Chapter 842: Water Tribulation

Translator: La0o9 Editor: La0o9

Let’s rewind time a bit.

When the old man was urging Gu Qing Shan to choose between facing his Tribulation and Zhi Luo.

Gu Qing Shan chose to face his Tribulation without hesitation.

Under the protection of his sword array, he successfully passed the Fire Tribulation and left the Mahesvara realm.

While the old man led the other cultivators to destroy Zhi Luo’s mountain.

Gu Qing Shan continued to enter his Water Tribulation.

Among the Four Pillar Elements of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, the latter two represented destruction and passing respectively, while the first two represented creation and growth.

That was why the Water Tribulation’s main goal was not to take away a cultivator’s life.

It represented change, an unknown Tribulation.

Gu Qing Shan passed through countless faintly dim lights.

At a certain point, these lights connected to one another to form a net that illuminated the entire world.

Gu Qing Shan suddenly found himself standing on the surface of an endless lake of water without any boundaries.

Not a single living being existed in this world.

The water surface was reflective like a mirror that displayed the silver sky above and Gu Qing Shan was the only existence within this world.

After a brief moment of anticipation, a stream of water rose from the surface, stretched and morphed to finally form another ‘Gu Qing Shan’.

Two Gu Qing Shan stood facing one another without moving.

All of a sudden, one of the two Gu Qing Shan became lifelike.

He looked curiously at the other him and asked: [Are you me from a parallel world?]

“Yes” Gu Qing Shan replied: “It seems your soul has arrived, according to the Laws of the Water Tribulation, everything that happens today will not cause you any actual harm, so you can do as you like”

The other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ appeared a bit emotional: [So in a parallel world, my main Profession is sword cultivator]

Gu Qing Shan tried asking: “What about you? Since I can’t sense any killing intent from you, it must’ve been a while since you last fought?”

The other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ casually admitted: [Yup, I’m the number one spirit cook of the world. Of course, I’m also a sword cultivator, but I don’t possess the same cold sword qi that you do]

“Why is that?”

[The children like to eat my cooking]

As the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ said, he showed a gentle expression.

Gu Qing Shan was stunned.

What?

In a parallel world, I already have a child?

“Who did you marry?” he couldn’t help but ask.

[Su Xue Er] the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ answered.

“Where’s Anna then?”

[Anna? I don’t know any woman called Anna]

“Then how did you get together with Su Xue Er?”

[The Apocalypse came, heaven and earth broke apart, a strange virus spread to the entire world and killed over 3/5 of the world’s population, the remaining 2/5 obtained the chance to enter the cultivation world]

[Su Xue Er and I accompanied each other in the cultivation world through thick and thin, we then joined a sect, cultivated together and finally got married]

“Did her family not try to stop you?”

[Ah, unfortunately for them, the 9 Lords were among those that died] the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ laughed.

Gu Qing Shan was surprised, then spoke hesitantly: “Didn’t you run into the demons?”

[What are demons?]

“The demons don’t exist!? Do you have an [Order]?”

[Ah, that we do]

“Which [Order] is it?”

[[Worlds Apocalypse Online: Shelter]]

Gu Qing Shan really had nothing to say.

It truly is a completely different world from mine, even the [Order] that appeared first was different.

Wait a minute.

Why did the first [Order] to awaken in this timeline was the [Demon King Order]?

Just look at the other side, the first thing that appeared was [Shelter]!

Hearing that name and how relaxed his other self was, Gu Qing Shan didn’t want to ask any further.

This was what they called ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’.

He then said: “Alright, you’re now the judge, how do you want to compete against me?”

[What do I want to compete against myself for?] the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ smiled.

Gu Qing Shan also smiled and replied: “The deeper meaning of the Water Tribulation is to let cultivators experience the mysteries of the world, to find out that outside of the infinite space-time, there also exists infinite parallel worlds. Which is why you need to give me a test before you can return to your world from this place”

[Then I’ll test you just a bit]

The other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ replied, took out a lot of spirit cooking tools, and began to braise a fish.

A few moments later, his braised fish dish was done.

[Come, have a taste] the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ said.

Gu Qing Shan’s fighting spirit dulled.

A cooking contest?

He let go of his sword, picked up a bowl and chopsticks, then tasted it.

“Hm, it tastes quite nice, your control over fire is great”

While eating, Gu Qing Shan praised him.

[This is my signature dish, if you can make it to at least 70% of my standard, you pass] the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ told him.

He then put a fresh new fish onto the chopping board.

Gu Qing Shan put the bowl and chopstick down, rolled his sleeves up, and began to carefully prepare the fish.

In truth, after going through so many worlds and phantom images, he didn’t just obtain the cultivation scriptures, but also their corresponding six arts, and he had spent a lot of time learning them all.

When he returned to the Shen Wu world, he even exchanged notes with Qin Xiao Lou and improved his own standard by one step.

The food he cooked at the time for everyone in Bai Hua Sect was highly praised.

And then he recently got to learn the seafood cooking recipes from the evil creatures.

So this test should be basically no problem.

A few moments later.

His fish was also done.

The other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ curiously took a piece of fish with his chopsticks and tried it.

[Very good, even better than what I made] he praised.

As soon as he said so, his figure slowly became blurred and vanished from this mirror-like water world.

Gu Qing Shan continued to eat his fish.

He was waiting for the second guest from a parallel world.

A few moments later.

A stream of water turned into another ‘Gu Qing Shan’ in front of Gu Qing Shan.

[Testing myself? What a strange dream]

The new ‘Gu Qing Shan’ said this.

He appeared severely haggard, as if he had already been through many trials and hardships.

“You seem quite tired, did you run into any problems?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

[I’m fine, but the sect acceptance test will be next month and I still haven’t managed to obtain the qualifications] the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ answered.

As Gu Qing Shan looked at him, he realized something.

This ‘Gu Qing Shan’ looked a lot younger than he currently was.

From his voice and attitude, anyone can tell how inexperienced and naïve he is, and apparently, he hasn’t regressed yet.

In other words, he should be my true self from when I was still young.

Gu Qing Shan asked in surprise: “Swordsmanship? With our talents with the sword, this shouldn’t trouble you too much”

The younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’ replied: [I’ve always been alone without any backings, I had to earn all the necessary resources to cultivate by myself, so I’ve been lagging behind everyone else from the very start. Even now, I don’t have a good sword scripture to study yet]

Gu Qing Shan fell into thought.

Sure enough, he was exactly the same as myself from my past life.

He took out a new Inventory Bag from his Thought Sea, then recorded all of his swordsmanship onto a giant piece of jade.

After doing all of that, he gave the Inventory Bag to the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’.

[What is this? What!? Why are there so many sword techniques here!? And even a Sword Array!] the younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’ scanned the bag with his inner sight and uttered in shock.

“This is a large-sized jade tag. Before anything else, memorize everything in there” Gu Qing Shan told him.

The younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’ didn’t hesitate and quickly closed his eyes to memorize everything.

A long while later.

He opened his eyes.

“Have you remembered everything?”

[I have]

Gu Qing Shan waved his hand and took the Inventory Bag back.

“You can’t take this with you, otherwise it’ll be a disaster for you” he explained.

The younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’ muttered in surprise: [I understand, from now on, I will make sure to conceal myself during cultivation as well]

His eyes displayed clear excitement and anticipation, apparently already thinking of his future prospects.

“That’s right. Now, it’s your turn to help me finish this test” Gu Qing Shan said.

The younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’ finally remembered where they were.

He thought briefly and drew his sword: [Then, let us spar, as long as you don’t lose, you will have passed my test]

“Very well” Gu Qing Shan replied.

He also drew his sword.

The two figures clashed.

A gleam of the sword appeared.

Gu Qing Shan pulled his sword and took a step backward.

The younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’ stood still in place and spoke emotionally: [So I would one day be able to train my swordsmanship to this degree]

Several hundred slashes appeared on his chest.

But these slashes only cut open his clothes without harming his body at all.

The younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’s’ figure began to turn transparent as well.

[It feels weird to thank you, because you are also me, and I am you, we are only in a different time and place] the younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’ said.

“Regardless, I’ve been through everything that you have, so I hope that you will live better than how I used to back then” Gu Qing Shan told him.

The younger ‘Gu Qing Shan’ looked and smiled at Gu Qing Shan: [I will become the strongest sword cultivator]

And then his figure disappeared completely.

Gu Qing Shan continued to wait.

At the Void Revolution realm, one needed to face three versions of themselves in parallel worlds.

He had faced two of them, so one remained.

A few moments later.

A stream of water turned into Gu Qing Shan’s figure, once again standing on top of the water.

[Tsk tsk, so there are Tribulations other than Lightning Tribulation, I’ve never heard of such a mystical thing. Right, to what level does one have to cultivate to face a Water Tribulation?] the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ curiously asked.

“Advancing to the Void Revolution realm will require you to face a Water Tribulation”‘Gu Qing Shan’ replied.

[What is Void Revolution realm?]

“Starting from Qi Training, Foundation, Golden Core, Rejuvenation, Ascended, Sainted then comes Projection, Tribulation, Virtualized, Cryptic. After that you would attain Chaotic Star, Origin Aspect, Radiant Soul, Void Beholder, Void Wanderer, Void Revolution, Three Thousand Worlds, and Paragon, above these are the heavenly cultivation realms known as the {Yama King}, {Mahesvara King}, and {Sumeru Lord}, these are the realms that I’m aware of for now”

Hearing Gu Qing Shan’s words, the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ was stunned for quite a while.

Gu Qing Shan then asked: “From your spirit energy waves, you should currently be at Ascended realm, why haven’t you tried to break through further?”

The other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ replied: [After the spirit beasts’ betrayal, all the demons vanished without a trace, so we decided to seal the demon’s warp gate so that their world can no longer connect with ours]

This time, it was Gu Qing Shan’s turn to be stunned.

In another parallel world, humanity’s cultivators sealed the warp gate leading to Shen Wu world.

From then on, humanity obtained peace.

Most of the events that happened later on happened within the central worlds of the 900 million World Layers, since the cultivation world and my homeworld are only Scattered Worlds, they instead enjoyed a period of peace.

This was truly unbelievable.

“You mean that from that point onwards, no calamity has happened to both your world and the cultivation world?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

[None at all] the other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ replied.

Gu Qing Shan sighed: “You’ve been very fortunate”

“From your cultivation, I can tell you that”

The other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ trembled a bit, then continued: [That’s why, my request to you is to inform me the truth behind everything, that way, you will have passed my test]

“That is fine”

Gu Qing Shan told the other ‘him’ everything from the beginning to end.

The other ‘Gu Qing Shan’ fell into thought.

Gu Qing Shan then gave the Inventory Bag to the other ‘him’ again.

[This is?]

“A large-sized jade tag, you need to memorize everything inside and cultivate yourself”

[Got it]