Transcending Tribulation

When Chu Ning opened his eyes, his white hair cascaded over his shoulders like snow.

In the bronze mirror, nine blood-colored lightning patterns were reflected across his shoulder blade. Whenever he circulated his cultivation, they moved like living things.

"The Chaos Tribulation..." He ran his fingers over the lightning patterns, and the sting of the Heavenly Dao's pressure pierced his fingertips.

Outside the window, dark clouds churned. Thunder rumbled like a giant beast's low growl, and a colossal eye of lightning opened within the vortex of blood clouds.

"Those who steal the secrets of Heaven shall suffer the Chaos Tribulation."

Ancient pressure descended with the thunder, and the nine lightning patterns on Chu Ning's shoulder blade flared brightly at once.

He raised his hand and grasped at empty air. Frost lightning and Mysterious Sun flames fused into a Purple-Gold Saber Light that cleaved toward the giant eye.

The saber light vanished the instant it touched the pupil, but a tear of blood dripped from the giant eye:

Tribulation arrives in: thirty days and nights

Chu Ning held two fingers together like a blade and lightly swept them across the Meteorite Iron Trial Stone. There was no clash of metal, no shower of sparks. The stone silently split in two, its cut surface smooth as a mirror. In the reflection on the broken face, golden patterns swirled through his pupils, making him look like one of the Gods and Devils.

Chu Ning stared at the blood-colored lightning patterns in the mirror, still unable to recover from the afterglow of his breakthrough, when a searing pain suddenly erupted from his dantian. Looking inward, he saw a wisp of golden-red flame swimming through his sea of qi. It was the unrefined core essence of the Nine Revolutions Profound Sun Fruit. Now, it coiled there like a venomous snake, devouring his newly reborn body.

"Impossible!" His fingertips dug into the corner of the table. The iron desk, forged from Meteorite Iron, was actually crushed beneath his grip, leaving five finger marks. The golden light of the "Chaos Body Refining Method" circulated through his meridians, attempting to suppress the flame, but it was like pouring oil on a blazing fire, instead causing the essence to roil even more violently.

"Gaaah—!"

Golden-red lines of fire exploded from his dantian and shot straight up along his spine toward his crown. Chu Ning staggered and dropped to his knees. The nine lightning patterns on his shoulder blade twisted violently, transforming into chain-like blood marks that spread toward his heart. The sun-wheel patterns in his pupils seeped with blood, and wherever he looked, even the air ignited with tiny sparks.

He heard his bones crack like shattering porcelain. His newly formed Meteorite Dragon Spine had actually been scorched until fissures appeared. His blood boiled within his veins, and steaming Blood Mist erupted from his pores.

"Damn it... Even the divine decree can't suppress it..." Chu Ning struggled to form hand seals and tried to activate the "Chaos Body Refining Method," only to find his spiritual power running wild like a horse that had broken free of its reins. The thunder outside seemed to sense it. The vortex of blood clouds spun faster, and a tribulation bolt crashed down!

"Boom—"

The dome of the estate was torn open by the lightning. Chu Ning was sent flying by the shockwave and slammed into the wall. His charred right arm hung limply at his side, yet under the power of the Mysterious Sun, it rapidly regenerated. But with every reconstruction of flesh and blood, the golden-red flame grew stronger. He suddenly realized that this physical body was becoming kindling for the Nine Revolutions Profound Sun Fruit.

"Could it be... that I miscalculated everything after all?"

He had thought he was proceeding step by step, using the Nine Revolutions Profound Sun Fruit to break through his realm in one fell swoop, forcing himself to grow through extreme measures—all so he would have enough strength to save his elder sister.

But...

Man's schemes could never outwit Heaven's calculations.

Now, instead, he had become a sacrifice to the Nine Revolutions Profound Sun Fruit.

A dragon-like crack rang out from Chu Ning's spine. The Meteorite Dragon Spine shattered and reformed inch by inch, with blood-colored lightning patterns appearing on every vertebra. The berserk energy instantly spread through his meridians. At the same time, Chu Ning's cultivation began to surge wildly!

Eighth Rank Superior: Blood Mist sprayed from his pores, condensing behind him into the phantom of a demon god with Three Heads Six Arms, a burning sun wheel cradled in its palms.

Seventh Rank Inferior: The golden patterns in his pupils split into nine layers. Wherever his gaze passed, bronze medicine cauldrons melted into molten iron, while defensive formations tore apart like thin paper.

Seventh Rank Intermediate: His white hair turned reddish-gold, and undying golden flames ignited at the tips. His laughter shattered the pillars. "Wang Chen, it's still not too late for you to kneel now..."

"Hahaha..."

Chu Ning suddenly laughed, a trace of madness permeating his laughter.

"Isn't this the power I've dreamed of?"

Now, it had landed on him with ease, but what about him?

He was about to die!

The excruciating pain gnawed away at his reason. A smear of blood red began to stain his pupils, and his aura became like that of an ancient ferocious beast gone berserk.

"Am I... going to be reduced to ashes..." As his consciousness blurred, an image of his elder sister drying herbs in Qingyang County abruptly surfaced. The loose strands of hair at her temples fluttered in the breeze, and the fragrance of dried medicinal herbs still clung to her fingertips.

"No—"

Amid his dying roar, a thread of icy-blue light pierced through the Blood Mist.

The unbearable heat of the pain tore apart his reason. His consciousness began to blur, the world grew illusory, and his senses peeled away bit by bit, as if his entire being were slowly sinking into an endless deep sea.

In an instant, the world fell silent. Only his hurried heartbeat echoed through the darkness.

Yet just as the terrifying energy was about to tear him apart, a ray of light slowly emerged from the depths of his consciousness.

At first, it was merely a faint point of light. Gradually, however, it grew brighter and larger. Slowly, at the end of the light, a graceful figure appeared.

She walked with light steps, her robes drifting in the air, her charm utterly bewitching.

She drew closer.

In the next moment, those soft, warm lips gently covered Chu Ning's.

At that moment, he seemed to be in the depths of the sea, someone passing a mouthful of sweet oxygen into him. His icy body gradually warmed. A clear spring poured into Chu Ning's muddled sea of consciousness, and the rampaging Mysterious Sun flames actually stilled for a brief moment.

Suddenly, a strange suction force came from within the woman, frantically drawing in the uncontrolled energy in his body.

The woman's lips brushed across Chu Ning's cracked mouth like a dragonfly skimming the water. The Mysterious Sun energy transformed into golden-red threads and sank into her mouth. As the energy was continuously extracted, Chu Ning's aura rapidly weakened.

Frost flowers condensed with every breath she exhaled. A thread of golden-red flame was drawn from Chu Ning's seven orifices, taking the shape of a scarlet serpent in midair.

Chu Ning's spine gave off a taut, humming sound like a bowstring pulled tight. His Seventh Rank Intermediate spiritual power dissipated like the ebbing tide.

The half of his face swollen like a demon's rapidly shriveled, and a layer of ice crystals covered his charred bones. In the bronze mirror, the blood-colored lightning patterns withdrew three inches from his heart. Her furry tail swept across his ruined right arm, and tender flesh grew at a visible speed.

Before Chu Ning could respond, the woman suddenly seized the back of his neck.

Her crimson lips pressed down hard. Her pearly teeth bit through his lower lip, and the taste of blood spread between their lips and teeth. Nine fox tails wrapped around his limbs like chains, while the golden-red fire poison streamed into her throat.

The golden patterns in Chu Ning's pupils collapsed inch by inch, while the cracks in his Meteorite Dragon Spine were filled with icy-blue spiritual power. He "saw" the Mysterious Sun flames in the black hole of his dantian being tightly strangled by the phantom of nine tails.

"It tastes wonderful." The woman released him with a gasp, her bloodstained lips red as cinnabar.

Suddenly, the woman shoved Chu Ning down onto the melting blue bricks.

The phantom of nine tails pierced the vital acupoints throughout his body, while her crimson lips sealed away all his cries of pain. This time, she was no longer drawing energy out. Instead, she poured icy-blue Demonic Power back into him!

The golden-red flames and Demonic Power intertwined into a vortex, condensing into ice and fire within his dantian.

Chu Ning's white hair moved without wind, golden flames and frost weaving together at its tips. The woman's phantom traveled through his lightning patterns, and her final kiss-mark was branded upon his collarbone.

The nine tails suddenly tightened. Chu Ning groaned, and all the fire poison in his throat dispersed. The carbonized skin peeled away, revealing fresh red flesh beneath. His aura finally stabilized at—Eighth Rank Intermediate!

His consciousness struggled back through the chaos. He could feel his body slowly rising, his senses gradually returning.

He managed to open his eyes, which were shrouded in Blood Mist. His blood-red gaze fixed on the face so close to him, and he saw a snow-colored figure hovering before him.

The woman's silver hair cascaded to her waist like a waterfall. Her pair of azure eyes, deep as an icy lake, carried a bewitching allure that made one want to drown in them. An icy-blue fox mark swirled between her brows, while her crimson lips gently sucked in the golden-red fire energy escaping from his mouth.

Chu Ning froze.

Her appearance...

She was the Azure-Eyed Snow Fox!