The Icy Heart and the Shattered Furnace

Although Ji Ning tried to imagine these seven enchanting women as skeletons, as toads, as disgusting things, in the depths of his heart he knew the truth. These were not toads. This was the Red Dust Tribulation brought by the descent of the Karmic Hellfire. They were beings naturally manifested from his own heart, not disgusting things at all. And so, Ji Ning could not help but be… stirred.

“Endure. Endure. Endure…” Ji Ning continuously suppressed his lust.

But as time flowed on, his lust only continued to rise.

“No.”

Ji Ning was suddenly jolted awake. He thought back to the legend of Yu the Great controlling the floods on Earth. “Blockage is inferior to channeling. How can lust be forcibly suppressed? The Red Dust Tribulation… the Red Dust Tribulation… according to the records in the books of Mount Innerheart, one must enter the mortal world, and then depart from it, before one can pass through the Red Dust Tribulation.”

“But if I enter the mortal world and become mired in it, what then?”

“What am I to do?”

Ji Ning’s heart began to struggle in various ways.

The more one knew, the more troublesome the Red Dust Tribulation became. Knowing was one thing; being able to do it was another.

“No matter what…”

“My heart shall never sink.”

“Everything is merely the mortal world tempering me.”

Ji Ning did not dare to have even a shred of laxity.

In truth, Ji Ning’s approach was the correct one. For ordinary cultivators who entered the mortal world to train and temper themselves, a prolonged period of indulgence was permissible. As long as they had an epiphany one day and left the mortal world, their Dao-heart would naturally grow greatly. But Ji Ning was different! This was a ‘Red Dust Tribulation’ brought by the descent of Karmic Hellfire; he absolutely could not sink into it.

Time flowed on.

Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Wealth, Love, Resentment…

Within the Red Dust Tribulation, every aspect of the mortal world was pushed to an extreme.

Lust: the most beautiful women who could shake your very heart.

Gluttony: countless delicacies beyond imagination that could stir the soul.

Wrath: every form of fighting, jealousy, rage, and the unbridled pleasure of victory…

Love: the love of parents, the love of husband and wife, the love of children, the love of brothers, the love of teachers and disciples… this single word ‘love’ could truly tug at one’s heartstrings. One would gladly die for it…

Resentment: a sky-filling hatred and resentment, filling every corner of the heart. Even pouring out all the waters of the four seas could not wash it clean. An endless desire to kill one’s hated enemies…

…

All the myriad aspects of the mortal world, Ji Ning at first forcibly suppressed his lust. But wave after wave of impact left him exhausted and bedraggled. Gradually, however, he began to awaken.

“Let all temptations come; my heart remains unmoved.”

“It is merely a bag of skin and bones.”

Ji Ning completely separated the innermost depths of his heart from the external world.

He allowed lust to surge to the heavens. He allowed excitement, trembling, joy, hatred, elation, unwillingness, happiness, sorrow… all of these things. Ji Ning no longer suppressed them. He allowed them to wash over and envelope his entire body. But deep within his heart, he was utterly transcendent. It was as if he were a bystander, observing all of this, watching all of this.

“The inner heart? The outer body?” Ji Ning gradually gained understanding. He thought of the ‘Houyi Archery Art’.

The Houyi Archery Art was ranked amongst the top ten of countless divine abilities, on par with the Starseizing Hand. However, the Houyi Archery Art was far more complex to execute. It required a higher level of technique and skill. It even required an excellent bow and arrows, and the number of shots one could fire was extremely limited. Yet its power was also terrifyingly great.

The ultimate power of the Houyi Archery Art was actually greater than the ultimate power of the Starseizing Hand! Even the ancient god Houyi himself, when unleashing his most powerful arrows, could probably only fire a dozen or so before he could no longer sustain it… but the power of those arrows was absolutely terrifying.

And divine power was only one aspect of the ‘Houyi Archery Art’. The true essence that made it the supreme, number one archery art in the Three Realms, was its mastery of… Heartforce!

Heartforce was a very ethereal, yet incredibly mysterious power.

This was a power completely different from the powers normally used by Immortals, Fiendgods, and cultivators. Powers like Yuan power, Immortal法力, and Divine Power were all visible to the naked eye. But ‘Heartforce’ was completely invisible. Without an external medium like the ‘Archery Art’, Heartforce alone could not even harm anyone.

And it was this very ‘Heartforce’ that made divine archers truly fearsome existences. Houyi was the strongest among them. The ‘Houyi Archery Art’ he created pushed the application of Heartforce to a terrifying level, giving birth to this heaven-defying archery art.

This ethereal, intangible Heartforce…

Could unleash such terrifying power that in the Primordial World, even True Gods and Daofathers were unwilling to become enemies of Houyi. He was a man who was terrifying even amongst True Gods and Daofathers, a legend amongst divine archers.

Regarding Heartforce, the ‘Houyi Archery Art’ clearly divided it into many different levels.

The first level of Heartforce was simply entry-level. This was Ji Ning’s current level. As long as one could truly apply a sliver of Heartforce to their archery, allowing it to extend ten thousand li along the arrow, they were considered to have entered the gate. Ji Ning had trained bitterly in archery for several years on Mount Innerheart before he had managed this. Generally speaking, entering the first level of Heartforce was enough to be considered a qualified divine archer. It was a true heaven-and-earth difference from ordinary bowmen in the Three Realms. Without understanding Heartforce, one was not a true divine archer. Once one understood Heartforce, their bow would become terrifying.

The second level of Heartforce was the ‘Icy Heart’!

Icy Heart…

It referred to the heart being truly transcendent and internally focused, unmoved and unshaken by all external temptations. The lake within the heart was as if frozen into a block of ice, not stirring a single ripple! When the heart could be restrained to such a degree, the ‘Heartforce’ would undergo a qualitative transformation, and its power would greatly increase.

…

“So it turns out that amidst the descent of the Karmic Hellfire, I have unknowingly reached the ‘Icy Heart’ level. My Heartforce has actually increased.” Ji Ning felt a faint joy in his heart. “As is generally acknowledged, as long as one can survive the descent of the Karmic Hellfire, their Dao-heart will undergo an essential transformation, and even their strength will increase.”

The descent of the Karmic Hellfire consisted of three tribulations.

Each was more powerful than the last.

Ji Ning had just experienced the second tribulation, the Red Dust Tribulation, and had already reached the Icy Heart level. This showed that while the Karmic Hellfire was a great calamity… fortune and misfortune were intertwined. If one survived it, there would be gains. However, very few cultivators were willing to be wreathed by the Karmic Hellfire. Once it happened, even if one survived the three tribulations, the Karmic Hellfire would forever cling to them. They would have to endure the agonizing burning of the Hellfire at every moment. Although it was not as bad as the three tribulations, the torment of constant burning… unless there was a special reason, who would be willing to endure that?

Furthermore, once one was wreathed by Karmic Hellfire, it was incredibly difficult to lower their sin to the ‘Karmic Sin Light’ level.

Merit and Sin were difficult to obtain, but sin was easily incurred!

Killing mortals was a great sin. Sin would descend easily…

But to obtain Merit was incomparably difficult. For example, Ji Ning had killed great demons and evil Patriarchs whose sin had reached the Karmic Sin Light level, and he had even taken on disciples, gaining their loyal submission. Even then, his Merit had barely risen from ‘Karmic Clear Qi’ to ‘Karmic Golden Light’, and the area of the Golden Light was very small. Reaching the legendary ultimate level of Merit, ‘Seven-Colored Auspicious Light covering the body’, was many, many times harder.

Sometimes, trying to do good could result in evil. Even the most powerful True Gods and Daofathers could not truly figure out the rules of ‘Merit’. Killing those with great sin seemed to grant Merit; even ninety-nine such acts in a row would still grant Merit. But perhaps the hundredth such act would instead bring down Sin.

The difficulty of going from ‘Karmic Hellfire’ down to ‘Karmic Sin Light’ was comparable to the difficulty of going from ‘Karmic Golden Light’ up to ‘Seven-Colored Auspicious Light’.

Thus, once one was wreathed by Karmic Hellfire, it was almost impossible to escape it for one’s entire life.

To be burned by fire forever… who would want that?

…

“What now?” Ji Ning had been high and mighty, seated upon a dragon throne, having unified the world beneath him. With a single command, none dared to disobey.

But then, the scene before him dissipated and changed.

The scene before him became an ordinary courtyard. Inside the courtyard, there was a woman holding a baby. Another woman was playing beside them. In the courtyard, a burly man was cutting up beast meat.

“Eh?” Ji Ning realized that he had become the baby.

“What is going on?” Ji Ning had never before found himself turning into a baby. In all of the previous tribulations, he had always been in his true form.

As time passed, Ji Ning gradually understood.

He had become a baby. The baby gradually grew, becoming a young child. The young child received unified education within his tribe. But the child was young; how could he settle down and study? It was only as he grew older that he began to work hard. At eight years of age, his father went into the mountains to hunt and never returned.

He began to mature. Because he was the only man left in the family, under the care of his mother and his second mother, he began to work diligently.

His mother and second mother worked hard and suffered countless hardships to provide him with a good education within the tribe.

He swore…

He would let his mother and second mother live a good life.

“Luo Jun, you managed to reach Houtian perfection before the age of sixteen. You have potential. What you need now is life-and-death tempering. If you can break through to Xiantian… then your mother and second mother’s lives will be much better.” A middle-aged man patted the youth on the shoulder.

“I know.” The youth nodded heavily.

“Alright. Now that you’ve reached Houtian perfection, I will report it up. I believe that soon you will have the right to add the prefix ‘Shaoyin’ to your name.” The middle-aged man laughed. “By then, you will be considered a true member of the Shaoyin clan recognized by the tribe.”

“Mm.” A look of desire appeared in the youth’s eyes.

But Ji Ning, who was completely attached to the youth’s body, felt increasingly uneasy and fearful.

On the day the youth returned to the city after a life-and-death adventure in the wilderness, a green-haired Immortal suddenly appeared high in the sky above the entire city.

“The entire city must be relocated.” The green-haired Immortal spoke, his voice echoing everywhere.

In the small courtyard, the youth and his two mothers looked up, bewildered. Relocate? How?

Whoosh.

They felt space twist. In the next moment, they found themselves in a vast space.

“There are so many people.” The youth felt he couldn’t see the end of the crowd.

“Luo Jun, what… what is going on?” Both mothers were panicked.

“Don’t worry. This is all the work of the Immortals.” The youth said confidently. “All the tribesmen are here. We’ll know what’s going on soon enough.”

Not long after.

Whoosh.

They were relocated again, but this time they were packed even more densely.

“This time, it must be Fufeng the Fiend gathering us all together.” Ji Ning had a vague guess, along with a feeling of dread. For over ten years, he had been attached to this youth, and he felt what he felt. He knew how pure and honest this youth was. He knew how deep the bond between the youth and his two mothers was.

He already knew the youth’s future. A future he didn’t want to believe.

“Boom~~”

Space shattered.