Chương 88: Arc 5: Chapter 21

“Bianca, will I… will I be fine?” Song Ming asked as the others slowly backed away from her, leaving her within the protective field of a grandiose looking array inscribed into the ground.

“You’re asking her and not either of us?” Yan Taijun murmured, though Bianca didn’t hear her.

Instead, she put on the most reassuring expression she could and nodded, “You’ll make it through, even if I have to destroy every single bolt of lightning that comes your way… however that works. Anyway, I believe in you, my pet.”

“Aw… Thank you, Mistress. Somehow, hearing you say that even without knowing what we’re facing makes it so much more reassuring…” Song Ming said, her gaze loving and appreciative.

Bianca heard the sigh to her side, presumably from Xue Yaling, Yan Taijun or both, but her attention was entirely on her pet, on Song Ming. She was very worried about her, since she was on the brink of what had been advertised to her as absolutely destructive – a literal rain of lightning tended to give off that impression, after all – and as she understood, despite her boast, there wouldn’t be much that she could to do the lightning unless she unleashed strength at the level of the Demon Queen.

The notion of destroying lightning bolts still sounded absurd, in truth, but if that was what she was told, then she’d believe it. With how long she’d spent in this world, she should’ve already learned her lesson and understood that everything worked under different rules, but it was rather difficult to adapt to all this madness.

“How… how exactly does the lightning work, by the way? Is it just like normal lightning, but stronger, or…”

“You’ll see in a moment, but yes. The bolts are a little… slow, one might say, hence the ability to break them, but you can also endure them with a sufficiently powerful defensive skill or body technique. Ideally, you’ll be the one to resolve the lightning, letting its power flow through you and strengthen you in the process, but in emergencies, a helper can step in and break the lightning tides, causing them to strengthen but eventually wear away regardless,” Xue Yaling explained, rather helpfully, “Arrays like that are another way of handling them.”

Yan Taijun joined in, “Artefacts and arrays are not considered as intruding upon your tribulation, and so it’s safe to utilise them to ease the trial. With her current skills and the array, she should be able to get through it, and I’ll resolve the lightning if she is clearly in danger. You need not worry.”

“Hm… Alright. I’m guessing I should be watching and learning from this?” Bianca asked, looking up into the skies as the clouds began to darken and the skies became filled with them.

It was clear that rain would fall in no time at all, and with the rain would come the storm, the storm that Song Ming would have to weather now, and Bianca would have to handle in the future, likely not that many days from now. Thus, even without the direct reply, she knew that if she did look away, she’d simply be putting herself at greater risk, thus forcing one of the others to endanger themselves to save her if she did fail.

“Pay attention and take in every single detail, aside from Song Ming’s approach to dealing with each bolt. That part is specific to your cultivation, and thus if you attempt to mimic her instead of using your own strengths, you’ll have a bad time,” Xue Yaling responded, “If I was you, I’d just let your Demon Queen side take care of things.”

“She would be rather effective-”

“You would be rather effective, you mean.”

“I… Ugh, yes, I would be rather effective at dealing with anything that can be destroyed or otherwise attacked… and all the other stuff, too. She- I mean, the other side of me is… rather good at everything, really.”

“It’s the part of you that’s actually competent, that isn’t afraid to use your full strength and intellect. There’s no chance that you’re so foolish as to be unable to learn the basics of cultivation after so long, but if that other side of you is keeping everything you’ve learned and it remains separate from your current self, then it would make much more sense,” the kitsune suggested, “The sooner you’re able to weaken the wall between the two sides, the better it would be for all of us.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know… still sucks, though. I don’t like that side of me in the slightest, or else I would’ve tried to use her- I mean, it, long ago. It’s super useful based on what it’s able to do with my skills and what is apparently my knowledge.”

“All the more reason for you to hurry up. Now, watch.”

The first clap of thunder sounded from above, nearly making Bianca block her ears out of instinct. It sounded incredibly powerful, and from what she recalled of seeing that other lightning tribulation, Bianca knew that it was but the first herald of sheer power that lay within those dark clouds above. The tribulation would soon land.

“Bianca…”

“Yes?”

“… I’ll get through this. I won’t let you down.”

“This isn’t about me, cutie… but make sure you do. Give the heavens a nice kick to the butt for me,” Bianca smiled, quickly taking a step back as the array before her lit up.

It surrounded Song Ming and covered her in a vivid coating of ruby light, almost resembling numerous ribbons wrapping around her and shielding her from harm. However, there were clear gaps in between each of these ribbons that would let lightning in.

Bianca was about to ask Yan Taijun about it, since she was concerned that something wasn’t working right, but then she decided to finally let her brain work and tried to tap into the insights that she knew she had… somewhere deep in there, at least. She felt as though she was trying to push some enormous boulder uphill with the strength she had back on Orbis, but after a lot of mental struggle, she did finally remember something.

Not long ago, it was mentioned that the tribulation lightning would assist in refining and strengthening the cultivator, and that breaking the lightning outright would be a cause for the cultivator becoming weaker in the third realm than they otherwise might be. Therefore… allowing the lightning to still influence Song Ming and, later, Bianca, would help them gain the benefits but minimize the downside.

Still, just in case, she asked, “The gap in the barrier, is that to let the lightning strengthen Song Ming?”

“Mhm, more or less. If we did try and block it in its entirety, then it would be deemed as sufficient interference for the heavens to strengthen the lightning bolts. This will only make them more dangerous and offer no benefits for the cultivator – as far as anyone worth reading up on can confirm – so it would be foolish to risk such a thing,” Xue Yaling stated, “Right, Yan Taijun?”

“Indeed. I have little more to add, other than the specifics of this array, which you wouldn’t be able to understand – and this isn’t a slight against you, by the way. The principles of the array are somewhere between the third and fourth realm in terms of complexity, and requires the insight into arrays that you cannot obtain simply by cultivating. Considering that you don’t have your memory and haven’t studied anything since, then you won’t be able to decipher anything.”

“Understandable… though I won’t be able to decipher much regardless. The split between myself and Demon Queen Bianca is a bit too much, still.”

“Did you finally recognise it enough to tap into some of what you – on the inside – know? I was wondering how you came to such an effective answer with your condition, but that would make some sense…” Xue Yaling said.

Bianca had some choice words for her, and Yan Taijun appeared interested in saying something, but then the storm clouds above finally broke, and the first bolt of lightning crashed from the skies.

It was both slow and fast, reaching Song Ming’s location in an instant and yet descending slowly enough for Bianca to examine every detail with her eyes, as difficult as it was to look upon plasma and pure energy. It looked gorgeous, and yet she could feel the sheer power contained within, the terrible harm that it could cause with but a touch.

Of course, her body might be able to take it, but she had a feeling her mind would explode from the lightning. That feeling also made her all the more concerned about Song Ming’s state, so she cleared out all errant thoughts from her head and looked.

Her pet had already released some of her energy to soften the blow with a stream of bluish light, but then she did something Bianca thought she’d never see. She took up a stance for a kick, and then, just as the lightning neared, she kicked up at it, her foot colliding with the lightning. It was a preposterous scene in every regard, and yet, that kick ended up splitting the wave and scattering the lightning all around, much of it crashing into the ground and causing a ripple of energy to burst out from the array, washing over Bianca and the other two.

The energy that wasn’t completely knocked aside washed over Song Ming, clearly passing through the defensive layer, but it didn’t appear to shock her like regular lightning should’ve done. Even her hair remained as neat and pretty as before, which… was nice. None of this made sense given her understanding of physics, so she just took in the sight.

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The lightning bolt briefly caused Song Ming’s skin to glow and her aura, her cultivation realm, briefly jumped, reaching the edge of the next realm but falling short just before it could break through.

That much Bianca did understand. The tribulation called for nine lightning bolts, and it appeared that Song Ming would get each and every one of them before she got the pleasure of experiencing the third realm. She also had to switch over from her previous cultivation technique to Purity of Essence in this tribulation, which she was attempting to do right at this moment, the structure of her energy fluctuating during the lightning strike.

How exactly it would work, Bianca didn’t know, but she was certain that Song Ming would succeed. And when she did, they would make out and have a lot more fun together, as was the custom for a couple like theirs.

Another bolt of lightning fell, and Song Ming replied to it with one of her Eidolon Lunges, punching the lightning and sending more of its energy scattering all over the place. Her strike was less effective than the previous one, once again displaying the sheer power of the Violet Kick relative to other skills, but it was still sufficient to keep her safe.

However, Bianca and the others noticed that as Song Ming attempted to adjust her energy further, some dark sparks mixed in with the violet light of her Purity of Essence. The quickest to react amongst them was Xue Yaling, who quickly stepped up to the boundary of the array.

“Song Ming, use your physique! Let it mix with your energy and grow alongside your realm!”

Song Ming tilted her head in surprise and ended up being distracted as the third lightning bolt fell, causing the full brunt of the tribulation to strike her, nearly shattering the defensive layer that coated her body. It made Bianca wish to slap the kitsune, but she stayed put and watched instead, for the light of Song Ming’s physique energy erupted, and she attempted to unleash her power on her own for the first time, a rune appearing at the ground and forming out of a bluish-green light.

Since there was little room for it, and the lightning targeted Song Ming each and every time, she set up the rune just beneath herself, the powerful light beneath already burning her clothing.

When the fourth bolt of lightning came, it was met with the rune’s detonation, an immense burst of bluish-green colliding with the pure silver bolt. For a moment, the collision was naught but blinding light, but the sensation of it was clearly different to the previous strike, the one that dared harm Bianca’s property-

‘I mean… my pet… That’s what I meant, yes,’ Bianca nearly coughed out loud, as though to distract from the slip-up, but then the light finally cleared.

It turned out that Song Ming was not only completely unharmed, but what little lightning endured her rune helped to massively boost her progress, and not just that. Her planar energy and the power from her physique energy seemed to mix together, causing both to shine more vividly… and both to turn darker, as though the demonic influence from each passed onto the other.

Thus, her energy darkened, and it felt as though the lightning bolts above grew brighter in reply. The fifth strike followed soon after, but with the first rune established, the next was easier, and thus she endured yet another wave.

“And here’s why people desire physiques, especially the powerful ones such as the four of the Conqueror’s Eye. At a low realm, they allow one to trivialise fights, overcoming countless challenges with almost zero effort… and those that wish they could extract physiques from others dream of being able to one day get their hands on a willing test subject with something as powerful as Song Ming’s physique,” Xue Yaling said, her expression clearly relaxing, “Your pet is safe now, so you can just sit back and wait for her to reach the third realm.”

Indeed, the following bolts did little to trouble Song Ming, save for each explosion of the rune beneath her feet removing more and more hints of her clothing, until she was left with naught as the final bolt fell upon her. As soon as the light from it cleared, the aura of her realm skyrocketed, feeling as though her strength increased a great degree with just a single step.

In addition, there was a mirage of a strange shape around her – a angular shape with a wide base, a narrow point barely half-way up Song Ming’s lower leg, then a widening up until it curved back into a point above her head. It was akin to the anchors that she had seen before, though it felt distinct, clearly belonging to her pet and nobody else. Furthermore, it seemed to face in a different direction, though it was hard to tell from the mirage alone.

But that was the slightest of changes in Bianca’s view, although something akin to a 50% boost in her strength – the exact number being an estimate in her part, although she did remember something about the specifics of energy development through each realm being shared with her by Xue Yaling – was certainly difficult to disregard. For one, her blue energy had transformed into a dark, violet sea, which was filled with flowing dark mist.

The scar on her arm was also glowing faintly, and its light changed to a darker teal, a rather unsurprising fact considering just how much of Bianca’s energy had ended up inside of her body prior to this.

More concerning to her was the change to her eyes, or more specifically the irises. There was a visible rim of crimson just around her pupils, akin to Bianca’s own crimson eyes, and despite how faint it looked on first glance, it was far too obvious to her after she had seen the same symptoms occur to her own body.

“Bianca… I did it!” her pet exclaimed, and it was difficult to keep her apprehension going when she looked so excited and happy.

“Yes, you did… Come here, my pet,” Bianca found herself smiling as she spread her arms wide and invited her in for a hug, an invitation that Song Ming didn’t hesitate to accept for even the briefest moment.

She ran in and leapt into Bianca’s embrace, her strength nearly pushing Bianca down, but showing that her physical strength no longer grew as intensely as with the previous steps of cultivation.

“How do you feel, sweetheart? Anything new or weird?”

“Well… I feel like I want to obey every single word of yours…” Song Ming said, only to chuckle a second later, “Though I felt like that already, so no, I suppose not. Why, was there something odd about my breakthrough?”

“Not to alarm you, but you seem to be getting red eyes as well… and your energy is rather clearly dark in nature… and your physique has gotten even darker, and that scar seems to be glowing even though your energy isn’t upset, and… well, it feels a bit odd.”

“Ah…” she looked to be in thought for a short while, then shrugged, “As long as I’m with you, it’s okay.”

“…”

“Now, let’s not ruin the moment. We can look into the specifics of all this later, so let us simply celebrate Song Ming’s accomplishment right now and behold her new strength. Song Ming, would you mind showcasing your anchor for us?” Xue Yaling blatantly distracted from the situation, much to Bianca’s annoyance, although she did have to admit that she was curious about the full view of her pet’s anchor.

She hadn’t seen that many before, but even if she had seen thousands, it wouldn’t be the same as seeing her very own pet’s one.

“Alright… I think I do it like… this!”

Song Ming remained within Bianca’s arms and summoned the anchor behind her, a mass dropping out of the sky and crashing into the earth.

A great structure that towered above her manifested behind her, a three-sided anchor with a side that appeared larger than the rest facing a certain side. Bianca didn’t recall if anyone had ever explained the specifics of anchor directions to her, all her memories stopping at mere generalisations, but apparently the primary side would face in a certain side that matched the element that the cultivator practised. She also didn’t recall anything about how this would work with pure planar energy, but it shouldn’t have been-

“It seems to match a water-aspected anchor despite cultivating pure planar energy… I suppose that it was influenced by the previous cultivation technique…”

“So, how is it? Is it good, Mistress?” Song Ming asked, her eyes gleaming with desire for approval.

“… Looks cool, I suppose… I want one.”

“You can have mine… Or, well, I’d give it to you if I could, Mistress,” her pet replied without a moment of hesitation.

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