Chapter 285: The Dark Night Is Invisible

Pan Yun shot straight into the thunderclouds, where lightning flashed and thunder roared, crackling silver ribbons of lightning crisscrossing, appearing even more ferocious than the first strike.

Within a hundred li, sleepers in the villages finally couldn't bear it anymore—they rose, pushed open their windows, and looked out, "Why is winter thunder so violent?"

"Is a heavy storm coming?"

The man who opened his window looked up and saw half the sky lit white—he froze, his mind momentarily scrambled, "Has it already turned daybreak?"

Amid the flashes and crashes, he thought he saw a human figure suspended in midair—seven or eight bolts of lightning from within the thunderclouds struck the dark shape in rapid succession.

He couldn't help but scream, "My god…"

The crowd standing in the Three Pure Ones Temple, gazing upward at the thunderclouds, also cried out in shock, "Our Ancestral Dao…"

Tao Ji stared, dumbfounded, "It's over—Little Sister flew up into the sky. Without the Wind and Thunder Tower to share the burden, these lightning strikes are so fierce—can she withstand them?"

Master Xuanmiao's face was expressionless as she stared tightly at the heights: "She won't die."

With a deafening crack, the earth shook and mountains trembled—within the thunderclouds, the seven or eight bolts did not merge into one; instead, they struck Pan Yun from all directions at once.

Pan Yun showed no fear—she roared, reached out, and caught all seven or eight bolts in her hands. Vast primordial energy surged forth, blocking the lightning and even pushing it upward by an inch.

Then came a hissing sound—each bolt of lightning she caught turned into thin threads, piercing through her arms and spreading through her entire body…

Though furious, the thunderclouds had time limits—after five breaths of battling Pan Yun, they retracted their currents.

Pan Yun hovered in midair, waist in hand, laughing heartily—then, with a sharp crack, the dissipating clouds collided in pairs, positive and negative poles meeting directly above her—she was struck head-on and blasted away like an angry angry bird shot from a slingshot.

Wang Feiyin saw her plummet vertically toward the valley in a blur—he flashed forward instantly to catch her.

Wang Feiyin moved with blinding speed, aiming for her collar—he grabbed it, but the two passed each other; his raised left hand barely brushed her arm.

He glanced at the clump of ash in his right hand, cried "Ah!" and dropped straight down after her, "You little brat, your clothes turned to ash—use your primordial energy, use your lightness technique!"

Pan Yun hadn't lost consciousness—though that final extra bolt had been unexpected, she'd endured it—but…

Her entire body crackled with lightning—electricity flickered beneath her skin. Not only were her limbs numb, but her dantian and meridians were numb too~~

She fell at terrifying speed, fighting the wind as she shouted, "Master—"

Whether she actually shouted it out, she didn't know—but as she neared the ground, a tree on the cliffside suddenly grew wildly, branches and leaves thrusting out; Pan Yun shot through the soft foliage with a series of soft thuds, bouncing like on a trampoline—thud-thud-thud—slowing her descent until, just as Wang Feiyin was about to grab her, she splatted into the soil.

The soil was soft—not hard stone—and beneath it lay a thick layer of fallen leaves.

Pan Yun groaned, "Ow, ow!" Wang Feiyin hurried over, "Where did you land?"

Kneeling on one knee, he realized the ground was absurdly soft.

He retracted his hand, looked down, and stomped lightly—his worry vanished.

Wang Feiyin stood without expression, arms behind his back, scolding: "Don't tempt fate—look what you've done. Can't you just sit still and let the lightning strike? The Wind and Thunder Tower absorbs half the bolts—keeps you safe. Why did you fly up to catch them yourself? Are you that bored?"

Pan Yun wiggled her fingers and toes—she wasn't numb anymore—she propped herself up on her arms, "I thought I could take it—and I did. The thunderclouds broke the rules—they struck me one extra time!"

Wang Feiyin: "You had it coming."

He reached to help her up—pulled—and realized something was wrong. He looked down, turned away instantly, and tossed an outer robe over her head: "Change your clothes."

Pan Yun pulled the robe off, looked down—and saw her clothing torn into scattered patches, all stripped away by branches during her fall.

She grabbed a scrap of fabric, squeezed it—and it turned to ash. She opened her hand—the wind blew the ash away.

Pan Yun: …

But what truly stunned Pan Yun wasn't her clothes—it was… she pinched her own skin—and peeled off a layer of black skin, as thick as an eggshell: "Oh my god, Brother, my skin fell off."

Wang Feiyin turned back, saw her holding the black layer, and noticed a patch of luminous white skin on her arm. He was about to speak—then fine raindrops landed on his face. He looked up at the fading storm clouds and said: "After Tribulation Crossing, there's always a rain. This rain carries heavy spiritual energy and the Dao's intent. Sit and meditate now."

Saying this, he flew off, landed on a protruding rock nearby, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes to meditate.

Pan Yun, seeing this, immediately draped the robe over herself and sat to meditate.

Though her clothes were tattered, she was in fine rain, in the dead of night—yet she felt no cold at all.

As she channeled her cultivation method, she wandered in thought: Either this was her Tribulation Crossing rain, so it didn't harm her…

Or… this black layer on her skin blocked the cold.

Why do humans feel cold?

Because the body exchanges heat with the air.

Whether a thermos or a freezer—the principle is the same: isolate the air. The better the isolation, the longer the temperature lasts.

Spiritual energy entered her body, circulating with the stored lightning and golden merit force—by the time it reached her Lower Dantian, it had refined into liquid, gently settling there.

But every time she drew energy from her Lower Dantian, the droplet-shaped primordial energy first vaporized, then surged rapidly through her meridians.

Pan Yun felt this was different from her past life's definition of First Marquis.

In her past life, breaking through First Marquis meant refining primordial energy into denser qi—from mist to solidified qi.

Second Marquis was when it became gelatinous droplets.

But her current primordial energy was neither gelatinous droplets like Second Marquis nor the solidified qi of her past life's First Marquis—it was clear, individual droplets, hovering between the two.

Pan Yun stared again and again, then poked her Spirit Realm: "Pan Xiaohei, wake up—look at my current primordial energy state."

Pan Xiaohei, half-asleep, glanced once and said: "That extra bolt wasn't wasted. Congratulations—you've reached Halfway to Second Marquis. But only if you fill all three dantians with droplet primordial energy."

Pan Yun silently observed internally—after three small heavenly cycles, she refined all her stored gaseous primordial energy into liquid form. The combined droplets from her Upper, Middle, and Lower Dantians barely covered the bottom of her Lower Dantian.

Pan Yun: "... How long will it take to fill this pit?"

This book's latest update is ##!! Updated!

Even if you fill it, you might not break through to Second Marquis.

Indeed—the higher you go, the harder it becomes.

Pan Yun ended her cultivation, pulled out her clothes from her Spirit Realm, and put them on. Then she reached up to Wang Feiyin on the rock: "Brother, carry me."

Wang Feiyin had finished his cultivation too—understood nothing—so he leapt down from the rock, frowned, circled her, and said: "Your cultivation has advanced a lot—can't you fly up yourself?"

Pan Yun: "It's pitch black—I can't even tell which way the Three Pure Ones Temple is. How am I supposed to fly? Big Brother, just carry me, please."

Wang Feiyin sighed helplessly, grabbed her, and soared upward along the cliff.

Like a great eagle climbing the cliffside, he drifted effortlessly to the Purple Smoke Rock.

The Purple Smoke Stone — a massive boulder jutting out from the mountaintop. If it were on flat ground, it could hold every person on Mount Sanqing.

Unfortunately, only one third of it touches the ground; the other two thirds hang over a cliff.

A bottomless cliff.

And the side that touches the ground is about three to five meters below the top of the Purple Smoke Stone.

In any case, every time Pan Yun came here to watch the sunset, she was standing — well, not standing on the Purple Smoke Stone, but on the wooden ladder that climbed up it, with only her upper body showing.

This was her first time standing on top of the Purple Smoke Stone.

The wind came howling in — open on three sides, cliffs on three sides. If Wang Feiyin hadn't been gripping her, she felt the wind would have blown her away!

Pan Yun clutched Wang Feiyin's hand with trembling fingers and said calmly, "Senior Brother, it just rained, the night wind is cold — let's head back."

Wang Feiyin glanced at her, then scooped her up and flew down from the Purple Smoke Stone.

Once her feet touched the ground, Pan Yun inconspicuously let out a breath, turned, and started walking to the right — only to be grabbed by the collar by Wang Feiyin, who dragged her off to the left. "This way."

Pan Yun waved weakly. "Brother, brother, there's no rush with object-flight — can we learn it tomorrow? I just broke through, and I just went through a fight. What I need most right now is food and a bed…"

Wang Feiyin dragged her all the way to the place where she had just undergone her Tribulation Crossing. Passing beneath a pine tree, he even picked up the sleeping black cat and tossed it into her arms, then hauled her all the way to the edge of the big rock.

Pan Yun glanced down — her hands and feet went weak — and immediately looked back up.

Wang Feiyin couldn't understand. "When you use your lightness skill you're clearly fine, you can even use it to fly to the treetops, to fly off cliffs — why are you still afraid of heights?"

Pan Yun shook her head. "I'm not afraid of heights. If I were afraid of heights, could I even practice lightness skill?"

"Is that so?" Wang Feiyin pointed down. "Jump. From here, get back to the Daoist temple."

Pan Yun leaned over for a look, then said, "It just rained, everything's wet, the rock is very slippery — and I just went through Tribulation Crossing, my hands and feet still aren't very strong… Aiya, I'm going—!"

Pan Yun was kicked off by Wang Feiyin. Her belly sucked in, her core tightened, and she immediately stepped off the rock — tap tap tap — down she went, finally landing in a graceful flutter. But in the dark she hadn't seen clearly: the moment her foot touched down, the ground slipped, her body instantly tilted backward, her shoe flew off, and with a smack she landed right on her bottom…

Pan Yun froze for a beat, then let out a wail — "Oww!" — clutching her tailbone and shrieking, "Senior Brother—!"

Wang Feiyin startled, hurriedly leaned over to look, flew down to help her up, frowning. "You can fall from this? Are you really a First Marquis?"

Pan Yun looked up. "I told you — it's dark, I can't see!"

Good night.

(End of chapter)