Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

But now that things have come to this, all we can do is hastily make amends.

Zuo Donglu's delicate face, which was slightly tinged with bitterness, suddenly furrowed and became more serious. At the same time, she let out a soft groan of pain, as if a mental tribulation had penetrated her deeply, piercing her nerves.

Strange, dark purple patterns appeared on her skin below her navel, and a feeling of mutual complement and connection flowed into Chu Mingkong's heart.

Flying swords, sword techniques, sword formations, sword intent... these are not what he wants.

Is it possible that one's fate is truly beyond one's control?!

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(PS: This chapter was originally intended as a draft for tomorrow, as I have some business to attend to tomorrow. However, considering the reader's experience, I'm posting it now. Updates will be less consistent tomorrow, but I'll try my best.)

Chapter Fifty-Four: Time to Touch the Big Salted Fish

However, Chu Mingkong thought for a moment and realized that it was probably not a problem of not being able to control one's destiny, but rather that Zuo Donglu had not yet mastered it.

Otherwise, she would have woken up long ago.

"This is really something. Bie Wujian is so focused on making his understanding of destiny more and more outrageous."

As Chu Mingkong murmured to himself, he did not stop exploring this shared power. He continued to delve deeper, trying to find useful clues.

Hmm? That's... Zuo Donglu's soul doll?

Chu Mingkong saw a little girl hugging her knees. Her features were still very young, but he could tell that this was Zuo Donglu as a child.

He chose to touch the little girl, and his consciousness once again went haywire, his vision blinded by a burst of white light—

When Chu Mingkong could see his surroundings clearly again, he found himself in an unfamiliar mansion.

The decoration style of the houses is somewhat similar to that of the Tianji Empire, but it has also developed its own cultural style.

He looked down at himself and realized he had also become a child, currently seemingly in a spiritual state.

"Could it be that I entered the Winter Dew Heart Tribulation Illusion with my soul? Speaking of which, my soul has grown so much, how come I'm still a little kid, and they won't even give me clothes?"

The current situation is like a glimmer of hope after a long period of darkness, and Chu Mingkong's mood has improved a bit, to the point that he can even vent a little.

Not daring to waste any time, he quickly ran around the mansion, swinging his legs as he searched for Zuo Donglu's whereabouts.

As he passed by the maids, they couldn't see Chu Mingkong at all, and were just muttering something to each other:

The old man passed away so suddenly, it was so unexpected!

Although those who cultivate immortality live long lives, their lives are still unstable. One slip and they can suffer a qi deviation, their soul departing this world. Alas.

[But I heard it was the second young lady who caused it. Her fate is extremely poisonous to sword cultivators; no sword cultivator of any level can defend against it, even though the old master doted on her so much...]

This mental illusion is... when the Zuo sisters' grandfather passed away?

He hurried to the mourning hall, and sure enough, it was a funeral. White paper was scattered all over the ground, and the old servants were all dressed in white and wailing. Officials from the Sword Dynasty came over, waiting to collect the remains to fill the array.

Two little girls stood in front of the hall, heads bowed in silence.

Suddenly, a mournful cry emanated from the coffin, and an arm, withered like a winter branch, trembled and rose, as if grasping at some regret:

[I am not reconciled. I finally survived one tribulation, and my swordsmanship and cultivation broke through at the same time. I could also prolong my life. Why is there another tribulation after the mental tribulation?]

Is it that Heaven doesn't want me to get through this ordeal, or is it that someone else doesn't want me to get through it?!

Upon hearing these words, one of the girls trembled, lowered her head even further, her bangs drooping, and dared not look up at the mourning hall.

Chu Mingkong ran over on three legs and closed the coffin lid. Although he wanted to be polite, the thought that this was a mental tribulation illusion made him curse under his breath.

"If you're dead, just be quiet. What a load of rubbish!"

He walked up to Xiao Donglu. Xiao Qiuchi, who was standing next to him, was probably an illusion and couldn't see him either, but Xiao Donglu was the real person.

"Aunt Donglu, I feel that my ability to empathize is still very poor. No matter how much encouragement I give you now, it would just be sarcastic remarks from someone who has never experienced your suffering."

Regret is inevitable in life, but if you continue to regret it now, Qiu Chi might get into trouble. You can't choose the past, but you can still try to change the future.

"Qiu Chi, she...?"

Zuo Donglu felt her eyes were seeing things; after staring at the floor for a while, the person in front of her seemed to have three legs.

"Your swordsmanship, which had stagnated for several years, has broken through, but your destiny has also broken through along with it. Now even sword immortals can influence it. Your master's sword intent and Qiu Chi have both been affected."

"I've hurt someone again, including Qiu Chi..."

Chu Mingkong cupped her delicate face, gently patted it, pinched her cheeks inward a bit, and raised his voice to emphasize:

"This time it hasn't caused harm yet, but it's about to cause harm. However, you still have a chance to try to change things. You can continue to feel guilty towards the old master later. It won't make a difference if you feel guilty for a while. Otherwise, you'll have the chance to feel guilty along with Qiu Chi in the future!"

Since it's your fate that's harming you so much, consider it revenge and try to overcome it!

Zuo Donglu finally cheered up a bit. She had no time to ask Chu Mingkong how he had gotten there, and said:

"But I don't know how to overcome this mental obstacle."

"Try your current power and see if anything comes out of it. Is there any strange power, like extreme yin power or something?"

Zuo Donglu tried to sense it and found that she seemed to have inexplicably gained a bunch of unfamiliar powers that she could control.

A ball of water emerged from her palm, its aquatic energy tinged with a deep, dark hue.

Extremely Yin Water.

"What's going on? Are you two sisters, one fire and one water...? Alright, since we don't know how to overcome this mental tribulation, let's use this unreasonable power to destroy it. Let's get out of here first."

Chu Mingkong's soul was surrounded by flames and burned out of this illusion of mental tribulation.

He regained consciousness and prayed that he hadn't spent too much time.

As long as Donglu wakes up, things will be fine. Even if she hasn't mastered her own destiny yet, she can still act on her own and leave this place to avoid further affecting the countless sword intents here.

The woman in his arms showed signs of waking up. She still seemed unable to completely control her destiny, but she had some means of suppressing it.

The restless sword intent around them calmed down, the sword intent tornado stopped rolling, and some flying swords even fell directly to the ground.

But that's only a part.

Zuo Donglu opened her heavy eyelids, and the man's figure came into view, but a strange swelling pain suddenly came from her body, making her groan softly again.

"What's going on...?" She was completely confused about the situation.

Chu Mingkong was ashamed. He withdrew, leaving a trail of drizzle, and then took his clothes to cover her alluring snow-white body.

"I'll give you an explanation and a clear answer later. Now, you should leave here first. I'm going to try to bring Qiu Chi out."

Knowing that her body was sore and weak, Chu Mingkong helped her clear a path.

After the myriad sword intents calmed down a bit, Chu Mingkong found it much easier to clear the way. However, he dared not let Zuo Donglu and Balan provide backup, as Balan might not be able to fully withstand the influence of Zuo Donglu's destiny.

Zuo Donglu had no more doubts for the time being. Even though her mind was a blur, she did as Chu Mingkong said and left the formation through the breach.

Those weaker sword intents, once possessed by demons, find it difficult to regain their senses and recover. However, since they are weak, they pose no threat. Meanwhile, the stronger sword intents gradually recover and stabilize, but they do not assist Chu Mingkong, allowing themselves to be thrown into the smelting of the dual-polar power by the great formation.

Chu Mingkong has released his Extreme Abyss Transformation and is now entering the "Yang Fish," which will be quite challenging.

He let out a breath.

"Don't let me touch the fish, or I'll have to fiddle with it a few times, no matter how big the salted fish is."

Chapter Fifty-Five: The Tribulation of No Worries

While Zuo Donglu was being rescued, the Two Elements Chaotic Soul Formation was still in operation.

At first, it was about forging sword intent, but now it seems to have entered a new stage and is beginning to take the shape of a sword.

The sword intent that has been forged by the dual forces, whether it is extreme yin or extreme yang, has not been given greater power. Instead, the "intention" part has been erased, and all traces of the sword intent's owner have been erased, leaving only the spiritual power accumulated over countless days and nights.

Then, a heavy sword similar to the Extinction Sword appeared at the center of the formation, and the power of the unclaimed divine souls converged towards that heavy sword.

As the energy converged, the sword intent, which was not yet fully refined, continued to emerge from the array patterns.

"How did it turn into something like Extinction? Is it to be forged into a sword?" Chu Mingkong thought subconsciously.

There's no real reason behind this; I just had this thought after seeing the prototype of the extinction weapon in the middle.

He conjured a ball of extremely yin flame in his hand, bypassed the power of the "yang fish," and smashed it into the sword blank, which was about to be destroyed.

Although the flames destroyed the sword, a new one was quickly created.

"We need to get a sword with some skill and try to wed this sword hole."

Chu Mingkong casually took out the Asura Heavy Sword and the Lunar Eclipse Heavy Sword. These two swords were indeed extraordinary, but he did not want to waste his time here.

By the way, when I went to find Li Tairan earlier, I also got an ugly one.

Chu Mingkong took out the sword box, too lazy to carefully open the large box, and reached inside with his hand in an eagle claw motion, directly taking out the simple heavy sword and putting it into the sword pit.

It seems that although this sword is a bit ugly, its quality is truly extraordinary, as it actually managed to stop the nascent form from continuing to generate.

"It should be able to buy us some time."

Chu Mingkong stepped into the "Yang Fish," and his entire body felt as if it were immersed in molten iron. His limbs and bones were stinging with pain, and he had no more ease of movement than when he was in the "Yin Fish."

The black python controlled by Bai Niang had already returned to his heart. At this moment, it was compressing its own aura as much as possible to reduce the collision with the extreme yang power.

"Bai Niang, is my condition normal? I feel... not very relaxed."

For Chu Mingkong, this was a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time. He had felt almost the same pain before he had healed the wounds of the Abyss.

The fact that the extreme Yang energy didn't tear apart or collide with the power within you is already the best-case scenario.

Even Bai Niang couldn't help him much; if she were to come, she would simply detonate that power.

The creator of this Yin-Yang Chaotic Soul Array is truly ingenious. It uses both polar powers to forge sword intent, and the array patterns can also guide these two powers to run in parallel without conflict.

However, this grand formation is also walking a tightrope. If the extreme yin power slowly erodes the formation patterns on the ground, and the formation patterns fail to guide these two forces, it could result in an explosion at any time.

Chu Mingkong took out the Golden Crow Jade Marrow and poured it directly into his mouth to relieve the burning pain in his body.

"Where is the Great Salted Fish Master... If fighting a swallow could be considered cultivation, then this time we could probably use the power of the Joyful Union Scripture to pinpoint her location."

He muttered to himself, a plan suddenly forming in his mind. He would try to share some of Zuo Donglu's power, but this would require relying on her destiny.

The destiny belonging to Zuo Donglu vaguely emerged on Chu Mingkong's body. The power of the Lonely and Deadly Destiny was like a poison that confused and saddened, yet also aroused ferocity. The sword intent that had calmed down in the "Yang Fish" suddenly surged.

Chu Mingkong tried to pinpoint the direction of the chaotic sword intents, his gaze struggling to follow each sword amidst the dazzling array of attacks.