Chapter 27. Three-Nine Heavenly Tribulation[1]
"We interrupt this program with a breaking news. This is a red warning. Residents of S city please take note, the water level of the Huangpu River is rapidly increasing. Please take preventative measures immediately and evacuate from the vicinity of the river. Please immediately evacuate from the vicinity of the river!"
"I repeat, all residents of S city, especially those living close to the Huangpu River, please take safety precautions! This is a red warning, this is a red warning. All residents of S city please take note……"
It had already rained continuously in S city for many days, but the rain today was the fiercest; it was as if the Heavens were spraying water downwards. The rain fell as a sheet and if you looked outside your window, you would be able to see that the city seemed to be surrounded by a transparent layer of water, like a transparent dumpling; the humans and the city were the fillings in the dumpling. There were already some businesses considering producing even more transparent glutinous rice sesame dumplings, even the script for the commercials had already been thought up. 'To all of us who have been wrapped up like dumplings by the rain, eat xx glutinous rice dumplings, the taste is definitely superb!'
Hm? A thunderbolt fell from the sky! Two bolts! Three…… ah ah ah so many bolts of lightning!
Got it! How boring are glutinous rice dumplings? Use purple potato to craft thin threads and make them into purple lightning glutinous rice dumplings, how about that~
Of course, foodies would only think about eating when they saw this scene, but some other people, when they saw this, their expressions suddenly changed.
Wan Gu Entertainment's Boss Wu immediately cut off his own internet lines and sent a WeChat message to his gaming friends to tell them that he lost connection. Then, he picked up the phone to call the Mystical Protection Department.
"An accident, this is definitely an accident." He argued, "For Hua Ji to suddenly advance in cultivation, none of us could have expected it. Things like cultivation are profound and cannot be measured. How would anyone have known that in these two days he would suddenly undergo his Tribulation?"
On the other end of the line, the Mystical Protection Department's new head, Great Master Yuan Lin thundered, "Don't talk nonsense with I, this Buddha! S city has already been storming for three days, are you all dead people!? Can you people really not notice the warning signs of a Tribulation? You decided to report it only when lightning is already falling from the skies? It's already too late!!"
Boss Wu was not panicked as he levelly said, "Even so, this can't be blamed on us, can it? A few days ago the weather broadcast even mentioned that the El Nino Effect[2] was going to affect China's weather. Climate change is causing the weather to suddenly change, even the high-tech equipment can't accurately report on the Earth's climate. As for us, we are only a few small demons, how would we know to think that this time's rain wasn't normal rain, but a Tribulation instead?"
Great Master Yuan Lin spoke in a murderous tone, "I don't know about this El Nino, whatever! I don't watch weather broadcasts either! This Buddha handles affairs by the book; if you demons want to undergo a Tribulation, you must first apply for it at the Mystical Protection Department. That fox spirit didn't apply nor did he report about it, this is an illegal Tribulation!"
Great Master Yuan Lin directly slammed the phone down, "You people just wait for the infringement notice!"
Boss Wu's expression didn't change as he hung up. He stared at the heavy rain outside, muttering to himself for a few seconds before picking up the phone and dialling another number.
"Zhu Mimi?”
"Old Tortoise? Don't ask me, I don't know anything. Now I'm at Nanjing Road, but I don't dare get close to the shore."
Boss Wu made a sound of acknowledgement, seemingly not feeling any anxiousness. He didn't inquire about Hua JI's situation, only asking, "Zhu Mimi, previously Hua Ji entrusted a documentary film to you. How is the progress?"
"The editing and audio are all finished. All that's left is the final colour correction and voice-over and it can be broadcast."
Boss Wu smiled uncontrollably. "Oh? This is wonderful."
He hung up the phone.
If Hua Ji wanted to spread the film, he would surely come to find him. Didn't the Mystical Protection Department want to receive an application before undergoing a Tribulation was approved? That's fine! If he first broadcast the film for a few showings at his old home, maybe after watching all the thousand-year old demons at his old home would one by one experience a cultivation advancement. At that time, let's see what the Mystical Protection Department plans to do about the rain that comes with the Heavenly Tribulations. Speaking of which, at the very least the Tribulations of these old monsters has to be a Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation at the very worst. A Tribulation as impressive as that, if one were careless, it could blast an entire city into smithereens. At that time, the situation would become interesting.
Boss Wu uncaringly thought, to date the protected nature reserves within China have been decreasing in number. Places that could allow spirits and monsters to safely undergo their tribulation without bringing disaster upon the humans could be counted on one hand. In the next half-year, the Mystical Protection Department would probably suffer a lot of stress, wouldn't it?
After the film was sold to the demons and spirits, he could then sell it to the sect. At that time, the big and small, old and young cultivators would also all take turns to undergo Tribulation……
Pfft, the scene was too beautiful, he didn't dare to imagine it.
Boss Wu stared at the downpour outside and felt pleased as punch. The little secretary that passed by felt a shiver pass through his body and, feeling that the boss was still scary, speedily ran away.
Hua Ji was in great agony.
It was indeed agonising. The demonic energy in his body ceaselessly surged through his meridians, thundering and violently clamouring for a point of escape. He spent much effort and three days of time to finally grow a new tail; the next moment, he sensed the roiling thunder clouds above him. At that time, Hua Ji itched to point his finger at the despicable Heavens and let loose a flood of curses.
However, it was fortunate that he was still rational and hurriedly burst out through the window to the Huangpu River. At that moment he didn't have the attention to spare to care about the boats on the Huangpu River. Anyway, the amount of people on the river was still drastically smaller than in S city, right!?
One had to know that S city had a population of over twenty million. If the city was truly rended by heavenly lightning, then Hua Ji would have to bear the heavy weight of an unforgivable sin!
Hua Ji's residence was originally in the city centre, to reach the Huangpu River only took him less than three minutes. Yet this was not a great location either, it was easy to be seen by other people. As he tried to forcefully suppress the agitated demonic energy inside his body, he followed the Huangpu River and rushed northwards.
However, without waiting for him to reach the mouth of the river, the Tribulation Lightning rolling around in the skies had already fallen.
A thin streak of white lightning headed unerringly for him. Hua Ji gritted his teeth; at this moment, he couldn't afford to care about anything else. He turned back into his original form and a humongous red fox suddenly appeared in the middle of the river, the three tails behind it giving off strong waves of demonic energy. One of the tails was slightly smaller, while the other two were large and luxuriant, with a thick layer of red demon fire coursing across its surface, giving off strong surges of power.
Seeing as the Tribulation was about to arrive, Hua Ji let out a snarl and opened his mouth to spit out a jade pendant.
The jade pendant was shaped like a crescent moon, with plum flower marking carved onto its surface. It didn't seem like any high-quality object, but it was Hua Ji's most important magic tool. As if like a shooting star, the jade pendant pierce through the clouds and collided heavily with that bolt of lightning!
Rumble–!!
The entire S city shook as Hua Ji spat out a large mouthful of blood. That plum flower, crescent moon jade pendant had been neatly split into two halves. Hua Ji paled with fright, hurriedly rushing forward to catch the falling jade pendant. Who would have thought that the second bolt instantly struck down. Seeing that he was about to be hit, Hua Ji could only spit out his own inner core!
Immediately after the fiery-red inner core was spat out, the fiery-red fur on Hua Ji's body instantly dimmed. Only that inner core kept growing more radiant, pressing forward towards the Tribulation Lightning with a strong conviction.
Rumble–!!
He had managed to endure yet another Tribulation Lightning. Hua Ji's inner core had basically been shattered into pieces, and small streaks of white lightning still revolved around the surface. His inner core rapidly returned to Hua Ji's body, and Hua Ji himself had already entered a half-unconscious state. The demonic fire on his body was extinguished and he started falling towards the centre of the river.
At this moment, the third Tribulation Lightning fell from the sky!
Hua Ji's eyes blacked out, his heart filled with endless vexation. F*ck, undergoing a Tribulation unprepared was simply bullshit!
After that, he fainted dead away.
And because he fainted dead away, he didn't see the rainwater around his body flow backwards; he didn't see the vast river start to reverse its flow; he didn't see the water gush from the sky; he didn't see that when the dazzling bolt of lightning fell on his body, it was blocked by a thin film made of water that was split into innumerous pieces, before those pieces fell into the water and reformed into another layer that once again covered his body.
The third Tribulation Lightning struck for an entire afternoon and night.
The one the Heavenly Tribulation was targeting was Hua Ji. Before it struck him, the Heavenly Tribulation wouldn't cease. However, there just happened to be a milky-white film that wrapped up the fox completely, not revealing a single opening.
Hua Ji seemed as if he had returned to his mother's womb; curled up inside the membrane without any knowledge of what was happening.
It was only during the dawn of the second day did the Heavenly Tribulation suddenly send down a massive bolt of lightning, as if giving vent to its anger, which was enough to jolt Hua Ji awake, before it finally ended. Hua Ji stared blankly at the film covering his body; he reached out a claw and gave it an experimental poke. So soft.
And so safe.
At this time, his nose suddenly felt a little sour, and he felt like he wanted to cry.
At the river's edge, Zhu Mimi stared at this scene in shock, her expression similarly complicated to the max.
Her eyes were the best tool she had. She gazed deeply at the patch of water and lightning, as well as the smear of red and white within that lightning. Even if she was indifferent to the affairs of the world; even if the hearts of people were prone to changing, she would never forget this scene in her lifetime.
Inexplicably, she thought of Shang Ye[3].
I shall be with you, 'til mountains fall and rivers dry, Heavens and earth joint-
Then, I'd break up with you.
[1] – Three-Nine Heavenly Tribulation or 三九天劫 is a very common kind of Heavenly Tribulation that you see in Xianxia and Xuanhuan novels. For example, for those who know about ISSTH, those bolts of lightning that strike Meng Hao when he ascends to immortality or just breaks into a new realm is a Heavenly Tribulation. In this case, Three-Nine just means the number of bolts of lightning, AKA 3×9=27 bolts. I’m not sure why Hua Ji only has three here though.
[2] – The El Nino Effect (or to be more accurate, the El Niño Effect) is a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather patterns.
[3] – Shang Ye is a very famous love poem from the Han Dynasty. As it is a Yuefu poem, although it is called a poem, it is meant to be paired with music and as such is more like a love song instead. The full translation of the poem is here:
By Heaven!
I shall be with you,
Forever without end!
Till mountains fall and rivers dry,
Winter thunders and summer snows,
Heavens and earth joint-
Then, I'd break up with you.