Tang Yue stood at the center of the rune and activated the lightning domain with a drop of her blood.
She didn't have to wait long to experience how exactly this domain rune functioned.
As soon as the rune thrummed alive and activated by consuming mana from the world, sharp bolts of lightning started discharging from thin air out of nowhere.
Tang Yue instantly got hit by one and her skin sizzled from pain.
Her disguise was also gone and she was now in her blue-skinned human serpentine form.
Tang Yue's first instinct was to dodge the various lightning bolts, and she danced nimbly using the movement art from her sword technique.
Her legs busily moved in that small oval-shaped barrier with extreme skill and precision, avoiding the lightning zaps that were beginning to rain down on her.
Though the frequency of the bolts steadily increased, Tang Yue still managed to successfully evade them all.
But then she suddenly stopped with a constipated expression on her face, an expression filled with fear and unwillingness.
Tang Yue remembered that she in fact was not supposed to dodge these lightning bolts!!!
That was in fact counter-productive to what she actually aimed to accomplish here.
She sighed in frustration and stopped moving, standing frozen in her tracks.
The numerous lightning bolts that were previously unable to even graze her, now easily drenched her from head to toe.
BZZZT. BZZZT. BZZZT. BZZZT.
BZZZT. BZZZT. BZZZT. BZZZT.
BZZZT. BZZZT. BZZZT. BZZZT.
The lightning bolts continued mercilessly raining down on her, burning and charring her skin and flesh the instant they touched her.
And of course, the notifications rolled in as well…
Ding. Lightning resistance has increased
Ding. Lightning resistance has increased
Ding. Lightning resistance has increased
Ding. Lightning resistance has increased
…
…
…
Tang Yue grimaced.
It was hurting like hell and she didn't have the pain threshold to enjoy these notifications right now.
She gritted her teeth and clenched her fist as she slowly sat down, bearing the unholy pain.
Though cultivating the world's energy gave power and strength, every step in this path was riddled with unbearable pain.
Only those with the willpower to withstand these monstrous trials could even dream about standing at the top.
Tang Yue resolutely closed her eyes and started cultivating, focusing on the mana swirling around her, rather than the pain.
A minute passed… an hour passed and soon… several hours passed…
Tang Yue, however, was still sitting in the same pose as she was at the beginning.
Lightning bolts crackled and sparkled around her as if she was in the midst of ongoing fireworks.
Moreover, the intensity and power of lightning bolts had now tremendously increased compared to how they were at the beginning of the domain activation.
This brutal difference could be seen just from the numerous horrifying wounds covering Tang Yue's body.
She cocked her head to the side and quickly gulped down another recovery potion.
Tang Yue had already lost count of the number of health recovery potions and wound healing potions she had used.
The potions were all high-grade ones similar to the potion used by Charlotte earlier.
But since the intensity of lightning bolts had exponentially increased, the effect of even high-grade potions was only minimal.
They at most affected only the superficial wounds.
And this did little because by the time the superficial wounds disappear a new set of wounds appear almost at the same instant.
Of course, Tang Yue was not in any real mortal danger.
After all, she had the power to end this madness whenever she wanted.
But the snake bit her lips and tried to hold out as much as possible.
Even though it was extremely painful and hurting like crazy, Tang Yue could feel her body slowly and steadily improving.
Not only did her lightning resistance improve, but she also managed to bring up her physical constitution all the way from Silver-tier Martial Body to Silver-tier Emperor Body.
And before Tang Yue could enjoy this development, she felt another bottleneck crack open and her cultivation base also soared from the Martial realm to the Emperor realm.
This meant that both her fire essence and earthen essence cores were at the Emperor realm.
Using this lightning domain, she had finally stepped out of the Martial realm into the Emperor realm.
Tang Yue weakly smiled as she could sense her tired body suck in the world energy like a vortex.
All the pain and the tiredness slightly disappeared but the next instant the air above her rumbled and another egregious lightning bolt zapped her slender figure.
Tang Yue now almost looked like a deep-roasted burnt meat stick, as she was covered from top to bottom in soot, smoke, and grime.
She, however, still didn't have the heart to end the domain rune just yet.
With her body trembling from the sheer pain, she clenched her fists and withstood the pain as much as she could.
She no longer even had the strength to sit tight.
With every bolt of lightning that struck her body, she flipped like a fish out of water, twitching crazily.
The ordeal continued like this for a few more minutes when things further worsened and got too much for Tang Yue to handle.
With her willpower, she withstood everything till the end and she finally lost her consciousness.
The rune instantly deactivated and the domain flickered revealing Tang Yue's unconscious body on the smithy floor.
Her body was completely charred and she was in an extremely bad state.
Both Xander and Charlotte felt the domain weaken and almost looked at her simultaneously, but Xander acted much faster than Charlotte could even blink.
His dark elemental clone inconspicuously materialized and Tang Yue again disappeared into another domain barrier.
However, this time it was a domain personally triggered by Xander.
Charlotte blinked and stared at the empty space in front of her for a few seconds before sighing and going back to waiting again.
She simply assumed that Tang Yue was not done with her tempering just yet and patiently waited.