Chapter 506: Nothing is for Nothing
One year...
Ten years...
One hundred years...
One thousand years...
Ten thousand years...
One hundred thousand years...
One million years.
Under soul torture, every second was excruciating.
However, letting go was not an option.
When he thought his soul would scatter and he would never see his lover, Yu Nianzhen did his best to persevere.
Fortunately, his perseverance was not in vain.
After one million years of soul torture, the pain abruptly stopped and his cultivation rushed to the peak of the ninth level of the reincarnation realm.
At first, Yu Nianzhen was confused and didn’t know what was happening.
When he did, a flood of relief overwhelmed his heart and he burst into loud laughter.
"I survived." He said as a line of involuntary tears streamed down his cheeks.
However, his relief didn’t last.
When he remembered the torture he experienced, he couldn’t help but worry about Jiang Yue.
"XiaoYue." He called and looked around but all he saw was an endless void.
At a loss, Yu Nianzhen activated the golden teleportation talisman, hoping to find his lover.
Unfortunately, the talisman didn’t work and the swordsman remained in place.
"Is it because XiaoYue has not finished his tribulation?" He wondered with a solemn look in his eyes.
At the same time, he checked their soul bond and only felt a little relieved when he saw the bond was as strong as ever.
’It seems XiaoYue is still holding on.’ Yu Nianzhen thought and sighed.
Soon after, he released Shanjiang and began to practice his swordsmanship.
During the one million years of soul torture, Yu Nianzhen was not always idle.
When he could escape the pain, he would try to comprehend his memory self’s swordsmanship.
As a result, Yu Nianzhen felt his swordsmanship had improved a lot.
However, all the improvement was in his mind but he had yet to realise it in the physical world.
While realising and practising his swordsmanship, one year passed.
On this day, Yu Nianzhen was still practising when he felt a sudden tug on his body.
"Is it time?" He asked with some excitement in his voice.
However, there was no one to answer his question.
Instead, the tugging became stronger and Yu Nianzhen was directly yanked out of the void.
Before he could react, he was engulfed in a golden light and faraway voices floated into his ears.
A moment later, he was flung out of the golden light and barely managed to avoid a disgraceful tumble.
"Mountain master Yu is out." Someone screamed excitedly.
"Deputy mountain master Jiang is also out." Another shouted and the place fell into chaos.
Hearing this, Yu Nianzhen looked around and saw Jiang Yue correcting his clothes.
"XiaoYue." He called in a voice that was barely a whisper but Jiang Yue heard it.
For Jiang Yue, after years of soul torture, hearing his lover’s voice was like listening to the most exquisite music.
"Azhen." Jiang Yue called with a forced smile on his lips.
Seeing the smile, Yu Nianzhen was heartbroken.
Without a care for the chaos around him, he rushed to his lover and hugged him.
"Azhen, it was awful." Jiang Yue complained.
"I know." Yu Nianzhen said and his arms tightened around Jiang Yue.
Although his pain had ended one year prior, the memory was still fresh.
When he thought about it, Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help but shiver in resistance.
"I wanted to give up but I didn’t want to leave you alone." Jiang Yue said.
"Me too." Yu Nianzhen said and wanted to say more.
However, before he could say anything, a familiar voice interrupted the moment.
"Brother Yu, Brother Jiang." A person called.
Hearing the voice, they separated and turned about.
"Brother Xuan." Jiang Yue greeted excitedly.
It had been many years since he saw Xuan Ke and he couldn’t help but feel happy when he saw his sworn brother.
"Brother Xuan." Yu Nianzhen was also happy when he saw the monk.
"You have finally come out of the tribulation grounds." Xuan Ke said and smiled at the two.
Hearing this, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen looked at each other.
When they first entered the tribulation grounds, they were trapped in the dark space and could only leave after they carefully polished their mental state and understanding of themselves.
After that, they entered a memory and followed their past life selves for hundreds of years.
Finally, their souls were tortured for one million years.
However, seeing Xuan Ke and other cultivators who were waiting at the entrance of the tribulation grounds, it clearly hadn’t been too long in the Reincarnation world.
"How long have we been away?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
"One thousand years." Xuan Ke answered and the two heaved a sigh of relief.
"Have you been waiting here for so many years?" Jiang Yue asked but Xuan Ke shook his head.
"I followed Brother Li’s instructions and only arrived here three months ago." Xuan Ke said and the three laughed.
"Mountain master Yu, deputy mountain Jiang, you can’t escape." A loud voice suddenly interrupted the harmonious atmosphere.
At the same time, the crowd parted and a group of cultivators walked towards the three.
"Who are you?" Jiang Yue asked with a frown on his face.
"I am the mountain master of the Raging Flame Mountain." The group’s leader said with a proud tilt of his chin.
When he heard this, Jiang Yue frowned.
He knew the mountain master of the Raging Flame Mountain and he was sure it wasn’t the person in front of him.
However, before he could say anything, Yu Nianzhen rubbed his hair and spoke.
"We have been away for one thousand years." Yu Nianzhen said and continued to explain.
"The group of ninth-level reincarnation realm cultivators we left behind have already left the Reincarnation World."
"Brother Yu is right." Xuan Ke said and then turned to the group of cultivators.
"Does the Raging Flame Mountain have a problem with our Cangxing mountain?" The monk asked.
"Problem?" The opponent muttered and laughed before he continued.
"Stop your nonsense and take out your weapons."
"As you wish." Jiang Yue said and directly released his Fuyue.
"Azhen, let me handle this." He said.
"Good." Yu Nianzhen nodded.
During the tribulation, after Jiang Yue overcame his initial terror, he did the same as Yu Nianzhen.
When he could escape the pain from soul torture, he comprehended the arts his past life self used.
Unfortunately, he entered the memory and soul torture a little later than Yu Nianzhen.
Because of this, he didn’t have any buffer time between transcending the tribulation and leaving the trial grounds.
Now that he had an opportunity, he naturally wanted to see the results of his comprehension.
"Brother Jiang..." Xuan Ke called with a worried look on his face.
Seeing the worry, Jiang Yue chuckled and revealed his cultivation.
"You...., how is this possible? How can you be at the peak of the ninth level of the reincarnation realm?" The opponent asked.
The new mountain master of the Raging Flame Mountain was called Huo Feng.
He and the previous mountain master were first cousins.
Before Huo Ren entered the transformation pool, he talked to Huo Feng about Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue.
At that time, Huo Feng felt that dealing with the two was an easy task.
After all, the two were only in the first level of the reincarnation realm when they entered the trial grounds.
Although Huo Feng heard about the Nine Hearts trial, he didn’t expect the two’s cultivation to advance to the peak of the ninth level.
"Brothers..." Xuan Ke was also shocked.
At the moment, all the surviving Cangxing cultivators were in the second level of the reincarnation realm.
Unexpectedly, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue had leapt over the dragon gate in just one thousand years.
"How can your cultivation be like this?" Xuan Ke asked with some envy in his eyes.
"Don’t envy us." Jiang Yue said with a solemn look in his eyes.
If something happened and his cultivation regressed to the first level of the reincarnation realm, Jiang Yue wasn’t sure he would have the courage to endure the same trial.
Just the thought of the past one million years almost made him have a panic attack.
[Brothers, are you okay?] Xuan Ke asked with a worried look in his eyes.
The four of them became brothers when they were less than twenty years old.
After so many years together, this was the first time Xuan Ke saw unconcealable terror and pain in his brothers’ eyes.
When he thought about it, he couldn’t help but wonder what the two went through in the past one thousand years.
[Brother Xuan, nothing is for nothing.] Jiang Yue transmitted but refused to say more.
During the trial, he experienced many things.
Some of what he experienced clarified some of his doubts but the rest raised more questions.
Until he had an opportunity to talk to Yu Nianzhen, Jiang Yue didn’t want to talk about the trial.
