Chapter 027

Chapter 27: Thunder Tribulation

The sky ripped with a roar. A blade of lightning flashed from the heights, like it cut open the night. In her past life, Ye Wan Wan had walked the Talisman Dao and avoided the orthodox path, so she never faced a Tribulation. Even so, she felt no fear now.

The girl’s eyes did not flinch. She lifted her gaze and met the light head on. Lightning swallowed her. Pei Xuan sat on the stone platform below as still as ever, but if one looked closely, one would see his palm tighten. She was his first disciple and the inheritor of the Heart Questioning Sword. He could not pretend not to care.

The lightning’s sting rushed through skin to bone, until she had no strength left. The hand gripping her weapon lost most of its power, and Ye Wan Wan dropped to one knee. “No wonder everyone fears the Tribulation,” she said through her teeth. It first destroys your defenses, then your will. It runs through all your meridians and goes straight to your weakest dantian.

She drove her spiritual power from her dantian. The five Golden Cores were pierced by the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning as if cracks were being forced open. Lightning and cores crossed and clashed. The other five nearly formed cores spun under the lightning and seemed unable to merge. The Thunder Tribulation she had skipped beneath Black Ice Cliff had come due, and all at once. This was only the first bolt.

Fang He An frowned: “Junior sister’s scene is a little too big.” Xun Yin stroked his beard: “It is unusual.” The power of a Thunder Tribulation matches the talent of the one enduring it. The scale of these clouds only meant Ye Wan Wan’s talent was unusual.

Thunder rolled over the high peaks. The mountains of Heavenly One Sect shone silver. Ye Wan Wan could hardly stand. Pei Xuan’s brows drew together as he started to rise. But the girl straightened her back and forced her way through the first bolt: “Next!”

Lightning spread over her like a web. Before the first fully faded, the second crashed down. She still did not resist. Pei Xuan saw what she was doing. Someone nearby sighed, “This girl is bold, using Heavenly Thunder Body Refining.” Pei Xuan did not look back, but he answered anyway: “My disciple will not be weak.” Li Ming De chuckled: “She does look a bit like you.”

Ye Wan Wan refused to fight the lightning because she was testing her limits. She wanted to use the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning to temper this scarred body and complete this forging. She sank into a cross-legged seat, feet firm on the ground, and guided the lightning into the earth. She knew her limits. A human body cannot bear such power alone. Without borrowing the strength of the earth, she would not last. Luckily, she could still endure.

First bolt. Second. Third. Ye Wan Wan held on again and again. By the seventh, the five Golden Cores were fully tempered and the other five were nearly formed, but her body had been pushed to its limit. Then the next surge of lightning came without warning.

Boom.

Pei Xuan and Li Ming De both sensed the difference in the seventh bolt. As they were about to raise a Barrier, the girl’s hands flashed through seals: “Five Elements Array, rise.”

At her word, several Spirit Talismans flared into being around her. Their light linked together and quickly formed a defensive formation. The massive Heavenly Tribulation Lightning fell from the sky and was split into five streams, absorbed by the talismans, then slammed harmlessly into the ground. Ye Wan Wan stood within the Array Arts without harm.

A hint of surprise showed in Li Ming De’s eyes. The girl had prepared. Pei Xuan’s frown eased.

Between the eighth bolt, Ye Wan Wan used the Array Arts to restore her movement and poured spiritual liquid down her throat. It was Mystic Spirit Elixir she had refined from Mystic Spirit Grass. She took mouthful after mouthful, eyes calm on the blazing clouds. After half a gourd, she had recovered most of her strength. She stoppered the gourd and wiped her lips. When silver light flashed above, she raised the Heart Questioning Sword and leapt to meet it.

She challenged the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning again, and this was already the eighth bolt. Li Ming De fell into thought: “So young, yet she faces Heavenly Tribulation with such steadiness. Her mind is extraordinary.” Brave and clever, and tough in spirit. The Supreme Sect had given up such a good child. They would regret it.

Ye Wan Wan lifted her sword into the thunder. Lightning ran through the Heart Questioning Sword. The green blade shone with silver. Under the storm, the mottled bronze hue cracked and fell away, exposing a snow white light and an ancient oppressive aura. Everyone felt an ancient spirit stir within the sword. “This is…” Pei Xuan and Li Ming De narrowed their eyes. In the next instant, that pressure vanished.

The spectacle of the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning drew every gaze. Lightning engulfed Ye Wan Wan and the Heart Questioning Sword, but her left hand kept forming seals. The Five Elements Talismans spun around her at great speed, quickly breaking down the lightning’s force. The Heart Questioning Sword blazed and took in the last of it.

She was already bracing for the ninth bolt. Fang He An and the others were shocked: “Isn’t the gap between the eighth and ninth too short!” It was indeed too short, almost no pause at all. Fang He An dropped Xun Yin’s sleeve and said, “I’m going to check on junior sister!” But Li Ming De cared even more about that brief oppressive aura from the sword. It had been too short to grasp, and the ninth bolt was already falling. Pei Xuan watched the strongest strike with steady eyes.

Though the final Heavenly Tribulation Lightning was the most powerful, Ye Wan Wan was ready. When her first ring of Five Elements Talismans shattered, a second formation rose at once, light surging up. The Array Arts wrapped her and absorbed most of the lightning. She took on the rest herself.

When the thunderclouds dissolved, heavy rain poured down. The sweet rain after tribulation drenched Ye Wan Wan and nourished her body. She sprawled on the ground with arms and legs spread, and began to laugh.

She had done it. She had reached Core Formation.

The others cheered together: “Junior sister! Junior sister!” Ye Wan Wan turned her head and saw Bai Jian and Li Wan Zhi not far away. Li Wan Zhi was waving two little flags to celebrate her. On the mountainside, Fang He An was running up as fast as he could. Amid the chatter, a steady set of footsteps drew close. Ye Wan Wan followed the sound and slowly looked over.