At the instant the thunderous boom erupted, Hu Liena didn't get pulverized.
The first thing she felt was warmth.
Not the rending pain a tribulation lightning strike should bring, nor the agony of bones being crushed, nor the numbness of her Divine Soul being split apart.
It was a familiar warmth, spreading from deep within the fabric, flowing over her shoulders, back, and waist, wrapping around her inch by inch.
It was as if, at her most desperate moment, someone had reached out and gathered her into their arms.
Hu Liena kept her eyes shut, her lashes trembling.
Was it over?
...No.
She was still alive.
As soon as the thought surfaced, the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment on her body suddenly trembled with a hum. The golden light that had been tucked close to her form burst outward.
It wasn't one layer or two. The entire garment blazed from within and without, shining so brightly that even the Purple-Black Divine Thunder hanging overhead was forced to pause for an instant.
The Three-Legged Golden Toad on the front of her robe came to life.
It really did.
Its back swelled, golden patterns flowing across it. Its eyes snapped open, their pupils a brilliant gold.
It raised its head and opened its mouth. The movement was utterly plain, even abrupt—
One bite.
It swallowed the Purple-Black Divine Thunder, a bolt powerful enough to tear apart the Pope Palace.
The entire plaza fell so silent that the sound of rubble rolling across the ground could be heard.
Bibi Dong braced herself against the ground and stared up at the scene, frozen.
For a moment, her mind went blank.
Divine Punishment, Asura's killing intent, something even the Plane Barrier couldn't withstand—and just like that... it had been swallowed by a golden toad embroidered on a garment?
How was that possible?
Yet the truth was right before her eyes.
The thick pillar of lightning, so terrifying it had inspired despair, had truly been cut off.
The Three-Legged Golden Toad held the Purple-Black Divine Thunder in its mouth as it struggled wildly. Lightning arcs exploded along the edges of its lips with sharp crackles, while wisps of blood-red killing intent surged outward, as if they meant to tear the toad apart from within.
But the Golden Toad didn't even sway. Its throat bobbed once, and it swallowed.
Gulp.
The sound wasn't loud.
Yet everyone in Spirit City heard it.
The next instant, the Divine Thunder that had seemed fierce enough to destroy the world went limp.
The lightning arcs shrank from a thick pillar to the width of a finger, then from a finger's width to a thread-thin current. It darted around inside the Golden Toad's mouth twice, then fizzled away with a hiss, without leaving behind even a spark.
Gone.
It was really gone.
Hu Liena stood there, stunned, as her eyelids slowly lifted.
There was no charred ruin before her, no body torn into pieces, no void left behind by a shattered Divine Soul.
Only brilliant golden light, surrounding her from head to toe.
The Tribulation-Avoiding Garment shone brighter than usual, its hem drifting gently. The Three-Legged Golden Toad had settled back onto her collar, as if nothing had happened. Only the golden patterns along its back looked a little more fluid than before.
Then a gentle warmth seeped out of the garment and flowed inward along her meridians.
It wasn't repairing any injuries.
She hadn't been hurt at all.
It felt more like she'd just been given a powerful tonic.
Warmth coursed through her limbs and bones, loosening the meridians that Divine Punishment's pressure had tightened. Even the Soul Power churning in her dantian settled down, and seemed to have grown a little stronger.
Hu Liena lowered her head, looked at her unharmed hands, then touched the Golden Toad on her collar.
It felt warm beneath her fingertips.
Her eyes suddenly stung.
So he'd even accounted for this.
So when he said it would "ward off calamity," he hadn't been comforting her or boasting. He really had made it capable of stopping even Divine Punishment for her.
Bibi Dong finally stood up.
Blood still clung to the corner of her mouth. Dark-purple divine power flickered around her palm as she stared fixedly at the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment on Hu Liena, as if she were seeing it for the first time.
"How... how is this possible?"
Her voice was very low, rough with strain.
"That was Divine Punishment personally delivered by a God King!"
The last words came out almost through gritted teeth.
Bibi Dong had seen more than her share of extraordinary things.
She had inherited the Rakshasa God's legacy and endured the backlash of merging with a godhood for so long. Her horizons were far beyond those of any Soul Master in the mortal world.
But because she understood, she knew just how absurd what she'd witnessed was.
A God King had acted personally.
The target's soul had been locked on to.
Tribulation lightning and killing intent had been combined.
Something like that shouldn't have been stopped.
Much less swallowed in one bite.
Ye Lingling was stunned for three breaths, too.
Then she sprang straight into the air.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
She pointed at the golden garment on Hu Liena, her voice rising with excitement.
"It's the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment! The Tribulation-Avoiding Garment from the Celestial Master has revealed its power!"
"I told you the Celestial Master's things would work! I knew it!"
As she shouted, her eyes shone. Her little face, pale with fear just moments ago, had turned rosy, and she looked as if someone had wound her up and set her loose. She could barely keep from running three laps around the plaza.
Hu Liena listened to her, lips parting, but no words came out.
It wasn't that she didn't want to speak.
Her throat was choked.
At that moment, she had truly thought she was going to die.
She had even repeated Shen Yichen's name once in her heart.
It hadn't been out of defiance or stubbornness. It was the last thread someone clung to when they reached a dead end.
She hadn't expected that, when death was upon her, he really would be the first person she thought of.
And he really had protected her.
He hadn't appeared in person.
But this Tribulation-Avoiding Garment was the hand he'd left at her side.
When Divine Punishment had descended, he hadn't been in Spirit City.
Yet he had still saved her.
Hu Liena gently rubbed the Golden Toad on her collar with her fingertip, unable to hold back the glimmer in her eyes.
She didn't want to lose control in front of her teacher and Ye Lingling, but her nose stung so badly that her vision began to blur.
Shen Yichen...
You saved me again, just when I was at my most desperate.
The thought surfaced, and she herself froze for a moment.
Again.
They hadn't even met face-to-face in any true sense, yet the word had come to her so naturally that she couldn't even argue against it.
The Severing Thought Sword had been one time. The Tribulation-Avoiding Garment was another.
That man seated on Tiandang Mountain had already saved her from two deadly predicaments from afar, where she couldn't see him.
Hu Liena sniffed and forced the rising mortification back down.
Don't cry.
At least, don't cry now.
But the corners of her eyes were still red.
Bibi Dong came to stand before her and pressed a hand to her shoulder, gripping it a little harder than usual, as if checking that she really was alive.
The instant her fingertips touched the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment, the Golden Toad's markings gave off a ring of gentle golden light, but didn't repel her.
Bibi Dong stared at Hu Liena for two breaths before finally asking in a hoarse voice,
"Are you hurt?"
Hu Liena shook her head.
"No."
She paused, then added quietly,
"It swallowed the thunder."
Even she thought it sounded absurd when she said it.
But it was the truth.
Bibi Dong fell silent.
In all her years, she had never before found herself with so much to say and not a single word she could manage to get out.
The garment hung on Hu Liena like an answer laid before all of Douluo Continent—what Shen Yichen had sent as a betrothal gift wasn't a gift. It was her life.
Whoever dared lay a hand on Hu Liena—
They would have to get past this garment first.
Around the plaza, the Spirit Hall Soul Masters who had been crushed to the ground by Divine Punishment's lingering might slowly lifted their heads. They stared at Hu Liena on the steps, all of them looking utterly dazed.
Shock?
It was more than that.
Their understanding of the world had been crushed, leaving them numb.
Chrysanthemum Douluo pushed himself up with a hand on his knee. His throat bobbed twice before he finally managed to choke out,
"Divine Punishment... was swallowed?"
Ghost Douluo sat on the ground and wiped a hand over his face.
"I've seen it all today."
His voice wavered.
"If anyone ever tells me that was a mortal-world magic treasure again, I'll fight them to the death."
And, higher still—
In the Divine Realm, inside the Asura God Hall.
Asura God was still seated on his throne, his divine sense piercing the Plane Barrier as he waited to watch Hu Liena be reduced to ash, body and soul alike.
He had even planned out his next move: the Fate-Suppressing Cauldron would lose its master, Tang San's fortune would flow back to him, and the Sea God Godhood would be completely stabilized.
Everything had been going smoothly.
Until the Three-Legged Golden Toad opened its mouth.
The trace of smugness on Asura God's face froze at once.
Before you continue