Guo Xingyue lay on the ground, first catching sight of a pair of shoes, then two legs. He felt relieved: luckily, a person had come, probably a cultivator. Ha, it seems there's always a way out.
As the person turned to face him, Guo Xingyue saw a young man with a handsome face, wearing a long blue robe made of an unknown material that subtly glimmered with a metallic sheen. The robe's style was completely different from those on Pangu Star, resembling both a Taoist robe and a Confucian gown. The young man stood before Guo Xingyue, looking astonished at his state, likely having never seen anyone undergo a tribulation in such a condition: completely naked, charred all over, limbs spread out like a character for "Tai", utterly still, except for his moving eyes.
The stranger didn't speak but moved his hand slightly, producing a jade vial. He opened the lid, took out a pill, and bent down to feed it to Guo Xingyue. Soon, Guo Xingyue felt a warm current flowing into his dantian, and his nascent soul began to awaken from its withered state. The paralysis from the lightning strike had passed, and Guo Xingyue sat up, circulating his true essence to heal his injuries.
The true essence flowed through his meridians, slowly repairing the damage. As it circulated, it grew stronger, and the nascent soul gradually recovered, even slightly larger than before the tribulation. Strangely, there was a faint flicker of lightning around the nascent soul. Having only learned the basics of nascent soul cultivation from Xiaoyaozi, Guo Xingyue, unaware of the significance of the lightning, assumed it was a normal phenomenon after a tribulation. He continued to direct his true essence to heal his external injuries, which progressed rapidly; where the true essence flowed, the charred skin fell away, and fresh skin formed instantly, restoring him to his former state in no time.
Guo Xingyue opened his eyes and sat up, carefully examining the young man: black hair, yellow skin, and a nose, ears, and eyes similar to his, but with blue eyes. Just as he was about to thank him, the stranger asked, "..."
Guo Xingyue was taken aback: what language was this? He didn't understand! Seeing Guo Xingyue's bewildered expression, the stranger tried another language: "..." Again, Guo Xingyue couldn't comprehend and shook his head, saying, "I don't understand what you're saying!" The young man also looked puzzled, evidently unable to comprehend Guo Xingyue's words. The two of them stared at each other in confusion, and then they both burst out laughing.
After some gesturing, Guo Xingyue finally understood that the stranger had a technique to extract language information from others, but it required contact with the other person's head. Thinking he had no secrets to hide, especially since this person had just saved him, Guo Xingyue nodded in agreement. The young man performed several hand seals and then gently touched Guo Xingyue's forehead. After a moment, he withdrew his finger and smiled, "I am Ye Mingcheng from the Jinshi Sect. Pleased to meet you, but I don't know where Pangu Star is."
Guo Xingyue shook his head and replied, "I don't know either. I was sent here by a teleportation array. May I ask where this place is?"
"This is Ju Jiao Star."
Through their conversation, Guo Xingyue learned that the cultivation world contains countless planets, and any planet rich in spiritual energy houses cultivation sects. Ye Mingcheng's star map indicated there were over ten thousand cultivation planets, with an innumerable number of sects, each practicing different methods but ultimately aiming to transcend and become immortal. Ye Mingcheng was also traveling from another planet; his sect, the Jinshi Sect, is located on the largest cultivation planet in the realm, Ju Shou Star, renowned for its focus on artifact refining. Each cultivation planet has its own language, but there is a common tongue for communication throughout the cultivation world.
Ye Mingcheng had come to Ju Jiao Star to gather unique minerals for artifact refining. Today, seeing the tribulation clouds from afar, he came to see if he could assist someone. However, upon approaching and realizing the tribulation's immense power, he hesitated to get too close, fearing a cascading tribulation. (One cannot rely on others during a tribulation; it depends solely on one's own artifacts and cultivation. If someone helps or gets too close, it can trigger a cascading tribulation, forcing both the helper and the one being helped to face tribulations simultaneously, with their combined might being much greater than a simple addition of two tribulations.) Ye Mingcheng arrived just as the final lightning strike fell, initially thinking an esteemed elder was undergoing a major tribulation, only to discover it was Guo Xingyue's nascent soul tribulation. He estimated the final lightning strike was as powerful as the second strike of a major tribulation, roughly five times the power of a cultivator of similar level.
Upon hearing this, Guo Xingyue felt a bit disheartened: why was he so unfortunate? It was one thing to be naked during a tribulation, but this one was several times stronger than others! Unbeknownst to him, he was cultivating through martial means, which resulted in a higher attack power than that of others of the same level; hence, the tribulation for martial cultivators was inherently stronger. Guo Xingyue's use of the "Unity of Heaven and Man" to counter the last lightning strike was itself a technique that harnessed the power of heaven and earth. Although he couldn't completely block the lightning, part of the energy was drawn into his body, benefitting his future development, though he didn't realize this yet.
Ye Mingcheng's robe was a magical garment with defensive properties. Upon learning that Guo Xingyue had nothing, he provided him with a storage ring and a magical robe, along with a jade talisman. The talisman contained simple spells, including the information-extracting technique Ye Mingcheng had just used, basic artifact refining techniques such as those for flying swords and magical robes, as well as the usage of the common language and its correspondence with Mandarin. Guo Xingyue quickly absorbed this language using the extraction technique, mastering its use in no time.
The storage ring contained minerals and several crystal pieces that Ye Mingcheng had collected, with the quality of these crystals far surpassing the three that Xiaoyaozi had left for him, and they were also larger. There was even a flying sword. Upon seeing the sword, Guo Xingyue remembered that his own flying sword was probably lost to the lightning. He quickly attempted to summon it with his mind, but it failed to respond. He then extended his consciousness to search the area, soon discovering his sword buried in the sand nearby. After digging it out, Guo Xingyue looked at the flying sword in his hand and couldn't help but smile bitterly: it had lost its shimmering luster, becoming dull and lifeless, with several major nicks along the blade. It was less a flying sword than a piece of scrap metal.