The Immortal Lord of the Path of Ruthlessness Bends for Me - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: This is a World-Destroying Demon King!!!

After Li Qiaoyan left, Ling Shu monitored her body closely. As she sat there, she felt her core beginning to heat up.

Ever since that woman drugged her, her internal heat had subsided significantly. Although her temperature was still unusual compared to a normal person, it had stopped rising. The downside was that the drug suppressed her spiritual power. A powerless girl carrying a thousand-year Demon Core was like a walking treasure, practically broadcasting: I have a Demon Core, come catch me and turn me into a spiritual weapon!!!

Needless to say, it was dangerous.

The rising temperature felt familiar. Ling Shu formed a sword hand gesture and circulated her energy. A faint white light flickered from her fingertips. Her power was returning!

Had that woman’s drug been neutralized? Could it be… that Li Qiaoyan had hidden an antidote in that meal?

Wait, what exactly is Li Qiaoyan after?

An hour passed, and her power had recovered by ten percent. By the next morning, as she gathered light in her palm, the spiritual power felt abundant. She was at sixty percent. By the afternoon, she would be fully restored.

Sudden, rhythmic footsteps echoed behind her. She turned to see Wang Lifu, dressed in purple robes, leading two rows of sword-wielding cultivators. Before they could reach her, Li Qiaoyan descended rapidly from the sky on her flying sword.

Wang Lifu stepped out from the crowd toward Li Qiaoyan. The two leaned in close, looking intimate. Wang Lifu whispered, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see.” Li Qiaoyan looked anxious. “Does it have to be today?”

Wang Lifu flicked her sleeve. “Waiting until today is already a generous extension.”

Ling Shu stood up, confused. A roar of thunder shook the sky, and a bolt of lightning bypassed the barrier, striking right at her feet. She shrieked and scrambled away. Looking back, the spot where she had just stood was now a scorched, blackened crater.

“Damn you, Wang Lifu! What are you doing?!” Ling Shu glared at her with pure loathing.

Wang Lifu spoke in a stern, solemn voice: “My daughter, Ling Shu, accidentally killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Li family. The investigation is closed. By law, she is sentenced to twenty strikes of lightning punishment. The hour has arrived. Execute the sentence.”

Ling Shu gathered power in her palms and struck the barrier. “I don’t recognize your judgment!”

As she spoke, a bolt of heavenly thunder struck directly down. Before Ling Shu could react, she took the full force of the blow. Her legs gave out instantly, and she collapsed into a kneeling position, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.

“I said, I don’t recognize it! I did nothing wrong! She tried to kill me first; why should I be punished just because I won?!”

A second bolt descended. Ling Shu condensed her power into a protective shield, catching a bolt that rivaled the intensity of a true Heavenly Tribulation. When the lightning passed, she propped herself up with both hands and spat out more blood. If Wang Lifu had come in the afternoon when her power was fully restored, she might have resisted it alone. But with only sixty percent, she was struggling.

However, as the third bolt fell, the entire sky roared. Lightning flickered incessantly, and black clouds churned violently. Ling Shu raised her shield again, but it was lower this time. At sixty percent power, she could only hope to stay alive.

“This thunder… something is wrong!” a cultivator shouted in alarm.

Another watched the sky change and added, “This is the roar of a Heavenly Tribulation!”

The crowd gasped. They stared at Ling Shu, wondering how a teenage half-demon girl could survive a Demon’s Tribulation—a trial consisting of forty-nine consecutive strikes!

Ling Shu knew a tribulation was in her destiny, but she hadn’t known it would be today.

The existence of demons is an act against heaven; thus, they must face tribulations. Surviving one ensures a peaceful life. To become immortal, however, one must sever all mortal ties and survive eighty-one bolts of Heavenly Thunder to shed their mortal shell. Wen Ji had never ascended because she couldn’t leave Ling Shu behind.

But most demons fail. Failure means being reduced to ashes.

Ling Shu survived the third strike, but after just three, she felt as if her body were being forged in fire and pierced by lightning. From head to toe, every bone and fiber of her being screamed in pain, as if thousands of ants were devouring her marrow.

By the fourth strike, her hands lacked the strength to hold the shield. She curled forward. The fifth strike was like a hammer hitting her spine, knocking her flat. She lay face-down on the ground like a sapling snapped by a gale.

Wang Lifu instinctively took a step forward, her body leaning as if to rush in, but she stopped herself. She was the one who insisted on this punishment; she couldn’t intervene.

Li Qiaoyan had no such reservations. She tried to rush forward but was immediately pulled back by Wang Lifu.

Li Qiaoyan frowned, trying to shake her off. “If you want to discipline your daughter, look at the timing!” Her arm was held in a death grip; she couldn’t break free. “You don’t fear the ‘what if,’ but I do!”

Li Qiaoyan attempted to cast a protective barrier over Ling Shu, but Wang Lifu silently shattered it.

“You! You bastard!” Li Qiaoyan cursed.

“I will not show favoritism,” Wang Lifu said, though her other hand was gripping her sleeve so tightly the fabric was nearly torn.

The sixth strike, the seventh, the eighth… by the thirteenth, Ling Shu remained motionless on the ground.

The onlookers couldn’t take it anymore. “Is the Sect Leader’s daughter… dead?” This thought mirrored everyone’s fears, and they all turned to look at Wang Lifu.

Wang Lifu’s face was like stone, her eyes fixed on the fallen Ling Shu. Bolts continued to rain down, turning the ground pitch black. It felt like the very earth was struggling against the assault. Wang Lifu stood outside the barrier, watching, her thoughts unknown.

“You’re still just watching?! Your daughter is dying and you’re just standing there!” Li Qiaoyan pounded on her shoulder, her grip on Wang Lifu’s arm terrifyingly heavy. Wang Lifu didn’t react. Li Qiaoyan cursed again, “How can you be so cold-blooded and heartless?!”

“The one who died was your sister. Why are you speaking up for this wretch?” Wang Lifu finally snapped back with a frown.

Li Qiaoyan tried to pry open Wang Lifu’s clenched fist but failed. “Are you insane? She is your own flesh and blood!”

“Are you sick in the head?” Wang Lifu countered. “Why are you considering my daughter’s welfare?”

“You…” Li Qiaoyan swallowed her words, her cheeks flushing slightly as her grip weakened. “Because she is your daughter.”

Wang Lifu retracted her hand from the contact.

Li Qiaoyan was about to cast a spell when a golden light flashed. As she looked closer, a blinding bolt of lightning struck. This time was different—the golden light on Ling Shu acted like a blade cutting through the darkness, scattering the thunder before it could touch her.

On the ground, her fingers twitched. She pushed herself up with her elbows and used her legs to steady her trembling body, rising like a newborn calf. The thick blood at the corner of her mouth was blown away by the wind generated by her surging power, staining her green dress.

“The twenty-fourth strike,” she murmured, her voice small yet resonant as a Great Bell. “Wang Lifu, I’m not dead. Are you disappointed?”

Li Qiaoyan saw Wang Lifu’s expression relax for a fleeting second.

Ling Shu reached out and made a grasping motion toward the sky. In an instant, the chaotic lightning converged into her palm. From a distance, it looked as if she were holding the radiance of heaven in her hand, possessing a divine, majestic authority.

“Thunder… Thunder Spirit Root!”

The lightning in her hand began to accelerate, flashing so rapidly it was blinding.

“No, it’s not a normal spirit root. It’s a Heaven-grade Thunder Spirit Root! Only a Heaven-grade can manipulate the speed of a Tribulation!” a cultivator cried out in awe.

Another disciple spoke with a voice full of fear: “There has only been one person with a Heaven-grade Spirit Root in the last three hundred years. Now, a half-demon has broken that record…”

World-building note: There are eight attributes of spirit roots (Water, Fire, Wood, Earth, Gold, Wind, Thunder, Ice). They are ranked by grade:

• Mixed: 5+ attributes. Hardest to cultivate, rarely passing Foundation Establishment.

• Mortal: 3-4 attributes. Common outer disciples, maxing at early Gold Core.

• Double: The elite. High-tier combinations (Wind/Thunder/Ice) or mutually generating elements (Water/Wood) allow for rapid growth. Mutually restraining elements (Water/Fire) are dangerous but powerful if mastered, reaching Nascent Soul.

• Earth: Single attribute. Very rare. Can reach Nascent Soul. Wang Lifu is a Soul Transformation stage with a Gold Spirit Root.

• Heaven: Extremely rare (like finding an ant in the ocean). The only previous possessor was Zhuang Jinfu (Immortal Qingxi), a Heaven-grade Ice Spirit Root, the only one to ascend.

Now, a Heaven-grade Thunder Spirit Root had appeared, but no one felt joy.

Wang Lifu waved her hands to create a light-shielding barrier. Her face showed no happiness—she looked even more solemn than before. She looked at Ling Shu and said coldly, “Disappointing.”

Ling Shu suddenly burst into laughter. “You wanted me to die! Hahahaha! But I refuse to die! Hahaha!”

She laughed wildly amidst the raging thunder, her passion more manic than a wild horse. Her reckless laughter sent shivers down the spines of the cultivators outside the barrier.

One cultivator whispered, “A thousand-year Demon Core plus a Heaven-grade Thunder Spirit Root… This is a world-destroying Demon King!!!”

Someone led the cry: “We cannot let a Great Demon be born! Quick, while the tribulation isn’t over and her power isn’t complete—kill her! Kill her now!!!” Several cultivators rushed forward.

Li Qiaoyan threw herself in front of Ling Shu. “I dare anyone to try!”

“I dare.” A cold, freezing voice came from Wang Lifu.

“Are you crazy?! This is your biological daughter!” Li Qiaoyan spread her arms like an eagle protecting its chick, casting a Gold Core barrier that shimmered like crimson butterfly wings.

But Wang Lifu was a Soul Transformation master.

“I cannot allow a Great Demon to be born by my hand. I cannot fail the Shangqing Realm. She must die!” Wang Lifu declared. Her sharp sword appeared. After a momentary, hidden hesitation, the blade swung with overwhelming force toward the manic Ling Shu.

The sword qi swept forward like a thousand-man army. The butterfly wing barrier shattered like glass, flying through the air. The strike bypassed the restriction, aimed straight at Ling Shu’s heart.

In that split second, a cluster of ice crystals blocked the sword light, easily neutralizing the violent energy into a gentle breeze.

A clear, ethereal voice drifted down from the sky. Every word carried a sense of peace and tranquility that felt like the world had been stilled. She said:

“Master, she is my disciple. Leave her discipline to me.”

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