Heavenly Tribulation, Baptism! Soul Rings Transform into Seven Black and Two Red!

The Heavenly Tribulation had not dissipated.

It was merely waiting.

Waiting for the moment when it was truly meant to descend.

Dugu Bo stood beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes, his gaze piercing through the mist above the valley as he looked toward that bizarre bank of clouds.

When the dragon's roar had sounded earlier, dark clouds had gathered and the Heavenly Tribulation had seemed ready to fall, only to quietly disperse in the end.

He had initially thought that he was still just a sliver away from triggering a God-level Martial Soul, which was why the Heavenly Tribulation had not truly descended.

But now, he understood.

The Heavenly Tribulation had not been canceled.

It had been waiting for his Martial Soul to complete its evolution.

Like an executioner standing outside the scaffold, silently waiting for the prisoner to step onto the chopping block.

And now!

That moment had arrived.

"Rumble!"

A muffled roar of thunder came from beyond the nine heavens. It was not a single clap, but an unending succession, like the wheels of ancient war chariots crushing across the sky.

The dark clouds that had just dispersed gathered once more, ten times faster than before!

No, they were not dark clouds.

They were Tribulation Clouds!

Within the pitch-black Tribulation Clouds, purple lightning churned faintly, like bolts of lightning dragons swimming through a sea of clouds.

That pressure... came not from any Soul Beast, nor from any Soul Master.

It came from heaven and earth itself, from the laws themselves!

"Is this... a Heavenly Tribulation?"

Dugu Bo raised his head. His Dark Golden Dragon Eyes fixed on the Tribulation Clouds, yet a faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips instead.

Having read countless fantasy novels in his previous life, he was more familiar with the concept of Heavenly Tribulation than anyone.

But in the world of Douluo Continent, Heavenly Tribulation was an exceedingly rare occurrence.

Only one circumstance could trigger a Heavenly Tribulation.

A Soul Beast breaking through to one hundred thousand years!

Every time it broke through another hundred thousand years, it needed to undergo a Heavenly Tribulation.

Now that the Heavenly Tribulation had arrived, it was most likely because his Martial Soul had evolved into a god-level one and gained control of Nine Nether Power!

This was also a special case, perhaps even the only one.

After all, Douluo Continent had never seen a precedent of an ordinary Martial Soul transforming into a God-level Martial Soul.

"Good."

Dugu Bo took a deep breath and no longer suppressed the surging power within his body.

The next moment!

He moved.

He did not run or evade. Instead, he took the initiative to release it!

"My soul rings... come out!"

Boom!

Nine rings of light abruptly rose beneath Dugu Bo's feet, slowly revolving around his body.

The color of every ring underwent a violent tremor the instant it appeared.

His original soul ring configuration!

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.

Two hundred-year, two thousand-year, and five ten-thousand-year rings.

This had been the configuration of the Jade Python Snake Emperor era, considered normal among Titled Douluo.

But now!

Those colors were changing!

The first soul ring's yellow began to fade, replaced by a deep purple.

The second soul ring likewise changed from yellow to purple.

The third soul ring's original purple deepened further, with faint darkness seeping through it.

The fourth soul ring's purple grew even deeper, nearly turning black.

"This is..."

Dugu Bo's pupils contracted slightly.

He could clearly sense that with the awakening of the Nine Nether Divine Dragon Martial Soul, every one of his soul rings was being reforged!

The essence of a soul ring was an energy form condensed after a Soul Beast's death.

A soul ring's age determined its color and strength.

And the grade of the Martial Soul determined the upper limit that soul rings could bear.

During the Jade Python Snake Emperor era, his Martial Soul's upper limit had been limited, so the potential of his soul rings had been locked in place.

But now, the Nine Nether Divine Dragon was a God-level Martial Soul!

Its upper limit had been completely unlocked!

The potential that had once been sealed within those soul rings was being released frantically!

The first soul ring stabilized as purple.

The second soul ring was also purple.

The third soul ring was purple.

The fourth soul ring was purple.

Four purple soul rings!

Though they were not ten-thousand-year rings, purple soul rings at the thousand-year limit were already countless times stronger than his original two hundred-year rings.

As for the fifth soul ring, its original black became even deeper.

The sixth, seventh, and eighth soul rings likewise all turned a deep black.

The ninth soul ring turned red—a hundred-thousand-year ring!!

Purple, purple, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red!

Nine soul rings floated around Dugu Bo, purple and black intertwining as they radiated a suffocating pressure.

But the changes had not stopped.

Because the Heavenly Tribulation... had arrived!

"Crack!!!"

A bolt of purple lightning split down from the Tribulation Clouds, so fast that the naked eye could not possibly track it.

It did not strike Dugu Bo's body, but his soul rings!

"What?!"

Dugu Bo had no time to react before the first soul ring was already struck by the lightning.

Purple light exploded!

For that instant, Dugu Bo thought his soul ring was about to shatter.

But in the next second, what he felt was not destruction, but refinement!

The power of lightning surged into the soul ring, thoroughly incinerating the remaining impurities within it and compressing its energy structure to the extreme.

Under the lightning's tempering, the purple soul ring began to change color.

It shifted from purple toward black!

The first soul ring, black!

The second soul ring, black!

The third soul ring, black!

The fourth soul ring, black!

Four bolts of lightning struck in succession, and under the baptism of the Lightning Tribulation, all four purple soul rings leaped into black!

Purple, purple, purple, purple had become black, black, black, black!

But that was still not enough.

The fifth soul ring had originally been black.

Lightning struck down, making its black even deeper and purer.

The sixth, seventh, and eighth soul rings were likewise tempered by the lightning. Within the eighth ring's black, a hint of dark red began to emerge.

That was not ordinary red.

That was... the color of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring!

"Keep going!"

Dugu Bo threw back his head and roared as the Nine Nether Divine Dragon Martial Soul emerged behind him.

The black dragon phantom raised its head toward the heavens. Its Dark Golden Dragon Eyes stared directly at the Tribulation Clouds without the slightest fear.

As if it had sensed the Nine Nether Divine Dragon's provocation, the Tribulation Clouds erupted in complete fury.

Rumble!

Nine bolts of lightning struck down at once!

This time, they did not temper the rings one by one. Nine bolts of lightning simultaneously blasted all nine soul rings!

Purple light, black light, and red light intertwined, illuminating the entire Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes as brightly as day.

Dugu Bo's body shook violently amid the lightning, but he gritted his teeth and did not retreat a single step.

Because he could feel it.

Every soul ring was crazily absorbing the power of lightning!

The age of his soul rings was rising at an unimaginable speed!

The eighth soul ring's red completely emerged.

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring!

Boom!

The final bolt of lightning descended. The ninth soul ring trembled violently, its original red becoming even deeper as the fluctuations it gave off grew even more terrifying!

All nine soul rings had completed their tempering.

Their colors finally settled as

Black, black, black, black, black, black, black, red, red!

Seven black soul rings, two red soul rings!

Seven black and two red!

Dugu Bo stood at the bottom of the crater, his entire body charred black. His clothes had long since been torn apart by the lightning, revealing the body beneath, covered in black Dragon Marks.

But his eyes shone frighteningly bright.

The slowly dispersing Tribulation Clouds in the sky were reflected in his Dark Golden Dragon Eyes.

The Heavenly Tribulation had been overcome.

But he knew that the true benefits had only just begun to reveal themselves.

Heavenly Tribulation had never been merely a trial.

It was punishment delivered by heaven and earth upon beings who defied the heavens.

But the other side of punishment was baptism!