"Eldest Senior Brother, didn't you say the Junior Sister's Spirit Root was destroyed? What is going on here?"
The red-robed youth Mo Yu leaned close to the Eldest Senior Brother and whispered, while the cyan-robed youth Mo Lie also looked over.
"That's how it is..." Ye Yanqing explained the matter of Si Nansheng's complete Spirit Root to his two junior brothers.
He then explained Si Nansheng's current cultivation level.
And 'incidentally' put 'special emphasis' on how the unreliable Li Tianhen had made the low-cultivation Si Nansheng eat the Spirit Sparrow.
"Master, the Junior Sister is still a child, and a girl at that. She should be pampered and raised delicately, not left to fend for herself like you raised us."
Mo Lie looked at Li Tianhen speechlessly. Master, who usually looked so steady, was becoming more and more unreliable by the day.
He and his fellow disciples had all been left to grow up wild by Master, suffering no small amount of hardship from childhood to adulthood because of him.
Who would have thought that now that the Junior Sister had arrived, Master would still be just as unreliable.
"Master, are you jealous of the Junior Sister's talent, and that's why you made her eat the Spirit Sparrow to make her suffer?"
Mo Yu looked at that vortex of Spiritual Energy, clicked his tongue involuntarily, and mercilessly complained.
The disdain in his tone made Li Tianhen want to hit someone.
And hit someone he did, bringing a slap down right on Mo Yu's head.
"Am I that kind of person? Besides, who could have foreseen this?" Scolded by his own disciple, Li Tianhen rubbed his nose with some embarrassment.
Usually, when he ate them himself, nothing like this happened, so he had completely forgotten that his youngest disciple's cultivation was only at Qi Refining Realm Layer 6, and she likely couldn't withstand the Spirit Sparrow's Spiritual Energy.
Still, judging by his youngest disciple's condition, she had gained quite a lot of benefits.
There were still plenty of Spirit Beasts in his spatial storage; if he let the youngest disciple eat all of them, would she be able to advance even further?
No, no, if he really dared to do that, the Eldest Senior Brother would definitely chase him out of the mountain gate.
Better forget it!
"M-Master, why does the sky look a bit strange? Is the Junior Sister having a normal breakthrough?"
Mo Yu noticed that the weather was changing, and looking up, he saw thunderclouds rapidly gathering in the sky.
He instantly shrank back behind Mo Lie like a frightened rabbit, trembling.
The feeling this thundercloud gave him was simply far too dangerous!
Li Tianhen looked up at the sky, quietly watching the changes above.
"Gasp — a Heavenly Dao breakthrough?!" Li Tianhen suddenly snapped to his senses, so shocked he nearly spat a mouthful of blood.
What kind of monstrous talent had he picked up... bah... what kind of monster had he taken as a disciple?
A Heavenly Dao breakthrough!
And it was a breakthrough from the Qi Refining Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm!
Besides, Si Nansheng was originally already at the Foundation Establishment Realm; it was just that her Spirit Root had been destroyed and her cultivation lost.
So why would breaking through again cause such a massive commotion?
Li Tianhen hurriedly set up a Barrier to conceal Si Nansheng's aura.
Though it couldn't block the Lightning Tribulation, it could prevent others from sensing Si Nansheng's presence.
While a breakthrough Lightning Tribulation was excruciatingly painful for cultivators, it also brought immense benefits. He hoped his youngest disciple could hold on.
"A Heavenly Dao breakthrough?" His disciples were all somewhat puzzled.
"Isn't the Junior Sister only at the Qi Refining Realm? Even during a breakthrough, there shouldn't be any Lightning Tribulation, right?" Ye Yanqing looked at Li Tianhen and asked.
"Normally, advancing from the Qi Refining Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm does not trigger a Lightning Tribulation. None of you disciples experienced it either.
However, individuals with exceptional talent receive a blessing from the Heavenly Dao during advancement, which triggers a Lightning Tribulation. I haven't encountered this in several millennia.
Breaking through amidst a Lightning Tribulation means her future path of cultivation will be much smoother than yours, and she will rarely encounter inner demons upon breaking through."
Li Tianhen looked up at the thunderclouds beginning to gather in the air.
Li Tianhen: This youngest disciple really is a little freak!
The Senior Brothers: The Junior Sister is too overpowered!
"Several millennia ago, did Master witness such a sight?" Mo Lie asked, puzzled.
"That was also a genius — no, I should say an eccentric. You should all have heard his name; he is called Ye Xiuran." Li Tianhen sat up straight and looked at Si Nansheng.
Perhaps Si Nansheng would become the next Ye Xiuran.
"E-Exalted Lord?" Ye Yanqing and Mo Lie looked at each other in shock.
Of course they had all heard of Ye Xiuran's legendary name.
The man with the strongest power in this world, revered by the cultivation world as the Exalted Lord.
Who would have thought the Junior Sister's talent could rival his.
"The Junior Sister is amazing! Fourth Senior Brother and I have gathered a lot of medicinal herbs during this time. When the Junior Sister wakes up, I must refine more Medicinal Pills for her."
Mo Yu looked at Si Nansheng with glowing eyes. The others remained silent.
Isn't it only right to treat the Junior Sister well?
It's just that if the Junior Sister's talent were discovered by others, it would likely cause massive turmoil!
"All of you, back away for now. This Lightning Tribulation is no simple matter; don't let it catch you in the crossfire."
Seeing the flash of purple-gold light darting through the thunderclouds, Li Tianhen hurriedly stood up and motioned for his disciples to retreat.
As soon as they retreated to a safe place, a bolt of purple-gold lightning struck right down beside their feet.
It was as if it were warning them not to come closer.
"Is this lightning trying to strike us?" Mo Yu looked at the charred patch of ground by his feet and swallowed hard.
"Is it warning us?" Mo Lie frowned.
"Looks like it. It's probably worried we'll disturb the Junior Sister's breakthrough." Ye Yanqing sighed.
"Right, keep backing up." As the strongest among them, Li Tianhen naturally had the keenest perception. Sensing that something in the thunderclouds was watching them, he hurriedly led his disciples to retreat further.
Once they withdrew to a position where they wouldn't affect Si Nansheng at all, that feeling of being watched vanished.
It really had been a warning to them!
"S-Scared me to death." The Junior Sister's Lightning Tribulation was truly terrifying!
"Boom!"
A wrist-thick bolt of purple-gold lightning descended from the sky, but the moment it neared Si Nansheng, it instantly thinned out considerably.
Striking Si Nansheng's body, the damage it caused her was not very severe.
The remaining purple-gold lightning then very consciously burrowed straight into Si Nansheng's Dantian.
Li Tianhen and the others watched Si Nansheng in astonishment. Can Lightning Tribulation even work this way?
After a succession of nine heavenly bolts, Si Nansheng sat quietly without showing much reaction at all.
Meanwhile, the aura around her grew even steadier, and the Spiritual Energy enveloping her was purer and denser than before.
The thunderclouds gradually dispersed. Si Nansheng sat steadily on the ground, absorbing the spiritual energy overflowing from her surroundings. Aside from her clothes and hair being somewhat charred, she hadn't changed much.
Li Tianhen and the others breathed a sigh of relief and finally walked over.
"The Junior Sister probably won't wake up anytime soon," Ye Yanqing said softly after observing Si Nansheng's condition.
"Indeed, she needs to absorb the power bestowed upon her by the Lightning Tribulation."
Outside the Four Gods Sect, many people witnessed the scene of the sky-filling Lightning Tribulation, all of them speculating who it was that had provoked a tribulation during a breakthrough.
Yet who could have imagined that the person breaking through was merely a young girl in the Qi Refining Realm?
"Master, the Junior Sister has broken through, but her body doesn't seem to have changed at all. Shouldn't a breakthrough reshape the body?"
Ye Yanqing looked at Si Nansheng's largely unchanged physique and asked with a face full of doubt.
"Your Junior Sister was already a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to begin with; this is her second breakthrough, so naturally it won't reshape her body.
If her body is to be reshaped, I'm afraid she will have to wait until she advances to the Golden Core Realm."
Li Tianhen smiled gently as he looked at Si Nansheng. He still felt that Si Nansheng's current small, petite appearance was the cutest.