Chapter 147: A Change of Plans

In fact, before Master Tongtian left, he had rattled on and on to Feng Ke’er, giving her many warnings regarding the ascension of spirit beasts. After all, her life-bound guardian beast was exactly that—a spirit beast. Though he held no particular affection for such creatures, he could not simply stand by and watch someone get dragged down by one.

At the time, Feng Ke’er had been distracted and hadn't paid much attention. Fortunately, her primordial spirit inherited the excellent qualities of those thousand nascent souls, and later, it relayed every single word of his advice exactly as it was spoken.

Master Tongtian had said:

For spirit beasts, reaching the seventh rank is a massive hurdle. Once the barrier shatters, it instantly converts into spiritual energy laden with immense power. This sudden surge of spiritual energy exceeds their usual capacity by a thousandfold. Their physical bodies would surely be unable to withstand it. However, at this very moment, the first bolt of tribulation lightning will descend. Spirit beasts can conveniently harness this sudden influx of energy to resist the lightning.

Cultivators often spread rumors about how perilous these three bolts of ascension lightning are. Little do they know, the truth is that Heaven, in its infinite mercy, has tailor-made this "ascension package" specifically for spirit beasts.

Furthermore, the demonic essence of spirit beasts is inherently tainted with malevolence. Although they spend their time transforming this essence into primordial spirit energy once they reach the sixth rank, it is only at the peak of the sixth rank that the transformation is complete. However, the malevolence manifests as a phantom of their demonic form, clinging to the outside of their primordial spirit—this is why Feng Ke’er saw the phantom of a nine-tailed silver fox crouching behind Hu Li’s primordial spirit.

For these beasts, the three bolts of tribulation lightning are perfectly suited to suppress this phantom and refine the primordial spirit.

Additionally, while it is true that a master can bear the tribulation lightning for their life-bound guardian beast, the power of each bolt will increase tenfold as a result. Master Tongtian was not optimistic about this master-servant duo, with their pseudo-ice root and water attribute combination; he believed they lacked the strength for it.

Upon learning this, Feng Ke’er broke into a cold sweat: if past lives truly existed, her previous self must have thrown Goddess Nüwa's child down a well. Otherwise, why would fate be designed specifically to kill her?

When Hu Li found out, his face turned grim. Although he had long since abandoned the thought of having his master take the lightning for him, all intelligent beings share one trait: they cannot tolerate the fact that they have been manipulated.

After a long silence, he asked abruptly, "Master, will you still be able to ascend with me?" The poor fox had spiraled to the opposite extreme: he now completely distrusted Goddess Nüwa and questioned every word she had ever spoken.

"This..." Feng Ke’er did not know either; Master Tongtian hadn't mentioned it. However, she had always been protective of her own and couldn't bear to hurt her guardian beast's fragile heart, so she replied vaguely, "Don't worry. When the time comes, just focus on the lightning and don't be distracted. I’m quite agile; it will definitely be fine." *Sigh.* She would also have to deal with her own heavenly punishment... She would just have to try; Heaven is merciful, there must be a way.

Hu Li gave a faint "Oh," then pressed his lips together and went back to his tasks. He had decided: let everything follow its course. Neither of them were wicked or heinous people; since Heaven is merciful, it surely wouldn't just take their lives like this, would it?

Feng Ke’er felt much the same.

However, their worries grew heavier: this was the agony of being a rogue cultivator. With such a monumental event as ascension, there was no master nearby to offer guidance. Neither of them knew that when a spirit beast advances to the seventh rank, the cooperation of the ascension lightning is essential.

In the past, this was not a problem because the channel was always open. But now... they only knew the approximate time for the reopening of the passage. As for the exact day, the time, and how long it would stay open—these were all unknowns.

Who could tell them a method to ensure the fox advanced exactly when the passage opened? Was there some kind of emergency plan? Thinking of this, Feng Ke’er grumbled in her heart about Master Tongtian: that old man must have slipped away on purpose. Every time, he disappeared at the most critical moment!

As the legendary day of the passage's reopening approached, the fluctuations of spiritual power over the Heart of the Barrier Sea became increasingly pronounced. Even Hu Li, a ten-thousand-year-old demon, couldn't hold it together; he was either staring blankly with furrowed brows or drifting off while looking at the sky.

Ascension was the most important event of all, and with Master Tongtian’s terrifying "popular science" lesson fresh in her mind, it was natural to feel uneasy. Feng Ke’er herself was extremely nervous. Although Master Tongtian had said the Phoenix Jade Tablet could neutralize heavenly punishment, she was genuinely terrified of being struck to death by lightning.

Then, one day, Feng Ke’er suddenly noticed that the sea of spiritual energy in her guardian beast's dantian seemed to be churning with waves. The fluctuations were abnormal, and when she looked over, the guy was standing with his hands behind his back, staring up at the sky, his eyes unfocused.

This didn't look good!

"Oh no," Feng Ke’er whispered to herself, rushing to warn him: "Hu Li..."

Hu Li snapped back to reality, forcing a smile at her with feigned composure: "Master, my barrier just loosened." He looked so foolish that he seemed like a different person compared to the lazy, handsome, silver-haired gentleman he usually was.

Could it be that the breakthrough was imminent? Feng Ke’er swallowed hard and asked in a dry voice, "Has the passage opened?" Her hands were twisted together like a rope, though she didn't even realize it.

"I don't know." Hu Li clasped his hands over his dantian, cold sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. "I cannot feel the presence of the passage."

Disaster. Feng Ke’er’s heart sank. Without the passage, where would the ascension lightning come from? Without the lightning, her life-bound guardian beast would explode!

Why was her life so bitter?

Feng Ke’er had never believed in fate before, but this time, she started to: her life was simply miserable. In the modern world, she had parents, yet she was stolen by an old orphanage director and raised as an orphan. After twelve years of hard study, she finally found a decent job, only to be swatted into the dawn of the prehistoric era by the "Black Raven" trio. After centuries of fighting monsters, leveling up, and bathing in blood, her path to cultivation was finally widening, only to be inexplicably targeted by Goddess Nüwa. In a moment of weakness, she had chosen this life-bound guardian beast.

And now, this guardian beast was "premature"—wasn't it? The passage hadn't reopened, yet his barrier had loosened early!

A loosening barrier brought excruciating pain. In just a short while, Hu Li was drenched in sweat, as if he had just been pulled from water. He collapsed to the ground, struggling to sit cross-legged. He regretted it deeply—damn it, he was surely going to be the death of his master this time.

*No, I cannot give up! I cannot die. For my master's sake, I must succeed!* Telling himself this over and over, Hu Li managed to stabilize his mind surprisingly quickly. Without even wiping the cold sweat from his face, he closed his eyes and sent his divine sense out to its full extent.

Feng Ke’er watched as his silver hair exploded outward, suddenly lengthening like countless tentacles, each one probing into the air. At the same time, a gale force wind rose, sending sand and stones flying within a radius of ten miles.

Needless to say, the fox was searching for the passage. Feng Ke’er felt a jolt, immediately sat cross-legged beside him, formed a seal with her hands, and shouted, "Barrier!" Cultivation was a personal matter; she could not help Hu Li with the advancement itself. The only thing she could do was guard him—the commotion of the ascension lightning would be massive and would inevitably alert nearby cultivators and high-level demon cultivators. Although the illusions and restrictions of the Heart of the Barrier Sea were formidable, and ordinary characters couldn't get in, one could never be too careful; coincidences were hard to predict.

As soon as her voice fell, a five-colored light flashed, and a transparent, hemispherical energy shield emerged, covering the ten-mile radius around them.

*Pop, pop, pop.* Feng Ke’er cast eighteen formation stones in quick succession, embedding them into the barrier. This was a concealment formation. Beyond hiding the people and objects within, it could also mask fluctuations of spiritual power.

To enhance the power of the concealment formation, Feng Ke’er unhesitatingly slapped a supreme-grade spirit stone onto each of the five positions: southeast, southwest, north, south, and center of the barrier. Supreme-grade spirit stones were extremely rare in the lower realm, priceless and impossible to find. She only had five in total, all of which Hu Li had presented to her after recognizing her as his master. Greedy and obsessed with collecting as he was, he had only managed to acquire those five over thirty thousand years.

"Activate formation!"

And just like that, she, Hu Li, and the energy shield all became invisible.

The ten-mile radius fell silent, calm and peaceful. Of course, this facade could fool all the cultivators in the lower realm, but it could not fool Goddess Nüwa and the Heavenly Dragon True Lord by her side. Feng Ke’er knew this perfectly well. Thus, her palms were slick with cold sweat.

In truth, she was overthinking it. The thought processes of the high-and-mighty and the commoners were sometimes completely different. Since the plan had succeeded, in Goddess Nüwa's eyes, Feng Ke’er was already a dead woman. Furthermore, with the passage reopened, she had plenty of other things to attend to; where would she find the time to keep an eye on this master-servant pair?

Before long, a crisp "bang" echoed from within Hu Li's dantian.

Ah, the barrier had shattered!

In an instant, surging spiritual energy flooded Hu Li's dantian. His dantian and the meridians throughout his body began to swell rapidly, like a balloon being inflated.

This scene was so familiar! Feng Ke’er was stunned—centuries ago, she had experienced a similar situation. Back then, she had broken through ten barriers in a row, her cultivation rising ten levels consecutively...

"Oh my, why didn't I think of that!" Feng Ke’er slapped her thigh and shouted, "Let's do it!" She pressed her fingers to her brow, forcing out five-colored spiritual energy.

Immediately, the blue lotus mark on her forehead appeared—this was the activation of the servant contract. Once activated, the master's divine sense and spiritual power could enter the guardian beast's sea of consciousness and dantian freely.

"Don't be afraid, even without the lightning, I can help you refine the spiritual energy," Feng Ke’er consoled the fox.

At the same time, her primordial spirit was chattering away: *Isn't it just an excess of spiritual energy losing control? I am an expert at refining spiritual energy. It's just a pity that there isn't enough time; you've only learned the first style of the Qigong. If you had learned all four styles, then, supplemented with pills, you could have handled this situation all by yourself.* Multitasking was a fine tradition, and the primordial spirit used it even more skillfully than the nascent souls.

Hu Li was already nearing a state of collapse. The multi-voiced chatter of the primordial spirit was like a lighthouse beam piercing the darkness of the sea, powerfully soothing his panicked heart.

Feng Ke’er could clearly feel his tense meridians gradually relaxing.

In truth, all the "good news" she had spoken was deliberately said to comfort the fox. Feng Ke’er's real thought was six words: *Treat a dead horse as a living one!*

Heaven, she had never done this before.