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"Damn it! That woman escaped again!"
Several Daoist priests clad in Daoist robes stood at the entrance of the small alley. The Seeking Object Compass in their hands no longer provided guidance; the needle remained stiff and motionless.
One of the young Daoist priests, unable to control his emotions, cursed out loud.
His companions didn't blame him for his outburst, because their own expressions weren't much better.
After all, having pursued her for over a month, just as they were about to close the net, the fish escaped. Everyone felt suffocated with frustration.
"There's no use saying this now. That woman even abandoned her husband."
"She's alone now, and has so many Gu worms acting as eyes. I fear she'll be even harder to find."
The middle-aged Daoist priest leading the group gravely put away the compass. Over this long period, he had roughly grasped the methods of that Gu maiden.
When she was dragging along a living corpse, they already had such difficulty finding her. Now that she was alone, she was likely a mud dragon entering the sea, leaving no trace behind.
Seeing the sky darken, and considering how exhausting the journey had been, the middle-aged Daoist priest spoke: "Let's find a hotel to rest first. Tomorrow we'll go into the city again, then rendezvous with your Senior Martial Uncle Chang Ji."
This time the middle-aged man descended the mountain, bringing along many disciples from the sect; naturally, it wasn't for sightseeing.
The sect had rules: when age and cultivation level met the requirements, disciples needed to enter the mortal world for training.
Because this batch of seedlings was the most outstanding group the sect had produced in over a decade.
The sect feared they might be schemed against by other cultivators, so they specially dispatched Wang Jue – that is, the middle-aged Daoist – as their guardian.
Nowadays, Xuanmen sects like theirs not only had their own mountain gates but also corresponding resources and connections in the secular world.
Not only for purchasing mundane goods for the sect but also for managing various businesses involving gold and silver; after all, with so many mouths to feed up and down the sect, they couldn't just sit around and deplete their resources.
"Okay, Martial Uncle." The disciples who had come for worldly training immediately perked up upon hearing they would rest.
They found a nearby hotel and settled in. Since they had to wake up early tomorrow, Wang Jue specifically instructed the disciples not to stay up late.
Returning to his room, he meditated as usual. He had already entered the fifth rank at his current age. If his luck was good, there was hope of glimpsing the seventh rank.
For this reason, he cultivated diligently every day, even while in the mortal world.
However, today, as he settled into qi absorption as usual, he suddenly opened his eyes after just a short while.
It wasn't that something went wrong with his cultivation, but rather he suddenly felt a palpitation in his heart.
Wang Jue's expression changed. He quickly walked to the window, pulled open the curtains, and was subsequently shocked by the scene before him.
On the mountaintop dozens of li away, tribulation clouds gathered without warning.
Clouds like thick ink enveloped the entire mountaintop, within which flashes of lightning could be seen.
"Is someone undergoing tribulation? Or is a peerless ominous creature being born?"
Even from such a distance, Wang Jue could still perceive the vast killing intent of heaven and earth.
For a moment, uncontrollable fear arose in his heart. You had to know, even from this far away, he could sense the terror of the lightning tribulation. How terrifying must it be to face it directly?
Just thinking about it made the hair on Wang Jue's entire body stand on end.
And in the current world, things capable of triggering heavenly tribulation were either high-rank cultivators breaking through, or ominous creatures being born.
If it was the former, it would be better. If the latter, it would be troublesome. After all, an ominous creature of this level, even if the head of the Xuanmen personally acted, might not be able to handle it.
Of course, whether it was a person or an ominous creature, worrying would have to wait until after the lightning tribulation passed.
After all, heaven and earth would not allow such an existence to appear easily.
As if responding to his thoughts, the tribulation clouds accumulated enough power, and streaks of lightning smashed down towards the mountaintop.
The huge commotion terrified the area for dozens of li around, causing widespread panic.
Wang Jue stared intently. Vaguely, amidst the lightning, he saw a tiny figure...
That stature wasn't that of an adult, but rather resembled a child's.
Ominous creature!
In that instant, Wang Jue instantly made a judgment in his heart.
Because he had never heard of anyone in the Xuanmen achieving a high rank while still in a child's body.
This caused worry to instantly surge in his heart. Don't be fooled by the dozens of li; it sounded far, but when a peerless demonic creature was born, disaster could easily spread for hundreds of li. It was too late to run now.
If not for the lightning tribulation, he would have long used his Spirit Eyes to investigate. How could he be like now, only able to sit and wait for death?
He didn't dare breathe loudly. And the momentum of the lightning tribulation grew stronger with each wave.
Despite this, it eventually had its end. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the tribulation clouds slowly dispersed, and the killing intent blanketing heaven and earth also completely vanished.
Wang Jue knew it was over.
At this moment, the only thought in his mind was: Did that ominous creature die?
With his cultivation, rushing over the distance of dozens of li would only take half an hour, but he absolutely didn't dare go.
What if it hadn't died, and he ran right into it? Then he definitely wouldn't survive!
He still wanted to glimpse the scenery of the seventh rank; how could he do such a foolish thing?
Nearby Xuan Masters all shared this thought. Therefore, for a time, no one dared to go investigate.
Compared to the silence of the Xuan Masters, ordinary people didn't have so many reservations, nor did they know the situation. Someone was seen recording a video of the lightning tribulation, which was promptly uploaded to the internet.
This abnormal spectacle naturally sparked widespread debate.
Some said the video was fake, others said it was real. The arguments were lively, generating several trending topics.
...
However, the main subject of this event was currently carefully running back to her own room.
"It's ruined!" Yao Yao stood before the bathroom mirror.
She saw her little head, electrocuted like an explosion, her small face filled with helplessness.
If her parents saw her like this tomorrow, they would definitely ask questions, and she wouldn't be able to explain.
Because this hair was damaged by the power of the lightning tribulation, Yao Yao couldn't restore it either. The only way was to wait for it to grow back out.
But growing it out would take a long time, totally not enough time!
That's right, the video that caused a sensation across the internet was precisely caused by Yao Yao undergoing tribulation.
After she and her daddy dealt with the issue at Uncle Li's house, she inexplicably received two meritorious virtue rewards.
Yao Yao, being greedy, couldn't resist eating them.
Then, her cultivation level, which was already on the verge of breakthrough, exploded like ignited gunpowder.
Yao Yao didn't have time to prepare at all; she definitely wouldn't dare undergo tribulation at home.
The power of the heavenly tribulation could directly level the Gu family residence. In her haste, she chose an isolated mountain. Due to insufficient preparation, she let her guard down for a moment, and her hair wasn't protected.
Tears welled up in Yao Yao's watery big eyes from anxiety.
Now, she couldn't even feel happy about the good news of successfully transcending the tribulation and stepping into the eighth rank.
And just as she was agonizing over what to do, she heard her watch beep.
She opened the message and found it was a short video sent by Seventh Brother²⁴. She opened it, and her eyes fell upon scenes of lightning striking down. Yao Yao was suddenly stunned.
Because she recognized it – this was the small mountain she chose for her tribulation!
It was actually captured on video by someone? Her small face grew even more worried. She deeply regretted not finding some deep mountain old forest.
Fortunately, no one captured her image, otherwise, her parents would be implicated.
Yao Yao breathed a sigh of relief, feeling fortunate. Just then, Seventh Brother sent another message.
[Yao Yao ah, tell me, is this video real or not?]
[I sent it to Third Brother and the others; they said it's fake. But I feel it's very real. Help Seventh Brother take a look; Seventh Brother only trusts you!]
Yao Yao looked at these two lines of text, momentarily conflicted about how to reply.
If she told Seventh Brother it was fake, she would be lying.
But if she said it was real, she feared Seventh Brother would press further.
Yao Yao was extremely conflicted. Then, accidentally glancing up and seeing herself in the mirror, she suddenly froze.
A thought popped into her mind: since she couldn't think of a solution herself, perhaps it was due to insufficient experience.
Seventh Brother was older; maybe he would have a way to help her.
The more she thought about this idea, the more feasible it seemed. Yao Yao momentarily stopped worrying about the video; the most crucial thing now was her hair.
"Seventh Brother, Seventh Brother, Yao Yao requests backup!"
Thus, she quickly sent a voice message to Seventh Brother.