Lin Zhixue looked at him and remained silent for a moment.
“My Golden Core is about to form. I might form my core today.”
He hadn't expected it to be so fast, but considering her cultivation speed during this period, it didn't seem all that surprising.
Lin Zhixue continued, “I plan to go buy some things needed for the heavenly tribulation in a bit.”
Hearing this, Gu Yanqing suddenly remembered something.
When he had formed his core back then, he had prepared quite a few things beforehand out of concern that the lightning tribulation would be too powerful.
In the end, during the actual tribulation, thanks to his physical body strengthened by his body cultivation technique, he hardly used any of those items.
Lin Zhixue was different, though; she was a pure sword cultivator.
Although her physical body was somewhat stronger than that of ordinary cultivators, it obviously couldn't compare to his.
Leaving those items with him would just be letting them sit unused anyway.
“Wait a moment.” Gu Yanqing turned and walked back into his residence.
Before long, he came out carrying a storage bag.
“Take these.”
Lin Zhixue took the storage bag and probed inside with her divine sense.
Inside were several defensive talismans, a few bottles of pills for recovering spiritual energy, and several items originally prepared for enduring the tribulation.
“I prepared these back when I formed my core,” Gu Yanqing explained. “I didn't end up using them much. You should be able to put them to good use.”
Lin Zhixue didn't speak, merely looking down at the storage bag in her hands.
After a good long moment, she suddenly raised her head.
“What is it?”
“Xiaoyu went to find you yesterday, didn't it?”
Gu Yanqing blinked, his thoughts briefly coming to a halt. He hadn't expected her to suddenly ask this.
“Yes.”
“So that's why you came today?”
Gu Yanqing fell silent for a moment.
It seemed... he had been seen right through by her.
“Yes.”
Lin Zhixue didn't ask further about what Xiaoyu had actually said to him.
She merely lowered her head, looking at the storage bag in her hands.
“Actually...” She paused slightly. “Ever since you came back, I felt like things between us became a bit strange.”
Gu Yanqing didn't say anything, merely listening quietly.
“In the past, whenever I ran into anything, I would come looking for you. I would also ask you about cultivation. But after coming back this time, it felt like I didn't know whether I should come to find you anymore. Now I have my own path of cultivation, and Xiaoyu has been helping me as well.”
She lowered her eyes slightly. “So I felt like... there was nothing I needed to bother you about. And... I didn't know what you were thinking. I was afraid of disturbing you.”
Gu Yanqing still did not speak.
Lin Zhixue raised her head to look at him.
“Did you care?”
The frozen look in Gu Yanqing's eyes finally loosened a little, but for a moment, he didn't know how to answer.
...
Only after a moment did he speak slowly.
“Actually, I thought the same way before. You're already at late Foundation Establishment now. In fact, I feel like you're probably stronger than me already.”
Lin Zhixue did not refute it.
“You have Xiaoyu guiding you from the side, and you have your own direction in cultivation. In the past, it seems there wasn't much I could help you with anyway.”
Gu Yanqing paused.
“So I felt there wasn't much need to come over. Besides, I don't really like bothering others.”
As he spoke, he wanted to explain further.
However, Lin Zhixue suddenly spoke up.
“Then what if I grow stronger and stronger in the future?”
Gu Yanqing stopped.
Lin Zhixue looked into his eyes.
“If I become much stronger than you in the future... will you never come to find me again?”
Gu Yanqing fell silent.
He had actually thought about this question over these past few days.
He had kept telling himself that this was a good thing.
As Lin Zhixue grew stronger and stronger, she would no longer be bound by her original fate, and he would finally no longer need to worry about her.
Yet when it truly came down to it now...
He realized that he didn't seem to want things to turn out like that.
So, he replied softly, “I will come.”
Lin Zhixue's eyes stirred slightly.
“Why?”
Gu Yanqing fell silent for a long time once more, ultimately just shaking his head.
“I don't know.”
He truly did not know.
He just felt that if Lin Zhixue really became much stronger than him in the future, he would probably still come to find her.
That was all.
Lin Zhixue slowly withdrew her gaze, not pressing further.
She lowered her head again, seemingly lost in thought.
Only after a long while did she speak in a quiet voice.
“I also kept feeling during this time... like something wasn't quite right. My cultivation wasn't affected, and my cultivation realm kept rising. But still...”
She paused. “Now I know.”
Lin Zhixue raised her eyes. “I don't want us to become strangers.”
Gu Yanqing did not answer.
She continued, “So... let's just carry on like before.”
Gu Yanqing felt an indefinable emotion surge within his chest.
“Alright.”
Not far away, a small figure quietly poked its head out.
Xiaoyu looked at Lin Zhixue, then at Gu Yanqing.
In the end, it silently showed a smile with an ambiguous meaning.
This time, it didn't say a single word.
Because it realized that it no longer needed to interject.
...
In the afternoon.
The back mountain of the sect. Starfall Platform.
This was a place specifically designated for disciples to break through realms and undergo heavenly tribulations.
Several layers of protective formations were set up around it, and people rarely approached it on ordinary days.
Lin Zhixue sat cross-legged in the center of the formation, the Guilan Sword quietly planted beside her.
Gu Yanqing stood a short distance away.
Xiaoyu flew back and forth beside her.
“Zhixue, when the lightning tribulation comes down later, don't do anything reckless. Dodge if you can dodge. If you really can't dodge, use the method I told you before. Also, you must save enough spiritual energy...”
Lin Zhixue kept her eyes closed.
“Mm.”
Xiaoyu flew another circle.
“And...”
“I know.”
“Oh.”
Only then did Xiaoyu quiet down.
At some point, the sky had darkened, and vast dark clouds gathered from afar.
The spiritual energy between heaven and earth began to turn restless.
The abundant spiritual energy inside Lin Zhixue's body began to compress continuously, over and over.
Until finally, a golden speck of light slowly condensed in her dantian.
Spiritual energy began to revolve around it, a Golden Core prototype gradually taking shape.
And right at this moment, the first flash of lightning suddenly flared up in the sky.
Rumble!
Thunder rolled across the mountains.
Gu Yanqing looked up, feeling inexplicably tense in his heart.
He had been nervous during his own tribulation as well, but it was different from now. Perhaps back then, he hadn't known how powerful the lightning tribulation would truly be.
Now that he knew, he was even clearer about the danger involved.
Yet Lin Zhixue never opened her eyes. She simply continued circulating her cultivation method, constantly condensing the spiritual energy within her body.
The thunderclouds grew thicker and thicker, flashes of lightning flickering within the cloud layer.
Finally, the first bolt of lightning crashed down.
Lin Zhixue opened her eyes and grasped the Guilan Sword.
In the next instant, sword light soared into the sky.
Thunder and sword light collided, engulfing the entire Starfall Platform in dazzling white light.
Lin Zhixue's figure was swallowed by the lightning.
Gu Yanqing subconsciously took a step forward, yet stopped himself.
This was her own tribulation; he could not help her and could only watch.
One strike. Two strikes. Three strikes...
Havenly lightning fell one after another.
Lin Zhixue never fell. Until the final bolt of lightning dispersed, the sky restored its calm, and the dark clouds slowly dissolved.
On Starfall Platform, Lin Zhixue remained standing there.
Only her robes were somewhat disheveled from the shock of the heavenly lightning.
She slowly exhaled a breath. Within her dantian, a golden core suspended quietly.
An aura belonging to the Golden Core realm slowly spread outward from her.
Gu Yanqing looked at her and finally let out a sigh of relief.
Golden Core.
She succeeded.
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