On the day the Sword Tomb opened, Shen Qingci stayed in Yunqi Cave and went nowhere.
Her senior sister had made it clear last time: she was not allowed to see her off.
To Shen Qingci, whatever came out of her wife's mouth was the ultimate rule. She carried a bamboo chair out to the courtyard, placed it facing northwest, and sat down.
At the third quarter of the Mao hour, Chi Yuan emerged from the main room. She had changed into a form-fitting outfit, her cuffs neatly bound.
Shen Qingci stood up, her throat tightening slightly. “Senior Sister...”
Chi Yuan raised her hand to smooth her junior sister's collar, saying softly, “A-Ci, remember to provoke Master less.”
“Okay...”
Looking at her junior sister's obedient appearance, Chi Yuan did not feel entirely reassured. This girl always answered “okay” so readily, only to turn around and provoke Master anyway.
She lowered her head and pressed a kiss to the top of her junior sister's head.
The tips of Shen Qingci's ears instantly flushed red.
Chi Yuan's fingers slid down along the edge of her ear, pinching her left earlobe gently but firmly. “Did you really take it to heart?”
Shen Qingci obediently let her senior sister pinch her ear. She raised her hand, crossing her thumb and index finger to trace a crooked dog paw print over her chest.
Chi Yuan stared at the paw print, the corners of her lips curving upward.
She released her grip, her thumb brushing over the faint red mark on the ear, then turned and walked out of the cave dwelling.
The Frostchill sword unsheathed itself, and a white rainbow streaked across the sky. She did not look back.
Shen Qingci stood there for a long time. Only when the sword light completely vanished into the northwest did she withdraw her gaze. She adjusted her collar and straightened the jade pendant at her waist.
“Qinghe.”
Qinghe stepped out from under the corridor. “I am here.”
“Go to the Dharma Academy and remove my name. Inform Deacon Jiang that I will be entering closed-door cultivation starting today, and I will no longer attend classes after I establish my foundation.”
Qinghe bowed and acknowledged the task, but she did not leave immediately.
She stood in place, her hands wringing the hem of her clothes. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Qinghe wishes Senior Sister Shen a successful Foundation Establishment and an eternally solid Dao foundation. May a thirty-thousand-mile purple aura herald your emergence from seclusion.”
Shen Qingci nodded slightly. “How thoughtful of you. Go on.”
Qinghe's face flushed, and she scurried off.
Shen Qingci turned and stepped into the inner chamber. A Mystic-grade spirit-gathering array was carved into the ground, its array nodes embedded with thirty-six mid-grade spirit stones.
The four walls of the cave were plastered with talismans that blocked divine sense.
She sat cross-legged in the center of the array, placing Jinglei on her lap. The lightning patterns on the scabbard slowly lit up.
Closing her eyes, she dropped her shoulders and began her breathing exercises...
This sitting lasted for over ten days. Qinghe swept the courtyard daily, casting occasional glances toward the inner chamber.
It was excessively quiet inside. There were no fluctuations of spiritual energy, nor any sign of tribulation lightning.
On the fifteenth day.
Within her dantian, the thirty-six spirit stones simultaneously shattered into powder, and the light of the spirit-gathering array flared brilliantly.
A speck of purple light lit up at the center of the vortex. Liquid spiritual energy surged in frantically. With several booming rumbles, a cyclone swirling with purple light suspended itself in the exact center of her dantian.
Her Dao foundation was newly formed!
The sky above Yunqi Cave suddenly changed color.
A beam of purple light shot into the sky, piercing straight through the clouds.
The clouds for a hundred miles around were stirred, rotating with Wanjian Peak as the center, condensing into a sky-blotting tribulation cloud.
Purple lightning snaked through the depths of the clouds, casting a heavy purple glow over half the sky.
The entire Azure Cloud Sect was alarmed.
The corridors of the Dharma Academy were packed with disciples. Gu Qingyi craned her neck to count the lightning-force spiritual eyes.
She counted twice, remaining silent for a long time. After checking one more time, her face turned instantly pale.
“No, there are twelve of them in total!!!”
The corridor instantly fell into a dead silence.
For a Foundation Establishment tribulation, the maximum recorded in ancient texts was only ten lightning bolts, which was already an anomaly unique to ancient geniuses.
Twelve tribulation lightning bolts—no precedent could be found even if one searched through every ancient record in existence.
On the Sword-Falling Terrace, Jinglian had stepped outside her hall the moment the tribulation clouds began to gather.
With her hands behind her back, she gazed into the inner layer of the tribulation clouds, watching the lightning-force spiritual eyes tear open the sky one after another.
When the tenth eye tore open, her breathing became slightly erratic.
At the eleventh, her natal sword trembled.
As the twelfth eye tore open in the very center of the tribulation cloud, killing intent surged within her sword domain. Jinglian took two steps forward.
Ancient geniuses capped at ten. With this posture, the Heavenly Dao clearly had no intention of letting her youngest disciple survive.
The first tribulation lightning bolt struck.
A purple-glowing force wrapped in lightning crashed down. Sitting upright in the inner chamber, Shen Qingci formed a hand seal, and Jinglei transformed into a streak of purple electricity, piercing through the roof of the cave to meet it.
The sword blade collided with the tribulation lightning in midair. The lightning was split in two, and its residual energy was completely absorbed by the blade.
Qinghe and Wancui stood on the sword-practice platform, covering their ears, their hearts practically leaping into their throats.
The third tribulation lightning bolt was even more ferocious. Flipping her palm, Shen Qingci threw out seventy-two Mystic-grade Mid-rank thunder-suppressing talismans prepared for her by Aunt Shuyan, forming a three-layer talisman array around herself...
At the fifth, the outermost talisman array shattered with a loud crack.
The sixth followed immediately. The middle layer of the talisman array was struck until only a single layer of spiritual light remained, and loose rocks from the cave ceiling began to rain down.
She took out three Mystic-grade High-rank artifacts: the Star-Shattering Bell hovered above her head, the Mountain-Sinking Command was placed in front of her, and the Moon-Dew Necklace wrapped around her wrist.
The seventh tribulation lightning bolt struck with a wisp of golden light. The Star-Shattering Bell's spiritual light exploded, sending fragments flying in all directions. The Mountain-Sinking Command was pierced through by the golden light and clattered to the ground.
At the eighth, the Moon-Dew Necklace snapped, and the talisman array turned to ashes. A massive hole was blasted through the cave ceiling, and falling debris left the sword-practice platform in ruins.
Qinghe and Wancui scrambled and crawled off the sword-practice platform, squatting on the mountain path, silently praying for Senior Sister Shen.
At the ninth, the inner chamber collapsed, leaving only a few ruined walls barely standing.
At the tenth, the lightning patterns on Jinglei's blade flared blindingly bright. As the tribulation lightning crashed down, the final remaining walls collapsed, and the entire Yunqi Cave was reduced to rubble.
Shen Qingci sat in the middle of the ruins, the web of her hand holding the sword torn open by the shock. Blood dripped down the hilt.
Her expression remained unchanged as she switched the sword to her left hand.
The eleventh struck, wrapped in purple-black lightning force, its residual shockwaves shaking the entire mountaintop.
The disciples of Wanjian Peak were long accustomed to cave dwellings being destroyed. The peak maintained a repair squad year-round, with carpenters and stonemasons far more efficient than those in the markets.
But a Foundation Establishment tribulation flattening a cave dwelling and blasting a ten-zhang-deep charred pit was certainly not a common occurrence.
Shen Qingci knelt on one knee in the center of the ruins, using Jinglei to prop herself up. The lightning light on the blade had mostly dimmed.
Within the clouds, the final tribulation lightning bolt had yet to fall.
The entire tribulation cloud contracted inward. The remaining lightning force was sucked together, condensing into a purple-black lightning core the size of a fist.
The pressure caused the faces of all cultivators at or above the Golden Core stage on Wanjian Peak to pale.
Jinglian's foot twitched.
She was a Soul Transformation sword cultivator. It was not that she could not withstand a Foundation Establishment tribulation; at worst, she would suffer backlash from the Heavenly Dao, damage her cultivation, and be bedridden for a few years.
She took half a step forward.
The twelfth tribulation lightning bolt fell.
The purple-black lightning core plunged, so fast it was a mere blur, sucking all sound from the world.
Shen Qingci raised her eyes, which reflected the purple-black lightning. She released Jinglei and slapped a substitute talisman onto herself, preparing to face the tribulation lightning with her physical body...
With a flash of her figure, Jinglian was already in midair. She could no longer care about any backlash from the Heavenly Dao.
But a sword cry stopped her in her tracks!!!
The Jinglei sword hovered in the air on its own, its blade blocking Jinglian. Its meaning was clear: Master is fine, don't come over!
Jinglian halted her momentum.
She stared at the sword, the first thought popping into her sea of consciousness being: Could Jinglei be wanting a new master?
Rate on N.U.
