This just made the Dragon Spirit even angrier. He knew it—this damned Yun Ran, always taking advantage of him!

"Fine, I’ll let it slide this time. Next time—hmph—next time I’m definitely not sticking my nose in!"

While the Dragon Spirit was fuming, Yun Ran had already found a source of water.

Uh... no, not quite. Looking at the puddle about the size of a tiny bath, Yun Ran still didn’t dislike it enough to pass.

After she quickly scrubbed herself clean, she realized that her originally delicate, smooth skin was now practically glowing.

"Wao, what kind of jackpot did I just hit?"

The puddle that had been fairly clean a moment ago now looked exactly like a cesspit.

And the few scraggly weeds standing strong beside it instantly wilted.

The ’light source’ Yun Ran awkwardly turned her head away: My bad, my bad~

Unfortunately, her talisman paper had lost its effectiveness here inside the Gang Qi Barrier, so she could only manually lay down a few isolating Arrays.

Just to make sure the stench from the newly upgraded cesspit wouldn’t spread.

After finishing all this, Yun Ran finally turned and left, continuing to check the Defensive Arrays she’d set up before, to see if she’d missed any spots.

When Yun Ran returned to where Er Dan was hatching, the whole eggshell had gone from "smooth mode" to "spiderweb mode."

If Er Dan’s eggshell had been even a little more fragile, these shells would’ve already turned into a pile of crumbs.

The thunderclouds in the sky had completely covered the entire valley. Anyone with eyes could tell how terrifying this Heavenly Tribulation was going to be.

At the same time, those keeping watch on the perimeter saw this scene, and their first reaction was to order their people to retreat immediately.

Earlier, they’d still been thinking about "being the first by the waterside pavilion to get the moon."

But now, seeing those thunderclouds, all they could feel was a blade hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment.

Especially those high-ranked, powerful types; faces grim, they pulled back from the area.

The more excited they’d been coming in, the more pathetic they looked now as they fled.

The oppressive feeling of the thunderclouds was so intense it scared even the naturally greedy into feeling genuine fear.

Someone was even so terrified by the scene on the spot that they mentally collapsed and broke down sobbing.

"What the hell is that thing? Why did it summon such terrifying thunderclouds? This is going to flatten the whole area!"

"Judging from this, I’d say everything within dozens of miles won’t be safe. We have to evacuate as fast as possible, otherwise..."

"I’m not dying here! My bright youth! My glorious future!"

...

The people who had rushed over all hyped up were now fleeing in utter disarray.

While Xuan Chu had been unconscious, his body had already been recovering rapidly. At this point, although his face was still a bit pale, he was basically fine.

He stood on a tree a few meters tall, watching the people below hurriedly taking off.

Then he looked up at the thunderclouds in the sky, and his expression instantly turned grave.

Looks like he had underestimated how much this world could not tolerate Er Dan.

A Heavenly Tribulation of this level— even with his Array suppressing a bit of it — under absolute overwhelming power, his Array was practically ornamental.

The Little Paperman, which had undergone Heavenly Thunder Refinement, saw how much thundercloud had gathered in such a short time, and its tiny features twisted.

"Th-this is bad. A Heavenly Tribulation this terrifying would blast even us into dust. What the heck is Er Dan?!"

The Little Paperman felt like it was about to lose its mind. Damn Er Dan—if it had known earlier, it should’ve figured out a way to kill it off.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be getting dragged down by it at a time like this!

Xuan Chu’s expression wasn’t great either, but there was clearly nothing more he could do here.

After thinking for a second, Xuan Chu directly instructed the Little Paperman, "Follow those people. When the Heavenly Tribulation is over, block them. You absolutely can’t let them cross your line. Can you do it?"

The Little Paperman didn’t know what Xuan Chu wanted to do, but still instinctively nodded.

"I can. Besides, when the time comes, I can secretly absorb a portion of the Heavenly Thunder’s power and store it.

Later, when those people have been scared half to death by Er Dan’s Heavenly Tribulation, I’ll jump out—guaranteed to scare them to death!"

After following its master for so long, the Little Paperman didn’t just know Righteous Sect methods; all those conman tricks and scams were second nature too.

Anyway, as long as the goal was achieved, any method was fine!

"Alright, go."

The Little Paperman left, while Xuan Chu headed in the complete opposite direction.

The area around the valley was already deserted, only a bunch of belongings left behind in the rush to escape.

Xuan Chu took a deep breath, then braced himself and charged into the Gang Wind Barrier.

The Little Paperman had already told him in detail what happened to anyone else who tried to break in.

The expected scene of being bounced back and heavily injured didn’t happen. Xuan Chu only felt a resistance that was neither too strong nor too weak.

To Xuan Chu, that was basically no resistance at all.

The moment he entered the Gang Qi Barrier, Xuan Chu was crit-hit by a wave of stench straight to his face.

Catching him completely off guard, it was pure, unfiltered physical damage.

Xuan Chu almost turned around and walked right back out, but as soon as that thought arose, he forcibly shoved it down again.

Out of habit, Xuan Chu wanted to take a deep breath to calm his inner turmoil.

The reek lingering at the tip of his nose immediately froze him in place. This time, Xuan Chu was genuinely a little embarrassed.

Luckily, he remembered to seal off his sense of smell first, and only then barely managed to suppress the turmoil in his heart.

Now he finally had the courage to go on.

As he walked, Xuan Chu finally sensed the Dragon Spirit’s aura.

"Perfect. The Dragon Spirit can share some of the Heavenly Tribulation for Er Dan. That takes a lot of pressure off Yun Ran and me."

The heaviness on Xuan Chu’s face vanished at once, and even his steps grew much lighter.

When Xuan Chu finally reached where Er Dan was hatching, he saw Yun Ran and the Dragon Spirit sitting one to the south and one to the north, looking extremely distant from each other.

"You two had another fight?"

That "another" was the key. Clearly, Xuan Chu was already used to Yun Ran and the Dragon Spirit acting all estranged every time they quarreled. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The Dragon Spirit looked up and saw Xuan Chu’s rather pale face, and how his steps were noticeably more unsteady than before.

His brows immediately furrowed. "What happened to you? Why do you look like this?"

Xuan Chu: ...

Right now he felt the Dragon Spirit was kind of Versailles-ing him, completely unable to understand how annoying it was for fragile mortal flesh to suffer backlash.