Rolling black clouds churned, and before long, the entire sky was shrouded beneath them.
The suddenly darkened light finally caught Ximen Qing's attention. He looked up and saw that as far as his eyes could reach, everything was covered by black clouds!
Looking at the black clouds filling his vision, he was shocked but did not pay them much mind. To him, they were perhaps merely a rather rare celestial phenomenon...
Intense unwillingness filled Xiao Feng's soul...
He let out an unwilling roar.
"How... can I die!"
"I want to live! Even if I must die, I have to drag Ximen Qing down to hell with me!"
Suddenly... Xiao Feng felt that the air around him had changed. Each wisp seemed to have been granted consciousness, as though they were... touching him?
At that moment, an immense, conscious pressure brushed gently over him. It was boundless and vast, as grand as the heavens themselves... That heavy pressure was drawing near him...
But... as that trace of consciousness gradually approached him, it seemed intentional—its heavy pressure deliberately receded...
Xiao Feng seemed to sense an intense emotional fluctuation within that consciousness... It seemed to be heartache? Heartache?
What was it heartbroken over?
Xiao Feng even wondered whether something had gone wrong with his senses. Why did he have such an absurd feeling?
Then... he sensed his profound veins.
His damaged profound veins were violently... throbbing!
Unlike Ximen Qing...
He too sensed a pressure carrying heavy consciousness, but the emotion it released was unmistakably fury—a rage that made Ximen Qing's spine turn cold...
"Gulp." Ximen Qing unconsciously swallowed. A powerful chill surged through his body, and he felt himself trembling naturally beneath the light brush of that consciousness!
It was fear... uncontrollable fear born from his body's instinct.
His body seemed beyond his control as he slowly stepped back. One step, two steps, three steps...
Then, he felt that the consciousness watching him seemed to vanish...
The rage that had chilled his spine dissipated, and his legs suddenly gave way. He collapsed onto the ground!
He staggered to his feet, his heart flooded with indescribable shock. The majesty carried by that consciousness just now... even a true god would be no more than that...
But fortunately... it seemed not to care about him...
Yet before the shock in his heart could settle, a scene that terrified him unfolded. He discovered that the black clouds in the sky were descending, churning...
Yes, churning! Churning violently! As though they possessed consciousness of their own, brewing... brewing something?
Watching the endlessly churning black clouds overhead, a thought that filled him with dread instinctively surfaced... Could someone be undergoing a tribulation!
Those black clouds blanketing his vision had appeared because someone was undergoing a tribulation!
Who was it? Though the question arose in his heart, Ximen Qing already had an answer. He simply refused to believe it...
He looked toward Xiao Feng inside the barrier. Xiao Feng was still lying on the ground, but his aura had changed...
If Ximen Qing's memory was not mistaken, Xiao Feng was at the peak of the God Tribulation Realm...
He had clearly been barely clinging to life, yet the aura around him now began to pulse... like a child joyfully bouncing about...
"Could it... really be him?" Ximen Qing murmured in disbelief.
But no matter how unwilling he was to believe it, this was the most reasonable explanation.
No one in Flowing Wind City was unaware of Xiao Feng... a six-year-old at the God Tribulation Realm.
A six-year-old at the God Tribulation Realm, a shocking prodigy! Yet no one was unaware that Xiao Feng had been stuck in the God Tribulation Realm for a full twelve years!
For twelve years, he had never broken through...
The black clouds above made him take the matter seriously. He no longer relied on his eyes...
His Divine Sense swept out with all its strength. With even a rough sweep, the Divine Sense of a God Master Realm expert could stretch extremely, incredibly far...
He did not need to see anything... He only needed to observe the sky, visible from anywhere...
One mile... ten miles... dozens of miles... hundreds of miles... thousands of miles...
His Divine Sense had already swept to an unknown distance...
Everywhere it passed was covered by sky-shrouding black clouds!
Ximen Qing's face began to twitch...
Ancient records stated that mortals cultivating the divine path would inevitably face Lightning Tribulations. Once one reached the God Tribulation Realm, one had to undergo the baptism of a Heavenly Tribulation. Those who succeeded would advance to the God Spirit Realm. Those who failed would die!
According to the records, Heavenly Tribulations were divided into nine layers. The first six were the greatest Heavenly Tribulations mortals could possibly encounter...
Beyond that, perhaps only ancient gods and devils could overcome them.
The Abyss's earliest inhabitants had been ancient gods and devils. The chronicles recorded that throughout the Abyss's million-year history, the highest tribulation ever faced was... the seventh layer.
And those who had faced seven layers of Lightning Tribulation numbered fewer than ten...
Those who had successfully overcome them—one person.
Ximen Qing himself had undergone a four-layer Lightning Tribulation, already marking him as extraordinarily gifted, yet the black clouds it had covered only dozens of miles.
For ordinary profound practitioners, the black clouds brought by a Lightning Tribulation generally covered around ten miles. The more gifted one was, the more layers their Lightning Tribulation would have, and the greater the black clouds it summoned—usually only several dozen miles.
As for the recorded seven-layer Lightning Tribulation, the black clouds covering its sky had spanned roughly a hundred miles...
A seven-layer Lightning Tribulation only covered a hundred miles...
Yet the black clouds before him, which even the Divine Sense of a God Master Realm expert could not see the end of, covered... an infinite expanse!
Just how many layers of Lightning Tribulation could cause such a heavenly phenomenon? At this moment, Ximen Qing keenly felt his own ignorance.
And because of that, he became even more unwilling to believe that this was a Lightning Tribulation...
Yet Ximen Qing's guess was not wrong. At this moment, throughout the entire world of the Abyss—the Mist Sea, the Pure Land, the Divine Kingdom... all were blanketed in black clouds!
Black clouds covered the entire Abyss...
But the truth lay before him, leaving him no choice but to believe it. He could not even find an excuse to comfort himself.
Xiao Feng's talent in the profound path far surpassed his own...
Yet a deep sense of relief also surged within Ximen Qing's heart. If Xiao Feng were allowed to grow, his future would be immeasurable...
No matter how high Xiao Feng's talent was, he had to die now!
Those capable of drawing a seven-layer Lightning Tribulation possessed astonishing talent, yet nearly all had perished...
And Xiao Feng had made no preparations whatsoever. He was even barely clinging to life. Undergoing a tribulation, he was certain to die!
So what if your talent is unparalleled? You will not live!
Such a powerful genius was about to die, at the hands of Ximen Qing!
He wanted to move closer, but the moment he approached, his body, his soul... even every hair on his body began to tremble uncontrollably!
His body started retreating on its own, warning him.
Everyone knew that interfering in a Heavenly Tribulation would invite heaven's condemnation!
His expression wavered, and in the end, he followed his body's instinct... retreating.
Only after withdrawing dozens of miles did the trembling of his body finally begin to subside...
His gaze remained fixed on Xiao Feng inside the barrier. He had to watch Xiao Feng die with his own eyes; otherwise, how could he rest easy!
Feeling the throbbing within his profound veins, Xiao Feng knew he was about to break through...
The shackle that had trapped him for twelve whole years had actually... broken open today!
Had the unwillingness and hatred in his heart moved the heavens...
But... how could he overcome the Heavenly Tribulation in his current state...
Not to mention Ximen Qing watching hungrily from afar, though he did not know how many layers his Heavenly Tribulation would have, with his current injuries, even a single-layer Heavenly Tribulation would surely kill him.
Could it be... that he would die beneath the Heavenly Tribulation?
Still... that was better than dying by Ximen Qing's hand...
Sister Ling'er... I'm sorry... I won't be able to let you see me... rise after years of restraint and soar through the nine heavens...
... "PS: Dedicated to everyone in the depths of hardship: a hidden dragon lies in the abyss, destined to soar through the nine heavens.
It has not soared for long because the time has not yet come...
Next, let everyone witness Xiao Feng's true bearing after twelve years of suppression... after soaring into the heavens!
I'm doing fairly well... aside from feeling a little weak, and having rubbed my nose sore. There should be two updates today.
Before you continue