Qing Ying had been scouring the small market that Xuantian Sect had recently established, searching for the odd little trinkets brought in by low-level cultivators. Over the past few days, she had finally learned to appreciate the spirit stones in her pocket. She spent them on all kinds of curios, moving them into her Blood Prison World to decorate her White Bone Palace, while also adding rare and bizarre little demon beasts and spirit medicines to the miniature world inside her cauldron.
When Yu Jianming found her, she was haggling with a Foundation Establishment cultivator over a tiny monkey-like demon beast no bigger than half a palm. The two of them were fiercely arguing over five low-grade spirit stones.
Yu Jianming pulled out some spirit stones and tossed them to the cultivator, then shoved the frightened little beast into Qing Ying’s arms.
“Come on. We’re going to the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range!”
Qing Ying gave Yu Jianming a sidelong glance.
“Did you move another great dragon vein over there?”
Yu Jianming explained:
“I just received a message from Junior Sister Nianhui saying that Little Martial Aunt ran into trouble there. The Demon Saint Elder also sent word that Little Martial Aunt Grandmaster is currently heading there to undergo the dragon-transformation tribulation. We’re supposed to go help guard her. He also told us to bring you along, in case some reclusive powerhouse tries to launch a sneak attack while Little Martial Aunt Grandmaster is undergoing her tribulation.”
“Huh?”
Before Qing Ying could figure out the difference between Little Martial Aunt and Little Martial Aunt Grandmaster, or whom each title referred to, Yu Jianming grabbed her and hauled her onto the teleportation platform bound for the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range.
Only then did she realize that it must be her cheap master and the little flood dragon.
“Something happened to my master?”
The teleportation platform traveled through a stretch of void. Every so often, an image of the greater world flashed past.
Qing Ying immediately realized how shoddy the platform was. It could not withstand the force needed to forcibly connect two locations, so it was making short-range jumps along the spatial boundary. At this speed, they would be trapped in the darkness for ages.
She shot Yu Jianming a disdainful glance, summoned the Heaven-Refining Cauldron, and swept him inside. Hoisting the cauldron onto her shoulder, she blasted open a passage by force and appeared instantly in the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range.
A large number of cultivators had gathered around the mountain range. The moment they saw her, they hurriedly retreated several hundred yards.
Qing Ying tipped Yu Jianming out of the cauldron.
“Where’s my chea—master?”
She raised her eyes and swept her gaze around. At once, she spotted an auspicious region glowing with spiritual radiance on the roughly thousand-li green plain where three dragon veins began. Thunderclouds now blanketed the area, and torrential rain poured down, as though someone were about to undergo a lightning tribulation.
Looking more closely, Qing Ying was stunned to see that the open ground, which had not yet developed any great geomantic configuration, was faintly giving off the aura of a coiled dragon. As the thunderclouds pressed down, that aura was gradually transforming from a coiled dragon into a soaring dragon.
Qing Ying’s beautiful eyes widened as she carefully studied the terrain, her confusion deepening.
Ten years ago, this place had been nothing but yellow sand. Only in recent years had grass and saplings gradually begun to grow after a great dragon vein was moved here. Even if dragon veins existed in this place, forming a land fit for a dragon to dwell in should have taken hundreds or even a thousand years. Even if nine peaks and nine dragon veins had all converged here, it should still have taken that long.
Six months ago, when she had moved over the third dragon vein, she had seen no sign of such a geomantic configuration. How had one suddenly appeared—
As she pondered, Qing Ying caught sight of signs of deliberate alteration. She even spotted familiar formation materials.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
Yu Jianming asked:
“What is it?”
As he spoke, he saw Bao Nianhui hurrying toward them on a flying sword. He had just opened his mouth to ask about Little Martial Aunt when Bao Nianhui called out:
“Senior Brother Yu, Senior Sister Qing Ying, please help protect Little Martial Aunt Grandmaster. My master was injured by the Heavenly Tribulation just now. I don’t know whether she’s all right, so I have to go back and check.”
Yu Jianming nodded.
“Go.”
Bao Nianhui rushed to the fleet of Hack Gang warships forged from Daluo Red Gold, which had been deployed nearby. She boarded a hundred-zhang battleship with a teleportation gate already activated and sped away.
Qing Ying turned to Yu Jianming.
“My master was struck by lightning just now?”
“That is what Junior Sister Nianhui said.”
Afterward, Yu Jianming saw Qing Ying blinking at him repeatedly, her expression rather strange.
“What’s wrong?”
Qing Ying opened her mouth, then swallowed the words that had reached her lips. At the same time, she caught a fleeting glimpse of Bad Little Fox’s silhouette at the far end of the teleportation gate Bao Nianhui had just entered.
She bit her lip and tilted her head.
Bao Gu must have been punished by this world’s Heavenly Dao laws for defying heaven. However, after fusing with the Xuantian Sword, Bao Gu should not have been struck to death. Had Bad Little Fox rescued her?
Even if Bao Gu was injured, if Bad Little Fox could save her, then she would be fine. If even Bad Little Fox could not save her, Qing Ying could not do anything either.
Qing Ying focused on the tribulation site once more. Seeing no sign of a fallen immortal, she finally relaxed.
“It’s fine. Bao Gu won’t die.”
A bolt of lightning lanced straight down from the thunderclouds.
At the same time, a snow-white flood dragon roared out of a deep pool beneath the tribulation and shot upward into the wind, rain, and lightning.
The white flood dragon collided with the blinding bolt. Thunder and dragon roars rolled across the land together, shaking everyone’s eardrums with pain.
Not far away, another warship forged from Daluo Red Gold suddenly tore through the void and sailed out. The banner flying from it was not Hack Gang’s flag, but Xuantian Sect’s great sect banner.
Zi Tianjun, dressed in purple robes, stood at the bow. He gazed into the distance at the white flood dragon undergoing its tribulation, his face filled with relief and delight, though a trace of tension remained in his eyes.
A cultivator familiar with Zi Tianjun flew up to the bow, cupped his fists, and called out:
“Sect Master Zi, congratulations! Once this tribulation is over, your daughter will become a true dragon whom even True Immortals will have to give a wide berth.”
Zi Tianjun smiled modestly.
“Not at all, not at all. It’s still unknown whether she can make it through this tribulation. I only ask that she come through safely.”
The cultivator continued:
“You’re too modest, Sect Master Zi. With a tribulation of this scale, and so many peak experts of this realm protecting her, she is sure to make it through safely. I hear that even the place where your daughter is undergoing her tribulation and ascension was personally arranged by the Hack Gang Lord—”
Before he could finish speaking, a huge cauldron suddenly flew out and dropped over his head with a clang, swallowing him whole.
The surrounding cultivators were startled.
Then they saw the cauldron fly into the hands of a richly dressed, extraordinarily beautiful girl of around sixteen or seventeen who stood nearby.
The girl flipped the cauldron upside down and dumped him out. However, unlike when he had been taken in, he emerged as a white skeleton. Beside the bones lay a pile of pulverized flesh mixed with blood.
A cultivator at the early stage of Tribulation Transcendence had been killed in an instant, his flesh and bones completely separated.
All the nearby cultivators were horrified, but not a single one dared to flee. They were afraid that the moment they ran, this terrifying ancestor would single them out next and grind them to death inside the cauldron.
Yu Jianming had naturally noticed Zi Tianjun’s arrival. Although he still was not used to seeing the man there, he could hardly comment on it. He certainly had not expected his own junior sister to attack without warning, and he hurried over to Qing Ying.
“Junior Sister, what are you doing?”
“I’m unhappy.”
“Being unhappy doesn’t mean you can kill people at random!”
“I didn’t kill him at random. I killed him only after seeing the situation clearly.”
Yu Jianming fell silent.
Qing Ying had no desire to speak to him further. She sat cross-legged in midair and gazed from afar at Zi Yunshu, who was tumbling through the sky beneath the Heavenly Tribulation.
Her expression was far beyond mere unhappiness. She looked listless and utterly depressed.
A cultivator saw this and tried to sneak away. The instant he moved, Qing Ying swept him into the cauldron. She flipped it over and dumped him out again, leaving only a skeleton with the flesh separated from the bones.
Yu Jianming was badly startled.
“Qing Ying, you—”
His tone immediately softened.
“Could you please stop killing people for no reason?”
“Fine. Tell them that as long as they don’t move before the little flood dragon finishes her tribulation, they’ll be fine. Whoever moves, I’ll wipe them out!”
The cauldron in her hand flew out again. At times, it even tore open the void and entered it, pausing briefly before cultivators hiding in the darkness who seemed to be plotting something sinister before flying away again.
The Heaven-Refining Cauldron circled the tribulation site once, terrifying all the cultivators who had come to watch. None of them dared move recklessly.
Still, not everyone was afraid to move.
The carriage of the Yue Kingdom Empress descended in front of Qing Ying. Si Ruo jumped down and came over.
“What happened to cause such a spectacle? Where’s your cheap master?”
Seeing that someone actually dared to disregard her warning, Qing Ying was about to summon the cauldron and swallow her. But when she saw that it was Si Ruo, she stopped.
She glanced at Si Ruo and pouted unhappily.
“Bad Little Fox rescued her.”
A flicker of surprise crossed Si Ruo’s eyes.
She had received news that Bao Gu was undergoing a tribulation in the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range. She had also seen reports from Yue spies about this newly appeared geomantic treasure land, so she had vaguely guessed what was happening. However, she had not expected it to be serious enough to bring Xue Qing out personally to rescue Bao Gu.
The shock in her heart did not show on her face. She sat cross-legged beside Qing Ying and looked up at Zi Yunshu, who was still undergoing her tribulation.
“I heard that only a handful of people have ever successfully endured the True Dragon Tribulation. How much of a chance do you think Zi Yunshu has?”
Qing Ying glanced at her.
“With your family’s deep knowledge, why ask me?”
Si Ruo drew in a quiet breath, a smile touching the corners of her lips, and wisely said no more.
Inwardly, she thought, Anyone who calls Qing Ying dim-witted in front of me will have to answer to me. She’s just like her master—both of them pretend to be harmless while taking down tigers.
Suddenly, a surge of energy shot through the air from the distance.
Qing Ying raised the cauldron and sent it toward the incoming disturbance. The instant it appeared above the energy fluctuation, she sensed a familiar aura. She flicked her hand, recalling the cauldron.
Jade Shura pushed open the carriage door and stuck her head out, peering around.
“I could have sworn I just felt something flash past.”
Qu Yirou swept her divine sense across the area and spotted Qing Ying and Si Ruo sitting side by side in the distance. She steered the carriage over and jumped down.
“You still have the heart to watch a show? Then Bao Gu must be fine. Where’s Yu Mi? This is a rare dragon-transformation tribulation, and it’s her Little Martial Aunt who is undergoing it. Isn’t she coming?”
Si Ruo replied:
“Qing Ying says Bao Gu was rescued by that one from the Demon Domain. She must be badly injured, so Yu Mi probably doesn’t feel like coming.”
Si Ruo glanced at Qu Yirou, then turned her attention to Zi Yunshu in the distance.
From Zi Yunshu’s aura and the energy of the lightning descending from above, Si Ruo could tell at a glance that Zi Yunshu’s own strength could hardly withstand three tribulation bolts. Yet the power of the three great dragon veins beneath them had combined with the geomantic configuration, neutralizing the might of the Heavenly Tribulation as it fell upon her. By the time the tribulation energy smashed through the geomantic power and reached Zi Yunshu, it had already been reduced to a feeble remnant.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Qu Yirou’s gaze settled on Zi Yunshu.
Qu Yirou was a rare lightning-element cultivator and was often struck by lightning herself. She was deeply familiar with it and immediately spotted the telltale signs.
“This…”
Jade Shura had not noticed anything unusual.
“Master, what’s wrong?”
Qu Yirou focused on the three dragon veins beneath her feet, and her expression darkened. When she looked again at Zi Yunshu and the place where she was undergoing her tribulation, her expression grew even grimmer.
Then she remembered Si Ruo’s words that Bao Gu had been rescued by the one from the Demon Domain, and her suspicion was confirmed. She inhaled sharply and fell silent.
After thinking for a moment, she turned to Jade Shura.
“Bao Gu is probably badly injured this time. I’m afraid she’ll need to remain in seclusion for a long time. Go check on Yu Mi.”
Jade Shura nodded lightly, accepted the order, and left.
