"She was undergoing a tribulation," the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King said, his voice low, like muffled thunder rolling across the sea.
"A tribulation?" Lan Fozi froze for a moment and blinked. "What tribulation?"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King fell silent for a moment.
He was considering how to explain this to his daughter, who still knew little about the Soul Beast cultivation system.
"When Soul Beasts cultivate to a certain age, they face heavenly tribulations." His voice was calm and unhurried. "A heavenly tribulation is a test imposed on Soul Beasts by the laws of heaven and earth. Survive it, and your cultivation rises to a new level. Fail, and you are reduced to ashes."
Lan Fozi's body stiffened slightly.
She looked down at her father's broad back, then raised her head toward the distant thunderclouds. A trace of unconcealable worry surfaced in her pale blue eyes.
"Then... can she survive it?"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King thought for a moment. He recalled Ursula's composed face the last time he had seen her, and the effortless calm she carried.
Someone like her would not force herself into a dead end.
"She can."
Lan Fozi did not loosen her grip on his mane, but her shoulders relaxed slightly. She believed what her father said.
Yet she could not help looking once more at that horizon churning with lightning.
Every thunderclap made her heart skip a beat.
The distant lightning cast her shadow across the sea, stretching it long and thin like a blade of grass that could snap in the wind at any moment.
"Father, will she... will Ursula get hurt? Will it hurt a lot?"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King did not answer.
As a Soul Beast, who had never been hurt? Who had never suffered