Yang Teng was still in his room, struggling to stand.
The next moment.
Gu Yuena appeared in an instant in front of Yang Teng's dormitory room. She pushed the door open and saw at a glance what was happening inside. Shock flashed through her silver eyes.
"What's going on? The plane is rejecting you!"
Gu Yuena's voice held a rare note of urgency. She was no longer as cold as before.
"This kind of thing shouldn't happen unless you're a Titled Douluo or have broken through to godhood!"
Yang Teng knelt on one knee, every bone in his body creaking.
"Xiao Na, can you help?"
Yang Teng forced the words through clenched teeth, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
Gu Yuena didn't hesitate.
"Resist the heavenly tribulation? No problem!"
She stepped forward, silver light surging from her body as the aura of the Silver Dragon King's bloodline began to spread.
"No, help me conceal it!"
Yang Teng jerked his head up, his eyes bloodshot.
"With all this commotion, if anyone finds out, it'll bring a lot of trouble!"
Gu Yuena froze.
She stared at Yang Teng in astonishment. She had thought this man would ask her to help resist the heavenly tribulation. After all, this was the kind of tribulation that came only when a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast broke through.
But he hadn't said a word about resisting it. He'd only asked her to conceal it!
"This heavenly tribulation..."
Gu Yuena trailed off.
"I have to face it myself!"
Yang Teng rasped. Each word seemed wrenched from deep in his chest.
"Otherwise, it'll only get more terrifying in the future!"
His gaze was unwavering. His usual roguishness and laziness had vanished, replaced by an almost obsessive determination.
Watching Yang Teng like this, Gu Yuena felt something stir in her heart.
She couldn't help admiring him.
She didn't try to dissuade him again, only nodded.
She grasped at empty space, and a silver-white spear appeared in her hand, its shaft shimmering like starlight.
Outside Skywater Academy, Shui Yunxia was still reeling from the shock when her heart suddenly sank.
An abrupt, chilling sense of danger made her shudder instinctively.
The spear in Gu Yuena's hand was none other than the Silver Dragon Spear!
"Hold on tight."
Gu Yuena said only those two words.
She raised the Silver Dragon Spear and gently slashed at the space in front of her.
A pitch-black fissure appeared out of thin air, its edges flickering with silver light.
Through the fissure, they could see the scene on the other side: a dense primeval forest, towering ancient trees, and a rich aura of life.
And just then.
A scene that felt utterly out of place unfolded.
Gu Yuena put away the Silver Dragon Spear, bent down, slipped her arms beneath Yang Teng's armpits and behind his knees, and lifted him up in a full-on bridal carry.
Before Yang Teng could react, Gu Yuena had already stepped through the spatial fissure.
The instant the two vanished, the dark clouds in the sky abruptly stopped moving.
As if they had lost their target, they began to dissipate at incredible speed.
The oppressive feeling blanketing the entire Balak Kingdom receded like the tide, and sunlight once again spilled across the land.
The whole process took less than three breaths.
On the palace walls, Tie Zhan had just assembled the Soul Master powerhouses who had rushed over and was preparing to set up a defensive formation.
He looked up at the sky, clear in an instant, and froze in place.
"What in the hell was that?!"
The Guardian Hand couldn't help swearing.
"The heavenly tribulation just disappeared? Then where's the Soul Beast that was about to break through to the Hundred-Thousand-Year level?!"
He spread his senses to their full extent and swept across the entire capital, but couldn't find even a trace of the heavenly tribulation's aura.
It was as if the apocalyptic scene from moments ago had been a mass hallucination.
Liu Dingran walked over to him, his expression grave.
"Tie Zhan, what happened?"
"I don't know."
Tie Zhan shook his head, his eyes full of confusion.
"The heavenly tribulation... dispersed on its own. That makes no sense. There's no record of anything like this ever happening."
"Could the tribulation have failed?"
An official asked cautiously.
Tie Zhan fell silent for a moment.
"The lightning tribulation hasn't even struck yet. How could it have failed? This situation is more like... more like the target of the heavenly tribulation suddenly vanished."
That conclusion sent chills down everyone's spines.
What kind of being could suddenly disappear, leaving even the heavenly tribulation unable to find it?
Star Dou Great Forest, Lake of Life.
Di Tian was soaking in the lake, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.
As the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, an eighty-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast and the strongest Ferocious Beast on the continent, he'd been in high spirits lately. The energy provided by that million-year Ice Silkworm had further improved his cultivation.
Just then, a terrifying pressure descended from the heavens!
"Heavenly tribulation?!"
Di Tian sprang up from the lake, his black hair flying.
"I'm not due for a breakthrough yet!"
He quickly straightened his clothes, donning a black robe before appearing above the lake in an instant.
Almost at the same time, several powerful auras rushed over from all corners of the forest.
The Emerald Swan Bi Ji was the first to arrive. She transformed into human form, becoming a gentle-looking woman with green hair.
"Di Tian, what's going on? Who's undergoing a tribulation?"
"It's not me."
Di Tian answered in a low voice.
The next moment, Hell Demon Dragon Zi Ji, the King of Ten Thousand Monsters, and Xiong Jun appeared one after another. Even the newly ascended Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, came rushing over. They had been cultivating on the other side of the forest when the heavenly tribulation's aura startled them.
Xiong Jun scratched his head and spoke in a gruff voice.
"I was still absorbing that Ice Silkworm when this heavenly tribulation scared the daylights out of me. Which junior's so inconsiderate that he couldn't give us a heads-up before breaking through?"
The King of Ten Thousand Monsters looked around.
"The aura isn't coming from within the forest, but the heavenly tribulation's direction... is strange. It feels like it's right above us, yet also a long way away."
Di Tian sensed it for a moment, and his expression shifted.
"This isn't an ordinary heavenly tribulation. I can feel the will of the plane. It's a rejection tribulation, aimed at some foreign object that shouldn't exist here."
"Foreign object?"
Di Tian frowned.
The Ferocious Beasts looked at one another.
Just then, a crack suddenly split open in the space above Lake of Life.
Silver light poured from the fissure, and a figure carrying someone else dropped down. The newcomer moved so lightly that not even a blade of grass stirred when she landed.
Di Tian's pupils contracted.
"Master?!"
All the Ferocious Beasts dropped to one knee at the same time.
Bi Ji, Zi Ji, the King of Ten Thousand Monsters, Xiong Jun, the Sky Azure Bull Python, and the Titan Giant Ape all bowed their heads respectfully.
The Dragon God's avatar, the Silver Dragon King, the common ruler of the Soul Beasts—Gu Yuena!
What left all the Ferocious Beasts dumbfounded was Gu Yuena's posture.
She was holding a young human man in her arms, one arm beneath his back and the other beneath his knees. His aura was in disarray, and he was clearly enduring the impact of some terrifying force.
And their Master was holding him in such an... intimate pose?
Di Tian had seen him before, so he recognized Yang Teng immediately!
Di Tian opened his mouth, but could barely get the words out.
"Y-You, you, you're..."
Gu Yuena swept her gaze over them, her voice once more as cold as ever.
"Stand back. No one is to come within ten li."
"Master, this human is..." Xiong Jun couldn't help asking.
Gu Yuena shot him a look, and Xiong Jun immediately shut his mouth.
Carrying Yang Teng, she walked toward the center of Lake of Life, where the aura of life was richest in the entire forest.
"He's going to undergo his tribulation here."
Gu Yuena said only that, then gently set Yang Teng down on the surface of the lake.
Yang Teng sat cross-legged, his body floating above the water. He opened his eyes and saw the dumbstruck Ferocious Beasts all around him. He even found the time to grin at them.
"Everyone... sorry to impose. I'll just borrow your place... to undergo a tribulation."
Di Tian was deeply shaken.
"So this is the son of the God Star's ruler? He drew a heavenly tribulation just by breaking through to level forty!"
Before you continue