Actually, the round-faced and slightly chubby human version of Little Cai also looked quite cute.

　　Song Shuhang watched the live broadcast from the perspective of the virtuous lamia. “It cannot be denied that the tribulation-transcending technique that the Great Emperor imparted to Little Cai is really powerful… disregarding the cowardly posture.”

　　At this time, Su Clan’s Sixteen frowned, and said, “Are there even any secret defensive techniques as strong as this without any downsides or negative aftereffects? It’s just like a ‘life sacrifice’ wherein one would be able to temporarily get a burst in power in their strength at the cost of having to stimulate their own potential and overdrawing their true yuan.”

　　The defensive effect of the ‘crouching down while holding one’s head’ technique was almost unbelievable. Little Cai, who was at the Third Stage Realm and did not even have a tribulation-transcending formation, could easily resist the waves of the heavenly tribulation without suffering any injuries. This feeling reminded Sixteen of overdrawing techniques such as ‘life sacrifice’.

　　Song Shuhang said, “Even if it is an overdrawing-type secret technique, as long as it doesn’t use up too much, what’s lost could still be regained after the tribulation. Especially for this secret defensive technique, considering the small price that has to be paid, it is completely worth it to use it.”

　　He had personally experienced the effects of the ‘crouching down while holding one’s head’ secret technique. At that time, under the protection of the high-quality puppet, Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman, Daoist Priest Horizon, Eternity, and himself were all able to get through the heavenly tribulation of the Eighth Stage without getting injured.

　　Even if he would have to overdraw his potential and pay a price, as long as it didn’t hurt his foundations, it would be worth using.

　　After he said that, Song Shuhang thought of the puppet maiden once again—she also knew about the ‘crouching down while holding one’s head’ secret technique, so she would certainly know if any price had to be paid for using this technique.

　　As such, Song Shuhang used his consciousness to contact the puppet maiden who was inside his magical bracelet. “Are you still awake? Can I ask you a question? Does using the ‘crouching down while holding one’s head’ technique have any drawbacks?”

　　The puppet maiden replied, “I’ve always been awake… Of course it does. If this secret technique is only used for a short time, it will only use up a small part of one’s energy. Otherwise, it could bring backlash onto one’s physical body, but that could usually be healed after a few months of cultivation. However, in more serious cases, after using the secret technique, one might have to sacrifice a part of their body and have to repair it with special natural treasures or magical treasures.”

　　“Sacrifice a part of one’s body?” After thinking about that, he asked, “Then when I transcended the tribulation, did you use the secret technique and sacrificed a part of your body?”

　　The puppet maiden calmly replied, “Of course. Did you really think that a heavenly tribulation of the Eighth Stage would be able to damage me this much otherwise? However, my body’s just the body of a puppet anyway, even if I sacrificed a part of it, it could still be reassembled later. As long as the core part of this body is fine, then there won’t be much of a problem.”

　　Song Shuhang sincerely said, “Thank you.”

　　The puppet maiden curiously said, “Thank you? Why?”

　　Song Shuhang replied, “Thank you for saving us.”

　　The puppet maiden said, “Oh.”

　　Song Shuhang suddenly asked, “By the way, did your original body use that secret technique often?”

　　The puppet maiden quickly responded, “I don’t know, my memory is incomplete.”

　　Song Shuhang nodded.

　　At this moment, a thought suddenly came to his mind… if the original body of the puppet maiden had been forced to often use this secret technique or had to use it for an extended period of time during some disaster, and finally had to pay a huge price and sacrifice most of her body, could her body have needed to be puppetized to allow her to live?

　　In other words, this puppet maiden… could this be her ‘original body’?

　　Song Shuhang suddenly realized such a possibility existed.

　　However, soon after, he threw away this idea that had just appeared in his mind. He had confirmed otherwise when he used the ‘secret appraisal technique’ to appraise the puppet—the results of the appraisal that time showed that this puppet was a high-quality puppet that had been tailor-made for a VIP customer of the Jet-Black Sect, so it could not possibly be the ‘original body’.

　　Song Shuhang softly said, “I hope that Little Cai’s heavenly tribulation doesn’t drag on for too long, at least not until the point where she has to sacrifice part of her body.”

　　Little Cai was only so big; no matter what she sacrificed, it would definitely be troublesome for her.

　　If Little Cai were a human being, when it really came to the point where she had to sacrifice a part of the body, she could at least consider sacrificing her ‘appendix’ or some rather useless part of her body. At least the appendix was still considered to be an organ that could simply be cut off. As for whether scientists would suddenly be able to discover that the ‘appendix’ had some special effects, that would be a matter for the future.

　　At that time, Song Shuhang would not really have to worry about it—once he practiced the Jade Lake Emperor Cheng Lin’s ‘self-recovery secret technique’ to a high level, he would easily be able to regrow an appendix.

　　However, he had completely no idea whether or not birds would have an appendix. Song Shuhang hadn’t read into this particular subject, and his knowledge reserve was simply too poor.

　　When knowledge was needed, you’d regret having too little!

　　❄️❄️❄️

　　At this time, Little Cai had already gotten through two waves of the heavenly tribulation.

　　In the sky, the giant cannon continued to bombard Little Cai, and she continued to resist the attacks.

　　Afterward, the heavenly tribulation added another dozen heavy machine guns to cooperate with the cannon to besiege Little Cai.

　　Little Cai continued to resist the heavenly tribulation by holding her head while crouching down and trembling.

　　With how things were looking, it seemed that the heavenly tribulation did not have enough power to force out the upgraded version of the secret technique, the orz-style tribulation-transcending secret technique.

　　The Great Northern Emperor looked at the heavenly tribulation in the sky, and said, “This world has really become so strange.”

　　The methods of the heavenly tribulation were completely unfamiliar to him.

　　He really missed the old and familiar heavenly tribulation.

　　Shi worriedly said, “Will Little Cai be able to hold on?”

　　She saw that Little Cai’s body was fine, but the human projection of Little Cai’s body had become distorted, and looked like it was going to collapse at any time.

　　The Great Northern Emperor calmly said, “Rest assured, I guarantee that she will be able to hold on.”

　　The methods of the heavenly tribulation had changed, but although its attack power had greatly increased, the energy that it had was no different from the past. Although the only difference with the modernized heavenly tribulation was that it used its energy much better, this had undoubtedly increased the difficulty of transcending the tribulation for cultivators.

　　Perhaps cultivators would also have to think about better ways to use their energy to go against this tribulation? the Great Northern Emperor thought to himself.

　　As he thought about what might happen in the future, he pictured two cultivators fighting one another. One reached out and made a hand seal. After a while, he fired a ‘magical guided missile’ at the other party. As the other party refused to be outdone, he similarly made a hand seal to summon an anti-guided missile platform to intercept the missile…

　　Afterward, there would be a series of booms.

　　The Great Northern Emperor shook his head fiercely—such a style was simply too crooked.

　　While he was in thought, the heavenly tribulation in the sky underwent another change.

　　The cannon and the heavy machine guns all disappeared, replaced by a battleship.

　　At the side of the battleship, there was a total of three rows of cannons that emerged and locked on to Little Cai. After that, the power of the heavenly tribulation began to gather inside the mouths of those cannons.

　　Little Cai’s heart palpitated, and all of the feathers on her body bristled. A huge feeling of crisis came pressuring down on her. She had a faint intuition that if those three sets of cannons were to fire at her all at the same time, she would not be able to resist it.

　　The Great Northern Emperor lightly said, “Little Cai, recite the incantation again, repeat it three times!”

　　After Little Cai heard those words, she quickly recited the incantation over and over until she did it thrice.

　　Immortal Fairy Bie Xue said, “Are you going to have her change her posture to the one where she’s kneeling down?”

　　Shi asked, “Are you talking about Profound Sage Horizon’s posture?”

　　The Great Northern Emperor nodded, and said, “Exactly, changing the posture would allow the defenses of the secret technique to increase by an entire level.”

　　As they were talking, because of the pressure she was experiencing, Little Cai accidentally recited the incantation one time extra.

　　“Senior Beifang, not good, I accidentally recited the incantation four times,” Little Cai said in great panic.

　　The Great Northern Emperor: “…”

　　According to his memory, reciting the incantation four times while maintaining the ‘crouching while holding one’s head secret technique’ would activate another function—the function of guarding companions.

　　This function was the one used by the puppet maiden in the Heavenly Tribulation Realm to protect Song Shuhang and the others.

　　After using this function, the ‘defensive power’ on Little Cai ‘s body would spread out and envelope nearby companions to protect them.

　　“I have never seen anyone as silly as you…” The Great Northern Emperor sighed.

　　The defense of Little Cai’s original ‘crouching down while holding one’s head’ technique was already unable to stop the next wave of the heavenly tribulation. Now that she was going to spread her ‘defensive power’ to others, she was simply seeking death.

　　While they were talking, a curtain of light spread from Little Cai’s body in all directions.

　　The Great Northern Emperor, Immortal Fairy Bie Xue, Shi, and even the nearby whale-riding virtuous lamia were all covered by this light curtain.

　　“Eh? What’s happening?” Immortal Fairy Bie Xue felt the light curtain wrap around her body.

　　Shi also looked at her own body that was now covered with light in curiosity.

　　It was clear that they were now under the protection of Little Cai’s secret technique.

　　Little Cai shouted, “Senior Beifang, is it already too late for me to say the incantation three times?”

　　The Great Emperor shook his head. “According to my calculations, after you give your ‘secret defensive energy’ to others, even if you were to use the kneeling posture, you wouldn’t be able to get through the next wave of the heavenly tribulation.”

　　Little Cai asked, “Can I cancel the function?”

　　“Only by canceling the secret technique… but if you cancel the secret technique, the backlash will immediately start. With your strength, you would not be able to use the secret technique again in a short period of time. At that time, you would not be able to transcend the tribulation.”

　　Little Cai’s eyes suddenly became wet.

　　The Great Northern Emperor said, “Alright, alright, I’ll be making a move and dispersing this heavenly tribulation… Perhaps it just really isn’t time for you to transcend your tribulation yet.”

　　After saying that, he took a step forward. Ice intent gathered around him, and finally became an ice spear.

　　This ice spear locked onto the battleship in the sky.

　　However, just as the Great Northern Emperor was about to disperse the scourge, a great wave of energy came from Immortal Fairy Bie Xue’s immortal cave.

　　In the next moment, Senior White directly crossed space, appearing at the scene of the heavenly tribulation.

　　After that rest just now, the fatigue that had built up in him from transcending the tribulation was completely gone—the reason he could not get up just now was because he had been recovering.

　　After fully waking up, Senior White immediately sensed the heavenly tribulation.

　　After that, he went straight through space to arrive before the heavenly tribulation.

　　Looking at the battleship in the sky, Senior White’s eyes lit up—it was as if he had seen a rare treasure.