Lang Jiuchuan could not understand it — a Shared Fate Contract, however heaven-defying it was, was still only this much. If a thunder tribulation had to come, why was it pursuing this so relentlessly? Why this level of determination, this intent to annihilate her soul?

She looked at the bowl-thick purple lightning bolt gradually taking shape — at its brilliant, overwhelming heavenly might, that crushing pressure that seemed to want to force her upright spine to bow — and then she understood.

It was not merely to suppress Ning Zhe and the soul’s defiance. It was also meant to suppress her own arrogance and insolence.

She was a Celestial Master who had helped two people perform the heaven-defying technique of merging two souls into one body. She should, by rights, bear the karmic backlash of the Five Afflictions and Three Deficiencies. This thunder tribulation should rightfully include a portion for her. Yet not only had she not treated this with any gravity — she had even used this very thunder tribulation to temper the Dizhong Bell, channeling the power of the lightning into it. Such audacity. Such arrogance!

Those who show contempt for heaven’s might must bear the full weight of that might. Entirely fair.

This was also a warning.

As for her own soul-borrowing — someone had taken responsibility on her behalf, and the Heavenly Dao had let her pass. She should have taken that as a reminder to stay humble and keep a low profile. Yet she insisted on being this defiant — and so she had no one to blame but heaven’s authority pressing down on her!

Lang Jiuchuan watched as the lightning clouds bared their fangs like a ferocious beast. The electric-purple lightning column made the entire area around the temple dense with hairline-thin electric webs. They climbed from the soles of her feet, up through her body, to the crown of her head. Never mind numbness — she had lost all physical sensation entirely.

Then the agony struck. Her very soul shuddered — as though some supreme will were intent on obliterating her.

The fury within Lang Jiuchuan’s chest blazed to a peak in an instant. Why should this be?

In this world there were so many wicked people, and they could all live — why couldn’t she live? Why couldn’t Ning Zhe and the soul live?

Was the Heavenly Dao’s justice truly just?

If heaven wanted to use this lightning column to force her to bow her head — then it had better produce a principle worth bowing to. If it had none, then it had no right to blame her defiance!

Boom.

As though sensing Lang Jiuchuan’s fury, the soul-annihilation lightning column came crashing down, carrying with it a pure and absolute will of destruction.

“What heaven offers, if not taken, brings regret and retribution; when the moment comes, if one does not act, one will suffer the consequences. Since you offer — do not blame me for taking it by force!” Lang Jiuchuan screamed her fury to the sky. That enraged cry drowned out even the rolling thunder, carrying within it an indomitable will. Her hand seized empty air, and she reined in her Daoist resonance no longer — her pale lips chanted, rapid and urgent, a difficult and esoteric reversal incantation, pouring it into the spinning Dizhong Bell.

And the Dizhong Bell, which stood before Ning Zhe and the soul as their shield, let out a sound of lamentation and rage that mirrored her own. The lightning markings etched across its surface suddenly came to life — golden radiance flowed and rippled. Filled with Lang Jiuchuan’s mental force, the bell collided head-on with the ruthlessly descending lightning column, forcefully intercepting the most pure and most righteously upright force within the column — drawing out a lightning serpent of condensed, tangible form.

Lang Jiuchuan did the same. Her entire defiant nature roused, she found in this a conduit for release. Ten fingers formed seals, and she pressed them rapidly against her brow, completely opening the protective vital energy that shielded her body — no longer resisting, but drawing the lightning into herself, to reforge her meridians.

A searing, scalding force like molten rock from the depths of hell surged and coursed through her, as though intent on burning her entirely from the inside out, leaving no room for life.

Her face turned ashen. The veins bulged at her temples and throat. Her skin went fiery red and burning, cracking like parched earth in drought. Blood seeped from her pores and the crevices, and she swiftly became a wretched, blood-soaked figure.

Surviving a heavenly tribulation could look no different.

But how could she speak of surrender?

Her enemies were not yet dead. Her memories were not yet recovered. She did not know what had happened to her in her past life. She could not die!

Jiangche stood nearby watching, silver teeth clenched, as she drew the lightning force into herself in a manner bordering on self-destruction — welcoming it with a kind of ecstatic madness. He could not conceal his shock and awe.

This was the most reckless person he had ever witnessed!

And the only woman he had ever truly submitted to!

How could she dare?

She feared neither death. Then neither would it.

Jiangche dissolved the golden metal energy that shielded his own body and plunged into the circle of lightning, just as Lang Jiuchuan had — guiding the remaining electrical force into himself.

Then from Ning Zhe’s side came a shrill, agonized cry. His soul quivered and destabilized. His entire form bent backward like a bow. The righteously upright heavenly might — powerful enough to tear apart any soul — sent cracks splintering through him, and the remnant soul of Ning Zhe, whom he shielded tightly with the Lingling Pagoda, grew so faint he was nearly dissolved.

“Ning Zhe — enter the shared contract. Return.” Lang Jiuchuan’s voice exploded like a thunderclap, and she drove a stream of concentrated mental force into his brow.

Ning Zhe did not hesitate for even a heartbeat. He steadied that final thread of consciousness, and carrying within him the conviction embedded to the marrow and soul, he wrapped Ning Zhe’s soul up with him and forced his way into the physical body.

He would live.

Where there is obsession, there is power to resist heaven.

The moment his soul entered the body in full, he felt as though he had dropped from midair and struck the ground. The meridians within the body seared with a pain that shook him to his core — it was as though an electric serpent were racing through him, and yet wherever it passed, the meridians grew stronger and more resilient.

Yet Ning Zhe’s heart was filled with joy. He could feel pain — which meant he could feel the source of new life, new power. He gathered his soul-consciousness into a vow: “To live together, to die together — soul and life intertwined.”

Fizzle.

The electrical force within him seemed unwilling to yield — but it faded and dissolved soon after.

On Lang Jiuchuan’s side, however, she bore the most pure and righteously upright force of that thunder. Her already un-recovered vital energy and her narrow, still-insufficient meridians were forcibly pried open by that fierce and relentless force — crudely widened and reinforced.

The agony of meridians being torn apart and then reknit caused Lang Jiuchuan to tremble through her entire body. Her consciousness teetered on the edge of collapse.

This was her confrontation with heaven’s might.

She would not concede defeat.

Lang Jiuchuan spat out a mouthful of vital blood. With trembling hands she formed her seals, drawing the thunder force that was expanding through her meridians into her core energy center. With an iron-willed, unbreakable resolve, she concentrated that force and compressed it repeatedly — until, just as her consciousness was about to scatter entirely, she succeeded in fully condensing within her core a pure and violent essence of thunder. It then flooded back through the meridians of her entire body.

From the jaws of death, new life.

Clang.

The Dizhong Bell suddenly rang out with a clear and resonant tone, hovering above her head.

Lang Jiuchuan collapsed to the ground, eyes half-open, watching the purple-golden electric serpent coiling within the bell. The corner of her lip twitched upward — and she felt the vast, overwhelming force of supreme yang, brimming with boundless vitality, pour into her body and sweep through every inch of her being.

Clang. Clang.

Two more majestic, awe-inspiring peals rang out, reverberating to the highest heavens — carrying within them a resonant, earth-shaking challenge.

Above the long-crumbled temple roof, at the tolling of the bell, the heavy black clouds seemed unable to sustain themselves any longer. The lightning hidden within flickered and shrank, reluctant and resentful — like a rooster that had lost a fight, retreating in sulky defeat.

The clouds dispersed. The thunder withdrew.

All things fell into stillness.

The sky cleared to a vast, lucid blue. Then, suddenly, a seven-colored rainbow bridge appeared — and from heaven, sweet rain descended.

A water mist imbued with spiritual energy fell from the sky, drifting down in gentle abundance, landing upon Lang Jiuchuan and the others. It washed away the wounds and bloodstains on her face, restored her skin, and even her scorched hair regrew where it had burned away.

Lang Jiuchuan exhaled a long, long breath — as though setting down a burden of ten thousand pounds. She released her mind and let the sweet rain nourish her.

This was heaven and earth’s gift.

Strike first with a slap, then offer a sweet date — you wretched Heavenly Dao!

Lang Jiuchuan closed her eyes and lay completely still.

And A’Piao — the moment the rainbow bridge had appeared, he had snatched up Ning Shaosi and darted back into the ruined temple. Heaven’s sweet rain — all living things could receive it.

He looked at Lang Jiuchuan, who lay on the ground pretending to be dead. Under all of heaven, who was as audacious as she — taking a technique that should have cost her merit and turning it into a personal tribulation for her own gain, transforming disaster into fortune.

“Lang Jiuchuan……” His voice was low, carrying within it a reverence without end.