I'll Just Quietly Watch You Get Struck by Lightning

At midnight, Lu Ya had slipped to the bottom of the pool and fallen asleep, snoring and blowing bubbles underwater like a salted fish.

A vast bolt of thunder, as if heralding the end of the world, came crashing down from the heavens with awe-inspiring celestial might and a blinding flash of white light. It struck the Immortal Platform and went straight to the soul.

In his groggy state, Lu Ya thought he'd been struck by lightning.

A tribulation?

Could I still undergo tribulation and level up at max level?

Could I ascend to godhood in one step and crush the Heavenly Dao?

Lu Ya was overjoyed.

He was just about to whip up a bolt of thunder and send a personal tribulation skyward, striking the heavens to overcome his tribulation, when he realized the lightning hadn't struck him. It had struck the two-story Bamboo Cottage beside the hot spring.

A head emerged from the mist-shrouded water, looking utterly disappointed and thoroughly baffled.

Was Liu Xuanye undergoing a tribulation?

She hadn't even recovered from her serious injuries, and now she was undergoing a tribulation?

You'd held off on leveling up for a thousand years. Wasn't that because you wanted to find your fated partner and undergo tribulation through dual cultivation?

Ahem...

I crafted such a handsome body with my own hands, and you're not even tempted?

Never mind. This was a good thing.

His divine sense spread out, and he found that Ning Zhongzi and Muyu Feifei had both been put under a hypnotic spell on the Sword Terrace.

It seemed Liu Xuanye wanted to keep her tribulation a secret from them.

A secret tribulation?

Lu Ya was a little curious. Wrapping himself in a bath towel, he went to the Bamboo Cottage to take a look.

The two-story Bamboo Cottage was entirely enveloped in a vast, soundless tribulation.

The first floor had a living room, a bedroom, and a library.

The second floor was the Meditation Pavilion.

Lu Ya strolled into the tribulation and sat on the second-floor windowsill, peering inside.

The tribulation hadn't damaged the Bamboo Cottage. Instead, it shone through the roof of the pavilion, bright as day, golden light radiating in every direction.

The rolling celestial might swept through the air, scorching every tiny living thing within it to death.

Three thousand slender swords hung point-down from the open ceiling, forming a circular Yin-Yang Sword Array.

The tribulation crashed into the Three Thousand Sword Formation. Part of its power was deflected out the window, dimming the lightning considerably, but it set ten thousand swords ringing with shrill cries—sounds too high-pitched for human ears to bear.

In other words, they were inaudible.

Yet they could kill without a sound.

Beneath the Three Thousand Sword Formation,

Liu Xuanye, draped in a sheer white robe, sat cross-legged in the center of the Sword Pavilion. Her poised, graceful figure held an indescribable clarity.

The three thousand slender swords rang and clanged, letting out the cries of the Xingtian Howl.

Blood kept gathering at the tips of dozens of swords nearest to Liu Xuanye, slowly dripping down like a rain of blood.

Even with most of the tribulation's power deflected by the three thousand slender swords, the remaining might still churned Liu Xuanye's qi sea into towering waves, pounding relentlessly against the foundation of her Immortal Platform.

Gradually, cold sweat beaded on Liu Xuanye's forehead. Her exquisitely beautiful face, as cool as a painting, turned white as snow.

Lu Ya took a closer look.

The power of this tribulation was at least ten times stronger than that of an ordinary tribulation triggered when an Immortal Master advanced to the Immortal Sect realm!

What was going on?

Lu Ya soon realized it was because the Husband-Killing Restriction inside her Immortal Platform was unacceptable to the Heavenly Dao.

Liu Xuanye wasn't a witch herself, but whoever had carved the restriction into her must have been something the Heavenly Dao could not tolerate.

And Liu Xuanye had long since fused with the restriction. It was carved into her soul, inseparable from her. Even Lu Ya would have to expend a great deal of effort to separate them safely.

The reason Liu Xuanye had rushed to undergo her tribulation was that she knew Lu Ya had suppressed the restriction inside her to some extent. But that suppressive force was merely something he'd done casually, and it would weaken with time. So she'd triggered the tribulation while his suppression still remained, knowing it would greatly improve her odds.

Lu Ya thought,

You'd rather seize this tiny, insignificant chance than ask me for help?

He admired Liu Xuanye's backbone and respected her decision.

Then he sprang into the Meditation Pavilion and sat across from Liu Xuanye, still wrapped in his bath towel.

I'll just quietly watch you get struck by lightning!

Lu Ya felt that, for a woman as incredible as her, the greatest sign of respect was to do nothing at all.

He lowered his spiritual pressure to zero, retaining only the faintest visual presence. He wanted Liu Xuanye to know he was sitting there, but not to disturb her or step in to help.

As he quietly watched Liu Xuanye take the hits, Lu Ya thought, If you're struck dead by the tribulation, maybe I'll do you the favor of killing the god who sent it, to console your spirit.

After all, in the Immortal Realm, most tribulations weren't brought down by the Heavenly Dao itself. Instead, certain gods acted on heaven's behalf to temper immortals—and the vast majority did so with malicious intent.

After all, he'd played a god in the game back then, and struck plenty of players and NPCs dead while they were undergoing tribulation...

As he thought about it, Lu Ya suddenly noticed the divine lightning striking even harder!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Lu Ya:

"..."

For a time, three forces—Liu Xuanye's spiritual power, the restriction's power, and the tribulation's power—tore at one another, collided, and fought within her qi sea, ravaging her Immortal Platform.

Beneath her perfect skin, as if sketched by nature and carved by gods and demons, her flesh, bones, and internal organs were continually destroyed by the three forces, then rapidly reformed.

Sweat soaked her from head to toe.

Lu Ya could feel Liu Xuanye's pain.

He simply couldn't imagine how an Immortal Master could endure a tribulation of this magnitude—and such pain—all alone.

Liu Xuanye was so pale she was almost like a paper doll.

Lu Ya gritted his teeth, but still didn't step in.

Of course, he wasn't really going to let his wife die. He just wanted to see where her limit lay.

The answer was that he didn't get to see Liu Xuanye's limit.

A quarter of an hour later—

The tribulation dissipated.

A brand-new Immortal Platform had been reforged in Liu Xuanye's dantian.

She had advanced to the Immortal Sect realm!

A one-star Immortal Sect!

She'd skipped the half-step Immortal Sect stage and advanced straight to one-star Immortal Sect!

In the game, that was like jumping straight from level 29 to level 31.

What kind of immortal was this?

Lu Ya gaped in amazement.

Liu Xuanye slowly opened her painting-like eyes. The spiritual pressure of an Immortal Sect rolled forth like a great river or sea. The sweat on her body had already dried in the wind, and her pale complexion had grown much rosier...

Lu Ya felt that she'd become even more beautiful.

In an instant, an invisible tribulation stronger than the last struck Lu Ya on the forehead, carrying a sorrow as ancient as the Primordial Era.

Lu Ya scratched his head. That felt kind of itchy.

Liu Xuanye parted her lips and spoke softly.

"Thank you."

Her cool, solemn voice was like a suspended moon.

What are you thanking me for?

Lu Ya thought.

He wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, but just now, when he'd threatened the Heavenly Dao in his mind, it hadn't worked at all. Instead, he'd provoked the tribulation into striking even harder...

Even so, faced with Liu Xuanye's rare show of gratitude, Lu Ya remained as shameless as ever.

"Ahem, we're married. It's only right."

Liu Xuanye sat straight, staring intently at Lu Ya, her graceful, handsome figure like a green sword.

Yet no matter how hard she tried, she still couldn't see through the man before her.

"But when I look at you with an Immortal Sect's divine sense, you seem exactly the same as when I looked at you with an Immortal Master's divine sense."

Lu Ya smiled without replying.

He thought, Whether you're five foot three or six foot tall, the sky looks just as high.

A trace of reproach suddenly flashed through Liu Xuanye's cool eyes.

"If I'd known, why would I have advanced?"

Lu Ya froze.

You underwent the tribulation just to see my true strength?

But on second thought, it made sense. The higher Liu Xuanye's cultivation, the harder it would be to suppress the restriction within her. The higher her cultivation, the closer she'd come to becoming a witch!

She'd been deliberately suppressing her cultivation all along!

Lu Ya had always felt that though this woman had only been an Immortal Master before, and had only just advanced to Immortal Sect, there was something inscrutable about the bearing she displayed in her words and actions.

Her voice, like a suspended moon, held both solemnity and languor. She seemed to probe him as an equal, without the slightest trace of humility before someone stronger.

Just as she hadn't shown any arrogance when facing Lu Ya as an ordinary mortal.

Always treating others as equals.

Yet utterly uncaring.

Still, Lu Ya's power far exceeded her expectations.

She was beginning to sense as much.

Lu Ya couldn't be bothered to explain.

"My Bamboo Cottage isn't finished yet, so I'll sleep in the hot spring tonight. You should get some rest too."

"You won't stay with me?"

"I'm afraid I might hurt you."

Lu Ya stood, unruffled, and strode away.

Liu Xuanye's swordlike brows knitted together.

She had always been the one to hurt others. This was the first time she'd heard that another man could hurt her.

Watching Lu Ya's retreating figure, she thought over every word he'd said...

Suddenly, Liu Xuanye's sharp eyes narrowed as a startling suspicion surfaced before her.

By then, Lu Ya had already walked far away.

Drop the bomb and run. This is damn exhilarating.

Just then, a cool, languid voice came from behind him.

"Were you the one who used your divine sense to spy on me bathing, triggering the celestial phenomenon and bringing the Black Lotus here?"

"Uh..."

So she'd finally figured it out?

Lu Ya's expression shifted. Far from feeling ashamed, he took pride in it, stopped in his tracks, and, with his back to Liu Xuanye, answered without turning around:

"I'm ashamed to say I only made a tiny contribution."