The Heroine Must Die

Drake didn’t question it. He endured the descending lightning and, at all costs, propelled Edmund—possessing Lauren—toward the faint purple glow above the clouds.

Below, tens of thousands of cultivators stared upward in utter confusion. After eighty-one bolts, there should have been celestial music.

Radiant light. An ascension pathway. Instead, the lightning kept falling.

The junior disciples didn’t understand. But Gerald did. This—

This was why Drake hadn’t ascended all these years. The true Heaven was obscured.

Once an Ascension Tribulation began, it wouldn’t stop. But rules were rules.

He had endured eighty-one bolts. The true Will of Heaven was obligated to open the path. Whatever was blocking it—whatever dared to suppress Heaven’s will—would inevitably leave a flaw.

High above, Lauren’s body trembled violently. Edmund drove the Five-Color Ball upward.

They reached an invisible barrier. The resistance was overwhelming. It felt like pushing two identical poles of a magnet together—the closer the bead came, the greater the repulsive force.

Edmund’s hands formed seals rapidly. The Five-Color Ball began spinning at terrifying speed, inching toward the barrier.

Lauren could feel everything. She wasn’t controlling her body—but she felt the pressure. Her Immortal Roots ignited with blazing white light.

Hot. Scalding. Leaking strands of celestial energy poured into her through the cracks above.

Her Immortal Roots absorbed it greedily. But her body couldn’t handle that level of power. She felt like she was going to explode.

“Edmund… Immortal Roots…” she whispered desperately.

He reacted instantly. Calmly, he redirected the celestial energy being absorbed, channeling it into the Five-Color Ball.

Inflow. Outflow. The unbearable pressure eased slightly.

......

Below them, Drake had already endured over one hundred bolts of heavenly lightning.

Even for him, it was becoming too much. His body was blackened.

Charred. He looked like a walking corpse carved from ash. And he wasn’t alone.

Far away, in the wild forests— Silent Fang was undergoing his own tribulation.

He fled through shattered woodland, lightning chasing him relentlessly.

Humans were favored by Heaven. Beasts were not. For an animal to ascend—it was far more brutal. He had lost count of how many bolts he’d endured.

His body was a mess of torn flesh and shattered scales. He didn’t dare stop. He kept running.

Above him, a faint glow pierced the storm clouds. He had passed Heaven’s standard. The extra lightning— That was meant to kill him.

A pale golden radiance began to seep from his battered body. Merit. The accumulated merit of saving countless fishermen.

And in distant coastal villages, incense burned bright. Villagers knelt, praying to the Sea God who had once saved them.

That merit power shielded him in his most desperate moment, knitting his wounds, barely keeping him alive.

Without it— He would have been reduced to ash.

.......

Far in the Far North, under shattered glaciers, others walked the path of ascension.

Originally, more than a dozen had attempted it. Now only seven remained. The rest had died beneath the lightning.

Reaching peak Mahayana didn’t guarantee ascension. The Ascension Path crushed the weak.

But with each attempt—each surge upward— The layer obscuring Heaven’s Will weakened.

......

High above Thunder Sect— The Five-Color Ball struck the invisible barrier. It began drilling into it like a diamond-tipped bit.

Crack. The sound was faint. But real.

Still— Compared to the vastness of the sky, that tiny bead was absurdly small.

Lauren’s heart pounded violently. How long would this take?

Below her— Drake had already endured one hundred and twenty bolts.

Ordinary cultivators struggled to survive eighty-one. Her master had taken one hundred and twenty. From a distance, he looked like a burnt shadow.

Crack! This time the sound was sharp. Like an eggshell splitting.

Lauren turned her head. A fracture had appeared in the invisible barrier. Then another.

Three. Eight. Countless.

They spread outward like a spiderweb across the heavens. Her breath caught.

They did it. The obstruction was breaking.

A path— A true path to ascension— Had finally opened.

......

Edmund was the first to sense it. Something had shifted in Sky-Covering Valley. A torrent of celestial energy was leaking through the rupture above, and far beyond this world—his true body was awakening.

The pull was immediate. Violent. He stepped out of Lauren’s body in a shimmer of light, his form finally distinct again. The force from the upper realm tried to drag him away at once. He steadied himself and caught Lauren by the wrist so she wouldn’t be thrown off balance—or pulled in with him.

“I’ll remember what you did today,” he said quietly. “One day, when you need my protection—”

“Ah—don’t.” Lauren cut him off quickly, shaking her head. “If I ever need that kind of protection, it means I’ve ended up like you did. That’s shit luck. Don’t say it.”

For a moment, Edmund just looked at her.

There were too many things in that look—gratitude, regret, something almost like warmth.

He released her hand. Without another word, he turned into a streak of light and shot toward the distant heavens.

......

Far above, in the upper realm, the colossal Sky-Covering Formation trembled. A young attendant guarding it blinked in confusion and craned his neck upward.

The next instant—

BOOM.

The formation exploded. The boy was blasted backward, rolling across the ground before scrambling upright, hat askew, face pale with terror.

“It’s bad! It’s bad! Heaven Six has blown up!”

“What?” someone shouted from within the palace halls. “Heaven Six again?”

“Yes! The same one where the Heavenly Eyes malfunctioned a few days ago!”

Heaven Six had been nothing but trouble lately.

“Miss Daphne has already taken people to investigate. We’ll have answers soon.”

They didn’t. The next report arrived swiftly—and it was worse.

“Miss Daphne and her team… their soul lamps have all gone out. Everyone except Landon.”

Silence fell.

“How is that possible?” someone whispered. “It was just a routine inspection…”

.....

Back in the lower realm—

The barrier veiling the sky finally shattered. The false cover collapsed like glass. Above them, the true Will of Heaven revealed itself.

Ethereal music poured down from the firmament. A radiant ladder descended from the clouds and came to rest before Drake.

The charred figure standing in the wasteland did not move at first. A gentle celestial wind swept across him. The blackened crust of burnt flesh peeled away, flaking off in pieces. Beneath it—

New skin. Smooth. Untouched. He stood fully reborn.

Drake stepped onto the ladder.

One step.

Two.

Three.

Then he paused. He turned back.

The Thunder Sect stretched out below him, battered but standing. From the day he had entered its gates as a child to now, he had lived here for so many years he no longer remembered the number. Today, he would leave it behind.

“Master!”

“Master—!” Lauren and Tarot dropped to their knees together. “Respectfully sending Master on his ascension.”

Gerald knelt as well, followed by every cultivator of Thunder Sect. “Respectfully sending Mr. Drake on his ascension.”

“Respectfully sending the Immortal Venerable on his ascension!”

Drake looked at them, eyes calm and clear.

“Today, I ascend to the upper realm. You must not grow complacent. Continue your cultivation. One day—we will meet again.”

“We obey the Immortal Venerable’s command!”

With a flick of his wrist, Thor’s Sword flew from his hand and descended like a bolt of light, landing upright before Gerald. “After I ascend, return it to the Sword Tomb.”

“Yes, Mr. Drake.”

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