Chapter 299

Chapter 299: The Heavenly Dao’s Abnormality

Ye Huai and Bai Ruo An both nodded. Counting the days before the Great Chaos, they had lived for hundreds of years. In theory, Tribulation Crossing was the time when one could feel the Heavenly Dao most clearly. Yet in all the tribulations they had faced, they had felt almost nothing, and even if they felt anything, it was very faint.

As for the Heavenly Dao striking at someone else while another person was crossing a tribulation, that was unheard of.

The Heavenly Dao was always hidden, like a dragon whose head was seen but not its tail. This sudden, open “showing up” was shocking.

Song Wei Yan, who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Fang Yu in sheer nerve, sighed and said with wonder: “So there really is a Heavenly Dao after all. I thought the earliest seniors made it up to guide us to cultivate.” Then he could not help adding: “But the Heavenly Dao is too petty. Say one mean thing and it strikes right away…”

Bai Ruo An slapped a Silencing Talisman onto his mouth without a word. Su Xi Yu rushed up and clamped a hand over his lips as she hissed: “Stop talking, Second Senior Brother, just stop!”

The Heavenly Dao had just shown that it was listening. Saying bad things about it now was like badmouthing someone to their face. They had no desire to get dragged into another lightning strike.

They stared tensely at the hole in the roof. When no thunderclouds gathered, they all let out a long breath.

Someone whispered: “Gone?”

Another nodded: “Should be.”

A third cheered under their breath: “Great, go strike Master Ling Xiao! He has thick skin, strike him, not us!”

They happily sent the Heavenly Dao on its way.

Shen Sang Ruo raised an eyebrow. She remembered how, when she broke through to Nascent Soul, she had called the Heavenly Dao a bunch of clowns in her heart. Thankfully she had not said it out loud, or she might have eaten an extra bolt back then.

She looked up through the hole at the last wisps of cloud and grew thoughtful, her gaze deep, as if she wanted to see through the clouds to what lay behind them.

The Heavenly Dao was said to be without emotion. People joked that it was a top graduate of the Ruthless Path. It had no joy or sorrow. In its eyes, all beings were equal. It watched all cause and effect with cold distance and never took sides. The original members of Ninghua Sect knew this well.

Back during the Great Chaos, the Heavenly Dao had shown no reaction at all. It merely watched as they fought heretic cultivators and devil cultivators. But just now, the Heavenly Dao punished Fang Yu for one insult. Think about that, and the wrongness became clear.

Interest lit Shen Sang Ruo’s eyes. [This cannot be the Heavenly Dao acting on a whim. It must have a plan. Is it trying to prove its existence to everyone?]

The thunderclouds had almost fully faded, and she was about to look away when a strange feeling suddenly spread through her whole body. Shen Sang Ruo’s eyes widened a little. Then she half narrowed them and searched the sky.

[Just now, it felt like someone made eye contact with me.]

She trusted her senses. That “someone” was most likely the Heavenly Dao.

[What is the Heavenly Dao trying to say?]

Su Xi Yu’s voice pulled her back to the room as she snapped: “Junior Sister, do you think Song Wei Yan is missing a screw?”

While Shen Sang Ruo had been thinking, Song Wei Yan had already torn off the Silencing Talisman and argued with Su Xi Yu through several rounds. She was so mad now that she would not even call him Second Senior Brother.

Song Wei Yan hurried to Shen Sang Ruo’s side, trying to stand on the same side as her, and said: “Look how seriously Junior Sister is thinking, unlike you all who focus on small things. By the way, Junior Sister, what were you thinking about?”

Su Xi Yu sneered at him and said: “With the way you act, stay out of Junior Sister’s way.” Then she turned and asked with real curiosity: “But I also want to know. What were you thinking, Junior Sister?”

Shen Sang Ruo answered plainly: “I was thinking about how to fix the big hole in my roof.” Then she turned to Fang Yu and said: “You drew that lightning down. Remember to pay for my roof.”

Fang Yu blinked in shock, then quickly nodded and blurted: “I will pay, I promise! I will not leave until I fix Sister Sang Ruo’s roof!” [Then I can come see her every day.] “Hehe.”

Shen Sang Ruo fell silent for a beat and thought: […] Then she said: “Just pay spirit stones.”

Fang Yu’s smile fell, but he could only agree as he sighed: “Alright.”

Shen Sang Ruo gave a small smile and said: “I was joking earlier. What I was really thinking was this…” She shared all of her thoughts. Everyone present was someone she trusted, so there was nothing to hide. She stressed one point: “When I was looking at the sky, I think I locked eyes with the Heavenly Dao.”

Their faces filled with surprise. If someone else had said that, they might have doubted it. But because it was Shen Sang Ruo, they believed her, which made it even more unbelievable.

Shen Sang Ruo added in a calm voice: “We still do not know what the Heavenly Dao intends. It is best not to spread this around, or we may bring trouble on ourselves.”

They all nodded and promised to keep the secret.

She concluded crisply: “For now, let us see if he can succeed. If he reaches the Void Refining Stage, we will have a hard fight ahead.”

Immortal Lord Chang Li and Daoist Wu Wei also looked toward the Flying Cloud Sect. They already knew that in today’s cultivation world, anyone who broke through to Void Refinement would have to rise to the Transition Realm. Not only them, but Heavenly Sword Sect, Beast Taming Sect, the Jiang Clan of the Red Desert, and almost half the cultivation world were watching Master Ling Xiao’s Tribulation Crossing.

He was the first cultivator in a thousand years with a real chance to reach Void Refinement. This would surely change the balance of the cultivation world.

Meanwhile, inside the Flying Cloud Sect, Shen Dao Chen opened a section of the sect’s forbidden grounds, a huge round platform. Thousands of years ago, a senior of the sect had faced Tribulation Crossing there to break into Void Refinement. Countless efforts had gone into building this place. Formations covered it, helping resist Heavenly Lightning Tribulation and steady the cultivator’s mind. To honor and respect that senior, the place had been sealed and never used again.

But Master Ling Xiao’s breakthrough affected the whole Flying Cloud Sect, and it also touched on whether Shen Sang Ruo would return, so Shen Dao Chen set the rule aside.

All the Elders of the Flying Cloud Sect sat at the formation nodes around the platform, faces solemn and ready. Shen Dao Chen himself was among them to serve as Dharma Protector for Master Ling Xiao.

Master Ling Xiao sat cross-legged at the center of the round platform, his expression faint and calm, looking much more at ease than the others.

Overhead, the tribulation clouds thickened. The Flying Cloud Sect grew darker than anywhere else, with only a thin light filtering down. Lightning tore across the clouds and lit the sect in harsh white.

The thunder grew louder, as if about to fall at any moment. The Elders serving as Dharma Protectors took deep breaths to steady their racing hearts. Even though they were only protectors standing under the cloud, there was a real chance they could be hurt by mistake.

Shen Dao Chen raised his voice, firm and deep, and called the order to everyone at once: “Form the array, the first Heavenly Lightning Tribulation is coming!”