My Level Zero System-Chapter 294:

Part 4: The Calamity of the Three Disasters

The season of thunder was approaching — the most opportune time to transcend the Lightning Tribulation, one of the Three Disasters. However, Li Qing was well aware that the Eight Immortals (Ba Xian) and others would investigate such a tribulation intensely. Thus, careful planning was essential.

A standard "lure the tiger from the mountain" strategy — such as sealing off Heaven — would likely fail this time. That tactic had already been used too often, and it had long since drawn suspicion. More importantly, such a seal always seemed to appear right at the onset of thunder season — the exact moment ideal for overcoming the Lightning Tribulation. Anyone with a shred of sense would see something was amiss.

Therefore, Li Qing still planned to lure the enemy away — but with a twist.

This time, he only needed one minute to complete the tribulation. As long as he could delay those who were hunting him for at least sixty seconds, that would suffice.

Li Qing laid out his plan.

First, he could not undergo the tribulation during thunder season — that would be far too obvious. If he chose not to face it during that time, then there was only one alternative to accumulate enough lightning: drawing it down himself.

However, drawing lightning would also attract attention. Therefore, the location had to be somewhere capable of concealing the disturbance caused by such an act.

With the assistance of the Jade Piece, Li Qing identified three ideal locations:

Wanlei Gorge: located in the desolate Sa Prefecture, this canyon was perpetually engulfed in thunder and lightning, ravaged year-round by natural destruction.

Stormwind Plains: situated in Eastern Zhou, a vast prairie spanning thousands of li, where howling winds and unrelenting storms roared without cease throughout the year.

Geopulse Abyss: in the Northern Region, a massive subterranean rift riddled with magnetic anomalies, giving rise to arcs of lightning spontaneously forming in the void beneath the abyss.

---

Lightning Tribulation could not be overcome merely by summoning thunder. The concentration of thunder and lightning had to reach a certain threshold. Among the three locations, only Geopulse Abyss (Di Tu Abyss) failed to meet the standard, as the lightning there arose from the void — far weaker than the natural thunderbolts in the other two places.

However, Geopulse Abyss was the ideal place to conceal oneself, with terrain plunging straight into the depths of the earth. Moreover, its apparent unsuitability for tribulation made it a perfect blind spot — no one would expect Li Qing to be there.

To overcome the Lightning Tribulation, Li Qing needed to forge the tribulation himself. He planned to construct a "Void Lightning-Conducting Feng Shui Array". But he could not set it up directly at Geopulse Abyss — that would be far too conspicuous. Instead, he would construct another feng shui array elsewhere, which would function as a conduit, channeling lightning from a distant location into the Abyss to concentrate the thunder force required for the tribulation.

Once the Lightning Tribulation was completed, Li Qing would immediately escape through a prearranged teleportation array.

Using the Map of the Four Regions of Jiuzhou, Li Qing carefully selected 108 positions to serve as lightning rods. These rods were scattered as widely as possible, ensuring they didn't cluster in any one area, which might otherwise draw attention to the true tribulation site. He placed the greatest number of these rods in Beizhou and Yangzhou, creating a convincing false zone to mislead enemy investigators.

These 108 lightning rods formed the first smokescreen Li Qing set up — a diversion to scatter and confuse anyone seeking his true location.

But a single smokescreen was far from enough.

The second smokescreen was even more formidable: the two previously identified ideal tribulation sites — Wanlei Gorge and Stormwind Plains. At these two locations, Li Qing arranged thunderburst arrays to trigger massive storms and thunderclaps. The arrays were timed, designed to go off simultaneously, creating maximum disturbance across the land.

While Li Qing was in the midst of deploying this second smokescreen, Yuan Zhihui — the "Origin of Wisdom" — was already traveling across the Four Regions of Jiuzhou, searching for traces of Li Qing. Suddenly, he sensed a shift in the moisture and thunder-force of the heavens. Only then did it strike him: Li Qing had already reached the cultivation realm where he had to face the Three Disasters, and the prime opportunity for transcending the Lightning Tribulation was fast approaching.

Yuan Zhihui acted at once. He contacted the other cultivators of the Eighth Level — forty-nine in total.

Yuan proposed that they combine their forces to set up a Heaven-Earth Net, sealing off every corner of the Jiuzhou world. If any anomaly was detected, it would be crushed immediately. Not only that, but the power of Seventh Level cultivators would also be fully mobilized.

Yuan Zhihui's tactical plan was as follows:

Li Qing knew they were hunting him, so he would undoubtedly plant a multitude of smokescreens. This time, Yuan Zhihui himself would lead the command, dismantling each illusion, one by one.

The entire Four Regions of Jiuzhou would be divided into over a hundred zones, each one monitored by a Seventh Level cultivator. These would form a wide-reaching surveillance net. In addition, the land would be divided again into 49 greater zones, each under the watch of an Eighth Level cultivator, forming two interlocking layers of defense and pursuit.

---

Though Yuan Zhihui's deployment was complete, Li Qing's arrangements were far from over.

He secretly contacted the Dragon King of Bo River, offering one hundred years of lifespan in exchange for the method to construct a Calamity-Avoiding Pocket Realm (Ti Jie Dong Tian) — a haven capable of surviving both tribulations and the destruction of the world itself.

Having successfully made the exchange, Li Qing now essentially held the equivalent of one hundred eighth-level ghost generals in his grasp. However, he dared not summon them all at once. If he did so, the Eight Immortals would never let him be — such an act would shatter the balance of the world.

Thus, Li Qing only summoned a limited number of ghost generals — just enough not to cross the line.

The world trembled thirteen times — each tremor representing the descent of one eighth-level ghost general. The moment they appeared, Li Qing sealed them all into Borrowed Power Talismans, ready to be unleashed when needed.

Then, thirteen phantom clones, each carrying a talisman sealed with one ghost general, split off in thirteen directions, each heading toward a different area based on Li Qing's command. Each chosen location was a perilous terrain — dangerous enough that even seventh-level cultivators would have to spend time and effort to enter.

This was Li Qing's third layer of smokescreen.

Unlike the previous two layers, Li Qing knew that his enemies would recognize this as a smokescreen — and that was precisely the point. He was taking advantage of the psychology of pursuit, hiding himself within a trap so obvious that no one would believe he'd truly be there.

Yuan Zhihui, having received reports of thirteen eighth-level ghost generals appearing, immediately began his analysis.

He concluded: Li Qing was well aware they were hunting him, and these ghost generals were prepared as his countermeasure.

Therefore, if a seventh-level cultivator discovered what appeared to be Li Qing's tribulation site, they must never approach alone. They were to immediately report to an eighth-level cultivator — otherwise, they would surely perish.

Li Qing had summoned thirteen ghost generals to correspond with the Nine Provinces and Four Domains — one general for each. Though all of them were false targets, Yuan Zhihui could not afford to ignore a single one. If Li Qing was truly hiding "beneath the lamp," and they overlooked him because they believed it was just another smokescreen — they would fall right into his trap.

To neglect this would be to fall into Li Qing's scheme.

But to take it seriously meant splitting their forces to contend with all thirteen ghost generals — and to send scouts to investigate each region.

Yuan Zhihui also deduced that Li Qing only required one minute to complete his tribulation. That meant they had only one minute to discover his true location.

Each site where a ghost general appeared had to be assaulted immediately by at least one eighth-level cultivator. They were to suppress and eliminate the ghost general, then sweep the area thoroughly in the shortest possible time.

If even one ghost general succeeded in delaying them, buying Li Qing enough time to complete his tribulation — their entire operation would be a failure.

Knowing Li Qing's nature, Yuan Zhihui was certain that this was not the end — Li Qing would create yet more layers of smokescreen, each requiring vast manpower to unravel.

This was no longer merely a pursuit — it was a race against time.

They had to dispel all of Li Qing's illusions in the shortest time possible — and only then could they even hope to find his true location.

---

Just as Li Qing was about to undergo his Tribulation, he suddenly released news that the Ghost Dao was collaborating with an external existence. This immediately fractured the united front of the eighth-level cultivators, who began questioning the eighth-level cultivators from the Demonic Dao. Simultaneously, the other seven of the Eight Immortals confronted Minghe Yanmatzu, the immortal of the Demonic Dao.