Chapter 237: Heavenly Calamity, or Heavenly Aid?

“Water from the Netherworld?”
The Celestial BeingVenerable beside him was also filled with wonder, feeling that the heavenly calamity against Yu Qing was extremely strange, with no clear meaning to it.
A heavenly calamity should be a test from heaven for cultivators, not a true means of destruction. If it truly aimed to kill someone, even a simple strike of heavenly power could turn a Golden Core cultivator to ashes.
Yet this water from the Netherworld was neither a test nor a weapon of destruction; its purpose seemed to be to erase a person’s spiritual imprint and all memories, which was rather puzzling.
The water, resembling a water dragon vortex, instantly engulfed Yu Qing. Su Che and the Celestial BeingVenerable could no longer see him and had no idea how he would overcome this calamity.
This water from the Netherworld possessed the miraculous power to cleanse the spirit. If a cultivator tried to penetrate it with their spiritual sense, they would only invite disaster—their spiritual sense would be damaged and difficult to recover.
A spiritual sense covering a range of 100 zhang would be crippled by even a single wash from this water…
Su Che dared not let his spiritual sense touch the water, but Old Black’s detection ability once again proved useful, instantly transmitting a series of mental images to him.
Su Che immediately saw Yu Qing standing with closed eyes inside the black water vortex, looking grave. A thick layer of demonic energy formed an oval cocoon around him, shielding him from the attack of the water from the Netherworld.
Hiss… hiss… hiss…
The water from the Netherworld spun rapidly, constantly washing against the demonic cocoon, causing Yu Qing’s protective demonic energy to drain quickly.
“Huh?”
Su Che was surprised. “It seems as if the power of the heavenly calamity is helping Brother Yu Qing cleanse his demonic energy. The water from the Netherworld has become a remedy.”
Considering how the Taiqing Divine Thunder had helped Yu Qing fend off the Celestial BeingVenerable’s attack earlier, it now seemed as though the heavenly calamity itself was on Yu Qing’s side, helping him overcome difficulties…
Time passed, yet the thick layer of demonic energy surrounding Yu Qing showed no sign of decreasing, indicating just how severe his demonic calamity was. What kind of person could possess such a strong demonic essence?
Crack! Crack! Crack…
Suddenly, several more bolts of lightning struck, startling Su Che greatly.
“More lightning? If it’s still the Taiqing Divine Thunder, Brother Yu Qing is doomed!”
Upon closer inspection, these light blue bolts of lightning weren’t very powerful, resembling the common Kuishui Divine Thunder in the cultivation world.
Cultivators could also practice the Kuishui Divine Thunder, but since it was human-created, its power was limited by the cultivator’s own level. Compared to the divine lightning sent by heaven, its strength was far inferior.

For example, the Purple Sky Divine Thunder is not much weaker than the Pure Clear Divine Thunder. If a cultivator at the Golden Core stage releases several dozen strikes of Purple Sky Divine Thunder at Su Che, it still won’t kill him; but with the power of Heavenly Might, even just one strike of Purple Sky Divine Thunder could be fatal.

At this moment, these several Sun Water Divine Thunders pierced through the thick demonic aura and struck Yu Qing. Yu Qing didn’t resist; he simply endured them all with his physical body, though his brows were tightly furrowed and his body trembled.

Su Che knew that, given Yu Qing’s temperament, he would never grit his teeth or cry out in pain. For him to react like this, the pain must be extreme.

Being struck by lightning surely wasn’t pleasant. A few days ago, Su Che had experienced it himself three times…

Crack, crack, crack, crack…

After that, there were continuous strikes of heavenly lightning, all of which Yu Qing endured. His skin had turned as black as tree bark, covered in terrifying cracks.

During this time, the Venerable Tianwu remained quite obedient, without any tricks. Likely, he had been scared by the first strike of Pure Clear Divine Thunder and feared bringing trouble upon himself.

“Uncle Tianwu,” Su Che suddenly said, “I can roughly guess what you’re thinking. To be honest, you’re useless against Yu Qing. Unless you can take away my status as the chief disciple, you won’t be able to seize the fortune of the main peak.”

Su Che said this merely to advise him to stop doing pointless things and to use his abilities against him instead.

Hearing Su Che speak so directly, the Venerable Tianwu stopped hiding anything and said in a low voice, “Some things can’t be accomplished overnight. Take your time. I won’t miss this opportunity right now.”

It was obvious that after Yu Qing passed through this tribulation, he would continue to cause trouble. Unless Yu Qing could eliminate all the demonic nature within him through this heavenly tribulation, he would have no excuse.

After much longer time, Yu Qing was still suffering from the scouring of the Netherworld waters and the strikes of heavenly lightning. His body had completely lost its human shape, looking like a pile of black and red rotten flesh.

Even Su Che, who had a steel-like heart, found it unbearable to watch. At the same time, he secretly admired Yu Qing—had it been him, he would have died long ago. It was amazing that Brother Yu Qing was still alive.

This proved that he was also a monster beyond human limits!

As time passed, this tribulation, which was more than ten times longer than Su Che’s Wind and Fire Tribulation, continued for a long while. Finally, the scouring speed of the Netherworld waters slowed down.

“It’s almost over!” Su Che was delighted. He guessed in his heart, “He must have passed it.”

When the Black River of Heaven retreated back into the high-altitude black hole, the pile of rotten flesh that used to be Yu Qing finally appeared before Su Che and the Venerable Tianwu.
“Dead?”
Seeing Yu Qing’s miserable state, the Venerable Tianwu was also slightly stunned.
“How is that possible…”
Su Che knew that Yu Qing wasn’t dead yet. The problem was that he could still sense that the demonic energy hadn’t vanished, and the demonic nature hadn’t been eradicated.
Huh!
A thick stream of black aura surged out from that pile of rotten flesh, enveloping Yu Qing…
Su Che couldn’t help but want to curse. This demonic energy seemed even denser and purer. After all this trouble, was it still a failure?
“This boy has already fallen under demonic influence; even heavenly calamities can’t eliminate it,” the Venerable Tianwu sneered. “Young disciple Tianyu, do you still intend to stop me?”
Su Che didn’t respond, but as long as he was sure that his senior brother Yu Qing hadn’t truly fallen under demonic influence, he would still protect him.
After a dozen breaths, that mass of demonic aura suddenly condensed and was absorbed by Yu Qing’s body, revealing a completely new appearance.
He looked quite normal now, dressed in white Taoist robes, full of energy, with a calm gaze—no signs of being possessed.
“What’s the situation?” Su Che quickly asked via telepathy.
“The demonic calamity has passed for now, or rather, it’s been temporarily suppressed,” Yu Qing replied telepathically. “However, the seeds of demonic nature within my body have also evolved significantly. The next transformation will be even more severe.”
“That’s good.” Su Che always maintained an optimistic attitude toward such matters. “We’ll deal with it next time. By the time you transform again, maybe we’ll have a way to resolve it easily.”
Yu Qing smiled faintly and nodded.
The Venerable Tianwu, who was watching, realized that Yu Qing wasn’t the kind of person who loses reason under demonic influence. Yet, unwilling to let him escape this calamity, he said, “Yu Qing, although you’re safe for now, you still need to return to our sect with me to find out the cause, so that we can completely eliminate the risk of demonic possession.”
Yu Qing gave him a casual glance, seemingly too lazy to pay attention, but instead sent a message to Su Che: “Just now, the Great Collapse Divine Fist evolved into a true divine skill—its power is quite good. Can your Soul-Seizing Divine Skill hold him still for a moment? I want to try it on him.”
“Just for a moment? It should be possible,” Su Che replied telepathically.
“Let’s give it a try!” A sharp glint appeared in Yu Qing’s eyes.
Soul-Seize!
Su Che and the Venerable Tianwu were only ten zhang apart—this Soul-Seize attack was truly unexpected.
Prison the Demon!
Immediately after, came a Prison character prison.

After reaching the Golden Core stage, the power of the three divine techniques had increased several times compared to the later stages of Foundation Building. Yet even so, Su Che was still unsure whether Soul Seizure and Demon Prison could hold back a master at the peak of the Golden Core stage.

“If I had known this, I should have tested them on my master before coming out of seclusion…”

At that moment, such a thought flashed through Su Che’s mind.

Vum…

The Celestial Being felt a blue light shine on him, causing dizziness but not loss of consciousness. Immediately afterward, the Prison CharacterPrison halted the flow of his vital energy and Golden Core for a brief instant.

With just that brief pause, he had no time to dodge, cast spells, or activate his magical artifacts. An extremely precious moment.

Great Destruction Art!

This time, Yu Qing didn’t use a punch strike but instead made a fierce slashing motion with his hand.

With a loud boom, Su Che felt that everything in the area where the Celestial Being was located, about ten zhang away, would be shattered to pieces—his own consciousness included.

Swish!

Su Che sealed his consciousness and delivered another punch strike.

Destruction!

Yu Qing was far away, while Su Che was close. Although there was a slight difference in timing, the force of the attack hit the Celestial Being at the same time.

The true power of Great Destruction and Destruction merged once again…

Sizzle!

The Prison CharacterPrison shattered first, followed by a huge crack appearing in the space in front of the Celestial Being. A spatial storm capable of destroying everything howled out.

After all, the Celestial Being was highly skilled and couldn’t be pulled into the spatial storm. He moved swiftly backward, leaving behind a trail of blood mist.

Su Che and Yu Qing’s all-out ambush finally managed to injure him.

“Tian Yu, I’ll wait for you in the sect leader’s hall!”

Before his words faded, the Celestial Being turned into a streak of light and disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.

Su Che knew the Celestial Being was indeed injured, but not to the point of losing his combat ability. Likely, he planned to use a feint strategy by going to the supreme sect leader to accuse Su Che.

Something like associating with demons and attempting to murder senior sect members—according to the sect rules, Su Che should be stripped of his status as the chief disciple…

“How is it?” Yu Qing asked softly. He had also figured out the Celestial Being’s intentions.

“It’s fine,” Su Che said nonchalantly.

Yu Qing nodded and asked, “What status does this robe of yours represent?”

“Chief disciple,” Su Che replied truthfully. “I set up a hundred-battle arena.”

“So, do I really have to call you the eldest senior brother?” Yu Qing wore a peculiar smile.

“It doesn’t matter, right…” Su Che laughed. “Anyway, in private, you’ll always be my senior brother.”
Yu Qing shook his head lightly, his thoughts unclear. After a moment, he added, “I need to go to another place. I probably won’t be able to return to the sect for two or three years. Please greet them for me.”
“Them” referred to the sect master, Venerable Xuanji, the Elder of the Medicine Garden, and Linglong among others.
Su Che nodded silently. He felt that Yu Qing knew more secrets than he did, but he didn’t dare ask too much.
“Three years from now, let’s fight.”
Yu Qing left without another word, flying away. His voice echoed faintly: “The one who wins will be the senior brother.”
Ha! Su Che shook his head and laughed.