Does it hurt?
Yun Qian, Lin Huaiyu, and Zhihua walked slowly along the planned route.
For the past two weeks, Lin Huaiyu would occasionally hand her a pill, which Yun Qian had gotten used to taking.
Every day at the hour of Xu (7-9 PM), Yun Qian would receive communication talismans from Qin Wu and Bai Chuan.
In just half a month, the two junior brothers had discovered four identical Heart Arrays. Such a large number of arrays meant countless lives had been lost. Just how much Departure Incense did the person behind it need? What was their true purpose in refining such a massive amount of Departure Incense?
Lin Huaiyu handed her another pill, but Yun Qian, who was focused on studying the map and planning her next journey, took it without looking at it and put it in her mouth.
Zhihua, standing to the side, licked his paws, tilted his head, and asked with a hint of inquiry in his heterochromatic eyes: "Yunqian, you ate the things he handed you without even looking at them?"
Yun Qian, with the bitter pill in her mouth, was taken aback upon hearing this. She looked up at Zhihua, then turned to Lin Huaiyu, asking with a hint of confusion, "What kind of medicine is this?"
"Nourish your meridians and restore your spiritual power," Lin Huaiyu said calmly. "The damage caused to you by the last heavenly tribulation far exceeded what you showed. Right now, your inner energy is depleted and your spiritual power is exhausted. I'm afraid you can barely even use all ten moves of the Cangmin Sword Technique."
He paused, a half-smile playing on his lips: "Of course, if you can really unleash ten moves right now, I'll respect you as a hero with a strong will despite your physical disability."
Yun Qian blinked, thinking she had concealed it well.
As if he could read minds, Lin Huaiyu directly saw through it: "You really disguised yourself very well. Even someone as observant as Baichuan did not notice the true condition of your body."
"If I hadn't personally experienced the Heavenly Tribulation, I'm afraid you would have kept it from me too." His gaze fell on Yun Qian's face, carrying a knowing look.
In this world, perhaps no one understands the true power of the Heavenly Tribulation better than Lin Huaiyu. Countless destined members of the Nine-Tailed Divine Clan have perished under that tribulation. And when he inherited the power of the Divine Clan, the entirety of the eighty-one bolts of heavenly lightning existed solely to annihilate him. When the tribulation ended, he appeared unharmed, basking in the halo of inheriting divine power, and everyone in the clan treated him with utmost respect. But only Lin Huaiyu himself knew that at that time, his inner strength had been completely drained, leaving him so weak that he might not even be able to withstand a Golden Core cultivator.
The feeling of having one's spiritual power completely wiped out by a heavenly tribulation is something that no elixir or medicine can quickly cure. It took Lin Huaiyu more than ten years to slowly recover to his original state.
On the Wuji Platform that day, Yun Qian's condition after withstanding the heavenly lightning was just like his back then—he was at his last gasp. Lin Huaiyu had anticipated this and guessed that she wouldn't show this weakness to others, which was why he prepared these pills to nourish her body.
Yun Qian swallowed the bitter pill in her mouth. Lately, she had been taking it so often that she gradually stopped finding it so bitter. She looked at Lin Huaiyu. This person... always seemed to be able to see through her thoughts with ease, every single time.
“I have experienced several heavenly tribulations in the past at Cangmin Mountain.” Yun Qian’s voice was soft, with a hint of reminiscence, “but never before has it been as severe as this one.”
“Mount Cangmin has a protective spiritual array. My master once said that the array can dissipate some of the power of the heavenly tribulation. Although I knew the array was mysterious before, I had never truly experienced its key. I only felt that the heavenly tribulation was powerful, but I never felt that it could really kill me.”
“Until that day, on the Wuji Platform.” Yun Qian’s fingertips unconsciously traced the map on her lap. “At that moment, I truly felt like I was about to die. Later, they fed me all sorts of spiritual medicines like a flowing river, but it was like a drop of water entering the sea, with no improvement whatsoever. But I am their senior sister…” She paused slightly, her voice lower, “I couldn’t really let my junior brothers take care of me, so I didn’t say anything.”
Lin Huaiyu nodded. A faint smile appeared on his face, a smile that contained an obvious gentleness, different from his usual carefree demeanor: "Yes, you are a very responsible senior sister. You have taken very good care of your two junior brothers."
Although Cangmin Mountain only has three disciples, these three are as close as an impenetrable iron pipe, trusting and supporting each other. This pure and solid camaraderie among fellow disciples is truly enviable.
Yun Qian sighed almost inaudibly, her gaze fixed on the void ahead, her voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of uncertainty: "I hope I can continue to take good care of them." Before she finished speaking, a faint trace of worry had already quietly settled between her brows.
A hundred years ago, she foresaw the fate of Qin Wu and Bai Chuan. For the past century, she had constantly pondered how to reverse that predetermined destiny. But since experiencing this calamity, she truly felt her own insignificance. Faced with that seemingly irresistible torrent, she was like an ant trying to shake a giant tree.
"Yes, it will." Lin Huaiyu's affirmative voice broke the brief silence. He looked at her, a clear smile in his eyes, and said with certainty, "It definitely will."
Upon hearing this, Yun Qian chuckled softly. The heavy, helpless feeling that had been weighing on her heart seemed to have been somewhat dispelled by his simple yet firm response.
Sometimes, what a person who has been walking alone in the desert for a long time needs is just a word of unreserved affirmation.
She can definitely do it.
"And you?" Yun Qian suddenly turned her head to look at him and asked.
"What?" Lin Huaiyu didn't react for a moment.
The pain brought by the Heavenly Tribulation is something that no amount of spiritual power can offset. It is a real, excruciating pain, as if every inch of flesh and bone is being crushed and then pieced back together. This pain will not disappear with higher cultivation levels. Cultivation may enhance the body's resilience and offset the actual damage caused by the Heavenly Tribulation, but it can never erase the pain.
"Heavenly Tribulation, does it hurt?"
When Lin Huaiyu inherited the power of the gods, everyone was concerned about whether he could successfully overcome the tribulation and bear the divine power. But no one ever asked him whether he felt pain from the eighty-one bolts of heavenly lightning striking him.
After all these years, Yun Qian is the first person to ask him "Does it hurt?"
"It hurts." Lin Huaiyu moved closer, closing the distance between them. His face still had that somewhat frivolous expression, but his tone was quite frank. "It hurt so much that I just wanted to die right then and there."
Yun Qian did not flinch. She simply looked intently at Lin Huaiyu, who was so close to her.
Even though there wasn't a trace of heaviness or seriousness on his face at that moment, Yun Qian seemed to be able to feel his pain through his smiling eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
