Chapter 65: 065 Tribulation? The Butterfly Card blocks the thunder tribulation, owing cause and effect_1
Wen Jiang winning the championship was supposed to be a joyous celebration; after all, it was a momentous occasion for Mount Flower.
But before more people could delve into who Wen Jiang was, the Yunxia Empire was rocked by another major bombshell that dominated the trending searches.
Recently, Du Zhaiyue of the Du Family from the Frost Moon Empire, whom Wen Jiang had investigated a while ago, had confirmed her intention to transfer back to her home country.
Unlike Noah, Du Zhaiyue was a genuine prodigy. She was a young girl of immense talent who had already placed in the top five in an individual international competition while representing the Frost Moon Empire. This made her a heavyweight in the world of competitive gaming, and she was still remarkably young.
#Du Zhaiyue confirms transfer back to Yunxia nationality, to represent Yunxia Empire in S Rank World Card Competition next year#
It wasn’t just the Yunxia Empire that was shaken; all three great Empires stirred with excitement, and clearly, the Yunxia side was overjoyed.
[Great! Du Zhaiyue is truly strong, an S Rank genius-level player, and she’s actually willing to transfer back to compete domestically!]
[The Du Family emigrated to the Frost Moon Empire nearly a century ago, right? It’s surprising they’ve maintained such pure Yunxia lineage. I have mixed feelings about it—why emigrate if they didn’t have faith in Yunxia in the first place?]
[Emigration is a personal freedom, right? It’s just for better resources. Besides, isn’t she coming back now to serve her homeland?]
[Gossip, you can dismiss this as nonsense. The Du Family has been around for nearly a hundred years without breaking into the Frost Moon Empire’s core Nobility. To this day, the current empress hasn’t granted the Du Family an official noble insignia, only an International Friend Noble Medal. I don’t know if it has anything to do with this.]
[Conspiracy theory: The Du Family doesn’t want to curry favor with the Frost Moon Empire, so they’re transferring the young miss back to nurture connections in Yunxia?]
[Du Zhaiyue is strong, but that doesn’t stop us from also feeling really upset. Our country has indeed had such a difficult time in world competitions.]
Of course, the news of Du Zhaiyue transferring back domestically caused a massive stir.
Many people started to inform others about Du Zhaiyue’s family heritage and prestigious background, but the tumultuous world outside didn’t disturb Wen Jiang in the slightest as she created the Jade Rabbit Pestle Medicine card.
SWISH.
Wen Jiang opened her eyes and looked up; the sky had already darkened.
She subconsciously asked Zero Egg, "What day is it now?"
"The seventh day."
Zero Egg was somewhat shocked. Although it knew its host didn’t need to sleep, it couldn’t understand why its host had meditated with her eyes closed for seven days while creating a card. The cards in the card pool were indeed taking shape according to the host’s designs, but they always seemed to lack a certain rhythm.
Wen Jiang remained silent.
She had an ominous premonition. The creation of this card wasn’t encountering any obstacles; in fact, it was going quite successfully.
But she felt an intense sense of crisis, a feeling that originated not from her surroundings but from—Tribulation.
The shadow of her failed Tribulation had been buried deep in her heart. Unexpectedly, she was now facing a Tribulation again while merely making a card.
If she successfully created an A-Rank Card, her breakthrough Tribulation would follow. But this was another world, and she had no idea what might happen.
She took out an Ordinary Card and tossed it seemingly without reason.
THUD.
The card landed face down—an omen of mixed fortune.
Zero Egg didn’t understand. It only asked, "What’s wrong? Are you lacking inspiration?"
Wen Jiang shook her head, her eyes dark and unreadable.
She seemed to ponder for a long time. After a while, Wen Jiang finally spat, To think I’d restart my life only to become so hesitant.
I forgot the most critical point: hesitation breeds inner demons. That’s not good for the Tribulation I’m about to face.
Thinking this, Wen Jiang decisively completed the card’s remaining construction.
Within the card pool, a card depicting a Jade Rabbit holding a pestle and actively pounding a mortar came into being. Compared to the Rabbit Demon form, this rabbit appeared much cuter. It was snow-white with red eyes and large ears, resembling a lively and adorable Snow Rabbit rather than a traditional one.
Just as the Jade Rabbit Pestle Medicine card was successfully created, the nature’s spiritual energy within Wen Jiang’s body surged tumultuously, and a familiar sense of crisis descended upon her.
Above, the once calm sky suddenly churned with a great mass of dark, heavy clouds. Though not very conspicuous in the dead of night, faint rumbles of thunder could be heard from within them.
The sound of the thunder immediately awakened many citizens of the Imperial City from their deep sleep.
"Strange, didn’t the forecast say no rain tonight? Why is it thundering?" a passerby muttered, clutching their bag and hurrying towards the subway. Nearby, ordinary people without umbrellas began to run, hoping to get home before the rain started.
At that moment, in the Imperial City, more sensitive Spirit Card Masters sensed that something was amiss.
"This thunder..." one muttered, looking up. Why does it sound so different?
Everyone had seen thunderstorms before. Typically, the thunder roared, and a downpour would start without warning.
But tonight’s storm had formed a swirling vortex of clouds, constantly roiling within itself. Eerie purple lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the Imperial City’s nocturnal heavens.
Inside her room, Wen Jiang cursed under her breath, Damn it, this is bad!
Without hesitation, she rushed out the door.
I have no magical treasures now, she thought. I’ll have to rely entirely on cards to block this thunder Tribulation.
Zero Egg was somewhat baffled. "Host, where are you going? What are you doing?"
As Wen Jiang left the room, the thunderclouds roiled even more violently. Soon, it was visibly apparent that the clouds over this part of the sky were abnormal. Many Spirit Card Masters also came out, looking at the storm with unease, clueless as to what was happening.
The rain still held off. Wen Jiang wanted to find a deserted area. I never anticipated that simply creating a card and leveling up would trigger such a perilous thunder Tribulation! Now, she could only try to get as far away from the city as possible.
Yet the thunderstorms in this world were fierce.
Just as she stepped outside, a huge bolt of purple lightning formed, striking directly from the vortex’s mouth, aimed straight at Wen Jiang.
BOOM—!
CRACK!
Wen Jiang dodged, simultaneously tossing out a B-Rank Card. Its Card Spirit was instantly shattered by the lightning.
This wasn’t the most formidable type of thunder Tribulation, and Wen Jiang had dodged it with relative ease.
But other Spirit Card Masters on the street only saw lightning strike directly at a fellow Spirit Card Master, who was fortunate enough to evade it.
The sheer power of that strike looked capable of reducing a person to ashes.
It even carved a trench one meter wide and over ten meters long into the street.
The remaining passersby screamed and scrambled for cover inside nearby buildings.
Thank goodness for cultural decline, Wen Jiang thought. These people have probably never even heard of the concept of transcending a thunder Tribulation.
At that very moment, just as the second heavenly thunderbolt was about to be unleashed, a huge, stunningly beautiful butterfly soared into mid-air. The butterfly was so ethereally lovely that with each flutter of its wings—like the starry sky descending to Earth—it enveloped half the city district, naturally including the area where Wen Jiang stood. Flecks of glowing dust drifted down from the sky as the second heavenly thunderbolt struck the butterfly directly.
The butterfly’s body trembled, and it seemed to emit a faint, mournful cry. Perhaps because the Tribulation sensed this unexpectedly powerful resistance, several more heavenly thunderbolts rained down in quick succession.
CRACK—
BOOM!
All the deafening thunderbolts were intercepted by the butterfly.
Watching this scene, Wen Jiang was both shocked and felt a sudden headache.
This is bad, she thought. I’ve incurred a karmic debt.