Cultivation: I Can Steal Lifespan from Spirit Beasts

Chapter 205: Tribulation Transcendence

“Sect Leader Ji, are you absolutely certain Ning Daohuan has abandoned his post?”

Outside the perimeter of the Eastern Sage Sect’s ancestral garrison, a congregation of Golden Core True Persons materialized silently in the clouds.

The sparse handful of low-level Heavenly Gate Sect disciples remaining inside the garrison went about their duties, completely oblivious to the doom hovering above them.

The Sect Leader of the Nine Spirits Sect leveled a skeptical glare at Ji Lan.

Ji Lan’s expression was flawlessly calm. “Whether he is here or not, I shall personally breach the perimeter and ascertain the truth.”

“You intend to infiltrate alone?!” The Nine Spirits Sect Leader blurted out, thoroughly taken aback.

A ripple of shock passed through the gathered masters, and they immediately voiced their protests.

“Sect Leader Ji, do not let emotion cloud your judgment. This requires meticulous planning!”

“Indeed! The Heavenly Gate Sect has fortified this garrison for over a decade. The arrays and lethal traps inside must be numerous and deadly. You cannot afford to underestimate them, Sect Leader Ji. Let us deliberate and formulate a coordinated strategy before acting.”

“We cannot verify the authenticity of this intel! What if Ning Daohuan is meditating inside right now? You would be throwing yourself into the jaws of a Nascent Soul monster…”

Ji Lan offered a soft, refined smile, glancing around at the concerned faces. His handsome, scholarly features conveyed absolute sincerity.

“You have all traveled thousands of miles, repeatedly risking your lives to aid the Eastern Sage Sect. I, Ji Lan, am profoundly indebted to you. How could I ask you to bleed for my sect without first taking the vanguard myself?”

“By both honor and reason, I must be the one to test the waters.”

Ji Lan raised a reassuring hand. “Please, ease your minds. In a contest of raw Magic Power, I am naturally no match for Ning Daohuan. However, when it comes to the mastery of spatial movement techniques, I bow to very few.”

“Furthermore, the Eastern Sage Sect built and maintained this garrison for centuries. Do you truly believe we left no backdoor access or hidden countermeasures?”

“Even if Ning Daohuan is waiting inside, I am entirely confident I can escape with my life.”

With those final words, Ji Lan focused his will. The space around him warped, and he vanished from sight.

Led by the other four Sect Leaders, the twenty-plus Golden Core True Persons stared intently at the sprawling garrison below. Their expressions were taut with lethal focus.

Almost universally, they ignited their Magic Power, their auras humming with suppressed violence, ready to launch a devastating bombardment the microsecond an alarm sounded within the compound.

However, minutes ticked by, and an eerie, suffocating silence remained draped over the garrison.

Just as the leaders exchanged meaningful glances, mentally preparing to synchronize a brute-force assault to shatter the protective Formation, the space before them rippled.

Ji Lan materialized.

His usual placid mask had cracked, revealing a burning, barely contained euphoria in his eyes.

“The intel was flawless! Ning Daohuan and the other twenty Golden Core elders are completely gone!”

“What?! They actually vacated the premises?!”

Despite operating on that exact assumption, hearing the definitive confirmation sent a shockwave of disbelief through the assembled masters.

The Nine Spirits Sect Leader’s eyes widened. “Fellow Daoist Ji, you are certain you didn’t simply miss Ning Daohuan? Is it possible they are in deep Secluded Cultivation, masking their auras?”

Ciren Pengcuo leaned forward. “Yes, Fellow Daoist, are you absolutely sure?”

Zhong Bu of the Red River Sword Sect locked his piercing gaze onto Ji Lan, waiting for the verdict.

Ji Lan took a slow, deep breath to steady his racing heart. “I am not mistaken. The architectural layout and foundational structures of the garrison have barely been altered. I lived within those walls for over three hundred years. I know every secret chamber, every subterranean vault, and every blind spot. It is physically impossible for Ning Daohuan and his cadre to hide from me in there.”

“Furthermore, the internal troop deployment matches our intelligence perfectly. Aside from a token handful of Foundation Establishment disciples acting as a hollow deterrent, the garrison is populated entirely by low-level, Qi Refining fodder.”

“It is an undeniable fact: Ning Daohuan and the Heavenly Gate Sect’s elite strike force are gone.”

Sect Leader Xiong of the Mountain Sea Sect frowned, his paranoia flaring. “But what if they left the teleportation arrays active? The moment we strike, they could instantly recall their forces and launch a catastrophic counter-ambush.”

“A valid concern,” Ji Lan nodded sharply. “Which is why I tracked the specific Spiritual Qi resonance of their spatial anchors. I located both active teleportation arrays and covertly severed their core runic circuits. The arrays are dead.”

“Excellent!”

“Sect Leader Ji’s meticulousness is unmatched!”

“If that is the case, what are we waiting for?! Let us follow Sect Leader Ji, breach the gates, and reclaim the Eastern Sage Sect’s ancestral home!”

“Absolutely not!”

The synchronized, sharp denial came not from one man, but from all five Sect Leaders simultaneously.

The five men paused, exchanged knowing glances, and chuckled dryly.

“I believe Sect Leader Ji should be the one to clarify the tactical reality for the rest of the group,” Ciren Pengcuo said, his smile failing to reach his eyes.

Ji Lan didn’t defer. He addressed the eager Golden Core masters.

“While it is true Ning Daohuan and his elites are absent, we still cannot definitively confirm his motives. Is he truly bogged down fighting the Incense Burner Path in the State of Jiang, or is he intentionally leaving his throat exposed to lure us into a lethal trap?”

“Because that ambiguity exists, our approach must be methodical and absolute!”

“I have disabled the teleportation arrays, neutralizing their ability to instantly reinforce the garrison. Therefore, our strategy is simple: we dismantle the protective Formations and defensive wards layer by layer, working from the outside in. We systematically eradicate every Heavenly Gate Sect cultivator we encounter.”

“By sweeping the compound with overwhelming, undeniable force, even if Ning Daohuan has laid an elaborate trap, we will crush it beneath our boots before it can trigger.”

“It is a slower path, but it guarantees our survival.”

Hearing Ji Lan’s cold, calculated logic, the bloodlust of the Golden Core masters cooled into a sharp, tactical focus.

The consensus was absolute.

The other four Sect Leaders immediately organized their respective elders, delegating specific sectors of the outer defensive Formation for systematic dismantling.

Surprisingly, Ji Lan delegated the Eastern Sage Sect’s portion of the dismantling to Ye Lingyu. He then vanished once more, bypassing the outer wards and slipping back into the heart of the garrison.

Moving like a ghost, Ji Lan personally neutralized the remaining Heavenly Gate Sect disciples and a handful of unorthodox Rogue Cultivators who looked vaguely familiar to him. He didn’t kill them; he simply rendered them unconscious with localized bursts of spiritual pressure and bound them tightly together.

Given the insurmountable chasm between a Golden Core True Person and mere Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining disciples, the operation was flawless. Not a single target managed to trigger an alarm or burn a communication Talisman.

Within minutes, the garrison’s entire remaining population was incapacitated and piled in a courtyard.

Satisfied, Ji Lan glanced over his shoulder. In the distance, he could see the brilliant flares of Magic Power as the other Four Sects methodically chewed through the outer Formations. Confident they were making progress, he launched himself toward the cluster of towering peaks situated behind the majestic main gate.

As he crested the ridge, a massive, familiar silhouette came into view.

It was a titanic, purple-scaled avian beast. However, it was completely immobilized, bound to the bedrock by dozens of heavy iron chains, each as thick as a grown man’s torso.

It was Fan Ming, the ancestral guardian divine beast of the Eastern Sage Sect.

“Gah!”

Fan Ming’s massive head snapped up as Ji Lan approached. A spark of recognition flashed in its ancient eyes, and it let out a sharp, resonant cry.

“The intelligence of a divine beast truly endures,” Ji Lan murmured, his heart aching at the sight of the majestic creature’s wretched imprisonment.

He slid his hand into his sleeve and withdrew an intricately carved, bell-shaped artifact. Channeling his Magic Power, he gave the bell a sharp ring.

Hearing the specific frequency of the bell, Fan Ming immediately recognized the command and began to thrash violently.

However, the more the beast struggled, the tighter the colossal iron chains constricted, grinding brutally against its scales.

“Ning Daohuan…!” Ji Lan hissed through gritted teeth, his eyes burning with venom. He instantly cut the Magic Power to the bell, halting Fan Ming’s agonizing struggles.

He stepped closer, examining the dull, heavy metal of the chains. His brow furrowed in profound disbelief.

“The sheer arrogance of Ning Daohuan… he actually utilized Fourth Rank ‘Mysterious Fire Mixed Gold Iron’ to forge these bindings!”

“What an absolute desecration of a supreme treasure!”

If the priceless metal had been forged into a lethal offensive Magical Artifact, Ji Lan could have understood it. But to squander Fourth Rank material merely to physically anchor Fan Ming’s divine sense… it was an act of sickening extravagance.

Testing a theory, Ji Lan summoned a Third Rank Top Grade broadsword. Gripping the hilt with both hands, he brought the blade down on a link with catastrophic force.

CLANG!

Sparks rained down, but the strike left nothing more than a microscopic, hairline scratch on the iron.

Refusing to yield, Ji Lan unleashed a flurry of devastating blows, burning through his Magic Power until he finally managed to sheer off a piece of iron no larger than his palm.

“A pity. What a profound pity,” Ji Lan sighed, tossing the useless scrap aside.

He swept his gaze over the beast. There were over fifty of these chains anchoring Fan Ming to the mountain. While he marveled at Ning Daohuan’s bottomless treasury, a cold frustration settled in his gut.

At this rate, simply severing these chains will take six months of continuous labor. But it matters little. The Eastern Sage Sect has returned home. Time is finally on our side!

Pushing the frustration aside, Ji Lan accepted he couldn’t free Fan Ming today. He triggered his movement technique, teleporting back to the exterior perimeter where the coalition forces were working.

“The architectural philosophy behind the Heavenly Gate Sect’s protective Formations is entirely alien to the State of Chen. It doesn’t even share roots with the neighboring States of Sen or Fu,” one of the elders analyzing a runic node muttered in frustration.

Despite the unfamiliar architecture, the combined, brute-force intellect of over twenty Golden Core True Persons was overwhelming. The outermost, most formidable layer of the grand Formation was already teetering on the edge of total collapse.

Just as the final nodes began to fracture…

An apocalyptic, heaven-shaking roar erupted from the distant horizon, originating from Zhongyuan City. The sheer acoustic violence of the sound wave carried across nearly half the State of Chen!

“Which pathetic rats dare lay their filthy hands on the Heavenly Gate Sect’s garrison Formations?!”

It was unmistakably Lu Yuansheng.

The sheer fury in the roar punched a hole straight through the cloud cover, scattering the weather patterns for miles.

Hearing the terrifying bellow, the Golden Core True Persons actively dismantling the array froze. A collective, instinctual shudder of dread ran through their ranks.

But before panic could set in, a chorus of bizarre, echoing laughter rolled across the sky from the same direction.

One voice, resonating with the heavy toll of a morning bell, spoke in a sinister, booming tone:

“Are those our friends from the Five Sects? Hehe… proceed with absolute confidence! We will pin this Lu Yuansheng down with everything we have!”

The moment the voice faded, a catastrophic eruption of soul energy detonated near Zhongyuan City.

“GET LOST!” Lu Yuansheng screamed in absolute fury.

The horizon flashed with blinding light as raw Magic Power and lethal soul arts violently collided. Even from this immense distance, the Golden Core masters could feel the terrifying, seismic tremors of the clash.

“Heh. It seems those Incense Burner Path zealots are good for something after all,” Zhong Bu sneered. He raised his sword and delivered a merciless, terminal slash.

The heavily degraded Formation before him shattered like fragile glass, completely exposing the interior of the Heavenly Gate Sect garrison.

“Even if Lu Yuansheng breaks off his engagement and rushes here, it changes nothing,” Ciren Pengcuo laughed coldly. “With our numbers, even if we cannot execute him instantly, we can easily drag him into a war of attrition. Once his Magic Power runs dry, he is a dead man walking.”

The surrounding Golden Core True Persons relaxed, their initial shock fading into smug confidence. Several even began to joke amongst themselves.

The tactical reality was absolute: Ning Daohuan and twenty Golden Core elders were MIA. The internal teleportation arrays were dead, meaning reinforcements were physically impossible.

Lu Yuansheng was the sole remaining pillar of the Heavenly Gate Sect in the State of Chen, and he was currently bleeding himself dry against the Incense Burner Path’s supreme commanders. He was nothing but a lamb waiting for the slaughter.

Once the coalition finished systematically purging the garrison, they would march on Zhongyuan City. Both Lu Yuansheng and the Incense Burner Path commanders would be wiped from the face of the earth.

Only Ji Lan felt a cold, phantom itch of unease at the back of his neck.

As he worked alongside his sect’s elders to disable the secondary internal arrays, his brow remained deeply furrowed. He constantly reviewed the tactical timeline.

Finally, he pinpointed the source of his anxiety.

It’s too smooth… this entire operation is unfolding with terrifying, frictionless perfection!

Yet, every logical test he applied to the situation held firm.

It was entirely plausible that Ning Daohuan and the elders were bogged down fighting a massive Incense Burner Path invasion at another garrison.

It was equally plausible that Lu Yuansheng had been left behind as a highly visible, hyper-aggressive decoy to command the Five Sects’ attention and paralyze them with indecision.

If Ji Lan hadn’t received the leaked intel from Cheng Shu, he never would have dared mobilize the coalition for this strike.

Wait… could Cheng Shu have flipped? Is he feeding me fabricated intel?!

Ji Lan instantly analyzed the variable, but discarded it.

Cheng Shu had only secured Lu Yuansheng’s absolute trust because he was secretly smuggling Second Rank High Grade and Top Grade Spirit Poultry out of the Eastern Sage Sect’s hidden reserves. Without that massive, covert supply chain, Cheng Shu’s mediocre beast-taming skills could never have produced such high-tier results in such a compressed timeframe.

If Cheng Shu betrayed Ji Lan, Ji Lan would expose the smuggling operation, and Lu Yuansheng would instantly execute the man for treason.

Therefore, while Cheng Shu turning double-agent was technically possible, the probability was microscopic.

Despite agonizing over the variables, Ji Lan couldn’t find a single fatal flaw in their position.

Soon after.

A bloodcurdling, agonizing scream echoed from the battle outside Zhongyuan City!

A microsecond later, a blinding, unnatural phenomenon erupted across the distant sky—a violent, localized aurora.

Every Golden Core master present instantly recognized the sign: it was the heaven-rending phenomenon of a Third Rank cultivator perishing in battle!

“Friends of the Five Sects… are you not finished yet?!” The booming, bell-like voice roared across the sky, laced with pain and desperation.

The coalition members dismantling the arrays paused, exchanging knowing, predatory smiles.

“Haha, it seems Lu Yuansheng is finally feeling the pressure! He knows that once these arrays fall, his teleportation hubs are exposed. He’ll be entirely cut off,” an elder chuckled.

“His panic is utterly pointless. Sect Leader Ji already infiltrated the compound and severed the arrays. He’s been cut off since the moment we arrived.”

“Take your time, everyone. Slow and steady,” Ciren Pengcuo ordered smoothly. “Let Lu Yuansheng drain a few more pints of blood from the Incense Burner Path before we step in.”

Not long after.

A second miserable shriek tore through the heavens, followed immediately by another violent, dying aurora painting the clouds.

“Are you still not done?!” The booming voice was no longer composed; it was frantic, cracking with genuine terror.

“Almost!” Ciren Pengcuo called back, his voice dripping with faux sympathy.

And he wasn’t lying. Despite intentionally dragging their feet to maximize the casualties between their two enemies, the combined, systematic dismantling by over twenty Golden Core True Persons was brutally efficient. The grand defensive Formations were completely dismembered.

With the shields down, the coalition immediately scattered, fanning out across the massive compound. They subjected every inch of soil, every building, and every shadow to a hyper-invasive Divine Sense sweep, ensuring absolutely no traps or ambushes remained.

Not a single cultivator slacked off. They all understood the existential threat the Heavenly Gate Sect posed. They had all witnessed the Eastern Sage Sect being violently evicted from their ancestral home. No one dared to be negligent.

Watching the meticulous, flawless sweep of the compound, the knot of anxiety in Ji Lan’s chest finally dissolved.

He gazed out over the familiar, majestic peaks of the Eastern Sage Sect. For the first time in over a decade, a profound, overwhelming joy swelled in his heart.

We have finally returned! If we had failed, with what face could I, Ji Lan, ever stand before my Master in the afterlife? How could I face Ancestor Jiao Hu…

But in that exact moment.

The sky above the State of Chen violently darkened.

The ambient Spiritual Qi in the atmosphere spiked erratically. Driven by a primal, terrifying instinct, every single cultivator present snapped their heads toward the southeast.

There, miles above the earth, layers of impossibly thick, pitch-black clouds were violently congregating, swirling into a massive, suffocating vortex.

Deep within the crushing blackness, a catastrophic, world-ending aura of calamity and absolute annihilation was rapidly brewing. It felt as if the heavens themselves were preparing to execute a sinner.

“A Heavenly Tribulation!”

“That is a Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation!”

“The Mountain Sea Sect’s Grand Elder Pang… he’s actually trying to transcend the tribulation?!”