Stella could feel Senior Lee, and Diana's eyes bore into her back as she charged toward the burning tree. Of course, they would call her insane, ignorant, or downright stupid. But Stella didn't care about any of thatshaking her head, she felt the wind howl and the thunder roar in her ears as she dashed up Ash's trunk.

She had heard Senior Lee's speech, but she disagreed. Why face the wrath of heaven alone when people are willing to die and grow alongside you?

To live as a cultivator is to listen to your heart. If it tells you to fight. You fight. Run? Then run for the hills. And Stella's heart was filled with nothing but a grim determination to keep Tree alive.

If she wavered here, let Tree face the wrath of the heavens alone, and then he perished under their might, she would rather die with him than live to mourn the charred remains.

She squeezed her eyes shut as her legs burned from Ash's lilac flames. She knew she was being stupid, but with every fiber of her being, this just felt right.

As she reached the top branch, her eyes snapped open. The self-doubt was gone; with every ounce of courage coursing through her veins, she drew her fist back as the sky lit up and golden lightning descended.

She screamed, challenging the heavens. Her Soul Core roared to life, and her comprehension of the lightning Dao rippled through her mind. She had challenged this lightning once before, and at that time, she had been furious the lightning had picked on something that couldn't movehence her desire to be able to move so fast, so she could always get back home and protect Tree from anything.

To her, lightning wasn't overwhelming power. She simply didn't believe that. Instead, it was a contest of speed.

As the lightning arced through the sky, Stella pushed herself off the branch and rocketed up with speed incompressible to mortals to meet the incoming threat. Her fist, primed and ready, shot forth and made contact.

Her eyes burned, and an unimaginable pain engulfed her mind as a force smashed her down as if a god had swatted a flyshe felt a branch smack into her back, and she tumbled uncontrollably until she finally crashed into the ground.

She blinked, trying to remove the burning light. Slowly vague shapes populated her sight, then colors, and finally, some definitions. Her ears were still ringing, but she could just about make out the looming shadow over her and words she didn't want to hear.

"Well, that was rather silly." Senior Lee's gentle voice caressed her ears, and then she felt something pushed into her half-ajar lips. It had a revolting medicinal taste, making her instantly sit up and cough violently.

Someone had clearly fed her a healing pill. The pain faded, her sight returned as her eyes pupils regrew, and her ears stopped ringing. She flexed her hand blown off by the lightning and saw the freshly rapidly knitting itself together in a mesh of flesh and blood. Unfortunately, it was not a painless process, but she refused to cry, so she gritted her teeth.

The howling wind whipped her hair around, but she saw Senior Lee flanked by Diana through the obstruction, looking at her with concern. The lilac flames of Tree illuminated their faces, and they were also feeling the high winds as Senior Lee's plain white robe fluttered, and Diana was also struggling to control her hair, but it was far shorter than hers.

"Bleh." Stella spat the side in a vain attempt to remove the awful aftertaste.

Senior Lee chuckled, "Don't worry about your Tree friend so much..." His gaze wandered to the skies above that were getting more agitated, "Although I have to admit this tribulation is looking more extreme than any Star Core one I have seen before."

Stella almost struggled to hear Senior Lee over the violent wind, but his words filled her with concern. She stagged over to his side and looked up, and although she had never seen a Star Core tribulation, she also had to admit it wasn't looking good.

The clouds blanketed the entire sky, not just Red Vine peak, but she couldn't even see blue sky over Darklight city. This was a big event. If the cultivators around them hadn't been suspicious before, they would be now.

Senior Lee stroked his chin while resting one hand on his wooden cane. His eyes flickered, and a low hum of concern escaped his lips. "I have seen many tribulations before, and this one looks closer to one for a Nascent Soul cultivator. I wonder why"

His words were washed out over the roar of thunder and flash of light as more golden lightning bolts descended. Stella could only catch a glimpse of its might through the branches and dense canopy.

They all struck the swirling mass of purple that gathered above Ashlock, which looked like a small star. It pulsed like a beating heart as if alive. Before the lighting made contact, a solar flare struck out, meeting the lightning and slapping it away.

Stella wanted to rush in and help, but she felt a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"Do whatever you wish. I won't stop you." Senior Lee's stern voice carried over the howling wind, "But do not misunderstand your Dao heart's intentions. The best way to help the spirit tree in this scenario is to step back and protect it from other cultivators if they come. Depriving it of heavenly lightning will only hurt it in the long run."

His wrinkly hand then let go and pointed over her shoulder at the forming Star Core, "Look, with every strike of lightning, the Soul Core only grows larger. So the lightning is both a test and the fuel source to jumpstart forming a Soul Core."

Stella could see the logic in Senior Lee's words, but it still felt wrong. The memory of spending many months checking on Tree, and finding it unresponsive to her presence every time, after it had faced the heavenly lightning, was one of her childhood's most traumatic memories. The smell of scorched wood and burned leaves had ticked her nose, and she remembered never knowing if Tree would wake up again.

She didn't want to hinder Tree's growth, nor did she want to hurt herself doing so. She wasn't crazy or stupid. She just wanted to... protect.

Clenching her fists, she stayed rooted in place, watching the lightning lash out at the forming Star Core in groups, and with every passing barrage, the Star Core grew in size and glowed brighter.

Everything seemed to be under control, but Senior Lee's murmuring made Stella follow his line of sight and catch a glimpse of another cluster of lightning, but this group of strikes wasn't aimed at the Soul Core but at Ash's branches.

The attack struck at Ashlock's branch like a coiling viper, and there was a loud explosion followed by splinters of wood raining down on them, and a loud thump as a branch many meters long slammed into the stone below.

For a moment, the stump of the cut caught fire, and Stella's eyes went wide. She then felt something being pushed into her hand. Looking down, she saw Senior Lee's wrinkly hand depositing some pale blue pills in her hand.

"Those are heavenly Qi resistance pills, and these" His silver ring flashed, and a few herby-scented dark green pills appeared, "are healing pills."

His smile was warm, "Go protect your tree but leave the lightning strikes aimed at the Star Core alone. Those are beneficial."

Stella hesitated slightly. The pain she had just experienced from trying to punch heavenly lightning had not been minor. Rather, it was one of the most painful single moments of her life.

Her eyes darted to the branch lying on the ground, still clad in fruits of various colors. 'Ash is defenseless. He can't run and needs a guardian.' Her eyes flashed with determination. Why should Tree have to suffer in silence? She had told Ash she was weak in the past, and that had inspired her to train heavily from dusk till dawn without a break in hopes of keeping up with him to stay useful.

But now Tree was about to ascend to Star Core, a realm she might never reach with her inferior spirit roots. So now might be the last time she could provide meaningful help.

If this is what his Star Core tribulation was like, what about his Nascent Soul or Monarch realm? Would she just be a harmless annoying fly to Tree in the future?

Seeing more clouds flashing with lightning off to the side, aiming for Ash's branches, Stella gulped down all the pills in one go and charged.

***

[Requirements for the Star Core Realm have been met: 9th stage Soul Fire (100%)]

[Commencing upgrade to Star Core Realm: 0%]

Ashlock was barely conscious to acknowledge the system messages flashing in his mind. He felt like his body was being stretched toward the sky. His bark creaked as Qi bubbled up to the surface, moving through his branches and then collecting overhead.

He had no idea how an average cultivator went through this process, but he was darn glad his system was here to manage it somewhat.

Ashlock could hear the rumbling of an incoming storm, but it was hard to care. He was lethargic and just wanted to sleep.

[WARNING: Wrath of the heaven's invoked]

"Huh" Ashlock snapped awake as heavenly lightning struck toward the forming Star Core.

"Leave Tree alone, you bastards!"

Ashlock heard Stella shout over the roaring thunder and leap to meet the incoming lightning. "What the fuck are you doing!" Ashlock shouted and tried with all his might to teleport her, but alas, he still couldn't use his cultivation without a corpse.

He watched in horror as the lightning obliterated Stella's arm to the bone. Sadly it didn't stop there and badly damaged the rest of her body, including burning out her eyes, which popped like tiny balloons. She then crashed down as if she had been slapped by a god and smacked his branches on the way down.

Having finished with Stella, the lightning continued onto his Star Core.

It felt like being electrocuted and punched in the stomach simultaneously with every strike, and they kept coming.

But Ashlock didn't give a fuck about the pain.

For a second, he genuinely thought it was all over. Stella was dead. She lay unmoving on the ground under his canopy as a burned, hairless, armless corpse with empty eye sockets and a slightly ajar mouth.

It was by far the most horrifying thing Ashlock had witnessed in his two lives. An indescribable rage bloomed in his dulled mind and body. The mountain trembled as his entire body united in defying one thing.

The heavens. They dared to kill his best friend. Flawless lilac Qi set his trunk aflame, the Star Core pulsed with power, and his body groaned from the power.

Despite his best efforts, the lightning strikes kept coming, and his Star Core furiously fought the assault off, growing strong and stronger with each strike.

He knew he should have distanced himself from Stella, told her to go out into the big wide world and grow without him. None of this would have happened if he hadn't been selfish and wanted her to stay by his side forever.

Why did Senior Lee appear? What use is a gift or higher cultivation if the people you hoped to spend the rest of eternity hanging out with were dead? That bastard had ruined Ashlock's future.

Ashlock hated everything. Everyone. Especially heaven. Why had he been put into the body of a fucking tree? Did someone up there enjoy his pain and suffering? Taking away one of the few things he cared about

"Well, that was rather silly." Senior Lee's voice was like a cool breeze for his raging soul. Ashlock seethed as Senior Lee walked over and shoved something in Stella's mouth.

Just for a brief moment before the pill dissolved in Stella's mouth, Ashlock could tell that it was no normal pill. In fact, it carried a whiff of the divine. The same feeling he got from the {??? Divine Fragment [SSS]}

Had Senior Lee just given a divine pill to Stella's corpse...

Then in real-time, Ashlock watched Stella's body regenerate in a golden glow. Blonde hair sprouted from her bald head, and her flesh wiggled and knitted itself together around a reforming bone. It was horrendous to watch, but anticipation kept Ashlock observing.

The heaven's kept smiting him, but he didn't give a shit.

Those cosmic bastards could wait their turn.

Seconds later, Stella sat up and spat to the side. "Bleh."

She was alive.

Ashlock had never felt the phrase you don't know what you have until it's gone more in his two lives until this moment. The last time he had felt this much despair was when he woke up in this world as nothing but a small sapling, poking out the purple grass and unable to move, see or talk. Confused and alone.

While distracted, Ashlock felt a sudden shock of pain followed by a thump. "Ow, what the hell!" He glared at the fallen branch. His {Lightning Qi Protection} and {Fire Qi Resistance} worked overtime but to little effect. The heavenly lightning seemed to just rip straight through.

Worried about how he could survive hundreds of lightning bolts aiming for his branches rather than the Star Core, Ashlock could see the heavens preparing for another strike.

He could also see a freshly healed Stella charging up his trunk again with renewed vigor.

Why did she have to play with his nonexistent heart like this? She will kill him from stress before the heavens can. What the fuck was she doing? Does she want to die?

The distant cloud flashed, lightning as golden as Stella's hair went to meet her mid-air; once again, her fist was drawn back coated in purple flames and lightning, but this time, rather than a grim determination on her face, there was nothing but a beaming smile.

Her fist struck the lightning, and the lightning yielded. It was diverted and hit the mountain instead, but golden characters flashed, and a barrier protected the ground.

Ashlock was speechless. What the hell had been in that pill Senior Lee had given Stella?

"Spirit tree, I will return with that new fruit tea sometime soon." Senior Lee said while patting his trunk, "I have gifted two divine items today and fear I cannot stay on this realm for much longer before the heavens turn on me."

"Wait!" Ashlock shouted.

But Senior Lee was already gone.