The Man Who Made the Heavenly Dao Fear

Lu Chen stared at the dark clouds in the sky. The clouds reformed, gathering for a second wave of heavenly thunder, its power significantly greater than the first.

"Brother Lu, be careful. Grandpa said the first few waves of heavenly tribulations are just tempering the body. The later ones are the real danger," Nantian Wan'er reminded Lu Chen. Ever since their consciousnesses merged, she knew what Lu Chen was thinking without him having to say it.

"Wan'er, I understand. The second wave is coming," Lu Chen said, looking at the heavenly tribulation about to descend from the sky.

The tribulation fell with much greater power than before. Lu Chen and Wan'er endured it by taking it head-on.

One wave, two waves, three waves...

Five waves of heavenly tribulation fell, each coming faster and with greater power than the last.

After the sixth wave ended, Lu Chen and Wan'er descended from the sky, sparks still crackling around them.

"It seems I need to take this seriously. The tribulation's power can now harm our bodies."

Lu Chen dispersed the electric sparks around him and took out the Primal Chaos Greatsword, preparing to face the tribulation. Just then, the dark clouds in the sky suddenly dissipated.

"Brother Lu, look! The dark clouds are gone."

Lu Chen looked up. The dark clouds in the sky had vanished, leaving no trace of the previous heavenly tribulation.

"That shouldn't be. The Qi Gathering tribulation has twelve waves. It's a rule of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth; it shouldn't change," Lu Chen stared at the sky, contemplating the reason.

Nantian Xiu, who was not far away, saw the heavenly tribulation disappear and was about to return when a sudden change occurred.

A much larger area of heavenly tribulation formed in the sky, covering the entire Secret Realm. The center of it was directed towards Lu Chen.

Everyone in the Secret Realm, who had been searching for treasures, put down their tasks and looked up at the dark clouds.

"Heavenly tribulation? What realm is this tribulation from? The clouds' power is immense."

"Did some powerful being break through their realm in this area? Will the tribulation affect us?"

"Could it be that a rare treasure is about to appear?"

For a moment, discussions and speculations about the source of the heavenly tribulation spread throughout the Secret Realm.

"Second Uncle, is there a rare treasure appearing over there? Should we go take a look?" Jun Wudi shouted to Nantian Xiu, who was searching for treasures in a valley with Nantian Yijian.

"We cannot go. This Secret Realm contains Demonic Beasts from ten thousand years ago. The tribulation clouds must have awakened them. We need to find the herbs as quickly as possible."

Over the past few days, Nantian Yijian and Jun Wudi had been collecting treasures in the Secret Realm, and their cultivation had advanced significantly. Nantian Yijian had already reached the eighth level of the Qi Gathering Realm, and with the support of numerous treasures, the Spiritual Energy in his body was beginning to liquify. Jun Wudi had successfully formed a drop of Spirit Liquid in his body and was waiting for it to circulate before facing his heavenly tribulation.

Deep within various valleys of the Secret Realm, slumbering high-level Demonic Beasts were awakened. They poked their heads out, looking in the direction of the heavenly tribulation.

"The center of the tribulation is in the Fire Hell. Could it be that old Flame Demon has advanced his cultivation?" The leaders of the Metal, Water, Fire, and Earth territories communicated with each other from their lairs.

"It wasn't me who advanced. Humans have entered the Secret Realm, and they are undergoing tribulation. It's even more terrifying than our advancement tribulations," the Flame Demon said slowly, sensing the aura in his territory.

"What... Humans? Are you sure you're not mistaken? With such scarce Heavenly Spiritual Energy, how could humans possess such a powerful aura?" The other leaders clearly did not believe him.

"What about the Wind Dragon? Why is there no news from the Wind Dragon?" The Flame Demon, being closest to the Wind Dragon's territory, could not sense its aura.

"The Wind Dragon's aura has disappeared. It seems a great battle occurred over there," the Flame Demon said urgently to the other Demonic Beasts after investigating.

"Humans! It must be humans! I will drive them out of the Secret Realm!" one Demonic Beast leader declared and fell silent, beginning to command its beasts to drive out the humans who had entered the Secret Realm.

"I'm going too! We cannot let these humans defile the Sixth Ancestor's Secret Realm!" The remaining Demonic Beast leaders also began organizing their beasts to drive out the humans.

Suddenly, the Demonic Beasts in the Secret Realm went berserk, attacking the humans who had entered.

"Run! The beast horde is coming! I don't want to die here!" Cultivators with lower strength began to flee the Secret Realm.

The dark clouds in the sky had become extremely dense, and the lightning within them resembled coiling dragons. Lu Chen did not dare to underestimate this lightning. He donned his defensive Magic Treasure, raised the Primal Chaos Greatsword with both hands, and waited quietly for the lightning to descend from the sky.

"Boom..."

The heavenly tribulation fell again. A massive lightning dragon coiled and writhed, its radiance illuminating the entire Secret Realm.

"Wan'er, it's time."

"Hah! Azure Emperor Divine Tree!"

"Silver Serpent Emerging from its Lair!"

"Dragon Descends to the Sea!"

Lu Chen soared into the air, condensing a layer of Azure Emperor Divine Tree tendril defense on the outermost layer above his head, followed by two more layers of phantom defenses.

"Boom... Boom... Boom..."

The lightning dragon struck the shield formed by the Azure Emperor Divine Tree. It only managed to resist for a moment before the lightning dragon shattered the Azure Emperor Divine Tree.

The two illusory figures couldn't stop the lightning dragon, and were shattered by its attacks.

"Boom..." The lightning dragon, flashing black beams, charged towards Lu Chen.

"Come on!"

Lu Chen roared, raising the Primal Chaos Greatsword and charging at the lightning dragon.

"Boom..." Black lightning instantly engulfed Lu Chen.

"Primal Chaos Greatsword, slash!"

Lu Chen swung the greatsword amidst the lightning, slashing continuously.

The Wind Dragon awoke from its slumber, its berserk aura attaching itself to the Primal Chaos Greatsword.

"Kill!"

Lu Chen gripped the Primal Chaos Greatsword with both hands, raised it above his head, and with a roar, brought it down heavily on the lightning dragon.

"Boom..."

The Primal Chaos Greatsword, infused with berserk energy, split the lightning dragon in two, causing it to dissipate into the world.

Lu Chen landed on the ground and looked at the greatsword in his hand.

"This is truly a good sword. It withstood a strike from Heavenly Thunder without a single scratch."

"Brother Lu, are you alright?" Nantian Wan'er asked worriedly, looking at Lu Chen who had withstood the lightning dragon.

Nantian Wan'er had been frail and sickly since childhood. After embarking on the path of cultivation, she contracted the Cold Poison, leaving her martial skill cultivation a blank slate.

"It's nothing. I can take a few more hits. Just protect yourself down here," Lu Chen said, sitting down cross-legged to recover his spiritual energy and await the next wave of heavenly tribulation.

A full hour passed before the lightning dragon in the sky reformed.

Lu Chen stared at the lightning dragon, noticing that its horns had turned fiery red, radiating intense flames.

"Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon? How could this kind of heavenly tribulation appear at the Qi Gathering Realm?"

"Is the world afraid of me? That's impossible. We're just cultivators at the Qi Gathering Realm."

Lu Chen repeatedly recalled the memories of Feng Tian. Below the Chongtian Realm, tribulations only involved Heavenly Thunder. Heavenly Fire Tribulation only occurred when transcending to immortality in the Chongtian Realm.

Unlike the Heavenly Thunder Tribulation, the Heavenly Fire Tribulation was a method used by the world out of fear, desperately wanting to eliminate the person undergoing tribulation.

Lu Chen stood up, continuously gathering spiritual energy.

"Boom..."

The lightning dragon descended, surrounded by raging flames, its fiery glow dyeing the entire Secret Realm red.

"Heavenly Fire Tribulation? How is this possible?"

Nantian Xiu stared at the descending Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon in shock. He had already transcended to immortality eight hundred years ago.

At that time, he had prepared for a thousand years to pass the Heavenly Fire Tribulation, and had even mobilized the entire Nantian Sect to set up a formation to barely survive it. Even now, recalling his tribulation, Nantian Xiu still felt a lingering fear.

"Heavenly Fire Tribulation, this is a death sentence! Could Lu Chen's talent be so immense that it strikes fear into the world even at the Qi Gathering Realm?"

Nantian Xiu wanted to rush into the Heavenly Fire Tribulation to help Lu Chen resist the tribulation fire. However, he knew that adding another person would only intensify the heavenly tribulation, so he had to suppress his urge to rush in.

Lu Chen looked at the approaching Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon, brandished the Primal Chaos Greatsword, and flew up, unleashing his strongest defense.

"Wind Dragon, let's go!"

"Let's go!"

The Wind Dragon attached itself to the Primal Chaos Greatsword. Seeing the descending tribulation fire, the Wind Dragon was ready to shield Lu Chen.

"Boom..."

The Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon descended. Lu Chen's prepared defenses were completely ineffective.

The Azure Emperor Divine Tree was instantly incinerated, its illusory form evaporated. The barrier of spiritual energy shattered like a silken net. The Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon was less than a hundred meters away from Lu Chen.

"Roar..." The Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon roared, as if mocking Lu Chen's weak defenses.

"Little Lu, use sword energy to deplete the tribulation fire's energy from a distance. Remember the five elements and their interactions."

"Got it!"

Lu Chen gathered the cold energy from the Yin Sea Pearl with both hands and unleashed sword energy, continuously depleting the Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon's power.

The Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon stopped fifty meters above Lu Chen's head, its body continuously shrinking.

"Bang!"

The Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon's body condensed from dozens of feet to one meter in size, then exploded into countless flames that attacked Lu Chen.

"Little Lu, the real Heavenly Fire Tribulation is about to begin! Use the Primal Chaos Greatsword as a shield to block it," the Wind Dragon shouted to Lu Chen as the tribulation fire scattered.

Lu Chen flew towards Nantian Wan'er, raising the Primal Chaos Greatsword and shielding her behind him.

"Wan'er, be careful."

The black and white twin fish flew out from the Celestial Pool, transforming back into the Twin Fish Plate and attaching themselves to the hilt of the Primal Chaos Greatsword.

"Spirit Summon, go."

Lu Chen quickly formed a seal with his left hand and placed it on the Twin Fish Plate. This was a method of unifying with one's weapon that Lu Chen had learned from Young Master Jun.

Once the seal was complete, two streams of light, one red and one blue, shot out from the black and white fish, wrapping around the Primal Chaos Greatsword and pointing directly at its tip.

"Bang, bang, bang."

Accompanied by the red and blue streams of light, the Primal Chaos Greatsword began to decompose and transform. The blade enlarged and widened, completely shielding Lu Chen and the other person.

The Tribulation Fire fell but was directly blocked by the Primal Chaos Greatsword, not touching Lu Chen and the other person at all.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle."

The Tribulation Fire clung to the Primal Chaos Greatsword, burning continuously, but it could not damage the Primal Chaos Greatsword in the slightest.

An hour passed, and the Tribulation Fire slowly disappeared.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Lu Chen recalled the Primal Chaos Greatsword and collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air. This Heavenly Fire Tribulation had been dealt with.

"It's already the Heavenly Fire Tribulation. I wonder what other heavenly tribulations the next two waves will bring."

"Boom."

Before Lu Chen could recover from the Heavenly Fire Tribulation, the dark clouds in the sky began to stir again.

"Boom... Boom..."

Two bolts of lightning surged out from the dark clouds, one on the left and one on the right, charging towards Lu Chen.

"A Heavenly Fire Lightning Dragon and a Lightning Dragon. No time to catch my breath. Are they trying to kill me?" Lu Chen stood up again and shouted at the sky.