Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s beautiful face displayed a mask of hypocritical grief, but as her gaze fell upon the Yi Pan in Qian Yu’s hands, a visible trace of obsession flickered within her eyes.
However, just as her hand reached out, unable to resist touching it—
*Boom—*
A deafening roar of heavenly thunder shook the very sky. Under the stunned gazes of everyone present, a bolt of pitch-black lightning, saturated with an aura of pure destruction, slammed down toward Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s hand.
The massive, destructive pressure swept across the scene, permeating the entire sect.
High in the air, the expressions of the Venerables shifted drastically.
On the ground, the Elders were nearly blown off their feet.
Every single one of them watched that obsidian bolt of lightning with utter disbelief.
Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s expression turned hideously grim.
Anyone with the ambition to step into the Venerable Realm would recognize this phenomenon—this was Heavenly Punishment Lightning; it was a Heavenly Tribulation!
But why?
Why would a Heavenly Tribulation suddenly appear?
And why did it happen right as she was about to touch that Yi Pan?
In an instant, a flurry of suspicion and shock surged through her mind, but she had no time to ponder it.
The lightning was coming straight for her.
The Flowing Cloud Bracelet on Qian Yu’s wrist, which was inscribed with a protective formation, was activated in a flash and disintegrated just as quickly.
Even though she wasn’t the target of the tribulation, the mere stray wisps of its aura were enough to turn her to ash in an instant.
Yet, unlike Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s panicked face, this little Half-Yao—whose cultivation was negligible compared to the power of heaven and earth—remained calm and composed.
Everything was going according to her calculations. As for her own safety…
Qian Yu turned her gaze toward the equally startled Nalan Yunyan beside her, her lips moving slightly.
She knew the other girl would understand what she was saying: “Boss, save me.”
She looked so confident that it was as if she were certain the other would save her.
Nalan Yunyan’s eyelid quirked, but before the second wave of destructive fluctuations from the heavenly thunder could reach them, she crushed three Venerable Scrolls in a row and pulled Qian Yu into her protective range.
“Don’t you dare thank me, and you’d better not repay kindness with enmity!”
Nalan Yunyan said, her expression fierce.
“Oh~”
Qian Yu nodded obediently with a harmless look, the small, cunning glint in the corner of her mouth visible only to herself.
‘Kekeke, it worked. This wave of the plan is a success.’
From the moment she decided to sever her own Sacred Body, Qian Yu had marked Cloud-Weave Star Venerable—that ill-intentioned old woman—as a target for revenge.
Nalan Yunyan’s earlier outburst at the gate, which had drawn the eyes of the entire sect, had given Qian Yu the perfect idea.
She wanted to splash a bucket of filth onto that old woman right in front of the Luoxia Immortal Sect and the Demon Race.
As a representative of the Ancient Auspice, any being that attempted to harm an Ancient Heavenly Fox would suffer some degree of heavenly retribution.
The bloodline Qian Yu had awakened possessed this trait.
However, because her cultivation was too low and her bloodline too thin, the effect wasn’t obvious; usually, it would only make someone lose a few extra strands of hair.
But Cloud-Weave Star Venerable had forced her to cut out her Sacred Body.
The reason such a constitution was considered the hallmark of a Peerless Prodigy, aside from its combat prowess, was that it caused a person to be somewhat aligned with the Heavenly Dao.
This alignment didn’t manifest as raw power, but when someone actually attempted to separate it from the body, that lingering aura of the Heavenly Dao would be pulled out as well.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be very useful, but Qian Yu’s bloodline was that of the Ancient Heavenly Fox, the race most beloved by the heavens.
She could use that aura one last time before it dissolved back into the world—turning a slow, steady stream into a one-time use item to briefly amplify her own affinity with the Heavenly Dao.
Whoever bullied her would get struck by lightning.
To make the strike faster and more violent, she had factored almost every detail of the current situation into her calculations.
She had used the Yi Pan to reignite Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s greed.
She had fabricated stories about her Shizun to shake the woman’s Dao Heart.
She had even offered Nalan Yunyan a share of the Sacred Body just to stir up the woman’s resentment and competitive nature.
A Semi-Saint is aligned with the Heavenly Dao.
If they become stained with too much worldly desire without suppressing it in time, they easily become loathed by the heavens.
At such a moment, attempting to lay hands on the Sacred Body of a “darling of the heavens” practically forced the Heavenly Tribulation to strike.
Furthermore, for the Sect Master of a righteous Sacred Ground to be struck by heavenly lightning while trying to touch her junior’s Sacred Body… the implications were far too many.
The most malicious one being…
Whether it was the Demon Race, the Human Race, or even Stone Spirits and other Elemental Beings, a Sacred Body could appear in any living creature of the Cultivation World.
Except for one race.
The one that came from beyond the stars and did not belong to the Cultivation World—the Mara Clan.
Qian Yu knew perfectly well that Cloud-Weave Star Venerable had nothing to do with the Mara Clan, but the fact remained that she had been struck by a tribulation while trying to claim a Sacred Body.
So many people had seen it, including many Venerables.
Surely a few of them would make that connection?
Not to mention, they were currently at a sensitive point in time where the Mara Clan had begun crawling out of The Abyss to invade various factions.
Thinking of this, Qian Yu couldn’t help but let out a soft hum.
If Nalan Yunyan hadn’t been standing right there, she probably would have put her hands on her hips and cackled wildly.
‘Kekekekekeke…’
Aside from her Semi-Saint cultivation, the most precious thing Cloud-Weave Star Venerable possessed was the sterling reputation she had painstakingly built over several hundred years!
It was an invisible asset, but when everyone’s strength was roughly equal, people would always prefer the one with the better reputation and character.
This asset had provided the Star Venerable with countless benefits over the years.
And now, Qian Yu had destroyed it with her own hands.
The Sacred Body was even safely tucked away inside the Yi Pan in her hands.
Whether she used it for her own enlightenment later, exchanged it for an Opportunity, or used it to grant someone a favor, anything was possible.
She had lost nothing. Instead, it was Cloud-Weave Star Venerable who had ended up with a face full of dust.
“Qian Yu!!! If you keep hiding there and laughing like a creep, I’m throwing you out!”
When Qian Yu’s tail finally started wagging uncontrollably, hitting Nalan Yunyan and making her eyelid twitch, the blonde young lady finally hit her limit.
‘Is she really that happy just standing next to me? My charm is clearly too much sometimes.’
*Cough.*
Giving a dry cough, Qian Yu quickly looked back and glared at her disobedient tail.
She immediately changed the subject, looking up at Cloud-Weave Star Venerable, who had already flown high into the sky to face the tribulation.
She asked worriedly, “Martial Aunt won’t be in any danger, will she? Why did a Heavenly Tribulation suddenly appear?”
“I don’t know. But there’s something wrong with this tribulation…”
Nalan Yunyan was glad for the change of subject.
Ever since being hugged twice by the other girl, she had felt a bit restless standing next to her for some reason.
She continued, “Usually, when someone breaks through, the tribulation is rainbow-colored or golden. Only those stained with sin encounter red tribulations. A pitch-black Heavenly Tribulation like this only appears when someone’s sins are so deep that the world itself cannot tolerate them.”
‘But Cloud-Weave Star Venerable is a good person.’
The woman was somewhat at odds with her family, but surely she wouldn’t deserve this level of heavenly punishment?
Nalan Yunyan was confused, and her confusion mirrored the thoughts of most cultivators witnessing the event.
How could their Sect Master—the one so friendly to her peers and kind to her disciples—encounter such Nirvana Black Thunder?
Was heaven truly so unjust?
For the members of the Luoxia Immortal Sect, the good image Cloud-Weave Star Venerable had maintained for several hundred years wasn’t so easily shattered.
They were more inclined to believe some special circumstance had occurred.
However, for the members of the Demon Race who had little contact with her, this black lightning held a “profound meaning.”
“Seventh Aunt, this lightning…”
Beside the Fox Tribe’s Venerable—the Seventh Demon Venerable—You Suqi spoke in a hesitant tone, having changed into a different green dress.
Most sins only brought about red lightning.
Something pitch-black like this… even the members of their own tribe who enjoyed slaughtering living beings and frequently wiped out human cities or demon villages hadn’t attracted anything this dark.
What exactly had Cloud-Weave Star Venerable done?
The Seventh Demon Venerable didn’t speak.
Her attention was entirely focused on the fact that the tribulation had been triggered right when the woman tried to touch that Yi Pan.
The last time she had seen such black thunder was on a traitor who had sold his soul to the Mara Clan.
Could this so-called righteous Sect Master of the Human Race be…
“Forget about her for now,” the Seventh Demon Venerable said, letting out a soft breath.
“Didn’t the head of the Nalan Family previously express interest in bypassing the Luoxia Immortal Sect to establish a solo partnership with our tribe?”
She had rejected him before.
But now… people liked to compare, and so did demons.
The Nalan Family had a bad reputation, which was why they had chosen the Luoxia Immortal Sect.
But… compared to someone possibly involved with the Mara Clan, the Nalan Family—who only cared about monopolizing resources and overcharging—seemed far more benevolent.
Furthermore, if this were the case, the vacancy for the next Saint might just see some unexpected changes.
At this moment, it wasn’t just the Demon Venerables, including the Seventh Demon Venerable.
Even the Supreme Elders of the Luoxia Immortal Sect, who had originally stood by Cloud-Weave Star Venerable’s side, now had flickering, obscure looks in their eyes.
Qian Yu’s calculation was precise.
Everything happening afterward was proceeding exactly as she had envisioned.
But she didn’t know that the blow she had struck against Cloud-Weave Star Venerable was far more effective and deeper than she could have imagined.
It was so potent that in the years to come, whenever the woman thought back on it, she would want nothing more than to skin Qian Yu alive and eat her flesh.
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