Li Yundong left the gates of Hongsheng New District and headed straight for the suburbs. After covering more than twenty li, the towering skyscrapers gradually disappeared from view. Li Yundong followed the road to a sparsely populated area in the outskirts before finally stopping.

He had barely stood still when Ziyuan rushed up from behind him.

Li Yundong was startled, then laughed: "What are you doing here? Came to collect my corpse?"

Ziyuan following him had been an almost subconscious action; even she didn't know why she had trailed along. She paused, offering no reply.

Li Yundong gave a self-deprecating smile and remarked, "No need to collect a corpse. Didn't you see how Young Master He was utterly annihilated last time, body and soul obliterated? If you wanted to collect remains, there’d be nothing left—blasted clean! Speaking of which, this Heavenly Tribulation is quite eco-friendly, isn’t it? Ah, too bad I didn't buy insurance beforehand; I could have made a fortune!"

As Ziyuan listened to Li Yundong’s incessant chatter, she felt a strange sensation in her heart—wanting to laugh but unable to. She couldn't help but ask, "The Heavenly Tribulation is coming soon; aren't you afraid?"

Li Yundong scoffed, "I was terrified at first, but fear is useless. Whether I stick my head out or hide it, I die anyway. Might as well go out with a bit of flair."

With that, he began to lecture Ziyuan like a garrulous old woman. "Listen here, Fairy Sister. You are beautiful, undeniably so, but you lack a certain human touch. If you keep this up, you’ll never find a boyfriend! What, you don’t want a boyfriend? Are you planning to remain alone your entire life, devoted only to a solitary lamp? Wouldn’t that be a terrible waste of heavenly gifts?"

"Hey, you aren't seriously planning to stay single forever, are you? Truly not? Then fine, I won't press the issue. After all, I’m about to be claimed by the Heavenly Tribulation; I won't be around to enjoy such good fortune."

Ziyuan listened to Li Yundong’s nagging drone, her eyes fixed blankly. When she heard that last line, she was involuntarily reminded of something her Master had once said, and she inquired, "You like me?"

Li Yundong blinked, then burst into laughter. "I was just speaking casually; don’t take it seriously!"

Ziyuan was instantly struck speechless by Li Yundong, staring at the young man before her with an expression caught between tears and laughter, utterly unable to speak.

Li Yundong resumed his stream of consciousness. "Of course, even though I already have Su Chan, I still think you are excellent. Look how beautiful you are, and how capable you are at running a household—truly the perfect, virtuous wife and loving mother in the minds of all men under heaven. Hey, are you really sure you want to be a spinster?"

"Hey, don't let me do all the talking; say something too!"

"Fairy Sister, why don't you say a word!"

Ziyuan listened quietly to Li Yundong's monologue, her expression unchanged, yet her heart was a tangled mess, impossible to straighten out.

Li Yundong mumbled to himself for a while. Seeing Ziyuan’s silence, he suddenly pointed at the sky and began to curse loudly. "You dog-bitten Heaven! I just struck down a creature worse than a beast, and you're trying to kill me? Damn you, you blind fool! Why don’t you go die? Good people get struck by lightning in this world, while the wicked walk free—what the hell are you good for?"

As Li Yundong roared his profanities, a colossal crash of thunder sounded from above, and a bolt of lightning struck a distant mountain ridge. Li Yundong froze, then roared with laughter. "Aim properly before you strike! Your grandfather is right here!"

Ziyuan stared blankly at Li Yundong, then suddenly asked, "Li Yundong, if I let you go back to before, would you still use heavenly lightning to strike down Young Master He?"

Li Yundong was momentarily thrown, missing the underlying meaning of Ziyuan's question. He merely sneered and said without hesitation, "The thing I regret least in my life was summoning the heavenly thunder to kill that beast, He Shao! If heaven gave me another chance, I’d wish I could strike him ten thousand times!"

Ziyuan sighed heavily in her heart, looking at Li Yundong with complicated eyes, momentarily unsure what words could properly describe this young man.

Seeing Ziyuan’s grave expression, Li Yundong smiled and urged her, "You had better leave quickly. If the heavenly thunder strikes while you’re here, it will bring you harm."

Ziyuan looked at him and asked, "You truly have no regrets? Think of Su Chan—you’ll never see her again. Doesn't that sadden you?"

Li Yundong snorted. "What is there to regret about such a thing? A true man knows what must be done and what must not be done! Some things, I must pursue even if it means climbing a mountain of knives or diving into a sea of fire! But other things, even if a thousand pieces of gold were offered, or the temptation of beauty presented, I would scorn to do!"

As he spoke, he thought of Su Chan, and his expression softened instantly. He sighed gently and murmured, "It's just... I cannot bear to leave my girl behind... I only wonder if she can take care of herself once I'm gone?"

Once Li Yundong started talking about Su Chan, the floodgates opened. He chattered incessantly to Ziyuan about every little moment they shared, completely ignoring the darkening, thickening clouds overhead and the increasingly frequent flashes of lightning within the cloud cover.

When recounting a time Su Chan had accidentally touched an electrical outlet, Li Yundong suddenly laughed. He turned to Ziyuan and said, "Oh right, didn't you want to know what it feels like to be 'electrified'?" With that, he extended his hand toward her.

Ziyuan looked at his outstretched hand, asking with confusion, "What for?"

Li Yundong winked mischievously at her. "Grab my hand. When the heavenly thunder strikes, you'll know exactly what 'electrified' feels like!"

Even with her heavy heart, Ziyuan couldn't help but let out a chuckle at Li Yundong's playful remark. She shook her head and sighed, "You are impossible. How can you still be so frivolous at a time like this?"

Li Yundong said, "Not going to take my hand, huh? Well then, you'll just have to experience what 'electrified' feels like on your own later." Then Li Yundong urged her again, "The thunder is coming soon; hurry up and go. It's better for one person to die than two. You are too beautiful to die alongside me; it would be such a waste!"

Ziyuan, however, remained rooted to the spot, her brow tightly furrowed as she gazed at Li Yundong. No matter how much he tried to persuade her, she didn't move an inch, simply staring at him dumbly.

Li Yundong finally snapped in frustration, "Hey, what are you spacing out for! Do you want to die with me!" Seeing Ziyuan refuse to budge, he unleashed a stream of curses. "Hey, are you deaf or mute? Go! Why are you staying here? Have you fallen for me and want to die together? Idiot, scram, hurry up! I get annoyed just looking at your dead face. Go, go, go! If you don't leave now, I swear I’ll..."

Before he could finish his threat, a deafening boom echoed from the sky. Every hair on Li Yundong's body stood on end. He propelled himself forward, instantly floating dozens of meters away. The moment he landed, a bolt of heavenly thunder crashed down heavily.

The lightning simulated by the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk simply could not compare to the power of genuine Heavenly Tribulation. Furthermore, the former's primary purpose was to allow Li Yundong to grow stronger by absorbing the lightning during evasion, whereas the latter sought to unleash the full might of heaven and earth to annihilate Li Yundong!

This bolt of thunder was ferocious beyond measure. Heaven and earth were suddenly illuminated blindingly bright by the flash. Li Yundong felt an unstoppable force of heavenly might descending upon him. The power and speed of this lightning far surpassed that of the lightning within the small-thousand world simulated by the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk!

The instant Li Yundong moved, the bolt of thunder struck the spot where he had just been. Although he dodged it, the lightning grazed the edge of his body.

Li Yundong immediately felt half his body go numb, completely unresponsive. The terrifying, potent energy of the heavenly thunder began to surge violently through his meridians, like a rampaging beast.

Li Yundong’s heart jolted. He knew he couldn't survive the tribulation on sheer strength alone, but he hadn't expected that merely the first bolt, barely a glancing blow, would render him immobile!

Not far away, Ziyuan watched Li Yundong collapse, and her heart trembled violently. A voice seemed to shout loudly in her mind: He is going to die. Doesn't that mean Master's prophetic poem was wrong? If he dies, what will become of me?

Ziyuan had lived her entire life under the protection of her Master. She could not fathom what it would be like if the very foundations of her deeply held beliefs were utterly overturned.

Impossible. Master cannot be wrong. He will not die!

A thought flashed through Ziyuan’s mind, and she instinctively flew forward, holding the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk in her palm. She lifted it towards the sky, and the disk began to spin rapidly, emitting bursts of golden light. This golden light surged out like a tide, instantly engulfing both her and Li Yundong.

The very instant they vanished, a bolt of thunder descended from the sky and struck the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk heavily, causing it to shudder violently and the golden light to flare much brighter.

Li Yundong felt a flash before his eyes, temporarily blinded. He instinctively closed them. When he reopened them, he found himself inside the small-thousand world of the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk.

Although the lightning energy inside him was raging wildly, he suppressed his chaotic breathing and managed to ask, "What are you doing here?"

Ziyuan had intervened to help Li Yundong face the Heavenly Tribulation without any certainty that they would survive; if they failed, it meant both of them would perish. At this moment of life and death, even Ziyuan’s usual calmness was broken by sweat beading on her forehead. She told Li Yundong in a deep voice, "Recover your strength and heal. Don't worry about anything else."

Li Yundong gave Ziyuan a look heavy with unspoken meaning, but ultimately closed his eyes and began mobilizing the energy within him to fight the lightning power.

The marvelous nature of the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk lay in its ability not only to capture an opponent’s spiritual energy to create a simulated human body within the small-thousand world, but also to draw an entire person into its private dimension.

Both Li Yundong and Ziyuan’s physical bodies were now safely sequestered within the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk. Any subsequent lightning strikes from the outside world would first have to damage the disk before they could strike down the two occupants.

Ziyuan watched Li Yundong settle into meditation, then looked up with deep worry at the state of the small-thousand world around them.

Every time a bolt of Heavenly Tribulation struck the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk from the larger world outside, this small-thousand world would shudder violently, shaking the very earth!

Ziyuan’s heart involuntarily trembled with each shock. She didn't know if the disk could withstand it, or how many strikes it could endure.

The lightning bolts struck one after another, and the small-thousand world shook with each impact. Gradually, Ziyuan noticed fissures beginning to appear in the sky above this world. Large patches of green trees on the towering mountains began to wither, and with every tremor of the world, high peaks collapsed and the earth cracked open.

"This is bad! The small-thousand world of the Purple Gold Luo Jade Disk is collapsing!" Ziyuan thought with a jolt of alarm.