Su Xing'er's clothes were half-undressed, her skin as white as jade peeking through. Her thin lips parted slightly, her eyes filled with allure, and she pouted coquettishly...
Xu Yi stared at the final words "To be continued," her eyes bloodshot, and angrily threw the storybook she was holding.
After a few breaths, she picked the storybook back up with a pained expression and gently patted its cover.
She had only read this book three times, and she would need it again to pass the time next time, so she couldn't damage it.
Xu Yi put the storybook back into her storage bag, sighed, and her gaze swept around. All she saw was a vast expanse of desolate land.
This was a desolate secret realm, and she had been trapped in it for two hundred years.
Recalling what happened before she fell into the secret realm, Xu Yi regretted it deeply. If only she had chosen the path behind the mountain to escape... no, to temper herself.
Xu Yi was originally an abandoned infant. She was found by the sect leader of the Xuanji Sect and raised by him. Due to her single fire spirit root talent, after establishing her foundation, she was formally accepted as a direct disciple by the sect leader and also became the senior sister of the Xuanji Sect.
The Xuanji Sect was one of the top sects on the Jiuzhou Continent. After Xu Yi became the senior sister, her status should have soared, and her life should have been infinitely glorious.
Originally, Xu Yi thought so too.
Until she had a dream.
In the dream, the sect leader master took in several more disciples, and the youngest junior sister was the most favored.
The youngest junior sister was incredibly beautiful, a rare prodigy with a mutated ice spirit root. Countless heavenly talents and prominent figures on the Jiuzhou Continent fell at her feet.
And in the dream, because Xu Yi was jealous of the youngest junior sister's exceptional talent overshadowing her, she went mad and used various means to harm her. In the end, her conspiracy was exposed, and she was stabbed to death by the pursuers of the youngest junior sister with ten thousand swords, her ashes scattered to the winds.
After waking up, Xu Yi was dazed for several days because the dream was too realistic, and she remembered every detail.
She often chided herself for portraying herself as a morally corrupt person in her dream and fabricating such a tragic ending.
It wasn't until several subsequent events happened exactly as she had seen in her dream that Xu Yi finally panicked.
She harbored no jealousy towards the yet-to-be-initiated junior sister, only endless fear.
After all, she had personally witnessed the youngest junior sister kill gods and buddhas alike, and everyone who opposed her met a dead end.
As the time for the youngest junior sister to join the sect drew closer, Xu Yi weighed the pros and cons and decided to avoid the youngest junior sister's limelight and venture out onto the Jiuzhou Continent. She would wait until her fated death in the dream had passed before returning.
To this end, she defied her sect leader master for the first time, packed all her belongings, and fled overnight.
However, when one is unlucky, even drinking cold water can get stuck in their throat. As soon as she left the territory of the Xuanji Sect, she fell into this secret realm in the blink of an eye and has been trapped here ever since.
This secret realm had no end and no living beings, only endless spiritual energy.
When Xu Yi first fell into the secret realm, she could still remain calm and cultivate diligently, raising her cultivation to the peak of the late Golden Core stage.
But there were no lightning tribulations here. No matter how hard she cultivated, her cultivation could only stop at this point.
Unable to cultivate, she had to find other things to relieve her boredom.
She flipped through the jade slips in her storage bag, which included "Xuanji Heart Method," "Basic Analysis of Talismans," "Record of Formation Patterns," "Complete Collection of Pill Formulas," "Nine Methods of Forging," and more...
After finishing the jade slips, she could only focus her attention on a storybook that a senior sister had secretly given her.
However, all these storybooks had no ending, which always made her anxious and wish that she could pick up a pen and write a perfect happy ending herself.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi's mind stirred.
It seemed not impossible...
She excitedly rubbed her hands together, took out a wolf-hair brush from her storage bag, and was about to start writing with great interest when the ground beneath her feet suddenly began to shake violently.
Xu Yi swayed and immediately stabilized herself. Just as she was about to investigate the source of the anomaly, a powerful suction force pulled her body upwards.
Xu Yi was startled, and then her eyes filled with ecstasy.
She could get out...
Xu Yi disregarded her unfinished masterpiece, grinned, and laughed heartily with her hands on her hips.
I, Xu Yi, am back!
...
Xuanji Sect, Zhongzheng Hall.
Elder Qingfeng, with a quivering voice, cried and complained to the sect leader about his twenty-eighth disciple's disrespect. The disciple actually found him, her master, to be poor and shabby, and her words were filled with a tone of poverty.
While he wailed, he carefully observed the sect leader's expression, feeling uncharacteristically uneasy.
This was the third time this month he had come to Zhonghe Hall to beg for alms.
But he couldn't be blamed for this. His disciples were all exceptionally talented, and the resources they needed were almost crushing his old bones. He had no choice but to seek help from his junior nephew, the sect leader.
However, after he had said so much, why did the sect leader not react at all this time?
Elder Qingfeng stole a glance and saw that the sect leader's brow was slightly furrowed, and his jade-like profile bore a solemn expression. However, this solemnity did not detract from his temperament; instead, it made him appear otherworldly.
He clicked his tongue inwardly. This sect leader junior nephew of his was indeed ranked first in appearance on the Jiuzhou Continent. Even he, an old man, felt a sense of inferiority.
Ji Buwang raised his hand, tore through space, took out a storage ring from it, and presented it to Elder Qingfeng, saying lightly, "Let this be the last time."
Elder Qingfeng happily accepted the ring, smiling warmly, and said, "Don't worry, Sect Leader, there will never be a next time."
However, Elder Qingfeng was already calculating the time for his next visit in his mind.
Ji Buwang shook his head slightly, clearly not believing Elder Qingfeng's promise.
He raised his gaze towards the direction of the sunrise, where there were spatial law fluctuations. Could a new secret realm have appeared?
With a thought, he concealed himself in the void and sped towards the location of the anomaly.
The sect leader's sudden disappearance did not attract even half an glance from Elder Qingfeng. He triumphantly clutched the ring and strode out of Zhongzheng Hall, preparing to go and show off to his disciples.
On the other side.
Xu Yi had just emerged from the secret realm and had not yet seen the surrounding environment clearly when the sky and earth suddenly changed color. Large swaths of thunderclouds shrouded her head with terrifying pressure.
Xu Yi's expression changed, and she realized something was wrong.
She had emerged too abruptly and had not suppressed her cultivation, directly attracting the lightning tribulation.
But all she had on her were a few Grade 2 magic treasures suitable for the Foundation Establishment stage. She had no other defensive magic treasures. The Xuanji Sect's cultivation method was also peaceful and moderate, but it did not have much offensive power.
Was she going to resist the lightning tribulation with her physical body?
Xu Yi looked at the purple lightning bolts streaking through the thunderclouds, wishing she could cry but having no tears.
Would she be struck to death by the lightning tribulation on the very first day she emerged from the secret realm?