I Reloaded the Save File! [Transmigration] - Chapter 19

Just as the Sect Master’s voice fell, an anomaly appeared in the back mountain. The previously clear sky instantly darkened, black clouds rolled in mid-air, and a faint lightning glow could be seen flashing within them.

“Someone in the back mountain is breaking through!” One of the Elders was the first to realize it.

“Looking at the scale of the lightning tribulation, someone must be breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage,” the Sect Master’s face broke into a smile. “Junior Sister, I’ll leave this place to you for now. I need to go to the back mountain.”

At the same time, Xuan Shuang also reacted immediately, instantly redirecting her sword flight and accelerating toward the back mountain.

“Revered Master, is Senior Sister about to break through?” Zuo Wuyi’s sword flight was a little slow, so Xuan Shuang simply grabbed her and flew with her to the back mountain.

“It should be,” Xuan Shuang replied.

Xuan Shuang was the closest to the back mountain, so she was the first to arrive. Seeing that the lightning tribulation was still brewing, she couldn’t help but feel worried. If the lightning didn’t strike soon, its power would increase as time passed.

“Revered Master.” A woman wearing a red robe flew over from a distance on her sword, and upon seeing Zuo Wuyi, she also offered a greeting. “Junior Sister.”

“Senior Sister Yun Yu,” Zuo Wuyi nodded in response, then immediately shifted her gaze to the churning thunderclouds.

Logically speaking, there should only be three sets of nine lightning strikes when breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage, and the color should be a common white. But why did she feel that the thunderclouds above her head were subtly tending toward purple?

“Junior Sister Xuan Shuang, is Yun Mu about to break through?” The Sect Master followed closely, his voice filled with excitement.

Xuan Shuang nodded, her gaze toward the sky becoming serious. She confirmed that she hadn’t seen wrong—the color of the lightning tribulation was beginning to change, shifting from white to purple.

At this moment, Mo Xiao was desperately suppressing the chaotic spiritual energy running through her body. Her expression was one of pain, and numerous tiny wounds on her body were constantly seeping blood.

After entering seclusion in the back mountain, Mo Xiao’s breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Stage had been smooth. She was nearly ready to shatter her Golden Core and form her Nascent Soul in less than two years. But what she hadn’t expected was that, just as her Nascent Soul was about to successfully condense, the Sword Intent she had cultivated prematurely began to change, subtly trending toward the development of the Way of the Sword.

One must know that Sword Intent was generally only comprehended by Sword Cultivators at the Nascent Soul or Soul Transformation Stage. The Way of the Sword was even more profound, rumored to be achieved only by Great Vehicle Stage Sword Cultivators who had grasped the Way of the Sword, which was a prerequisite for Ascension.

The original Mo Xiao, relying on her talent, had prematurely cultivated the雏形 (rudiment) of Sword Intent at the mid-Golden Core Stage, which had already drawn much attention. According to the progression of her past life, she had only touched the threshold of the Way of the Sword when breaking through to Soul Transformation, and she had only achieved the complete Way of the Sword when breaking through to the Great Vehicle Stage.

Yet now, she was only attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage, and the Sword Intent within her already showed a tendency to form the Way of the Sword. The power of the Way of the Sword was simply not something a Nascent Soul-level physical body could withstand. She had to prevent the formation of the Way of the Sword.

However, things like Sword Intent and the Way of the Sword, unlike cultivation, depended on comprehension and state of mind. Mo Xiao had already cultivated the Way of the Sword before, and this was not reversible like cultivation level.

The current situation was as if Mo Xiao’s original Way of the Sword had fed the originally rudimentary Sword Intent a massive tonic that directly raised it to max level, forcing the Sword Intent to undergo a qualitative change and an over-leveled upgrade.

In order to allow her Sword Intent to properly digest this massive tonic and, at the same time, suppress the formation of the Way of the Sword, Mo Xiao had no choice but to extend her period of seclusion. This delay had dragged on until now.

As time passed, the unruly spiritual energy within Mo Xiao’s body was meticulously sorted out by her. The perfectly complete Sword Intent was forcibly suppressed and directly integrated into her Nascent Soul.

“The lightning tribulation is coming,” The Sect Master looked toward the sky. Although his face showed some concern, the joy in his eyes was more pronounced. This was because the stronger the lightning tribulation at this stage, the greater Yun Mu’s talent was. As long as Yun Mu successfully passed the tribulation, the Wendao Sect would gain another exceptionally talented Soul Transformation Elder in the future.

“Revered Master, Junior Sister still has the artifact you gave her. She will be fine,” the red-robed woman, Xuan Shuang’s eldest disciple Yun Yu, offered words of comfort.

Xuan Shuang nodded. “Let’s hope so.”

Only after Mo Xiao’s Nascent Soul achieved perfection did the thunderclouds officially finish condensing. In one breath, they unleashed three continuous lightning strikes, each as thick as an arm.

Mo Xiao calmly raised her sword, using her Sword Intent to cleave the first two strikes, then taking the third strike directly with her body.

“Cough, cough.” Mo Xiao covered her mouth and coughed twice, blood seeping out through the gaps between her fingers. It seemed that the perfectly complete Sword Intent was too heaven-defying; otherwise, the power of this tribulation would not have been so strong.

Taking advantage of the lull before the second lightning tribulation, Mo Xiao took out a healing pill and swallowed it, temporarily alleviating some of her internal injuries. This scene made Zuo Wuyi, who was watching from not far away, very worried.

“System, Mo Xiao won’t have an accident during this breakthrough, will she?” Zuo Wuyi asked in her sea of consciousness.

【Statistically speaking, Mo Xiao’s chance of successful breakthrough is seventy percent, and the chance of failure is thirty percent.】 After saying this, the System noticed Zuo Wuyi’s troubled expression and quickly added, 【The probability of death is zero percent!】

In less than a quarter of an hour, the second lightning tribulation had brewed. This time, the lightning strikes were still as thick as a forearm, faintly tinged with purple within the white, and three strikes came down consecutively.

The power of the three lightning strikes was roughly the same as the first set. Mo Xiao chose to evenly weaken the strikes’ power, then used the power of her defensive artifact to counteract the remaining attack power of the tribulation.

Only the final three lightning strikes remained. The Sect Master, at this point, couldn’t help but become nervous. Yun Mu must endure!

Mo Xiao’s situation was not as dangerous as it appeared. Although the lightning tribulation had wounded her, it also caused the Sword Intent integrated into her Nascent Soul to slowly spread into her meridians, repairing her injuries to a certain extent.

“No, the last three lightning strikes are trending toward merging!” The Sect Master was the highest cultivated person present and the first to notice the anomaly of the tribulation.

Xuan Shuang’s face grew several shades more serious upon hearing this. She had already prepared her defensive artifact. If the situation turned sour, she would save her second disciple’s life, even if it meant intercepting the tribulation herself.

“Revered Master, it’s Junior Sister’s Sword Intent! She has cultivated the complete Sword Intent!” Yun Yu said, her voice clearly filled with joy. “If she uses her Sword Intent, Junior Sister will definitely be fine.”

Accompanying Yun Yu’s voice, Mo Xiao also began to move. She completely released the Sword Intent from her meridians, forming a barrier composed of sword Qi outside her body.

Looking up, Mo Xiao saw the three-in-one lightning tribulation striking down at her. She chose neither to evade nor to block, but instead raised her sword and charged directly toward the direction of the tribulation.

The Sword Intent within her Nascent Soul was condensed through Mo Xiao’s body into the sword in her hand. The sword tip met the lightning tribulation directly. The moment they clashed, Mo Xiao drew all the spiritual energy from her body, forcefully pushing the lightning tribulation back a distance of three inches.

However, the stalemate between the two was very brief. With a loud roar, the power of the lightning tribulation and Mo Xiao’s Sword Intent was released simultaneously, completely destroying the nearby mountaintop, instantly sending rubble flying and obscuring Mo Xiao’s figure.

“Mo Xiao!” Zuo Wuyi cried out nervously. She didn’t hesitate, immediately taking to her sword and flying toward Mo Xiao’s location.

Xuan Shuang didn’t have time to stop Zuo Wuyi; she could only immediately follow her to prevent the lingering lightning strikes from harming her.

“Cough, cough, I’m fine,” Mo Xiao got up from the ground before Zuo Wuyi reached her. Her originally blue-white long robe was mixed with blood and dirt, making her look quite disheveled.

“You call this ‘fine’?” Zuo Wuyi’s tears rolled out of her eyes despite herself. She wanted to rush forward and hug Mo Xiao, but seeing the wounds on her body, she stopped in her tracks, afraid to do anything.

“If it’s convenient, could you cast a cleansing spell on me?” Mo Xiao said. Looking at the familiar appearance and figure before her, Mo Xiao couldn’t help but smile slightly. Before Zuo Wuyi could cast the cleansing spell, Mo Xiao collapsed, having exhausted all her spiritual energy.

In the instant before losing consciousness, Mo Xiao took several long, earnest looks at Zuo Wuyi, sighing internally. So, the youthful appearance of Zuo Wuyi is so vastly different from her adult appearance. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought they were two different people.

Zuo Wuyi quickly reached out to catch her, looking at the wounded Mo Xiao, unsure where to start.

“Yun Mu has only passed out from spiritual energy depletion. She just needs some rest,” Xuan Shuang said, taking out a bottle of pills and handing them to Zuo Wuyi. “Have her take these later. They will help her heal.”

“Mhm, okay,” Zuo Wuyi said, sniffing.

After some unknown amount of time, Mo Xiao vaguely regained some consciousness. She could indistinctly hear Zuo Wuyi’s voice, but couldn’t make out the words clearly.

“Mo Xiao, if you don’t wake up soon, I’m going to leave, you know. I have class this afternoon. If my professor catches me skipping, you’ll have to take responsibility for me,” Zuo Wuyi kept muttering.

Looking at Mo Xiao, who was on an IV drip, Zuo Wuyi was very anxious. Every few minutes, she would feel Mo Xiao’s forehead and then pinch her cheek.

“Stop messing around…” Mo Xiao managed to open her eyes, raising her arm to grab Zuo Wuyi’s restless hand. “If you have class, then go…”

“Mo Xiao, you’re awake!” Zuo Wuyi cried out happily, then immediately pulled out the pill Xuan Shuang had given her. “Revered Master gave me this. Hurry up and eat it.”

“Hmm?” A question mark slowly appeared above Mo Xiao’s head. Only after she clearly saw Zuo Wuyi’s appearance did she realize that this was not the campus clinic, and they were no longer the college students they once were.

“What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable?” Zuo Wuyi asked nervously.

Mo Xiao shook her head. “I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

“That’s good. Come on, open your mouth.” Zuo Wuyi helped Mo Xiao sit up and poured out the pill.

Mo Xiao obediently opened her mouth. Looking at Zuo Wuyi, who was wearing a pale purple long robe, a ridiculous thought surfaced in her mind. If the two of them could return to the past now, the outcome back then would surely be rewritten, wouldn’t it?