Divine tribulation. Powerful bolts of heavenly lightning that threaten to rend any unprepared cultivator asunder. They were a poorly understood phenomenon—there weren’t very many xiantian cultivators and fewer still who were willing to study tribulations or share their findings. As such, their purpose was the subject of quite a bit of scholarly debate. Some said that they were punishment for defying the natural law of the heavens by seeking immortality, or perhaps a trial to weed out those unworthy of their power. Infamously, the God-Emperor of the Qin Empire described them as purifying flames that would strip a soul of the unnecessary impurities of body and mind when the time came to ascend.

Regardless of their true purpose, Jianmo had claimed that the divine tribulations on Yoshika’s world had been twisted by the divine seal—warped into a cruel and destructive punishment for anyone who even began to walk a path that might lead them to escape the seal. Perhaps then, it was an encouraging sign that Yoshika had apparently managed to earn a second one before even reaching the xiantian breakthrough—where most cultivators were said to receive their first. That was a small comfort when staring up at the ominous thundercloud hanging impossibly high in the sky that threatened to rain destruction down on top of her fragile mortal family members.

Yoshika acted quickly—from her understanding, tribulations took time to build, but she didn’t want to take her chances. She would need to get as far away from her family as possible first, then figure out what to do. Almost as an afterthought, Yoshika dismissed her simulacrum and released her joint meditation, preparing to move Jia and Eui’s bodies away. To her surprise, as soon as Rika was no longer a part of her, the ominous feeling of being watched faded away entirely.

What had happened? Was it somehow only interested in her triumvirate form? Looking up in the sky, the thundercloud still hung in the air, slowly gathering power. Yoshika’s faces were crossed with a matching pair of frowns. If it wasn’t targeting her then...

She met Rika’s eyes, and saw her friend staring back in wide-eyed terror. The fear and trepidation would have been obvious even without Yoshika’s empathy, or the fact that they had just been sharing a soul moments ago. Rika glanced back up at the tribulation cloud, then down to Yoshika again.

“W-what do I do?!”

Fuck! Yoshika cursed under her breath. She’d known that Rika was close to her third stage breakthrough, and it seemed like their joint cultivation had pushed her over the edge. Rika had no choice now but to break through or die. Without hesitation, Yoshika produced her speaking stone, calling out urgently with both voices.

“Eunae! Is there a safe place in the city to undergo a divine tribulation? It’s urgent.”

The princess’ panicked voice responded immediately.

“That’s you?! Oh, ancestors, the palace is having a fit over it. Yoshika, how do you always cause so much—”

“It’s not us, it’s Rika.”

There was a beat of silence, then Eunae’s voice came through as serious as Yoshika had ever heard her.

“Bring her to the palace right now. I might be able to—no, I will arrange a place for her. Hurry up!”

Yoshika and Rika were already moving before Eunae even finished. On their way out, Yoshika called out to Ja Yun.

“Yun, watch over my family while we’re gone and make sure that slime thing doesn’t cause trouble!”

The former soldier jumped at the sudden demand.

“What?! B-but I’m supposed to be—”

Rika interrupted her with a kiss, causing her to freeze as if completely paralyzed.

“Do it as a favor for me? I’ll be back before you know it.”

Ja Yun let out a tiny squeak that was probably meant to be affirmative, but they didn’t stick around to clarify. As they dashed towards the palace, Yoshika looked askance at Rika, who blushed a bit under her gaze.

“Shut up! Not a word! I’m not about to hold anything back when I’ve got a death sentence literally hanging over my head, alright?”

“We didn’t say anything.”

“Good, keep it that way.”

At the palace, Yoshika and Rika were met by Hyeong Aecha, Seong Eunae, and a half-spirit man that Yoshika didn’t recognize. Despite his rather squirrely appearance and skittish demeanor, the man had the aura of a xiantian mage. Eunae introduced him as they ran through the palace grounds, all pretense of decorum abandoned.

“This is the closest to an expert on tribulations as we have. He has attempted to study them for the last century or so.”

The man gave her an affronted look.

“Attempted?! I wrote my thesis on—”

“High Magus, we can discuss details later, just tell them what they need to know.”

Yoshika was shocked—Eunae could be willful, but she rarely just trampled over people like that. The high magus seemed caught off-guard as well, but he rallied quickly, glancing around nervously before he spoke up again.

“Your Highness, I must protest that the Sky Hall is only meant for use by the royal family.”

Eunae whirled on the magus, her expression furious. For a bare instant, it looked like Eunae was going to lock her angry gaze on the man, but she squinted her eyes shut at the last second as she shouted at him.

“Am I not a member of the royal family?! Have I been so completely forgotten that nobody even recognizes me? Stop questioning me, High Magus, and tell them.”

The high magus swallowed nervously and bowed.

“Yes, Your Highness, my apologies.”

“Just get on with it!”

The man cleared his throat as they resumed their trek and turned to address Yoshika and Rika, though Yoshika was only half paying attention as she watched Eunae’s back with concern.

“As far as I can sense, Miss, this tribulation cloud has only just started forming. You should have a good amount of time before it actually strikes. Um, I’ve received reports on the unusual case of Magus Ambassador Lee Jia and Consul An Eui’s tribulation—while pre-xiantian tribulations are otherwise unprecedented, based on its current rate of growth and the data provided by Grand—er, former Grand Magus Do Hye, I estimate two to four weeks before this cloud strikes.”

Yoshika looked over in surprise, speaking in Jia’s voice as she responded.

“That long?”

The mage adjusted his glasses and scowled down at her as if she’d personally offended him.

“That’s not a long time for a tribulation such as this. Assuming the power is comparable to the one which struck you, this is a rather short time frame indeed—especially considering the fact that from my understanding Ambassador Takeda has yet to actually begin her breakthrough.”

Rika ran a hand through her hair and groaned.

“Ugh, kind of? I’ve got a vague recollection of doing it thanks to Yoshika, and I’ve been ready to go for a while. Isn’t this supposed to happen after a breakthrough though?”

The high magus gave Rika a sidelong glance but didn’t press her for details.

“Mm, yes and no. While a tribulation typically begins after a certain turning point in a breakthrough attempt, it’s not unheard of for those who spend long periods on the cusp of a breakthrough or who push the limits of what their stage can accomplish to trigger an early one. It’s actually quite auspicious to do so—the rate of success among those who successfully break through after triggering an early tribulation is much higher.”

Rika grimaced.

“What about those who don’t break through in time?”

The man shrugged dismissively.

“They die. In all my research I’ve never found an account of someone surviving that scenario.”

He wilted under the trio of dirty looks that earned him—Eunae not even dignifying it with a response as she continued to rush them towards wherever they were headed.

“Now, don’t give me those looks! Your odds are quite good, I should think. Especially since you are being given access to the Sky Hall—a specialized meditation chamber normally reserved for the royal family. Speaking of which, we have arrived.”

Sure enough, they were all ushered into a large building made almost entirely of faintly glowing white jade. The walls were covered with dense formation script, creating dozens of functions that made Yoshika dizzy to look at. Inside was an open-air court paved with even more jade, with several very expensive-looking inscription tools already prepared for their use. The meditation chamber made the garden where Yoshika had received her tribulation look paltry by comparison.

After letting them in with the same sort of inscribed jade key-stone that had been ubiquitous in the academy, the high magus showed them around the chamber.

“There are a number of specialized formations inscribed here which will indirectly assist in the process, as well as plenty of room to create your own defensive wards. Assuming, of course, you know how to inscribe any, Miss Ambassador.”

Rika put her hands on her hips and scowled at the scholar.

“I know how to make formations, you dick. Eun-eun, do we need this guy for anything else?”

Eunae glanced back distractedly and shrugged.

“I don’t think so. Thank you for your assistance, High Magus Park In, you can go tattle on me now.”

Park In began to protest, but cut himself off with a strangled noise of impotent frustration before turning to leave without another word—aside from some grumbling under his breath. Eunae turned to address them once he was out of earshot, her shoulders sagging as she sighed miserably.

“I’m going to get into a lot of trouble for this. We’d better hurry before someone shows up to stop us. Aecha, did you manage to get the mana cores I requested?”

Hyeong Aecha, who had been standing by invisibly as she seemed wont to do, bowed before shaking her head.

“My apologies, Mistress. Your name was not enough to secure the necessary crystals on such short notice.”

Eunae huffed irritably.

“I was hoping to activate the formations before anybody could stop me. The Sky Hall is designed to make interruption dangerous if not outright impossible. As much to defend against opportunistic attackers as to assist with the actual tribulation. I’ll just have to figure something else out.”

Yoshika looked up at the sky with a pair of frowns, the cloud still hanging directly above them as it gathered power.

“What do you need?”

Eunae grimaced.

“High grade beast cores or their mana crystal equivalents—quite a few of them. Mostly just to power the defenses and carefully attune the elemental balance of the room.”

“Give us a list.”

Yoshika listened intently as Eunae listed out each mana core required for the dizzying array of formations surrounding them. As she did, she produced each one from her ring—or the equivalent in lower grade stones if she didn’t have an exact match. Rika laughed and shook her head in disbelief, but Eunae kept her composure until she got to the last item and frowned.

“The most important one is a Lightning element perfect quality high grade xiantian core, which one of the formations uses to convert excess essence from the tribulation itself to empower the entire array. As impressive as your collection is, Yoshika, I don’t think even you can—”

Eunae cut herself off with a gasp as Yoshika held up a glowing purple sphere the size of her head, a pained expression on her face. It was one of the near-impossible objects that Jianmo had tasked them with collecting, and it had taken two years in the wilderness to find even a single one. Ultimately, however, the core was replaceable—Rika was not.

Rika stared at the xiantian core in awe before shaking her head vigorously.

“Yoshika, no way—I can’t accept this. It’s too much, I’d never be able to repay it!”

“Rika, you are like family to us—you know that. You are more valuable to us than a dozen of these. Now please take this before we start having second thoughts.”

Before Rika could respond, Eunae snatched it up and began barking orders to Aecha as the two of them set to work getting the mana cores in place. Unlike her trick with Ja Yun and Narae’s awakenings, this had actually put a fairly significant dent in her supply of mana cores—she’d have to be more conservative with them in the future. After a moment of contemplative quiet, Yoshika looked askance at Rika with Eui’s body.

“You know how to make formations, do you?”

Rika blushed—both of them knew full well that the vast majority of her knowledge of spellcraft came directly from the times that they’d shared minds and some limited study she’d done in preparation for this very breakthrough.

“I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of being right. Besides, I really do remember how to make that crazy barrier formation you’ve been working on.”

Yoshika frowned.

“Are you confident enough to stake your life on it? We’re not even sure that we could perfectly reproduce it ourselves.”

Rika scratched the back of her head and sucked a breath of air in through her teeth.

“Mmmaybe? Okay, no. But it’s not like you can do it for me—Elder Qin said that didn’t work back when yours was happening. It just makes the tribulation worse or something.”

Yoshika nodded. It was a well known fact that a tribulation could only be endured under one’s own power—though the fact that places like the Sky Hall even existed proved that there was a lot of room for interpretation there.

“Does it have to be one or the other?”

Rika paused, her eyes widening as she realized what Yoshika was implying.

“Isn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place?”

Yoshika shrugged.

“Probably, but if there’s anything we can do to improve your chances, then we’ll do whatever it takes. What’s the worst that could happen?”

She made a point of ignoring the dozens of horrific worst-case scenarios that came to mind at that question. Yoshika would risk any or all of them for the sake of protecting her family, and that included Rika. For the first time, it occurred to her just how dangerous that particular aspect of her domain had become—it was something her enemies could easily use against her if they discovered it. She set aside such thoughts for now, as Rika swept both of her bodies into a tight embrace.

“Thank you, Yoshika. I suppose we’d better get to work, then?”

With a nod, the three girls sat in the center of the court and linked hands. It didn’t take as long to get their breathing in sync to establish a state of joint meditation, since they had just recently been practicing. Once again, Yoshika summoned her simulacrum, causing Eunae to gasp in surprise.

“What—Yoshika?”

Eunae glanced between the simulacrum and Yoshika’s real bodies still in meditation.

“What is this?”

Yoshika focused almost all of her attention on the simulacrum rather than letting it act on its own. She gave Eunae a wry smile and shook her head.

“We’ll explain later, Eun-eun. We’ve got to hurry right now.”

Eunae’s brows furrowed, but she nodded her agreement as they all set to work. Before Yoshika began, she summoned her personal artifact from Jia’s ring. It was a bit of a silly whim, but she’d just added to the things and she was eager to see if they could offer her any extra benefits—anything to give Rika another edge. As her essence cycled through the gloves, the world around her immediately changed, and Yoshika’s jaw dropped at what she witnessed.

The spirit world was overlaid with the physical—and more clearly than any version of Dae’s formation she’d ever tried. The formations surrounding the Sky Hall were even more beautiful than she’d realized, weaving in and out of the spirit realm in a mesmerizing pattern of dense, complicated script. Had Do Hye himself created these? Or perhaps the mysterious ancient cultivators who’d made the original shield formations he learned the technique from. For that matter, who were the original creators of the shield formations of Goryeo?

Yoshika shook her head. Those thoughts would get her nowhere—she had to concentrate. With the ability to see clearly into the spirit realm, drawing the barrier formation was much easier. Normally she had to do it blind, then check her work with a spirit sight formation—or Heian—and then go back and try to correct it. Now, Yoshika was able to almost perfectly recreate the barrier formation that had stumped her for years. It was nowhere close to the original—she didn’t dare compare herself to Do Hye—but when she was finished, she was immensely proud of her work. If anything would be able to withstand one of those lightning bolts—this formation was it.

In the time it had taken her to draw the formation, Eunae had finished her preparations and was busy yelling at her older sister from the other side of a shield meant to keep intruders out.

“She is my friend Misun! I refuse to let her die because of some idiotic tradition! She even provided her own resources to power the formation.”

Seong Misun sneered angrily at her sister.

“That’s not the point you little shit! If we let just any asshole use the Sky Hall, we’ll never hear the end of it from the high nobles! Do you have any idea how often we get petitions from them to open it? It’s for our family, not your fucking slaves!”

Rika—now separate from Yoshika once again—approached the arguing sisters with a nervous expression.

“Something wrong?”

Misun began to answer, but Eunae stepped between her and Rika, interrupting.

“No! Not at all. My sister has some objections, but with the formations active there’s nothing she can do about it until we’re finished. Are your preparations all complete?”

“Mostly, there’s just one other thing I need to do before I start my breakthrough.”

Rika stepped forward and took Eunae’s hands in hers, ignoring Misun’s angry protests.

“Listen, you might have noticed that I was meditating jointly with Yoshika. That’s a long story, but it’s just a temporary thing we did to refine a few techniques. The thing is...I think Jia might have forgotten about a certain conversation she had with you before doing that.”

Eunae’s face turned bright red, and Yoshika put her heads in her hands. Rika hurried to continue before either of them could speak.

“Hey! It’s fine! Don’t blame her, it wasn’t intentional—you know how she is. I just wanted to say, if I make it through this, we should sit down and have a long talk—uh, we’ll have to invite Ja Yun too, if that’s alright with you.”

Eunae took a deep breath, then let it out in a long, shuddering sigh before nodding once.

“Okay—I think I’d like that.”

Rika flashed Eunae her signature grin.

“And in case I don’t make it...”

She punctuated her statement by placing a hand on Eunae’s chin, closing her eyes, and giving her a single long kiss on the lips. Misun’s shouting died in an instant, and the only sound was a surprised squeak from Eunae before Rika broke off the kiss and turned to Seong Misun, who stared back at her in abject horror.

“And by the way, I’m not her slave—no matter how many times you keep saying it. Tragically, I’ve never gotten the chance to stare into those beautiful blue eyes of hers. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go try to live long enough to suffer the consequences of my actions today.”

As Rika left the two stunned sisters behind, she shot Yoshika a sly wink. Yoshika shook both her heads in disbelief—had she created a monster, or had Rika always been like that? Either way, as she watched her best friend confidently stride into the center of the meditation chamber, Yoshika was certain that Rika was prepared for the trial to come.