Chapter 41 - Her Tribulation
Previously, in Luo Hongyu's heart, only two matters ranked highly.
First, was the sword.
This was perhaps the only thing she could be said to truly like; she liked to feel that subtle connection between the sword and herself.
This was her Sword Heart Clarity, cultivated postnatally, and also her greatest talent.
It could also be said, it was the Dao she walked.
Second, was her identity as the Sword Sect Young Master.
Her father's condition was perilous, and she, as it happened, had displayed the ability to shoulder great responsibility.
Naturally, this heavy burden fell upon her shoulders, but she didn't mind.
She also indeed felt she had this obligation.
Other matters besides these found it difficult to leave a trace in her heart… At least, it was like this before that dreamscape.
Now, perhaps one more needed to be added.
Luo He and her—what exactly was their relationship.
After clarifying these things, Luo Hongyu asked her heart; she considered herself a person who lived with clarity.
She had no intention of seeking that path to longevity, nor did she have any craving for the peak of strength.
She only wished to travel the world with her sword, with a clear conscience, to be an unrestrained and unfettered person.
But, the tribulation that had suddenly arrived at this moment was about to shatter all of this.
The reason a tribulation is called a tribulation is precisely because it is an irresistible great power.
It mercilessly ignores any emotions, obsessions, wishes, and treats them all equally by turning them into fine powder.
It represents a will different from the world observed by humans and offers the coldest irony to all human activities.
This was the situation Luo Hongyu now faced.
Everything she had just been thinking in her heart…
was all being torn apart and mocked by the lightning tribulation before her.
Above the churning sky, it could no longer be called thunderclouds.
It was a sea of lightning.
It was as if the sky and the sea surface were inverted; those dark clouds were the surging sea surface, and the thunder was the angry roar of the waves.
The pillars of lightning hidden within were tsunamis linked into lines, woven into surfaces.
Carrying wind and rain, they came rolling in.
BOOM!
Spears of lightning pierced the earth!
Everyone outside the Immortal Ascension Platform only felt a flash of white light in their eyes, extremely glaring.
Afterwards, on the stage, that focal point of heaven and earth, a giant, deep pit that had been pierced through appeared.
And on the stage, Luo Hongyu had barely dodged this strike.
At this moment, her thoughts had emptied, instinct taking over from thought.
If that pillar of lightning just now had landed on her, she was very certain that she would at least end up seriously injured.
A lightning strike of this magnitude—she couldn't withstand it twice.
Luo Hongyu immediately and clearly recognized this point.
If she could keep dodging it, no matter how great its power, it indeed wouldn't be a problem.
But just as mentioned before, this wasn't a thundercloud; it was a sea of lightning.
A pillar of lightning fell.
Two pillars of lightning fell.
Ten, a hundred, a thousand…
The pillars of lightning were no longer individual points, but a surface.
It was a sea that had burst its dikes, washing away everything in a doomsday-like scene.
It was devastation, it was bombardment; almost everyone present had already scattered and fled.
After that overwhelming sea of lightning, heaven and earth welcomed a brief moment of quiet.
The Immortal Ascension Platform designated by the immortal was already damaged beyond recognition, destroyed to an unrecognizable state.
Not a single suitable place to stand could be found in the entire area.
In a deep pit, as if from a planetary collision, Luo Hongyu knelt in the center.
She was like a prisoner bound by chains, sitting there helplessly and in despair.
She had tried every means to dodge, but the thunderstorm just now had saturation-plowed every place she could hide.
She also, with no way to avoid it, took a hit.
At this moment, her body was dripping with fresh blood; the wound on her back showed signs of being scorched black and withered dead.
Lightning scars crawled all over her entire back, like a ferocious and twisted painting of blood.
Just a single lightning strike could leave her breath as faint as a drifting silk thread, and what had fallen just now were tens of thousands of strikes.
This gave no way to live.
Luo Hongyu forcibly opened her blood-smeared eyes and looked towards the sky.
Above, that human figure she had seen before seemed to be within it.
"What have I done?"
She murmured weakly.
Answering her was a flash of lightning.
Tsz...
Luo Hongyu rose, lifting her Lu Lan Sword, and cleaved this pillar of lightning apart.
But after this, the lightning seemed to be mocking her.
Every strike landed on the Lu Lan Sword.
The faint sword light whipped up a counter-current vortex, struggling bitterly in the unstoppable tide.
To say it without exaggeration, this was already the limit of what human strength could achieve.
But…
Slash.
After cleaving apart an unknown number of lightning pillars, Luo Hongyu stared blankly at the broken Lu Lan Sword in her hand.
She could still swing a sword, but the sword could no longer keep up with her.
She understood; this was the answer to her question from just now.
Its meaning was: what she had done, what wrong she had committed, why she was suffering all this—none of it mattered.
It wanted her dead; it had nothing to do with her.
The symbiotically linked Lu Lan Sword broke, and Luo Hongyu herself also suffered immense trauma.
At this moment, all seven of her orifices burst with blood; her vision was also gradually blurred by the red of blood.
She had now lost all strength to resist.
If nothing unexpected happened, death would follow closely.
Luo Hongyu sat limply, leaning back in the pit; every breath brought out a tinge of blood.
She herself was also very surprised; she felt a sense of regret.
She suddenly felt she wasn't as composed as she had previously imagined, able to accept the outcome of one sword, one life; sword breaks, person dies. She was somewhat unreconciled.
Just like that other girl in her memory, who liked to eat grapes, learned to grow flowers, and would go to see the temple fairs at the foot of the mountain.
She still had an attachment to this world.
Even if her sword broke, she still wanted to continue living.
But realizing this only now, wasn't it too late?
The cord at her waist had long since broken; that red jade was clutched in her hand.
Luo Hongyu stared blankly at it; and in the sky, the final flash of lightning also began to accumulate.
Unfinished words, facts not yet understood, unfulfilled wishes, promises not kept…
All of this would depart with the lightning flash…
"...…"
The anticipated ending did not arrive.
Luo Hongyu felt a familiar aura appear before her.
A fluttering black robe, the mask's cord hidden among black hair.
It was a person who had always stood behind her before.
These past few days, she had been looking for him, but couldn't find him.
In the most impossible of scenarios, he had proactively found her.
Luo Hongyu's gaze wavered.
What was he here to do? To die with her?
To rashly enter another's tribulation was not so easy to get out of.
Why was he doing this? Did he have some certainty? Or was there some other reason…
Luo Hongyu couldn't read him, couldn't understand. Her thoughts, already a tangled mess, now became even more chaotic with Luo He's sudden appearance.
What on earth was he to her? Who on earth was he to her?
If it was truly as she thought, that there was some kind of blood relationship between them…
She simply wasn't a qualified family member at all; how could Luo Hongyu be worthy of him doing this for her!
"Luo He…"
The desire for answers temporarily surpassed the fear of death.
Luo Hongyu forcibly supported herself against the wall, wanting to stand up, but she never expected that Luo He would just gently press her back down.
Afterwards, a jade flute appeared from Luo He's hand and slowly descended onto Luo Hongyu's heart area.
A gentle, cool qi transformed into a shell, enveloping and protecting her, while also restricting her.
"What are you doing! This is my tribulation!"
"……"
Luo He, just as in the past eighteen years, merely looked at her quietly.
This indeed is your tribulation.
And you are my tribulation.
Today, it's time to settle things.
Luo Hongyu beat against the cover transformed from the Willow Flute; being watched by Luo He like this, a bit of panic couldn't help but rise in her heart.
She was afraid; compared to death, she was perhaps more afraid of living muddled and without understanding the truth.
"Luo He, what are you doing… cough, cough… you…"
What on earth are you to me? The question had not yet left her mouth, when before her was already a dazzling flash of lightning.