Above Four Books Academy, beside the Sea of Books Formation beneath the Sage’s Book, thunderclouds gathered from time to time, rumbling ominously as though storing up their strength.
At first, the students of Four Books Academy would stop and watch. By now, however, they had gradually grown numb to it.
It was the same as when Ye Chenyan had broken through a minor realm at the martial-practice platform before. Presumably, that heaven-blessed genius had broken through yet again.
“Time flows differently inside the Sea of Books Formation than it does outside.” Wen Changjun wore a sour expression as he swept a cool gaze over the crowd. “It’s not as shocking as it looks.”
One disciple sighed. “I thought Scholar Xiao was already a rarity beneath heaven. Who knew there was always a higher mountain? To think a monster like Ye Chenyan exists too...”
Wen Changjun’s head snapped around.
“Their Daos are different. Someone like Ye Chenyan, who devotes himself entirely to martial cultivation, can naturally just bury his head in cultivation.”
“Scholar Xiao still intends to study everything beneath heaven. The reason he can advance so smoothly now is because of the foundation he spent all those years building.”
“If you wanted to experience breakthroughs this effortless, why did you join Four Books Academy in the first place?!”
The younger disciple immediately fell silent, too intimidated to say another word.
Dot Star Formation glanced sideways at him. “Don’t you hate Scholar Xiao more than anyone?”
“Hating him is one thing.” Wen Changjun stood with his hands behind his back and pursed his lips. “Hmph. But if everyone else looks down on him, then what does that make me?”
Dot Star Formation chuckled.
“Heh.”
“You Literary School disciples really are interesting.”
She tipped her head back slightly.
“Today’s thunderclouds are much more imposing than usual. It looks like the lightning may actually fall.”
“If it really does...” Light flickered in Wen Changjun’s eyes. “Wouldn’t that mean he’s truly broken through to Integration and can now contend with the academy heads?”
Dot Star Formation gave him an amused look. “Meaning he’s surpassed your Scholar Xiao?”
Wen Changjun immediately looked away with a cold snort. “Who’s comparing him to those brutes who only know how to fight?”
His expression suddenly changed.
“Academy Head Wen went up. Could it be...”
Dot Star Formation raised her head as well.
Back when Academy Head Wen had first said he intended to make Ye cultivate all the way to Mahayana inside the Sea of Books Formation, everyone in the academy had already prepared themselves to watch his cultivation soar.
Even so, actually witnessing such a young Integration cultivator appear before their eyes was enough to shake anyone.
Dot Star Formation murmured, “With talent like that, he’d rank among the great figures of any age, wouldn’t he?”
“Come on. Let’s go take a look.”
She was far from the only one with that idea.
Quite a few academy students took to the air and flew toward the Sea of Books Formation, eager to watch the spectacle.
Only when they drew near did they discover that Wen Tianxia had erected a barrier over the academy, preventing anyone from approaching.
Wen Tianxia lowered his gaze toward them.
“You dare come this close to watch an Integration breakthrough’s lightning tribulation? Do you all have that little regard for your lives?”
Deep rumbles rolled through the sky.
Thunderclouds sprawled overhead, blotting out the sun as though they meant to engulf all of Central Province.
Silver-blue light flickered faintly within layer upon layer of clouds. Now and then, branching bolts flashed through them, the oppressive pressure almost making it difficult to breathe.
Wen Tianxia stood with his hands behind his back, his robes snapping violently in the wind.
Then a small, pure-white cloud came drifting in from the distance.
Wen Tianxia looked over. Some of the gravity left his face, and he gave a short laugh.
“Finally.”
“Old Wen! Been a few days, hahaha!”
Tianji Zi rode the little white cloud straight through the heavy thunderclouds and floated down in front of him, laughing heartily.
“Lively as ever. As expected of Four Books Academy. Your disciples see something like this and, instead of running for their lives, they still want to come watch the excitement.”
“If this were an ordinary sect, they’d probably think they’d offended the Heavenly Dao and were about to be wiped off the map. They’d have scattered in every direction by now!”
Wen Tianxia shot him a sidelong look.
“It’s been so long, yet the moment you open your mouth you’re still just as irritating. No wonder the Esoteric Sect threw you out.”
“Don’t twist right and wrong.” Tianji Zi bristled, beard twitching. “Back then I only let them call me an ‘abandoned disciple of the Esoteric Sect’ to save them some face. In reality, wasn’t I the one who abandoned the Esoteric Sect?”
Only after he drifted closer did Wen Tianxia see the Thundercrest Leopard crouched low on the white cloud, all four limbs tucked in, ears pinned flat against her head.
Wen Tianxia stared at her.
“So this is the legendary spirit beast, the Thundercrest Leopard... Isn’t she a little small?”
“Can’t be helped. Their clan’s short on able-bodied adults too—mostly old ones and youngsters. She counts as being in her prime.” Tianji Zi sighed. “Besides, the other Thundercrest Leopards might not be willing to go all out for this. She has history with those two boys, so she’ll be more willing to help.”
Ziyun, whom they had met at the auction house in Great Wilderness Mountain back in Nanzhou, was so frightened by the pressure in the sky that she looked ready to bury herself in the cloud and curl into a ball.
Her voice trembled.
“H-Hey... didn’t you say you were their master and that you were taking me out to eat something? What are we eating?”
“I said I’m Ye Chenyan’s master, not both of their master.” Tianji Zi corrected her with a smile, then pointed upward. “There. I brought you to eat lightning. For the Thundercrest Leopard clan, isn’t that the finest delicacy imaginable?”
Ziyun whimpered and clamped her tail tightly between her legs.
“That lightning looks like it’ll kill someone! How is that something you can just eat?! Whose lightning tribulation is this, anyway? They must’ve committed every crime under Heaven...”
Tianji Zi spread his hands.
“Ye Chenyan’s.”
“No way.” Ziyun froze. “What could he possibly have done to provoke something this huge?”
“You’ll understand when he comes out.” Tianji Zi was in no hurry. He pointed toward the Sea of Books Formation, perfectly at ease. “Should be any moment now.”
Sure enough, the words had barely left his mouth when a figure stepped out of the formation.
“Yo.” Tianji Zi greeted him cheerfully. “Good disciple. Why’d you come out alone? You make Little Yu mad?”
“What are you doing here?” Ye Chenyan gave him a strange look. “You even dare watch something like this? Careful you don’t bring disaster down on yourself.”
He tipped his head back slightly and looked at the rumbling sky, his expression grave.
“This lightning is strange. I told him to wait inside.”
Tianji Zi’s gaze slid past him toward the entrance of the Sea of Books Formation.
Ye Chenyan seemed to sense something and turned as well.
There was nothing there.
Tianji Zi cleared his throat.
“Ahem. What are you looking at? There’s nothing there.”
Ye Chenyan ignored him and kept staring.
A few breaths later, Yu Qingtang stealthily poked his head out of the formation.
At least he still valued his life enough to have the Lotus Realm wrapped around himself.
Ye Chenyan: “...”
Their eyes met.
Yu Qingtang froze.
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow and tilted his head at him. “Didn’t I tell you to hide inside?”
“I am mostly hiding inside.” Yu Qingtang guiltily looked away. “I’m just watching the excitement. The second it actually starts striking you, I’m gone.”
Ye Chenyan looked skeptical. “Really?”
Yu Qingtang put on his most solemn expression.
“Of course. Do I look like someone with no fear of death?”
Ye Chenyan: “...That is remarkably convincing.”
Tianji Zi chuckled and nodded in satisfaction.
“I knew Little Yu wasn’t the sort to cling greedily to life and fear death. Just as expected.”
He smiled meaningfully at Yu Qingtang.
“So when the time comes, I’m sure you won’t hide with your head tucked into your shell either, right?”
Yu Qingtang shook his head with complete sincerity.
“I will.”
He withdrew a little to demonstrate.
“When I hear the thunder, I’ll just go right back in—”
The thunderclouds boomed overhead.
Yu Qingtang’s head vanished instantly.
Tianji Zi: “...”
He stroked his beard and glanced at Ye Chenyan.
“Tsk. Forgot he’s different from you. Provoking him doesn’t work.”
“Why should he be like me?” Ye Chenyan gave a smug little laugh, clearly pleased to see Tianji Zi fail. “He’s better off being himself.”
“Tsk.”
Tianji Zi gave him a disgusted look.
Then, the moment he noticed Yu Qingtang secretly peeking out again, he immediately put on a warm smile and beckoned to him.
“Little Yu, don’t worry. No need to be afraid. I brought you reinforcements.”
He grabbed the Thundercrest Leopard beside him by the scruff of her neck and lifted her until her head poked above the cloud.
“See? A Thundercrest Leopard, specialized in tanking lightning tribulations.”
Yu Qingtang’s mouth fell open.
“Ziyun?”
Ziyun flailed her limbs, seemingly trying to leap free of Tianji Zi’s grip, then howled at Yu Qingtang.
“Benefactor!”
“H-Hey—where did you learn to call me that?” Yu Qingtang gave Tianji Zi a complicated look. “She looks even more scared than I am. You really have the heart to make her tank this lightning tribulation?”
“Of course I do.” Tianji Zi smilingly let go, allowing Ziyun to duck behind him. “All I know is that Thundercrest Leopards have always possessed an innate talent for resisting lightning tribulations. Their clan should also be exceptionally sensitive to lightning.”
“One look should be enough for her to know how much accumulated lightning she can handle and how much she can’t.”
“I’m not going to demand she risk her life helping you. If she thinks she can’t do it, naturally I won’t force her.”
At that, Ziyun cautiously poked her furry head out from behind him again.
Her ears remained pinned back as she carefully raised her eyes toward the sky.
Tianji Zi turned around and smiled at her.
“Well?”
Ziyun jumped in fright and nearly sprang straight into the air.
Still, she answered honestly.
“I-I think I can help. And...”
She stole a glance at Ye Chenyan and muttered,
“An ordinary breakthrough tribulation is meant to test someone. But this lightning tribulation is obviously trying to strike him dead. If I don’t help him, there’s a very good chance he’ll die in it.”
She spoke quietly, but every cultivator present had extraordinary hearing. They all heard her perfectly clearly.
Yu Qingtang paled.
“What? It’s that serious?”
Ye Chenyan folded his arms and gave a short laugh.
“Is that so?”
He looked up at the thunderclouds.
“I say it won’t be taking my life.”
With that, he raised his spear and shot straight into the sky.
His aura climbed higher and higher, invisible pressure spreading outward until heaven and earth themselves seemed to tremble.
The lightning tribulation that had been brewing for so long showed no mercy.
Amid a deafening crash that seemed ready to rupture everyone’s eardrums, a massive bolt of lightning slammed down, as though the Heavenly Dao itself meant to crush this arrogant brat who dared challenge it.
“Awooo!” Ziyun spun in a frantic circle. “Why are you actively trying to get yourself killed?!”
“Aaaaah!”
She clutched her head with both paws in panic.
But in the end, she squeezed her eyes shut and charged upward through empty air.
“I already promised I’d help! Fine, I’m doing it—move! I’ve got this!”
Like a streak of black-violet lightning, she shot upward, planted her paws briefly on Ye Chenyan’s shoulder, then lunged higher.
With a roar, her body expanded into an enormous black leopard.
She bit straight into the silver-violet bolt.
And somehow, she severed the formless lightning in two.
The enormous current washed through her body, making every strand of black fur stand straight on end until she puffed up into one gigantic ball.
Ziyun shook herself violently.
Countless tiny arcs scattered into the air, crackling softly before fading away.
She opened her mouth with difficulty.
“What heavenly law did you even break...? That was the numbest my mouth has ever been in my entire °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° life...”
Ye Chenyan looked genuinely surprised.
He rubbed his nose in confusion.
“I don’t think I did anything?”
Tianji Zi took advantage of the moment to drift over beside Yu Qingtang, grab him, and haul him out of the Sea of Books Formation.
“What are you standing around for? He’s breaking through—hurry up and take advantage of it too!”
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