Chapter 68

Chapter 68: You Really Know How to Play

Lin Shu’s tribulation clouds scattered.

Scattered—because her own “little troublemakers” had startled her so badly that the clouds dissipated like smoke.

Qiao Yu, Lin Yin, Di Yuan, and Shuang Hua all looked like they might leap into the sky and grab the clouds by hand.

Shi Bai Zhou shouted, waving at nothing. “Tribulation clouds! Tribulation clouds!”

Jun Bo’s expression grew even colder. Utterly lacking in dignity.

Lin Shu was still staring at the line of children, stunned. “Hu Nuan? Jin Xin? Leng Ruo? Xiao Ou? Lan Jiu? It’s really you?”

Her eyes flicked to Shi Bai Zhou. “But Shi Bai Zhou looks the same… Master, did I fall into an illusion?”

Jun Bo jabbed a finger upward again. “Look. Are you forming a core today or not?”

Lin Shu didn’t even hesitate. “Yes! After I form it, I’m going out to play!”

Shi Bai Zhou took a step forward, frantic. “Lin Shu, Lin Shu, I’ll come with—”

“We’ll come with you,” Hu Nuan said calmly, as if this were an obvious decision.

She stared up at the last wisps of dispersing clouds, then turned to her friends. “Lin Shu’s tribulation clouds got scared off by us. Let’s form cores together.”

The four masters went rigid.

“Now?” Qiao Yu demanded. “Isn’t that too rushed?”

Jin Xin immediately started wailing, as if suffering a great injustice. “But right now we’re number one in the Foundation Establishment Stage! If we form cores, we won’t be the boss anymore!”

Lin Yin stared at him.

The others stared too.

So that was it? That was why they’d stalled for so long?

Just to keep their title as “number one”?

Something inside the masters snapped.

Leng Ruo, perfectly calm, offered a solution. “Then form cores. After that, we can push the Golden Core Stage seniors to reach Nascent Soul. We’ll still be number one.”

Lan Jiu nodded. “Senior Sister is right.”

Xiao Ou shrugged. “I don’t care.”

Hu Hua Hua waved Hu Zhu Zhu, Xuan Yao, and Tang Yu Zi to his side. “You three stay here. You’re not human. You can’t take part.”

Then he thought for a moment, reached into himself, and tossed Hu Cai Cai at Hu Nuan. “Sis, take him too.”

Hu Nuan stuck the Colorful Egg on top of her head and steadied it with both hands. “Okay.”

Jun Bo was already sweating. “If you’re really doing this, go to Changji Gate’s tribulation ground. Every sect has a dedicated place for tribulations.”

Lin Yin’s gaze cut to Jin Xin. “Can you actually do it?”

Jin Xin looked supremely unconcerned. “Why not?”

He waved at everyone. “Come on.”

Come on.

In a single breath, all five of them released their cultivation. Their auras surged—briefly, overwhelmingly.

Di Yuan’s eyes widened. “What is this?”

Lin Yin ground his teeth. “What do you think? They hid it from us again.”

The children clattered as they pulled out jade tags and hung them around their waists, their chests, their shoulders, like they were dressing for a festival.

The masters almost fainted.

Spirit storage jade. All of it.

So it wasn’t that they hadn’t been cultivating. It wasn’t that they hadn’t made progress. They’d been suppressing their cultivation and siphoning the overflow into spirit storage jade.

One person had at least a hundred pieces.

Jun Bo stared at them with genuine awe. “You… really know how to play.”

Lin Shu suddenly gasped and fumbled at her own storage. “Oh! I almost forgot mine!”

She pulled out a pile of spirit storage jade and started hanging them on herself too.

Jun Bo’s eyes nearly popped out. “Lin Shu! You’ve been storing cultivation too? Why didn’t I know?”

Lin Shu answered brightly, as if it were obvious. “Because it’s a secret between good friends.”

Jun Bo: “…”

Shi Bai Zhou looked like he’d been stabbed. “Why didn’t I know?!”

Lin Shu tilted her head. “Last time we parted, you said you were going back to form your Golden Core. You didn’t need it.”

Shi Bai Zhou choked on that. He’d rushed to form his core so her master would take him seriously—and he still wanted to be part of her secrets.

Above them, tribulation clouds gathered again, thicker and heavier than before.

Jun Bo didn’t hesitate anymore. He grabbed Lin Shu and motioned for everyone to follow.

The big ones led the little ones in a long procession. Changji Gate disciples, curious and alarmed, trailed behind. By the time they reached the tribulation ground, the only familiar face was Lin Shu.

The other five? Children.

“What is this?” people whispered.

Jun Bo explained quickly to his fellow disciples: perfected from Zhaohua Sect were visiting, and the moment they arrived, their disciples were attempting tribulation.

Most perfected had no interest in a simple Foundation Establishment Stage-to-Golden Core Stage tribulation. Then someone mentioned Hu Qing’s famous daughter.

Then even the Changji Gate Sect Master showed up.

And in the shadows, more great experts quietly turned their attention this way.

Before the first bolt fell, the ground was already packed.

The Changji Gate Sect Master pulled Lin Yin aside. “What has your Sect Master been busy with?”

Lin Yin gave him a bitter smile. “Whatever your Sect Master is busy with, ours is busy with too.”

Every sect was facing the same pressure: deciding their future path, and figuring out how to deal with the ascension Ancestors who had returned.

The Changji Gate Sect Master didn’t need that explained. He lowered his voice into a private transmission. “I’m trying to convince the immortals to treat Changji Gate as a retreat. A place to clear their minds. While they relax, they can point out a thing or two to the little disciples. It will amuse them.”

Lin Yin’s eyes brightened. “Good idea. Will they agree?”

“I’m trying.”

Nearby, Jun Bo looked at the Zhaohua Sect masters with honest puzzlement. “How did you ever think to make them suppress their cultivation like this?”

Qiao Yu, Di Yuan, and Shuang Hua wore serene smiles while screaming internally.

“They’re young,” Qiao Yu said smoothly. “Restless. This forces them to steady their foundations.”

Jun Bo nodded hard, impressed. “Makes sense. Very sensible.”

As if Lin Shu needed instruction. She’d already been part of the conspiracy.

On the tribulation ground, the six didn’t waste time. Xiao Ou arranged them into a formation. “Let’s try taking all the tribulation lightning together, without borrowing outside power. See how many layers we can withstand.”

They formed up eagerly, faces tilted to the sky.

So arrogant.

So foolish.

The first bolt cracked down. Lightning branched like tree roots in midair, hit the formation, and split cleanly among all six. They barely shook.

No one relaxed. Tribulation lightning grew heavier with each wave.

And although a Foundation Establishment Stage-to-Golden Core Stage tribulation was only nine bolts per person—three bolts per layer, three layers—six people made it fifty-four in total.

A second bolt struck. Thicker. Stronger.

Still, the formation held. They remained unhurt.

On the sidelines, disciples whispered nervously. “They’re all advancing, right? So whose tribulation is that bolt? Who does it count for?”

Even Heaven seemed to hesitate, confused by six identical-looking little heads turning this way and that.

Tribulation lightning was not a thing to be sloppy with.

No. They had to separate them.

A final, cold decision seemed to settle over the clouds.

Strike.