The storm changed again.
The air thickened and weighted, not with lightning but with something older, older than the world itself, something primal. The void pulsed as though it were a heartbeat, crowded with whispers too low to be words, too sharp to be silence.
Su Yao gasped, her hand on her heart. The pressure overwhelmed her, her mind clogged with visions she had long kept hidden.
The system's voice oozed through the fog, colder, heavier than ever:
> [Tribulation Phase IV: Trial of Desire.]
[Objective: Resist temptation. Failure = breaking of bond.]
------
The vision appeared.
She was once more standing beside the holy pool of the sect, surrounded by her adoring disciples. None of them looked at Zhao Feng. None of them looked at anyone else. They all looked at her — desire, devotion, adoration.
In her dream, she smiled. She let them bow to her, kiss her hand, call her goddess. She was adored, she was unparalleled, she was ascended.
And by her side… no Li Xian.
Her breath caught. Her jade hands clinched. A portion of her chest ached with remorse, for deep in her heart… she had prayed for this once before. To be unattainable. To be king. To be free of the burdens that Li Xian's love now trapped her with.
Her body quivered. Her lips parted with an unheard cry.
---
But Li Xian's voice cut through her trance.
Do you crave worship, Su Yao? To be led about by bugs, bowed to by men who would die of a smile?"
His tone was not disdainful, but sharp, merciless. Red lightning flashed in his eyes as he reached out of the vision, grasping her chin.
"Then walk with me. And they will bow to both of us."
Her vision shattered. The pool cracked, the disciples dissolved into mist, so that only Li Xian's hot glare was left.
Su Yao gasped, tears dripping from cheeks, shame and relief warring in her breast. "I… I would rather kneel at your side than alone over them."
The vision disappeared.
---
But Heaven's cruelty was only just begun.
Li Xian's own ambition now twisted into shape.
A grand throne stretched out before him, above the heavens, made of the bones of sects and empires. Armies at his feet, millions chanting his name.
But there was only one seat on the throne.
Su Yao stepped aside, wearing white, her eyes soft, her arm outstretched.
"Go with me," she whispered. "Don't abandon me."
And yet the allure of the throne was impossible to deny. Power, limitless and intoxicating, coursed through his bloodstream. For an instant, his scarlet eyes blazed. He pictured himself standing alone, a god unmatched, unencumbered even by love.
His laughter filled the void, lower, darker.
---
Mei Ling's voice slid in, her body curling by his side.
"Yes… take it. Take it for yourself. She will only hold you captive. I will not chain you — I will burn with you."
Her hand stroked down his arm in the fantasy, her feral, loving eyes. Her body convulsed against his, offering ecstasy unbound.
Su Yao shrieked out, jade fingers extended. "Li Xian! Don't—!"
The mechanism clanged, icy and bitter:
> [Host Desire Conflict Detected.]
[Chaos Probability of Betrayal: 63%.]
------
The tempest enveloped, its voice a sigh, a flame, an insistence.
And then — Li Xian threw back his head and roared.
Blazing qi exploded from his body, ripping the facade to shreds. The throne broke apart on dust. Mei Ling's phantom dissipated into smoke.
He drew Su Yao into his arms, her bloody body against the burned chest. His voice was coarse, bestial, intransigent.
"Listen well, Su Yao. I would rather sit upon no throne than sit without you beside me."
Her crying shivered against his neck, her arms clasped about him like life.
---
But Heaven was not finished.
The final vision descended like a sword — and it was not for power, or lust for adoration.
It was betrayal.
Su Yao beheld herself walking away, hand in hand with Zhao Feng's. She beheld Li Xian's body burning, abandoned in the whirlwind, while she walked away unencumbered.
And Li Xian beheld himself grinning as he left her, striding into heaven's throne while her body became ash.
The pictures shocked them both, revealed to each other simultaneously. They had seen one another betray, one another abandon, one another break.
Their cries rent the emptiness as one.
"No—!"
Lightning tore through them, Heaven demanding that they yield.
But their hands grasped tighter. Their mouths kissed in blood and tears, binding them against the delusion.
The system's voice trembled on static, breaking for the first time:
> [Tribulation anomaly detected.]
[Desire resisted. Bond strengthened.]
[Survival probability increased: 25% → 52%.]
---
The storm howled in more loudly than ever, enraged.
And above, the clouds began to turn into a single, maddening punch.