Chunibyo in Cultivation World

Rumble…

The strange disturbance within the Forbidden Land of Taixu could not be sensed from the outside world.

Outside, Bai Muxu—who had been waiting to receive Li Tianwei—suddenly received a message from the Sacred Land of Lingxu.

“What’s going on?”

Bai Muxu frowned, sensing the token of the Sacred Land of Lingxu flashing incessantly.

“Holy Lord?”

Touching the token at his waist, Bai Muxu received the message transmitted from the Elder Token.

“Elder Bai, the resources for your tribulation have been prepared. Furthermore, several Grand Elders have broken their seals to act as your guardians. According to their calculations, tomorrow will be the best time. Return at once.”

“I have already sent Lan Yu to the Forbidden Land of Taixu. When he arrives, he will stand guard in your stead.”

The voice of the Sacred Lord of Lingxu slowly came through the Elder Token.

Hearing this, Bai Muxu frowned slightly.

According to their previous arrangements, there should still have been several months before the appointed time.

How could such a change occur now?

He was deeply puzzled, but with the Heavenly Dao obscured and resentment energy enveloping the world, even divinations could no longer be accurate.

Anomalies were, after all, normal under such conditions.

“Forget it. Once Senior Brother Lan Yu arrives, I’ll return to the Sacred Land of Lingxu.”

Sitting cross-legged, Bai Muxu gazed at the Forbidden Land of Taixu, deep in thought.

——

In the territory of the Demonic Sect, within the region of Panshan City.

Not a single person remained within a thousand miles.

The events that had transpired in Panshan City had already spread throughout the Demonic Sect’s domain.

A ruthless figure from the Sacred Land of Lingxu had come to the Demonic lands and unleashed a massacre—slaughtering everyone within a thousand miles, leaving no survivors, not even mortals.

Such rumors had even reached the Northern Spirit Domain.

Apart from the Sacred Land of Lingxu, the Sacred Land of Baiyuan had immediately exaggerated the story upon hearing it.

They claimed that the Sacred Land of Lingxu was unworthy of being called a righteous sect, for it had nurtured such a demonic disciple who massacred millions with cruel means.

Naturally, the other two sacred lands seized this opportunity to attack Lingxu as well.

Words like “massacre” and “bloodthirsty” meant little to cultivators—they cared more about the fact that Lingxu’s disciple had slain Qin Yueying, the Blood Fiend Sect Leader’s disciple, who was a powerful cultivator at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm.

What did that mean? A Foundation Establishment cultivator killing a Nascent Soul expert—it was beyond absurd.

A genius so defiant of the heavens could not allow the other three sacred lands to rest easy.

If he could kill a Nascent Soul cultivator while still in Foundation Establishment, wouldn’t he be able to slay a Spirit Transformation cultivator after forming his Golden Core? And perhaps kill an Out-of-Body expert as a Nascent Soul?

Such an existence could no longer be described as monstrous—he had to die.

Under the deliberate exaggeration of the three sacred lands, Li Tianwei was soon depicted as a Great Demon who had seized a body, while the Sacred Land of Lingxu was accused of colluding with the Demonic Sects to overthrow the righteous path.

Truly, “if you wish to condemn someone, you will never lack an excuse.” Even though the three sacred lands knew that Li Tianwei had not slaughtered those hundreds of thousands—and that he had even helped build several cities to resettle the displaced—they turned a blind eye.

Li Tianwei became the spark igniting centuries of resentment toward the Sacred Land of Lingxu’s growing dominance.

Just as Li Tianwei himself had thought, even though the Evil Demons had invaded and the path of ascension was severed, humans still could not let go of their internal strife.

After all, in the eyes of those ambitious individuals, one must first pacify internal threats before repelling external ones.

Once they controlled all the cultivation resources under heaven, what were Evil Demons to them? A mere flip of the hand could suppress them.

Whether those demons were truly powerful, they did not know—but the Sacred Land of Lingxu was strong now, strong enough to threaten them.

It had to be dealt with first.

As rumors spread through the three sacred lands, even within Lingxu itself, some disciples began whispering in secret.

These murmurs, however, never reached the higher-ups of the Sacred Land.

They were entirely focused on preparing for Bai Muxu’s tribulation.

Normally, a Spirit Transformation Tribulation wouldn’t require such an enormous effort.

But the reason Lingxu took it so seriously was because they hoped to find a breakthrough from within this process.

Those above the Out-of-Body Realm were all being affected by the demons and heavenly distortions—there had to be a reason behind it.

Perhaps the key lay within the Heavenly Tribulation itself, and it could be studied from that angle.

If they couldn’t find the cause of the tribulation’s mutation, how could they talk about ascension? To seek answers, they had to start from below.

The first affected were those of the Out-of-Body Realm, followed by those of the Union and Tribulation Transcendence Realms.

Thus, the source most likely lay at the Spirit Transformation stage.

And to investigate that, they needed an exceptionally talented genius, supported by the sacred land’s full resources, to test this possibility.

For Bai Muxu, this was precisely why he had established Heaven’s Gate Peak.

When he had first reached the Out-of-Body Realm, his elders and master had already spoken to him of the coming calamities and the manifestation of the Heaven’s Demons.

With his extraordinary insight, Bai Muxu did not wish to be trapped within the Out-of-Body Realm forever.

He wanted to use this chance to sweep away all obstacles—to open the gate to heaven itself.

Now, after years of preparation and after taking Li Tianwei as a disciple who greatly satisfied him, he was ready to gamble everything for a glimpse of that future.

The high elders of the Sacred Land sought the cause; Bai Muxu sought transcendence.

Both paths converged on this one gamble.

——

Li Tianwei remained completely unaware of the changes occurring outside the Forbidden Land of Taixu.

At that moment, he was somewhat confused.

Though he could sense that the Forbidden Land was about to reopen, he couldn’t understand why all of its power was retracting inward.

It felt as if the Forbidden Land itself did not wish to grant him anything.

Thinking of this, Li Tianwei shook his head.

How could that be possible?

The Forbidden Land contained Immortal Energy! Even the Celestial Souls within had given selflessly—how could it suddenly withdraw from him just because of a little power loss?

He had only taken a bit of Immortal Energy, and he had even helped guide the Celestial Souls toward transcendence, allowing their power to return to heaven and earth.

At this thought, understanding dawned on him.

“Could it be that the Forbidden Land of Taixu has been influenced by the Evil Demons—or perhaps even controlled by certain demonic cultivators, or Demonic Immortals? Otherwise, how could this happen?”

Everything suddenly made sense.

“It seems my guess was right.”

Sensing that not even a trace of power remained within the Forbidden Land, Li Tianwei already had his answer.

“I didn’t expect the Forbidden Land of Taixu to be in such a state. No wonder Master said it was extremely dangerous, that several disciples of the Sacred Land of Lingxu had perished here.”

“At first, when I saw the Celestial Souls here radiating such goodwill, I thought Master had misjudged.”

“It seems he was right. The problem doesn’t lie with the Celestial Souls—but with the Forbidden Land itself.”

Li Tianwei’s eyes hardened.

He looked toward the Golden Core circling beside him—it was already growing steadily stronger.

Even so, compared to the vastness of the Forbidden Land, it was still incomparably small.

This had once been a battlefield of Immortals, a place even they could not destroy.

Li Tianwei understood that clearly.

He might not be able to resolve it now—but that didn’t mean he couldn’t in the future.

“It seems I’ll have another task to handle once I become an Immortal. First, there’s that Heart-Questioning Steps—it has major problems. Now I’ll add the Forbidden Land of Taixu to the list.”

Li Tianwei took a deep breath, pressing down the unrest in his heart.