Chapter 383 : Rolling Thunder
This lightning tribulation was naturally for Qingyu. After receiving her inheritance, her strength had advanced by leaps and bounds, her realm breaking through continuously. Now that they had left the battlefield ruins that had concealed the workings of heaven, the Great Achievement tribulation lightning immediately found her.
When it came to passing tribulations, others could never interfere, nor would they dare to.
Noticing that the tribulation clouds came unexpectedly fast, Zhu Baiyi didn't even have time to give Qingyu a few words of advice before grabbing Jiang Mo with one hand and Little Swan Goose with the other, quickly fleeing the scene. They fled a considerable distance until they escaped the lock of that terrifying pressure. Only then did the two people and one bird collectively breathe a sigh of relief before turning back with concern.
Under the lock of the tribulation clouds, though Qingyu was also surprised, she had long prepared for this lightning tribulation. Besides spending the past year consolidating her cultivation and integrating her knowledge, she had also gained many benefits in the inheritance space. Not only had she replenished all the resources spent in the underground world, but her wealth had increased more than a hundredfold. She had no shortage of pills and treasures to deal with a lightning tribulation.
During the moment when Zhu Baiyi was leading the two youngsters away, Qingyu had already set up three layers of defensive formations and taken pills as a precaution against excessive spiritual energy consumption during the tribulation.
Seeing her methodically preparing for the tribulation, Zhu Baiyi, waiting outside the tribulation zone, also breathed a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to advise the two youngsters beside her: "Watching a high-level cultivator pass tribulation has its benefits. Later..."
Halfway through her words, she suddenly realized that the two before her weren't ordinary cultivators. One was a divine beast who never needed to worry about tribulations, and the other possessed ninety-nine percent divine beast bloodline. Though it was unclear whether the Heavenly Dao would show mercy when sending down lightning tribulations, the tribulations they would face would likely differ from those of ordinary cultivators. It was hard to say how much insight they could gain from this tribulation.
So her words faltered midway, and she finally managed to say: "Well, just watch carefully."
Jiang Mo and Little Swan Goose didn't refuse. The two felt the terrifying pressure of the descending tribulation clouds together, not daring to show the slightest contempt—the tribulation clouds gathered rapidly, the imposing aura pressing down, almost reminding Jiang Mo of Senior Sister's previous ancestral return tribulation.
When Little Swan Goose underwent her ancestral return, the Heavenly Dao had tried to take her life because the world could no longer sustain another divine beast. If Yun Qingyue hadn't had a premonition and preserved a trace of foreign bloodline in advance, making her own bloodline less pure, she might have died under that final destructive tribulation lightning. Even so, the terrifying scene from that time had left a deep impression on Jiang Mo's heart.
At this moment, although the lightning tribulation Qingyu was about to face wasn't as severe, it still reminded Jiang Mo of that terrifying experience... Was this the tribulation for advancing to Great Achievement? How could it be so terrifying!
Holding Little Swan Goose, Jiang Mo even wanted to retreat another hundred li, fearing they might be affected by accident.
Zhu Baiyi beside them had already lost concern for them. Looking up at the tribulation clouds still gathering in the sky, her brows couldn't help but furrow tightly as she murmured: "Why is Qingyu's lightning tribulation so powerful..."
Zhu Baiyi had long since entered Great Achievement and had naturally experienced this tribulation herself. However, due to her special bloodline, the half-monster mixed-blood Great Achievement tribulation also differed from that of ordinary cultivators. But judging from the current gathering tribulation clouds, the momentum of Qingyu's tribulation was even more terrifying than hers back then. Could it be... could it be that not one in their family was a pure human cultivator?!
This random thought suddenly emerged, only to be quickly dismissed by Zhu Baiyi—she had once taken Qingyu's blood essence to perform a secret technique and certainly knew that Qingyu was a pure human. The power of this tribulation clearly had nothing to do with bloodline.
Zhu Baiyi's thoughts raced, her expression solemn. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck her, and she exclaimed: "This is bad."
With these words, her figure abruptly vanished from the spot, so swiftly that neither Jiang Mo nor Little Swan Goose saw how she disappeared. The two little ones looked around but couldn't find Zhu Baiyi's figure, so they could only turn their attention back to Qingyu under the tribulation clouds.
Qingyu, the one passing the tribulation, had obviously noticed the difference in today's lightning tribulation earlier than the onlookers. Her brows furrowed slightly, and then she reached into her storage space, swiftly throwing out seven or eight more formation disks, firmly protecting herself at the center of the formations.
According to the Xuanqing Sect's... or more precisely, Mount Mingxia's tradition for passing tribulations, they would choose to directly endure the first few lightning bolts. Because by the time cultivators reached the tribulation stage, their bodies had already achieved a certain level of strength. Although the first few lightning bolts appeared fierce and powerful, they weren't enough to cause excessive damage to their bodies; on the contrary, they could use the power of the tribulation to temper their bodies.
Of course, tribulation lightning was brutal, and using it to temper the body was not a comfortable experience—it could cause pain enough to make one roll on the ground. Getting through it certainly had many benefits, but more people couldn't endure it and preferred to release the force and give up.
But the people of Mount Mingxia cared more about cultivation, so they often wouldn't miss such opportunities, with Qingyu, a cultivation fanatic, leading the way.
Jiang Mo had heard about her various glorious deeds in the sect, but never expected that today, before the tribulation lightning even struck, just by looking at the tribulation clouds overhead, Qingyu would decisively abandon body tempering and choose conservative defense.
It seemed that today's lightning tribulation was truly extraordinary...
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The tribulation clouds continued to accumulate, blocking the sky and sun, their pressure heavy.
After an indeterminate amount of time, the dark tribulation clouds finally stopped growing, seemingly having finally produced a result. Lightning crackled and flashed within the black clouds. Even standing outside the area covered by the tribulation clouds, Jiang Mo felt a heavy weight pressing on her heart.
As the first tribulation lightning was about to strike, Jiang Mo, without knowing why, suddenly reached out and covered Little Swan Goose's eyes: "Don't look."
Little Swan Goose seemed somewhat displeased and shook her head, but couldn't break free from Jiang Mo's hand. Just then, earth-shattering thunder sounded, and overwhelming pressure instantly descended... even though it wasn't aimed at her, and the pressure was merely accidentally scattered when the tribulation lightning struck, Little Swan Goose's body still couldn't help but stiffen.
Jiang Mo didn't immediately notice this subtle change, as all her attention was drawn to the lightning tribulation before her—the long-brewing tribulation lightning indeed lived up to expectations, the first bolt was terrifyingly powerful, instilling fear even in her who was at the Fusion realm.
Fortunately, Qingyu under the tribulation lightning was well-prepared, and having just received a large inheritance in the inheritance space, she was now quite wealthy. Those ten-plus defensive formations weren't ordinary formations; when the first tribulation lightning struck, not only did they completely withstand the lightning, but even the first layer of barrier wasn't shattered... Was this because the formation disks left from tens of thousands of years ago were simply more powerful than current formations?
The tribulation lightning above seemed shocked by this result, followed by anger at being challenged. In the blink of an eye, two more bolts of lightning struck simultaneously. This time, the power of the falling lightning was already greater, and with the force of two bolts combined into one, Qingyu's defensive formations finally couldn't hold, breaking two layers with a "crack-crack."
Qingyu didn't even blink, waving her hand to throw out two more formation disks to repair the defense, looking like she was determined to pass the tribulation under a turtle shell. The tribulation lightning above grew increasingly angry, striking down relentlessly as if lightning were free.
From Fusion to Great Achievement, a total of forty-nine tribulation lightning bolts needed to be endured, which would naturally take some time.
Jiang Mo was initially intimidated by the momentum of this tribulation, but seeing Qingyu not even blink as she employed her pay-to-win method, the worry in her heart diminished by seventy to eighty percent.
No longer anxious for the one passing tribulation, Jiang Mo's attention naturally shifted from the scene before her. Only then did she notice that Little Swan Goose, whose eyes she had been covering, had at some point already buried her head in Jiang Mo's embrace, and with each roll of thunder, her small body seemed to tremble slightly.
This scene wasn't unfamiliar to Jiang Mo—it was clearly the behavior of someone afraid of thunder.
But could her Senior Sister be afraid of thunder? Or rather, could cultivators in the cultivation world be afraid of thunder?
Jiang Mo still remembered Senior Sister's heroic figure under the tribulation lightning. Looking at Little Swan Goose's current state, she felt both surprised and distressed. She opened her arms to embrace Little Swan Goose tightly, patting her back and asking softly: "Senior Sister, what's wrong?"
However, Little Swan Goose didn't respond. Perhaps the sound of the tribulation lightning striking nearby was too loud, drowning out Jiang Mo's voice. Or perhaps Little Swan Goose was so frightened by the thunder that she was no longer fully conscious.
Jiang Mo patted her back soothingly several times, but still received no response from Little Swan Goose. Her originally puzzled heart now grew tense.
She pulled Little Swan Goose out from her embrace, holding her small body up for a look, and indeed saw that Little Swan Goose's beautiful glass-like phoenix eyes were tightly shut. No matter how Jiang Mo called or shook her, she showed no sign of opening them. On the contrary, with each roll of thunder, Little Swan Goose's body continued to tremble slightly. Who knew what was wrong with her?
Without Jiang Mo's awareness, Little Swan Goose had long since fallen into her own world under the sound of thunder—in her world, there was also rolling thunder, with overwhelming pressure accompanied by purple lightning pouring down, making it hard for her to breathe.
Just as she struggled free from that purple expanse, an extremely terrifying blackness completely enveloped her vision.