The Founder of Qi Cultivation, Reincarnates?

An aura of death was shrouding Li Shen. Although it was undetectable for normal mortals, for cultivators it was obvious.

Li Shen’s spirituality and life force were waning, his vision started to get clouded. The death aura around him increased severalfold.

The minuscule amount of willpower he had left struggled to circulate his Time Qi.

Li Shen slowly formed a seal with both of his hands.

His rotating Qi Sea moved to his will and his Divine Platforms began appearing one by one. Lightning covered them but a torrential amount of Time Qi suddenly emanated from the Divine Platforms, breaking apart the lightning bolts dancing around them.

Li Shen can die here, but he would never forgive himself if the others died along with him.

BANG!

A powerful domain force was released from his Qi Sea that enveloped Fei Yin, Mu Fan, Lihua, Tai, the trapped Yang Su, and the injured Fang Chen and Jun.

All this while, Li Shen was worried about Fang Chen and Jun. If they didn’t receive help in time from his father, they would die.

Li Shen now knew his way of thinking was naive. He thought he could overcome this Heavenly Tribulation, but this was no Heavenly Tribulation. Even if his tribulation upon entering the Foundation Realm was delayed, it wasn’t supposed to be this strong and long-lasting.

This was a Heavenly Calamity.

He had realized this too late.

Li Shen’s only option now was clear.

If the heavens were so adamant about taking his life away, why should he hold back?

BANG!!

A lightning bolt fell from the sky but it was stopped by his Qi Sea domain. His Time Qi was depleting rapidly so this domain wouldn’t last for long.

But this was enough.

Fei Yin and the others inside the domain watched Li Shen closely. Yang Su’s angry shouts were becoming more prominent as Fei Yin’s seal continue to restrain him.

In the sky, and fragile-looking Li Shen looked up at the heavens.

“You and I had never gotten along. You weren’t the one who trapped my soul in the River of Samsara, but it was you who cursed me to die repeatedly. What were you so afraid of?”

Li Shen knew something deep in his soul had dissipated back when his reincarnation was complete, and Avarice’s incarnation had died. The thing that dissipated was a sort of Heaven’s Curse that sealed his fate to a predetermined outcome.

Li Shen's dull eyes regain their luster a bit as he said.

“Even if I die here today, I swear I’ll find some way to come back. When that time comes, I won't run from anything, I won't be scared of revealing my identity and I won't live in regret for not doing what I wanted. I won't hesitate or hold back in anything I do, so be prepared to face me then because the results won't end like this again.”

Something in the tribulation seemed to hear Li Shen’s declaration because Li Shen could swear he heard a snort of some sort. A pair of indistinguishable eyes had even appeared in the clouds to observe him.

Li Shen’s heart shook slightly.

He knew those pair of eyes, it was the one he saw in the void when his Qi Sea had pulled the Time Seed from the River of Time.

It was brief and no one besides Li Shen had sensed or seen them.

However, Mo Rong had seen them as well.

Mo Rong’s body shook and his figurative heart pounded hard. With trembling eyes, he muttered.

“I-It’s... that’s…”

Mo Rong could not finish his words. The meaning behind those eyes appearing in the tribulation was something that clouded his mind with terror.

Mo Rong looked at Li Shen.

‘This tribulation is a lightning calamity. But this isn’t because he’s some heaven-defying genius, it’s because his very existence is an anomaly, he isn’t supposed to exist.’

This was shocking to Mo Rong because, in his broken memories, he knew what those terrifying eyes were.

“The manifestation of Heaven’s Will, it’s actually the manifestation of Heaven's Will.”

Mo Rong repeated those words like a broken player.

How can he keep his cool?

This was nothing more than speculation and was treated like rubbish previously in the Celestial Realm. But now, he had actually seen evidence of it for himself.

‘The Heaven's... is alive.’

Mo Rong’s body shook uncontrollably when he reach here in his thoughts.

What did that mean?

Having this confirmed before his eyes, Mo Rong came to the realization everything he thought was just and right was a biased view.

The heavens weren’t just, the heavens weren’t unbiased.

The heavens were a living being that could feel jealousy, hatred, pride, envy, wrath, lust, and… greed.

“Was everything all a lie? Are we just pawns dancing around for someone’s amusement up there? What is up there? Where and who exactly are the Heavens?”

Fang Chen listened to Mo Rong’s confusing mumbles but couldn’t understand what he was saying.

At that same moment, Li Shen made his move.

His Qi Sea rotation suddenly increased as it extracted Time Qi from the void. It soon created a cyclone of Time Qi that was a grand sight.

All of that gathered Time Qi then suddenly rush into Li Shen dantian.

The bottleneck preventing him from entering the Core Formation Realm was suddenly slammed with an overbearing force.

Li Shen was actually planning to forcefully enter the Core Formation Realm at this time.

The Heavenly Calamity seemed to sense this and its clouds began to churn even more, while lightning snakes dance vigorously in the sky. It’s as if it was furious that Li Shen would dare do such a thing in front of it.

It was nothing more than a provocation.

Li Shen ignored the increasing lightning tribulation and instead focused on breaking through.

The aura of a breakthrough around Li Shen grew stronger and stronger until only a sliver of blockage was remaining.

Fei Yin and the others were aware of Li Shen’s intention of breaking through, but their worry increased as that was nothing more than Li Shen’s sentencing himself to death.

If he went through another breakthrough in his condition, the Heavenly Calamity would become even more horrifying in nature and he would undoubtedly die.

Time Qi in Li Shen’s meridians circulated nonstop, attacking the Core Formation Realm, but just when he was about to breach the final threshold and condensed his golden core, Li Shen sensed something.

Li Shen surprised looked to his side and in the distance, he saw the void trembling and the tribulation clouds dissipating in that area.

“Father…”

Li Shen could sense his father’s presence along with a few elders. They were about to forcefully open up the Heavenly Calamity.

Li Shen's plans changed slightly upon realizing this.

He stopped his breakthrough for an instant before stretching his hand towards the ground. The force of Li Shen’s Qi Sea domain swept up Fei Yin and the others.

Without even uttering a word, Li Shen suddenly pushed them towards the disturbance in space where his father was trying to break through.

Before the others could leave his domain fully, a golden radiance emanated from Li Shen’s body and he used his Heavenly Physique to leave an imprint on them.

As they were thrust out of his domain, the lightning up above immediately diverted to destroy them in body and soul. However, as Fei Yin and the others steadied themselves in the air, the imprint Li Shen left on them shone on the bodies.

The lightning bolts seemed to have lost their targets as they froze in mid-air before shattering into sparks of electricity.

Seeing this result, Li Shen let out a sigh of relief.

Li Shen had a feeling this would happen. His Heavenly Physique was the pure embodiment of the heaven’s blessings, it was immune to heaven's will.

As for why Li Shen couldn’t use this aspect to stop this lightning calamity, it wasn’t like he didn’t try. He did numerous times, but there was an issue.

His Heavenly Physique was not complete, he had his Spiritual Chaos Physique and that gave the heavenly calamity a target.

If he truly wanted to stop this lightning he only had to destroy his Spiritual Physique. Ultimately renouncing his Spiritual Qi cultivation path and devoting his life to becoming an Heir to one of the Heavenly Laws.

However, that wasn’t a path Li Shen would ever choose.

“I’ll continue on this path despite any pushback. If that leads to me dying then so be it.”