Boom!
A terrifying bolt of heavenly lightning struck Kunpeng directly, making his entire body shudder. Bewilderment flashed through his eyes as he plunged like a falling meteor, the tremendous impact blasting him straight into the deep sea.
Crackle! A massive vortex of lightning suddenly appeared above the sea. Deep within it, Kunpeng had transformed into a fish, swimming through the waters with his entire body wrapped in lightning!
"Splash—"
At that moment, Kunpeng suddenly leaped up, soaring into the sky before transforming back into a Roc and bursting from the sea!
"Haha, Brother, this heavenly lightning is actually this weak!" Kunpeng let out another strange cry as soon as he emerged. "Still, it makes for a perfect bath!"
Hearing this, Mu Jizi's great tree body trembled slightly. Then he said solemnly, "Brother, do not trifle about. This is only the first tribulation lightning. There are still eight more to come!"
"Of course I know that!" Kunpeng nodded and transmitted, "Brother, do not underestimate your own brother. That tribulation lightning just now was powerful, but it could not hurt me!"
"Mm, just be careful! But do not force yourself either. If you cannot withstand it, your brother will still be here to hold the line!" Mu Jizi replied, though doubts rose in his heart. That heavenly tribulation had been powerful, but it was only several times stronger than a Golden Immortal demon beast's Transformation Tribulation. Yet now, he was breaking through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, while Kunpeng was transforming after breaking through to the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm! This much power was hardly worth mentioning!
Rumble!
Thunder rolled through the heavens. Suddenly, a black flood dragon burst from the tribulation clouds and charged directly at Kunpeng below!
The black tribulation lightning was like the great hammer of a thunder god, smashing fiercely onto Kunpeng's wings. His entire body abruptly tilted, and his wings transformed into a river of stars as he gave them a violent shake!
With that shake, he actually forcefully drew the tribulation clouds into the sea. Only twenty or thirty percent of the tribulation lightning truly struck him, and with a slight flap of his wings, he easily dispersed even that portion of the clouds!
"Brother, look! I can pass through tribulation clouds like these by myself with ease!" Having passed the second tribulation, Kunpeng spread his wings and flew several circles around Mu Jizi's true body, showing off!
"Heh heh!" Mu Jizi could only respond with a bitter smile. By now, he perhaps understood why the tribulation lightning had been so weak!
At the beginning of creation, the Heavenly Dao had yet to stabilize, while countless beings were transforming. Under such circumstances, the Heavenly Dao simply could not determine the strength of the tribulation clouds according to the cultivator's realm. It could only make a rough judgment based on one's aura!
In later ages, after the Heavenly Dao had stabilized, Transformation Tribulations were divided into three grades: the Four-Nine Earth Immortal Tribulation, the Six-Nine True Immortal Tribulation, and the Nine-Nine Golden Immortal Tribulation. Each grade had further distinctions. For instance, if one reached the Loose Immortal realm before transforming, then the ordinary Four-Nine Earth Immortal Tribulation would be raised to the strength appropriate for a Loose Immortal's transformation. Its power increased, but the number of tribulations remained unchanged, so it was also called the Four-Nine Loose Immortal Tribulation. And so on!
If Kunpeng and Mu Jizi transformed now, the power of their heavenly tribulation should at minimum have risen to that of a Nine-Nine Great Luo Golden Immortal Tribulation. However, since the Heavenly Dao was still incomplete, it could only determine from their auras that they were above the Golden Immortal realm, and thus could only send down the highest Nine-Nine Golden Immortal Tribulation! Since the two of them were undergoing tribulation together, the Nine-Nine Golden Immortal Heavenly Tribulation had been amplified severalfold!
Yet even so, this sort of heavenly tribulation was not worth mentioning in the eyes of Kunpeng, whose cultivation had reached the peak of the Golden Immortal realm! Much less Mu Jizi, who already had one foot in the Great Luo Dao realm!
Rumble—
Heavenly lightning churned, and the violent winds continued to rage. At this moment, the sky was gathering the eighth bolt of tribulation lightning. As time passed, the purple-black tribulation clouds rolled with ever-increasing urgency. Lightning serpents darted out continuously, while berserk spiritual energy ravaged dozens of miles around them. The eighth bolt of heavenly lightning was being compressed without end.
Kunpeng's gaze was no longer as casual as before. After all, though this heavenly tribulation was merely an ordinary Nine-Nine Golden Immortal Tribulation, it had been doubled. Two layers stacked together were not as simple as one plus one!
Boom!
A black wandering dragon burst straight out of the tribulation clouds, carrying a terrifying force as it charged headlong toward Kunpeng. The heavenly lightning's momentum was truly frightening, filling the heart with a suffocating sense of oppression.
The immense pressure bore down so heavily that even Kunpeng found it difficult to breathe. This made the proud Kunpeng feel somewhat humiliated. Just a moment ago, he had confidently declared before Mu Jizi that he could pass through it alone with ease, yet the very next moment, he was in such a state. Where could he put his old face now?
Roar!
With a roar toward the heavens, Kunpeng spread his great wings. Before the heavenly tribulation descended, gust after gust of fierce wind swept from his wings. Instantly, howling gales rose, and blade-like winds met the rapidly descending heavenly tribulation head-on.
At this moment, aside from the countless sword-like wind blades fanned out by Kunpeng's wings, innumerable tangible gusts of wind formed barriers around him, protecting him!
Kunpeng's eyes flashed like lightning as he stood suspended within the wind barriers, his aura reaching its peak!
By then, the heavenly lightning had already met the blades formed from the fierce winds. Though the blades looked hard and sharp, they were utterly outclassed before the heavenly lightning. Wherever the lightning dragon passed, it swept through everything like bamboo, without the slightest pause. In an instant, it scattered the wind blades, shattered the wind barriers, and struck toward Kunpeng's true body!
Caw—
In that one ten-thousandth of an instant, Kunpeng neither dodged nor evaded. He suddenly let out a long cry toward the sky, then aimed his beak at the heavenly lightning and pecked fiercely!
Boom!
In that instant, time and space both seemed to freeze. As the two collided, it was like stones cast into a lake. The next moment, heaven and earth trembled, and a rippling wave spread outward!
It sounded slow, but it happened in a flash. From the descent of the heavenly lightning to their collision, it took only an instant!
"Mm?" In the next moment, Mu Jizi's expression changed. His branches shot wildly into the air, and he swept them at the tribulation lightning striking Kunpeng's beak!
The heavenly lightning, which had originally radiated a berserk aura, actually became docile under that sweep. Then, with a "pop," it dissipated into the void!
"Brother! Are you all right?" Mu Jizi transmitted as soon as the heavenly lightning dispersed.
"I'm fine! Thank you, Brother!" Kunpeng flapped his wings and shook his head, which was still swaying somewhat from the impact. "The toughest part of my Roc body is my beak. That heavenly lightning was powerful, but it still fell short of injuring me!"
"It is good that you are unharmed!" Seeing that Kunpeng's true body had suffered no injuries aside from disheveled feathers, Mu Jizi finally let out a sigh of relief. "Brother, you have already endured eight bolts of heavenly tribulation. As for this final one, watch how your brother destroys it!"
As soon as he spoke, Mu Jizi's true body suddenly moved. In an instant, his tree trunk, dozens of zhang tall, began growing at tremendous speed!
Whoosh!
The trunk shot upward into the sky, piercing directly through the tribulation clouds. Its branching limbs stirred the dark clouds stretching for tens of thousands of miles in that very instant!
Hum—
The world shimmered as streams of light shot from the dark clouds. Before long, the clouds dispersed, and the sky suddenly cleared!
Shocking! Shocking! So shocking that there were no words for it! In an instant, Mu Jizi had actually used his true body to pierce through the tribulation clouds, forcefully destroying the final tribulation cloud! Such magical power was simply unheard of!
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