A person can be shameless, but there must be a moral compass in their heart.

She instantly understood what Su Ji meant by "couldn't hold it in anymore."

But it wasn’t too bad.

Her timing wasn’t completely off.

"Senior Brother, hold on!"

Su Jiu quickly retrieved a jade box from the storage ring she had just broken open.

But the moment she opened it, the spiritual energy within Su Ji’s body spiraled completely out of control.

"BOOM—!"

A terrifying explosion of energy erupted from Su Ji, tearing through the small wooden hut in an instant.

The violent shockwave sent Su Jiu flying before she could react.

Just how much had he been holding back?

A mere Qi Refining cultivator, yet his outburst had sent her—a peak Foundation Establishment expert—soaring through the air.

Su Jiu flipped upright like a fox and looked up.

The entire hut had been reduced to rubble.

Around Su Ji, a massive vortex of spiritual energy swirled, devouring the surrounding energy for miles.

His robes had long since disintegrated, and beneath his skin, his veins bulged like molten lava, threatening to burst under the pressure of the rampant energy.

But the worst part was…

This wasn’t Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

Su Jiu’s heart sank.

Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment was supposed to be a natural, harmonious breakthrough.

What she was witnessing now was a reckless, life-or-death gamble.

She had no idea what had happened to Su Ji in the past month, but the spiritual energy within him had far exceeded what a Qi Refining cultivator could contain.

And he was a complete novice when it came to cultivation.

With no one to ask for guidance, he had stubbornly held on—waiting for her return.

But the moment he saw her, that last thread of control snapped.

His entire energy circulation system collapsed.

And the preparations for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment—"spiritual energy liquefaction" and "soul-forging blade"—had now become lethal poisons.

For an ordinary Foundation Establishment, these were nothing but burdens.

A standard foundation couldn’t withstand the impact of liquefied spiritual energy.

"Su Ji!"

She called his name, but he remained unresponsive, eyes tightly shut.

Then, the sky darkened.

Above them, leaden clouds gathered, so thick and oppressive they seemed ready to collapse.

Purple-black lightning snakes writhed within the clouds, and a destructive heavenly might enveloped the entire Love-Longing Sect.

"Thunder… tribulation?!"

This was like adding insult to injury.

Su Jiu’s face drained of color, but she clenched her jaw, not daring to move.

For most cultivators, this was unfamiliar knowledge.

But the heritage of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox held records of it.

Thunder tribulation could not be interfered with lightly…

Unless one was two or three major realms above and could forcibly disrupt it with sheer power…

"CRACK!"

Before Su Jiu could think further, a black lightning bolt—five meters wide—ripped through the sky and struck Su Ji with earth-shattering force.

"No…"

The mere pressure of the lightning before its descent was suffocating. She had no doubt this strike could reduce even an ordinary Golden Core cultivator to ashes.

Foundation Establishment…

Why would it attract a tribulation of this magnitude?

Su Jiu couldn’t understand.

But she knew one thing.

Su Ji was doomed.

The lightning struck him dead-on.

There was no scream—only a deafening explosion.

Su Ji’s body convulsed violently in the lightning, his radiant energy instantly dimming as his skin blackened.

Miraculously, he had survived the first strike.

But this was only the beginning.

The thunder in the clouds grew even more ferocious.

"CRACK!"

"CRACK!"

The second and third bolts followed in quick succession, each thicker and more terrifying than the last.

The entire Love-Longing Sect trembled under the onslaught.

Su Ji swayed in the storm of lightning, his life force visibly fading.

The forcibly condensed foundation within him was riddled with cracks, on the verge of complete collapse.

She wanted to rush forward, but reason told her that intervening would multiply the tribulation’s power, ensuring both of their deaths.

All she could do was watch helplessly as the man who had once beheaded a Nascent Soul expert and outsmarted Golden Core cultivators now struggled like an ant beneath heaven’s wrath.

And it wasn’t over yet.

At that moment…

A Golden Core Perfection cultivator descended.

The sect master of the Love-Longing Sect.

"Su Ji!"

"I made an exception to take you as my personal disciple, yet you killed my outer sect elder, claiming he was a spy! I gave you a month to prove yourself, considering your talent—and now you’re destroying my sect?!"

Su Jiu: ???

Huh?

Didn’t I tell you to behave while I was away?

Since when did you kill an elder?!

The sect master opened his mouth to continue, but the roiling clouds above grew even more violent, gathering for the final strike.

Before he could speak, a colossal purple lightning dragon—larger than all previous bolts combined—emerged from the clouds, its cold, reptilian eyes locking onto Su Ji’s barely breathing form.

Su Jiu closed her eyes, unable to watch.

But Su Ji was still looking.

The dragon’s maw snapped shut around the sect master, then continued downward without pause—

—and Su Ji exploded into a mist of blood.

……

Then.

The illusion shattered.

Su Ji’s eyes snapped open, his body drenched in cold sweat.

His heart pounded violently, as if trying to escape his chest.

This was the first time he had truly experienced the suffocating grip of death within the "Heaven-Gazing Fate" technique.

And the first time "Future Su Ji" had actually died.

It took him half an hour to steady his breathing.

Only then did he rise and go find Su Jiu.

Once again, he sneaked in through the back, climbing over the wall.

The moment he entered—

"Senior Brother, what’s wrong?"

Su Jiu’s concerned voice reached his ears.

He looked up to see her staring at him with worry, her fox-like eyes filled with undisguised care.

"Me?"

"Mn… You look terrible."

Su Ji didn’t know how to respond.

He was still trapped in the vision of his own "inevitable death."

In a way, if he hadn’t insisted on Su Jiu waiting those five days, she might have returned in time to prevent this.

Was this the backlash of relying too heavily on fate-reading?

The so-called "forcing fate only hastens its departure"?

Su Ji couldn’t say.

But he was a man who believed in fate—yet refused to bow to it.

Nothing was beyond reach if he fought for it with his own hands.

"It’s nothing. I divined something for you and overexerted myself. I’ll recover soon."

Su Jiu’s interest was piqued. She still held a deep respect for Su Ji’s "future sight."

"Oh? And my trip?"

"You’ll return as planned. Just proceed as you intended."

Her expression softened, and she nodded with a smile.

"Then I’ll take your words as a blessing. I’ll set off now."

"Mn. Go. I’ll wait for you."

Many might have chosen differently.

Urging her to return sooner, even setting a strict twenty-day deadline.

Cutting short her time to gather materials would have easily averted this disaster, allowing him to complete his Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

But in the vision, Su Jiu had returned exhausted, covered in dust.

The cultivation world was a place of murder and plunder, fraught with danger at every turn.

Su Jiu wasn’t just stepping out to buy groceries.

If it were about deceiving outsiders, that would be one thing.

Those with duller minds than his deserved their fate.

The world offers countless ways to break a deadlock.

Why would Su Ji need to risk Su Jiu’s life through deceit just to secure his own survival?

A man can be shameless, but his heart must hold a measure.

My heart and actions are clear as a mirror.

Everything I do is without regret.