Everyone in the Witch Clan looked at the sky. A thunderous explosion rang out, and a crimson bolt of lightning suddenly split down from the thunderclouds overhead!
In the next moment, a graceful figure shot into the air, charging straight toward the crimson lightning!
"Big Brother! That's... Little Sister Houtu!!" Zhurong stared at the scene in shock, as did everyone else in the Witch Clan.
Houtu stood suspended in midair as the crimson lightning struck her squarely on the forehead!
Yet Houtu suffered no injury. Instead, the crimson lightning entered her body, cleansing her weakened primordial spirit and tempering her physical body!
Rather than tempering it, it would be more accurate to say that it was carving something into Houtu's body!
Half of the crimson lightning surfaced over Houtu's body, carving out line after line. This was... the initial manifestation of Dao patterns!
"Crack, crack...!"
Before everyone could recover from the appearance of the Dao patterns, lightning descended once more. This time, there was golden lightning, blue lightning, green lightning, and gray-white lightning!
Bolt after bolt struck Houtu's body, yet she seemed completely unharmed. Instead, she closed her eyes and sat cross-legged in midair, as if accepting the lightning's baptism.
"Brother, this state... and the patterns on Little Sister Houtu's body look extremely similar to the Dao patterns on Tian Chen's body!" At another location on Buzhou Mountain, Nuwa stared thoughtfully at Houtu as she underwent the lightning baptism.
"That's right. These are indeed Dao patterns!" Fuxi nodded. As the first person besides Chen Tian to cultivate the Immortal Dao Body, he naturally knew this. His current state was the same as Houtu's.
Because he already had a primordial spirit, he did not need to condense one again, nor did he need to undergo the lightning baptism. He had simply skipped that stage.
"Tian Chen actually passed this method on to Little Sister Houtu... It seems the Witch Clan isn't incapable of cultivating primordial spirits after all." Nuwa looked at Houtu and smiled.
She had always had a good relationship with Houtu, so naturally, she did not want Houtu to be without a primordial spirit. With one, she could learn divination and calculation, allowing her to avoid heavenly disasters and guard against man-made calamities.
"That is indeed the case. However, this method seems to be even more suited to the Witch Clan!" Fuxi looked at Houtu and continued, "I have cultivated this method for five thousand years, while Houtu has cultivated it for only a thousand. Now that she is condensing a primordial spirit and accepting the heavenly lightning's baptism, she can carve out the Dao patterns much faster..."
After hearing this, Nuwa fell into deep thought. Indeed, over the past several thousand years, she had watched Fuxi cultivate step by step, finally reaching the stage where patterns appeared. To advance further, he would need at least several tens of thousands of years. He also had to condense a spirit seal, and only when the spirit seal fused with the Dao patterns could he become a Saint...
Yet Houtu had already developed Dao patterns after only a thousand years, far faster than Fuxi.
"Perhaps it's because her constitution was altered. After all, the Witch Clan's constitution is somewhat similar to Tian Chen's, while changing your constitution took two thousand years, Brother."
Nuwa thought for a moment before saying, "But it doesn't matter. It's only a matter of time before Brother becomes a Saint."
"Mm." Fuxi nodded, then continued watching Houtu undergo her tribulation.
Besides the Fuxi siblings, other powerful figures were also watching Houtu undergo her tribulation. After all, this was the first time the Witch Clan had undergone a tribulation since the creation of the world. Yet when they saw the patterns on Houtu's body, they were shocked. Those patterns seemed to embody the Great Dao and were impossible to comprehend.
Houtu paid no attention to the others. She had no time to do so. She had already endured thirty-six bolts of lightning, yet the tribulation still had not stopped.
The lightning tribulation was divided into the Four-Nine Tribulation, the Six-Nine Tribulation, and the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.
The thirty-six bolts of lightning made up the Four-Nine Tribulation. Next, Houtu would have to endure the Six-Nine Tribulation, which consisted of fifty-four bolts of lightning.
"The weakest Four-Nine Tribulation is over, and the Six-Nine Tribulation has begun. But once the Six-Nine Tribulation starts, its power increases more than tenfold. A Taiyi Golden Immortal can endure it now, but even a Daluo might not be able to withstand the Six-Nine Tribulation."
"That may be true, but the Witch Clan specializes in body refinement. Their physiques were formed entirely by absorbing fiendish energy, making their bodies exceptionally powerful—stronger than those of primordial-spirit cultivators at the same level. They should be able to endure it."
"Wasn't the Witch Clan incapable of cultivating primordial spirits? They can undergo a tribulation and cultivate primordial spirits now? Have I been in Seclusion for too long, and has the age changed?"
The powerful figures communicated through divine senses in the sky.
"Crack, crack..."
Yet the lightning continued to strike. Everyone in the Witch Clan simply watched, probably wondering whether their necks had grown sore.
Soon, the Six-Nine Tribulation was over.
The descending lightning continued to carve Dao patterns into Houtu's body, and the patterns on her body grew increasingly distinct!
These Dao patterns were not tattoos. They would only appear while being carved or during battle. At other times, they were no different from nonexistent, so there was no need to worry about them affecting her appearance.
"Big Brother, the Six-Nine Tribulation is already over. Why are these thunderclouds still gathering instead of dispersing?" Xuanming asked in confusion as she looked at the thunderclouds in the sky.
"Could it be... the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation?!" Zhu Jiuyin stared fixedly at the thunderclouds with his blood-red eyes.
"The Five Elements Divine Thunder's Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation? That means defying the heavens and provoking the Heavenly Dao to send down lightning to destroy the one who defied it!" Zhurong exclaimed in shock.
"The Five Elements Divine Thunder is already shocking enough, yet the Heavenly Dao is making Little Sister undergo three tribulations at once! Damn it..."
"Shut up! Do you want to die?"
Gonggong had not finished speaking when Tianwu immediately covered his mouth. Damn! Big Brother, you're incredible! Do you want to die? You actually dare curse the Heavenly Dao? Aren't you afraid it'll conveniently strike you too right now?!
"Rumble...!"
In the next moment, a massive roar rang out from within the thunderclouds, shaking the heavens. The powerful figures of the Prehistoric World all stared in shock toward the Witch Clan's ancestral land...
No one had ever endured the Five Elements Divine Thunder's Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation from beginning to end. Even Demon Ancestor Luohu, who had once slain heaven and earth, had never experienced such a tribulation. Yet now, Houtu was actually about to undergo the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation...
"Daoist Friend Houtu is probably going to die and have her Dao destroyed."
"Indeed. A tribulation of this level would probably reduce even a Grand Unity Peak cultivator to ashes. It seems the Witch Clan's lack of primordial spirits was ordained by heaven. Now that Houtu has defied the heavens, she has provoked the Heavenly Dao's displeasure."
"Exactly. Otherwise, why would there be a Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation? Judging from these thunderclouds, the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation is probably more than a hundred times stronger than the Six-Nine Tribulation. Even a body-refining cultivator from the Witch Clan won't be able to withstand it."
"Sigh, perhaps the Heavenly Dao is using this to warn us all. Fellow Daoists, do not defy the heavens..."
The various powerful figures communicated through divine senses, fawning over the Heavenly Dao with utmost reverence. They had no choice—what if it suddenly sent a Five Elements Divine Thunder Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation down on them? That was why they fawned over the Heavenly Dao like bootlickers.
"Brothers and sisters, we cannot let the Heavenly Dao kill Little Sister. Follow me..."
"Big Brother, you mustn't!"
Before Dijiang could finish, Houtu hurriedly sent a message through divine sense. "Big Brother, I'm fine. I can still withstand the tribulation. Daoist Friend Tian Chen's cultivation technique is truly extraordinary. I only cultivated it for a short while, and now even a Quasi-Saint probably can't injure me. So, Big Brother, don't come over and disturb me."
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