Li He and Ye Shuang looked at him at the same time.
Ye Shuang asked urgently, “Senior Brother Meng, what does that mean? If it’s not a cauldron tribulation, then what is it?”
Meng Qiuran’s lips trembled.
It took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence.
“A cauldron tribulation, according to reason, is the Heavenly Dao’s trial for the birth of a spiritual object. The thunder is fierce, but it contains vitality. But this thundercloud… there is not a shred of vitality within it, only pure intent of destruction. This is not a trial—this is heavenly punishment!”
His voice suddenly rose.
“That Senior in the cave isn’t refining pills—he is defying the Heavenly Dao!”
Those words fell like a bucket of ice water over everyone’s heads.
Defying the Heavenly Dao. Every person present understood the weight of those four words.
Cultivation was inherently going against Heaven, but that was a “defiance” within the framework of the Heavenly Dao’s rules. Qi induction, Foundation Establishment, pill formation, crossing tribulation and ascending—each step was difficult, but still within the bounds the Heavenly Dao permitted.
Defying the Heavenly Dao meant completely leaping out of that framework and doing something the Heavenly Dao did not allow. That was true defiance of Heaven.
Li He’s voice had changed pitch.
“Senior Brother Meng, then… then what about us…”
Meng Qiuran spun around and bowed deeply to Su Wan’er.
“Fellow Daoist, please quickly leave this place with us! Under heavenly punishment, everything within several miles will be turned to scorched earth. If we don’t leave now, it will be too late!”
Su Wan’er stood still, her gaze fixed on that thundercloud.
The terrifying black thunder at the center of the cloud layer had condensed to a chilling degree, ready to strike at any moment.
She bit her lip.
‘Senior sent me to hunt and gave me half an hour. Now, not even half an hour has passed, and the thunder tribulation has already descended.’
‘Is this a coincidence? Or did Senior foresee all of this from the very beginning?’
‘Every time I thought I had seen the limit of what he could do, Senior used a new way to tell me that my imagination still fell far short.’
‘This time is no different.’
‘So what if it’s heavenly punishment? Since Senior dares to do something that defies Heaven, he must have a foolproof plan. And Senior having me leave the cave to hunt at this specific time, then return at this specific time—that in itself is an arrangement.’
‘This is a trial. A trial to see if I am qualified to stand by Senior’s side.’
Su Wan’er took a deep breath, bent down, and heaved the wild boar back onto her shoulder.
“Fellow Daoist!”
Meng Qiuran’s anxious voice came from behind.
“What are you doing!”
Su Wan’er did not look back.
Carrying the wild boar, she took her first step toward the mountain summit shrouded by the thundercloud.
With the second step, the thundercloud above churned even more violently.
Lightning serpents writhed madly within the clouds. Each flash of lightning briefly illuminated the world, casting her long shadow across the ground.
The heaven-earth pressure was like an invisible great mountain pressing down on her heart. The thundercloud was warning all living creatures:
‘Leave this place. This is not a place you should approach.’
Su Wan’er’s legs were trembling.
Every bone, every drop of blood in her body was screaming at her to turn and flee.
With the third step, she remembered what her mother had once said.
“Wan’er, if someday you meet a great senior surnamed Lai, kowtow three times to him for your mother, then beg him to take you as his disciple.”
With the fourth step, she recalled the hypocritical gazes of many people in the sect.
Those gazes were full of calculation, full of disgust. She did not want to be abandoned again.
The sect abandoned her. Her master abandoned her. Her fellow disciples abandoned her.
It was Senior who picked her up.
‘If I flinch from this trial, will Senior also think I am not worth taking along? Will he also turn around and leave me a receding silhouette, just like those people?’
Su Wan’er’s eyes reddened.
She clenched her jaw and, carrying the wild boar, continued forward.
Fifth step, sixth step, seventh step.
Each step felt like stepping on a knife’s edge. The heaven-earth pressure grew heavier and heavier. She could even feel the faint grinding sounds of her own bones.
Behind her, Ye Shuang’s voice was already choked with tears.
“She’s insane! She’s really insane!”
Meng Qiuran opened his mouth, wanting to persuade her further, but could not say a word.
He watched Su Wan’er’s figure, feeling nothing but absurdity.
“Let’s go!”
The black-robed man spoke for the first time.
“Heavenly punishment is about to fall. If we don’t leave now, we won’t be able to leave either.”
Meng Qiuran and the others gritted their teeth, gave one last look at Su Wan’er’s back, then turned and flew away.
The black-robed man paused for a moment before leaving.
He looked back at the slender figure carrying the wild boar. His gaze flickered beneath his cloak, then he turned into a black shadow and vanished into the forest.
Su Wan’er did not look back.
She could no longer hear the voices behind her. Between heaven and earth, there was only the sound of thunder, the wind, and her own heartbeat.
She felt like an ant crawling toward a volcano about to erupt.
Fifty steps left. Thirty steps. Ten steps.
Su Wan’er carried the wild boar and stepped into the cave entrance.
The moment she entered the cave, the heaven-earth pressure disappeared.
It was like stepping from raging waves into a calm, windless harbor. All the oppressive force was sealed outside the cave entrance in an instant.
Su Wan’er stood frozen, gasping for air.
Her legs were still shaking, but she could not spare the fear. Her gaze was already firmly captured by the scene inside the cave.
The cave was exactly as she had left it. The stone cauldron was still set over the pile of extinguished firewood. Everything around was unchanged.
The only difference was Lai Li’an.
Senior was sitting cross-legged deep in the cave, his eyes slightly closed, his body enveloped in a faint silver-white glow.
Su Wan’er dared not make a sound.
She gently placed the wild boar at the cave entrance, then carefully walked to Lai Li’an’s side and knelt respectfully.
Outside, the thunder grew closer.
Su Wan’er’s heart lifted again.
She could sense that the heavenly thunder was locking onto this mountain summit, gathering its final strength.
That fear of being treated as a heretic by heaven and earth surged in her heart once more.
Instinctively, she moved a little closer to Lai Li’an.
As she approached, she felt a clear, warm, and moist aura—it emanated from the silver-white glow around Senior. It was exactly the same as the Moon Essence Liquid that had been boiled in the stone cauldron earlier, only purer and richer.
Su Wan’er tried to absorb a wisp.
The moment that sliver of moon essence entered her body, she trembled violently. The moon essence power flowed through her meridians, and wherever it passed, the speed of her spiritual power circulation suddenly increased by a notch.
Su Wan’er’s eyes widened.
‘Is Senior cultivating… or granting me an opportunity?’
She stole a glance at Lai Li’an’s face.
Senior still had his eyes closed, his expression calm as still water, without any reaction. He did not say “yes,” nor did he say “no.”
‘Since Senior did not stop me, that means tacit permission.’
She took a deep breath, sat cross-legged imitating Lai Li’an, closed her eyes, and carefully guided the moon essence aura dissipating from Senior’s body into her own meridians.
Her heaven-grade water spirit root greedily absorbed every wisp of moon essence power, as if being refined anew—becoming more and more translucent, more and more lustrous.
Although her cultivation did not increase noticeably, the quality of her spirit root was improving at a rate she could perceive.
‘To think that a heaven-grade spirit root still has room for improvement. This is truly a great opportunity.’
An indescribable emotion surged in Su Wan’er’s heart.
‘Senior is clearly resisting heavenly punishment, yet he still spares a strand of moon essence power to nourish my spirit root.’
‘And I was secretly complaining in my heart that Senior had sent me away. Su Wan’er, you really are worthless.’
Outside the cave, several miles away.
Meng Qiuran and the other three stopped on a high slope and looked back at the mountain summit shrouded in thunderclouds.
Ye Shuang was evidently frightened. Her voice trembled.
“That Fellow Daoist… really went in.”
Li He was silent, not saying a word.
He did not know what to say.
A female cultivator at the late Foundation Building stage, carrying a wild boar into a place of heavenly punishment—no one would believe it if you told them.
Meng Qiuran stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the churning thunderclouds, his expression extremely complex.
He came from the main sect of the Alchemy Sect, sent down to a branch sect for training. He had seen countless geniuses, freaks, and prodigies in his time.
But something like today—he had never seen it, never even heard of it.
“That Senior… what kind of great figure is he?” he muttered to himself.
No one answered him.
The black-robed man stood behind the three, his gaze under the cloak also fixed on the thundercloud.
His cultivation was the highest among them. Precisely because of that, he understood better than anyone how terrifying the power contained in that thundercloud was.
That was heavenly punishment, not a cauldron tribulation.
A cauldron tribulation was a test. Heavenly punishment was eradication. A test still had a thread of life. Eradication left no possibility of survival.
He had struggled in the cultivation world for hundreds of years and seen many great masters crossing thunder tribulations. But something like today—he had never seen or heard of it. This was heavenly punishment!
‘What did that person in the cave do to make the Heavenly Dao go so far as to send heavenly punishment to erase him? And what I am even more curious about is—if that person really weathers the heavenly punishment, then what exactly is he…’
The black-robed man dared not think further.
“What a pity for that female cultivator,” Li He said in a low voice. “Late Foundation Building stage, heaven-grade spirit root… just thrown away like this.”
Ye Shuang nodded vigorously.
“She could have come with us! What kind of bewitching soup did that Senior feed her to make her throw away her life like that?”
Just then, heaven and earth suddenly turned bright.
That light swallowed all colors. The sky, the mountains, the forest—everything lost its hue in that radiance, turning black and white.
Then, the heavenly thunder fell.
No ear-splitting explosion. No earth-shattering roar.
That pillar of thunder fell vertically from the center of the cloud layer—silent, without a sound—yet carrying a pressure more terrifying than any noise.
That was destruction itself.