“Where do you think you’re going?”
Zhou Wuwei had teleported two hundred li, fleeing with all his might in a desperate bid to return to the Xuandu Sect and beg the Ancestor for help. But then, a cold voice rang out.
In the next second, the space ten meters behind him was torn open like a sheet of paper. Behind it lay a pitch-black void. A cold figure slowly stepped out, every step folding space beneath her feet to serve as a stepping stone. Every moving thing in heaven and earth instantly froze in place.
The clouds, the leaves, the rivers—and even the fleeing Zhou Wuwei.
“Ah...” Terror overflowed from his trembling pupils.
How could this be! He couldn't move!
Who on earth was she?!
Zhou Wuwei, now immobilized, finally understood the suffocating fear Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai felt earlier when they were treated like ants. Yet, even now, he dared not believe that the person he had encountered was the head of the Aptitude Ranking; his suspicions leaned toward those powerful figures from the Central Province.
Swish!
Behind him, Wen Li released Hold On from her hand. The blade swept out, instantly severing Zhou Wuwei’s head.
Blood sprayed, and the head tumbled through the high sky to a distant spot.
His eyes were wide open, refusing to close even in death.
No, there was still a soul.
Wen Li made a grasping motion with her right hand. A transparent soul immediately flew out from the headless corpse and knelt before her, begging for mercy.
“Senior, spare me! Senior, spare me! This junior... I didn't know they were Senior’s esteemed disciples! I have offended you greatly, but fortunately, Senior arrived in time, and I didn’t truly pose a life-threatening danger to your disciples! Please, Senior, spare my life for the sake of the Western Province Daoist Alliance!”
As contemptuous and ruthless as he had been toward Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai earlier, he was just as terrified and humble now.
He dared not provoke or offend a person who could decapitate a Soul Formation cultivator’s body with a single move.
“You want to use the Western Province Daoist Alliance to pressure me?”
Standing high in the sky, Wen Li narrowed her eyes. She walked toward him step by step, space folding beneath her with each stride to serve as her platform. Ripples of spiritual energy appeared one after another. Zhou Wuwei’s pupils shook violently. Just what was this person’s cultivation level?
Wen Li’s expression was cold and indolent. “Then do you know who the Western Province Daoist Alliance listens to?”
“...What?!” Could it be?!
Zhou Wuwei’s eyes bulged as he stared at her in disbelief, his scalp tingling. “You... you are truly Wen Li, the head of the Aptitude Ranking!”
That person had lived for ten thousand years, and her cultivation was profound and unfathomable. Why would she appear here?!
“Ahhh! Senior, please spare my life! Ahhh—”
Wen Li did not answer him. She curled her fingers, and a streak of flame instantly began to sear his soul, making him howl and roll in agony that was worse than death. Once he quieted down, she collected his soul directly into her storage bag.
She immediately flew back to Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai’s side and waved her hand.
Tearing through space once more, she quickly left with the two of them.
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Soon, the familiar sound of rolling celestial thunder filled this world again.
A mass of dark clouds, interlaced with purple and orange, rapidly gathered in the sky. Lightning flickered and thundered incessantly, nearly illuminating the entire world.
In the Central Province.
Inside the holy altar forbidden ground of the Divine Ruins Temple.
“Hey! Why has this lightning tribulation returned?! It just destroyed my cave residence two years ago! My new one hasn't even gotten warm yet!”
“Quick! Issue the order to activate the defensive array! Defend against the falling meteors!”
...
In the Southern Province.
At the Tingyin Pavilion.
Wen Li directly handed over Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai, who had fainted from the strain of spatial force, to Bai Yu.
“Since you’re about to die anyway, supplementing Xin Jiuxian’s soul is already a task; you might as well help my two disciples recover while you're at it.”
“You... you’ve recovered?”
Inside the cave residence, the old man with the ethereal soul stared in disbelief at the person who had suddenly torn through space and intruded despite his barrier.
Horrifying pressure rippled around Wen Li’s body as she controlled the very fluctuations of space with every breath and movement.
Wen Li didn't reply. She casually tore space open again, rushing to the three Third-Grade Cultivation Kingdoms that surrounded the Fengyin Kingdom.
She had thought of a way. She could protect the Fengyin Kingdom from being annexed or destroyed by other kingdoms without having to expend her energy to create a Mid-Stage Soul Formation cultivator.
In the Qisu Kingdom.
Wen Li manifested high in the sky, her expression sharp. A thread of Divine Sense instantly swept across the entire Qisu Kingdom, locking onto every Soul Formation cultivator.
Found them.
“Come out.”
Wen Li waved her right hand. An old man instantly teleported from a secluded mountain peak to appear before her, caught in her powerful grip from a distance.
“You... who are you?!”
The Qisu Kingdom Ancestor, a Mid-Stage Soul Formation cultivator, looked at her in shock. “Did Your Excellency come from the Central Province?”
“Ah!”
Wen Li didn't answer. A streak of dark red spiritual energy radiated from her left palm, instantly extracting the Soul Blood from between the old man's eyebrows.
“Protect the Fengyin Kingdom. If it falls, you die.”
After taking the Soul Blood, Wen Li vanished. The Qisu Kingdom Ancestor fell heavily from the sky, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“Pfft.”
Only after they felt the pressure depart did the other three Early-Stage Soul Formation cultivators dare to emerge and rush to his side.
“Ancestor, are you alright?”
“Who was that? To have such terrifying cultivation... Could it be the Central Province?”
“That person must be from the Central Province.”
Deep shock filled the eyes of the Qisu Kingdom Ancestor. In the thousand years since he had reached the Soul Formation realm, he had never experienced such a tense moment of life and death, where he was handled like an ant at someone’s whim.
In the Langxing Kingdom.
The same thing was happening. Three seconds.
Wen Li dragged out the Langxing Kingdom Ancestor and extracted his Soul Blood. Leaving behind the words, “Protect the Fengyin Kingdom; if it falls, you die,” she quickly departed.
In the Zhaoyu Kingdom.
“Protect the Fengyin Kingdom. If it falls, you die.”
“You... who are you?! I am a Southern Province Soul Formation cultivator protected by the Southern Province Daoist Alliance! Threatening me like this will earn you a kill order from the alliance!”
The Zhaoyu Kingdom Ancestor refused to submit.
Wen Li’s expression grew impatient. She tightened her right hand, prepared to give him a couple of slaps.
Boom!!!
Suddenly, an earth-shaking sound of thunder erupted across the sky of the Southern Province.
The previously clear, cloudless sky was instantly shrouded by a layer of thick, heavy clouds, resembling a dormant giant beast lunging from the horizon.
The entire sky seemed to enter the end of the world. The sun was obscured by dark clouds, and the vast expanse of black clouds loomed overhead like a clamoring pack of dragons. Thick, snake-like bolts of purple-red lightning interlaced and flickered within.
The lightning almost turned the pitch-black Southern Province into a strobe light.
The living beings of the Southern Province—whether they were cultivators gallivanting across mountains and rivers, commoners working in the fields, or sentient plants and demon beasts—all looked up at the sky in shock and fear.
“What’s happening?! Is someone undergoing a tribulation?!”
“No, this doesn't look like a tribulation for a realm breakthrough!”
“This is bad! Quick, set up arrays and take cover!”
Weaker creatures were so terrified by the horrifying pressure from the sky that they trembled and hid inside caves.
Deep within the dark clouds, blinding flashes of lightning gathered strength like angry dragon-snakes weaving through the sky. A massive roaring sound hissed and howled through the air.
“Ahhh!!!”
Some bold cultivators tried to approach the thunder zone to investigate, only to be instantly struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, falling from the sky like kites with severed strings.
Within the Tingyin Pavilion, all five Soul Formation cultivators looked up in astonishment.
How could there be such a terrifying Heavenly Tribulation pressure?
Xin Feiliu thought of something and her expression shifted. “This is bad!”
She immediately flew toward the outskirts of the Tingyin Pavilion.
Bai Yu could not see the heavens’ wrath from inside his cave residence, but he could clearly sense the terrifying power of that lightning tribulation. He looked at Xie Tinglan and Yao Dai lying unconscious on the ice bed and sighed softly.
“To think she would do this for you...”
Zongzheng Huangyue and Hua Cishu, who were cultivating among the mountains of the Tingyin Pavilion, also noticed the disturbance. Both of them looked on with surprised expressions.
Zongzheng Huangyue in particular furrowed her brows in worry. Master was away; it would be best if this lightning tribulation had nothing to do with her. Otherwise, such a massive and terrifying tribulation...
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