Nine Heavens Thunder Dragon

The Thunder Pool seemed to possess a will of its own.

At Luo Yan's murmur, the lightning throughout the entire Thunder Pool surged instantly, and the arcs spilling out flickered without pause.

It was as if they were about to strike Luo Yan the very next second.

A few minutes passed.

Dark clouds filled the sky, and thunder rumbled. It was as if the entire world were enveloped in an ancient, solemn ritual.

Luo Yan stood atop the hotel, his robes fluttering in the wind, his eyes blazing like torches.

He stared at the Thunder Pool about to pour down upon him. There was not a trace of fear on his face, only boundless yearning and resolve for the transformation that was to come.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Da Ming and Er Ming lead Xiao Wu and the others away.

A crowd followed behind them, all of them temporary residents of the hotel.

Seeing this, Luo Yan stopped letting himself get distracted and fixed his gaze on the streaks of heavenly lightning flashing overhead.

As the first bolt split the sky, carrying the force to destroy heaven and earth, it shot straight toward Luo Yan.

He took a deep breath. Spiritual power surged through him, and a faint golden light encircled his body: his Protective True Qi.

The lightning and golden light collided in midair, erupting in a dazzling flash and a deafening roar, as if they would tear space apart.

Fortunately, Luo Yan's strength had just leaped straight from the early stage of Tier 6 Demon Emperor to the peak.

This bolt of heavenly lightning had not broken through his Protective True Qi.

However, this was only the beginning.

Each of the thunderbolts that followed was more violent than the last, every one containing enough power to reshape mountains and reverse rivers.

Luo Yan no longer waited passively for the lightning to fall. He shot into the air and charged straight at the Heavenly Tribulation.

His figure moved nimbly, like a swimming dragon, weaving through the bolts of lightning.

He also discovered that although the tribulation lightning was destroying his body, the power of the heavenly lightning seemed to have another effect on him because he possessed lightning-attributed bloodline within him.

Luo Yan immediately circulated the Azure Heaven Dragon Emperor Art, guiding the power of the heavenly lightning through every part of his body to temper his bones and cleanse his soul.

Of course, having heavenly lightning enter his body was no pleasant experience.

In an instant, Luo Yan's face twisted with pain, but his will remained as unyielding as stone.

He knew the tribulation was both a trial and an opportunity. If he endured this endless baptism, he might emerge from his cocoon like a butterfly and forge an unrivaled foundation for the Dao.

As the eighty-first bolt of heavenly lightning began to gather, it was no longer merely the power of thunder. It was a terrifying strike infused with the laws of heaven and earth and the will of the universe.

"Damn it, the Douluo Heavenly Dao is trying to kill me!"

Feeling the deadly threat emanating from the heavenly lightning, Luo Yan gritted his teeth in fury.

But this was his Heavenly Tribulation. He had already endured the first eighty bolts, with only the last one remaining. There was no way he could stop now.

"I'll risk it!"

Luo Yan stopped holding back and transformed directly into his true form.

At a time like this, he couldn't keep hiding his true form out of fear of being exposed. If he failed to survive the Heavenly Tribulation, there would be no one he could even complain to.

After this bloodline evolution, Luo Yan had evolved from a Purple Thunder Flood Dragon into a Nine Heavens Thunder Dragon.

He had become a true, pure-blooded dragon.

The Nine Heavens Thunder Dragon's true form was over a hundred zhang long, its body covered in scales that shimmered with lightning and thunder patterns.

Its enormous head bore a pair of crystal-clear horns between its brows, shaped like thunderclouds. Tiny arcs of electricity danced along their tips.

Beneath its deep, sharp eyes, its whiskers fluttered constantly.

Its limbs were thick and powerful, its claws sharp and glinting with a faint metallic sheen. Every swipe could tear through the void and summon wind and thunder.

Perhaps because of his lightning-attributed bloodline, thunder flashed in and out across his entire body.

Fortunately, Luo Yan had already plunged into the dark clouds, so no one in Suotuo City noticed his true form.

"Thunderstorm!"

Luo Yan unleashed his sole innate divine ability, and golden light blazed across his body.

He gathered all his power into a single point. A ball of lightning formed in his mouth and shot toward the Thunder Pool.

He intended to face the heavenly lightning head-on.

"BOOM—!"

The lightning ball collided with the heavenly lightning. A thunderous crash shook heaven and earth, turning the sky and ground pale.

Although the lightning ball blocked most of the heavenly lightning's power, a small bolt of tribulation lightning still struck Luo Yan.

Sizzle!

The heavenly lightning exploded across Luo Yan's true form, sending blood and flesh flying.

When the heavenly lightning finally faded, Luo Yan was still suspended among the dark clouds, his body mangled and every part of his long dragon form horribly wounded.

Even one of the horns atop his head had been broken off.

But his eyes shone even brighter, and his body radiated an indescribable majesty and holiness.

Roar!

He slowly opened his jaws, and a deep dragon's roar rang out.

The eighty-one bolts of the tribulation had passed. Luo Yan had not only survived, but had also made a breakthrough unlike any he had ever experienced.

Just then, nine-colored divine light descended from the sky, enveloping Luo Yan's enormous body.

The wounds covering his entire dragon form began to heal.

Luo Yan felt as if he had just undergone bloodline evolution again, warmth flowing through his entire body.

A moment later, all his wounds had healed, and he had returned to peak condition.

"Phew~~ I didn't expect this Heavenly Tribulation to take me straight from the peak of Tier 6 Demon Emperor to the early stage of Tier 7 Demon Venerable!"

"I wonder if my physical cultivation broke through too."

"Starting at the Demon Emperor Realm, a Heavenly Tribulation comes with every major breakthrough. No wonder this tribulation was so powerful—it was the Demon Emperor's tribulation combined with the Demon Venerable's!"

Luo Yan had returned to human form and concealed the aura of his cultivation.

The dark clouds around him were also dispersing, and the blue sky was gradually returning to its midday brightness.

"Phew!"

"With strength like this, where on the continent can't I go?"

Feeling the power within him, Luo Yan's lips curled slightly upward.

He was curious about his exact condition, so he silently thought, System, open my character panel!

Host: Luo Yan

Species: Nine Heavens Thunder Dragon

Cultivation Realm: Early-stage Tier 7 Demon Venerable

Physical Cultivation: Mid-stage Tier 7 Demon Venerable

Resentment Points: 30205424

"As expected, my physical cultivation also advanced by one minor level. Under normal cultivation, that would have taken at least ten years. This time, I really turned a calamity into a blessing!"

Still, after spending ten million Resentment Points, Luo Yan felt a little heartache.

But when he thought about how much he had improved, the sting eased.

After breaking through to Demon Venerable, an Inner World had also begun to form inside Luo Yan, with a diameter of over a hundred kilometers.

And this was only the Inner World of an early-stage Tier 7 Demon Venerable.

At the peak, the Inner World could expand to at least a thousand kilometers in diameter.

However, a Demon Venerable's Inner World was unstable and could hold only dead things; living beings could not dwell inside it.

The cultivation of a Demon Venerable involved constantly expanding and consolidating the Inner World until it could contain a law and cultivate the rudiments of one.

After fusing those rudiments into the Inner World, one could break through to become a Demon Saint.

The most important difference between a Demon Saint and a Demon Venerable, beyond the gap in cultivation, was the power of laws.

A Demon Saint with the power of laws could easily crush hundreds of peak Tier 7 Demon Venerables.

Coming back to himself, Luo Yan vanished from the blue sky in a flash.

When he appeared again, he was back on the roof of the Rose Hotel.