I Was the Sun Before I Became an Immortal

Li Tiezhu's legs were trembling like leaves in a storm.

The scene before him was simply too terrifying — more over-the-top than any apocalypse blockbuster he'd watched before crossing over.

He was just about to turn and bolt when a sudden ding rang out in his mind.

[Detected: high-level Cultivator approaching. Emergency evasion protocol activated!]

[Stealth Mode has been automatically enabled for the host. Points deducted: 5,000.]

[Current points: -4,750. Outstanding balance will accrue daily interest at an annualized rate of…]

Li Tiezhu froze for a moment, then erupted in a torrent of curses.

"Holy shit?! Five thousand?! With interest?! Damn it, why don't you just rob me?! You greedy, black-hearted System!"

[System Friendly Reminder: Debts must be repaid — that is the way of the world. Should repayment be overdue, a mandatory recovery program will be initiated, including but not limited to…]

Li Tiezhu was about to keep cursing when he suddenly noticed his body beginning to turn transparent.

At that very moment, several figures whooshed past overhead, coming to a halt in midair not far from Li Tiezhu — their backs to him, completely unaware of the "invisible man" below.

Each of those Cultivators radiated a dense, powerful aura and wore lavish robes. One glance was enough to tell they were no ordinary Rogue Cultivators. Li Tiezhu was so frightened he held his breath and didn't dare move a muscle.

"This is the place…"

One of the older-looking Cultivators frowned and said, "A heavenly tribulation this terrifying — the Qingxuan Rankings truly did not exaggerate."

A tall, lean man beside him chimed in, "Prodigy or not, what does it matter? Faced with a heavenly tribulation like this, he can only pray for himself. Si Chen is surely too preoccupied to worry about anything else."

A third person produced a formation flag. "To ensure nothing goes wrong, we proceed with the plan and set the formation. Best if he dies under the tribulation lightning. But if he somehow survives, he'll be utterly spent — and that will be our moment to strike."

Hidden in the shadows, Li Tiezhu's heart hammered in his chest.

Si Chen? Wasn't that his bargain-bin master?

Could it be that this world-ending, apocalyptic spectacle before him was actually his master undergoing his tribulation?!

And what were these people planning? They… they wanted to ambush him while he was at his most vulnerable?!

Why? His master was such a refined gentleman — graceful and warm as jade, the kind of person anyone would feel tender toward at first sight.

Despicable! To think they'd plot against such a good man.

Li Tiezhu's mind was a battlefield.

What to do? Run, or stay?

If he stayed — this situation was terrifying. He was just a little shrimp who'd barely reached Foundation Establishment. Hanging around here was practically volunteering to be cannon fodder.

But if he ran… he thought of that warm, steaming meat bun. He thought of those Cultivation Techniques that had changed his fate. A heavy feeling settled in Li Tiezhu's chest.

He might be unreliable, but he still understood the basic human principle of repaying kindness. If he, Li Tiezhu, just ran away like this, how was he any different from a petty, ungrateful wretch?

"A new storm has already arrived… how can I stand still~"

Somehow, at this most inopportune moment, a rousing battle anthem from before his transmigration began playing unbidden in his head.

"Crossing through time and space~"

"Giving everything I've got~"

"I will come to your side~"

He unconsciously started humming along in his heart.

Then he caught himself and shook his head hard. Holy shit! Why am I even singing right now?!

"But… it does get the blood pumping…" Li Tiezhu gritted his teeth.

"Screw it! I didn't cross over just to be a coward!" Swept up by the mental background music, his blood surged with sudden fire.

With that damned System around, he probably… wouldn't die…

Probably.

He abandoned the idea of fleeing and decided to stay and see if there was anything he could do to help his master.

Besides, he, Li Tiezhu, was destined to become a man who would one day be an Immortal Emperor. If he didn't even have this much courage, what was all that talk about dominating the Myriad Worlds?

"System, you'd better hold up your end! If I get found out, I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"

* * *

Meanwhile, above the Demon-Subduing Sea.

Heishan and Chifeng had already retreated dozens of miles away. The two demons hovered in midair, their expressions grave.

"This commotion… isn't it a little too big…"

Heishan craned his neck to look at the tribulation clouds piling ever thicker overhead, and couldn't help swallowing hard. "When this old bear took on human form, the tribulation lightning didn't even have a tenth of this presence. I'd believe it if someone told me this was a Soul Transformation tribulation!"

Chifeng's brow was deeply furrowed, his voice low. "Something is definitely off. This is already beyond the scale of what a heavenly tribulation for the Nascent Soul Stage should be."

Both of them had sweaty palms.

They had witnessed Si Chen's power firsthand, and they knew that the stronger the tribulation lightning, the greater the potential of the one undergoing it — but tribulation lightning had never been something that played by the rules.

More than a few "heaven's chosen" had perished beneath tribulation lightning.

Only Red Bean remained perfectly calm. It rolled over in Heishan's messy hair and went back to dozing, as if the world-ending spectacle overhead had absolutely nothing to do with it.

And at this moment, Si Chen himself hovered serenely directly beneath the tribulation clouds.

He had fully released all restraints on his cultivation. The strange core of intertwined platinum and violet lightning within him ignited once more.

"Come, then," he said softly, his eyes carrying a hint of anticipation.

As if answering his call, in a fleeting moment, heaven and earth fell utterly silent.

Then —

BOOM!!!!

A streak of violet lightning that spanned the heavens and earth, like a roaring dragon, came crashing straight down from the heart of the tribulation clouds! Its radiance was blinding, and the terrifying pressure it exuded made Heishan and Chifeng, a hundred miles away, struggle to breathe.

In that instant, the sky and earth lost their color, and all things fell silent.

The Cultivators lurking in the shadows all held their breath. Heishan and Chifeng's hearts leapt into their throats. Even Li Tiezhu, hiding in the dark, couldn't help squeezing his eyes shut.

"Brother!" Heishan cried out involuntarily, his fists clenching without thinking.

That's it — surely that strike would reduce a person to ash?

And yet…

When the lightning faded, Si Chen still hovered in the air, completely unharmed.

Not only unharmed — there was even a trace of… confusion on his face.

That seemingly world-destroying bolt of lightning had, the instant it made contact with his body, suddenly become extraordinarily gentle.

Rather than causing harm, it transformed into pure energy and actively began cleansing his meridians and marrow.

To call it a strike would be an overstatement — it was more like a thoroughly invigorating Spiritual Energy… massage?

Then came the second bolt, the third, the fourth…

One after another, bolts thicker and more fearsome than the last came crashing down in succession. Their color shifted from violet to deep violet, then to a dim, eerie hue tinged with a thread of annihilating black energy.

Each one was enough to obliterate an ordinary Nascent Soul Cultivator body and soul — yet every bolt that landed on Si Chen instantly transformed into the most docile of energies, rushing eagerly into his body to become part of his cultivation.

To the onlookers watching from afar, Si Chen's silhouette was swallowed again and again by the lightning's radiance.

"How many bolts now?"

"The fifth! And the power is still climbing — a heavenly tribulation like this is unheard of!"

"So what? Beneath Heaven's Wrath, human strength has its limits. The longer he holds on, the more he depletes himself — the more advantageous it is for us."

Another voice cut in, heavy with gravity:

"Don't underestimate him. Have you ever seen a Nascent Soul tribulation that could stir a hundred miles of the demon sea into a boiling frenzy? This man… cannot be measured by ordinary standards."

Heishan and Chifeng were so tense they could barely breathe. Every time the lightning flashed, their hearts sank a little further.

Only Si Chen himself knew what was truly happening.

Standing at the center of the lightning storm, feeling the pure energy wash over his body and Golden Core again and again, the faint confusion in his heart gradually gave way to understanding.

This world — or rather, the rules of this realm — seemed to be… afraid of him.

Afraid of his… return.

This world neither wanted nor dared to let this physical body perish.

So that was it.

Having worked it out, Si Chen suddenly found it a little funny. Undergoing this heavenly tribulation felt like soaking in a hot spring.

Just then, an unexpected little "side note" occurred.

The strand of working thunder that had been diligently and faithfully residing within him — upon sensing the aura of the tribulation lightning outside, which shared the same origin but was countless times more savage — gave a sudden, faint tremor.

It thought these "relatives" had come to take it back.

That simply would not do!

Right now it was living the good life alongside its master — eating well, working steadily, with a bright future ahead and even room for promotion!

Go back to eating the Heavenly Dao's communal rice? You must be joking!

And so, an extremely faint yet utterly resolute intention traveled back along the lightning's connection, flowing in reverse into the rolling Heaven's Wrath:

"Please stop coming to find me…"

"I… am afraid of causing my master a misunderstanding."