This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable Chapter 1728 - 61: There Is Qingshan Wherever Life Goes (Part 3)
For some reason, this Sixth Layer of Heavenly Tribulation seemed far less formidable than before.
The thunder gradually subsided, the electric light faded, but the black tribulation cloud changed color, gradually turning purple.
There must be something odd when things deviate from the norm.
Lu Qingshan was ready and waiting.
Suddenly!
A fierce wind swept across, as if the Heaven's Vault sagged down a thousand fathoms. The swirling purple ink-like tribulation clouds descended low, instantly covering the sky and blocking the sun, leaving Lu Qingshan no room to react or resist.
Darkness engulfed Lu Qingshan in an instant, reaching out and seeing nothing, everything became invisible.
In this absolute darkness, Lu Qingshan stood still, like a statue of Buddha.
Countless chaotic voices and information flooded from all directions, pervasive, omnipresent, unavoidable.
The Heart Demon was at work.
By now, how could Lu Qingshan not understand that this Sixth Layer of Heavenly Tribulation was actually the tribulation of the Heart Demon?
Internal troubles coupled with external threats.
The Heavenly Dragon of the Thunder Path had already exhausted the ultimate power of the Heavenly Tribulation.
This still couldn't kill Lu Qingshan. Even the Heavenly Dao had to resort to other means, abandoning external threats to focus on internal troubles.
As the saying goes, calamities can be crossed, but Heart Demons are hard to dispel.
In the boundless darkness, a glimmer of light flickered, then grew brighter, revealing a clear outline.
It was a human shape.
The light grew larger.
Everything was revealed without doubt.
It was Lu Qingshan.
In the darkness, Lu Qingshan sat cross-legged, shrouded in a layer of faint light.
Perhaps it couldn't be called Lu Qingshan. Although it looked exactly like him, it was unclothed, with a Green Snake coiling around one shoulder.
Because that was Lu Qingshan's Primordial Spirit.
He kept his eyes closed, his body trembling slightly, enduring the attack of the Heart Demon.
An uneasy mind, five aggregates blazing hot.
At one moment, it was unbearably hot, like an oil cauldron or fire sea; at another, it was freezing cold to the bone. Then it felt like being devoured by ten thousand ants, unbearably itchy, and as if being cut by a thousand knives, painful beyond measure, fluctuating endlessly, joy and sorrow, never ceasing.
"Put down the butcher's knife and immediately become a Buddha."
"Put down the butcher's knife and immediately become a Buddha."
"Put down the butcher's knife and immediately become a Buddha."
"Put down..."
The repetitive voice echoed continuously in his ears, more annoying than Tang Monk's chant.
As long as he put down the "butcher's knife" in his hand, he could free himself from this pain.
As for the so-called butcher's knife, to a Sword Cultivator, it naturally referred to the sword in his hand.
"How can a Sword Cultivator abandon their sword?" In the endless pain, Lu Qingshan asked with a calm smile.
His expression was calm, as if the extreme torment unbearable to anyone else in the world was ordinary to him.
Finally, it grew angry.
"Then open your eyes and see."
The pain disappeared.
"Lu Qingshan" opened his eyes.
The darkness also receded at that moment.
It was as if a curtain was drawn aside, and in the absolute darkness, billions of tiny stars suddenly sparkled.
"Lu Qingshan, you have fallen into madness. Your obsession has become your demonic barrier, clouding your vision. If you don't learn to let go, in an instant, it will be like a myriad of stars pressing down, disintegrating into ashes."
Lu Qingshan remained motionless, like a statue watching the vast stars.
"Isn't it beautiful?" he suddenly asked.
The Heart Demon was enraged.
The Night Dome suddenly trembled, collapsing, seemingly with billions of stars embedded within it.
"Is it still beautiful this way?"
"It's even more beautiful this way."
Then, the stars were no longer tiny; they streaked across the sky, dragging long tails, smashing down, growing larger.
They collided with the motionless Lu Qingshan.
Explosion!
Lu Qingshan's figure shattered instantly.
The countless falling Heavenly Fires obliterated him completely in an instant, nearly erasing him.
However, he would not die so easily.
The countless Primordial Spirit Fragments didn't dissipate into Heaven and Earth but merged into the ground underfoot, ubiquitous.
"Lu Qingshan, your sins are unforgivable, there's nowhere to escape!" No one was in Heaven and Earth, but a voice resounded, grand, like the voice of Heaven and Earth.
The fire stars continued to fall, landing on the earth.
The earth shook, shattered, countless cracks forming, from which countless streams of lava flowed.
The sky seemed to be burning, and the earth was burning too.
The two merged, Heaven and Earth seemed to become one.
Like an apocalyptic scene.
The flames continued to burn on the earth, sparing not a single bit of life amidst the barren land, aiming to extinguish Lu Qingshan's consciousness completely.
Just then, a spring breeze blew by.
The wildfire couldn't consume it all, but spring breezes bring life anew.
Amidst the hellish sea of flames, there was always a fragment of life, unable to be engulfed by even the hottest lava.
After the spring breeze passed, those scattered traces of life rose from the broken barren land, breaking through the crust and sprouting tender green shoots.
A tiny spark can start a prairie fire.
Vibrant leaves can also form a mountain.
Those green shoots grew rapidly to the naked eye, and soon became lush, proud, and tall.
The Heavenly Fire kept on destroying those grown green shoots and the ones still growing.
However, new green shoots always emerged, breaking through the barren land.
The cycle of life and death continued between Heaven and Earth, endlessly repeating, yet a kind of indescribable silence lay within the bustle.
"Lu Qingshan, you are stubborn and clinging, hands drenched in blood. If you don't let go of your obsession, how can you be free!" Suddenly, a grand voice echoed again in Heaven and Earth, questioning Lu Qingshan.
The stars momentarily stopped falling, as if exhausted.
Then, the continuously growing green shoots quickly turned into towering trees.
These towering trees rooted on the surface of the earth's crust, grew on raised earth dragons, emerged from earth cracks, varying in height, scattered together, and strikingly.... formed a Qingshan.
This land that buried Lu Qingshan ultimately grew a Qingshan.
Countless radiance gushed from these lush trees, converging into streams, the streams formed rivers, flowing towards the mountain peak.
The radiance gathered more and more, becoming more solid, then began to change form, turning into a familiar figure.
Lu Qingshan.
There is a Qingshan everywhere in life.
....
"When have I ever sought liberation?" Lu Qingshan raised his head and answered indifferently.
"Madness! The sea of suffering is boundless; turning back is the shore."
"Even if I kill all under heaven, what does it matter if the world is against me? As a Sword Cultivator, there's no need to speak of regret or return!"
"Even if eternally falling into impermanence, would it not be regrettable?"
"Impermanence is the nature of life; there's nothing to regret."
"The wise know illusions and leave, the foolish take illusions as truth. Letting go of one thought brings boundless freedom."
"I do not let go, yet I can still be free."
It felt a trace of exhaustion.
It had never encountered such a person.
Lu Qingshan looked up to the Heaven's Vault.
The darkness dissipated.
The stars dimmed.
The tribulation cloud reappeared in the world.
The Heart Demon was just so.
The Sixth Layer of Heavenly Tribulation vanished like smoke, all too simple!
In the "real world" once again, Lu Qingshan looked down at the Dragon Sparrow in his hand, which the Heart Demon suggested to put down.
Then, he gripped the Dragon Sparrow even tighter.
If this obsession becomes my obstacle.
Then let my sword be stronger than it.
And then, cut it off.