Su Xuan had been fighting for three whole days.
The black-clothed youth glanced at the thick clouds in the sky and evaded the Hellfire Blade before him.
Su Xuan had gone completely berserk. His mind was consumed with one thought: kill him, he must kill him. Even if his spiritual power was exhausted, even if his own life were to end here, he had to kill this man.
As long as he died, no one would know the connection between Sang Dai and the Four Sufferings, and Sang Dai wouldn’t face the encirclement and annihilation of the Four Realms.
Kill him, and he could go find his little sword cultivator instead of being trapped here in battle.
Su Xuan had been fighting this man for three days. He had no idea what was happening outside, nor did he seem to notice the surging spiritual power within him. Even the thick clouds perpetually shrouding the sky above had escaped his awareness.
The terrifying pressure kept anyone within a ten-mile radius of the City Lord’s Mansion from daring to approach.
The black-clothed youth raised his hand to block Su Xuan’s Hellfire Blade. Meeting the murderous intent in the little fox’s eyes, he suddenly curled his lips into a smile.
“Su Xuan, you’re so weak. With your mere initial Grand Ascension stage, can you really protect Sang Dai?”
Su Xuan reversed his grip and severed the man’s left arm.
The black-clothed youth quickly retreated, glancing nonchalantly at his severed arm nearby. Enveloped in black mist, the severed arm regenerated.
It had been like this for three days. Whenever Su Xuan severed his left leg, it grew back in an instant. If he severed his right leg, a new one would sprout in the blink of an eye.
He simply couldn’t be killed.
“You’re too weak. You can’t withstand even a single strike of the tribulation lightning from the Eighty-One Heavenly Layers.”
Su Xuan’s expression remained cold. Time and again, he tried to turn and leave to find Sang Dai, only to be stopped by this man.
He was like a relentless pest, impossible to kill and impossible to shake off. It seemed his sole purpose was to keep Su Xuan trapped.
By sheer strength alone, this black-clothed man was no match for Su Xuan. But being unkillable, no matter how Su Xuan tried, he couldn’t finish him off and was forced to endure his entanglement.
The black-clothed youth raised an eyebrow and gestured to the sky.
“Su Xuan, your tribulation lightning is about to arrive.”
Su Xuan looked up at the sky.
His lips were tightly pursed. After three days of fighting, driven by his urgency to find Sang Dai and constantly harassed by this man, Su Xuan had pushed himself relentlessly. Spiritual power surged into his dantian without restraint, pouring out endlessly as if it would never run dry.
Prolonged surges in his meridians made it exceedingly likely to trigger a tribulation, compounded by the man’s ceaseless verbal provocations.
—”You’re too weak. With your initial Grand Ascension stage, how can you protect her?”
—”You’re too weak. How many strikes of the tribulation lightning from the Eighty-One Heavenly Layers can you withstand?”
—”You’re too weak. In the end, when Sang Dai is encircled and killed at the Guixu, faced with the Four Realms, will you be able to endure?”
For three days, the black-clothed youth had been repeating these words, endlessly nagging him with the same taunts.
It seemed Su Xuan was starting to understand the man’s intentions.
In a cold voice, he asked, “Your goal is to summon the tribulation lightning?”
The black-clothed youth crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Hmm, the tribulation lightning is something you brought upon yourself. The moment you started fighting me three days ago, the thunderclouds were already there. Didn’t you notice then?”
“Su Xuan, deep down you know you’re too weak. You’re also afraid you won’t be able to protect her, aren’t you?”
“So, subconsciously, you wanted to grow stronger. You stirred your spiritual power into a frenzy yourself. From the moment we met three days ago, you already had that thought, didn’t you?”
After three days of brewing, the more Su Xuan’s meridians surged, the thicker the thunderclouds became.
Su Xuan ignited Hellfire, trapping the man within his Hellfire Array. His silver hair billowed as he raised his hand to strike at him.
“Perfect timing. You won’t escape my tribulation lightning either.”
—
In the alleys of Linglong Town, the vines were once again severed by a sword.
Someone rushed forward in haste. “Sect Master Shen, there are too many vines here. These vines can divide themselves, and without spiritual power, relying solely on physical force, it’s impossible to completely eliminate them.”
Shen Ciyu withdrew his sword, gazing at the vines that filled the entire alley.
His face was pale with exhaustion. After three days and nights of non-stop vine-slaying without using spiritual power, his physical strength was already depleted.
Shen Ciyu staggered, and the person behind him hurriedly caught him.
“Sect Master Shen!”
He shook his head to keep himself awake and said in a low voice, “The reinforcements from Sword Sect haven’t arrived yet?”
“No, the entire Linglong Town has been sealed off.”
Shen Ciyu looked up at the invisible barrier above the town.
Someone behind him threw him a bottle of pills.
Peacock said coldly, “Although I don’t want to care about you, you’re doing this for these common people after all.”
Liu Lixue, who had just cleared another alley of vines, came over to their location.
He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Shen Ciyu, both looking up at the town of Linglong Town above them.
Earlier, Liu Lixue had left Linglong Town to seek reinforcements outside the town. Just as he returned with a nearby small sect, the barrier enveloped the entire town. They couldn’t get out, and no one else could get in. All reinforcements were blocked outside.
The barrier was strange—those inside couldn’t break out, and those outside couldn’t break in.
Liu Lixue had no choice but to tell Shen Ciyu not to use spiritual power and to rely on their swords to cut down the vines.
At first, avoiding the use of spiritual power seemed fine. But later, the vines, as if insatiable, began attacking indiscriminately and always managed to grab a cultivator.
So Shen Ciyu gathered all the mortals in the city and assigned a portion of the cultivators to protect them while the rest cleared the raging vines from the alleys one by one.
Shen Ciyu swallowed a pill and softly expressed his thanks. “Thank you.”
Liu Lixue, his expression heavy, looked toward the distant dark clouds.
“Su Xuan’s thunderclouds, right?”
The clouds had been swirling here since three days ago. They had seen with their own eyes how the thunderclouds grew thicker and the oppressive force over the entire city became increasingly heavy and terrifying.
Liu Lixue nodded. “Yes.”
Shen Ciyu said, “We need to protect the people. The pressure from a Grand Ascension tribulation lightning isn’t something ordinary people can withstand.”
Liu Lixue withdrew his gaze. “Alright.”
A hundred cultivators received the order and headed together toward the place where the mortals were gathered.
When daylight pierced through the clouds, the first tribulation lightning struck.
Su Xuan grabbed hold of the black-clothed man, a faint smile curling on his lips. “Since you cling to me like a pest and can’t be shaken off, then accompany me through this tribulation lightning.”
The tribulation lightning crashed down on the two of them.
Su Xuan spat out a mouthful of blood, and for a brief moment, the black-clothed man’s expression stiffened.
Su Xuan could tell that although this man couldn’t be killed, he could still feel pain.
Pain was good. If Sang Dai had to suffer, then he wouldn’t let this man have it easy either.
Su Xuan summoned the Hellfire Blade and slashed at the black-clothed youth.
But the second tribulation lightning had already descended.
Su Xuan gritted his teeth and endured it again. His body swayed unsteadily but managed to stand with difficulty.
The black-clothed youth also spat out blood, though his injuries healed in an instant.
Smiling, he said, “Haven’t you noticed? Your tribulation lightning has started to become strange.”
Su Xuan’s face was deathly pale, and he didn’t care about the man’s words. Without even glancing at the tribulation lightning, he swung his sword directly at him.
“So what?”
Even Heaven wanted to kill Su Xuan because he had betrayed it, choosing to stand with Sang Dai.
One after another, five bolts of tribulation lightning struck in an instant. Su Xuan collapsed to his knees, coughing up large mouthfuls of blood.
The black-clothed youth wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and with a shake of the black mist, he healed his wounds.
Looking down at Su Xuan, he smiled and said, “Want me to help you heal as well?”
Su Xuan, with a cold expression, propped himself up with his sword.
He staggered a step and leaned against Qingwu for support, barely managing to stand.
He lifted his head and gazed at the pitch-black, dense clouds.
For the first time, Su Xuan felt the murderous intent of Heaven itself. It didn’t even give him a chance to catch his breath between strikes of the tribulation lightning.
Was it the same for Sang Dai when she faced her tribulation? Did she face Heaven’s murderous intent, enduring lightning strikes that grew fiercer with each one?
Why?
She hadn’t done anything wrong. Why was it that she had to endure pain and suffering? Why was it that she had to die?
Su Xuan stared at the heavens and spoke, word by word: “If you dare to kill her, then I dare to kill you. Sit there in your Eighty-One Heavenly Layers and wait for us to come and cut you down!”
The smile on the black-clothed youth’s lips faded slightly. He looked up at the sky, his eyes narrowing slightly, his voice calm. “Su Xuan, there are still two more bolts of tribulation lightning. Can you endure them?”
As his words fell, another bolt of tribulation lightning descended, heavily striking Su Xuan.
As the smoke cleared, all that remained on the ground was a small, weakly breathing fox.
Nine tails drooped to the ground, and its silver fur was stained with blood.
Su Xuan gasped for breath, trying again and again to get up, only to collapse back to the ground each time.
His mind was filled with thoughts of Sang Dai—different versions of Sang Dai.
The sword cultivator who dreamed of his death, waking from her nightmare in a breakdown, sobbing uncontrollably as she clung to him, repeatedly confessing her fear.
Sang Dai was afraid of his death.
If he died, she would be devastated.
If he died, when Heaven came to kill her, there would be no one left to shield her from the tribulation lightning.
Su Xuan couldn’t die.
He panted heavily, summoning all his strength to transform back into his human form.
The black-clothed youth crossed his arms and looked at him. Compared to Su Xuan’s wretched state, he appeared far more at ease.
Su Xuan struggled to his feet, his long, slender hand turning as Hellfire ignited along the hem of his robes.
The surrounding buildings had long since been reduced to ruins during their battle.
Hellfire enveloped the entire open space, with the two of them standing amidst the flames.
Su Xuan’s face was covered in blood, yet the Hellfire around him burned ever more fiercely, forming a barrier that surrounded and protected him.
He couldn’t die. He couldn’t die here.
The final bolt of tribulation lightning struck with a deafening roar, crashing heavily into Su Xuan’s Hellfire shield.
He gritted his teeth and endured, blood pouring from the corners of his mouth.
The black-clothed youth, standing within the tribulation lightning’s array, bent slightly at the waist, his complexion growing pale as well.
Coldly, he watched as Su Xuan’s Hellfire shield was gradually shattered, his lips curling in a mocking smile. “If you can’t make it through this… then I’ve misjudged you. You’re not worthy of her.”
The small fox’s body bent bit by bit, shifting from standing upright to kneeling on one knee, as the Hellfire shield weakened further.
He coughed up mouthfuls of blood, his consciousness muddled, holding the Hellfire array together purely on instinct.
No artifacts, no protective spiritual pills—enduring the tribulation with nothing but his physical body. The lightning tore his awareness apart.
Su Xuan spat blood. He had no strength left.
So tired. He wanted to sleep.
His mind was dizzy, unable to recall anything.
Only pain. Only excruciating pain.
His hands fell limply to his sides, and a wooden hairpin slipped from his sleeve.
The crisp sound of it falling was insignificant compared to the thunder, not even a ten-thousandth as loud, yet it reached his ears with perfect clarity.
He opened his eyes slightly.
The wooden hairpin was simple, but he had cared for it deeply. Its surface remained smooth and flawless.