Desperate Predicament! Celestial Master, Save Me!

Above the Pope Palace, purple-black tribulation clouds gathered wildly, layer upon layer, one mass swallowing another.

Lightning churned in the gaps between the clouds. Every time it flashed, every Soul Master in Spirit City felt as if their bones had been struck.

It wasn't ordinary thunder.

That aura of destruction was far too pure.

So pure that even the Rakshasa Divine Power within Bibi Dong stirred restlessly, as if it had encountered something of the same origin, yet far more violent, pushing outward inch by inch along her meridians.

Bibi Dong's expression changed.

"What's..."

For the first time, her voice faltered.

"Divine Punishment Lightning Tribulation?!"

Standing beside her, the Severing Thought Sword mark on Hu Liena's wrist suddenly turned icy.

The chill shot from her wrist bone to her shoulder, then plunged from her shoulder into her chest.

She looked up at the purple-black tribulation clouds. Her throat felt blocked, and she couldn't force out a single word.

Divine Punishment Lightning Tribulation.

She had heard those four words before.

When Bibi Dong had spoken of the Rakshasa God inheritance, she had said that the most perilous final step to godhood wasn't fusing with divine power, but the heavenly tribulation—the Divine Punishment, the judgment passed by those high and mighty gods upon mortals ascending to godhood in the lower realm.

But she hadn't become a god yet.

She was only level eighty-eight.

Why her?

Hu Liena's fingers slowly curled into fists.

Her nails dug into her palms. The pain was faint, far too faint to suppress the sensation of death hanging over her head.

This thunder hadn't struck by mistake.

It was coming for her.

The moment this thought crossed her mind, Hu Liena's back turned cold.

It wasn't the kind of chill that made her legs buckle with fear. Rather, her mind had suddenly become unnervingly clear.

She could even distinctly feel the warmth of the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment against her skin, the starlight left in her meridians by the Star River Map, and the steady fortune from the Fate-Suppressing Cauldron still supporting her fate.

Yet before the mass of tribulation clouds overhead, all of it seemed too flimsy.

So flimsy she almost wanted to laugh.

Shen Yichen had only given her the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment three days ago.

And the Asura God had already brought down the Divine Punishment.

Couldn't he wait?

Or was he afraid?

The moment this thought arose, even Hu Liena found it absurd.

Afraid?

Would a god of the Divine Realm fear a Celestial Master from the lower realm?

But if he wasn't afraid, why strike before she had even become a god?

Bibi Dong spun around.

She looked at Hu Liena, her expression so grave it was terrifying.

"Nana!"

That cry pulled Hu Liena back from her thoughts.

Bibi Dong took a single stride down the steps and reached for her wrist.

"Get out of the way!"

Hu Liena heard her.

She wanted to move, too.

But her feet seemed nailed to the ground. That Divine Punishment had locked her shoulders in place, and even her fox tails were frozen behind her, their tips trembling faintly.

It wasn't that she didn't want to run.

She couldn't.

The Divine Punishment had already locked onto her Divine Soul.

Hu Liena's eyelid twitched. Her lips moved.

"Teacher..."

Her voice was so faint she could barely hear it herself.

Bibi Dong's hand had already reached her. Her fingertips were only half an inch from Hu Liena's wrist.

Half an inch.

Just half an inch away.

Purple-black lightning suddenly blazed deep within the clouds.

In that instant, the roof ridges of the entire Pope Palace turned deathly white. Everyone's shadow in Spirit City was pressed beneath their feet, shortened until it was no more than a patch of black.

"Fall back!"

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan shouted hoarsely, his voice breaking.

But the Spirit Hall Soul Masters in the plaza couldn't retreat at all.

Those below the Titled Douluo rank either fell to their knees or sprawled on the ground, their Soul Rings in disarray.

Some tried to summon their Martial Souls. The moment they raised a hand, the thunderous pressure forced their entire arms back to the ground, their joints cracking.

Ghost Douluo braced himself against a pillar, his face ashen.

"This isn't thunder that should exist in the lower realm..."

In all his years, this was the first time he'd felt so close to death.

The thunder hadn't even struck him.

Its lingering might alone, leaking out before the tribulation descended, made even escape feel like a luxury.

Standing behind Hu Liena, Ye Lingling dropped the bowl of ginseng soup in her hands. It shattered with a sharp crack.

Hot soup splashed across her skirt.

She didn't feel the burn.

Her eyes were fixed on the purple-black lightning overhead. Only one thought remained in her mind.

It's over.

If that thing struck, forget Miss Hu Liena—even the entire Pope Palace would be wiped out.

No.

Where was the Celestial Master?

The Celestial Master must be able to see this.

He must!

Ye Lingling's throat tightened. She wanted to call Shen Yichen's name, yet felt she had no right to.

He was her master, the heavens of Taixu Temple, someone who shouldn't even have to take Divine Punishment seriously.

But the thunder was already descending.

Too fast.

So fast there wasn't even time to call for help.

"Miss Hu Liena!"

The instant her scream burst out, Ye Lingling lurched forward.

She wanted to shield her.

Even knowing that a Titled Douluo of the Nine-Heart Begonia was worth no more than a sheet of paper before the Divine Punishment.

She moved anyway.

The Celestial Master had told her to follow Hu Liena's orders.

The Celestial Master had told her to stay in Spirit City.

If Hu Liena died before her eyes, how could she ever return to Taixu Temple?

Bibi Dong moved, too.

Nine Soul Rings burst to life beneath her feet as Rakshasa Divine Power surged wildly from within her.

The dark purple divine power formed a barrier above Hu Liena's head.

It had only just taken shape.

Crack.

The barrier split apart.

It hadn't been struck by the thunder.

It had simply been crushed by the pressure descending from the tribulation clouds.

Blood trickled from the corner of Bibi Dong's mouth. Her expression turned dreadful.

It wasn't enough.

She couldn't stop it.

Her Rakshasa Godhood hadn't finished fusing. If she forced herself to act now, she wouldn't last even a single breath.

But she couldn't retreat.

Hu Liena was her disciple.

The child she had raised with her own hands.

She could be cold to anyone in Spirit Hall, treat the whole world as a chessboard, and drive herself into this state for the sake of godhood.

But not Nana.

"Everyone, get back!"

Bibi Dong gritted her teeth and continued to raise her palm. The shattered dark purple barrier strained upward another half a foot.

Blood seeped from the cuts in her palm, evaporating into black-red mist under the Rakshasa Divine Power.

"Teacher!"

Hu Liena could finally speak.

But the first thing she shouted wasn't a plea for Bibi Dong to save her.

It was for Bibi Dong to leave.

"Don't block it!"

She knew all too well.

This wasn't an ordinary attack.

It was Divine Punishment.

She was the target.

If Bibi Dong stood in front of her, she'd only be crushed along with her.

Hu Liena didn't want to die.

Of course she didn't.

She hadn't met Shen Yichen yet.

She hadn't been to Taixu Temple.

She hadn't seen Spirit Crane Valley, which Ye Lingling had told her about, or touched the Old Pine Tree growing beside the Seclusion Chamber. She hadn't even asked that man to his face—why me?

Only five of the Eighteen Betrothal Gifts had arrived.

There were still thirteen to come.

She hadn't even properly thanked him once.

How could she die?

How could she die here?

But more than dying herself, she couldn't bear to watch Bibi Dong die for her.

"Teacher, go!"

Hu Liena's voice broke completely.

Bibi Dong didn't look back.

"Shut up."

Two words.

As cold as when she scolded Hu Liena during training.

Hu Liena froze for a moment, and her eyes suddenly grew hot.

At a time like this, her teacher was still scolding her.

The thought was absurd beyond belief, yet it eased the terror in her chest a little.

In the next instant, the tribulation clouds overhead pressed down completely.

Purple-black Divine Lightning emerged from the deepest part of the clouds.

It wasn't a thin bolt.

It was a pillar of lightning so thick it filled them with despair.

Blood-red killing intent coiled around the pillar. Wherever it passed, space tore open into black fissures.

The moment those fissures appeared, the lightning swallowed them, leaving no chance for them to heal.

Across Spirit City, countless people looked up and saw the sight.

Some collapsed to the ground.

Some knocked their foreheads against the ground until blood ran down their faces.

Others gaped, unable to make a sound.

Divine Punishment.

True Divine Punishment.

That thing wasn't meant for people to see.

It was meant for people to die.

Hu Liena tilted her head back. The Three-Legged Golden Toad on the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment suddenly sprang to life.

Its back bulged.

Golden auspicious energy surged from the collar, sleeves, and hem all at once, gathering into a golden film of light around her.

The film was warm.

So warm it made Hu Liena want to cry.

Shen Yichen.

When his name surfaced in her mind, she suddenly felt so utterly useless.

Just a few days ago, she'd still been stubbornly mouthing off.

Saying it was only a betrothal gift, saying they hadn't even met, saying she could only live up to his gifts after becoming a god.

But now, with death hanging by a thread, he was all she could think about.

Not Bibi Dong.

Not Spirit Hall.

Not becoming a god.

That white-robed Celestial Master she had never met.

She wanted to see him.

So badly.

She wanted to ask him, Ye Lingling says you're very handsome. Is that true?

She wanted to see whether the Stone Chamber where he'd secluded himself for a hundred years was really so cold and austere.

She wanted to return that Pine Needle Leaf to him with her own hands, then ask, "When you gave me all these things, did you ever think I might be afraid?"

The Purple-Black Divine Lightning crashed down completely.

The Rakshasa Barrier Bibi Dong had raised shattered an instant before the lightning pillar touched it.

The backlash hurled her away. Her back slammed hard against the stone steps of Pope Palace, and blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.

"Nana!"

Bibi Dong scrambled to her feet, her fingertips gouging bloody marks into the stone steps.

There was no time.

There really was no time.

Hu Liena stood where she was.

The golden light of the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment blazed at its brightest.

The Severing Thought Sword seal was cold.

The phantom of the Fate-Suppressing Cauldron appeared behind her, its body trembling as the lightning's might twisted the Image of Mountains and Rivers into a frenzy.

The Star River Map flew out of the Cultivation Room on its own. The scroll unfurled, and the Twenty-Eight Mansions lit up one star after another. Their starlight rushed toward the divine thunder, only to be crushed into a shower of silver flecks the instant they made contact.

Every betrothal gift was protecting her.

But that lightning was too vicious.

So vicious it didn't feel like judgment.

It felt like murder.

Hu Liena suddenly understood.

This wasn't a heavenly tribulation.

The Asura God wanted her dead.

The corner of her mouth twitched. She wanted to smile, but couldn't.

So even a god could be this vile.

The lightning pillar was already above her head.

The golden film of light from the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment was pressed against the tips of her hair. The lightning's might numbed her fox ears, and all five of her tails stiffened one by one.

Hu Liena closed her eyes.

At the final moment, she didn't cry out.

She only whispered that name once in her heart.

Shen Yichen.

Save me...

The Purple-Black Divine Lightning struck her with pinpoint precision.

BOOM—!

The thunderous blast erupted, and the stone steps before the entire Pope Palace split in two down the middle.