Shen Yuan frowned, his tribulation was not even 1/10th as strong as this during his time. “Stay calm,” he said as his voice reached Ling Yue, who was at the center of the clearing. “Remember Bing Rong’s advice.”
In the clearing, Ling Yue calmed herself down. The wind whipped around her, carrying charged Qi, which was slowly filling with lightning Qi. Her Shadow Fox Bloodline manifested as a swirling darkness filled with flickers of cold light that wrapped around her as a battle armor.
She slowly floated above the scorched ground, her dark, Qi-formed armor rippled with potent energy.
A King Grade longsword materialized in her hand—an elegant, black blade etched with faint runic patterns that gleamed purple under the churning storm clouds. She took a deep breath, steadying her racing heart.
From the ground below, Shen Yuan and Bing Rong looked ahead. Shen Yuan looked at her battle armor and opened his system window.
[Name: Ling Yue]
[Title: Ancestor, Shadow Fox…]
[Race: Shadow Fox]
[Cultivation Base: Half-Step Dao Core Forming Realm]
[Bloodline: Earthly Rank Shadow Fox] Enjoy exclusive chapters from My Virtual Library Empire
[Physique: None]
[Relationship: Subordinate of Shen Yuan, Leader of the Assassin Squad.]
‘Hmm, Earthly Rank Bloodline is not bad at all. But its potential is not that high as well. No wonder she couldn’t break through to the Dao Core Forming Realm after so long in this area.’ He thought while looking over her information.
[Her potential is not really low, but due to the limited resources she got as well as the harsh environment of the cultivation world, she didn’t manage to lay down a solid enough foundation in her younger years and stagnated on Dao Core Forming Realm.]
Shen Yuan thought over Yue Lan’s words for a second before glancing up to see Ling Yue.
The oppressive weight of tribulation pressed on everyone, but Shen Yuan only felt it as a light breeze. It might be due to his bloodline, his past experience with tribulation, or his absorption of tribulation thunder.
However, the one who felt the greatest pressure was Ling Yue, who stood at the center of it all.
The sky above churned violently as it brewed lightning within. Ling Yue looked at the sky intently, holding her breath for the first strike.
In the legends she heard, everyone faced a Nine Lightning Tribulation at the barrier of the Mortal Tribulation Realm. Some gifted cultivators also faced bigger tribulations depending on their talent or potential.
There was a certain legend of a person named Jiao Heng, who had received a massive Nine Heavenly Thunder Tribulation. The tribulation was so massive that it spanned for over a thousand miles and turned the entire sky golden.
But all records about him later seemed to have been deliberately destroyed by someone, as no one managed to find further details about someone so talented who was born in the Eastern Desolate Region.
But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about all this stuff. What she needed to do was to focus on her own tribulation.
It was azure in color and spanned over five kilometers with Ling Yue at the center. Soon, the clouds rumbled before a twisting column of azure lightning tore down from the clouds.
It headed straight for Ling Yue, who raised her sword in a defensive stance. Her bloodline armor made from swirling darkness glimmered with Qi as the lightning descended on top of her.
Boom!
It directly clashed with her sword before running up her sword and striking her body, which made her skid backward in the air for a bit before she stabilized herself. ‘That wasn’t so bad,’ she thought, looking at the churning clouds.
But she knew the first strike was always the easiest to overcome. She raised an eyebrow as she felt the lingering lightning on her body flow through her meridians and head straight to her merging core.
Her eyes widened in horror as she thought it was going to strike down the fusion, but what happened pleasantly surprised her as the lightning baptized her cores, increased their purity, and sped up the fusion.
From below, Shen Yuan calmly gazed at Ling Yue, but his clenched fist showed otherwise how nervous he was. Bing Rong placed a hand on his shoulder. “Have some trust in Ling Yue, she won’t fall to a mere tribulation.”
He nodded without turning his head.
Ling Yue took a deep breath and circulated her Qi, speeding up the fusion. And when the lightning finally receded completely from her body, she exhaled a shuddering breath. ‘One strike… eight more to go.’
The sky above churned again, and soon the heavens sent down the second strike with a crushing force. The lightning, which rained down this time, went through the air with a zoom towards Ling Yue.
She hurriedly raised her sword before utilizing one of her defensive techniques to form a barrier in front of her. But all was futile as the barrier only managed to stop the tribulation lightning for mere seconds before it fell down on her sword.
Ling Yue gritted her teeth as the lightning nearly doubled in strength this time. She held on strong as the lightning continued pushing her back. But soon, it lost its strength and dispersed, not before sending some nourishing lightning toward Ling Yue’s dantian.
Shen Yuan, who saw the entire scene, felt his eye twitching. ‘Why the fuck was heaven treating me as a bastard child and didn’t give me any nourishing lightning?’
[Because you are a bastard child, haha.]
Yue Lan didn’t give up on the opportunity to make fun of him, but seeing him not humoring her, she pouted and said again,
[Because what you did was against the laws of heaven, and Ling Yue is basically just going through heaven’s trials. You tell me if one is trying to slap you and another is just minding her own business, who will you smite down?]
‘…’ Shen Yuan got silent and continued watching the tribulation play out.
Soon the third strike hit her, as she utilized multiple techniques in succession to withstand the strike.
‘Ha… ha… that’s three strikes.’ Ling Yue thought while taking deep breaths. Her clothes were torn from some places due to the tribulation, but her eyes shined brighter than ever as she felt her Core Fusion nearing 40% completion.
The clouds above churned once again, but it was different this time. The clouds seemed to be changing color. The once azure tribulation churned, and faint red motes began forming.
Bing Rong frowned, looking at the tribulation. “This will get troublesome, it’s an elemental tribulation. And from the looks of it, it’s the Fire Lightning Tribulation.”
Shen Yuan clenched his fist while looking at the high sky.
Ling Yue, who also knew about it, tightened her grip on her sword before raising herself higher in the sky to welcome the tribulation.
The sky churned and twisted before the clouds flashed with red and azure lightning. The lightning descended like a red dragon towards Ling Yue.
She utilized multiple barriers before infusing her sword with massive amounts of Qi.
BOOM!
A deafening sound echoed as the red lightning broke all the barriers before striking her sword. Her hands lowered from the sheer pressure as the lightning pressed her down towards the ground.