The world dissolved into white.
Lightning swallowed everything — the stone hall, the chains, the sect itself. Only thunder remained, crashing like war drums in the void.
Li Xian's body seared, skin splitting under the divine force. Blood hissed into steam as it burned away, but crimson light blazed fiercer with each strike.
The system's voice cut through the chaos:
> [Final Tribulation Engaged.]
[Survive or perish. Lifespan: 6 hours.]
---
Through the storm, he felt warmth.
Su Yao's jade arms were around him, her body pressed to his back, her spiritual energy flowing desperately into him, a fragile shield of white light against the storm's fury.
Her voice shook in his ear, half-sob, half-prayer.
"Why do I always find myself here… between you and death?"
He laughed, the sound ragged but intoxicating. "Because you belong nowhere else."
Her tears hissed into steam as lightning lashed them, but she clung tighter. Her white robes turned to tatters, her jade skin scorched, yet her eyes glowed with something fiercer than fear.
The system chimed sharply:
> [Target Su Yao: Choice confirmed.]
[Seduction Progress – 100%.]
[Target Su Yao conquered.]
---
Mei Ling's voice echoed faintly from beyond the storm, laughter dripping with lust and madness. "Even Heaven bends when he touches them… how beautiful."
---
The storm thickened.
Bolts of lightning shaped themselves into monstrous forms — dragons of silver fire, serpents of divine judgment. They circled the void, roaring, diving at the pair.
Li Xian raised his arms, blood-soaked but steady. Crimson wings of qi burst from his back, tearing into the storm-beasts. Su Yao's light fused with his darkness, white and red spiraling into a shield that split the void.
Their bodies moved as one. Her breath matched his. Her trembling hands steadied his strikes. His laughter steadied her heart.
"Su Yao," he murmured, lightning crackling across his skin, "tell me now — do you regret it?"
Her lips pressed to his ear, trembling but resolute.
"If I fall with you, then Heaven itself will envy us."
Lightning struck again — but this time, the shield of crimson and white did not break. It roared outward, a storm of their own making, tearing the divine beasts apart in a rain of light.
---
Above, in the sect's courtyard, disciples screamed and elders trembled. The Sect Master stared at the storm's heart in disbelief.
"No… impossible. That woman—she chose to stand with him. And together… they resist Heaven itself."
---
The system's voice rang with something new, something it had never said before:
> [Unprecedented Event.]
[Dual Cultivation Bond detected.]
[Heaven's wrath weakened. Survival probability rising: 1% → 25%.]
Li Xian laughed through blood and lightning, clutching Su Yao's hand as their energies fused.
"Good. Let Heaven rage."
The storm howled back, louder, vaster, angrier.
And in its heart, crimson and white burned brighter still.