On the morning of the fifth day of the ninth month in Great Han Year 2321, clouds and mist drifted like gauze around the Ascension Pavilion atop Cloudspirit Peak on Nine Splendors Mountain. Liu Changxu sat with Duan Yuwei, Murong Yuyao, and several of his other wives, steam curling from the teacups in their hands as they chatted and admired the rolling sea of clouds around them, utterly at ease.
Suddenly, the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy that had been flowing steadily around them grew restless, surging toward a seemingly ordinary distant peak like a hundred rivers returning to the sea. Faint ripples resembling lightning shimmered in the air.
Liu Changxu's gaze sharpened. He turned toward the gathering spiritual energy and immediately understood: his wife Xiao Zier was about to face her Mahayana heavenly tribulation.
He rose at once, ripples spreading through the space around him as he unleashed his Spatial Displacement divine ability. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from the pavilion.
"Sisters, Sister Zier is about to undergo her tribulation. Let's go protect her!"
Duan Yuwei hurriedly set down her teacup and spoke with deep concern:
"All right!"
The women answered one after another, then rose, brilliant spiritual light flaring around them as they streaked across the sky toward the peak.
Liu Changxu had already landed atop a nearby spiritual mountain close to Xiao Zier's secluded cultivation site. His gaze remained fixed on the figure who had just appeared on its summit, his eyes filled with worry and anticipation.
Xiao Zier wore a radiant suit of silver treasure armor. She stood tall and straight as a pine, her gaze brimming with resolve, clearly fully prepared to face the heavenly tribulation.
She looked up at the sky. At some point, dark clouds had blanketed the once-clear heavens,