The Qin Xue of today was no longer the sheltered young girl of sixteen she had once been. She had at least the cultivation of a Domain Lord, and after living in the Myriad Beast Domain for several hundred years, she knew many things that weren't exactly secrets — at least not among those who knew.
This vast cosmos had passed through three great eras: the Ancient Era, the Antiquity Era, and the Modern Era — each the age when the Spiritfolk, the demon beasts, and the human race respectively held dominion over the myriad heavens.
In each era, the Heavenly Dao had shown its unique favor to the rulers of the age.
During the Antiquity Era, the Heavenly Dao favored the demon race, making cultivation far easier for them. But as the Antiquity Era declined and the Modern Era dawned, humanity gradually rose to prominence, and that favoritism had shifted from the demon race to the human race.
In other words, humanity was now the beloved child of this vast cosmos. Perhaps the great flourishing of the human Dao had, in subtle ways, reshaped the Heavenly Dao as well — but though Qin Xue was already a Domain Lord, she had no real judgment to offer on such matters. She had merely heard them discussed.
What was certain was that the current era was not kind to the demon race. Cultivation was far more difficult for demons than for humans.
The demon race's ancient cultivation methods had long been lost. Their advancement now depended primarily on the humans' Opening Heaven method — they had to take human form before they could break through their own limits.
The Myriad Beast Domain was an ancient, wild world. She had heard that when the Lord of that Star Domain first came here, the great demon beasts of this place had not only lost their ancient cultivation methods — they had never even seen a human, let alone been able to take human form to borrow the Opening Heaven method and break through their limits. So in the earliest days of the Myriad Beast Domain, those great demons had no way to cast off the shackles of this world. Once a demon's cultivation reached the level of a Demon King, it could advance no further.
It was that same Lord of the Star Domain — the one who had planted the Sub-Tree — who, out of compassion, passed down the ancient methods in the Myriad Beast Domain. Only then were those great demons able to continue their cultivation.
So the demon race in the Myriad Beast Domain now generally followed one of two paths: one was to cultivate the ancient methods passed down by that Lord of the Star Domain, and the other was to take human form and adopt the humans' Opening Heaven method. Each path had its own advantages and disadvantages — neither could be called outright better or worse. It came down to the demon's own choice.
Many demon beasts, when still weak, grew close to humans and were eventually kept by them, taking human form early on. They would naturally choose the path of the Opening Heaven method.
But those like the Shadow Leopard — demons who maintained their beastly form — generally chose the ancient methods.
The last time she had met the Shadow Leopard was over ten years ago. Even then, Qin Xue had sensed that the Shadow Leopard was on the verge of a breakthrough, but she had heard nothing from it since.
She had not expected that on this stormy night, she would feel the disturbance of its breakthrough.
Qin Xue had read a fair number of texts and knew that for demons choosing the ancient methods to break through, the dangers they faced were far greater than those who relied on the humans' Opening Heaven method.
That was because the ancient methods involved tempering the demon's own inner core. The inner core was the very foundation — the stronger the core, the more powerful the demon. But the tempering process was fraught with unpredictable variables.
Qin Xue's heart tightened. After several hundred years of living alongside the Shadow Leopard, the countless small moments they had shared had long since made her regard it as a friend. In her heart, this demon's importance was no less than that of her beloved partner or her children.
Now that the Shadow Leopard had reached this critical juncture, how could she not be anxious?
Another beastly roar shook the heavens.
Accompanying the roar, a thick demonic aura spread outward almost tangibly, as if the very air had turned solid. In an instant, a layer of mist seemed to rise over the mountain's summit, shrouding everything around it.
Crack—
As if answering the Shadow Leopard's roar, the heavenly might surged, and another bolt of lightning lashed down.
Qin Xue caught a glimpse of a round, gleaming object spitting from the Shadow Leopard's mouth at the summit, hovering above its head.
A demon beast's inner core!
The lightning descended from the sky like a vicious whip, lashing down hard upon that small core.
Qin Xue's body shuddered, as though she had been the one struck. She widened her eyes, straining her vision, not blinking for even a heartbeat.
The inner core, which had been quietly suspended in the air, began spinning rapidly after absorbing that bolt of lightning. The originally dark core had sprouted threads of lightning force, the crackling energy dancing across its surface and splitting it with fine fractures.
The Shadow Leopard let out a piercing howl, its demonic aura surging like rolling waves as it repaired the damage to its core.
Much as human warriors faced a Heaven and Earth Baptism when breaking through to a major realm, so too did the demon race — except the situation now was far more dangerous than what human warriors had to endure.
After all, the Heavenly Dao of the current age favored humanity. If a demon broke through using the humans' Opening Heaven method, that could be considered in harmony with the Heavenly Dao. But using the ancient methods was defiance against heaven itself — and this wrath of lightning was no Heaven and Earth Baptism, but a Heavenly Tribulation.
It was only because the Myriad Beast Domain still retained its primal, wild environment and aura that this was manageable. If a demon attempted such a breakthrough in any other world, it would surely face far more devastating strikes.
Under a Heavenly Tribulation, all things were as fragile as eggs. If the Shadow Leopard could not endure, the outcome would certainly be the destruction of its core and the death of the beast. But if it endured, the rewards would be immense.
Crack—another bolt of lightning fell, its power seemingly greater than the last by a small measure. The inner core spun even faster.
Qin Xue's heart eased slightly. She had known the Shadow Leopard for so many years that she understood something of its abilities. If the Heavenly Tribulation was only at this level, the Shadow Leopard should be able to weather it without too much trouble. The only question now was how far the Shadow Leopard itself wished to go.