Don’t Cause Trouble Chapter 101: Demon Slayer

Seeing that his disciple didn’t respond, Xin Shenzi tried to motivate Yi Xuan: "That You Fushi who stole your junior brother's spotlight already jumped three stages, and Ye Su. She advanced six whole stages! And you haven’t even advanced once!"

Yi Xuan: "…"

"Of course, Ye Su doesn’t count," Xin Shenzi added. "She doesn’t seem like a normal person anyway."

He pointed toward the distant Xuanji Peak. "Disciple, just compare yourself to Lu Chenhan."

Yi Xuan hugged his sword, turned around without a word, and walked off expressionlessly.

"Hey, where are you going?" Xin Shenzi called after him. "Are you mad?"

"Going to break through," Yi Xuan’s voice drifted back.

He shut the door behind him. Instead of immediately entering meditation, he first took out beast cores from his qiankun bag.

Those beast cores he had obtained during the Chaos Mirror trial, he had originally planned to give them to Ye Su, as a way of contributing something to Qianji Sect. But instead, she had stuffed five sixth-rank cores into his hands.

Ye Su had casually brushed it off as "something she picked up," but when they emerged that day, Yan Hao's dazed expression made it clear, it hadn’t been simple at all.

Yi Xuan held the beast core in his hand, closed his eyes, and began meditating.

He had long since reached the peak of late-stage Golden Core.

All he needed now to break through… was the decision to do so.

He was ready to reach a higher realm.

……

At the summit of Xuanji Peak, dark clouds gathered densely. One bolt of heavenly thunder after another crashed down with a world-shattering force, it was no less powerful than the tribulation Ye Su had faced.

Gu Liangtian, who was in meditation, seemed to sense something. He suddenly opened his eyes, as if seeing through the door and observing what was happening outside. After a while, he closed his eyes again.

At that moment, only one person stood in the center of the flat mountaintop. Lu Chenhan gripped the Gucang Sword, facing the heavenly thunder head-on. He swung his sword repeatedly, though struck by the lightning, he didn’t appear nearly as battered as Ye Su had been. His movements merely slowed a bit.

The thunderbolts, as thick as an arm, came crashing down on Lu Chenhan one after another. At times, five bolts struck simultaneously. He leapt into the air, held his sword in front of him, and blocked the lightning.

The lightning hit the Gucang Sword with a crackling arc of energy, sparking across Lu Chenhan’s face. His gaze was ice-cold, without a trace of fear or even the slightest flicker of emotion. In a sudden motion, he shifted his sword, and the five lightning bolts, caught off guard, struck the ground instead.

Lu Chenhan pulled his sword back and slashed his sword intent at the five bolts, forcefully cutting them apart.

—He was actually using heavenly thunder to temper his sword intent.

At the edge of the summit stood two women dressed in white. One looked cool and composed, Lu Chenhan’s master. The other was bright and innocent, Ning Qianyao, the girl Lu Chenhan had brought up the mountain to heal.

There was some distance between the two, yet both were watching Lu Chenhan, who stood amidst the lightning.

A full day nearly passed. The black clouds in the sky became increasingly terrifying, layering and rolling above. The thunder suddenly stopped, not as if it had ended, but as if it was storing up power, ready to strike again.

The air above grew heavier. The dark clouds kept building until a flash of purple light lit up the entire Xuanji Peak like daylight. Two massive bolts of lightning, like dragons, tore down from the clouds.

"Xuantian Thunder!" Ning Qianyao cried out in alarm, the worry on her face impossible to hide.

Lu Chenhan looked up at the two bolts of Xuantian Thunder, tightly gripping his Gucang Sword. His icy eyes radiated a commanding dominance, as if he held control over all things. He leapt into the air and slashed toward them.

His immense sword intent collided with the destructive Xuantian Thunder. After a long stalemate, both bolts were actually defeated, cut apart by Lu Chenhan.

His robe was a high-grade magical treasure and could resist heavenly thunder—even the Xuantian Thunder couldn’t damage it. Only his exposed hands were scorched by the lightning, but Lu Chenhan casually took out top-grade healing pills, and the injuries recovered quickly.

This lightning tribulation lasted a full day and night, not stopping until noon the next day.

"How many bolts of lightning was that?" The Sect Master of the Wuxing Sect turned to ask Lian Lian and Cheng Huaian but didn’t see them.

"Where’d they go?"

An elder nearby answered, "I think they went off to cultivate."

"What’s the point of cultivating at a time like this?" the sect master said angrily. "There are only a few days left before the second trial begins!"

Everyone around lowered their heads, saying nothing.

But just then, from the direction of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect, dark clouds suddenly began to gather again. Thunder rumbled—clearly, someone was about to break through.

"Even the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect wants to join the chaos?" The Wuxing Sect Master grew more displeased. He’d thought that after Lian Lian advanced two stages, she could stand shoulder to shoulder with Lu Chenhan. But now, it seemed like everyone was advancing multiple stages.

"Sect Master, look toward the Hehuan Sect!"

An elder pointed to another direction where clouds were forming.

"Someone’s breaking through there too!"

And just as he said that, thunderclouds began forming over the Sword Sect as well and two bolts this time!

The Wuxing Sect Master was utterly confused:

"…So now, every time someone in the Nascent Soul stage breaks through, it comes with lightning tribulation?"

……

When Ye Su returned with her junior disciple, she noticed that dark clouds were gathering above the major sects in the Kunlun realm, with flashes of lightning streaking through the sky.

"Did someone kidnap the God of Thunder and the Lightning Mother?" Ye Su stood outside the courtyard, looking up and making a casual remark.

"Who are the God of Thunder and the Lightning Mother?" Quan Jiaying walked out from inside and asked.

Ye Su turned around. "It’s nothing. You’ve reached the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm? Congratulations."

"An unexpected moment of insight, related to some transformations in the Yaqi technique. I still have questions I want to ask you," Quan Jiaying said. He had been discussing matters of artifact refinement with Ming Liu Sha and the others for a full day and night. He had just stepped outside when he heard Ye Su talking.

"Wait a moment." Ye Su tugged along her junior disciple behind her and brought him back to their room.

You Fushi had been sleeping for two days and still looked drowsy.

"I shouldn’t have given you so many beast cores," Ye Su said suddenly, looking at You Fushi lying on his side on the bed.

You Fushi had already closed his eyes, but when he heard her, he forced them open and grumbled, "You gave them to me. They’re mine now."

This mortal was actually trying to go back on her word.

"Fine, they’re yours." Ye Su bent down to gently move the strands of hair scattered across his face, revealing most of it. "Next time, don’t open that realm so recklessly."

You Fushi closed his eyes again. It wasn’t clear whether he had actually fallen asleep or was just pretending not to hear.

Ye Su watched him for a while before leaving the room. She closed the door and headed into the courtyard.

Several people were seated around the stone table, clearly holding back a bunch of questions they were eager to ask Ye Su.

"One at a time," Ye Su said as she sat down.

"Senior Sister, we’ve already written down all our questions," Xia Er straightened his posture and pushed over a long sheet of paper.

Ye Su shook her head and began answering each question one by one.

……

Thunder rumbled throughout the Kunlun realm, drawing everyone’s attention. The disciples of other sects felt a heavy weight in their hearts. The major sects weren’t giving anyone a chance at all.

How were they already advancing again? It hadn’t even been that long!

In one corner, a group of competition disciples huddled together.

"How is it? Any news?"

"Nothing."

"Didn’t you say your senior brother’s cousin’s friend is a Kunlun disciple?"

"Xuanji Peak isn’t allowing anyone to get close, not even Kunlun disciples."

Someone sighed. "There’s already a lightning tribulation. Lu Chenhan must be 90% into the Nascent Soul to Soul Formation stage."

"That artifact refiner from Qianji Sect also triggered a tribulation, and he’s still only at late-stage Nascent Soul."

As soon as that was said, everyone turned to look at that competition disciple.

"Still late-stage Nascent Soul?"

"In past years, anyone at late-stage Nascent Soul would’ve easily taken first place."

While everyone was muttering among themselves, a disciple from one of the sects came rushing over, his tone full of schadenfreude: "Guliang Tian from Wanfo Sect failed to break through to the Soul Formation stage!"

"He was really trying to advance to Soul Formation?"

"He already failed!"

The one who ran over crouched down with the others.

"Advancing to Soul Formation isn’t that easy, he was only mid-stage Nascent Soul."

"What’s his current stage now?" someone asked. "If he regressed, that’d be pretty entertaining."

"What about Hehuan Sect? Who’s advancing there? Mei Chouren?"

"I saw Mei Chouren wandering around just yesterday. It definitely isn’t him."

"Then it must be Yan Hao."

"There are way too many strong contenders in this year’s sect tournament. We might as well give up early."

"No one knows the result until the very end. What if all those geniuses mess up?"

"Yeah right. You should be worrying more about yourself. Seems like you guys haven’t heard, the second round this year has a new format."

"Not the same formats as previous years?"

"They said some of the personal disciples advanced too quickly, so they had to switch the round to keep things challenging."

……

On the day the second round of the sect tournament began, all the participating disciples rushed to the competition grounds.

The sect masters were already waiting there.

Ma Congqiu glanced around and couldn’t help but mutter, "Why does it feel like everyone has advanced?"

He and Zhou Yun had struggled just to reach early-stage Nascent Soul.

Then their senior brother jumped two whole stages to late-stage Nascent Soul, and even worse—Yi Xuan also reached late-stage Nascent Soul.

Even taking pills doesn’t work that well! Or maybe… people from Qianji Sect are just freaks?

Ma Congqiu turned to glance at Lü Jiu, feeling a bit better, at least she only went up one stage. Finally, a normal person.

"Brother Xu." Ye Su didn’t show up last-minute this time. She greeted the Sword Sect and said, "Congratulations on your breakthrough."

Xu Chengyu gave a helpless smile.

"This time… it seems like disciples from all the major sects have advanced."

Before arriving, he had deliberately suppressed his cultivation, intending to break through during the final round but it turned out this competition was filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

"Late-stage Nascent Soul." After Ye Su settled in, she turned to Yi Xuan. "Congratulations, Junior Brother."

"Used up all my beast pills," Yi Xuan replied calmly. With Ye Su and You Fushi both advancing, there was no way he could fall behind.

He had used the sixth-tier beast pills Ye Su gave him, along with the fourth and fifth-tier pills he’d found on his own. The surge of power made his realm soar repeatedly.

When the thunderclouds came, it had scared Xin Shenzi half to death. When Yi Xuan came out, he even scolded him.

He said Yi Xuan hadn’t prepared in advance, and facing a tribulation unprepared could’ve cost him his life.

"Five…" Ye Su started to say but stopped halfway. "You’re amazing."

Sixth-tier beast pills contain a power even Nascent Soul cultivators struggle to handle. Yi Xuan, only at the peak of the Golden Core stage, refined five of them in one go. No wonder his breakthrough was so fast.

At that moment, disciples from both the Wanfo Sect and Kunlun walked in from opposite sides. Everyone’s eyes shifted between Lu Chenhan and Guliang Tian.

"So it’s true. Guliang Tian really failed to reach Soul Formation," Zhou Yun whispered.

Ye Su looked at the new Buddha Child of the Wanfo Sect on the opposite side. He held a staff in one hand and prayer beads in the other, walking barefoot slowly.

The most striking detail, was the lightning-shaped scar now etched on his forehead.

"Anyone who fails to reach Soul Formation gains a scar on the forehead," Xu Chengyu explained to the Qianji Sect disciples. "Guliang Tian really was trying to break through that day."

When Xu advanced to late-stage Nascent Soul, he had drawn thunderclouds too but only a few bolts of lightning, nothing like what Guliang Tian had triggered.

Ye Su turned her head toward Lu Chenhan on the other side. There was no scar on his forehead. She couldn’t see what stage he was at.

"No wonder he’s Kunlun’s number one," said Hehuan Sect’s leader, Wu Yue. "The tournament isn’t even over yet, and he’s already reached early-stage Soul Formation."

The masters of each sect had various thoughts, but on the surface, they all offered congratulations to Kunlun.

Sword Sect Master’s single comment immediately stirred discussion among the disciples. In an instant, all eyes turned toward Lu Chenhan.

The title "Kunlun’s Number One" carried weight. That pressure once again loomed over every disciple’s heart. Lu Chenhan held the Gu Cang Sword.

His gaze swept past the Qianji Sect. Those two were talking.

He withdrew his gaze.

So what if they were at late-stage Nascent Soul?

Crossing from Nascent Soul to Soul Formation, that gap was as wide as the heavens.

He stood at the front of the Kunlun disciples, always the most dazzling one.

"All disciples are present." Daoist Feng Chen waved his hand. The entire field fell silent.

"The second round of the tournament is about to begin. Before that, if anyone wishes to withdraw, now is the time."

No one made a sound. They had made it to the second round, how could anyone be willing to quit now?

"Because some of you advanced too quickly, the old second-round formats are now too easy. So for this year’s tournament, we’ve changed the format."

"Twenty years ago, Huicheng was massacred by demons. The entire city was soaked in blood overnight. Your second-round task—" Daoist Feng Chen’s voice echoed coldly through the entire arena: "—is to hunt down the demons still inside…"

"And slay them."