Lightning Tribulation's Explosive Head

The first long-brewing, thick purple bolt of lightning carried the resplendent might of heaven as it tore through the sky and crashed viciously toward that tiny figure!

In the pool, the little child, round and pink like a dumpling, still slept soundly, utterly unaware of the terrifying heavenly might about to descend upon her.

The first thick, dragon-like bolt of purple lightning had already ripped through layer upon layer of dark clouds, crashing down with a violent aura that threatened to destroy everything!

In the shadows, the Heavenly Dao Youth's will instantly tensed!

The strength of this Lightning Tribulation far surpassed an ordinary transformation tribulation. It had clearly sensed the immense Spiritual Power contained within that body—power that should not belong to a two-year-old child!

If it struck her head-on, let alone that frail little body, even her soul would be blasted apart!

[No!]

The Heavenly Dao Will cried out in alarm. He could not just watch this "hot potato" vanish like that!

The Primordial Great Dao did not care, but he did!

If she was gone, who knew whether that otherworldly will, so fiercely protective of its young, would come knocking again to demand an explanation?

That was someone who could make even the Venerable Lord of the Great Dao suffer a loss!

When that happened, the Venerable Lord of the Great Dao would definitely shove him out again to take the blame!

In his panic, he could no longer care about the rules of the Heavenly Tribulation.

The Heavenly Dao Youth almost frantically mobilized his authority, forcibly intervening at the instant that purple lightning was about to touch Mount Fangzhang's Innate Grand Formation!

[Power reduced! Ninety percent! No—ninety-nine percent!]

[Target lock corrected! Avoid vital areas! Graze her! Yes, just graze her!]

[Energy properties converted! Remove the power of destruction! Preserve the appearance of tempering! Add some nourishing effects... Ah, did I add too much? Forget it, no time to worry about that!]

Thus, entirely unbeknownst to Su Miao, that terrifying purple Heavenly Thunder—which had originally been enough to severely wound a Golden Immortal—shrank dramatically the instant it passed through the Formation's curtain of light. Its glow dimmed, ninety-nine percent of its destructive energy was instantly stripped away, leaving behind only faint sparks that carried a slight numbing sensation and an unexpected nourishing effect...

"Crackle—"

A faint sound, like static snapping.

That bolt of lightning precisely "grazed" the little dumpling's... hair tips.

Her formerly smooth black hair, loose around her shoulders, was instantly electrified until every strand stood on end, exploding into an adorably enormous afro.

A faint smear of soot also appeared on her little face, making her look like a little tabby cat that had stolen some charcoal to eat.

"Mmm..."

In her sleep, Su Miao seemed to feel a faint numbness. Unconsciously, she stretched out her chubby little hand and scratched the scalp that had been shocked slightly itchy, smacking her lips as she murmured in her dreams.

"...Mama... It hurts when you tie my hair..."

Heavenly Dao: ...

That was it?

A Heavenly Tribulation?

It was just scratching an itch, wasn't it?

Had he interfered a little too much?

But... seeing that the little brat was fine—and rather adorable, at that—never mind, never mind.

Rumble!

The second Heavenly Thunder came hard on the heels of the first!

Its momentum was still immense, making the island tremble slightly.

The Heavenly Dao did the same thing again.

"Crackle—"

This time, even more hair sprang up. Her afro became fluffier and more three-dimensional, as though she were wearing a black dandelion on her head.

There were several more streaks of soot on her little face.

Su Miao frowned in her sleep, finding it a little noisy, as though mosquitoes were buzzing by her ear. Her little hand waved about at random.

The third bolt...

The fourth bolt...

Each bolt was more awe-inspiring than the last. Dark clouds churned, lightning flashed, and thunder roared, as if they would not rest until the one undergoing Tribulation Transcendence had been blasted into ash.

Yet every bolt that truly landed merely gave Su Miao a new hairstyle, along with free smoky makeup.

By the eighth Heavenly Thunder, Su Miao was finally completely awakened by the incessant—painless but exceedingly irritating—buzzing and crackling.

Dazedly, she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the tuft of charred, curled hair before her eyes, faint wisps of white smoke still rising from it, and above her, the pitch-black Calamity Cloud that seemed as though the sky itself were collapsing.

Su Miao: "???"

What was happening?

Who was I?

Where am I?

Whose is this afro?

Before she could figure it out—

BOOM!!!

The final strike—the ninth Heavenly Thunder, and the most overwhelming of them all—came crashing down from the sky like a roaring thunder dragon! Its might seemed enough to sink all of Mount Fangzhang!

Su Miao's soul trembled in fright. Her chubby little hands instinctively clutched her head, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Waaah! Don't strike me! I don't taste good!"

The Heavenly Dao lurking in the shadows was startled too and hurriedly weakened it like mad once again!

"Bzzzt—pfft—"

The excruciating pain she had expected never came.

There was only a faint sound, like air leaking out, followed by an even stronger numbness spreading through her entire body. Along the way, it zapped her already disastrous afro into something even more "magnificent," with the ends of her hair even curling into a strange scorched yellow.

The thunder... stopped?

The storm clouds... dispersed?

That was it?

Su Miao cautiously released her head, blinked, and sensed her own condition.

Other than her hair being blown up, her face blackened, and her body feeling a little numb... it seemed like... nothing had happened?

She even felt a little lighter?

Like she had just gotten a full-body static-electricity massage?

The dark clouds in the sky swiftly dispersed like a receding tide, as though the world-ending spectacle from moments ago had been nothing more than a clumsy illusion.

Sunlight spilled down once more, and after the baptism of the Heavenly Tribulation, even the Spiritual Qi in the air seemed fresher.

At the instant the clouds completely dispersed, perhaps because the Heavenly Dao had overdone things and the remaining energy unconsciously gathered together, the lingering wisps of cloud happened, by sheer coincidence, to twist and condense into a crooked, lopsided... heart shape?!

Though it vanished quickly, Su Miao saw it crystal clear!

Su Miao: "!!!"

What did that mean?

Heavenly Tribulations came with finger hearts now?!

Were the Heavenly Tribulations of the Primordial World this unhinged... was something wrong with them?!

First, it struck you like it wanted you dead, then after it was done, it sent you a heart-shaped letter of praise?

With a bird's-nest afro atop her head and a little face smeared black and white, she blankly "looked" at the sky, which had rapidly cleared and even arched with a rainbow. Her tiny head was filled with enormous question marks and utter bewilderment.

So... had she... successfully transcended the tribulation?

Had she successfully changed from a lotus that couldn't move into a... mobile... two-year-old child?

She instinctively lowered her head and looked at her reflection in the pool.

A Milk Baby with an explosive chicken-nest hairstyle, streaks of black and white across her face, round eyes staring wide open, and a bare little butt sitting in divine water?!

Silence.

Several seconds of silence.

"WAAAH—!!!"

A world-shattering, utterly aggrieved wail suddenly resounded across Fangzhang Immortal Island!

"How did this happen?! How did I turn into a baby?! Where are my long legs?! Where's my mature, cool big-sister vibe?! How am I supposed to slack off from now on?! How am I supposed to lie flat?! I'll probably fall over just walking, waaah waaah waaah—!!"

Poor Su Miao finally realized, belatedly, the "serious deviation" in her transformation.

What she had hoped for was an incomparably graceful innate goddess, lotuses blooming beneath every step.

What she got was an adorable two-year-old who could barely walk steadily and still needed someone to help her pee.

The psychological blow was like stepping off the summit of Mount Everest and plunging straight into the Mariana Trench!

The more she thought about it, the sadder she became; the sadder she became, the louder she cried. Her tears fell like pearls from a snapped string, plopping one after another into the Three Lights Divine Water beneath her, sending out ripples of grievance.

The Heavenly Dao Youth's will, hidden in the shadows, watched that Little Bean crying with earth-shaking, soul-rending misery below and once again fell into silence and profound helplessness.

[...What... what should I do about this?]

[Forget it, forget it. As long as she's alive, that's enough. Cute is fine, cute is fine... at least... she's pretty lively?]

[Sigh, what a headache. This batch of otherworldly immigrants is truly too hard to handle!]

At that moment, high above in the endless reaches of the heavens, the indifferent will of the Primordial Great Dao swept past once more by chance. It sensed that this weak little creature had not only survived, but was howling with vitality—and that the Heavenly Tribulation had somehow even made a "heart"...

Primordial Great Dao: [...Tsk. Boring.]

It immediately withdrew its gaze completely and paid no further attention.

Such trivial chicken-feather-and-garlic-skin matters were far less important than considering how to win back a round from that troublesome otherworldly will next time.

On Mount Fangzhang, Su Miao's crying continued. With an afro produced by the Heavenly Tribulation, her bare little butt planted in the Primordial World's finest divine water, she wept her heart out.

Startling a flock of birds into flight from the forest.