The Thousand-Life Heart Trial

The space crumbled. It shattered into fragments. The powerful cultivators trapped within this small pocket dimension roared in fury, desperately trying to break out.

"What's happening?" "Heavens above!" "Ah Bu!"

Countless mortals were utterly dazed. They stared at the scene of the world collapsing around them, completely powerless to resist. Cries of terror, panic, and agony filled the air.

"Mother… Second Mother… No, no…" The young man was stunned. He watched as the most important people in his life—his mother and his stepmother—were caught in the spreading spatial fracture and instantly torn to pieces.

They were the most important people in his life. "Mother!" "Second Mother!"

The young man was wracked with agony, filled with hatred and unwillingness. Then his consciousness was swallowed by darkness.

As Ji Ning was possessing this youth, the boy's emotions crashed into him as well. Having been attached to him for over ten years, Ji Ning also felt a bond with those two women. They were like mothers to him. When they died, Ji Ning felt an endless surge of rage, unwillingness, and even… self-blame! An uncontrollable sense of self-blame rose within him.

If only I hadn't smashed that Universe Pearl back then. How wonderful that would be.

“Poor child. Poor mothers.” Ji Ning’s heart had reached the Iceheart Realm. He swiftly suppressed that thread of self-blame and completely detached himself from the ‘young man’ persona.

…

“You listen to me, you idiot. My little sister is way out of your league.” A burly powerhouse stomped on a youth, bellowing angrily, “Get smart and stay away from her. Don’t go near my sister again. If I catch you next time, it won’t be this easy. There are plenty of demon beasts in the deep mountains outside. If I toss you in there, you’ll be devoured clean within a night—not even bones will be left.”

The burly man kicked the youth twice more before turning and walking away.

Ji Ning felt the pain all over his body as he stood up. His face was swollen, and his forehead was bleeding.

“Possessing a young man this time?” Ji Ning mused to himself.

The youth limped and staggered as he laboriously made his way back to his lodgings.

That evening.

“Ji.” A young girl quietly came to him. Seeing the state of the youth lying on the bed, her heart ached so much that tears streamed down her face. “It’s all my fault… all my fault…”

“Yu Wei?” Ji Ning was startled when he saw the girl.

She looked far too similar. She was almost identical to his senior apprentice-sister, Yu Wei. But Ji Ning quickly snapped back to reality. In the Chenyu Mountain Range, with tens of billions of mortals, it wasn’t strange for there to be a girl who looked just like Yu Wei. Upon closer inspection, he could tell that this girl was purer and more innocent. She lacked the transcendent aura of a cultivator.

The girl helped clean the youth’s wounds, applied medicine, and even brought some meat soup she had prepared for him to drink.

“We have to be more careful from now on,” the girl said hurriedly. “Don’t let my brother see us again, and don’t let anyone else in my family find out either.”

“A-Fu, believe me. I will definitely train to become a Xiantian lifeform and marry you in a proper, open manner,” the youth said seriously.

“Mm.” The girl nodded gently.

…

“You little bastard, just look at yourself! You’re utterly shameless. A worthless piece of trash like you, not even a Xiantian lifeform—do you think you deserve my sister? She’s a stunning beauty; she’s practically a celestial maiden descended to earth. She’s one of the finest women in all of Dongqu City. Plenty of men want to marry her.” The burly man was furious. “And you think you have a chance? I warned you before. This time, don’t blame me for being heartless. Men, tie him up and send him into the mountains to feed the demon beasts!”

“Yes, sir.”

Two servants acknowledged.

The youth was pinned to the ground, a cloth stuffed in his mouth. His arms and body were quickly bound. He let out sounds of unwillingness, but the burly man watched coldly.

The youth was taken out of the city and thrown deep into the mountains.

“Just leave him here. He’ll be eaten soon enough.” The two servants tossed the youth aside.

The bound youth fell onto the gravel-covered ground. A sharp, protruding rock stabbed into his chest. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and rolled on the ground in agony.

“Am I going to die here?” Fear filled the youth’s heart.

Time flowed on.

“Rustle, rustle…” A sound reached him. The youth’s heart tightened. A demon beast? Even an ordinary wild beast could easily devour him.

“It’s this way, I’m sure of it.” “You led us astray before. If you mess up again, you can join that kid in death.” “I got lost in the dark last night, but I’m certain this time.”

Voices accompanied the figures of the burly man and his two servants appearing.

“Mm! Mm!” The youth, his mouth still gagged, was unable to speak. He stared at the three figures who had appeared, both furious and terrified.

The burly man laughed in anger, “Still alive? You’re lucky. I’d really like to know what kind of tricks you used to make my sister threaten to kill herself. Come on, take him away!”

The youth later learned…

As soon as A-Fu found out that “Ji” had been thrown into the mountains to feed the demon beasts, she was stunned. Then this usually gentle, obedient girl went wild. She threatened to kill herself: “If I haven’t seen Ji back by dawn tomorrow, I will follow him.” She held a dagger to her heart, standing firm before her father, a Xiantian lifeform who had always cowed her into submission. “Father, you can take my knife. You can tie me up. But if I truly wish to die, you cannot stop me.”

Her powerful father backed down.

After this incident, A-Fu’s father and brother stopped their opposition. Instead, they began to train “Ji,” providing him with a good cultivation technique. With the help of his father-in-law and brother-in-law, Ji actually managed to break through and become a Xiantian lifeform.

“What?” The youth’s Xiantian true energy sensed A-Fu’s belly, and a look of ecstasy spread across his face. “This… this…”

A-Fu smiled as well.

“I’m going to be a father! Hahaha, I’m going to be a father! Fantastic! Hahaha…” The youth was delirious with joy.

A-Fu simply smiled quietly.

“A-Fu, I, Shaoyin Ji, swear that I will take good care of you and our child,” the youth said, trembling with excitement. “My son will grow up to be someone truly great, a powerful figure in our entire Shaoyin clan.”

“Mm.” A-Fu nodded gently.

…

As Ji Ning possessed the youth, he felt a strange sensation. A-Fu looked exactly like his senior apprentice-sister, Yu Wei. When Shaoyin Ji discovered A-Fu was pregnant, his ecstatic emotions… Ji Ning felt a peculiar resonance. He was possessing Shaoyin Ji; it was almost as if his own senior apprentice-sister, Yu Wei, was carrying his child.

“I, Shaoyin Ji, swear that I will take good care of you and our child.” When Shaoyin Ji uttered these words, Ji Ning could feel the immense sense of responsibility within them.

To be a husband. To be a father. This was responsibility.

“Could they too…” Ji Ning had a faint premonition of their future. It made his heart ache. This girl, who looked exactly like his senior apprentice-sister, Yu Wei, was so innocent and pure, and she devoted herself entirely to her man. Ji Ning truly did not want to see “A-Fu” die.

Days passed, one after another.

A-Fu’s belly grew. The youth, Shaoyin Ji, worked hard to procure all kinds of treasures for A-Fu to consume: “My child must be born with exceptional talent from the very start. Their future is destined for greatness.”

Whenever Shaoyin Ji expressed such expectations, A-Fu would simply smile at her man.

This was happiness.

“The entire city is to be evacuated.” An ancient voice echoed across the whole city. The youth, Shaoyin Ji, who had been holding his heavily pregnant wife’s hand as they strolled, was stunned.

Then… whoosh!

The space around them distorted. Shaoyin Ji and A-Fu found themselves in a vast space filled with countless people.

“A-Fu, are you alright?” Shaoyin Ji was frantic with worry.

“I’m fine. Where… where is this?” A-Fu clutched Shaoyin Ji’s hand, filled with anxiety.

“Don’t worry, I’m here.” The youth, Shaoyin Ji, looked around warily.

Not long after.

Whoosh!

They were moved a second time. This time, the Fufeng Demon gathered them into a single, densely packed location.

“No…” A trace of unwillingness stirred within Ji Ning. He truly did not want to see that scene. He had already foreseen it.

Boom!

Space shattered.

Panicked screams and furious roars filled the air. Countless people died within the collapsing space.

“No… no… no…” The youth was utterly stunned. He looked around in terror. He had sworn to protect his wife and child. “What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?” He was filled with intense self-blame. He would rather die himself than see his beloved wife die. He couldn’t forget their journey from first meeting to growing close, overcoming countless obstacles to be together…

“A-Fu.” The youth looked at the girl and wept.

He truly had no way out.

“It’s been wonderful, just being together. Our whole family is together now.” A-Fu held her man tightly, gently stroking her belly.

Swish! The crumbling space showed no mercy as it swept past. The man, A-Fu, and the child in her womb, all perished together.

The space completely shattered.

Ji Ning could still ‘see’ the enormous golden hand outside. It was that golden hand that had crushed the Universe Pearl, causing the deaths of this man, A-Fu, and their unborn child.

And that enormous golden hand… was Ji Ning’s own hand.

“Why? Why wasn’t I more careful back then? Why did I crush it?” When Ji Ning saw A-Fu die, it felt eerily similar to watching his senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei die. The heart-wrenching pain of the youth, Shaoyin Ji, was transmitted into Ji Ning’s own heart. Ji Ning felt the pain, too.

“It was my fault.” “I shouldn’t have…” “Shouldn’t have.”

Ji Ning had reached the Iceheart Realm. Although regret gnawed at him, a core part of his consciousness remained cold and detached. He managed to fully control these external emotions, preventing them from affecting his true heart.

…

One story after another.

Ji Ning possessed person after person, sometimes for a few months, sometimes for over a decade. Each one was someone Ji Ning would never have willingly killed. Many of them resonated deeply with him… This experience of possessing them was like being reincarnated over and over. Because Ji Ning had reached the Iceheart Realm, he was able to isolate all of this, protecting his original heart.

But as the number of possessions increased, a single desire grew stronger and stronger within Ji Ning: If only I hadn’t crushed that Universe Pearl back then. Even as this desire grew, Ji Ning understood that what was done was done. Nothing could be changed.

…

As this emotional accumulation continued to build internally, suddenly—

“Mother! Second Mother!” “A-Fu!” “Nian’er!” “Master!” “Junior apprentice-brother!” “Why… why…” “I won’t accept this!” “My child! Aaaah!”

In a single instant, the intense emotions generated by Ji Ning’s thousand lifetimes of experience—all the unwillingness, fury, pain, regret, heart-wrenching sorrow… all of them converged at once. Previously, each possession had ended with a powerful emotional shock, but it had only been a single wave. Now, however, all the emotions from a thousand lifetimes were gathered together. This concentrated self-blame was like a raging tidal wave that crashed over Ji Ning, completely engulfing him.

It’s all you. It’s all you. Why did you crush it? Why did you crush it? You deserve to die. Deserve to die. Die. If you die, you’ll be free. Free.

The surging emotions, the countless voices, completely drowned Ji Ning. They even broke through his Iceheart Realm, flooding every corner of his inner self.

This was the final trial of the Three Tribulations of the Mundane World… the Thousand-Life Heart Trial!

(To be continued.)