Dao Companion Crippled, Coveters Move

Chapter 95 - 94: Crossing the Tribulation

The sky was clear and boundless, yet Pei Yuhang could hear the rumble of thunder echoing from the void.

VMMMM—

A distinct spatial fluctuation rippled through the azure heavens. Vast stretches of pitch-black clouds abruptly blinked into existence, appearing out of the blue.

It was like a drop of ink falling into a large vat of clear water.

As the black clouds spread and bled across the sky, a glance upward revealed that the heavens in a hundred-li radius had turned a suffocating pitch-black, a darkness so heavy it seemed ready to crush a city.

'The clouds of a Golden Core Thunder Tribulation can actually reach a scale of a hundred li?! How can the Thunder Tribulation be this massive!'

For Cultivators, the greater their talent, the greater the scale and intensity of their Celestial Tribulation. This was a shackle set by the Divine Spirits in ages past.

In Pei Yuhang's memory, the only person to ever trigger a hundred-li Thunder Tribulation during their Golden Core Stage was his third junior sister, Nangong Jin.

And her talent had been personally evaluated by Pei Yuhang's master, the Nameless Daoist—

The number one talent of the Xuanyuan Dao Sect in a thousand years!

WHOOSH—

The whistling gales swept through the mountains like ocean waves, causing Yu Xiaoyan, who was sitting cross-legged on the summit, to open her eyes.

Perhaps because it was her first time facing a Celestial Tribulation, Yu Xiaoyan had no idea what a hundred-li stretch of thunderclouds above her head signified. She just assumed it was an ordinary Celestial Tribulation, so her expression was calm and composed.

Right now, she was even more relaxed than before.

After all, just a moment ago, she had been suppressing the bursting power of her Breakthrough Realm to prevent her Thunder Tribulation from engulfing the Cold Palace Sword Mansion.

Now that her master had brought her to a safe place suitable for Crossing the Tribulation, she could finally let go.

In an instant, Yu Xiaoyan felt a crack form in the seed within her Sea of Consciousness—a seed compressed from a lake of Sword Qi and Spiritual Power. It was as if some invisible shackle binding her body had shattered.

The sound, a resounding KRAK, echoed through the young girl's soul like the toll of the Honglu Grand Bell.

The Spiritual Qi between the mountains seemed to be dragged by an invisible, giant hand.

Aided by the Spirit Gathering Array Pei Yuhang had prepared, the formless Spiritual Qi transformed into white threads. They swirled and converged upon Yu Xiaoyan like a school of sardines caught in a tempest.

And Yu Xiaoyan, like a dry riverbed, greedily absorbed the vast amount of Spiritual Qi her master had gathered for her.

More and more Spiritual Qi spiraled and gathered within her body, coalescing into a vortex in her Dantian. Gradually, in the eye of this Spiritual Qi vortex, a golden particle appeared.

The golden particles multiplied, gradually fusing together, as if they were about to form a perfectly round, pigeon-egg-sized Golden Core.

During this process, Yu Xiaoyan's aura climbed steadily. With every breath she took, she expelled Sword Qi that carved crisscrossing gashes into the ground in a radius of tens of meters.

[Xiaoxiao, the Thunder Tribulation is coming!]

The moment after Yu Gu Nan's warning, the pitch-black clouds overhead were suddenly pierced and torn asunder by a blue-white light. An aura of immense terror descended, one that made one's very bloodline instinctively submit in fear.

It was the Thunder Tribulation! The greatest curse left behind for all living beings by the Divine Spirits before their extinction!

Yu Xiaoyan sensed the Golden Core in her body, halfway through its formation, and turned her head to glance in her master's direction.

"Sister."

[Mm...]

It was the first time Yu Gu Nan had been called "Sister" by her, and for a moment, she didn't know how to respond.

But Yu Xiaoyan was just talking to herself and didn't need any reply.

"Master is watching us. We can't let him down."

After speaking, the young girl drew her sword and pointed it at the lightning in the sky. Beneath the vast, descending lightning, her sword was smaller than a toothpick.

The blue-white light expanded in her vision, threatening to engulf everything before her.

But there was no fear in Yu Xiaoyan's eyes. She thought the lightning looked more intimidating than it actually was.

"Since Master is watching, we can't look pathetic while Crossing the Tribulation. We have to look cool!"

...

Pei Yuhang watched as immense pillars of lightning continuously pierced the heavens and fell, smashing down upon the highest peak among the mountains.

Under the brutal assault of the Celestial Tribulation, that highest peak was ravaged—dust billowed, stone fractured, and the summit itself collapsed...

As the final bolt of celestial lightning fell, with a great SLURP, the hundred-li expanse of black clouds vanished, as if some monster had inhaled them like a noodle.

The black clouds dispersed, and sunlight once again showered upon the peak that had been ravaged by the Thunder Tribulation.

No, it could no longer be called a "peak." Its sharp edges had been ground smooth by the Thunder Tribulation. It was now the shortest little mound among the mountains.

WHOOSH—

Pei Yuhang took a single step and, like a gust of wind, arrived above the lightning-carved crater, which was still emitting billows of white, scorching air.

An irrepressible joy appeared on his face, because his little disciple's heartbeat and breathing were not weak at all; on the contrary, they were growing stronger.

BOOM!!

Rubble was blasted to dust by a sword strike, revealing an earthen-yellow, translucent sphere covered in cracks below.

Inside the sphere lay an exhausted, unconscious young girl. Curled up like a kitten, she was still clutching a Ruyi Treasure in her arms.

As if popping a bubble, Pei Yuhang poked open the Ruyi Protective Shield, which even the final two bolts of celestial lightning hadn't managed to completely break.

When he saw that the young girl under the shield was merely pale, with no obvious external or internal injuries, and after confirming the well-developed Golden Core in her Dantian, his anxious heart could finally rest.

"Xiaoxiao, Gu Nan, you did a great job..."

Although they hadn't shattered the Thunder Tribulation with a single sword like Junior Sister Nangong, who had even monstrously dispersed the thunderclouds after Crossing the Tribulation, their ability to pass through it safely was already a source of immense pride for Pei Yuhang as their master.

He took out a Nourishing Essence Pill he had prepared beforehand and personally placed it between the young girl's lips. He then rubbed her firm and toned stomach to help her digest it and quickly recover her strength.

Pei Yuhang seemed to feel that even an Elixir was too slow. He tried to mobilize a trace of his own pure Primordial Yang and send it into Yu Xiaoyan's body.

It was like a tiny flame reigniting a furnace that had grown slightly cold.

Or like a drop of sweet Spring Dew falling upon a withered seedling in desperate need of water.

The young girl's pale complexion quickly grew rosy, and the breath between her lips became steady and strong.

She opened her eyes.

The first thing that entered her sight was Pei Yuhang's gentle, smiling face.

"Xiaoxiao, congratulations on achieving the Golden Core Realm. You've taken another great step on the path of the Dao!"

"Master, it's Yu Gu Nan."

"..."

Pei Yuhang's gentle smile turned a little awkward. Fortunately, perhaps because she was too exhausted, Yu Gu Nan didn't have the energy to take advantage of her master's blunder and tease him.

"Um, how is Xiaoxiao?"

"She passed out. She's sleeping in the Heart Lake now."

Pei Yuhang was slightly surprised. From his perspective, Yu Xiaoyan had been on the path of cultivation far longer than Gu Nan; if one of them was going to collapse from the Celestial Tribulation, it should have been Gu Nan... But none of that mattered anymore.

"Right now, the most important thing is to celebrate the two of you successfully Crossing the Tribulation!"