Chapter 20: Choosing the path
"Ha... haha..."
Langtian laughed, broken and breathless, like his mind was teetering on the edge of madness.
"Damn... that’s so unfortunate..." he muttered, clutching his head with both hands. His whole body trembled. "Five rounds of Heavenly Tribulation... If you really endured all of that... gods know how powerful you would’ve become."
"Huh? I did endure all five rounds of divine lightning," Yue Ling said casually, shrugging like it was no big deal.
"Wait, you did?!" Langtian stared at her, completely stunned. "Then... how? How did you end up with just a false core?"
Yue Ling let out a long sigh and clicked her tongue in frustration. "Tsk. If it weren’t for those damn demonic beasts crashing the whole thing and ruining everything... I would’ve succeeded. My core was almost there."
"Wait... even with the Demonic Jiao skeleton protecting you?!"
"Yeah." She nodded, her voice a bit quieter now. "Even that wasn’t enough. There were too many of them. I didn’t realize it back then, but I think... they were trying to kill me. To steal my core the moment it formed."
Langtian’s expression hardened. "I see..."
It was common knowledge among cultivators.
When a demonic beast attempted to evolve, especially during a breakthrough, that moment became its greatest vulnerability—its qi in chaos, its focus locked inward, and its body exposed. And if a Heavenly Tribulation was involved, that vulnerability only deepened.
For rival beasts, it was the perfect time to strike.