Chapter 384 : Clear and Open
Little Swan Goose was trapped in her own nightmare, giving no response regardless of how Jiang Mo called or shook her. Meanwhile, her body continued to tremble slightly, clearly experiencing something unpleasant.
This was the first time Jiang Mo had seen Little Swan Goose in such a state, which truly startled her, and being unable to wake her made her even more anxious.
"Senior Sister, Senior Sister." Jiang Mo shook Little Swan Goose's wings again, calling out a couple more times. Seeing that she still had no reaction, she turned her head to seek help: "Sect Leader..."
Only as the words left her mouth did she remember that Zhu Baiyi had noticed something earlier and hurriedly left. By now, Master had already passed nearly half of her tribulation, yet Zhu Baiyi still hadn't returned. With one reliable elder absent and the other passing tribulation, neither could be counted on. This made Jiang Mo very anxious, yet she dared not make too much commotion for fear of disturbing Qingyu's tribulation.
Glancing at Qingyu struggling under the tribulation lightning, Jiang Mo gritted her teeth and decided to move to a more distant location—Senior Sister had been fine all along, but suddenly became like this after the tribulation lightning struck. She wondered if there was any connection between the two.
With this thought, Jiang Mo set up a sound barrier around Little Swan Goose, then prepared to leave with her in her arms.
Just as Jiang Mo turned to leave, Zhu Baiyi happened to return. Her face was terribly grim, and seeing Jiang Mo about to leave with Little Swan Goose before the tribulation ended, she felt inexplicably angry: "Where do you think you're going?"
Hearing the voice, Jiang Mo turned back and immediately noticed Zhu Baiyi's unpleasant expression. The plea for help she was about to make instantly caught in her throat. Though unsure why the other was angry, she keenly sensed her displeasure. After a pause, she honestly explained: "Something seems wrong with Senior Sister. I don't know if she's affected by the tribulation lightning, so I planned to take her somewhere further away to check."
Hearing that it wasn't because she found Qingyu's tribulation frightening and was developing pessimism or even thoughts of retreat, Zhu Baiyi's expression improved considerably. After listening to Jiang Mo's explanation, she lowered her gaze to look at Little Swan Goose, and seeing her huddled within the barrier looking unwell, she couldn't help but feel concerned.
After all, this was her own offspring. Even when angry enough to pluck her feathers, it was just a harmless trifle.
Now, hearing that Little Swan Goose was unwell, Zhu Baiyi was indeed worried. She stepped forward to look, but couldn't discern what was wrong, so she asked Jiang Mo: "What's happened to her?"
Jiang Mo responded with embarrassment: "I don't know. I was just watching Peak Master pass tribulation, and when I looked down, she was like this."
Zhu Baiyi felt troubled, caught between Qingyu passing tribulation on one side and her child in an unknown condition on the other, unsure which to worry about first. Fortunately, there was Jiang Mo, who was utterly devoted to Yun Qingyue. Finally, Zhu Baiyi waved her hand and said: "I need to stay here and watch. You take her away first. If there's any problem, inform me immediately."
Jiang Mo agreed and was about to leave with Senior Sister in her arms when she remembered something and asked: "Sect Leader, where did you go just now? Peak Master's tribulation is extremely powerful, it would be best to have someone standing guard here..."
Zhu Baiyi waved dismissively, in no mood to explain: "I know. You two go ahead."
Jiang Mo said nothing more and quickly left with Little Swan Goose—since setting up the sound barrier, Little Swan Goose's trembling had diminished considerably, further confirming her suspicion that the bird's abnormal state was caused by the tribulation lightning. Besides the rolling thunder, the only other effect the tribulation lightning had on non-participants was the omnipresent pressure throughout heaven and earth. Therefore, she needed to take Senior Sister away quickly to escape this pressure.
The person and bird departed rapidly. Zhu Baiyi's gaze didn't linger on them long, instead focusing with furrowed brows on the person passing tribulation under the clouds. Every slight anomaly in Qingyu's performance made her heart tremble in response.
As she watched, Zhu Baiyi's gaze shifted from Qingyu to the tribulation lightning above her head, and then to the gloomy sky...
The tribulation had come just as the four of them exited the ruins, locking onto Qingyu with such speed that it caught them completely off guard. Normal tribulations weren't like this; at minimum, cultivators would first sense the heaven and earth, vaguely perceiving the approaching tribulation, and then prepare accordingly before passing it. But this tribulation was clearly abnormal. Zhu Baiyi hadn't noticed at first, but later realized that the power of the tribulation lightning was also unusual, which had alerted her.
She hadn't answered Jiang Mo's question earlier, but in truth, during her absence, she had gone to patrol the surroundings. This inspection indeed revealed a problem—either Qingyu was unlucky, or the other person was even more unfortunate, as there was a second person passing tribulation under the tribulation clouds.
It was a low-level cultivator about to pass the Nascent Soul tribulation, but before the tribulation lightning had fully formed, they happened to encounter Qingyu's group emerging from the ruins. As is well known, accidentally entering someone else's tribulation would intensify its power. The others had left quickly and were fine, but Qingyu was also about to undergo tribulation, so her energy was immediately locked onto by the tribulation clouds above.
One can imagine how many times more powerful the original Nascent Soul tribulation became when it transformed into a Great Achievement tribulation. The unfortunate soul passing the Nascent Soul tribulation realized something was wrong and tried to escape, but it was too late. By the time Zhu Baiyi found him, he couldn't even withstand a single tribulation bolt before being incinerated!
However, though the person had died, the mess left behind remained, and Qingyu had to deal with the aftermath.
Zhu Baiyi felt utterly exasperated, even sensing a feeling of being targeted by the Heavenly Dao—there weren't so many coincidences in the cultivation world. Without the Heavenly Dao's arrangement, everything couldn't have happened so coincidentally and quickly, catching them completely off guard.
Now she only hoped that Qingyu could withstand this tribulation.
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While Zhu Baiyi was deeply worried about Qingyu passing tribulation, Jiang Mo had no time to concern herself with how her Master was faring. She flew rapidly with Little Swan Goose in her arms, covering a hundred li in just a few breaths. As she flew further and further away, the pressure from the tribulation gradually diminished.
Indeed, as she had anticipated, the further she carried Little Swan Goose from the tribulation, the more the latter's trembling subsided.
However, before Jiang Mo could feel relieved about this, when she looked down at Little Swan Goose, she found that her eyes remained tightly shut, still unable to escape from her previous nightmare. Yet unlike before when she seemed trapped in a nightmare, now she appeared to be merely asleep. She lay quietly in Jiang Mo's arms, as if she might wake up at any moment and return to her usual lively self.
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Little Swan Goose was indeed asleep, her consciousness immersed in a dreamscape.
Initially, the dream was composed of purple lightning. Each bolt of that purple lightning held extraordinary power, striking her body and instantly splitting her skin and flesh. Real pain seemed to spread throughout her body, even her meridians felt painfully stretched, yet the scream stuck in her throat somehow couldn't escape. So she could only endure, only bear it, until finally her skin was torn and her flesh was mangled, leaving no part of her body intact.
Just when she thought this purple lightning was already terrifying and relentless enough, a streak of black suddenly appeared in her vision. It was a bolt of black lightning, forcefully appearing amidst the sea of lightning, immediately suppressing all the purple lightning upon its arrival. Yet far from feeling relief, she felt a trembling from deep within her bones.
She knew it was fear—fear brought by the might of heaven and earth, uncontrollable, inescapable.
Finally, the black lightning struck, and everything became void—the world before her eyes disappeared, the lightning that had occupied her entire vision vanished, and the pressure of heaven and earth weighing upon her had dissipated.
It seemed that she had been incinerated by that bolt of black lightning, scattered throughout heaven and earth, with her last trace of consciousness about to be extinguished with the passage of time... She clearly realized that she was about to disappear from this world without leaving the slightest trace, as if she had never existed in this world at all.
But in her heart, there was unwillingness. Why? She hadn't done anything wrong, so why was the Heavenly Dao targeting her like this?
She was barely a hundred years old, diligently studying the Dao, successfully cultivating, with a vast lifespan still ahead of her. She had friends and family, a birth mother whom she had never called "mother," and confused feelings that had yet to be sorted out...
She didn't want to die like this!
Once dead, everything would be gone. With her divine soul dissipating under the heavenly lightning, even reincarnation would be impossible!
Her heart was filled with unwillingness, her remaining consciousness wandering in an unknown space, drifting, muddled.
Until at a certain moment, a beam of light suddenly illuminated her confused consciousness. The veil before her eyes seemed to be dispelled by that light in an instant, as if her consciousness had broken free from some kind of restraint, and the world suddenly became clear and open.
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Little Swan Goose opened her eyes, or more precisely, Yun Qingyue opened her eyes.
Then she immediately saw Jiang Mo's concerned face before her. Seeing her awaken, Jiang Mo's face lit up with joy: "Senior Sister, you're finally awake? How are you feeling? Is there any discomfort? And earlier, how did you suddenly faint when you were perfectly fine?"
A string of questions left Yun Qingyue feeling somewhat dazed, momentarily unsure how to respond.
However, Yun Qingyue's daze appeared to Jiang Mo almost like stupefaction—Little Swan Goose's personality after nirvana and memory loss was almost completely opposite to Yun Qingyue's. Combined with her robust divine beast physique, she was lively in both personality and behavior. Normally, even if Little Swan Goose didn't answer her questions upon waking, she would certainly bob her head, stretch her wings, and after fully awakening, struggle free from her embrace.
But Yun Qingyue didn't do any of this. She seemed not to have fully awakened from her consciousness, her entire being radiating slowness. Seeing her like this, Jiang Mo naturally thought something was wrong and hastily lifted her up, asking again: "Senior Sister, are you alright?"
The beautiful glass-like phoenix eyes blinked, and the familiar face before her made Yun Qingyue let down her guard, instinctively replying: "I'm fine."
As soon as the words left her mouth, Yun Qingyue immediately realized something was wrong. It was her voice, certainly, but it was far too childish, as if an adult had suddenly reverted to early childhood. Then she noticed another, more significant discrepancy—why was she being held up by Jiang Mo? And this posture, this height...
Yun Qingyue looked down and immediately saw her body covered in white feathers, both familiar and strange.
In that instant, a foreign set of memories flooded into her mind.