Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation

The hazy scene before Xiao Chen showed a girl with her hand extended, holding back a black ball of lightning. She did her best to prevent it from falling downwards.

Life essence slowly trickled out of her body, looking like sparklers in the dark sky—a very beautiful sight.

“No!”

Xiao Chen felt like he had fallen into a deep abyss. He shouted hoarsely and did his best to stand up on the surface of the sea.

At this moment, he understood that he still had not cleared eighty-one waves of Lightning Tribulation.

Not only had he not cleared the Lightning Tribulation yet, but an opening had also appeared in his will before the final ball of lightning, and the heart demon had taken advantage.

Ao Jiao turned her head and did her best to squeeze out a smile on her pale face. She grumbled as usual. “Haha! Idiot Master, to think you always thought of yourself as very smart. In the end, the heart demon still managed to find its way in. Looks like you still have to rely on me.”

Right after she spoke, the light on her body faded, and she vanished, turning into motes of light filling the sky and drifting down.

Given that Ao Jiao paid the price of exhausting her Life Essence, the final extremely powerful ball of lightning was already significantly weaker, holding just a tenth of its original strength; it no longer posed a threat to him.

Xiao Chen’s complexion paled considerably. His eyes turned black. He simply let that much smaller ball of lightning land on his body.

Ao Jiao, I will return alive, right?

You have to. You keep wanting to die, but I will not let you die. You are not allowed to die, nor will you die.

“Boom!”

The ball of lightning landed, and Xiao Chen’s body, which had recovered somewhat, got mangled by the blast once more. Intense pain flared up, but Xiao Chen was numb to it. He could not feel anything as he stretched out his hand and looked to the sky.

The huge waves on the sea slowly calmed down. The thunderclouds scattered, and sunlight shone on the water again.

Xiao Chen had cleared all eighty-one bolts of the Lightning Tribulation. After the bitterness was over, the sweetness began. His Rank 3 Sage Body advanced further and reached the peak.

A vigorous lifeforce poured out from the depths of his body. His physical injuries healed at a visible rate.

However, Xiao Chen’s heart remained dead. His eyes filled with boundless regret, his mind with memories of Ao Jiao.

I pulled out the Thunder Wood Sword. Shouldn’t you call me Master?

Idiot! Have you seen an ant wanting an elephant to call it Master?

Idiot Master, I did not expect that you would become the King Grade True Dragon, ranking first on the True Dragon Ranking someday. Haha! You are the same as Sang Mu back then.

Xiao Chen, you are not even twenty-five, and you already comprehended the immortal will of thunder. You already surpassed Sang Mu completely.

You will not die. Even if you want to die, I will not let you die. Hehe! Don’t forget that you promised me you will take revenge for Sang Mu.

Under the sunlight, the shining motes of light had long since vanished.

“Hehe, congratulations, congratulations, Idiot Master! You survived the eighty-one waves of Lightning Tribulation.”

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out beside Xiao Chen’s ear. He turned his head and looked. He saw Ao Jiao smiling faintly, looking at him warmly.

A boundless hatred appeared in the depths of his eyes. However, his lips curled up into a faint smile. He said, “Never ever has there been a moment when I wanted to lie to myself more than this. I wish I could tell myself that you are real.”

A saber light flickered, and Xiao Chen drew the Lunar Shadow Saber. It looked like he would chop this Ao Jiao formed by the heart demon in half.

However, at the final moment, the cold blade suddenly stopped short of the neck of “Ao Jiao.”

Although Xiao Chen clearly knew this was a tribulation, he simply could not swing his saber down. At some point, a tear appeared in a corner of his eyes.

When the tear fell, the grief in his eyes turned into a cold light. The saber light flashed, and the cold, slender, and long Lunar Shadow Saber finally hacked at the Ao Jiao before him formed by the heart demon.

Heart Tribulations were hard to clear. Xiao Chen finally understood what exactly it meant. The human heart could never be perfect; there would always be some flaw.

Even if one cultivated one’s heart to be as perfect as it could be, the human heart was unfathomable. In the end, it was made of flesh. It was ridiculous that Xiao Chen was still full of confidence.

The heart demon would always grab hold of the weakness in one’s heart at the most suitable moment.

When Xiao Chen was undergoing torture from the Lightning Tribulation, suffering terribly, his greatest wish then was to clear the Lightning Tribulation quickly. Thus, the heart demon instantly made its way into his heart.

The more the heart wanted something, the more one would let their guard down.

When Ao Jiao died for him, she became the greatest preoccupation in Xiao Chen’s heart. So, the heart demon took advantage of this again, betting that he would not attack.

“Ka ca!” Xiao Chen finally chopped the heart demon before him in half. His consciousness blurred. He opened his eyes and looked down. That teardrop from earlier had just landed on the sea.

Ripples appeared on the surface of the sea, spreading out. His reflection in the water blurred.

Since Xiao Chen had cleared both the Lightning Tribulation and the Heart Tribulation, he formally advanced to the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation’s seventh layer, but he did not have any intention of rejoicing. He did not even bother checking what changes the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation brought him.

Xiao Chen’s body fell onto the surface of the sea with a large splash. He did not think of anything at all, his mind completely blank.

He hugged the Lunar Shadow Saber and squeezed his eyes shut.

Will I return alive?

You have to. You keep wanting to die, but I will not let you die. You are not allowed to die, nor will you die.

These words kept resounding in Xiao Chen’s ears. Without much effort, the image of Ao Jiao clenching her fist and doing her best to look fierce appeared in his mind’s eye.

As the water flowed, Xiao Chen kept his eyes shut, unwilling to open them.

There is no miracle in the world that can reverse time. So I shall keep my eyes closed, hoping to meet you in my dreams. I wish I never wake up from this dream, not opening my eyes for ten thousand years!

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The vast Boundless Sea was rife with danger. Aside from danger, there were also many treasures. It attracted many cultivators to come and seek fortuitous encounters for themselves.

Time crawled by. Xiao Chen had already drifted on the Boundless Sea while hugging the Lunar Shadow Saber for half a year. However, there were still no signs of him waking up.

A particularly gentle aura containing pure and vast energy came from his body. As this aura spread out, it attracted many marine Spirit Beasts into trailing him, all of them greedily absorbing this aura.

As Xiao Chen drifted on the water, the number of Spirit Beasts following him increased significantly. There were Deep Sea Spirit Turtles, Black Tuna Whales, Golden Lantern Fish, and many other uncountable Spirit Beasts. This multitude formed an incredibly strange sight.

On this particular day, a small ship carrying some cultivators headed for the Deep Sea Battlefield.

“Big Brother Bai Lixi, quick, look! There seems to be a dead person there,” a skinny cultivator at the ship’s bow exclaimed in surprise.

The few people currently drinking wine all looked over. After two-odd years, Bai Lixi was no longer like he had been before. His set of Medial Grade Secret Treasures had all been changed out for Superior Grade Secret Treasures.

His cultivation had also reached peak Inferior Grade Martial Monarch. He was just a step shy of reaching Medial Grade Martial Monarch.

Furthermore, that was not the extent of Bai Lixi’s potential. In the past two years, his Luck had been extraordinary. Others might not know the reason for this, but he was very clear on it.

Without a doubt, he had not chosen wrongly back then. He had indeed gained some of Xiao Chen’s Luck.

Clearly, Bai Lixi was the leader of the group on the ship. He smiled and gulped down a mouthful of wine. Then he cursed jokingly, “How ignorant! It is just a dead person. There are many dead people in the Boundless Sea.”

“That’s not it. Look behind him. There are several Spirit Beasts following him, but they actually did not eat him up. This is too strange,” the squinty-eyed skinny cultivator retorted.

When Bai Lixi heard this, his expression changed slightly, and his gaze shifted over as well. When he saw the large group of Spirit Beasts following behind the “corpse,” he found it incredibly strange as well.

“Go take a look and chase those fishes away. This corpse is rather strange.” Bai Lixi quickly made a decision and gave instructions.

That skinny cultivator immediately flew over, eager to get into action. Soon, he retrieved Xiao Chen’s body. Then he casually tossed it to the deck, leaving Xiao Chen’s body to land heavily.

“Great saber! I want it!”

When a Martial King who used the saber saw the Lunar Shadow Saber in Xiao Chen’s hands, his eyes lit up. He immediately rushed forward and tried to pry Xiao Chen’s fingers apart to get the Lunar Shadow Saber.

In the end, after all his efforts and despite using his full power, that Martial King failed to do so. Even when he exerted himself until he turned red, it was to no avail.

“Sixth Brother, you already used all your strength on women, right? You can’t do anything even to a dead person.”

The others could not help but laugh out loud.

This person was hot-tempered, to begin with. When he saw everyone mocking him, he drew his weapon and shouted angrily, “Screw your grandmother! You are already dead. Why are you still gripping so tightly? I’ve never seen such a miser before. In that case, I will just chop your arm off.”

As Bai Lixi watched this person raise his weapon, he felt this body to be very familiar. He shouted, “Wait a moment. Don’t move!”

Bai Lixi quickly stepped forward and parted the messy hair covering Xiao Chen’s face. When he thoroughly verified the guess in his heart, his expression changed drastically. He shouted, “Brother Xiao Chen!”

The Martial King whom Bai Lixi stopped thought that Bai Lixi wanted to snatch the saber away from him. He said with dissatisfaction, “Big Brother, since when did you have a dead brother?”

“Screw you. Your brother is the dead one. Your whole family is the dead one. Damn you, this is my Brother Xiao Chen!”

Bai Lixi stepped forward and checked for Xiao Chen’s breath and discovered that Xiao Chen was still alive. There was also no sign of Xiao Chen’s body swelling.

It was like Xiao Chen was just sleeping. He felt relief in his heart and started cursing at that Martial King.

When the others heard what Bai Lixi said, they all came over out of curiosity. They looked at Xiao Chen and asked, “Big Brother, is this really Xiao Chen?”

Bai Lixi smiled and said, “Would I lie? He is Xiao Chen, the first ranked King Grade True Dragon of the True Dragon Ranking. Half a year ago, when he came back to the Sky Dome Realm, he killed Sima Hong with one finger. Then, he took away the will of thunder from Thunder Emperor Valley, which no one could take away for a few thousand years.”

Bai Lixi raised his head and glared at the cultivator who was prepared to chop off Xiao Chen’s arm. Then he said, “Consider yourself lucky. If I did not shout to stop you, even nine lives would not be enough for you to survive.”

This comment startled the bladesman. Xiao Chen was a legend in the Sky Dome Realm by this point.

Xiao Chen’s experiences surpassed even those of the Thunder Emperor during his rise. When all of them were carefully examined, they were rather unbelievable.

Unexpectedly, such a legendary character was on the same boat as them.

“Big Brother, is he really your brother? Why does he not look like you?” That skinny cultivator and the others did not believe that Bai Lixi was as close to Xiao Chen as he claimed.

Bai Lixi could not be bothered with them. He frowned slightly, not understanding Xiao Chen’s current situation.