“I don’t think so!” Yi Qing shook his head and frowned at the other party. “At least, the other invaders would not have allowed her to die!”

“Mm?” Lonemoon paused. The last bolt of lightning struck the woman on the ground. It was obvious that Shu Yi had no more energy left to fend for herself. Just before the bolt of lightning hit her, a strange layer of green light lip up all around her, blocking off the impact from the lightning bolt.

[Host, are you alright?]

A familiar voice said once again.

Lonemoon: “…”

“I’m alright. Thank you, 001!” Shu Yi responded. “I didn’t expect the so-called lightning tribulation in this world to be that formidable.

[The lightning tribulation is the clearest manifestation of the Heavenly Dao in this plane. It is of course going to be formidable! But… I’m only temporarily able to hold off the lightning for you by bluffing the Heavenly Dao. After this, the lightning will probably still strike you.]

Shu Yi’s expression darkened. A moment later, she nodded. “I know! I’ll find an excuse to dodge the next bolt of lightning.”

[All the best, Host! Congratulations on your Core Formation. Quick, use the surrounding spirit Qi to heal your wounds.]

“Mm!” Shu Yi climbed up from the ground and sat upright once more.

The three of them: “…”

So that was it. This 001 system was controlling the time dimension in order to delay the next lightning bolt for as long as possible. The Heavenly Dao had no control over time because to it, whether the plane went back in time, paused, or sped up, time was not running properly. Thus, it would just do its best to forcefully make time go back to normal. Invaders, on the other hand, did not belong to this plane. Therefore, they did not fall under the purview of the Heavenly Dao. As long as they did not cause too big of a change, the Heavenly Dao would not be able to detect them.

Lonemoon cast his gaze downward. It looked like this system had easily taken over the time dimension under the Heavenly Dao. He guessed that this was not the first or even the second time that this system was doing this.

Shu Yi had only just sat down when the surrounding spirit Qi seemed to gather toward her, healing her wounds. The lightning clouds in the sky dissipated and the entire place lit up once again. Faintly, they could see some colors in the sky, which seemed to be getting brighter and brighter. It was almost as if they were forming an image up there.

“Quick, look up!” A disciple shouted. “Could that be an image?!”

A moment later, everyone – including a few Nascent Soul cultivators – looked up at the sky excitedly.

Only Shen Ying, Lonemoon and Yi Qing remained solemn.

Yi Qing, especially, was glaring at the sky. “What are you doing!”

All the colors in the sky suddenly began to scatter apart with the help of the nomological force. Faintly, they heard a small voice was saying pitifully, “”You… You don’t want it, Leader?”

Chef’s voice lowered. “Do what you have to do. Why are you causing trouble?”

“Wah… Wah… Wah…. Alright, Boss. No problem, Boss.” The Heavenly Dao had noticed that Yi Qing had been particularly concerned with this woman’s heavenly tribulation. In order to suck up to him, the Heavenly Dao thought that it would be good to form an image. Little did he know that was the opposite of what Yi Qing wanted.

The next moment, the colors turned dark, coloring the sky a dark grey. Rain began to descend, causing Shu Yi to be drenched right through. There was a strange sour stench.

Shu Yi: “…”

Everyone: “…”

The three of them: “…”

Ah! It was way too difficult to be a Heavenly Dao these days! It was just impossible to decipher what the leader was thinking!

“Little Yi!” Shu Yuan, who had been observing the entire tribulation by the side, shouted nervously as he ran toward her. Seeing that she was being soaked through, he asked, “Little Yi, are you alright?” He himself could not guess what the Heavenly Dao was up to. It looked like it was about to form an image, yet it began to pour the very next second – with acid rain at that. After all, this woman was his daughter. Shu Yuan did not hesitate to conjure a seal to dry her up.

Shu Yi seemed to have been snapped back to reality by the acid rain. “Thank you, Father! I’m alright!”

Shu Yuan nodded satisfactorily. “Go and greet a few of your Uncle-Masters. They were here to hold up a protective seal around you.”

“Alright, Father!” She smiled obediently and followed Shu Yuan back to where the crowd was standing. In her heart, she called out to the system.

“001, what was up with that rain? Why was there rain even after the lightning tribulation?”

[I don’t know either. Maybe it was because the Heavenly Dao sensed what I did earlier.]

“What should we do then?” Shu Yi paled.

[The Heavenly Dao is only suspicious. I think you’d better finish that last bolt of lightning tribulation.]

Shu Yi gritted her teeth. She was so close to exploding in anger. For some reason, she felt like everything had been going wrong ever since she arrived in this world.

“How’s the grievous energy value?” She suddenly thought of something and added, “Has the original master’s grievous energy values descended?”

[Let me check… The original master’s grievous energy values have not moved. I think that it will only come down after we meet Zuo Shuming.]

Shu Yi frowned. “Where is he then? Is he here?”

[Target detected: 50 metres ahead of you.}

Shu Yi turned around and saw Zuo Shuming seated down amongst the crowd. Since the lightning tribulation was over, most of the disciples had gone back to where they came from. Only he remained, seated in the middle of the group. He looked up at the dark sky, deep in thought.

Shu Yi’s heart jumped. Sh quickly went to greet the few Uncle-Masters whom her father introduced to her, as well as several other members of her sect whom she recognized. Then, she acted surprised as she said, “Eh? Junior Brother Zuo, you’re here too!” She walked toward Zuo Shuming and got ready to cut off the grievous energy values.

She stopped in front of him and put on a fake smile. “Junior Brother Zuo… No, I should call you Disciple-Nephew Zuo now!”

Zuo Shuming stared blankly at Shu Yi. There was confusion on his face. “Disciple-Nephew? Senior Sister Shu Yi?”

Shu Yi’s smile widened, but her eyes turned cold. Do you see, Original Boss? As long as you’re powerful enough, even the person whom you yearned for but could not have in the past can only look at you with desire.

[Ding! Grievous energy cut down by 10!]

It works indeed! Shu Yi heaved a sigh of relief. Her body seemed to relax now that some of the grievous energy had been released. She added, “You should call me Uncle-Master Shu Yi now! The sect’s rules are that those who are at least Golden Core cultivators should be referred to as Uncle-Master!”

“Shu… Uncle-Master Shu?” Zuo Shuming frowned, as if suddenly recalling something. His eyes widened. “I understand now!”

“It’s good that you understand. Don’t forget-”

Before she could finish her sentence, a huge burst of spirit Qi exploded around Zuo Shuming. All the spirit Qi in the surroundings began to gather toward him at a frightening speed. Shu Yi was not prepared for this and was thus pushed back from the impact.

“Little Yi!” Thankfully, Shu Yuan had been standing right next to her. He caught her before she fell to the ground.

Shu Yi looked at Zuo Shuming in confusion. “He… This is…”

“He’s going through an epiphany!” Shu Yuan immediately explained. He was shocked as well. He quickly grabbed Shu Yi and pulled her backward, closer to where the crowd was. “Everyone, move back immediately! Don’t affect this disciple’s epiphany!”

“Holy shit!” Shu Yi paled, not believing her own eyes. How can this be? How can it be that he’s suddenly having an epiphany?

There was no time for her to react. She heard a familiar system’s voice in her ear.

[Ding! Original Owner’s Grievous Energy Value +5!]

[Ding! Original Owner’s Grievous Energy Value +10!]

[Ding! Original Owner’s Grievous Energy Value +20!]

The three of them who were standing not far away “…”

System: “…”

Shu Yi: “…”

What the hell?

(╯‵□′)╯(┻━┻

“Speaking of this…” Lonemoon pursed his lips, looking at the scene in front of him. He was at a loss for words. The spirit Qi was almost swallowing Zuo Shuming up. “Why do I get the feeling that only Zuo Shuming is required to deal with this invader?”

Zuo Shuming’s antics were practically toxic – the kind of toxin that only worked on Shu Yi.

Why did they suddenly feel so much pity for this invader?