Family Qilin!

In just a few breaths, Zhang Chen no longer looked like a living person. He looked more like a charred old log struck by thunderfire.

His life force had dwindled to its very last thread.

Zhang Tianzheng, standing far away and keeping watch, clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles went white. Though he had lived for several centuries, he had never seen anyone attempt Foundation Establishment in such a suicidal way.

If he hadn't been able to sense Zhang Chen's resilient Origin Aura still pulsing,

he would probably have been unable to stop himself from interfering.

Just as Zhang Chen's physical body was about to collapse completely,

the Nine Revolutions Universe Art inside him underwent another sudden transformation.

Beneath the layer of charred skin, golden Spiritual Power began to flow.

It started ravenously devouring the Purple Thunder that had entered his body.

This was the formidable aspect of the Nine Revolutions Universe Art.

It was not merely a cultivation method, but also the highest grade of Body Refining Divine Art.

New life was born amid destruction. Though the thunder had ravaged his body, the trace of Heavenly Creation Force contained within it was extracted by the art and fused into every new cell.

Golden light shone through the cracks in his carbonized skin.

With every Thunder Tribulation bolt that fell, the golden light grew more vigorous.

Until, after the ninth bolt of the Thunder Tribulation...

Even the thick, dark clouds seemed to be struggling to hold together.

The final bolt of the Thunder Tribulation was a strange, pure gold.

It fell without making the slightest sound.

Yet the mountaintop of Dao Seeking Peak sank several feet.

The instant the Thunder Tribulation vanished completely, the sky did not clear.

Instead, an invisible ripple swept through the entire cavern.

The Inner Demon Tribulation arrived silently, just as his physical body was at its weakest.

Zhang Chen's consciousness sank into darkness.

In a daze, he saw the Zhang Family Courtyard engulfed in flames.

The sneering face of Wang Lie, head of the Wang Family, appeared before him, a bloodied saber in his hand.

And he himself had lost all his cultivation and lay on the ground, covered in blood.

Powerless, he watched Zhang Yunshan and several elders be cut down one by one.

"No. This isn't real."

Zhang Chen calmly told himself this in his heart.

The illusion shifted, and he saw Lin Qingxue.

She held two swaddled infants in her arms, standing at the edge of a cliff as countless Demonic Path cultivators closed in behind her.

Lin Qingxue turned around, despair filling her sorrowful gaze.

Then, amid her anguished cry, she fell into the bottomless abyss.

The heart-rending pain felt so real.

So real that Zhang Chen's soul began to tremble.

In the illusion, he became a cripple in truth.

That helplessness gnawed at his will without pause.

Yet just as he was about to sink into despair,

the Dao Seed deep in his dantian, the symbol of Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, suddenly trembled.

Zhang Chen's eyes instantly cleared.

"Let the illusions be myriad; with a single thought, I'll cut them all down."

He murmured softly.

The illusion around him was like a shattered mirror, crumbling to pieces beneath his unwavering gaze.

As the Inner Demon Tribulation dispersed, grand Sanskrit Chants suddenly echoed between heaven and earth, as if ancient gods were offering their praise.

The layer of charred "shell" on Zhang Chen's withered body began peeling away in great flakes.

His new skin carried a faint metallic sheen.

Every line of his body was brimming with strength.

More importantly, there was his Sea of Consciousness.

At that moment, his Sea of Consciousness was undergoing a world-shaking transformation.

If the Sea of Consciousness of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator was a pond,

then Zhang Chen's was now a vast lake.

It expanded at a tremendous pace.

It had grown to more than ten times the size of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator's.

With a sweep of his Spiritual Sense, Zhang Chen could clearly sense the waves dancing across the sea dozens of miles away.

He'd succeeded.

He had achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

The instant he finished his cultivation and rose to his feet, the gloomy sky outside suddenly blazed with ten thousand rays of rosy light.

Golden Spirit Clouds formed across the horizon.

Then a golden Spirit Rain came pouring down.

The Spirit Rain covered a vast area...

enveloping the entire Zhang Family Courtyard.

Where the raindrops fell on withered plants and trees, they instantly turned green and sprouted new shoots.

When the rain fell on the elderly mortal servants, it swept away the chronic ailments they had suffered for years. Even their graying hair seemed to darken.

This was heaven's blessing upon one who had achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

A fortune that could only be chanced upon, never sought.

At that moment, the Zhang Family members anxiously waiting in the front courtyard all raised their heads.

"This is... Spirit Rain?!"

Zhang Yunshan held out his hand and caught a golden raindrop.

As the drop entered his body, he felt his Spiritual Power Flow double in speed.

Even the bottleneck seemed to have loosened a little.

The family disciples who had been laboring away at their cultivation were even more delighted. Minor breakthroughs that would normally have taken months, or even a year, to achieve

came naturally amid the Spirit Rain.

"Heaven has sent an auspicious omen! This is an auspicious omen from heaven!"

The clansmen's cries gathered into a surging tide that could topple mountains and overturn seas.

Inside the Cave Mansion, Zhang Chen changed into a fresh Moon White Robe. His bearing had undergone a profound transformation since before he went into seclusion.