The instant the Primordial Breath covered everything, the purple soul lightning in the sky crashed down. It was so fast that it almost tore through space. Qin Luo only saw a streak of purple light arrive in front of him in an instant, and he only had time to cross his arms to block it.
boom!
Amidst the blinding lightning, Qin Luo's feet carved two charred tracks in the void. The primordial energy surrounding his body vibrated violently, and the white mist was torn open by the lightning, revealing the scorched skin beneath.
"Phew, not bad..."
Looking up at the thunderclouds, just as he felt that the power of the first round of soul thunder was acceptable, a series of muffled sounds echoed in the clouds high in the sky.
The sound was like the roar of the heavens. Suddenly, the clouds split open, and five soul lightning bolts, several times thicker than before, intertwined and crashed down from the sky!
This change caused Qin Luo's pupils to shrink sharply. He hadn't expected the backlash from intervening in the soul tribulation to be so terrifying. The power of each of these soul lightning bolts was not simply doubled compared to before, but rather increased exponentially.
The destructive aura emanating from the Soul Thunder alone caused space to be constantly shattered and distorted wherever it passed.
"Qin Luo! Let me go! You'll really die if this continues! Why, why are you doing this?"
"I don't want your compensation..." Xia Zihan's voice was already broken, her sharp cry torn apart by the roar of the soul thunder. At this moment, all she had left in her heart was worry for Qin Luo's safety; the resentment she had felt before out of love and jealousy had long been thrown to the winds.
Her body writhed wildly, trying to break free from Qin Luo's spiritual energy confinement; this was a panic she had never shown before. Watching the five interwoven, sky-covering bolts of soul lightning strike Qin Luo, she felt her heart clench, almost suffocating.
At this moment, she didn't care about any breakthroughs in cultivation, nor about any love or hate entanglements. She only knew that if Qin Luo died because of her, her world would completely collapse.
Qin Luo remained silent, gazing at the thunderclouds above. Purple lightning danced in his deep pupils, reflecting a profound darkness.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
In the blink of an eye, thunderclouds descended, and the five thick strands of soul lightning, interwoven into a net of destruction, crashed down on Qin Luo with overwhelming force.
Qin Luo frantically circulated his Primordial Chaos Aura, attempting to resist the terrifying attack. However, his previously invincible physical body felt unprecedented pressure in the face of these five Soul Lightning bolts, and even the Primordial Chaos Aura on his body began to surge violently.
As the five bolts of purple lightning struck down, each carried an aura powerful enough to annihilate everything. Wherever they passed, space shattered layer by layer, emitting a chilling "crackling" sound.
The Primordial Breath could not withstand such power and dissipated like a thin mist, revealing Qin Luo's charred body.
"Ahem! No, you're telling me this is a soul tribulation?"
After blocking the five soul lightning bolts, Qin Luo gasped for breath, his heart filled with shock. He stared solemnly at the clouds in the sky; the power of those five soul lightning bolts was comparable to a full-force attack from an ordinary first-grade saint.
But that wasn't the most terrifying thing for him. After the five bolts of soul lightning struck, an even more muffled sound came from the clouds, like the roar of an ancient beast, foreshadowing an even more terrifying tribulation about to descend.
Qin Luo looked up and saw nine even thicker lightning bolts beginning to form in the clouds, slowly taking shape deep within the clouds.
This time, a trace of gold quietly evolved on the dense purple of the soul lightning. This wisp of gold, though seemingly slender, exuded a chilling aura, and even from a distance, Qin Luo couldn't help but get goosebumps.
The power contained within the purple-gold lightning tribulation was likely beyond his comprehension.
"Damn, was this really necessary? All I did was block a few of your lightning strikes, and you're already losing your temper..."
Qin Luo cursed under his breath. He had originally planned to play the victim in front of Xia Zihan, but if things continued like this, he might actually end up in real trouble instead of playing the victim.
Looking at Qin Luo's charred and mangled body, Xia Zihan burst into tears, her eyes filled with heartache. She wanted to call out but could only let out broken sobs.
At this moment, all the resentment in her heart had vanished, leaving only worry for Qin Luo.
"Qin Luo, please stop this, get out of the way! I don't want you to make up for anything, I just want you to be alright!"
When Xia Zihan saw the nine purple-gold soul lightning bolts gradually taking shape in the clouds, her pupils contracted sharply, and fear instantly overwhelmed her.
"Cough cough!"
Hearing Xia Zihan's almost pleading voice, Qin Luo, with his back to her, waved his slightly numb and charred arm and said gently:
“Zihan, from the moment I met you in the dungeon three years ago, I knew that you were disguised as a man. At that time, I was thinking about how to escape my predicament, and I only used you as a tool to escape. This is a mistake that I cannot escape.”
Qin Luo's voice was exceptionally clear amidst the thunder. His back was to Xia Zihan, and a faint tremor could be seen on his charred arms.
"But when we supported each other all the way to the small town, in that dimly lit room, when you first took off your disguise and revealed your true self in my eyes, how could I not know the feelings you had for me? It's just that there was a hurdle in my heart that I dared not cross, even though I had already fallen for you."
Memories flooded back like a tide. That night, the candlelight flickered, and the girl shed her men's clothing, her long black hair cascading down. The shyness and anticipation that flickered in her eyes as she turned away still sent a shiver down Qin Luo's spine whenever he thought of it.
"I am ashamed of myself. How could a hypocrite with a heart full of calculations be worthy of a pure and innocent girl like you?"
Tears welled up in Xia Zihan's eyes. She remembered the day she finished her cultivation and discovered Qin Luo was gone; the whole world seemed to have lost its color.
Qin Luo paused, his heavy breathing making his voice sound somewhat deep:
"Until the moment I returned and saw you curled up in the corner, calling my name over and over again... I truly felt a sense of belonging that I had never felt before. Wandering in a foreign land, I never thought that someone would care so much about me and be so heartbroken for me. At that moment, I realized that someone would leave a warm light on for me, hoping that I would return home."
"After that, we went through many hardships together. Those times are the most cherished memories in my life. It was my fault. I lost myself on these three years of spiritual practice and caused you to suffer injustices you didn't deserve."
"I know that nothing I say right now will soothe your grievances, nor will it make you accept Liyue and the others immediately."
As he spoke, a glimmer of reminiscence appeared in Qin Luo's eyes, as if he had returned to that beautiful time:
"But some memories will always remain hidden in the deepest corner of my heart, just as I cannot judge the value of a moment."
That day, by candlelight, the flickering flame outlined your exquisite silhouette as you turned to the side. I gazed at you, and in that instant, I knew it wasn't just a simple flutter of the heart, but rather that in this vast world, I had finally found the part of myself that I had been missing...
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