Raigeki Bottle

The entire sky turned a deep, heavy black. Only when the lightning flickered within the tribulation clouds could one catch a glimpse of Ye Su in the center of the arena. Her hands moved so fast it was nearly impossible to tell what she was doing. With spiritual fire and spiritual energy intertwining, the crowd could only vaguely sense the violent eruption of Qi around her, surging frantically into her position.

Lightning flashed incessantly, yet there was no sound, making the scene even more terrifying. No one knew when the final strike would fall.

"Why hasn't Senior Sister finished refining the artifact yet?" Standing far off, Xi Yu watched the arena with anxious eyes, not even noticing her disheveled hair as she nearly crushed the small mirror in her hand.

Unlike the others, the three from the Qianji Sect knew that Ye Su would never do anything useless at a critical moment. If she was refining now, she had to have her reasons.

"It should be soon." Ming Liusha noticed that his Senior Sister's hand speed was finally slowing down.

"Senior Sister will definitely succeed." Though Xia Er was also worried, his faith in Ye Su was so absolute that he wasn't nearly as nervous as the others.

Standing beside them was You Fushi. His match with Lu Chenhan had been called to a halt before it could finish. Usually lazy and relaxed, he now stood unusually upright. He kept turning the Mist-Slaying Flower on his wrist, occasionally letting a thread of spiritual energy slip unconsciously into the flower, where it vanished completely.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning erupted from the clouds, illuminating the entire sky. Moments later, thunder shook the heavens as a deep purple Xuantian Lightning bolt, carrying the full weight of celestial power, crashed toward Ye Su.

The cultivators watching fell into a dead silence. They instinctively retreated, their minds momentarily blank. If they were in her place, such a powerful strike would have left them with only one outcome: their souls extinguished and their path ended.

The purple light from the strike was so blinding that no one could see the center of the arena. Ye Su was instantly swallowed by the lightning.

Gasps rippled through the crowd; it looked as if Ye Su hadn't even been given a chance to fight back.

***

However, the scene inside the lightning was nothing like what the crowd imagined.

The moment the Xuantian Lightning struck, Ye Su was completing the final touches. She sketched the last stroke of the array at the mouth of the bottle and immediately thrust the finished vessel high above her head.

The Xuantian Lightning, which had pulverized countless defensive treasures, didn't care about a simple-looking bottle. it struck straight toward Ye Su, aiming right for the bottle’s opening.

As it hit, the white bottle in Ye Su's hand turned searing hot. Arcs of lightning danced wildly around it, the vibrations making her hands numb and agonizingly painful.

Despite this, she didn't let go. Her eyes gleamed with excitement: It worked!

The Xuantian Lightning never expected the bottle to be a vacuum instead of a shield. Realizing something was wrong, the portion of the lightning that hadn't yet entered the bottle began to veer off, trying to escape.

Ye Su wasn't about to let such a golden opportunity slip. She lowered the bottle to her chest, then reached out her other hand—her palm coated in a thin layer of Divine Sense—and literally grabbed the bolt of Xuantian Lightning.

The bolt was as thick as a child’s head. Ye Su couldn't wrap her hand all the way around it, but she held on. Instantly, the lightning attacked her; she was electrocuted so severely she felt chilled to the bone. Her mind wavered, and her hand slipped.

By the time she regained her senses, the Xuantian Lightning was already halfway out of the bottle, on the verge of escaping.

Just a touch had numbed her this badly; Ye Su couldn't imagine the result if this bolt had actually hit her body. She’d probably be meeting her ancestors right about now.

Gritting her teeth, she felt around her storage bag, but she was out of spirit stones—she had burned through them all.

Wait, no. There was one left.

She pulled out the Purple Spirit Stone. She felt a pang of reluctance; she had wanted to save it. But if she didn't use it now, she was a dead woman.

The moment she gripped the Purple Spirit Stone, she didn't even need to refine it. A mountainous surge of spiritual energy rushed into her spiritual palace, leaving her dazed for a moment. She had never felt such an abundance of energy; it felt as if she had been plunged into an ocean of Qi.

Ye Su tightened her grip. The energy within the Purple Spirit Stone flooded her spiritual palace instantly. Seizing the moment, she grabbed the Xuantian Lightning once more and slammed it violently into the bottle.

BOOM!

The purple arcs of the lightning and the golden light from the white bottle collided. Centered on the bottle in Ye Su’s hand, a ring of blinding light exploded outward. Not just the arena, but the entire mountain peak trembled.

The spectators, who already couldn't see, instinctively shielded their eyes. Some even triggered their spiritual shields as a reflexive response.

Only a few saw that the Xuantian Lightning seemed to be physically yanked down from the clouds, vanishing into the center of the explosion.

Standing at the heart of the blast, Ye Su’s hands and body were scorched by countless lightning arcs, her flesh charred. But the overflowing spiritual energy allowed her to rapidly heal and repair herself. Through this cycle of destruction and rebirth, she barely managed to keep herself whole.

The Sect Leaders watched the lightning being dragged down: "..."

The tribulation clouds had come fast, but they left even faster—disappearing so quickly it almost felt like they were fleeing in shame.

***

Ye Su sat on the ground, her hand tightly gripping the white bottle which was still shaking violently with flickering arcs of lightning.

If someone were standing over her, they would see a tiny array spinning at the mouth of the bottle. In fact, the entire surface of the bottle was covered in arrays that shimmered faintly.

Ye Su plugged the bottle with its stopper. After a long moment, once the bottle finally calmed down, she switched it to her right hand. She opened her left palm and looked down. It was charred black; the flesh on her fingertips had melted away, leaving the bone clearly visible.

Expressionless, she channeled her spiritual energy into her left hand. The vast energy accelerated the healing; the charred skin peeled off, and her hand was restored to its original state.

"The tribulation is gone!"

Everyone rushed to look at the center of the arena. They saw Ye Su sitting on the ground, one hand clutching a strange white bottle and the other resting at her side. She was looking at the ground, and no one could tell if she was even conscious.

"She's... she's actually alive?!"

"Did the breakthrough succeed?"

"The way that lightning vanished was so strange."

"What’s that in her hand? Is that... lightning flickering?"

"Is that the artifact she just made?"

By this time, You Fushi had already pushed past the crowd and was walking toward the center of the arena. He stopped beside Ye Su and, without saying a word, leaned down and held out his hand to her—just as she used to hold his.

A pair of long, elegant hands appeared in Ye Su's field of vision. She suppressed the churning sea of consciousness in her spiritual palace. The Nascent Soul avatar she had formed with her Divine Sense had been shattered and merged back into her sea of consciousness. Her spiritual palace was now twice its original size, and her sea of consciousness had expanded significantly.

The energy from that Purple Spirit Stone was so dense that she had to let it roam wild for a bit; she feared that if she absorbed it all into spiritual power right now, she might trigger another tribulation cloud on the spot.

"You're done with your match?" Ye Su looked up, took You Fushi's hand, and stood.

"No." You Fushi cast a Cleanse spell on her as per his habit. Only when her clothes were spotless did he stop, satisfied.

"Want it?" Ye Su held the stabilized white bottle out to him. Fine arcs of lightning still danced on the surface, but they could no longer harm anyone.

You Fushi looked into her eyes, then reached out and shook the bottle. "What is it?"

"A bolt of lightning is trapped inside," Ye Su explained.

You Fushi shook his head. "Don't want it. It's yours."

Since he didn't want it, Ye Su didn't insist. Since she could collect it, it would be useful later. At the very least, she could use it for lightning-based refining.

As Ye Su stood up, the eyes of every cultivator outside the arena fixed on her forehead. No lightning mark!

She had succeeded!

"I knew Senior Sister could do it!" Xia Er shouted, charging forward.

"Let's. Go!" Ming Liusha followed close behind, rushing into the arena with Xi Yu.

The three of them accidentally crowded You Fushi out as they threw their arms around Ye Su, shouting "Senior Sister!"

The "Little Junior Brother," seeing himself squeezed out, frowned. He turned and pulled the three of them away, reclaiming his spot by Ye Su’s side.

"Senior Sister, what kind of artifact did you just make? Let us see!" Ming Liusha spoke with lightning speed, his eyes glowing. Xi Yu and Xia Er nodded in unison.

"It’s a Raigeki Bottle," Ye Su said, sounding not entirely satisfied. "I had too little time, so the craftmanship is a bit crude. It hurts your hand when you're collecting the lightning. I'll modify it later when I have the chance."

"R-Raigeki Bottle?" Ming Liusha doubted his own ears.

"Yes." Ye Su handed the bottle over. "Don't open it. Just look at the exterior."

The three of them immediately huddled around the bottle to study it.

Xin Shenzi nudged his disciple. "Go on."

Yi Xuan glanced at his master, then leapt across the field to join them.

At the same time, the core disciples from the Five Elements Sect and the Joyous Union Sect walked over to congratulate Ye Su. Xu Chengyu was a bit slower; his body hadn't fully recovered, so Ma Congqiu and Zhou Yun each took an arm and carried him over.

"Ye Su, I really thought you weren't going to make it." Lian Lian looked her up and down. "Your hair didn't get scorched this time?"

"I used spiritual energy to fix it," Ye Su said. With the energy from the Purple Spirit Stone, she had so much power to spare that she’d fixed her appearance first.

"This is the first time I've ever seen someone refine an artifact under a tribulation strike," Mei Chouren marveled. "Are all you weapon refiners such adrenaline junkies?"

The disciples of the major sects were all congratulating a member of a sect that had been on the verge of collapse. Lu Chenhan, who was supposed to be the most dazzling candidate for the championship, was completely forgotten.

As for Gu Liangtian, whose lightning mark had faded after a successful breakthrough, no one paid him any attention at all.

"Little friend Ye, how did you dodge that last Xuantian Lightning strike?" Daoist Feng Chen suddenly asked aloud. "And what exactly is that artifact?"

He asked the question that was on everyone's mind. Every cultivator turned to Ye Su, waiting for her answer.

"It’s a Raigeki Bottle. That bolt was collected into the bottle," Ye Su replied without hiding anything. "I got lucky and finished the refinement in time."

A collective gasp went up. This was especially true for the refiners who considered themselves masters. When something they had all deemed "impossible" became a reality, they were left in a daze.

She was just a minor weapon refiner, how could she possibly do this?

The faces of the Zhanjin Sect members were grim.

As for the Sect Leader of the Poyuan Sect, he had only one thought: I certainly placed the right bet.

"The disciples of the Qianji Sect are this formidable?"

"It’s the Qianji Sect, after all. They might have declined, but their refiners are still incredible."

The surrounding cultivators began to spontaneously reminisce about the past glory of the Qianji Sect. It seemed that only by doing so could they process the shock they were feeling.