Yu Ling's expression tightened the moment he heard Yunxi's words. He too sensed the lock of the impending heavenly tribulation. Without hesitation, he said,
"Ran Xi, quickly calm your breath and absorb the medicinal power. Let the Xianling Grass replenish your spiritual energy as soon as possible. I will take you to Tribulation Peak of the Huaxian Gate."
He tossed a jade bottle of pills to Yunxi, then swept his sleeve and carried her out of the crater embedded deep into the ground.
From the moment Hua Teng Zūnzhě laid eyes on Long Ya, she knew the situation had gone bad. The next instant, Yu Ling's disciple had detonated an immortal artifact, severely injuring Long Ya. While the massive hand was still venting its fury, Hua Teng Zūnzhě darted to the Shanhe Scroll, seized it, and swiftly completed the final step of the binding ritual.
As the Shanhe Seal bloomed between her brows, she hurled the scroll into the air and drew Long Ya, stripped of any trace of evil aura, back into the Shanhe Scroll.
Long Ya had not expected its time outside the seal to be so brief. Once again trapped, the artifact spirit tried to resist. But the power of the self-detonated immortal artifact had already devastated its true body. In unwilling defeat, it was forced into deep slumber, its resistance crumbling as it fell back into the scroll.
Hua Teng Zūnzhě rolled up the scroll in one smooth motion, flicked her sleeve to store it away, and disappeared, heading straight for the forbidden back mountain of the Huaxian Gate.
Meanwhile, deep beneath Wangyou Mountain, in a hidden cave abode, a black-robed male cultivator snapped his eyes open. His gaze was filled with venomous hatred, blood trickled down from the corner of his lips. He glared at his scarred right hand and muttered through clenched teeth,
"That woman again. I will kill her…"
Before he could finish his threat, his expression shifted drastically. His figure vanished instantly. Moments later, a bolt of pitch-black lightning laced with violet arcs crashed through his cave abode like a raging waterfall.
Though the black-robed man dodged the first strike, he could not escape the second, nor the third. Desperate, he shot straight into the sky, only for a colossal hand wreathed in violet lightning to seize him. His screams echoed as the hand withdrew into the heavens, taking him away, leaving nothing behind.
Wangyou Mountain was left a ruin, almost flattened by thunderbolts. The charred remains of beasts and plants bore silent witness to the devastation. The few low-rank spirit beasts hiding in terror trembled in their burrows, too afraid to move.
Tribulation Peak, Huaxian Gate
All cultivators marked by tribulation lightning were swiftly swept up by their sect elders and delivered to Tribulation Peak, a mountain reserved for crossing tribulations.
Hua Yu's voice rang out, no longer bothering with private transmissions:
"Fellow Zūnzhěs, quickly bring all disciples undergoing tribulation to the opened peaks. The formations there will aid them in overcoming their tribulation."
Hao Qing arrived with Zhang Lingrui and Lin Keyang in his sleeves, moving at full speed. With a flick, he deposited them on two adjacent peaks.
Both Zhang Lingrui and Lin Keyang's dantians were nearly empty, their spiritual energy almost completely drained. Neither had confidence in surviving their Divine Transformation Tribulation.
But Zhang Lingrui, anxious and pale, shouted, "Hao Qing Martial Uncle, please, go help Ran Xi! After detonating that immortal artifact, she must be gravely injured. She won't survive the first wave of tribulation lightning!"
Lin Keyang added quickly, "Martial Uncle, when we shattered the seal, Ran Xi exhausted almost all of her spiritual energy to keep the evil soul from escaping."
Though urgency weighed heavy in Hao Qing's heart, his expression remained calm as he said,"Worry about yourselves first. Your energy is spent. Focus on replenishing your spiritual power and weather your own tribulation."
He threw each of them a bottle of pills before flashing away to activate the formations on Tribulation Peak. They needed the defenses up at all costs to buy time for the two to recover.
Similar scenes played out across the other four regions. Thirty disciples were facing the Divine Transformation Tribulation simultaneously, testing the full might of the Huaxian Gate. Almost every elder of the sect had gathered at Tribulation Peak, and Hua Yu had even arranged for the Sect Master to be ready to activate the grand protective array. No matter the cost, these cultivators had to survive.
Earlier, when he saw thirty-five cultivators emerge from the Shanhe Scroll, Hua Yu's heart bled. His disciple Xian Xu was not among them. He could guess his fate. Judging by the expressions of the other Divine Transformation Zūnzhěs, their hearts were equally heavy.
The five cultivators who had escaped the scroll without being marked by tribulation lightning sat cross-legged together in meditation. Two Divine Transformation powerhouses guarded them. Whatever had happened inside the scroll, these five were the only ones who could tell.
Hao Yan appeared beside the group, bowing slightly to Ming Hong Zūnzhě, who was watching over them.
"Ming Hong Daoyou, how are they?"
Ming Hong returned the bow and replied, "They're all drained, their meridians damaged. Some carry traces of evil qi, but I've already purged it from their bodies."
Then he asked, "How is Ran Xi?"
Everyone had seen the girl's decisiveness when she self-detonated the artifact. That alone spoke volumes. Many cultivators had given her their remaining energy, desperate to stop the evil artifact. Whatever happened inside the Shanhe Scroll, it had clearly been dire.
Hao Yan shook her head. "Yu Ling has taken Ran Xi to Tribulation Peak. Whether she survives the Divine Transformation Tribulation will depend on fate."
At that moment, Wei Yunqing slowly opened her eyes. Hao Yan narrowed her phoenix eyes, flicked her sleeve, and pulled Wei Yunqing out of the gathering formation.
"Wei Yunqing, tell us. What happened inside the Shanhe Scroll?"
Seeing her sect's Divine Transformation Zūnzhě, Wei Yunqing finally released a shaky breath and swallowed hard.
"The Nascent Soul cultivators competing in the tournament were all drawn into the Shanhe Scroll. It was all the work of evil cultivators. They wanted to use us to unseal the artifact and the evil soul sealed within.
We were trapped in the sealed grounds for ten years, fighting until nearly every evil soul was destroyed. In the end, the evil artifact Long Ya regained its peak power and broke the seal. The survivors followed it out.
Yunxi said she could destroy the artifact and asked for our help. We gave her every scrap of spiritual energy we had left. You saw what happened next."
She lowered her head. Never had she imagined she would walk out alive. In those last desperate days, even she had been tempted by the artifact's influence, tempted to claim Long Ya. But the Mystic Frost Needle in her dantian had been a constant warning: if she dared touch Long Ya, she would die instantly. So she had gritted her teeth, detonated her magic treasures, and endured to the end.
Sweeping her divine sense over Wei Yunqing, Hao Yan noted her bone age had indeed advanced by ten years. She knew the girl spoke the truth. Yet, the truth was likely even bloodier than her brief account.
Ming Hong Zūnzhě finally asked the question on everyone's mind, "Were you the only ones who escaped? What of the others?"
Wei Yunqing met his gaze, her voice firm despite the tremor, "They all fought to their last breath, perishing alongside the high-ranked evil souls."