Fang Xuan shook his head, dark afterimages flickering before his eyes.
His consciousness was already fading into a blur.
Although the health-lock ability of his M-physique was truly heaven-defying, if this continued, even if he was locked from dying, his body would completely collapse and turn into a piece of charcoal repeatedly lashed by the purple lightning.
'And Yunchang just couldn't get hard at the critical moment!' He cursed again in his heart.
Usually, it bragged about how hard it was, but when faced with an actual Heavenly Dao punishment, it was useless.
A cold, trembling hand gently caressed his blood-stained face.
It was Ning Xian.
Her eyes were already vacant, yet she struggled to focus, looking at him as her lips moved slightly.
"Leave quickly... I still have a next life... you have to go..."
Scolding hot tears soaked the tattered fabric on his chest, mixing with the blood until it was impossible to tell hers from his.
"Senior Sister still has a next life," Fang Xuan tugged at the corner of his mouth, trying to smile, but only coughed up more bloody froth.
"In this life... I only have Senior Sister."
Ning Xian used the last of her strength to tightly grasp Fang Xuan's equally blood-stained right hand.
She wanted to activate the final remnants of her space sword intent within his body to forcibly tear open a gap and push him out.
It was all her fault......
As long as her junior brother left, as long as he departed this area locked by the Heavenly Dao and moved away from a jinx like her......
His constitution was special and his recovery power was strong; he would surely be fine.
If she died, then she died.
After all, she was meant to be alone.
Through dozens of cycles of reincarnation, every journey had been a lonely departure, struggling through seas of blood and tribulations, only to be ultimately suppressed and killed by powerful enemies in the end.
Or erased by even more terrifying existences......
Unacceptable to the Heavenly Dao, burdened by calamities.
Her junior brother was so good... he loved eating the food she made, he knew how to make her happy, and he would say... that she was his only most beloved person......
She shouldn't have craved the warmth of this life; she shouldn't have dragged him into this vortex destined for destruction.
She clearly should have known back at the Qingyun Sect.
Yet she still couldn't let go, selfishly binding him to her side......
He was the one she had only encountered after dozens of reincarnations... how could she bear to let go.
"Whoosh—"
A faint spatial fluctuation rippled from Fang Xuan's right hand.
"Sizzle!"
A tiny spatial rift had just appeared, and before it could expand into a passage wide enough to send someone away, it was struck by a bolt of purple lightning and instantly annihilated without leaving a single ripple.
Under the lockdown of the Heavenly Dao, any attempt to leave this place through spatial fluctuations was futile.
She couldn't push him away... she couldn't send him off......
She was going to cause his death.
.......
He didn't know how much more time had passed.
Time had lost all meaning here, leaving only the purple lightning striking down again and again.
Holding Ning Xian, Fang Xuan's single knee finally gave out, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.
He felt like he was truly about to die......
He could no longer feel any warmth from the person in his arms; Ning Xian's breath was so weak it seemed it would dissipate at any moment.
His own aura was like a flickering candle in the wind, unstable and ready to go out in the next second.
The system's notifications kept ringing intermittently deep in his mind.
【Warning... vital signs dropping to critical point... health-lock function nearing overload......】
Ning Xian forced her eyelids open a crack, looking at Fang Xuan's face.
She regretted it, she truly regretted it.
She shouldn't have let him follow... she shouldn't have involved him......
"Don't... don't follow me anymore..." she said hoarsely, her tears already run dry. "Leave... I beg you......"
Fang Xuan heard her, but he only responded in a voice so faint it was nearly inaudible, speaking in fragments:
"Senior Sister... you're always like this... never asking me... if I'm willing... to die together with you......"
Before the words finished, the last breath he was desperately holding finally broke, and the arms holding her lost all strength.
His entire body tilted forward, pressing heavily onto Ning Xian as he completely lost consciousness.
.......
Just as the aura of the two was weak enough to nearly vanish.
Dozens of miles away from this desolate land shrouded in the Heavenly Dao's purple lightning.
Several figures with majestic auras stood in the air, their expressions looking worse one by one.
They wore black robes of a similar design; they were members of the Fang family.
Leading them was an elderly man with a dignified face and an aura as deep as the sea, the Grand Elder of the Fang family, a supreme expert at the eighth level of Tribulation Crossing.
Beside him stood two elders at the fourth and fifth levels of Tribulation Crossing, as well as several deacons at the peak of the Transformation Realm.
"The last signal sent back by the young master was right here, without a doubt."
An elder holding a constantly flashing compass said in a deep voice.
The Grand Elder gazed at the area in the distance shrouded by purple thunderclouds, where the space itself was faintly distorted.
Even from such a distance, the Heavenly Dao's pressure was still heart-palpitating, and his brow was tightly furrowed.
One hot-tempered elder couldn't help but curse, "What's going on? Which lingering immortal is throwing a fit again, triggering the Purple Firmament Divine Thunder? And making such a huge commotion!"
"There's nothing we can do about that."
Another elder sighed, "Young Master Xuan possesses extraordinary talent; becoming a Transformation Realm cultivator at only eighteen is truly rare for our Fang family... no, for the entire cultivation world in nearly ten thousand years. This is the greatest opportunity for our Fang family since ancient times, and it might also be... the greatest loss."
The Grand Elder remained silent.
How could he not know? This direct son, who had only recently displayed world-shaking talent, carried too many of the family's hopes.
But this situation......
"Grand Elder, with our strength, charging into that Purple Firmament Divine Thunder area... will likely be a narrow escape from death."
"What about using those ancient spatial talismans from the family vault? Can we forcibly swap him out?" the hot-tempered elder suggested.
"It won't work," the elder holding the compass shook his head.
"The space in that area is completely locked by the power of the Heavenly Dao. Any spatial talisman or technique entering will be instantly destroyed by the purple lightning, which might actually harm the young master instead."
The atmosphere froze for a moment.
Were they to watch the family's greatest hope in ten thousand years fall here with their eyes wide open?
At that moment, the Grand Elder slowly raised his head, looking toward the very center of those purple thunderclouds.
"The only way... is for me to divert its attention."
"Grand Elder?!" the two elders exclaimed in unison.
He didn't answer directly. Instead, he took a deep breath and began to slowly release the full aura of his eighth level of Tribulation Crossing!
At the same time, his hands formed seals, and the spiritual power within his body surged frantically, triggering a resonance with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
He was actually going to forcibly trigger his own Heavenly Ladder lightning tribulation at this very moment!
"Grand Elder! You can't!" the hot-tempered elder turned pale with shock.
"You haven't made full preparations yet; ascending the ladder now is too risky."
The Grand Elder, however, showed a trace of open-mindedness and even wild laughter as his aura rose step by step, stirring the wind and clouds:
"There's no other way! The Purple Firmament Divine Thunder is also a type of lightning tribulation. Using the aura of my own ladder-ascending tribulation as a guide to forcibly clash with and interfere with the lockdown of that area, I might be able to create a sliver of an opening!"
He looked at the two dumbfounded elders and the deacons whose faces were filled with grief and indignation, his laughter heroic: "I'll go up first and wait for you all! Hahaha! Remember, seize that moment of opportunity. At any cost, bring Fang Xuan back to the Fang family!"
As his voice fell, he no longer suppressed it; the terrifying aura of the eighth level of Tribulation Crossing erupted completely, piercing straight into the clouds.
At the same time, dozens of miles away, in the air above the core area of that purple thundercloud, the Heavenly Dao seemed to suffer a moment of disorder because Fang Qinghai had forcibly triggered his tribulation.
A bolt of purple lightning, much smaller than the previous ones, struck crookedly just a few yards away from Fang Xuan and Ning Xian, blasting a shallow pit into the ground.
A streak of black shadow, almost blending into the charred surroundings, spread over like a liquid, quickly wrapping around the bodies of Fang Xuan and Ning Xian who were tightly embracing.
The remaining purple lightning struck it, causing several cracks to open in the black liquid, though they would quickly coalesce again.
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