ARIOCC Chapter 99

Leaving the imperial palace behind and utilizing the arrays of the Four Directions, Pei Shiyi’s vision shifted. In an instant, he landed in a world of pure white. However, this place was currently shrouded in night, making the frozen sky and snowy sea indistinct. In the far distance, powerful spiritual lights flickered, and the sky was draped with magnificent, almost eerie auroras.

Thunderclouds gathered across the firmament, pressing down heavily. The rolling thunder was muffled within the clouds, lightning coursing through them, making the distance between heaven and earth feel exceptionally cramped.

To a divine being, such a scene was not unfamiliar. Even they had to face Heavenly Tribulations. The higher the cultivation, the greater the commotion. However, a spectacle as overwhelming as this was still a rare sight.

Pei Shiyi’s body flew uncontrollably toward the gathering thunderclouds. He mused that when he reached adulthood, he had faced a similar ordeal. The heavens and earth shook as the lightning struck. After all eighty-one bolts had fallen, he’d lost half his feathers. Even for someone like Pei Shiyi, the experience had left him half-dead, requiring several months of recuperation to fully heal.

But at this point in the memory, he didn’t seem to be an adult yet.

While he was lost in thought, he reached the densest part of the storm. Beneath the pitch-black sky, a massive, bluish-black dragon was coiled among the mountain peaks, its scales bathed in blood and lightning.

Clearly, this was the one undergoing the tribulation.

Only…

The more Pei Shiyi looked, the more he felt this poor soul looked exactly like his boyfriend.

Even though those beautiful scales had mostly fallen away and its body was a size smaller than the one he knew in reality, Pei Shiyi knew for certain: this was Bo Jin.

He frowned inwardly, attempting to detach his soul from the body, but he was unsuccessful. His spirit was locked inside, and his perspective was strictly confined to the body’s field of vision.

Fine, Pei Shiyi thought helplessly. It seemed everything happening before him was either an illusion deliberately sealed within the golden crown or a memory. He couldn’t interfere at all. He could only observe as a bystander through the eyes of his younger “self”.

Judging by the spiritual energy in the air, the tribulation lightning was likely more than halfway finished, with only the most grueling final bolts remaining. Bo Jin was clearly exhausted, coiled around Mount Zhangwei. Although he noticed “his” arrival, he only spared a downward glance before closing his eyes to concentrate on resting, circulating his spiritual power during the brief gap as the thunderclouds regathered.

Pei Shiyi wasn’t even sure what his younger self was there to do, though it certainly wasn’t to harm Bo Jin. The Four Directions and the human world were as close as lips and teeth. While the Phoenixes didn’t communicate much with humanity, they maintained a decent relationship with the Zhulong, who guarded the realm. If he had to guess, he was there to help Bo Jin survive the tribulation.

However, one thing was strange. While a divine being’s coming-of-age tribulation was difficult, it shouldn’t normally be fatal. Why was Bo Jin in such a wretched state?

After landing, the young prince looked up at the thunderclouds and muttered to himself, “What a massive spectacle.”

Inside, the present-day Pei Shiyi remained unmoved and even felt like making small talk, so he added in his head: Yeah, yeah, you’ll get to experience this spectacle personally later on.

The young prince couldn’t hear him. Seeing thicker clouds gather and purple lightning begin to dart wildly through the sky before crashing down, he flicked the fan in his hand. After the sharp sound of an object slicing through the air, a silver spear rose to meet the lightning. The young prince chased after it.

Pei Shiyi gave a mental smirk. From his current perspective and level of cultivation, this move was incredibly reckless. But looking at it another way, if he could endure those final heavy bolts, he could buy the Bo Jin behind him a chance to breathe.

After a few seconds of thought, Pei Shiyi realized that if it were his current self, he’d probably still choose to tank the hits. After all, you have to look out for your own boyfriend. Seeing him wounded like that, he naturally couldn’t let him be struck again.

The lightning was drawn by the long spear onto the young prince, colliding with his crimson spiritual light before vanishing into nothingness.

The young prince took a few sharp breaths, his hand trembling slightly as he gripped the spear.

The intensity of the tribulation exceeded his expectations.

Pei Shiyi desperately wanted to turn around and look at Bo Jin, but his younger self was staring solemnly at the thunderclouds beginning to gather in the sky once more.

A tribulation of such immense scale and majestic spiritual energy could not be conjured in an instant. There was still some time before the next bolt. It was enough for the young prince to catch his breath.

Just as Pei Shiyi was wondering about his boyfriend, the Zhulong’s head slowly drifted over. His voice was clearer and more melodic than that of the adult Director Bo: “Are you a phoenix?”

Busy recovering his spiritual power, the young prince replied curtly: “I am here to help you cross your tribulation.”

Bo Jin watched the young prince silently for a while. It wasn’t until he met the prince’s bewildered gaze that Bo Jin slowly withdrew his eyes and remained coiled motionlessly atop the mountain peak.

He was severely wounded.

Only upon moving closer did Pei Shiyi realize what was wrong. The scales on Bo Jin’s body were soft, their edges slightly pale, and beneath those broken shards lay the new, bluish-black, jade-like scales.

Bo Jin had been met by the Heavenly Tribulation right as he was shedding his old armor.

The Zhulong relies on his cold, hard scales to endure the Heavenly Tribulation. However, during shedding, both the old and new scales are soft, rendering them incapable of withstanding lightning. Heavenly lightning is an utterly unreasonable thing. It strikes anyone in its path. If too many people intervene or if a helper’s power is too great, the tribulation’s intensity increases to ensure that anyone stepping in gets more than they bargained for. Consequently, even though the Phoenix clan intended to help Bo Jin survive this ordeal, they didn’t dare send their most powerful elders. Instead, they selected the most promising youth of the younger generation, the little prince.

Pei Shiyi felt an urge to touch his boyfriend’s blood-stained scales. But unfortunately, his younger self was a severe germaphobe. Finding his future boyfriend an eyesore, the prince took one look and turned his head away, adopting an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude.

The Zhulong shrank back dejectedly. Pei Shiyi caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye and felt his boyfriend looked a bit pathetic.

The pathetic Zhulong received no comfort, however, as the next bolt of lightning arrived cloaked in electric glare. The young prince summoned every ounce of his focus to meet it.

The fifth-to-last bolt… The fourth-to-last bolt… …

Only one remained.

He stood beneath ten thousand feet of lightning, his silver armor drenched in blood. He was solitary and thin, yet as unyielding as a mountain.

When the young prince first arrived, it was the dead of the polar night. Now, after several lightning strikes, a faint line of light appeared in the distance. The polar night was nearly over. Only the final bolt of heavenly lightning remained.

Though the underage phoenix’s cultivation eclipsed that of his peers, he was still young. Blocking four bolts of heavenly lightning was his absolute limit. He was currently holding on by sheer willpower. His golden crown tumbled off and fell into the unmelted snow of Mount Zhangwei.

So, that was when the golden crown had fallen.

The young prince raised his head. The thunderclouds, as black as ink, now completely obscured even the auroras. The terrifying aura of the Heavenly Tribulation saturated the entire Zhangwei territory, carrying with it a suffocating pressure of spiritual energy.

The world had narrowed until only this single line of vision remained.

The mountains of clouds and seas of lightning were right before his eyes.

The young prince tightened his grip on the long spear. The blood from his palms and fingers snaked down the shaft in crimson trails. As he circulated his spiritual power, the spear erupted in scarlet flames, the fire reflecting in his eyes with an intense, burning brilliance.

The young prince hadn’t been able to tank the last few bolts alone. A significant amount of lightning had spilled onto Bo Jin. The Zhulong’s scales, which should have been shed peacefully, were being forcibly blasted off by the heavenly thunder.

As the final bolt of lightning arrived, the Zhulong let out a long cry. The massive bluish-black dragon rose through the clouds, curling his body to shield the young prince completely beneath him.

Pei Shiyi’s world went dark. The jagged, clawing lightning was barred from reaching him. The young prince, already at the end of his strength, was powerless to resist the now-adult Zhulong. He could only hurl his spiritual weapon outward, using it as a medium to prop up a barrier burning with phoenix fire.

A deafening boom echoed from the thick black clouds as a bolt of lightning large enough to envelop the entire mountain peak descended. The shield burning with phoenix fire held for only the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before shattering with a crisp crack.

The purple light of the lightning engulfed both the dragon and the phoenix. Standing in the center of it, Pei Shiyi felt a sense of daze. Did this really happen? Why don’t I have any memory of this at all?

The electric glare flickered across the Zhulong’s bluish-black scales. Though Pei Shiyi knew this lightning couldn’t damage Bo Jin’s core and he couldn’t personally feel the pain of it, his heart still gave a sharp, subtle twinge.

After this final strike, the thunderclouds in the sky finally dispersed, seemingly satisfied.

The Zhulong remained curled into a ball, with the phoenix protected in the center. Only when the polar night ended and the morning glow returned did the dragon gather enough strength to shift back into human form. The young prince lay listlessly atop the cold-jade peak. His silver armor had long since shattered, leaving only a pure white inner robe. Wrapped in a scarlet cloak, he leaned against the summit, his long hair cascading over him. The golden crown lay right by his hand, but he lacked the strength to even pick it up.

Beneath the cloak, his inner robe was torn, revealing a body covered in fine, jagged wounds. His spiritual power was completely drained, making it difficult to even maintain his human form.

Bo Jin fumbled through the jagged cold-jade and crystal clusters for a moment before picking up the spiritual tool, which had reverted to a thin red thread. He took the young prince’s hand and personally tied the red thread around his ring finger.

The young prince raised his eyes. The Zhulong looked down, holding the prince’s hand and touching it gently to his own brow. His thin lips moved slightly, soundlessly uttering a sentence.

Pei Shiyi didn’t hear it. Along with the young prince, he blurted out: “What?”

The Zhulong didn’t speak. He simply shook his head. He tucked the small golden crown into his robe, wrapped the prince’s cloak tighter around him, and suddenly gave him a push. The world went dark for Pei Shiyi and the young prince as the scene shifted from the wreckage of Mount Zhangwei back to the imperial palace of the Four Directions.

The young prince was already dazed. After taking two steps, he stumbled into someone’s arms. He looked up to be caught by a worried-looking Pei Huang.

Pei Huang held his nephew close. “You’ve worked hard. Come with your uncle to get some rest.”

Seeing his trusted elder, the young prince closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up several days later, he no longer remembered where he had gone. He reached for his wrist, where he usually kept his spiritual tool, but found nothing. Looking down closely, he finally noticed the red mark on his left ring finger. He gave it a slight tug with his fingertip. Although he had already pulled up a loose end of the red thread, he inexplicably let it go.

He grumbled a few words to himself: “If it’s here, then it’s here.”

Pei Shiyi gradually understood. This was a memory, not a fabricated illusion. The reason he had forgotten this episode was likely that the heavenly lightning had injured his soul, causing him to lose the memory upon his return.

As for why Bo Jin didn’t remember it either…

Pei Shiyi watched the scene before him slowly fade and gave a silent smile. That was something only Bo Jin himself would know.

The retrospection ended there. Pei Shiyi slowly opened his eyes to find his boyfriend standing before him, dazed.

Pei Shiyi used the handle of his fan to tilt Bo Jin’s chin up, raising an eyebrow. “Tell me, was it love at first sight?”

Bo Jin’s lips parted slightly. “Yes.”

“What I said back then was: if there is ever another encounter, let me forget the original act of salvation. Let me like you without any sense of gratitude.”

To give you a love that is pure and sincere. Only a devotion like that is worthy of you.

It would be untainted by any sense of obligation. A ‘love’ offered up from the very depths of my heart.

He had been in love for years without even knowing it, yearning for centuries until he finally earned this reunion. Once the snow on this peak melts, I will bring you back to the place where we first met.

“I am deeply moved by your devotion,” Pei Shiyi said, a soft smile playing on his lips. “Fortunately, it was not in vain.” 

---

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed it~

If you can/want, please support the author by buying locked chapters «here».

Thank you, everyone! See ya on my other works~

If you enjoy my works and would like to support me, you can buy me a coffee on Ko-fi. Thank you for your support.