Family Rise: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 490 Killing Intent, Past and Present Lives, Finally Achieving the Golden Core

Li Wanhu left less than a few days ago.

A streak of icy blue light pierced the sky and landed atop Mount Xuanxiao in the blink of an eye. As the light dissipated, a beautiful woman in a lake-blue dress was revealed, with exquisite features and a cool, aloof demeanor.

It was Luo Haitang!
She looked up at the sky, and the chaotic cloud that had been swirling for days made her pupils shrink slightly.

"Chaotic lightning tribulation..." Luo Haitang murmured softly, a rare hint of worry in his voice.

"Mother!" Fu Yongxuan quickly stepped forward, his tense expression finally relaxing a little.

Luo Haitang nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over the surroundings: "How is the situation?"

Fu Yongxuan said in a deep voice, "Father seems to be caught in a tribulation of inner demons. The lightning tribulation has been condensed and has not fallen for several days."

She paused, a cold glint in her eyes. "A few days ago, Li Wanhu came by, ostensibly to search for Golden Core cultivators in the far west, but I always felt he had ulterior motives."

Upon hearing this, Luo Haitang frowned slightly: "Li Wanhu?"

At Fu Yongxuan's Golden Elixir Ceremony.

Anyone with eyes can see that Li Wanhu harbors ill intentions towards Fu Changsheng. How could the other party be so kind as to help Fu Changsheng eliminate potential threats?

She said no more.

He flipped his hand and took out a crystal-clear jade talisman.

The jade talisman was covered with intricate runes, and faint spiritual light flowed around it.

"Heavenly Gazing Talisman!"

Fu Yongxuan exclaimed in surprise.

This jade talisman can reveal hidden auras within a radius of a hundred miles, and it's a one-time use item; my mother was actually willing to use it.

Luo Haitang tapped her fingertip.

The jade talisman floated up and transformed into a beam of clear light that swept across the entire Xuanxiao Mountain.

Fu Yongxuan held his breath and focused intently on the jade talisman's reaction.

Qingguang walked back and forth several times.

There were no unusual changes.

"It seems I was overthinking it. Perhaps Li Wanhu really was just going through the motions. Mother, I'm sorry to have made you waste a Heaven-Gazing Talisman."

The celestial divination talisman's spiritual light was exhausted, and it turned to ashes.

Luo Haitang showed no sign of distress. Instead, she waved her sleeve, and a flash of spiritual light appeared on the ground, instantly revealing dozens of array flags and nine array plates, each radiating powerful spiritual pressure.

“This is…” Fu Yongxuan was taken aback.

"The Nine Heavens Thunder Control Formation, a high-grade fourth-tier formation," Luo Haitang said calmly, as if discussing a trivial matter. "It can reduce the power of lightning tribulations by thirty percent."

Fu Yongxuan's pupils contracted: "Isn't this what you prepared for Haixin's tribulation?"

Luo Haitang glanced at her indifferently: "It's perfect for now."

Fu Yongxuan's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes welled up with tears. This grand formation, which Luo Haitang had painstakingly gathered materials for over decades, was originally intended as a life-saving item for her younger brother to overcome his tribulation, but now she was unhesitatingly offering it to help her father through his tribulation!

"Thank you, Mother!" she said, bowing deeply.

"There's no need for such formalities among family." Luo Haitang made a hand seal, and array flags and array plates flew into the air, falling to various parts of Xuanxiao Mountain according to mysterious trajectories.

Fu Yongxuan immediately cooperated.

The two worked together to set up the formation, and in less than half a day, the Nine Heavens Thunder Control Formation was completed.

boom!
The moment the grand formation was activated.

A pale blue light curtain shot into the sky, facing the chaotic tribulation clouds from afar, subtly forming a power struggle.

The outer perimeter of the forbidden area in the back mountain.

A gaunt figure, almost blending into the shadows, trembled slightly.

Yin Kui Zhenren had originally been lurking here, waiting for Fu Changsheng's weakened state after his tribulation so he could seize his body. But Luo Haitang's arrival plunged him into an icy abyss!
He has reached the end of his life.

With her meridians frozen, her magical power was no match for Luo Haitang at her peak.

"Where did Fu Changsheng get so much help?!"

If Li Wanhu hadn't covered his aura beforehand, Luo Haitang would probably have been exposed by now for using the Sky-Gazing Talisman!
"Fortunately...fortunately, that Li Wanhu is still reliable..." Yin Kui Zhenren secretly rejoiced, while at the same time becoming even more cautious in concealing his aura, afraid of revealing the slightest flaw.

He now only hopes that Fu Changsheng can overcome his tribulation as soon as possible; the longer it drags on, the greater the variables will become!

However, the day did not fulfill everyone's wish.

The chaotic tribulation clouds continued to swirl and linger, with lightning rolling within them, yet refusing to fall.

This strange phenomenon lasted for several months, and there was never any precedent for it in the cultivation world.

"The lightning tribulation condenses but doesn't fall; there's only one possibility," Luo Haitang said, gazing at the sky, her voice cold and clear, "Chang Sheng is trapped in the tribulation of his inner demons."

Fu Yongxuan's face showed even greater worry: "Inner demon tribulation... Father's Dao heart is steadfast, how could this be..."

"The tribulation of inner demons has nothing to do with one's Dao heart; it only concerns one's obsessions," Luo Haitang said calmly. "The deeper the obsession, the heavier the tribulation."

Obsession?

More than a hundred years ago, the Tianlong tribe that invaded our territory was annihilated. Since my father became the chieftain, he has always sought revenge and has never suffered a loss at the hands of others. Logically speaking, he should not have any obsessions.

Fu Yongxuan looked puzzled.

Luo Haitang withdrew her gaze: "The longer the tribulation lightning condenses, the stronger its power will be when it descends. Although the Nine Heavens Thunder Control Formation can weaken it by 30%, if the tribulation clouds accumulate for several more months..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was already clear.

—Fu Changsheng is in grave danger!
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Zhenshi Division.

Li Wanhu stood with his hands behind his back by the window, gazing in the direction of Xuanxiao Mountain, a cold smile curving his lips.

"The chaotic lightning tribulation condenses but doesn't fall? Ha..." he muttered to himself, "Fu Changsheng, it seems even the Heavenly Dao won't tolerate you!"

In his opinion.

Fu Changsheng is doomed.

"Once you fall, even if that bitch Fu Molan successfully returns to the Great Zhou, without her backing, she'll be completely at my mercy."

Mention Fu Molan!
He felt inexplicably irritated.

That bitch suddenly vanished without a trace. He sent people to guard the border, but she didn't show up for a long time. In addition, even the search party he sent to Beiyuan Mountain failed to find any trace of Fu Molan.

Even that old hag, Granny Yinhua, couldn't find that vile woman anywhere.

"hateful!"

This hidden danger will remain a thorn in our side until it is eliminated!

"Chang Sheng! Don't just stand there, quickly hand me the chives!"

Second Sister's voice startled Fu Changsheng from his daze.

He blinked and found himself squatting by the river, a handful of wet chives in his hand. The eight-year-old was wearing patched pants, and his canvas shoes were coming unglued.

"oh oh"

Fu Changsheng quickly handed the chives to his second sister, and the icy water splashed on his face.

is this real?
He clearly remembered that he was Fu Changsheng, the head of a sixth-rank noble family in the Great Zhou Dynasty, undergoing his Golden Core tribulation on Xuanxiao Mountain. Yet the scene before him was so real—the cold wind of early winter, the earthy smell of chives, and his eldest sister's fingers, red from the cold.
"Chang Sheng, you had that dream again?"

The second sister asked with a smile as she scrubbed the dirt off the roots of the chives. She was five years older than Fu Changsheng and was already a capable young woman.

Fu Changsheng nodded: "I dreamt that I could fly and conjure fire."

"You must have watched 'Journey to the West' on TV at the village entrance yesterday!" the older woman interjected, bundling the washed chives into small bunches. "Sun Wukong can somersault 108,000 li in a single leap, and you want to learn that too?"

The two older sisters giggled, their laughter ringing out crisply in the open riverside.

Fu Changsheng did not laugh.

He looked at the rushing river and suddenly felt dizzy—it seemed as if another version of himself was watching him from below the surface. That "him" struggled desperately and slowly sank into the darkness. The "him" in the water was wearing the exact same clothes as he was wearing today.

"Ah!" Fu Changsheng suddenly stepped back, almost sitting down in the mud.

"What's wrong?" The older sister quickly grabbed his arm.

"N-nothing," Fu Changsheng gasped, his heart pounding. It was a fantasy, but the feeling of being submerged in the river was too real, as if he had actually drowned in this river once.

After washing the chives, Fu Changsheng noticed that his shoes were covered in mud.

He squatted on a protruding rock by the river, carefully scrubbing the soles of his shoes. His second and eldest sisters were packing chives into bamboo baskets, and neither of them noticed him.

"Chang Sheng! Don't get so close!" the eldest sister suddenly shouted.

But it's too late.

Fu Changsheng's shoe slipped off the wet, slippery stone. He instinctively reached for it and fell into the river. The icy water immediately filled his mouth and nose, and all he could hear was a muffled scream.

He can't swim.

The river carried him down, just like the illusion he had just seen!
this.
what happened?

Strangely, he wasn't afraid.

At this critical moment, some images suddenly flashed before his eyes—

He saw his older brother return from Guangdong a few years later, his eyes unfocused, muttering "There's a ghost" over and over again.

My brother has gone mad!

"Gurgle." Fu Changsheng exhaled the last string of bubbles, and his consciousness began to blur.

"Gotcha!"

A pair of strong hands pulled him out of the water.

It was Old Zhang, the village's cattle herder, who happened to be passing by and pulled him out.

Fu Changsheng lay on the shore coughing violently, while his two older sisters cried their eyes out.

That night, Fu Changsheng developed a high fever.

In my hazy state, images of my older brother going mad kept flashing before my eyes, terrifyingly clear.

"Fu Changsheng! Your ox has wandered onto the playground!"

The third-grade homeroom teacher's reprimand brought Fu Changsheng back to reality.

He then realized he was standing at the classroom door, lost in thought, and his classmates were all laughing at him. He quickly ran out and brought the cow back, skillfully tying it to a tree stump on the back hill.

This was in 1976; he was already eleven years old.

His family was still poor, and he attended the cheapest private primary school, where he also had to herd cattle every day.

Fu Changsheng tied the ox to a crooked tree on the back hill and took out his Chinese textbook from his schoolbag. His teacher praised him today for his well-written reading response to "The Heroic Little Sisters of the Grassland," but little did he know that it was the result of three noon sessions of studying on the ox's back.

"Yu Rong and Long Mei are so brave." He stroked the illustrations in his textbook, suddenly remembering that terrible dream—

In my dream, my older brother was also like that, holding his head and shrinking in the corner of Qingshan Hospital, shouting, "Don't come any closer."

"Snap!" Fu Changsheng slammed his textbook shut. The autumn wind blew across the hillside, carrying the smell of rotting rice stubble. In the distance came the laughter of cowherds, but he only hugged his knees and buried his face in his arms.

The dream my older brother had about going crazy felt so real.

It's like when I was eight years old I dreamed that I was drowning, and then I actually fell into the river.

He had to do something this time.

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, my eldest brother finally returned from Guangdong.

Fu Changsheng squatted on the doorstep, watching the tall figure approach. His older brother, dressed in brand-new blue overalls and carrying a plastic bag printed with "Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Factory," raised his hand from afar.

"Chang Sheng! Look what your brother brought you!"

It's fruit candy.

The colorful candy balls, wrapped in clear cellophane, glittered like jewels in the sunlight. Fu Changsheng took the candy, but suddenly burst into tears, clinging tightly to his older brother's leg.

"What's wrong?" The older brother asked, both amused and exasperated, as he touched his head.

"Don't go to Guangdong anymore!" Fu Changsheng sobbed, wiping his snot and tears all over his brother's pants. "You'll go crazy, you'll go crazy!"

The main room immediately fell silent.

Father put down his pipe, Mother lifted her apron to wipe her hands, and Second Sister, who had just returned from school, stood frozen at the door.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" The older brother grabbed him and lifted him up. "I'm doing great at the pharmaceutical factory, I'll be a team leader next month!"

Fu Changsheng just shook his head, crying so hard he couldn't speak. That night he insisted on sleeping with his older brother, and when he woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, he found his older brother reading a book called "Principles of Mechanics" by the light of a kerosene lamp.

"Can't sleep?" The older brother closed the book. "Let me tell you about Guangzhou. The pharmaceutical factory's workshop is bigger than our house, the machines..."

"Is there a ghost?" Fu Changsheng suddenly asked.

The older brother paused for a moment: "Nonsense, where did this ghost come from?"

"Then why did you say in your dream that there were ghosts in the workshop who wanted to harm you?"

The kerosene lamp popped and emitted a spark. The older brother's expression was indistinct in the shadows: "Go to sleep, we still need to put up the Spring Festival couplets tomorrow."

The dinner on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year was exceptionally lavish. Mother had chopped up all the cured meat she had saved up for half a year and stewed a whole pot of radishes. Fu Changsheng knew why—his eldest brother was going back to Guangdong the next day.

"I won't eat!" he shouted, pushing the bowl away. "Unless Big Brother promises not to leave!"

The father slammed his chopsticks on the table: "Nonsense! If your brother doesn't go to work, where will you get your tuition next semester?"

"I don't need to go to school! I can herd cattle and cut grass."

"Slap!" A slap interrupted him. Fu Changsheng covered his face and saw his mother crying, his second sister eating rice with her head down, and his eldest brother staring blankly at the meat in his bowl.

That night he developed a high fever. The barefoot doctor came to see him and said it was a cold. In his delirium, Fu Changsheng heard the adults arguing in the main room:

"I've never experienced anything like this before."

"The pharmaceutical company said they'd replace you if you didn't go."

"How about we delay Jianjun's arrival by half a month?"

When his fever finally broke, he found his older brother's luggage still in the corner of the main room. His mother, her eyes red, told him, "Your brother has already spoken with the village secretary; he'll go after the Lunar New Year."

Fu Changsheng cheered and rushed out to find his older brother, only to find him talking to the Party Secretary at the courtyard gate. The Party Secretary patted his brother on the shoulder: "Jianjun, the county textile factory is also hiring, although the wages are a bit low..."

"Can you earn three yuan a day?" the older brother asked. "My younger brother needs to go to university."

The wind blew up the recruitment brochure in the secretary's hand, and Fu Changsheng saw that it read "Monthly salary 45 yuan"—only half of what Guangdong pays.

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the brigade secretary came again, this time with a letter of introduction stamped with a red seal.

"Jianjun, they've come from Guangzhou to recruit workers!" The Party Secretary's voice boomed, loud enough for the whole village to hear. "An electronics factory, eighty yuan a month!"

Fu Changsheng was feeding the chickens when he heard this. He threw down the winnowing basket, rushed over, and hugged his older brother's waist: "I'm not going! You promised you wouldn't go!"

"Chang Sheng, stop fooling around." The older brother pried his hands off. "Eighty yuan! That's enough to buy so many notebooks."

"I don't want notebooks! I don't want to go to school! I just want you to stay healthy!" Fu Changsheng cried hysterically, startling the hens laying eggs in the yard into flying around.

The adults, however, were all laughing.

The Party Secretary patted Fu Changsheng's head and said, "This child is obsessed with studying."

The next morning, Fu Changsheng secretly followed the adults to the county train station. He watched as his older brother stuffed his bedding into the green train, then suddenly slipped under his father's arm and grabbed his brother's sleeve:

"Take me with you! I can do the work! I'm watching you."

The sound of the steam horn drowned out his cries.

The older brother pushed him to their father and jumped onto the already moving train. Fu Changsheng broke free from his father's hand and chased after it, but tripped on the concrete steps at the edge of the platform and watched helplessly as the train disappeared into the morning mist.

The blood from the scraped knee seeped into his blue khaki pants, turning into a purplish-black scab. The wound eventually healed, but Fu Changsheng always felt that a thorn was forever embedded in his flesh.

Three months later, in the evening, Fu Changsheng was laying out hay in the cowshed when he heard a commotion outside. He ran out and saw two men in work clothes supporting his older brother, who was standing at the door.

"Fu Jianjun's family?" One of them handed over a piece of paper. "This is the medical expense and wage settlement statement. The factory has done everything it could."

The older man's eyes were unfocused, his work clothes were stained, and he kept muttering, "Under the assembly line...they reached out and grabbed my ankles."

Fu Changsheng dropped the pitchfork in his hand. Every detail of that dream matched up perfectly.

That night, he hid in the cowshed and cried, burying his face in the warm fur of the old ox. The ox quietly ruminated, occasionally brushing his back with its tail.

Fu Changsheng suddenly sat up on his dormitory bed, his vest soaked with cold sweat.

The first rays of dawn broke through the window, and his roommate on the lower bunk snored rhythmically. He trembled as he pulled out the calendar from under his pillow—October 17, 1991, the date circled in red like a bloodstain.

It's exactly three months ago today.

In those recurring "dreams," the father would collapse beside the stove. By the time the mother returned from the fields, his body was already cold.

"Please ask the department head for a three-month leave for me!" Fu Changsheng kicked his roommate awake, stuffed two pieces of clothing into his travel bag, and rushed out. "Just say something happened at my house!" The October wind was already chilly. As he ran across the campus, the poplar leaves rustled overhead, like countless hands mocking him—just like how he couldn't keep his older brother back then, was it too late this time too?

The old-fashioned green train rattled along for six hours. Fu Changsheng clutched the blood pressure monitor he'd swiped from the school clinic, his fingernails leaving crescent-shaped white marks on his palm. The elderly woman next to him handed him a boiled egg: "Young man, have something to eat? You look pale."

He shook his head, suddenly remembering that his father loved to eat pickled chili peppers with his rice. Were those bright red chili peppers slowly clogging his father's blood vessels?
When I opened the door, the setting sun was shining directly on the stove.

"Immortality?!" The gourd ladle in the mother's hand fell into the pot. "Why are you back?"

Fu Changsheng didn't speak, but walked straight to his father, who was weaving bamboo baskets. The old man's dark face was covered with wrinkles, and when he looked up, his eyes quickly changed from surprise to anger: "Skipping school?"

"Dad, let me take your blood pressure." Fu Changsheng had already removed the air bladder from the blood pressure monitor.

“What are you measuring! I’m fine.” The father’s words came to an abrupt halt. The mercury column stopped at 180/110.

"Dad, I've submitted my application for a three-month leave of absence from school to stay home and take care of..."

The words were not finished.

The mother suddenly picked up a broom:

"You good-for-nothing! Your eldest sister works overtime until midnight every day at the garment factory, and when your second sister got married, she couldn't even afford to make new clothes for herself, all to support you."

The broom handle stung his back. Fu Changsheng didn't flinch, but stared at his father's hand, where the veins bulged: "Dad, have you been feeling dizzy lately? And has your head been throbbing?"

The father's expression said it all.

The argument lasted until midnight that night.

In the end, the father made the decision: "Stay. Come with me to the fields tomorrow, and have your mother go to the clinic to get some medicine."

Fu Changsheng lay on the wooden bed he used to sleep on as a child, and heard a hushed argument coming from his parents' room:

"Disrupting studies"

"The son is filial."

The moonlight under the eaves was as cold as water. He knew that his father had compromised because an old man in the village had died in his sleep just last year.

The days that followed resembled a meticulously planned defensive battle.

Every morning, Fu Changsheng would get up early to cook corn porridge—less salted and oil-free, served with a side of bitter melon salad. His father would finish it with a frown, muttering as he picked up his hoe, "It tastes so bland."

"Dad, put on your straw hat." Fu Changsheng chased after him to the courtyard gate. "The sun's heat will raise your blood pressure."

"You're such a troublemaker!" the father scolded, but put the straw hat on his head.

The villagers laughed when they saw him: "Old Fu, your son is even more considerate than your daughter!" The father then proudly straightened his back, completely forgetting how much he had opposed his son's return.

傅长生记着笔记：10月20日，血压150/95；10月25日，母亲按土方挖的夏枯草见效，降到140/90；11月1日.
He deliberately avoided the area near the stove, taking on all the heavy work. But whenever his father bent over, he would still instinctively reach out to help, causing the old man to glare at him: "Do you think I'm seventy or eighty years old?"

These tense days continued until December 17th—the day my father collapsed in my dream.

It had been drizzling since early morning. Fu Changsheng woke up at five o'clock and tiptoed to his parents' door. He only felt a little relieved when he heard his father's thunderous snoring.

"Don't go to the fields today." This was the umpteenth time he had suggested this during breakfast.

The father slammed the bowl down: "The rice is still spread out in the threshing ground! What if it rains heavily?"

The rain stopped in the afternoon. Father was going to borrow a threshing machine from the neighboring village, and Fu Changsheng insisted on going with him. On the way back, the setting sun suddenly broke through the clouds, turning the muddy dirt road golden. Father carried the iron gear ahead, his shadow stretched long.

“Chang Sheng,” the father suddenly said, “you should leave your blood pressure monitor at home when you leave.”

Fu Changsheng felt a lump in his throat. This was the first time his father had openly admitted that he needed care.

Dinner was braised eggplant made by his mother—bought secretly by his father at the market, a reward for his compromises over the past month. Fu Changsheng watched as his father picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, then another.
"Don't eat too much oil!" he couldn't help but stop him.

"You're so nosy!" his father scolded him with a laugh, but he actually put down his chopsticks.

That smile became the most vivid scene in Fu Changsheng's memory. Because ten minutes later, his father was washing rice to prepare for cooking when he suddenly froze and then collapsed to the ground like a felled tree.

"dad!!"

When Fu Changsheng rushed over, his father's face had already turned purplish-red, and his breathing was like a broken bellows. Images of his training in the school clinic flashed through his mind: loosening his collar, positioning him on his side, cleaning his mouth.
"Mom! Call 120! Say it's a brain hemorrhage!" he roared, his fingers moving with surprising steadiness. The blood pressure monitor read 210/130; the right side of his father's body was completely paralyzed.

As the ambulance siren drew nearer, Fu Changsheng pressed the handle of a spoon against his father's tongue—the school doctor had said that preventing suffocation was more important than anything else. His mother slumped on the doorstep, still clutching the unfinished scallions in her hand.

"The pupils haven't dilated." The attending physician looked at Fu Changsheng with surprise after the examination. "Very professional handling."

As the stretcher was carried out of the yard, the father suddenly regained consciousness for a moment, his right hand gripping Fu Changsheng's clothes tightly. He leaned down and heard the old man's muffled voice: "...The book...go back and read it."

The lights in the county hospital were a harsh, glaring white. When the doctor said, "You were brought in in time, you can be saved," Fu Changsheng slumped onto a bench, only then realizing that his whole body was trembling.

When the nurse came to collect the payment, he pulled out his student ID and asked, "I'm a chemical engineering student, can I donate blood to offset my medical expenses?"

As the plane encountered turbulence, Fu Changsheng was staring intently at the sea of ​​clouds.

The flight attendant's announcement reminding people to fasten their seatbelts seemed to come from a great distance. Those clouds—they should have been beneath his feet, scattered by the winds he created as he flew. The thought abruptly surfaced, like a hammer striking the chains of memory.

"Sir? Are you alright?" The flight attendant looked at his pale face with concern.

Fu Changsheng nodded mechanically, clutching his plane ticket tightly. The ticket showed November 3, 1998; he had just passed his master's thesis defense and secured a permanent position at the Provincial Chemical Research Institute. Last week, after signing the purchase contract, his older sister secretly slipped him 11 yuan, saying it was a "gift for his future sister-in-law."

Everything was terrifyingly reasonable.

If we exclude that bloody dream.

"Dear passengers, the plane is about to land."

Fu Changsheng pulled out a photo of his eldest sister from his wallet. The woman in the photo had fine lines around her eyes, but her smile was still as gentle as when she sewed his schoolbag years ago. In his dream, that smile was forever frozen in a pool of blood.

"I will change the ending."

He pressed the photo to his chest, as if he had saved his father; this time, he was determined.
The county bus station reeked of the familiar smell of diesel fuel. Fu Changsheng immediately hired a motorcycle taxi and gave them his older sister's address.

"Oh, the Wang family compound, the wife's house?" The driver grinned, revealing yellow teeth. "That woman's got some nerve. Last year she even bought her alcoholic husband a Santana."

Fu Changsheng's face turned cold.

As the wheels rolled over the gravel road, those fragments of memory became clearer: the pillow her eldest sister secretly cried on the day she dropped out of school, the dowry money her mother counted three times when she got married, and the pocket money she secretly slipped to him every time she went back to her parents' home.
The motorcycle screeched to a halt in front of a two-story building covered in white tiles. A sharp cracking sound of a bowl shattering echoed from the courtyard, and Fu Changsheng's blood instantly froze—the same opening scene as in his dream!
"You think you're so great? You dare hide money from me!" a drunken man roared. "That 30,000 yuan is mine!"

When Fu Changsheng kicked open the courtyard gate, he saw his eldest sister being dragged by the hair and slammed against the wall. His brother-in-law, Wang Jianjun, had a face full of fat, flushed with drunkenness, and a kitchen knife on the table gleamed coldly in the sunlight.

"stop!"

Wang Jianjun turned his head, pointing the kitchen knife at Fu Changsheng: "Oh, the college student's back? Want to meddle in my family affairs?"

Fu Changsheng didn't speak. He saw the bloodstains at the corner of his older sister's mouth, the bruises on her arms, and the hospital examination report scattered on the ground—the words "No abnormalities found in the female reproductive system" were covered with footprints.

"That bitch took my money to buy you a house!" Wang Jianjun reeked of alcohol. "She's a barren hen, yet she dares to..."

Fu Changsheng is alive.

His movements were inhumanly fast. He covered three steps in an instant, his right hand forming a claw aimed straight for the opponent's throat—in those memories, this was called the "Throat-Locking Dragon-Capturing Hand," a killer move that the guards of the Fu family's martial arts training hall had to learn.

"Crack!"

A cracking sound came from Wang Jianjun's throat. The cleaver clattered to the ground, and his obese body went limp like a broken sack. Fu Changsheng followed up with a knee strike to his chest, hearing the dull thud of breaking ribs.

"Chang Sheng!" The eldest sister's scream seemed to come through a curtain of water. "What are you doing?!"

Fu Changsheng looked down at his palm. Wang Jianjun convulsed on the ground like a stranded fish, blood foaming from the corner of his mouth. This was no ordinary person's power—in those memories, he was a Golden Core cultivator, an immortal cultivator capable of moving mountains and overturning seas!
"Big sister, it's alright now." He turned and helped his terrified older sister up, his voice unusually gentle. "He'll never hit you again."

The courtyard wall suddenly twisted and deformed. White ceramic tiles turned into bluestone bricks, and the two-story building transformed into pavilions and towers of a cultivation world. Fu Changsheng shook his head, the two scenes overlapping and then separating.

"Ambulance!" The woman's voice trembled as she reached for the phone. "It doesn't matter if he's dead or not, but we can't let one good-for-nothing ruin your life! Ambulance, quick!"

Fu Changsheng pressed her hand down: "No need to save her."

These words were like a key, instantly unlocking the floodgates of his memory. He saw himself at eight years old struggling in the river, his mentally unstable older brother chained up, and his father lying by the stove. These images intertwined with his memories of cultivation on Xuanxiao Mountain.

These are all obsessions from his past life.

"This is a tribulation of inner demons." Fu Changsheng suddenly burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face. "I should have understood long ago!"

The older sister backed away in alarm: "Changsheng, what's wrong with you?"

The world began to crumble. Wang Jianjun's body, the crowd of onlookers outside the courtyard, and the eldest sister's weeping face all blurred and faded like an overturned watercolor painting. In his last moments of lucidity, Fu Changsheng held his eldest sister tightly:

"I'm sorry, I still couldn't truly save you."

The moment Fu Changsheng opened his eyes, the light of the restrictions in the system's training room had just completed its last cycle.

Focus your inner vision on the dantian (lower abdomen).

A grayish-white primordial golden pill was slowly rotating, and the chaotic energy flowing on its surface moved around like a living thing.

Overcome the tribulation of your inner demons!
Next comes the Golden Core Tribulation.

Fu Changsheng took a deep breath.

A thought.

They came straight out of the practice room.

Thirty years have passed inside the training room, but only six years have passed outside.

The moment the stone door to the secret chamber opened, the world changed color.

Above Mount Xuanxiao, the chaotic tribulation cloud that had been swirling for months suddenly surged violently, like an enraged ancient beast. The originally gray clouds were now churning with eerie purplish-black vortexes, and blinding flashes of lightning occasionally streaked through the gaps.

Fu Changsheng looked up.

The first gray bolt of lightning struck down from the clouds—

The lightning bolts contained wisps of chaotic energy, causing tiny cracks to appear in the space wherever they passed, accompanied by a teeth-grinding "crackling" sound.

"Father, be careful!"

Fu Yongxuan's exclamation came from the mountainside, his voice filled with undisguised anxiety.

The voice just fell.

The lightning tribulation had already struck the Nine Heavens Thunder Control Formation that Luo Haitang had meticulously set up.

Click!

The fourth-tier high-grade array, which was said to be able to weaken the power of lightning tribulation by 30%, was as fragile as paper in the face of the lightning tribulation. The array flags exploded one after another, turning into dust all over the sky; the array plate twisted and deformed, and finally vanished in the blinding light.

Rumble!
The second lightning tribulation followed closely, its target being the spirit-sealing array in the forbidden area behind the mountain.

The ancient formation that had guarded Xuanxiao Mountain for hundreds of years groaned under the strain, and the spirit stones at its core shattered one after another with a crisp cracking sound. Finally, with a deafening roar, the entire formation collapsed completely, and the violent spiritual energy scattered like a flood bursting its banks.

"Is this really a Golden Core Tribulation?"

Fu Yongxuan's face was deathly pale, and her voice trembled. Compared to the lightning she had witnessed during her tribulation, it was like a firefly compared to the bright moon.

"What grade of Golden Core did Fu Changsheng condense that could attract such a powerful lightning tribulation?!"

Luo Haitang, a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, also had a slight change in expression at this moment—the lightning tribulation that destroyed the Spirit Sealing Array was nearly as powerful as a full-force attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator!
There are seven more such tribulations.

"Fu Changsheng is likely in grave danger!"

Looking up at the towering figure atop the mountain, Luo Haitang felt utterly powerless for the first time. Although Fu Changsheng had a few trump cards, the tribulation before them had surpassed the scope of an ordinary Golden Core tribulation, leaving even her helpless.

hum!
When the third lightning tribulation began to condense.

Fu Changsheng finally moved.

He stood atop the mountain, his black hair fluttering in the wind, his eyes calm as still water. With a flick of his sleeve, three streaks of silver lightning shot from his dantian, weaving into a triangular sword formation in the air. Each sword was wrapped in fine lightning patterns; they were none other than the Thunderclap Sword, forged from Heavenly Thunder Bamboo.

"Starry Sky Thunder Formation, activate!"

With a clear shout, three Thunderclap Swords transformed into streaks of light and soared into the sky, the phantom image of the Big Dipper appearing where their blades pointed. This sword formation was derived from the "Azure Emperor's Longevity Technique" and, after more than a hundred years of refinement, had finally reached its peak.

boom!
The moment the sword formation collided with the lightning tribulation, the blinding light temporarily blinded everyone. When their vision returned, they saw that the three Thunderclap Swords had been broken into several pieces, but the power of the lightning tribulation had also been weakened by more than half. The remaining lightning struck Fu Changsheng, shearing off three zhang (approximately 10 meters) of the mountain he was standing on, revealing his stark white bones.

As the dust settled, Fu Changsheng, covered in blood, stood unyielding. The starlight that had flowed across his body gradually faded into his skin—his powerful physique, honed by the Marrow Refining Realm of the Nine Heavens Star Technique, had withstood the fatal blow. A trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes remained calm as ever.

"Come again!"

Fu Changsheng calmly took out a small bronze cauldron.

The nine dragon patterns on the cauldron came to life, roaring as they faced the tribulation lightning. This was the Nine Tribulations Cauldron, forged over hundreds of years by the previous Grand Elder of the Xuanxiao Sect.

"Roar!"

The cauldron collided with the lightning tribulation, and the nine dragon shadows frantically devoured the lightning, but in the end, the cauldron and the dragons exploded into fragments, turning into dust all over the sky.

The aftershocks of the lightning tribulation blasted Fu Changsheng into the mountainside, creating a crater ten zhang deep. As he coughed up blood and crawled out from the rubble, the fifth lightning tribulation was already brewing in the clouds. This tribulation was even more terrifying than the previous ones, with the flow of chaotic power faintly visible within the lightning.

"The Black Tortoise Sea-Suppressing Seal!"

A large jade seal soared into the air, the phantom of a black tortoise on its knob instantly expanding to the size of a mountain. This was the treasured artifact of the Xuanxiao Sect, passed down for thousands of years, and only the sect leader could wield it. The lightning struck the tortoise shell, producing a metallic clang. The phantom tortoise roared in pain, yet it stubbornly withstood the attack. Just as Fu Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief, the sixth lightning tribulation struck in quick succession.

"Crack!"

As cracks appeared in the tortoise shell, Fu Changsheng threw out a small, blood-red seal. The Blood Fiend Seal grew rapidly in the wind, transforming into a blood-red canopy that joined the Black Tortoise Seal in defense. The two treasures trembled violently amidst the lightning, ultimately crashing to the ground, their spiritual power severely damaged. Fu Changsheng spat out a mouthful of blood, his face ashen.

"This"

Luo Haitang saw Fu Changsheng withstand six lightning tribulations in succession.

A look of disbelief flashed in his eyes.

If it were her, she probably could only withstand the first three tribulations at most. Fu Changsheng has only just condensed his golden core, yet he is already so powerful. If he can successfully overcome the tribulation, his future will be limitless.

just.

The next three tribulations of lightning.

I'm afraid...

No matter how strong Fu Changsheng is, he is still
Luo Haitang sighed, "What a pity!"

Rumble!
The seventh lightning bolt struck.

Fu Changsheng presented a section of crystal-clear finger bone.

"Hey, this is..."

Luo Haitang recognized it; she had found it in the Xuanxiao Sect's treasure vault. She hadn't expected Fu Changsheng to have successfully refined it.

boom!
The finger bones transformed into a shield woven with lightning in mid-air, the [Thunder Bone Barrier] forged from the remains of the Heavenly Thunder Beast. The lightning strikes hit the bone shield, but were completely absorbed, making the shield even more solid.

"This should be Fu Changsheng's last trump card."

No matter how strong Fu Changsheng is.

It was still no match for the chaotic lightning tribulation.

"Only two dishes remain."

Fu Changsheng wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth; his spiritual energy was almost depleted. Yet his gaze grew even more resolute; the life-or-death situation had ironically unleashed his inner potential.

boom!
The power of the eighth lightning tribulation was beyond everyone's imagination.

The dark lightning bolt, only as thick as an arm, seemed insignificant, yet it created black cracks in the space itself wherever it passed. The bone shield shattered upon contact with it, its finger bones instantly vaporizing.

The lightning tribulation continued unabated, heading straight for Fu Changsheng's spirit!

"It's finally over."

Hidden in the shadows, Yin Kui Zhenren grinned maliciously, his withered fingers already forming the hand seals for possession. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time; as long as Fu Changsheng died, he could take over this perfect body.

"Father!" Fu Yongxuan's voice trembled slightly, feeling resentful of his powerlessness at this moment.

At the critical moment.

Fu Changsheng suddenly pulled something out of his pocket—a giant egg that was grayish-white and covered with strange patterns.

"The Primordial Chaos has manifested!"

The giant egg faced the lightning head-on, and the patterns on its shell suddenly came to life, transforming into countless tiny vortexes. The chaotic lightning tribulation, powerful enough to annihilate a pseudo-infant cultivator, was completely absorbed by the giant egg! Chaotic lightning flowed across the surface of the eggshell, and a satisfied "gurgling" sound could be faintly heard coming from within, like the sigh of a child after a hearty meal.

"This is."

The sudden scene left everyone stunned.

"What on earth is this?"

A giant egg was able to swallow such a terrifying lightning tribulation.

Luo Haitang's gaze towards Fu Changsheng changed again; just how many tricks and trump cards did this man still have hidden?

Should have known so.

perhaps
Perhaps she shouldn't have aborted the child back then.

"The clan leader is mighty!!!"

At this moment, the crowd watching the lightning tribulation in the mountains cheered!
this moment.

Everyone saw hope!

If the patriarch can survive the final tribulation of lightning, the Fu family will surely rise to prominence in the future!

(End of this chapter)