Xu Yi merely despaired for a few moments before quickly regaining her spirits.
She had waited two hundred years to escape the secret realm; she would not fall here.
She held her few precious treasures in her hand, and unceremoniously stuffed all the pills from her storage bag into her mouth, regardless of their efficacy.
Having done all this, a beam of deep purple lightning descended like a meteor, striking towards Xu Yi.
Xu Yi’s scalp tingled, and she could only grit her teeth, raise her artifact, and block with all her might.
Rumble—
Xu Yi’s form was completely swallowed by the dazzling lightning.
…
The disciples of the Xuanji Sect heard the thunderous roar that echoed through the heavens and looked towards the sound. They were surprised and whispered amongst themselves, realizing the thunder hadn't come from within the sect.
"Is the person undergoing tribulation outside the sect’s protective formation one of us from the Xuanji Sect?"
"Probably not, otherwise why choose to undergo tribulation outside the sect?"
"But if it's not someone from our Xuanji Sect, how could they be here undergoing tribulation?"
"There are still people who undergo tribulation without a lightning-attracting array these days? Are they perhaps a legendary ascetic?"
"…"
The disciples of the Xuanji Sect felt genuine admiration for this cultivator who dared to undergo tribulation in a place without a lightning-attracting array and without any protection.
A thousand years ago, Immortal Jinghong had developed the lightning-attracting array to aid cultivators in their tribulations.
Since then, even the poorest rogue cultivators would grit their teeth and purchase an array disk engraved with lightning-attracting array patterns when they underwent tribulation.
Cultivators who underwent tribulation without a lightning-attracting array were now rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Since they rarely encountered one, their interest soared. They all put down their tasks, found a place with a wide view, and watched from afar.
…
Ji Buwang stood in the void, gazing at the area where thunderclouds were rolling.
Due to the violent lightning power and the disordered space laws, he could not discern the face of the person undergoing tribulation.
However, he was certain that the person was from the Xuanji Sect, as the aura of the Xuanji Sect's cultivation technique was very pure. They were at least a personal disciple of an elder.
At this moment, he harbored the same doubts as the other disciples: why wasn't this disciple undergoing tribulation within the Xuanji Sect? The sect’s protective formation could help them share half the lightning power.
Now that the lightning tribulation had begun, he didn't feel it appropriate to forcibly intervene. He could only restrain his mind and wait patiently.
In the deep pit formed by the lightning strikes, Xu Yi lay scorched black at the bottom, smoke still rising from her hair. Her daoist robe was tattered, and the artifact in her hand had been pulverized by the lightning tribulation.
"Pfft."
Xu Yi spat out a mouthful of blood, and weakly opened her eyelids. Looking at the increasingly heavy thunderclouds in the sky, she closed her eyes in resignation.
She was tired; let it be whatever it would be.
However, as soon as she closed her eyes, she remembered being confined in the secret realm for two hundred years, with no way to survive.
She abruptly sat up straight, ignoring the gush of blood from her throat, and stubbornly gazed at the thunderclouds, stating with difficulty: "Two hundred years, I endured for two hundred years… I refuse to believe I will die here."
Her response was an unfeeling lightning strike.
This strike, imbued with supreme might, almost shattered Xu Yi’s Golden Core.
She curled into a ball in pain, but her hand tightly clutched a handful of scorched earth, refusing to let go.
There was only one strike left…
As long as she survived this strike, she would live.
The hope of survival injected a ray of light into her dim eyes.
The Golden Core within her body circulated at an even faster speed, and threads of spiritual energy flowed into her limbs and bones, repairing her injured body.
The thunderclouds in the sky churned more violently. The deep purple lightning power was already turning ink black, the color change foreshadowing the extraordinary power of the final lightning tribulation.
However, Xu Yi could no longer perceive these changes. She had only one thought in her mind: live, she must live.
Seeing the aura beneath the thunderclouds growing weaker, Ji Buwang's brow furrowed slightly.
As the Sect Master of the Xuanji Sect, he could not allow any disciple to perish before him.
Watching the tribulation that had been brewing for a long time and was about to descend, Ji Buwang flicked his finger, and a spiritual light the size of a grain of rice broke through the air, vanishing into Xu Yi's body in the blink of an eye.
Xu Yi felt a warmth spread through her body, and her muddled consciousness suddenly cleared. Without time to ponder how her body had undergone such a change, she quickly guided the spiritual energy of unknown origin to converge in her Golden Core.
She wanted to seize this opportunity to break her core and form a nascent soul!
While Xu Yi was busy forming her nascent soul, Ji Buwang looked towards the thunderclouds with a solemn expression, his sect master robe with silver trim fluttering in the air.
He had interfered with someone's tribulation without authorization, and the thunderclouds had fixed their gaze upon him.
Indeed, in the next moment, a lightning bolt as thick as a sky-reaching pillar crashed towards Ji Buwang.
Ji Buwang formed hand seals, condensing a brilliant point of light between his fingers.
He retreated backward while extending a finger to point at the lightning.
In an instant, the two attacks of different powers collided fiercely, and surging waves of energy swept outwards.
Ji Buwang's speed was fast, but a thread-like lightning power hidden in the void was even faster.
Ji Buwang felt a tingling sensation in his fingertip. In the next moment, his expression changed, and his eyes took on a faint purple hue.
Sensing the lightning power rampaging within his body, Ji Buwang cast one last glance in the direction of the thunderclouds before turning and flying back into the Xuanji Sect.
To prevent his cultivation from falling, he had to expel the lightning power within his body in the shortest possible time.
Before going into seclusion, he sent a message to Elder Qingfeng, instructing him to bring back the disciple undergoing tribulation outside and to temporarily preside over sect affairs.
After making these arrangements, Ji Buwang activated the barrier of the Central Hall and retreated within.
Elder Qingfeng, who had just descended the mountain, received the message and changed his course, heading towards the direction of the thunderclouds.
He who has eaten the fruit of a person’s hand must surely feel the weight of their hand.
The tasks arranged for him by his sect nephew, the Sect Master, had to be done perfectly. Only then would he have the confidence to visit again to sponge off him— no, to visit and share his hardships.
By the time Elder Qingfeng arrived at the tribulation site, the thunderclouds had dispersed. Beneath the vast, deep pit lay a disciple whose appearance was unrecognizable.
He stepped forward to check and found that the person had successfully formed a nascent soul and was not seriously injured. With a sweep of his sleeve, he took the person back.
Upon reaching the Xuanji Sect, he immediately threw the person into the medicine hall and left, dusting off his hands.
The people in the medicine hall, seeing the person's miserable state, guessed that he was the formidable individual who had caused a stir by undergoing tribulation outside the sect. They quickly gathered to examine his injuries and reached the same conclusion as Elder Qingfeng. Reassured, they arranged for him to rest in a quiet room.
Xu Yi felt as if she had had a long, long dream. In the dream, she was being chased and struck by a ferocious thundercloud that she couldn't escape no matter where she ran.
When she woke from her dream, her eyes were still filled with a deep sense of grievance.
However, not long after, that grievance was replaced by surprise.
She looked around the somewhat strange room in astonishment, momentarily unsure if she was still dreaming.