1948 Risk and Dilemma

Hei Tingxie flew behind her master and the other elder she had called over, making her way to the backside of the sect that she hadn't come to in a long time.

It had been centuries ago that she had joined the sect, just a few years after her parents were murdered. When she joined, she was like everyone else and had to start from the bottom.

However, with her determination and some other sneaky methods, she had managed to climb the rank through the sect very quickly.

That quickness had then accelerated when she finally managed to make the First Elder to make her a disciple. But then, the First Elder had somehow not only made her a disciple back then but also her future daughter-in-law.

She was engaged to Bai Wanzhao.

That day was the second-best day of her life.

"Master, are we really going to kill him?" she asked. "He didn't kill Brother Wan."

"Yes, Wanzhao died from the poison and the lack of a proper antidote, but who was the one that made him the antidote? It was him," the woman said. "Whether intentionally or not, he was in some way responsible for my son. I have no other person to take my vengeance out on, so I will kill him."

Hei Tingxie said nothing.

The First Elder turned back and shook her head. "I know you weren't loved back very much by my son. His jealousy of your success far outshined his love for you, but I assure you, he did love you. We all love you."

Hei Tingxie nodded. "If the news of our engagement was ever made public, I fear what he might've done."

"Whatever he might've done, he can't anymore," the First Elder said. Her voice quivered with the pain of having lost her loved ones. "I avenged my husband when he died. Now, I'll avenge my son too."

Hei Tingxie saw the fires of vengeance in her master's eyes. She could understand it. She had the fires of vengeance in herself as well.

The bright bolt of lightning stopped all 3 in their tracks, the resounding sound that followed shocking all of them.

"What was that?" the elder that had come with them asked.

"Someone is breaking through? Did one of the idiot saints begin breaking through inside the sect?" the First Elder said with a frown.

"Master, it came from the house we're going to. Look," Hei Tingxie said and then pointed.

"What?" the First Elder saw the house and was flabbergasted. "How could… who could be breaking through?"

"What do we do, First Elder?" the elder asked.

"We wait, of course," she said. "I'm not stupid enough to enter in the midst of a lightning tribulation, whether it is from a breakthrough or a predetermined one."

Hei Tingxie relaxed. It appeared their journey to this weak disciple was going to stop for some time now.

* * * * * *

Alex punched the sky and a bright fist made of pure Yang Qi flew out of it, striking the massive purple lightning bolt that fell down toward him.

The yellow and purple lights clashed together, leaving a deafening boom and a strong shockwave in their wake.

Alex protected himself from the shockwave, and in doing that protected Elder Lan behind him as well. The man was still dying, getting closer and closer to his death door.

Alex had removed Death aura forming within him to help him stay awake for a slightly longer time, but he could only extend his life by that much.

What he really needed was the pill in his hand, one which Alex still didn't know if it would work or not. He had been working entirely under the assumption that it would work.

He had to.

Alex opened his palm and looked at the pill inside of his palm. It now had 2 pill veins.

In total, a pill could have 9 veins. But that was determined based on how many lightning bolts one could stop. Alex could stop 2, but could he stop 3?

The third lightning bolt carried with it the power of an Immortal Origin 2nd realm cultivator.

At the moment, Alex's Qi, after leaping through an entire realm, was no more than Immortal Origin 1st realm. The next lightning bolt would be a bit stronger than what he was sure he could handle.

Should he stop here then? 2 pill veins were quite good, weren't they?

But the way pill veins worked, the more pill veins there were, the higher the chance became. The latter veins made the pill far stronger than the veins before.

Jumping from 2 to 3 veins, Alex would theoretically be improving the pill's overall strength by about 15%. That was a lot of improvement to be had if he just handled the next lightning bolt.

However, at the same time, if he could not handle the lightning bolt, while he may survive it, the pill surely would not. All that hard work and the pill would be destroyed.

Should he leave the pill with 2 veins and hope that a weak pill saved Elder Lan's life? Or should he try and go for 3 veins to improve his chances majorly while taking the risk of losing it all?

That was the dilemma.

Alex didn't have much time to choose. If he delayed, the lightning bolt would fall all the same.

'Screw it,' Alex thought and put the pill on his other hand. 'I've played it safely enough times. It's time to take some risk.'

Midnight appeared on his right hand as he began preparing his attack. True Metal Dao flowed into the sword as Alex prepared his Endless Severing Strike. Not just that, he also poured in his Blood Aura, and his Spiritual energy, all being used by his tremendously strong body.

Sword Domain formed around him, all of which concentrated on one spot at the top beside him, right where he was sure the lightning would strike.

Alex saw the lightning flash and added one last thing.

He added True Fire Dao into the technique, changing it from the Endless Severing Strike to the True Immolation Strike.

The lightning struck down and he released the technique.