“Shen Yanchu, I have come to find you.” A deep and magnetic voice suddenly rang out. Shen Yanchu, who had been comfortably lying on a stone block fast asleep, was startled and instantly jerked awake from his sweet dream, sitting bolt upright with a single carp-like leap. This voice was far too familiar; even in his sleep-deprived daze, Shen Yanchu could instantly recognize it. Was this none other than that cold-faced man Ji Yanche, who wore a stern expression all day long as if everyone owed him money!
Shen Yanchu rubbed his eyes and gazed intently in the direction of the voice. He saw Ji Yanche standing tall and straight like a pine, looking heroic and high-spirited at the cave entrance. Standing right beside him, shoulder to shoulder, was Su Rongyu. At this moment, Ji Yanche’s sharp, falcon-like gaze easily pierced through the heavy barriers surrounding the outer perimeter of the cultivation cave, landing squarely and unobstructed upon Shen Yanchu.
Xie Huaizhou, who had been meditating and cultivating nearby all along, snapped his eyes open upon seeing this, a flash of vigilance crossing his gaze.
He stood up abruptly, his white robes fluttering wildly in the wind as an icy, bone-chilling aura radiated from his entire being. In a cold voice, he chided, “Ji Yanche, just what kind of person do you think you are? How dare you be so audacious as to trespass into the forbidden cultivation grounds of the Taiyi Sect without permission? Do you truly think the Taiyi Sect has no one left?”
Faced with Xie Huaizhou’s furious reprimand, Ji Yanche merely smiled dismissively, not even bothering to lift an eyelid. His slender eyes remained fixed intently on Shen Yanchu as he slowly spoke, “I am Shen Yanchu’s cultivation partner. What harm is there in coming to visit him? What, could it be that I do not even have the qualification to see my own spouse?”
Hearing this, Shen Yanchu inwardly groaned and cursed his bad luck. Subconsciously shrinking back behind Xie Huaizhou, he thought to himself: Although after getting along these past few days he found that Xie Huaizhou’s temper was not exactly stellar, compared to this unpredictable Ji Yanche right before his eyes, Xie Huaizhou was truly much more straightforward to deal with!
However, Shen Yanchu’s subtle movements naturally did not escape Xie Huaizhou’s notice. Seeing him looking so timid and cowering, Xie Huaizhou’s expression turned even more terrifyingly gloomy. His eyes wide with anger, he sharply rebuked Ji Yanche, “Hmph! Someone as devoid of manners and as willfully reckless as you is simply a shameless scoundrel! If I do not teach you a lesson today, I fear you will only become even more arrogant and overbearing in the future!”
Hearing this, Ji Yanche’s expression turned ugly as well, and he immediately retorted, “Xie Huaizhou, if I have no qualification, do you think you have the qualification to stay with Shen Yanchu?”
Hearing this, Xie Huaizhou’s face turned even more iron-colored. Without another word, the spiritual energy within his body surged rapidly, instantly condensing in his hands as he struck out at Ji Yanche with a fierce palm technique.
Cold light flashed in Ji Yanche’s eyes as he swung his palm to meet the attack without hesitation. Their palm forces collided with a deafening roar, and intense spiritual energy fluctuations instantly rippled violently through the cave.
Seeing this, Shen Yanchu inwardly thought things were looking bad, but knowing he was powerless to stop the duel between these two powerhouses, he could only watch nervously from the sidelines, praying silently that it would not trigger a greater disaster.
Just as the two had exchanged dozens of blows and the atmosphere in the cave grew increasingly tense, the sky suddenly clouded over with thick, dark clouds. Silver snake-like lightning wove through the cloud layer, followed immediately by a heaven-shaking dragon roar that resonated across the earth and surged straight toward the cave.
Xie Huaizhou and Ji Yanche simultaneously sensed the unusual aura, stopping their fight and looking up at the sky in unison. They saw a bolt of heavenly lightning resembling a giant dragon, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws as it lunged fiercely toward Shen Yanchu.
Shen Yanchu was about ready to start swearing. While Xie Huaizhou and Ji Yanche wanted to fight, why on earth had Xie Huaizhou moved more than ten meters away from him?
The old Sect Master was completely right; there really was a lightning tribulation. Fear gripped Shen Yanchu to the extreme, but knowing there was no escape now, he could only brace himself and bite the bullet to face this heavenly tribulation.
“Rumble!” The heavenly lightning struck Shen Yanchu heavily, and his entire body was instantly swallowed by a blinding flash of light. The intense pain nearly caused him to faint, but he gritted his teeth and persisted, desperately driving the spiritual energy within his body to contend with the heavenly lightning.
Just when everyone thought Shen Yanchu was bound to die, a miracle occurred. After swirling around inside Shen Yanchu’s body for a cycle, that bolt of heavenly lightning actually transformed into a massive surge of power that helped him break through his cultivation bottleneck.
Shen Yanchu felt the spiritual energy inside him surge crazily, his cultivation realm experiencing a qualitative leap in a mere instant. When the very last shred of heavenly lightning energy merged into his body, he finally successfully crossed the heavenly tribulation, transforming into a brilliant ray of light as he broke out of his cocoon like a butterfly and stepped into the Nascent Soul realm.
Witnessing this grand, awe-inspiring scene unfolding before them, the disciples of the Taiyi Sect could not help but burst into waves of amazement and sighs: “Senior Brother Xie has actually truly succeeded in breaking through his cultivation realm!” Even the usually calm and composed Sect Master was moved, secretly marveling at the astonishing achievement attained by this prized disciple of his.
Yet amidst all these exclamations of praise, there was one person whose expression was dark and unsightly. This person was none other than Su Rongyu.
He bit his lower lip hard, his brows locked tightly together, and muttered in a low voice full of grievance and resentment, “System, what on earth is going on here? You clearly swore to me back then that as long as I followed Ji Yanche to this place, I would smoothly break through to the Golden Core cultivation level. Why is it that right now, it is precisely that cheap wretch who has stolen a march on us and broken through to the Golden Core stage first?”
[Host, please calm yourself and try not to get angry. Our strategy guide was indeed written that way. After all, you possess the irresistible charm of a heartthrob; the next time will certainly not see a repeat of this situation.]
The system’s ingratiating voice sounded in Su Rongyu’s mind, but before it could finish speaking, it was rudely cut off by Su Rongyu.
“What heartthrob! Earlier, it was precisely because I blindly trusted the ghost stories you told that I foolishly followed Xie Huaizhou to rescue Shen Yanchu, and afterwards obediently stayed by Ji Yanche’s side with high expectations that he would help me elevate my cultivation. But what was the result? That fellow Ji Yanche has me copying books all day long or dispatching me to roast fish for him! There is not even a shred of help from him!” Su Rongyu grew more and more irritated as he spoke, his voice involuntarily rising a few notches.
[Host, calm your anger, calm your anger! You must take a longer view of things. Ji Yanche is a true dragon unique to these three realms; once his cultivation advances in the future and he reaches a profound realm, he will surely be able to cover the heavens with a single hand. As long as you can capture his heart, why worry about this mere matter of cultivation?] The system hurriedly offered soothing words of advice.
Hearing this, Su Rongyu let out a cold snort. He did not need to rely on men. With that thought, he ignored the system altogether.