Heavenly Tribulation

Mother Ye stood in the hall, her gaze lingering on Li Chen for a moment, her face betraying no emotion.

Ye Lingling stood quietly half a step behind her mother, her hands folded in front of her, making no unnecessary movements.

Li Chen raised a hand. "Have a seat. Making you stand while we talk would make me a poor host." His tone was casual, and he showed no intention of rising to greet them.

Mother Ye gave a slight nod and took a guest seat. Ye Lingling sat down beside her.

Liu Liujiao briskly served tea, then withdrew without a sound.

The hall fell silent for a moment before Mother Ye spoke first. "My surname is Ye, and my given name is Shutong. I am the current head of the Nine Heart Begonia Ye Family."

Li Chen nodded slightly. "Li Chen, founder of Heaven Beyond Heaven and headmaster of that little academy."

"Lingling told me your terms. As long as you can truly break this curse once and for all, the Ye Family will join your Heaven Beyond Heaven."

Li Chen nodded, rose, and walked over to Ye Lingling. "Then I'll do it now."

Ye Lingling froze for a moment. "Now?"

"When else? Do we need to pick an auspicious day?" Li Chen spoke casually and gestured for her to hold out her hand.

Ye Lingling glanced at her mother, and Ye Shutong gave a slight nod.

Only then did she slowly raise her right hand. The phantom of that Nine Heart Begonia bud appeared in her palm once more.

Without another word, Li Chen activated Martial Soul Possession, then Martial Soul Avatar. This time, when he inspected the Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul's information, he quickly found the relevant command.

Without hesitation, Li Chen raised his hand and swiped across the panel, erasing the "2." His fingertip descended, changing it to a "9."

He had originally entered "99," but that field only allowed a single digit, so no matter how much he entered, it remained "9."

"Done."

He withdrew his hand, and the light faded with it. Ye Lingling looked down at her palm. The Nine Heart Begonia bud was still half-open, looking no different from before. She looked up at Li Chen. "...I don't seem to feel anything?"

Ye Shutong also stepped forward to examine her daughter's palm closely, her brows drawing together.

She turned toward Li Chen, a trace of hesitation in her voice. "That's... it?"

It was not that she did not believe him. It had simply happened far too easily. A problem that had plagued generations of the Ye Family for so many years had been solved by a young man with a flick of his fingers. It was difficult to accept immediately.

Before Li Chen could speak, a deep, thunderous crash suddenly sounded in the sky-

Boom!

The sky darkened without any warning.

Clouds gathered abruptly above the courtyard, churning with dark purple lightning, as though something between heaven and earth had been stirred.

Ye Shutong's expression changed. "This is..."

Li Chen had thought only soul beasts faced lightning tribulations. Yet simply changing a number had triggered one as well. From the looks of it, he was not its only target; Ye Lingling and her mother were also marked.

By now, Heaven Dou City had descended into chaos.

The purple-black thunderclouds that had suddenly gathered in the west cast more than half of Heaven Dou City into shadow.

Pedestrians stopped in the streets and looked up. Vendors packed up their stalls and sheltered beneath the eaves, while patrons in teahouses crowded around the windows to peer outside.

A few bolder soul masters leaped straight onto the rooftops, squinting toward the churning thunderclouds, but none could explain what was happening.

Inside the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Xue Qinghe stood on the steps before the Eastern Palace gates, looking up at the roiling purple clouds to the west with tightly knitted brows.

According to the Spirit Hall's records, only a hundred-thousand-year soul beast would face a lightning tribulation. Yet this did not look like one caused by such a beast. Besides, a hundred-thousand-year soul beast could not possibly enter the city undetected.

As he pondered, two figures landed silently behind him. Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupinefish Douluo had arrived.

Xue Qinghe spoke calmly. "Go take a look. Be careful, and don't beat the grass and startle the snake. Report back immediately if you discover anything."

Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupinefish Douluo acknowledged his orders, then vanished over the palace walls in a blur.

At the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's secondary residence, Ning Fengzhi stood by the window, watching the strange phenomenon in the west of the city with a slight frown.

The door behind him was gently pushed open, and Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong entered one after the other.

After a moment's thought, Ning Fengzhi turned around. "Uncle Jian, Uncle Gu, sorry for the trouble, but please go yourselves and see exactly what is happening beneath those clouds. Don't act rashly. Come back and tell me first."

Inside Dugu Manor, Dugu Bo looked toward the thunderclouds. He knew better than anyone what lay in that direction. Without hesitation, he flew straight toward Li Chen's courtyard.

"Little Monster, what have you done this time?"

"Nothing much. I just used my ability to change the limit on how many Nine Heart Begonias can exist. Looks like the world's will isn't pleased," Li Chen replied casually.

"Since I said I'd help you solve the Nine Heart Begonia problem, naturally, I'll deal with this lightning tribulation for you too."

With that, he flew into the lightning tribulation of his own accord, activated Invincibility, and took the lightning head-on. He could sense other Titled Douluos approaching.

Suspended within the thunderclouds, he sensed his surroundings and detected several powerful auras drawing closer.

They were the auras of Titled Douluos-and there was more than one.

Li Chen's gaze darkened slightly, and he raised his hand to unleash a soul skill.

Dark purple energy gathered around him, and a thick cocoon enveloped his entire body.

Enclosed within the Despair Cocoon, his perception instantly expanded, giving him a god's-eye view over all of Heaven Dou City.

"I can't let you interfere with me."

With a wave of his hand, dozens of square Wither Skeleton Skulls formed beside him and flew toward the Titled Douluos. At the same time, four Cursed Lasers began charging.

Snake Lance Douluo was the first to sense something wrong, and he abruptly halted in midair.

A black, square shadow streaked past his shoulder. He turned to look, only to find that the black cube had already struck the ground dozens of meters behind him.

With a muffled boom, a dark purple shock wave erupted, blasting out a crater half a person deep.

Before Snake Lance Douluo could react, dozens more came flying toward him. Seeing that he could not dodge them, he prepared to block with his snake lance, but the black cubes passed straight through it as though they had no physical form.

The sudden turn left him no time to react. The Wither Skeleton Skulls struck him, blasting him out of the air and onto the ground. A strange power also appeared inside his body, eating away at his vitality and soul power.

Porcupinefish Douluo, who had come with him, was in equally miserable straits. They had suffered such grave injuries before they could even get close.

Elsewhere, Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo were doing slightly better, but not by much. Sword Douluo had been hit once at the outset when he tried to cleave a Wither Skeleton Skull in two.

Within the thunderclouds, Li Chen stood inside the Despair Cocoon, taking in everything. He gave them no chance to catch their breath.

Four purple beams shot out. Just as Snake Lance and Pufferfish felt that their lives were over, the Cursed Lasers merely disintegrated their clothes and the soul power within their bodies.