Dark clouds boiled as electric serpents writhed and thunder rolled in waves, each peal louder than the last. The entire Little River Realm was alarmed. Cultivators hurried toward the altar, fear etched onto every face.

Inside the palace, Yu Zhao and the other three were still in shock. The goddess had just tried to seize their fortune, and now retaliation had fallen at once. That in itself proved her earlier words were true. Though she had absorbed her devotees’ fortune, she had also given them blessings in return, so no thunder punishment had come. This time she had broken the rules. Heaven was enraged and cast down punishment.

Of the four, Yu Zhao was the most shaken. If heaven could sense the goddess’s violation in the first instant, why had it not noticed Ye Cong Xin’s wickedness? Tens of thousands of cultivators had died by Ye Cong Xin’s hand, and still heaven had done nothing. Something flashed through Yu Zhao’s mind, swift as light, but she could not seize it: [What am I missing?]

While she stood dazed, the thunderclouds above gathered into a single mass. A colossal bolt of lightning dropped from the sky and struck straight at the goddess.

A deafening blast shook the world. When the white glare faded, the goddess was gone, and a several-zhang-deep pit yawned where she had stood.

Ancestor Sui Bian pointed skyward, voice shaking: “I saw it with my own eyes. The lightning hit her and turned her to powder.”

He had barely finished when another thunderclap sounded overhead. Through the gaping hole torn in the roof, they saw the clouds still roiling, brewing a bolt even more terrible than before. This time the target was the statue beneath Yu Zhao’s feet.

Ancestor Sui Bian’s face changed: “Yu Zhao, move. It is about to strike the statue.”

Yu Zhao released the bindings on the statue at once and flashed away. The moment she left, countless runes flared across the statue’s surface, exactly the same as the ones they had seen in the chamber underground. The runes interlocked and wrapped the statue completely.

The thunderheads grew still more dreadful. Electric snakes raced through the clouds. The sky roared. Yu Zhao’s scalp prickled. The power in that bolt would far exceed the first. If it fell, even the entire palace might be razed.

As she hesitated over whether to retreat farther, the cultivators who had gathered outside suddenly fell to their knees. Hands pressed together in fervent prayer, they chanted under their breath. Wisps of faint light floated from them to the statue and fused into a vast light screen that formed above it.

“Is that their fortune,” Old Black Daoist blurted.

Yu Zhao was shaken to her core. The thunderclouds above seemed angered by this sudden change. The bolt that had been brewing slammed down.

Lightning crashed against the screen. Dazzling light burst outward. For a heartbeat the world fell silent.

When Yu Zhao and the others came back to themselves, the clouds had dispersed. The sky was calm again.

“Is it over,” Ancestor Sui Bian exhaled in a whoosh. He had not borne the punishment, but being so close made the terror feel all too real.

Old Black Daoist, his hair standing in a wild rooster’s nest, smacked his lips: “Now that was thrilling.”

Yu Zhao and Senior Xiu Yu said nothing. Both stared at the statue in the hall. It was intact, exactly as when they had first seen it. The thunder punishment had truly been blocked by the devotees’ fortune.

At that moment a wisp of a phantom drifted from the air above the statue. The goddess’s primordial spirit looked so frail it might dissipate at any time. She gazed at the devotees outside the hall, and complex feeling filled her eyes. She had not expected them to truly give up their fortune to shield her. She had meant to collect fortune here for a while, then move on. Now, for the first time, she felt she belonged.

She turned to the four: “I struck at you first. Now I have suffered punishment. Will you spare my life? I will swear a Dao Oath and never again use the Fortune Devouring Art to harm others.”

There was a trace of pleading in her expression. Her body had been destroyed. Only her spirit remained, and for a long time to come she could only dwell within the statue.

Fearing they would refuse, she hastened to add: “I am willing to offer my Jade Staff and my flower carriage, as well as my spirit beast, as an apology.”

Ancestor Sui Bian rubbed his hands, uncharacteristically abashed: “Do you happen to have an extra Jade Core?”

The goddess gave a wry smile: “The flower carriage and Jade Staff were gifts from my mother. Aside from those, I have nothing of value.”

They immediately understood why the flower carriage and the palace were so different in quality.

“We do not need the flower carriage, but the Jade Staff is useful to us,” Old Black Daoist decided. “We will take it, and our grudges are wiped clean.”

“Thank you, fellow Daoists,” the goddess said with relief. Keeping her life was the greatest blessing she could ask for.

Just as Yu Zhao was about to leave, the goddess called out again: “Yu Zhao.”

Yu Zhao looked back.

“You are a destiny-blessed bearer of great fortune. You are the most likely to find Donglai Immortal Isle.”

Yu Zhao tilted her head, signaling her to go on.

After a long hesitation, the goddess drew a jade plaque from within the statue. It was carved with an immortal isle wreathed in cloud. She offered it to Yu Zhao: “This is a token of Donglai Immortal Isle. If you manage to enter the isle, could you deliver a message for me?”

“You want me to speak to your mother,” Yu Zhao asked.

“Yes,” the goddess nodded. “Ask her if she still remembers that a girl named Ming Zhu is waiting for her.”

Yu Zhao was silent a moment, then reached out and took the jade plaque: “May I at least ask your honored mother’s name.”

“She would not tell me,” the goddess said softly. “But you will know her when you see her.”

With that she lifted her illusory veil and revealed a face as pure as a lotus emerging from clear water: “I inherited my mother’s looks. See me and you have seen her.”

Yu Zhao studied her deeply, as if to carve that face into her memory: “All right. If I have the chance to enter Donglai Immortal Isle, I will deliver the message.”

“Thank you,” the goddess answered and bowed to Yu Zhao with solemn respect.

She watched the four until their figures vanished, then kept staring at the empty air for a long time. A soft rustling pulled her back. She looked up to see Little River Realm’s cultivators mending the smashed roof for her. Lowering her gaze, she saw others filling the deep pit in the floor. They worked with eager intensity and showed no fatigue.

Her drifting heart settled at once. She thought that perhaps she no longer needed to chase her mother’s traces. She had already found the place she wished to guard for the rest of her life.