"Yaowen!"
High above Merit City, pillar after pillar of light descended, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. It was 'the heavens', gathering the Spirit Qi of Heaven and Earth to return the lost life to the people of Merit City!
Thunder still raged in the sky.
Li Wei watched Li Yaowen, her face contorted in a fierce expression. He called out her name once, but in the end, could only let out a sigh.
[Your descendant, Li Yaowen, has for many years borrowed the lives of living beings to gather Qi Luck.]
[Upon breaking through to the Divinity Transformation realm, she implored the heavens for aid, asking that the Qi Luck she had accumulated over many years be transformed into life force and returned to the people of Merit City.]
[Congratulations! Your family's stronghold is radiating with vitality once more. Merit City will soon be restored to its former state, and its people will also regain their life force.]
[Gained Family Will: 200]
[Your descendant, Li Yaowen, is currently breaking through to the Divinity Transformation stage. She has chosen to face a First-Grade Divinity Transformation Tribulation.]
[Acquired Trait: Greater Self]
[Sacrifice the self to serve the whole. Her understanding of the Heavenly Dao is increased by 20%, and her comprehension of the Arts of Fate is increased by 30%.]
Within the heart of the thunderclouds.
Gazing upon the descending pillars of light and at Li Yaowen's soul form, Li Wei could see it clearly: above her head, the countless lives she had borrowed while wandering the world, and the orbs of light formed from her accumulated years of Qi Luck, were all fading away.
"Why did it have to be this way?"
Li Wei let out a long sigh. On the day Tian Xing invaded Merit City, Li Yaowen had become a soul form. In the years since, she had actually been searching for a solution, and had even found one.
The solution was this: at the moment of her Divinity Transformation, she would use a small portion of the lives she had borrowed, along with the Qi Luck accumulated over a hundred-plus years, to forge a new body through the power of the lightning tribulation.
Through this method, her reforged body would be imbued with the Qi Luck of all living things, and her innate aptitude might even have surpassed that of Xian Tong, who is always by Li Yaoqing's side.
She would have become a true favored daughter of the heavens. That vast spiritual energy could have even allowed her to break through to the Mid-stage or even the Peak stage of Divinity Transformation in a single instant, an opportunity that countless others could never even dream of.
But Li Wei had never imagined that Li Yaowen would give this fortuitous opportunity to the entirety of Merit City.
She had the resolve to hold the lives of countless people in her hands, yet she refused to use that power for her own benefit.
However, since it was Yaowen's decision, Li Wei pondered for a moment but chose not to dissuade her.
Gazing at Merit City, now radiating with new vitality, and at the people, the light returning to their eyes, a flicker of pride flashed in Li Wei's own.
This was a descendant who made him immensely proud.
In the heart of Merit City.
The Primal Blood Tree, which had been dormant for many years, trembled. Upon the tips of its long-withered branches, which hadn't sprouted a single leaf in over a hundred years, new buds began to sprout.
...
Thunder roared as the lightning tribulation descended.
Li Yaowen remained lying flat in the air. As the wind blew past, she could smell the fresh scent of new earth rising from Merit City below.
She could feel it: the people of Merit City were radiating with new life.
The old tree that Second Sister cherished most had also come back to life.
Old Mister Huang in the Silver Iron Forest, his body covered in dust, seemed to open his eyes and began playing his zither once more.
It was a tune that Tianyi had once played for their clansmen, and it was exceedingly beautiful.
"They're all still alive... Then, that's all that matters."
Li Yaowen smiled, her eyes crinkling into crescents. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so carefree and innocent.
Merit City began as a small, humble household in a year of famine.
They took in refugees and became Green Valley Village, then, bit by bit, grew into the most powerful family in all of the Azure Cloud region.
Generation after generation of the family strove for their homeland. With great difficulty, they established Merit City, only for it to be destroyed once more.
In those years she spent wandering, the Old Ancestor had said he hoped she could restore her body.
Everyone in the family had tried every method imaginable to help her, and they finally found a way: by gathering Qi Luck and a portion of the lives of the myriad people, she could reforge her physical form.
At the time of her breakthrough, the Old Ancestor and all her clansmen congratulated her; even now, she could still recall their joyful smiles.
"But I... I also wanted to see your smiles after you returned to Merit City. We've lost too much; it was time we took something back. I'm sorry."
Li Yaowen gazed at the Old Ancestor's spirit tablet behind her, like a child who had done something wrong.
"Old Ancestor," she said, "This child... I didn't reforge my body. I made a deal with the Heavenly Dao. By forfeiting my breakthrough to a fifth-grade Divinity Transformation, I returned the lives and Qi Luck accumulated over these hundred-plus years, all in exchange for restoring the life force of Merit City."
The spirit tablet began to glow, and the Old Ancestor's spiritual power descended upon her body, as gentle as it had always been.
"Thank you, Old Ancestor!"
The thunder still raged. Li Yaowen offered a faint smile towards the Old Ancestor's spirit tablet. Finally, she held her breath, focused her spirit, and gazed up at the sky.
Curiously, although this was her First-Grade Divinity Transformation Tribulation, the thunderclouds were beneath her; those very tribulation clouds were still restoring the life force of the entire Merit City.
A translucent membrane gradually formed around Merit City, causing the city itself to appear illusory.
The new buds on the branches of the Primal Blood Tree grew more and more numerous!
On its enormous trunk, color slowly returned to the withered wood, and an ancient, human face emerged upon its surface.
The spirit tablets surrounding Li Yaowen flickered with light.
A black light surfaced in her eyes.
In her vision, she could see countless blood-red threads passing through her, extending out towards every corner of the entire Azure Dynasty.
Black Qi emanated from all around, surging towards her.
The most intense among them was the thread connected to the Eternal Sun Prefecture, which seemed to be resisting.
Gazing into the distance.
Among the threads connecting Eternal Sun Prefecture to Lin Wudao, a fracture appeared.
A First-Grade Divinity Transformation Tribulation... Yet Li Yaowen discovered that her own Arts of Fate had grown even more formidable. She had severed Tian Xing's strand of fate. And in that same moment...
"Old Ancestor."
Li Yaowen looked towards the glowing spirit tablet, the corners of her mouth turning up in a faint smile.
"Tian Xing," she declared, "your fate is sealed!"
From Li Wei's perspective.
Li Yaowen gazed at the lands of Azure Cloud, a cold glint filling her eyes.
"However, in our lands," she said, "it seems some pests have appeared."
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