Chapter 110: Crimson Flowers Hidden in White Bones (10)
In a flash of sparks and lightning, Bai Chunsheng reminded Bo Yan, “This person should be at the peak of the Tribulation Crossing stage.” If what Jiang Ji had said was true—if only one final step remained before attaining Venerable status—then that person must have been at the pinnacle of Tribulation Crossing.
Destroying a realm and killing several Mahayana and Tribulation Crossing cultivators clearly would not have been enough to bring the Heavenly Dao to true completion. One more sacrifice was needed: the flesh and bones of a peak Tribulation Crossing cultivator who stood only a single step away from becoming a Venerable, to serve as the stepping stone for that final ascension.
—and that person, without question, was the amnesiac Yan Jingqiu.
Bo Yan’s expression remained calm. He had already known. “Mm.”
On the jade figurine’s face, there was now only a mouth split open like a crack. “If you cannot overcome your heart tribulation again, you will truly die here.”
“There are only fifteen days left. If you cannot kill me and ascend to Venerable, then I will kill you.”
As it spoke, Bai Chunsheng could faintly see a crimson interior within it. The jade figurine was not, after all, entirely carved from that eerie jade stone.
Bo Yan realized something. “My amnesia—is it because I was undergoing a heart tribulation? What heart tribulation?”
The words “heart tribulation,” aside from referring to the Life-and-Death Realm, had another meaning. Cultivators were not unfamiliar with the term. When one encountered a bottleneck in cultivation, instead of blindly continuing and risking deviation, the quicker path was often to elevate one’s state of mind. Once the mind improved, the bottleneck would naturally dissolve.
The tribulation corresponding to one’s state of mind was the heart tribulation.
A heart tribulation could be postponed but not escaped. It was destined. Sooner or later, it would always arrive.
The moment he asked, Bo Yan’s peripheral vision caught Bai Chunsheng in his arms, his lashes fluttering in the strong wind. Suddenly, he understood.
Almost instinctively, Bo Yan asked, “How does one pass this heart tribulation?”
As he spoke, the two of them and the jade figurine stood atop a towering sea rock. A single misstep would have sent them plunging down—if they did not lose limbs, they would at least have been smashed to pieces.
The jade figurine calmly leaned backward and fell, shattering upon the sea’s surface. “Figure it out yourself. If you cannot, then die.”
It shattered cleanly, splashing up a massive wave before its fragments sank, scattered, into the depths.
The jade figurine’s appearance had been more like a warning—a warning that if Bo Yan could not become Yan Jingqiu again, he would die. Bai Chunsheng wanted to gather the fragments and study their origin, to determine whether they were connected to Changliu Mountain in the Bibo Spirit Realm.
He had barely taken a step when Bo Yan behind him suddenly went weak. He lowered his head and dropped to one knee. His right hand clutched his left arm. A few breaths later, dark red blood slowly seeped out. Perhaps because Bo Yan was a rare golden dragon, the blood looked terrifying—deep red, nearly black, as if steeped in poison.
“What happened?!” Bai Chunsheng spun around in alarm. “Bo Yan?”
Bo Yan lifted his head. “I was not as skilled as him.”
In truth, inside the Yaoyue Pavilion, when the thunder had sounded, it had been the most critical moment of crossing blades. Bai Chunsheng’s attention had been drawn away by the lightning and he had not seen Bo Yan struck by the jade figurine. The figurine had been truly strange—it had repeatedly anticipated his next move, always half a step faster.
Half a step did not sound like much, but it was enough to cost Bo Yan his life.
When the jade figurine had shattered on the sea, Bai Chunsheng had felt shock. Bo Yan, however, had understood.
“For Yan Jingqiu’s name to resound throughout the world, he truly lived up to his reputation—worthy of it, worthy of it. Even after failing his tribulation, he still possessed such strength.” Bo Yan tore open the cloth at his wound. The gash beneath was even more grotesque, nearly spanning his entire arm. Black blood crawled from it like a clawing crab, seeping out bit by bit.
Bai Chunsheng hurriedly knelt at his side in panic. Anxiety sharpened his voice. “Yan Jingqiu, Yan Jingqiu—why are you still talking about Yan Jingqiu? It isn’t Yan Jingqiu!”
Bo Yan stared at the wound. It was not the time for jealousy, but he could not help speaking sourly. “He wanted to kill you, and you still defended him.”
The moment the words fell, Bo Yan acted cleanly and decisively—he severed his own left arm.
To a dragon, regenerating a mere arm was easy with their vital blood and qi. Bo Yan did exactly that. He cut it off in pursuit of rebirth, yet when the new arm grew in, at the exact same position there lay an identical black scar. Deep red, almost black blood seeped out once more.
Though the difference seemed slight, one knew one’s own body best. The scar was spreading little by little. When it completely consumed him, he would surely be dead beyond doubt.
When Bai Chunsheng heard Bo Yan say Yan Jingqiu wanted to kill him, he was clearly confused. “Huh?”
Bo Yan did not answer directly. He only said, “The ones coming next to kill me will not be strange jade figurines. It will be the united sects and clans of the cultivation world. If you intend to leave, run now—run as far as you can. Go to Tianqing Sect, go to Penglai Island. Live as many days as you can.”
“What exactly do you mean?!” Bai Chunsheng had already been worried sick over him. To hear Bo Yan suddenly tell him to leave mixed anger into his fear. “I’m not going anywhere!”
Bo Yan cast a cold glance at his wound, then sat cross-legged and tore off a strip of cloth to bind it. “Why do you think Yan Jingqiu left me fifteen days of life? He still wanted to remain the revered Sword Sovereign admired by tens of thousands, the Immortal Venerable worshipped across realms. How could he leave behind any stain of massacre? I was the scapegoat to bear the blame in his place. If my guess was correct, the major sects and aristocratic families had already conferred in private. They would soon come to the Water Abyss Realm to capture me.”
“When he killed Loose Cultivator Liaoji—or Lord Cuixia—he deliberately left evidence behind, so it could be traced to me.”
“At the Lumen Assembly’s Dao-body examination, I avoided it with an excuse. Not because my reasoning had been flawless, but because I was strong enough. None of them wanted to face me and bear my resentment.”
“But now it is different. Though I appear to be at the peak of Mahayana, I was gravely injured by Yan Jingqiu. I would not withstand their pursuit. I would fall into their hands.”
“After a few days of drawn-out trial, my head would fall, the Heavenly Dao would reach completion, and Yan Jingqiu would ascend as a Venerable and revive from the Drunken Death Sea. Wonderful—truly wonderful!”
Bo Yan let out a laugh. “If you leave now, you would still die sooner or later. But at least Yan Jingqiu would grant you a swift end. In these final months, you would not have to flee with me and live a life of hardship.”
Bai Chunsheng was furious beyond measure. “What kind of nonsense is that? Do you take me for a coward who fears death? Two hundred years ago, when we were only at the late Nascent Soul stage, more than a dozen peak Dao stage cultivators hunted us together and forced us into the perilous Lutai Immortal Realm. When did I ever abandon you?!”
Bo Yan had no memory of that time, yet he still looked at Bai Chunsheng with utmost seriousness. The torrential rain of the Water Abyss Realm had not yet fallen, but it shimmered in Bai Chunsheng’s eyes.
There had always been a reason he fell in love with him: “All the more reason for you to go.”
Before Bai Chunsheng could argue further, he heard Bo Yan say, “An amnesiac cannot pass a heart tribulation. That means my heart tribulation never left. I thought and thought.”
Bo Yan paused. “It could only have been you.”
“In the path of cultivation, there were methods—killing one’s wife, killing one’s child, killing the one one loved most—to prove the clarity of one’s Dao heart, to demonstrate unwavering resolve in seeking the path…”
Bai Chunsheng had already risen to his feet. Bo Yan leaned back easily and looked up at him. “The moment it mentioned the heart tribulation, I understood.”
“Don’t cry.”
Bo Yan said, “If I do not pass this heart tribulation, then go.”
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
