The Terrifying Heavenly Tribulation
Two days passed quickly. Following the Sea Emperor's instructions, Bigge and his team prepared all the resources, and their spaceship soon departed from the port of Norman Star. This time, the Gu Ding Team gained another member: ten-year-old Miko.
After leaving Norman Star's atmosphere, Sea Emperor controlled the spaceship to make a space jump, appearing above an uninhabited planet.
"I've investigated. This planet is less than a light-year from Norman Star, making it the closest suitable planet for tribulation. There is no life on the entire planet, and the environment is relatively mild, so it won't affect the tribulation." The planets that the Sea Emperor chooses for everyone's tribulation are always carefully selected, and this time is no exception.
The spaceship quickly docked on the uninhabited planet.
"The surface temperature is 560 degrees Celsius, the air temperature is 480 degrees Celsius, and the atmospheric composition is 28% nitrogen, 39% carbon dioxide, 23% sulfur dioxide, and the remaining 10% is mainly carbon monoxide and sulfur monoxide, with a small amount of other components."
Sea Emperor gave a general description of the planet's environment, which was completely unsuitable for human survival. Both the temperature and the atmospheric composition were lethal to humans. However, Gu Ding was already a demigod. Although he was not an energy being, he no longer needed oxygen. In addition, given his physical strength, even if the surface temperature and air temperature increased tenfold, it would not cause him any harm.
Gu Ding the hatch and stepped out of the spaceship.
On this uninhabited planet, there were nothing but rocks and volcanoes. Gu Ding chose a flat area not far away, then released his self-imposed restrictions and unleashed his full power.
Liliath and her group watched through the windows of a nearby spaceship. With the defensive capabilities of the Titan Warship, they didn't need to worry about being affected by the Heavenly Tribulation.
After Gu Ding released his aura, the clouds in the sky began to change rapidly, forming an enormous vortex that covered half of the planet.
Everyone looked up at the sky.
"My God, the vortex of these clouds is so huge that it seems to have no end. This Heavenly Tribulation of Gu Ding is too terrifying!" Liliath said with a little worry.
"It's bigger than all the Heavenly Tribulation we've faced before combined..." Bigge nodded. The area covered by Gu Ding's Heavenly Tribulation clouds was truly terrifying.
The gray clouds quickly turned as black as ink. Golden lightning rolled within the clouds, and the entire planet looked as if the end of the world had arrived.
Gu Ding looked up at the sky without fear, awaiting the arrival of the Heavenly Tribulation. He too cultivated his physical body. Therefore, he planned to follow Elsa's example and withstand the Heavenly Tribulation with his physical body. If he couldn't withstand it any longer, he would then launch a counterattack.
In the sky, the lightning was brewing in the clouds, and it took more than an hour before the first bolt of lightning finally struck.
It was a golden lightning bolt. As thick as an adult's arm, it flashed through the void and struck Gu Ding with incredible speed.
Liliath frowned slightly upon seeing this. "This guy is actually taking the hit with his bare hands?!"
"Given Gu Ding's physical strength, the earlier stages shouldn't be a problem. The main issue is the power of the final few waves of Heavenly Tribulation, which might pose a threat to him." Elsa knew about Gu Ding's Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body technique and Gu Ding cultivation progress, so she wasn't too worried.
When the first bolt of lightning struck his body, Gu Ding looked puzzled. The Heavenly Tribulation hadn't caused him any damage whatsoever, only a slight tingling sensation. "Is this all the power Heavenly Tribulation can have?"
Just as Gu Ding was filled with doubt, a surge of energy suddenly welled up from somewhere within his body, beginning to temper his physical form once more. He clearly felt the appearance of that energy causing his body's cells to rejoice. This made him even more confused, "What on earth is going on?"
Before he could figure it out, a second bolt of lightning struck. Again, aside from a slight tingling sensation, there were no signs of injury. And after this lightning disappeared, the same body-tempering energy surged within him again, further strengthening his cells.
Then, a third, a fourth... bolts of lightning struck one after another, yet Gu Ding's clothes remained completely undamaged. The tingling sensation didn't cause discomfort; on the contrary, it was exceptionally pleasant.
However, after more than forty lightning bolts struck, Gu Ding's basic physical strength rose from the level of two stars to the level of three stars. He estimated that after all eighty-one Heavenly Tribulation had fallen, his physical strength should be able to rise to the level of four stars.
"I feel something's off," Liliath said with a keen eye. "Gu Ding looks like he's really enjoying himself."
"It seems so..." Elsa, who was standing next to her, also felt something was off.
"There shouldn't be any problem. If there's any danger, Gu Ding will definitely take action." Bigge also carefully checked Gu Ding's situation. There was something else he didn't say: if there really was danger, the Sea Emperor would definitely notify his group.
At this moment, Gu Ding was naturally not interested in listening to how outsiders evaluated his tribulation. He could feel the cells in his body cheering with joy. But he still couldn't figure out what was happening inside his body.
"The eightieth Heavenly Tribulation has passed, only the last one remains!" Gu Ding finally opened his eyes, which had been closed the whole time. He felt that he was only a little short of raising the strength of his basic cells to the Four-Star Low-rank God. This final Heavenly Tribulation might very well be the opportunity for him to become stronger.
In the sky, a golden lightning bolt as thick as a bucket struck Gu Ding accurately once again.
Another surge of powerful energy erupted from his body, Gu Ding's cellular strength instantly rose from three stars to Four-Star Low-rank God.
"It's finally over..." The final bolt of lightning brought Gu Ding a huge sigh of relief. But as he was about to leave, he saw Lily and the others in the spaceship pointing to the sky. He looked up at the sky again.
"What's going on???" Gu Ding was a little confused about what had happened. In the sky, the tribulation clouds did not dissipate. Instead, lightning continued to flash above the clouds, completely dyeing the black clouds in the sky gold.
"I just counted, it's already the eighty-first one, why hasn't the Heavenly Tribulation dissipated yet?" Liliath was a little confused.
"Indeed, there are eighty-one, I know them too," Elsa nodded in agreement.
"You might have miscounted. Let's see how this round of Heavenly Tribulation goes by before we talk about it." Dokter thought the two women had miscounted, because no one's Heavenly Tribulation could exceed the eighty-first round.
"Be careful, this round of Heavenly Tribulation is a bit strange," the Sea Emperor warned.
Gu Ding himself was somewhat puzzled, but since the Heavenly Tribulation hadn't dissipated, it meant he couldn't leave. He suppressed his doubts and focused on preparing for the next wave of Heavenly Tribulation.
"Boom!" Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck, followed by a second, a third, a fourth... Countless bolts of lightning seemed to have been released from their slumber, pouring down wildly, all aimed at Gu Ding, who was undergoing his tribulation.
Before Liliath and the others could even utter a sound of alarm, they saw countless bolts of lightning rushing madly toward Gu Ding.
"What happened?" Seeing nothing but golden lightning in his field of vision, Gu Ding was completely bewildered as to what had just transpired. Before he could react, he was struck by a bolt of lightning, and within a mere 0.0001 seconds, a second and a third bolt of lightning struck him in Gu Ding succession.
"No, something bad is bound to happen if this continues!" Liliath felt anxious as she saw Gu Ding engulfed in lightning.
But Gu Ding's experience was completely different. Those bolts of lightning were not death warrants for him, but rather nourishing tonics.
His body continuously absorbed the various lightning bolts, yet Gu Ding felt no pain, only waves of tingling pleasure. The strange energy soon reappeared, but this time it didn't enhance Gu Ding's physical body; instead, it strengthened his soul. In less than three minutes, Gu Ding's soul strength increased by a level, reaching the strength of Three-Star Low-rank God, and this strength continued to rise.
Golden lightning bolts, like a torrential downpour, all pointed towards Gu Ding.
Gu Ding's soul strength continued to increase, three stars, four stars, five stars...
The relentless bombardment lasted for a full hour before finally ending, and Gu Ding's soul strength was forcibly raised to the level of One-Star Mid-rank God. This kind of progress was simply terrifying.
When the last bolt of lightning struck, Gu Ding naively thought it was over. He looked up at the sky again, but the tribulation clouds had not yet dispersed.
"It seems Gu Ding is alright, but why hasn't the Heavenly Tribulation ended yet?!" This time, Liliath wasn't the only one surprised; even Bigge frowned, completely baffled as to what had happened.
Above the clouds, strange lights surged.
Suddenly, golden spheres began to fall from the clouds, hurtling wildly toward Gu Ding's location, like stars falling...
"This is... ball lightning?" Gu Ding was also stunned. Although this kind of lightning is slower than normal lightning, its destructive power is much stronger.
The golden sphere, upon impacting Gu Ding, inexplicably disappeared into him. Then, another surge of energy inexplicably arose, flowing directly into the location of the fire seed within Gu Ding's Soul Space, igniting a peculiar purple fire seed. With the continued attacks of the ball lightning, the purple fire seed within Gu Ding began to blaze, transforming from a Mars into a flame, then into a pillar of fire, and even higher...
"This is the Purple Lightning Divine Fire!" The Sea Emperor recognized it at a glance. "You've really made a great haul this time."
Gu Ding himself didn't know how many times he had been hit. He only knew that this ball lightning attack had given him a new divine fire within his body, and that it was growing faster than the other divine fires.
After the ball lightning, the clouds in the sky finally began to return to normal...