The second wave of tribulation lightning slammed Yun Xi to the ground. She coughed up blood and felt like her soul was about to leave her body.
Li Cangyuan and the crimson robed female zombie fared even worse. The split-off lightning strikes charred them into blackened husks.
The lightning didn't stop with them. The remaining seven coffins buried underground were also struck. The entire corpse-nurturing ground erupted with arcs of thunder, and streams of gray gas spewed up from beneath the earth.
Yu Qingcheng and Xia You watched anxiously, afraid Yun Xi wouldn't survive.
"Yu Daoyou, is there anything else we can do?"
Xia You clenched her fists.
"We protect them. We cannot let all their efforts go to waste."
Yu Qingcheng's face was tight with tension. She knew this was the most critical moment. If Yun Xi couldn't pull through, Senior Brother Liu would have to draw down the lightning next. And if any of those zombies managed to escape, they would be the ones to face the consequences.
Yun Xi, lying on the ground, was in terrible shape. Her awareness had started to blur. It felt like her spirit would separate from her body at any moment. But somewhere deep within, a voice urged her to hold on just a little longer.
The Nine Heavens Mystic Thunder rampaging through Yun Xi's body was truly terrifying. It tore through her like a blade through paper. Her internal thunder spiritual energy worked desperately to repair the damage, but it couldn't keep up with the destruction.
Inside the spatial realm, Dian Dian was trembling as well. As a contracted beast servant, it suffered whenever its master was gravely wounded.
"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?"
Dian Dian paced nervously, muttering over and over.
The Xianling Grass beside it noticed Dian Dian's state. It shook its leaves and released a stream of pure spiritual energy into Dian Dian's body.
Dian Dian instinctively absorbed it and funneled the energy into the contract mark. The mark glowed briefly, and the spiritual energy was transmitted away.
"It worked!"
Realizing it could help its master, Dian Dian leapt beside the Xianling Grass and began absorbing its energy as fast as it could. This time, the Xianling Grass didn't mind Dian Dian and instead wrapped it gently in waves of refined energy.
Through the contract, Dian Dian continuously transferred spiritual energy to Yun Xi. Her muddled mind slowly regained clarity, and the looming sense of soul departure faded.
Yun Xi struggled to push herself up and sat cross-legged, her palms facing the sky in the traditional meditative posture. She gripped two high-grade spirit stones and began absorbing energy.
The Nine Heavens Mystic Thunder roamed through her body for a while, seemingly unsatisfied. It suddenly shifted course and began wrapping around her bones. The unexpected attack made Yun Xi flinch and absorb spiritual energy even faster.
Two breaths later, Yun Xi's divine sense detected something strange. From one of her arm bones, the lightning forced out a wisp of gray mist. The moment the gray mist left her bone, the Nine Heavens Mystic Thunder shredded it into dust.
Then the weakened lightning sank back into her body, continuing its rampage along her bones. The stabbing, electrifying sensation made her body tremble uncontrollably.
Yun Xi was deeply alarmed. That gray mist must have been left behind by the evil cultivator who had once wounded her arm. At the time, she thought she had already expelled all the evil energy using lightning, but this remnant had somehow slipped into her bone.
If she hadn't attempted her breakthrough in this corpse-nurturing ground, and if it hadn't drawn the Nine Heavens Mystic Thunder, who knew when she would have discovered the hidden threat. Just thinking about it made her break out in cold sweat.
In a twisted way, this disaster had turned out to be a blessing.
Just as Yun Xi was beginning to feel a little relieved, the third wave of tribulation lightning descended without warning.
The white jade magnolia hairpin in Yun Xi's hair flared with light, forming a protective shield that blocked one bolt of lightning and bought her a few seconds to breathe.
Yun Xi's heart ached. The hairpin had already been used twice to protect her. After taking this hit, it would likely be ruined.
Sure enough, her fears were confirmed. With a crisp crack, the protective barrier shattered, and the white jade magnolia hairpin snapped in half. The Nine Heavens Mystic Thunder struck Yun Xi directly, although the barrier had slightly reduced its force.
Yun Xi gritted her teeth and held on. The two white zombies nearby, however, were not so lucky. They were reduced to charred remains. Earlier they had still been twitching, but now they were completely motionless.
Two more bolts of lightning came down in quick succession. This time, Yun Xi threw the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff into the sky to take the hit and buy herself more recovery time.
The staff did its job. It absorbed the full force of the Nine Heavens Mystic Thunder, lighting up the Yao Guang Star among the seven stars etched into its body. Then it crashed heavily back to Yun Xi's side.
She waved her hand and retracted it. Her internal injuries had recovered by sixty percent. She could withstand the next strike.
Sensing her recovery, the tribulation lightning shifted again. Instead of falling one at a time, three bolts dropped at once and slammed Yun Xi to the ground again.
This time, Yun Xi couldn't get up. Her robe, forged from five-colored python hide, was now tattered and scorched, almost indistinguishable from beggar's rags. Yet she still clung tightly to her high-grade spirit stones, instinctively absorbing spiritual energy to heal her injuries.
The lightning seemed to be losing its patience. It released the remaining four bolts in one final barrage, nearly leveling the entire corpse-nurturing ground. The aura of Li Cangyuan and the crimson robed female zombie had completely vanished.
Just as Yun Xi felt herself edging toward death, a celestial ornament on her forehead—the flower-shaped immortal artifact—automatically activated and protected her soul.
In the next instant, Yun Xi saw the entire life of the crimson robed female zombie flash before her eyes.
She had once been Bai Jinghan, a granddaughter of the prestigious Bai family in the mortal realm. Born into a noble household, she was cherished and pampered. The Bai clan had flourished with promising descendants, and everything seemed to point toward a bright future.
But after her sixth birthday, the family began to decline, like the sun setting in the west. Still, they held out hope, believing it was only a temporary downturn.
Their perseverance, however, made things worse. Clan members in government were demoted. Those in business were sabotaged and lost everything. One tragedy followed another. People died or were injured, and after five years, the Bai family had fallen out of aristocratic circles.
At that point, a mysterious Taoist with an immortal-like bearing appeared at the Bai household. He claimed the reason for the clan's misfortune was Bai Jinghan herself.
The Bai family didn't believe that their fall had anything to do with an ordinary granddaughter. But the Daoist spoke with certainty, saying Bai Jinghan was born under a cursed star. Whoever grew close to her would suffer calamity.
Before the age of five, the Bai family's matriarch—known for ten lifetimes of virtue—was still alive and could suppress Bai Jinghan's ill fate. But once the old woman passed away, no one could counterbalance her fate. After that, disasters fell upon the family one after another. If things continued, the Bai clan would be wiped out.
Upon closer thought, the family realized the Daoist's words matched their experiences. After the matriarch died, their luck indeed began to spiral downward. Even Bai Jinghan's parents died after their carriage was spooked and fell off a cliff. She had been in the carriage too, but her parents had held her in their arms and protected her. She was the only one who survived.
At that point, the Bai family was fully convinced. Desperate, they asked the Taoist for a solution. He offered to take Bai Jinghan away to cultivate the Dao and pray for the Bai family, hoping to guide them back to prosperity.