Nine Heavens Thunderous Retribution

When Chen Xiao opened his eyes, everything before him was a blur. In a daze, he seemed to hear a voice.

"Oh! The young master is awake! Master, Madam, the young master is awake!"

"Eh?" Chen Xiao shook his head slightly, trying to clear his mind. That voice just now sounded strangely familiar.

"Xiao'er, you're awake?"

Then, a soft, slightly anxious female voice reached Chen Xiao's ears.

"Mother?"

Chen Xiao's body jolted violently. His eyes widened as he stared at the woman before him in utter disbelief.

It was actually his mother? How could this be?!

Chen Xiao shook his head fiercely. Could this be a dream?

His family, his mother—they had been reduced to ashes fifty years ago. What... what was going on?

"You unfilial son! With only the cultivation of the third stage of Qi Refining, you dared to challenge Nangong Wenyue? It was his mercy that he didn't beat you to death!"

At this moment, a stern voice spoke up, filled with fury.

"Father..."

Chen Xiao felt his mind descend into chaos. His father... how could this be possible?

Suddenly, a long-buried memory surfaced in his heart.

When he was sixteen, a certain incident had led to a conflict with Nangong Wenyue, the top genius of Moon-Gazing City. As a result, he had been beaten half-dead and had been bedridden for half a month.

The scene before him was so similar to that time. Even the words his parents were speaking were identical to what they had said back then.

Could it be that I have returned to when I was sixteen?

Chen Xiao was completely stunned. He didn't know what was happening or why.

He had clearly been undergoing his Heavenly Tribulation just a moment ago. Why was he here, lying in his own bed, with his father and mother watching over him with such concern?

Can someone tell me what is going on?

Chen Xiao felt his head spinning, yet he could clearly feel the genuine concern radiating from his mother.

"Mother..."

Chen Xiao felt his throat tighten, and his eyes clouded with tears.

"Crying? What are you crying for! You dared to harass the daughter of the Nangong Clan, and now that you've been beaten, you feel wronged?"

Chen Tiannan said, his tone reflecting his frustration at his son's lack of ambition.

"Just say a little less!" Chen Xiao's mother, Su Mulan, glared fiercely at Chen Tiannan.

"Spare the rod and spoil the child!"

Chen Tiannan sighed and walked out of the room.

"Xiao'er, get some rest. We'll talk about everything once you've recovered." Su Mulan stroked Chen Xiao's cheek, tucked him in, and followed her husband out of the room.

Faintly, Chen Xiao could still hear his parents arguing about something.

After Su Mulan left, only the maid Mengmeng, who had announced his awakening, remained in the room with Chen Xiao.

"Sister Mengmeng, you can go out first. I want to be alone for a while," Chen Xiao said slowly.

Mengmeng was taken aback. She hadn't expected the young master, who usually beat and scolded her, to speak to her in such a manner.

However, she didn't say anything else; she bowed slightly and left the room.

"Have I... really returned to the year I was sixteen?"

Chen Xiao's face was filled with disbelief. Enduring the sharp pain in his body, he walked over to the mirror in the room.

The mirror reflected a youth of fifteen or sixteen. He had a handsome face with sword-like brows slanted toward his temples, bright and piercing eyes, a high nose bridge, and thin lips. The slight upward curve at the corners of his mouth gave his face a faint, wicked charm.

This was exactly how Chen Xiao looked at sixteen.

The only flaw was the bruising on his face, with his eyes looking like those of a panda. This was the handiwork of that genius from the Nangong Clan, Nangong Wenyue.

"I really am back... Could it be that the Heavens have truly given me another chance?"

Chen Xiao stared blankly at himself in the mirror, an expression of wild joy involuntarily spreading across his face.

He never imagined that life could truly start over, that he would be reborn back to his sixteenth year.

Chen Xiao knew that in the near future, his family would face a tragic catastrophe—the destruction of their clan!

And the mastermind behind this disaster was the Nangong Clan of Moon-Gazing City.

According to the events of his past life, two years later, his grandfather, Chen Fengyang—the top expert of Moon-Gazing City at the peak of the Tribulation stage—would fail his tribulation and perish. In the ensuing chaos, the Nangong Clan would seize the opportunity to strike, slaughtering the entire Chen Clan, with the exception of Chen Xiao.

The reason Chen Xiao had survived was that the maid Mengmeng, who had just been in the room, had detonated her Golden Core to buy him a sliver of hope for escape.

Later, after much investigation, Chen Xiao had finally realized that the Nangong Clan had been plotting against the Chen Clan for a long time. The news of Chen Fengyang's failed tribulation and death, and the internal strife within the Chen Clan, had all been orchestrated by the Nangong Clan from the shadows. After the clan was wiped out, Moon-Gazing City naturally fell into the hands of the Nangong Clan. A few years later, that Nangong Wenyue had become the new City Lord of Moon-Gazing City.

As the third son of the City Lord of Moon-Gazing City and a notorious playboy of the Glazed Heaven in the Immortal World, Chen Xiao had lived in hiding ever since, disappearing from the world. Yet, he had never ceased to crave revenge. His lifelong wish had been to destroy the Nangong Clan and avenge his parents and family.

Chen Xiao, who had never taken cultivation seriously, had reached the late stage of the Tribulation Realm in a mere fifty years. Originally, Chen Xiao had intended to seek out the Nangong Clan and wipe them out after his tribulation, but he never expected an accident to occur during the process.

During his tribulation, Chen Xiao did not even catch a glimpse of the lightning tribulation; a nine-colored light flashed across the sky, and he knew nothing more. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in his current situation.

Could it be that the colorful light brought me back fifty years?

Chen Xiao muttered to himself, and then a look of determination flashed in his eyes. "Since I have been given another chance, I will change my fate. Since the Nangong Clan conspired against my Chen Clan, then... this young master shall play a good game with you all."

Chen Xiao took a deep breath.

Immediately, Chen Xiao returned to his bed and sat cross-legged.

"Hmm?"

As Chen Xiao focused his mind to look within, he could not help but be stunned.

At this moment, his cultivation should have been at the third level of the Qi Refining Realm, and there should have been a small vortex of energy within his dantian, but now, his dantian was completely empty; there was nothing there at all.

"What is going on? Although I was beaten quite badly by Nangong Wenyue back then, my cultivation was still intact. Why now..."

Suddenly, Chen Xiao's divine sense stirred, and a nine-colored radiance flashed within his dantian.

Nine Heavens Thunder Virtue Universal Transformation Art.

Abruptly, an ancient consciousness echoed in his mind.

Ancestor of Heavenly Tribulations, Progenitor of Thunder, Nine Thunders and Nine Tribulations, Impervious to All Laws, Boundless Merit, Ten Thousand Tribulations Return to the Source.

Nine Heavens Thunder Virtue, Nine Revolutions and Nine Clouds, Nine Revolutions of Merit, Nine Clouds of Heavenly Tribulation.

In a flash, a spark of spiritual light flickered in his spirit platform, and an inexplicable cultivation technique surged forth. Immediately, the pitifully small amount of true essence within Chen Xiao's body began to circulate according to that technique, the Nine Heavens Thunder Virtue Universal Transformation Art, forming a grand circulation throughout his body.

Nine Heavens Thunder Virtue, Realm of Nine Clouds.

First Realm, Red Cloud Realm, governs the tribulation of Spirit Objects taking form.

Second Realm, Orange Cloud Realm, governs the tribulation of living beings ascending to heaven.

Third Realm, Yellow Cloud Realm, governs the thousand-year tribulation of Loose Immortals.

Fourth Realm, Green Cloud Realm, governs the tribulation of immortals crossing the world.

Fifth Realm, Cyan Cloud Realm, governs the tribulation of immortal fruit positions.

Sixth Realm, Blue Cloud Realm, governs the tribulation of all beings breaking through the void.

Seventh Realm, Purple Cloud Realm, governs the tribulation of immortality for all beings.

Eighth Realm, Void Cloud Realm, breaks the tribulation of ten thousand ages of eternity.

Ninth Realm, Tribulation Cloud Realm, ten thousand tribulations return to the source.

BOOM!

The next moment, Chen Xiao felt a thunderclap explode in his ears. Before he could even understand the significance of those nine realms, the scenery before his eyes had changed.

"Where is this?"

Chen Xiao was somewhat dazed. At this moment, he seemed unable to sense his own body, yet it also felt as if the entire world were his body. An infinite sense of fullness gave him the urge to look up and roar at the sky.

Above Chen Xiao's head was an endless starry sky, each star radiating rich spiritual power, while below him lay an endless, vast forest.

"The Fallen Forest? The Fallen Forest in the west of the Glazed Heaven? How did I end up here?"

When Chen Xiao clearly saw this forest, his heart skipped a beat.

The Fallen Forest was one of the great forbidden zones of the Glazed Heaven, where demonic beasts ran rampant; even cultivators at the Mahayana Realm dared not enter it rashly. However, in his previous life, Chen Xiao had entered the Fallen Forest more than once to hunt demonic beasts in order to temper himself.

Now, below Chen Xiao, was a small clearing, and in the center of the clearing stood a giant lion, three zhang long, its entire body burning with flames. On the top of this lion's head, there even grew a pair of horns resembling those of a dragon.

A Blazing Dragon Lion, a legendary super-grade demonic beast. Ordinary demonic beasts could undergo their tribulation and take human form once they reached the Golden Core Realm, but due to the innate strength of its race, the Blazing Dragon Lion could only take human form upon reaching the Division Spirit Realm!

Chen Xiao looked closely at this Blazing Dragon Lion; its cultivation had actually reached the peak between the late stage of the Out-of-Body Realm and the Division Spirit Realm—the exact threshold for the transformation tribulation.

At this moment, the Blazing Dragon Lion looked up at the pair of giant eyes in the sky with awe, its heart filled with misery.

If heaven commits a sin, one might still live, but if one commits their own sins, there is no escape! Why did I kill so many living beings in my spare time? And now this—when other seniors undergo their tribulation, they only need to pass the Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation to take human form, yet my tribulation has actually summoned the Eye of Heavenly Punishment? I regret my past actions!

The Blazing Dragon Lion wailed incessantly in its heart.

But at this moment, the Eye of Heavenly Punishment in the sky merely observed it quietly, with no intention of doing anything. Even though this Blazing Dragon Lion feared nothing under the sun, it remained as docile as a kitten when faced with this legendary Eye of Heavenly Punishment.

"Heavenly Thunder Tribulation, Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, Thousand-Crush Heavenly Tribulation, Ten Thousand Demons Refining World Tribulation..."

"Blazing Dragon Lion, cultivated for five hundred and thirty-eight years, undergoing the transformation lightning tribulation, excessive slaughter, shall be struck by the Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation."

Looking at this Blazing Dragon Lion, a flash of realization dawned in Chen Xiao's heart.

"It should have been subjected to the Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, but... could I strike it with a different tribulation?"

Suddenly, such a thought appeared in Chen Xiao's mind.

BOOM!

Immediately, a purple bolt of lightning descended from the sky.