Chapter 34: 34: No One Will Notice A Little Hand-Holding, Right?

Without much fuss, having chosen her cultivation art, Lin Songmei immersed herself into her daily life once more, not paying too much attention to the time passing, not noticing as several weeks passed once more. 

Songmei’s daily life... was boring. It was like watching snow fall, fun in the moment, but still... It was quite mind-numbing after a while. 

Throughout the time period, there were a few notable pieces of news though. The first was that a few days after Songmei and Mingqing chose their arts, Lu Qiang and Cai Yufei managed to open the first of their 12 main meridians as well. With that, they had also already chosen their main cultivation arts. 

A couple of weeks after Lu Qiang and Cai Yufei managed to open the first of their 12 main meridians though, Songmei and Mingqing both managed to open their second, high-fiving and holding a small party with their master Liu Xueli in celebration. 

Fast progress! Enough to make many others throw up blood! 

During this time, Songmei and Mingqing didn’t do anything that fun, they spent many of their days cultivating, hanging out, and doing homework. Songmei began practicing with a bow, Mingqing continued learning her swordsmanship. Just a routine of day-to-day life that led them to slow, but constant improvement.

With the bow though, Songmei, seeing quick progress, thanked the heavens; it seemed that opening her meridians helped her with any sort of dexterous actions, letting her learn faster. 

She was still absolute garbage when compared to Mingqing’s sword skills...

Her bow skills were still... elementary, she could hit a target, but not well. She might’ve had more luck with an auto-aiming bow, but sadly... those weren’t a thing. Just a dream like having wrists that wouldn’t throb after hours of note-taking and homework... working. 

Other than learning to use the bow, class had settled into a routine, the inner disciple and direct disciple conflict was in a bit of a cold war period, with both sides being amiable with each other, but a sense of coldness still separated the two groups. This was only exacerbated with the fact that the direct disciples, having opened their meridians, were scheduled to leave the sect soon. 

Songmei wasn’t too sure on the details of the trip, all Xueli had revealed was that it was going to be after a large event...

And that event was today. 

Standing on the main island, wearing their formal robes, Songmei stood shoulder to shoulder with Mingqing, their arms behind their back. 

For the inner disciples, this was an optional event to attend, and with the details not being disclosed, most of them decided to go elsewhere. No one wanted to go to a random event on a Saturday. 

With all the elders and direct disciples in the sect standing in the wings of a large paved courtyard, Songmei looked around, scanning the crowd. “Mingqing... Have you seen Xueli?” 

“I have not.” Mingqing murmured under her breath, a similar tone of worry creeping into her voice. “She did mention that she’d be participating in the event so... she should just not be here yet. Any ideas on the event?” 

“Nope...” Songmei shook her head, just as baffled as Mingqing was. In fact, none of the disciples and lower elders were aware of the event. The upper elders seemed to be well-informed, but they were tight-lipped. The lower elders seemed to have an idea of the event... but, putting aside the fact they didn’t have any specific details, they were also tight-lipped! 

Did everyone have their lips sewn shut or something??

Just as Songmei shook her head though, a small commotion rang out as the double doors on one side of the courtyard opened, letting Xueli and Tu Weiping out from within. 

Murmurs began to ring out, whispers rippled through the crowd. 

Xueli, after walking to the center of the courtyard, took a seat on the pavement, her legs crossed as she closed her eyes. 

Tu Weiping on the other hand, as the sect leader, gave Xueli a few encouraging pats and exchanged some words before walking to the nearest wing of the courtyard, the elders shifting a bit to let him have a spot. 

Confused beyond imagination, Songmei stood there, resisting the urge to call out to Xueli. What was she doing over there? This... this wasn’t something bad was it? From her conversations with several elders, they seemed a little nervous, but they said there wasn’t anything to worry about... 

“I... I think I know what this is,” Mingqing whispered, nudging Songmei with an elbow, urging her to lean in closer. “Look... the clouds are gathering above too.” 

Dark storm clouds. 

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Songmei’s eyes widened, it had been an overcast day before this, but now, there were dark storm clouds, billowing in from every direction, congregating above Xueli’s head. 

Could... could it be?

Her eyes also nailed to the dark storm clouds overhead, Mingqing fell silent, opening her mouth after taking a few moments to think. “This is similar to my brother’s advancement... This might be a heavenly tribulation. I don’t know which realm she’s advancing to though...” 

Songmei had read about it in novels before, but... in real life? It was different. 

There was an invisible pressure that weighed down on everyone around. Songmei, looking towards Xueli, could see that her eyebrows furrowed, sweat ran down the side of her head, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. 

Crackle... 

Her eyes snapping up to the clouds once more, Songmei saw that there were yellow, white, and blue electric arcs flashing and jumping between the clouds. 

The pressure increasing, Songmei patted her chest, feeling a weight that restricted her breathing. Beyond the pressure though, there was an invisible majesty in the area, and from what she had read about, this was the Heavenly Dao, descending onto the world to give its test. 

A nudge. 

Songmei, thinking that no one else would notice, grabbed Mingqing’s hand, squeezing the hand for support as a faint tinge of pink climbed onto her cheeks in embarrassment before she focused once more in front of her. 

Silence. 

With the courtyard dead silent, each person craning their neck as their mouths dried, breaths shallow in bated anticipation, lightning began to fall. 

Bolt after bolt. 

The deafening roar of thunder. 

Songmei lost count after the first two seconds, it was as if a multi-colored curtain of lightning had descended. 

Ho... how was anyone supposed to survive this?

Feeling her hands become clammy, Songmei looked around, getting a little bit of relief from the relaxed expressions on the face of each elder that was watching the scene. 

A large crackle and roar. 

Above the clouds, coiling as it bared its jaws, Songmei looked up to see an electric blue dragon drawing lightning bolts towards it. 

Before long, seeming satisfied after its little charge up, the dragon soared towards Xueli, crashing into the ground with a loud explosion. 

A blast of air blowing her hair back, Songmei’s eyes widened and her jaw slackened as she took a step back to maintain her balance. 

With that... the tribulation continued on. 

The roar of dragons, the cascading bolts of lightning. 

And... the drip of blood.