The surrounding spiritual energy rippled like a pebble falling onto a calm, clear pond.

Lu Zhaozhao sat in the center of the circle, motionless, for the entire night.

The purplish-red, swollen skin gradually regained its original color, and spiritual energy flowed into the body in a steady stream with each breath.

If someone were to push the door open at this moment, they would probably think she was taking a light nap.

But beneath the seemingly calm surface, a torrent of emotions flows. Only Lu Zhaozhao herself knows the suffering hidden beneath the normal exterior.

The skin and flesh recovered rapidly due to the first level of body-refining techniques, but beneath the skin, it was as if a hurricane had swept through, leaving it tattered and mangled. Meridians were severed, true energy was blocked in various parts of the body, and blood vessels were ruptured, but the skin remained intact, preventing the discharge of stagnant blood and leaving the body in a chaotic mess.

However, she had already reached the final stage of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, and she dared not relax her vigilance for a moment. After all, failure to break through would at least result in a decline in cultivation, and at worst, serious physical injury, making further progress difficult. Therefore, even though her body was in such a dire state, she still dared not get up to heal her injuries.

Since sensing that barrier last night, his consciousness has been constantly mobilizing his true energy and spiritual power to attack it. Now, the barrier is only a thin layer left, and it looks like it will be broken through soon.

The muffled thunder outside reached my ears through the cracks in the window.

Is it a tribulation of lightning? Lu Zhaozhao was both expectant and worried. In her memory, her senior brother Ying Che had experienced a tribulation of lightning.

At that time, he was in seclusion in his quiet room when thunderclouds suddenly blocked out the sunlight, darkly covering most of Emperor Huizong's territory.

Dark clouds loomed over the city, threatening to crush it. A bolt of lightning struck, shattering the stone door of the quiet room. The door, made from the shell of a bixi (a mythical tortoise) from the East Sea, had endured countless fires and sword strikes over the years, yet only faint white marks remained. But a single bolt of lightning shattered it into pieces.

Lu Zhaozhao watched from afar as a white shadow swept past behind the stone gate, a sword strike colliding with the next bolt of lightning, exploding into a spectacular display of sparks in the air.

With flowing robes and a tall, elegant figure, a figure hovered in mid-air. Lu Zhaozhao recognized him as Ying Che, who had been in seclusion for two years.

The white-boned dragon longsword pointed directly at the thunderclouds. The blade, made from the back of an ancient dragon, gleamed with an eerie light in the air. It seemed to sense the hostility around it, and the dragon race's warlike genes were fully unleashed at this moment.

The sword's owner's face was solemn at this moment, all the smiles he usually wore were gone, and the coldness revealed in his deep brow bones was fully displayed.

Long, slender, fair fingers gripped the sword hilt and twirled it in the air, constantly colliding with the falling lightning.

The sparks that burst forth beneath the thunderclouds were like fireworks on the night of the Flower Festival, blooming at the highest point and scattering sparks, a truly breathtaking sight.

But the situation was far more tense than during the Flower Festival. The continuous lightning strikes made even Ying Che, who was usually so adept at handling things, worry about how long he could hold out.

Therefore, he felt he had the upper hand.

He formed a sword incantation and his figure transformed into a white light, soaring into the depths of the thunderclouds.

Silver light flashed continuously within the dense, dark clouds.

After a long while, a golden light shone down.

The armor gleamed in the sunlight, like golden scales opening. A gap was torn in the thick clouds, and the opening grew larger and larger, until Ying Che's figure could be clearly seen by those on the ground.

He unleashed his final strike, shattering the last remaining thunderclouds, which dissipated into the azure sky.

Ying Che, with his feet firmly planted on the ground and his graceful figure, walked slowly towards Lu Zhaozhao, a smile returning to his face, as she gazed at him intently.

A pair of large hands covered her head and gently rubbed it. Ying Che bent down to look her in the eye and whispered, "Junior Sister, are you worried about me?"

"Senior brother! Are you out of your body now?!" Lu Zhaozhao shouted excitedly.

The scene before her froze. Lu Zhaozhao smiled secretly. In her memory, she had asked Ying Che how to break through the tribulation of lightning. Ying Che replied: "Only by enduring it."

So, as she entered the cloud layer, the view gradually became clearer.

Thick thunderclouds enveloped her like a cage, and lightning would always flash from behind her at unexpected moments.

The dense scorch marks on the bamboo sword in his hand told the story of the fierce battle that had just taken place, and the scriptures engraved on it were also obscured and blurred.

The Buddha's Belly Bamboo in the backyard of Futu Temple was forged by her into a longsword that was almost identical in appearance to Niye, with a blade as sharp as autumn frost, capable of shattering stone and iron. However, Abbess Jingwen felt that it was too murderous, so she specially inscribed scriptures on it and entrusted it to Master Huizhen to be placed in the Buddha Hall for 49 days of chanting. Thus, this sword had more Zen-like qualities than Niye, the murderous sword.

This unexpected gain feels especially delightful at this moment.

The sword, imbued with Buddhist essence, passed through the clouds with exceptional ease. The intense lightning was greatly diminished when it encountered the scriptures. Thanks to this unexpected joy, Lu Zhaozhao entered the interior of the clouds with remarkable success.

At that moment, lightning flashed, fireworks lit up the sky, and countless stars appeared.

Lu Zhaozhao's figure moved swiftly through the clouds, her green robe flowing like silk, her veil fluttering, unable to conceal her stunning beauty.

The bamboo sword slowly pierced through the thunderclouds blocking her path, and she saw a ray of light, not belonging to the clouds, shining through the gaps.

Lu Zhaozhao found the right angle and launched a fierce attack on the gap.

The clouds began to thin out little by little, and fresh air kept flowing in.

With the final sword strike, both Moon Reflecting Ten Thousand Rivers and Clear Sun descended simultaneously, creating ripples in the air and burying the gloom completely. A faint silver light pierced into her brow.

Lu Zhaozhao slowly descended, and below was an unfamiliar landscape. It seemed that she had wandered further and further away from the Ming Palace City while entangled with the lightning tribulation.

She looked up and touched her brow, the mark left behind when she broke through the tribulation and entered the Nascent Soul stage.

With a single palm strike, the boulder a hundred feet away shattered instantly.

A thousand times, ten thousand times more potent than the Golden Core, flowed through her body. Lu Zhaozhao looked at her palm with curiosity.

Is this what a Nascent Soul is?

She couldn't wait to find a place to recuperate and prepare for the opportunity to demonstrate her Nascent Soul strength.

After finally finding a dry cave, Lu Zhaozhao set up an array at the entrance and then sat down to meditate.

The more I meditated and regulated my breathing, the more I was awestruck by this vast and boundless power.

Years of accumulation made the weakened period she should have experienced during her breakthrough seem exceptionally short. While most people wouldn't even be considered to be in the early stages of cultivation when they first break through, the accumulated spiritual power and Wei Zhanjie's profound inheritance allowed her to break through to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm in one fell swoop.

Lu Zhaozhao smiled, in a great mood. Right now, all she needed to do was stabilize her unstable cultivation level, and she would be considered a true mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

With this in mind, she studied even harder.

Just as she was about to further regulate her breathing, she heard a faint sound of a dry twig breaking.

Lu Zhaozhao was shocked. There were no unusual sounds coming from the array outside the cave. She had explored the cave inch by inch and found no trace of living creatures. It was a long-abandoned cave.

Who exactly came to her side so quietly?

Her smile vanished instantly. She clasped her hands together, parted her teeth slightly, and began to chant a mantra. Then, she slowly opened her eyes.

A figure in a green robe came into view. Looking up, one saw a woman with long, flowing black hair and a graceful, slender face.

If others saw him, they would surely exclaim: "What a handsome young man!"

But at this moment, Lu Zhaozhao no longer felt that admiration. She met those deep eyes and felt utterly shocked.

She had seen this person before!

In the outskirts of Pingyang, in a dense forest and stone chamber, I once saw a young boy.

The two faces overlapped at that moment.

The person before me is Wen Sheng from the stone chamber!