Within the Purple Lightning World, a Purple Lightning Strike dozens of yards long suddenly tore across the sky, pierced through the void, and thundered toward Long Jiuyyao.
Long Jiuyyao looked up in horror. Purple light filled his dark eyes. The Purple Lightning Strike was so terrifyingly fast that he had no chance to dodge. He could only watch helplessly as it slammed into his body.
Boom!
A deep rumble rang out. Long Jiuyyao was struck hard and sent flying several yards, blood spraying from his mouth. Lightning flickered across his body, then frantically burrowed into him.
Hmph!
Indescribable agony spread through Long Jiuyyao's body. It felt as though every bone in his body was being torn apart by the Purple Lightning, which clung to him like maggots burrowing into bone. Cold sweat covered him. The pain was so intense that even Long Jiuyyao, for all his endurance, couldn't stop himself from crying out.
"Jiuyyao, the Azure Lightning Gale can only unleash a thousand Purple Lightning Strikes at a time. Endure them, and you'll be reborn." Yuan Gan's voice sounded in Long Jiuyyao's mind.
Long Jiuyyao froze. He had to endure a thousand Purple Lightning Strikes? Wasn't that as good as asking for his life?
Boom!
As Long Jiuyyao stood stunned, another strike of equal might suddenly roared down from the sky above. Like a savage Lightning Dragon, it shot toward him with brutal force.
"Damn it!"
Long Jiuyyao's face twisted with rage as he cursed. But the instant the words left his mouth, the Purple Lightning Strike, dozens of yards long, had already crashed into him. Thunder exploded and blood flew. Even Long Jiuyyao's powerful physique was blasted until his skin split and his flesh tore, leaving him in a wretched state.
"Ah!"
Long Jiuyyao was blasted until his body was charred black and his hair stood on end. He clenched his teeth, looked up at the sky, and roared.
Boom! Boom!
The moment his roar faded, another Purple Lightning Strike followed, blasting Long Jiuyyao several yards away.
The pulverizing pain inside him gradually made Long Jiuyyao's eyes bloodshot. The stubbornness buried deep in his bones finally surged forth. He staggered to his feet, and a layer of black scales, like Obsidian, appeared across his skin.
Boom! Boom!
The Purple Lightning Strikes showed Long Jiuyyao no mercy. One after another, they grew ever larger and more terrifying, relentlessly crashing down upon him.
The black scales covering his body shattered and flew apart. His flesh became a bloody mess. Even the Dragon Clan, renowned for its powerful physiques, was broken down by these apocalyptic strikes.
Boom!
The merciless barrage continued for who knew how long. At first, Long Jiuyyao counted how many times he had been struck. But as his injuries worsened, his consciousness began to blur, and he lost track of the strikes. The only things he could feel were the agony spreading to every corner of his body and the countless times he teetered between life and death.
Under the bombardment of the Purple Lightning Strikes, his flesh could bear no more and was reduced entirely to dust. No flesh remained; only the meridians beneath his dark golden bones could be seen.
In the purple world, countless bolts of purple lightning roared like Lightning Dragons, relentlessly crashing into the tiny figure of a dark golden skeleton. The thunderous booms echoed throughout the entire purple world.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Purple Lightning Strikes continued to rain down relentlessly.
One hundred... three hundred... six hundred...
No one knew how many Purple Lightning Strikes had fallen. Long Jiuyyao should have been reduced to ashes by now, yet he was like a tiny boat in a raging sea, tossed about and on the verge of capsizing, but somehow still afloat.
Time passed slowly. In the purple world, the young man with dark golden bones sat in silence, a thin layer of blood membrane appearing over his frame.
"Thump, thump, thump!" Beneath the thin blood membrane, a scarlet heart beat slowly, proving that Long Jiuyyao was still alive.
Vast purple light and lightning spread in every direction. Countless arcs spilled out like writhing snakes, crackling without end.
Yet despite this terrifying bombardment, the figure of bones wrapped in a blood membrane remained motionless. His body was rooted there like a boulder, untouched by any outside force.
Long Jiuyyao's body was now an utterly horrifying sight. He had no flesh at all, just a blood membrane as thin as a cicada's wing. Yet within it lay a powerful vitality.
Crackle!
Purple arcs of lightning danced across the surface of the blood membrane, constantly pouring into it. With every arc that merged into the membrane, the vitality within grew stronger.
If anyone could see inside Long Jiuyyao's bones, they would find his body covered in countless purple lightning arcs. The arcs wound around every one of his organs, like a purple suit of armor that tightly encased and protected them. Each time a Purple Lightning Strike hit Long Jiuyyao, these arcs would shine even brighter.
In short, Long Jiuyyao seemed to be gradually changing under the bombardment of hundreds of Purple Lightning Strikes.
And as time passed, this transformation seemed to deepen, almost imperceptibly.
In the unconscious purple world, the passage of time grew indistinct. Long Jiuyyao didn't know how long he remained in this state. It felt at once like a month and like several.
As time passed, the blood membrane over the dark golden bones disappeared, replaced by skin like that of a dried corpse, devoid of any trace of blood or vitality.
Long Jiuyyao's eyes, shut for so long, suddenly opened. Lightning coursed around him, and thunder roared.
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine!"
His consciousness returned. Long Jiuyyao abruptly raised his head and stared at the lightning-filled sky with his purple-glinting black eyes. He roared toward the heavens, "One last strike! Come on!"
Rumble!
As if answering Long Jiuyyao's roar, countless bolts of purple lightning began to writhe across the sky. At last, a Purple Lightning Strike hundreds of yards long began to take shape.
Roar!
A deafening dragon's roar suddenly rang out. The enormous bolt of purple lightning in the sky transformed into a Purple Lightning Dragon hundreds of yards long.
The Purple Lightning Dragon coiled through the void, its enormous eyes crackling with purple lightning as it stared down at Long Jiuyyao. Its imposing presence was enough to chill anyone to the bone.
Long Jiuyyao, however, was entirely unafraid. He stared back at the Purple Lightning Dragon. After a moment, a wild smile crept across his lips. Then he slowly spread his arms, as though welcoming the final strike of lightning.
Boom!
The Purple Lightning Dragon sensed Long Jiuyyao's provocation. Purple lightning arcs danced wildly across its enormous body, and then it suddenly swooped down.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the Purple Lightning Dragon roared downward, the entire world seemed to tremble along with it. Its might was nearly enough to destroy heaven and earth.
Long Jiuyyao spread his arms, the smile on his lips growing more and more feral.
The enormous Purple Lightning Dragon carried a vast shadow as it plunged down like a meteor, slamming into Long Jiuyyao's undefended body.
Thump!
A deep sound echoed through the purple world. At the instant of impact, Long Jiuyyao's body was engulfed. His shriveled skin quickly recovered, as if nourished, regaining its healthy color and luster as blood and vitality flowed through him.
Long Jiuyyao looked down at the body forged by a thousand Purple Lightning Strikes. His eyes first showed a hint of bewilderment; then he slowly clenched both fists.
As his fists closed, a terrifying power surged through Long Jiuyyao's limbs and bones like a primordial beast. It was even fiercer and more domineering than before.
The Purple Lightning Strikes had strengthened and enhanced his internal organs, while their effect on his physical body had been far less significant.
Heavenly treasures capable of strengthening and enhancing the internal organs were rare, and the Purple Lightning Strikes were one of them.
The internal organs of every race were extremely fragile. That was true of demonic beasts as well. Some might be stronger than others, but the difference was never great.
Even members of the Dragon Clan, whose physical bodies were the strongest on the continent, had fragile internal organs.
The final Purple Lightning Strike contained not only pure lightning power, but also pure and terrifying Heaven and Earth Yuan Power.
Long Jiuyyao had originally planned to leave before attempting a breakthrough. But now that such a perfect opportunity had presented itself, he naturally wouldn't waste it. He would use this immense Heaven and Earth Yuan Power to break through to the Origin Core Realm.
Inside his dantian, a mass of Yuan Power had already taken up most of the space. It contained two entirely different attributes: a stream of black Yin Sha Power and a stream of golden Golden Sun Power. Wrapped in wisps of Yuan Power, the two continuously fused together.
Long Jiuyyao had spent a full year tempering himself in the Heaven Origin Realm. Breaking through to the Origin Core Realm was simply a matter of course.
"Fuse yin and yang! Condense, Origin Core!"
A sharp shout suddenly rang out in Long Jiuyyao's mind. Then, as if an invisible giant hand had clenched around the mass of Yuan Power, it pressed down hard. Under that compression, the two opposing streams of Yuan Power slowly merged.
Then, an Origin Pill about half a finger's width in size gradually condensed!
Unlike the pale golden Origin Pills normally seen, Long Jiuyyao's was black and gold, due to the extreme yin and extreme yang energy he had absorbed in the Earth Origin Realm and the Heaven Origin Realm.
What's more, nine tiny star patterns marked the smooth surface of the Yin Yang Origin Core.
A Nine Star Origin Core was an exceedingly rare sight, even in the Origin Core Realm.
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