Li Li breaking through to the fifth rank wasn't unexpected. Ever since Yunxi ascended to the Weiling Realm, the small beast had already started accumulating strength in her core. Lately, she had been cultivating nonstop at Yunxi's side, absorbing the rich spiritual energy of the surroundings. After entering the Wolong Mountain Range, she had grown increasingly sleepy, her instincts signaling the coming change. Once Yunxi and Yun Po finished setting the complex trap for Han Qingwen, Li Li sent a clear voice transmission to Yunxi.
"Zūnshàng, I'm about to break through."
The next moment, Yunxi sensed the heavy pressure of the heavenly tribulation thunder locking on to their position. She said a quick word to Yun Po, grabbed Li Li, and rushed to a jagged mountain peak in the inner region where no other beasts lived. She retreated to a safe distance in a flash of movement and tossed Li Li a defensive array plate, telling her to activate it immediately if she couldn't hold on against the lightning.
Yun Po appeared beside Yunxi on a nearby ridge and said with a grin, "Li Li picked the perfect timing for this. I already told Jin Xiu to mislead Han Qingwen and make him think this disturbance is us covering up the opening of the ancient cultivator's estate. He is already rushing toward the inner region as we speak."
After hearing that, Yunxi curled her lips into a smile. She felt Li Li's timing was spot on for their ruse and then asked, "How many people did Han Qingwen bring with him?"
"From what Jin Xiu said, everyone at the Void Refinement stage and above came along for the operation."
"That isn't bad at all. It's worth us making a move for a group of that size."
"Relax. Han Qingwen is cautious by nature. Even if he acts, he will send disciples to test the waters first. He will only move his main force after he figures things out, so we have plenty of time to prepare."
"If that's the case, then even better for us."
After that, the two of them calmly watched Li Li face her tribulation under the darkening sky.
This breakthrough was a case of deep accumulation finally paying off, and she had also benefited greatly from staying close to Yunxi's unique aura, so the process went smoothly despite the violence of the storm. The only problem was that her black and yellow fur got scorched pitch black by the fierce tribulation thunder, and her originally fluffy long tail went completely bald. She looked downright miserable standing amidst the charred rocks.
Fortunately, with the help of the array plate Yunxi had given her, she weakened the final bolt of tribulation thunder and successfully made it through the ordeal. The mountain peak she was on was smashed down by a full ten centimeters from the force of the strikes, and Li Li herself was blasted into a deep pit in the center, where she struggled to calm the tribulation thunder still raging inside her body.
Yunxi swept her divine sense over the area and only relaxed once she confirmed Li Li was still breathing. Immediately after the storm ceased, the Heavenly Dao's blessing descended in a soft glow. Li Li's curled-up black body began absorbing the falling spiritual rain, and her form started to change rapidly. A quarter of an hour later, the spiritual rain stopped, and Li Li opened her eyes.
"Zūnshàng, I have successfully transformed."
The fifth rank was a major threshold for all beast cultivators. Once they crossed it, they could take human form, which made comprehending the subtle Heavenly Dao laws much easier going forward. Li Li was thrilled and shared the good news with Yunxi right away.
Yunxi looked at the little girl hopping around naked on the scorched earth and felt her eyes sting from the sight. She twitched her mouth and reminded her, "Li Li, put some clothes on. Human cultivators don't run around naked like that."
"Oh, okay!"
Li Li realized the issue too, her cheeks flushing. She spun in place and instantly dressed herself in a yellow dress with black trim, tied a matching yellow ribbon in her hair, and revealed a round, baby-faced little face that made people want to pinch it.
After tidying herself up, Li Li jumped straight into Yunxi's arms, grinning from ear to ear. "Zūnshàng, do I look good?"
"Yeah, you're very cute."
Li Li currently looked like a five-year-old girl, but she was at least a thousand years old, even older than Yunxi herself. For a beast cultivator, though, she was still in a growth phase.
After being praised, Li Li chose to revert to her original form for the sake of mobility and then said to Yunxi, "Zūnshàng, it's more convenient for me to move like this for now. Now that I have broken through, I can help you even more than before."
Yunxi looked at Yun Po and said, "Then let's get ready for our guests."
With that, the two of them and the one beast vanished from the spot, leaving the ruined peak behind.
Lu Zhihui, who had been watching Li Li's tribulation from a distance, also flashed away from the area. He wanted to find a good vantage point to see how those two would deal with the approaching evil cultivators.
Once the tribulation clouds dispersed, Han Qingwen knew the breakthrough had succeeded. He believed that ancient cultivator's estate should have already opened, so he sped up his pace even more.
At the same time, he released his divine sense and began probing the terrain bit by bit. He hadn't done so earlier to avoid being watched by the locals. Now that he had stepped into the inner region, he released it to avoid being blocked by high-level beasts, using the late Unity stage pressure to drive them away from his path.
Even so, Han Qingwen was extremely cautious. He knew the two from the Su family were both at the Unity stage, and they were not only careful but ruthless in their methods. No one knew how many high-level cultivators from the Su family had rushed over this time to assist, so he wouldn't act rashly.
He had set his sights on the hidden family as a piece of fat meat to be devoured, but that didn't mean he would stake his own life on it. He also still needed Xia Yiwan's cooperation within the sect, so stability came first in his mind.
Two hours later, Han Qingwen discovered his divine sense had been blocked by a layer of shimmering light barrier. He immediately withdrew it, careful not to alert the cultivators inside that he was watching.
Yunxi and Yun Po were inside their capsule dharma house, playing chess while waiting for Han Qingwen to finally arrive. By the time Li Li was starting to get impatient, pacing the floor, Yun Po's eyes flickered with recognition.
"They're here."
"When is Han Qingwen planning to act?"
"He is waiting for Xia Yiwan's cooperation to trigger the distraction. It's probably tonight or tomorrow night. We just need to be ready to spring the trap."
"Alright."
Han Qingwen released some low-level spirit beasts from his bags and attached his divine sense to them, probing the area around Yunxi's capsule dharma house through their eyes. Once he confirmed the entrance to the ancient cultivator's estate was directly beneath the house, he quickly withdrew his divine sense, afraid of alerting Yunxi and Yun Po to the intrusion.
After confirming the location to his satisfaction, Han Qingwen sent instructions to Xia Yiwan through their secret channel. They would act tomorrow night as planned.
The next day, when the moon hung high in the sky, a thunderous boom suddenly came from the direction of Yixian Gate. A pillar of blinding light shot into the sky, and the sect-protecting grand array instantly activated with a hum. Cultivators in Xiao Long City were all startled by the noise. Many hovered in the air, staring toward Yixian Gate and guessing what had happened to cause such a reaction.
With the grand array active and glowing, they couldn't probe anything inside, but that didn't stop them from waiting to see what came next.
"Yixian Gate's grand array is up. This is serious business."
"Of course it's serious. Didn't you see the city lord's residence already sent people to check on the situation?"
"Did you hear any rumors about what is going on?"
"No, nothing yet."
"Do you think it's evil cultivators causing trouble again?"
"Could be. Yixian Gate has been supplying pills to righteous cultivators fighting in the ancient battlefield. Maybe they are being targeted for it."
The cultivators exchanged messages through voice transmission, and they really did guess part of the truth of the matter.
Right then, another thunderous boom echoed from the inner region of the Wolong Mountain Range. A massive nine-ring array appeared in the sky above it, drawing the attention of cultivators in both Xiao Long City and the mountains.
"What is going on over there?"
"No idea. Looks like something major happened in the Wolong Mountain Range as well."
"Is there a beast tide starting?"
"Not sure. Let's go check it out for ourselves."
"We can't enter Yixian Gate with that array up, but we can still enter the Wolong Mountain Range. Maybe a rare treasure has appeared in the aftermath of the tribulation."
"That looks like an evil purging array to me, not some treasure phenomenon."
No one knew who said that in the crowd, but right after the words were spoken, a streak of escaping light shot toward the inner region of the Wolong Mountain Range.
Once evil cultivators were suspected to be involved, everyone dropped their spectator mindset. One after another, the many cultivators turned into streaks of escaping light and flew toward the Wolong Mountain Range.