Five minutes later, Ye Bufan stood up again and took a step forward. This time, no heavenly lightning descended. Ye Bufan was stunned.
"Rumble—"
Heavenly lightning, carrying heavenly fire, descended from the sky and struck Ye Bufan heavily. He was knocked to the side, somersaulted in mid-air, and finally grabbed the edge of the stone bridge with one hand, climbing back up.
"Isn't this unfair? You promised heavenly lightning, why is there heavenly fire too?" Ye Bufan couldn't help but curse. But the rules were set by the other party. If he wanted to obtain the inheritance, he had to pass through here, no matter what.
"Rumble—"
This time, heavenly lightning descended, followed by heavenly fire. With the experience from the first time, Ye Bufan handled it with more ease.
However, it was a pity that this made it difficult for Ye Bufan to use the heavenly lightning here for body tempering.
"Go!"
Ye Bufan leaped lightly and walked five more steps forward. Heavenly lightning and heavenly fire continued to descend. Ye Bufan used his ultimate chaotic footwork. Although he could dodge skillfully, he still got hit.
"Hiss—"
After dodging the fifth heavenly lightning and heavenly fire, Ye Bufan stood still, pondering if there was any way to solve this problem.
Ye Bufan looked at the end, still more than twenty meters away, and took a deep breath.
"Let's try?"
Ye Bufan closed his eyes, his internal true qi silently circulated, and then he unleashed his chaotic footwork, charging forward.
Before he could take a meter, heavenly lightning descended. Ye Bufan, without a second thought, rushed forward. He ran ahead while heavenly fire relentlessly struck from behind.
"Boom—"
In the end, a bolt of heavenly lightning still struck Ye Bufan. Then heavenly fire descended. Ye Bufan, enduring the pain of the heavenly lightning, flipped to the side. Instantly, the Remnant Sword and the Xuanwu Sword appeared, forming a sword shield in front of Ye Bufan, weakening the power of the heavenly fire.
The Chongxu Thunder Art converted the power of heavenly lightning. Ye Bufan, enduring the pain, stood up from the ground.
"Chaotic Footwork?" Ye Bufan charged forward again. Heavenly lightning and heavenly fire descended. Ye Bufan rushed across the stone bridge and finally reached the end of the valley.
Ye Bufan sat on the ground, gasping for breath. The surrounding scenery kept changing, from a valley to a tropical rainforest. There were bird songs, the fragrance of flowers, and the sound of flowing water.
Looking up again, Ye Bufan found himself back in the Suspended Temple.
The stone bridge that was originally behind him had turned into continuous mountains, with a figure standing with his hands behind his back.
"Master?" Seeing the old man, Ye Bufan was instantly excited, his eyes turning red, and his eyes moistening.
The old man slowly turned his head, revealing Lin Xiaoyao, Ye Bufan's master whom he hadn't seen in a long time. The old man sighed softly.
"After I perish, you shall descend the mountain. The shackles of Blue Star are about to be broken, and I cannot wait for that day. Chaos is coming. I believe you will make a name for yourself, to comfort my spirit in heaven."
The old man gently extended his hand, and a jade pendant and a yellowed letter appeared in his hand.
This was the scene from Ye Bufan's past, before he descended the mountain. Lin Xiaoyao appeared aged, his aura very unstable.
"Master, is there no way to save you?" Ye Bufan's tears streamed down his face, dripping onto the floor.
Lin Xiaoyao was silent for a moment, then said, "That method is too far for you."
"What method?" Hearing Lin Xiaoyao's words, Ye Bufan immediately became excited.
"For cultivators to ascend and overcome tribulations, they must go through stages like Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Divine Separation, Integration, Void Integration, Mahayana, and Tribulation Transcendence. After ascending and comprehending the great dao of time and space, one can revive their position in spacetime," Lin Xiaoyao said. "The stage you wish to reach is still too distant."
"Disciple is willing to work hard..."
As Ye Bufan spoke, he was interrupted by Lin Xiaoyao.
"Working hard is useless. That realm is beyond your current reach," Lin Xiaoyao said, pouring cold water on Ye Bufan. "However..."
At this moment, Lin Xiaoyao's tone changed, and his expression became very strange.
"I have another method here, which can allow me to achieve a form of eternal life," Lin Xiaoyao said.
"What is the method? Disciple will do it even if it costs me my life," Ye Bufan said.
"That is your body!" Lin Xiaoyao said. "Let my spiritual consciousness possess your body. From then on, you and I, master and disciple, will coexist in one body. Master can stay with you forever."
Ye Bufan was stunned. The Lin Xiaoyao before him seemed different from the Lin Xiaoyao in his memory.
"What? You're unwilling?" Lin Xiaoyao slowly walked towards Ye Bufan.
The Tiangang Wheel in Ye Bufan's sea of consciousness, which had been rotating slowly, suddenly sped up.
"You are not my master." Ye Bufan took a step back. "My master would never say such things to me." Ye Bufan became vigilant. He then remembered that he was undergoing trials in the Taiyi Divine Sect, so how could he have returned to that time.
The bystander sees clearly what the involved person cannot. Ye Bufan stood up, and Lin Xiaoyao had already reached him.
"Although you have transformed to look exactly like my master, my master has always doted on me since I was young and would never say things like you." His spiritual power transformed into a sword, and the surrounding sword energy gathered, finally forming a sword that pierced into the "Lin Xiaoyao's" body. This "Lin Xiaoyao" vanished before Ye Bufan.
Ye Bufan gasped for air. Everything in front of him changed back. He was once again in the primeval forest.
"What just happened?" Ye Bufan listened to the bird songs and insect chirps around him and suddenly realized that the other party had used sound to make him fall into an illusion.
In the forest, a small path automatically opened. Ye Bufan walked along this path for a short distance and finally arrived at a peach blossom forest.
Ye Bufan became lost again. After entering, melodious zither music drifted from the peach blossom forest, and the surrounding peach trees began to change continuously.
"The third trial, leave the peach forest." That voice sounded again. Ye Bufan looked at the peach trees and tried walking around them. He didn't rush to break the formation but studied it for a while, only to discover that it was related to Qimen Dunjia.
This was a gift for Ye Bufan. The most important thing at the moment was to identify the Bagua directions within it and then follow the movement patterns to break the formation and leave the peach forest.