AIR Chapter 180

Chapter 180

The first thing Mo Whe felt from a distance was thunder and unfiltered immortal qi. It was just outside of region 11276 and it was thick with fire. 

It was powerful, comparable to the people of his own clan.

At that he sprinted to the sight. He expected the qi to have come from the old immortal, the one with a broken dao. It wasn’t the bandits. It couldn’t be. It was too righteous and just to be from them. 

This was just qi. A burst of qi hailed down upon the lands and Mo Whe chased after it. He teleported to the battlefield, announcing his presence with a burst of void qi. 

“I am Mo Whe, the governor of this--”

Somebody yanked him back with immense speed and power and Mo Whe found himself sitting on the ground in an instant. 

“Don’t interrupt,” a voice said to him. 

Mo Whe turned and looked at the voice, trying to find out who was yanking him around like that. 

He turned to see the source of the voice and saw an immortal with short hair and grey colored robes. His face looked middle aged and his dao was almost absent.

Mo knew this man immediately. This was clearly the fellow with the broken dao. 

“Who-- what is this?” He asked. 

Then he turned back to the burst of qi ahead and saw as a woman fought a pack of clouds?

“Tribulation!” He yelled. 

“Yeah, and you almost got in the way,” the Immortal spoke. 

“I-- But-- Who is that?”

“A pupil,” the middle-aged immortal said. 

“But-- but that tribulation. Its so powerful. It can compare to an immortal itself and for it to be a tribulation? That can’t be!”

“She’s a capable person.”

“Yes but--”

“Watch out,” the immortal said as he yanked him back another step and the lightning struck down right where he stood. 

Cold sweat ran down Mo Whe’s brow. 

Tribulation was a creation of the cultivator. Sure it was aided by the realm.

Mo Whe himself had been taken to witness an ninth rank’s tribulation at one point and that had been a matter of dreams and nightmares. 

But the power of a tribulation was always reflective of the power of the immortal. When one broke through these barriers, qi would be rapidly expelled from the person and that qi would be something of their very own. It was as if their soul was trying to possess the very world around them, as if their being was trying to defy existence. 

And the realm would respond in kind. It would push back their qi into them, reclaiming its territory and possibly destroying the cultivator in the process. 

What cultivator’s truly fought against was their own qi. It was the realm forcing their essence back into them and by doing that, forging them into something capable of holding that essence. 

You were burned in your own flame and forged by your own hand and broken by your own failure. 

That was what they said about cultivation. 

And an immortal’s tribulation was always an indication of their power. Their initial rush of qi was their entry way, their first step at immortality. 

For this girl’s first step to be this strong, it said many things. 

And for this man who had yanked him out the sky and away from the tribulation, that said many more. 

Mo Whe watched. 

“What is her name?” He asked. 

“Yai Mien,” The immortal said. 

“And she is your pupil? Truly?”

“Yup,” the immortal said with a sigh. It was a sigh filled with resignation, the type a man might give when confessing to a crime. 

“She is talented.”

“Yes she is.”

Mo Whe left it at that. 

He didn’t want the girl. He didn’t even want the man. This was in another man’s land, fortunate, but to Mo Whe this man represented attention and chores and power. 

All things Mo wanted to do his best to avoid. 

Thunder struck down at the woman and she waved it off with her sword. All in all, it was a very classic tribulation. 

The lady was strong and valiant and the lightning, no matter how much it chased and attacked, could not strike her down. 

She struggled as the fire and death rained down from the cloudy heavens. The earth split open and tried to devour her whole as well, and yet she stood strong. 

She had a just aura, one filled with pure spirit and chase. It was a young dao, not a path too traveled on, but it was one that the girl chased with all her heart. 

A person’s tribulation often spoke of their past. You had to clear your heart of heart demons, clear your mind of distractions, and know your dao well. 

This girl knew her dao well. 

There was injustice in her path. Pain, something akin to slavery, but worse. 

Mo Whe didn’t understand but when he looked around he saw the woman around them frown slightly. 

There were seven of them here, and of the seven the six had a sad but proud face at that moment. 

The seventh stared at him with eyes colder than frozen steel. 

She was at the fifth rank, or so her aura said, but Mo Whe felt an instinctive shiver in her gaze. 

“You are Mo Whe of the Void Blade Sect?” She asked.

There was no bow, no curtsey, not even a modicum of manners, but Mo Whe nodded. 

“Why are you here?” She asked. 

Mo Whe should have demanded some type of respect or been insulted at her directness, but for some reason, he answered. 

“I came to help with an oncoming battle. I expect bandits to be here soon, and I came here to coordinate a counter attack with the help of this region’s immortals.”

“Did you now?” The immortal spoke. 

At this Mo Whe snapped out of whatever trance he had been in with the girl. 

“Bandits?” Another voice spoke. 

This one was a monk, a young man with short cut hair of the immortal rank. He must have been the other immortal of this region. 

“Yes, bandits. There are three of them and they will surely--”

“Yeah I know about them. We’ll take care of them after Yia finishes her ascension. I think she’s through with the worst of it now.”

“You know about them?” The monk asked. 

“Yup. That’s why I had Yai go through with her attempt. She can help fight off the bastards with you and rin, and maybe we’ll throw Mo in for support at worst. Though I think you guys will be just fine. You’ve been practicing the techniques I gave you, right Gai?”

“Yes Mister Bill, but am I ready for such a battle? Will you not help us?”

“I will. I’ll take down the last one. Give that guy a rematch but I think you three will be fine with the other guys, alright?”

“Yes Mister Bill.”

“Mo,” the man called Mister Bill said, finally turning to him. “Can you hold back and stand down? I want these other three to fight the bandits. I think it would be a valuable experience.”

But Mo Whe was just lost in thought. There were the two immortals he knew about, the monk and the middle aged man, and then there was the immortal who was currently facing tribulation.

But Mo Whe wouldn’t be fighting and Mister Bill had said ‘you three,’ so that wouldn’t include himself. 

His qi searched around and luckily, he didn’t have to look too far until he found the last immortal. 

Watching the tribulation quitely was a young girl carrying two kitchen knives at her waist. She was smiling with the other six as the tribulation finished up and the skies settled down. 

“Three?” Mo Whe whispered.