"You idiot," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "You could have destroyed your own meridians doing that."

"But you exhausted half your spiritual pool shielding me from that last lightning strike!" Ma Xiu protested.

"You actually survived," she said, her voice like chimes in the wind. "I suppose you aren't as useless as you look, Ma Xiu."

With a primal scream, Ma Xiu unleashed the trapped tribulation lightning from his body.

The rogue leader laughed, a grating sound that echoed through the desolate peaks. "A touching display. Kill the boy! Capture the woman alive!"

The leader slammed his staff into the ground, sending a wave of dark, paralyzing energy rippling through the earth. Caught off guard, she gasped as the dark energy wrapped around her ankles like spectral chains, locking her in place.

"The Heavenly Tribulation always leaves its victims weak and ripe for the picking," the leader sneered, his gaze locking onto Ma Xiu's companion. "An immortal beauty and a freshly breakthrough kid. Today is my lucky day."