Then lightning flickered all over the bear's body. When the light faded, a plume of black smoke drifted up, and then...
With a thud, Gungun toppled backward, the left side of the bear's face and right leg twitching.
"H-help!" Gungun cried out with difficulty, using the half of the mouth that could still move.
Beside Gungun, Ao Yue snapped out of his utter bewilderment at the sight. He hurried over and crouched down. "Fellow Daoist, is this... retribution?"
Gungun: "..."
Retribution, my ass!
"Are you all right? You slandered me about something like that, which was despicable, but surely you didn't deserve to be struck by heavenly lightning? Could you have done something else you shouldn't have?" Ao Yue reached out with both hands to help Gungun up, but seeing the bear's condition, he hesitated to touch Gungun and asked instead.
Hearing this, Gungun closed both eyes and took a deep breath.
This damned mouth of mine!
"Humm..." Just then, space rippled, and Houtu appeared.
"Gungun, what have you done this time?" Houtu strode over and asked the bear lying on the ground.
Hearing Houtu's voice, Gungun opened both eyes. Black-and-white divine light emerged from within the bear's body, and the injuries began to heal. Then Gungun struggled into a sitting position and complained to Houtu, "Ancestral Witch, O vast and everlasting heavens, why do you treat me so cruelly?"
"What?"
"Awoo..." Gungun conjured a Flat Peach and stuffed it into the bear's mouth, chomping away noisily. As peach juice splattered everywhere, divine power coursed through Gungun's body. Instantly feeling alive again, the bear sprang up from the ground, pointed at the sky, and shouted, "You strike me with lightning even for telling the truth! You zap me at the drop of a hat! Do you really fucking think I'm