Calligraphy

"Withdraw for now."

The Princess Royal raised her smooth chin and spoke languidly.

Perhaps because the lightning rod had proved somewhat useful, her impression of Su Mu had improved a little, and her tone was no longer so icy.

Su Mu wiped away sweat that wasn't there, hurriedly cupped his hands, and withdrew.

A maidservant then appeared and led Su Mu away.

"Your Highness, do you truly believe what he said?"

Not long after Su Mu left, a figure abruptly appeared to one side, dressed entirely in black and wholly out of place here.

The Princess Royal was not surprised by the newcomer's appearance, but a rare flicker crossed her expression at those words.

"Whatever the case, I should at least try. I only have a forty percent chance of surviving this Tribulation Transcendence. The danger is far too great."

At this, a look of uncertainty appeared on the Princess Royal's face.

The black-clad figure gritted her teeth. "This servant will go to the Academy of Righteousness and beg its headmaster for a piece of calligraphy. With a piece of calligraphy from the Academy of Righteousness, your chances of surviving Tribulation Transcendence would rise by at least twenty percent!"

The Academy of Righteousness was full of scholars.

These scholars were exceedingly aloof, each with a foul temper, and outsiders did not much like them.

Yet their calligraphy was coveted by countless immortal cultivators. The poetry written in it contained Righteous Qi, which could be used to resist the power of heavenly tribulations.

A glimmer of light blossomed in the Princess Royal's beautiful eyes at this, but then she sighed.

"I'm afraid it won't be that simple. The headmaster of the Academy of Righteousness hasn't been seen for a long time. There are a few scholars in the academy whose calligraphy is quite good, but those pieces have all been used already. How could obtaining a piece on such short notice be easy?"

"Not to mention those scholars' tempers. Begging a piece of calligraphy from them would be harder than hard."

The Princess Royal shook her head. The imperial family had already sent people to request calligraphy before, only for them to return empty-handed.

Even if they went to ask again now, they likely wouldn't obtain any.

Hearing this, the black-clad figure looked even more conflicted. The thought of the sabotaged ritual still rankled.

"If the ritual hadn't been sabotaged, surviving this Tribulation Transcendence wouldn't have been a problem!"

"Ah, even if the ritual had succeeded, it would only have improved my chances by a few tenths. Perhaps this is simply my destined ordeal."

The Princess Royal shook her head, and her voice fell silent again as she entered a meditative state.

Seeing this, the black-clad woman swayed and vanished once more.

Meanwhile, Su Mu was being led away by the maidservants beside him. He didn't know whether the Princess Royal had given them instructions or whether the two maidservants had overheard his earlier conversation with her.

The two maidservants now treated Su Mu a little better.

They barely spoke, but their faces were no longer as cold as before.

Su Mu knew this was a good start, but that did not mean he could sleep soundly without a care.

The Princess Royal was about to undergo Tribulation Transcendence. That was one of the few pieces of information Su Mu currently had, and her chances of succeeding were low.

Everything Su Mu had said earlier about bathing and changing clothes had actually been made up at random in his panic.

Thinking back on it now, he began to feel anxious.

What if the Princess Royal really did as he had said when she underwent Tribulation Transcendence?

Su Mu had absolutely no confidence that it would work.

If the Princess Royal failed at Tribulation Transcendence, Su Mu felt he was certain to die.

From what he knew, the earlier ritual seemed to have been a rite intended to improve the Princess Royal's chances of succeeding at Tribulation Transcendence, while he was essentially a by-product.

If the Princess Royal failed, Su Mu would be as good as dead. No one would want to see him again.

The more Su Mu thought about it, the more anxious he became.

"Can that method of yours really help Her Highness succeed at Tribulation Transcendence?"

The two maidservants escorted Su Mu back to his room. Just as they were about to leave, one of them suddenly spoke.

Although they had withdrawn earlier, they still knew what had happened inside.

Su Mu looked at her earnest expression. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. "It should help somewhat. As the saying goes, do all that lies within human power, then heed heaven's decree."

"Do all that lies within human power, then heed heaven's decree?"

The maidservant mulled over the meaning of those words, then nodded at Su Mu after a long while.

"As long as Her Highness truly succeeds at Tribulation Transcendence, you will certainly be safe. Even if you are of no use whatsoever to Great Liang, Great Liang will not do anything to you."

So if the Princess Royal fails at Tribulation Transcendence, dying and having her Dao extinguished, I'll have to be buried alongside her.

Su Mu also heard the other meaning behind those words. Helpless, he could only nod and silently pray that the Princess Royal would succeed at Tribulation Transcendence.

At that moment, Su Mu prayed several times more devoutly than he had on the night before his college entrance exam.

"How about telling me more about Tribulation Transcendence? Perhaps I can offer some suggestions?"

Su Mu hesitated, then decided he should learn more about heavenly tribulations and think of more solutions himself.

Even if he couldn't come up with a reasonable solution, he could ask others to help think of one when he returned to Earth.

Perhaps they really could work out some methods for succeeding at Tribulation Transcendence?

The maidservant hesitated at his words, but thinking that Su Mu was still worrying over the Princess Royal's Tribulation Transcendence, she nodded in agreement.

The three entered the room, and after they sat down, the maidservant began explaining heavenly tribulations and the tribulation the Princess Royal was about to face.

There was really nothing to hide about this. Many immortal cultivators knew this information.

"Her Highness has possessed extraordinary talent since childhood, and the cultivation method she practices is extremely unusual. Heaven and earth envy her, so when she undergoes her Nascent Soul Tribulation, her lightning tribulation will be the second-ranked Spirit-Annihilating Lightning Tribulation. This tribulation is immensely powerful. From ancient times to the present, very few have survived it."

"Among them were those even more talented than Her Highness, yet they were all destroyed beneath its lightning."

The maidservant explained bit by bit, and Su Mu listened to every detail, carefully committing it to memory.

Through her explanation, Su Mu finally gained a general understanding, but the more he understood, the more powerless he felt.

Even such powerful immortal cultivators, with their formidable Law Treasures and spell arts, had failed to withstand the heavenly tribulation. He was an ordinary person, and one who had only just learned about heavenly tribulations at that.

To think he could find a way to help her survive this heavenly tribulation-wasn't that a fool babbling about dreams?

The deeper his understanding grew, the stronger that sense of powerlessness became.

Half a day later, having finished her explanation, the maidservant rose and left, leaving Su Mu alone to ponder whether there was anything he had overlooked in the last little stretch of his life, or any last words he wanted to leave behind.

The Nascent Soul Tribulation the Princess Royal was about to face was simply too difficult to survive. No wonder she had gone to such great lengths to arrange a ritual.

Unfortunately, someone else had sabotaged that ritual, and through a strange twist of fate, Su Mu had ended up here.

Thinking of this, Su Mu had no idea whether he was far too lucky or unlucky.