Cultivation: Fortune by Lots

There were indeed exceptions.

But in the thousand, ten thousand years of cultivation history, there had only been a handful of such rare cases.

So rare that a cultivator able to break through from the Third Heavenly Layer to the Fourth after turning one hundred, even if he never progressed again, was worthy of having his name remembered in the annals!

As for living to one hundred and fifty…

*Huang Sanqian did not dare to keep thinking further.*

*That was an age where one's energy would decline rapidly, only regressing and weakening, with no hope for improvement—the twilight years judging by cultivation, able only to watch helplessly as the two hundred year lifespan loomed ahead.*

*He refused to resign himself!*

*He wanted to make one last desperate attempt!*

*Even if it meant forsaking all the character, dignity, and bottom lines he had previously clung to.*

*As long as he could succeed!*

*And there lay his hope…*

He made a gesture with his hand.

Just then, a magical sword flickering with precious light flew from that false cave mansion, landing before Huang Sanqian in the Blood River Array.

The others, seeing this, broke into an uproar, "The cave mansion was set up by you?!"

Huang Sanqian did not reply, his focus unwavering as he stared at his magical sword.

The Blood River Array's spiritual power flowed ceaselessly, beginning to aid him in refining his sword.

*The others considered struggling, trying to resist.*

*But having been drained by the previous battle, then ambushed and caught off guard by Huang Sanqian—already the strongest among them— they could barely withstand the Blood River Array.*

At this moment, Huang Sanqian's expression, illuminated by the bloody glow, had become morbid and distorted.

He spat out a mouthful of vital blood, covering his magical sword.

The sword instantly gleamed even more brilliantly.

The Blood River Array's suction also intensified.

Under the array's pull, the Jade Belt Stream dried up, its waters transformed into the source of the blood river.

"I can do it, I can succeed!"

The old Taoist, caught inside the array, grew so overjoyed he bordered on madness,

"All I need is to last for seven days, and I, the Daoist, will definitely refine this treasure, and finally overcome the Heavenly Moat Tribulation, achieve the Fourth Layer of Heaven cultivation…"

"Bang!!!"

Just as the old Taoist gesticulated wildly, a shadow suddenly loomed before his eyes.

The dark shape rushed in from afar, growing larger and larger.

*Like a meteor, it shot in at an angle, crashing violently into Huang Sanqian!*

*Huang Sanqian tried to defend himself, but realized he couldn't react in time; his whole body was struck and sent flying by that shadow.*

"Boom!!"

The black shadow, as if a gigantic cannonball, blasted into the Blood River Array.

For a moment, there seemed to be a flash of spirit light.

The Blood River Array shuddered violently, then ripped apart and crumbled.

The magical sword trembled fiercely, losing control, yanked by the array's vicious power; cracks spread across its surface, and then it shattered into pieces.

It looked as though blood rained down from the sky.

With the array broken, the stream waters fell again, but they had been stained crimson and wouldn't recover soon.

The surviving cultivators, safe for now, stood stunned in disbelief.

They all turned, faces blank with shock, looking toward the collapsed bamboo grove, where a huge, rotund shadow was shaking its head and standing back up.

It was actually a Mountain Pi.

As for the old Taoist, Huang Sanqian, he was still lying atop the rocks, looking as if he had been flattened…

This Mountain Pi looked especially fierce, opening its giant maw and letting out a low groan toward the Jade Belt Stream—like muffled thunder.

Already battered and depleted by the Blood River Array's ordeal, the crowd saw that savage Mountain Pi, and although harboring doubt, dared not linger, fleeing in haste as soon as the array disintegrated.

Soon, at Jade Belt Stream, only the corpses of the dead remained, nothing else.

Lei Jun appeared beside Gungun.

That big fellow turned his fat face aside, refusing to look at him, sulking in his own world.

Lei Jun patted his companion's shoulder and back, then retrieved his Heavenly General Talisman from that shoulder.

Gazing out upon the wreckage of Jade Belt Stream, Lei Jun sighed lightly, waved his hand, and released a top-grade Evil-Repelling Talisman, purifying the crimson waters before him.

After that, he cleared the bodies of the fallen.

Once these tasks were done, Lei Jun flicked his finger, letting his own life-bound Dark Five-Thunder Orthodox Talisman generate Ji Earth Yin Thunder, which landed in the stream's flow.

With the silent thunder's echo, it was as if yellow earth, like Resting Soil, grew constantly in the water, eventually severing the Jade Belt Stream.

Having finished all this, Lei Jun finally turned his gaze to the old Taoist collapsed behind Gungun in the bamboo grove.

The man was on the verge of death, breathing out more than he took in.

Lei Jun bowed his head in front of him, "Though you were ready to risk everything for enlightenment, I can't let you have your wish."