Crack-boom!
A curtain of purple lightning crashed down like a divine punishment, mercilessly striking Jian Dan from head to toe without pause. She had become a living conductor, her entire body bathed in flashing arcs.
Brother Parrot had long since flown far from the blast radius. This time, he didn't even bother with voice transmission. Instead, he screeched from a safe distance:
"Xiao Zhuzi! Hold on! Just one more bolt left—this is the last one! You've got this!"
Jian Dan, nearly rolling her eyes into the heavens, grit her teeth. She was enduring the Ninefold Lightning Tribulation of Foundation Establishment. While she wasn't afraid, a little breathing room would've been nice.
Each bolt of lightning slammed into her body, surged through her skin, tore into her meridians, and rampaged freely along the channels like a wild beast. It scoured every corner, every crevice—then turned and plunged straight toward her dantian.
As the strikes came one after another, she activated the third layer of the Jade Bone Demon Body Art—Meridian Refinement. The lightning's power churned through her, battering her veins and channels like storm tides. When it pooled at her dantian, the energy was swiftly drawn into the Yin-Yang Taiji Disk that hovered there.
Within that spinning disk, lightning was refined, stripped of its chaos, and transformed into pure force. Combined with the chaos essence from her Primordial Chaos Art, it became a forging hammer—one that tempered her body, consumed the lightning's fury, and reforged her vessel anew.
When the final bolt struck, Jian Dan sat motionless, steam rising from her shoulders, a faint glow rippling across her skin. She had done it.
The third layer of her body-forging technique was now mastered, her physical strength pushed to a new tier. As she exhaled, a puff of dark mist left her pores—the impurities forced out by the tribulation's cleansing power.
Her chaos spiritual root in the dantian remained as steady as ever. But above it, the Yin-Yang Taiji Disk had undergone a striking change: its edge now shimmered with a brilliant violet hue, faint arcs of lightning crackling across its surface.
"In my past life, I reached Foundation Establishment in lower realm, but it's during the Dharma Ending Era—no heavenly tribulation back then."
This time, tempered by heavenly tribulation, her cultivation was undeniably superior. Her spiritual energy was denser, purer, and inexhaustible. A definite win.
After a quick Cleansing Charm and a fresh white robe, she noticed something alarming—the spirit-gathering cushion beneath her feet lit up. A formation pattern bloomed to life, glowing across the surface. A translucent barrier rose around her, slowly forming a dome.
"Brother Parrot! Hurry! The teleportation array is activating!"
"Coming, coming! Don't you dare leave me behind!"
With a furious flap of his tiny wings, Brother Parrot zipped into her arms just as the light dome sealed. A heartbeat later, one woman and one bird vanished into the air, swallowed by radiance.
The spirit field returned to silence.
The scar left on the guardian willow's root slowly began to mend. As the wound vanished completely, the tree itself thickened—its roots spreading to cover the entire spirit field. Its branches stretched longer, leaves growing lush and verdant, shading every corner of the plot.
But Jian Dan saw none of this.
At the very moment she was whisked away, she instinctively turned her gaze back toward the ancient willow, as if parting from an old friend.
When the teleportation glow faded, Jian Dan and Brother Parrot found themselves inside a cavern—narrow at the top, wide at the base, like a gourd's neck. It seemed to be a side pocket of a larger underground system, just wide enough for a single person to pass.
Before Jian Dan could speak, a conversation drifted from the main cavern beyond:
"We've searched everywhere. There's nothing here. Let's just find the exit."
"Agreed. We've wasted three days already. Others might've entered the secret realm by now."
"What do the rest of you think?"
The last voice struck Jian Dan as familiar. After a moment, she placed it—"the sect disciple who stopped me at the entrance!"
She glanced down at Brother Parrot, gently stroking his little head. He understood at once and whispered a voice transmission:
"Xiao Zhuzi, I think because you just formed your foundation, we were teleported into the Foundation Realm segment of the secret realm."
Jian Dan nodded. It matched her own theory. But for now, it was best not to show herself. She didn't know whether those outside were allies or enemies—and if they asked how she got here, she'd have no good answer. It was safer to lie low and wait until the group left.
"We only found some Stone Marrow Essence—not ultra-rare, but valuable. Nothing else."
"I've scanned the area. No hidden arrays or mechanisms."
"Then let's not linger. Find the exit."
"Agreed."
Five voices chimed in unison before footsteps scattered.
Jian Dan heard everything clearly from the neighboring pocket chamber. When movement began outside, she pressed her body against the stone wall and activated her earth-element spiritual power, camouflaging herself into the stone.
Roughly half an hour later, a shout rang out—someone had found an exit. The five cultivators regrouped and began making their way toward it.
Still, Jian Dan stayed hidden.
Another half hour passed before a black-robed cultivator stepped into the side chamber she'd been hiding in. Without speaking, he quietly followed the others through the exit.
Only then did Jian Dan finally relax.
She sank into a seated position, circulating her qi to replenish what had been consumed during teleportation. Once her reserves stabilized, she climbed through the gourd-shaped corridor and entered the main cave.
The space was tall—about ten zhang high and a hundred wide, long and narrow like a training field. At its center, a bowl-like depression collected Stone Marrow Essence dripping from stalactites. Now, it stood empty, thoroughly looted.
Sighing, Jian Dan swept the area with her divine sense. "Truly nothing left."
Then—
Brother Parrot, silent until now, fluttered from her robes onto the stone basin. hopping in circles, visibly agitated. He turned back and let out a sharp cry.