The ruined temple, having been baptized by the tribulation lightning, had fallen into even greater disrepair. The roof tiles had long since given way to a gaping hole, and sacred light poured down into the shrine, lending a few traces of vitality to what had otherwise been a gloomy and crumbling place.

Ning Shaosi knelt beside his father, staring blankly as the man opened his eyes and their gazes met.

With just that single glance, he lowered his eyes. His nose stung, and he gripped the hem of his robe, pressing his lips together as tears fell.

His father — was gone.

Ning Long let out a quiet sigh and slowly sat up. He looked at him and said, “Rest easy. Your father is still here. He simply cannot respond to you.”

Ning Shaosi lifted his head, his lips parting, yet no words came out.

Ning Long said, “Your father and I — our souls and lives are bound together. If I live, he lives. If I die, he dies. I cannot make promises now, but I will pour every effort into becoming someone of great worth. In doing so, I can nourish his lingering soul, and perhaps one day Heaven will show mercy and allow you to see him again.”

Ning Shaosi choked back a sob and nodded.

“I have never been a father before. In the days ahead, if I do something wrong, feel free to point it out. I will do my utmost to fulfill the responsibilities of a father.” Ning Long smiled faintly and extended his hand. “Shall we look after one another?”

Ning Shaosi looked at that slender hand, then placed his own into it.

Lang Jiuchuan glanced over, and a smile curved her pink lips. She sat cross-legged, fingers forming seals, her inner sight turned inward to survey the meridians within her body — and that smile at the corner of her mouth grew ever more genuine.

Within her perception, the interior of this body had already undergone a world-overturning transformation. The meridians that had been expanded by the tribulation lightning were now far more resilient than before. Even at the point where her limbs’ tendons had been connected by three-inch sinews — it was now flawless, without a single trace of rupture. They had completely fused with the rest of her meridians, strong and sturdy.

And as she looked inward, at her core energy center, a small mass of thunder-cloud — no bigger than a fingertip — flowed and swirled. What struck her as wondrous was that deep within that supremely yang and supremely unyielding force of lightning, there seemed to be a thread of warm, vast, life-filled soul energy resonating with it in harmony. The soul energy extended throughout her body, nourishing her spiritual soul so that she felt not the slightest trace of dullness or weakness.

Lang Jiuchuan’s fingers formed complex seals in rapid succession, and as she sensed the abundant spiritual energy and life force within her, she was overjoyed beyond her expectations.

In this affair, she had originally believed that helping two souls share one body was a loss — a drain on spiritual energy and merit. Yet who could have anticipated that misfortune would turn to fortune? Her defiance had drawn down Heaven’s wrath in the form of a tribulation, and she — through sheer unyielding will — had survived it. Only then did Heaven’s sweet rain descend, and the spiritual mist replenish her in return.

This was what she had earned.

Had she shown even a single moment of retreat or cowardice — even the slightest surrender — she, Lang Jiuchuan, Ning Long, and Ning Zhe, would all have been utterly destroyed here.

To contend against Heaven — truly, there was boundless joy in it.

Win the fight, and the rewards are immense. Of course, it was a fight wagered with one’s life.

Lang Jiuchuan lifted her head and looked toward A’Piao, who was standing far away. “Why are you standing so far off?”

“I’m afraid the righteous energy emanating from you will scorch me. Do rein it in a little.” A’Piao was not truly afraid of her, but her aura — it made this yin ghost of his feel a deep-seated dread.

After this tribulation, her body had become a place where evil spirits dared not approach. Anyone who wished to seize her vessel would first have to get past the consent of the fierce yang energy within her body.

At that moment, she was seated precisely within the slanted beam of sunlight falling through the hole above. Her fair, unmarked face remained pale — yet it was no longer the deathly pallor of someone who had lost her vitality or was on the verge of death from insufficient blood and energy. Now it was a luminous, pinkish-white, her cheeks seeming to carry a faint glow beneath the surface.

Most arresting of all were her eyes. Within them, a strange violet-gold radiance flickered in and out — there one moment, gone the next. When she looked at someone, her gaze was calm and collected on the surface, yet carried a quality of light that defied description. It added several degrees of inviolable brilliance to what was already a striking and refined face.

Lang Jiuchuan listened to A’Piao’s words, stirred a thought in her mind, and suppressed the lightning force within her core energy center. Then she drove the bone bell to make a circuit through her body, and warm, lustrous spiritual energy flowed throughout her.

The scorching, fierce yang energy was reined in.

A’Piao exhaled in relief and said, “You were far too reckless. To provoke the heavenly lightning when your vital energy had not yet been restored — to draw down lightning to refine your body while your spiritual reserves were depleted — though, I suppose one could say you turned misfortune into fortune.”

Lang Jiuchuan, feeling the surging vitality within her, said, “Rather than calling it turning misfortune into fortune, it would be more accurate to say I took an unconventional path.” She picked up the Dizhong and said, “Originally, I was only helping them share a body. Yet the laws of Heaven refused to let me off — insisted on striking me. And how could I possibly just stand there and let it? With death waiting on both sides, why not fight for it? What if I won?”

“What if you hadn’t won?” A’Piao still felt a lingering chill.

Lang Jiuchuan looked at him. “Fight without holding anything back. If I truly couldn’t win — then that would simply be my fate. But it’s different. If I let it run its course and allow it to determine my fate — that is my destiny decided by it. Yet the moment I fought back, that destiny was in my own hands, under my own control. That way, even in defeat, I would have no one to blame but myself.”

A’Piao was briefly taken aback, then pursed his lips and said, “You’re just deranged.”

“Sometimes it feels as though the laws of Heaven are unfair. But the sweet rewards it offers — those are genuinely sweet.” Lang Jiuchuan smiled and said, “With the replenishment of the rain it sent down, I feel as though everything that was damaged before has been mended. And furthermore — my spiritual soul and meridians are even more resilient. As you can see, there is a concentrated essence of lightning within my body now, and its power is far vaster than before.”

Her words barely finished, she sent a thought, turned her palm toward a tree outside the ruined temple, and unleashed it.

A thunderous boom rang out.

The tree was struck by a bolt of lightning and burst into flames.

“Purified palm-lightning.” Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes gleamed brilliantly. “From now on, if I inscribe Five Thunder Talismans and infuse this lightning force into them, they will surely become superior, high-grade talismans — the kind comparable to a minor tribulation’s might.”

Five Thunder Talismans bearing the power of Heaven’s might — there would be none others like them in the world.

A’Piao looked at the burning tree, thinking to himself that he should dig it up later. A tree struck by lightning — that was worth good money.

He then looked toward Lang Jiuchuan. “Don’t forget your friends when you get rich. The Tongtian Pavilion needs a few of those talismans for the shop — to anchor it!”

Lang Jiuchuan let out a light snort. She picked up the Dizhong again and examined it back and forth, noticing a pattern coiled along its surface — a violet-gold lightning serpent. She could not help but clutch it tightly, sensing its power. The delight on her face was impossible to suppress any longer.

Clawed back with her life on the line — this time, it truly was a guaranteed profit.

And then there was Jiangche. She scooped him up and probed him gently, ruffling the fur along his now smoother coat, then pressed a finger lightly against his spiritual apex. She hoped that when he woke, the little tiger cub would have grown.

Ning Long led Ning Shaosi over by the hand and bowed deeply before Lang Jiuchuan. “Great Master, a profound debt of gratitude defies words. What do you need me to do for you?”

Lang Jiuchuan waved a hand. “There is no need for you to take it to heart, Mister. This tribulation not only brought about your completion — it brought about mine as well. The process was perilous, but the outcome is good, and we have all benefited greatly from this. Therefore, you need not speak of repayment or payment. You need only act in accordance with your original intentions. The greater the merit you accomplish through your actions, the more it will replenish Ning Zhe — and in turn, replenish me.”

On that score, the laws of Heaven were not stingy in their giving.

Ning Long understood, and bowed once more. “Then Ning Zhe offers his gratitude to you both.”

From this day forward, he would be Ning Zhe — a scholar-official with a son at his knee. Using this name would better nourish the thread of soul that shared his being, would it not?