Chapter 4717 — Before She Could Finish

Given the power this bolt of lightning had displayed, a cultivator at her level—one who had reached the great consummation of the Nascent Soul stage—would not have escaped with mere serious injuries even if she survived; at the very least, she would have been knocked unconscious. Heavenly lightning was no laughing matter.

The sudden commotion startled not only Huo Yudie but even Wei Zhao, who had been walking ahead. He hurriedly turned back to check on her, and only after confirming that the girl was unharmed did he relax. Looking at her with helpless exasperation, he said, "Didn't you know there was heavenly lightning in this place? And you still went wandering around..."

"I... I just wanted to try it out, isn't that allowed?" Huo Yudie flushed red and replied meekly. Then she lowered her head to look at the split leg of her trousers, her face full of indescribable distress. These were clothes from the mortal world—perhaps the only set she would ever have in this lifetime...

Seeing that expression on her face, Wei Zhao was momentarily at a loss for words. He strongly suspected that this girl was missing a screw somewhere; faced with something like this, her first reaction wasn't fear or lingering dread, but heartache over her trousers?!

Seeing Wei Zhao turn and walk off without a word, Huo Yudie hurriedly called out, "Hey, wait for me!"

She had nearly been struck by lightning just moments ago, and it would be a lie to say she felt no lingering fear at all. Though she found it utterly unbelievable, Huo Yudie now believed that Wei Zhao truly wasn't walking at random—he really did have a way to avoid the hidden heavenly lightning formation here. After all, Wei Zhao had given her no small number of surprises over the past few days, and she had grown somewhat accustomed to them by now.

"Just follow behind me and don't go wandering off," Wei Zhao said, glancing back at her.

"But... but..." Huo Yudie hemmed and hawed, clearly wanting to say something but holding back.

"But what? Is there some other danger here?" Wei Zhao was taken aback.

"Danger? No, that's not it. I meant my trousers..." Huo Yudie blushed and pointed at the slit split open in her trouser leg, through which a small stretch of fair, smooth calf was faintly visible. Though not much was exposed, she had always dressed conservatively, and the feeling was rather odd.

"Oh, that's nothing. Beggar jeans are all the rage in the mortal world—lots of people buy denim and deliberately tear holes in it. A little rip like yours wouldn't even register with them; you'd need at least a dozen or so," Wei Zhao said with a laugh.

"Really?" Huo Yudie's eyes widened in disbelief. To deliberately ruin a perfectly good pair of trousers before wearing them—there were actually people like that in the world? The mortal world was truly amazing.

"It's true. If you don't believe me, ask Han Jingyi when you get back. You know she came up from the mortal world just like me, right?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Oh, alright." Only then did Huo Yudie nod, half-convinced. She knew of Han Jingyi. On this trip to West Island, she had wanted to get properly acquainted with Han Jingyi, but unfortunately Han Jingyi was either with Wei Zhao or holed up in the laboratory, so she had never had the chance to meet her, much less strike up a conversation.

Seeing Wei Zhao once again weaving this way and that up ahead, moving as freely as before, Huo Yudie hurried to follow, burning with curiosity to figure out the trick. Yet after trailing closely behind him for quite some time, she still couldn't discern the slightest pattern—every turn he made seemed utterly inexplicable, with no rhyme or reason to it at all.

"Hey, why do you go this way?" Huo Yudie felt as if a cat were clawing at her heart and couldn't help but ask. If not for the lesson from moments ago still fresh in her memory, she would have been tempted to try it herself again.

"Intuition." Wei Zhao's answer was terse. There was no help for it—he truly couldn't answer her question. Of course he didn't know whether danger lay ahead, but he had the jade pendant to warn him; whenever danger appeared ahead, it gave him a warning, and once he found the direction in which the warnings completely ceased, he could proceed without fail.

"Hmph, you stingy miser!" Huo Yudie muttered. Her face still wore a half-doubtful expression. Of course she didn't believe it was all purely intuition, yet as far as she could tell, only intuition could explain it. She could only conclude that Wei Zhao was a fellow who defied common sense. Following behind him was certainly the right move.

And so the two of them wove back and forth through the boulder formation for the better part of half a day. Several times they blundered into places where lightning hemmed them in on three sides, and even Wei Zhao, with the jade pendant's warnings, was at a loss—he could only retreat a little and feel his way forward again, and only then did they finally succeed in getting around it.

According to the markings on the map, the Thunder Profound Vine lay just beyond the boulder formation. Wei Zhao surveyed the area: ahead was a clearing of modest size, and with no boulders blocking the way, it looked suddenly open and spacious. After comparing it against the map, he nodded and said, "This should be the place."

Huo Yudie said nothing, her gaze fixed straight on the structure in the middle of the clearing that resembled a memorial archway, staring blankly, somewhat lost in thought. To be honest, she felt rather dazed at this moment. Without Wei Zhao, this formidable teammate, she could never have reached this place on her own—at least, certainly not so quickly and so effortlessly.

"What's wrong?" Wei Zhao gave her a puzzled look and urged, "Hurry up and tell me what we should do next. Time is limited, so don't waste any more of it."

Although Huo Yudie had yet to explain how the Thunder Profound Vine could be found, Wei Zhao could guess well enough. Something like the Thunder Profound Vine wouldn't be easy to locate; even upon reaching the destination, one would likely have to meet some extremely stringent and peculiar conditions. Otherwise, with the heavenly lightning formation as the only obstacle, the difficulty would clearly be mismatched with the caliber of the Thunder Profound Vine—it would be a bit too easy.

Huo Yudie was stunned for a moment before she came back to herself. She pointed at the archway before them and said, "This is the Five Thunder Tribulation Archway, and it is precisely the eye of the entire heavenly lightning formation. Only by attacking the formation eye can we temporarily break the heavenly lightning formation and have a chance to find the Thunder Profound Vine. After the formation is broken, it will stay open for five days; after five days, the heavenly lightning formation will automatically reset. So we must withdraw before then."

"That simple?" Wei Zhao's heart stirred at her words, and he immediately made to summon his true qi and launch an attack. He was pressed for time now, and he wouldn't hesitate over such matters. In truth, hesitation was useless anyway—whether it would work could only be known by trying.

"Hey! Hold on!" Huo Yudie was startled and hastily grabbed him. "I haven't finished talking yet—don't be in such a hurry!"

"What else is there?" Wei Zhao frowned.

"Although this Five Thunder Tribulation Archway is indeed the formation eye, ordinary attacks are useless against it. Not only will they fail to break the formation, they'll actually draw down the most powerful heavenly lightning—and the two of us will surely die here!" Huo Yudie said, still shaken by the thought. (The School Beauty web drama launches today on iQiyi—did everyone go watch it? Merman's official WeChat account 22.) (To be continued) I752