After finishing his weapon refining session, Xiang Yu carefully observed the qi concentration of the spirit vein. While it was steadily improving, the enhancement was nowhere near the threshold needed for an upgrade. It seemed he would need to feed it higher level materials to achieve any meaningful progress.
Since he had already spent considerable time dealing with the students earlier, he decided not to let it eat into his talisman crafting schedule. He maintained his usual production of low-level weapons, but for the higher tier items, specifically the mid-level spiritual weapons, he only crafted five pieces, feeding all of them directly to the spirit vein.
Part of his reasoning was that his blacksmithing profession had already passed the halfway point to its next breakthrough, so gaining additional experience points wouldn’t make much difference at this stage.
Moving on to talisman creation, Xiang Yu began with the lower-level ones, crafting them at an extremely rapid pace. He could even craft two talismans at once now, low level ones with the same blueprint that is.
As he was in the middle of crafting another batch of talismans, a sudden rumbling sound echoed through the air. The loudness and close proximity of the noise startled him initially, causing him to pause his work. But when he expanded his divine sense to investigate the source, he immediately calmed down. It was his martial aunt attempting her breakthrough to the Golden Core realm.
He observed Elder Guo and Li Yao positioned close to her location, so he felt reassured that she had proper support during this critical moment. As these thoughts ran through his mind, Li Yao seemed to sense his divine sense and looked directly in his direction. She offered him a bright smile and waved enthusiastically at him across the distance.
Xiang Yu just sighed as he retracted his divine sense and returned his focus to talisman making.
"What are you doing?" Elder Guo asked, having noticed Li Yao’s sudden gesture toward seemingly empty air.
"Nothing, just saying hi to senior brother," Li Yao replied casually.
After hearing this explanation, Elder Guo immediately took several steps backward, deliberately distancing himself from her. "This girl has really lost it this time," he thought to himself. "They say stupidity isn’t contagious, but with her level, you’ll probably catch it just by being anywhere near her."
He then turned his attention to Elder Huang, his expression becoming more serious. "Are you ready? It’s starting," Elder Guo spoke.
Elder Huang’s face showed visible strain as she carefully began the delicate process of moving her golden core from her dantian to her spiritual sea. The effort required tremendous concentration and control, causing deep wrinkles to form across her features as she struggled with the complex process. After what felt like an eternity of intense focus, she finally managed to successfully relocate her core, and the tension lines on her face gradually disappeared.
"I think I am," she spoke slowly, cautiously opening one eye to assess her surroundings.
What she saw made her blood run cold. Massive amounts of lightning had already gathered in the dark clouds above, and the electrical energy was continuing to accumulate at an alarming rate.
"Or maybe not," she quickly amended her previous statement.
But it was too late for second thoughts. The heavenly tribulation had begun, and the first lightning bolt came crashing down toward her with devastating force. One particularly large bolt attacked directly at her position.
Li Yao quickly formed a series of hand signs and activated a protective formation. It was one of the formations Xiang Yu had made and they had the idea of using it this way. Though it was just a sixth-grade formation, it proved its worth by successfully capturing and redirecting the lightning strike.
However, Li Yao’s expression remained uneasy as she observed the aftermath. She thought to herself that depending on someone’s foundation quality, the lightning strikes could range anywhere from one to nine consecutive bolts. She wondered anxiously what level of foundation her martial aunt possessed.
If it was higher than five strikes, the formation might not be able to hold out for the entire duration. It had just received a single strike and was already showing visible signs of damage.
The second lightning strike began forming in the churning clouds above, gathering even more power than the first.
…
"You okay in there? The formation will break after this third strike," Li Yao called out in concern as she observed the rapidly deteriorating protective barrier.
"It’s fine," Elder Huang replied with forced composure as she retrieved a pill from her sleeve. She held the small, glowing tablet between her fingers for several long seconds, her mind clearly weighing something important. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of contemplation, she closed her eyes with determination and swallowed the pill in one swift motion.
The third lightning bolt began its descent, crackling with even more destructive power than its predecessors. It struck with tremendous force, completely obliterating what remained of the protective formation in a brilliant flash of light. Some residual lightning managed to break through, striking Elder Huang directly.
But instead of the expected painful wail of agony, something extraordinary happened. The lightning seemed to be absorbed completely into her body, as if she had become a living lightning rod. Then, in the very next second, the electrical energy escaped from her form, dispersing in all directions like scattered fireworks.
Elder Huang thought to herself with pleasant surprise that this pill was quite remarkable. The lightning strike had felt like nothing more than a gentle massage across her skin. She almost couldn’t believe how effective Xiang Yu’s creation had been.
However, when she gazed upward at the churning storm clouds above, her relief quickly transformed into dread. An absolute beast of a lightning bolt was charging up, far more massive and terrifying than anything she had witnessed so far.
"Oh, no," she thought in panic. She couldn’t help but wonder if the heavenly dao had somehow heard her earlier thoughts and now wanted to teach her a lesson.
Li Yao also gazed at the gathering electrical energy with concern. "This should be the last one," she thought. She reflected that her martial aunt possessed quite a strong foundation, four tribulation lightning strikes was actually not bad at all by most standards.
Elder Huang steeled her expression, jaw set with fierce determination. She was resolved to face this final challenge head-on, no matter how overwhelming it appeared. The massive tribulation lightning then struck with earth-shaking force, descending directly toward her like the wrath of heaven itself.
The bolt struck her squarely in the center of her body. Immediately, she felt searing pain that penetrated deep into her very bones, as if molten metal was being poured through her meridians. But despite the excruciating agony, she refused to scream out. Instead, she hardened her expression even further and struggled with every ounce of willpower to resist the overwhelming electrical assault.
The lightning continued flowing through her body relentlessly, causing her entire form to shake uncontrollably like a leaf in a violent storm. She found herself wondering desperately how people usually endured such torture. She had already used a powerful formation to block most of the lightning’s initial impact and even consumed a specialized resistance pill, yet it still hurt beyond anything she could have imagined.
She gritted her teeth tightly as the electricity danced violently across her skin and through her internal organs. Every nerve in her body screamed in protest as the heavenly energy rampaged through her. After what felt like an eternity of suffering, the lightning finally began to subside and fade away.
Elder Huang collapsed face-first onto the ground as the storm clouds above started to clear, revealing patches of blue sky. The tribulation was finally over.
Elder Guo and Li Yao immediately rushed to her side with urgent concern. "Are you okay?" Elder Guo asked anxiously as they both knelt beside her prone form.
"Somehow," she replied weakly, her voice barely above a whisper as they carefully helped her sit up.
"Here, take this," Li Yao spoke gently as she handed her a high-quality healing pill from her own collection. Her senior brother liked to give her all sorts of pills and she always kept them with her.
Elder Huang accepted the pill gratefully and swallowed it immediately. The medicinal effects kicked in rapidly, and her visible physical injuries began recovering at an impressive rate. However, certain parts of her body that had absorbed the most concentrated lightning energy still didn’t recover completely, recovering slowly instead. She hoped they would recover quickly before tomorrow came.
"I’m fine now, you can let go," she said with returning strength in her voice.
The two supporters slowly helped her settle into a stable sitting position before stepping back to give her space.
She arranged herself in a lotus posture, her breathing gradually becoming more controlled and steady. "Thanks for looking out for me. You can leave now, I need to stabilize my cultivation properly," she said with genuine gratitude.
Both Elder Guo and Li Yao nodded with understanding and quietly departed, leaving her alone to complete the stabilization process.
Elder Huang remained seated in meditation, carefully working to stabilize the chaotic qi that had been thoroughly disrupted by the lightning tribulation. As she performed the delicate internal adjustments, a genuine smile slowly formed across her face.
She thought to herself with overwhelming joy that she had actually succeeded in breaking through to the Golden Core realm. With her natural talent level, she probably would have only managed to achieve this breakthrough at the very end of her natural lifespan, if at all. But now, against all odds, she had reached this coveted cultivation stage while still in her prime.
And tomorrow—tomorrow she was going to marry the man of her dreams.
To think that it had all begun with her simple desire to recruit her senior brother’s talented disciple to her own pavilion. She could hardly believe how dramatically everything had changed in just a few short weeks. Her entire life had been transformed beyond recognition.
…
Author’s Corner
I feel like I should clarify this:
First, the pill didn’t work, it’s just a placebo. You can’t cheat the heavenly dao. The reason the first lightning entered her body and then dispersed was because after hitting the formation, it lost power and was like normal lightning that the pill worked to resist it. As for heavenly lightning, you can’t resist it. Even after they used the barrier to block, the last strike was more powerful than all the others combined, meaning the formation didn’t make a difference. I wanted to have the empress clarify this but she probably doesn’t know either as she also tried to use props for Li Yao’s tribulation.
Now, to the real question, how many lightning strikes did li yao receive? Yes.
The lightning was raining on her for a couple of hours so…