The euphoria of absorbing the comet's essence was a sun blazing within Ye Xingliu. Power thrummed through his veins, so potent he felt he could punch a hole in the sky. The air around him crackled with the excess energy bleeding from his 80%-Awakened form.
But the heavens, it seemed, had taken notice.
The clear, star-dusted desert sky began to curdle. From every horizon, clouds the color of bruised flesh and shattered obsidian roiled in, moving with unnatural speed. They converged directly above him, blotting out the stars, spinning into a vast, terrifying vortex. Within the vortex, lightning the color of molten gold gathered, not the wild forks of a natural storm, but purposeful, coiling serpents of pure judgment.
This was not a storm. It was a reckoning. The Lightning of Awakening. His first Tribulation.
"Oh, crap," Feng Shui'er breathed, her face pale as she stared at the brewing cataclysm. "Ye Xingliu, that's… that's for you!"
Grunter the Ironhide Boar let out a terrified squeal and tried to burrow into the sand.
The pressure descending from the sky was immense, a weight that sought to press him into the earth, to humble him before the Dao. It was a force that demanded respect, fear, and supplication.
Ye Xingliu felt it. And he laughed.
It wasn't a laugh of madness, but of pure, unadulterated excitement. His star-flecked eyes shone with a light to rival the tribulation lightning. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, falling into a loose, ready stance.
"Finally!" he shouted up at the vortex, his voice full of glee. "Some decent conversation! I was getting bored beating up worms and cultists. Finally, a worthy spar!"
He glanced back at Shui'er and the terrified boar. The Gourd of Endless Wine at his hip felt warm. An idea, absurd and perfect, came to him.
"Quick! Both of you, get in!" he said, uncorking the gourd.
Shui'er stared at him as if he'd lost his mind. "In the gourd?!"
"It's spatial storage! It's the safest place! Now, unless you want to be extra-crispy!" he yelled, as the first bolt of golden lightning, thick as an ancient tree, began its slow, inevitable uncoiling from the cloud.
With a final, wide-eyed look at the sky, Shui'er grabbed Grunter's ear and, with a surge of her power, yanked the massive, struggling boar towards the gourd. In a flash of spatial energy, they were both sucked inside, the gourd wobbling slightly with the boar's indignant, muffled squeals from within.
Ye Xingliu re-corked it securely. Now, he was alone.
Alone under the heaven's wrath.
The first bolt descended. It wasn't fast; it was deliberate, a punishment meant to be seen and feared.
Ye Xingliu didn't fear it. He welcomed it.
He met it not with a technique, but with his spirit. He stood his ground, his Comet Fist energy swirling around him, and laughed as the world dissolved into a sea of golden fire.
The road had thrown its worst at him. Now, it was time to race the very lightning.
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