At this point, I had to use three times the amount of talismans just to protect myself from a single lightning strike. To decrease the rate its strength increased, I needed to switch things up. Keep it on its toes.

The spiraling clouds rumbled with thunder. The sixth bolt zipped toward me.

I used Impossible Leap to dodge, but I knew I wouldn’t be fast enough to completely bypass it, so I blocked it by angling the rubber heel of my boot just right. The force sent me flying almost to the edge of my second defensive formation.

Right next to my head, an arrow slammed into my array’s shield.

“So close,” Little Black said.

“You’re still here? If I were a traitor like you, I’d be hauling my ass out of the sect.”

“Not until I see you dead with my own eyes.”

I created a spiritual fist attack with its middle finger extended, essentially giving everyone here a massive fuck off.

It significantly drained my energy, but damn, did it feel good. It also took on most of the seventh lightning strike, leaving the rest to dissipate when it hit my array.

I must have pissed off the archers because they stopped firing on the defensive formation indiscriminately and started a focused assault. They quickly found out its weakness — taking hits on the same spot in succession.

One of the arrows punched through the shield and struck me, causing a talisman to burn away as I aimed a Thousand Cuts into the air. The arrow was so powerful that I slid sideways a whole foot over the wet grass, messing up my goddamn aim. My attack completely missed the eighth bolt.

Almost impossibly fast for my realm, I sent another out as the strike crashed down on me. Because of my hurried extra attack and how large it was, that missing talisman was just enough to fuck things up.

My muscles spasmed even though my armor took the most of the hit. A metal taste spread in my mouth and I coughed up a little blood.

Even with the best laid plans, no one came out of a tribulation unscathed... unless they were a Xianxia protagonist.

Fortunately, I still had enough talismans, but these assholes just forced me to waste energy and supplies.

Another Foundation Establishment level energy arrow punched its way through my formation. I dodged.

Technically, I could have blocked it. Well, I could block several before running out of energy, but I needed to save my strength.

I attached more talismans to my armor, doubling the number I had. At this point, I knew I wouldn’t have enough to get my ass through this tribulation. But that was why I prepared back ups.

“It won’t be long now, my dear customer.”

Bitch. “Why don’t you all come closer and say that?”

“And get caught up in your tribulation? My associates and I are good.”

Actually, in most Xianxia, this level of interference would have led to the tribulation throwing lightning bolts at these interrupting assholes. But this world was different thanks to the original dumbass author. Cultivators could attack someone transcending their tribulation and not receive punishment as long as they stood a distance away from the cloud and didn’t interfere with a bolt.

This cloud would also remain in one place unless I reached the edge and tried to leave it. This meant I’d have to run all the way over to the archers while dodging bolts and arrows just to get my attackers involved. Since their involvement would increase my difficulty it wasn’t worth it.

Not when my supplies were dwindling, and I only had a few items that could handle a Golden Core level tribulation.

Even without their meddling, the rate the lightning’s strength increased was alarming.

Not taking any chances. I sent two Thousand Cuts towards the ninth bolt then used an impossible Leap to dodge most of the energy while simultaneously avoiding an arrow that I saw coming.

Of course, that was when an arrow I thought would ping off my formation punched through it to hit my pauldron. It used up another talisman.

The defensive formation collapsed. Shit. This was earlier than I expected.

Several arrows struck me, burning up the remaining set of talismans. After blocking another with my sword, I skidded across the wet grass, away from my prepared defenses, and into the path of another arrow. It slammed into my back and bounced off my armor.

I coughed up two mouthfuls of blood.

If only I’d only had a single high tier spirit stone. I could have set up a larger defensive formation that would have lasted longer. But, whatever. I did what I could with the resources available to me.

At this point, I needed to add more talismans and reach my next formation before the next barrage and bolt hit.

This next should be the last.

Hopefully, it was the last.

I needed to make it to the next formation.

As soon as I took a step, my center strangely tugged. Little Spring suddenly appeared in front of me in his blue armor and became drenched in the rain. My mind blanked, interrupting my split mind technique.

“Sister Lin! Are you okay?!”

“Do I look like I’m okay?!”

This fucking brat! Exiting the goddamn space right in front of everyone! Joining my tribulation! He was going to get us both killed!

He pulled out his sword and yelled, “Ten Cuts!”

The arrows aimed at me broke apart. Shit, we couldn’t stand here. We had to move!

I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the third defensive formation. I immediately activated it. Maybe it was because this was a fresh array, but the attacks seemed to have a harder time punching through the shield.

::Why are you here?!::

::The Spirit of the space told me you were in life-threatening danger. He confirmed that there wasn’t anyone around. I thought you were injured and needed my immediate help!::

That... was a valid reason for leaving. Unfortunately, while no one was technically nearby, there were many people around!

I pointed above us. ::Well, now we’re both fucked!::

His eyes widened as he saw the clouds spiral out, increasing in size and density.

On the plus side, the archers stopped attacking because they had to run away or get caught up in the heavenly lightning. Even Little Black ran as quickly as she could.

Little Spring’s eyes grew wide and shook. “I came out while you were in the middle of your tribulation?”

“Weren’t you the one who pointed out that I was scared of it and needed to face my fears?”

“I didn’t m—”

“Stop! I already know my timing was horrible. We’ll just have to deal with it.”

He nodded. Apparently, he already realized the situation we were in because his jaw firmed. “I’m ready to become stronger, even if it means facing death.”

I didn’t want to hear that from a goddamn almost ten-year-old. This brat should have been safe. I had planned to have him wait another couple of years. Then he could safely go through his own tribulation while being over protected with spiritual tools and formations.

Fuck.

He was just a child. He could die here!

No. Calm down. I’d over-prepared for a goddamn reason. Our asses just might end up a bit toasty by the end but... “We’re not going to die...”

I faced the heavens and grinned. This time! This time, despite having someone interfere in my tribulation, I wasn’t going to fucking lose!

“Because I still need to kill you.”

“Sister Lin!”

I flicked his glabella. “And by that, I mean double your hell training.”

He grimaced, but pressed his back to mine. I popped a Qi Recovery Pill into my mouth, and we circled our cultivation.

Just after I finished replenishing a good portion of my inner energy, that bitch of a black market dealer sent me a sound transmission.

“How did you do it? How did you bring Great Martial Uncle over here?”

Shit.

“Was it a special tool your master left you?”

Well, she shouldn’t know about Little Spring’s space and probably assumed it was some teleporting tool. Those existed, but they were mostly seen in secret realms. Still, I didn’t like even a hint about the space existing. My paranoid ass was itching to end her. A shame she was too far away. Since I couldn’t do anything about her immediately, I focused on the growing spiral above us.

Although I could sense that the power of this tribulation grew past Golden Core, the amount of killing intent that wafted off it significantly decreased. It was like the brat had appeased its temper by existing. But also made it stronger. What kind of bullshit was this?

I blocked Little Black from yelling at me and addressed the kid. “The cloud will grow dark right before it strikes. When that happens, search for a spot of light. That’s where the next bolt will come from. Eventually, you’ll be able to feel it, but following after me is enough for now.”

“Attack it together?”

“Yes! Now!”

A bolt the size of a hundred-year-old oak zipped down from the left. I mirrored the brat’s movements as we both released our attack. Our swords almost touched.

“Thousand Cuts!”

“Ten Cuts!”

Since I had the talismans and better armor, I stepped in front of Little Spring to shield him, but the rest of the bolt struck the formation and dissipated.

Wait... It stopped, just like that?

The fuck?

Why was that so effective against heavenly lightning?

Don’t tell me... this whole time... If we’d worked together like this, we would have been stronger, especially when fighting against the tribulation? The same way the cloth we weaved became more powerful. The way we created more advanced pills. And similar to how we pushed the energy of a goddamn Ascendant Beast out of Little Spring’s body!

If I weren’t in the middle of a fight for my life, I might have slapped my palm to my face.

Why hadn’t I figured this out sooner? Maybe because I was too used to doing things on my own. Constantly believing that all cultivators had to walk their paths by themselves. Always. Because that was the setting I was familiar with. And because I had walked my path alone in my last life.

Wait! Did that mean that if Bloodsword and I had worked together...

Fuck! Fuck the author who created this goddamn universe! If I ever found him, I’d punch him in the face… no, that was too tame. I’d curse his motherfucking left eye, specifically!

Well, it wouldn’t have worked anyway since I hated that blood sucking cock mosquito. He also didn’t have the mirrored cultivation like I had with Little Spring.

The clouds settled at their new width and Little Black stopped retreating. “It doesn’t matter what spiritual tool you have! We’ll take it off your corpse and use it for the demonic sect!”

Arrows flew over to me and pinged against my defensive formation. A couple punched through, but they had been so obviously telegraphed that we sidestepped them with ease.

The clouds darkened. Both Little Spring and I turned around and aimed two sword slashes at the eleventh lightning bolt. The remainder vanished when it hit my array. Instead of returning to a lighter state, the spiral dimmed even more.

Shit. It may have decreased its killing intent, but its quality had increased to Golden Core and the fucker wasn’t giving us a break.

“Again!”

Alongside Little Spring who mirrored me, I stabbed slightly to the left, sending a dart of concentrated sword Qi where the bolt would be.

The smallest part broke through my formation, but I had stepped in front of the kid. It slammed into me, burning up my talismans and singeing my armor. The force of it pushed me into the brat and we both skidded back several feet.

The lightning blasted the grassy plain below as if the tribulation had a grudge against the valley. It blew apart the ground where I had my last defensive array. Even if the flags were intact, they wouldn’t work if the goddamn terrain completely vanished.

Motherfucking tribulation!

The cloud grew so dark it looked black. It wasn’t giving us time to catch our breaths. The thirteenth bolt hit, causing my array’s shield to flicker.

Little Spring pulled out the Golden Core level defensive talisman he received from Shadow Gopher and triggered it just as my array collapsed. Arrows hit our shield. Lightning struck. I grabbed the brat and gritted my teeth as we were blasted several yards away and into the faraday cage formation. I immediately activated my last array.

It completely blocked the fourteenth strike that was the size of two tree trunks.

I pulled out the last of my foundation establishment level talismans and placed them on Little Spring and myself. Now that we didn’t have a convenient shielding array deflecting attacks, we’d have to take care of them ourselves.

Arrows came at us from all directions. These weren’t something we could slap away without using any internal Qi. Though our body cultivation would still help.

“Die!” Little Black yelled with glee. She must have realized that we were currently only safe from lightning.

Working together, Little Spring and I used our swords to deflect five arrows. But another seven slammed into us. That burned off several of our talismans.

The fifteenth bolt crashed down, then appeared to vanish right above us. Technically, it traveled around the shield’s surface and into the surrounding ground. Which was why the array’s outline smoked.

Of course, this formation would not last. It could take one or two more strikes at most then we’d be dealing with the tribulation at its highest strength while also fending off demonic arrows.

Fuck!

“Greatest-Alchemist-Under-The-Heavens Lin!”

Clear Eyes?! He was still calling me that?

“Great Martial Aunt!”

I stretched out my divine sense past the archers. Both Clear Eyes and Unyielding Firestorm flew in on flying swords.

They weren’t alone either! Justice Reaching Divine Blade, Spear that Weaves, Blissful Jujube, and Third Peach Sapling all threw attacks at the demonic cultivators and Little Black.

Spear that Weaves took down an archer a realm above him with several lightning-enhanced jabs of his spear. Of course, Clear Eyes backed him up by using his Dirt Eating Blade to cut down one of the stronger archers near him.

The Junior Sect Leader spotted Little Black and chased after her fleeing figure.

Blissful Jujube, sent sharp blasts of sound from her zither, disrupting a large portion of the archer’s attacks. Her friend, Third Peach, used her whip to stop arrows from striking Jujube. The two worked together flawlessly. A massive improvement from the antidote mission!

So many people we’d helped over the past two years made it here when we needed them to.

The rain made my eyes water. And absolutely not something else.

Another arrow slammed against my protective talisman and pushed me a few feet back. Shit!

Of fucking course, just because help arrived didn’t mean we’d be safe right away. Several dozen demonic cultivators surrounding the valley still took potshots at us.

Little Black moved her arms exaggeratedly, trying to get more of her people to shoot me down instead of fighting off clearly higher realmed opponents. Then she dodged the golden rope Unyielding threw at her.

Justice Reaching, Unyielding’s best friend, came at her from the other direction in a pincer move.

The demonic dealer pulled out a series of talismans and directed blasts of fire toward the two.

The sixteenth lightning struck the faraday cage formation. The air seemed to charge with electricity as the last spirit stone ran dry.

I was running low on energy after taking care of so many Foundation Establishment arrows.

With a flick, I brought out the Golden Core level Dancing Star talismans I’d conned Shadow Gopher out of. Little Spring did the same and nodded. Apparently, he also realized that our energies were stronger when we mirrored our actions as best as we could.

I wasn’t sure it would do anything for talismans we didn’t make. Whatever. Trying wouldn’t hurt.

The size of the seventeenth strike reached the width of three old trees. Fuck. I never even had lightning this thick when I went through my Golden Core tribulation in my last life.

Following the example of those assassin assholes who supercharged the fire talismans, we layered ours on top of each other and activated the attack spell. An outburst of star-like light coiled forward in a dense strike that hit the bolt. The blast caused the shadowy valley to look like it was midday. A shockwave spread from where they met.

Since we were so close that it quickly blasted us, burning up the very last of our Foundation Establishment level talismans and forcing us back several yards.

I coughed up three mouthfuls of blood. The poor kid did the same.

Fuck. I didn’t expect that to happen.

Little Spring handed me a Lin’s Healing Dan and took one for himself.

The cloud must have sensed our weakness because it didn’t let up like it usually did. Before I could raise the second talisman and attack it, several arrows originally aiming for us came between us and the eighteenth bolt. Shockingly, those spiritual arrows intercepted the strike.

The tribulation froze for a second, as if surprised. Then a flash of light zipped to the eastern edge of the cloud. A barrage of lightning zapped the interfering demonic cultivators. When it stopped, the only thing remaining was a massive scorch mark and cracks in the stone ground where they’d stood.

I took this chance while it was distracted to cycle my cultivation base and use my healing pill.

The area turned dark, leaving a bright but small dot in the east.

Little Spring and I aimed our last Dancing Star Talismans at the tribulation and activated it. When the shockwave spread toward us, I grabbed the brat and briefly brought us into the space before it could do more damage.

The clouds boiled and turned red. The twentieth should be the last.

I pulled out the Golden Core Protective Talisman. At this point, I wasn’t sure it would work against the final strike.

Maybe I had been smiling at it in a melancholy way because the kid said, “Sister Lin?” His expression appeared worried.

::After we attack, use the space! Ready?::

He nodded.

The clouds turned black aside from one small pale red dot in the center of the spiral.

“Thousand Cuts!”

“Ten Cuts!”

Crimson lightning struck. Half of it dissipated because of our combined sword Qi. Some of it broke off and devastated the valley, while the rest continued its downward trajectory. Little Spring vanished.

Good.

I did not enter the space with him. Because I’d already used it too often.

My Golden Core talisman activated and part of the bolt punched its way through it. Lightning hit my armor. A metallic taste spread through my mouth and my mind blanked. My muscles spasmed. I dropped like a sack of rice onto the charred and uncomfortably wet ground.

But I trusted my armor and my body cultivation to keep me alive enough to use another Lin’s Healing Dan.

Little Spring returned. His eyes grew wide, and he quickly knelt next to me. I must have looked like ass because his eyes glistened. Fuck. I felt like ass too.

“Why?”

::I’d already used the space before. Using it again would bring it to the tribulation’s attention. That might even make it increase the number of lighting strikes.::

He swallowed as if forcing himself not to say what he wanted.

::We’re out of supplies at this point so I couldn’t take the chance. This is nothing.::

I coughed up five mouthfuls of blood.

He paled.

Then I brought a healing pill from the space directly into my mouth. It melted.

As I worked it’s healing energy through my body, a familiar sensation came over me. It had been over a year since I last felt this. My body’s special constitution was activating! Finally! The lock on it had eased!

It figured that throwing myself into a life or death situation would improve my chances of activating it.

My body became stronger, my skin became smoother, and my singed hair grew out a bit and shimmered.

Okay, the smell of burnt hair wasn’t pleasant. But whatever. We’d come out of this alive! I faced my fear, my tribulation! Hell, I even had an extra person next to me! And I survived.

The kid looked relieved, like he wanted to hug me. Then his eyes widened and he grabbed my sleeve. “Sister Lin! There’s so much energy!”

Shit. Now that the tribulation ended, heavenly energy fell onto us. We needed to hurry up and form our foundation!