The area had been prepared in advance, with an array laid beneath, and the rat harboring Qin Suyun’s soul was placed above.

Once the formation was activated, the spells on Qin Suyun would break, and he could be used as bait to attract the Heavenly Thunder. The thunder would then be guided through the formation to the center, where it would assist Chu Xinghui in his cultivation.

To prevent Qin Suyun from being struck dead without the golden light protection on his soul, Chu Xinghui had specifically asked the black bird to fill in some golden light for him.

Although it was uncertain whether it would work, at least it could be used for now.

Now that everything was ready, Chu Xinghui poured spiritual energy into the formation and activated it.

The two waited for a while, and soon, they heard thunder and the rat’s startled squeals from above.

In the next moment, fine streaks of lightning surged through the formation, directly striking the two of them in the middle of the formation.

Chu Xinghui let out a low grunt.

Intense pain spread quickly throughout his limbs and bones.

The pain was more than ten times worse than the usual breakthrough tribulation—it felt as though every bone and meridian in his body had broken.

…Or rather, it had already broken, but the speed of destruction and repair was so fast that he could barely notice.

The thunder moved through his meridians and flesh, and after an almost numbing pain, the power of the Heavenly Thunder remained, and Chu Xinghui’s cultivation began to visibly increase.

…The method worked, and it was almost ten times faster than normal cultivation speed.

Xie Liufeng stood beside him, furrowing his brows as he closely observed Chu Xinghui’s condition.

After a moment, Chu Xinghui caught his breath, suddenly extended his hand, and pushed Xie Liufeng away: “You don’t need to stay, you can go back.”

Xie Liufeng didn’t react right away: “That’s not possible. I brought all my things here. Didn’t we agree on this? Now, you want to send me back, but I’m not accepting that.”

As he spoke, he continued to keep an eye on Chu Xinghui.

Then he saw Chu Xinghui’s hand clenched so tightly that it was covered in blood marks from the strain of enduring the pain.

Xie Liufeng froze for a moment, then suddenly realized.

Chu Xinghui wanted him to leave because he was in pain.

He knew that Xie Liufeng was enduring the same pain, so when Chu Xinghui felt the agony, he wanted Xie Liufeng to leave.

Xie Liufeng reached out and gently pried open Chu Xinghui’s clenched fist, his voice softening: “Didn’t I tell you? Don’t clench your hand. If it hurts, just call out to me. I’m here to be with you for this.”

He wanted to use his spiritual power to ease Chu Xinghui’s pain as he usually did, but this time the situation was different—he couldn’t intervene recklessly.

Chu Xinghui followed his lead and slowly relaxed his fist.

He looked down at their hands, which were now intertwined: “…What good will shouting for you do? Aren’t you in pain too?”

He still kind of wanted Xie Liufeng to go back.

His pain was already enough, adding Xie Liufeng to it would only make him feel not just the physical pain, but also the emotional pain of seeing Xie Liufeng suffer.

Xie Liufeng thought for a moment before finally coming up with something he could do: “I can tell you a joke.”

Chu Xinghui: “…”

He didn’t argue, so Xie Liufeng took it as consent, cleared his throat, and began: “Once, a nest of crows moved into the sect. A few of the crows often went to the kitchen to steal spiritual rice. One day, Black Bird passed by the kitchen, and the kitchen staff caught him and gave him a beating.”

Chu Xinghui: “…”

He didn’t dare laugh, only silently pushed Black Bird back into his spiritual sword, trying to avoid any further humiliation.

Seeing that he didn’t laugh, Xie Liufeng patiently explained the joke again: “It’s because Black Bird looks so much like a crow. The kitchen staff couldn’t tell which bird it was. Isn’t that funny?”

Chu Xinghui: “…”

He thought that perhaps the Beiyue Sword Sect should implement a new rule—when cultivating, partners should be banned from the cultivation area.

It was far too distracting.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, before Chu Xinghui suddenly called out: “Xie Liufeng.”

Xie Liufeng immediately looked at him with bright eyes: “What’s wrong? Do you want to hear another joke?”

Chu Xinghui was shaking with pain, and Xie Liufeng’s expression wasn’t any better, but his tone remained unchanged, without any sign of discomfort.

Chu Xinghui grabbed his sleeve, trembling, and gently shook it: “…Tell me something about yourself.”

Xie Liufeng frowned: “Is there anything I haven’t already told you?”

Chu Xinghui stopped speaking and held onto his sleeve, refusing to let go.

Xie Liufeng couldn’t do anything about it, so he racked his brains and began searching his memory: “Should I tell you the story of when I went up the mountain to catch rabbits alone at six years old?”

Chu Xinghui felt something was off: “Six years old?”

Xie Liufeng replied confidently: “That’s why I didn’t catch any. Besides, that rabbit wasn’t just an ordinary rabbit, it was a monster beast’s cub. After I chased it for half an hour, it called its parents over.”

He remembered something unpleasant, made a gesture with his hand, and his tone became a little complicated: “Very big, very strong, both rabbits were taller than I was back then, with huge muscles.”

Chu Xinghui asked him: “And then?”

Xie Liufeng sighed: “Then the two rabbits caught me and took me back to their rabbit den. They fed me corn and wild vegetables for two days.”

Chu Xinghui: “…”…

He stood on tiptoe expressionlessly and patted Xie Liufeng’s head.

Luckily, it was just corn and wild vegetables, otherwise, whether or not he had a Dao companion today would have been uncertain.

His Dao companion really had been… a bit too lively since childhood.

Although it sounded outrageous, after listening to Xie Liufeng talk for a while, Chu Xinghui truly felt that his pain lessened a lot.

He sat down and slowly tried to start cultivating through the pain.

After finishing the rabbit story, Xie Liufeng began to tell the story of his first time fishing.

At that time, he was still very young, and he could still catch big fish.

He especially described how big the fish was.

With Xie Liufeng’s voice in the background, Chu Xinghui gradually adapted to the intense pain and finally closed his eyes and entered into a meditative state.

The power of heavenly thunder slowly moved through his body, compressed, and then turned into his own spiritual energy.

Seeing that Chu Xinghui had become completely immersed in cultivation, Xie Liufeng lowered his voice and then slowly stopped talking.

He sat next to Chu Xinghui, resting his chin in his hand as he looked at Chu Xinghui, just as he had every other time, protecting the law for his Dao companion.

……

Chu Xinghui spent most of his time cultivating, only waking from cultivation for brief moments to talk to Xie Liufeng.

At first, he still tried to persuade Xie Liufeng to go back early.

But Xie Liufeng would refuse and tell him some absurd joke he just made up, or an interesting thing that happened to him before.

He had lived long enough, so he had plenty of stories to tell Chu Xinghui slowly.

As time went by, Chu Xinghui stopped trying to persuade him to leave.

He even started to find Xie Liufeng’s jokes quite funny.

……

The two stayed there for five years.

Chu Xinghui’s cultivation slowly broke through from Nascent Soul to Soul Formation, then from Soul Formation to Spirit Transformation, and amidst the daily thunderstrikes, breaking through tribulations became utterly effortless… until finally, he was only one step away from reaching the Ascension realm.

On this day, Xie Liufeng finally received a message from the outside world.

Xie Liufeng sighed, stood up: “Looks like I can’t stay with you until the end.”

Chu Xinghui withdrew part of his mind from cultivation and grabbed his sleeve: “…Is something wrong?”

Xie Liufeng didn’t make up any excuses like ‘nothing happened,’ he only reached out to rub his head, his voice gentle as he reminded him: “You are very important. No matter what happens outside, don’t let your heart be disturbed. I’ll handle things outside for you.”

Chu Xinghui slowly let go of him and nodded.

Xie Liufeng leaned over to kiss Chu Xinghui’s forehead and left the place with his sword.

*

After Xie Liufeng left, Chu Xinghui cultivated alone for a long time.

He was so absorbed in cultivation that he lost his sense of time—maybe it was a few months, maybe much longer… He finally felt the last barrier of cultivation in his body break.

He seemed to have touched onto something wondrous.

His perspective gradually rose above the clouds and he saw golden structures above the mist, with streaks of golden light passing by.

…This was his second time seeing this scene.

The first time had been in Cultivator Baiyun’s prophecy.

Chu Xinghui opened his eyes.

He instantly felt that the thing he’d just seen was the reason Xie Liufeng left.

Thinking that, he stood up at once, ready to end his secluded cultivation.

Before he left, Chu Xinghui suddenly remembered something, and went to remove the mouse from atop the formation.

The mouse had almost been struck into a mouse-shaped piece of charcoal by heavenly thunder. Yet because its soul was that of a ‘god,’ it still hadn’t fully died—barely clinging to life.

Chu Xinghui had always worried whether this unhealthy mouse could endure being struck by thunder for so long, now it seemed its vitality was tenacious.

He was thinking about how to get rid of this “mouse charcoal” completely when he suddenly heard someone call his name: “…Chu Xinghui.”

Chu Xinghui looked around and finally rested his gaze on the mouse he had temporarily set on the table.

The power of heavenly thunder was so over Whelming that, without him noticing, it had shocked Qin Suyun into regaining her senses.

Chu Xinghui immediately examined the mouse and checked his surroundings.

Fortunately, she’d only regained her intellect, and for only a short while. Qin Suyun was still in such a weak state that moving was very hard, and nothing else had happened.

Chu Xinghui let out a small breath and finally fixed his gaze on Qin Suyun.

Although the formation here had already been shut down, the spell on Qin Suyun couldn’t be restored once broken, heavenly thunder still relentlessly chased after her, striking the mouse until it was outwardly charred and inwardly crispy.

While being struck by thunder, Qin Suyun persisted in speaking brokenly: “I had my difficulties too, I didn’t want to hurt anyone… But if I couldn’t truly become a god, I would’ve died in exile sooner or later… It was just some people who couldn’t ascend anyway. I was already a god. I used their fortune and was sure I could create far more value than they could…”

He carefully stretched out his scorched black paw, trying to grab Chu Xinghui’s clothes: “Would you like to hear my story? After you listen, you’ll definitely want to save me… No, you don’t have to save me, just let me go.”

Chu Xinghui stepped back and shook his head: “No, I don’t want to.”

He didn’t give Qin Suyun a chance to speak any further. He decisively summoned the black bird and let it swallow the golden light that protected Qin Suyun.

In the next instant, the next bolt of heavenly thunder arrived right on time.

But this time, the thunder directly consumed the unprotected divine soul.

The mouse didn’t even have time to make another sound before it completely disappeared into the air.

Along with it, Qin Suyun’s divine soul vanished as well.

Chu Xinghui carefully checked once more to confirm that this old acquaintance—who clung to life like a cockroach—had truly ended his evil life, then turned and left the place of secluded cultivation.

There were so many people in the world with sad stories, but not all of them turned into such beasts.

If he had time to listen to Qin Suyun’s excuses, he might as well listen to the stories of those who had been harmed by him.

 

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