Boom.
Thunderclouds tore open, a lightning bolt slashing across the sky like it was ripping the night apart, absolutely stunning.
In her previous life, Linda had followed the talisman path, skirting the traditional routes, so she’d never faced a tribulation like this. But fear? Not in her playbook.
Linda’s eyes showed zero hesitation as she rushed headlong into the glare. The thunder engulfed her completely. Below on the stone platform, Mack remained perfectly still, but look closely, and you’d see his fists balled up tight.
This was his first student, after all. And the successor to the Trial of Conscience Sword. Of course Mack cared.
Still, her eyes blazed with intensity as she stood in the lightning’s embrace, letting the heavenly thunder hammer her. A piercing numbness shot through her skin, sapping her energy until her limbs went slack.
Her hold on her weapon slipped by a good seventy or eighty percent. Linda sank to one knee. “No wonder tribulations scare the hell out of everyone.”
They targeted your defenses first, then your resolve. Blasting through your meridians, zeroing right in on your fragile belly.
Linda mustered the mana in her body. Her five Gilded Cores shuddered under the thunder’s onslaught, fracturing like they were about to shatter, with bolts of lightning threading between them.
The cores teetered on the edge of breaking.
At the same time, the other five budding cores whirled and collided in the storm, fighting to merge.
That skipped tribulation from the depths of Glacial Overlook last time? It had finally come calling. And this was only the first strike.
Craig furrowed his brow. “Linda’s putting on one hell of a show, bigger than normal, isn’t it?”
Laurence tugged at his beard. “Definitely off the charts.”
But tribulations always matched the cultivator’s talent. A thunderous display this massive could only mean. one thing: Linda’s gifts were off the scale.
Thunder boomed across the towering peaks.
First Unity Coven’s ranges glowed in eerie silver.
Linda could hardly stay on her feet. Mack’s forehead creased as he began to stand.
But Linda gradually straightened up, muscling through the initial blast on pure willpower. “Hit me again!”
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Lightning webbed across her skin like a spider’s net, sparking and dimming, just in time for the second bolt to crash down, piling onto the afterglow. Still, Linda didn’t resist.
Mack caught on to her game plan.
A voice nearby let out an impressed sigh. “Kid’s got real nerve, tempering her body with heavenly thunder.” Mack didn’t glance back, but he knew the speaker. “My student? Weakness isn’t in her vocabulary.” Kermit let out a laugh. “Fair point. She’s got that same fire you do.”
Linda wasn’t fighting back because she was pushing her boundaries, channeling the thunder’s raw force to temper her scarred body, to pull off this full thunder–forged overhaul.
She lay flat against the ground now, but she refused to quit, easing into a seated meditation stance with her feet planted firm, funneling the lightning straight into the earth below.
Sure, she was testing limits, but Linda knew where to draw the line.
No human frame could tank that kind of raw power solo. Without tapping the earth’s might to soak it up, her delicate body wouldn’t hold.
Luckily, she could still hack it.
First strike, second, third… Linda toughed them out, one by one.
By the seventh, her five Gilded Cores were fully forged, and the other five had locked into place, but her body looked like a disaster zone, mangled beyond belief.
And this seventh bolt? It hit like Celestial Fulgur, way more vicious.
Boom.
Mack and Kermit both picked up on the seventh’s twist. As they geared up to slap a barrier in place, Linda flashed through hand seals.
“Pentad Matrix, rise!” The command echoed.
A swarm of Vellum Sigils popped up around her, their lights chaining together to whip up a Bastion Warding- Circle in a flash.
A massive bolt of heavenly thunder crashed down from the sky, only to be splintered into five streams by the Enchantment formation. The Vellum Sigils absorbed them before they slammed into the ground below.
Yet Linda stood at the center of the Enchantment, utterly unscathed.
A hint of surprise flashed in Kermit’s eyes.
Linda had been ready for it all along.
Even Mack’s furrowed brow slowly eased.
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In the short pause before the eighth bolt fell. Linda quickly tapped into the Enchantment to regain her movement. She downed the Mana–Fluid she’d prepared ahead of time–Mystic Silver–Leaf Liquid, refined from Mystic Silver–Leaf–gulping it mouthful after mouthful, her gaze steady on the rumbling thunder overhead.
Half a glass’s worth restored her to about sixty or seventy percent strength. She tucked the glass away, wiped the traces from her lips, and as another flash of lightning lit the sky…
With the Trial of Conscience Sword leading the way, she lifted her blade and surged upward.
Once again, she challenged the heavenly thunder head–on. And this was the eighth bolt.
Kermit fell into contemplation. “At such a young age, handling heavenly thunder with this kind of calm. This girl’s got an extraordinary mindset. Brave, clever, and tough as nails.
“The High Sanctum of Archmagi has let go of a gem like her. They’d regret it for the rest of their days.”
Linda leaped skyward, sword in hand, clashing directly with the thunderbolt. Lightning coursed through the Trial of Conscience Sword, its silver sheen cutting across the azure blade. The thunder’s fury peeled away the mottled bronze patina, unveiling a dazzling white glow.
And with it came the Weight of Will. Everyone felt it, Eldritch Primordials stirring awake inside the sword.
“What is this…?” Mack and Kermit’s eyes narrowed.
But in the next breath, that Weight of Wil faded away just as abruptly.
The thunder’s display pulled everyone’s focus back.
The lightning swallowed Linda and her sword whole, but her left hand kept weaving seals without pause. The Pentad Vellum–Scripts spun around her in a blur, swiftly dismantling the Celestial Fulgur.
The Trial of Conscience Sword flared brilliantly, soaking up the last of the thunder’s power.
And already, Linda was bracing for the ninth.
Craig and the others stared in shock. “Isn’t the break between the eighth and ninth way too short?”
It was, practically no time at all.
Craig dropped his hidden seeker. “I’m going to check on Linda.”
But Kermit was more fixated on that brief surge of pressure than the thunder itself. It had vanished so quickly they hadn’t even had a chance to react before the ninth bolt hit.
He glanced at Mack, whose eyes were locked on the final strike.
This one was the strongest of all.
Though the last Storm–Aura Gravity was overwhelming, Linda was prepared.
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As the first Pentad Vellum–Sigil shattered, the second Enchantment pattern sprang to life, its light bursting forth.
The Matrix Radiance wrapped around Linda alone, circling her body and drawing in most of the Celestial Fulgur.
She weathered the remainder on her own.
As the thunderclouds scattered and a downpour began, the sweet post–tribulation rain bathed Linda’s body, nourishing her deeply.
She sprawled out on the ground, arms and legs spread wide, and burst into laughter.
She’d done it. She’d successfully formed her core.
The others broke into cheers of delight. “Linda! Linda!”
Linda turned her head and saw Laura and Rafael nearby, with Rafael waving two little flags in celebration.
From the mountainside, Craig came running.
Amid their happy babble, a set of steady footsteps drew closer. Linda followed the sound, slowly shifting her gaze toward it.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
