Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal? Chapter 833: The Old Ghost's Tribulation

After a moment of quick reflection, Li Qingran finally decided to integrate the three World Rings granted by Chen Huaian.

Regarding the Battle Skills contained in the World Rings, she initially planned to stick with her prior Battle Skills.

This was because she had grown accustomed to those Battle Skills, and there wasn't sufficient time to adapt to fresh ones.

However, upon discovering the Battle Skills present in the three World Rings.

Li Qingran wasted no time, immediately discarding her former methods.

The only cause was that the Battle Skills from those three World Rings exactly matched the sword techniques of the Green Lotus Sword Manual: the First Form, Long Wind Breaks Waves; the Second Form, Sword Soars Over Cangzhou; and the Fourth Form, Mist Formed from Rainbow Clouds.

Since arriving in the Canglan World, every sword technique she had once mastered turned unusable, even though the Sword Intent she grasped remained intact. Sword techniques demanded True Essence as their conduit, and True Essence arose from Spiritual Energy.

In the Canglan World, an energy resembling Spiritual Energy existed too, known as the Battle Power diffused among myriad living creatures. It resembled the unique energy she gained after slaying World Beasts and taking in their World Rings.

Yet this unique energy and Spiritual Energy could not be swapped for one another.

This led to her powerlessness in employing the sword techniques from her past.

As for protective items such as the Sword Sphere gifted by her Master, they operated differently. The Sword Sphere held a strand of her Master's True Essence inside, and the sword techniques it contained were powered by that True Essence. Thus, even within the Canglan Realm, such single-use safeguards could still function.

Once she absorbed the World Rings, Li Qingran's World Ring setup shifted to Purple, Black, Black.

Still, none of this brought Li Qingran overwhelming delight.

Her real happiness stemmed from regaining the ability to wield the sword techniques imparted by Chen Huaian.

On her dormitory balcony, she called forth the Su Xian Sword, spun it gracefully, and pale golden Sword Intent coursed through the Su Xian Sword as Battle Power.

A sense of familiarity surged within her.

Letting her realize that her current command was not the lesser Battle Skills from earlier World Rings.

But authentic sword arts.

Even prior to unleashing the sword art, keen Sword Qi already whirled and surged around her.

Li Qingran embraced the Su Xian Sword, sensing that despite the divide of two realms, she and her Master remained connected in spirit.

"Holy crap, look, everyone! Goddess Qingran is smiling!"

"Goddess Qingran's smile is so beautiful!!!"

"What happy event did she encounter? Have any of you seen Goddess Qingran smile so happily before?"

The voices rising from beneath the dormitory pulled Li Qingran from her thoughts. She gave an exasperated eye roll and retreated into her room.

Each morning, folks lurked outside her dorm, some offering flowers, others providing breakfast. She had grown accustomed to it all.

Among those were several support-oriented Battle Masters from the culinary department, who employed Battle Power to create meals and attempted to offer them to her.

Li Qingran naturally maintained a safe distance from such gestures.

There lingered a sensation, almost an illusion, that they were crafting food from portions of their own bodies or energies derived from them.

The mere idea sent shivers down her spine.

"Goddess Qingran! The match list has been announced! Your first opponent is Su Luyao!"

A shout echoed from below.

Li Qingran, in the midst of donning her academy uniform before the mirror, furrowed her brow faintly.

A hazy visage emerged in her thoughts.

Su Luyao... she recalled a bit, but who precisely was she?

Li Qingran rubbed her forehead. Since joining the academy, beyond her teachers, she hadn't committed anyone to memory. She had hoped to form a few bonds, yet it seemed others lacked genuine warmth. Certain girls even shunned her intensely, eyeing her like a contagion.

Thus, she ended up without true companions.

"Whatever, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Li Qingran softly caressed the Su Xian Sword.

At first, she held strong assurance in her abilities, merely irritated by the pursuit from that Xiao family playboy.

With her World Rings now upgraded, and access to three techniques from the Green Lotus Sword Manual, she harbored no further worries.

...

All actions in the Canglan Realm fell under Chen Huaian's vigilant observation.

Watching Li Qingran settle into progress, Chen Huaian let out a relieved breath.

Luckily, the dream transmission feature existed.

Without it, considering Li Qingran's wary and prudent nature, those three World Rings would appear as uncertified items of dubious source, and she certainly wouldn't employ them.

She might even pass them to another, which would prove a true squander.

Hence, the dream transmission feature ought to see more use going forward.

Chen Huaian felt no rush to depart the Cangyun Realm. He intended to linger until the Spirit Beast Sect Master finished readying the Meridian Refining Technique. This duration should suffice to witness his young disciple in the Canglan Realm reach the finals and claim a top-ten spot for the Battle Soul team.

"Chen Sword Master!"

Chen Huaian arched a brow. The voice echoing in his consciousness belonged to the Spirit Void Old Ghost.

This Spirit Void Old Ghost had resided in the Moon Shadow Sect's back mountains for merely half a day. Why the abrupt summons?

From the tone, it sounded... rather thrilled?

"Chen Sword Master! Your Moon Shadow Sect is indeed a blessed haven of spiritual peaks and streams! This old man has merely practiced here for half a day, but already the True Essence in my frame fuses into perfect unity! My once disordered Spiritual Platform now gleams with purity!"

"This old man has finally glimpsed his own Dao! This old man shall face his tribulation this day!"

Scarce had the words ended when, before Chen Huaian could respond, the skies above the Moon Shadow Sect's back mountains underwent a dramatic shift.

The once pristine, azure heavens were swiftly engulfed by roiling dark clouds. These weren't the typical jet-black shade but bore an odd purple-black tint, resembling spilled ink from an upturned stone, amassing visibly atop the peak, stacking layer by layer, bearing down with suffocating weight.

Amid the cloud masses, golden lightning serpents thrashed about. Initially, it was mere subtle flashes threading through cloud fissures, producing a soft "sizzling" hum. In a flash, it escalated to thunderbolts thick as a bowl's rim, darting and clashing inside the murky clouds, casting erratic glows across the somber layers, akin to a colossal beast's eyes flickering open.

Even more terrifying was the turmoil in the heaven-and-earth energies. The pure Spiritual Energy enveloping the Moon Shadow Sect abruptly grew savage, rushing toward the back mountains like rampant stallions, coalescing into a stark white energy beam piercing the firmament.

Along the beam's path, flora and foliage trembled sans breeze.

A few fresh willow sprouts were torn loose by the raging energies, while pebbles bounced and rolled across the earth, scraping with harsh noises.

"Holy crap! Don't!" Chen Huaian rolled his eyes, pressed a palm to the ground, and his form dissolved into a ray of light hurtling airborne toward the back mountains.

This Spirit Void Old Ghost's tribulation was acceptable, but couldn't he have warned beforehand?

After all, as a ghost cultivator, the Spirit Void Old Ghost harbored who-knew-how-many grudge spirits in his Soul Banner. The Heavenly Tribulation forged for him by the skies surely wouldn't be mild, right?

Should this ancient specter get obliterated, so be it, but he mustn't demolish the whole sect grounds!

Positioned under the thunderous clouds, Chen Huaian distinctly sensed the heavy aura saturating the atmosphere.

It was the Heavenly Dao's stern judgment, aloof and grand, as though appraising if the tribulation aspirant merited ascending to greater heights.

He quickly spotted the Spirit Void Old Ghost in cultivation amid the back mountains.

Under the cloud veil, the Spirit Void Old Ghost floated suspended in the air. Encircling him wasn't the standard True Essence aura of typical cultivators, but a spectral energy radiating a chilling green sheen.

The spectral energy billowed around him like ocean waves, and his previously stooped posture now held rigidly upright.

His eyes bulged wide, sclera veined with dark blue-black lines. His stare at the heavens carried the distinctive savagery and zeal of ghost cultivators.

"Come on! Hahahaha!"

The Spirit Void Old Ghost hoisted his Myriad Soul Banner, aiming it defiantly skyward.

His garments whipped fiercely in the spectral winds, his ashen beard and locks bristling erect, each fiber sharply outlined by the golden thunder's gleam.

"Damn it, this old coot is actually taunting the heavens?"

Chen Huaian seethed with anger.

Yet no leisure for deeper musing remained.

The golden Thunder Eye in the clouds teetered on manifestation.

His immediate duty was to shield his sect's domain as best he could.

...