Chapter 44: Double Soul

The silent monastery was suddenly awakened.

The elderly abbot emerged, leaning on his staff, his expression grave as he watched the tribulation lightning. His lips trembled slightly.

A young monk beside him looked at the sky with worry. He saw exceedingly dense dark clouds accumulating, as if brewing a violent storm. Recalling the events in the Imperial City, he asked anxiously, "Master, is this the work of demons?"

The abbot slowly twisted his staff and immediately said, "Quickly, wake everyone up and evacuate them from here. I will activate the monastery's protective array!"

"Yes, Master." The young monk was about to leave to carry out the order.

A voice suddenly rang out: "There's no need."

From the dim, oppressive night emerged a petite and slender figure radiating sharp killing intent. The girl's tight black outfit outlined her exquisite, shapely figure. Her straight legs were lean and taut, and her footsteps were silent. Her dark hair, tied into a ponytail with a red cord, danced wildly in the wind.

"Your Highness..." The abbot recognized the girl before him, his heart startled. He put his palms together and uttered a chant.

Zhao Xiang'er bowed to the venerable old monk, who was highly respected in the Imperial City, and said seriously, "Leave this place to me. Take your disciples and evacuate outside the monastery first."

After saying this, she said no more. She turned and left, gracefully leaping onto the large cauldron in front of the steps, using it to launch herself onto the eaves.

The strong wind buffeted her face. Her gaze followed the direction of the tribulation lightning, her thin lips set in a grave expression.

Amidst the waves of tribulation lightning, a figure of a young man in white vaguely walked in, seemingly oblivious to the danger.

Zhao Xiang'er confirmed what she saw, her mind filled with doubt. Without stopping, she ran steadily across the damp roof tiles, battling the fierce wind towards the center of the heavenly tribulation.

Ning Changjiu stood beneath the lightning. All the thunderclouds had gathered above the monastery. The rest of the Imperial City was clear, even bathed in moonlight, but here, lightning had pooled like water, waiting for a mortal to cross it with their flesh and blood.

"Stop, what are you doing?" A woman's voice called out. Lu Jiajia, dressed in white, had arrived. She and Zhao Xiang'er had rushed there together when the thunderclouds began to converge.

Ning Changjiu did not look at her. He focused intently on the thunderclouds and said, "Help me take care of my junior sister."

Hearing this, Lu Jiajia's heart tightened. Her brows furrowed, and a ray of sword light shot towards the gathering heavenly lightning. She leaped up, her figure piercing through clouds and lightning, as if to block Ning Changjiu's path with her sword.

Lu Jiajia spoke, "Your cultivation is already exhausted. Resisting heavenly tribulation with your flesh and blood will only lead to utter destruction."

As she spoke, Lu Jiajia thrust her sword into the tribulation lightning, but it was like a drop of water falling into an abyss, quickly swallowed.

Lu Jiajia's face turned pale. She stared at the lightning, her eyes filled with disbelief.

In the immortal sects of the cultivation world, if a grand cultivator of the Longevity Realm broke through to the Violet Palace, it would be a joyous event, rare in decades for the entire sect. This was because tribulation lightning, for cultivators, was like a divine blessing, an excellent means for tempering the body and refining the soul. At such times, all cultivators could, according to their own realm, draw upon the auspicious energy of the grand cultivator's breakthrough, either at the edge of the lightning pool or closer to its center.

But this particular tribulation lightning... seemed unusual.

Although Lu Jiajia's cultivation had slightly diminished, she was still a cultivator of the Longevity Realm. Yet, her full-strength sword strike just now had failed to stir any ripples in the tribulation lightning.

Then, she heard Ning Changjiu utter an unbelievable statement: "This lightning strike is meant for me."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Lu Jiajia frowned. "Historically, there were quite a few instances of masters dispelling heavenly lightning for their disciples. A breakthrough merely triggered a celestial phenomenon; how could there truly be tribulation lightning that 'chose' to devour someone?"

Ning Changjiu had this suspicion when he first woke up, and only now, after seeing Lu Jiajia's sword swallowed, did he finally confirm his inner thoughts.

The reason was very simple: his very existence defied the laws of heaven and earth.

Cultivators in immortal sects only knew that tribulation lightning could be used to temper the soul. They were unaware that outside the immortal sects, many reclusive practitioners of the demonic path would flee upon sensing the arrival of tribulation lightning.

The reason was simple: Heaven and Earth believed you had broken their rules, and all rule-breakers would be struck by divine lightning.

Ning Changjiu felt such unease for the first time. Ning Qinshui's cultivation had already been squandered by him, but he still had a reliance within his body – all the sinister ghostly entities that had poured into him that night had been refined into pure spiritual energy over these past few days. He was always cautious, and even when engaging in a strenuous battle with the demonized Ning Xiaoling for half an hour, he hadn't revealed this.

But now, he suddenly felt that even if he expended all his cultivation and spiritual energy, the outcome would still be utter destruction.

Man proposes, God disposes.

He had not expected that his existence would provoke such violent heavenly wrath.

Within the lightning pool, electric currents intertwined, emitting harsh tearing sounds. The center of the thunderclouds began to gradually indent, and a vortex surged from it. The lightning converged along the path of the vortex towards the center, eventually solidifying into a bluish-purple ball of lightning.

Intense light erupted from the center. A fierce wind, accompanied by hissing electrical sounds, swept in. Lu Jiajia, holding her sword with one hand, protected herself with her sword intent. Her white robes flapped loudly in the gale. She unleashed several sword strikes but still couldn't approach the central area.

"Senior Brother..."

A faint sound came from the girl behind her.

Outside the monastery gate, Ning Xiaoling finally tore off the cocoon-like garment wrapped around her. Her face was deathly pale, and she stumbled out. Her feet unsteady as she crossed the threshold, she fell with a thud onto her knees. The fierce wind struck her face; currently without any cultivation, her body was thrown backward, and she collapsed back inside with a thud.

On the temple building, Zhao Xiang'er bent her waist slightly and crouched. Using the strength of her legs, her body leaped back and forth between several eaves, fighting against the wind, rushing towards the center of the thunder and lightning storm.

With a few bounds, she landed at the main hall's entrance. She looked ahead. Beneath the turbulent lightning pool, dark clouds swirled, continuously collapsing inwards like a devil's pupil. Lightning and thunder flashed and flickered ceaselessly within it, and merely gazing upon it evoked immense pressure.

Within the lightning, a figure of a young man in white stood vaguely.

A bluish-purple bolt of tribulation lightning crashed down upon him. The young man, with his hands raised, sharply sank the moment the lightning struck him. A violent sound erupted from within his bones. Waves of white and purple light spread out from the center, like continuous tides surging onto the shore. Lu Jiajia stood with her sword, cutting apart the spreading lightning.

Zhao Xiang'er's expression was one of shock. The intensity of this heavenly tribulation far exceeded her imagination. And why was the one resisting it not the girl they called Ning Xiaoling, but that... what was his name, that young Daoist priest?

The young Daoist priest, with an unknown source of strength, had actually endured three bolts of tribulation lightning. The chaotic air currents brought by the thunder storm repeatedly slammed into the two-person-tall massive bronze bell in the monastery. The deep resonance of the bell mixed with each strike of lightning. Being amidst it, even for a moment, felt like eardrums would burst and blood would stream from all orifices.

"Senior Brother..."

A faint sound came from the girl behind her.

Zhao Xiang'er looked back. The sixty-four candles in the monastery had long been extinguished and were now all overturned on the ground, with candle wax scattered everywhere. She saw a small girl with disheveled hair and a weak aura struggling to get up from the ground, constantly calling out "Senior Brother."

Zhao Xiang'er's heart tightened. The sword from her umbrella was drawn out like flowing water, and with a whoosh, its tip pointed directly at Ning Xiaoling.

"No!" Lu Jiajia shouted urgently from behind her, blocking her path.

Lu Jiajia glanced at Ning Xiaoling, helped her up, and said, "She is no longer a fox demon right now. There's no reason to kill her."

Zhao Xiang'er said coldly, "The demonic seed isn't destroyed; it will awaken again sooner or later. If we spare her today, what then?"

Lu Jiajia said, "I have taken her back as my disciple. After returning to the Immortal Sect, I will ask the Sect Master to eliminate the hidden danger for her."

Zhao Xiang'er looked at the petite girl, who seemed only thirteen or fourteen years old, and the tip of the sword in her hand trembled slightly.

Zhao Xiang'er asked, "What if I insist on killing her?"

Lu Jiajia's gaze was firm: "It is thanks to Ning Changjiu that the Imperial City was spared a great catastrophe just now. If her demonic seed had awakened earlier, and she had broken through to the Violet Palace, what power in the Imperial City could have stopped her then?"

Zhao Xiang'er scoffed, unmoved. "I have my own methods."

Lu Jiajia said, "At this moment, her senior brother is suffering because of the Imperial City's tribulation. Morally and logically, you cannot make a move."

Zhao Xiang'er bit her lip gently, her eyes flickering. She had always felt that this tribulation in the Imperial City was a test from her mother. Originally, everything was in order, but due to her oversight, she had missed a step. She should have rectified this mistake herself, but now, arriving late, she found the crisis already resolved. The young man who had saved the Imperial City was currently on the verge of eternal damnation.

She took a deep breath. The relentless strong wind pushing against her from behind billowed her robes, like an invisible hand urging her forward, wanting to plunge the sword into Ning Xiaoling's body and end the matter completely.

"I'll spare your life for now."

She finally scoffed, shifted her sword tip, placed the sword behind her back, and walked towards the lightning.

She wanted to see who this young man was who had ruined her important test.

But the heavenly lightning was incessant at this moment, and she feared that by the time the tribulation lightning passed, the young man would be no more than dust.

Lu Jiajia embraced the girl in her arms, then touched her forehead with a finger, causing her to fall into a temporary slumber. She feared the girl would witness her senior brother's demise and unleash the demonic nature that she had so carefully suppressed within her heart.

Lightning orbs rained down from the sky.

Within the lightning, a shadowy figure stood like withered wood, yet it still moved.

Zhao Xiang'er's delicate brows slightly raised. *Is this person still alive?* she wondered.

She hesitated for a moment, then finally opened her red umbrella, using it to brace herself as she struggled forward against the onslaught.

Ning Changjiu didn't know how he had endured until now.

The ghostly entities he had refined had long since been incinerated by the first three bolts of lightning.

He thought sarcastically that he had calculated everything, believing it was all under control. Yet, he had only lived for a few days, and death was already imminent again. He wondered if this time he would truly die, or if he would be lucky enough to reincarnate once more...

When facing immense danger, one's thoughts are forced to accelerate dramatically.

As complex thoughts raced through his mind, another python-like bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, slamming towards the top of his head. It was like a pile driver's hammer plummeting with immense force, stimulating his hair to stand on end. The blood throughout his body seemed to boil and burn. In the extreme heat, his spirit became incredibly heavy, yet his physical body felt strangely weightless.

The moment the lightning struck, deep within his soul, a pair of eyes seemed to open abruptly.

Ning Changjiu looked up. He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but within the lightning, a faint yet gentle, ethereal shadow watched him. It was a figure with flowing, clear Daoist robes.

Beside that figure stood a slightly shorter person, who also looked at him, with a bewildered expression.

Ning Changjiu stood frozen, his mind momentarily rigid. He couldn't even be sure if he was just seeing things due to exhaustion.

Both figures were silhouetted against the light; only blurred outlines were visible.

But it was enough.

Because those were two faces he could never mistake.

One was his past self, the other his current self.

Both were Ning Changjiu.