The power of ten thousand lightning bolts descending simultaneously was truly tremendous. In an instant, mountains collapsed and the earth split apart, and it felt as if that towering mountain had been sliced in half all at once.

Although they had already distanced themselves somewhat from Tuyun Mountain, the scattered rocks and chunks of earth still flew toward them with tremendous force.

Wei Jie quickly grabbed the chain connecting the two of them, erected a qi shield, and pulled Xiaoxiao into his embrace.

The qi shield covered all three of their heads, temporarily blocking out the dust and stone fragments.

Tang Youshu was terrified by the heavenly tribulation not far away, holding his head and muttering: “What… what is happening?”

Wei Jie stared intently at the mountain that had been sliced in half, his expression grave: “This is heavenly tribulation… no, this isn’t heavenly tribulation! This is the Wrath of Ten Thousand Jun, heaven’s punishment for those who have committed unforgivable sins. What exactly did the fox clan do to invoke the Wrath of Ten Thousand Jun?”

He was right—this wasn’t a heavenly tribulation designed to test cultivators, but rather a heavenly punishment with punitive intent!

Under this Wrath of Ten Thousand Jun, there could be no survivors! The fox clan of Tuyun Mountain… they would all perish! What exactly had they done to provoke such heavenly wrath?

Xiaoxiao, however, knew the reason—it seemed the tragedy of the fox clan from her previous life was about to repeat itself. Their deceptive fox skin trickery had been exposed…

But just then, Tang Youshu pointed in terror at the dense lightning in the sky: “Oh no! I… I feel like this lightning is gradually approaching us, too.”

Xiaoxiao looked up upon hearing this, and indeed it was!

She could see that part of the lightning originally coiled around Tuyun Mountain seemed to be blown by wind, gradually approaching their direction, and moving faster and faster.

This… could it be coming for them?

When a thunderbolt crashed near their feet, Tang Youshu screamed in terror, then shouted for his master and grandmaster as he ran away.

Wei Jie grabbed Xiaoxiao’s hand to run forward, but Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and pulled his hand back: “It’s useless, we can’t outrun heavenly punishment…”

Xiaoxiao knew in her heart that perhaps the Demon Pearl was right. Because of her interference, Wei Jie hadn’t appeared where he should have faced tribulation, so heavenly punishment was about to descend, ready to strike her, the one who interfered with heavenly design, into chicken shred noodles…

But if they returned to Tuyun Mountain, as long as they could find that ancient treasure sword capable of absorbing lightning energy, perhaps they still had a glimmer of hope!

Thinking of this, Xiaoxiao hesitated no longer. She made a decisive choice: “Go! We must immediately return to Tuyun Mountain!”

Then she said to Tang Youshu: “Don’t go, stay here and wait for us!”

Upon hearing this, Wei Jie’s sword-like eyebrows furrowed tightly, seeming somewhat skeptical of Xiaoxiao’s words. But before he could ask, Xiaoxiao had already grabbed him and started running frantically toward Tuyun Mountain.

Strangely enough, the thunderbolts that had been falling as densely as iron balls stopped falling after they changed direction.

When Xiaoxiao looked up, she could see the dense lightning slowly moving back toward Tuyun Mountain.

When Wei Jie also discovered that running back was effective, he simply picked up Xiaoxiao and resumed his light-body flying leaps forward.

When they ran to the halfway point up the mountain in one breath, they happened to see the fox clan fleeing in panic.

The shocking lightning that had just sliced off the entire mountaintop had killed many fox clan members. Fortunately, the Fox King had erected a spiritual shield to protect her daughter and some of the clan members.

The Fox King knew their deception had been exposed and heavenly punishment was impossible to resist, so she told her daughter to flee quickly with the clan members while she transformed back to human form, supporting herself alone, attempting to withstand the heavenly punishment to give her daughter and clan members time to escape.

Just then, those two intruders who had left long ago returned!

What were they coming back for? Were they here to add insult to injury? The Fox King couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

Xiaoxiao could see that the one single-handedly resisting heavenly punishment was a beautiful woman—this must be the Fox King’s human form.

She had no time to speak with the Fox King. She just quickly surveyed the surrounding terrain, then pulled Wei Jie to run all over the mountain, seemingly without purpose.

Master’s secret manual had brief descriptions and didn’t detail exactly where the withered tree hiding the treasure sword was located, so she could only search everywhere, looking for the life-saving treasure sword.

When they had climbed the mountain earlier, Yu Ling’er was leading the fox clan down the mountain, passing by them. When Yu Ling’er saw them returning, fearing they would harm her mother, she turned back.

But it would have been better if she hadn’t returned—once she came back, the falling lightning became even denser, striking straight toward the little fox. It seemed this heavenly punishment absolutely would not spare any fox clan member!

The Fox King immediately placed the spiritual shield around her daughter, but her thousand years of cultivation were ultimately unable to withstand the thunderous fury. The originally smooth face began to sprout fine fox fur.

This indicated that the Fox King’s cultivation was gradually being depleted. Once depleted and the spiritual shield disappeared, both she and her daughter would be doomed forever…

Xiaoxiao understood clearly that the key to avoiding heavenly punishment was to find that ancient treasure sword. She tried hard to recall, then, following the rough description in Master’s secret manual, quickly ran toward the northern foothills.

When she reached the back of the mountain, Xiaoxiao spotted fox fur that had been blown onto a tree by the fierce wind.

The fox fur had bright coloring, like snow satin lifted by fierce wind, with layers of fur peaks turning snow-white waves. Xiaoxiao guessed this must be the fur the Fox King used for her deceptive scheme.

Thinking of Wei Jie’s experience helping the fox clan block evil influences, Xiaoxiao steeled her heart and decided to copy this approach.

She used a tree branch to pull down the fox fur, and together with Wei Jie, they draped themselves in the fox fur and headed toward the northern foothills, hoping to find that withered tree.

Wei Jie was also ruthless—even seeing Xiaoxiao constantly doing inexplicable things, he didn’t ask questions and even helped her hold up the fox fur properly.

Heavenly punishment punished the fox clan, and no fox could be spared. The fox fur was saturated with the heavy demonic aura of a thousand-year nine-tailed fox, immediately becoming a primary target for the heavenly thunder.

Wei Jie was bound together with her, so he could only run around together under the fox fur.

Several times, if not for his quick reflexes, pulling her to dodge, both of them would have been blasted to ashes.

But when he had a moment, he did say: “You’re so true to your word… I thought when you told the Fox King you’d go through fire and water for her in times of danger, it was just polite talk…”

So he thought Xiaoxiao had run all this way back because she had promised the Fox King to repay the spiritual spring’s kindness by taking on disaster for the fox clan.

Xiaoxiao felt bitter laughter in her heart. How could she be so noble and selfless? This was merely self-preservation…

Thinking of this, she said urgently: “Quickly find a withered pagoda tree, or we’ll never escape heavenly punishment no matter where we go…”

Wei Jie knew this master was somewhat mysterious. Although he didn’t know why she spoke this way, hearing her say this, he quickly surveyed the terrain looking for the withered tree Xiaoxiao mentioned.

But at this time, most of the mountaintop had been blasted away by heavenly punishment, with no vegetation remaining—where could they find a withered tree?

So the two people connected by chains could only run around under the fox fur, leaping and kicking chaotically in the lightning and thunder like lion dancers.

But just then, Xiaoxiao tripped and fell on a hillside.

When she looked down at her feet, she discovered what had tripped her was a section of withered tree root…

Just then, another lightning bolt struck straight down at them. When Wei Jie pulled Xiaoxiao to dodge, the lightning struck right at the tree root.

Amid flying stones and dust, a dead pagoda tree emerged from underground.

When another lightning bolt struck, golden light emerged from the split trunk of the pagoda tree. A sword covered in rust and dust leaped into the air, instantly attracting the lightning from above to coil around the sword’s body.

When lightning struck the treasure sword, the dust on the sword’s body shook off, revealing obsidian-like gems dotting the blade.

Xiaoxiao had seen this sword before—in the Silk Farm in Fei County, Qin Lingxiao had used this sword to slay the Silkworm Demon. It used to be Wei Jie’s weapon…

Xiaoxiao had read in Master’s secret manual that Wei Jie had even given this sword a name: “Yu Tiandou” (Struggle Against Heaven).

After all, it was a divine object that could calmly accept ten thousand lightning strikes in heavenly punishment—daring to struggle against heaven was well-deserved!

Such an arrogant name truly had several parts of the Demon Lord’s swagger.

Master had once written that this sword had great origins—it was a weapon that Goddess Nüwa had secretly hidden in the fox clan’s sacred land. The obsidian-like gems embedded in the sword’s body were said to be forged from the colored stones left over from her mending of the sky.

Only these sky-mending stones could withstand heavenly tribulation lightning and slay all demons in the world.

This sword was originally enshrined in the Nüwa Temple. It was said that when King Zhou entered the temple, he not only wrote poems insulting the goddess but also coveted the treasure sword enshrined in the shrine, ordering guards to bring it back to the palace.

King Zhou was the reincarnation of a fierce god. If this sword fell into his hands, it would surely stir up bloody storms throughout the world.

Fortunately, the fox clan’s Daji, sent by Goddess Nüwa to seduce King Zhou, stole back this sword and returned it to Goddess Nüwa.

Not wanting further accidents, Nüwa hid this sword in the belly of Tuyun Mountain, never expecting that when it encountered heavenly tribulation and the mountain was sliced in half, this sword would be exposed to the world again.

In the original trajectory of events, Wei Jie had obtained this sword, and the sword absorbed most of the heavenly punishment’s energy, finally preserving the remaining fox clan members.

As the benefactor of the entire fox clan, from then on, all the people of Tuyun Mountain followed Wei Jie’s commands, serving him loyally and contributing countless efforts.

Of course, these were all past events, and now the course of events had been disrupted, but the trajectory of the divine sword’s emergence remained unchanged!

The divine sword buried for a thousand years was now greedily drinking the rolling thunder energy around it. Protected by the sky-mending divine stones, this ancient sword steadily absorbed the coiling lightning.

Heaven, perhaps, sensed the existence of this heaven-defying divine sword and was unwilling to supply it with energy for nothing. After angrily striking several more lightning bolts, the thunder gradually ceased, while the sword still floated in mid-air, its body flashing with crackling sparks.

Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, knowing things weren’t over yet.

According to the Demon Pearl’s account, she had disrupted Wei Jie’s original trajectory but couldn’t let him miss the tribulations he was supposed to face.

Whether falling off cliffs, snake bites, or now being struck by lightning, if he hadn’t endured what he should have, someone had to bear it in his place!

Now the sword had emerged, but someone needed to leap up and grasp it in their hand.

However, the person who grasped it would also suffer the pain of a severed arm…

Xiaoxiao decided to let Wei Jie take it after all. This was originally his responsibility anyway, and he had Numei bloodline—couldn’t he heal himself?

Though thinking this way, she still asked worriedly: “If you’re severely injured, can you heal yourself?”

Wei Jie didn’t know why she suddenly asked this, but still answered honestly: “Light injuries are generally no problem, but broken bones and severed limbs are no different from ordinary people.”

This… Xiaoxiao was somewhat troubled.

If he had been bitten by the snake originally, improving his cultivation and initially achieving demonic arts, that would be fine. After all, his demon-transformed body could withstand the pain of a severed arm, and finally, under his disciple Tang Youshu’s care, he could find famous doctors to reattach the severed arm.

But the current Wei Jie didn’t have the original demonic arts protecting his body!

Although he had also drunk a mouthful of spiritual spring water, allowing his dantian to condense qi, he hadn’t yet reached the core formation stage.

If the current Wei Jie were struck by lightning, he probably couldn’t support himself until the arm reattachment like in the previous trajectory…

After much consideration, Xiaoxiao felt it was better for a friend to die than for herself to die—no matter what, it was better than her severed arm.

Thinking this, she hardened her heart and deceived Wei Jie: “Do you see that sword? That’s an ancient divine sword left by Goddess Nüwa. Once you possess it, you can slay heaven and earth, intimidate ghosts and gods… you’ll be able to command the wind and clouds. Hurry up and take it down!”

Wei Jie frowned at the sword wrapped in lightning, seeming to hesitate for a moment, then asked: “You want it?”

Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and nodded. Wei Jie nodded: “Fine, I’ll get it down for you.”

Finished speaking, he hesitated no longer, picked up Xiaoxiao, and headed toward the sword suspended in mid-air.

Xiaoxiao discovered that Wei Jie appeared shrewd but always got confused at crucial moments.

For example, in the valley, when he misunderstood that she wanted snake venom, he risked taking the poison before the snake’s head stiffened.

Now, too, he seemed unwilling to take that sword, but after hearing she wanted it, he went to get it without hesitation.

In comparison, how despicable was she for tricking him into taking the sword?

Just as Wei Jie held her and leaped into mid-air, his large hand about to reach through the interlaced lightning, Xiaoxiao’s hand suddenly reached past his, extending first toward that sword…

Xiaoxiao regretted it. She felt that with the Demon Pearl protecting her body, she must be much stronger than Wei Jie!

Thinking this way, her heroic spirit surged: Since this was the case, let her bear this tribulation for him…

The moment she touched the sword, the lightning suddenly became furious again, flowing along the sword’s body toward Xiaoxiao’s hand.

This lightning pain… was even more terrible than imagined!

Xiaoxiao couldn’t bear the pain and couldn’t help screaming. Suddenly, her arm was pulled back by someone else—it turned out Wei Jie saw the lightning attacking her arm, quickly pulled the iron chain to swing her away, then avoided the lightning and rushed to seize that sword.

The two of them went back and forth, mutually pulling each other’s hands. Then they heard a crack… lightning struck right on the chain between their hands.

The fury of thunder was irresistible. The invulnerable shackles connecting them were split in two in response.

As lightning coursed through, Xiaoxiao’s arm was grazed by a bolt of lightning, causing her to cry out in pain again.

The shackles tightly clasped around both their wrists were also struck to ashes, both their wrists were burned, and they both fell back to the ground.

Just then, the dark clouds dispersed, lightning disappeared, and that sword also fell beside the two of them.

Xiaoxiao was in such pain that she rolled on the ground holding her arm. Wei Jie was also somewhat injured, but his injuries weren’t severe. He didn’t care about himself first, instead picking up Xiaoxiao to examine her arm.

Although the lightning’s energy had been absorbed by the ancient sword, its residual power remained. If it had struck the arm directly, the entire arm might have been severed.

Fortunately, when they were fighting over it, that lightning bolt struck the chain connecting the two. Although the chain was invulnerable to weapons, it obviously couldn’t withstand a single strike of heavenly punishment and broke apart, but the rolling aftershock still burned a large gash in Xiaoxiao’s arm.

Both of them suffered injuries from heavenly punishment simultaneously, but Xiaoxiao’s injuries were much more severe than Wei Jie’s!

That wound was very deep, almost revealing faint white bone—no wonder she was in such pain, her face was paper-white, gritting her teeth and rolling around.

Tang Youshu also arrived at this time, hurriedly taking out white cloth and hemostatic powder, wanting to stop Xiaoxiao’s bleeding.

But Wei Jie said with an iron-blue face: “This is a heavenly punishment strike—human medicine and stones are useless…”

Speaking thus, he suddenly drew his dagger, cut his arm wound deeper, causing gushing fresh blood, then dripped it onto Xiaoxiao’s wound.

Numei blood was yin in nature—not something ordinary people could bear. But Xiaoxiao had a special constitution. When Wei Jie’s blood dripped on the wound, it was quickly absorbed by her. Before long, the exposed white bone was finally wrapped in flesh and blood, almost invisible.

But after growing some flesh and blood, that wound no longer changed, still maintaining its ulcerated and blurry appearance.

Although the injury was too severe to completely recover at once, Xiaoxiao’s pain sensation greatly decreased—at least she could sit up now.

Just then, Wei Jie picked up that sword and, without hesitation, handed it to Xiaoxiao. Xiaoxiao looked at this sword with mixed feelings, shaking her head: “I don’t want it, you take it!”

Wei Jie coldly pushed the sword into Xiaoxiao’s other hand, his voice tinged with mockery: “You risked your life to grab it just now—why don’t you want it anymore? Take it! What would I do with it?”

Xiaoxiao’s eyes still held tears of pain. Hearing these words, she wanted to cry silently even more: This was the future Demon Lord’s weapon for commanding the wind and clouds—what would she do with it?

Just then, she discovered that Yu Ling’er was holding a dying, bald fox in her arms, and together with a group of clan members, they were all kneeling before her and Wei Jie.

The Fox King had already exhausted her thousand years of cultivation in the heavenly punishment catastrophe and could no longer speak human language, only lying in her daughter’s arms, whimpering weak fox cries.

Yu Ling’er understood her mother’s words and tearfully explained to Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie: “My mother says you two returned and wore fox fur to divert the heavenly punishment, thus saving her life. You are the benefactors of our Tushan clan—please accept our bow!”

Finished speaking, she held her mother and led the remaining clan members to bow together toward Xiaoxiao and them.

Xiaoxiao had just caught her breath and was celebrating escaping disaster and keeping her arm when, unexpectedly, the fox clan, who had been extremely unfriendly to her before, all performed the great ceremony of kneeling and bowing.

As the saying goes, it’s better to resolve enemies than to make them. Since the fox clan was grateful, they probably wouldn’t hold grudges about the previous incident of taking the Fox King hostage.

So Xiaoxiao went with the flow: “It was just a small effort… how could we stand by and watch someone die without helping?”

The Fox King whimpered several more times. Yu Ling’er listened but seemed very unwilling, saying quietly: “Mother says you two saved our fox clan’s lives. Now our fox clan’s strategy of deceiving heaven to escape heavenly tribulation has been exposed by heaven, and I fear even greater punishment awaits our Tushan clan in the future. If you two don’t mind… we’re willing to follow you, and please continue to protect our fox clan, benefactors!”

Xiaoxiao knew this was the same as the previous trajectory of events.

The fox clan followed Wei Jie down the mountain, also accumulating strength for his future establishment of the demonic path. The future Wei Jie would recruit soldiers and buy horses, with countless demons under his command—the fox clan was just the beginning.

But Cui Xiaoxiao wasn’t Wei Jie. She had no desire to become some Demon Lord, much less recruit these demon clans. As long as it wasn’t related to Wei Jie’s tribulations, she could save what she could!

So she waved her hands repeatedly: “No, no! Our Talismonger Sect’s mountain gate is too small—we can’t support so many of you. Besides, this heavenly punishment has passed. There should be no problems in the future. You should cultivate well in the mountains—next time you’ll succeed in crossing tribulation!”

But the Fox King seemed determined. She whimpered and called several more times. Yu Ling’er looked even more grief-stricken, her large eyes full of tears, choking with resentment: “Mother says… if the benefactors find too many people troublesome, not all clan members need to follow, but I… must travel with the benefactors, serving at your side, warming your bed and fanning you…”

Speaking to the end, Yu Ling’er seemed to feel that her mother asking her to serve people in such a humble way was too humiliating, and actually burst into tears with a “wah.”

Now Xiaoxiao didn’t know how to respond.

This situation was like human traffickers picking up people at the village entrance! Such bone and flesh separation, such pain!

The Fox King’s eagerness wasn’t from being confused about how to repay them.

The Fox King knew well the consequences of deceiving heaven—this heavenly punishment, almost blasting away all of Tuyun Mountain, was clear proof!

But the heavenly punishment that should have slaughtered the entire clan ended inexplicably, seemingly related to these suddenly returning Talismonger Sect master and disciple.

The Fox King suspected they were people with deep fortune and blessings, which was why the fox clan luckily escaped.

Now her thousand years of cultivation were destroyed in one moment—she couldn’t even speak human language. How could she protect her daughter?

She had overheard her daughter agreeing with some young master of Lingyun Pavilion, saying that after she crossed tribulation, Yu Ling’er would secretly go down the mountain to find him.

In the Fox King’s view, Qin Lingxiao was no good thing.

The previous incident clearly showed Qin Lingxiao using the fox clan as a raft to suppress the Talismonger Sect master and disciple.

Someone who could kill by borrowing a blade—what kind of man was that?

So she used the pretext of repaying kindness to have her daughter stay beside these two people with deep fortune and righteous hearts, both to avoid heavenly punishment again affecting her daughter, and to prevent Ling’er from secretly mixing with Qin Lingxiao, ruining her cultivation prospects.

But in Yu Ling’er’s view, although these Talismonger Sect master and disciple had saved the fox clan and were their great benefactors.

But these two had an unclear relationship, with chaotic male-female relations. Especially that Wei Jie, who could molest his master in broad daylight.

Her mother told her to serve these two—wasn’t this throwing her into a den of iniquity? When the time came, when Young Master Qin saw her standing behind these dissolute men and women, how would he despise her?

In short, Xiaoxiao didn’t want to accept, and Yu Ling’er didn’t want to go.

But the Fox King had accumulated a thousand years of cunning and was now using it all, actually forcing her daughter to swear an oath: if she didn’t follow Cui Xiaoxiao, Yu Ling’er would immediately scatter all her cultivation and never transform into human form again!

Her mother was dying—her wishes couldn’t be disobeyed. So Yu Ling’er tearfully made the oath, then took her small bundle and prepared to go down the mountain with Cui Xiaoxiao and them.

Cui Xiaoxiao was somewhat dumbfounded—so there was this kind of sending daughters away with poisonous oaths?