so he let them plunder and empty the Ascending Clouds Sect.

After a while, only Li Fan remained alone on the mountain.

He collected his master's ashes and buried them. Li Fan thought about the look in his master's eyes before he passed away.

Unwillingness, regret, sorrow, hope...

Was his master a fraud?

Was the "Ascending to the Clouds" scripture he imparted just a fabrication?

Li Fan felt that perhaps it wasn't what everyone thought.

Perhaps, immortals truly existed.

In the end, Li Fan still didn't leave the mountain.

He spent the latter half of his life alone in the Taoist temple, watching the clouds change and the days pass.

He spent his days comprehending the "Ascending to the Clouds" scripture.

He was over fifty years old, but he couldn't make any progress.

He passed away with regrets.

...

In the imperial palace.

Li Fan looked at the wooden plaques on the golden plate in front of him, filled with names, and a trace of impatience appeared in his eyes.

"Take them away. Tonight, I still want to cultivate."

"Your Majesty, you haven't visited the palace concubines in three months..."

"Hmm?" A flash of fierceness passed through Li Fan's eyes.

"...I will comply with Your Majesty's orders."

Watching the eunuch supervisor leave in fear, Li Fan snorted.

"The position of emperor is truly tedious." A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

His purpose was to scour the resources of the entire country for his cultivation.

Externally, he still appeared to be an ordinary human, but in reality, he had already stepped into the realm of Golden Core.

Worldly matters were so boring!

With this in mind, three months later, during the morning court, Li Fan vanished into thin air in front of the civil and military officials.

For the next 216 years, while exploring an ancient subworld mansion, Li Fan unfortunately fell victim to an assassination plot.

He died, vanishing from the world of cultivation.

.....

At the Lingyun Sect.

"Why is this tribulation cloud taking so long to condense and descend?"

"The might of this heavenly tribulation seems stronger than when the Sect Master ascended back then, right?"

"Of course, in terms of strength alone, Junior Martial Brother can be considered the strongest in our sect in a thousand years!"

Li Fan looked at the increasing might of the tribulation cloud above the Lingyun Peak and felt a surge of confidence.

After three hundred years of cultivation, what fear did he have of a mere heavenly tribulation?

A beam of sword light shot up into the sky from the Lingyun Peak.

Splitting the sky, it cut through the tribulation clouds!

Sunlight poured down through the rift in the tribulation clouds, illuminating the Lingyun Peak.

Flowers fell from the sky, and the gates to the immortal realm opened.

Li Fan flew into the immortal gates without a moment's hesitation.

In the immortal realm, Li Fan was infuriated to discover that all the senior martial brothers who had ascended two thousand years ago had been mysteriously killed by an unknown enemy.

While practicing and searching for the culprit, he was suddenly ambushed by a close friend during an exploration of an ancient cultivation secret realm and died in a state of shock and unwillingness.

...

In the Northern Immortal Region.

Since the unification of the Qingtian Immortal Region by Emperor Fantian two thousand years ago, a bloody conquest had begun.

In these years, with the heads of five immortal emperors and sixteen immortal kings, Emperor Fantian had gained an infamous reputation.

In the end, only the Northern Immortal Region was barely holding on in the entire immortal realm.

Now, the army was pressing in, vowing to overthrow the Northern Immortal Region within a year.

In the center of the army, Qin Tang looked at the Fantian Emperor who was resting with closed eyes, hesitating whether to speak or not.

Li Fan opened his eyes and looked at Qin Tang, his trusted confidant who had come a long way with him, and rarely showed a faint smile.

"Qin Tang, it seems like you have something to ask me?"

"I won't hide it, Your Majesty. There is indeed something I don't understand."

"Feel free to ask."

"Since Your Majesty started as a mere mortal and experienced countless hardships, eventually achieving the position of a Heavenly Emperor, your power is overwhelming. All the immortals in the immortal realm tremble at your name. But why does Your Majesty never seem to stop? What is it that you relentlessly pursue?"

"After annihilating the Zhaotian Emperor and completely unifying the immortal realm, what plans does Your Majesty have?"

Qin Tang stared at Li Fan, expressing the doubts in his heart.

"Hehe." Li Fan chuckled lightly.

"What I seek is simply the phrase 'eternal life,'" he said calmly.

Qin Tang was dumbfounded, seemingly unable to believe his ears.

"Eternal life? With Your Majesty's current cultivation, can't it already be considered eternal life? If there are no accidents, even if Your Majesty lives for millions of years, it shouldn't be difficult, right?" he asked in astonishment, finding it hard to understand.

"A hundred thousand years of life, can it be called eternal life?" Li Fan smiled and counter-questioned.

"In the burial mound, hundreds of ancient immortal emperors have long turned into dry bones in their graves."

"Even the ancient immortals rumored to have created the immortal realm and possessing supreme power are now nothing more than ashes beneath the mountains, suppressed under my palace."

"Now, I intend to unify the immortal realm, gather the power of all the immortals, and create a grand formation covering the entire immortal realm. Through this, I will break free from the supposed ancient restriction on immortality."

"I want to step above the immortals and advance even further." Li Fan's tone was casual, but resolute, leaving no room for dissent.

Qin Tang fell silent.

Because he knew that there was nothing beyond the immortal realm.

So all he could do was lower his head in silence.

Everything proceeded according to Li Fan's plan.

In just one year, Li Fan unified the entire immortal realm.

After this, he used extremely brutal methods to suppress all opposing opinions. He collected resources from all over the immortal realm and successfully created the grand formation to break the shackles of the immortal realm.

As the formation was activated, the entire immortal realm trembled.

Countless cracks appeared in the sky, and it seemed like everything in the world was shattering.

Li Fan laughed heartily and rushed into the cracks.

What awaited him was only endless darkness.

...

Thus, the Trial of Eternity had come to an end.

Because Qin Tang knew there was no need to continue the test.

In this trial, an anomaly appeared.

Even if he constructed an infinite world, it seemed he couldn't wear down this person's unwavering determination.

If the master was here, witnessing such a prodigy, he would probably be very pleased.

But it's a pity...

A tinge of sorrow flashed in Qin Tang's eyes.

Letting out a long sigh, everyone gradually awoke from the illusion.

However, they were still in the same square as at the very beginning.

Some were dazed, some woke up and turned pale, and some seemed to have a moment of realization.

...

Qin Tang looked at the various cultivators with different reactions and smiled, saying, "The three trials have come to an end."

"Among you, some have exceeded my expectations, and some are just not up to par."

"The Sect Master once said to me that in Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, quality matters more than quantity."

He looked at the people, his expression gentle. "Therefore, among you, I'll let half stay."

The cultivators who were originally happy upon hearing Qin Tang's words suddenly changed their expressions upon learning that he intended to kill half of those present.

"What do you mean?"

They knew well how they performed in the three trials.

Now, upon hearing that Qin Tang wanted to kill half of them, they were shocked and angry.

With no way out, they launched an attack against Qin Tang.

Qin Tang remained unruffled.

He just smiled calmly, saying, "Qin Tang, Chief of the Teaching Hall at Cloud Water Heavenly Palace."

"I invite you all to advise me."

With Qin Tang's words, blue figures suddenly appeared around half of the cultivators.

They were like mirror images of the targets, identical in appearance, aura, and even strength.

As soon as they appeared, they launched relentless attacks on their targets.

"The Sect Master is stern. But the master once told me not to be ruthless in our actions. If you can survive from your own mirror image, I won't trouble you further."

Seeing the struggling cultivators, Qin Tang spoke slowly.

The other half of the cultivators who weren't attacked, including Li Fan, chose to move away from the battlefield to avoid being affected.

Li Fan retreated to a safe place and observed the situation in the field.

The blue mirror images were extremely fierce in their attacks, tireless and immune to harm.

Ordinary cultivators were no match for them. In no time, many cultivators met their end under their own mirror images.

As more cultivators died, those left struggling wouldn't last much longer.

Cornered, they began to curse Qin Tang.

"Snap out of it! Why are you still accepting disciples? Cloud Water Heavenly Palace has been destroyed for countless years!"

"What nonsense master and senior brother! Under the great calamity, they're all going to kill each other!"

...

"Kill each other?" Qin Tang shook his head repeatedly at these words.

"In Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, we are united. We respect and love each other. Even if we must sacrifice ourselves for our fellow disciples, there wouldn't be much hesitation."

"How could we possibly kill each other?"

As Qin Tang spoke, his voice suddenly lowered.

"The great calamity, the great calamity..."

He frowned, as if recalling something.

"The great calamity..."

He repeated in a low voice continuously, and the sky over the square suddenly darkened.

The blue phantom figures attacking the group of cultivators also underwent a transformation.

Thick darkness continuously surged from within the phantoms. In an instant, the phantoms turned into a terrifying ink-black color.

The ink-black mirror images were much more ferocious than the previous blue phantoms. In the blink of an eye, most of the struggling cultivators were killed.

Only a few remained, barely hanging on.

Qin Tang, however, hadn't recovered from his trance. He was still murmuring.

The ground in the square began to shake violently, and the sky was pressed down by heavy clouds.

Lightning and thunder incessantly roared.

The cultivators who hadn't been attacked by the mirror images and were watching from the sidelines suddenly felt something amiss.

But facing Qin Tang, who was already entranced, no one dared to act rashly.

For a moment, everyone didn't know what to do.

At this moment, Li Fan slowly walked to Qin Tang's side.

He carried a wine gourd and patted Qin Tang's shoulder, offering it to him.

With a faint smile, Li Fan said to Qin Tang, "Senior Qin, have a drink."

"Don't worry, there's really no great calamity at all."

Qin Tang turned around, sniffed the air, and instinctively took the wine gourd and drank from it.

Then, he looked at Li Fan with some confusion. "No great calamity?"

Li Fan nodded confidently and repeated, "Exactly, there is no great calamity."

Qin Tang's eyes gradually brightened, repeating murmurs of "no great calamity, no great calamity, no great calamity..."

"Hahaha, you're right! There's really no great calamity!"

After a long time, Qin Tang burst into laughter and finally returned to normal.

The anomaly in the square also disappeared, and everything returned to normalcy.

Seeing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and expressed grateful looks towards Li Fan.

However, Li Fan suddenly had a thought.

He sensed that there were two faint killing intents locked onto him.

Although these killing intents were extremely weak, Li Fan was very sensitive to them and wouldn't make a mistake.

And the owners of these two killing intents were none other than Sikong Yi and Baili Chen!

Li Fan pretended not to notice and secretly locked onto the two through the formless killing intent.

But he didn't take action.

The brief episode quickly passed, and the battle between the cultivators and the blue mirror images came to an end.

In the end, only two fortunate cultivators survived.

Qin Tang looked at the surviving cultivators with a gentle expression. "The trial is over, you may go."

The cultivators were puzzled and were about to speak, but they saw each other's figures gradually fading and disappearing from the square.

Soon, only Li Fan was left in the square.

Qin Tang looked at Li Fan, a complex expression flickering in his eyes.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Qin Tang asked.

Li Fan smiled calmly. "Senior brother, you owe me a good bottle of wine."

Seemingly surprised by Li Fan's response, Qin Tang was momentarily taken aback, and then burst into laughter.

"Exactly, I owe you a good bottle of wine!"

His expression suddenly changed, and he looked at Li Fan seriously.

Extending his right hand, he lightly tapped Li Fan's forehead with his index finger.

"This 'Cloud Water Illusory Dream Art' is a technique I created, painstakingly integrating all my lifelong learning. I hope you won't let it go to waste!"

After a while, Qin Tang retracted his finger.

Li Fan's figure also slowly disappeared.

In front of him was a towering gate with four characters engraved on it: "Cloud Water Heavenly Palace."

Below the gate stood a broken statue.

The statue was in a terrible state, covered in wounds.

It appeared to have been pierced through the heart, revealing a huge hollow.

Through the blurry face of the statue, Qin Tang's appearance could still be vaguely seen.

Li Fan silently watched the statue for a moment, then took out a wine gourd from his storage ring.

He placed it gently in front of the statue.

Then, activating the Stalking Shadow Technique, he swiftly headed towards the direction where the formless killing intent had locked onto.