Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 182: Nascent Soul Thunder Tribulation

After the two left, Wang Longyou and the others came out from the back. “Wang Zhi has his own little schemes,” he said. “I met him once at Qingyuan Market, but we weren’t close to those people and barely spoke. They’ve been rooted in the Qingyuan Sect for years. They can’t draw on the clan’s resources, and there’s almost no contact between us anymore.”

“I pity them. They’ve always been at the bottom of the sect with little hope. I don’t know what the sect promised to make them so eager to approach us this time. But they are still of our blood. We should help where we can.”

Wang Hao nodded. “Wang Wuling has good aptitude. With three Spiritual Roots, she would have been a focus of the clan’s training, yet her years are going to waste here. Great-Uncle, should we take her back with us this time and bring her into the clan again?”

“The Qingyuan Sect probably won’t agree,” Wang Longyou said. It hurt him to see such a promising young cultivator neglected. The clan members sent to the sect were generally talented, as were the children born from marriages among them, yet the sect refused to cultivate them unless one had an exceptional Heaven Spiritual Root or Mutated Spiritual Root.

After all, if even one of them reached Foundation Establishment, the others would gather around that cultivator. Such groups could then form ties with one another and become a force within the sect.

Wang Hao paced a few steps. “That depends on this war. If Daoist Master Du succeeds in forming a Nascent Soul, we won’t be in a position to ask. But as a Nascent Soul sect, Qingyuan will need fresh blood. Surely it won’t keep suppressing cultivators from the clans so heavily. These talented youngsters would be obvious candidates.”

“If he fails, the sect will be badly weakened even if it survives. Then it will have to consider our request.”

Wang Longyou neither agreed nor disagreed. “It’s too early to discuss this. We’ve traveled a long way. Let everyone rest.”

Wang Hao shook his head with a rueful smile. They could not influence the situation, so there was little use discussing it now.

No one except Du Guangchao himself knew exactly when he would attempt Nascent Soul formation or undergo its thunder tribulation.

The sect’s other two Golden Core cultivators could only judge from the aura issuing from his secluded cave. Believing the time was near, they had summoned the clan cultivators to help guard him.

To support Du Guangchao’s breakthrough, the Qingyuan Sect had drawn deeply on its resources to recruit independent cultivators and win over the clans.

If he failed, the sect would suffer a severe blow even if the Burning Heaven Sect and Boundless Palace never attacked.

The sect had also concentrated its disciples at its mountain and Qingyuan Market, leaving only a few to guard its outlying resource sites. The once-bustling market grew tense. Everyone knew war was near.

North of Qingyuan Mountain, six Golden Core cultivators from the Burning Heaven Sect and Boundless Palace were hiding in the Severed Origin Mountains. They too were waiting for Du Guangchao’s thunder tribulation.

Sha Dinshan planned to attack at that moment, disrupting Du Guangchao’s breakthrough and dealing a heavy blow to Qingyuan’s morale.

The Burning Heaven Sect had brought only half its Foundation Establishment cultivators; Boundless Palace had sent a few dozen. Neither had brought any Qi Refining disciples, who would only be a burden in a battle at this level.

Sha Dinshan was no fool. He wanted Qingyuan’s fourth-rank spirit mountain, but destroying a thousand-year-old Golden Core sect in one stroke was unrealistic.

His aim was to weaken the sect and gradually seize its outlying holdings. Without those resources, one fourth-rank spirit mountain could not support so many cultivators. The rest could be worn down over time.

Rumors of every sort spread through Qingyuan Market as the days passed. But those who remained had either been hired by the sect or promised something. Rumors alone would not easily sway them.

For the weak, choosing a side mattered. The wrong choice could ruin them, but wavering after making one was dangerous too. Once they chose, they had to see it through.

Two months later, Wang Hao was cultivating in his room when he felt a wave of pressure. He stopped and hurried outside.

Across hundreds of miles around the Qingyuan Sect’s mountain gate, the sky had changed. A fierce wind arose, and clouds gathered rapidly over the sect, so thick they seemed ready to press down from above.

Moments before, the sun had been shining. Now dark clouds filled the sky, with lightning and thunder within them. The rare phenomenon could be seen from tens of thousands of li away.

Wang Longyou and Li Derong hurried over. “What’s happening? Is Daoist Master Du about to form his Nascent Soul?”

The three Foundation Establishment cultivators could only guess. They had no experience of such a realm, but it seemed that only Du Guangchao could cause a phenomenon like this.

“Gather all the clan members together. Don’t let anyone wander off. Something important is happening,” Wang Longyou ordered.

Meanwhile, inside Qingyuan’s main hall, the sect’s other two Golden Core cultivators were assembling its elite disciples.

Once everyone had arrived, Daoist Master Baili said, “You’ve seen the signs. The thunder tribulation is about to begin. I can tell you that this is Daoist Master Du’s Nascent Soul tribulation. If he succeeds, Qingyuan will become a Nascent Soul sect. You know what that would mean for us.”

He paused and swept his gaze across the hall. “So I expect you to give everything you have. Guard Daoist Master Du and keep the enemy outside!”

“We will!” the disciples answered together.

Pleased by their resolve, Daoist Master Baili nodded. “Good. Follow me. Everyone must leave the tribulation area at once so we don’t interfere with Senior Brother Du’s breakthrough.”

The Nascent Soul tribulation covered almost all of Qingyuan Mountain’s main peak. Other cultivators had to keep away. Even a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator could not withstand a glancing hit from a tribulation of that scale.

The tribulation was a test for one person. If others approached, it might treat them as though they were sharing the burden and grow stronger, perhaps beyond what the cultivator forming a Nascent Soul could survive.

That was why the cultivators guarding a breakthrough generally cleared the area.

It might seem easy for the Burning Heaven Sect to sabotage Du Guangchao: enter the tribulation area and make it more dangerous for him. But the lightning would then target the intruder as well. Would anyone be willing to trade their life for his?

Under Daoist Master Baili’s command, the sect’s cultivators patrolled the mountain gate in teams, leaving no place unchecked.

Cultivators in Qingyuan Market were summoned too. The Wang and Li families were stationed on the outer edge of Qingyuan Mountain.

The tribulation was closer than it had been at the market. Wang Hao became even more certain that no Golden Core cultivator could produce such power. Du Guangchao must be forming his Nascent Soul.

Wang Hao stared at the enormous tribulation cloud for a long time. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he did not know whether seeing a Nascent Soul tribulation firsthand was good fortune or bad.

He might learn from the sight and gain experience. But he had also been drawn into the turmoil surrounding it.