Chapter 1036

Pan Yun spat out a mouthful of black smoke; her nose caught a faint scent of roasted meat. She looked down at her sleeve, shredded by lightning, revealing a segment of arm that smelled charred and fragrant, its surface cracked with small fissures. Under the cultivation technique's repair, the cracks sealed shut, and beneath the blackened skin, a hint of tender, pale flesh emerged.

Pan Yun murmured: "No wonder everyone loves eating newly Tribulation-Crossed cultivators—so delicious~~"

Pan Xiaohei howled: "Hurry up and take out your Lightning-Avoiding Tower! How much longer are you going to wait? The lightning I've drawn is growing more and more—I can't eat it all!"

Pan Yun said calmly: "Stay composed. This is only the third thunder. What's the rush?"

"I'm not rushing—you're about to be shattered!"

Pan Yun: "I estimate two more hours before the next thunder strikes. Don't disturb me while I repair my body."

Pan Xiaohei sensed something was wrong: "Does the Second Marquis's Lei Jie really have such long intervals?"

Pan Yun ignored it, focusing solely on her cultivation technique, compressing the Yuan force within her Upper Dantian.

In a place Pan Xiaohei couldn't see, Pan Yun's meridians had widened nearly double, her Upper Dantian expanded like a universe, swallowing and compressing all incoming Qi before transforming it into Yuan force.

The Yuan force surged through her body, opening the Middle Acupoint, then striking the Upper Acupoint, expanding the Niwan Palace.

When Pan Xiaohei finally focused his gathered lightning and opened his spiritual eyes from the Spirit Realm, he saw the Niwan Palace transformed beyond recognition.

He finally realized: "Y-you—your Niwan Palace—it's already in the form of a Second Marquis! You've only just endured the third thunder—technically, you should still be expanding your Lower Dantian…"

Pan Yun made no effort to conceal the state of her Middle and Lower Dantians.

Pan Xiaohei was instantly speechless.

Pan Yun, proud: "How's that? Am I not a genius? Who in this world can leap two levels at once?"

Pan Xiaohei snapped back, sneering: "Ancient sages who attained Dao with a single awakening, who became Immortals with a single insight—there were countless of them. It's just that you latter-day people are so inferior, you're easily amazed!"

Pan Yun: "I don't compare myself to the Laozu. I only compare myself to those of my own era."

Indeed, there was none.

Even Pan Xiaohei, stubborn as he was, had to admit: Pan Yun was truly incredible.

Leaping two levels—but…

"Can you even survive it? You still carry the grudges of the Mount Sanqing deity."

Pan Yun sensed the fourth thunder was about to strike. She opened her eyes and, in the darkness, stared at her palm: "So Xue Shao's advice came just in time. Thank goodness I'm undergoing Tribulation Crossing on Coal Mountain."

Through Pan Yun's eyes, Pan Xiaohei saw with her the Forbidden City below, equally relieved.

Thank goodness she was undergoing Tribulation Crossing on Coal Mountain—she could borrow a thread of national fortune.

Pan Yun once again received the heavenly thunder—this was the fourth. The Spirit Realm, terrified she'd be obliterated, couldn't hold back and absorbed one-third of the Lei Jie, leaving the rest for her to endure.

When Pan Yun landed again, the scent of roasted meat on her body grew even stronger.

By now, night had fully fallen. Jingcheng had a curfew; though the Imperial Guards didn't order civilians to return home, they enforced silence with stricter vigilance.

Elders with children went home automatically; those who couldn't hold out slipped away quietly to sleep. But most people remained on the streets, silently praying for Pan Yun's safe Tribulation Crossing.

Meanwhile, officials within the imperial palace and court ministers stood motionless—not one dared leave.

The Emperor sat unmoved on the Star Gazing Terrace, allowing the Commander of the Imperial Guards and the Grand Secretaries to speak, yet refusing to budge.

So everyone silently stayed up with him, staying up with Pan Yun.

Watching the churning clouds overhead, civil and military officials felt complex emotions. Most hoped Pan Yun would survive, but some secretly wished she'd be struck into oblivion—after all, she was sometimes truly annoying.

Pan Yun sat cross-legged on the ground, absorbing Qi and Merit, occasionally hearing the sound of Merit being deducted.

She didn't care.

She wasn't silver or gold—of course some disliked her. Even money has people who regard it as filth, calling it nothing but the stench of copper.

Pan Yun accepted the malice that came with fate.

The fifth heavenly thunder took longer to gather.

Pan Yun knew that even as her Yuan force recovered and her body grew stronger, she could not outpace the speed at which the thunder grew more powerful.

So, as the fifth thunder neared, she silently pulled out a Lightning-Avoiding Tower.

This was a Tribulation-Crossing tool she'd begun crafting after her First Marquis stage—just in case, she'd prepared six in total.

She thought: Surely I can endure the first three myself?

She hadn't expected to be so divine.

Pan Yun slammed the Lightning-Avoiding Tower hard into the ground, rooting it five meters away from her.

The tower was tall, appearing out of thin air—no one in the darkness could see it.

But when the fifth heavenly thunder struck, the sky blazed white as daylight, and the suddenly materialized white tower became visible to all.

Even the Emperor couldn't help pointing at the tower: "Could that be a Divine Artifact?"

The Divine Artifact absorbed part of the thunder; the lightning, like half a Shanfeng, split midair—one half struck Pan Yun.

In a place unseen by all, the lightning absorbed by the Lightning-Avoiding Tower connected to Coal Mountain, purging dark energy, then surged straight along the central axis toward the Forbidden City.

Zhang Zijin lowered his gaze to the imperial palace below, silent.

Wang Feiyin also sensed something, and followed suit, lowering his head.

They exchanged a glance, both silent.

One Lightning-Avoiding Tower could only absorb half a thunder—its base was half-destroyed.

Pan Yun caught her breath, opened her eyes, and silently pulled out another Lightning-Avoiding Tower, planting it beside her…

By dawn, Pan Yun had endured seven thunder strikes, surrounded by five Lightning-Avoiding Towers.

At first light, those with precise internal clocks sensed sunrise.

The clouds above had halved, now concentrated almost entirely over the Forbidden City and Pan Yun's head—elsewhere, daylight was visible.

After one night, Jingcheng's civilians had grown accustomed to the thunder.

They no longer feared it as they had yesterday—after all, the lightning only struck Coal Mountain and the National Teacher, never them.

It thundered without rain, so they didn't even need to prepare straw hats.

When Pan Yun endured the eighth heavenly thunder, her entire body had turned to black charcoal, and all her Lightning-Avoiding Towers were ruined. Pan Xiaohei fell into deeper silence; the human and the spirit said nothing, silently gathering strength for the final blow.

And the dark clouds in midair were also gathering strength for one final strike.

She had thought the ninth heavenly thunderbolt would take at least four hours to come crashing down, but the moment the eighth had barely finished striking, a gust of wild wind rose, the thunderclouds condensed at an inconceivable speed, collided, gathered…