Infinite Tribulation (Part 1)
1
Every day, I meditated for two hours.
I had devoted all my energy to the Cloud Sword Sect.
I didn't know who my mother was. While I was still in swaddling clothes, I was abandoned beneath the sect's gates. It was my master, the Recluse Yuanchun, who took me in. I had never been down the mountain, never knew how beautiful the girls below could be. But I believed that even the most beautiful face in this world would pale before my master.
Master was one of the few female cultivators in Cloud Sword. I didn't know how old she was, because her appearance had never changed. She liked to wear a white robe, carrying the Green Tomb Sword casually on her back, elegant and free-spirited. Her long hair was pinned upward, revealing a slender, pale neck. At her throat was a tiny red mole, like a dot of cinnabar.
For twenty-five years, Master had treated me as her own, instructing me with painstaking care. I progressed rapidly, soon distinguishing myself among my fellow disciples. One day, Master took me alone to Dragon Gate Cliff behind the Cloud Sword Sect and said, "Eldric, do you know what this place is?"
I bowed respectfully. "This is where successive predecessors have undergone tribulation and ascended."
"Indeed. Tribulation and ascension—that is the ultimate realm every cultivator dreams of. Have you ever thought about it?" Master turned to look at me, her eyes like autumn pools.
"Master, I..."
"Why hesitate? A man should aspire to greatness. Among all the disciples, your talent is the highest, and your cultivation grows ever more refined—even surpassing mine."
Hearing these words, I couldn't help but feel a start. At that moment, the atmosphere above suddenly shifted. The sky, which had been clear and blue just a moment ago, was now densely overcast, with thunder rolling in the distance.
"The timing is right today. The heavenly rift has opened—see that seam in the sky? This is the perfect moment for tribulation and ascension. If you can endure this trial, your primordial spirit will become indestructible, and you'll take your place among the immortals, coexisting with heaven and earth. I've taught you everything the Cloud Sword Sect's esoteric techniques have to offer. If you miss today, who knows when the next opportunity will come. Undergo your tribulation here, now."
"Tribulation and ascension? Now?" I was thunderstruck. "Master, I... I'm not ready yet!"
"If you wait until you're ready, the rift will close. I didn't expect it to appear so suddenly either. There's no time left—hurry!" Master's gaze burned into me. "Eldric, don't waste the twenty-five years of devotion I've poured into you."
Though the events were sudden, I had no other choice. I dropped to my knees, gathered my focus, channeled my elemental qi, and prepared for tribulation and ascension. Master whispered in my ear, "Remember—before the tribulation begins, inner demons will arise, and you will experience various illusions. No matter what, you must hold fast to your original heart and resist all temptations. Otherwise, not only will all your efforts be for naught, but you yourself will fall into the demonic path forever. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you."
I murmured my response and closed my eyes, driving the qi within my body through the major and minor celestial circuits with my will. My lower abdomen gradually grew warm. The inner core—those essence pellets that condensed my blood and vital energy—filled with power, making faint sounds within my dantian. I kept my eyes shut, but I could still sense Master watching me. The thought that if I succeeded in my tribulation, I would never see her again in this life—two lines of tears couldn't help but stream from beneath my closed lids.
Suddenly, a pain pierced through to my very core!
I snapped my eyes open and saw Master's ferocious face—a hideous expression contorting her features. The Green Tomb Sword had already been drawn and was buried deep in my abdomen!
"Master, you..."
"Eldric, I've raised you for twenty-five years. Today is the day you repay your debt!" Master drew the sword sideways across my abdomen. "Tribulation and ascension is the realm every cultivator yearns for above all else—and that includes me! But my inner strength is insufficient to weather this heavenly tribulation on my own. I needed to borrow your inner core! At this very moment, your core is fully charged and the heavenly rift is open—this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Eldric, you won't blame your master, will you?"
The Recluse Yuanchun's face had lost its usual detached serenity, replaced by a fervent, ravenous greed. She sliced open my abdomen and thrust her hand inside, seized my inner core in one motion. My whole body convulsed. Instinctively, my hand swept behind me and the longsword was in my grasp.
"What now—you'd raise a hand against your own master?" Master glared at me viciously, while my sword was already pressed against her pale throat. That tiny red mole made my eyelids twitch violently.
"Never mind. My life was given by you. If you want it, take it." I released my grip. The longsword clattered to the ground.
"Good disciple. I won't forget you. When I take my place among the immortals, I'll keep your name in my heart forever."
Master had already resumed her usual serene demeanor. Her crimson lips pressed close and covered mine in a gentle kiss. Then, with a forceful pull, she tore my inner core from my body. I watched it—the size of a chicken's egg, suffused with a faint shimmering light—trembling gently in her palm like a heartbeat.
A vast despair engulfed me. I felt my soul gutter and die in an instant. Was this what death felt like? My vision went black, and my body fell backward, beyond my control.
2
I woke up in a lecture hall, my forehead stinging from a piece of chalk that had struck it.
"Which class are you from? If you want to sleep, go back to your dorm!" The bespectacled Marxist philosophy teacher stared at me expressionlessly, still holding the remaining half of the chalk.
I quickly sat up straight and wiped the drool from my chin. The students around me stared with schadenfreude. Fair enough—finals were approaching, every class was covering key material, and falling asleep at a time like this was pretty pathetic.
The teacher resumed the lecture. I opened my textbook and found a xianxia novel wedged beneath it, chuckling at the coincidence. I'd bought it from an off-campus pirated book stall—the print quality was terrible, and the text was riddled with typos. But the story was actually engaging. I'd been reading it obsessively these past few days, staying up until late last night. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dozed off during such an important class, dreaming that I was inside the novel.
I must have been missing my girlfriend Cassie too much. Even in such an absurd dream, the person who appeared was in her image. At the thought of her pale neck, her slender waist, the way she writhed like a snake in bed, my lower body grew hot.
Cassie was a junior in my department, one year below me. We'd met at a department mixer and become a couple on the spot. I liked bold women—when you love someone, you say it loud. We fell for each other instantly, inseparable. I loved her daring spirit; she loved my talent. I'd already decided to spend my life with Cassie. If I couldn't possess her body and soul, what meaning could life hold?
By break time, my longing for her had reached its peak. I was desperate to bury my face in her faint fragrance. I couldn't bear another minute of the Marxist philosophy teacher's hypocritical droning, so I skipped class and headed back to our rental apartment as fast as I could, buying her favorite Erduoyan fried cakes on the way.
Our apartment wasn't far from campus. It was old and rundown, but we'd made it cozy inside. That intimate lighting, those pale yellow curtains—they never failed to stir my surging hormones at every hour. I hurried home and was just about to pull out my key when I heard faint, familiar moans from inside.
Every hair on my body stood on end in an instant.
I kicked the door open and rushed into the bedroom, where two tangled bodies were just pulling apart, scrambling upright in panic. I knew the man—Shawn from the business administration department, a notorious playboy. Seeing me burst in, Shawn actually exclaimed, "Shit, weren't you in class?"
"Class your mother!" I was incandescent with rage, blood rushing to my head in an instant, the fried cakes in my hand crushed to mush. I grabbed the scissors from the table and lunged at Shawn. But Cassie leaped up and threw her arms around me, yelling over her shoulder, "Shawn, run!"
"Fuck, what rotten luck!" Shawn cursed as he yanked on his pants, snatched his shirt, and bolted out the door. I tried to chase after him, but Cassie clung to me tightly, refusing to budge.
I shoved her away. Perhaps realizing Shawn was already gone, she no longer tried to stop me. Instead, she sat naked on the bed, shamelessly spreading her legs, and lit a cigarette.
"Why?" My finger shook as I pointed at her. "Why?!"
"Why what?" She shot me a glance, utterly defiant.
"You and that bastard Shawn—since when?!"
"Been with him for ages. You didn't think you were the only one, did you?"