In the footage, one star shone impossibly bright.
It was no ordinary brightness. Its light utterly overwhelmed every other star around it.
The night sky, which should have been pitch-black, had been lit with a faint halo by that star. It was nowhere near daylight, but this was no longer a normal night.
The comments beneath the video had already exploded.
"What's going on?? Which star is that bright??"
"Can someone from the Astronomical Observatory explain?"
"Could it be a UFO?"
"What's happening? Is a star exploding?"
"No way. That position doesn't match any known supernova."
Yang Wanqing had already jumped to her feet.
"Yaoyao! Come to the balcony!!"
Without even putting on her slippers, she rushed barefoot toward the balcony.
Chen Siyao closed the projection and followed her.
They slid open the balcony's floor-to-ceiling glass door...
The night breeze rushed in.
Yang Wanqing dashed to the railing and looked up.
The star hung in the southwestern sky.
It was absurdly bright. An orange-red halo spread across the darkness around it, brightening the entire sky a shade.
On closer inspection, faint silvery-white threads flickered within its radiance.
Irregular flashes of silvery-white light, blinking on and off.
That was not starlight.
It was lightning.
Yang Wanqing gripped the railing, her knuckles tightening.
"Yaoyao, look. Someone from the Astronomical Observatory online says that's Mars." Yang Wanqing showed Chen Siyao the projection.
"Mars." Her voice trembled, not with fear, but with sheer excitement. "Master! It has to be Master breaking through!"
Chen Siyao stood beside her, gazing up at the "little sun" that had no business appearing in the night sky.
Silvery-white lightning flickered within that mass of orange-red light. A Heavenly Tribulation. The Heavenly Tribulation of the first level of the Nirvana Stage.
Tens of millions of kilometers away, yet the aftershocks