Chapter 423 - The Lightning Storm
CRACK– A bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket crashed unto the ground, the impact shaking the entire Ink City, causing everyone to look towards the outskirts of the city.
“Is that a sacred beast taking form?”
“With such a great impact, it cannot be a natural occurrence.”
“That’s a calamitous cloud!” Someone noticed that the oncoming dark cloud was not an ordinary one.
“Could it really be that there is a sacred beast taking form?”
“I have ever seen a scared beast taking form, and that’s completely different from this calamitous cloud.”
“If that’s not it, that what would cause such a disturbance and such a calamitous cloud? You saw that bolt of lightning, it was thicker than a bucket!”
“There was only one bolt of lightning. We will know as we watch.” When the first bolt of lightning hit, no one was paying attention. And by the time everyone’s attention had been caught, only the mountain range was in view, but they were unable to see the target of the storm.
At that time, Sima You Yue was in the mountain valley, clenching her teeth in anger. Why had no one told her that when you ascended to the divine rank, that there would be bolts of lighting? She had just successfully ascended in ranks, but before she could celebrate, she noticed the dark clouds gathering right above her head, with little jolts of electricity running through them, sending a wave of terror through her heart.
CRACK—-
She knew that when one ascended in rank that there would be some commotion, but no one had ever talked about thunder and lightning, so why did it happen to her? She certainly wasn’t a spirit beast taking form! Although she didn’t know the reason behind it, she quickly decided to call out all the people from the spirit pagoda, in case they were to get trapped inside the spirit pagoda. As Wei Zi Qi and the rest emerged from it, they were shocked to see the large clouds around.
“You guys had better leave quickly.” Sima You Yue yelled.
“We will stay with you!” Sima You Le said.
“No! If there are outsiders during the movement it will just make the lightning bolts stronger.” Sima You Yue said. “If you guys remain here, the lightning will only get worse. You guys should go.”
Sima You Le and the rest looked up, and saw the lightning storm increasing in might and left quickly. It was as though the clouds could feel what was going on, and dissipated a little. Sima You Lin and the rest, who had escaped, heaved a sigh of relief. Thankfully the bolts did not get any stronger. If not, they would definitely regret it for a lifetime.
Sima You Yue had never before experienced such lightning storms. She had only seen it from afar when Halcyon was transforming, so she was unsure of what to do, and she called Halcyon out. As he looked at the storm, his body trembled in memory of what he had gone through. It looks like it was traumatic enough for his body to remember it subconsciously.
“Can you check out what is the strength of this lightning storm?” Sima You Yue asked.
“It’s much smaller than mine.” Halcyon siad. “With your current strength and power, it should not be much of a problem.”
“What should I do then?” She had never experienced this before, and had no idea what to do.
“Don’t worry, you just need to adjust the spirit energy within your body and adapt to it accordingly. Going through the lightning will refine your body.” Halcyon said.
“Got it.” Seeing that the lighting was just about to crash down, she swiftly kept Halcyon back in.
CRACK—
With her spirit energy she adjusted the armour of her body, and the first crack of lightning came down upon her. As the electricity hit her body, it broke through the armour, and struck her body directly. As the jolts rushed down her body, the pain was as intense as if her body was being ripped into shreds. She took out a handful of pills and swallowed them, boosting her spirit energy, and it immediately took effect. Although she was in pain, she was not very much hurt. In the past few years she had been training with the methods that Mo Sha had taught her, and her body was able to bear more than the average person. Even Fatty Qu, who had been training his physical strength from a young age, was no match for her.
“The first wave is always the weakest one.” Halcyon reminded her, as he sensed what she was going through. Sima You Yue looked up to look at the calamitous clouds, and saw that an even stronger bolt of lightning was forming within it. She quickly adjusted her spirit energies, and to everyone’s horror, as the lightning bolt rushed downwards, she flew up towards it, meeting it head on in the sky
CRACK —
The electricity was dissipated for a small part, a portion of it blocked by her armour, and the rest struck her and rushed through her body. Everyone in the Ink City who was watching had their eyes on the being that was going against the storm. As they saw that the blots had hit a person, not a person could believe what they had seen.
“It is a person that going through a tribulation!”
“How could a person have lightning tribulation?”
“That’s outrageous!”
“Are you sure that that is a human and not a sacred beast?”
“How could it be a sacred beast? There is no way that a sacred beast can take human form before it encounters the final bolt of lightning. Only if you can overcome that last wave, can a sacred beast take human form! This early stage is not even over, how could it possibly be a sacred beast taking form?”
“So you are saying that it is a human that is breaking through?!”
The Yi Lin family clan members had also arrived slowly, and upon noticing the individual that was crossing over, they were extremely shocked.
“That is Young Master You Yue!”
“It really is You Yue! Why is she going through a tribulation?”
“What is she doing that this lightning storm is occurring?”
“Elder, she is going through a lightning tribulation, should we think of a plan to help?” Elder Huo furrowed his brows, his eyes filled with concern.
“We’ve never gone through this ourselves, how could we possibly be of help?” Sima Tai was not that worried, because he had complete confidence in her.
“Let’s go and take a look.” Elder Sang said.
“Yes, let us go.” Elder Li said.
A few people from the family clan were summoned by the Elders to fly towards the outskirts of the mountain range, and there, from afar, they saw Sima You Lin and the rest. Back then there was word about how all of them being locked up – but it seems like it was that they were together with Sima You Yue all this time. Sima You Lin bowed towards Sima Tai and the Elders as he saw them approaching.
“What’s going on with You Yue? Why is there this calamitous lightning going on?” Sima Tai asked.
“You Yue has ascended to the divine rank. She had only just succeeded, and then this calamitous lightning storm happened.” Sima You Qing tried explaining.
“Ascended to the divine rank?” Every person who had heard this was utterly shocked, and then filled with curiosity.
“Why would there be a calamitous lightning storm when one ascends to the divine rank? Back then there was no such thing when we had ascended in the same rank.” One of the divine ranked Elders said.
“Yeah, I don’t recall this happening.” Another Elder concurred.
“But she’s just ascending in rank.” Sima You Lan said.
“Maybe it’s because Sima You Yue is different from the rest of us, which is why this is all happening.” Sima Tai guessed. “I’ve heard the Yun family Elder say before, that there are some people from up there who, because of the training they have received and some other reasons, that they would invite a calamitous lightning storm when they ascend in rank.” But, clearly, this was not the case.
Sima You Yue saw that Sima Tai and the rest had arrived, but she could not focus on them, because she was bracing herself to deal with the next bolt that was to come. The next bolt that came was even stronger and would last even longer than the first two. The cloud from which it emerged was darker and denser as well, and it must mean that this bolt would be much, much worse than the others.
CRACK —
A meter-long bolt of electricity slammed into Sima You Yue, in full sight of all the worried and horrified onlookers. As Sima You Yue was hit, her body burned up like a piece of coal, and she fell to the ground, the electricity running through her body.