179 Swamp Tribulation

"Brother succeeded!" Huxian said as he smashed yet another labyrinth guardian. His pseudo-core began rampantly absorbing surrounding energy as it transformed into an actual core instead of just a hollow structure.

"Does that mean we'll have to face the tribulation?" Lei Jiang said worriedly as he smashed into a trap.

"It can't be avoided," Huxian said. "The plane hates me and resents anyone who helps me. Don't worry, though. I'll protect you."

"These wall creatures are really weak," Silverwing commented as he smashed one after another. "Why were we even scared of this thing in the first place?" He unleashed a gust of wind that crashed through five consecutive walls as they charged over to Cha Ming's position.

"Perhaps it's just a baby," Lei Jiang said as he turned into a ball of lightning and smashed yet another wall. "Maybe it can grow stronger with time."

"Regardless, it's helpless against us," Huxian said as he joined his friends in smashing the colossal structure. His true form was now 160 feet in length, but he kept it compact for the sake of convenience. A third tail sprouted near the other two, and the three beasts were struck by a foreboding sensation.

The Swamp Tribulation would be there soon, and there was no running from it.

***

Cha Ming changed his direction abruptly as the position between him and Huxian became increasingly clear. The rumbling intensified as not only Silverwing but also Cha Ming smashed down wall after all. Corrupted guardians and devil cultivators guarding the maze were caught unaware by Cha Ming's sudden change in behavior. They didn't have a chance to react as he smashed through all obstacles to reunite with his brother.

One last wall finally crumbled to dust before Cha Ming and the three demon beasts stood face to face. The trio wore a victorious expression when they realized that they had triumphed over the wall.

"You were right, brother," Huxian said. "The wall was just putting on airs—it couldn't do anything against Silverwing's mighty strength."

"Good," Cha Ming said, shrinking the Clear Sky Pillar down to its larger brush form. "Huxian, you first. With my increased strength, drawing out the Swamp Tribulation Totem should be a piece of cake."

"What's cake?" Huxian asked curiously.

"It's a delicious sweet desert," Cha Ming said as he swiftly painted blue, green, and brown totem lines over the fox's fur. "They don't make it in the Song Kingdom or the Quicksilver Empire, but I'll find some for you one day."

Huxian's eyes shone brightly as he patiently waited for Cha Ming to finish. After a few hours, the murky lines on his fur glowed brightly and condensed into a tight runic structure that protected him like an armor.

Cha Ming proceeded to work on Lei Jiang and Silverwing next. Finally, he shrank the Clear Sky Brush into its talisman brush form. He used it to paint one small rune after another, which shot into various places on his body. Little by little, Cha Ming's bare skin was covered in so many tattoos that he now resembled a cave-dwelling tribesman.

"How much longer do we have?" Cha Ming asked.

"Two days, but I can call it forward," Huxian said.

Cha Ming nodded, and the surroundings immediately darkened. A peculiar smell filled the air as an ominous presence snuck into the labyrinth completely unimpeded. After all, the labyrinth was a creation of this world—how could it possibly resist the will of the cosmos?

"The first stage," Cha Ming whispered. "Corrosion." A swirling maelstrom of viscous heaven and earth energy appeared around them. It attacked their bodies constantly, threatening to burn away their skin and bones with their terrifying power. Cha Ming could have resisted this with a combination of his body and his core-formation qi, but as the greenish-blue energy invaded his body, the Swamp Tribulation Runes on his body activated and reduced its effectiveness by nine tenths. The remainder of the energy was easily handled by his fierce body, and the three demons did the same.

"You call that a calamity?" Lei Jiang yelled. The small mouse had grown arrogant since its breakthrough to core formation. "That barely tickles. I dare you to do better!"

The surrounding energy suddenly concentrated on the small rodent. "I apologize, I apologize!" the small purple mouse said, and the tribulation returned to normal.

Seeing that its corrosive abilities were ineffective, the malestream halted, and the energy in the air thickened. Cha Ming discovered that the armor could only do so much against this second stage, the poison calamity. The mist condensed into a liquid, which then began seeping through the cracks in his armor and slowly but surely dripping onto his skin. At first it felt like nothing but a tickle, but soon it felt like bee stings all over his body.

Lei Jiang was the first to howl in pain. As the weakest member of the group, and the one with the poorest defenses, small pinholes began to appear all over his hide. The purple fur he prided himself in was quickly dissolving as the green and blue qi pierced his skin like daggers and spread into his bloodstream. Cha Ming succumbed next, followed by Huxian, and finally Silverwing.

The pain was unbearable. It wormed its way through his blood vessels like liquid lava as Cha Ming mustered his qi and vital energy to fight against it. When the two energies clashed, the pain doubled. This was a small price to pay for halting the damage it caused all over his body. His flesh struggled to regenerate as his refined marrow pumped increasing amounts of blood into his veins. The only part of his body not threatened by the poison were his bones.

***

"Bodhi seed, what's happening?" Gong Lan asked as a small piece of stone crumbled off the increasingly frail labyrinth walls. "The corruption might have modified the wall's functioning, but it shouldn't be so fragile that a few large men with hammers could completely destroy it."

As she said this, she stretched out her hand and scratched it with her soft fingers. The nearby Luo Xuehua gasped as the wall crumbled to dust under Gong Lan's weak movement.

"I'm not sure," the bodhi seed said. "I feel the Plane Will's wrath. It has unleashed a calamity, but one that is far different than I've ever seen in my lifetime. It's much weaker than a transcendence calamity, and its elemental composition is completely off. A typical tribulation would be composed of wind, fire, and lightning, while this one bears the elements of water, earth, and wood. The name 'Swamp Tribulation' comes to mind, but I have no idea why it was summoned."

"Regardless, the walls are weakening," Gong Lan said. "We should use this opportunity to move further into the labyrinth."

The bodhi seed bobbed up and down. "The tribulation is damaging the labyrinth's walls, forcing it to divert a large amount of energy to defend and repair itself." It looked toward the center of the labyrinth. "Whatever you do, don't head in that direction. The calamity is converging there, and anything that walks within its range will experience its wrath."

***

Cha Ming's mind relaxed as the agony in his body receded. The first two phases of the Swamp Tribulation could not be fought, only passively endured. Having resisted the corrosion and poisoning portions of the calamity, all four of their bodies swiftly recovered as they prepared for the third stage: smothering. The totems on their bodies had completely faded while defending them previously, and they could only depend on their own power to prevail.

The swamp energy around them thickened once more until it became a slurry that weighed down on them like fifty feet of swampy debris. Cha Ming quickly realized that he couldn't breathe, and the surrounding bog was now rapidly draining away at both his qi and vitality. The remaining challenge was to escape the swamp. If they didn't, their bones would remain here for all eternity.

"I'll help Lei Jiang," Huxian yelled. The small mouse was not as powerful as the other three, and its impressive speed couldn't help it. Conversely, Huxian was the least affected. His three tails glowed with three lights that whizzed around him like three shooting stars. One glowed purple like Lei Jiang's lightning, while another was a dull azure. The third color was a murky greenish blue, much like the swamp they were currently experiencing. While it didn't glow brightly like the purple star, it wasn't dull like the azure one. In fact, it seemed to be glowing brighter by the second, as though the tribulation's energy was slowly seeping into it and reinforcing it.

A circle of light purification and dark swallowing surrounded Huxian and Lei Jiang. This move by Huxian immediately provoked the tribulation's energy to double; a tribulation could be transcended with help, but only at a great price. Nevertheless, the purple star strengthened the small mouse, and the black-and-white aura around them weakened the pressure they felt substantially. They inched out toward the outside, leaving Silverwing and Cha Ming to fend for themselves. The fox and the mouse summoned black-and-white battle armors, and Silverwing followed.

"I'm out," Silverwing said. The falcon activated its roc bloodline and grew until its wingspan reached eighty feet. Its silver wings cut through the Swamp Tribulation as though it was wind. Then Silverwing flapped his mighty wings and flew twenty feet in a single go. After ten more flaps, he forced his way out of the range of the tribulation, which ceased choking him and absorbing his vitality.

"Looks like I'm the only one left," Cha Ming mumbled. He thought for a bit before summoning his own battle armor. Black-and-white tattoos revealed themselves on his skin and formed a suit of shadow and light. The armor linked up to his five-element qi and functioned as a replacement to his normal qi shields.

Then Cha Ming summoned a high-grade Blade Barrier combat formation. Seventy-two sigils swirled around him and cut away at the bog, weakening it ever so slightly. On a whim, he summoned thirty-six other sigils and rearranged the combat-formation structure. He used his accumulated knowledge of formations and his extremely dense core qi to force them together into an impromptu peak combat formation. The blades slashed the surrounding bog and eased their pressure. He gritted his teeth and took his first step forward in the swamp's strangling field.

He paled as he realized that, despite all his efforts, that single step was more difficult than wielding a 40,000-jin Clear Sky Pillar. After substantial effort, he used his qi and fierce body strength to urge his foot forward. To his amazement, not only was he fighting against the swamp, he was fighting against himself. The voids in his bones had actually activated involuntarily and increased his body's weight to 430,000 jin. He had no way to retract it.

"What a frightening swamp tribulation," Cha Ming whispered.

Both his increased weight and the restrictive energy of the tribulation made each step a ridiculous ordeal. The first step carried him a single foot forward but drained one percent of his total energy. After ten steps, he'd consumed a little more than eleven percent. To his amazement, the energy being consumed increased the farther from the center he was. After fifty steps, he'd consumed sixty percent of his energy reserves, meaning that he couldn't possibly transcend the tribulation with his current strategy.

Cha Ming's eyes flickered to Huxian, who was also at the same distance and panting under the pressure of supporting Lei Jiang. He didn't dare ask his brother for help—after all, the small fox couldn't possibly resist yet another portion of the tribulation. Cha Ming wracked his mind as he thought of every talisman in his possession. The offensive and defensive talismans he possessed would not have much effect, and neither would the shielding ones. This disqualified the standard ones and most of his poetic talismans. Only two talismans came to mind: the Sharp Talisman and the Momentum Talisman.

He activated the Sharp Talisman without any hesitation. His movements became concise and aggressive, like sharp blades that cut through the bog that surrounded him. It greatly decreased his energy consumption, but he could tell it was hardly enough. Therefore, Cha Ming recalled the many feelings he'd experienced when painting the Momentum Talisman. He dwelled on the unstoppable forward movement he'd experienced since bouncing back in Crystal Falls. His progression as a talisman artist and formation artist had been swift and his cultivation speed even more so.

My momentum is unstoppable, Cha Ming thought as he activated the Momentum Talisman. His speed increased gradually, and the swamp's restrictions became increasingly thin against his movements.

Still not enough. His increased speed caused him to feel the nature of the swamp's resistance; his every movement caused the bog to shift and create turbulent eddies. Then it hit him—his poetic talismans were a matter of interpretation.

He felt a boundary between the two talismans, momentum and resistance, fade. Momentum and resistance were two sides of the same coin, and as something moved faster, its resistance would increase. But the viscosity of the fluid affected its impedance, which was how the Resistance Talisman affected it in the first place. If he could increase it, could he not decrease it? The sudden inspiration struck him like a bolt of lightning. He suddenly stopped traveling through the murky waters and withdrew a sheet of paper and the Clear Sky Brush.

The drain on his strength decreased substantially, but it didn't stop. He diverted a portion of his core qi and resplendent force to isolate a small area just in front of him, where he put out a small sheet of talisman paper. He used a little of his remaining water essence to quickly put his epiphany into words.

The ocean cares not for drowning children;

Man is a slave to the sea of fate.

Flowing down from high to low;

Never questioning his direction.

Like the resistance in water, life's many challenges could be faced not only by struggling against them, but by acting upon the resistance itself. Struggling against a thick swamp was difficult, while struggling against a calm pool of water was much less challenging. Air was also a fluid—its resistance was so miniscule that people didn't even know it existed.

Conversely, momentum involved not only forward movement but lack thereof. An object at rest was difficult to move, just like a person who'd lost all hope and will to go forward. The lack of movement was another form of resistance, an impedance to both himself and the people around him. This was the nature of flow, and he called the new combined talisman the Flow Talisman. Dark- and light-blue ink swirled as the poetic talisman's color became uniform. It now looked like the purest water from a pristine glacier.

Cha Ming activated the newly created paper, which was evidently an early core talisman. The paper didn't burn but dissolved into his surroundings, thinning the nearby tribulation swamp in the surrounding fifty feet.

The thinned location intersected with Huxian's, who was still struggling to exit the swamp. He looked at Cha Ming in shock as the core talisman directly suppressed their three tribulations simultaneously. The swamp struggled to reinforce itself, but Cha Ming, Huxian, and Lei Jiang had already left its sphere of influence. Once they escaped, the Swamp Tribulation disappeared as swiftly as it had come. Heaven and earth energy rushed into them as soon as the tribulation left, like a weak apology after a fierce beating. Their wounds and qi rapidly recovered. They then gazed at their surroundings, which were nothing more than shattered remnants of a once-expansive labyrinth.

They could now see two locations: the entrance and the exit. Cha Ming saw three groups in the distance: Gong Lan and Luo Xuehua, who were nearest to the exit; Dongfang Hao and the two core-formation protectors from the Alabaster Group; and three monks from Gong Lan's original entourage.

The others were nowhere to be found.