A single thought flashed through everyone’s mind… The Saint Sovereign Heavenly Tribulation—how could she, a mere Second-Tier Venerable, possibly endure it? She’d likely be reduced to a wisp of smoke the moment it touched her…
Madam Miao’s eyes flew wide open, and with a sudden moan, her body went limp as she collapsed…
Miao Huanyu stared blankly at the pitch-black sky left behind after the blinding lightning vanished. He violently squeezed his eyes shut, tilted his head up to the heavens, and finally, two streams of hot tears spilled down his temples, “Little Miao…”
Cao Guofeng, Bai Qifeng, and the seven others stood with their mouths agape, frozen like statues. In every eye lay a landscape of gray despair: It was over! Jun Ye, “You foolish boy,” he muttered, “So foolish!” “No!”
Miao Jingyun roared, his body shooting out like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, ready to dash outward!
“Hold! Just watch!”
The one who seized him was precisely the Fourth-Tier Saint Venerable who had earlier secured the Tongtian Jade. His cultivation was the highest among those present. His eyes were fixed intently on the sky as he slowly spoke, “The tribulation clouds haven't dispersed! What are you rushing for!”
“The tribulation clouds haven’t dispersed? They haven’t dispersed? They haven’t dispersed! How is that possible?”
Miao Jingyun froze, staring straight up at the sky.
Three sentences, identical in wording, yet encapsulating three distinct shifts in mentality: confusion, disbelief, and finally, utter shock, right up to the point of utter inability to believe!
The eighth bolt, imbued with astonishing power, had concluded. Under such a terrifying display of lightning, Miao Xiaomiao surely had no chance of survival, yet why hadn't the tribulation clouds vanished?
The sky roared with gale-force winds and pouring rain, the darkness deepening! Indeed, not only had the tribulation clouds not dispersed, but they had grown denser, seemingly drawing closer to the ground…
All of this proved one thing: the Heavenly Tribulation was not over; it was continuing…
A grating, high-pitched hiss echoed in the mid-air, and a thick bolt of lightning began to coalesce. The moment it took shape, it impatiently tore away from the clouds and plummeted downward with brutal force…
Immediately following it, one after another, bolts of lightning began to brew within the cloud layer, descending incessantly. There was absolutely no buffer time left for the one undergoing the tribulation. It was as if the heavens themselves had been enraged, unleashing dozens of tribulation thunders in the span of mere breaths!
Everyone from the Illusionary Mansion was instantly paralyzed!
“Wha—What is going on? These subsequent bolts of lightning are thicker, stronger, and more powerful than the last! By the time the later ones arrived, almost every bolt was the thickness of a water vat, slamming down with overwhelming force—one after another, ceaselessly falling! “If there were a great mountain where the tribulation was happening, it would likely already be scoured down to barren earth by now…” “Or perhaps a lake, an abyss…” Then what of Miao Xiaomiao, undergoing her trial there? Could she possibly still hold on?”
Although the scene before them was dire to the extreme, the fact that the Heavenly Tribulation had not dispersed meant one thing: Miao Xiaomiao was still alive, still facing the trial!
“I… I must not be dreaming, right?”
Miao Jingyun stared blankly at the sky, lost in an abyss of disbelief. He instinctively reached up and pinched his beard. The old man’s face twitched painfully, yet he seemed oblivious, violently pinching his own thigh before turning around, “This isn’t real…”
Only upon turning did he realize that everyone present wore the exact same expression… perhaps even worse. Their eyes were locked, hundreds of cross-eyed stares focused in one spot. “Especially those Saint Venerable powerhouses—they were utterly stunned: Even a Saint Venerable-level expert would struggle to deal with these later bolts of lightning! How did Miao Xiaomiao survive them?”
Why was all this happening?
Who was helping her? If the eighth bolt of Saint Sovereign-level lightning could possibly be explained by some Saint Sovereign unexpectedly intervening in Miao Xiaomiao’s tribulation, causing the lightning to mutate, how could these later ones be accounted for? The person undergoing the tribulation was clearly absorbing the mutated lightning firsthand!
These layers of unanswered questions could probably only be addressed after Miao Xiaomiao returned… because even now, no one dared to approach… That was a joke! With the power of this level of lightning, even the Fourth-Tier Saint Venerable would only be able to flee in utter disarray, scorched inside and out, were he to approach now, let alone those below the Saint Venerable level… why would they go? They’d turn to ash immediately upon arrival…
Miao Xiaomiao wept heartbrokenly, forgetting that she was still undergoing the tribulation, forgetting that she stood on the brink of life and death, completely forgetting everything around her. Her Jun Ye had sacrificed himself to save her… The thought sent a wave of profound sorrow rising from her core; she felt her life was meaningless.
“Waaah… I told you not to come, boo hoo… Why wouldn’t you listen to me? If I died, you could still live, but if you’re dead, how am I supposed to live? Tell me, tell me!” Miao Xiaomiao cried with a shattered heart, her small hands unconsciously beating against her own body…
Suddenly, dazzling light flashed again in the mid-air, followed by a crashing bolt of lightning—Miao Xiaomiao immediately stopped crying: What, what is happening now?
Right, Mo Xie died in my place, but the lightning tribulation isn't over yet!
This is fine then! Let me join Jun Ye in the Underworld; we shall meet again at the Yellow Springs!
Miao Xiaomiao sadly closed her eyes, dissolving the meager remaining True Qi she possessed, facing the sudden lightning bolt without resistance… Her only action was to tightly wrap her jade arms around the “corpse” pinning her down…
“BOOM!”
The earth shuddered, but strangely, Miao Xiaomiao, who had resolved to die and completely abandoned resistance, did not turn to ash! In fact, neither of their bodies reacted in the slightest, not even a tremor…
What was going on?
“Uh… So tight… Ease up… You’re squeezing the air out of me. Are you trying to murder your husband?” Miao Xiaomiao’s eyes were wide with astonishment when the “corpse” beneath her suddenly gasped laboriously, puffs of hot air spraying onto her neck, seeming to utter the words with great difficulty…
Miao Xiaomiao’s beautiful eyes instantly rounded. Could it be a reanimated corpse? Impossible…
Miao Xiaomiao steadied her mind and looked towards the sound. She saw a detestable fellow grinning widely, his face suspended just inches from hers. Seeing her wide eyes, he mischievously winked— “Sigh… It seems being struck by lightning… isn’t entirely a bad thing after all.”
The fellow beneath her was still laughing carelessly, looking at Miao Xiaomiao’s expression of utmost shock. The man actually waved a hand, “Hey… Soul, return…”
“You… You… You aren’t dead?”
Miao Xiaomiao’s nerves completely shut down, and she managed to stammer out that single sentence.
“Nonsense. I haven’t won the beauty over yet; how could I bear to die?”
Jun Mo Xie rolled his eyes and declared shamelessly.
“But… But… What is going on? How could such a strange change happen?”
Miao Xiaomiao’s brain gradually rebooted. She slightly lifted her eyelids to glance at the sky; she saw dense bolts of lightning still hurtling towards them, shaking the heavens, but they struck their two bodies without causing any pain or discomfort…
“How should I know what’s happening? Didn’t you say there were only nine bolts of lightning? This is far more than nine; it’s practically ninety!”
Jun Mo Xie innocently rolled his eyelids, then suddenly seemed to realize something, “Oh, I know now…”
“What? What do you know?” Miao Xiaomiao eagerly pressed.
“Remember I told you about the couplet last time? Heaven probably felt I explained it unclearly and decided to demonstrate it personally for you,” Jun Mo Xie licked his lips and pointed to the sky, “See? Isn't this ‘The thunder is the war drum, the lightning is the banner; who dares to fight?’ Do you understand now? How vivid! How lively!”
“Understand your oversized head!”
Miao Xiaomiao immediately retorted with feigned anger.
This fellow was truly heartless to the core. At such a critical moment, he was spinning it as Heaven explaining a couplet…
Did Heaven have that much leisure time?
Forget it. His own strength was low; he likely didn’t grasp the seriousness of the situation. She needed to focus on handling the lightning tribulation.
But how to handle it? She was pinned beneath her dear adversary, their bodies in near total contact—all the parts that should touch, shouldn't touch, could touch, and couldn't touch, were all making contact. Although Miao Xiaomiao knew their situation was incredibly precarious and she shouldn't be indulging in fanciful thoughts, she couldn't help but blush, her eyes darting away, unwilling to look at Young Master Jun. Avoiding his gaze was one thing, but she could still distinctly feel the robust male body upon her, a distinct masculine scent wafting toward her. Miao Xiaomiao suddenly felt weak all over, her heart pounding wildly, forgetting everything…
It seemed she had even forgotten the major issue of undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation… It even seemed the mud on the ground had transformed into a warm bed—Oh dear, what was I thinking? I’m so ashamed, so ashamed, whimper…
“Whether your oversized head understands or not is irrelevant; you just need to understand one thing,” Jun Mo Xie looked at the panicked, trembling red lips beneath his face, and a sudden stirring in his lower abdomen extinguished the words he had intended to say…
“Un… Understand what?” Miao Xiaomiao painstakingly shifted her little head, her eyes flickering away, refusing to meet Young Master Jun’s gaze, her face growing redder and redder…
“You just need to understand this…”
Jun Mo Xie could hold back no longer. He lowered his head sharply and fiercely claimed the delicate… lovely red lips beneath him…
“Mmmph…” Miao Xiaomiao was startled. Her first thought was: This fellow is so reckless! This is the critical moment of the Heavenly Tribulation! The girl finally remembered she was undergoing a tribulation! Her second thought was, ‘How could he be so bold’—right here! Uh-hmm… (To be continued. For the rest of the story, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)