Chapter 2929: First Life 07

In just a few moments, the first bolt of lightning struck down.

The lightning landed three zhang ahead of him, splitting a bowl‑thick tree in half; Chenshu was shaken by the thunder and stepped back a pace.

He was not alone in the woods; several schoolboys and farmers who had left the village school and were heading home together were also terrified by the fearsome heavenly thunder, their souls fleeing their bodies, standing dumbfounded like wooden chickens.

"That…… that is Master Chenshu?"

Someone recognized him, "Master Chenshu of the schoolhouse, what is he doing here?"

"……Why is the lightning striking over there?"

Chenshu lowered his head and looked at his feet.

The place where the lightning fell was indeed very close to him, but something was wrong…

He raised his head and gazed at the sky.

When the second bolt of lightning fell, Chenshu heard shouts.

"Monster! He's a monster!"

"The lightning is chasing him to strike—what the hell! Is Master Chenshu a monster?"

"Run! Stay away from him! Don't get implicated!"

Those people panicked and ran down the mountain, shouting as they went; their looks at Chenshu were full of fear and loathing, as if he were some ill‑omened calamity star.

Chenshu stood alone in the forest clearing that was gradually being engulfed by firelight and thick smoke, his heart trembling; he could not tell whether it was fear or panic.

The third bolt of lightning fell, landing even closer than the first two; Chenshu couldn't dodge in time, staggered and collapsed to the ground, a sweet taste rose in his throat, his clothes instantly charred and ripped apart, his flesh seared with tearing pain.

He didn't know why this was happening.

He didn't know what he had done to deserve such punishment.

But…… it hurts, it hurts.

The fourth bolt of lightning—Jin Chen, who had come running, threw away his umbrella and, with all his strength, shielded him tightly beneath himself.

No mortal could withstand a single lightning strike, yet afterward each bolt struck Jin Chen instead.

His back was already a bloody mess, his clothes scorched black by the lightning fire; he held Chenshu, cradling him in his arms, using his body to bear the lightning that should have fallen on Chenshu.

Chenshu, held in his embrace, felt himself trembling—not from pain, for Jin Chen was protecting him well—but from Jin Chen's muffled groans, his breathing growing weaker, his arms never loosening, warm liquid splashing over his face and neck.

Jin Chen was gravely wounded.

"Jin Chen…"

Jin Chen lowered his head, pressing his forehead against Chenshu's.

"Chenshu, have I ever told you that I like you?"

Chenshu's tears finally fell, "I've… I've heard it before."

"Then that's good."

"No, why are there so many lightning tribulations…"

Chenshu blurted it out instinctively, then froze in place; bizarre, kaleidoscopic images flooded his mind, and deep in his pupils a brilliant gold began to gleam.

"Jin Chen… this lightning is aimed at me; you will have your soul scattered…"

"Death tribulation, death tribulation… the death tribulation is hard to survive."

He still had so much he didn't understand; a mortal body undergoing a death tribulation should only face three heavenly thunderbolts, so why has it changed?

Jin Chen is a mortal of this world; why can he stand in for me against the lightning tribulation?

Why… have he and Jin Chen fallen in love?

Chenshu did not see that the blood flowing in Jin Chen's body was gradually becoming thin.

Chenshu didn't even have time to digest the extra memories surging in his mind; instinctively he tried to resist the lightning tribulation again, but Jin Chen clenched his fingers tightly, coughed up blood, and still forced a smile before him.

"I remember…"

Jin Chen's tone suddenly lightened; even as his soul was about to dissipate, he summoned his spirit to look at Chenshu, and his eyes shone with a light never seen before.

"God Venerable, do you remember Kunlun Xu? There is a divine tree…"

The divine tree was born from the heavenly Dao's spiritual essence, nourished by the sun and moon's essence; it takes a thousand years to grow a single leaf, and only after ten thousand years does it gain spirituality.

That day Chenshu toured the lower realms, passed by Kunlun Xu, and halted beneath its tree.

At that time his spiritual awareness had just awakened; he did not yet know fear or reverence, only thinking this God Lord was handsome, so he lowered his own branches and leaves somewhat to shade Him, turning all his foliage toward Him like myriad common grasses turning toward the sun.

Then the divine wood received a drop of True God's blood, merely because Chenshu noticed it differed from the other divine trees and, moved by a private wish, wanted it to grow better.

The divine wood, having obtained that drop of True God's blood, saw its spirituality surge and its cultivation advance day by day.

Until it finally attained humanoid form, eager to go to the God Realm to find the God Lord who had given it that blood, it learned instead that Chenshu, the God Lord, had taken the position of Supreme God Venerable, had sealed his memories and most of his divine power, and gone to the lower realms to undergo tribulation.

The newborn wood spirit, heedless of danger, followed that faint bloodline sensation and also entered the cycle of reincarnation.

Thus Chenshu's blood could revive the sickly beggar boy of years past, for he himself had grown in that very way.

By a twist of fate, destiny brought them together.

The spirit of the divine tree, in a mortal body, accompanied him by his side, eased his solitude, and gave him warmth.

In the end, when Chenshu's destined death tribulation arrived, the spirit, using its still‑unsettled divine‑soul origin, stubbornly resisted the heavenly thunder, took the strike for him, and nearly had its soul scattered.

This was their first lifetime.