On the evening of the twenty-second day, the spiritual energy vortex inside Lin Zhiyue's dantian finally expanded to its limit.
The ice and wind dual spiritual energy surged through her meridians like a tide. With every completed cycle, the vortex condensed a bit more, and the stream of spiritual energy at the edges gradually transformed from a misty state to a liquid form, pooling into a clear, pristine spiritual spring at the center of her dantian.
The moment she reached great perfection in the third layer of the 《Wind and Frost Void-Returning Formula》, the barrier shattered with a resounding crash. Liquid spiritual energy gushed from her dantian, filling every meridian in her body. Her divine sense suddenly expanded, allowing her to clearly perceive even the ants crawling on the courtyard wall.
She opened her eyes, just about to let out a long breath—
—when the sky suddenly darkened.
The twilight was pressed down by a layer of purplish-black clouds, within which arcs of electricity faintly rolled. Low thunder rumbled from the deep heart of the clouds, and the aura of the entire side peak suddenly froze.
Lin Zhiyue looked up at the rapidly approaching tribulation cloud, her mind buzzing.
There were no lightning tribulations for the Foundation Establishment Stage. This was basic common knowledge that Elder Wan had lectured on eight hundred times during morning lessons at Tiance Palace. Only forming a Golden Core or reaching the Nascent Soul Stage required the tempering of heavenly lightning. Foundation Establishment was merely a threshold, not nearly enough to trigger a resonance with heaven and earth.
Then what was this purplish-black, lightning-coiled tribulation cloud hovering directly above her courtyard?
Her body reacted faster than her brain. With a single thought, the parts of her Dragon-Riding Dreamscape set instantly covered her body—the dark green scales clicked into place, the bracers fitted snugly, and the cape unfurled behind her shoulders. The moment she donned the gear, a dark green spiritual light glowed from every single scale, condensing into a translucent protective barrier around her body. The Wandering Dragon Pendant at her waist vibrated, and the circulation speed of her spiritual energy suddenly surged.
The next second, a figure appeared at the courtyard gate.
Qi Yan arrived even faster than she had anticipated. The hem of his red and black robes fluttered from the wind of his teleportation. The moment he stepped into the courtyard, he looked up at the churning purplish-black tribulation cloud. Without a hint of hesitation, he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“Let's go.”
Before Lin Zhiyue could even react, she was enveloped in a warm stream of spiritual energy. Her feet left the ground, the wind howled past her ears, and her surroundings blurred into smeared streaks of light and shadow.
The weightlessness of the teleportation made her stomach churn. By the time her feet touched the ground again, she was standing on a barren mountain peak. Beneath her feet lay exposed blue rock, and the surrounding area was wide open, completely devoid of any cover.
Qi Yan released his grip and took three steps back, looking up at the sky.
The tribulation cloud followed closely behind, its thick purplish-black mass churning as it pressed down less than a hundred yards above the peak. Arcs of electricity crackled along the edges of the cloud.
Qi Yan drew the pitch-black long saber from his waist. The moment the blade left its scabbard, crimson spiritual energy erupted from the edge, spreading out to form a semi-circular flame barrier above the peak.
He stood beneath the barrier, hand resting on the hilt, staring up at the lightning flashing in the heart of the cloud. The flames reflected in his eyes, causing two clusters of crimson light to dance in his pitch-black pupils.
With a deafening roar, the first purple lightning bolt struck.
The bolt of lightning was as thick as a child's arm, its entire length a mix of purple and gold. When it struck, Lin Zhiyue felt the entire mountain peak shudder.
Qi Yan's flame barrier trembled violently the moment the lightning bolt crashed into it. The crimson spiritual energy was pressed downward by the purple lightning, bending like a taut bow drawn to its limit, but it did not break.
By the time the aftershock penetrated the barrier, it had been weakened by more than half. When it hit the protective light screen of her Dragon-Riding Dreamscape, the force of the impact slid her back three steps. Her feet left two deep gouges in the blue rock, and a shower of fine electrical sparks crackled across the surface of her dark green scale armor.
She managed to steady herself. Her chest felt a bit tight and her teeth ached from clenching them, but she was otherwise unharmed.
The second purple lightning bolt came even faster than the first. The bolt was nearly twice as thick, and when it struck, a deafening explosion erupted from the clouds, turning the entire sky a brilliant purple-gold.
With a flick of his wrist, Qi Yan caused the flame barrier to churn into layer upon layer of fiery vortexes the instant the lightning struck, dispersing the impact of the bolt in waves. This time, the barrier did not buckle, but Qi Yan's knuckles went slightly white from gripping his saber.
When the aftershock passed through the barrier and struck Lin Zhiyue, she heard the sound of scales cracking. A fine hairline crack split the front of her Dragon-Riding Dreamscape chestplate, leaving a scorched black mark on the silver-gray scales. The protective light screen flickered and dimmed significantly.
The force of the strike brought her down to one knee. She had forgotten to even draw her sword, using her right hand to prop herself up against the blue rock. The stone beneath her palm was scorched with a spiderweb pattern of burn marks from the electrical discharge.
It hurt. Half of her body was completely numb, and her ears rang as if a hundred cicadas were buzzing inside her head at once.
She looked up at the sky. The purplish-black tribulation cloud was brewing its final strike. Deep within the clouds, a blinding purple-gold light shone, brighter than the first two strikes combined. The thunder rumbled with a heavy, low sound, like mountains on the verge of collapsing.
As the third purple lightning bolt struck, Qi Yan moved. He stepped in front of her in a single stride, condensing his flame barrier to its absolute limit overhead. His crimson spiritual energy erupted skyward like gushing lava, colliding head-on with the purple-gold bolt.
A blinding white light exploded, illuminating the entire peak as if it were broad daylight. Lin Zhiyue squinted, unable to see anything. She only felt a scorching gale press down, pinning her against the ground.
The lightning bolt shattered, and purple-gold electrical arcs scattered in all directions, sinking into the surrounding rocks and the air.
The flame barrier also shattered, and fragments of crimson spiritual energy rained down like sparks across the peak, burning holes into more than a dozen spots on the blue rock.
Qi Yan stood before her. His red and black silhouette became clear once more as the lightning faded. A section of his left sleeve was missing, its edges scorched and curled, and a long, thin electrical burn mark had appeared on his exposed arm.
After the third bolt fell, the tribulation cloud quickly dispersed. The purplish-black hue faded away, and twilight rolled back in, leaving only a faint sliver of sunset on the horizon.
Lin Zhiyue lay on the blue rock, panting for a long while. The ringing in her ears gradually faded, and sensation slowly returned to her numb limbs.
Her Dragon-Riding Dreamscape chestplate now had three cracks, the left bracer was half-shattered, and the edges of her cape were riddled with scorched holes. However, the core protective light screen had not completely collapsed. She wiggled her fingers and tried to stand up, but her legs gave out and she knelt back down.
Then, she felt herself being lifted by something.
Qi Yan bent down and scooped her up, sliding one arm beneath her shoulders and the other under her knees, lifting her into a bridal carry.
His movements could hardly be called gentle, even bordering on stiff—the muscles in his arms were wound tight, and wisps of white smoke still drifted from the burn wounds on his knuckles—but his hold was incredibly steady.
Leaning against his chest, Lin Zhiyue caught the scent of burnt fabric mixed with the unique warmth of flame spiritual energy. In her thoroughly dazed mind, her last coherent thought was: Is Master actually a lava spirit in human form?
She could barely keep her eyes open. She only remembered the wind whistling past her ears, and the twilight shifting from bright to dark and back to bright again. After a while, familiar voices echoed nearby—it sounded like Chu Zhixun shouting something in the distance, followed by another voice chiming in, “Am I seeing things, or is Master carrying Junior Sister?” and a final voice softly noting, “Junior Sister's chestplate is cracked. It needs to be taken to the Spiritual Artifact Pavilion for repairs.”
She blearily fluttered her eyelids open and saw three faces with vastly different expressions standing at the courtyard gate. Chu Zhixun's jaw was practically on the floor, Cen Xi'er was covering her mouth, and Xiao Yuan stood at the very back, a rare look of shock on his usually expressionless face.
Lin Zhiyue wanted to greet them, but when she opened her mouth, she could only produce a mumbled syllable. Without sparing the trio a glance, Qi Yan carried her straight into the courtyard, set her down against the wall on a meditation cushion, and leaned over to inspect the cracks on her chestplate. Straightening up, he said, “Get it repaired at the Spiritual Artifact Pavilion tomorrow. For today, rest and recover.”
Then, he turned and walked away. As he reached the courtyard gate, the three blocked his path. Chu Zhixun stammered, “Master... Junior Sister... that lightning just now...”
“Foundation Establishment lightning tribulation,” Qi Yan threw back those four words and left, leaving the three standing at the gate staring at each other in bewilderment.
Leaning against the wall, Lin Zhiyue listened to Chu Zhixun's howling of “How can there be a lightning tribulation for Foundation Establishment?!” and Cen Xi'er's scolding of “Shut up and let's go back first!” outside, a slow smile curving her lips.
Every inch of her body ached, the cracks in her chestplate chafed uncomfortably against her undergarments, and half of her arm was still numb. However, inside her dantian, a pool of interwoven icy-blue and silver-white spiritual energy was rotating steadily, several times denser than her spiritual energy during the Qi Refining Stage.
She closed her eyes and smiled.
She had established her foundation. On the twenty-second day.
She would fix the chestplate later. She still had ten Premium Draw Tickets and the Forest Spirit's Verses waiting for her.
She would worry about it tomorrow. Rolling over to curl up on the meditation cushion, her vision went black, and she fell fast asleep.
What she did not know was how much of a stir her Foundation Establishment lightning tribulation had caused within the sect. From then on, the title of “First Person to Reach Foundation Establishment at Fifteen” quietly fell upon her shoulders.
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